New One is up.

Firstpost!

And of course the Hippiemancer's glade is the meeting ground. Parson, just like all of us, sees the Signamancy of peace on the Hippiemancers.

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I find it interesting how the troops typically follow Parson rather than surrounding him, I wonder what's up with that. It doesn't seem very defensive.

Defensive would be to have each valuable unit separately stacked up with infantry. In the MK, they're not concerned about getting assaulted, they're concerned about getting sniped. So having a stack screening the Commanders is the best tactic.

This formation suggests "marching to war" and displaying offensive power. All your Commanders stacked together with the CWL, for a big bonus.

So not only are they making themselves vulnerable, but they're also sending the wrong message to observers, IMO.

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"I'm afraid I don't understand. And also afraid that I do."

I expected more about Bunny, her answer/fate is missing somehow.

I disagree. This is exactly the correct formation to use when 'advancing to meet friends.' They aren't marching to war against the Carnies, they are entering friendly hippie territory for a high level conversation.

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If I were going to have a castle it would definitely be where they grew the mushrooms and everyone was into free love.

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It's not about who they are going to meet, it's about who they pass on the way. Parson has said the only reason he's keeping is troops there is because the MK at-large has made it clear they don't want to let him pass freely here. He's worried about walking through Portal park, or really being anywhere that isn't with the Thinkamancer, Hippiemancers, or Predictamancers.

This formation doesn't mesh with that claim. It's not a formation of "I need these guys to protect me", it's a formation of "I'm leading these guys wherever I please."

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"I'm afraid I don't understand. And also afraid that I do."

I assume it will become readily apparent when she meets with/persuades Don King. From a purely story POW, I think it has her tempted. Otherwise, what would be the point of the arc? However, if Caesar were to take over, he might be more than willing to treat with Parson?

Hey, always nice to see Downer again!

Hopefully Sizemore will feel better after this trip; spend some time with Janis while Parson talks things over with Jojo.

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"Are you always so pessimistic?"
"Not at all. I saved it for my last battle."
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Ask Count Downer is over and archived now.

And by unanimous consent another context switch.

I am very, very intrigued by Janice and Jojo holding hands.

On a surface read, it'd imply he's tricked her into believing he's honestly changed and doesn't want to straight up murder Parson anymore (or twist her own words against her, or otherwise act in very ungroovy ways). But considering she's also skilled at Dateamancy, she can probably see through his deception and manipulation. Probably.

Still, she's probably doing all of this in the belief it can improve Parson's standing in the MK, possibly even making progress to defuse the conflict with Jojo.

Personally, I'm hoping she's actually holding his hand as an underhanded (sorry) way to sneak acontinous Hippiemancy spell onto him that disables Jojo's ability to attack.

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She didn't need to touch him the last time she stopped an engagement, so I don't think she would need to now.

I think it's actually "manipulation" on a deeper level. We know nookie is NBD in general for Erflings, and it's even less taboo among Hippiemancers. So I'd hazard a guess that Janice has been working some Date-a-mancy and Flower Power on JoJo to mellow him out and perhaps even learn some secrets. So now they're holding hands out of a genuine desire.

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"I'm afraid I don't understand. And also afraid that I do."

Seems like we've been switching PoVs quite a bit this book.

I'm intrigued by Parson's statement that he wants to stay in the MK for "at least a week" so they don't have to leave the temple as often.
On the surface that doesn't make a lot of sense, especially given that he's leaving to meet Jojo despite that.
If one trip from the temple to portal park is so dangerous that he's willing to sacrifice a week of his precious time (and leave Stanley and Wanda unsupervised for that long) does he really think meeting Jojo will be more important that that?
And will he return to the temple or leave directly? It would save him a trip...

And yes, I actually expected the switch at this point, but I won't complain this time around since this is one of the places where relevant stuff is likely to happen.

With the parade line panel it looks like Parson and the leadership are heading towards a place where they feel safe (the "parlay" with hippie observation) and that they are keeping the legions of soldiers behind them on the road as a buffer from the other casters in the general magic kingdom.

0beron mentioned being worried about snipers... in the Hippiemancer area there's probably an active no fire zone in place and the only vector for attack (if any, really) would likely be the road right outside the Hippiemancer area where the bulk of the army is positioned.

I like that you're thinking of the presentation of Parson's army as it definitely factors into the political landscape. I just think the leadership in front is more of a meeting friends and alliances position that was taken after they were in a safe zone.

Oh ya know that's a good point regarding where they are. I was assuming that Parson went with this formation ALL the time, but looking back over some old pages I do see times when he and the other Commanders are in the center of the column instead. Still not the most optimum defensive position, but certainly sends the better message and backs up his "I need these guys here, to feel safe" statement.

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"I'm afraid I don't understand. And also afraid that I do."

The information that Jojo has might be the 'make it or break it' for Parson. So it is worth the risk to meet with him and at least see what information he has. Heck, he might even be willing to JOIN Parson if Parson is able to limbo low enough to go under that pole.

I hope Parson gets time to talk one on one with Janis.

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It actually kinda makes sense to me. Jojo's signamancy is very clearly of the Sgt. Peppers era Beatles variety. Parson should clearly see the correlation between the Beatles and hippies and see that there would be a good possibility that they would be amenable, if not outright friendly with each other under the right circumstances.

**Must keep remembering that signamancy is NEVER accidental**