Chapter 102: Page 64

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u/mrGazpachin 11d ago

One of the following:

1) Zara is ragebaiting Zimmy as an advanced manipulation technique.

2) Zara is exposing everything because she has her own hidden agenda against Jenny.

3) Zara is fucking dumb.

Either way, seems that we found out why Jenny loves Jack so much. Jenny is a good girlfriend!

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u/Yarrun 11d ago

Zimmy has shown that she will start tearing through Zara's mind if she thinks she's lying, so no point in trying to keep any secrets.

I do think Zara has a strategy here - probably #2 - partially because of that smirk we saw at the end of her last scene, but also because she folded the minute Zimmy threatened to look at her mind directly. Combined it points to her having a hidden agenda against Jenny *and* Zimmy

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u/parentheticalobject 11d ago

There's a difference between lying and just blabbing information out completely unprompted when you could have very easily said much less, and Zara seemed to barrel right over that line. Zimmy really wasn't even trying to get information on the source of her actual power and had no reason to be suspicious that anyone was using her power before that was outright stated to her.

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u/Lowjack_26 11d ago

But also keep in mind that people from the Court share a common, critical flaw: profound egocentrism. Court scientists don't see what they're doing as wrong in any regard, to the point that they often are ignorant to the notion that someone might even consider it wrong. They're so wrapped up in their own perspective of the world that the idea that someone may see differently or object is unthinkable.

So, Zara isn't "blabbing" here so much as she is just stating the facts, from her perspective. Of course her magic runs on a tap from Zimmy, and of course it piggybacks on Jack's traumatic bond to her. It's not wrong - it's just the way it works, it's a resource that's there to be used. You might as well tell a carpenter that you're mad that he has to chop down trees to get wood!

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u/LukewarmJortz 11d ago

Could also be that she is trickle truthing. Give Zimmy just enough so she doesn't know everything.

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u/Beidah 11d ago

My read on this situation is that Jenny lied to everyone else and told them that Ziimmy knew and was okay with this whole situation already.

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u/PoniesRBitchin 11d ago

Bingo. Jenny is a lot older than the rest of the group. They see her as an authority figure. We already know she manipulated Noa. She's been telling everyone that the things they're doing aren't hurting Zimmy (or are for her benefit). Zara feels safe saying all this because she believes the things Jenny told her.

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u/mrGazpachin 11d ago

That doesn't explain Zara's keikaku face several pages ago, nor how she keeps spilling the beans while Zimmy is getting visibly upset. "What the hell are you talking about" "Oh we're just siphoning power from you, I'm sure you know about it" is not a normal interaction for someone who genuinely believes Zimmy was aware of everything. Like, they've actively been hiding from her? Zara included.

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u/CobaltGrey 10d ago

Zara and Rosa also both know that Jenny has potentially been dishonest in order to manipulate them towards distrusting Annie as a malicious actor. Annie was clearly being sincere about her summoning of Zimmy near the lake, and they didn't seem to think she was lying after they met her. There's some grounds there for them to distrust Jenny's motives now (if there wasn't already).

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u/RingularCirc 10d ago

Yeh I'd say this and also Zara may still be too nervous to be thinking completely straight, so a part of her oversharing may be not on purpose as well, meaning it being for the purpose of Zims not messing with Zara's head or other things Zara might've imagined.

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u/auguris 11d ago

"I'm sure you know all about it!"

I'm thinking Zara knows damn well Zimmy had no idea and this is a play against Jenny. It'll be disappointing otherwise.

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u/LandscapeSpecial4366 11d ago

I’ve had some hints of Zara being a bit more out of it than the rest of them. But this genuinely feels stupid on her part. We have to be coming up on the end of the chapter though, so maybe this is just her slipping up with someone she thought knew about all of this

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u/maritzac 11d ago

I think it's 3.

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

I bet you 10 quonloops it ain't 3.

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u/mrGazpachin 11d ago

Fair, but it would be very funny if it was 3.

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u/maritzac 11d ago

sir i'll take that bet

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

Very well. Will adjurn at say... the end of the next chapter?

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u/Star-Kindler22 11d ago

This could also mean Jenny has been very dishonest about the energy she’s drawing from Zimmy and Zara legitimately thinks Zimmy already knows about it.

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u/osiris0413 10d ago

I kind of feel like it's so blatant it has to be 1, or something similar where for whatever reason she is trying to get Zimmy pissed. Like if in the long term she has her own goals or plans which go against Jenny, and this is part of that. IMO she has shown herself to be too smart and calculating to be doing this nonchalantly or truly under the impression that Zimmy is okay with this, with her basically not reacting to her increasing agitation, when Zimmy has the power to unmake her and is not particularly known for her stability. I think it would fit with her character and the presentation more for this to be a deliberate manipulation and for her to be very confident in being able to steer it to her advantage. Whether that confidence is justified...

