Grrl Power #1234 – Back off or the me gets it!
Woo! Page 1234! Arbitrary numbers! Next stop, 1236 (each number being the sum of the previous numbers… well, except for the 2… I cause the sum of 1 is just 1, so I guess that only works if we’re talking about page 1124, which we’ve already passed, or page 11248, which we’ll hit in approximately 90 years.) Also 1250, which is just a thousand and a quarter, so good times all around.
Lapha’s plan A was to grab Maxima and somehow get her back to where she’d be able to offload her to some poor saps that would presumably quickly expire in a particle bean related incident. Wouldn’t matter to Lapha as long as the money transfer went through. Plan B was to grab Sydney and fly off with the orbs. Clearly that didn’t work, so now Plan C is to evade incarceration if at all possible. Maybe get some travel expenses if she can swing it.
The new vote incentive is up! Crimson and Scarlett have a present for Ingsol!
It’s them, they’re the present. They’ve decided that “Sire-versaries” are a thing and Ingsol has to be convinced this is a good idea each time. Everyone thinks his pair of names-that-are-synonyms-with-red sirelings who are both women and who were both turned in that age range that ensure peak hotness means he’s a dirty old man, but he actually isn’t. It just worked out that way. And don’t forget that while it looks like there’s a 25 year age gap between the girls and him, it’s actually much worse, as he is 700 years old, while Scarlett is something like 180 and Crimson is only 40. But at the same time it’s meaningless as they were both fully adults when they got turned, so it’s all copacetic.
As usual, Patreon has the pair of them in various states of undress.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
………… Well now I’m starting to get curious to what would happen if she tried to possess Harem. She might not be able to handle the sensory overload.
…..Or… She’d be limited to one of Harem’s bodies.. In which… what would happen if Harem then “unsummoned” that body?
I would guess that since Harem can’t teleport with other people that she’d be unable to unsummon the body that’s possessed.
Caveat 1: If the possession is sophisticated enough to get to her quantum mind, then presumably she could do things normally it just wouldn’t affect Lapha (or rather Lapha could use Harem’s powers normally?).
Caveat 2: If a Aetholith, a “living spell,” is treated as some sort of enchantment rather than a person, then I assume while unsummoned Lapha would be in stasis until brought back.
But isn’t Harem’s limitation extra weight, not “other people” specifically?
I’m also wondering if an exorcism is in order.
It is both. There is a weight limit and it can’t bring other people outside of a very specific person.
“Clothing, equipment, easy, but no people. Possibly nothing else living.
Or she might be able to use her powers as easily as she can control her body. Sydney might be an exception since the orbs are not actually ‘part of her body’ – they’re devices tied to her that somehow know whether its her mind or an invasive mind.
This appears to be *exactly* what happened. While Lapha appears to have 95% control over the host’s physical body, with the host only able to perform incidental actions like talking, making expressions, or moving a finger enough to pick a tail for the new body in the original arc, the original host’s brain signature or essence or soul (or whatever fits into your belief system) is still present. The orbs appear to be linked to Sydney’s brain signature, so control over the body doesn’t affect them.
If Lapha had taken over Max or any other super it would have been very bad. She’d have access to the host’s full memories, so there wouldn’t even be much of a learning curve. Lapha/Max could have destroyed everyone and everything around her in seconds then escaped.
Yep. That’s probably why that was the initial plan for Lapha. She just had no way to know about the orbs in particular not going along with the plan.
DO we know that? Harem’s brains are quantum-locked to each other or something. These guys would gain access to how her powers work pretty easily it seems, and likely INSTANTLY gain access to all her bodies as well. That said, I can see Harem’s non-snatched bodied having great control. The unsummoning would probably work, or, for plot fun, wouldn’t work cause the alien can choose to have their body resist it.
Loads of logistics are possible.
She could gain access to all her bodies, but I am sure she would need a lot of time to be able to use them, when she finds herself with 4 extra pair of arms and legs, and this without mentioning the sensory overload.
Possibly not. Lapha’s species are specifically designed to be able to take control over vast systems, which would include networked systems. And that’s basically what Harem’s quantum-entangled mind is – a quantum-entangled network system to control all the bodies simultaneously.
