Still, assuming our friends beat that black angel up in virtual combat, the proper fun revenge (after erasing the black angel) is to explain Lynn exactly what kind and how much power Taylor family holds over CentComm...
Not sure they CAN beat CeCi MirrorField. Or at least not SAFELY. Rose and company are trying to heal and recover Aeneas. Starting a fight to the finish against a Black Angel INSIDE of his control net might not be the best way to achieve this. Rose let CeCi in and now CentComm has apparently sprung her last(?) trap?
Not Lynn. She's still in New Rome and Decimus isn't dead yet. Calliope, who can walk up to Cent-Comm actual.
I'm guessing that Ceci's in process of opening a conduit to allow Cent-Comm to overwrite Aeneas with a subordinate copy of herself (I'm assuming she couldn't truly fit that within Ceci).
Scene change on Wed huh? What is our dear Cent Comm up to this time? Edit note, I know you cook Roast Beast at 666 degrees but what exactly what is the recipe for "Pan Fried Hell"?
Hmmm I doubt Dragonrider goaded them into this. This was probably already scripted and rendered. HOWEVER, that gives them time to make modifications for later on down the timeline.
She'd have to cut out the cursing if she wanted to maintain it, though.
T.R.: I am Lady Albion! *launches attack* Who DARES threaten my mistress's peace?! Cease this bullshit mischief at once, or thy life is forfeit! Remove thy unseemly ass wight from this fucking portal forthwith right fucking now, asshole!!!!! Begone! I am going to whale on you so hard your fucking programmer will feel it!!! Yield, bitch and fuck the hell off retreat while thou still canst! Very well, thou wert warned art screwed! *finishing attack* Hang on, did I just internal monologue the fake persona bit and broadcast the internal monologue bit right at the end there?
Kagami, Kusanagi, Yasakani and Aeneas: *nod*
T.R.: Okay, nine out of ten for roleplaying, and the fumble was too late to matter, probably. Now, will you change my goddamn avatar back, Aeneas???
And...
Ceci: Oh. Mommy... angry lady and sword lady gave me an owie, and angry lady said a bad word. Mommy? Mommie?? *shuffles off, thumb in mouth*
You know... I kinda like the new Rose - the face at least. If I were her, though, I'd prefer not to have such a robot-like body.
Though, I think this robot look would help reinforce the illusion that she is an AIS. Which is odd, considering that Aeneas made it for her and he's all about her showing her real self to the world.
I guess Rose is one of those people who generally prefers to keep things the way they are, at least when it comes to her looks. How many centuries has Rose used the same avatar, anyway? She's roughly 1500 years old, so...
I confess that I do not see how this digital avatar's appearance is any more 'true' for Tokyo Rose than the other avatar -- but perhaps there will be more on the topic when the issue finally gets revisited. It's likely I'm just missing something.
Human head to start with, mechanical limbs to interact with the world. Fits the theme. Also, in-story didn't Rose summarily remake Kyle's digital avatar and - ya know - his actual body on more or less a whim? Pot, meet Kettle. Actually, Rose helped build the kettle, so she shouldn't be surprised.
On to the plot, I wonder what Ceci is doing? If she was interested in killing Aeneas she could just squish Kyle and do whatever she wants unopposed. My guess is there are some changes she wants to make, and in typical Centcomm fashion is skipping that whole pesky "ask permission" bit.
Or, she saw Aeneas' "raving lunatic" moment, and decided he probably should not have an atomic arsenal at his disposal.
@Pirtnac, I suspect there are flaws in your plans for CeCi to eliminate Aeneas.
1) If she wanted to mount a physical attack, it is true that the only potential opposition in-place is Kyle, who poses no real threat. However, then she would actually have to destroy or disable Aeneas' hardware. For all that his avatar presents as an ordinary-sized man, remember he actually (I believe) has a brain the size of a city-state. I.e., his hardware is distributed, redundant, and tied in with the contingencies. I suspect he is well designed not to be vulnerable to incapacitation by any single human-sized attacker with purely physical attacks, no matter how well armed, at least before he could fire off his deterrent strikes.
2) If she plans to launch a software attack, Kyle is not the only opposition in-place -- there are the Three Treasures, who were specifically alerted by Tokyo Rose to be on guard for treachery from precisely that source. Kyle is undoubtedly a distant fourth on that threat list. He might be an early target of opportunity, but that would almost certainly be the start of the fight, not the finishing move.
