Everyone’s Boned – Chapter 7, Act 4, Strip 69

Skepticism is the last refuge of the prophet.

It’s actually one of the many ways in which traditional scrying is more convenient the scientific research. If your research doesn’t come up with a result you like, you’re pretty much stuck, unless you’re willing to fudge the numbers. If your ancient, peerless oracle comes up with a result you don’t like…well, you can always take the opportunity to grow a skeptic strain and dismiss your prophecy as silly, superstitious mumbo-jumbo.

And, yeah…what would the Bones of Quillaretzütplötl know? They’re just some old bones. And who and what even was Quillaretzütplötl, anyway? One thing he obviously wasn’t was big, judging by the size of his bones. Whether he was very prophetic remains to be proven, but even if he was, that wouldn’t prove that the same goes for his sad remnants. And why does the Elder hang on to those bones, anyway? Couldn’t he have given old Quillaretzütplötl a decent burial, at least?

Unfortunately, as comfortable as it is to dismiss your oracle as mere pish-posh, it really is a mental comfort only. In a case where your oracle is right, dismissing it outright might alter your mental equilibrium, but it won’t alter the underlying facts. And here the oracle seems sadly accurate, even if it might be by coincidence. Team Evil has definitely won.

More on Thursday.

6 Replies to “Everyone’s Boned – Chapter 7, Act 4, Strip 69”

  1. In fairness those are ONLY Quillaretzütplötl’s bones. I don’t see (heh) his eyes anywhere. Maybe it’s the elder’s fault for reusing art assets instead of making a more intuitive “prophetic picture.” Maybe add some indents so Quillaretzütplötl can “feel it in his old bones” like those elderly folk always mention.

    1. Yeah, eyes would probably be a lot more useful for prophetic purposes than bones. Bones have one practical advantage, though – they’re non-perishable and easy and clean to store. Dropping Quillaretzütplötl’s eyes on your desktop starts to get somewhat unappetizing after a week or two…let alone a few months. XP It’s true that perhaps he shouldn’t have recycled art assets, but it’s not like George Geekish left him much of a chance there. XD

  2. See, this is why you get your prognostication done with more RESPECTABLE methods… bones, how garish and macabre! A deck of cards is far classier, or perhaps tea leaves or palm reading if you’re feeling imprecise. But if you absolutely want one hundred percent certainty of what the future holds, you have only to gaze up at the night sky…

    Sooner or later a meteor will kill us all, after all.

    1. True, but I felt like the bones added a nice ‘tribal’ element to the whole prophecy business…and were doubly appropriate because cats really enjoy playing with little fragments of their prey. XD But in the strip running later today, the Elder will make another attempt at prophecy with a more respectable method, so he does have a range of methods at his disposal.

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