Ian’s Comments (group member since Nov 02, 2015)

Ian’s comments from the MZD's The Familiar group.

Chpt. 12 - Anwar
"dead-end cats"
start: 14:28:20, 7/8/2014 Los Angeles
end: 15:14:15, 7/10/2014 Los Angeles

Anwar is working on Cataplyst-3 but it's proving difficult to complete. He steps outside to find Xanther watching birds/squirrels all with names that she's given them. After his break, Anwar finally gets Cataplyst-3 working, but he wants to spend the weekend testing it before he submits it to Enzio.

Anwar takes the kids to the museum and out for a picnic. Xanther asks to see the tar pits (La Brea). They see a cat skeleton exhibit featuring sabre-tooth tigers, etc. Anwar sees Xanther's shadow cast on the ground, except it looks like the cat is on her shoulder, and there are glowing red eyes where on the shadow.

Chpt. 11 - Isandorno
"A Sleeping Warrior"
start: 12:13:22, 7/5/2014 Mexico City, MX
end: 16:28:19, 7/8/2014 Mexico City, MX

Isandorno takes Teyo to an airport and they fly out to The Mayor's Pale Blue production facility. The Mayor wants Teyo to bring Isandorno into California to help take out people who undermined someone named Cutberto.

Isandorno and Teyo visit Teyo's son, Jordi. He was pink and has black hair. Isandorno thinks the boy seems weak. Teyo beings hitting Jordi in the back of the head and pulls off the boy's bandana to step on it.

Chpt. 10 - Astair
"Joint Session"
start: 22:22:11, 7/2/2014 Los Angeles
end: 10:13:21, 7/5/2014 Los Angeles

Xanther still won't speak up to Astair--she's upset about the grounding. The next day, Astai is out to lunch with Taymor, Gi and Abigail, hoping for advice. That night, Xanther comes in to apologize to her parents, but not to tell the truth about what happened with the statues. Rather, she says she wants to "figure something out."

The next day, Taymor worries her daughter, Roxanne, may be a bad influence for Xanther. Later, the family goes for a picnic on 4th of July, but Astair worries about finances, so she and Anwar call a "joint session" where they smoke a joint and see where they can make budget cuts to make their remaining money last longer until Anwar can secure more money. They have enough to last the summer, they conclude and joke that they need more luck for things to work out.

Chpt. 9 - Xanther
"Honeysuckle"
start: 08:05:59, 6/30/2014 Los Angeles
end: 22:22:10, 7/2/2014 Los Angeles

Xanther has power over the twins now since she knows the truth about their interaction with Xiomara. Taymor's daughter texts Xanther RE: Magic Mountain--the trip that Xanther had been grounded from going on has now been canceled. The two bond over mutual groundings (Taymor's daughter is grounded for getting a tragus piercing). The Narcons interrupt and express that Xanther seems to magically know the word tragus now and one Narcon appears to be able to hear the other 2 Narcons (they are not supposed to be able to hear each other per vol. 1). Xanther is still puking throughout the day, but otherwise feels fine. The Narcons seem to be responding to each other even more.

Xanther thinks about being controlled by a "glowworm" in her brain. She recalls the truck almost hitting her and Lupita saying a prayer. While listing name ideas for the cat, Xanther has a kind of "sense" of an old woman calling out to the cat.

Chpt. 8 - Shnork
"Waving back"
start: 06:02:47, 6/26/2014 Los Angeles
end: 08:05:58, 6/28/2014 Los Angeles

Stuck at a traffic light after a driver doesn't turn left in time (through the yellow light), Shnork looks at business cards for his cab that his wife printed up. He spots a motorcycle cop who would have surely pulled him over and given him a ticket if he had run through the light like he had intended to. Different riders complain of the loud music Shnork is playing (that of his friend Mnatsagan). Eventually, Shnork picks up an Armenian kid who has creepy rich friends who drive a black Escalade and harass a woman in a parking lot. Later, he drives a Japanese man to the airport and Shnork overhears him mention something about a cat to whoever he's talking about on his cellphone. The Japanese man forgets something in the cab--a receipt, a business card and a lucky cat. Shnork turns around, rushing to the airport to page the man and return it.

Chpt. 7 - Luther
"Lives of Others"
start: 00:33:33, 6/26/2014 Los Angeles
end: 06:02:46, 6/26/2014 Los Angeles

Luther breaks into a house and opens up the front door to let a girl in--they get to getting freaky.

