2019/11/18 - Cookies And Creamed

[Robotech_Master]

Assuming that mustelids can eat chocolate.

[fenrirblack]

Lois has essentially gone rouge at this point. She doesn’t trust Keene, she wants answers, and has probably watched so much tv she’s afraid that if she knocked and they saw a large carnivore at their doorstep they would run or at least not let them in. She’s a renegade with nothing to lose.

Assuming that mustelids can eat chocolate.

I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Chocolate Chips

I wonder if Marion will chat with Breel while Lois interrogates Keene. If he was weirded out by King's explanation of how he came to be a dog, wait 'til he hears that Breel hails from a couple centuries back by way of the afterlife…

Heh, those two just have no idea how weird Housepets life really is.

I can see this going a couple ways. One would be Breel tries to intervene and get Lois and Keene apart. The other is Marion stops him and assures him that things are fine, that Lois is not going to hurt him.

I would like to believe that Marion is capable of being the calm and mature one if we haven’t already seen that he is more prone to overreacting than anyone else. Marion is more likely to be screaming “Go for the throat! Go for the throat!” Especially considering Thomas already put in his head the Keene might be behind this. If Thomas got his way Lois would kill Keene and he would win.

Dang! Lois came flying in like a WWE wrestler! All we needed was Jim Ross to do commentary and we got ourselves a little match between her and Keene

I can see the next Strip with Lois on top of Keene having him in some type of wrestling hold with all his limbs bent back. You know so he can’t weasel his way out of this.

[dr_eirik]

Marion: "Lois, I thought you were trying to be 'the adult in the room!'"
Lois: "You know how adult bobcats act, right?"
Marion: "..."
Lois: "Unlike you, I stayed up watching those nature documentaries in class, Mr. 'Don't-Squirrels-Have-Different-Parts.'"

Marion: Hey! I was having a rough morning! Besides, I know that we're not going to get any questions answered if you eat him!
Keene: Do you two want to go outside and argue or tell me what in Sam Hill you two are doing here?!
Breel: Who wants cookies?

[trekkie]

Marion: I’m starving! Do they have any tree nuts in them?

Lois: Marion! Concentrate on the big issue here.

Marion: Hey, you know my allergy, and this squirrel metabolism is making me hungry.

[dr_eirik]

Keene: Wait, Marion? The kid-turned-squirrel? What are you doing with this brute?
Lois: I'm his girlfriend!
Keene: Oh! I... uh... what?
Marion: We were just at the zoo, where she entered as a human female and and she suddenly turned into a bobcat.
Keene: What...? Why....? What are you talking about?
Marion: Lois, let him up I think we need to catch him up.
Breel: This batch has walnuts, but if you give me 20 minutes I can put together a batch without them.
Marion: Thanks!
Keene: Breel, this isn't the time for that!
Breel: Well, it is if you want to be hospitable.

[Robotech_Master]

Marion: So, did you curse Thomas into being a camel, or not?
Keene: Thomas? You've been listening to Thomas? He's a liar and a thief and he got what he deserved.
Lois: So you did?
Keene: What? No! At least, not directly. He tried to steal the cursed gold that my Dad donated to the temple in our back yard.
Marion: You have a temple in your back yard.
Keene: Yes! Well, no, not anymore. It sorta collapsed when all the magic in it went away.
Lois: Magic.
Keene: You see, my Dad cut a deal with Pete, the Celestial Griffin—
Marion: Oh, this again.
Lois: Your father? You mean Henry Milton, the human?
Keene: Right.
Breel: He's a ferret now, though. In heaven.
Lois: Let's just stick a pin in this.

[dr_eirik]

Marion: Wait, how would you know what he is in Heaven?
Breel: I was there until a couple years ago. I decided to incarnate again after meeting this wonderful creature.
Keene: Thank you, honey.
Lois; So... Heaven is real? How long were you there?
Breel: Oh, I know that I figured that out once but I can never remember the date. I think your president was Grant then.
Marion: So, what was that, 1900 or so?
Lois: Ugh, more like 1865 and after.
Breel: <ding!> Ah! The walnut free cookies are done! Don't worry, Lucretia told me about using new bowls and spoons and such. I'll be right back!
Keene: Oh, he's so adorably dorky. I could just eat him up.
Lois: Yeah, me too...

