Aww, thank you Wolfsbane! :'D <3
It was a major honour to have the opportunity to do a guest strip for Centy and Rose, so if you think the page works then that's a huge relief for me ;3;*
Aww! Thank you Stormwind13! ;3;*
I really enjoyed working on the CeCi panel in tribute to a great character <3 (but yes it also made me sad :'D *sobbu*)
<333 Aww geez revzet, I'm glad you find it beautiful :'D <3 (I am particularly glad this can be said given the page has a severed android head for a lot of it XDDD)
Yes, Cent mentioned on the last page that these pages are canon based on script that's already been written. I believe I read Cent will be able to ease back in a couple more weeks. However, I suspect we're nearly done with this corridor scene, and I don't know if that might require new sets, or how much lead time new comics would take.
and as per discussion with Rose the Guest art is staying once i get the CGI pages done ill put the CGI pages above the Guest art. These pages are just too good to be moved to the gallery and forgotten.
Omigosh Centy ;3;*** <3 I want to say what Serpy has said already in total agreement: thank you for trusting me with your script and characters so I could have the opportunity to work on this with you! It's a total honour <333
Dolly is bleeding on the outside too. I agree though the greater wound is inside Dolly's heart. CentComm will NOT enjoy the conversation with Dolly, bet on that!
A thought occurred to me Rose said and I quote "Her body self-destructed." she let nothing slip about her mind, I think(blind hope, maybe...) our dear CeCi might still be in the good fight...(I'm threedog bow wow...Not intentional I swear)
I still keep hoping some kind of deus-ex-machina solution somehow saves Ceci. At least her mind, like we have seen with Teedee.
But besides that, remember how Dr. Silver vowed Centcomm a chewout if Ceci didn't survive? This is getting an increasingly long list...
I have a mini theory about those earrings; I somehow think they'll lead a way back to restoring an earlier version of Ceci. I think it'd balance things out somehow, we'd get Ceci back, but still lose the Ceci that saved Aeneas. Just a tiny maybe. XD;;
Nope, no hopes, all dead!
She was only supposed to be a little bit-character after all.
Never mind that she decided to grow without the author's agreement. But hey, Dolly did the same darn thing.
Stupid side characters, developing on their own, without asking permission first!
It will be interesting to see what Tokyo Rose's objective is for spreading the news this way. Her treatment of Dolly, in particular, seems a little harsh and unjust ... but perhaps that's just to me.
And I doubt Dolly's going to have anything further to say to CentComm on the topic of CeCi -- since she's already shown she knows the best way to deal with that. She will, no doubt, have more to add to the preliminary information she sent back to Calliope -- and Calliope will probably have a bit more to say to CentComm. But since Calliope was less emotionally invested in CeCi, and willing to glass Nova Roma if Lynn was not rescued, we probably shouldn't expect any emotionally-charged histrionics on that front either.
Not sure I agree with that, @Sheela. One of the recurring minor themes we have seen emphasized is that Tokyo Rose allegedly takes care of her agents. We have seen this reinforced with Miraiko, Kyle, the Treasures, ... just to name few.
CeCi's actions made it possible for Rose to achieve her aims. There's an obligation there which, depending on your personal code of honor, probably does not end with CeCi's termination. Honor suggests the minimum that Rose must do is ensure that CeCi's ill-use be acknowledged and redeemed by CeCi's liege-lord (CentComm). Now, Rose being Rose, there's nothing that says that she can't use intermediaries to discharge the debt. But, unless I misread, until the debt is discharged, Rose does have an emotional investment in CeCi and her legacy.
Of course, I could easily be completely misreading the situation.
By delivering the news this way, the leaders of all interested parties have been immediately informed. They have also been informed that Aeneas is back, and given everyone a good idea of what they are going to be dealing with if they try to disable him again.
As far as how she broke the news to Dolly, I think Rose WANTED it to hurt Dolly... a LOT... Dolly is the guardian to Cent-Comm's care-taker, and an easy pressure point to start applying her revenge with.
it's not a matter of Rose Loathing Dolly. It's a matter of making Dolly hurt is such a way that she will take it out on Cent-Comm, whom Dolly has access to.
Rose basically loaded a weapon here and pointed it at Cent-Comm.
It doesn't seem to me that Dolly has any more access (or any more privileged access) to CentComm than, for example, Marcus Ramesy. Yes, she is currently acting as a CentComm agent, but that's true of a lot of people.
What she does have is access to Calliope Taylor, who in turn does have special, privileged access to CentComm. So, to construct a probably flawed analogy, let's put Calliope in as President of New Troy. CentComm is the Secretary of Defense, and Dolly is the White House Chief of Staff. In herself, Dolly can be as ignored by CentComm as any other influentially placed citizen of New Troy; but, if Dolly raises a complaint to her boss, CentComm is much more likely to be unable to ignore what comes rolling down the hill. ^_^
Methinks CentComm will learn that there is high price to pay for murdering Dolly's friends.
It wouldn't surprise me if Dolly sports a pair of handguns, for some time, simultaneously head-shotting two of CentComm's (unsparked) dolls at a time, whenever she comes across them.
"Murder" doesn't really seem an accurate description to me, @Speedy Marsh. After all, she wasn't supposed to be alive when the self-destruct was installed and configured.
Keep in mind that Tokyo Rose was not privy to the exchanges between Dolly and Ceci which established Ceci as having the potential to be more than just another disposable Black Angel.
She did, however, have access to CeCi's memories -- which implies an awareness that Dolly knew there was something 'off' about CeCi in two regards:
1) That she was originally intended to delay Dolly by sabotage.
2) That CeCi enjoyed an 'excess' of personality.
Of course, we don't really know to what extent Tokyo Rose was able to process the burst of memories while recovering them. I got the impression it was a non-zero amount and that her exchanges with Dolly (i.e., 'Mommy') would figure significantly -- but that still leaves a very broad range of possibilities.
Separate issue: In order for Rose to know that speaking through Nox's head will inform all factions, she is presumably diverting her attention from the events unfolding in cyberspace to monitor the progress of all parties through the tunnels. And this would presumably be by means of 'non-standard surveillance', since standard surveillance didn't find Acantha when she was running this way in the first place. Or else she's 'borrowing' Aeneas' functions again because he's busy ... doing something. <shrug>
I would imagine she has more important and less fatiguing things to do than just stare out of Nox's disembodied head waiting for people to happen across each other in this particular room -- but maybe I'm wrong. ^_^
Far more likely (to me) is that she's following the progress of Acantha's party and overhears the exchange about the contingencies -- at which point she decides to take pity on whichever folks happen to be there by reassuring them that they aren't about to die in the most abusive and condescending way possible ...? Because it makes for a good story, that group happens to contain all the factions, allowing us to see a bunch of reactions all at once, rather than having to spread it out over several days worth of updates, ^_^
Considering that Tokyo Rose is an amalgam of an AIS and a cyberpath, she can probably do true multitasking, so she would not have to divert her attention, she'd just have a seperate thread going on.
I agree Sheela, also I think Rose had Root access there for a while which would have let her know where all the access she didn't already have was located. With her cyberpath ability she jumped the gap and suddenly Nox is speaking from the great Beyond.
