Comic for August 24th, 2019: Farewell Party

[MuonNeutrino]

Well, at one time Trace was flirting rather seriously with Maren. That's how Karen got the ears.

Thing is... I'd bet against it being Evil!Trace that flirted with her. And it certainly wouldn't have been while he was married to Saria. Or while isolating himself after she died.

So... apparently Evil!Trace was Grand Templar for at least a couple years. And in isolation for a couple years after Saria was killed. And probably was with Saria for at least two years.

Which would mean that it was probably a bare minimum of six years ago that they were an item.

Maren's entry on the character page says that it was after Saria died. Even evil!Trace didn't go around murdering everyone he met or muttering "Keidraaaaan" disdainfully under his breath all the time or something like that; he may have been a bit unhinged, but that doesn't mean he wasn't still a more or less functional human being capable of relating to others at least close to normally.

[SilentYay]

Regarding Maren: she herself told Trace they used to date:

http://twokinds.keenspot.com/comic/23/

Also, Mrs. Nibbly is afraid of Reni. Reni is going to be going to the Beach Room. Anyone else thinking there might be a confrontation? Or at the very least we might get another clue to Nibbly's identity?

[AmigaDragon]

Kind of what I was thinking. Nibs possessed by one of the Masks, maybe? Perhaps, due to the damage it suffered, Neutral could only possess a small woodland creature and wanted to stay close to the characters (and/or the soon to be born hybrid)?

If this is the case I rue the day our precious perception of the Nibbs’ illusion horrifyingly dissolves back into some hideous proto-mask hell-spawn.

Also, Mrs. Nibbly is afraid of Reni. Reni is going to be going to the Beach Room. Anyone else thinking there might be a confrontation? Or at the very least we might get another clue to Nibbly's identity?

Would a Mask be afraid of a dragon, especially a young one like Reni?

[SilentYay]

Would a Mask be afraid of a dragon, especially a young one like Reni?

Probably not. But we've seen Nibbly shaking in fear. And though we can't, with 100% certainty, attribute it to Reni, Reni had just left the scene when Nibbly showed up terrified. From what I remember, the discussion whittled it down to either a reaction to Reni or to the mansion. Since Nibbly seems fine now, I don't think it's the mansion.

[Kyrit]

Would a Mask be afraid of a dragon, especially a young one like Reni?

Probably not. But we've seen Nibbly shaking in fear. And though we can't, with 100% certainty, attribute it to Reni, Reni had just left the scene when Nibbly showed up terrified. From what I remember, the discussion whittled it down to either a reaction to Reni or to the mansion. Since Nibbly seems fine now, I don't think it's the mansion.

Neutral is in a weakened state after the last battle they were in. Combine that with the fact dragons lie outside the bounds of the Masks' game, I don't actually doubt they'd be scared of Reni.

I actually see a baby dragon being less likely to be scared of being spotted by another dragon than an injured Mask.

A third option is that it's something tied to the Master Seer after and this is the attempt to get past the mansion defenses as we have already been warned is going to happen.

Neutral is still the most likely option in my mind, since they have good reason in ensuring the two groups meet back up (and ells explain Nibs not dying to a cracked spine). Trace now has more allies back, one of them being a very strong (though unstable) mage.

[AndreRhineDavis]

Of the characters that we have already met, I can think of 4 possibilities of who Nibbly could be / be controlled by; 4 possibilities of characters who are powerful enough to transform into Nibbly / have control over Nibbly:
1) Master Seer's daughter
2) Neutral
3) Euchre
4) Nora
The thing is, Nibbly's behaviour doesn't really match up that well with any of them. It's hard to imagine any of these who would be all affectionate and playful and cute with Sythe to the point of sticking their head in his mouth out of curiosity. Not to mention that all those side comics of Nibbly being all cute and romantic with Sythe are gonna be pretty weird if Tom is like "ha, Nibbly is actually one of these four people". (I guess the least weird one would be Nora, but Nibbly's behaviour still seems far too innocent and childish for her. Besides, Nora would have no reason to be scared of Reni! Although Reni's reaction if Nibbly turned into Nora would be hilarious xP).
I guess the explanation that would make most sense is the "Nibbly is some random baby dragon"... but <shrug>.

