Grrl Power #574 – Trail off
Oh, Sydney. I do enjoy a good pun. I also like bad puns, so if future pun quality varies wildly it’s because my standards are all over the place. :)
I realize with all the blood, it might be a little hard to tell, but in the second to last panel, that’s Wyrmil’s upper torso laying there, face down. At least part of it. Minus an arm, and… you know, spine and stuff. Being an anthropomorphic worm thing, I’m not sure he actually has a spine though. An erect posture like that seems like a lot to ask of, I don’t know, fluid filled sacks, a la Kif Kroker. Well, whatever it is, it’s missing.
Or is it just… misplaced?
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Eww….
Yea, that smells artful stinky, to me.
That’s a bloody brilliant response.
It takes guts to tell a joke like that.
… and you have to be brave too.
“Holds up Wyrmil’s”
I got guts!
Yep, took real backbone…
“Gets out toolkit”
I will use yours.
…and with a nose like yours!
Really? I’d have expected you to roll in it, just for the chance that Sydney might give you a bath.
Agreed!
And I also have to mention that Sydney’s reference about Earthworm Jim is just as offal as Cooter is right now; let’s face it, his bowels have most definitely been dissed. Or, to repeat a famous quote: “What an interesting smell you’ve discovered.”
So Deus left Wyrmil’s damaged upper torso, but took the lower half of his body, that was not touched by the death field, and his brain.
Yup, he’s totally dead. We’ll never see him again.
we all know people who die off panel in a super hero comic are totally dead. especially if they are regenerators.
Yea but only half of him died off. There could be a clue in his name.
OK the fact that it is the bit with his brain, that died, does make things look less than optimistic for poor Wyrmil.
*puts on black fore-leg band*
But, on the other paw, there is the phrase “just about impossible to kill”. So those drag marks may not have been from someone else dragging off his lower torso.
What’s left may be a leftover husk, like a larval sack, and small dewy new wyrmil is somewhere, drying out and regaining basic muscle strength & coordination.
Indeed, examining the art it does indeed look more like that.
Sydney, the Wyrmil hunt is afoot…. errm… aslither!
He pulled of the flesh that hit the field?
His brain, arm, internals, spine and legs walked away. Only the exterior flesh is effected by the field though it may have infections properties to spread the death effect.
He was talking right after being impaled by a fist so his regeneration is quick.
I think he left with the others earlier.
Well, what we can see looks a lot less stonier/ashen than he did after getting thrust into the death-field. So, was he recovering from that?
Also… Where did the Vampire and Doctor Chuckles go? Did they head off to a different section of the vault while Deus and Sciona chatted, and did Deus make a deal to help get them out to? The council is going to have some major egg on their face if the next this Sydney discovers is Gunnhildr’s corpse…
Come now, we have no data to indicate if Wyrmil does or does not have his brain located in his head. It could be parked in his (since we seem to have assigned a masculine gender to him) hips for all we know..
Wyrmil: And then he shot me in the head, like -that- would slow me down..
We didn’t assign any gender. The comic itself did that.
Both Decolete and Ingsol talk about him.
reminds of MIB:
will smith: See, you’re getting your memory back. you remembered his head grows back when you shoot it.
Tommy Lee Jones: It grows back?
So kinda the opposite of later on?
*Kay keeps trying to hurt grunt, grunt unaffected*
Jay; “KAY, he’s a Ballchinian…”
Kay; “Oh…” * Pulls down grunt scarf to reveal chin-scrotum, jumps up & kicks them, KOing grunt…*
planarian
…Which means he may even be able to “re-grow” some if not all of his memories back, presuming he’s not “Dead!”-dead.
He may very well not have a concentrated brain. Been a while since elementary school, but I think worms are run by a nerve that runs down their whole length. If he is similar then every part of him may be equally smart*.
*for values of ‘smart’ that include ‘trusting Sciona’.
In which case there is particular significance to the author’s blog above.
What you’re talking about is called the cerebral ganglion. From a web article about vermicomposting:
“The cerebral ganglion, located at the front of the worm, serves as the brain. This nerve bundle is responsible for receiving external information such as light, heat, moisture and vibrations. The worm relies on the ganglion and a ventral nerve cord for sensory input from the world around them.” – University of Texas
So, since the cerebral ganglion (brain) is located at the front of the worm, it is very likely that poor, unfortunate Wyrmil did, in fact, have his brain in his head.
On the other paw, unless Deus and his allies accidentally moved the corpse while removing the artifacts, Wyrmil’s remains seem pretty far away from where Sciona killed him. There’s nothing to really establish whether or not his remains have moved, so I could be wrong. Also, there’s a possibility that, if it has moved, it could just be a reflex action from the ventral nerve cord (like how the back part of a worm keeps wiggling for a while even if severed).
Either way, Wyrmil is either totally dead or only mostly dead. We’ll just have to wait and see what DaveB has in mind.
He could just be a fully regenerated mindless shell of his former self. Much like Wolverine after getting shot in the head by an adamant bullet. Turned his brain to Cheese but he didn’t die.
Actually earthworms have 5 “brains”. So while he may have lost a bit I think he’ll be back.
Looking at the trail from the last panel it seems more like he either crawled away or was dragged and either managed to get to the portal or is still hiding in here. Deus wouldn’t have needed to drag him back into the main chamber if he wanted to take Wyrmil’s body with him.
It looks like sidewinder tracks on sand to me.
Pretty sure the missing half just slithered off to recuperate as far from the expanding death field as it could manage. Likely to become a willing witness against Sciona in exchange for considerations once they find it. Of course, that may also put Deus in the crosshairs…
Deus will be fine. He was just doing some regular archeology in international waters. The gore was all over the place when he got there. He even has government authorization! The gore was there when he got there and that other stuff was already broken when he got there. Except that pillar. That broke after he arrived, but it wasn’t his fault.
*sniff sniff sniff*
WOOOF WOOOF!
[translation: “I declare this to be both a cat and not a cat!”]
My guess is that Wyrmil’s only mostly dead. “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.”
.
.
.
.
“True love.”
chocolate makes it go down easier
Eh. In a comic called Grrlpower options for a dude villain are either dead for good or go through metamorphosis and grow a pair of boobs! I mean if he aims to be part of the main cast of villains he gotta add s before that h. Hell same goes for heroes, too. The only addition from the heroes vs villains was Jabberwocky.
Sure we have a token guy here and there but the comic is about girl power (even if it’s “girl power” from the guy perspective with a healthy dose of les yay and randy talk, but hey, I’m not complaining!)
I vote for female transformation!
*gets out chalk board*
OK that is one for: worm lovin’
Oh would sir like that boobs or no boobs?
Make my order of boobs a double & add a side order of thighs.
:P
You’re being silly. The “Girl Power” are the cast at the top of the page. There are lots of male characters in this.
