I’m calling Dream for next week. She’s going to wake up as Shellex in bed next week. From what I’ve seen of Justin I don’t see im doing this at the Studio’s showers.
It’s not bestiality cause she’s sapient, silly. Sex with sapient, sentient quadrupeds with which one can fully communicate as an equal is not bestiality. WEIRD and kinky, for sure. Bestiality? Not so much.
Am afraid it does count as bestiality actually, least from a legal pov. As animals tend to be described as vertebrates that aren’t human.
So yes, if you wish to get your groove on with that nice looking Twi’lek, Elven Maiden, Gorgon Sister, Klingon, Sphinx or whatever.. Guess what.. You’ve just committed Bestiality.
For starters, the whole issue of “legal person-hood” would have to be redefined. At the moment, there’s no other sentient species on the planet whose members are legally “persons” (although corporations here in the United States do carry that legal privilege). If elves or Klingons or Minbari show up in sufficient numbers to be noticed, I imagine that a court case to decide whether they are “human” in the legal sense (or simply game animals with pretensions) won’t be long in coming.
I actually favor the attitude put forth by Joe Quigley (one of Spider Robinson’s characters), after he met Ralph Von Wau Wau (a talking dog) at Lady Sally’s House.
His comment was to the effect of “To me, anyone who says ‘Excuse me’ is a person.”
He did, however, object to the pun Ralph had just unleashed. There’s no accounting for taste…
This thread has gotten me thinking about the future. With the future having the possibilities of extra terrestrial or dimensional alien, A.I. and transgenic life forms interaction with humans, there is gonna be a lot of changes made to the human concepts of legal and rational sexual relationships.
OTOH, there might not be as much need as we now think. How many people are attracted sexually to a, say, sea urchin, or a lobster? And yet they are far closer to us biologically than any alien. . . .
Looks like things just got interesting. How interesting, I don’t know. The real question is how will Justin take it. The end result will probably be the strangest thing he’s ever seen. But yeah, as Leak said, the suspense is killing me too.
Nah. But he took a course in Chekhovian Marksmanship … i wonder, when he gave Shelly’s other form the cat-type-beside-the-nose-mark, was he looking forward to a strip like this?
So if “you’ve had it with this comic”… then STOP READING IT!!!!… you don’t have to post crap like you just did just to say you don’t like the comic anymore… just frickin’ stop reading it, and let the rest of us continue in peace.
I think we were all warned off that movie several arcs ago. Besides, the apparent I.Q. of the commenting gang on this board is about 198 (I drag it down, sorry 😛 ) and I wouldn’t expect smart folks to watch movies whose titles are that… inane.
Oh, my. Yes, Justin is in for one hell of a surprise in the next few moments.
It’s going to be next to impossible to get those scratches out of the shower tiles… tiles like that aren’t really designed to be re-surfaced. Probably have to replace them entirely, and re-do the grout.
That’s only if someone was thoughtful enough to save back some tiles from the original job or someone is extremely lucky and can match the original tiles.
Alternatively one could get creative with tiles of a different color and re-do the whole wall as I once had to do.
Dave @1:54; Sheik @2:13 – Yeah, you’d either have to replace the tiles, or find some professional working in sand and glass to restore them with her magic powers.
In the meanwhile, I hope Justin is having a good time.
“Oh, sorry, Jacqui… I forgot about the No Pets policy, decided to give my rare Himalayan carbide-clawed puma a shampoo while I was showering, and he got suds up his nose and started sneezing and … well, I’m sure you can see the result.”
Yup. Plugged plumbing, scratched ceramics, possibly even broken walls or ceilings, the smell of wet fur pervading the air.
Jacqui’s going to have a real headache, when she sees it. She’ll certainly remember it for years, as That Dreadful Tile-‘n-all Day.
(not sure what the appropriate Pun Jar payment would be, but I imagine one of you equipped with red-hot pincers will be glad to extract it from me at some point)
Indeed! And, allowing that this is an intimate adult situation, I wouldn’t doubt that Shelly’s, ah, distress, was from Justin, mmm, ahhh… making a connection with her in the last panel of the previous page. No doubt, they are still, ummm, entwined at the moment — at least through panel one today.
Perfect scenario: Shelly transforms into Shellnix and turns her head to see Justinix, still entwined.
“I’ve been waiting for you for so long!” he says, continuing the connection and hugging her closer.
They Poit to a lovely deserted island to enjoy the day — together.
That, or we’re going to get a visit from the Helena Hand Basket sales representative with a full set of samples to use and enjoy!
So I wasn”t the only one to catch the “may I come in” interpetation. Shell relax and enjoy the ride and Justin needs a safety belt like in the rodeo.
Justin as a sphinx. Possible and definetly interesting but it seems a bit to pat for Paul;s way of thinking. If Justin ain’t then someone better poit in quick cause Shelly does have a temper. That eye in frame three don’t look like a happy eye to me!
The Hulks, are fairly clearly linked to rage/anger.
Shulkie is a good example of this, considering all the paramours she’s had. Not once did she turn back to normal in the midst of it.
Although I do kinda wonder how she manages to get it on with regular humans. An orgasm does mean loss of muscle control and spasming. Now toss in her strength..
Well.. smushed bodyparts essentially.
Kinda the inverse Superman situation. Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex.
Depends on the continuity you’re in. Marvel Movie continuity – Bruce came close to “Hulking Out” when he got a little…close…to what’s-her-name (Liv Tyler’s character).
Yes, I saw a color drawing of the Hulk in the aftermath of such a transformation duing sex. I won’t arrange a link to it here, being as gory as it is. Although, considering how bloody some of the drawings here have been, it may not be as far off as I think.
Interesting
The hand is going down and to the right towards a solid wall.
If Shelly was transforming into a sphinx, shouldn’t that be just the opposite because of her increasing size?
Her hand dosen’t appear to be increasing in size relative to the tiles. Maybe this is just a partial sphinx-out. You know, teeth claws and facial markings without upsizing. Maybe she won’t turn into eight tons of muscle, teeth, claws and wings. Maybe Justin won’t notice his girlfriend got fuzzy and has really sharp nails. The kind that leave scratches in ceramic tile. Maybe. But not likely.
The question is, how will he react? Allen and Kevin have dealt with the crazyness thier women are part of with nearly superhuman levels of understanding. Will Justin? Can he deal with his girfriend turning into a mythic creature? At some point, they’re going to run into someone who won’t be able to deal with things well outside thier “normal”. I don’t want Justin to be that guy, but it has to happen sooner or later.
That could be. There may be a stable transformation state somewhere between full frontal sphinx amd human. Something like a furry. Some sphinx features but generally human size and configuration.
I hope not though. I, for one, want to see full sphinx mode and Justin being brought into the inner circle. Still, it could turn out to be anti-climatic in that she may get it under control and Justin being none the wiser. I would say Monday will tell, but, like Jin, it may take some time to be finally resolved.
LOL “full frontal sphinx”
but you wouldn’t question someone turning into a furry?
I certainly would, especially if it happened while we were having sex.
@Boxilar: In an earlier post I noted how large her hand was compared to the shower tiles (usually four inches?), so she may already be at least sphinx-sized, if not yet fully sphinx-formed.
So question – would willing submission to induced hallucination in a fountain mid-intimacy and with possible entheogenesis be considered similar to this scenario? Because if so I’ve been involved in something similar to this before.
Also, should that fact seem weird? I can’t remember anymore.
Oh lord no! I certainly hope this doesn’t turn out to be a dream sequence, but it might. When you think about it, all this does seem a bit out of character for Justin. He’s pretty straight laced being a good cop and all and Shelly is succoming to it all rather easily considering the consequences. After 80,000 years of learning patience one would think she would have more willpower.
