January 2nd, 2018
2 Jan 2018 · page 760 of 1306
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Heinrich Wolfe, Sidney Malik, Verity Cunningham
Comments (71)
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Related: What would Sid do if he had all the monies?
Give it all back, probably.
While awkwardly mumbling copious apologies.
And hopefully not be tackled by the policeman or worse...
The Bobby Tackle: Substantially more dangerous than the police tackle, due to the regional bonus provided by rugby. Damage can be mitigated by possession of fish and chips
He's English, not Canadian
I am absolutely picturing Sid defeating Greed by amassing a massive pile of valuables sure to tempt anyone else, and then reflexively going "Sorry, so sorry!" and handing it back.
(Likewise, for the record, I'm pretty sure he was only able to accidentally steal the Mark of Thieves while MacAvity was alive because he had absolutely no actual interest in it.)
That is a great theory. (Referencing "I am absolutely picturing Sid defeating Greed by amassing a massive pile of valuables sure to tempt anyone else, and then reflexively going "Sorry, so sorry!" and handing it back.")
Well, hope it can't stuff enough into your pockets to count as grand larceny there, Sid.
Hmmm ... Ben referring to a "buggerup"? I remember him being rather offended when Mal used the term, early on.
Mal's such a bad influence.
Indeed.
Yeup
Lazy terminology. Maybe Sloth is to blame. Or maybe Ben's just tired.
Perhaps he feels that he is quoting Mal.
Considering that he appears lost in problem-solving mode, I wonder how long it will take him to realize what he just said. Or, when he just gave up and started using it on his own.
He also has been working with customers for a while who have no idea what 'malform' is but immediately get 'buggerup.' After a while, it's just good business to use the terms they're familiar with.
It's not Mr Thackerey!
I think Ben will be able to free Sid of this affliction! (Eventually.)
would he want to be tho, the little bird has come in handy quite a few times. sure having a little more communication with the it would be nice but getting rid of it out right would almost be sad
The expressions on this page are brilliant. You can see how Sid's though shift from embarrassment towards "oh no, why?" and finally into acceptance on how this is going to suck.
Can spirits be affected by other spirits? I don't recall Sid's familiar being quite this aggressive in the past, nor quite so ardently focused on a particular person*. In general, it seems to prefer to steal things it thinks Sid will find useful; the one time we've observed it stealing money was while Sid was trying to earn some. So all of this makes me wonder if the magpie is getting greedier the same way the humans in the bank are.
*It did steal from Macavity twice in a row, but given that Sid was both fighting and trying deliberately to upstage him, that makes a little more sense than its current focus on Verity's stuff.
Possible counterpoint, Verity is the one who has stuff. The others are a bunch of unprepared bums who came to fight the deadliest spirits in the world with nothing but their shirts and trousers. ;-)
I've been wondering how much it bothers Ben that, because he didn't have his coat on when Wrath attacked the office, he's been running around Widdershins in his shirtsleeves all day. Granted, he may have more important things on his mind, but I suspect he's still fretting about not being properly dressed in public.
As soon as he gets some time to gather his thoughts he is really going to mourn the loss of his gloves.
Are you sure that Sid's magpie didn't steal them?
With the way Ben's luck is going today there's a significant chance said gloves had small, shiny buttons and those are what the Magpie tool.
To be fair, rescuing themselves from the fire is quite a valid reason for it. :)
And the drowning
What drowning?
they were handcuffed in a cave to drown at high tide just after they saw greed the first time.
That was Harry and Sid, though; the original comment was referring to the fact that Ben and Wolfe escaped from a house fire this morning with only the clothes on their backs.
But it was still something that Sid needed, which I interpreted the original comment to mean
ah misunderstood sorry
I'd been assuming that it had been stealing stuff all along, but that Sid had simply given things back off-screen. We did see it steal the policeman's keys to the station during the confrontation with Wrath, for instance.
Now Verity, please, do try to be civil. The man's got a problem.
Strange, though... Where is Greed's aura?
Maybe it doesn't like to share its aura :P
Possibly it's most visibly concentrated inside the bank?
Is anyone else having visions of the Niffler from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at the thought of Sid's magpie let loose in a bank?
And how did he end up with the magpie, anyway? He says here he's had this problem his whole life, so it's not like he picked it up when he came to Widdershins to go to university. What would lead a magpie malform (or whatever it is) to attach itself to a nice British-Indian boy from Surrey?
Hehe, that sticky fingers Platypus thing? That creature was quite a treat.
As for my own two ce- ... where did my coins go? Anyway, my guess would be maybe Sid started learning magic early and tried a spell. He thought it simply failed, but maybe it actually bound the magpie to him without knowing?
Maybe Mal attached it to Sid as a prank when they were both young?
Now you've got me wondering how old everyone is because I had Mal and Sid pegged at pretty different ages. Sid mid-20s at most, Mal 30-35. It's never been said in the comic has it?
I really doubt Mal is more than 30. In his flashback with Acedia he looks 5 old or such, and it was 20 years ago.
If I'm remembering past author comments Ben and Sid are early 20's, Wolfe and Harry are around mid 20's, and Nicola, Verity, and Mal are late 20's/early 30's.
I think I remember Kate saying once that Mal is roughly mid-20s, but doesn't know his exact age.
It was bugging me so I went back and looked, and you're right.
I'm not sure the timelines match up at all, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to see kid!Mal and kid!Sidney interacting.
That's what head-canon is for...
Or fanfiction.
I did know that would be the Bank! :)
Dreaming. Now if only Ben's siblings really work here...
What is that second thing he ends up with?
One of Vee's little bombs, maybe? It looks like he's handing it back to her. She's also the only one with anything shiny to pinch.
We first see it when Harry uses it on Mac and friends. Here [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-21st-2011/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/november-21st-2011/")
Ah, thank you! Other readers have such an encyclopedic recall of this comic....
Wolfe's comment about Mal's buggerup entourage makes me wonder why Sid's little malform didn't get the hell out of Dodge like the rest of them did. I also wonder if they'll really be dealing with Greed here or with Lux masquerading as Greed.
Ye-e-es... in the last panel, that sky really doesn't look so very Greed-ish coloured, does it?
Not at all. Neither does any part of the bank. I doubt this is Lux's doing, though, I think Lux was more interested in manipulating what's going on inside the Anchor. Perhaps Greed has already made friends with Macavity and co. and gone off with them?
I dont think its a buggerup I mean look at all these buggerups: [https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/september-14th-2012/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/september-14th-2012/")
None of them have auras but if you look at sids magpie:[https://www.widdershinscomi...](https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-17th-2016/ "https://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/august-17th-2016/")
it has an aura similar to sidneys Its all just theory of course but I think it has some sort of link to him
I can see it now, the plan goes south somewhere along the way, they are running to make their escape, they've almost made the door when, all of a sudden, Sid has a huge bag of coins appear in his pocket.
Oh, poor Sid. He's so honest, and yet he's attached to a spirit of kleptomania.
OK, so honest about things. In general? Yeah, about that Harry person, Sid...
It's a crush. Crushes are hard to admit to! Especially to the object of the crush.
Happy new year, Komi. And christmas. And whatever else I've missed.
Really need to catch up with this one day
Hah, and to you!
I love Ben using Buggerup here, just by using that word shows all his character development and his relationship development with Mal.
So, as a potential random theory for Sid and the magpie-- what if when Sid was like 2-4 his parents took him on a trip to Widdershins and they visited the Anchor? And while their Sid had a normal toddler tantrum after being told no about getting a treat or toy--and preceded to accidentally summon the Magpie (being want or something similar) which became a buggerup and subsequently attached itself to Sid with no one the wiser?
It being the spirit of want, but also having become attached to Sid would explain a lot of it's thefts. Sid wanted (and needed) money, so first it stole the wallets, and then stole the Mark of Thieves (which theoretically could have led to Sid having plenty of money). When Sid was in danger it gave him what he needed to survive (the keys when drowning, the grenade pull, the time in the anchor, ect). Stealing Lust's amulet could have come from Sid wanting to impress Henry, which it did. Stealing random stuff while fight Macavity helped with his "New King of Thieves thing" thing during the fight.
Even the guard keys and Lei is understandable. Sid may have very well wanted to free Lei, and so the Magpie acted but he also knew better and didn't act on that urge, just like he knows better than to keep any wallets the Magpie grabs even if he can use the money. The Magpie doesn't though as it's a simple creature. Similarly it wouldn't understand consequences. "Sid needs money--okay I steal wallet," but the idea Sid could get into trouble for that doesn't compute but if he did it would probably just steal the guard's keys once again not computing the danger of that.
Their are a few thefts that don't easily line up with that. The mail, the spanner and smoke bomb on this page (though Sid having them could be seen as the magpie trying to suit Sid up with tools to stay alive...) being three but I could see a spirit of Want following it's nature even when Sid doesn't particularly want something to, and usually in that case I imagine it would go after the thing with the most "worth." (Letters have a lot of worth, and honestly with two people who just escaped a home fire and Sid who doesn't get stolen from, the spanner and smoke bomb probably are the most valuable things they have on them.)
Though i might be overthinking things, and it's only just that the Spirit grabs whatever is most "valuable" around the area (Both the Mark of Thieves and Lust's amulet, wallets are often the most valuable thing people have, letters are valuable, things that keep Sid alive is valuable, and like I said before, the smoke bomb and spanner are likely the most valuable thing the non-Sid party members have.)
Either way I really want to see Sid at least once try and communicate with the Magpie, if the Magpie really is out for Sid's interests and now he knows it's there, maybe it would be willing to listen and work as a team instead of alone? Though the fact (if it is want) Want is probably the equivalent of Hunger to Gluttony for Greed (second only to the sin) maybe it will get overwhelmed by Greed's presence.
And this got long... whoops.
Ach, I'm sorry, this comment triggered my spam filter for some reason and hid it til I only just noticed it, my apologies!
Uh, oops, I didn't see this comment until now, and yet... I wrote a fic that covers part of that....
[https://archiveofourown.org...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445750 "https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445750")
This is going to end well
5 minutes in, and Malik's pants are so laden with coins and bills that his pockets drag the floor. I can see it now.
"You have stolen the heirloom jewels from the Grand Marquis's safety deposit box, nicked three pocketwatches along with their chains from the officers standing guard, and the hour hand from the head banker's table clock. Sidney Malik, what have you to say in your defense?"
"...Oops?"
And couldn't Sidney just wear some clothes without pockets? It's not like the magpie is going to balance things on top of his head, no matter how much a bird's nest it might be, right?