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Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip

Yes, her exposé on corporate interior decorating will ruin you all!

Chapter 19 – Page 20

on November 26, 2012
Chapter: Chapter 19
└ Tags: Carol, HR, Shanna
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Discussion (83) ¬

  1. CloSeph
    CloSeph
    November 26, 2012, 12:04 am | # | Reply

    Foolishly indulging reality shattering thoughts

  2. knightwork
    knightwork
    November 26, 2012, 12:05 am | # | Reply

    Once in tube, the game will play you…

    • Tachyon
      Tachyon
      November 26, 2012, 12:41 pm | # | Reply

      I just realized… HR ordered a series of tubes. Excuse me while I put my head through my desk.

  3. SteelRaven
    SteelRaven
    November 26, 2012, 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Yep, H.R. is loosing it… assuming he wasn’t crazy when he started experimenting on five people with black magic fuse with technology just to create a new game.

    • CloSeph
      CloSeph
      November 26, 2012, 12:20 am | # | Reply

      It’s less losing and more being presented with no other options. The success of his company is now inseparably tied to the game and his game happens to have five players who are hard-wired in and can’t log out. Given the amount of time that has passed he and how quickly Carol recognized Shanna as a snoop there have definitely been other times where Oz narrowly escaped being revealed. He understands that the public will eventually peek behind the curtain and he is going to make certain that nobody will be behind it when that time comes.

      • LockeZ
        LockeZ
        November 27, 2012, 9:13 am | # | Reply

        That’s what insanity feels like. You never really believe that what you’re doing is a good idea. You know it’s crazy. You just believe you have no other choice.

    • MichaelHaneline
      MichaelHaneline
      November 26, 2012, 12:32 am | # | Reply

      Yes he is definitely loosing something. Probably his tie. Probably hasn’t squared that thing away in a while.

    • Tachyon
      Tachyon
      November 26, 2012, 12:38 pm | # | Reply

      He has all the makings of a wrathful god. Because after all, who’d need to be wrathful if they could just control everything, whenever?

      It would also make sense you’d have more control from within than without, since you’re actually corporeal that way and can interact with things without casting a metric ton of spells… and I guess also without breaking really expensive computer equipment in the process?

      • maggPi
        maggPi
        November 26, 2012, 1:33 pm | # | Reply

        Ummm….
        Metric “tonne.”
        Imperial “ton.”
        Just a friendly FYI.

        • Seggs
          Seggs
          November 26, 2012, 6:40 pm | # | Reply

          we’ll keep ta ‘r “shite tonnes” and “boat lodes” iff’n ya please. thank ye.

          • maggPi
            maggPi
            November 27, 2012, 11:51 am | # | Reply

            Yeah, okay. But now that ya mention it; A “peck” has always confused me. Why would anyone want pecs of pickled peppers? Besides that pungent vinegary odour, it would make for realllly awkward hugs.

    • CaptEndo
      CaptEndo
      November 16, 2013, 11:21 pm | # | Reply

      Sounds like a Cthulu game.. go ahead, cast that spell, and make a Sanity roll!

  4. coldelectrons
    coldelectrons
    November 26, 2012, 12:31 am | # | Reply

    Remember the D.F. motto: Losing is FUN!

    • Tryntu
      Tryntu
      November 27, 2012, 2:40 am | # | Reply

      The Human Berserker ‘Byron’, slashes at The Piketroll ‘Harki’s right middle finger! The severed part sails off in an arc! The severed part sails off in an arc!

  5. Garygolf
    Garygolf
    November 26, 2012, 1:00 am | # | Reply

    “Tubes”…so…Carol and HR?

    • biggmac
      biggmac
      November 26, 2012, 3:39 am | # | Reply

      Yep. “Carol, I shall enter the game as a massive barbarian warrior. You’ll be a past-her-prime concubine, That’s fair, no?”

    • Gillsing
      Gillsing
      November 26, 2012, 12:53 pm | # | Reply

      Now that Carol seems to have second thoughts about the whole idea, perhaps she’ll manage to arrange for a substitute by luring Shanna into a trap? H.R. will obviously consider himself irreplaceable, so Carol’s tube will be the only one available for keeping the reporter silent for the duration of the crisis. And once H.R. is in a tube he won’t be able to make Carol get into one as well.

    • ahdok
      ahdok
      November 26, 2012, 2:47 pm | # | Reply

      Totally called it :)

  6. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    November 26, 2012, 1:08 am | # | Reply

    I bet this is how all developers really are.

    Also: Bug.