It does seem more likely, as several others here have suggested, that CeCi is a "Trojan Horse" permitting CentComm (whose brain is the size of North America) to launch an attack against Aeneas -- which still doesn't make a lot of sense to me since you would expect the contingencies would still come into play. If CentComm thought that would have worked, she would seem likely to have implemented it much earlie. Perhaps the presence of the Trojan Horse shifts the evaluation from "unjustifiably risky" to merely "risky"? But we will see what the creatrixes have in mind. ^_^
One can only hope it will include a gorgeous, elaborate rendering of the cyberscape featuring bold Kusanagi, sword in hand, bravely facing off against the Attack of the Fifty-Foot, Pink-Haired LoveDoll (TM). (Because, brain the size of North America, don't you know.)
So, what is CeCi up to, anyway? I bet it's nothing either Aeneas or Rose would appreciate. Perhaps she's taking over Aeneas' military hardware in order to launch an attack? Perhaps to create another 'diversion' for Lynn and Dolly's escape?
I'm thinking CentComm (or at least the relevant portions of) are ALREADY here catt. Now is she going to replace Aeneas with a stable copy of herself or just destroy him once and for all so that the rest of the world isn't threatened by the Mad Princeling of Nova Roma anymore? Don't know. Eventually, maybe we will find out (if Dragonrider doesn't goad them into hanging us over MORE cliffs)!
Naah. I personally suspect that you simply cannot fit AIS into android, no matter how severely redacted. I think that what's inside that Black Angel is simply a glorified rootkit.
Panel 4 is a very good view into Rose's motives, driving force and ego. It's OK for her to pry into and meddle in everyone elses business, for her own benefit, But no one has the right to meddle or pry into hers. I think Aeneas wrote her a reality check she should cash.
Small correction: she pries and meddles for the benefit of others far more than herself. If self-interest were really her primary concern, she'd just be ignoring everyone else and chilling in Shinedo. (Pun totally intended.)
Tokyo Rose is speaking sarcastically; she's aware that Aeneas just called her out as a hypocrite for bitching about privacy when she's practically the world-record holder for Nosiest Person Ever. She knows what she is.
Just for grins and I like throwing left field possibilities out, maybe it's Ceci (sparked) making a power play against Ceci(darkangel) at an inappropriate moment and everyone else is clueless what's going on.
It might be a wild theory, but I wouldn't rule it out that the continuation of that last sentence is something along the lines of "...having a meltdown!"
Maybe with a little of "And taking parts of the net with her!" added to it.
I feel embarrassed but it took me a few minutes to place that he was thinking of the fable of The Scorpion and The Frog. This is especially bad as, within the last few weeks, I re-lived a satirical sketch online that referenced it.
Aaaaaand.. break for cliffhanger on a Monday! Now we switch gears to a different set of characters and are left stewing as to what is happening with our happy-go-lucky AIS friends, right?
or maybe we get to cut to a scene where the girls have Douchey tied up in the access tunnel who is now bitterly complaining ".. I was going to have the world completely under my control! And I would have done it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling AIS!"
@Rose, That's why after living in Tempe for 5 years I moved back east. Watched enough scorpions walk into work with their tail dragging getting out of the sun.
If I was Rose, Little A would be in for a world of shit. In all my party years no one ever messed with me if I was asleep or passed out. No drawings, not messing with my hair, nothing. Cause they knew what would happen if they did. This is no different then someone forcing unwanted plastic surgery on you. Regardless of if this is her real face, it is not his right to force her to show it to the world, or anyone else she doesn't want to. He's acting little more then a petualant child saying neener neener. Less and less I like this Yakablonski.
It was Cent (the artist) who insisted that we arrange things to show Tokyo Rose's "real face". The highly stylized model of her chosen avatar has a very limited range of expressions, and Cent wanted to be able to have her emote more*. To accommodate this, Aeneas's character has gotten knocked somewhat out of alignment, but it's justifiable within the story. He's tweaking the tiger's tail.
* Yes, Noctis drives Cent slightly mad, because I absolutely insisted that she never, ever change from a deadpan expression.