Male role call:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/672
no, I don’t have it bookmarked. It’s in the archives under “Hot Beefcake”.
and you’re missing Snoopy’s point… out of all the Male characters, how much screen time do THEY have compared to the FEmale characters… thus implying that only a transformation to female would really allow for more screen time for Wyrmil, other than a fe pages when they catch up to him, as a minor cameo role now… similar to The Barberian,
So happy I got to see Princess Bride anniversary last week.
How long has she been married?
Nice. That is one film that will remain a great, into the depths of time.
You mean “To blave”… which means to bluff.
As Wyrmil’s death is a bluff
+1
Huh…Was he still alive and trying to escape?
Maybe that blood free streak will let them know what the main objective was.
Get out of the room with the expanding death field maybe?
You act like he has some experience with death fields… maybe a traumatic one?
I;m guessing we will hear some backstory about betrayal or some such.
*gets hankie out*
well, yes…very recently as a matter of fact. Very, very recently.
Well, he took an arm through the chest and face full of death field, and (part of him at least) STILL managed to crawl out into the main entry. One of Deus’ new hires?
Maybe he’s like Husk (Marvel) and recovered by shedding his damaged layer? I believe Sydney took notice of the trail leading away from the remains. It kinda looks like a slither pattern.
Solid suggestion.
Whilst regarding the slither pattern, if that is not what it is then there is something fishy.
don’t follow the worm tracks, Sydney, it’s…..bait
Wyrmyl was alive and talking on page 570, so something else happened we don’t know about yet. I’m expecting a minor argument with Deus about the shopping list.
I think Deus would honour his end of the verbal deal he made with Sciona’s crew (that he was not after the key items they were interested in, including Wyrmil’s).
In fact he was clearly courting Sciona’s henchmen, by pointing out her people-skill flaws, in front of them. As such, if anything, I would envisage Deus as having snagged Wyrmil’s artefact, for him, given that he seemed rather… indisposed.
This would only be if he had the time mind. With the death field expanding he may not have been able to give Wyrmil the Regenator.
But, to give credence to your expectation, if Wyrmil did get better, quick enough to contest Deus’s other choices, then we did see that he was not the sharpest thinker in the toolbox. Not being able to see why blowing up a five foot thick super-strong door might be impractical (for everyone else) indicates that he could easily have underestimated Deus’s team’s capabilities.
That’s my take on it too.
It may just be the lighting effects in there, but I don’t see how far the death-field may have expanded so far. Granted, Sydney’s looking in the wrong direction for the center of the field (she’s looking towards the pedestal that used to hold the Epimorph). If the death-field is still visible as it expands, I hope someone notices before walking into it…
It was my impression that the death field shut down when the vault was opened by normal means.
No, Sydney is looking back into the Lobby with the pillars to stop the descending death ceiling and broken defense turrets
Okay. Wyrmil’s alive but really, really hurt. ;-)
—
I got this idea last night: Why Sciona is trying to wreck the Veil. It’s speculation so just bear with me.
SCIONA IS A GODDESS OR DEMIGODDESS.
So we’re wondering what she is. We know what she’s up to, but we have to ask why. But if you put both questions together based on a single answer- a divine being- then it makes sense.
The Veil conceals supernatural beings from ordinary human beings in the world. But if so, then it should also hide gods and goddesses from people.
It would depend on the setting or the writer, but most gods in fantasy are written to draw power- sometimes even just life and existence- from the belief and devotion of mortals. But if that’s also the case here…
Then Sciona is a goddess *depowered* by lack of belief, by people no longer knowing and worshipping her. The Veil is in the way. So how does she get back her divine power and vitality? Smash the thing concealing her, reveal herself, let people know gods do exist and that she’s one of them. Some people are bound to latch onto her in a religious sense, thus granting her the divine power she wants.
And if fellow supernaturals get screwed over one way or another? Well, she’s proven herself quite uncaring of what happens to her own allies as long as she gets what she wants. And she’s a god who will regain some of power back- she’s likely to weather whatever conflict arises from mortals discovering vampires, werewolves, aliens, and magic exists simply by having more power, enough power to keep her safe.
—
THAT SAID, I’ve done my fair share of wild story speculation before, many times, on many different forums, and I know how unlikely they are to be accurate, so take this crazy idea with a grain of salt. ;-)
Did you just explain why divine miracles don’t happen any more? Because the Veil blocks them?
I like it.
That plays into my headcanon that the abrahamic god is actually a rogue fey lord… because, you know, the whole god’s weakness to iron chariots thing plus fey having a weakness to iron and certain legend of a certain god-like fey lord being banished in pagan lore “to the east” with prophecies that he return to try and conquor the lands of Europe….
.. anybody else like playing different mythologies off of eachother to see what story it makes… or is it just me?
I like you.
:)
I recently played Age of Mythology again…
I’m more of the thought that miracles still do happen, but they manifest in subtle ways, that can still explained in a mundane way. As long as subtlety is used, the Veil can’t really hide it. Think of how the White Wolf game Mage: The Ascension deals with paradox & the power of mages; by using Coincidental Magick (ie: can be explained within the mundane Static Reality), then Paradox isn’t likely to backlash on the mage.
In this comic, perhaps subtle magic/supernatural that doesn’t reach a certain “threshhold” where the Veil would have normally disguised it still remains effective.
“Some people are bound to latch onto her in a religious sense.”
Sciona now has a gratuitously sexy dark elf body, with laser wings no less. If she wants people to worship her to gain power, all she has to do is post nude selfies on Reddit…
That being said, will Dave be helping the cause with the 2018 VDSD pinup?
Or go to a comicon, become a model, a actress, a dom, form her own religion.
Just don’t drink the kool-aid, like the followers of Jim Jones did…
If not, I know of a couple artists who’d happily help.
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Maxima-Mirror-by-Mikiron-637947444
Although sexy, not what I’d call a “track star” physique.
um… no, that IS DaveB’s artwork, it was commissioned BY a Patreon supporter… that person being Mikiron
Wasn’t it revealed she wrecked the veil to interrupt the alarms of the vault?
Not quite. The Veil covers the world, using a world-wide magical network. On top of which other spells, which needed world-wide reach have been piggybacked. In what amounts to a magical internet. So what has been turned off is the piggybacking internet, but not the Veil itself.
This can be confirmed by the fact that, just prior to the villains using their bloody pentagram to travel to the vault (which must have been after the alarm was disabled by means of the internet going down), we saw the room from Cooter’s point of view. Instead of seeing monsters, he saw humans. Proving that the Veil itself is functioning still.
Not necessarily. We saw an indication that the Veil was fading when the group with the were-bunny was out in public and her appearance was passed off as cosplaying. Sciona might have simply been using a local version of the Veil glamour to keep Cooter in the dark.