Aetholiths might not read as ‘people’ for Harem – they’ve been emancipated to have the same rights as people, but that doesnt mean they’re ‘people’ in the organic sense. Sort of like how if Harem wore a suit of ‘living’ armor that weighed less than 50 lbs, it probably would teleport with her as well. Plus they might essentially be weightless as ‘flames.’
If she was designed to control a factory or a spaceship, she can probably handle any amount of hardware as long as the control system is designed for it. She probably doesn’t need a physical connection as long as there’s a functional network. The question is how well Daphne can resist the override.
Other arbitrary page numbers: 1536 (it makes sense in binary); 1333 (one-and-a-third, roughly); 1280 (this one makes sense in hexadecimal); 1235 (counting but ignoring any numbers with two or more prime factors)
1296 is 6^4, 1331 is 11 cubed, 1597 is the seventeenth Fibonacci number, 1728 is 12 cubed, 1729 is the first number that can be expressed as the sum of two positive cubes in two different ways (12^3+1^3=1729=10^3+9^3)
If I had realized dave had a numbers thing…1225 is 35^2 and 2025 is 45^2
The way to square any number ending in 5 in your head is to take the digit(s) other than the trailing ‘5’ and Multiply them by the next higher number and append 25 to the result. so fo 45 its 4*5=20 and append 25 for 2025.
However, if you really need 46^2 that is equal to 45^2 + (45+46) while 44^2 is 45^2-(44+45).
Here’s where all the math nerds jump in!
So what you are saying is (a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2 ==> (10x + 5)^2 = 100x(x+1) + 25
Likewise you can easily extend your mental multiplication table for any numbers by simply memorizing the squares of numbers:
or since: (a+b)(a-b) = a^2 – b^2
Set x = (a+b) / 2 and d = (a-b) / 2 [if (a-b) is even]
Set x = (a-1+b)/2 and d = (a-1-b)/2 [if (a-b) is odd]
Then ab = (x+d)(x-d) = x^2 – d^2 [if (a-b) is even]
and ab = (x+d)(x-d) + b = x^2 – d^2 + b [if (a-b) is odd]
This looks much more complicated than it is. Basically it is subtracting the square of half the difference of the two numbers from the square of their average (or midpoint) and adjusting by one value if the difference is odd. For example:
28 • 22 = 25^2 – 3^2 = 625 – 9 = 616
29 • 22 = 28 • 22 + 22 = 647
It is obviously easier calculate when the differences are small.
My math nerdism is neither as nerdy nor as mathy as yours, but here goes anyway:
My favorite number is 37 (which I think might be the REAL answer to life, the universe and everything), because every three digit number where all three digits are identical has 37 as its greatest prime factor. In fact, all such numbers can be factored like so: 3×[digit]×37. So 666=3×6×37, 777=3×7×37, etc. (The possible religious connotations of my two given examples are interesting, if you believe in such things.)
Interesting. And easily proven since multiplication is commutive:
3 x 37 = 111 and 111 x d = ddd
No one brought out my favorite number sequence? 112358132134? (Major props to anyone who can guess the next numbers in the sequence)
55? or I guess 11235813213455. It appears to just be summing the last two numbers (not digits) in the sequence.
Fibonacci sequence. A Beautiful pattern with out end found in nature
Sonic The Hedgehog is the Golden Ratio.
I am surprised no one mentioned 1123581321. My favorite number sequence. (Props if anyone knows the name of it and/or the next number in the sequence)
Nope. In Tenri’s body Lapha will be able to control it and do dangerous stuff. In Sydney’s body she is basically a hostage. I’d say keep her on Sid until a professional arrives. And avoid attempts on possessing anybody else.
I’m guessing Harem is trying to stop Lapha from getting at the classified files in Sydney’s noggin before she actually reads anything.
Nah, not unless she has a path of escape to get away with it. All she would do otherwise is make her a bigger risk to lose and make it much harder to negotiate.
The escape path is their audience: those delinquent “friends” and the visitors of Sydney’s shop.
It’s information she can just threaten to blurt it out or app it.
“Let me go or I will leak lord Deus’s crush”
“Let me go or I will leak Sydney’s secret powers”
Yes, but unfortunately from a classified information standpoint, it probably doesn’t work that way. DoD would consider the damage already done, and the important point is to contain the leak, aka Lapha.
I mean, we don’t *think* Lapha has accessed them yet, but there’s literally no way to tell. She seems to b just immediately reacting to whatever she learns, but she could be doing that to disguise the fact that she has some sense of discretion and has learned stuff that really has her wanting to maintain that discretion while appearing to not have any.
