Hold Still 2013-02-19

[KnightDelight]

Tork must be sirenese for some sort of bodily waste or perhaps a degrading term regarding one's lineage.

I think it's the sound effect of a shoulder joint popping back into place.

Oh yeah. You may be right. I can't recall if Paul usually places his lesser sound effects in a balloon or not.

[donoho]

Is a femur popping out and back into a pelvis considered a dislocation? Managed to do this while running (away from something) and trying to look behind me at the same time. My situation at the time excluded the otpion for professional help, so I'm lucky it popped back in, but walking for the next few weeks was AGONY (that I had to pretend didn't exist).

Ow. If fully out of the socket, it was a dislocation. If only partially out, it would be referred to as subluxation.

When hiking in the Marble Mountains with friends some years ago, a hillside trail slumped out from under my feet, I fell, my weight came down on my arms, and my left (uphill) shoulder joint subluxated. I was fortunate it didn't actually dislocate and require the sort of agonizing torquing that Atsali's did. Even the partial subluxation was bad enough... it was nearly a year before I could raise my left arm above my head comfortably, swim with a crawl stroke, etc.

I don't think Atsali is likely to be carrying Katherine through the air with that arm anytime soon.

This was over 20 years ago, but now that think about it, it sounded like a huge spaghetti sauce jar being opened for the first time. THOCK!!

I don't know how far it popped out, but there was a Definite separation.

[KnightDelight]

I don't think Atsali is likely to be carrying Katherine through the air with that arm anytime soon.

Maybe she can tie herself to Atsali with rope. What irony that would be. Someone lashing themselves to the siren instead of the ship's mast.

[Dave]

I don't think Atsali is likely to be carrying Katherine through the air with that arm anytime soon.

Maybe she can tie herself to Atsali with rope. What irony that would be. Someone lashing themselves to the siren instead of the ship's mast.

That would be a delicious irony indeed!

[chicgeek]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. Katherine's creepy eyes? Her fear of/obsession with spiders? I'm betting that somewhere there's a connection to Arachne. Nothing to back this up, it's jut a wild hunch.
And with Miss Adventure's arm having been dislocated and reset, I'm saying that means even if she shifts form, flying is going to be out of the question for awhile.

[bmonk]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that Katherine is surprisingly capable in this emergency. (It may be interesting if we find out where she learned first aid.) Atsali may learn another unexpected lesson: that older people have been doing things a long time. This one sometimes comes as a surprise to teenagers.

From just a few days back:

In normal social situations, Katherine is uncertain and sort of goes allong for the ride. With real and deadly danger looming, she's become assertive and is taking charge. There's a passage in Bill Mauldin's WWII book "Up Front" where he says that the loud mouth, gungho guy folding under actual combat while the the quiet unobtrusive soldier stepping up to take charge when the fecal matter hits the occilating unit is a sterotype for a reason. It apparently happens quite a bit under real combat conditions.

(and followup comments)

[bmonk]

I don't think Atsali is likely to be carrying Katherine through the air with that arm anytime soon.

Maybe she can tie herself to Atsali with rope. What irony that would be. Someone lashing themselves to the siren instead of the ship's mast.

A lovely image. IN your name, I will donate a copy of the Odyssey to the Pun Jar, just in case it starts crooning your name.

[Yamara]

It's even possible it is a third party doing the role playing with Kath.

... and we've been told fairly authoritatively that Bia was capable of shapechanging from her adult form into that of a small girl (young enough to be Shelly's father's "childhood friend").

So, it's within the realm of possibility that Atsali is a Titan with similar abilities (or perhaps even Bia herself, although Bia might be somewhat Deus Non Grata around the Library these days if Phix has anything to say about it)

Been wondering about that myself. Why was Atsali so afraid to alert Phix? Bia's a metamorph and a serial liar, and a dysfunctional mother . . . and a bully, in ways we probably have yet to imagine.

On the other hand, the Library only allows Titans with good intentions to circumvent the World Grid. The Wapsi Bia strikes me as obsessed with correcting her wrongs, but frustrated by trying to parse unlimited strength into fixing moral and ethical disasters.

If she isn't Atsali on the inside, I at least hope she's paying attention to Atsali's experiences from the outside.