[fenrirblack]

Marion: Lois!
Lois: Sorry, it was a joke.
Keene: Maybe we should move this to the other room.
Lois: We need to know if you are responsible for what happened to us.
Keene: I already told you I'm not. I'm retired from magical schemes and shenanigans.
Marion: Then how do you explain what happened to us.
Keene: I have no idea. After King and Fox told me about what happened I started looking through some of my father's notes.
Lois: Did you find anything?
Keene: Nothing that would be any help. There was several passages about Pete and the temple but the magic is gone.
Breel: Is it though? Does anyone want a cookie?
Lois: What do mean?
Breel: Would you like a cookie?
Marion: Not the cookie, the magic. And I yes I would like a cookie.
Breel: Magic that powerful has a tendency to linger. That was why it was so important that it was handled properly.
Keene: You never told me that.
Breel: I told you that we had to be careful but you overreacted and unleashed a demon from Pandemonium.
Marion with mouth full of cookie: Wait, what?
Lois: I'm sorry, a demon was unleashed from Hell and we are just now hearing about it.
Keene: Let's move this to the other room.

[Amazee Dayzee]

That looked like it was a pretty brutal tackle and it seems like it sent Keene flying far. I hope he doesn't get any serious injury or knocked out.

[Nobody]

That looked like it was a pretty brutal tackle and it seems like it sent Keene flying far. I hope he doesn't get any serious injury or knocked out.

Lois used tackle! It's super-effective!!
Keen fainted!

[Ash Greytree]

I said in the thread for the prior strip that it’d be nice to see Breel and for Lois and Marion to get to a point where there could be no miscommunications or unclear answers. This definitely looks like what I wanted. Curious to see how Breel reacts; Marion could be right behind Lois, fixing to use his squirrel agility to parkour up and bite the pine marten’s earlobes.

Also, I really love the writing that y’all are putting out for the hypotheticals that could happen during the talk between Keene and our two human-turned-animals.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Who is to say that Breel won't know that Marion is there even if he doesn't feel him crawl up his back? You don't know about what might happen. Breel might have a supernatural instinct that he still has even though he is a moral now.

[VeryAngryDeer]

I said in the thread for the prior strip that it’d be nice to see Breel and for Lois and Marion to get to a point where there could be no miscommunications or unclear answers.

Poor Communication Kills is the most annoying sitcom/soap opera trope.

[Dumplingsushi]

Gee, I didn't see that coming, and I don't think Keene did either!

[Argent]

Keene: Oh, he's so adorably dorky. I could just eat him up.
Lois: Yeah, me too...

Not literally. Larger mustelids like martens are quite capable of holding off a bobcat. Martens are more closely related to wolverines than ferrets.

[Nobody]

I said in the thread for the prior strip that it’d be nice to see Breel and for Lois and Marion to get to a point where there could be no miscommunications or unclear answers.

Poor Communication Kills is the most annoying sitcom/soap opera trope.

All I can think is that maybe they didn't answer the phone and Lana just left a message on the answering machine insisting he call back.

[dr_eirik]

I said in the thread for the prior strip that it’d be nice to see Breel and for Lois and Marion to get to a point where there could be no miscommunications or unclear answers.

Poor Communication Kills is the most annoying sitcom/soap opera trope.

Without those, you'd leave off 2/3 of the plots of the average episode of "Three's Company".

[Nobody]

I said in the thread for the prior strip that it’d be nice to see Breel and for Lois and Marion to get to a point where there could be no miscommunications or unclear answers.

Poor Communication Kills is the most annoying sitcom/soap opera trope.

Without those, you'd leave off 2/3 of the plots of the average episode of "Three's Company".

I would totally be okay with that.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I always new there was a reason why I didn't like that show but then again I am totally ADDICTED to my soap opera "Days of our Lives".

[trekkie]

I still have a fondness for General Hospital because my babysitter used to watch in the ‘8s, when she babysat me.

[Champion Wallace]

I think you'll find that actual bobcats do not talk, wear glasses or bandanas, or have squirrel boyfriends, ergo Q.E.D...

Just because some aspects are different from the real world doesn't mean everything is different. That would be a fallacy. Housepets! normally goes out of its way to make it so despite the anthropomorphism, everyday life is as similar as Rick Griffin can get away with.