My first paragraph is simply repeating (paraphrased) what has been stated in the comic, as canon. Very paraphrased for the reasons why the magical internet was taken down, as my memory is hazy on how that was explained.
The second is just an observation which shows that continuity was maintained.
Therefore Sciona had no need to cast an illusion,* as we know that the Veil is still working .** And we have no hint of any other illusions having been used by her team, despite the fact that they could have been useful. For instance we have seen that Sciona clearly was unhappy with her previous appearance. So an illusion would have been a good stopgap, until this scheme came to fruition.
* Which I very much doubt that she can. She is a blood mage, not an illusionist. Plus we know from Deus;s conversation with Vale, way back, that illusionists are vanishingly rare on Earth.
For info note that Dabber is not an illusionist. She (and other succubi) use a racial ability which specifically just allows them to alter their appearance. Although there may be succubi who can do more advanced things than that, Dabbler is not one of them.
Note that when we did see the cute self-taught witch casting an illusion, it was so weak that it required breadsticks as props, and Dabbler as a puppeteer, in order to even make it pass for a Muppet.
** However you are right that it is weakened and can fail in local areas, at times. But we had no hint of such in that scene. Whereas Dave has employed partial Veil illusions in the past (when Sydney was scanning club Oontz for aliens).
For reference. I just wanted to check that I had recalled the scene correctly. Dave just selectively altered Sciona and Wyrmil’s appearances, but marked that clearly as being what Cooter was seeing, for those. Clearly he was not seeing the rest the way we were, given Cthilia’s monstrous appearance and the fairly distinctive vampire look (for the male vampire anyhow).
The main reason I linked it though is because of Cthillia’s comment in the final panel.
Only now can we appreciate the full depth of her gag!
*wags tail in appreciation*
Nothing really ‘distinctively vampiric’ about whatshisfangs, other than his receding hair and clothes
There is nothing distinctively “goth” about a goth, other than their clothing, makeup and whatever attitude they choose to give off. Yet when you see one you go ‘that person is distinctly a goth’. Choosing clothing and hair that is closely associated with vampires would make people think ‘that person wants to look like a vampire’.
That would not go down well with a monster-hater, like Cooter. Plus we know that he was extremely outspoken. And believed that monsters were real. Possibly he may conclude that the guy was a vampire, or maybe that he was a ‘vampire groupie’ or just someone who liked dressing up as a monster for the sake of it. Either way I feel sure that he would speak up about that. Or maybe take action, of some sort.
That’s what I meant. The veil was damaged so much that they had to shut off the secondary systems to keep it working until repairs are done.
Wyrmil even said he disliked relying on the foolishness of his enemies. The veil was never the main target.
Stupid, in hindsight Wyrmil should have worried more about the cleverness of his allies.
Lol.
Nice theory, and I wouldn’t be surprised if (demi-)gods/goddesses do exist in the grrlpower-verse. And Sciona may even be one of the lower ones.
But I think you’re off about a few things in there.
First of all it was shown that disrupting the veil was a misdirection and intended to make the council take the secondary systems off-line, which the alarm of the vault was using. Disrupting the veil was not the main or end goal.
Second, Sciona wasn’t depowered by lack of belief but by the top of her skull being separated from her body. She needed the epimorph to return her body back to her and via her body her full power.
Third. The veil conceals supernatural events to some degree, but doesn’t blank them completely. If she is powered by followers all she needed to do was start a cult, show them that the supernatural world is real, and she can harness their belief for herself. It would be small scale, but if she had a whole religion devoted to her before there might still have been signs of that. Religion as a whole hasn’t disappeared because of the veil after all.
For the second point, why not both losing believers and then getting beheaded? ;-) Gods and goddesses- even the least warlike ones- are terribly hard to kill. Suppose the loss of followers weakened Sciona; she tries to take her power back violently, is violently resisted, and thus loses the her body from mouth down.
For the third, given that she was already an “outlaw” to the supernatural community, you could be sure any cult she started would just get squashed by the Council. Might as well go big and harvest enough power to destroy them completely in one fell swoop. ;-)
(Both these replies follow the ad hoc fallacy. ;-) Again, don’t take this theory too seriously.)
So, she is a sexy female goddess who wants to reveal herself to the modern world. I guess that makes her Gozer The Gozerian. Just don’t let Sydney pick her destroyer form. We would end up with a giant pink pony destroying the city. Does Archon have any proton packs in their armory?
Actually, Sydney SHOULD pick the form.
But without taking any meds for a few weeks.
She’ll change her mind so rapidly that it wouldn’t be able to move since it would be in a constant state of shapeshifting.
Example: Cthulu.
Cthulu wearing a dress.
Pink dress with pigtails.
And a chainsaw.
NO STOP IT LOGAN THAT’S FOR LATER
Octopus monster.
Why am I thinking of Batman?
(Batman beat boxing)
(Naked Batman beatboxing)
What is the octopus doing to Batman?
Lol.
Very nicely put together speculation. Currently the Twilight Council are under the impression that Sciona only attacked the Sigils, in order to scare them into turning off the magical internet (to prevent it being used to cast any world-wide spells), but actually to prevent the alarm going off.
However that may have actually been her ultimate objective, as you say (for this, or other reasons, but yours is a great one). Meaning that she was making two moves for the cost of one. Which is something you would expect of a goddess.
Not to mention:
1) Considering mortals to be disposable assets.
2) Not being bothered about the opinions of mortals.
3) Getting mightily pissed off at someone interfering with her plans.
4) Not bothering to grab as many artefacts as she could before Deus got to them.
I have indicated previously that even an arch-mage would need to be wary of alienating her allies. Yet she does appear to have left Wyrmil for dead, and abandoned her other allies. Which would do precisely that. So making a puzzling conundrum.
1) to 3) may well all feature in a ruthless archmage, but it is just the scale of her unconcern which would seem out of place. She has, after all, required the help of a minion, in the past, to sew her head on an orc body. Showing at least one was totally loyal to her, even in such dire circumstances (and assuming her to just be an arch mage).
However if Sciona is a goddess, as you say, then all of the above makes sense. Especially 4) as a goddess may have no need of these items, if her own power will eclipse them.
But if she has resumed her form as a god and has regained her
Note also the spiteful quotation marks when she speaks Deus’ name. Consistent with the idea that she’s a goddess peeved by a mortal seemingly trying to claim the same status.
Ooh, nice point!
You may haz a cookie!
The Messenger of the god’s theory gets the rest of the jar.
You bring up a point regarding Sciona and the artifacts: namely, that she didn’t take any of them with her.
She got what she wanted and left the rest of her crew to die, since she was the only one who could have teleported them back out. Had Deus NOT interfered, the Council would have found a damaged vault, a bunch of dead people and nothing missing.
Council: “Well, they tried to break in, but the defenses were very effective. We should be safe in that regard.”