  7. Dreamelf
    Dreamelf
    November 26, 2012, 1:18 am | # | Reply

    I foresee the little spying lady possibly getting captured herself. Not that I’m not looking forward to her success, but it could be interesting to see someone with outside knowledge on the inside world.

  8. Andrew
    Andrew
    November 26, 2012, 1:35 am | # | Reply

    5 to 1 odds that Shanneon gets put into a tube.
    3 to 1 odds that Carol gets put into a tube.
    7 to 1 odds Carol and Shannon will end up having a cat fight before this chapter is over.
    No line on how far off the deep end HR has gotten at this point.

    • robot_clone
      robot_clone
      November 26, 2012, 2:22 am | # | Reply

      but what are the odds that shanna and carol are put in THE SAME TUBE

      • Amarikah
        Amarikah
        November 26, 2012, 11:17 am | # | Reply

        Roughly about the same odds that Auragu will spawn in the real world and hunt down Shanna, I’d say.

        • TK
          TK
          November 26, 2012, 3:21 pm | # | Reply

          sooo, pretty likely then?

          • Amarikah
            Amarikah
            November 26, 2012, 6:55 pm | # | Reply

            Heh.

        • zomg
          zomg
          November 26, 2012, 4:04 pm | # | Reply

          I totally think that’s where this is going – Arkerra characters unleashed on an unsuspecting Mountain View …

          • Seggs
            Seggs
            November 26, 2012, 6:43 pm | # | Reply

            it opens the bifrost or else it gets the tubes again!

        • Logos
          Logos
          November 26, 2012, 6:14 pm | # | Reply

          Why would Auragu even bother with Shanna upon entering the real world. He’s more likely to become enamored with Mexican wrestling or cooking shows than care about some reporter.

          And now I really want to see Auragu on a cooking show.

          • Amarikah
            Amarikah
            November 26, 2012, 6:54 pm | # | Reply

            My point exactly; my thought was that the chance was close to none.
            Seeing Auragu on a cooking show would be amusing. I wouldn’t be surprised to find him cooking humans, though.

            • Tryntu
              Tryntu
              November 27, 2012, 2:42 am | # | Reply

              that or working in chuck-e-cheese.

          • randomdude
            randomdude
            November 27, 2012, 12:07 pm | # | Reply

            And today’s Iron Chef Ingredient: HUMAN FLESH? How did that get in there? It was supposed to be cauliflower!

            *auragu sneaks out of the building with a giant, bloody sack filled with cauliflower over his shoulder*

  9. Jokerlope
    Jokerlope
    November 26, 2012, 1:53 am | # | Reply

    and this ladies and gents, this is what happens when you play with forces you can’t fully control. At this rate we are gonna see that the big book H.R. has been reading is the necronomicon or something.

    • Scrunchy
      Scrunchy
      November 26, 2012, 7:05 pm | # | Reply

      Early Enchiridion

  10. Valdrax
    Valdrax
    November 26, 2012, 2:11 am | # | Reply

    She was a lot like you.
    Well… maybe not quite as heavy…

    • Sun-stone
      Sun-stone
      November 26, 2012, 9:43 pm | # | Reply

      Now I’m picturing H.R. singing “Now I Only Want You Gone” to the five.

  11. King of Zeroes
    King of Zeroes
    November 26, 2012, 2:25 am | # | Reply

    “Hmm. We can’t get them out of the tubes because they’re too good at video games. Obviously, we must trap OURSELVES in tubes too!”

    GENIUS.

    • randomdude
      randomdude
      November 26, 2012, 12:28 pm | # | Reply

      And who’s going to take care of them while they’re in-tube?

      • King of Zeroes
        King of Zeroes
        November 26, 2012, 2:24 pm | # | Reply

        Domino’s Pizza delivers. I imagine for a large enough tip you could convince the delivery boy to also feed your comatose tubebody.

        Failing that, convert to Oxygenarianism.

        • Darkening
          Darkening
          November 27, 2012, 3:21 am | # | Reply

          try ordering online sometime. They’ve actually got a section for you to put weird requests for what you want your deliverer to do lol.

          • maggPi
            maggPi
            November 27, 2012, 11:57 am | # | Reply

            Hahaha!
            #Bow, chikka bowbow!
            (wooden delivery) “Excuse, me, ma’am, but, did you order, PIZZA?”
            (squeakily sultry) “Why, yes, why don’t you come in while I find my WALLET?”

          • randomdude
            randomdude
            November 27, 2012, 12:10 pm | # | Reply

            Delivery Boy: Please insert pizza into blender. Blend, then pour pizza down feeding tube.