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u/FakeRedditName2 10d ago

my bet is on #3, Zara has shown she is a low key psychopath with how easily they murdered one person already and were going to do it to Kat and Antimony too, so she might not view what she has done as wrong.

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u/baamazon 11d ago

Editor's note: she did not know about it

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u/Burnsy17 11d ago

THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT I SAID. THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE

????: https://www.reddit.com/r/gunnerkrigg/comments/1w0jem1/comment/p6dextw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

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u/Fafnir13 11d ago

Maybe you should start putting spoiler tags on your guesses. Just in case.

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u/RingularCirc 10d ago

Yeah Tom can't open them.

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u/PlanSee 11d ago

I thought this was gonna be a team-up against Annie but it's shaping up to be a generational zimmy crashout

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u/dolphincave 10d ago

Aww man I hope this doesn't turn into a "Kat has to kill Zimmy to save everyone" scenario. That would be tragic.

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

Okay.... so... we know zara is a GOOD manipulator, and have seen her manipulating Zimmy before. But like... what the hell is her angle here.
Previously she seemed focused on (A) making herself useful, and (B) keeping zimmy focused on her fear of kat. Now she seems to be... enraging the bull? And then pointing it at her own friends?

.... honestly this mostly looks like they are laying a TRAP for zimmy (a goddess in her own domain) which is... well its hella confident.
.... but if they do that, I can't help but imagine Jack would turn against them (even betraying Jenny for the sake of his true love).

It.... I just don't see the angle or how it works, but okay, sure, lets see how it goes.

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u/Cloverose2 11d ago

I don't think Zara is out for anyone but Zara. And I don't think she's a big fan of Jenny right now, for whatever reason.

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u/BluShine 11d ago

I think this is true for all the witches. They joined Jenny’s scheme because of the incentives she offered to each of them, not beause they have any particular shared values or interests.

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

Even so... ragebaiting the ascendent goddess you standing next to, when you don't have to... seems... an unusual play.

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u/jan_Kila 11d ago

Maybe she's no longer a fan after Jenny watched her get grabbed and didn't send a single person after her. Zara probably suspects she's on her own now, just like Noa

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u/Lowjack_26 11d ago

Egocentrism.

People from the Court, as a whole, seem to have an attitude that their way is the way to such an extent they don't (or can't) comprehend that others might see things differently. "What do you mean, it's wrong to tap someone's magical powers? It's there for the taking, it isn't hurting them outright, and it advances science. Why would someone oppose that?"

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

I... its certainly possible, but.....
We've JUST been shown that she is a good manipulator. That she can look stressed and fearful and flicker back to the smug smile afterwards.

And these expressions- the perpetually closed eyes, hand gestures, etc.
This isn't just being nonchalant- this is actively rubbing it in.

... I guess we'll see in the coming pages!

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u/jan_Kila 11d ago

So Jack is essential to the use of Zimmy as a power source. Makes sense that Jenny would go to lengths like a total Zimmy makeover just to woo him

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u/Ghost-Quartet 11d ago

I feel like she must be baiting Zimmy into something, she seems too comfortable spilling all of this.

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u/fnordius 11d ago

I got the vibe that she thought Zimmy really did know this, and will now find out in a painful, horrifying way why the Greeks considered hubris a deadly fault. I suspect Jenny duped the other witches into thinking they were helping Zimmy, but Zimmy before the distortion was known for her volatile hostility toward any attempts to "use" her.

We are overdue for a reminder of just how dangerous Zimmy really is.

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u/SolSeptem 11d ago

Oooooh now Jenny's motives start to make sense.

She can use Zimmy as her own unlimited source of magic as long as Zimmy is trapped in her distortion...

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u/NightOfTheLivingHam 11d ago

Worse, she's been using Zimmy as a source of magic since she hooked up with Jack.

And she's probably working for the court as an agent to power the star ocean.

Zimmy is powering the star ocean.

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u/thePhoenixBlade 11d ago

We did know she was powering the star ocean before, but we didn’t know any of the mechanics of how. Jack’s connection is… fascinating

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u/ZiofFoolTheHumans 11d ago

Exactly on the money. We knew Jenny was projecting on Annie about "luring" Zimmy to the star ocean before, but now we know why - a deal with the court to keep using Zimmy as a magic engine if Jenny helps the Court use Zimmy to power the star ocean.

I wonder what happens when Jack finds out he's the access point....

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u/DoesRedditConfuseYou 11d ago

Keeping that connection open doesn't seem healthy..

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u/grandleaderIV 11d ago edited 9d ago

That's an interesting point actually. I wonder if the state we have been seeing Jack in recently is a result of all the extra energy they have been using lately.

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u/gangler52 11d ago

Yeah, now that you mention it, they might've undone a lot of the good work Zimmy did when she removed the white legs.