It seems Breel still hasn’t quite got the hang of the self-preservation side of being alive again.
Also, wouldn’t Poncho be at least somewhat obligated to step in at this point? He’s still technically a bodyguard for the Milton’s isn’t he?

Not anymore. Lana even said the wolfs were getting fired to Poncho's face. That does beg the question of who replaced the wolves as security.

And how come Breel only thinks that it's Lana? Doesn't he know her voice?

There's a lot of weirdness in this page. I'd like to touch on a few things.
First, Lana took the time to call up Keene and talked to Breel, but she didn't explain what was going on? That seems a little odd, doesn't it? Even more so that Breel responds with "I think," when asked who it was. Does Breel not know who Lana is?

I think the issue is the phone. Perhaps Breel isn't used to how such a newfangled technology alters people's voices.

Breel: I told you that we had to be careful but you overreacted and unleashed a demon from Pandemonium.

That would be a really odd thing for him to say, considering it was Breel himself who unleashed the demon from Pandemonium.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Though it was unintentional on his part and I'm still confused over how a tear that an angel pine marten cries because his ferret crush yelled at him unleashes a hellacious demon.

[Nobody]

Though it was unintentional on his part and I'm still confused over how a tear that an angel pine marten cries because his ferret crush yelled at him unleashes a hellacious demon.

Without demigods backing it up, Mana is extremely volatile and the slightest contact with it could produce dramatic results. I assume it was reacting to his anguish.

[fenrirblack]

.

Breel: I told you that we had to be careful but you overreacted and unleashed a demon from Pandemonium.

That would be a really odd thing for him to say, considering it was Breel himself who unleashed the demon from Pandemonium.

Keene was the one who made Breel cry so it is really Keene's fault. Not to mention that It was Keene's idea in the first place and Breel was just trying to help him with his foolish plan.

[Champion Wallace]

Are you sure it wasn't Tarot's fault because she pressured them into acting rashly? Or Max's fault because he teleported the mustelids in? Or Lester's fault because he delayed Tarot from dealing with Keene effectively? You're assigning blame to an ultimate cause over the proximal cause when there are multiple ultimate causes. Ask yourself, "Is this Really the hill you choose to die on?"

[D-Rock]

Though how often has Keene disregarded who he needed to to get what he wanted? He was warned of the power multiple times.

[fenrirblack]

Are you sure it wasn't Tarot's fault because she pressured them into acting rashly? Or Max's fault because he teleported the mustelids in? Or Lester's fault because he delayed Tarot from dealing with Keene effectively? You're assigning blame to an ultimate cause over the proximal cause when there are multiple ultimate causes. Ask yourself, "Is this Really the hill you choose to die on?"

Max didn't know. Tarot didn't help but I wouldn't assign her the blame. Lester's an idiot but had little to do with Keene yelling at Breel or the fact that again this was Keene's scheme in the first place. So, yes I will stand by my statement this is ultimately Keene's fault.

Keene: Oh, he's so adorably dorky. I could just eat him up.
Lois: Yeah, me too...

Not literally. Larger mustelids like martens are quite capable of holding off a bobcat. Martens are more closely related to wolverines than ferrets.

Let’s look at this from a anthropomorphic viewpoint. Not the eating thing but if the two actually fought. There is a big difference between animals who only fight by biting and scratching versus those who can actually use complex maneuvers involving multiple limbs, fangs, claws, and actual strategy. Lois clearly has a significant size advantage, plus a different muscle mass than her real world counterpart (we e seen that these animals are much tougher than real ones), although we don’t know anything about her fighting prowess she has proven to be both resourceful and smart when it comes to combat. Breel on the other hand, if he even tried to put up a fight, would be quickly overwhelmed by Lois's size and strength especially if Lois subdued him quickly which would be the most likely scenario. If she landed a decent punch, she could probably break his jaw.

[Obbl]

You wouldn't quite find yourself in the majority (if I recall correctly) by not assigning Tarot a sizeable portion (at least) of the ultimate blame there, just fyi

[fenrirblack]

I wouldn’t say it’s Tarot’s fault Keene is an immature brat. It was her job to keep everyone from the mana. She can’t be responsible if Keene refused to listen to reason, logic, his friends, common sense, or people who are way more knowledgeable about the properties of magic. Blaming Tarot would be like blaming a parent for their child getting drunk at a party that they were specifically told not to go too. She’s not responsible for Keene’s feelings and he fought her hard.

