2019/08/14 - (After) Midnight Caller

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:03 am

[2019/08/14 - (After) Midnight Caller]
Title Text: a groggy Bailey is a dangerous Bailey

In a way, kinda sucks being reliable.

Saturn381 · Post by **Saturn381** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:04 am

So how is King gonna get involved in this?

Gbr23 · Post by **Gbr23** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:05 am

~~Avengers~~ People who has been transformed from Human To animal... Assemble

Champion Wallace · Post by **Champion Wallace** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:06 am

In the roulette of who will be called in to help Marion (Tarot, King, Lana, Great Kitsune, or Julia) the ball landed on King.

fenrirblack · Post by **fenrirblack** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:07 am

Yes. YES! YESSSSSS! I wish I said something about three am. I thought about it but decided against it. I even predicted the cell phone thing (sort of).

It’s on. It’s happening people.

Get the roses ready. King is in the story.

All we needed was the "NOOOOOOO!" and It would be perfect.

dr_eirik · Post by **dr_eirik** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:07 am

Not exactly the call I expected, though Fido could be calling Sabrina on his own phone. Looks like King and his transformed tail are going to be front and center soon.

Douglas Collier · Post by **Douglas Collier** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:08 am

More payoff

leinglo · Post by **leinglo** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:08 am

About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:10 am

Probably help him find a bright side? Worked out for King eventually. But once he learns that Marion has a lot to lose, he might change his tone.

Char89Charizard · Post by **Char89Charizard** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:10 am

leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?

Simple. He takes Marion to see Kitsune. If anyone can figure out Marion's curse, its him.

Elwood Blutarsky · Post by **Elwood Blutarsky** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:11 am

Well, that's a twist I didn't see coming. I didn't think we'd see King again until the "the corgi needs to get a job" arc that was teased earlier. Nice curve ball to call him and not Tarot.

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:17 am

A cliffhanger. And it's not even Friday. Rick you spoil us.

Champion Wallace wrote:In the roulette of who will be called in to help Marion (Tarot, King, Lana, Great Kitsune, or Julia) the ball landed on King.

Who were Lana and Julia?

IceKitsune · Post by **IceKitsune** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:17 am

Those Pups better not wake up or Fox is going to have to deal with a very angry Bailey. This is the right call, though I'm sure that Sabrina and Tarot are also about to get involved as well.

fenrirblack · Post by **fenrirblack** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:22 am

Well, I did have my doubts but I always hoped it would happen. Now things are going to get complicated. Luckily (unluckily depending on how you look at it) we have a week to figure out what will happen next.

Theories
Is Steward A Villain: YES.

Steward's Goal: Revenge or Regaining his Old Life

Did He Change Marion: No

Who Changed Marion: Dino-Demon or another new supernatural character that has not been introduced.

Will Marion Return Home: Yes. Soon if Lois has anything to say about it.

The Marion & Lois Part
Fox, Fido, Marion, Lois, and King go to see Tarot and Sabrina for a meeting to decide what to do next.
A. Tarot, having no idea what to do, goes to Kitsune for advice.
B. Tarot explains the game and the past magical happenings much to the surprise of Lois and Marion.

Lois and Marion explains to his parents what happened to him and together come up with a way for Marion to regain some normalcy while still being a squirrel.

The King Part (I love how this is now a thing)
King serves as Marion's mentor and guru to the life as a therianthrope and helps lead him to the ECP.
King guides Marion and friends to the Kitsune statue but ops out of doing anything else for the time being having all ready done all of this himself.

The Steward Part
Steward knows Marion is like him and will now use Marion to his advantage by getting him to join the ECP and get back into the Milton's good graces:
A. He lost his job and his life and the Miltons are the best chance at regaining some type of normalcy like being rehired or finding a new job.
B. Steward wants to get back in the Milton's good graces so he can get something from them like a method of returning too human.

Steward is going to discover that Marion was once human and gets the idea in his head to use the coin to turn other humans into animals so they will follow the same logic of Marion and see the ECP as their best chance at retaining normalcy.

dr_eirik · Post by **dr_eirik** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:23 am

Char89Charizard wrote:
leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?
Simple. He takes Marion to see Kitsune. If anyone can figure out Marion's curse, its him.

Unless Fox is calling from the driveway, I think hes going to march to the statue and start cursing a blue streak so vile that Bailey will have to force feed him Tide pods for a week.

What should be more fun is that the entire wolf clan lives in this house, or at least most of them. If they bring Marion there, I think he might be understandably upset. Or a late night snack.

fenrirblack · Post by **fenrirblack** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:31 am

Fenrir Theater Presents:
King: Bailey, it's happening again.
Bailey: If there is a giant blue gryphon in here again then I will be livid.
King: Fox called and said that he found a squirrel that says it used to be a human teen less than 24 hours ago.
Bailey pulls out the phone.
King: Who are you calling?
Bailey: I'm calling the vet to tell him to up your meds.
King: You're the best wife ever.

fenrirblack wrote: The other thought is that they have phones. So why hasn't anyone called anyone else yet? I feel like Fox should give a heads-up to King (also I think it would be funny) to tell him that "it's happening again."

I was right. It was funny.

Nobody wrote:
Champion Wallace wrote:In the roulette of who will be called in to help Marion (Tarot, King, Lana, Great Kitsune, or Julia) the ball landed on King.
Who were Lana and Julia?

Lana is Keene's sister and the one in charge of the ECP now..

Julia is Marion's mother.

leinglo · Post by **leinglo** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:32 am

Char89Charizard wrote:
leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?
Simple. He takes Marion to see Kitsune. If anyone can figure out Marion's curse, its him.

Since when has Kitsune ever been someone that could actually be turned to for help? Sure, Kitsune almost certainly knows what's going on with Marion, however, I doubt he'll tell much about it. Where would the fun be in giving it away?

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:42 am

This proves Lois is up real late,
and I hope it’s not a school night
as, rather than calling the girls,
Fox chooses to give King a fright.
Perhaps he’s already at Tarot’s,
or perhaps he thinks King’s expert?
Maybe he thinks that Kitsune
is key to making humans revert?
Either way King’s on the scene
and he’ll probably try to assist.
He shouldn’t bring the cubs, though,
Marion’s too cute to resist!

Champion Wallace · Post by **Champion Wallace** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:01 am

dr_eirik wrote:Not exactly the call I expected, though Fido could be calling Sabrina on his own phone. Looks like King and his transformed tail are going to be front and center soon.

Not that he has much of a tail.

dr_eirik wrote:What should be more fun is that the entire wolf clan lives in this house, or at least most of them. If they bring Marion there, I think he might be understandably upset. Or a late night snack.

From Arc 49: A Holiday at the Zoo

rickgriffin wrote:I didn't expand too much on this in the comic but I might at some point in the future: Miles and his immediate family live in the house all the time, and Daryl does most of the time; the rest of the family sorta goes in and out for visitations. It's just going to be hard to draw ALL of them at once.

HundKatzeMaus · Post by **HundKatzeMaus** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:09 am

leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?

King can tell Lois that he was also once human so she finally believes Marion.
King can help Marion to get used to live as an animal.
King (hopefully) still has that golden statue of Kitsune and maybe Kitsune will help in one way or another.

Although they will most likely think it's another game that started and not that Marion was transformed by other means.

NHWestoN · Post by **NHWestoN** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:26 am

... nobody saw THAT coming, right? Wonder if the li'l dino-demon is next? Breel and Keene, too. Nice note to "put us on hold" with, Rick ... and have a great break!

Padgriffin · Post by **Padgriffin** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:11 am

Marion is pretty much completely destroyed at this point- knowing that he’s not alone will help him a lot. Also yay King is back

Post by **Obbl** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:27 am

I'm still struggling to see how King is going to be much help here. Even as moral support, what's he gonna say? "Hey, my life turned out alright," really isn't what Marion's gonna wanna hear, and anything else is just empty platitudes that anyone could've given. Like don't get me wrong, it's hilarious dragging King into this, but I figured we probably wouldn't see him until we'd dragged a few other pets into this first.