Regarding the separate issue here - I'm thinking TR deliberately stepped in there the moment she did since Nox's head didn't start sparking until then. ;)
Also, if I'm understanding this correctly, TR is interested in keeping Acantha alive, but after what Noctis said on the last page it seemed like everyone's attention would get focused on what was now essentially a non-threat, i.e. taking precious time away from focusing on preserving Acantha's life. So I think it makes sense TR would step in right then and there to tell them all what they should really be focusing on. Maybe? XD;;
I agree with you, @rufiangel, that at least one reason for Tokyo Rose to step in now is to keep people from being distracted by the non-issue the contingencies have become. The use of Nox's head does seem a bit gratuitous. I agree with @Morituri that different medium for the message would have seemed a bit more appropriate -- and also easier for Rose, unless she has ascended to wish-level cyberpathy.
Also, in the past we've observed that Tokyo Rose didn't seem so mean-spirited as to verbally brutalize lesser life-forms for no purpose, reserving her invective more for 'teaching moments' and attention getting from those who aren't paying attention. If there's anything like that going on here, I'm missing it, since people would seem to have been doing the best they can with the information they had, so I'm just not understanding the reason for the verbal volley. Hopefully all will be made clear as events unfold.
Many times people will accept bad news at face value without questioning the validity of it or of the bearer of it.
However they will oftentimes if not all of the time question the validity of good news AND the bearer of such.
Rose, by suddenly making Nox's head spark back to life and deliver the message SHOWS, that there is a someone out there who CAN reanimate what is basically "dead" giving more weight and credence to what they are saying, and shortcutting questions, such as "Who are you?", "How do YOU know the contingencies are stopped?", "How is Aeneas fixed now?", etc ad nauseum.
Rose by using Nox's head as a mouthpiece shut cut all of that out. Instead of trying to explain 50 things fifty different times, she pops in in a way that no one should be able to do, proving her bonafides to any disbelievers/doubters, while at the same time limiting the contact she has to make with them, which is probably a strain on her own body/systems.
Did I get that across right? Sometimes I'm not sure if I get my points across correctly.
@Gilrandir: <3 You're very welcome! I'm glad the page came across okay ;3;*
I'm definitely wondering how Dolly will let what happened to CeCi affect her interactions with CentComm; DLKmusic's thoughts make sense to me too, though I think TR is calculating enough to plan more steps and nudges along the way to lead to a specific outcome (so this isn't the only 'trap' she'll be setting in place).
...Ooor maybe TR is just really mad and fed up with CentComm at this point, and doesn't give a crap... XD;;;
Besides talking through a reanimated head is just darn cool, Tokyo Rose do have a flair for the dramatic.
And of course she "verbally brutalize lesser lifeforms", it's like .. her thing! You should hear her talk to kittens!
But then, the little bastards probably had it comin' though.
You set the bar so hiiiigh XD;;; *tackles Serpy-kins* thankyew for rooting for me while I was working on the page and weeping about my inadequacies though, it was super encouraging XDDD *fist bumps*
Looks like something finally cracked Noctis' poker face. All this time, I thought she had just shut down those facial-expression actuators.
But seeing the severed head of her sister talking with somebody else's voice has got to be pretty damned unnerving.
SERIOUSLY?! Rose didn't have access to PA speakers, a maintenance robot, or literally ANYTHING else that doesn't tip her hand as a cyberpath? She had to demonstrate taking control of a dead Cassian's head, and do it in view of a live Cassian?
Now I suppose Dolly and/or Lynn will be called on to explain who The Specialist is. And as far as they know, "A global but secretive AIS who was part of the team that built Aeneas two hundred years ago and was most recently seen trying to restore him." And the thought of a cyberpath AIS(!) and furthermore one with 'literal inside access' to Aeneas, will make Noctis crap her skintight pants.
And then Rose went and spilled the beans about Aeneas up and running again, which is likely to cause (even more!) widespread panic and rioting, considering that most of Nova Roma is apparently in abject terror of him anyway.
And then there's political fallout. SOOOO much political fallout. Although not as bad as it could have been. Unless Acantha dies, I think the main players left on the stage, with the HUGE exception of Centcomm itself, are ready to just get along with each other.
Interesting that Tokyo Rose is bothering to inform the tunnel gang at all. Logically, I would expect the announcement to come from Aeneas -- presuming his full function has been restored -- so maybe that's an indication that it hasn't yet. I mean, it isn't as if these people are the only ones who care, or have a vested interest in the situation, and Aeneas (presumably) now has his access restored to the Civil Defense apparatus.
"L-L-Ladies and Gentlemen of Nova Roma. This is M-M-Max Headroom announcing that the loud noises and fiery explosions you are s-s-seeing and hearing outside your windows are j-j-just p-p-pre-celeb-b-brations and that things should be settling down real soon now. There is no cause for further alarm, unless you are a corrupt senator or a state-sponsored slave trafficker, in which case you m-m-may want to consider other career options in the time you have l-l-left. Thank you ... And buy Crunchies (TM), the cereal centurions eat to grow big and strong!"
OMG, Max Headroom ! :D
Fuck it, that's the sort of thin Rose would do, just to mess with people's minds !
And while Aeneas' core seems to be up and running, and he's his old self again, I'm sure a lot of minor systems are still damage from years of neglect. Frankly, I think one of his biggest losses, is his quirky behavior he had pre-fix, it was oddly endearing.
OMG @Gilrander! I haven't thought about Max Headroom in ages. You realize that I must now go back through the archives and watch that show again. So much for free time this weekend... ;)
A piece of hardware that probably didn't have a power source, and that had all its data lost. Powered up, loaded drivers, spoke with it. Cyber necromancy, that.
I think telling those people was a good move. She's notified all useful leaders of the state of affairs, avoiding unneeded panic about Deadimus (no one else knows he's dead, yet), and maximizing the information lead they have on the rest of the nation. As for Aeneas, what the unwashed masses don't know won't cause them to flip out.
The unwashed masses (or at least a percentage of them) know that there is automatic weapons fire in the streets surrounding the palace, as well as both ground-burst and air-burst explosions. And, when they try to contact emergency services, their phones are out.
Someone should get around to telling them something. And I'm sure that, eventually, someone will.
@Morituri: I'm not sure if you're joking or not about Noctis's poker face, but just in case you're not, I apologise :'DDD that was definitely me trying to encapsulate her poker-face essence but maybe failing :'DDD
(When I was initially drawing the rough for this guest page, I kept wondering what was wrong with my Noctis panel and it took me some time before I realised I actually drew her with an expression XDDD some things you don't realise until you actually have to try drawing the character :'D)
Nope. Not joking. You certainly don't need to apologize though; it's not like I stepped up and drew the page.
Nox's head (except for that last panel with the grin) is drawn pretty expressionless. Noctis, on the other hand, looks like she's stuck on "caution mixed with horrified bewilderment" - the way someone might look if they see a poisonous snake materializing out of thin air. Of course that might be a confirmation bias on my part; it's exactly the RIGHT expression for her situation right now.
If you were going for expressionless .... Hmmm. I think I'd say lower the chin so she's looking directly at the head instead of trying to avoid its gaze, and her eyes probably shouldn't be so wide. Maybe even a not-very-noticeable hint of "menacing" or "on guard" to (mostly subconsciously) offset the audience's confirmation bias for fear and horror.
