Comments on: Annotated 37-15

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 20:10:45 +0000

“Nyahaha Evilla” lol

By: T

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 16:24:31 +0000

Short answer: he’s talking to his imaginary girlfriend, yes. Everything she says is stuff he knows, although at the end of this page and the start of the next, she starts straying into stuff he knows but can’t quite believe. Not without a real Rachel there to confirm it.

Longer version: E-Merl’s spells may have a bit of an “autocorrect” feature to make them more accurate than his imagination alone would make them. I think of the fact that all his “hims” look just like him, when often our self-image distorts how we think we look, and it seems like his would. Likewise, the kindness of any accurate image of Rachel is at odds with how unkind he is to himself.

But basically, this is a hand-puppet show and he partly knows it. He wouldn’t be getting mad with his beloved here if she were there to get mad with.

By: Mogo

Mogo — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 15:54:20 +0000

This adventurer tryouts scene reminded me of that barbecue scene in Mystery Men, and also, it reminded me of Fans!, too, when Aegis wanted to recruit more geeks and misfits for their ranks

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 13:36:46 +0000

T, in canon, this is E-Merl talking to “himself,” right? He’s been subconsciously picking up on Rachel’s thoughts and feelings about him, or they’ve had off-page conversations, that are giving him enough of an internal mental model to generate a Rachel simulacrum? And it’s attaching to his conscience, or his own suppressed thoughts, and giving them voice? Almost but maybe not quite like a post-traumatic manifestation of an imaginary friend?

Or is there weird post-obliviation voodoo magick at work here, somehow?