Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - February 2015 (Read 69440 times)

BenRG · « **Reply #100 on:** 23 Feb 2015, 23:51 »

Okay, Ardent? It's nighttime. The chances of you finding anyone awake to hang with is low, to say the least! I can see the two of them asleep in the town square until they are awoken by the town waking up at the break of dawn.

I'm pretty sure that Gavia is worried about nothing in regard to the townsfolk. They don't strike me as aggressive. Once they are sure she isn't going to blow up anything (with the possible and deserved exception of her brother), I'm sure that they'll warm up to her.

I'm going to make a few predictions:

Ardent and Gavia are going to make friendships in this chapter that will change their lives;
Alice is following them; we'll occasionally see her tackling beasties so that the kids don't have to;
Alice is going to watch silently and not interfere until it's time for the kids to return to the cottage; she may even flash back to her arrival, years back.

Overall, this is going to be a chapter of character building and more than a little fun.

Wildroses · « **Reply #101 on:** 24 Feb 2015, 00:48 »

Yeah, it totally occurred to me too that Ardent may not realise Alice's town has no night life. It also occurs to me that the last time any townsfolk saw Gavia she was unconscious and badly beaten, and Alice was responding to queries about what she was going to do with Gavia by saying things like: "That's none of your concern" and "Help me take her to my place. I want answers." So there is a chance some people may respond to Gavia with pleased surprise rather than appalled surprise. "You're still alive? How wonderful! We thought Alice killed you."

I'm hoping this chapter we get to see townsfolk talking about Alice when she isn't around. Or when they don't know she isn't around. The open eye when Ardent sneaked out means she is totally following unobserved.

explicit · « **Reply #102 on:** 24 Feb 2015, 00:52 »

Girls that actually are up at night are the people Ardent is looking for. If he find them he'll be ecstatic (if they don't hit him anyways).

BenRG · « **Reply #103 on:** 24 Feb 2015, 01:18 »

I've got so many ideas of what I'd like to see in Alice Grove. One would be for Doc to have a crush on Alice. Normally, he's the voice of her conscience and the only one in the town who doesn't treat her as the 'witch' who can 'put out the sun'. However, he's also very concerned about how she isolates herself. He knows enough basic psychology to know the problems that causes.

"I don't have any illusions about you, Alice. You're ageless; you've been here at least eighty years but don't look a day older than when you arrived, if the Town Elders are to be believed. You're invulnerable; I've seen you walk into infernos to save people trapped by fire and not even get singed. You can do things that no other human can do. With all that, though, you're still human and, if you won't bend, you will eventually break."

I'd love for her to ask him where he's got all this and he points out that he learnt most of it as a child sitting at the feet of a blonde woman who lived in a cottage out in the woods, just as she had since his grandfather was young.

Quote from: explicit on 24 Feb 2015, 00:52

Girls that actually are up at night are the people Ardent is looking for. If he find them he'll be ecstatic (if they don't hit him anyways).

They typically expect payment, something about which Ardent has imperfect comprehension. Additionally, they're professionals with standards. I think that Gavia is going to be laughing herself into a hernia before the night is over if explicit's scenario comes true.

[edit]
I'd also like for there to be something of a running joke that goes like this: When Jack wakes the Vicissitudes up, tomorrow morning, he nervously asks Gavia if she is going to blow anything else up. She is offended: "Hey! I didn't hurt anyone! Besides, I had a good reason!"

"Really, what?"

She gestures at Ardent. "I was mad at my idiot brother!"

"Oh! That explains everything!"

Basically, as Jack shows them around town, everyone who asks Gavia if she's still blowing stuff up gets the same answer with poor Ardent exclaiming "Hey!" Finally he asks why it's "Let's dump on Ardent day!" Gavia's response?

"Brother of mine, are you saying that, in your sixteen years, you have never realised that every day is 'Let's Dump on Ardent Day'?"

Method of Madness · « **Reply #104 on:** 24 Feb 2015, 18:07 »

Quote

Michael Bay stuff

I can't recommend Pain and Gain enough.

jwhouk · « **Reply #105 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 18:43 »

I'm suspecting that what we're being set up for is a "what the villagers really think of Alice" montage.

"She just appeared outta nowhere one day, kinda like how you did..."

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #106 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 19:40 »

Um. I am beginning to understand why Alice has a reputation for being a witch. And why the townsfolk are so respectful, even somewhat fearful of her.

