Where the Sunny Don’t Shine
Footnote: Let’s add some new words to your vocabulary, using a few you already know!
Celeste (like Gabriel) can “convince” people into doing things they wouldn’t otherwise do, using Tone. What we’ve seen already from folks like Daisy, Jigsaw, and others is a skill known as Tone Resistance, where people can hear and translate the Tone to figure out what’s being said. If you’re really good at it like White Noise is, it becomes Tone Immunity, which is Tone Resistance without that pesky “sometimes it fails and you get Toned anyway” problem.
Being Tone Deaf is a little different, in that someone who is Tone Deaf can’t be Toned, but they also have no idea that someone is attempting to Tone them in the first place — the Tone attempt simply fails. This happens with most animals, as well as some of the more exotic species of Wanderers that have yet to develop the necessary indoctrination in their species for Tone to be reliable.
Given the choice, most Celeste would prefer dealing with a Tone Resistant sophont over a Tone Deaf one. Being caught red-handed is one thing; being unable to beg for mercy is another.
March 17th, 2013 at 12:02 am
So then, Jason really IS the dog…well now, this is interesting…
March 17th, 2013 at 12:12 am
I think there is more to this then than Nikilai.
also Gab you shouldn’t make a mess you can’t clean up!
March 17th, 2013 at 12:12 am
Angry mutt with Tone immunity. Cue mauling in 3…2…1….
March 17th, 2013 at 12:18 am
also i find it mildly amusing that Gab is currently reduced to flipping the bird.
March 17th, 2013 at 1:11 am
I wonder just how well Ace can fight with that form?
At least he’s immune to Toning in that form, it seems,
March 17th, 2013 at 1:12 am
@nikolai or he might be a shapeshifter now like alice and picked that form since it was tone-immune
March 17th, 2013 at 1:38 am
It’s interesting that “tone deaf” in our modern society indicates a negative situation, whereas the same term in this universe is something good. Oh and Jason? Sick em, boy!
March 17th, 2013 at 2:31 am
Now to resolve the most important issue of our time: Does he taste like chicken?
March 17th, 2013 at 3:07 am
Yup! He’s a werewolf. ^_^
March 17th, 2013 at 5:13 am
@ Nightarix: if you mean that Jason may now be a dead inside, I doubt it. They can’t hide their “dead eyes” unless they’re a vampire. That dog looks like it has pretty live eyes to me.
March 17th, 2013 at 7:59 am
That was a change I didn’t see coming. I suppose that explains why his mother tried to have him neutered the vet when he was younger?
March 17th, 2013 at 8:21 am
I find it interesting that he didn’t shift into full “Sunny” mode…maybe the barriers between his three(~ish) forms are breaking down? Or Jasunny is better at secret keeping than I gave him credit for…
March 17th, 2013 at 9:46 am
very true but remember his sister looks a lot like him what if the two are more alike the we think?
March 17th, 2013 at 11:10 am
Bit odd that they call it tone “deaf” when it’s caused by having really good hearing. I mean, everyone else who can’t be toned is either autistic or has big ears.
March 17th, 2013 at 11:39 am
it probably means that they can’t hear the tone on a subconscious level like most people do
March 17th, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Is anyone else facepalming at the fact that he’s been CALLED Jasunny before!?!?!? And compared to the length of the comic, we’ve only recently started drawing that line together?
Also @Shad we can only hope…
March 17th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
One thing I am wondering about, at the moment. Wayy back when we first met Veled, she was going to feed a soul to ‘Jason’s Paladin Retreiver’. Question is, was that actually *Jason* there, or is he a weredog keeping a normal dog as a pet?
March 17th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
@Vulpis There appears to be speculation they’re separate, but between this reveal, the name Jasunny, and the title of the page, I’m betting they’re one in the same, as is part of my facepalming.
March 17th, 2013 at 6:00 pm
At least he is SOMEHOW useful…
March 17th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
@nikolai i’m not but then i wouldn’t be surprised if being a were was a family train him and his sister share
March 17th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
@nikolai60 Definitely face palm here.
@Shad LOL maybe he was just such a pain due to the fleas
March 17th, 2013 at 11:09 pm
@Shad: Why flip one bird when you can flip four?
And just how messed up will Gabriel become if he loses any of his snake heads?
March 18th, 2013 at 12:09 am
@sul that is a scary thought you know
March 18th, 2013 at 12:48 am
@’Saw thanks for the update/explanation!
March 18th, 2013 at 2:51 am
I see… @ footnote
So basically the only things keeping Gab from being mauled by an angry Jason are any non-Tone reliant Celeste powers, and possibly Whimsy.
March 18th, 2013 at 3:51 am
Let the murder commence! >:3
March 18th, 2013 at 3:56 am
Also, I can’t figure out why the Gabriel is making Zombies…how does he profit from that?
March 18th, 2013 at 5:24 am
And while I am at it – I think that “‘Saw” looking down on Gabriel is an illusion. The clothing is different. >:3
March 18th, 2013 at 10:10 am
@lavabat… it’s a person / slave trade kind of thing i’m sad to say.
March 18th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
All you need to say is..NOT THE FACE!!
March 18th, 2013 at 8:23 pm
@e_voyager: That just raises further questions! Who the heck would want to buy a zombie?
March 18th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
@lavabat there are all sorts. dictators and unscrupulous sorts who want slave labor. an army of slaves who don’t need to breath or eat(i don’t know about sleeping) are are virtual immune to minor harm can use used as shock troops slave labor in hazardous environments you names it and some one would likely do it sadly.
