Pact: A complete breakfast cereal brought to you by Wildbow [spoilers]

[Lamech]

So who here is reading Wildbow's second awesome serial? I for one think its great. I do feel a bit bad for Rose though.

Also the Others are really nasty, creepy, while still being imaginative. Wildbow's great at making imaginative "powers".

[Landis963]

If I may quibble: "A complete breakfast cereal brought to you by Wildbow."

And Pact is definitely getting to the point where it's starting to get good. Differentiation between Blake and Rose is in full effect, and this world is starting to climb out of "creepy" into "creepy-cool."

[Wildbow]

I'm reading it! Wait.

[Somebloke]

I'm kind of siding with Rose when it comes to 'Blake, don't be a controlling '***hole who automatically thinks he knows more than me'.

Then again Wildbow loves his protagonists to have this flaw. At least he points out it is a flaw.

[Landis963]

I'm kind of siding with Rose when it comes to 'Blake, don't be a controlling '***hole who automatically thinks he knows more than me'.

Then again Wildbow loves his protagonists to have this flaw. At least he points out it is a flaw.

To be fair, both of them have controlling tendencies. (And Rose is just as guilty of assuming she knows more than Blake, if only because she's got better access to the library than he does) It's just that Blake can act on them more readily than Rose can.

[Somebloke]

To be fair, both of them have controlling tendencies. (And Rose is just as guilty of assuming she knows more than Blake, if only because she's got better access to the library than he does) It's just that Blake can act on them more readily than Rose can.

True.

My God, it's good they don't occupy the same dimension. Otherwise they would probably be killing each other by halfway through this serial.

[Forum Explorer]

True.

My God, it's good they don't occupy the same dimension. Otherwise they would probably be killing each other by halfway through this serial.

I think that's the problem really. Rose is basically attracted to Blake and can't control his actions, which can be quite reckless/careless at times. She's also basically limited to her intelligence since she can barely interact with the physical world.


Now did anyone else find it ominous that Rose exists in a mirror dimension and then we learn about a demon that can enter that same dimension?


For the record their grandmother is an idiot who seems to have done her best to exterminate her family line through indirect methods.

[Somebloke]

I think that's the problem really. Rose is basically attracted to Blake and can't control his actions, which can be quite reckless/careless at times. She's also basically limited to her intelligence since she can barely interact with the physical world.


Now did anyone else find it ominous that Rose exists in a mirror dimension and then we learn about a demon that can enter that same dimension?


For the record their grandmother is an idiot who seems to have done her best to exterminate her family line through indirect methods.

I share your views, although I replace 'idiot' with 'sociopath who really just doesn't care'. If she's as dark as her reputation suggests, then this is probably her idea of a laugh.

But yes, I'm guessing the demon is either Rose, or- a more terrifying thought- is wandering around in her world.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Yep! Loving it so far. It's a great take on magic and spirits. Very creepy, very alien, but with Rules. Definitely one of my favourite flavours for urban fantasy.

Blake strikes me as too impulsive for his own good. Checking on Barbatorem without doing the basic background reading was a) risky and b) pointless. Dude needs to learn to stop and think, no matter how good he believes his intuition is. Rose is (too?) cautious though, so I guess the two balance each other out well enough.

Can't wait for the Council meeting and the ensuing meet n' greet with the local Practitioner scene. Maybe start getting more sense out of those visions from 1.1.

I'm reading it! Wait.

Oh you.

I think that's the problem really. Rose is basically attracted to Blake and can't control his actions, which can be quite reckless/careless at times. She's also basically limited to her intelligence since she can barely interact with the physical world.

Ew, ew, ewww. Unless you meant attached?

Now did anyone else find it ominous that Rose exists in a mirror dimension and then we learn about a demon that can enter that same dimension?

Very. For now my best guess is that whatever Granny did to make Rose happen was mediated or facilitated by Barbatorum in some way. I'm pretty sure it'll turn out to be a huge plot point somewhere down the line.

For the record their grandmother is an idiot who seems to have done her best to exterminate her family line through indirect methods.

I think less 'idiot' and more 'evil'. She has one hell of a reputation, which for now seems entirely waranted. She stikes me as having been of the 'if you're weak you deserve whatever happens to you' persuasion and wants her heir to "toughen up" ASAP. I'm tempted to start calling her Darth Granny and be done with it.

[Reverent-One]

On an unimportant, pedantic note, shouldn't the thread title be "A complete breakfast serial". Obviously it's a pun on serial and cereal sounding alike, but "serial" described what it actually is and you don't lose the joke by doing so.

[Landis963]

I think less 'idiot' and more 'evil'. She has one hell of a reputation, which for now seems entirely warranted. She strikes me as having been of the 'if you're weak you deserve whatever happens to you' persuasion and wants her heir to "toughen up" ASAP. I'm tempted to start calling her Darth Granny and be done with it.

To be fair to Darth Granny, Barbatorem et al. are clearly the "you're f**ked" options. Notice that Barbatorem never made so much as a peep before Blake looked in after awakening. Of course, it would be good to know about the surgical assassin locked the attic, but if you're not f**ked, you don't need to know.

Yes that logic sounds sociopathic. All in favor of calling Rosalyn "Darth Granny" until further notice?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

On an unimportant, pedantic note, shouldn't the thread title be "A complete breakfast serial". Obviously it's a pun on serial and cereal sounding alike, but "serial" described what it actually is and you don't lose the joke by doing so.

I'm inclined to agree.

[Lamech]

You make an excellent point. However I am the OP and the power has gone to my head... MWAHAHAHHAAHA!!!

To be fair to Darth Granny, Barbatorem et al. are clearly the "you're f**ked" options. Notice that Barbatorem never made so much as a peep before Blake looked in after awakening. Of course, it would be good to know about the surgical assassin locked the attic, but if you're not f**ked, you don't need to know.