They can easily contain Tenri’s body. that’s not a problem. However, they can’t contain Sydney and they have no idea what happens when Sydney sleeps.
They can try taking Sydney’s glasses. There’s no way that wouldn’t slow Lapha down.
Sydney’s glasses are for reading; she’d farsighted, not nearsighted.
Mittens while sleeping.
Syd even has them on prescription.
They can actually pretty easily control Sydney’s body. With access to the orbs, she’s pretty much a problem for anyone, including even Maxima (I know she is rated a 6, but honestly I think that’s below what she should be rated, especially with her upgrades). But without access to the orbs powers, she’s basically a normal human with a very good ability to grab people by the tongue and flip them over. But for someone like Maxima or Hiro or Stalwart, or even someone who’s just highly skilled like Math or Jabberwokky, it would not be much of a problem to contain her and put her in a straitjacket with mittens on her hands before she could follow what’s happening (especially Maxima with her superspeed).
Lapha knows more about how this possession works than we (and the earthlings) do, and her plan doesn’t make a ton of sense if targets can resist this easily. It’s not unreasonable to suspect that there’s a risk here to letting the situation go on for too long–maybe her control strengthens over time, or (more prosaically) maybe she expects to dig up some blackmail-worthy secrets from memory to compel the host’s cooperation.
I don’t get why folks think Sydney is ‘resisting’ Lapha in some unusual fashion. She controls the body, same as always, with the caveat that the possessed person can still speak. It’s the orbs that are the wild card in this situation, not Sydney herself. Lapha can run the body all over town until they’re restrained. If she’d managed to upload herself to Max instead of Sydney, the rest of the team would’ve been trying to take down LaphMax (NOT a happy prospect), probably while Max herself was shouting orders on the best counters to use.
In Syd’s body, she could probably even threaten ‘self’-harm–put a fingertip to an eyeball and tell everyone to back off while Syd still has depth-perception. And yes, the data she has access to is potentially catastrophic on a global scale, given the likely intergalactic reaction to ‘Nth-tech’ suggestions. This could still get quite nasty.
“I don’t get why folks think Sydney is ‘resisting’ Lapha in some unusual fashion.”
It’s not unusual. This is what DaveB had to say two page ago:
“Also the fact that Lapha isn’t totally suppressing Sydney was foreshadowed when she had to jump onto Garamm’s head after the Times Square battle. They seemed to cohabitate rather seamlessly. It’s unclear if totally dominating a host is something Lapha’s species can do and she’s just bad at it, or the effect is different with each species and/or individual they attempt it with.”
The latter seems more plausible, because then Lapha’s plan would be a gamble as opposed to a guaranteed failure.
On the other hand, earlier WoG(#931) suggested the former, and also explains why she didn’t try it on times square:
“So, is she possessing him? And if so, why didn’t she just toss herself onto Maxima’s head?
The answer is… kind of, but not really. Basically, she’s not “high level” enough to straight up possess someone. Right now, she’s somewhere between a Trill symbiont, sharing knowledge and memories, and Steve-Martin-bonked-on-the-head-by-a-mystic-bowl. They’re still separate entities, and both have control if the other one doesn’t object. She, and most of her species are relegated to passenger if the host doesn’t want to play along. The more advanced members of her species have increasing levels of primacy, but as Lapha alludes to, other races aren’t copasetic with being possessed, so her people have adapted to be artisanal meat jockeys. Which is to say they grow customized blanks, and pilot those around.”
So no, she doesn’t control the body. She can move it, but so can the original owner. If she tried to run away, they’d probably just stumble around in circles as the owner wants to go back.
She could still plausibly threaten “self”harm though.
Even self-harm threats probably don’t hold much weight when someone is friends with aliens and demons who can fashion prosthetics which are at least as good as the original equipment. Or could just use mana to regenerate any lost body pieces.
If Sydney ate something spicy, would Lapha feel agony or appreciate it through Sydney’s half-burnt tastebuds?
Daphne called Max and she might be arriving with chilli. Would be fun if they use that to get Lapha out of Sidney.
She doesn’t need chili. She can just take a swig from her flask. That oughta do it.
I have a suspicion that the flask was last seen in the hands of a military chemical warfare containment unit at the airport they were forced to divert to.