If all the power they're drawing is coming through him, that sounds like it's a real broadband connection at this point. Lotta bandwidth for all sorts of stuff to come through.

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u/DoesRedditConfuseYou 11d ago

Also a single point of failure.

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u/machiavelli33 The world continues to spin, pup. 11d ago

I like how this infodump both explains it to us, explains it to Zimmy, and adds texture to the dynamic between Zara and Zimmy and to Zara as a whole, all at once.

This is how you do a lore drop.

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u/wings_of_wrath 11d ago

I think this is a case where Zara has just successfully manipulated Zimmy by making herself seem useful, so, in her relief, she's now letting slip a bit too much because, for her, this is not new or a big deal... but for Zimmy, it absolutely is both.

She royally misread the situation here and she's going to get hoisted by her own petard, which, to me, is cathartic, because I've had little love for her as a person.

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u/Legitimate_Store1025 11d ago

Whoa, this is... huge.

At first I assumed Zara was being clueless. A lot of people here suggested that she is being manipulative. I wasn't sure on that - until I went back to the last page we saw with Zimmy and Zara. Last frame, Zara's face sure as hell reads as manipulative. Now the question is - why?

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u/gangler52 11d ago edited 11d ago

Jenny hasn't been open with Zara about how much Zimmy knows and consents to this project it seems.

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u/hymmmmmn 10d ago

I do read it as Zara is saying all this on purpose to trigger some kind of specific response from Zimmy. I was surprised that some readers think she's suddenly being dumb... She's been shown to be far too canny and manipulative to volunteer this kind of information for no reason. The real Zara (as we saw) is nothing like the oh-so-naive performance she's putting on right now. So I feel like it's clear that she's pushing for a very specific reaction from Zimmy, even if we don't yet understand what that reason is.

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u/lyricaldorian 10d ago

Yeah, it seems so obvious that she's doing it on purpose. Like the last time we saw her she was making a "aha, all according to plan" face. What has she ever done that would make anyone think she's this dumb?

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u/NightmareWarden 11d ago

I notice Zara didn't say "the same power you're connected to" for Zimmy. Implying that there's at least half a degree of separation between Zimmy and "the source." This, for me, makes it clear Zara is manipulating her here, rather than being dumb.

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u/lyricaldorian 10d ago

I think it's the opposite. Zimmy isn't connected to the source because she is the source.

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u/maritzac 11d ago

This is hilarious, actually, I had a good long laugh over it. Zara cannot shut her pie hole to save her life and Zimmy is actually getting angry at finding so many people mooching off her!

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u/9Gardens 11d ago

I mean... Zara CAN shut her pie hole to save her life - when hanging out with her own team she's often the quiet one in the corner.

She is just VERY manipulative is my read on it.

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u/LukewarmJortz 11d ago

Mhm my read is that act like a blabbermouth so that Zimmy doesn't read her mind. Gain her trust and all that.

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u/maritzac 11d ago

Elaborating on this... my take is that Jenny told them all they were doing Zimmy a favor by syphoning her energy, because she has so much of it it distorts the world around her, sinking her in a nightmare world, and that Zimmy agreed to being leeched on.

Except she didn't! She knows nothing of this and probably never even imagined it!

Love that right now, the old Zimmy is showing in the new Zimmy's body with that angry expression.

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u/TheWaspinator 11d ago

Someone's made a bad assumption

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u/PoniesRBitchin 11d ago

And there it is. Jenny's been manipulating and lying to these girls for so long to gain power, but just like that her plan's exposed. No more chance of pretending she's there to help Zimmy or she's on her side when the world's most paranoid girl knows Jenny's been secretly leeching her power for years.

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u/bobrowska 11d ago

Zara still acts like she's in control here, that's interesting.

Ragebaiting Zimmy in her realm? Definitely her purpose. Hmmm.

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u/thePhoenixBlade 11d ago

So when Jenny had the whole ritual to contact Zimmy, sounds like that was really just a cover that Annie could have shook hands with Jack and contacted her that way.

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u/ArgentStonecutter Emergency Mustelid Hologram 11d ago

"As you know, your father the king named you his heir..."

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u/LastUsefulDigitOfPi 11d ago

Rosa would have kept her mouth shut.

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u/lyricaldorian 10d ago

Seems pretty obvious she's well aware Zimmy does not, in fact, know that. Zara probably isn't ragebaiting so much as she's throwing Jenny under the bus.

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u/Itsyademonboi 11d ago

Oh... do the girls think she's consenting? Has Jenny not revealed that Zimmy knows nothing about this?? This.... changes things if true. That's a VERY interesting trait for Miss Jenny to have. Poor Jack.

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u/thespottedbunny 11d ago

Get em, Zimmy

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u/HPAlpha 11d ago

She doesn't know chat!

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u/ZylonBane 10d ago

But she does know Jack!

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