*backs away, rather quickly*

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #107 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 19:44 »

Oh deer!

Aziraphale · « **Reply #108 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 19:48 »

Am I the only one seriously creeped the fuck out by those deer?

explicit · « **Reply #109 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 19:50 »

Quote from: Aziraphale on 26 Feb 2015, 19:48

Am I the only one seriously creeped the fuck out by those deer?

I'm gonna make the assumption that no, no you're not.

Kugai · « **Reply #110 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 20:15 »

It's a fake!!!

Or not.

Half Empty Coffee Cup · « **Reply #111 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 20:17 »

At least the hills have eyes... Wait, that's not good at all!

jwhouk · « **Reply #112 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 20:41 »

Quote from: Aziraphale on 26 Feb 2015, 19:48

Am I the only one seriously creeped the fuck out by those deer?

Definitely not.

Suddenly, things are not what they always seem - or appear - to be.

explicit · « **Reply #113 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 21:23 »

I'm sure that deer's had a hard life, I don't think we should make fun of it.

Aziraphale · « **Reply #114 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 21:29 »

Quote from: explicit on 26 Feb 2015, 21:23

I'm sure that deer's had a hard life

You have no-eye-deer.

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #115 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 21:47 »

Forget the eyeless deer and the man-eating plants...what sort of nightmare fuel are they looking at in the last panel?

explicit · « **Reply #116 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 21:50 »

Ann Coulture twerking

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #117 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 22:07 »

Quote from: explicit on 26 Feb 2015, 21:50

Ann Coulture twerking

Welu · « **Reply #118 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 22:44 »

Quote from: Aziraphale on 26 Feb 2015, 19:48

Am I the only one seriously creeped the fuck out by those deer?

I can to the thread to say they creeped me out.

I'm guessing it's a very stern Alice they're looking at off panel.

pwhodges · « **Reply #119 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 23:03 »

My question is whether we are seeing the real strangeness of this world peeking out from under its apparent normality, or whether Alice has some way of messing with people's perception as a means of control or policing boundaries.

The second seems the more likely interpretation to me.

jwhouk · « **Reply #120 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 23:07 »

Do notice that the plant is similar to the one that Alice was holding in the "chores" strip a while back.

BenRG · « **Reply #121 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 23:13 »

Okay; carnivorous plants and creepy animals that only look like deer. I don't think that this is Earth.

Am I the only one who thinks that the locals call that place the 'Haunted Forest'? Creepy by day; tends to be seriously lethal at night! They think that Alice is either crazy or a witch for living there. To her, controlling the Flora and fauna is just part of the job.

Quote from: SubaruStephen on 26 Feb 2015, 21:47

Forget the eyeless deer and the man-eating plants...what sort of nightmare fuel are they looking at in the last panel?

Alice, hovering just above the tree canopy, glaring down at them and tapping her toes. I'm expecting a sci-fi version of a disappointed guardian's chastisement of disobedient kids.

KOK · « **Reply #122 on:** 26 Feb 2015, 23:15 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 26 Feb 2015, 23:03

My question is whether we are seeing the real strangeness of this world peeking out from under its apparent normality, or whether Alice has some way of messing with people's perception as a means of control or policing boundaries.

The second seems the more likely interpretation to me.

Or maybe this is only found around Alice's house, placed here by her, but still real. The potted plant she is holding on a previous may be a clue that it is so.

KevxD · « **Reply #123 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 01:59 »

Things just got seriously interesting.

Maybe Alice was protecting Ardent and Gavia from the village, not the other way 'round.

That last panel makes it look like something even scarier is coming at them from out of panel

ReindeerFlotilla · « **Reply #124 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 02:49 »

Alice knows they left. I was wondering when she'd intervene. I'm gonna say this is it.

BenRG · « **Reply #125 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 02:50 »

Quote from: ReindeerFlotilla on 27 Feb 2015, 02:49

Alice knows they left. I was wondering when she'd intervene. I'm gonna say this is it.

"You two are grounded for a week!"

"We have already been grounded for two weeks."

"Oh... yeah... Heh. Is my face red!"

More seriously, I think she's going to tell them that, if they're so desperate to go into town that they would do something so unimaginably stupid as this, she'll take them in tomorrow. However, the minute things go bad (and she's sure it will), she's going to only wait long enough to say 'I told you so' before banning them from ever going there again.