But, yeah. Maxima’s on a chili-run, and may have something decently hot to give Sydney inspiration.
Somehow, I’m remembering when Peggy took Sydney to that Fusion place…You know, the place that had Sydney sign a medical liability waiver & then donned a hazmat suit to serve up her food with “The Unmaker” sauce. Sydney didn’t exactly get to finish that meal because a noodle accidentally slapped her in the eye when she slurped on it.
If anything could get Lapha to flee in abject horror, that would be it…Unless Sydney was able to bring some Grakz home in a doggie bag or something.
Maybe so, but Sydney’s everyday carry definitely includes the Beyonce (hot sauce in my bag)
Fun trivia: spicy flavour (e.g. capsaicin) is not sensed by tastebuds, but by pain receptors.
Pepper Plant: I will produce a chemical defense that vigorously activates mammal pain receptors so they won’t eat me.
Humans: This tastes good with meat, beans, and tomatoes.
Also Humans: Let’s breed it selectively to get greater amounts of pain. Then let’s eat it on it’s own… competitively.
There’s enough plants that have evolved to take being eaten into account that I doubt that would be how that thinking went if plants actually thought.
Pepper Plant: I’ll produce a chemical defense that will deter ants from attacking me.
Humans; This tastes good! Let’s plant a lot of these!
Pepper Plant: Bonus!
Capsaicin specifically affects mammals. It’s because we chew seeds so hard it kills them. Birds can’t taste it because they swallow seeds whole and don’t digest them.
Capsaicin also deters some bacteria and fungi. There is more than one possible reason why peppers might have it. Quite possible a combination of many reasons.
The reason chilis have Capsaicin is because their seeds are destroyed by mammal’s digestive systems but not birds
Birds aren’t sensitive to eating Capsaicin mammals are…
Humans: also good on a peanut butter sandwich.
I doupt spicy food would bother her since the system that would be processing the sensations is already wired to enjoy extreme spicy food.
“Stop screaming, you’re making it hard to chew.”
I wish I could upvote this.
+1
This would require strapping Sydney down and essentially force-feeding her, at least enough to get the spicy food in her mouth. By all appearances, Lapha has total control over everything BUT the vocal cords and mouth–mostly, I suspect, because DaveB wanted the visual of someone arguing with ‘themself’ for comedic purposes. So, knowing (from Syd’s memories) what the food is likely to taste like, she can just block the food physically, unless (as noted) she’s fully restrained.
People suggesting this seem to be imagining Sydney sitting at a table and having a casual meal. It would look more like a pre-19th Amendment Suffragette strapped to a table, with a funnel jammed between her teeth to let the food go in.
there’s this rather disturbing scene involving a table, funnel, wood block, and a lot of brandy in wheel of time.
Haven’t seen anything to suggest this. Sydney’s body language in panels three and four contradict it.
Yeah. I were thinking of a bowl of Grakz
What they need is Dabbler, surly she has a way of getting Lapha out of Sidney, given all her knowledge, magic and teknologi.
Sure, Lapha can’t use the orbs, but have they considered swiping Sydney’s glasses? That would absolutely throw her off.
“No one is that blind, you big pile of idiot!”
No, I take that back, there are people that blind. But Sydney is not among those.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-206-the-velma-reversal/
She might not be totally blind, but as a nearsighted individual, I can say confidently that going through your day without glasses would suck and frustrate, and I wager trying to evade capture would be even harder. (I don’t know if Lapha would be able to utilize whatever experience Sydney has with going lens-less; if not, then all the better)
As a side point, not that Parfait and Harem know about it, but Lapha definitely shouldn’t be allowed to use Sydney’s glasses’ tech upgrades.
She probably WOULD be able to use Sydney’s glasses’ tech upgrade. They’re not tied to her particular brainwaves, and are automatic – no needing to learn how to use them.
That would be a start, but the interesting part is what might come afterwards. Do not forget that Arc-Swat is an elite military force. In the real world, Laphta’s chances of survival would be minimal – if they can get her out of Sidney, they most probably also have ways to extinguish her and will do just that for the menace she poses.
They’re mostly police. Since Lapha can be contained, they’re unlikely to execute her.
Reminder: This is pre-2016.
Soooo is something gonna happen next time or are we gonna see more snarky comments about Sydney’s sex life?
I vote for snarky comments on Sydney’s sex life.