I was going to suggest that Shelly’s transformation is not a forgone conclusion, but the look of that left hand – and the title of this comic – seem to prove me wrong.
I agree. The tile stays the same size in comparison to her head and hands so I would expect a tertiary form instead of a full sphinx or that she just has carbide fingernails.
1) Justin needs to “duck and cover” as Shelly sphinxes-out.
2) Shelly needs to duck and cover as the shower gets damaged enough for Jacqui to notice.
2) Paul needs to duck and cover as the fan rage reaches epic proportions over the weekend cliffhanger.
3) The fans need to duck and cover as the .
Arrgh! Stupid href tag. #3 Link is to XKCD #849, text was supposed to be “fecal matter gets multiplied by its complex conjugate”. Also oops on the two #2s.
Or, you could just say that the excretory matter is about to strike the rotary air impeller.
… or as Goodgulf Grayteeth put it, “The fewmits have hit the ventilator.”
Of course, Paul could be hinting that the next plot element to be revealed, is a mallard in the next room singing pupular tunes from the 60s. I don’t actually think so but I wouldn’t put it beyond him.
Since Shelly’s a sphinx, she should be asking Justin difficult riddles that must be answered properly on pain of death. Such as “Do these pants make my ass look fat?”
Weird… my ex asked me that question once, too.
I said, “Do you want an honest answer or should I lie to save your feelings?”
She looked at me for a minute, said “Never mind” and never asked me a question like that again.
Well, ya know, if all pants make her ass look fat because her ass IS fat, you can truthfully answer “no.” Just don’t elaborate as to the reasoning behind your answer.
you could answer “Yes”… and then if she gets spun up, you ask “Why are you mad? they DO make your butt look “PHAT”, ya’ know… Pretty Hot And Tempting?!” hopefully for your sake she’ll accept that and drop the subject at that point… and if she was truly asking if they really did look bad and wanted an honest answer in order to decide future clothes purchases, then you could also go with a simple “yes” and when she asks why you can go with the truth (yep, you look bad in those pants, get some new ones.)
unfortunately, it’s almost impossible for a normal male to know which answer she’s *really* wanting, and we’ll almost always choose the wrong one… YMMV ;-(
If he’s going to transform into something other than a sphinx, I would lean toward a Minotaur. The version with the body of a bull and the head of a man. A big bull.
@Yamara – are you planning to do a colored version of today’s strip, and add a subtle gold toning to the water in the first frame? It would be appropriate if Zeus is involved (again).
I also thought of “HULK” when I saw the ‘eye sequence’. However lets consider the “explosion of energy” round the eye could be an intication of … ‘Big O’ and the hand /claw dropping a sign of relaxation after the release.
As to Cliffhangers, Watch enough ‘DoctorWho’ and you can get into, even enjoy cliffhangars. Makes it unique.
I’m rather doubting it’s going to be that peaceful. That hand motion in the last frame doesn’t look at all relaxed… not a post-O release of tension.
Also, check the first frame… wavy lines around Shelly’s head, outside of her hairline. Those might just be indicators for vigorous motion 🙂 … but they look alot like the “sphinx transformation is underway” effect we saw around her hand on Wednesday.
Taken together and in context, I think these are showing us that she’s undergoing a major shift of form, as she did during her arachnophobic nightmare.
Now for future plot twists related to this mini-omg-arc, earlier in the story Shelly let out of the bag how little sphinxes are made – namely a mating betwixt a sphinx in their human (or in her case just barely human) form and a normal human. If he is really just a human, this could be an “oven – meet dough, we’re gonna make buns” moment.
Justin “Tightbuns”. Police Officer. We can rebiuld him. We have the technology. Really, really OLD technology. (Side effects may include random teleportation, halitosis exceeding 5000 degrees ferienhieght and occassional civilization destroying rages and dry mouth. Consult your Glyph reader if any of these symtoms occur. Use only as directed.)
Possibly, but this is a legitimate plot exposition, not cheap fanservice, or a naughty aside. Indeed, it is a crucial plot point regarding, among other things, emotional extremes and their sources. Rule 34 does not apply here.
ruh-roh. Shelly’s gonna have some ‘splaining to do. If Justin doesn’t panic and run away, anyway. But the boys of wapsi square tend to be as awesome as the girls, so with a long explanation, maybe he’ll stick around (if he survives Shelly’s transformation).
Y’know, if something bad happens here (either physically, or with regard to Shelly’s relationship with Justin), I’m going to hold Phix at least partially to blame. Our little potted daisy has been cruel.
After all, we know that Phix visited Shelly/Shellinx in the TIme Forest… likely on multiple occasions. Shelly said “I learned as much from her words as from her silence”. They had somewhere on the order of 80,000 years of (reversed) time during which they could have talked. Shelly apparently learned about the nature of the Sphinx/human relationship, something about Vimana cells, etc. It’s entirely possible that Phix, like Shelly, was born as a human (we don’t know when the sphinx/human hybridizing started, or how old Phix is). We know that Phix has, er, dalliances with human chew-toys.
… and yet, during all that time, and knowing that sphinx-ness was new to Shelly, Phix didn’t indulge in a bit of wise girl-talk about The Boyfriend Problem?
Two women, both straight, interacting for a very extended period of time, and never talking about relationships with men?? Granted, Wapsi Square is fantasy-fiction, but I’m really having trouble suspending my sense of disbelief at that!
Maybe this is some form of subtle (or not-so-subtle) sphinx hazing ritual? Make every newbie learn about form-management (and Safe Sphinx Sex) the hard way, while the older sphinxen sit back and giggle?
I can’t help but notice that until now, the long-term boyfriends of Wapsi Square (Alan, Kevin) have been unusually patient and understanding with some situations that would be pret-ty weird if encountered in the real world.
Somehow I don’t think Justin is going to be as understanding when he discovers his girlfriend turns into a creature of myth when aroused.
I’m a bit squicked out. This seems sort of… rapey. Sorry, Paul! She’s definitely aroused, but this isn’t what I would call “enthusiastic consent”.
It’s sort of like the first time we met Justin, now that I think about it, but reversed.
So, uh, yeah. In conclusion… huh.
P.S. Yeah, she could fold him like a napkin, I know, I know. It’s more about emotional control, though…
P.P.S. Not to make light of a serious subject, but if I said this was rubbing me the wrong way would I need to feed the pun jar?
With enthusiastic consent, if you’re not sure where the line is, you’ve crossed it.
Paul has elided the conversation between Shelly saying yes (very enthusiastically) and then running to the shower, where she struggles with the reasons for saying no. These are dangerous waters. But it is also a fictional story, with some elements that are pure fantasy. Let’s see where Paul takes us.
“With enthusiastic consent, if you’re not sure where the line is, you’ve crossed it.”
Precisely!
And: mmm, true. Shelly did seem to totally consent two strips ago, but right in that same strip she (apparently) changed her mind (which, as we both know, any person reserves the right to do at any time). So I guess that’s where I’m getting a little weirded out… she basically retracted her consent, and she’s trying to stop him verbally now, even though she’s physically aroused. He can see her arousal and is not listening to her asking him to stop, because he believes she actually wants him to continue. Messy.
(ALSO, I assume this wouldn’t be a “we have a safe word, she’d stop me if she really meant it” situation since we do know Shelly is truthfully hesitant to engage in this sexual situation, at this moment.)
Now, whether Shelly thinks of it that way is a completely different story. I know some women who feel victimized to find out their husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends/whatever touch their body in a sexual manner while they’re sleeping, while others consider it a sign of love, closeness, sexual attraction, and mutual trust. Everyone’s limits are different.