            Your tip is a 60 day game card for Arkerra. It’s on the table, next to the monkey hand.

  12. Messenger
    Messenger
    November 26, 2012, 3:10 am | # | Reply

    If they’re going in, won’t that put them under the game/universe’s power?

  13. biggmac
    biggmac
    November 26, 2012, 3:32 am | # | Reply

    “ah…. Sorry, H.R., no can do. I had my tubes tied after my 3rd C- section”

  14. Valdrax
    Valdrax
    November 26, 2012, 3:34 am | # | Reply

    Man, if our two main outside characters go inside, then this really will be nothing but a series of tubes.

    • biggmac
      biggmac
      November 26, 2012, 3:43 am | # | Reply

      Or tubers – like taters. They’ve just been spec- taters, now they’re gonna be agi-taters

      • maggPi
        maggPi
        November 26, 2012, 1:38 pm | # | Reply

        Yeah… I’m beginning to worry they just might succeed to turnip around.

        • coldelectrons
          coldelectrons
          November 26, 2012, 4:20 pm | # | Reply

          It’s a’peelin’ prospect, but I think things will turn au grautin.

          • Tryntu
            Tryntu
            November 27, 2012, 2:42 am | # | Reply

            yall gonna make me go starch raving mad.

            • maggPi
              maggPi
              November 27, 2012, 11:59 am | # | Reply

              Tsk. Don’t get into such a parsnip.

  15. Locke
    Locke
    November 26, 2012, 5:28 am | # | Reply

    I’m waiting for the inevitable reveal that this is yet another game within a game, being played by martians or something. That will be the perfect resolution to the H.R. Arc.

    • TK
      TK
      November 26, 2012, 12:09 pm | # | Reply

      No, no, even better! This is a SIMS style resource juggling game being played by Lisa from Penny and Aggie! So, mythical universe being played by gamers in tubes being gamed by corporate hacks whose business is being juggled by Lisa, who is just so damn confused by the whole thing …

      Did … did I crack the code?

      • alicemacher
        alicemacher
        November 26, 2012, 2:19 pm | # | Reply

        The very last comic will be Lisa, at her computer, grinning at the reader and saying, “Nyyyeh…ain’t I a stinker?”

    • FlyingFish
      FlyingFish
      November 26, 2012, 3:08 pm | # | Reply

      I’m waiting for the reveal that HR’s world is the game, and he’s accidentally cracked into the real world, Arkerra.

  16. A random human
    A random human
    November 26, 2012, 6:38 am | # | Reply

    Hey, people, what would happen if the five current players were taken out of their tubes ?

    Also, I’m like Carol on this one : I sure as heck don’t like where this is going. It’s going from SNAFU to FUBAR.

    • TK
      TK
      November 26, 2012, 12:10 pm | # | Reply

      I would assume a Matrix-style ‘death or brain damage’ situation.

      • coldelectrons
        coldelectrons
        November 26, 2012, 4:24 pm | # | Reply

        Why doesn’t H.R. try tickling them awake or something? Or find the alarm clock each of them used in pre-tube-RL – play the alarm sound and shout at them “YOU”RE GONNA BE LATE FOR THE BUS”

        • alicemacher
          alicemacher
          November 26, 2012, 9:43 pm | # | Reply

          Or have RealLife!Syr’nj’s cat sit on each of their heads in turn?

        • LockeZ
          LockeZ
          November 27, 2012, 9:18 am | # | Reply

          The fact that they don’t know what will happen might, by itself, be enough of a reason to leave them in the tubes.

          But, on the other hand, leaving them in the tubes might be his entire goal. If he wanted, he could just unplug them from life support and dump the bodies in the middle of the ocean. But instead, he keeps playing God.

          • alicemacher
            alicemacher
            November 27, 2012, 10:17 am | # | Reply

            Now here’s an unsettling thought: What if he unplugged them and dumped their bodies, and yet their Arkerra personas still lived on, with full agency?

            …Wow. That might well erase the last vestige of sanity from H.R.’s mind. And he doesn’t have much now, as it is.

  17. Amarikah
    Amarikah
    November 26, 2012, 8:05 am | # | Reply

    Seeing their profiles in the same frame made me question for a second whether or not they were father and daughter. Their interactions would suggest otherwise, though.

  18. Amarikah
    Amarikah
    November 26, 2012, 8:10 am | # | Reply

    “We’re going to have a test tube baby AND YOU’RE GOING TO LIKE IT.”