[Graybeard]

Add me to the list of readers with "experience" with a subluxating shoulder. Mine is chronic and goes back about 40 years, when I originally subluxed it playing basketball, and then re-injured it playing ... chess. Worst experience -- warning, squick factor ahead -- was when my wife and I were at a shopping mall one Christmas with our then-18-month-old son. As usual, I was carrying him, and in a typical father/son moment I paused to talk baby talk to him and sling him over my shoulder, something he always enjoyed immensely ... and the shoulder picked that moment to go out, so he didn't stop on my shoulder, he kept going, taking my arm with him. So here I am in the middle of a crowded mall, with my shoulder out of joint, and my no-longer-entertained son dangling over my back, head down, as I'm screaming in pain. Fortunately my wife was there to catch the kiddo, and the shoulder popped back into place immediately once the strain was relieved. It was painful for a few days, but not as chronically so as some people here have described. Orthopedist tells me I'm a good candidate for a shoulder replacement in coming years.

I really hope she gets that shoulder looked at when they get back to civilization (sic). Wonder what the chances are that Aesculapius himself is going to show up in this epic tale?

[Fairportfan]

However, I don't recall any discussion about the other obvious clues - the spider legs framing Katherine and, especially, the sub-title: loxosceles reclusa - the brown recluse spider.

Do not spiders have solid black eyes? And reclusiveness certainly fits Katherine to a tee. We could probably find more examples of other spider-like behavior in the archives. [And I'll say it here before someone else does: spider don't wear clothes!]

Ummm - the shot of Katherine (complete with label) in that page is a pin-up shot from a couple years ago.

[sheik]

I'm a bit concerned about all the damage to Katherine's head (bruises, a gash, bleeding ears) and her slight disorientation at first. Hopefully she doesn't start acting oddly as time goes on.

Of course, this being Katherine, it might be hard to tell...

I have another concern.
Granted, it may be very dark down there, but Kath's head orientation suggests she may be blind.

[Lee M]

Do not spiders have solid black eyes? And reclusiveness certainly fits Katherine to a tee. We could probably find more examples of other spider-like behavior in the archives. [And I'll say it here before someone else does: spider don't wear clothes!]

They sure don't. (NSFW comic link.) Not that anyone expects Katherine's spider avatar to look quite like that.

[Leak]

Granted, it may be very dark down there, but Kath's head orientation suggests she may be blind.

What, because she looked at Atsali's arm while she pulled hard on it? Seems reasonable to me...

np: CoLD SToRAGE - DOH-T (Slipstream Volume 1)

[Fairportfan]

The narrator of the Dick Francis mystery Knockdown is an ex-jockey who had to quit when he messed up his shoulder so badly that it will dislocate at the slightest provocation - to the extent that he has to wear a harness to keep him from dislocating it in the course of everyday life.

When he has his first encounter with Bad Guys, they apparently know about it, and use dislocating it as a way to "persuade" him to do what they want.

His client (he's now a bloodstock agent), a wealthy USAian woman, is with him and has to watch the whole thing ... and then has to help him snap it back in.

[DilyV]

Do not spiders have solid black eyes? And reclusiveness certainly fits Katherine to a tee. We could probably find more examples of other spider-like behavior in the archives. [And I'll say it here before someone else does: spider don't wear clothes!]

They sure don't. (NSFW comic link.) Not that anyone expects Katherine's spider avatar to look quite like that.

Actually, while spider like, they are not true spiders... they are Drow (Dark Elf) Driders. The Drow worship Lolth, the Spider Goddess and to be turned into a Drider is a sort of punishment for incurring Lolth's disfavor in my experience. With completely black eyes, how would one tell if Kath is suffering from a concussion? It would be exceedingly hard to discern a blown pupil from the completely black sclera.