I think Lapha will run out of ammunition before Sydney will.
Did you not bother to read panel four?
Dabbler is going to be irked if she has to deal with this while dealing with a mana pot hangover. Like “reformat the magic AI” irked.
That might be necessary, anyway, given how much Syd knows that Archon can’t afford to let loose.
time for a cryogenic coma for Sydney, till someone can show up that has the ability to evict mental parasites (or whatever you call this sentient virus)
And given the whole total recall, there is no way there is not a procedure for wiping Lalpha’s kind since you otherwise would security issues unlimited. As in once you possesses a high value mind, you get wiped for being a threat to global security.
Next time we see Co-ed Harem,how would she look with a Louise Brooks page boy?!?
That is if most of you are familiar with Louise Brooks…
“Mind bleach. Now!!!” – Sydney
Plan A/B, grab sydney/easy money has a flaw: with no physically body, and your memory shared with future hosts, all those hosts have access to the password for that money.
You can only so long distract those hosts with thoughts about sexy encounters.
as a bodyless person you can have a reputation, but you cannot have ownership of things that rely on “something you are”, “Something you know”, or “something you have”
They could use something they have. Some people don’t bring their hardware tokens everywhere. When they need them, they go get them. They could also use very long passwords, keys, or seeds. Most of the hostile entities that they possess will likely be completely unable to recall very long values with any accuracy. Its maybe a little hard for us to imagine since most of our security is focused on getting the best protection with the shortest keys, but it’d be possible to optimize for long keys.
There could be an mental equivalent of fingerprints.
There aren’t going to be any future hosts. Lapha’s regular body is an artificial meatsuit that doesn’t have a consciousness of its own.
now Sydney has an excuse for these voices in her head
God, I hate particle beans. The taste isn’t so bad, but the texture is completely off.
mouth feel
“SAY MOUTH FEEL ONE MORE TIME, YOU HIPSTER DOOFUS!”
Speaking of Maxima, I’m surprised she’s not on scene yet. Harem told her “drop what you’re doing and get here now” and at Maxima speeds that should be under a minute.
Depends on where she is. Last we saw her, it was suggested she could by flying halfway across Texas to get Chili for Dabbler.
Max: There you go, Dabbler. This chili is not up to Sydney’s standards, but it should give you a boost.
Dabbler: My body doesn’t react to capsaicin like you mammals. Can you bring it over here? I really don’t feel like moving.
Max: Sure.
Daphne (on radio): Max! Drop everything and get over to Sydney’s comic shop!
Max: Oh no.
Dabbler: Go! I can feed myself, albeit slowly. [ Puts two of her hands over the bowl of chili to keep things from falling in due to the wind caused by Max’s exit.
Harem (by the pool table, yells at Max as she goes by): Hey Boss! You don’t have to rush. Sidney’s not an immediate danger, nor is she in immediate danger. She got taken over by some sort of mental parasite, but it can’t access her orbs. If you go over there, keep your distance so she does not take you over.
Max: Good idea. Ok, I have a plan. Make sure the major is kept up to speed.
Harem: Already on it.
Max
Maxima “Mach4” Leander can get across all of Texas in about sixteen minutes. Fifty miles a minute, 801 miles…. It’s not very long. Considering where they’re based, she can’t have to go more than about 3/4 of that at most.
Ten minutes is probably a pretty good estimate. She may be held up thirty seconds or so by having to get on radio and discuss her updated flight plan with air traffic control or something.
We know that Maxima can fly at LEAST faster than Mach 4, since before Sydney’s upgrade, she had topped out at Mach 4 (though now she’s at Mach 16). I’m not counting that Maxima can move and reach much fastert than that from what we saw with the slow-time machine when she super-maxed out her speed to the exclusion of everything else to move at almost normal speed, because I’m not sure if that translates to flight speed (she has a gauge for flight AND for speed which are different).
Basically like Batman said to Superman when Batman said Wonder Woman would be able to beat him in a physical spar fight (even though he has superior superspeed to Diana’s superspeed) – who is faster, Usain Bolt or Bruce Lee? Depends on what type of speed.
So based on the idea that Maxima’s top speed is somewhere between Mach 4 and Mach 16 (I’m assuming because of the foreshadowing by Sydney that she might surpass Maxima’s top speed as ‘fastest flier’ when she gets her next flight orb pip upgrade and Maxima did not dispute that possibility, and actually seemed to implicitly agree at the possibility), Maxima could fly anywhere between 3069.8 mph and 12,276.3 mph. So… possibly a lot less than 16 minutes if it’s more than Mach 4.