    D:

  19. Reycied
    Reycied
    November 26, 2012, 12:19 pm | # | Reply

    Despite the fact that every time he’s shown, Dedalus always seems to be an inch closer to the edge of sanity, I never really…noticed. Because it’s been a slow burn as the story unspools. I read through the entire archives last night, and it was a shock to see H.R. clean-shaven, with a pressed suit and a trimmed beard. Now it looks like he’s shot-gunning bacon down his throat with a vodka chaser. XD

    It’s nice to see that the makers of this comic not only understand pacing, but are masters of it. :D

    • Reycied
      Reycied
      November 26, 2012, 12:20 pm | # | Reply

      …and by beard, I mean mustache.

      • maggPi
        maggPi
        November 26, 2012, 1:42 pm | # | Reply

        Yeah… I bet that mustache smells RILLY BAD now.
        Just… Gross.

        • maggPi
          maggPi
          November 26, 2012, 1:45 pm | # | Reply

          haha!lol!
          my avatar with Byron & Gravedust looks like they are also grossed out by ‘Stache-Stink & are trying not to gag!

          • biggmac
            biggmac
            November 27, 2012, 12:34 am | # | Reply

            That’s what ‘staches are for. Eat soup now, save a little as a snack later.

            • biggmac
              biggmac
              November 27, 2012, 12:35 am | # | Reply

              So THAT’S how I change my gravatar.

              • Valdrax
                Valdrax
                November 27, 2012, 4:08 am | # | Reply

                Achievement get.

                • maggPi
                  maggPi
                  November 27, 2012, 12:11 pm | # | Reply

                  What, the gravatar or the snack?

                  • Valdrax
                    Valdrax
                    November 28, 2012, 2:46 am | # | Reply

                    The gravatar.

  20. Twigs
    Twigs
    November 26, 2012, 1:03 pm | # | Reply

    I’m assuming someone has already done the “in Soviet Russia” joke.

  21. The Indomitable Eric
    The Indomitable Eric
    November 26, 2012, 2:02 pm | # | Reply

    Grand Moff H.R.?

    The more tightly you grasp, the more vidjagaems will slip through your fingahs.

  22. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    November 26, 2012, 5:37 pm | # | Reply

    Does nobody else feel Shanna planted a listening device on Carol and is listening in on hers and HR’s conversation in the last panel?

    • Amarikah
      Amarikah
      November 26, 2012, 6:58 pm | # | Reply

      I got a bit of that feel, but there’s no indication that Shanna got close enough to Carol to place a device on her. It would have been a very apt move…

      • Jean-Luc
        Jean-Luc
        November 26, 2012, 7:11 pm | # | Reply

        She got close enough when Carol jumped her in the lobby.

        • maggPi
          maggPi
          November 27, 2012, 12:06 pm | # | Reply

          RUGBY TACKLE!!!!

          *ahem*

          I mean; Wouldn’t it have been funny if..?

  23. Mujaki
    Mujaki
    November 26, 2012, 6:56 pm | # | Reply

    Fifty comments in and no one else says it? Guess it’s up to me.

    HOLY LIVING F*** HE OPENED HIS MOUTH!

    • Amarikah
      Amarikah
      November 26, 2012, 6:59 pm | # | Reply

      Indeed. Also, first panel, if you look at his face long enough, it looks like he’s got a carnivorous lower jaw and not a mustache.

      • Valdrax
        Valdrax
        November 27, 2012, 4:09 am | # | Reply

        NOW KISS.

  24. comichero
    comichero
    November 27, 2012, 3:04 am | # | Reply

    So HR is the first ever technomancer when creating and founding a new school of magic/ technology it’s always wise to remember edison tried and failed 2000 times before getting the lightbulb right

  25. DeathChallenged
    DeathChallenged
    November 27, 2012, 7:02 am | # | Reply

    She is not going to go into the tube, she does not have a colour that stands out, unlike him.

  26. Observer
    Observer
    March 10, 2015, 9:02 pm | # | Reply

    Unless he has some reason to be absolutely sure that he won’t be trapped in there like the 5 he’s a HUUUGE idiot to go in their WITH Carol. He needs somebody on the outside to gather the information only available their and to manipulate things from both outside with magic and inside with will/spirit or whatever. The best case scenario would probably be inserting Carol and if she looses herself into her game persona then convince her that he is her personal deity and start training her to carry out his will. A reality spell cast on both sides would probably have a much better chance!

  27. common cents
    common cents
    February 11, 2016, 11:30 am | # | Reply

    She looks JUST like Fr-Nj…

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Guilded Age is co-written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn, and illustrated by John Waltrip. Site design by Samantha Kyle. Fonts by Blambot.com.
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