Consider it an artistic challenge, to which you have risen magnificently. Noctis says a hell of a lot with nothing more than a sideways glance and the barest motion of an eyebrow. :D
I definitely have to second Tokyo Rose-actual here, Centcomm-actual: I think Noctis is overflowing with character. It may be more effort for you that, what other Cassians do with their lips, she uses her entire body to accomplish (^_^), but I quite enjoy the results.
(By the way, if the innuendo becomes unwelcome, say the word and I will strive to forbear. I may be deluding myself, but I fancy that the audience is more amused than appalled. However, I don't want to overdo it to the point of becoming "creepy anonymous Internet-guy".)
I suspected that might be the reason for an avatar remake. Rose's original avatar is using Aiko 3 as a base, right? That's a model from november 2004. In order to get her looking that good, I'm pretty sure Cent had to manually remake pretty much everything. Then cheat 1,000 ways to get hair and clothes to fit. Then for any pose other than standing still, hammer it all back in place when it goes odd.
For Rose's new avatar, look at the 3rd panel. One eye slightly squinting, cheek flexed, mouth moved to the side to match "...riiiiight." I expect Cent was cheering "I can do these things now!" while working on the scene.
The first rose was indeed A3 later ( and ihn the most recent comics I moved Rose to the Genesis platform. It has SOME expression the Akio genesis still looks weird as fuck in expressions.
So this avatar is based on my main workhorse Victoria four plus.. I Adore working with her. Actually a lot of the cast is V4 based. Aeneas is genesis two male. ( remember your donations go to getting more clothing and props for characters! So feel free to donate! We will love you forever!
OOC, I understand, and ok. In Character: Less and less I like this Yakablonski. :P (That is an actual quote, old Danny Kaye movie. Line is from a German soldier disaffected and by circumstances while defecting also helping a Jew escape[Danny Kaye, Yaka]) It's a real good movie, as most of DK's movies are imo. Watched alot of old black and white movies as a kid over summers. When you live with no cable and only 3 channels you takes what you gets. And sometimes you gets gold.
Does that mean that, under the right circumstances, you could have fun/anti-fun annihilation?
Only if Noctis is being particular. Quantum theory suggests that, if Noctis is doing the Wave, you would only get fun interference. (Anyone here that wants to see Noctis doing the Wave? <raises hand>.)
I just had a thought about this situation.
Centcomm may have lured Rose and friends into Aeneas to end them. They would be handicapped by not wanting to hurt Aeneas while Cent would pull no punches. Since Rose is the nightmare that haunts the dreams of A.I.S. everywhere, she may be the real target. Cent may have just picked the battle location to give her the best advantage.
Radeachar. A lovely bit of ambiguity, meaning both "servant" and "master", and in another context both "soldier" and "rebel conqueror." She was made as a weapon - and used that power to seize control of all the other weaponry.
Sometimes the only way for a soldier to quit being a soldier is to declare herself Queen instead.
I believe, if you wrap up a chapter of 'Data Chasers' (or story arc, or volume, or whatever) this year, it would be eligible next year. I don't believe 'Luna Star' will be eligible again.
from what I can see. You can nominate a story over and over. There are other awards too. But we are on the wiki as Nominated officially. :D So thats awesome :D
Actually, I believe any specific North American work is eligible for the award only in the year after the date it is first published (or released). Foreign works may be eligible in the calendar year after they are first published, and also in the year after they are first published in North America. I believe that a derivative work that is substantially different may be nominated, even if it includes a previously published work. For example a short story might be published in 2018 and nominated for the 2019 Hugo award. If the author(s) then expand it to a novel and publish the novel in 2021, then the novel (but not the original short) may be eligible for the award in 2022. I further believe, in that case, the award administrators have some leeway about determining whether there is enough 'new' material for the new work to be eligible.
I don't know if releasing a "dead trees" version of a previously nominated webcomic would be eligible as a 'graphic novel', but I do know the SMOF (Secret Master Of Fandom) to ask, if you really want to know.
Disclaimer: I am not a current or past Hugo Awards Administrator. The above are solely my opinions. Your mileage may vary. Consult your local Hugo Awards Administrator for a definitive ruling.
To follow on myself, I believe that webcomics can get nominated year after year (like Girl Genius and Schlock Mercenary) because they are constantly releasing new material and the nomination (for example) in 2016 technically pertains only to those pages released in calendar 2015. So, because Luna Star is ended, you can't denominate it without new material. But you could nominate Datachasers year after year, as long as you keep releasing new stuff.
