Gunnerkrigg Court

The red String has binded them together.

Hell if Annie can see the strings of Fate, she'll probably see other people close together with binding strings or not.

We only see her face before she goes into the ether, her face when she actually sees the strings are cloaked. And I seriously dont get how anyone can interpret this as some generic "strings of fate" stuff when it's explicitly identified as Smitty's manipulation of the Ether and only shows up around him.

Well, his effect on it, anyway. Whether that be his power in specific, his actions in general (including his power) or his thoughts and emotions is yet to be known. The ether is a lot of things.

And Annie's perception of this part of it is new and developing. The first time she focused in the right way to see it has been today. So of course we've only seen it around him thus far.

Of course, that raises the twin questions of if Annie's mother had this power (of etheric sight) as well, and how did it influence her decisions (marrying Anthony, tricking Reynardine, etc) if she did.

Edited for clarity.

edited 7th Jul '16 7:28:33 PM by TotemicHero

We already knew he could manipulate the probability of her doing certain things (conveniently teleporting to him for example), jumping from that straight to "he made her love him" is a pretty big leap y'all.

And smitty's mentioned he has to be EXCEEDINGLY CAREFUL RE: Parley because he can make things happen, but can't control /how/

1694

Remember her?

Looks like we aren't supposed to dwell on it, which is good. I think Smitty did subconsciously make fate play out in his favor because he just can't help it, and since the two are happy together, it's one of those moral conundrums that are just not worth thinking about.

Instead, plot happens!

None of the other beings Annie saw in the Ether had these things.

edited 8th Jul '16 7:10:30 AM by Druplesnubb

And Annie's perception of this facet of the ether is new and developing. I'd assume she'll start seeing strings in more places as her sight grows stronger.

Frankly, given the intrinsic and unconscious nature of Smitty's abilities, worrying over this amounts to no more than a pretty person wondering if their lover would stay with them if they were ugly.

That's a good way to put it. It's not mind-control - fate just made sure that Parley would develop a taste in men or to just see things in him in particular, that would end up making her, who is still her own person in every respect, fall in love with him. It wouldn't require any more manipulation than opening her eyes to the good that is already there. It's not like he's unlovable or anything after all. Fate just had to make sure she sees that.

edited 8th Jul '16 6:15:42 AM by Fawriel

Smitty is a total Bro. I can't think of him doing anything negative, he's only ever been helpful.

Yeah, I think that the takeaway from this is that if Annie isn't dwelling on it, neither should we.

It's just meant to show that their fates are intertwined or that Smitty is using his powers to protect her or something.

Moving on, wohoo Jeanne! Finally going to have that plot resolved hopefully. And just maybe it will reveal a bit more about the Court's past. Can't wait for next chapter.

Man, this comic is so good.

edited 8th Jul '16 7:16:08 AM by GutstheBerserker

Or mayhaps we are mixing up the order of causation.

@Fawriel: I think you are making a lot of assumptions on how his power works. It's not "everything goes good for Smitty" it's "bringing order to chaos", even if that ends up being a problem. I don't think there's any indication he could do something like you're suggesting.

I said this earlier, but really, nothing about either one of them has to change. If they're right for each other, all that needs to happen is for them to meet.

Hmm... nothing is to say that Smitty's power had anything to do with getting Parley interested in him. Considering that we didn't know about those strings until a few minutes ago in-comic, the strings might have become attached because the two started going out, rather than the two started going out because the strings became attached. The chicken/egg problem.

They may also represent Smittys summoning of Parley.

Or just "I hope Parley does the best in her training".

I guess that is harmony in our avatars.

^ It seems like an adversarial relationship if you ask me.

@32: What I was saying.

I'm actually not so excited. They don't seem ready to me. And I am having horrible visions of someone being skewered.

The gravity of this moment is kind of ruined by rabbit kid's :3 in the background.