Magick Chicks 19-10-12 Report

[Cassandra]

New Strip! http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/report

[Passing Through]

That's more than a little harsh on Tiffany, good to see Melissa thinks better of her.

Now what is she going to say about that Wand...

[Don Alexander]

- Did they do it themselves, to protect themselves and those they love, erm, want to dominate?? Or was it forced on them by some other entity? An idea might be the principal of Charybdis Heights, who programmed them to infiltrate AA and now their mission parameters are being revealed.

I seem to be getting good at this...



I see Mel really respects authority.. Also, I now predict that the principal's underestimation of Tiff is a Chekov's Gun, and will come to bite her in the ass...

[Passing Through]

Ooh! What are the other two going to say about Melissa hanging around so much with the M.M.A.A.?

There's infiltrating and there's going the extra mile to be the ol' best...

[Spidrift]

Also, I now predict that the principal's underestimation of Tiff is a Chekov's Gun, and will come to bite her in the ass...

There's probably a clause somewhere in the appendices to the Evil Overlord list, that says "When one of my underlings says of an opponent 'I wouldn't underestimate...', I will not interrupt, but will let him or her explain her point, and decide about it calmly. Underlings are often wrong, sure, but it's safer to overestimate than underestimate problems, and heroes have an annoying habit of growing in power or displaying hidden depths."

[vampire hunter D]

The principal probably saw Tiffany's visit to Chary did and is basing her opinion on that.

Just a thought, but cold it be Melissa's seeing Tiff as ore of a threat be due to Mel actually developing some respect for her new friend? Because while she's usually dismissive of Tiff, this is the second time she's expressed a good opinion on Tiff's abilities (the other time pointing out too Ash that Tiff can take care of herself).

[Castamir]

That's more than a little harsh on Tiffany, good to see Melissa thinks better of her.

Harsh but so true... Not a good way to get Mel's cooperation, though, for psychological reasons.

Now what is she going to say about that Wand...

And that's going to be the spanner in the works. Of course, stories operate on plot not on logic, and thus a mere comic relief doofus is just as likely to cause mayhem.

[Gargravarr]

Okay, that last panel made me laugh.

[Castamir]

The principal is a strong example of a bad boss: shouting at minions who dare to mention their findings -- this is what you can put against her.

Dismissing the danger from Tiff, though, is a sign of prioritization: she has accurate information that Tiffany is a buffoon, and thus wants her minions to concentrate on realistic threats instead of wasting time. The only reason she's wrong would break the fourth wall: blaming someone on not being genre savvy would require the character in question know she is in a work of fiction.

[Spidrift]

Well, aside from the fact that operating in that universe would appear to require a degree of genre savvy - prioritisation is one thing, not letting minions finish a sentence is another. If Mel had said her piece and turned out to be talking rubbish, the principal could point this out with as much sarcasm as she likes. But when you think that one opponent is trivial, and your minion seems to think otherwise, you want to know why; either you have incomplete information about the opponent, or the minion has a flaw in her judgement that you need to understand when processing her other reports.

[Castamir]

prioritisation is one thing, not letting minions finish a sentence is another

Yeah, that's what I meant by "bad boss".

[JackieWanderer]

If Mel had said her piece and tur...

BUFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

Seriously, that was so awesome. Anyway, really interested in seeing how Cerise is going to do about the Callie/Skye thing now that she's got this new memory.

[dahoughtonuk]

It's because of the how they answered. Strong, gullible haven;t seen a real monster. and Tiff demonstrated she was an idiot at Charybidis.

Who spotted Tiff as a danger? Mel who isn't obsessing as much as the other two, and so has had time to think. She knows Tiff has been fighting a corrupt mind-controller and doing a reasonable job. That she is incredibly strong, and despite Tiff's leaping to conclusions she has shown intelligence.

There is also the fact Layla and Tiff know one another. This connection is different to Tiff turned up and did a poor impression of a ghost.

[jaimehlers]

Dismissing the danger from Tiff, though, is a sign of prioritization: she has accurate information that Tiffany is a buffoon, and thus wants her minions to concentrate on realistic threats instead of wasting time. The only reason she's wrong would break the fourth wall: blaming someone on not being genre savvy would require the character in question know she is in a work of fiction.

Not necessarily. Fiction necessarily mimics reality (or at least people's perceptions of reality), so being genre savvy requires nothing more than comprehension of this fact. For example, while the Evil Overlord list is clearly built around fictional Evil Overlords, all of the things on the list (that Evil Overlords do) are at least based on things that people have actually done. Like, take the one about making the self-destruct button unobtrusive so that the hero won't know which button to press to nuke the base. This is actually good operational security in a clandestine organization - you keep information on a need to know basis, so that the inevitable infiltrators can't just find out all your secrets by chatting up a guard or two.

As an aside, what does the amnesia spell cover? I mean, it obviously doesn't cover them being witches, and it apparently doesn't cover the fact that they went to "Monster High", from Melissa's reaction to her classmates finding out.

Also, Tiffany is a good example of "Perceval", the archetypal dumb hero. And that's the mistake the principal is making - dumb heroes learn.

[Spidrift]

Yeah, that's what I meant by "bad boss".

Mmm. But my point is that she's worse than wrong; she's under-informed. And because of the "bad boss" thing, she's going to stay that way.

Anyway, really interested in seeing how Cerise is going to do about the Callie/Skye thing now that she's got this new memory.

Assuming that she's allowed to keep it. This may be a temporary removal for monthly reporting. After all, Artemis has plenty of mind-reading capability; leaving those memories clear could still be extremely dangerous.