Also, totally random comment, but I actually had a dream about Trace and Flora and Saria last night. Think it's the first time I ever had a dream about TwoKinds :P

[greywolf]

That it may be one of the masks is a very interesting thought, I had been thinking that she was the master seer or someone as abstract as Rained mother "watching over" her daughter. In any case Mrs Nibbly does seem to believe that Reni will blow her cover.

[steelabjur]

Would a Mask be afraid of a dragon, especially a young one like Reni?

Probably not. But we've seen Nibbly shaking in fear. And though we can't, with 100% certainty, attribute it to Reni, Reni had just left the scene when Nibbly showed up terrified. From what I remember, the discussion whittled it down to either a reaction to Reni or to the mansion. Since Nibbly seems fine now, I don't think it's the mansion.

Dragons are creatures of magic, if there are any creatures in this world that could see through a Masks illusions, it would be a dragon. If it's Neutral, and she hasn't "pulled herself together" completely yet, she would have good reason to fear a creature that is potentially stronger that the ones who wrecked it the last time it meddled.

Of the characters that we have already met, I can think of 4 possibilities of who Nibbly could be / be controlled by; 4 possibilities of characters who are powerful enough to transform into Nibbly / have control over Nibbly:
1) Master Seer's daughter
2) Neutral
3) Euchre
4) Nora
The thing is, Nibbly's behaviour doesn't really match up that well with any of them. It's hard to imagine any of these who would be all affectionate and playful and cute with Sythe to the point of sticking their head in his mouth out of curiosity. Not to mention that all those side comics of Nibbly being all cute and romantic with Sythe are gonna be pretty weird if Tom is like "ha, Nibbly is actually one of these four people". (I guess the least weird one would be Nora, but Nibbly's behaviour still seems far too innocent and childish for her. Besides, Nora would have no reason to be scared of Reni! Although Reni's reaction if Nibbly turned into Nora would be hilarious xP).
I guess the explanation that would make most sense is the "Nibbly is some random baby dragon"... but <shrug>.

Also, totally random comment, but I actually had a dream about Trace and Flora and Saria last night. Think it's the first time I ever had a dream about TwoKinds

I was thinking that what ever it is was more "riding" Nibbly and indirectly influencing her, rather that directly controlling her actions. More of a tug here, a push there, to keep her with the group. For example, it's afraid of Reni, so it makes Nibs afraid of Reni, so Nibs hides when Reni is around. I think the other Mask we've seen (Chaos?) was controlling Old!Trace the same way and was the Evil Black Smoke Hallucination seen on the boat.

[Rafe]

When Nibs first arrived at the Estate, she was (according to Raine) shaking like a leaf. Maren mentioned she might be afraid of Reni, but Reni didn't come through the gateway, she had to fly back. Ever since then I've been wondering if it's not Reni that Nibs is scared of, but Rose (or maybe both). I don't remember ever seeing Mrs. Nibly out when Rose was around. In fact, this is the first time I remember seeing her out since she arrived.

[CyMoahk]

When Nibs first arrived at the Estate, she was (according to Raine) shaking like a leaf. Maren mentioned she might be afraid of Reni, but Reni didn't come through the gateway, she had to fly back. Ever since then I've been wondering if it's not Reni that Nibs is scared of, but Rose (or maybe both). I don't remember ever seeing Mrs. Nibly out when Rose was around. In fact, this is the first time I remember seeing her out since she arrived.

This led me down an interesting thought path... So here's another theory about Mrs. Nibbly: she was previously a human who tried to enter the estate. The dark, tentacle-y magic that Maddie saw, which seems to be the core of the estate's powers, is thus also the magic that turns intruders into random animals and teleports them. Nibbly tried to enter the estate by force, probably confronting Rose at the door, so Rose is the last thing Nibbly saw before getting transformed and teleported away.