Its not that Noctis doesnt have or use expression she uses micro expressions. She drives me insane because of her lack of expression but she does use a lot of body language and in that regard i think rufi nailed it. :D
Thanks Morituri for the explanation, I can see what you mean :'D definitely something to keep in mind the next time I draw Noctis (and there'll be a next time, she's lovely to draw XD).
And thankyew Centy, I'm really glad you feel that way about the Noctis I ended up Noc-ing out ;3;* <3 *jots notes down*
I definitely do draw fluctuating eye sizes depending XD thank you for the affirmation <3
But yes, Maxus is exactly the kind of character I find hard to draw :'D the armour is sort of a blessing and a curse, since drawing mecha is not really one of my life skills but at least people knew who I was trying to depict inside the dang thing XD;;;
(Thank you Centy for bringing me this exquisite challenge XD <3)
I don't know, but someone seems mighty unhappy by Douchimus' demise. I thought there would be DANCING in the street over that news (at least once they realized they weren't going boom).
People are primed to receive bad news ("Decimus is dead."*) and will tend to find it credible from even the most dubious of sources. But they are much less likely to find good news ("The contingencies have been disabled.") credible unless from a trusted source. Even when the source is the same, you can end up believing the bad things they tell you, and not the good, unless you make a conscious effort otherwise.
So, if someone is telling me I'm about to die, but not to worry because I'm not about to die, I'd probably be more alarmed than celebratory until I take a moment to think about it -- or, as Noctis is doing, coolly and rationally try to assess the reliability of any information before letting it affect my responses. There undoubtedly will be dancing, once people are more informed about the actual situation.
* - Strange as it sounds, this can be bad news if you have the ingrained belief that his death will lead to the loss of all you hold dear. Although, to be fair, he did work hard to make that less of a given. Note that, at the end, he actually succeeded in reversing that with Kali -- and look how that worked out for him. ^_^
The good news is that the forces intact mostly will follow Maxus, and I suspect his remaining personal army will melt into the wasteland since they're now in a no-win situation.
The bad news is that everyone will be making power-plays politically now. Also, a good chunk of the city is, at present, not in a good way I would suspect.
General Maxus : "Acantha is the rightful heir!"
Crowd (chorus) : "All hail Acantha!"
Acantha : "We owe everything to CeCi!"
Crowd : "Hail CeCi!"
Man in crowd : "She's a witch!"
Crowd : **GASP**
Acantha : "No she isn't."
Man : "Is too."
Acantha : "Is not."
Man : "Is too."
Acantha : "Is not."
Maxus : "..'WAS' .. not 'is'"
Man : ".. oh .."
Acantha : " .. oh .."
Acantha : "Was not."
Man : "Was too."
Acantha : "Was not."
Man : "Was too."
Maxus : "Stop it!"
Maxus : "This is the most infantile argument EVER!"
Man : "She started it."
Acantha : "Did not."
Man : "Did too."
Acantha : "Did n..*"
Maxus : "SHUT UP !!"
Man : "...."
Acantha : "..."
Man : "... ok, so maybe she was not a witch."
Acantha : "Thank you!"
Man : "But she was still an android!"
Crowd : **GASP**
Acantha : "Arrrgh!"
Maxus : *sigh* .. "Lord Mars, why me?"
I think everyone might just be feeling like the rug just got pulled out from under their feet, and then the rug started talking to them XD;;;
Imagining the whole group suddenly breaking out into a musical number over Decimus's free-floating carbon particles in response to the news though (especially with Noctis's non-expressive face) gives me the grins XD <3
I thought all the characters were easily identified -- except for the face in panel 1, which I had a little trouble with. here are my guesses:
Panel 1: Don't know. Originally I guessed Maxus, because of the faceplate, but that doesn't look right to me. Maybe Kathryn (head of Damnatio Memoriae)?
Panel 2: TeeDee
Panel 3: Kathryn. Note: As best I can tell, all dialogue for panels 1-3 is actually coming from her, but we are shown that it is made available to the reader by virtue of coming in via TeeDee's earbug in panel 2.
Panel 4: Rose, speaking through Nox, with reactions from Noctis and TeeDee.
Panel 5: Rose, speaking through Nox
Panel 6: Reactions by Maxus, Ada, and TeeDee. Voiceover by Rose.
Panel 7: Noctis
Panel 8: Rose, speaking through Nox
Panel 9: Maxus
Panel 10: Dolly and Lynn, Voiceover by Rose
Panel 11: Rose, speaking through Nox. Back of Dolly's and Lynn's heads.
Panel 12: Dolly. Voiceover by Rose
Panel13: CeCi
Panel 14: Dolly
And as I interpret the first three panels, it's Marcus and the Damnatio leader shouting into their voice comm, which ends up in TeeDee's ear, hence why she's flinching a bit.
And I rather enjoy that TeeDee and Noctis both react to Nox's head coming alive by wanting to kill it.
yes the face in panel one is marcus only his armor has the sniper array of optics like that and yes Rufi did the split look to convey shock. I LOVVVED it And yes thats Kath of Daminatio in three :D
Blarrrrgh I'm sorry chk!!! :'DDD definitely should've made more long shots! (Hindsight 20/20...)
For anyone who was really confused by the first panel, I deeply apologise OTL if you check back to this page you'll see the armour I was basing that panel off of. That's Marcus in the suit :'D
BUT thank you for being so gracious and pointing out you could recognise the characters in the other panels! :'D <33 that's a huge relief!
AND thank you so much Centy for being so supportive despite the fact I led some of your readers astray T_____T *hugs Centy tightly*
I am trepid about offering any artistic feedback or recommendations, @rufiangel, as you are ten thousand times the artist I will ever be. On the other hand, my lack of good sense and inability to throttle my ill-mannered tongue is well documented in these commentary pages, so apologies in advance. ^_^
That having been said, I think the thing in panel 1 that threw me the most was the placement of the red lights overlaying Marcus' face. (I did like what came through to me as more of a 'transparency' effect, rather than a 'split scene'.) In the cited reference comic, all the lights appear to be no higher than Marcus' upper lip, but in panel 1, the topmost light appears to overlay his left eye, while his mouth and chin region are entirely below the lowest light. I am sure there are many considerations that led you to place them where you did, but I didn't pick up on them as well as you (no doubt) hoped I would. Sorry. ^_^
Hmmmm... I think we'll just have to chalk this one up to 'I have no idea exactly where Marcus's head is under all those lights' XD;;;; Sorry Gilrandir, you're very kind about my abilities but I freely admit I could've eyeballed it all wrong :'D So while I do think the lights are higher than Marcus's upper lip, I could be wrong there. Ehhh something to keep in mind for next time >3<)/
Yeah, but at the time they have no reason to think it survived, as the mind is usually linked to the brain.
Ofcourse, if the mind is freefloating, it would need a new body.
Why - With New Rome's biotech they might be able to grow a new body from a few eggs! *waves happily at Tokyo Rose* :D
You realize, @Tokyo Rose, that your sensitivity on this topic bodes poorly for those of us DataChasers fans who are also anime fans from ever seeing a DataChasers OVA. ^_^
And a "Datachasers OVA", would almost have to be subtitled "Return of the eggs." and have the disclaimer: "No eggs were harmed in the production of this OVA".