Flashback, Luther is now making a lot of money selling Pale Blue for Teyo; he has a bank account, credit cards, health insurance, etc. His task now is to track a man, Domingo Persianos. Luther sees Quantelle at IHOP and they search a few leads for Domingo (a bar, and a few other places around the neighborhood), but no luck finding him. They wind up at the house that Luther broke into at the beginning of the chapter. Quantelle finds out Luther broke in when she sees pictures of the owners. They have sex again, shower, clean up but purposfully leave the TV on, muted. Luther givers her $100 back when he drops her off at IHOP, and she shoves it back at him saying she's buying him for round 2.

Chpt. 6 - Orbists
"Withdrawal"
start: 01:05:10, 6/20/2014 Athens, GA
end: 03:33:32, 6/26/2014 Athens, GA

Mefisto has Cas watch/look at some files, but she has to pause after the 3rd file. Mefisto has them hiding in a barn in AThens, GA. The barn is ornate and belongs to a sculptor who is in Transylvania, currently. When Mefisto and Marnie slip out to finish her back tattoo, Bobby suggests Cas is withdrawing from scrying her orb. Mefisto later reveals they anticipated this and are waiting out Cas for the next move--once she's no longer suffering withdrawal. He says their discovery (of the orbs?) makes Curie's radium look infantile.

The next day, Mefisto shows Cas CCTV footage of Merlin's (Deakin Carraway) murder--he is run over by a black Escalade several times. 8 of the clips are of Deakin and the 9th is a news clip about 3 dead students who were killed in a "botched robbery"; Yuri Grossman, Eli Klein, and Jablom Lau Song.

Days go by with mentions of "old Orbs, future windows, the Zero Windows and Orbless Revelation." Cas brings up Recluse wanting to meet, fearing why and what about. The group discuss needing new orbs. Only Warlock's is unaccounted for after Cas's was destroyed in vol. 2, but Mefisto told Warlock to destroy it--it's just unclear if he followed through or not. Mefisto tells Cas he doesn't care for the Orb's visions. She brings up clip #6 and Mefisto says he's going to go visit Anwar and check on Xanther.

Chpt. 5 - Anwar
"atsa>}]"
start: 23:35:05, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles
end: 22:05:09, 6/19/2014 Los Angeles

As Astair and Anwar question the twins about the missing statues, they break down and blame it on Xanther.

Flashback: Anwar not so sure that Xanther's somnambulating and illness were seizure-related like Astair. Anwar's busy working on the Cataplyst program but hitting a road block. Meanwhile, he is as the E3 convention, finding that game companies are poaching his Paradise Open team. Mephisto visits briefly, but none of their convo is shared.

Anwar thinks that Xanther's eyes are looking blacker/bluer than before/usual. Both he and Astair sense that the twin aren't telling the truth about the statues, but Xanther refuses to rat out Xiomara and the twins; instead, Xanther gets grounded for "Magic Mountain Day" as punishment (directly for breaking the statues, but indirectly for not telling the truth about the statues).

Chpt. 4 - Astair
"in the middle of the street"
start: 21:21:21, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles
end: 23:35:04, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles

Astair is at a pizza joint with Abigail talking about cat research and Xanther's diving at Taymor's pool. She mentions that she has a pair of "Lares & Penates" wolf statues that may be worth $85,000, which would save the family's current financial struggles. It seems, per Astair and Taymore, Xanther was underwater for an "abnormally long" time while she was diving and thinking about squirrels and cat names. Abigail invites Astair and Xanther to visit her beau's "exotic animal zoo."

Flashback to Thursday early morning @ 4:04 AM--Astair and Anwar wake up simultaneously and rush outside to see a Ford truck swerve and fishtail to avoid hitting Xanther who is in the middle of the street. The car misses by less than 1 foot. Lupita was riding in the truck that almost hits Xanther; it appears that Lupita lives in the same neighborhood as the Ibrahims.

Despite the seizure/sleepwalk and vomiting/diarrhea, Xanther seems "stronger" (healthier) and so does the kitten. Astair arrives home telling Anwar she has a "surprise" for him (we suspect it's the discovery that her Lares and Penates statues are worth $85k).

Chpt. 3 - Ozgur
"Bleach"
start :16:42:51, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles
end: 21:21:20, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles

Ozgur is at Olympic Station working cold cases, sent by Abandroth. He's work a case involving 3 people whose heads were dipped in bleach. He asks Planski for help--it seems Florian previously worked the case before being removed from it. Someone named "Warlock" brought the case to Oz.

Oz returns home to find subtle clues that someone was there, ultimately coming across a note with "a killing" and a kiss on it.

Chpt. 2 - Xanther
Xiomara
start: 13:08:00, 6/14/2014 Los Angeles
end: 16:42:50, 6/16/2014 Los Angeles

Xanther seems okay despite vol. 2 ending where it seemed like she had been struck by a car. Anwar and Xanther, driving, run over a squirrel despite dramatic attempt to swerve out of the way. Xanther makes Anwar pullover to assess the squirrel's status: Dead.
Back home, we learn Xanther is since since morning: Vomiting, diarrhea, etc. However, Xanther claims she "feels" fine. Narcon's interrupt to suggest it might be psychosomatic.