Macsen · Post by **Macsen** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:50 am

Could it not have waited until morning? They don’t even have their collars on.

Argent · Post by **Argent** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:50 am

First: it sounds like King hasn't bothered to change from the default ringtone.

Second:

Obbl wrote:I'm still struggling to see how King is going to be much help here.

"OK, let me get my Kitsune statue outta the attic. No, it was too creepy having it in my closet."

Nathan Kerbonaut · Post by **Nathan Kerbonaut** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:59 am

Huh. Well, that's a twist. I can't complain if King is involved

Also it's cute that Bailey sleeps with her bandanna on~

Post by **SeanWolf** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:08 am

First: Cool to see King and Bailey again!

Second: And for some reason I'm worried again for those two (Happened during the Heaven's Not Enough Arc).

Third: I am curious as to how King will be able to help Marion since the later has no idea why or how they transformed into what they are.

Argent · Post by **Argent** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:11 am

"No, I can't turn you back, but I can turn you into your favorite superhero..."

"You mean..."

"... SQUIRREL GIRL!"

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:31 am

HundKatzeMaus wrote: King can tell Lois that he was also once human so she finally believes Marion.

"Oh great, another nutcase"
"I downloaded Harry Potter 7 when it was leaked. The scans were crooked"
"How... how could you possibly know about that? You're like 5 years old! The websites have been deleted!"

LunarFox · Post by **LunarFox** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:21 am

Maybe this is just me, but I'm seriously thinking that all of this is leading to more Temple Crashers. Anybody else agree?

Sir Chestnut · Post by **Sir Chestnut** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:30 am

Definitely wasn't expecting King to get dragged in this early with a wake-up call.

I can see Marion and Lois going to the back burner for a bit while Fox & party tries to get to the bottom of this. Looks like Marion has been a squirrel for about 20 hours, and probably has only got about 2 hours sleep at most so he's probably going to get some rest finally.

I'm also kind of hoping that King does end up becoming some sort of counselor or mentor figure for Marion down the line. Mainly because it would be a great opportunity for King to open up about his past more and tell some stories of his high school and college years.

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:32 am

LunarFox wrote:Maybe this is just me, but I'm seriously thinking that all of this is leading to more Temple Crashers. Anybody else agree?

Not possible. The temple can't get MORE crashed than it is!

Sir Chestnut · Post by **Sir Chestnut** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:47 am

Welsh Halfwit wrote:
LunarFox wrote:Maybe this is just me, but I'm seriously thinking that all of this is leading to more Temple Crashers. Anybody else agree?
Not possible. The temple can't get MORE crashed than it is!

There's still Dragon's temple in Egypt. Although I don't think anyone but Craig and Draig know about it's existence.

LunarFox · Post by **LunarFox** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:01 am

Okay, fair...

I meant an arc like that: supernatural and otherworldly.

Silly Zealot · Post by **Silly Zealot** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:16 am

King: You found a WHAT?!
Fox: I said we found a pile of Danny Devito used clothes on sale that might be your size!

Xane wrote:Hopefully King hasn't had the statue melted down by now.

I get the feeling maybe he didn't do it for fear of the statue fighting back.

leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?

They'll become the founding member of AAA.
Altered Animals Anonymous.

dr_eirik · Post by **dr_eirik** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:36 am

Frank wrote:
HundKatzeMaus wrote: King can tell Lois that he was also once human so she finally believes Marion.
"Oh great, another nutcase"
"I downloaded Harry Potter 7 when it was leaked. The scans were crooked"
"How... how could you possibly know about that? You're like 5 years old! The websites have been deleted!"

I'm not sure that she'd think King was nuts, at least less than she might have a couple of hours before. I think by the time Marion has calmed down and they are holding hands while Fido and Fox talk that she's very close to being 100% convinced. I think another dog (with backup from Bailey and Daryl, who saw the transformation first hand in Australia) and possibly later at least two of the Miltons (Keene and Rock) I don't think she'd have much room to doubt anymore.