Now though, it’s: “Fuck, we’ve got all these missing magical McGuffins, and only half a dead body to show for it!” (more likely only half-dead though) Sciona’s pissed at Deus because (among other possible reasons) the Council knows someone got away with the theft.
Yea. That is the most likely situation. I do remind folks though that the vault is actually a multi-room complex and there were other members of Sciona’s team around. So it is possible that she simply teleported out of the room full of enemies and an expanding death field, but into one of the others.
Ready to stock up on as many goodies as possible whilst the competition are busy in the one she already grabbed the choicest item. Which would then allow her to open a blood gate, to allow all her minions to escape, complete with loot.
Overall though, yea, looks like she betrayed the lot of them. Although it is possible that the others (the vampires in particular, given their status as Twilight Council leaders) would have ways out (including teleportation) and making their ways out separately always was part of the plan.
that’s probably the “Black Library” they mentioned in the second panel… that’s probably where they kept the User’s Manuals for all the things stolen, as well as things like the Necronominominomicon… you know: the cookbook that chef’s all go crazy for…
What is the origin of ‘Gods need believers to exist’?
The god Pan’s death?
The diskworld stories?
You would think gods wouldn’t need anyone. They’re gods!
That was long a staple of fantasy, before Terry Pratchett got onto the scene.
But, yea, not universally so. Gods come in many flavours, in different settings. But this is a a good one to explain the facts we have observed to date. Not the only possible explanation, but it ties up anomalies nicely.
Not to mention removing the stigma of defeat (/possible death) from Sydney. Being killed by a god, yet still being around to tell the tale gives bragging rights, rather than shame.
Well not that it stopped Sydney from bragging.
*wags tail encouragingly*
and being killed by a evil arch blood mage that survives decapitation while being a raw recruit is shameful?
*sniffs*
*averts gaze from Sydney*
That is… too painful to talk about.
I still wanna know how she met the people she will play D&D with later. Are they Council members getting a Sydneycation (education via Sydney) and Dave drew them human ‘cuz the veil works and she wasn’t holding the commball?
Well one is her recently recruited shop assistant, Olivia. And the other is Olivia’s brother/cousin.
See now that is weird. Her name just popped into my head. Whereas I have had to look up Ingsol and other prominent cast members (who’s names are still eluding me).
I think it dates back to the big Greek gods getting extra power from their followers. I’m pretty sure it didn’t start much before that. I don’t the the Egyptian gods did this… maybe just the Greeks and romans
The pre-Judaic faith was like this. There is even a part still in there that implies Gods were boosted by worship and sacrifice.
the battle between Yahweh and Chemosh, both sides (the human tribes worshipping them) were nearly even and believed their worship and sacrifices were boosting their god to give them victory over the other. and Chemosh was strong enough thanks to sacrifices and worship to push back against Yahweh.
But as sustenance the prayer power thing is only seen in fantasy, in religion it comes across more as a way to increase a god’s power. But that alone could be enough here, being prayed to and thus becoming more powerful could be a goal.
That may also be somewhat implied (VERY debatable) in the conversation/contest btwn God and the devil in the book of Job. Not that that’s really the devil, there. But Job was the rope in their tug-of-war for the whole book, which had a higher body count than most books of the bible.
TBH, I think it was really D&D that reinforced this particular idea on me.
@Jayessell it might not be that gods need believers but if you look at mythology some of the gods where egotistical AF. so their ego may have needed it more than their powers. :P
Then there are the gods who don’t give a damn.
“Oh, you want to play Earth again? That is so… last epoch!”
“OK, but this time don’t throw rocks at the dinosaurs. Or whatever’s left over from the last time.”
The whole gods being killed or dying is well documented in “mythology”.
Set killing Osiris, Aeap trying to kill Ra every night, Loki arranging Baldur’s death and not forget that whole ragnorok thing
Killing gods is distinct from killing them by stopping people from worshiping them (be that by killing worshipers or otherwise).
That also depends on the pantheon, “gods” are not a universal concept when it comes to specific traits. Such as the Norse gods were only immortal due to what they ate, but even then death only meant being trapped in Hel, the Egyptian Gods likewise would be forced into the underworld when killed. The Greek gods couldn’t apparently be killed only imprisoned, but they could be harmed and tortured as well, they felt pain just not death.
some beings we call “gods” due to translation and cultural concept limitations across languages can “die” but death doesn’t mean the same thing; they will simply be reborn in another form, possibly with different powers, but be the same individual. Some faeries were even like this, where they’d stay dead for about a year or less and then return.
I was thinking a celestial being of some sort.
Her wings in classic art could be mistaken for the celestial sash that some celestials had. We also in fantasy and sci-fi see light wings on celestial beings.
But could go with true-fae, progenitor race, celestial traveler (beings that reside in the void), ancient super (like externals from marvel comics), spirit world being, descendent of a celestial being *in many myths and fantasy the descendants of celestial beings are less powerful each generation; but the potential is still there if they find a way to bring it out*.
She is not a Goddess, she’s a very naughty girl, no, not that sort of ‘naughty girl’
Look, Sydney! A wild Wyrmil (Mk.II?) is hiding! Get pokeball ready.
So that is what the last orb does!
Maxima didn’t argue the possibility of it being a Prison Ball.
-but I still say Room Ball.
Cargo Bay
Prison
Medbay
(There are upgrades! It might have the ability to be whatever room you want when you want. PPO can be slicerbeam or gatlinglaser. Probably also flamethrower and target lock. Plus, you really think a super-advanced space ship couldn’t just switch its own components around after reading the pilot/captain’s mind? So the Roomball should do it too.)
Room Ball or Roomba?
Sydney would love a cargo bay. Her very own hammerspace. Room for all those useful thingeys without the weight of said junk.
A room ball of requirement, you say?
Looks like the Deathfield has indeed been shut off by them opening the door.
Makes sense, given that they used multiple-leader authentication, to gain entrance. If that is tied in to any of the defenses, then any which are posing a widespread danger (such as malfunctioning death fields) should be turned off. Given sensible safety protocols.
Mind you if those are in line with their alarm routing protocols then our heroines might have already died, but just not noticed it yet!
Yay! Sydney is back! And telling an awful pun. ;-)
And looking more gorgeous than ever, especially in the final panel!
Not to mention getting into full-on detective mode.
*nod*
Well, that is an expected progression for a super…
Should they be standing in the crime scene?
Yes. They need to determine if there are any survivors or active villains still on the premises, plus to confirm which artefacts are missing. Which requires entering the room. They would just need to avoid disturbing anything that appears significant, and make a note of where they have gone. Which they then pass on to the forensics team, when they arrive.
This is the kind of thing that cops have to make judgement calls on, but possible present threats (or injured individuals) take precedence over preserving the crime scene.