Yeah, I actually think it makes sense. The guy was perfectly safe. No need to get them to worry about him without reason. See how Blake freaked out and nearly looked at the shears?

I think less 'idiot' and more 'evil'. She has one hell of a reputation, which for now seems entirely waranted. She stikes me as having been of the 'if you're weak you deserve whatever happens to you' persuasion and wants her heir to "toughen up" ASAP. I'm tempted to start calling her Darth Granny and be done with it.

Yeah, that still strikes me as a bit stupid. You want the kid to be effective? Give them all the tools you can. Although to be fair Blake does seem to have gotten a fairly good array of helpful advice.

Also anyone else think the North Sorc is gonna be an ally? The other people don't like him. They don't like Blake. Sort of the enemy of my enemy is my ally?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Also anyone else think the North Sorc is gonna be an ally? The other people don't like him. They don't like Blake. Sort of the enemy of my enemy is my ally?

Most definitely. For certain values of "ally", at any rate. He's the dude who told Blake to vamoose in 1.1 so there's that. Actually, by having done that and not yet tried to kill Blake (that we know of), he already is Blakes second closest ally.

[Lamech]

Also I just thought of a terrible, terrible way for Rose to abuse her powers of breaking reflective surfaces. Remember about Barber being reflected in the eyes? I wonder if eyes work as reflective surfaces for Rose?

[Landis963]

Also I just thought of a terrible, terrible way for Rose to abuse her powers of breaking reflective surfaces. Remember about Barber being reflected in the eyes? I wonder if eyes work as reflective surfaces for Rose?

Eyes are the windows to the soul, and windows are partially reflective... I like it. >:)

[Forum Explorer]

Also anyone else think the North Sorc is gonna be an ally? The other people don't like him. They don't like Blake. Sort of the enemy of my enemy is my ally?

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less

[Grek]

For the first few chapters, I was all like "What? What??? What is going on? What? Horrible bird monsters straight out of my nightmares? Why?" but now Wildbow has started explaining things, it makes sense.

[Lamech]

So that actually explains a good bit of Darth Granny's asshatishness.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Apparently terrible parenting is a Thorburn family tradition.

[Lamech]

Apparently terrible parenting is a Thorburn family tradition.

I was talking about the swearing. But yes, terrible parenting is a tradition.

[Maethirion]

I'm really enjoying this one. Just that perfect mix of not having a clue what is going on, but enough that it still all makes sense. More and more so.

So... does the hair thing from the first part of the latest update imply that having hair or something similar from someone gives power over them in this setting? That may have been mentioned before, but I don't remember.

[SanguisAevum]

Enjoying it so far.

Although i admit to still being a little confused at who / what Rose is.

For example... How does she read books if she just exists in a mirror?

I get the feeling i missed a key paragraph or something that explains it... i need to go back and re-read i think.

[Landis963]

Enjoying it so far.

Although i admit to still being a little confused at who / what Rose is.

For example... How does she read books if she just exists in a mirror?

I get the feeling i missed a key paragraph or something that explains it... i need to go back and re-read i think.

Anything that would normally be reflected in the mirror she's currently inhabiting is recreated in her world. From there, it follows the same rules as reality does. (Except when the pages are different. ) FWIW, we don't exactly know what she is either.

[Landis963]

I'm really enjoying this one. Just that perfect mix of not having a clue what is going on, but enough that it still all makes sense. More and more so.

So... does the hair thing from the first part of the latest update imply that having hair or something similar from someone gives power over them in this setting? That may have been mentioned before, but I don't remember.

I think it's more along the lines of "Ohei mister Other Assassin, here's some hair. Pretty please wipe out the family who this hair belongs to?"

[Maethirion]

I think it's more along the lines of "Ohei mister Other Assassin, here's some hair. Pretty please wipe out the family who this hair belongs to?"

That seems unlikely to me, as surely they could just say "Pretty please wipe out the 'x' family - Others would appear to have at least a vague knowledge of the practitioner families.

Unless it has something to do with Barbatorem, which would seem possible given the hair connection.

[Landis963]

That seems unlikely to me, as surely they could just say "Pretty please wipe out the 'x' family - Others would appear to have at least a vague knowledge of the practitioner families.

Unless it has something to do with Barbatorem, which would seem possible given the hair connection.

True. It's probably more like "kill the person this hair belongs to." Which explains why Mrs. Duchamp was willing to walk into the lions' den, as it were.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

The hair thing is probably something about sympathetic magic. It's a common way to curse and/or bless people at a distance in a decent number of magic traditions: By cursing the hair, you curse the whole person. And there's usually no easy to defend against this sort of connection. Voodoo dolls are often shown working by this method*.

Unless it has something to do with Barbatorem, which would seem possible given the hair connection.

I think Granny said she captured Barbatorem herself in the 50's.



*I have no idea if real-world voodoo does things in this way. I'm talking pop-culture voodoo, here.

[Landis963]

The hair thing is probably something about sympathetic magic. It's a common way to curse and/or bless people at a distance in a decent number of magic traditions: By cursing the hair, you curse the whole person. And there's usually no easy to defend against this sort of connection. Voodoo dolls are often shown working by this method*.

*I have no idea if real-world voodoo does things in this way. I'm talking pop-culture voodoo, here.

Dresden Files calls that sort of thing "thaumaturgy." I don't recall there being a book in Darth Granny's library with either of those titles. I just assumed it would be a shamanism working.

[Eldan]

*I have no idea if real-world voodoo does things in this way. I'm talking pop-culture voodoo, here.

As far as I can tell, it was a thing in European folklore that got attributed to Voodoo to discredit it.