[Obbl]

I mean, we're roughly in agreement on that. My point is just that it isn't as cut and dry black and white as you are painting it

[VeryAngryDeer]

Fault vs responsibility. There were many people at fault in that situation, but Keene is responsible for all of it happening in the first place. He decided to do it, he planned it, he lured in civilians who had no idea how dangerous what they were doing was, and then he carried out his plan.

Imagine if terrorists are attacking a building. Their intention is to kill everyone in it. The authorities respond, and attempt to stop the terrorists. In the process, the building is damaged and collapses, killing not only everyone in it, but people outside the building too. It may well have been the fault of the defenders that more people died, but it is clearly the terrorists' responsibility for creating the situation where it could happen. We might well plan for how it could be avoided in the future, but we would not blame the defenders for carrying out their responsibility.

Tarot is the defenders in this analogy. She has a moral responsibility to prevent the serious disruption if not destruction of the world that could be caused by using the Mana. She is not responsible for the actions of people who want to use the Mana, despite its wildly dangerous properties. You can argue that she did not do her job well enough, but she was not wrong to do her job.

[Obbl]

I don't recall arguing that she was (or even could be) wrong for doing her job, and I don't know if I recall anyone making that claim, so I'm not really sure what point you're making, or really even who you're arguing with.
There are a lot of things to consider, and just saying, "Keene created a situation where this could happen, so no one else can be blamed for what transpired" is about as equally a bad take as "Tarot was not trying to stop Keene in the right way, so it's the fault of her rash decisions for what transpired".
But the fact that there were many people arguing both of these points (and the majority the second) during the arc is a pretty significant indicator that if you're going to pick one person to blame, you're going to have to at least acknowledge that it isn't trivial.

[VeryAngryDeer]

I don't recall arguing that she was (or even could be) wrong for doing her job, and I don't know if I recall anyone making that claim, so I'm not really sure what point you're making, or really even who you're arguing with.
There are a lot of things to consider, and just saying, "Keene created a situation where this could happen, so no one else can be blamed for what transpired" is about as equally a bad take as "Tarot was not trying to stop Keene in the right way, so it's the fault of her rash decisions for what transpired".
But the fact that there were many people arguing both of these points (and the majority the second) during the arc is a pretty significant indicator that if you're going to pick one person to blame, you're going to have to at least acknowledge that it isn't trivial.

I was looking at the argument that had just happened and adding my input. I wasn't necessarily disagreeing with anyone.

[Argent]

Let’s look at this from a anthropomorphic viewpoint. Not the eating thing but if the two actually fought. There is a big difference between animals who only fight by biting and scratching versus those who can actually use complex maneuvers involving multiple limbs, fangs, claws, and actual strategy.

You're opening up the horror fridge there. Applying that kind of logic to HP! is fraught with fraughtness.

Also teeth. There's a reason ferrets are known as "carpet sharks".

[NHWestoN]

Let’s look at this from a anthropomorphic viewpoint. Not the eating thing but if the two actually fought. There is a big difference between animals who only fight by biting and scratching versus those who can actually use complex maneuvers involving multiple limbs, fangs, claws, and actual strategy.

You're opening up the horror fridge there. Applying that kind of logic to HP! is fraught with fraughtness.

Also teeth. There's a reason ferrets are known as "carpet sharks".

Especially among carpets!

[Amazee Dayzee]

Good thing my whole house doesn't have carpet in it. LOL

[NHWestoN]

Especially that old shag stuff. You'd have whole eco-systems rocking in that flooring!

[Argent]

https://www.amazon.com/Carpet-People-Te ... 0544439546

[NHWestoN]

Gee, I didn't see that coming, and I don't think Keene did either!

I didn't either, sush. Now I'm kinda slow on the uptake but am I the only one who's surprised that (1) Keene recognizes Marion, (2) knows he's in "The Program" (Marion sure didn't!!), and assumes (3) he's not that uncool with it? I mean, did Bronson give Marin a "gift certificate" or something? Or did Lana fax him the "Marion file?"