By the way, I actually didn’t see your comment about Shelly displaying enthusiastic consent in yesterday’s strip until just now… although I do agree though that yesterday’s looks a lot more like she’s totally diggin’ it than today’s.
A play-by-play isn’t the best way to approach this. You wind up trying to find a line, which gets interpreted by third parties as trying to find a way to justify assault.
Look, they’re in a relationship. This means they’re supposed to be on the same team. If the whole team isn’t winning, you’re doing it wrong–maybe very wrong.
If Justin is human with no inkling of the supernatural, he may believe he’s engaging in welcome play. If he’s been a sphinx all this time, and known it, he may deserve to be kicked to the kerb.
But I’m not going looking for some philosophical scrimmage line right now. I’m going to watch an artist take on one of the most dangerous subjects he can, and see where he takes us.
Ok, me too! I’m not condemning anything or trying to do a play-by-play. I’m certainly not telling Paul to stop or change the direction of the arc. I’m just pointing out that the subject matter is messy and, as you say, dangerous… because that doesn’t seem to be a popular interpretation based on the commentary so far. And I think so far you and I are mostly in agreement, actually?
My note about yesterday’s strip was just to clarify that I wasn’t trying to be snide by bringing up enthusiastic consent in reference to your comment… I was considering the issue independently.
No offense taken; you didn’t come off as snide. Honest reactions are honest.
It’s just I’ve seen these is-it-rape-or-isn’t-it threads too many times before. It will get long, and participants will get rules lawyerly, and ugly experiences will resurface, and emotions will be twisted like storms, until the willfully ignorant will congratulate themselves, and a handful of observers will stand back in awe that so much effort will be spent in avoiding the minimal consensus it takes to show consideration for a fellow human being.
Not that any Wapsi regulars are like that. The subject just attracts interweb trolls like it’s fresh dwarf stew left under a bridge. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it can stay sane around here.
Also, I apologize if I’ve come off as too insistent. Ideally, talking about this is important, and yes, I’m sure we’re in agreement on all the main issues.
If you’re uncomfortable, then Paul is successfully creating art, and you take this for the serious subject it is. I’m demonstrably making wisecracks in the other threads, but in discussing the issue of consent and its circumvention, it’s not something to make light of, hence my heavy tone.
Yes, this is a very touchy and sensitive area… it’s fraught with minefields and subjective interpretations. The language of consent (both verbal and nonverbal) has a lot of ambiguities in it… lots of room for people to hurt and be hurt.
My own feeling is that an essential starting point is the maxim I’ve heard expressed as Take no for an answer. Take stop for a command. That’s the very least that anyone should do, in matters of passion and intimacy… more sensitivity to nuance is better, of course.
In this case, we didn’t see Shelly say either “no” or “stop” in-frame… at least, not explicitly. Should Jason have interpreted her indirect “You don’t understand!” as a “stop”… as cancelling out her earlier enthusiastic interest? Maybe he should… but maybe it’s not reasonable to assume that he’d necessarily grasp that, under the conditions of the moment. Unfortunately, being male, it’s possible that the blood flow to his brain wasn’t what it might have been, at that instant (the blood had an appointment elsewhere).
He may end up (soon) regretting that he didn’t get the memo… it’ll depend to some extent on what degree of form-control Shelly manages to retain.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume anything in this case, one way or the other. To me the point is moot.
Also, people tend to forget (or don’t know) that females have a rush of blood to that area during arousal as well. It’s not just males who suffer from reduced brain blood supply.
“My own feeling is that an essential starting point is the maxim I’ve heard expressed as “Take no for an answer. Take stop for a command.” That’s the very least that anyone should do, in matters of passion and intimacy… more sensitivity to nuance is better, of course.”
Of course… in a perfect world, we would all feel comfortable explicitly saying “No, stop” in any situation in which we felt uncomfortable, without feelings of guilt or the fear that we would hurt another’s feelings by doing so. But a lot of people don’t say “no” in these situations, because they either don’t think they can or they are afraid of negative consequences if they do. A person may say “I have a headache” because they don’t want to say “I don’t want to have sex with you tonight” and then have to deal with the other’s hurt feelings based on assumptions about that statement. So should “I have a headache” be considered synonymous with “no”? Y… es? Maybe? MESSY!
As for blood flow… well, I’m a lady, so I don’t know. I’ve never personally been so massively turned on that I was unable to think or control my actions (actually, that’s another reason this seems odd to me… Shelly apparently can’t control her libido, like, at all. For me, fear of whatever nature – in this case the fear of transforming at an inopportune time – is an immediate arousal-killer. I didn’t comment on that, however, because I have no frame of reference other than myself, and that’s hardly fair to impose on others)
When an orgasm is happening a woman, like a man, will have a loss of control, It may not be blood loss but is is a loss. At least that is what the experts say on the subject.
Reminds me of that famous Robin Williams quote: “See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”
And there are stories of women being kissed and becoming weak in the knees–similar, but it’s interesting that for women it’s more the romance they seek, for which they offer sex, while men seek the sex, for which they offer romance.
And, in that light, you may want to consider the difference between porn (visual, explicitly sexual) vs. Romance novels (verbal, explicitly romantic).
I read a book about sensual massage (wanted to learn some new techniques) a few years back and it mentioned how it has been noted that perhaps a lot of men use sex as an excuse to touch someone intimately while still seeming “manly” about it.
I.e. it’s too “girly” to want to cuddle but who’s going to know if you enjoy the cuddling that happens during sex?
The whole reason it’s mentioned in the book is they offer the idea that for some men, learning how to do proper massage might be an answer for them, give them more of what they may truly want: skin-to-skin contact.
And it’s not likely that such men will find themselves with women who DON’T appreciate the new talent they learn in the process.
Especially after they show her what a “three handed massage” is. And no I did NOT make that up, it was it’s own chapter in that book I mentioned.
Am I the only one who’s a bit irritated at today’s and yesterday’s comic? Shelly was supposedly in the forest as a sphinx for 80K years. You’d think that she’d gotten control over the shifting thing by now, especially considering her temper. Not to mention Justin is a cop, and last time I checked getting sexed up in the showers at a public place is illegal.
If you’re going to spend tens of thousands of years in one place, I believe forgeting everyone would be for the best. Better than being miserable missing them all that time. Just live in the now. Anyhow, that would be a reason Creepy didn’t remind her. When it counted, she remembered everyone and their past together.
Sure she probably practiced being human still at the beginning, but it got old after the first 20,000 to 30,000 years. Remember, just before she popped back into Shelley’s body she wondering why she could not remember being human. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/where-sphinxes-come-from/
I’m really loving this scene, there’s a raw emotion to it that is translated well in the simple frames without anything needing to be said. Can’t wait till Monday to see where this is going.
Y’know, if I discovered my love was a shapeshifter, then — assuming she wasn’t the now-you’re-going-to-die sort — I think my initial reaction would be somewhere between “Did you put magic mushrooms in the meal?” and “Heck of a lucid dream” and “You’re kidding. Do that again.” If I discovered she was a closet Randian, THAT would be hard to deal with.
“Has any creature ever had but a single nature?” (From my introduction to a bit of storytelling about the origin of cats, adapted from one of Tanith Lee’s books.)
Your nym is a wonderful, classic reference… if I recall correctly, it was thebasis of the first off-color joke that an author ever got past the blue-pencil lady at one of the Golden Age SF magazines.
And that story reminds me of Asimov sneaking a sex scene past the censors at the end of one of his Robot novels, when the lady–who has been isolated from all human contact all her life by her culture–takes off her glove, and touches another character.