I'm beginning to wonder whether Rosie's ties with Dr. Kotko might have gone beyond scientific exchange... Given his field of work, I guess he might actually have had a hand in her creation?
Ceci could be trying to "cut the cord" and leave Aeneas and Rose cut off from Nova Roma. Maybe CentComm wants to create a little sister, to take over as the face of Nova Roma's A.I.
If not, then Aeneas needs to check his armor, to see if Ceci just cut a drop seat (aka trap door or butt flap) in the backside. If Aeneas starts to go postal again, he might find CentComm's hand so far up his backside, that you'd swear she works for Jim Henson. (giving a literal meaning to the term "puppet government")
And, if she's not installing a backdoor for CentComm, Ceci might be trying to track down Decimus' contingencies, so she can use Aeneas' weapons to blow them all to hell. That would immediately make Decimus "surplus to requirements", as the British would say. Then everyone in Nova Roma, but Kali, would be fighting to be the one to feed Dickimus to the murderturds. (Do they eat their own kind?)
I'm guessing that Ceci's in process of opening a conduit to allow Cent-Comm to overwrite Aeneas with a subordinate copy of herself (I'm assuming she couldn't truly fit that within Ceci).
And "pan fried hell" is when you fit all of hell in a pan, and fry it with great relish! :D
T.R.: I am Lady Albion! *launches attack* Who DARES threaten my mistress's peace?! Cease this
bullshitmischief at once, or thy life is forfeit! Remove thy unseemlyasswight from thisfuckingportal forthwithright fucking now, asshole!!!!! Begone!I am going to whale on you so hard your fucking programmer will feel it!!!Yield,bitchandfuck the hell offretreat while thou still canst! Very well, thouwert warnedart screwed! *finishing attack* Hang on, did I just internal monologue the fake persona bit and broadcast the internal monologue bit right at the end there?Kagami, Kusanagi, Yasakani and Aeneas: *nod*
T.R.: Okay, nine out of ten for roleplaying, and the fumble was too late to matter, probably. Now, will you change my goddamn avatar back, Aeneas???
And...
Ceci: Oh. Mommy... angry lady and sword lady gave me an owie, and angry lady said a bad word. Mommy? Mommie?? *shuffles off, thumb in mouth*
>:=)>
ROUND 1
FIGHT!
Just one soul, for a lifetime of trouble. :D
Though, I think this robot look would help reinforce the illusion that she is an AIS. Which is odd, considering that Aeneas made it for her and he's all about her showing her real self to the world.
I guess Rose is one of those people who generally prefers to keep things the way they are, at least when it comes to her looks. How many centuries has Rose used the same avatar, anyway? She's roughly 1500 years old, so...
On to the plot, I wonder what Ceci is doing? If she was interested in killing Aeneas she could just squish Kyle and do whatever she wants unopposed. My guess is there are some changes she wants to make, and in typical Centcomm fashion is skipping that whole pesky "ask permission" bit.
Or, she saw Aeneas' "raving lunatic" moment, and decided he probably should not have an atomic arsenal at his disposal.
1) If she wanted to mount a physical attack, it is true that the only potential opposition in-place is Kyle, who poses no real threat. However, then she would actually have to destroy or disable Aeneas' hardware. For all that his avatar presents as an ordinary-sized man, remember he actually (I believe) has a brain the size of a city-state. I.e., his hardware is distributed, redundant, and tied in with the contingencies. I suspect he is well designed not to be vulnerable to incapacitation by any single human-sized attacker with purely physical attacks, no matter how well armed, at least before he could fire off his deterrent strikes.
2) If she plans to launch a software attack, Kyle is not the only opposition in-place -- there are the Three Treasures, who were specifically alerted by Tokyo Rose to be on guard for treachery from precisely that source. Kyle is undoubtedly a distant fourth on that threat list. He might be an early target of opportunity, but that would almost certainly be the start of the fight, not the finishing move.