Dave is probably saving the Brown Orb for the end of the series but…
It’s the “starship” I.T. Department.
Lapha is going to get uninstalled.
Exactly. +1
brown orb… waste disposal? that’s a crappy guess. probably been done before.
Stop that. You stop that right this instant! I do not want to spend more money on ninjas right now!
Wait till her meds drop off and the lit phart gets a taste of Sydney level of ADHD….
Spellcraft AI gets a heapin helping of CHAOS!
Will her Eyes go B.S.O.D?
Dave, you’re a tease. I was all psyched for a max v evil halo showdown
Don’t worry that possibility exists until they put Sydney’s orbs in a locked box that she can’t open with her lock picking skills before she falls asleep.
Really? Nobody wondering if there’s Aetholiths out there who’ve refined and perfected the “personal pr0n” biz? Like, if they can share memories with that amount of immediacy and “it’s like you’re really there!”-ness, someone has to be making bank off of that.
“Wondering” implies doubt. There is no doubt. It’s so obvious this exists it doesn’t need to be mentioned.
Might I point you in the direction of Rule 34.
And now that the subject has been broached, Rule 34a comes into play. “If there isn’t, there will be.”
Maybe she is immune due to adhd?
Back off or everybody suffers. If you think a browser history leak is bad imagine 4K clarity on chaos gremlin memories. Sydney has been off world and come back from the dead. Lot of state secrets as well.
oooh, Lapha now knows too much! time for the ever-popular “tragic fated accident” evildoers suffer in this genere…
It would be hilarious if something about the orbs made it so Lappie was permanently STUCK in Sydney.
“What? I Can’t get out!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Go away, Scat Singing Batman!”
“I’M THE BATMAN!”
“SKIBBIDIBBI-DOP-BEEE-BADA-BADA-BANG! BADA-BADA-BANG!”
Every page that passes just gives me the idea that all Demons are more trouble than they are worth.
Warlords, rapey sex demons, possession.
Every page just tells me that purging them sounds more and more reasonable.
Hey now, life forms come in all types! There is a reason why I like Orson Scott Card’s philosophy about judging other species by how well we can live with them. Only species that truly threaten our continued existence as a species gets genocide!
P.S. The other levels of that philosophy range from being regularly raided like they are Vikings, to being closer to us than dogs and cats.
Just wait until you find out about all the horrific things humans do to each other!
#PurgeTheDemonsAndHumans
Open a world history textbook sometime.
And ruin their prejudice against non hyu-mons?
#PurgeTheXeno
#PurgeTheLiving
I think people are forgetting that the Magend stole another Magend’s body, so presumably there are ways to forcibly remove them from a host otherwise how would they have put the other one into a containment vessel it/she can’t get out of without someone letting it/her out? Seems unlikely they tricked it/her out of her/its body.
SUre, there’s probably ways to remove the entity. That would still leave a few possible wrinkles, though:
1: Lapha still has had access to all of Syd’s data, including Nth Tech existing, on Earth. This means that Lapha is a major security threat, and would need to be dealt with accordingly.
2: We have no idea what effect ‘exorcising’ Lapha would have on Sydney, either body or mind.
Indeed, we even know from WoG there’s a special tool to do it:
“You can’t just grab an Ætholith off of their own head and just balance it on the nearest cylindrical object. Well, first off, you can’t grab them at all. You need special magical wand-caliper thingies, and if you’re caught with those things and no license for them, it’s assumed you’re up to nefarious intent.” https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1229-half-napped/
Presumably, that’s what they used, and the item is likely in the possession of Garamm.
Possession? I though thats what the other Ætholith is hovering on. The thing we dubbed “Barad-dûr”.
No, the Ætholith-Mate is a separate item that allows storage and life-support.
“One you’ve plucked your Ætholith, you can’t just stick it in your bag or leave them floating over a tabletop. They need a sort of external life-support system, which is the function their bodies perform. Their bodies need oxygen and food just like normal organics, but the Ætholith itself doesn’t. It does need a mana source and a kind of data feed which might be explained later on in the comic. Hence the Ætholith-mate, which just happens to look suspiciously like a certain dark tower from a unnamed movie franchise”
Sydney should think about the grakz incident to keep the invader too creeped out to start digging for military secrets.