[DilyV]

Add me to the list of readers with "experience" with a subluxating shoulder. Mine is chronic and goes back about 40 years, when I originally subluxed it playing basketball, and then re-injured it playing ... chess. Worst experience -- warning, squick factor ahead -- was when my wife and I were at a shopping mall one Christmas with our then-18-month-old son. As usual, I was carrying him, and in a typical father/son moment I paused to talk baby talk to him and sling him over my shoulder, something he always enjoyed immensely ... and the shoulder picked that moment to go out, so he didn't stop on my shoulder, he kept going, taking my arm with him. So here I am in the middle of a crowded mall, with my shoulder out of joint, and my no-longer-entertained son dangling over my back, head down, as I'm screaming in pain. Fortunately my wife was there to catch the kiddo, and the shoulder popped back into place immediately once the strain was relieved. It was painful for a few days, but not as chronically so as some people here have described. Orthopedist tells me I'm a good candidate for a shoulder replacement in coming years.

I really hope she gets that shoulder looked at when they get back to civilization (sic). Wonder what the chances are that Aesculapius himself is going to show up in this epic tale?

When I was in the Army we were doing physical training one morning and I was planted on my left foot and turning to my right when someone hit me off kilter, spinning my upper body (sans my lower left leg, which remained firmly planted in about eight inch tall grass. The resulting upper body spin rotated my knee out of joint 90 degrees, at which time the person who'd hit me picked me up and threw me kind of feet first. I felt the knee rotate back into place when the pressure whas taken off it, but then I landed on said left leg which promptly folded 90 degrees out of socket to the outside. Imagine the leg bending at the knee with the foot still facing forward, only instead of bending norally, it bends 90 degrees to the outside... when I fell back off of it, it rotated a full 180 degrees to the inside then popped back into place. Let's just say my language was a shade bit more colorful than Atsali's... I lucked out though... I had a small tear in my ACL and it hamburgered my meniscus, but otherwise, I spent the next five years hobbling on it until I finally got out and the VA operated to clean up the mess. At least now I can walk without a limp most days...

[Dave]

Let's just say my language was a shade bit more colorful than Atsali's...

Oh, man... ow. I guess you were the guy responsible for that big plume of blue air that one of the climate-research satellites picked up, and nobody could ever explain?

Good to hear that they were able to repair at least the worst of the damage. My wife's been dealing with osteoarthritis in both knees for the past few years, and one of our friends has "runner's knee" on both sides... surgery may eventually be in the cards all around, unfortunately.

[Jabberwonky]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. Katherine's creepy eyes? Her fear of/obsession with spiders? I'm betting that somewhere there's a connection to Arachne. Nothing to back this up, it's jut a wild hunch.
And with Miss Adventure's arm having been dislocated and reset, I'm saying that means even if she shifts form, flying is going to be out of the question for awhile.

Her wings are separate from her arm. Might not carry anything, but flying is still an option.

[zachariah]

... and we've been told fairly authoritatively that Bia was capable of shapechanging from her adult form into that of a small girl (young enough to be Shelly's father's "childhood friend").

So, it's within the realm of possibility that Atsali is a Titan with similar abilities (or perhaps even Bia herself, although Bia might be somewhat Deus Non Grata around the Library these days if Phix has anything to say about it)

Been wondering about that myself. Why was Atsali so afraid to alert Phix? Bia's a metamorph and a serial liar, and a dysfunctional mother . . . and a bully, in ways we probably have yet to imagine.

On the other hand, the Library only allows Titans with good intentions to circumvent the World Grid. The Wapsi Bia strikes me as obsessed with correcting her wrongs, but frustrated by trying to parse unlimited strength into fixing moral and ethical disasters.

If she isn't Atsali on the inside, I at least hope she's paying attention to Atsali's experiences from the outside.

Why would Bia even be interested in Kath? She doesn't do things without a reason or goal now does she. At best this adventure could be about arranging for the dolls to be found. I have not noticed that Bia is that detailed orientated about managing, or running, a planed manipulation. I suspect this would be way to subtle for her.

[Mark N]

Why would Bia even be interested in Kath? She doesn't do things without a reason or goal now does she. At best this adventure could be about arranging for the dolls to be found. I have not noticed that Bia is that detailed orientated about managing, or running, a planed manipulation. I suspect this would be way to subtle for her.

This could be a combined effort to bring Katherine into the active fold. Remember, she told Monica that she would be utterly useless in the field. This is the perfect way to get her to come into her own and face the fact that she is capable of far more than she realizes she is. I Suspect that this is a little of Brandi and a little of Bia (if Bia is involved at all that is) But that is just my dos Pesos.