[AmigaDragon]

When Nibs first arrived at the Estate, she was (according to Raine) shaking like a leaf. Maren mentioned she might be afraid of Reni, but Reni didn't come through the gateway, she had to fly back. Ever since then I've been wondering if it's not Reni that Nibs is scared of, but Rose (or maybe both). I don't remember ever seeing Mrs. Nibly out when Rose was around. In fact, this is the first time I remember seeing her out since she arrived.

This led me down an interesting thought path... So here's another theory about Mrs. Nibbly: she was previously a human who tried to enter the estate. The dark, tentacle-y magic that Maddie saw, which seems to be the core of the estate's powers, is thus also the magic that turns intruders into random animals and teleports them. Nibbly tried to enter the estate by force, probably confronting Rose at the door, so Rose is the last thing Nibbly saw before getting transformed and teleported away.

Nibs was already hiding before the gate was opened, she came out on the other side only to hide again when Reni poked her head through,and again poking her head around the corner at the Oasis Room. I have seen no evidence that anything other than Reni (and I'm sure that extends to any dragon) scares her at the estate or anywhere else.

[Rafe]

... I have seen no evidence that anything other than Reni (and I'm sure that extends to any dragon) scares her at the estate or anywhere else.

I agree, but there are still details we don't know. I do like the idea CyMoahk brought up, that Nibs might not be a dragon or other creature magically hiding herself, but instead is a victim of someone else's magic - The estate's, evil Trace's, Lady Nora's, Clovis's... you get the idea. In other words, she's not using a squirrel's form to hide, she was transformed into one maliciously, or accidentally. Or maybe she started as a normal squirrel, and was transformed into an intelligent, sentient being. Lots of possibilities.

[BadJoke]

Personally my bet is not on the Mask or a baby dragon but on something magic of a different nature. I'm not sure of my theory but I think Tom insisted too much on the "baby dragon possibility", and that he's trying to trick us with a read hearing (and I doubt a mask would be so skittish, even weakened it would just find another way to avoid detection).

[AmigaDragon]

Not the first time we've heard "thank the masks". Having seen what Ephemural did with Mary and Flora (despite the eventual outcome), are the masks generally known in-world as being benevolent enough to warrant such general (not specific mask) exclamations?

[AndreRhineDavis]

Not the first time we've heard "thank the masks". Having seen what Ephemural did with Mary and Flora (despite the eventual outcome), are the masks generally known in-world as being benevolent enough to warrant such general (not specific mask) exclamations?

I imagine it's more that the masks are perceived to be in charge of luck/fate/random occurrences (to what extent they actually are or not is another matter entirely).
So suppose something good happens to you, you might say "thank the masks for this!". Then if someone bad happens to you, you might say "come on masks, help me out this time!". Of course, you could also say "damn you masks, why are you doing this?!", but you'd probably not want to piss them off. In various real-world cultures where the gods and spirits are not necessarily good, or even when they're more evil than good, it's still common to thank them and avoid speaking ill of them so that they'll be nice to you. It's like, your boss might be a dick, but you'll be nice to them and show appreciation whenever they do something good so that you get on their good side xP.

Of course, in real-world cultures, there's also explicit actions and rituals people do to appease the gods, such as worship or sacrifices or prayer or other such things. People being like "please do this for me gods, and I will do this for you in return". We haven't actually seen anything like this with the masks in TwoKinds though, other than the direct deals that Mary and Flora made with Neutral and Neutral's direct interaction with the cast. Which portrayed Neutral more as an actual being that you speak with directly and whose existence and power is limited, as opposed to some omnipresent force who is actually in charge of how everything in the world works.

Of course, there is always the possibility that "thank the masks" is just a common phrase that people utter on Mekkan as a thing to say when something good happens, without literally meaning it. Maybe it started off as a way to appease the masks and try to get their favour, but over time it just became the thing to say when something good happens. Like people in the real world say "thank god" or "oh my god" without necessarily literally thinking "oh yes, I am thanking God!". It seems plausible to me that if you asked Flora "hey, do you really want to thank the masks for this? After what Neutral did to you? And do you actually think that the masks directly caused this to happen?" and she'd be like "well no... the masks are probably busy with much bigger and more general things than these people entering the room in this instant... and of course I'm not happy about what Neutral did... but it's just the thing you say, you know?"