That said both Maxima and Halo can fly. And Halo can take the non-fliers as passengers. So Dave missed a trick there.
Well, they probably are investigating via magic. And that shield blocks everything we’ve seen so far, including teleporters. So there’s a good chance her shield would interfere with the investigation if she carried them.
WOAH wait a minute. Could Mr. Bubble get through the death field? Because if it could, it would definitely block the damage for Sydney, allowing her to literally pick up anything shiny she saw lying around. (That is, if the death field wasn’t already turned off.)
Well, she can’t pick up things that are outside of the bubble.
The light hook probably could, and she could potentially push items in the death field out using the shield.
“The Black Library has been breached”
Oh no! They got the Big Book of Vampires!
How did Sciona get into the webway?
(Ups the ante with a different reference.)
That reference earns you, lets say, 40,000 points.
Probably by following a pair of half naked guys past a giant clown.
not knowing any of those references makes this thread a wild ride.
*bounces by, on a space hopper, stark naked barring a cowboy hat*
Not that I recognise the references either. It just felt… y’know….
The Black Library is the collective term for all written canon lore regarding warhammer 40k. Two half naked guys and a clown refers to a YouTube series called. “If The Emperor Had a Text to Speech Device.”
Thanks.
*wags tail appreciatively*
Love the Earthworm Jim reference there….!
Now if they are able to prove that Deus was there….
Possible type in panel 2. Should:
read as:
;-)
I suppose some beings rely more on their sense of smell for identifying acquaintances.
I would like to say that it’s hard to identify individuals by scents buuuttttt…….
“And I thought they smelled bad…on the outside.”
~Han Solo
If only there were a source of fresh air.
Oh wait…..
Well remembered. Sydney did use that for the Cooter-splatter room. But you know how her mind flutters around. Taking her mind off the traumatic scene, by focusing on puns, is a fair self-defense mechanism. But, with her ADHD, could cause her to hyper-focus (thus missing other things which may have normally sprang readily to mind).
Fortunately her purpose here did allow shifting her attention to clue hunting. And tracking is something that ADHD folks are particularly well equipped to excel at.
For the record, Maxima’s advice to breath through the mouth would be horrible even if Sydney didn’t have her Orb of Minty Freshness. It has better filtration, and if what that one guy from the zombie survival seminar who’s worked with dead bodies said is true, breathing in corpse particles through your mouth means you’ll have the taste in your mouth of that stench for weeks.
I would not take too much credence on everything you see in fiction. Besides which the Grrlverse has no zombies. ;-)
Note that Maxima’s advice is a known technique for reducing anxiety. I have (at separate times) lived next to a farm where they routinely used animal slurry fertiliser, and near enough to an abattoir that I would get hit by the stench, when the wind was in the wrong direction.
Breathing through the mouth helps a lot.
Not breathing even more so. But I am able to do that for far longer than average, having trained myself from youth. So that is not necessarily good advice for a normal person exposed to nasty smells, other than in passing. Usually best if driving past such places. Not so good if at risk of fainting from seeing a room full of blood and guts.
Ah, no. His real life work involved autopsy stuff on occasions. It’s why he was at the seminar: Real world knowledge that was applicable to the fictitious subject.
Ahh, a real-word zombie survival seminar, which you attended….
*discreetly shuffles away from Ganurath*
Actually, just teasing, I appreciate that ‘zombie apocalypse’ is a useful placeholder for any apocalyptic situation. Plus is a particularly good one (that universities have used in pandemic simulations) for any human-borne contagion. Rabies is such a close parallel that I am sure anyone could see that weaponizing it (making it more contagious, especially versus humans) would create a zombie apocalypse.
Actually, Yorp, it’s funny you should mention that.
In Left 4 Dead, the “Green Flu” (which is what is making all the ‘zombies’) is specifically a mutated form of rabies. In Dying Light the “zombie virus” is apparently a genetically-modified strain of rabies as well.
Dead Island is probably the oddest… in that one, it’s some sort of hybrid of kuru and malaria. I’m not a microbiologist, but I can’t see how that one would work. Malaria is caused by a parasitic protozoan, and kuru is a prion disease (not a virus) with a gestation time of 10 to 20 years. Yet in the game, anyone who gets bit who isn’t resistant, turns within hours.
The less said about Resident Evil and the T-Virus, the better. (Even I know that Viruses Do Not Work That Way.)
Sydney’s onto something.
Wyrmil’s blood looks a bit silvery, so that may tell her his isn’t the blood on the walls, and there is a trail of it.
The fact the body part is in a place that could only have been accessed latter also suggests that.
Why, I’d guess Sydney’s onto where Wyrmil is hidding!
Is it a trail of white blood or where wormy has wiped away the blood while crawling along?
He was still alive last time we saw him, uttering cursewords at his cohort for backstabbing him.
Yes (it looks like the former, but the pooling of red blood may just be creating that illusion, with a white floor).
To quibble on the last, Wyrmil was actually cursing the pilus prior (a.k.a. the most senior centurion, i.e. the commander of the cohort).
Blood or something else white.
Also it’s worth pointing out that his “remains” are at the entrance to the treasure room and the trail leads from there to the main room about where Opal’s portal was.
No, Opal opened her portal in the same treasure room that Sci-fright was plundering (we were able to see it behind the display case with the eye-glove, which lead many to speculate that she had opened a portal in the case)
Entrails have that effect.
[Meant to be read aloud] What do awful entrails entail for offal? Offering of tales of wyrmil’s tails tells off olfactory fails.
*Begins to compliment you then gets distracted with Leek Spin*
…We’ll never see Viirin again with an intact mental state…
To be fair, Sydney wasn’t the one who laid down the entrails, that was Cooter…He’s the one who laid them down, up & around all sides.
Sydney’s hand is on Decollete’s waist in panel four. Hmm.
Yeah, that’s some awfully casual contact. I think in context Syndey is supposed to be leaning in to look at the Wyrmil remnant and using Decollete for support, but most human beings wouldn’t casually put their hand on the hip of a woman they barely know in such a circumstance*.
*Outside of standard sexual harassment, I mean.
Decollete does not consider that intimate contact. Contact? Yes. Intimate? No. Sydney would have to move her hand a few inches to the left and down for it to be intimate contact. But we know that normally Sydney is not interested in that kind of thing.
Every part of a succubus is hypnotic.
Sydney is hiding behind Decolette’s skirt, so to speak. She’s not used to seeing stuff like a third of a body, and figures physically interposing someone else between her and it shields her from the full gross out factor.
Sydney isn’t known for thinking before she acts.
Distracted Sydney is easily… look at what Dabbler’s chesticles did to Syd, and she was even aware of it and couldn’t stop.