Loki · « **Reply #126 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 04:57 »

Quote from: BenRG on 26 Feb 2015, 23:13

Okay; carnivorous plants and creepy animals that only look like deer. I don't think that this is Earth.

I also don't think we are in Kansas anymore.

dexeron · « **Reply #127 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 06:22 »

So, I was reading Alice Grove, and then suddenly it turned into Night Vale and I don't know what is happening I'll just be hiding under the bed until the visions go away.

cesium133 · « **Reply #128 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 07:40 »

See no evil, deer no evil, speak no evil.

Zebediah · « **Reply #129 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 09:53 »

I actually think we are on Earth - just a really badly fucked-up Earth.

And I'm thinking that it's so fucked up that the deer could still see them, despite its absence of eyes.

No wonder Alice is annoyed at the prospect of external intervention by higher-tech powers. That's probably what caused this mess in the first place.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #130 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 10:12 »

Or it could be a world where humans are imprisoned/restricted to a rural world state. Who knows, perhaps Alice is a live-in Warden, keeping the inmates from reaching a dangerous level of technology or to ensure no undue influence from outside sources.

Think the Village but with aliens and nanomachines instead of Adrien Brody.

dexeron · « **Reply #131 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 10:33 »

What if the deer is Alice.

"BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM!"

Undrneath · « **Reply #132 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 20:30 »

This isn't even her final form!

HiFranc · « **Reply #133 on:** 28 Feb 2015, 13:04 »

Personally, I think the forest is a genetics experiment. We already know that their society (the one Ardent, his sister and Alice belong to) can manipulate genes (including on currently living organisms) and nanotechnology. I suspect the villagers are either people who sick/afraid of the dangers of that technology or their descendents. I think that Alice's job is to keep the technology going so that the residents don't have to worry about it, fills in with other jobs (e.g. doctor) and is responsible for stopping the local society sliding from sliding into something too primitive.

As for the deer, I think that the original inhabitants (who I suspect were not technophobes) were trying their hands at various genetic experiments. In one meeting they were trying to think up what to make next. One person says, "No idea!" After that a smart-alec geneticist decides to make it.

The fact that those plants look so much like Audrey II, they have to be engineered. Come to think of it, I suspect that the original inhabitants of that land were probably bored genetics students. Those creations would be just the sorts of things I would expect from bored undergrads.

{edit} I've just had a scary thought: What if the people who created those animals were secondary school children (or even primary age children)? It makes the decision to want a simpler life easier to understand if they society that Alice comes from is one where genetic engineering is so common that even children are allowed to use it.

However, I think we can rule out "prison". The villagers think of Alice as a "witch" and seem confused by what Ardent is. If they came from the same society as Ardent, they would have had a good idea what he was. This implies that these people are 3rd generation or later. Their attitudes and beliefs seem too hard for those who just adopted them to adapt to a new situation. These people have been living in that culture all their lives

Method of Madness · « **Reply #134 on:** 28 Feb 2015, 13:22 »

What makes time think Alice belongs to that society?

HiFranc · « **Reply #135 on:** 28 Feb 2015, 13:27 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 28 Feb 2015, 13:22

What makes time think Alice belongs to that society?

She can repair tech, she understood exactly what they were using and how their society functioned. Her dialogue with them seemed to impart a level of cultural understanding that would be hard, but not impossible, for an outsider to learn. On the balance of probabilities, she is likely to come from their society.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #136 on:** 28 Feb 2015, 13:51 »

I mean still belongs.

bhtooefr · « **Reply #137 on:** 28 Feb 2015, 13:56 »

You know, what if Alice is the villain, intentionally keeping the locals in the dark to keep them from rising against something?

Wildroses · « **Reply #138 on:** 01 Mar 2015, 03:24 »

I haven't been willing to rule out the possibility that Alice's presence may not be as beneficial as it appears for the villagers for a while. I'm waiting on more information before deciding. Another reason I'm keen to see Gavia and Ardent interacting with villagers who think Alice is not around and will speak frankly.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #139 on:** 01 Mar 2015, 06:13 »

Quote from: Wildroses on 01 Mar 2015, 03:24

Another reason I'm keen to see Gavia and Ardent interacting with villagers who think Alice is not around and will speak frankly.

Would they be willing to talk to a fuzzy blue guy and his highly destructive sister, who made her entrance flashing frying parts of the town?

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Author Topic: Alice Grove MCDT - February 2015 (Read 69440 times)

TheEvilDog

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