George O Smith – i just blanked on the title; the “Venus Equilateral” story that involves the rediscovery of ancient Martian beam-power technology, in Astounding – and he was rather embarrassed that it got through, apparently, according to other members of Campbell’s stable at the time.
Apparently it was srot of a game that some of the authors played with Kay Tarrent, JWCjr’s Editorial Assistant … and she missed that one.
Thanks. I’ve been trying not to use the same identity on too many websites, and this was one I hadn’t used. No, my name isn’t Tom, but with this name and my writing style I suspect friends could recognize me.
I think she’s more afraid of scaring him off — and of the simple fact that she’s not fully in control of herself.
Which, after all, is something that happens to many of us as we start letting down our guards.
Continuing the process of becoming fully human… for a broad definition of human. Not an expected twist, but as with much good art it’s in the “oh, of course” category once we’ve seen it.
Take a look at the first frame. You’ll see the little mark on her nose (right about where a pair of eyeglasses would leave an impression), and also a furrow between her brows and some rather impressively jagged fang-teeth. These are changes in her appearance that we’ve seen before… in the Time Forest, when she was fully in sphinx form… and again, when she accidentally sphinxified in her apartment while having a nightmare.
Also, notice how the shape of her eyebrow is consistent in the first, second, and third frames… we’re being show three views of the same eye.
To me, this all says that she’s already started to shift into sphinx form in the shower.
Shelly is not mad at Justin. She is afraid of turning into a sphinx because she is aroused by him. The attention is not unwanted, but she is undecided about whether to burden him with her preternatural aspect. Apparently, the sphinx is about to be let out of the bag. And no she won’t hurt him on purpose , she isn’t that kind of sphinx. (She could squash him unintentionally in the shower though.) Just my $.02.
Also, Shelly has been, I believe, stuck in the time forest for 80,000 in sphinx form. No changing, because that plutonium was lethal to humans. Shelly is a sphinx. That is her true form. She is exerting some energy to maintain her human aspect. She has not had a lot of practice doing this, I think. Even Nudge had to read up on shape-shifting and I don’t think there was a Library branch in the time forest. That is my take, and I could be horribly, horribly wrong.
If those are standard 4″ shower tiles Shelly is Shellinx in the last 2 panels. There’s over 11 3/8″ between the thumb gouge and the pinky gouge from her nails. If I spread my fingers out as far as they could go I can barely get 8″ from the tip of my pinky to the tip of my thumb, and I’ve got my nails pointed away from being able to make gouges in anything. When my fingers are in gouging position I can barely manage 5″ at best.
Gah… the suspense is killing me!
I’m calling Dream for next week. She’s going to wake up as Shellex in bed next week. From what I’ve seen of Justin I don’t see im doing this at the Studio’s showers.
Did you not read where he suggest they go back to his place? That’s HIS shower.
Surprise! Mythical-being-bestiality-seks!
The real surprise comes when we find out that Justin’s into that sort of thing.
No, the real surprise will be *why* Justin is into that sort of thing.
And then Justin was a sphinx too!
Sphinxdom – the new STD
It’s not bestiality cause she’s sapient, silly. Sex with sapient, sentient quadrupeds with which one can fully communicate as an equal is not bestiality. WEIRD and kinky, for sure. Bestiality? Not so much.
It probably qualifies as rishathra rather than bestiality.
Am afraid it does count as bestiality actually, least from a legal pov. As animals tend to be described as vertebrates that aren’t human.
So yes, if you wish to get your groove on with that nice looking Twi’lek, Elven Maiden, Gorgon Sister, Klingon, Sphinx or whatever.. Guess what.. You’ve just committed Bestiality.
😛
Of course, current law does not deal with these questions–there’s no need.
Apart from the area around Roswell, NM, of course.
I suspect if aliens became common, there would be more legal distinctions in this area.
No doubt.
For starters, the whole issue of “legal person-hood” would have to be redefined. At the moment, there’s no other sentient species on the planet whose members are legally “persons” (although corporations here in the United States do carry that legal privilege). If elves or Klingons or Minbari show up in sufficient numbers to be noticed, I imagine that a court case to decide whether they are “human” in the legal sense (or simply game animals with pretensions) won’t be long in coming.
I actually favor the attitude put forth by Joe Quigley (one of Spider Robinson’s characters), after he met Ralph Von Wau Wau (a talking dog) at Lady Sally’s House.
His comment was to the effect of “To me, anyone who says ‘Excuse me’ is a person.”
He did, however, object to the pun Ralph had just unleashed. There’s no accounting for taste…
So basically, food that talks isn’t food.
If I remember correctly, that was exactly the criteria used by Shadowchild. If it didn’t talk, he ate it.
well it rather depends how you define ‘talk’ – Klingons wont eat some foods, unless it is alive and squawking…
Now if the ‘universal translator’ then says “help! he is eating my babies!” …. :O
*beep*
“My name is Inigo Frogtoya. You ate my larvae. Prepare to die.”
*beep*
ROFL not if I squash you first 🙂
“unfortunately, due to an error in scale, the *whole* frogtoya battle fleet was crushed under a joggers boot…” 😛 🙂
Ah, The Princess Bride and the late great Douglas Adams in one thread. There is great comedy there.
That whole, “food that talks isn’t food” reminds me of a scene in The Silver Chair.
You know the one.
Well good thing she never talked to Justin about this to keep it a secret from him. *eyeroll*
just hope she’s not as aggressive as Monica-
*Guy from Clearks 2* INTERSPECIES EROTICA!!!!*/Guy from Clerks 2*
This thread has gotten me thinking about the future. With the future having the possibilities of extra terrestrial or dimensional alien, A.I. and transgenic life forms interaction with humans, there is gonna be a lot of changes made to the human concepts of legal and rational sexual relationships.
OTOH, there might not be as much need as we now think. How many people are attracted sexually to a, say, sea urchin, or a lobster? And yet they are far closer to us biologically than any alien. . . .
heh, you can be attracted to *anything*, but it rather depends on compatibility, options you want, and what the local state thinks of it…. 😛 🙂
I do believe a guy in India married his horse…
Now, if that horse started to speak, and show good character and intelligence, just like Brian in ‘family guy’….
you mean, you never saw starwars??? (etc, etc…..:P )
XD
Thank heavens! I thought she was going to do something unusual for shower sex. Instead, just another morning’s wake-up call.
Looks like things just got interesting. How interesting, I don’t know. The real question is how will Justin take it. The end result will probably be the strangest thing he’s ever seen. But yeah, as Leak said, the suspense is killing me too.
well… it looks like Justin is ‘getting it on…’ , not noticing the change, and falling asleep after – Leaving Shellinx to creep out ..??
Pan to Shelly’s apartment, ‘loved up’ Justin at the door..
“hey babe, sorry, I seem to have fainted????”
Oh, i think things were pretty interesting … at least for Justin and Shelly … already.
Cliffhangers! Bloody Cliffhangers!
I think Paul must have majored in Cliffhanging in college.
Ain’t it great?! 😀
Nah. But he took a course in Chekhovian Marksmanship … i wonder, when he gave Shelly’s other form the cat-type-beside-the-nose-mark, was he looking forward to a strip like this?
I thought she and Phix only had those markings in Sphinx-form – so Shelly was at least partially transformed in that panel.
hopefully not bloody.
maybe shellinx is just coming out because shelly is so enthusiastic 😀
I’ve had it with these motherfuckin’ cliffhangers in this motherfuckin’ webcomic.
I blame it all on Scheherazade and Republic serials.
What about Pearl White, of 1914 silent movie fame?
Oh my, I had no idea there was so Much incest involved with the cliffhangers.
You’d think. But Phix was supposed to have thrown herself off a cliff when Oedipus guessed her riddle. Obviously that’s part of the story he padded.
