Wapsi Square Forum

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/kidding-me-3/

So the Scoobies on both sides recorded the same conversation, just different parts of it.

The wall between alternate timelines is especially thin in that school.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Drakkenmensch wrote:The wall between alternate timelines is especially thin in that school.

Yup. Sounds like there might be a limbo zone, a kind of twilight, if you will, between worlds.

Alternate dimensions where time moves at different speeds. So one timeline is a few months ahead. Dustin is that timelines Timothy. We may note some differences in the rest of the Scoobies as well.

Ok so Dustin is the tall AU version of Tim, who was dating AU Daylla. AU Scarlett has longer hair.

Electromagnetism... I think Scarlett is a “medium” because her and her ancestors closely match with their AU versions. Perhaps their brainwaves (which are electromagnetic) or even the very chemical-electric signals in their neurons match up so closely they function similarly to quantum entangled particles.

As for Daylla’s ability to world-walk... she’s made of metal. In fact, her mom was descended from rock-beings, and was a mutant of sorts in that she was highly metallic, with Daylla being even more metallic. Possibly she may be pure enough metal that she has a strange effect on or is strangely affected by the same electromagnetic... tether, or pathway... between our Wapsiverse and this AU Wapsiverse that Dustin hails from. A conduit, perhaps, or an antenna. She’s receiving signals as though she was in the AU, but she isn’t actually there (thus she can’t see herself), signals that override whatever signals she’s getting from her native universe that she normally perceives.

I think a combination of Daylla being open to weirdness as opposed to focused on school, the AU Daylla being dead (thus not receiving the signals which are now being accidentally picked up by our Daylla), and the location perhaps being a sort of nexus between these two universi is allowing Daylla to... experience the AU a la virtual reality.

The way I’d test this is to stick Daylla in a faraday cage with plenty of insulating material between her and the cage. If her metallic properties are responsible for her being able to pick up signals from the other universe, then a faraday cage would block that, and her awareness would be returned to her actual body.

The EVP or whatever they’re calling it is functioning like Daylla AND Scarlett at once - they’re possibly entangled, and “perceiving” or recording events from the other universe.

oldmanmickey wrote:Alternate dimensions where time moves at different speeds. So one timeline is a few months ahead. Dustin is that timelines Timothy. We may note some differences in the rest of the Scoobies as well.

Not necessarily... Dustin is different enough from Timothy that he may be a different person... older brother, or had only one parent-analog in common with Timothy.

Going back to the Calendar Machine incidents... it was clear that the different time loops did not all develop identically. The people who ended up interacting, in the years just before the loop ended, were usually similar but they did seem to vary from one loop to the next... at least in name and perhaps in more than that.

I think we may be seeing a similar sort of variation here.

Things in this timeline seem to be different enough that Dustin is/was paired up with Daylla, and Scarlet was just a friend or acquaintance, whereas with Timothy that situation is reversed.

GlytchMeister wrote: Electromagnetism... I think Scarlett is a “medium” because her and her ancestors closely match with their AU versions. Perhaps their brainwaves (which are electromagnetic) or even the very chemical-electric signals in their neurons match up so closely they function similarly to quantum entangled particles.

As for Daylla’s ability to world-walk... she’s made of metal. In fact, her mom was descended from rock-beings, and was a mutant of sorts in that she was highly metallic, with Daylla being even more metallic. Possibly she may be pure enough metal that she has a strange effect on or is strangely affected by the same electromagnetic... tether, or pathway... between our Wapsiverse and this AU Wapsiverse that Dustin hails from. A conduit, perhaps, or an antenna. She’s receiving signals as though she was in the AU, but she isn’t actually there (thus she can’t see herself), signals that override whatever signals she’s getting from her native universe that she normally perceives.

A very plausible set of conjectures based on what we know so far.

It might also lead to an explanation of how AU Daylla might have died. As a metallic being it's possible that her energy-carrying mechanism (i.e. her equivalent of hemoglobin) was something like metastable 178m2Hf. She made the mistake of trying to use high-powered electronic gear to signal-enhance the recording she'd made of Timothy's "ghost voice", accidentally hit herself with an EM pulse that triggered the isometric phase change of the hafnium in her blood, and just "evaporated".

Whatever is going on, one thing is certain: We can't call him Mervin anymore.

Drakkenmensch wrote:The wall between alternate timelines is especially thin in that school.

I still think that's because of Atsali punching Castela through it.

