#olucrezia

but one thing you can truly say is consistent throughout all of Girl Genius:

OK. This is funny.

Lucrezia, you absolute muggins. You are holding the derivatively-built multi-generation down-the-line descendant of something Agatha knocked together in her sleep just to keep her hands moving and have something to look at while she worked.

"So advanced!"

She really isn't a Spark, is she? Has she realized yet how very much she isn't?

Madame Olga, friend and colleague of circus Sparks, would be ashamed of her on these grounds alone.

Lucrezia this, the Other that...

...on the other hand, maybe we're going to crumple this woman up like scrap paper and bounce her off the wall until we get bored.

(I can hope.)

EDIT: Of course, it's also quite likely that I have been lulled into a sense of security/familiarity regarding the dingbots, and they really are as sophisticated and dangerous as Olucrezia here is implying.

is a fully bananapants set of orders.

does not forbid Klaus from doing anything else along the way, up to and including "where were we with that engine overload again?"

does not give him a time limit within which to return

if he does return, does not forbid him from bringing dangerous items (or people) with him

if he does return, does not give clear instructions on the condition of the cake and wine (could be obviously nasty, could be poisoned, could have explosives in them)

does not forbid Klaus from going absolutely anywhere, from "off the airship" to "moon's haunted", on his sidequest for wine and cake

previously told him not to do anything clever, which is blanket permission to do something amazingly stupid

if Klaus moves quickly he can be out of hearing range of any further orders (I don't think Castle Wulfenbach has a PA system)

"off you go" is the most recent order and arguably supersedes all of the others; she has dismissed him

...at this point Lucrezia will do better telling a genie to make her a sandwich, and I will serve Lucrezia-the-ham-on-rye to the time dragon with relish.

They'd be inspirational, if they weren't the absolute worst.

...for a second there I thought sneaky (un-captured!) Violetta had struck again,

That is fugue state font.

That's the first time she's used it, I believe, even under previous stress and pain!

What were we saying about this Lucrezia not being a Spark? Oops.

...you know what, I don't WANT to be in the middle of a mid-breakthrough Lucrezia tantrum. I really do not.

Last previous appearance: February 22, 2006

Newest appearance: June 11, 2025

Elapsed time: 19 years, 4 months, 9 days since we saw the body formerly known as Olga!

We have a new stopwatch champion!

...and many, many, many new problems. Just infinitely many.

Heck.