Wapsi Square Forum

So. Pratt and McBride were hand-picked by Oduya? Curiouser and curiouser.

Beat me by one minute... so I erased mine and posted the contents below...


Wow. Talk about a pep talk!

"I know you think of yourself as lower than low, but I picked you anyway... what does that say about you?"

"...set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."?

Hello?

Am i forgetting something, or is that just there to creep us out?

Comment on today's comic:
Que?!

It's REAL...
Cue theramin music...

Fairportfan wrote:"...set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."?

Hello?

Am i forgetting something, or is that just there to creep us out?

See this strip.

Brandi apparently feels that she is such a superb manipulative "chessmaster" that she could deliberately manipulate a person into a situation where that person would voluntarily do great harm to him/herself.

I don't think we've ever actually seen Brandi do that... but we don't know if she has actually done anything like it in the past. She may be speculating, or giving a warning based on cold hard knowledge and memory.

..set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."?

Hello?

Am i forgetting something, or is that just there to creep us out?

I think, she is implying that Prat and McBride were hired to avoid that option, now why that option is on the table -
I will just go to confusion corner get comfy, and watch the riddle unwrap it self from the enigma.

Fairportfan wrote:"...set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."?

Hello?

Am i forgetting something, or is that just there to creep us out?

You dáre talk about "creeping us out" with an avatar like You currently have????? *shudder* (never mind what that smile did to that poor dentist)

But, well, You know? Brandi, imho is an Aspi, and Aspi's have a habit of talking in their own way, blurting stuff out, not realizing that everybody around them just went gobsmacked, or wet their pants. (Takes one to know one )

Jabberwonky wrote:It's REAL... Cue theramin music...

Thanks; I mis-read it as Medimi - which is the name of a spirit from John Dee's early practices in developing Enochian magic, but doesn't immediately come up related to a "quiet zone."

I hope we readers find out. I'd always imagined the Lanthian influence being farther south than Durango.

Fairportfan wrote:"...set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."??

I'm just alarmed by how casually she says that, after discussing Titans, good intentions and a sentient Library. The sudden left turn into The Silent Zone doesn't help.

The Mapimi Silent Zone puts me in mind of something much more mundane but historically curious: In the days after the partition of Germany, to the eternal frustration of the Communist Party bosses, most East Germans were able to receive limited broadcasts of radio - and later television - except an area in the Elbe Valley, notably Dresden, and a portion of the Southeast around Rügen. These areas were known by the Ossis as der "Tal der Ahnungslosen" (Valley of the Clueless); ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the second-largest broadcast entity in the world, after the BBC) was jokingly referred to as "Außer Rügen und Dresden" (Except Rügen and Dresden).

ya know, all this talk about Brandi's "Deal with the Demon Realm" has me thinking... what are THEY getting from it?, i mean we now know (via Agent Pratt) that Brandi got the guidance she needed/wanted in order to build the Grid in the first place, but what was the price she's paying in return?

I'm guessing that Events are already in motion, and Brandi has has hire Pratt and McBride to act as a sort of "Safety Valve", because Brandi knows/understands just how significant they are to the big picture.

scantrontb wrote:ya know, all this talk about Brandi's "Deal with the Demon Realm" has me thinking... what are THEY getting from it?, i mean we now know (via Agent Pratt) that Brandi got the guidance she needed/wanted in order to build the Grid in the first place, but what was the price she's paying in return?

Could be the Elder Gods and Titans messed with the Demons too. Did bad things to them as well as humans. They probably took a risk helping out, but getting rid of the gods was worth it. So it was essentially quid pro quo. Brandi makes sure the grid stays up and they continue to feed her info.

As to selecting Lily and Suzi, I wonder if Brandi set things in motion that created them in the first place so she could use them later? Heck, she could have manipulated things such that they were born (correct genetic mix?) and their eventual transformation.