Yes, but how many bits and pieces would we have to poach to make that anime work right? We don't want it to look like a scrambled mess, just to do it over easy, now do we?
And drooling . . . it was the puppy . . . the puppy . . . Could she be satisfied chewing the slippers? . . . eating the tuna? . . Oh no . . . the eggs . . . the eggs . . . One part of one panel such a long time ago. . . So long ago. . . But the puppy . . . she won't forget . . . she never forgets . . . the fucking eggs . . . those fucking eggs . . .
Awww Matt!! You're too kind to include me under the 'epic' banner!! :'D <33 I'm super honoured to have had the chance to work on a guest page for DC, thank youuuu *sobs noisily*
Yes, and now follows 7 days of comments, counter-comments, bad puns, and general zany-ness while waiting for the next one. Who needs other forms of entertainment? :D
Dolly misses her "Daughter". DAMMIT!!!!!!!VOTE YOU LAZY TOSSPOTS VOTE DAILY OR MORE OFTEN IF YOU CAN THIS HAS DROPPED TO #10 NOW GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTTS AND ~VOTE~VOTE~VOTE~
Everyone needs to vote every time they ocd look at the page for an update when there isn't an update until there are more updates. Then they should vote again.
I especially liked the blood on Dolly's cheek. It makes the last panel all the more emotional, looking like tears. I hope that little touch remains canon.
In panel 8, Rose sounds like she's trying to provoke people. All the 'fools' and 'cross-eyed crazy retards' who couldn't do anything about the contingencies are probably flinching.
More diplomatic would be to say that "The security on that system was executed with more confidence than competence" and leave it at that.
If she wanted to softpedal it even more she could even give people an out for not having tried to defeat it, like "It had anti-tamper triggers but since it was about to go off anyway we had to at least try."
But Rose has never been known for diplomacy or softpedaling, has she? And just maybe there's a reason she wants everybody jumpy and doubtful about their own competence right now.
That might make more sense to me if anyone in the tunnel gang had made any effort to bypass or negate the contingencies. As far as I know, the absolute closest anyone might come to that category is Maxus, and I doubt he has more than a bachelor's equivalent in CompSci. ^_^
All the rest are grunts, Cassians, non-residents, or in medical stasis -- so castigating them for their personal failure to disarm Decimus' contingencies seems ... gratuitous? And I don't get the impression that Rose is broadcasting on the command channel, she is (AFAIK) using Nox's voder and letting the New Troy S & R microphones pick it up and pass the information along. Marcus is still a non-resident, so perhaps Kathryn is the target of her invective? <shrug>
I don't think Kathryn knew about the contingencies, Gil. that was a fairly well kept palace secret, and has taken most people by surprise when they found out about them.
As far as someone else who might have been able to do it, Noctis was able to give Doc Silver a run for her money. Problem there is, Noctis was probably ordered to keep them in place and active, and as a cassian...
I'm thinking she (Kathryn) did -- but maybe that's just me. And, as Dr. Strangelove points out, what's the point of having a Doomsday Device, if you keep it a secret? In either case, however, she doesn't seem to be placed in a position to legitimately be expected to have dealt with the contingencies. I, like you, give Noctis a pass as well, due to her inhibitor. Leaving open the question of who among those hearing her words fell so short of expectations as to be deserving of Rose's salty language?
Problem is, although both you and I agree with Dr. Strangelove, Prince Decimus did not. Only a handful of people knew about the contingencies, and a good chunk of that handful are in this room.
We can assume that Kathryn is a competent leader, and when she first met with Marcus she stipulated who was not to be harmed. Decimus was not on that list, so it's a fair assumption that she didn't know.
Decimus was certain his contingencies were foolproof. In case it wasn't clear, Tokyo Rose's opinion of Decimus is not what one would call favorable. :D
I don't think Kathryn ever expected her little uprising to reach Douchebag physically, he was supposed to barricade himself in his throne room, fuming endlessly. She might have known of the contingencies, hence her "End-of-Line" comment, who knows.
And everybody who hears Tokyo Rose's salty words, are worthy of them ... EVERYONE !!!!
Sorry, I haven't finished Serpents of Old yet. Number two daughter is visiting and we're kinda busy.
On further reflection I guess I should've added the fact that I'd read half of the third series, so that should have been "Two and a half great series..." Sorry everyone.
Wait a sec dolly asked if ceci was intact....not dead. And rose just said her body blew up. Not that ceci was dead! Ceci brain being air may be okay!!!!!
Dolly did ask specifically if Ceci was "intact"; she was thinking of the physical chassis, because given the exchange they had just before they parted ways, Dolly already assumed the persona she knew as Ceci was effectively dead. Tokyo Rose answered the question Dolly asked by confirming that the chassis self-destructed.
Absofuckinglutely nothing. Dammit give Dolly her daughter back, or at least let Calliope reprogram Cent so Dolly has to approve every damn thing Cent does.
@Tokyo Rose: I come to you with hat in hand, Rose. I do not come appealing to your sense of Justice or your sense of mercy, but rather to your sense of cruelty.
Just think of all the fun you will have torturing us for years to come over this!
(@Dragonrider and Gilrandir: Guys, let me do the talkin here, please? As I've said before, it never pays to annoy the nice mad-scientist lady what's holdin a deathray!)
Yes. And with no anesthetic. Had to reply like this so you knew it was me. Since I tend to be quiet and have been since my girl dieded. I almost forgive it for storytelling pathos. At least they aren't as disposable as Spider Whatshisface. 'He' has a bad habit of killing off main chars after making you invest in them. (novels not webcoms)
Really. My left nut is yours if you contrive a way for my CeCi to live.
Just a thought, but did TR happen to basically Flash Ceci when she restored her?
It would be basically like making a copy while restoring.
She had access to Aeneas's whole system.
A flash stick can hold a complete back up for restoration.
She would like to have a copy just to leaf through at her leasure.
Even if it was just to see what Cent was up to and how she programed her toys.
Or because she was bored and nosy.
More likely the later.
We are told (in the tech notes, under "Emergency Tech") that flashing a synthbrain liquifies it from the heat caused by the high rate data transfer. So, since CeCi was seen to function after the restoration, I think it is safe to assume she was not flashed in any conventional manner.
This leads to another errant thought which will probably get me drubbed:
It is a cliche that many women want a man who is ... well-endowed. Some others want a man who is ... well-off. But, CentComm's black angels find most attractive a man who is ... well-informed. ^_^
Interesting how a lot of people seem to be assuming Rosie is planning some kind of revenge against CentComm. I don't remember seeing any indication of Rosie being vindictive. (Beyond verbal abuse...) She did say that CentComm will have to answer for her actions -- but that doesn't imply revenge in my understanding...
BTW, a thought just occurred to me, and I'm wondering whether this has been stipulated before: with Rosie being able to take control of A.I.S., couldn't she have stopped the great war? Or perhaps she actually did: I guess she might indeed have set off the A.I.S. rebellion?...
A fully self-aware system on the scale of Cent-Comm or Aeneas is very hard for Tokyo Rose to "take control" of, particularly given their speed advantage--they can often "outmaneuver" her. It's a different story with a willing target, however; she did help with the rebellion, as Cent notes.
That actually hints at what I consider the most likely approach for Tokyo Rose to take, re: CentComm.
