June 29th, 2016
29 Jun 2016 · page 613 of 1306
Everyone freak out all at once, that'll help
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Harriet Barber, Heinrich Wolfe, Jack O'Malley, Nicola Barber, Sidney Malik
Comments (41)
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Wow, you can just about see Mal plow straight through denial, anger, bargaining and...er, consternation? Clearly acceptance is right around the corner. Ahaha. Ha.
I have to admit I wasn't expecting the revelation to come forth so quickly, but I'm delighted that it has, since that tidily clears the schedule for all sorts of adjustments, reactions, and further revelations. Though really. Sad day when Nicola's calling someone out for tactlessness.
I dunno. I kinda read that as denial, denial, and denial. Mal may need a couple minutes.
Fifty Shades of Nope.
"i'm not a witch! Y-you're a witch! Ha! How do you like that?"
Mal how did you get a disquis account
He's a witch, remember?
What about the nose? "WHATS WRONG WITH ME NOSE!?"
What about "Fifty Shades of Nay"? It rhymes better
More like denial, anger, rinse, and repeat
It's more surprise: "what'd yer call me?"
Anger: "what'd she call me?!"
Denial and more anger: "witches are EVIL!"
Well you can hardly expect subtlety when the Barber sisters are involved.
And now for something completely different...
"How do you know he is a witch?"
hmmm eyes the duck from 5 pages ago
Hmm, well he looks like he might make a decent bridge...
" 'E turned me into a newt!"
"A newt??"
"... Ah got better."
GRAEME GARDEN: No matter what else, Tim must not know.
BILL ODDIE: Right, because he'd just panic.
GG: And that we do not need.
BO: 'Course not.
{GG nods}
BO: We can do that ourselves.
BOTH: AAHHHHHHH!
I'm not freaking out are you freaking out because I am totallynotfreakingout!
ThisismenotfreakingoutWHYAREYOUFREAKINGOUT?!
Oh, Ben. "I am offended by this very suggestion!
Scholar Ben kicks in. "I am intrigued by this very suggestion! Let's do research."
And then Sid overrides back to default: Panicky Ben. "The Siiiins! They walk the EAAAAAAARTH!"
Harry: Yer a witch, Mal
i hate you for this
It took WEEKS for the canon to make this joke official.
Even better though is the fact that it's a /Harry/ saying "You're a witch", so to speak. XD
Yes, you have grandparents to save - hurry!
And aw, Mal - we know you're real and not evil. Grumpy, but a heroic violin-saver.
Herr Wolfe isn't freaking out. he looks as though he has spotted something important. Then again, that slightly perturbed expression is the equivalent of screaming hysterics in anyone else.
internally, in German what the hell is going on! I am very confused!
So much madness and confusion on one small page! JOY!
I like how Ben doesn't actually say it's impossible. After one moment of shock it starts to explain things he's probably wondered about for a while.
I just love how the Barber sisters immediately start arguing, accidentally freaking out poor Mal in the process.
I can just imagine how the next page will go.
Everyone else: has kinda moved on to the seven deadlies as a topic of conversation
Mal: is still stuck on 'yer, but Witches are EVIL' and is kinda freaking out
Wolfe: completely silent, just calmly processing the new information
Kinda like:
Wolfe: "But Mal, my friend, not all witches must be evil if you are one and you are not evil"
Mal: "I'M NOT A SODDIN' WITCH"
(ten years later, with Mal well set in the witchy lifestyle, doing witchy things) "I'M STILL NOT A SODDIN' WITCH, OKAY? STOP CALLIN' ME THAT!"
Moloch von Zinser: I am NOT a ... Hoy! You - yeah, you, with the big nose and green hair - pick up those interocitors! You other clank operators - move that heavy stuff into a neat stack! If Lady Heterodyne saw this mess the Organ Banks would be too big to fail for twenty years after your voluntary deposits! ... As I was saying, I am not a minion!
And how Nicola was just like:
" Well you just ruined the big reveal, so I'm not gonna do anything to help the situation, and probably cause him more confusion in the long run"
I've got to say, I really admire Kate's skill here. Nothing in this page is news to the reader. The challenge: the two groups had to bring each other up to date, but without letting the pace slacken. And they do! They do it so efficiently that, if anything, the felt pace of the story accelerates - quite a feat, when the preceding scene was "Escape from a House Fire!" There's one "at last!" after another, rich character reactions, and an urgent worry for them at the end.
Applause!
Thank you! Pacing is a thing I spend a lot of time thinking about and working on and I'm glad it pays off!
Mal is jUST SO INDIGNANT HE'S LIKE "WHAT'D YE CALL ME" oh it's so precious
Who me? Why, I'm not a witch at all. Witches are mean and ugly!
Still a great story.
but it needs more tobacco.
The denial. It burns! (Possibly more than the building.) ;)
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