What I think I love about how this has gone and where we are at right now is that I feel like Rick has set up several possible arcs for the future, possibly the next arc and possibly months or even years from now. The obvious one is that Fox and Fido may come to figurative blows once Kings secret is out, which seems inevitable now that he's been dragged into this.

I was thinking this morning that King is a world champ at opening his muzzle and inserting his paw. How likely is it that he's going to say something in the next few pages that makes Bailey think that he really regrets his life as a dog? I think there is no question that he loves and cares for her, and that there is no way that he'd give up what he has to return to humanity, but how easy would it be for him to plant seeds of doubt in her head that eat at her?

Upthread, someone mentioned this going to Dragons temple, and I think that this is going to happen... eventually. We are not going to smash-cut to Cairo in the next arc. Even if the answer is there, I'm not sure that Kitsune (who might be the only cast member who knows where it is) would volunteer that answer without really good reason.

And, of course, there is still Steward. He's out there with a magic coin having lost his possible in at the ECP. I'm not 100% sure that he knew Marion had been human when they talked, but he will pretty shortly. The circle of pets that know transformation is possible is getting bigger and bigger, and that will likely be an open secret at some point. I suspect that Steward will return, now with an actual plan, and a threat against Lois and/or Julia.

What's fun here is that Rick has given us a new overall storyline, which we haven't really had since Kings pups were born. Something that we can return to and check the progress on from time to time, while we might spend weeks or months with Tiger or Zach or Peanut and Grape.

<Little voice> Maybe even Terrance...

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:57 am

Char89Charizard wrote:
leinglo wrote:About time King got involved. Although, I don't know just how much actual help he'll be to Marion's case. Beyond simply offering emotional support as a fellow transformed human, what can King really do beyond send Marion to Tarot and Sabrina?
Simple. He takes Marion to see Kitsune. If anyone can figure out Marion's curse, its him.

Will kitsune know what's going on? sure.
Will king willingly involve himself with anything kitsune has anything to do with? Uh... Maybe? I doubt it though.
Will kitsune advice be roundabouts confusing and near useless? Absolutely.

CunningFox · Post by **CunningFox** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:30 pm

I assume Fido's making a similar call to Sabrina.

Sir Chestnut · Post by **Sir Chestnut** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:43 pm

dr_eirik wrote: I was thinking this morning that King is a world champ at opening his muzzle and inserting his paw. How likely is it that he's going to say something in the next few pages that makes Bailey think that he really regrets his life as a dog? I think there is no question that he loves and cares for her, and that there is no way that he'd give up what he has to return to humanity, but how easy would it be for him to plant seeds of doubt in her head that eat at her?

I can definitely see some conflict between King and Bailey coming up although it may not necessarily be over that. I'm thinking King will try to avoid the situation as much as possible, and Bailey will want him to get involved somehow and yell at him for running away from situations and being paranoid (once again). Heaven's Not Enough was probably the only instance where King has really ever taken charge of a situation.

Also, on the subject of King freaking out, does he even know about Gale being in the tent? He was asleep the whole time from what we know. I wonder what his reaction would be if he found out and Bailey never told him.

dr_eirik · Post by **dr_eirik** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:51 pm

Sir Chestnut wrote:
dr_eirik wrote: I was thinking this morning that King is a world champ at opening his muzzle and inserting his paw. How likely is it that he's going to say something in the next few pages that makes Bailey think that he really regrets his life as a dog? I think there is no question that he loves and cares for her, and that there is no way that he'd give up what he has to return to humanity, but how easy would it be for him to plant seeds of doubt in her head that eat at her?
I can definitely see some conflict between King and Bailey coming up although it may not necessarily be over that. I'm thinking King will try to avoid the situation as much as possible, and Bailey will want him to get involved somehow and yell at him for running away from situations and being paranoid (once again). Heaven's Not Enough was probably the only instance where King has really ever taken charge of a situation.

I could easily see a mixture of things. Bailey would want to help because shes the type that wouldn't walk past a wounded animal without trying to help. But she may regret that if King starts talking to Marion about all the problems that he went though, and possibly still goes through. After all, he still has issues with basic dog behavior at times, like when Bailey got him to try and groom his pups.