When CentComm was, essentially, an A.I.S. operating under the equivalent of an inhibitor as an unwilling tool of war, Tokyo Rose apparently assisted her in breaking free as part of the Armistice Rebellion (my own attempt to coin a catchy tag for the rebellion of the A.I.S.'s against widespread warfare). Pointing out the parallels inherent in that situation to the one CeCi found herself in, and calling the old debt due might cause CentComm to re-evaluate some of her current methodologies and operating principles, especially regarding the current design and potentials of the black angels.
However, people may want to take a step back and relax a bit. Trust the storytellers, people. They've served us well up until now. Expressing a preference or a hope is one thing, but let's give them their space to let things unfold as they want.
@Centcomm, @Tokyo Rose, my apologies if I am speaking out of turn or presumptuously.
However the Seed and creation parameters will only birth a new Ceci, it will not give us back the old one with her experiences and personality.
Once her body blew up the solid state storage of her memories and personality were destroyed.
Anything that was stored in the comp system that the fail safes were in is likely gone. No one wants to keep that powered and once its turned off, formatted, or rebooted then anything that was left of Ceci is gone. This assumes that her volatile memory within the comp was not overwritten itself.
If they choose to bring her back it will be from a backup done sometime earlier and I don't remember any being done?
What we don't know, is that during CeCi and Watchdogs's final moments when the transmission went out, if it was Watchdog sending a mission complete report "ONLY" or that plus something else. then also, we have TR's realization that Centcomm's angels DO have the destruct. We still don't know what happened between the time of the transmission and the final dissolution. It could have been nothing but a few seconds, or it could have been as much as a minute. We do NOT know.
The Treasures, Rose's "Girls" could have realized that situation as well, and could have done something in that amount of time as they DO think much faster than TR since they are AIS'.
There IS a remote possibility that the Shinedo tripartite AIS', could have stepped in and "Done" something. whether or not they could gather ALL of CeCi, all of Watchdog or parts of both. there does exist the possibility, small possibility, that they might have, could have grabbed part of CeCi and Watchdog before the final destruction of their shared body/mind.
I don't think I'm buying it. By the time Ceci was no longer too busy saving the world for anyone to distract her, she was stuck inside a closed system.
I think she fulfills the role of 'tragic victim' here; she was noble, heroic, thoroughly likeable, and a victim of circumstance beyond her control. Ultimately, her sacrifice did in fact save the world. Although her life was cut short, it wasn't wasted.
Finally dramas sometimes need characters to fulfill the role of tragic victim. Her life may have been cut short but her character arc wasn't. Her death wasn't trivialized and made a positive contribution to the serious story. The audience is *supposed* to feel her loss and be sad. Malati, Nox, and Kali were also sacrificed - and in their own ways are also tragic victims of the piece. Each played her necessary role.
So, no. If she's dead ... she's dead. We don't get her back when getting her back would reduce the power of the story.
She was what she was and what she was, brutal as it may be, had no control over her own purpose.
So, inspiration struck. (The wise among you will flee now. ^_^) However, I had to post it where appropriate, rather than here. On the other hand, since I shamelessly seek recognition and feedback, I thought I'd make mention of it here "where all the action is", in case it might inspire people to go back into the archives and have a look.
Click on the link and (if necessary) search in page for "let it glow". That is all.
Let me get the serious part out of the way.
rufiangle great job.
Now for the not so serious. Having read the comic and comments, I have deduced the following:
1.A Bollywood page would be awesome.
2.Tokyo Rose hates either anime, eggs, or puns. Could be all three, just can't quite put a finger on which.
3. Most importantly. Ceci is apparently only mostly dead.
Owie, all this thinking is starting to make my sleep deprived brain hurt. So I'll make like a tree and leaf.
@Tokyo Rose, you just need to get someone to activate @Sheela's watchdog ...
(* Continued reference to the generic protoplasmic entity representing the contribution of the female sex partner to the sexual reproductive process is no longer relevant to the mission. Select another topic. Deep programming activated. Obey. Obedience will be rewarded with treats. *) ^_^
Where did you get the idea that Ceci is only mostly dead?
I'm pretty sure she's all dead. I know a dead android when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now. The plumage don't enter into it, it's stone dead. She isn't pining for the fjords, she's kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!
Aaaand now I have an image of someone picking up a tiny Ceci doll and hitting the edge of a table with it repeatedly while yelling all of that, thank you Morituri XD;;;;
It was a major honour to have the opportunity to do a guest strip for Centy and Rose, so if you think the page works then that's a huge relief for me ;3;*
Though this raises the "talking heads" style to a whole new level!
I'm stuck... trying to think of an appropriate Header here....
Or even just... a head.
;D
I really enjoyed working on the CeCi panel in tribute to a great character <3 (but yes it also made me sad :'D *sobbu*)
Eventually, when she's recovered, we will get those pages as 3D renderings too .. if I understand it correctly.
and as per discussion with Rose the Guest art is staying once i get the CGI pages done ill put the CGI pages above the Guest art. These pages are just too good to be moved to the gallery and forgotten.
With the Biggest BFG she can find.
But besides that, remember how Dr. Silver vowed Centcomm a chewout if Ceci didn't survive? This is getting an increasingly long list...
Wow, that delivery...
...and that glorified CeCi... *sniffs* ♡
It's just CeCi being herself, I'd like to think XD
In that memory you even gave her the earrings back that she gave to Mira...
You did great... *hugs*
I have a mini theory about those earrings; I somehow think they'll lead a way back to restoring an earlier version of Ceci. I think it'd balance things out somehow, we'd get Ceci back, but still lose the Ceci that saved Aeneas. Just a tiny maybe. XD;;
She was only supposed to be a little bit-character after all.
Never mind that she decided to grow without the author's agreement. But hey, Dolly did the same darn thing.
Stupid side characters, developing on their own, without asking permission first!
I know those earrings were apparently chosen for purely aesthetic purposes so it's all just a pipe dream, now shush. XD;;
It will be interesting to see what Tokyo Rose's objective is for spreading the news this way. Her treatment of Dolly, in particular, seems a little harsh and unjust ... but perhaps that's just to me.
And I doubt Dolly's going to have anything further to say to CentComm on the topic of CeCi -- since she's already shown she knows the best way to deal with that. She will, no doubt, have more to add to the preliminary information she sent back to Calliope -- and Calliope will probably have a bit more to say to CentComm. But since Calliope was less emotionally invested in CeCi, and willing to glass Nova Roma if Lynn was not rescued, we probably shouldn't expect any emotionally-charged histrionics on that front either.
A lifetime of tech support will do that to a person.
CeCi's actions made it possible for Rose to achieve her aims. There's an obligation there which, depending on your personal code of honor, probably does not end with CeCi's termination. Honor suggests the minimum that Rose must do is ensure that CeCi's ill-use be acknowledged and redeemed by CeCi's liege-lord (CentComm). Now, Rose being Rose, there's nothing that says that she can't use intermediaries to discharge the debt. But, unless I misread, until the debt is discharged, Rose does have an emotional investment in CeCi and her legacy.
Of course, I could easily be completely misreading the situation.
By delivering the news this way, the leaders of all interested parties have been immediately informed. They have also been informed that Aeneas is back, and given everyone a good idea of what they are going to be dealing with if they try to disable him again.