An alien information collating AI *would* be the perfect tool to get a handle on the pesky unlabeled upgrade tree. Takes some fun out of the “random” hero; isn’t guaranteed to be correct, but really ups the chances of picking currently useful upgrades.
They still need to remember to call Cora (? Reality-hacker girl) one of the times Syd has the tree out.
Krona’s the reality hacker. Cora is Dabbler’s blue friend with the hard light limbs.
At least you didn’t get her confused with Pixel, like so many commenters do.
I even got most of the letters right! (phonetically, at least)
Okay hear me out but… I… actually want to see Lapha somehow escape, or negotiate a way for her to go free, or have Garamm rescue her after she’s incarcerated.
Mainly because I like them as minor villains (especially Garamm actually who I find chill AF). They’re enjoyable to watch in the comic.
I’m not so attached to Lapha, but I love Garamm, and the dynamic between the two of them. So I certainly want to see them as recurring characters!
And it’s been long established that they’d generally prefer not to kill the villains, if possible. Obviously, some people just need killin’. Just to keep things from being too predictable.
I like Lapha primarily because of the attachment that Garamm has to her, but I agree. Of the two, Garamm is my favorite. But I feel it’s like Abbott and Costello. I like Costello better, but without Abbot, he has nothing to play off of.
Like you said, I like the dynamic between them :)
I want Garamm to come over to the side of good, and I believe this has already been set up.
I like that lots of people responded to DaveB’s number talk, but not one mention of the Blazing Saddles reference!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I
“Back off, everyone! He’s serious!”
I came here to say this. Although it’s sad it cut off at the best part.
“Baby you are so good. … And they are SO stupid.”
I mean with Parfait there she isn’t getting away. Parfait has shown the ability to restrain a person magically so Lapha’s only chance at not being put in the “Eye of Sauron” and killed is co-operate..
Time to eat some of that delicious food that got you unfriended by NDT. Or the Weapon’s grade Mrs. B’s that maced the neighborhood. See if the alien can handle it or be exorcised.
Lapha, use that tiny brain for a minute, you can’t escape, you can’t use the orbs, Sydney is small and not very strong, what are you going to do? They could give you both a sleepy-time shot, and keep you that way until it’s figured out how to remove you, or worse yet, lock you both up, NOT give Sydney her Adderall, but instead give her 6 red bull and get them into an argument over the rings or star wars or some long-running comic book…. Lapha will BEG to be let out!
People with ADHD frequently have irregular reactions to stimulants. Some use caffeine to self-regulate. In fact, it’s already been mentioned that Sydney’s particular dose is about one half step shy of meth. I don’t think the Red Bull would do what you’re thinking it would.
Now, some Benadryl might do the trick. People with ADHD frequently have irregular reactions to that, too.
Haven’t taken ADHD meds for over 2 decades, but I can honestly say that Coke is my drug of choice. Works as you described. Infact, my mother was told by the doctors that Coke does wonders for ADHD patients. Cherry Coke too…
Yes, I can tell the difference between a regular and decaffeinated. There was a prank long time ago thinking it was a psychological response to seeing and drinking and they thought maybe it’s okay to try something fake to see if it’ll have the same reaction. A placebo effect if you will. I could almost immediately tell that it was the “wrong kind” of Crackwater for me.
I really hope we get a Lasciel thing from Dresden Files here! That would be so cool, even though it would have to be temporary.
So, options at this point are the potential telepath (previous page’s comment), Maxima casts “burning hand” on Lapha (and would Halo feel that, as well? :< ), or a third option that might already exist which Parfait et. al. can provide.
You’re forgetting, or deliberately ignoring, Option four: Sydney chows down on some seriously spicy food until Lapha BEGS to be allowed to go back to her last stolen body.
Lapha: “Wait.. what’s that. Oh god don’t tell me you actually intend to EAT that stuff. Oh. Oh, god. Not only do you, you ENJOY it? No. No. No no no! Let me out first!! PLEASE!!! I’ll leave! RIGHT NOW!! Just le. HOOOOTT!!! This is TORTURE!! Do you realize my memory of thi… AUGH!!! Uhh, uhh, uhh. oh god… You realize my memory doesn’t FAa?! AUGH!!!! Please! STOP!! This is TORTURE!!! Oh. God. Not another bi…AAAUGH!!!!”