I don’t think the tropenamer can be considered on outlier.
So if “you’ve had it with this comic”… then STOP READING IT!!!!… you don’t have to post crap like you just did just to say you don’t like the comic anymore… just frickin’ stop reading it, and let the rest of us continue in peace.
Now now Scantrontb. go easy on the dude. He might have just been trying to get into the conversation and not be a poo-poo head. ;-p
(Ducks and covers from the coming fallout )
He didn’t manage it.
If he were trying that, he’d have gone into a scatological depression rather than an incestual ejaculation.
Obvious “Snakes on a plane” reference wasn’t obvious?
Never seen the movie, but I knew the reference…
I think we were all warned off that movie several arcs ago. Besides, the apparent I.Q. of the commenting gang on this board is about 198 (I drag it down, sorry 😛 ) and I wouldn’t expect smart folks to watch movies whose titles are that… inane.
If ya cannea handle it, leave it alone for a coupla weeks… and than just read the archive, ya wimp…. 🙂
illiad et all- Did we break him, or just his vocabulary?
Oh, my. Yes, Justin is in for one hell of a surprise in the next few moments.
It’s going to be next to impossible to get those scratches out of the shower tiles… tiles like that aren’t really designed to be re-surfaced. Probably have to replace them entirely, and re-do the grout.
These after-sex repairs are going to get expensive.
That’s only if someone was thoughtful enough to save back some tiles from the original job or someone is extremely lucky and can match the original tiles.
Alternatively one could get creative with tiles of a different color and re-do the whole wall as I once had to do.
Also – If those are the usual four-inch tiles then – Shelly has ‘let the cat out of the bag’ – and the eagle too.
You did Sphinx shower sex too???
Dave @1:54; Sheik @2:13 – Yeah, you’d either have to replace the tiles, or find some professional working in sand and glass to restore them with her magic powers.
In the meanwhile, I hope Justin is having a good time.
I wonder if that sort of craftwork is something Stheno could pull offf? Paul did say that her particular gorgon mojo turnd people into sand…
If you can “poit” pee and poop out of person, why not “poit a few tiles onto a shower wall?
and I can’t wait to see what happens next 0.o
Heh. Okay, Justin gets a surprise.
And (assuming Shelly and/or Justin manage to finesse events) Jacqui and Luci wonder what the hell happened to the tiles…
“Oh, sorry, Jacqui… I forgot about the No Pets policy, decided to give my rare Himalayan carbide-clawed puma a shampoo while I was showering, and he got suds up his nose and started sneezing and … well, I’m sure you can see the result.”
That is too good!!! I almost lost my coffee!!!
There’s 2 hot people getting it on and you’re worried about the condition of the wall tile.
I have some bad news for you…
Oh don’t be silly… we’re not worried JUST about the tiles…
.
.
.
what will all the FEATHERS and FUR do to the PLUMBING!!!
Yup. Plugged plumbing, scratched ceramics, possibly even broken walls or ceilings, the smell of wet fur pervading the air.
Jacqui’s going to have a real headache, when she sees it. She’ll certainly remember it for years, as That Dreadful Tile-‘n-all Day.
(not sure what the appropriate Pun Jar payment would be, but I imagine one of you equipped with red-hot pincers will be glad to extract it from me at some point)
Nah – red hot pliers could do damage to collectable coins – and crisp the Benjamins . But an ice cold set of pinchers applied to certain places ..
He is going to understand some things very quickly and be very confused by many others.
Indeed! And, allowing that this is an intimate adult situation, I wouldn’t doubt that Shelly’s, ah, distress, was from Justin, mmm, ahhh… making a connection with her in the last panel of the previous page. No doubt, they are still, ummm, entwined at the moment — at least through panel one today.
Perfect scenario: Shelly transforms into Shellnix and turns her head to see Justinix, still entwined.
“I’ve been waiting for you for so long!” he says, continuing the connection and hugging her closer.
They Poit to a lovely deserted island to enjoy the day — together.
That, or we’re going to get a visit from the Helena Hand Basket sales representative with a full set of samples to use and enjoy!
So I wasn”t the only one to catch the “may I come in” interpetation. Shell relax and enjoy the ride and Justin needs a safety belt like in the rodeo.
Justin as a sphinx. Possible and definetly interesting but it seems a bit to pat for Paul;s way of thinking. If Justin ain’t then someone better poit in quick cause Shelly does have a temper. That eye in frame three don’t look like a happy eye to me!
Isn’t Helena the French-Canadian/Amerind cousin of Helen Waite, the sponsor of so many of Paul’s Monday strips?
I think you’re thinking of Helen d’Amnation, who sponsors most of the Friday cliffhangers.
I see a hole in your theory… it’s the hole in the ocean where the island used to be.
I possibly messed up the link. It’s http://www.wapsisquare.com/comic/my-what/
Sorry.
Ok, how many of you “see” the Bruce Banner / Hulk parallel in the way Paul drew this?
“Shellynx not smash.. Shellynx molt!
Shellynx purrrrr!!!
Oh, definitely. A classic “Here we go… ain’t no stopping it now!” reveal.
I stopped expecting those when Dallas pulled the “last year was a dream and Bobby is in the shower” recont.
And more specifically the 80’s tv-series, including close-ups….
Recognizing that, makes me feel old.. 😛
I feel you Jay-Em. I remember the wasteland of TV in the 70’s and the minefield of the 80’s TV.
*brain splode*
I can’t help but wonder if Dr. Banner has ever had a similar experience?
Naaah.
The Hulks, are fairly clearly linked to rage/anger.
Shulkie is a good example of this, considering all the paramours she’s had. Not once did she turn back to normal in the midst of it.
Although I do kinda wonder how she manages to get it on with regular humans. An orgasm does mean loss of muscle control and spasming. Now toss in her strength..
Well.. smushed bodyparts essentially.
Kinda the inverse Superman situation. Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex.
Depends on the continuity you’re in. Marvel Movie continuity – Bruce came close to “Hulking Out” when he got a little…close…to what’s-her-name (Liv Tyler’s character).
I can’t remember the exact words, but in the Hulk doesn’t Liv Tyler ask Bruce “…couldn’t you get a _little_ excited?”
Visions of partial transformations and an instant NC-17 rating came to mind…
Yes, I saw a color drawing of the Hulk in the aftermath of such a transformation duing sex. I won’t arrange a link to it here, being as gory as it is. Although, considering how bloody some of the drawings here have been, it may not be as far off as I think.
Okay, after the shock…the water effect is EFFIN’ FANTASTIC!
<- Shop nerd…
y’know
i had got a bit destracted and forgot she had the water running.
now you mention it… they are nice effects ^^
Water? Oh yea.
To quote one response I once got to a certain Ole and Lena joke, “The mind gets distracted.”
Interesting
The hand is going down and to the right towards a solid wall.
If Shelly was transforming into a sphinx, shouldn’t that be just the opposite because of her increasing size?
Not necessarily. She could be leaning over and moving her arm down faster than she is growing.
Nope. she’s trying her hardest to keep from doing so. Hence the scratches…
Her hand dosen’t appear to be increasing in size relative to the tiles. Maybe this is just a partial sphinx-out. You know, teeth claws and facial markings without upsizing. Maybe she won’t turn into eight tons of muscle, teeth, claws and wings. Maybe Justin won’t notice his girlfriend got fuzzy and has really sharp nails. The kind that leave scratches in ceramic tile. Maybe. But not likely.
The question is, how will he react? Allen and Kevin have dealt with the crazyness thier women are part of with nearly superhuman levels of understanding. Will Justin? Can he deal with his girfriend turning into a mythic creature? At some point, they’re going to run into someone who won’t be able to deal with things well outside thier “normal”. I don’t want Justin to be that guy, but it has to happen sooner or later.