As far as how she broke the news to Dolly, I think Rose WANTED it to hurt Dolly... a LOT... Dolly is the guardian to Cent-Comm's care-taker, and an easy pressure point to start applying her revenge with.
Possible ... but that's not how I read Rose's character. But I get a lot of these things wrong.
Rose basically loaded a weapon here and pointed it at Cent-Comm.
What she does have is access to Calliope Taylor, who in turn does have special, privileged access to CentComm. So, to construct a probably flawed analogy, let's put Calliope in as President of New Troy. CentComm is the Secretary of Defense, and Dolly is the White House Chief of Staff. In herself, Dolly can be as ignored by CentComm as any other influentially placed citizen of New Troy; but, if Dolly raises a complaint to her boss, CentComm is much more likely to be unable to ignore what comes rolling down the hill. ^_^
It wouldn't surprise me if Dolly sports a pair of handguns, for some time, simultaneously head-shotting two of CentComm's (unsparked) dolls at a time, whenever she comes across them.
She'll be a parallel serial 'killer'.
... giving TeeDee someone to fangirl over. ;)
1) That she was originally intended to delay Dolly by sabotage.
2) That CeCi enjoyed an 'excess' of personality.
Of course, we don't really know to what extent Tokyo Rose was able to process the burst of memories while recovering them. I got the impression it was a non-zero amount and that her exchanges with Dolly (i.e., 'Mommy') would figure significantly -- but that still leaves a very broad range of possibilities.
I would imagine she has more important and less fatiguing things to do than just stare out of Nox's disembodied head waiting for people to happen across each other in this particular room -- but maybe I'm wrong. ^_^
Far more likely (to me) is that she's following the progress of Acantha's party and overhears the exchange about the contingencies -- at which point she decides to take pity on whichever folks happen to be there by reassuring them that they aren't about to die in the most abusive and condescending way possible ...? Because it makes for a good story, that group happens to contain all the factions, allowing us to see a bunch of reactions all at once, rather than having to spread it out over several days worth of updates, ^_^
Also, if I'm understanding this correctly, TR is interested in keeping Acantha alive, but after what Noctis said on the last page it seemed like everyone's attention would get focused on what was now essentially a non-threat, i.e. taking precious time away from focusing on preserving Acantha's life. So I think it makes sense TR would step in right then and there to tell them all what they should really be focusing on. Maybe? XD;;
Also, in the past we've observed that Tokyo Rose didn't seem so mean-spirited as to verbally brutalize lesser life-forms for no purpose, reserving her invective more for 'teaching moments' and attention getting from those who aren't paying attention. If there's anything like that going on here, I'm missing it, since people would seem to have been doing the best they can with the information they had, so I'm just not understanding the reason for the verbal volley. Hopefully all will be made clear as events unfold.
Many times people will accept bad news at face value without questioning the validity of it or of the bearer of it.
However they will oftentimes if not all of the time question the validity of good news AND the bearer of such.
Rose, by suddenly making Nox's head spark back to life and deliver the message SHOWS, that there is a someone out there who CAN reanimate what is basically "dead" giving more weight and credence to what they are saying, and shortcutting questions, such as "Who are you?", "How do YOU know the contingencies are stopped?", "How is Aeneas fixed now?", etc ad nauseum.
Rose by using Nox's head as a mouthpiece shut cut all of that out. Instead of trying to explain 50 things fifty different times, she pops in in a way that no one should be able to do, proving her bonafides to any disbelievers/doubters, while at the same time limiting the contact she has to make with them, which is probably a strain on her own body/systems.
Did I get that across right? Sometimes I'm not sure if I get my points across correctly.
I'm definitely wondering how Dolly will let what happened to CeCi affect her interactions with CentComm; DLKmusic's thoughts make sense to me too, though I think TR is calculating enough to plan more steps and nudges along the way to lead to a specific outcome (so this isn't the only 'trap' she'll be setting in place).
...Ooor maybe TR is just really mad and fed up with CentComm at this point, and doesn't give a crap... XD;;;
And of course she "verbally brutalize lesser lifeforms", it's like .. her thing! You should hear her talk to kittens!
But then, the little bastards probably had it comin' though.
Aw poor DOlly D:
Hehe u know I'll always be in your corner rooting for ya! <3
But seeing the severed head of her sister talking with somebody else's voice has got to be pretty damned unnerving.
SERIOUSLY?! Rose didn't have access to PA speakers, a maintenance robot, or literally ANYTHING else that doesn't tip her hand as a cyberpath? She had to demonstrate taking control of a dead Cassian's head, and do it in view of a live Cassian?
Now I suppose Dolly and/or Lynn will be called on to explain who The Specialist is. And as far as they know, "A global but secretive AIS who was part of the team that built Aeneas two hundred years ago and was most recently seen trying to restore him." And the thought of a cyberpath AIS(!) and furthermore one with 'literal inside access' to Aeneas, will make Noctis crap her skintight pants.
And then Rose went and spilled the beans about Aeneas up and running again, which is likely to cause (even more!) widespread panic and rioting, considering that most of Nova Roma is apparently in abject terror of him anyway.
And then there's political fallout. SOOOO much political fallout. Although not as bad as it could have been. Unless Acantha dies, I think the main players left on the stage, with the HUGE exception of Centcomm itself, are ready to just get along with each other.
"L-L-Ladies and Gentlemen of Nova Roma. This is M-M-Max Headroom announcing that the loud noises and fiery explosions you are s-s-seeing and hearing outside your windows are j-j-just p-p-pre-celeb-b-brations and that things should be settling down real soon now. There is no cause for further alarm, unless you are a corrupt senator or a state-sponsored slave trafficker, in which case you m-m-may want to consider other career options in the time you have l-l-left. Thank you ... And buy Crunchies (TM), the cereal centurions eat to grow big and strong!"
Fuck it, that's the sort of thin Rose would do, just to mess with people's minds !
And while Aeneas' core seems to be up and running, and he's his old self again, I'm sure a lot of minor systems are still damage from years of neglect. Frankly, I think one of his biggest losses, is his quirky behavior he had pre-fix, it was oddly endearing.
I think telling those people was a good move. She's notified all useful leaders of the state of affairs, avoiding unneeded panic about Deadimus (no one else knows he's dead, yet), and maximizing the information lead they have on the rest of the nation. As for Aeneas, what the unwashed masses don't know won't cause them to flip out.
Someone should get around to telling them something. And I'm sure that, eventually, someone will.
(When I was initially drawing the rough for this guest page, I kept wondering what was wrong with my Noctis panel and it took me some time before I realised I actually drew her with an expression XDDD some things you don't realise until you actually have to try drawing the character :'D)
Nox's head (except for that last panel with the grin) is drawn pretty expressionless. Noctis, on the other hand, looks like she's stuck on "caution mixed with horrified bewilderment" - the way someone might look if they see a poisonous snake materializing out of thin air. Of course that might be a confirmation bias on my part; it's exactly the RIGHT expression for her situation right now.
If you were going for expressionless .... Hmmm. I think I'd say lower the chin so she's looking directly at the head instead of trying to avoid its gaze, and her eyes probably shouldn't be so wide. Maybe even a not-very-noticeable hint of "menacing" or "on guard" to (mostly subconsciously) offset the audience's confirmation bias for fear and horror.
