Skip to content
Currently On Hiatus: Please Enjoy A New Reader Question Every Weekday!

Homecoming 9: The Attic

Homecoming 9: The Attic published on 66 Comments on Homecoming 9: The Attic

Happy 2012 everybody! I hope y’all had good holidays! I am back in Missouri for the week for my sister-in-law’s wedding, it’s weird to be back!

There’s a week left on Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales! There’s less than $500 to go! Let’s do it! Hooray!

66 Comments

Hmm… he’s an Egyptian sphinx, while Michelle is a Grecian sphinx. That is interesting…

It’s been covered many times before. Male sphinxes are always Egyptian, female are always Grecian.

Actually both Egyptian and Grecian sphinxes were portrayed as female. As to the reason why, the Egyptian one was raised during the rule of a woman, whole there is no real concrete reason behind the Grecian sphinx being female. Though as it seems Kory isn’t really going the mixed route. Rather it would seem she is simply making the males have no wings and the wardrobe is probably based on what time of their long lives was most impressionable to them. (Her father growing up during an ancient Egyptian empire probably.) So basically what I’m saying that there is Kory is going with no difference between Egyptian and Grecian Sphinxes.

Only Michael was unturned, and Kory had answered in Formspring that the unturned live out human lifespans (besides, we don’t know whether sphinxes have a long lifespan, though I agree that it’s likely). Ultimately, I believe it’s a combination of artistic preferences (Michael does look cooler with Egyptian wardrobe), and it wasn’t Michael himself, exactly, but rather his shade. His shade decided to appear like that.

As far as I remember, we don’t actually know he was unturned, he could have simply been keeping it a secret from everyone including his wife and daughter. Which would make sense, since his race is supposed to be extinct and is in hiding and he would probably be hunted down if found out. This would also explain why his shade had the sphinx medallion (I forget if that was already explained, guess I’m going to have to re-read the comic again). Perhaps he was also magically made to forget he was a sphinx.

Been on a re-read and thus far there’s been no mention in the comic about male sphinx vs female in regards to wings. Granted I will admit I’ve not read every last comment on every single page between the beginning and here…
I’ve yet to get to the part where it even talks about the different types of sphinxes in detail (apart from Greg briefly mentioning that there’s also a sphinx in Greek mythology in addition to the famous Egyptian statue, right near the beginning of the comic) but if I’m remembering that correctly nothing was ever mentioned about male vs female for the wings. They were described as different SPECIES of sphinx, instead.

The question is, as before, what is he sorry for?

Well, dying’s probably a good jumping-off point. Intentionally turning their daughter into a sphinx mught be apology-worthy, as well.

Maybe he’s sorry for keeping his sphinx nature a secret from her? Even if he had good intentions (keep her safe from dragons, etc), keeping secrets from your own family has to be tough on your conscience.

He never knew he was a sphinx. He was unturned his whole life. Sooo no secrets (at least like that) from him.

His spirit could have felt he was keeping secrets from her, even if he did’t actually know either

How do you know he was unturned his whole life? I mean, he got ahold of an amulet somehow, didn’t he?

Kory said several times that he was unturned his whole life. Also, remember that it was actually his shade which got ahold of the medallion (which, I’m guessing here, is why the demons were in such a tizzy; like the dragon or angel said, the shade had stolen something from the demons… possibly the medallion).

Wait.. hasn’t it been said that ‘humans’ who take it well, usually end up actually realizing that they are ‘not-human’ after all? Somewhere? I forgot.

All right, Michelle, it looks like the point’s made. You can go midform now. >:=)>

I too would like to know when Mom had this dream. Was Michael alive or dead at the time? Did it take place at the time of his death, or was it when he dropped off the medallion to Michelle?

That loft looks far too spacious and well-lit to be scary, even with just the cage bulb. It’s the sort of place I’d want to build a nest or fort in. Pile the boxes up as walls, sheet over the top, carpet or rug on the boards underneath, parents keep out. Still, no accounting for childhood phobias. >:=\>

Anyway, let’s wait and see what in the box…

I don’t think she has gone midform yet ever.

The mostly-human-with-tail might count, at the end of Orientations.

That said, it’s only been, what, three or four months for Michelle since she turned? She may not be comfortable enough to go around in a midform all the time, and is simply used to the full form.

Human-with-a-tail implies a degree of fine control. She shouldn’t have any difficulty fine-tuning her midform. There may be issues with stability – being able to maintain those same fine adjustments for long periods of time – but that should certainly be sorted out with practice. So get practicing, Michelle! >:=)>

I disagree. I don’t think she ment to have a tail at the time, therefor, no or very little control.

Remember when she yawned in a very unhuman catlike way in school?

By now I think she would have more control though….

I agree, get practicing Michelle! :)

Well, Kory already stated before that was just Michelle with a tail, and not actually midform. My best guess on that is that Michelle was just reverting back to human slowly, which could also be a side effect of not being so adept with her medallion.

I have observed something about Michelle after looking up sphinxes on Wikipedia and elsewhere (e.g. search oedipus and the Sphinx). It seems that Michelle must have a peculiarly modern hang up as sphinxes (sphinxettes ?) go.

When she takes on full form all her clothes disappear except whatever she is wearing as a top. Except for one passing comment about feeling breezes where the wind should not blow, she seems singularly unconcerned about her lady bits down south, but up top when she goes full form she is covered. All the classical depictions of Grecian / lady sphinxes I could find are covered up top only if they are wearing armor and are otherwise uncovered and generously endowed in a human way. As we have seen her quirky nixie roommate Merial does not have this inhibition. But then Michelle does have a naturally shy personality despite being such a powerful being. Depictions of her anceststors indicate that they were not so reticent.

Well, this seems a lot more manageable than the clusterfluff I was imagining when she said “You look just like Michael.” My guess had been that with the human forms being illusory and all, some imperfect magical or psychological mechanism was making her see human-Michael whenever she looks at a sphinx. If she had watched Michelle turn into her dad, she’d have have to accept something weird was going on but probably would still be not much more receptive to an explanation involving fantasy creatures.

For some reason I am very pleased that this isn’t the kind of comic where adolescents with “superpowers” hide it all from their parents and handle everything by themselves. I’m glad she told her mom ! Also maybe Anthony will be able to tell his too, later, so that his transformation doesn’t make him an “orphan” as he said.

Another thing comes to mind about classic depictions of Grecian Sphinxes versus Michelle. Classic Grecian Sphinxes seem to have totally human faces. However when Michelle transforms, her nose changes. She has a prominent nose normally but when she transforms lately, she seems to have a very leonine or at least feline appearance to her nose. Her canine teeth have been transforming all along (Sorry Michelle, no offense intended for calling one of your fine feline characteristics canine). But the earliest I remember the nose looking leonine was when she crash landed in the stream after her first flight. It is almost as if her transformation does a little “over shoot” on the leonine side of things. Of course maybe the classic Grecian sphinxes I have viewed don’t show all the variations.

Oh well, she is good looking either way.

Memories came flooding back when I started reading this comic again. Reminded me of the first time I read this at night in a hotel room in Barcelona. The wonder and excitement I felt when I started to read these is something I don’t think I felt before, and still feel when I revisit these.

Bless your heart Kory Bing.

Leave a Reply to TiburiusCancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *