Follow Me 2012-12-18

[chibichibi01]

I'd probably squee, fangirl hug, then piss my pants in terror waiting to be struck down. XD

[Julie]

If Nudge had not convinced her, Lily just realized that she is in the Big Leagues now!
Why does someone as tall as Brandi need heels?

Because dayum! That's why.

Truthfully, I think every woman should have a pair of sexy-as-hell heels...even if they're plain black pumps that are sexy simply because they're worn with a tailored suit. There's something empowering about wearing an amazing pair of heels (and this is coming from a woman who spent most of her life as a tomboy...and still refuses to wear make-up or do anything with her hair unless it's a special occasion). I have a friend who is 5'10", and she steered clear of heels for years because she wasn't comfortable with how much taller they'd make her...until I pointed out how a really great pair can make your legs look and change the way you walk and how you carry yourself. Now she owns about 5 or 6 pairs of heels (shortest is 2.5", tallest is 4"). (Oh, and while I can vouch for the fact that not every pair of killer heels is comfortable, as NotDilbert implies, I can also vouch for the fact that I don't care as long as I'm wearing them to an event where I spend most of the evening sitting...like the opera, or a formal office party.)

With regards to the comic...Is it just me, or is the most vulnerably uncomfortable Pratt has looked so far? I mean, we've seen ooked-out-frightened...we've seen surly...we've even seen nervous...but this seems more, well, vulnerable. Maybe it's just the lighting in that last panel.

[Aleister Crow]

Not-Brandi, meet Brandi. And pick up your cup, will ya?

OMMFG!!! Now i know why the two agents look so much like Brandi and Bud... they're gonna be Body-Doubles for both of them... once Brandi finally gets done training them up to act the part... THAT'S when they will bring Monica into the loop (no pun intended) about the MIB with THOSE TWO AS THE "BOSSES"... it'll backfire in the long run when Monica finds out of course, and as we know that SHELLY knows that Monica will get pissed if she finds out about them keeping secrets from her later... the question remains: does Brandy and Bud know that? as of right now, as far as i can recall... Brandi is the only Supe that HASN'T done something to betray her trust! Jin was the WHOLE "CM Loop" manipulation thing, Bud and Shelly were the one's behind stabbing her in the head (AND recently ripping her heart out). Phix and Nudge for the "Eating of Medea" incident, Euryale freezing her too many times, Maya teaching her Glyph and then "disappearing" that got her locked up for a long time... Tepoz for going along with most of it till he cracked and told her the rest (as far as we know, since there are still some discrepancies in his side of things) when Monica finds out about Brandi now being the one to betray her, especially in something this profound, the fecal matter will DEFINITELY impact the rotary air impeller...

I though Monica already knew. Didn't Euryale spill the beans about Brandi, Bud and the MiB back when she and Monica first met?

[TlalocW]

Why does someone as tall as Brandi need heels?

My Ex, the one that looks like Brandi, was 6' in her stalking feet. She liked dating me because she could wear heels...

I read that as your ex dated you because she liked heels. Somewhat different meaning.

Speaking of dayum, let's not forget short women who know how to walk in heels.

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/not-gym-class/

[Boxilar]

This is a reminder of how the rest of the Wapsiverse sees the GGGs. They've never been anything other than people to Monica. Granted, people who could destroy the world on a whim, but people nontheless. Shelly was initially afraid of Bud, but got over it when she got to know the woman trapped in that clay shell. The common thread, of course, for the main cast is personal contact. Monica and Shelly know Bud, Brandi and Jin personally and are friends with them. And it dosen't hurt that Shelly and M are Powers in their own right now, something Shelly seems to have accepted. (The jury is still out on Monica.)

For Agent Pratt though... One of the bogey men out of the supernatural community just noticed her. From her reaction, Brandi is feared and respected, and with good reason. She destroyed Lanthis, she has been manipulating events to bring about the destruction of the Calander Machine for a cumulative 80,000 years and she aparrently constucted a barrier out of the Viama Cells to keep the old gods from interfering in world affairs. She's indesructible, and all on her own is a weapon of mass destruction to rival anything any villan ever concived of with the power to rival Titans.

We know the Brandi that keeps houseflys in the spring release jar and dosen't want to hurt anyone.

Lily is reacting to the Brandolin Odoya that has been ordering and directing human events in conjuction with, or in opposition to, beings like Bia for tens of thousands of years.

She is wise to be afraid of poking lions.

[Fairportfan]

It's most likely the Agent Pratt, being of the supernatural world, knows about "The Chess Master" and possibly the MIB.

She knows about the MiB because she's already been welcomed to the organisation by her direct supervisor - Tsillah.

[Fairportfan]

Yup, there goes the coffee.

<Tim-the-enchanter> I told them, I warned them... but they never listen! </Tim-the-enchanter>

Actually, what i hear in situations like this is

<Iago> I am not surprised! I am so not-surprised I could just moult! </Iago>

[Fairportfan]

Not QUITE tongue tied, but certainly terrified. These two are getting such an overpowering introduction to the higher echelons of the supernatural world...

Given what we've been told about the way that vampires are normally regarded in the super/preternatural world, she's sort of in the position of some enlisted screwup, somewhere in France, who's only a private because there isn't any lower rank to bust him to, grabbed on his way to the mess hall to begin the next day of his permanent KP assignment, and told "See that guy over there? He wants to talk to you..."

...finding himself being welcomed to SHAEF Staff by Eisenhower himself.

(Or maybe like Nelerik Explorer, for those who read Miller & Lee's Liaden Universe books...)

[Fairportfan]

Not-Brandi, meet Brandi. And pick up your cup, will ya?

OMMFG!!! Now i know why the two agents look so much like Brandi and Bud... they're gonna be Body-Doubles for both of them... once Brandi finally gets done training them up to act the part...

They're gonna have to swap upper stories for that - Suzi's the busty one in that team.

Put her and Bud side by side and look at them from the side, with Bud closer to the camera and you'd still be able to see Suzi's boobs.

[Bathorys Daughter]

Aha!! With Jay-Em out of the way, I can swoop in & make Brandi mine! MINE!!! Mwahahahaaa!!!

...if she'd have me, of course.

See, Lily, now you're working for the Jaguar Girl, too! Won't Suzy be jealous?

Why would she be jealous? They're partners, which means they'd both be working for the Jaguar Girl.

In a sense, they all work for Monica since she has absolute authority over Brandi and the other GGs. So despite Brandi's high muckety-muck position in the MIB, she is still Monica's pawn to do with as she pleases.

[Dave]

See, Lily, now you're working for the Jaguar Girl, too! Won't Suzy be jealous?

Why would she be jealous? They're partners, which means they'd both be working for the Jaguar Girl.

In a sense, they all work for Monica since she has absolute authority over Brandi and the other GGs. So despite Brandi's high muckety-muck position in the MIB, she is still Monica's pawn to do with as she pleases.

Well, Monica has one aspect of great power over the GGs... the power of Command. Up until her Phoenix-and-Jaguar powers manifested themselves, this power had certain serious limits in practice - she had to actually decide to use it, and any of the GGs could have easily incapacitated her before that happened via a quick poit-and-tap. Now that Monica's close to immortal, and not very vulnerable at all, this power would be easier for her to actually use. I don't think it's certain whether she has to be in close proximity to a GG for her Glyph commands to be effective, or whether the command power will work at a great distance and without her knowing just where the GG is. It's possible that if a GG simply took off, and avoided all of the locations that Monica would be able to reach and inspect, she might be able to nullify Monica's ability to compel her.

