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She figured it out.

Now she's trying to remember Gaelan Marius . . .

Assuming, of course, that Marius is his surname rather than a codeword.

--FreeFlier

She's finding that there is a layer to her life she has no memory of, and possibly one Atsali does not remember either. Still feels like something is off, sleeping Atsali in not nearly as broken as we see later and Castela was reported as being elsewhere.

FreeFlier wrote:Now she's trying to remember Gaelan Marius . . .

Assuming, of course, that Marius is his surname rather than a codeword.

He was mentioned earlier by Pablo when he appeared back in the original "Atsali's mom" arc (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/never-be-a-weapon/), but not named in strip (see the "characters" list before the comments.)

That thank you was only 14-15 years late in being understood, but it was finally received.

Armorlord wrote:She's finding that there is a layer to her life she has no memory of, and possibly one Atsali does not remember either. Still feels like something is off, sleeping Atsali in not nearly as broken as we see later and Castela was reported as being elsewhere.

I think that might be at the foot of Agent Cassi. She may have told her that mama is never coming back. That alone can be traumatic for a kid that young.

Bawling

They both have a few holes in thier memories

And I think I see how the gap between this incident and Agent Cassi comes around...

Proto-Castela is "removed" from the scene for her own protection, and Atsali starts bawling that she's losing "widdle pwant". At the same time she finds out mama isn't around anymore.

She associates "no mama" with "losing Castela".

Hmmmm... I think I could probably put a lot of things together after that, to fill in the blanks of what happened to Atsali at the orphanage...

Agent Marius: "Thank you for protecting Atsali"

Anyone else get the feeling that the blackthorn wasn't the only target here?

Remember: preteen-Castela is watching, in effect, a replay in the holodeck. She was not there (Widdle Pwant was there) when these events happened. There's no way the agent is talking to her. She could have been shot a dozen times but she'd take no injury at all and the bullets would not be slowed or deflected in the slightest. Her presence comforted or concerned nobody.

What I'm thinking, though, is that unless Widdle Pwant was already trying to create a solid-ish animate form (like preschool-Castela), there's no way it was big enough to wrap around A'sawi like that. So maybe, at that time, there were TWO plants - a large one and a small one. The large one was effectively the previous generation of the process of developing the stinkweed we know and love. It's what A'sawi is wrapped up in.

jwhouk wrote:And I think I see how the gap between this incident and Agent Cassi comes around...

Proto-Castela is "removed" from the scene for her own protection, and Atsali starts bawling that she's losing "widdle pwant". At the same time she finds out mama isn't around anymore.

She associates "no mama" with "losing Castela".

Good analysis.

Warrl wrote:Remember: preteen-Castela is watching, in effect, a replay in the holodeck. She was not there (Widdle Pwant was there) when these events happened. There's no way the agent is talking to her. She could have been shot a dozen times but she'd take no injury at all and the bullets would not be slowed or deflected in the slightest. Her presence comforted or concerned nobody.

What I'm thinking, though, is that unless Widdle Pwant was already trying to create a solid-ish animate form (like preschool-Castela), there's no way it was big enough to wrap around A'sawi like that. So maybe, at that time, there were TWO plants - a large one and a small one. The large one was effectively the previous generation of the process of developing the stinkweed we know and love. It's what A'sawi is wrapped up in.

We've seen Castela produce a more biomatter than she ought be able to, and her "tumbleweed" form cannot possibly contain as much as her humanoid form. Also, if "widdle pwant" is as mobile as we see here, she has a LOT of general control over her forms, even if no sentience above, perhaps bonobo level so far.

And Leucosia specifically refers to "Widdle Pwant" as "Castela".

To be honest, if i were Marius, even if Atsali has no significance AT ALL in what's going on, if i were a friend of the family (or even an agent who worked closely with them in their relocation) i'd be very happy to see her unhurt, as a complete innocent in all this.

Warrl wrote:Remember: preteen-Castela is watching, in effect, a replay in the holodeck. She was not there (Widdle Pwant was there) when these events happened. There's no way the agent is talking to her. She could have been shot a dozen times but she'd take no injury at all and the bullets would not be slowed or deflected in the slightest. Her presence comforted or concerned nobody.

What I'm thinking, though, is that unless Widdle Pwant was already trying to create a solid-ish animate form (like preschool-Castela), there's no way it was big enough to wrap around A'sawi like that. So maybe, at that time, there were TWO plants - a large one and a small one. The large one was effectively the previous generation of the process of developing the stinkweed we know and love. It's what A'sawi is wrapped up in.

Gamelan said Castela's name in response to the plant protecting Atsali... And it has been observed that Castela doesn't conserve volume. Her head turned into a screeching flower of doom the size of the rest of her body.

And Castela-observer said "I'm protecting my sister"

And then there's the literary/trope/d'aww analysis that leans toward the "they were sisters all along" thing. Not sure what the actual term for that is, but I bet there is an actual are for that storytelling device or whatever.

My vote is Widdle Pwant is A'Sawi's name for Castela, and the Honey Locust Sleeping Bag of Doom is also Castela. All one and the same organism, who eventually grew and attained a humanoid form who is now observing this chain of events via Q Room.

GlytchMeister wrote: My vote is Widdle Pwant is A'Sawi's name for Castela, and the Honey Locust Sleeping Bag of Doom is also Castela. All one and the same organism, who eventually grew and attained a humanoid form who is now observing this chain of events via Q Room.

See my comment immediately above.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote: My vote is Widdle Pwant is A'Sawi's name for Castela, and the Honey Locust Sleeping Bag of Doom is also Castela. All one and the same organism, who eventually grew and attained a humanoid form who is now observing this chain of events via Q Room.

See my comment immediately above.

...why didn't the forum software tell me another comment had been posted? It usually says "yo, somebody said something, lookee here"

"Hey, it's-a me! Marius!"

You've heard of the drama zone. Well' this is the trauma zone.

I could see Castela giving Atsali a big, silent, tearful hug, the next time they meet. And Atsali will have no clue as to why Castela is being so sweet/weird/angsty/whatever.

jwhouk wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Now she's trying to remember Gaelan Marius . . .

Assuming, of course, that Marius is his surname rather than a codeword.

He was mentioned earlier by Pablo when he appeared back in the original "Atsali's mom" arc (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/never-be-a-weapon/), but not named in strip (see the "characters" list before the comments.)

That thank you was only 14-15 years late in being understood, but it was finally received.

Funny thing... he says the Blackthorn was in its "nursery" and Atsali was in the safe room. He doesn't mention them being together. I wonder why?

I think you're on to something there. Quite possibly to protect Castela as well.

Someone would demand extensive testing of both of them, which would not be good to do to anyone after something terrible like this, especially a child. It's obvious they have some sort of bond, and the tests would be to see how deep that goes. So it would likely involve, at some point, whether one can sense an injury to the other, as well as how protective Castela would be of Atsali.