Decolette is a less-watered-down Succubus than Xuriel, so…
Speaking of Decollete’s decolletage, does this universe have a ‘law of conservation of matter’ for boobs? Sciona went up by 2 sizes and it appears that Decollete has gone down by about the same amount. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2217
She must have figured I would be here.
+1.
Different shirt holds them in more?
Like a +1 Shirt of Holding?
it would always have to be at least a +2. or suffer accidental exposure
(sure, ‘suffer’)
+2
Sure “accidental”
Where is Brunhilda? the female vamp on council (traitor) that came with Sciona to the vault?
Gunhilda, or ‘Gunnie’ to her friends, she probably left with Sci-fright and what ever else they came for
comic showed her leaving alone. so she disappeared between their appearance and then the vault being opened…
We saw Sci-fright *WINK* out, but not out to where
I’ve been wondering the same thing. At least 1 vampire came with Sciona to the vault heist, but we haven’t seen either since their entry.
She was famished and there was free food to distract her.
She came through with everyone else, but I didn’t draw her venturing into the other vault area for brevity’s sake.
Now for the important question: Is Sydney going to wander off on her own or let the others know what she thinks first?
She may try to but Maxima should be used to her curious habits by now and grab her by the collar when she strays in the direction of the latest diversion.
I dunno. That one might not apply to le vamps. After all, wouldn’t all that blood all over the place smell ambrosial to them? Or does is pall when stale, clotted…whatever that qualifies as.
Though now that I think of it. Maybe clotted blood is like those blood jelly things the vamps were eating in Blade. Mmmmmm-MMH. Blood jelly. Good eats that! x.x
There are recipes for Blood Pudding, if you care to look. Yeah, it really is a thing, even among normal humans in this world.
;)
Black and White Pudding
Well you can combine the two dishes into one. But white pudding is just black pudding (a.k.a. “blood pudding” by Americans) without the blood.
Nope, just different blood, pig or chicken blood
Let’s put it this way: How appetizing is food to you when it’s smeared all over a dirty floor and walls and is obviously several hours old?
Depends on the food. People love to let wine age after it’s grapes have been trampled on by rustic folk traditions and put in casks that have pretty much never been washed in over a hundred years.
And don’t even ask about Greenlandish shark.
I understood that reference!!: https://satwcomic.com/icelandic-cookbook
ROFL, peeing on shark.
Yorp? Where’s Yorp to answer this?
[mumble mumble …sn’t me.]
*licks offal from muzzle, and swallows*
Me, what, no, nothing to say here. Wasn’t me!
Hey, meat by-products are meat by-products…Right?
;)
And for dogs old isn’t bad, that just means they switch to rolling in rather than eating.
As Florence Ambrose has mentioned a few times:
https://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00646.htm
https://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2000/fc01975.htm
A lot of it has to do with:
“Here are the interesting things (usually associated with food) that I have come across, whilst on walkies. Hang around with me and you will get to find them too!”
…Yeah, we get to know them best after you’ve “recycled” them…
Actually, most of it (at least among wolves and other wild canines) is to confuse the prey by concealing the natural scent. So instead of “It’s a predatory canine stalking me”, it becomes “Oh, it’s nothing to worry about, it’s just a dead fish stalking me.”
Yea yea, that is the current prevailing theory. Give it a few decades for them to realise that canines are complex social animals and can have more than one reason for such behaviours.
Oh, and to the anthropologists out there, stop always attributing things to ‘ritualistic reasons’. Even ancient man liked to have a piss up and do weird s**t. Especially if there is a funeral involved. So if you dig up a corpse that was left with its bum in the air and trousers round its ankles, do consider a couple of other possibilities.
I’m concerned about what HALO is looking at. Is she examining that bluish trail on the ground?
Yes, she is. The trail from Wyrmil’s remains.
Honestly, there’s a chance Wyrmil didn’t escape with Deus but is still in the vault.
That is the most obvious thing, yes. Which started in the second-to-last panel, by Wyrmil’s partial remains.
Although there are other things in that shot, plus more that would be in her field of view, which we cannot see. Being Sydney she may be taking in multiple significant things simultaneously.
Let us hope that she is not focused on one of the artefacts that is whispering “Kill, Kill, Kill” in the back of her mind!
Artifact: “Kill kill”
Sydney’s thoughts: “Kill la kill? Yea, I loved that one, although a kill la kill related fiasco at con is why I stopped cosplaying and switched to just themed shirts…”
Artifact: “No, what I meant to whisper in your brain was…”
Sydney’s thoughts: “That con had a great Ark: Survival Evolved display. I rode a dinosaur. Did you know animatronic skin smells -really- strong. Kind of like the smells in here at the moment.”
Artifact: “I’m a sentient nose, don’t remind me of…
Sydney’s thoughts: “A sentient nose, huh? You’re a nose that knows? Are you the shadow’s nose? Oh dear children in a handbasket, I’m never going to be unable to unthink that one…”
Artifact: “If you would just listen, I’m trying to get you to…
Sydney’s thoughts: “Listening to a nose that isn’t speaking but beaming thoughts into my brain? Is that even an option? I mean listening suggests sound, is there even a word for accepting the beamed thoughts from something else? Does what you say even have meaning…”
Artifact: “LEAVE MY BRAIN ALONE!!!” *whimper*
+12, where each +1 is a steak dinner.
a nose knows what it noses… that being something smells rotten in denmark…
Sydneys true power is annoying babble.
so, new team name. Babbler. we’d need a wrestler, then, so we could have Dabbler, Babbler, and Grabbler…
Grabbler would be Math’s new team name.
Was thinking of Math as well :D
Well, not so much any more…Math has learned some discipline against that recently.
Are you forgetting the lighthook? Sydney could be “Babbler and Grabbler”.
+14,712.8
He he. I think fun thoughts.
One of the best fan written pieces I’ve seen. Only problem is that Ark didn’t exist in 2011 and the referenced event likely happened even earlier than that.
Bonus points, though, for capturing exactly where my mind went upon reading the previous post.
Ooh. First of all I would like to thank my parents and litter-mate….
Hmm, half the relics are gone? Either Deus had a large list, or there wasn’t that many to start with
The dude did bring a shopping trolley. And hired extra help.
Maybe he was smart enough to take extras to act as decoys.
Oh and only needed to get them to the other side of a portal. So the shopping trolley could have made multiple trips (depending on how fast the death field was spreading).
Slowly!
Seven Halo questions in one page. Sydney does what she does best.
Are you counting rhetorical questions, elaborations of questions and/or intakes of breath?
*straightens tuxedo*
What do you get when you cross a joke and a rhetorical question?
Angry rhetoric.
A reason to fire the orbital bombardment cannons.
[Viirin]:
“…An ANGRY joke & an ANGRY rhetorical question…?”
Wait, wait, there’s such thing as a good pun?
That’s the only kind. The reason people groan after puns is that the universe must maintain balance.
*quietly blinks*
This man is over-gasped!