"Authority" is perhaps somewhat of a different issue. There's a great deal that Brandi (and presumably Bud and Jin and Mayahuel, and probably Tepoz) know about history and the current situation, that Monica does not... and I suspect Monica would admit this pretty freely if asked. There's a lot that Monica has not asked them about (as far as we know) and I suspect that much of this comes from Monica's discomfort at the whole subject of her place in the Paranormal Scheme of Things. So, she's not really an "authority" on the situation... she has the power to command, but not necessarily the knowledge or understanding to do so wisely.

It does seem likely that somebody (perhaps the Fates either metaphorically or literally) has been "grooming" Monica to be a Universe-class leader in some way... but she's still growing into the role, and is finding the growth spurts to be rather uncomfortable at times (and no, I'm not talking just about her bust size!)

I'm reminded a bit of one of the themes from Donaldson's Thomas Covenant stories: power which is simply taken (rather than earned the hard way) tends to rebound nastily upon the wielder, because the wielder hasn't done the "hard work" to acquire the wisdom to know how and when to use the power (and, just as importantly, when not to use it!)

[scantrontb]

I though Monica already knew. Didn't Euryale spill the beans about Brandi, Bud and the MiB back when she and Monica first met?

you're right. i had totally forgotten about that until i was doing the archive trawl for another post i wanted make, but by that time i was too zombied to really want to edit my OP...

They're gonna have to swap upper stories for that - Suzi's the busty one in that team. Put her and Bud side by side and look at them from the side, with Bud closer to the camera and you'd still be able to see Suzi's boobs.

ok, maybe body DOUBLES wasn't the technically CORRECT term, but you get my drift. i meant it more along the lines of "this person will play the part of Brandi, while talking to people that DON'T KNOW the REAL Brandi, only the exaggerated, tall-tail, mythic version of Brandi... to allow the real Brandi the time or plausible denial-ability to be "elsewhere" doing something important at the same time..." which, when i first thought of this was meant to be used for Brandi introducing Monica to the MIB specifically, with her just explaining away the similarities in looks as "how we look so alike as being the reason behind all those stories about how "I" started the MIB... Phsaw!, nope just a case of inaccurate descriptions, and vague recollections of witnesses, etc... you see how somebody could confuse the two of us..." thus allowing her "cover" as a "mild-mannered office manager" to go unchallenged... at least until Monica remembers what Euryale told her about the MIB on the day they first met each other in the Annex...

[jwhouk]

Meanwhile, I'm occasionally hearing Uncle Kracker every time I see the title to this comic.

[eee]

Well, Monica has one aspect of great power over the GGs... the power of Command. Up until her Phoenix-and-Jaguar powers manifested themselves, this power had certain serious limits in practice - she had to actually decide to use it, and any of the GGs could have easily incapacitated her before that happened via a quick poit-and-tap. Now that Monica's close to immortal, and not very vulnerable at all, this power would be easier for her to actually use. I don't think it's certain whether she has to be in close proximity to a GG for her Glyph commands to be effective, or whether the command power will work at a great distance and without her knowing just where the GG is. It's possible that if a GG simply took off, and avoided all of the locations that Monica would be able to reach and inspect, she might be able to nullify Monica's ability to compel her.

IIRC - and I'm going solely by memory here, so I may well be wrong - the first time Monica used Command it was unintentional, and at a distance. Early on she was puzzled by why the GGG did what they did and who they were, and as she was walking out the door of her house one morning - none of the GGG around - she wished she knew more about them.

And then, as she did occasionally back then, she absent-mindedly spoke a Glyph.

When Kevin and she got back to the house that evening, Kevin found a manifestation of the girls' incinerated bodies when he went down to the basement, and when Monica went down she encountered Bud's spirit... or soul... which sobbed it would tell her everything but begged Monica not to force her to remember. As distraught as Bud, but knowing she HAD to know, Monica told her to go ahead, and spoke the Command Glyph again.

And got the whole story. As Bud knew it, anyway.

So it would appear Command works no matter what, and doesn't even need to be heard by the GGG to have effect.

[Dave]

So it would appear Command works no matter what, and doesn't even need to be heard by the GGG to have effect.