That could be. There may be a stable transformation state somewhere between full frontal sphinx amd human. Something like a furry. Some sphinx features but generally human size and configuration.
I hope not though. I, for one, want to see full sphinx mode and Justin being brought into the inner circle. Still, it could turn out to be anti-climatic in that she may get it under control and Justin being none the wiser. I would say Monday will tell, but, like Jin, it may take some time to be finally resolved.
LOL “full frontal sphinx”
but you wouldn’t question someone turning into a furry?
I certainly would, especially if it happened while we were having sex.
Oh, I’d question it, as I’m sure Justin would. Just that intimacy and copulation would be much more feasible under such circumstances.
@Boxilar: In an earlier post I noted how large her hand was compared to the shower tiles (usually four inches?), so she may already be at least sphinx-sized, if not yet fully sphinx-formed.
Oh wow. This is almost too much for my contorted imagination. Almost… O_o
Oh god, why is that first frame so hilarious?! I can’t stop laughing at it. 😆
Oh, it’s funny — but I am well known for my low sense of humor. Which says Bad Things about you.
So question – would willing submission to induced hallucination in a fountain mid-intimacy and with possible entheogenesis be considered similar to this scenario? Because if so I’ve been involved in something similar to this before.
Also, should that fact seem weird? I can’t remember anymore.
~D.
You mean… you’ve had sex with a Sphinx too! You sick puppy. But the weird thing is… your like the 3rd person in this thread that has!
If Justin is the kind of man I think he is, his reaction will be, “Dang! Is it midnight already?” 😛
Oh kiss a fat babies ass!
If this is heading in the direction I think it is. Then this will be the grandest of all Zingers.
You’re thinking “Patrick Duffy in the shower” too?
Oh lord no! I certainly hope this doesn’t turn out to be a dream sequence, but it might. When you think about it, all this does seem a bit out of character for Justin. He’s pretty straight laced being a good cop and all and Shelly is succoming to it all rather easily considering the consequences. After 80,000 years of learning patience one would think she would have more willpower.
hey, after that long, even you would forget how *totally distracting* good sex was… 😛 🙂
No. I’ve been reading the story of Oedipus and the Sphynx.
As long as Paul doesn’t start channeling Oedipus Tex.
PDQB!! 😀
I doubt its going there. So far Paul has avoided every Retcon pitfall in this comic, so I expect that he will not do that.
I was going to suggest that Shelly’s transformation is not a forgone conclusion, but the look of that left hand – and the title of this comic – seem to prove me wrong.
I agree. The tile stays the same size in comparison to her head and hands so I would expect a tertiary form instead of a full sphinx or that she just has carbide fingernails.
I hope Justin likes cats!
As I said before “Shellinx Purrrrrr!!!!!”
!! … ?
bye bye Justin… 😛
Hmmm…I think the title of this comic went meta…
1) Justin needs to “duck and cover” as Shelly sphinxes-out.
2) Shelly needs to duck and cover as the shower gets damaged enough for Jacqui to notice.
2) Paul needs to duck and cover as the fan rage reaches epic proportions over the weekend cliffhanger.
3) The fans need to duck and cover as the .
Arrgh! Stupid href tag. #3 Link is to XKCD #849, text was supposed to be “fecal matter gets multiplied by its complex conjugate”. Also oops on the two #2s.
Or, you could just say that the excretory matter is about to strike the rotary air impeller.
*drops coins in pun jar*.
… or as Goodgulf Grayteeth put it, “The fewmits have hit the ventilator.”
Of course, Paul could be hinting that the next plot element to be revealed, is a mallard in the next room singing pupular tunes from the 60s. I don’t actually think so but I wouldn’t put it beyond him.
*also contributes coins to jar*
He may not be an actual demon, but that is still one demonic-looking… sorry, what was I talking about? I got distracted somehow…
The link works. You’ve got a dot there to click on.
Dot, yes. Planned text, no. Hence my “arrgh!”
Since Shelly’s a sphinx, she should be asking Justin difficult riddles that must be answered properly on pain of death. Such as “Do these pants make my ass look fat?”
I think my ex gf was a sphinx.
Weird… my ex asked me that question once, too.
I said, “Do you want an honest answer or should I lie to save your feelings?”
She looked at me for a minute, said “Never mind” and never asked me a question like that again.
Well, ya know, if all pants make her ass look fat because her ass IS fat, you can truthfully answer “no.” Just don’t elaborate as to the reasoning behind your answer.
I just say they make her fanny look wonderfully round. 😀
you could answer “Yes”… and then if she gets spun up, you ask “Why are you mad? they DO make your butt look “PHAT”, ya’ know… Pretty Hot And Tempting?!” hopefully for your sake she’ll accept that and drop the subject at that point… and if she was truly asking if they really did look bad and wanted an honest answer in order to decide future clothes purchases, then you could also go with a simple “yes” and when she asks why you can go with the truth (yep, you look bad in those pants, get some new ones.)
unfortunately, it’s almost impossible for a normal male to know which answer she’s *really* wanting, and we’ll almost always choose the wrong one… YMMV ;-(
I believe that there is no correct answer. From my experience a woman asks that if they are in the mood to tear off your n***s.
Even not answering can be a problem!
“…It’s not the pants…”
Official worst answer of the year… “I didn’t know you had a pet.”
.
.
.
>:(
Or even a perfectly innocent remark, like “I see you have taken up smuggling Volkswagens” can be taken amiss.
I think “Duck And Cover” is the wrong title for this one. “Run Like Hell!” seems more appropriate.
I think the title is to suggest that it’s too late to escape.
Shelly’s warnings in panel one are blatantly futile.
…
Or, Justin has been Zeus all along and he’s learned to use a condom.
(Adds a lightning rod to the pun jar.)
If he’s going to transform into something other than a sphinx, I would lean toward a Minotaur. The version with the body of a bull and the head of a man. A big bull.
@Yamara – are you planning to do a colored version of today’s strip, and add a subtle gold toning to the water in the first frame? It would be appropriate if Zeus is involved (again).
@Yamara: and yesterdays too!! 😛 😛 🙂
Takes me half a decade to get around to coloring my own strips… And I recall Oglaf covering that one pretty efficiently.
Besides, where would the condom fit on a downpour?
I think he’d learn from his own treatment of his dad that prophylaxis is the way to go.
Oglaf ??? linky please??? :E 🙂
I also thought of “HULK” when I saw the ‘eye sequence’. However lets consider the “explosion of energy” round the eye could be an intication of … ‘Big O’ and the hand /claw dropping a sign of relaxation after the release.
As to Cliffhangers, Watch enough ‘DoctorWho’ and you can get into, even enjoy cliffhangars. Makes it unique.
I’m rather doubting it’s going to be that peaceful. That hand motion in the last frame doesn’t look at all relaxed… not a post-O release of tension.
Also, check the first frame… wavy lines around Shelly’s head, outside of her hairline. Those might just be indicators for vigorous motion 🙂 … but they look alot like the “sphinx transformation is underway” effect we saw around her hand on Wednesday.
Taken together and in context, I think these are showing us that she’s undergoing a major shift of form, as she did during her arachnophobic nightmare.
I thought it was Justin supplying the ‘vigorous motion’ ??? 😛
On cliffhangers, I quote my favorite writer: “The cliffhanger structure is fun to write…”–Holly Lisle.
‘Nuff said.
Now for future plot twists related to this mini-omg-arc, earlier in the story Shelly let out of the bag how little sphinxes are made – namely a mating betwixt a sphinx in their human (or in her case just barely human) form and a normal human. If he is really just a human, this could be an “oven – meet dough, we’re gonna make buns” moment.