As to the skinning comment. She either likes to rattle people with talk like that (it's not the first time she said something like that after all) or, as has been suggested, is recalling a past incident. It may be not all her plans went quite right and someone paid a high price for her failure. Worse still, it did go right! Yuck! Interesting, perhaps even titillating, but yuck!

I'm frankly more concerned (after getting over the yuck factor of the skinning bit) with

Brandi wrote:Unfortunately, good intentions can still be dangerous.

What does she mean. Why does she even say that? Anything to do with anyone else from the cast? M? Euryale?

Pratt and McBride as doorme... doorwomen to the Bibliothiki? Only letting in people vetted by Brandi?



(Damn, wish I could replace the "wrote" with "said" above )

Funny thing noone referenced this strip http://wapsisquare.com/comic/what-was-that/ yesterday. Makes so much sense now.

Jay-Em wrote:

Fairportfan wrote:"...set events in motion that could end with a woman skinning herself..."?
Hello?

Am i forgetting something, or is that just there to creep us out?

You dáre talk about "creeping us out" with an avatar like You currently have????? *shudder* (never mind what that smile did to that poor dentist)

But, well, You know? Brandi, imho is an Aspi, and Aspi's have a habit of talking in their own way, blurting stuff out, not realizing that everybody around them just went gobsmacked, or wet their pants. (Takes one to know one )

"It will put the lotion on its skin..."

(sorry -- just had to say that)

Meanwhile, back at the plot regarding Silent Zones:

One of the delights/pains-the-ass about radio communication on dear 'ol planet earth is radio waves propagate differently through the atmosphere according to frequency. Microwaves and above are basically line of sight, but lower frequencies also travel through sky reflection (sky wave) and by ground wave. AM radio, in the Medium Frequency (MF) band is famous for this: a station may be heard for 50 miles during the day, but 1000 miles at night as the skywave reflects off the electrically charged ionosphere.

The ground wave is the item of interest here. The sky wave acts like the disco ball twinkle, visible at great distances. The ground wave travels like pouring a bucket of water. It hugs the terrain, but also can get blocked by mountain/valley orientation. That's why your radio fades in rugged or even hilly terrain. WWII was fought using High Frequency (HF) communications, one level above the AM MF band, with great success (duh) especially in the Pacific, where ground wave propagation over water tended to be superb. In Europe, however, terrain frequently got in the way. A famous example was Operation Market Garden, an Allied paratroop invasion of the Netherlands along a series of bridges (the movie A Bridge Too Far). In one region of the operation, the portable HF radios, aside from frequency mix-ups, simply were not able to communicate over short distances (a few miles) due to whatever characteristics of the local terrain: A Silent Zone. This was re-created by a BBC anniversary program which had era style radios using the historical frequencies. It just didn't work!

So -- there are plenty of Silent Zones out there. Some are enforced, like the National Radio Quiet Zone, others, like the Very Large Array are located in remote valleys to shield them. And of course, some have local hucksters cashing in on stray rocket crashes.

Jürgen A. Erhard wrote:I'm frankly more concerned (after getting over the yuck factor of the skinning bit) with

Brandi wrote:Unfortunately, good intentions can still be dangerous.

What does she mean. Why does she even say that? Anything to do with anyone else from the cast? M? Euryale?

Pratt and McBride as doorme... doorwomen to the Bibliothiki? Only letting in people vetted by Brandi?



(Damn, wish I could replace the "wrote" with "said" above )

Conventional Wisdom wrote:The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

There's your answer. The wrong choice can be made for all the right reasons, with the best of intentions, and cause untold chaos.

Jürgen A. Erhard wrote:I'm frankly more concerned (after getting over the yuck factor of the skinning bit) with

Brandi wrote:Unfortunately, good intentions can still be dangerous.

What does she mean. Why does she even say that? Anything to do with anyone else from the cast? M? Euryale?

Pratt and McBride as doorme... doorwomen to the Bibliothiki? Only letting in people vetted by Brandi?