Yes, your memory is good... I just checked my dead-tree copies, and you're right. Monica had left home, gone to Mucho Mocha, and was out and about in the city, while the GGs were at home. M didn't even speak the Glyph verbally! She was musing to herself, and either thought or subvocalized the Glyph command. Similarly, when she gave the command to Bud for the second time (and I think it was actually Bud there, physically present in the cellar) she didn't speak it verbally.

So, it does work at some distance, and isn't strictly an auditory "hear and obey" thing. Command power is apparently mental (to at least some extent) and obedience is powerfully programmed into the GGs. Could be very difficult (or quite impossible) for them to disobey or evade... a firmly-worded "come here now, sit down, and do nothing more until I release you" could be an absolute showstopper.

[MerchManDan]

Meanwhile, I'm occasionally hearing Uncle Kracker every time I see the title to this comic.

Heh. I always hear Lieutenant Willy from Starship Troopers.

[davids4250]

to allow the real Brandi the time or plausible denial-ability to be "elsewhere" doing something important at the same time..."

Except that Brandi can POIT. If she needs plausible deniability, she can be one place one second and anywhere else the next. That provides plenty of deniability. "I could not have been in Minneapolis because I was with the President in Washington four minutes later."
POITing is such sweet travel.

[Yamara]

See, Lily, now you're working for the Jaguar Girl, too! Won't Suzy be jealous?

Why would she be jealous? They're partners, which means they'd both be working for the Jaguar Girl.

In a sense, they all work for Monica since she has absolute authority over Brandi and the other GGs. So despite Brandi's high muckety-muck position in the MIB, she is still Monica's pawn to do with as she pleases.

My point, such as I had one, was to tease Lily's very sensible reluctance to get involved with the Powers That Be, who are suddenly coming around to find her-- as opposed to Suzy's eagerness to approach them, that was met with demonic rebuke.

I.e. they're in the middle of a buddy flick now.

I'm reminded a bit of one of the themes from Donaldson's Thomas Covenant stories: power which is simply taken (rather than earned the hard way) tends to rebound nastily upon the wielder, because the wielder hasn't done the "hard work" to acquire the wisdom to know how and when to use the power (and, just as importantly, when not to use it!)

Probably what is terrifying Lily right now. 'I've done nothing to earn this attention, so I must be a pawn that's going to be sacrificed in some kind of horrifically spectacular way.' But she doesn't know Brandi as we do, and by extension, is probably grossly underestimating herself.

[Fairportfan]

Probably what is terrifying Lily right now. 'I've done nothing to earn this attention, so I must be a pawn that's going to be sacrificed in some kind of horrifically spectacular way.' But she doesn't know Brandi as we do, and by extension, is probably grossly underestimating herself.

The second part of that alleged Chinese curse - the one about "interesting times" - is "May you come to the attention of those in high places."

[Atomic]

I'm reminded a bit of one of the themes from Donaldson's Thomas Covenant stories: power which is simply taken (rather than earned the hard way) tends to rebound nastily upon the wielder, because the wielder hasn't done the "hard work" to acquire the wisdom to know how and when to use the power (and, just as importantly, when not to use it!)

Don't know about Donaldson, but the story (don't remember name) that popped up for me involved the acquisition of magical powers by way of a puberty type evolution by way of a very recessive genetic trait. The trick was, it was completely self limiting. If you attempted to use them for personal gain or authority over others (rule the world, muwhahah, etc), it killed you. Consequently, those with the ability as an adult were ONLY those who survived by NOT using it for nefarious purposes. The evolutionary result was a small number of altruistic wizards who passed the power from generation to generation.

Monica may be facing such a situation. Jaguar Girl, GGs at her command, and full squadron of MIB's at her back -- but -- She Must Not Die In Turmoil (crawl archive quick and find it), because if she does, the Chimera loses it's owner/controller! Hilarity (?) ensues.