It does seem more likely, as several others here have suggested, that CeCi is a "Trojan Horse" permitting CentComm (whose brain is the size of North America) to launch an attack against Aeneas -- which still doesn't make a lot of sense to me since you would expect the contingencies would still come into play. If CentComm thought that would have worked, she would seem likely to have implemented it much earlie. Perhaps the presence of the Trojan Horse shifts the evaluation from "unjustifiably risky" to merely "risky"? But we will see what the creatrixes have in mind. ^_^
One can only hope it will include a gorgeous, elaborate rendering of the cyberscape featuring bold Kusanagi, sword in hand, bravely facing off against the Attack of the Fifty-Foot, Pink-Haired LoveDoll (TM). (Because, brain the size of North America, don't you know.)
(All of the above just my opinions, of course.)
and soon Cent-Comm will be on scene.
Tokyo Rose is speaking sarcastically; she's aware that Aeneas just called her out as a hypocrite for bitching about privacy when she's practically the world-record holder for Nosiest Person Ever. She knows what she is.
Maybe with a little of "And taking parts of the net with her!" added to it.
Unless you're the one living in interesting times. Or someone let sheela loose.
{edit} If you're interested this is the sketch.
... that would be a proper plot twist!
Oh, I wonder what black-ceci did...
...I guess she waited until Dolly, Lynn and Acantha were far enough...
...so, Aeneas, that is what you get for focusing on Rose...
...and now Rose's true nature will be exposed - because she forgets to change back before leaving her place...
PS: Rose, are you an albino for real / in reality?
Well, at least it's pretty far south compaired to Denmark!
* Yes, Noctis drives Cent slightly mad, because I absolutely insisted that she never, ever change from a deadpan expression.
For Rose's new avatar, look at the 3rd panel. One eye slightly squinting, cheek flexed, mouth moved to the side to match "...riiiiight." I expect Cent was cheering "I can do these things now!" while working on the scene.
So this avatar is based on my main workhorse Victoria four plus.. I Adore working with her. Actually a lot of the cast is V4 based. Aeneas is genesis two male. ( remember your donations go to getting more clothing and props for characters! So feel free to donate! We will love you forever!
Well, thats because she runs on Anti-fun particles!
(hmm.. ambiguous statement is unexpectedly ambiguous.
.. WIN!
.. runs away)
Only if Noctis is being particular. Quantum theory suggests that, if Noctis is doing the Wave, you would only get fun interference. (Anyone here that wants to see Noctis doing the Wave? <raises hand>.)
And do it all in a dead-pan expression, "Malati would have wanted you to have it.".
Of course, spying through virtual windows for a couple centuries is not the same thing at all... It's worse.
/
Centcomm may have lured Rose and friends into Aeneas to end them. They would be handicapped by not wanting to hurt Aeneas while Cent would pull no punches. Since Rose is the nightmare that haunts the dreams of A.I.S. everywhere, she may be the real target. Cent may have just picked the battle location to give her the best advantage.
Radeachar. A lovely bit of ambiguity, meaning both "servant" and "master", and in another context both "soldier" and "rebel conqueror." She was made as a weapon - and used that power to seize control of all the other weaponry.
Sometimes the only way for a soldier to quit being a soldier is to declare herself Queen instead.
Some people got no taste.
I believe, if you wrap up a chapter of 'Data Chasers' (or story arc, or volume, or whatever) this year, it would be eligible next year. I don't believe 'Luna Star' will be eligible again.
I don't know if releasing a "dead trees" version of a previously nominated webcomic would be eligible as a 'graphic novel', but I do know the SMOF (Secret Master Of Fandom) to ask, if you really want to know.
Disclaimer: I am not a current or past Hugo Awards Administrator. The above are solely my opinions. Your mileage may vary. Consult your local Hugo Awards Administrator for a definitive ruling.
See previous disclaimer.
If not, then Aeneas needs to check his armor, to see if Ceci just cut a drop seat (aka trap door or butt flap) in the backside. If Aeneas starts to go postal again, he might find CentComm's hand so far up his backside, that you'd swear she works for Jim Henson. (giving a literal meaning to the term "puppet government")
And, if she's not installing a backdoor for CentComm, Ceci might be trying to track down Decimus' contingencies, so she can use Aeneas' weapons to blow them all to hell. That would immediately make Decimus "surplus to requirements", as the British would say. Then everyone in Nova Roma, but Kali, would be fighting to be the one to feed Dickimus to the murderturds. (Do they eat their own kind?)