There are great puns, good puns, average puns, bad puns and offal puns.
and then there’s corporal Punishment
Something Harem will be getting more of.
And if the squad screws up, there’s Corporal punishment.
And, if Sciona turns out to be a goddess, after he dies, Deus could face incoroporeal punishment.
[Yorp]:
You forgot the next level below THAT one.
According to Spider Robinson [author of “Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon”], there’s a level of punning that’s so low that it sends everyone screaming out of the room & into the alleyway.
Ahh, defenestration puns.
They receive much denigration and can lead to demoralization. disassociation, devitalization, disorganization and, with deterioration, to dehumanization and demonetization.
…Which might happen as often as twice-per-week…On Punday and/or Tall Tales Night.
Tall Tales Night especially, because each tale told wraps up a lot of puns into a nice, neat (In practice, the winning tale for the night can’t be sloppy though) singular package.
Told at a venue called Event Horizon?
I think Maxima did catch the pun, but ignored it for purposes of diplomacy and/or tact. Sydney’s a brand-new recruit, only a few days into training. Maxima is a lieutenant colonel.
Basically, Sydney (as an enlisted person) can get away with crap that Maxima can’t dream of. Even if this does cause a repercussion, it’s Maxima’s job to determine the punishment.
The restrictive world of “Being expected to know better” unless you can hit that Ultimate Job Security level… which honestly both Sydney and Maxima seem to be, but Maxima wants lots of advantages that come with being seen as the leader and not just a quirky indispensable team member like Sydney or Math.
Sydney is destressing Lynn ok with this.
We have seen Sydney fighting trauma with comedy before. I do the same.
Plus we have seen that she is a lot more emotionally fragile than the front she puts on would make her seem.
Yay. He seems to have lived in some fashion. I felt bad for him.
Though oddly surprised Dues didn’t bring his corpse with him. Purely for the off chance it lived and would be useful. Or for the offf chance of preventing some sorta Necromancy from viewing its memories of him being there.
You have a death field closing in fast on your location (unseen, but you guess you have time for one more trip through the portal) and a shopping trolley, with room for a thingimyflip of awesome wonderfulness or an apparently dead Wyrmil. Which one would you choose to load up?
Oh, one other thing, the Wyrmil is pretty much in the death field. Although you can;t be sure how much.
Perhaps Deus is the one who has “rescued” the salvage-able parts, along with some other form of resurrection-type “McGuffin” from the chamber…?
I’d imagine that resurrection/healing would be a rather useful attribute to have, & therefore would be discovered/invented many times over the centuries, using whatever was the current era’s level of “cutting-edge” arcane technology.
Like the Regenarator, that Deus mentioned Wyrmil wanted?
I don’t know what particular set of skills Decollete brought to the crime scene. Maybe she is part of the Council CSI “Chesty Succubus Investigators”.
Did Dabbler head off with Gault to check out the library break in? And what happened to Crimson and Chorius? They made it to the vault with the others. (There was also a white haired grey elf at the entrance. I guess he went home.)
They’re still there, but I have to prioritize my drawing time, so I can’t always include everyone. Of course, a fair question to ask why I chock so many scenes with so many characters in the first place. :P
I don’t think you will ever break the number in this one.
https://unrellius.deviantart.com/art/The-cast-of-Futurama-397545751
You can start small, like this: https://geekygirlfilmblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/simpsons.jpg
Clearly Wyrmil survived, we see torn husk of flesh, and Sidney is staring at a slithering pattern in the blood; she shed off the dying flesh and squirmed away to slowly regenerate. Like many worms, so long as you don’t destroy a heart, or what passes for a central nervous system if its a worm that has one, they can regenerate from most anything.
PS: Given his husk is in the drilled out hole and not where he fell in the vault, he just managed to escape the expanding death field, and is likely over there in that corner where Sidney is looking, like a little baby chestburster probably.
time to raise shields at its lowest area and follow the trail so that when wormy attempts to take sydney hostage sydney can say hey guys i found him then beat him down with the light hook, or go exploring with the telepresence
Wyrmil is like one giant tongue. He will stand no chance against Sydney’s tongue-fu!
Why would Sydney not walk around with her shield+air orbs held at all times when in potentially dangerous situations like this?
Shield + Fly = easy movement (given adequate clearance)
Shield + Air = rolling it around like giant hamster ball (that smells nice inside).
Principally because this is a super hero story and that is not very heroic.
Personally I would keep it up all the time on a mission. But that is natural if Sydney is nearby..
But (barring a complete surprise attack, such as a concealed sniper shot) Sydney’s orbs do react with the speed of thought. So there is very little delay in bringing up her defenses.
Is it just me, or is that Wyrmil’s head peeking from behind the jack stand base in the last panel? At the left of the end of the slime trail.
I’m going to have to check the paetron 2x version when I get home.
I think it is a metal box, with red on the side. Either blood splatter or the metal reflecting blood from elsewhere. One brighter bit is in the right spot for an eye, but I do not think that it is. Plus the trail does not lead to that area, but past it, with no sign of any doubling back.
So I wonder how much of the readers are too young/not enough old school gamer to get the reference with Jim.
I was 3 years old when the game came out.
I get Worms.
Somehow that sounded better in my head. I hasten to add that I am a good doggie and take my worming tablets, so I am only talking about understanding references to the game Worms.
Earthworm Jim though, no. It sounded vaguely familiar, but, at most, it will have been a title on shelves that I walked past to get to the real games.
*wags tail tauntingly*
Feast your nostalgia circuits on this, ga-roovy!
While I got the reference (though I never played any version of the game), my take was to recall this topic, from Martin Gardner’s ongoing [Mathematical Games]-column in [Scientific American]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paterson%27s_worms]
…at one point, I wrote my own version of this game in [Microsoft C], allowing the User to define at run-time…
— the length of the worm-trails
— the choice of path at each type of “decision-node”
…& changing the color of the resulting path over time, so that differing trails with the same “structure” could be distinguished at a glance.
I recall that the most frequently-seen of all the “genetic” choices ended after only 7 “nodes” were visited, leaving on the screen just the outline of a simple trio of triangles, like a radioactivity-symbol. It could be reached from 182 different “species” of “worm”.
D’OH!!!?!
Typo: not 182, but rather 162 (out of 1,296), sorry.
Darn it. I was sure that it would end up with the outline of a penis.
I got the reference, however I also played the game and watched the cartoon. And was lucky enough to meet the author at a con.
We are 400 votes out from 1st place.
Get voting people.
Thanks for the reminder.
Mmm. And something weird, which I should draw to DaveB‘s attention. The voting gadget does not appear (for me anyhow) on the archives page. It does have the Patreon gadget and advertising side-bars but none of the others.