March 19th, 2013 at 12:46 am
@e_voyager: Sounds like the sort of things the Celestes would do. ;P
March 19th, 2013 at 1:25 am
@lavabat considering what they are doing does it matter if they are Celeste djinn or sterling? and evil kind of person is any evil kind of person where they can use magic or not. there is still human trafficking going on in the world today so i don’t see it stopping just because suddenly you can go to other inhabited worlds in space.
March 19th, 2013 at 3:35 am
@e_voyager: True, evil kind of person is any evil kind of person regardless of whether or not they are Celeste djinn or sterling. But the Celeste seem to be more disposed to doing what others would consider to be evil. Or that is my take on the matter.
March 19th, 2013 at 10:07 am
@lavabat heh most celeste hybrids that we’ve been shown examples of being evil seem to have the “we’re better then other people who are basically a step above talking animals” mentality
March 19th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Fuck yeah, footnotes!
It strikes me that red is an excellent color for an attack dog. No need to worry about bloodstains.
March 19th, 2013 at 11:40 pm
@ Sulucamas: Now that you mention it…Jason’s red pelt seems to be the same color as his djinned skin markings.
March 20th, 2013 at 1:15 am
@e_voyager: Yeah, the half Celeste hybrids do seem to be like that. And one of those half Celeste hybrids is also half Tamli and a scout…
March 20th, 2013 at 4:57 am
@lavabat if you mean who i think yu mean she’d a touched not a full Celeste as it wore. in the game book it says touched are only tolerated because the bred more Celeste. that’s the only scout i’ve seen with wings that a talmi. if you mean the one who was keeping company with Veled she’d not been shown to be a scout and she’d geisha’s niece.
March 20th, 2013 at 7:03 am
e_voyager: My mistake – she is touched, not a Celeste. For some reason I thought wings = Celeste…
March 20th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
@ LavaBatA1: Big freaking wings on a chara’s back = celeste regardless of what else they have
Smaller wings in another spot = touched
I recall the author once saying that the character you’re talking about is technically a celeste due to position of her wings, but for the size. So she’s kind of on the border between Touched and Celeste.
March 20th, 2013 at 8:18 pm
*facepalms* Hey, Jig, a filler idea for you–Daisy, Jigsaw (and possibly Melody, just to fill out the grouping?) in jumpsuits and carrying Unlicensed Nuclear Particle Accelerators on their backs, talking to a rather puzzled-looking Alice…”Your boyfriend…he’s a dog.”
(That said, I wonder if Alice already *does* know about this, via private time together…though comments about her interests in the other mode (being a shapeshifter herself) are likely outside the rating level you want on the comments.
)
March 20th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
Something else I just noticed–this must be an exported Japanese-made ship: Gabriel went ‘Sprat’ instead ‘Splat’.
March 21st, 2013 at 9:46 am
@e_voyager and LavaBatA1: Actually I think I read somewhere by Jigsaw that Binary just has sort of a birth defect that gave her wings of a touched. She is a Celeste with small wings if I remember right.
March 21st, 2013 at 1:53 pm
@Shad: It does raise the question of whether all Djinn Skin is red, or if all Paladin Retrievers are red, or if people dye their pets in the future or-or-or… what does it all mean?? xD
@Vulpis: LR Ghost Busters would be perfect!
@Josh.C: Looks like that original explanation was just saying that the difference between Touched and Celeste can be insignificant.
March 21st, 2013 at 2:04 pm
I’m with Sul, she’s Touched officially but probably has power more or less in line with average Celeste, not that we’ve had enough experience in-comic to really know who’s capable of what at full tilt.
March 21st, 2013 at 4:24 pm
@Sulucamas and nikolai60: Well if the wings are the only thing disqualifying her being recognized as a Celeste that much give her a bit of an advantage when people think their simply are dealing with a Touched.
Though looking at Binary, she looks amazingly only Talmi. Wasn’t it mentioned that Celeste had to continuously mix it up with the other alien races to keep it pure? Which is rather interesting from what we learned about what Jigsaw told the children about Rei and consider Rei herself.
March 21st, 2013 at 5:24 pm
With the exception of Rei (only known living atm at least) yes Celeste are mixed, but Touched seem to not have the same restriction, or if they are mixed they don’t seem to /have/ to show the traits of more than one species.
March 21st, 2013 at 7:00 pm
I’m kind of curious as to the limits of the species that a Celeste hybrid can mix. The containment documentation for Arikos of Nile says he’s part human and part *tiger*.
Say, has there ever been such a thing as a Vidian/Cockroach Celeste hybrid? I like the idea of a seething colony of hundreds of thousands of winged telekinetic predators with mind-control powers.
March 22nd, 2013 at 9:25 am
@Kermit: You could, but there would be certain difficulties – ie, getting the gametes together. First up, the cockroach can’t be the mother. Even assuming that the result would be a laid egg, even a single viable egg would eat through all of the little one’s reserves, and probably rupture the poor dear trying to lay it. If it tried to host internally…ick. just Ick. Think “Xenomorph Birth” but on a body scale, and the kid probably wouldn’t be passed the most basic (and entirely non-viable) stage.
So, this is either a mama Vidian, or a lab. Both of those are K-type scenarios, based on what a mama can host, or pay for. So, no hundreds of PK insect babies on a single litter, regardless.
Other than that, no limits, as far as I can see. There might be a bias against insect morphs, just because they’d be rare…