Sleepless Domain

I double-checked the comics she appears in, and I guess I was mis-remembering because it's not there. She has a lot of time on her hands, doesn't really talk to people, and claims to not have any friends or family (and might be immortal or at least very long-lived), but hasn't said anything that would indicate she can't leave wherever she is in the Intersitials.

Oh and she knows everything that goes on in the city except for Goops and Goldie.

Which isn't creepy at all.

Y'know... Tessa might actually just be hanging out at the cemetery all day long. Depending on how things go next comic.

That's what I started to assume last comic or so. It's the most Occam solution, at any rate.

New page up: http://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-12-page-26

Ah, good, it wasn't a bait-and-switch after all. And she's a talented artist... or is that a reused panel to lean on the fourth wall a bit?

Huh... Looks like she's indeed just been brooding on the graveyard. Unless she's lying. Anemone is out in the real world, though. Wonder if that means something.

Also, I got completely 'd right there.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on May 17th 2019 at 10:09:58 AM

The statue.

Oh, her? I think you mean Mahou Jesus

Ah, so that's how it is.

Man, Anemone is being really helpful for the readers here.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on May 22nd 2019 at 12:13:35 PM

Doubleposting 'cause it took me a few hours to notice this, but Tessa's eyes glaze over when she's talking about the statue.

Huh. You're right. Is that magic happening, or just plain ol' disillusionment?

Well that recontextualizes the end of the previous page and start of this one.

Anemone is looking into Tessa's eyes to see if she's being forced to forget about Goopirella, rather than genuinely not knowing, and testing it with something she knows Tessa will be forced to forget about.

Oooh, good eye, Daremo. That makes a lot of sense. Though it raises the question of whether Goopy has that sort of memory-muddling power, along with the familiar mystery of what causes the Girl in White to be so... supposedly forgettable.

And we're back to touching on the question of who made the statue/whether or not they realize that isn't the 'vague idea of a noble magical girl'...

...Still no fracturing. I wonder if the absence of splintering here is meant to communicate something as well. Ironically, the lack of any fracturing on the panels where Tessa's eyes go all foggy actually makes me much more nervous for the implications (reminder?) that that's... normal.

I double-checked the Alchemical death sequence, and Tessa never actually saw Goops as far as I can tell. Undine did, while she was dying on the ground (also I forgot that she was apparently holding blood in her body semi-successfully at the time, kinda neat), but Tessa just showed up to the carnage.

That being said, Goops did make it very clear that Undine had "forgotten" the context for why Goops was doing this. Is this related to Tessa's mental checkout when asked about White? Maybe, maybe not. We don't really have enough information to speculate substantially right now.

I mean for all we know, Goops could be a Forgotten Childhood Friend who took being left behind really, really badly.

What I wonder is, is Tessa being "forced" to blank out when talking about the Girl in The Dream because she is no longer a magical girl, or would HP or Undine given the same answer?

I'm inclined it doesn't matter if they're active or not, given they don't remember her from the Dream either.

Ah, true. I always chalked that up to the tendency of people, including myself, not remembering dreams in their entirety (even the dreams I do somewhat remember or the one recurring dream I had/have).

Hmm... Just found the page where Undine talks about her Dream, and she's able to remember everything except the girl, and on the panel where she trails off her eyes have the same effect.

Yeah I forgot about that. I think when I first read it I thought she didn't want to talk about it, not sure anymore.

Wonder what causes them to forget. Is it an intentional effect, and if so, whose intent drives it?

New page

so Goops has been hanging outside Tessa's window almost every night, nbd you know how it is

...Oh. Well. Shit.

Now will she take that advice, or will this lead to Tessa doing something very ill-advised, like the exact opposite of what Anemone suggested? This might not be a 'waste of time'; it might be a catalyst.

...huh. Why would Anemone warn her about this? I mean, the way she puts it, to someone in Tessa's current state of mind, it's actually kind of more dangerous than not telling her. I suppose that's something to do with why Anemone can even show up outside of her room in the first place.

Also, I'm getting the feeling that Goops can't really manifest when the barrier's up. We've never seen her physically during daytime as far as I can remember, only getting voices and phonecalls.

I mean, Anemone might just not be aware of the potential consequences of her actions? As she’s said, she doesn’t really interact with people and seems to assume that people won’t believe her so she might legitimately think that Tessa will just brush it off.

Yeah. I suppose it might also be possible that Anemone wants Tessa to investigate, but I don't know... Maybe I'm misreading her, but she doesn't quite give off that kind of vibe. Doesn't seem like the sort who'd deliberately manipulate someone into risky action just to try and learn more about ol' Goops...

It really does feel more like "Well, either she'll believe me and be more careful from now on, or she'll won't. Just like everyone else..."

Ah, so when Tessa inevitably goes out to confront Goops only to get kidnapped and turned Dark Magical Girl we'll be able to put all the blame on Anemone.