Xanther mentions the "red" she thinks she saw previously (harkening back to vol. 2 cliffhanger), as if to suggest it wasn't a real incident we saw. It is clear, too, that Xanther leaaving the cat's proximity is not quite as excruciating as it was in vol. 2, however, it is still distressing.

Astain takes the kids to Taymor's pool where Astair and Taymor talk about Xanther's "trancelike announcement of tonic-clonic seizures," ie. trance-walking into oncoming traffic--which seems like Xanther saw honeysuckle branches reach out and save her from the car that we were left to believe hit her. Meanwhile, Xanther dives deep underwater over and over, thinking about the squirrel and emerges from the water realizing that she needs to name the cat.

The family goes to a restaurant and Freya sees a person who looks like Xanther "wearing pink and black with long black braids." She disappears as Xanther catches a glimpse. Later, while Anwar naps (after working all night long), Xanther sees the house leaner, Xiomara, after breaking a wolf statue in the living room. The twins see the statue break happening and try to calm Xiomara down. Xiomara, determined to repay for breaking the statue, gives money to the twins to give to their parents. They give the money to Astair, saying it's from Xiomara, but refuse to mention that it's in repayment for the broken statue. This is Xiomara's last day at the Ibrahim's since money is too tight for them to afford keeping her.

Chapter 1 - Jingjing
wings
start: 02:14:15, 6/13/2014 Singapore
end: 04:07:59, 6/14/2014 Singapore

Jingjing waits with Tian Li as she seems in death throes. He reflects on life before Tian Li's cat died, a time where she was sought out like a celebrity for her healing magic. Jingjing prefers the quiet since the cat died. He smokes some Pale Blue and leaves the apartment where he bumps into some cops who give chase. Jingjing finds a place to hide until the next day. He returns home to find "voices" of a crowd inside the apartment, making him worry that the police were maybe waiting him or, or that Tian Li has died. He enters the apartment and finds Tian Li vibrant and awake, dressed. She says, "Jingjing! We must leave for Los Angeles at once!"

Luca wrote: "Thank you, this is great! I had started to compile one when I read it but stopped halway through..."

Why'd you stop? Just get distracted?

Where V2 improved upon V1, V3 outshines both, btw. Something to look forward to, and to egg you on deeper into familiarity.

With my read of V3, I summarized each chapter while I was reading it to not only really implant the book in my brain, but also to reference back from time to time where certain characters left off. I'm sure it will be useful for when V4 comes out (in February...). I'll try to transcribe the notes into the wikia (linked above, run by someone else) or here (or both) as I have time.

The Unwilling Astral Omega:
There are multiple forces at work in a multi-verse that is defined simply by violence and death. A force known as the H.O.L.Y. is the only way to "defeat the certainty of death's tyranny" but at the cost of the "negation of S.E.L.F." Another force, the I.D.E.N.T.I.T.I.E.S. are "The Unwilling" and have been seeking to defeat death in total. One of the three remaining I.D.E.N.T.I.T.I.E.S.--W.H.I.M.-- is decimated but survives death by crossing beyond VEM's borders where she discovers "VEM's failure." This revelation destabilizes The Verse, and even wavers the H.O.L.Y. mission of saving the few who willingly get subsumed by them.

Petch:
A man's (Solomon) children buy him a new tablet device known as Petch so advanced the company boasts that "not even we know everything it can do." The device is then recalled for being "dangerous" and "defective." He packs the device back up to get his kids' money back but then decides to play with the device briefly. Later, it turns itself on playing classical music despite Solomon trying to turn off its wireless features and then turning it off entirely.

Caged Hunt:
The guys who found the bowling bag of money film themselves shooting a hyena.

FSHCV:
A Very Old Man comes across a Very Old Woman in a tree. She's making spear heads. He's not a hunter but suggests he may have used her spearheads in the past. He makes "spiral plus" (snail shell beads). The man then lays out the beads/shells in a pattern, which, when viewed from the tree, the Very Old Woman sees a "pawclaw" shape.

Our Common Horrors Astral Omega:
More of a philosophical treatise on death, war, entropy and the deployment of VEM?

Tom's Crossing:
Tom dies of cancer. Asks that the horses in the paddock be released to the crossing.

Caged Hunt:
A group of guys drinking and doing coke find a bowling bag full of money in a closet.

Narcons RSVPC:
A young boy and girl in a cave trying to start a fire. The girl knows all the adults are dead, but the boy doesn't yet. After he understand, they paint each others' faces and head out into the world.