I would suggest that it is worth taking the time to add them to that page. Outside of the most recent pages, I bet it is the most visited single page. Likewise it may be the one sitting on another tab, at the time that someone remembers to vote. Like me, just then.
Which would result in lost votes, if the gadget is not to be found, and folks get on with other things instead.
[Note to self: REMEMBER TO VOTE!]
I think Maxima knew exactly what she was doing and just would not let her do it. It also looks like Sydney has noticed something that the others have not yet.
Ahh, I think you missed the comment at the bottom of the comic page:
“Maxima did not pick up what Sydney was laying down.”
She is the senior police officer at a major crime scene* and has a lot of other priorities on her mind at the moment. Making sure that Sydney does not puke over the evidence, being one of them.
* Probably the most major one in history. Including the JFK assassination, the theft of the Crown Jewels of England, and the stealing/substitution by replicas of the Great Pyramids.
So, this is my guess. Sciona sends out a battle golem that has the power to absorb powers to fight supers to buy her time. Then the golem, what’s left of it hops off to lick it’s wounds, and is now sentient because it absorbed sentience. It might feel betrayed.
Then Sciona betrays worm guy and what is left of him slithers of feeling betrayed.
The possibilities if this pattern keeps up.
There is a simple solution, which springs to mind, that would match Sciona’s management style. Locate and retrieve Wyrmil, scoop out his brain-like bits, pop in the golem brain. Tada!
No expensive reconstruction project, and a golem who is now grateful to have been given an almost indestructible body. Only needing a bit of cybernetic wiring-up to restore his super-power copying capability.
On a lighter note, this page reminds me of a song I we sang a Cub Scouts around the campfire.
No body likes me,
everybody hates me,
I’m gonna eat some worms.
Big fat juicy ones,
little bitty scrawny ones,
I’m gonna eat some worms.
First you bite their heads off,
then you suck their guts out,
then you throw their skins away.
Big fat juicy ones,
little bitty scrawny ones,
I’m gonna eat some worms.
go re-read ‘how to eat fried worms’ now
The U.N. would actively promote that. Insects will need to form a greater proportion of diet, worldwide, In order to prevent starvation, as population levels rise. They will probably develop a catchy saying, for PR purposes:
“Hey, it is this or Soylent Green”
Insects are high in protein, low in fat, and as long as you avoid the parasites that feed on humans, unlikely to carry any diseases that can jump the species barrier. (And have you even seen some of the stuff Bear Grylls has eaten and/or drank? Though in an extreme survival situation, you gotta do what you gotta do.)
Although, not all parasites are bad. Parasites and hosts have lived together so long, they’re used to each other. You see this with intestinal worms. In developed areas where people have gotten rid of their worms, you have more inflammatory bowel disease. Some people are healthier with worms than without them.
Someone was trying to tell me that the majority of humans on Earth already consume a LOT of insects (& arachnids), & that N. Americans were unusually finicky “outliers” in this regard. In return, I tried to point out all the lobsters, crabs, prawns, shrimp (& gourmet treats like chocolate-covered ants), as the most blatant examples of insect consumption associated with us “Yanks”.
That’s just what the Council of Worms wants you to believe…
All parasites need the hosts to want to be infected with them, just look at politicians, everyone knows they are bad for us, but people still want them every 3 or 4 years
Congratulations, you win one Internet.
… but that’s not the kind of worms I was talking about. Politicians won’t fit in my stomach. And even if they did, I’m afraid they’d give me indigestion (or worse… food poisoning.)
Some already live on soylent, though.
Not for long, if the company goes out of business, due to Canadian regulators deeming that it is not a fit meal replacement and banning it.
I always thought the lack of any enticing flavour meant it was a poor substitute anyway but who knows, maybe this is what will spark the creation of the new, improved, green version.
I think the best option might be something along the lines of what life support systems in GURPS Traveller produces.
See, in that setting, “life support” means more than just breathable air. In this case, most ships bring aboard fresh rations (or pre-cooked and frozen rations, aka “microwave dinners”) as part of their cargo, but if that runs out, the life support system produces a fast-growing mycorrhizoid (edible fungus) that can be harvested and cut into blocks about the size of a Rice Krispies Treat.
On its own, it’s tasteless and flaky, but you can buy flavor packets (1 credit for a box of 50 assorted packets) that make it more palatable. And it’s genetically engineered to include all the vitamins and minerals that a sophont needs. It’s practical, can be grown almost anywhere, and can sustain life indefinitely, although you’re probably going to get real tired of eating the same thing all the time.
Poor Sydney may need a few decades of therapy after she processes this later.
Or maybe she is just super hard core, for reasons we have yet to learn.
Sydney is super soft-core.
In an emotional sense… er… not the kinky one. Although I am sure she would be great with a super sensitive guy. And no cameras.
*draws curtain across the 4th wall*
[muffled] And no audience!
It’s a lot easier when you are expecting it, as opposed to somebody getting part of their hand ripped off unexpectedly. The latter is much more upsetting – take my word for it.
No need. Something similar happened with my face.
Fortunately not a big part of it. But shocking nonetheless. I had been using a mirror to just visually examine a recently (that hour) stitched wound, on my face, when the stitching suddenly came apart, and the wound gaped open!
I have seen (and had) far far worse wounds. But the surprise nature very much magnifies the impact.
Could have been worse, could have been the Spanish Inquisition!
So, Sydney analysts, what are your thoughts on these guys? https://www.badgersartisanfoods.co.uk
I’ll probably be giving them a go when they’ve finished their planned site renovation and added their new sauces.
Spicy is good. But I do note in their ‘about’ that they restrict themselves to natural ingredients only.
So no ghost peppers then.
What that means is that they don’t use artificial preservatives or chemical extract of chilli (so none of Sydney’s 3 million “pure cap”). A natural heat tends to be a selling point, especially as chemical extracts can taste bitter or dark and overcooked.
I cannot say for sure if they use ghost peppers but 2/3rds of their current lineup are listed as having nagas, a general term for that family of indian supers. Along with some hotter and rather anachronistic peppers in their strongest.
I was mostly inquiring as to how she’d react to badgers selling hot sauce.
She squeeeees over pink panthers (sorry jaguars) and were honey badgers. I am sure she would be fine with a badger salesperson.
OK a badger is not as exciting as a honey badger, and she would be disappointed with the tamer ingredients. But if she could still get a flavoursome meal out of it, she always has her bottle of pure cap to give it a bit more of a kick.
As regards badgers and spicy food, there are always bonus points to be had for combining two good things.
Oh, right, I forgot honey badgers were a good thing. I was too busy focusing on badgers’ scariness.
I have recommended that they make a more honey-centric sauce but all they’ve said is that the line will expand with the new site.
For anyone who doubts Deus has lost: Exhibit X, the only guy to say ‘Hell’ on a Disney show :D
Would Vale be Deus’ Fox? o_O