Sooo . . . why “Duck and Cover”?
I can see Justin doing the covering, but would he have to duck out of the way? Or is Shelly doing the ducking?
Or is the water going to run off her back like a duck’s???
+++++
THAT’s gonna leave a mark!
O, wait! It already did! :Þ
It means Justin is about to be revealed as a were-descendant of Genbu, and he will be wearing his grandpa’s civil defense helmet.
That’s right. I went there.
“Forget the plunger, hand me the duck…”
Things are about to get hairy.
I agree–except where feathers will fly.
[lightly drops a Hawaiian feather lei into the pun jar.]
“Flight com, flight com, I can’t hold it, she’s breaking up, she’s breaking-”
It would appear Justin isn’t heavily into foreplay. Maybe Shelly isn’t either. Anyway, life changing event in 5… 4… 3… 2…
Just as long as Justin dosen’t have to be rebiult for six million dollars. I doubt we have the technology.
You’re afraid that Shelly’s comments in the last frame yesterday, add up to the Six-Million Dollar Moan?
(places six million old Chinese dollars into the Pun Jar… I think that’s about $2.53 in today’s currency)
DOn’t need tech.
Need Mayahuel and about two hundred pounds of clay.
Justin “Tightbuns”. Police Officer. We can rebiuld him. We have the technology. Really, really OLD technology. (Side effects may include random teleportation, halitosis exceeding 5000 degrees ferienhieght and occassional civilization destroying rages and dry mouth. Consult your Glyph reader if any of these symtoms occur. Use only as directed.)
Is there such a thing as anti rule 34? Because I am not turned on by this at all.
Possibly, but this is a legitimate plot exposition, not cheap fanservice, or a naughty aside. Indeed, it is a crucial plot point regarding, among other things, emotional extremes and their sources. Rule 34 does not apply here.
One good thing is – the hand is gouging chunks out of the wall … not Justin.
And of course … the wait for Monday.
Why would Justin gouge chunks out of the wall?
Well, his girlfriend did just change species in front of him.
ruh-roh. Shelly’s gonna have some ‘splaining to do. If Justin doesn’t panic and run away, anyway. But the boys of wapsi square tend to be as awesome as the girls, so with a long explanation, maybe he’ll stick around (if he survives Shelly’s transformation).
Y’know, if something bad happens here (either physically, or with regard to Shelly’s relationship with Justin), I’m going to hold Phix at least partially to blame. Our little potted daisy has been cruel.
After all, we know that Phix visited Shelly/Shellinx in the TIme Forest… likely on multiple occasions. Shelly said “I learned as much from her words as from her silence”. They had somewhere on the order of 80,000 years of (reversed) time during which they could have talked. Shelly apparently learned about the nature of the Sphinx/human relationship, something about Vimana cells, etc. It’s entirely possible that Phix, like Shelly, was born as a human (we don’t know when the sphinx/human hybridizing started, or how old Phix is). We know that Phix has, er, dalliances with human chew-toys.
… and yet, during all that time, and knowing that sphinx-ness was new to Shelly, Phix didn’t indulge in a bit of wise girl-talk about The Boyfriend Problem?
Two women, both straight, interacting for a very extended period of time, and never talking about relationships with men?? Granted, Wapsi Square is fantasy-fiction, but I’m really having trouble suspending my sense of disbelief at that!
Maybe this is some form of subtle (or not-so-subtle) sphinx hazing ritual? Make every newbie learn about form-management (and Safe Sphinx Sex) the hard way, while the older sphinxen sit back and giggle?
I like the sphinx hazing thing.
Then again, we girls have so much to talk about, it could have legitimately not come up.
One cramped bathroom coming up!
I can’t help but notice that until now, the long-term boyfriends of Wapsi Square (Alan, Kevin) have been unusually patient and understanding with some situations that would be pret-ty weird if encountered in the real world.
Somehow I don’t think Justin is going to be as understanding when he discovers his girlfriend turns into a creature of myth when aroused.
Oh he’ll be understanding all right.
He’ll understand that he needs a long medical leave and regular visits to the PD psychiatrist.
I’m a bit squicked out. This seems sort of… rapey. Sorry, Paul! She’s definitely aroused, but this isn’t what I would call “enthusiastic consent”.
It’s sort of like the first time we met Justin, now that I think about it, but reversed.
So, uh, yeah. In conclusion… huh.
P.S. Yeah, she could fold him like a napkin, I know, I know. It’s more about emotional control, though…
P.P.S. Not to make light of a serious subject, but if I said this was rubbing me the wrong way would I need to feed the pun jar?
With enthusiastic consent, if you’re not sure where the line is, you’ve crossed it.
Paul has elided the conversation between Shelly saying yes (very enthusiastically) and then running to the shower, where she struggles with the reasons for saying no. These are dangerous waters. But it is also a fictional story, with some elements that are pure fantasy. Let’s see where Paul takes us.
“With enthusiastic consent, if you’re not sure where the line is, you’ve crossed it.”
Precisely!
And: mmm, true. Shelly did seem to totally consent two strips ago, but right in that same strip she (apparently) changed her mind (which, as we both know, any person reserves the right to do at any time). So I guess that’s where I’m getting a little weirded out… she basically retracted her consent, and she’s trying to stop him verbally now, even though she’s physically aroused. He can see her arousal and is not listening to her asking him to stop, because he believes she actually wants him to continue. Messy.
(ALSO, I assume this wouldn’t be a “we have a safe word, she’d stop me if she really meant it” situation since we do know Shelly is truthfully hesitant to engage in this sexual situation, at this moment.)
Now, whether Shelly thinks of it that way is a completely different story. I know some women who feel victimized to find out their husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends/whatever touch their body in a sexual manner while they’re sleeping, while others consider it a sign of love, closeness, sexual attraction, and mutual trust. Everyone’s limits are different.
By the way, I actually didn’t see your comment about Shelly displaying enthusiastic consent in yesterday’s strip until just now… although I do agree though that yesterday’s looks a lot more like she’s totally diggin’ it than today’s.
A play-by-play isn’t the best way to approach this. You wind up trying to find a line, which gets interpreted by third parties as trying to find a way to justify assault.
Look, they’re in a relationship. This means they’re supposed to be on the same team. If the whole team isn’t winning, you’re doing it wrong–maybe very wrong.
If Justin is human with no inkling of the supernatural, he may believe he’s engaging in welcome play. If he’s been a sphinx all this time, and known it, he may deserve to be kicked to the kerb.
But I’m not going looking for some philosophical scrimmage line right now. I’m going to watch an artist take on one of the most dangerous subjects he can, and see where he takes us.
Ok, me too! I’m not condemning anything or trying to do a play-by-play. I’m certainly not telling Paul to stop or change the direction of the arc. I’m just pointing out that the subject matter is messy and, as you say, dangerous… because that doesn’t seem to be a popular interpretation based on the commentary so far. And I think so far you and I are mostly in agreement, actually?
My note about yesterday’s strip was just to clarify that I wasn’t trying to be snide by bringing up enthusiastic consent in reference to your comment… I was considering the issue independently.
No offense taken; you didn’t come off as snide. Honest reactions are honest.
It’s just I’ve seen these is-it-rape-or-isn’t-it threads too many times before. It will get long, and participants will get rules lawyerly, and ugly experiences will resurface, and emotions will be twisted like storms, until the willfully ignorant will congratulate themselves, and a handful of observers will stand back in awe that so much effort will be spent in avoiding the minimal consensus it takes to show consideration for a fellow human being.