You’re forgetting that Lapha has partial control over Halo’s body and could just slap the plate onto the floor. Repeatedly.
Also that she has perfect, super-good reccollection of Syd’s histories.
She remembers the previous times as though she was there.
Does she, though? She has perfect recall of her OWN experiences, and Sydney can review them in full 8K HD, with full surround. But Sydney’s own recollections are probably as fragmentary as everyone else’s. Maybe more so.
And I’ve heard that you can’t remember pain, only remember experiencing it. I can not comment either way. I certainly don’t remember pain. Images, sounds, smells, thoughts, yes, but not pain. How about you?
She is the database. Not Sydney. We do not know that she can access Sydney’s memories in full HD, anymore than Sydney can normally, just that Sydney, and she, can access hers in full HD.
Actually, she CAN access Syd’s memories, as demonstrated on this page. Not with complete recall (she had to “look up” the accommodation potion Dabbler made) but she can go through it.
I didn’t say she couldn’t.
Full access to each others memories? Yeah, Sidney can just tell everyone where she left her body, lover, and Tenri. At which point, Arc has leverage.
…How long can a body go without a… soul(?)? Someone hand Syd some hot peppers.
Also: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy references.
“happening to me right now clarity” with a horni-vore mere feet away.
As I see it, Sydney has at least two options, assuming she can maintain an upper hand temporarily, (Which seems to be the case as long as she focuses.) and depending on how vicious she want to get.
Special magic tweezers can remove Ætholiths, presumably what’s magic about them is that they can grip spells. Wanna bet that Sydney’s Hentorb can’t grab hold of a spell just as easily as a rock?
And Sydney’s shield can cut through spells, that’s already been demonstrated. So she could move all her orbs but the shield orb to the back of her head, and create a shield around her that intersects her passenger, likely fatally.
In fact, the threat to do the latter would probably be sufficient.
Of course, Dabbler probably has a set of those tweezers squirrelled away somewhere.
Dabbler probably has a set of those tweezers built into her robot fingers.
Did anyone notice which hand she was using to manipulate Max’s disguise choker?
From the airplane ride back to kenya I believe her artificial arm is her lower right.
I wonder if Sydney can keep herself immobile by moving the orbs to their maximum height so that Lapha can’t move her body.
Its one thing if the orbs are physically prevented from moving by a barrier, but possibly a different story if she’s trying to keep them in one place by mental movement while her body moves.
Alternatively, she could just have Harem vorp in with a bag like the last one she kept them in and mentally move them into that for Harem to keep hold of… I wouldn’t recommend Harem try vorping away with them though…
I don’t expect it’d be DANGEROUS to try vorping away, per se. I think it’d be like trying to vorp a building; They’d just present as having outrageous weight, for how her power is concerned.
Plus I don’t think they’ve ever had anyone else even grab the orbs in the first place.
Well… other than Sydney using them as a weapon against Sciona and Shadow Walker guy
We’ve never seen anyone “grab” them a hand/body part, but Concretia was able to encase them in concrete and immobilize Sydney. This was during the extended arc where we first saw Lapha. And Max grabbed the case with the orbs inside in “Act 1”.
Sydney’s body appears to act as a perfect “immovable object”, with no force being able to use them to move Sydney. Even Max could not move Sydney by moving the orbs in their case… which should have destroyed the case, but whatever.
On the other hand, moving Sydney does cause the orbs to move, so the resistance to movement is only as strong as the containment. The case shifted along the floor when Sydney was pulled away from it, but she was unable to move the case when it was caught under a car or the orbs when encased in concrete.
References, click “Next” a few times to get more info:
Concretia: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-898
Act 1: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-40
“Even Max could not move Sydney by moving the orbs in their case… which should have destroyed the case, but whatever.”
Maxima has tactile telekinesis, she can wrap what she touches into a forcefield allowing her to move it without breaking it.
You opened this can of particle beans, now lie in it.
Just feed Sydney the hot sauce from her toolkit pouches already! See how long the intruder want’s to stay after that!
I would think of Dabbler , Gwen and Zephan threatening her with the bigest dispel magic spell available…
“I’ll make the biggest abjuration demonstration”
Dabbler has probably access to the fancy gloves used to grab Tenri. She can just put her into a bottle.