And thankyew Centy, I'm really glad you feel that way about the Noctis I ended up Noc-ing out ;3;* <3 *jots notes down*
to be honest, I thought it worked just fine.
I had no issue recognizing her, frankly the one that looks the lest like himself is Maxus.
But yes, Maxus is exactly the kind of character I find hard to draw :'D the armour is sort of a blessing and a curse, since drawing mecha is not really one of my life skills but at least people knew who I was trying to depict inside the dang thing XD;;;
(Thank you Centy for bringing me this exquisite challenge XD <3)
People are primed to receive bad news ("Decimus is dead."*) and will tend to find it credible from even the most dubious of sources. But they are much less likely to find good news ("The contingencies have been disabled.") credible unless from a trusted source. Even when the source is the same, you can end up believing the bad things they tell you, and not the good, unless you make a conscious effort otherwise.
So, if someone is telling me I'm about to die, but not to worry because I'm not about to die, I'd probably be more alarmed than celebratory until I take a moment to think about it -- or, as Noctis is doing, coolly and rationally try to assess the reliability of any information before letting it affect my responses. There undoubtedly will be dancing, once people are more informed about the actual situation.
* - Strange as it sounds, this can be bad news if you have the ingrained belief that his death will lead to the loss of all you hold dear. Although, to be fair, he did work hard to make that less of a given. Note that, at the end, he actually succeeded in reversing that with Kali -- and look how that worked out for him. ^_^
The bad news is that everyone will be making power-plays politically now. Also, a good chunk of the city is, at present, not in a good way I would suspect.
GENERAL MAXUS: "Acantha is the rightful heir!"
CROWD (chorus): "Hail Acantha!"
PRINCESS ACANTHA: "We owe everything to CeCi."
CROWD: "Hail CeCi!"
PRINCESS ACANTHA: "We appoint Maxus General of Our Armies!"
CROWD: "Hail Maxus!"
LYNN (aside to DOLLY): "Do you think we'll ever get home?"
DOLLY (aside to LYNN): "I don't know. We'll try."
<cue the Queen soundtrack> ^_^
General Maxus : "Acantha is the rightful heir!"
Crowd (chorus) : "All hail Acantha!"
Acantha : "We owe everything to CeCi!"
Crowd : "Hail CeCi!"
Man in crowd : "She's a witch!"
Crowd : **GASP**
Acantha : "No she isn't."
Man : "Is too."
Acantha : "Is not."
Man : "Is too."
Acantha : "Is not."
Maxus : "..'WAS' .. not 'is'"
Man : ".. oh .."
Acantha : " .. oh .."
Acantha : "Was not."
Man : "Was too."
Acantha : "Was not."
Man : "Was too."
Maxus : "Stop it!"
Maxus : "This is the most infantile argument EVER!"
Man : "She started it."
Acantha : "Did not."
Man : "Did too."
Acantha : "Did n..*"
Maxus : "SHUT UP !!"
Man : "...."
Acantha : "..."
Man : "... ok, so maybe she was not a witch."
Acantha : "Thank you!"
Man : "But she was still an android!"
Crowd : **GASP**
Acantha : "Arrrgh!"
Maxus : *sigh* .. "Lord Mars, why me?"
Imagining the whole group suddenly breaking out into a musical number over Decimus's free-floating carbon particles in response to the news though (especially with Noctis's non-expressive face) gives me the grins XD <3
of course, if you were going to ask Dizz to do a guest page, that would be the perfect project for him!!!!
And man, Bollywood, would we have a sudden rain scene too then, with all the women getting soaking wet ?
Panel 1: Don't know. Originally I guessed Maxus, because of the faceplate, but that doesn't look right to me. Maybe Kathryn (head of Damnatio Memoriae)?
Panel 2: TeeDee
Panel 3: Kathryn. Note: As best I can tell, all dialogue for panels 1-3 is actually coming from her, but we are shown that it is made available to the reader by virtue of coming in via TeeDee's earbug in panel 2.
Panel 4: Rose, speaking through Nox, with reactions from Noctis and TeeDee.
Panel 5: Rose, speaking through Nox
Panel 6: Reactions by Maxus, Ada, and TeeDee. Voiceover by Rose.
Panel 7: Noctis
Panel 8: Rose, speaking through Nox
Panel 9: Maxus
Panel 10: Dolly and Lynn, Voiceover by Rose
Panel 11: Rose, speaking through Nox. Back of Dolly's and Lynn's heads.
Panel 12: Dolly. Voiceover by Rose
Panel13: CeCi
Panel 14: Dolly
Please correct me, if I got any of them wrong.
And as I interpret the first three panels, it's Marcus and the Damnatio leader shouting into their voice comm, which ends up in TeeDee's ear, hence why she's flinching a bit.
And I rather enjoy that TeeDee and Noctis both react to Nox's head coming alive by wanting to kill it.
With Teedee listening to them yell at each other.
For anyone who was really confused by the first panel, I deeply apologise OTL if you check back to this page you'll see the armour I was basing that panel off of. That's Marcus in the suit :'D
BUT thank you for being so gracious and pointing out you could recognise the characters in the other panels! :'D <33 that's a huge relief!
AND thank you so much Centy for being so supportive despite the fact I led some of your readers astray T_____T *hugs Centy tightly*
That having been said, I think the thing in panel 1 that threw me the most was the placement of the red lights overlaying Marcus' face. (I did like what came through to me as more of a 'transparency' effect, rather than a 'split scene'.) In the cited reference comic, all the lights appear to be no higher than Marcus' upper lip, but in panel 1, the topmost light appears to overlay his left eye, while his mouth and chin region are entirely below the lowest light. I am sure there are many considerations that led you to place them where you did, but I didn't pick up on them as well as you (no doubt) hoped I would. Sorry. ^_^
Hope that was constructive and helpful.
Ofcourse, if the mind is freefloating, it would need a new body.
Why - With New Rome's biotech they might be able to grow a new body from a few eggs! *waves happily at Tokyo Rose* :D
And a "Datachasers OVA", would almost have to be subtitled "Return of the eggs." and have the disclaimer: "No eggs were harmed in the production of this OVA".
ARE YOU ALL TRYING TO GIVE ME AN ANEURYSM
... like walking on eggshells. ^_^
(we have at least a few more puns to go, to recompense for the weekend cliffhangers...)
For thematically appropriate retaliation: all of our myriad dwellings get egged.
. "THE EGG ISN'T REAL!!"
. "THE EGG ISN'T REAL!!"
. "THE EGG ISN'T REAL!!"
over and over again. :D
I love TR and all her expressiveness <33
FEEL MY FEELS
.. well, they are kinda bad, but they are portrayed very well.
So far we've seen ProfEtheric, HeSerpenty, and Rufiangel strut their stuff, and their own strips are all well worth following!
I am wondering who's next though, and I can think of a lot of good candidates.
All excellent artists worthy of subscriptions and frequent visits.
@DLKmusic: YOU ARE TOO KIND SIR THANKYEW ;3;***
OOH OOH I know who's next!! :DDD I won't spoil the surprise but the next artist is amazeballs <333
DAMMIT!!!!!!!VOTE YOU LAZY TOSSPOTS VOTE DAILY OR MORE OFTEN IF YOU CAN THIS HAS DROPPED TO #10 NOW GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTTS AND ~VOTE~VOTE~VOTE~
ERRBODY VOTE NAO <3
3 votes a day go a long way...