Kudos to everyone who suggested we're seeing two alternative universes intersecting! Such would appear to be the case, even to the ghostly conversation Scarlet was having with not-Timothy. I guess punching Dustin out WOULDN'T have been a good move, after all.

Assuming he's telling the truth and not messing with her.

But we need to know more about how Alternative Universe Daylla died. I assume she's dead and not just disappeared, or Dustin would have been less concerned about Earth One universe Daylla being a ghost and more about getting her back. But maybe (he said, hoping for a happy outcome), she's not DEAD dead. She might have figured out about the alternative universes, tried projecting herself, and gotten her essence stuck, leaving her body apparently lifeless back on Earth Two. And if Dustin and E-O Daylla can find and free her, since a metal body wouldn't decay, she can come back to life, she and Dustin can have a happy existence together and a reasonable number of children, and everything will turn out well (fingers crossed).

All right, a few observations:

1. It appears that the conversation that Scar had with "ghost Dustin" back on 10/6/2017 (Get to the Questions) was the "real" conversation in Dustin's Wapsiverse; the conversation that Timothy had with Scarlet the following strip (Looking For) was the "ghost" conversation in DWV.

Only, the part just before "coffee from the vending machine" was skipped over by Dustin... That was where "Dustin" asked Scar, "I think that they're just trying to have fun... You seem concerned. Maybe the ghosts are looking for fun, too."

2. Now, we could come up with some elaborate scheme where Scarlet's attraction to Timothy is because Timmy is the lynchpin between the two worlds, and Scar is a ghost magnet (of sorts), but I'm starting to think that in this particular situation it's a simpler answer:

3. The ghost ("Dustin") is having fun with Daylla.

It is interesting jumping between this scene and the other half of it. Besides the hair and glasses, Dustin's Scarlet seems to have be a bit more positive on her outlook at the time.
Also, her features seem somewhat softer, so she could be somewhat different, much like Dustin is compared to Timothy- or it could just be attitude affecting how she is drawn. Confirming that likely depends on whether we learn Dustin/Timothy had a fraternal twin that didn't make it, or if everyone else shows genetic drift.. which may tie-in with Daylla seeming to look just like her counterpart, living metal paras may have less in the way of drift. That might go for a lot of paras.
Pickle could be wildly different, considering her origins.

GlytchMeister wrote:The way I’d test this is to stick Daylla in a faraday cage with plenty of insulating material between her and the cage. If her metallic properties are responsible for her being able to pick up signals from the other universe, then a faraday cage would block that, and her awareness would be returned to her actual body.

If that's the only thing that can keep her awareness and her body together, she might have to stay in the cage.

It'll get ugly when her friends start calling her Queen Faraday.

So we can expect Mirror!Kevin and Mirror!Alan to not have beards?

Oh, and Billens called, Glytch. He says you haven't paid for the last Faraday cage you borrowed from the supply closet.

Typeminer wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:The way I’d test this is to stick Daylla in a faraday cage with plenty of insulating material between her and the cage. If her metallic properties are responsible for her being able to pick up signals from the other universe, then a faraday cage would block that, and her awareness would be returned to her actual body.

If that's the only thing that can keep her awareness and her body together, she might have to stay in the cage.

It'll get ugly when her friends start calling her Queen Faraday.

Well, no, the other factors are the nature of Gryphon as a nexus between universi and the death of the AU Daylla. Can’t do much about AU Daylla except perhaps get the other universe’s people to build a device to intercept the signals before they reach our Daylla. But get Daylla out of Gryphon, she should return to normal, assuming Gryphon is indeed a Nexus. As for her being called Queen Faraday, ant experiment being done would be done confidentially, especially because she’s a minor, and because I know how shitty high school is.

GlytchMeister wrote:As for her being called Queen Faraday, ant experiment being done would be done confidentially, especially because she’s a minor, and because I know how shitty high school is.

There may be other ways for her to deal with this "signal reception" problem, which would still allow her to move around rather than being trapped in a metal cage. Possibly the signals could be diverted away by electrical conduction, just by connecting Daylla to a nearby electrical system via a flexible conductor. Ordinary wire, or perhaps a braided metal strap, from her ankle would do the trick.

Although this, too, she might interpret as punishment. Being grounded for the rest of her life would be difficult for a teen to accept.

Dave wrote:Although this, too, she might interpret as punishment. Being grounded for the rest of her life would be difficult for a teen to accept.

The pun vault is tapping what could be interpreted as a foot.