(Damn, wish I could replace the "wrote" with "said" above )

I'm going to go with Bia on that one. Bia had all sorts of good intentions (creating a descendant who would set the powers right as per Sibyl's prophecy...and who knows what her intentions were in helping make Monica what she is), but good grief she's created a lot of hurt!

As for who gets in through the Library...well I'm pretty sure that Brandi has had conversations with Phix and Nudge about that. Our little vamps don't even need to be involved in that process.

Bathorys Daughter wrote:

scantrontb wrote:ya know, all this talk about Brandi's "Deal with the Demon Realm" has me thinking... what are THEY getting from it?, i mean we now know (via Agent Pratt) that Brandi got the guidance she needed/wanted in order to build the Grid in the first place, but what was the price she's paying in return?

Could be the Elder Gods and Titans messed with the Demons too. Did bad things to them as well as humans. They probably took a risk helping out, but getting rid of the gods was worth it. So it was essentially quid pro quo. Brandi makes sure the grid stays up and they continue to feed her info.

That's a fair theory...and I think I'll believe it until I see something from the Lord of Wapsi to suggest otherwise. Also, I could hug you for saying "titillating" in your post, Bathory's Daughter. It made my morning (mostly because that word just makes me giggle).

As for the whole Silent Zone thing...well, I'll be brewing some teas and baking cookies for anyone who wants to join me in the Land of Confusion.

Dave wrote:Brandi apparently feels that she is such a superb manipulative "chessmaster" that she could deliberately manipulate a person into a situation where that person would voluntarily do great harm to him/herself.

I don't think we've ever actually seen Brandi do that... but we don't know if she has actually done anything like it in the past. She may be speculating, or giving a warning based on cold hard knowledge and memory.

Bathorys Daughter wrote:As to selecting Lily and Suzi, I wonder if Brandi set things in motion that created them in the first place so she could use them later? Heck, she could have manipulated things such that they were born (correct genetic mix?) and their eventual transformation.

As to the skinning comment. She either likes to rattle people with talk like that (it's not the first time she said something like that after all) or, as has been suggested, is recalling a past incident. It may be not all her plans went quite right and someone paid a high price for her failure. Worse still, it did go right! Yuck! Interesting, perhaps even titillating, but yuck!

Paul has never stated this directly, to my knowledge, but insofar as they have weaknesses susceptible to demonic elements, Bud and Brandi's Chimeric aspects seem to favor surrendering to, respectively, Rage and Despair. Bud has a lot of stubborn common sense from her core personality to handle her explosive Ragey side, but by Brandi's own admission, Despair is a much deadlier burden. It's the imagining of everything that could wrong and giving into it.

Brandi's leonine aspect is the very image of Despair. And in Spenser's Faerie Queene, the personification of Despair nearly makes short work of the heroes, by nearly convincing them to kill themselves:

XXXIX
Who travels by the wearie wandring way,
To come unto his wished home in haste,
And meetes a flood, that doth his passage stay,
Is not great grace to helpe him over past,
Or free his feet that in the myre sticke fast?
Most envious man, that grieves at neighbours good,
And fond, that joyest in the woe thou hast,
Why wilt not let him passe, that long hath stood
Upon the banke, yet wilt thy selfe not passe the flood?

XL
He there does now enjoy eternall rest
And happy ease, which thou dost want and crave,
And further from it daily wanderest:
What if some little paine the passage have,
That makes fraile flesh to feare the bitter wave?
Is not short paine well borne, that brings long ease,
And layes the soule to sleepe in quiet grave?
Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre, death after life does greatly please.

To be able to come back from being an infamous manipulator, though? That's the work of a few lifetimes. Brandi can't even suggest buying an ice cream without rousing suspicions.

See? Now you're wondering what's in that latte popsicle...

But Pratt needs to see things in another way entirely. If Brandi wanted Despair to sweep the world, it would be child's play for her. She wants to oppose that force: and inspire Confidence. In the Calendar ritual, she was sounding like a clueless hippie talking about it. But in fact it is one of the most difficult and vital things in the universe to attain.