Annotated 40-6
You may view Friggzerker’s hesitation in a number of ways. You could see it as reluctance to kill someone she’s close to—that never stopped Byron or any other berserker once in full-bore berserk mode, but Frigg is fundamentally more stubborn. You could see it as foreshadowing for what happens later, an early sign that Frigg’s divinely granted powers and a berserker spirit don’t sit as well together as HR might have hoped. You could see it as the simple drive to level anything that’s standing, and right now HR’s standing and WAV isn’t.
Me, I think it’s this simple: HR is trying to boss Frigg, and nobody bosses Frigg. “Destined for defiance,” I believe the phrase was?
Last-panel HR is still pretty sure his power is sufficient to keep Frigg from damaging him, but he’s gonna trot to get a bit more distance from her, just to be on the safe side.
Maybe all those things at once? Also, the fact that Byron’s self-loathing provides better handholds for the zerker spirit, deep down believing that he’s is exactly the monster that the possession reveals.
The sheer bulk of Friggzerker’s aura, balanced against HR’s casual withdrawal, is remarkable.
Even for Friggzerker that form is massive in a physical way which I appreciate. As if its aura is extending out more than usual, almost… consuming the very air. Everything in that half of the panel is striking against HR.
Only to be countered by a spell that is exactly as powerful, but almost the exact opposite.
Defo the defiance part in my headcanon.
Invisibul catfukery (sp?) is a non-starter.
Invisibul catfukery that tries to tell her what to do?
She has only one response to that.
‘You sly dog, you had me monologuing!’