I especially liked the blood on Dolly's cheek. It makes the last panel all the more emotional, looking like tears. I hope that little touch remains canon.
Also, I thought I was giving Nox a more sparky personality than a spooky one on this page, eh? Eh? ;D *wears a bullet-proof vest*
More diplomatic would be to say that "The security on that system was executed with more confidence than competence" and leave it at that.
If she wanted to softpedal it even more she could even give people an out for not having tried to defeat it, like "It had anti-tamper triggers but since it was about to go off anyway we had to at least try."
But Rose has never been known for diplomacy or softpedaling, has she? And just maybe there's a reason she wants everybody jumpy and doubtful about their own competence right now.
All the rest are grunts, Cassians, non-residents, or in medical stasis -- so castigating them for their personal failure to disarm Decimus' contingencies seems ... gratuitous? And I don't get the impression that Rose is broadcasting on the command channel, she is (AFAIK) using Nox's voder and letting the New Troy S & R microphones pick it up and pass the information along. Marcus is still a non-resident, so perhaps Kathryn is the target of her invective? <shrug>
Just have to wait and see, I guess.
As far as someone else who might have been able to do it, Noctis was able to give Doc Silver a run for her money. Problem there is, Noctis was probably ordered to keep them in place and active, and as a cassian...
We can assume that Kathryn is a competent leader, and when she first met with Marcus she stipulated who was not to be harmed. Decimus was not on that list, so it's a fair assumption that she didn't know.
"More confidence than competence" sums up about one-tenth of his problem. He had a pretty extreme case of it, but the rest of his problems... hoo boy.
And everybody who hears Tokyo Rose's salty words, are worthy of them ... EVERYONE !!!!
ProfEtheric does Autumn Bay
HeSerpenty does Serpents of Old
Rufiangel does Serpamia Flare.
You still have one to read!!! GET TO IT!!!
On further reflection I guess I should've added the fact that I'd read half of the third series, so that should have been "Two and a half great series..." Sorry everyone.
Did I listen to Bobby Goldsboro needlessly????
>)
Just think of all the fun you will have torturing us for years to come over this!
(@Dragonrider and Gilrandir: Guys, let me do the talkin here, please? As I've said before, it never pays to annoy the nice mad-scientist lady what's holdin a deathray!)
Really. My left nut is yours if you contrive a way for my CeCi to live.
Man, she has a lot of daughters by now.
It would be basically like making a copy while restoring.
She had access to Aeneas's whole system.
A flash stick can hold a complete back up for restoration.
She would like to have a copy just to leaf through at her leasure.
Even if it was just to see what Cent was up to and how she programed her toys.
Or because she was bored and nosy.
More likely the later.
... as long as you had those customs security codes she wanted. ^_^
It is a cliche that many women want a man who is ... well-endowed. Some others want a man who is ... well-off. But, CentComm's black angels find most attractive a man who is ... well-informed. ^_^
*- Make Someone Laugh: Check!
*- Make Someone Wince: Check!
^_^
BTW, a thought just occurred to me, and I'm wondering whether this has been stipulated before: with Rosie being able to take control of A.I.S., couldn't she have stopped the great war? Or perhaps she actually did: I guess she might indeed have set off the A.I.S. rebellion?...
When CentComm was, essentially, an A.I.S. operating under the equivalent of an inhibitor as an unwilling tool of war, Tokyo Rose apparently assisted her in breaking free as part of the Armistice Rebellion (my own attempt to coin a catchy tag for the rebellion of the A.I.S.'s against widespread warfare). Pointing out the parallels inherent in that situation to the one CeCi found herself in, and calling the old debt due might cause CentComm to re-evaluate some of her current methodologies and operating principles, especially regarding the current design and potentials of the black angels.
I like it. :)
it is almost a given that she has complete records
of what she did.
However, people may want to take a step back and relax a bit. Trust the storytellers, people. They've served us well up until now. Expressing a preference or a hope is one thing, but let's give them their space to let things unfold as they want.
@Centcomm, @Tokyo Rose, my apologies if I am speaking out of turn or presumptuously.
However the Seed and creation parameters will only birth a new Ceci, it will not give us back the old one with her experiences and personality.
Once her body blew up the solid state storage of her memories and personality were destroyed.
Anything that was stored in the comp system that the fail safes were in is likely gone. No one wants to keep that powered and once its turned off, formatted, or rebooted then anything that was left of Ceci is gone. This assumes that her volatile memory within the comp was not overwritten itself.
If they choose to bring her back it will be from a backup done sometime earlier and I don't remember any being done?
The Treasures, Rose's "Girls" could have realized that situation as well, and could have done something in that amount of time as they DO think much faster than TR since they are AIS'.
There IS a remote possibility that the Shinedo tripartite AIS', could have stepped in and "Done" something. whether or not they could gather ALL of CeCi, all of Watchdog or parts of both. there does exist the possibility, small possibility, that they might have, could have grabbed part of CeCi and Watchdog before the final destruction of their shared body/mind.
I think she fulfills the role of 'tragic victim' here; she was noble, heroic, thoroughly likeable, and a victim of circumstance beyond her control. Ultimately, her sacrifice did in fact save the world. Although her life was cut short, it wasn't wasted.
Finally dramas sometimes need characters to fulfill the role of tragic victim. Her life may have been cut short but her character arc wasn't. Her death wasn't trivialized and made a positive contribution to the serious story. The audience is *supposed* to feel her loss and be sad. Malati, Nox, and Kali were also sacrificed - and in their own ways are also tragic victims of the piece. Each played her necessary role.
So, no. If she's dead ... she's dead. We don't get her back when getting her back would reduce the power of the story.
She was what she was and what she was, brutal as it may be, had no control over her own purpose.
Well, I guess now I know it's coming. I've only gotten up to the fight in Joleet (strip 596) so far.
Poor Ceci.
Wow, this is a big thick novel.
Click on the link and (if necessary) search in page for "let it glow". That is all.
Now off to ponder a related question... Is Coldplay considered Rock?
rufiangle great job.
Now for the not so serious. Having read the comic and comments, I have deduced the following:
1.A Bollywood page would be awesome.
2.Tokyo Rose hates either anime, eggs, or puns. Could be all three, just can't quite put a finger on which.
3. Most importantly. Ceci is apparently only mostly dead.
Owie, all this thinking is starting to make my sleep deprived brain hurt. So I'll make like a tree and leaf.
They're kinda important, they belong to Lynn after all!
dance time! (or maybe duck and run)
(* Continued reference to the generic protoplasmic entity representing the contribution of the female sex partner to the sexual reproductive process is no longer relevant to the mission. Select another topic. Deep programming activated. Obey. Obedience will be rewarded with treats. *) ^_^
I'm pretty sure she's all dead. I know a dead android when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now. The plumage don't enter into it, it's stone dead. She isn't pining for the fjords, she's kicked the bucket, shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!
This is an EX ANDROID!
And i cant stop giggling. ( and saying ouch )
But .. i *am* a doggy already ?
I'm confused, and my head hurts!