Not that any Wapsi regulars are like that. The subject just attracts interweb trolls like it’s fresh dwarf stew left under a bridge. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it can stay sane around here.
Also, I apologize if I’ve come off as too insistent. Ideally, talking about this is important, and yes, I’m sure we’re in agreement on all the main issues.
If you’re uncomfortable, then Paul is successfully creating art, and you take this for the serious subject it is. I’m demonstrably making wisecracks in the other threads, but in discussing the issue of consent and its circumvention, it’s not something to make light of, hence my heavy tone.
Yes, this is a very touchy and sensitive area… it’s fraught with minefields and subjective interpretations. The language of consent (both verbal and nonverbal) has a lot of ambiguities in it… lots of room for people to hurt and be hurt.
My own feeling is that an essential starting point is the maxim I’ve heard expressed as That’s the very least that anyone should do, in matters of passion and intimacy… more sensitivity to nuance is better, of course.
In this case, we didn’t see Shelly say either “no” or “stop” in-frame… at least, not explicitly. Should Jason have interpreted her indirect “You don’t understand!” as a “stop”… as cancelling out her earlier enthusiastic interest? Maybe he should… but maybe it’s not reasonable to assume that he’d necessarily grasp that, under the conditions of the moment. Unfortunately, being male, it’s possible that the blood flow to his brain wasn’t what it might have been, at that instant (the blood had an appointment elsewhere).
He may end up (soon) regretting that he didn’t get the memo… it’ll depend to some extent on what degree of form-control Shelly manages to retain.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume anything in this case, one way or the other. To me the point is moot.
Also, people tend to forget (or don’t know) that females have a rush of blood to that area during arousal as well. It’s not just males who suffer from reduced brain blood supply.
“My own feeling is that an essential starting point is the maxim I’ve heard expressed as “Take no for an answer. Take stop for a command.” That’s the very least that anyone should do, in matters of passion and intimacy… more sensitivity to nuance is better, of course.”
Of course… in a perfect world, we would all feel comfortable explicitly saying “No, stop” in any situation in which we felt uncomfortable, without feelings of guilt or the fear that we would hurt another’s feelings by doing so. But a lot of people don’t say “no” in these situations, because they either don’t think they can or they are afraid of negative consequences if they do. A person may say “I have a headache” because they don’t want to say “I don’t want to have sex with you tonight” and then have to deal with the other’s hurt feelings based on assumptions about that statement. So should “I have a headache” be considered synonymous with “no”? Y… es? Maybe? MESSY!
As for blood flow… well, I’m a lady, so I don’t know. I’ve never personally been so massively turned on that I was unable to think or control my actions (actually, that’s another reason this seems odd to me… Shelly apparently can’t control her libido, like, at all. For me, fear of whatever nature – in this case the fear of transforming at an inopportune time – is an immediate arousal-killer. I didn’t comment on that, however, because I have no frame of reference other than myself, and that’s hardly fair to impose on others)
When an orgasm is happening a woman, like a man, will have a loss of control, It may not be blood loss but is is a loss. At least that is what the experts say on the subject.
Add to that that Shelly most likely has not had an orgasm in 80,000 subjective years would make this the ‘O’ of all time.
Reminds me of that famous Robin Williams quote: “See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”
And there are stories of women being kissed and becoming weak in the knees–similar, but it’s interesting that for women it’s more the romance they seek, for which they offer sex, while men seek the sex, for which they offer romance.
And, in that light, you may want to consider the difference between porn (visual, explicitly sexual) vs. Romance novels (verbal, explicitly romantic).
Here’s an extra ironic twist for you.
I read a book about sensual massage (wanted to learn some new techniques) a few years back and it mentioned how it has been noted that perhaps a lot of men use sex as an excuse to touch someone intimately while still seeming “manly” about it.
I.e. it’s too “girly” to want to cuddle but who’s going to know if you enjoy the cuddling that happens during sex?
The whole reason it’s mentioned in the book is they offer the idea that for some men, learning how to do proper massage might be an answer for them, give them more of what they may truly want: skin-to-skin contact.
And it’s not likely that such men will find themselves with women who DON’T appreciate the new talent they learn in the process.
Especially after they show her what a “three handed massage” is. And no I did NOT make that up, it was it’s own chapter in that book I mentioned.
Am I the only one who’s a bit irritated at today’s and yesterday’s comic? Shelly was supposedly in the forest as a sphinx for 80K years. You’d think that she’d gotten control over the shifting thing by now, especially considering her temper. Not to mention Justin is a cop, and last time I checked getting sexed up in the showers at a public place is illegal.
Like I said yesterday, NSFW– mainly for Shelly and Justin.
her temper sure
but i dont think anyone who visited her in the forest shagged her y’know?
sort of path not trod kinda thing.
All we know is that she forgot everyone she ever knew, except herself, and she had to think a beat on that one.
Monica, Heather, Justin, Jin, Nudge, her dad, her mom, everyone.
Seemingly, Creepy was unable to remind her of any of these people, either.
Only she knows what visitors she had, but it was long enough have, and to have forgotten, thousands of lovers.
Maybe she’ll write a book.
If you’re going to spend tens of thousands of years in one place, I believe forgeting everyone would be for the best. Better than being miserable missing them all that time. Just live in the now. Anyhow, that would be a reason Creepy didn’t remind her. When it counted, she remembered everyone and their past together.
heh. a LOT of illegal things happen every day….
Often in showers, too.
By Cops TOO…
… and then George Micheal made a video about it all!!! 😀 😀
Sure she probably practiced being human still at the beginning, but it got old after the first 20,000 to 30,000 years. Remember, just before she popped back into Shelley’s body she wondering why she could not remember being human.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/where-sphinxes-come-from/
I get the strangest feeling there’s not going to be such a stunning revelation to Justin on Monday.Just a hunch.
I’m really loving this scene, there’s a raw emotion to it that is translated well in the simple frames without anything needing to be said. Can’t wait till Monday to see where this is going.
People…the Sphinx is about to hit the fan! (Again, pun jar chases around room, snapping at me)
Y’know, if I discovered my love was a shapeshifter, then — assuming she wasn’t the now-you’re-going-to-die sort — I think my initial reaction would be somewhere between “Did you put magic mushrooms in the meal?” and “Heck of a lucid dream” and “You’re kidding. Do that again.” If I discovered she was a closet Randian, THAT would be hard to deal with.
“Has any creature ever had but a single nature?” (From my introduction to a bit of storytelling about the origin of cats, adapted from one of Tanith Lee’s books.)
Your nym is a wonderful, classic reference… if I recall correctly, it was thebasis of the first off-color joke that an author ever got past the blue-pencil lady at one of the Golden Age SF magazines.
And that story reminds me of Asimov sneaking a sex scene past the censors at the end of one of his Robot novels, when the lady–who has been isolated from all human contact all her life by her culture–takes off her glove, and touches another character.
George O Smith – i just blanked on the title; the “Venus Equilateral” story that involves the rediscovery of ancient Martian beam-power technology, in Astounding – and he was rather embarrassed that it got through, apparently, according to other members of Campbell’s stable at the time.
Apparently it was srot of a game that some of the authors played with Kay Tarrent, JWCjr’s Editorial Assistant … and she missed that one.
Thanks. I’ve been trying not to use the same identity on too many websites, and this was one I hadn’t used. No, my name isn’t Tom, but with this name and my writing style I suspect friends could recognize me.
With that eye shot, I can hear the eerie chorus now (when Banner turns into the Hulk)
You know, we might be missing the obvious. Shelly might actually kill Justin.
By the way, does anyone know how to reset the bleeding RSS feed to more than ten?
I think she’s more afraid of scaring him off — and of the simple fact that she’s not fully in control of herself.
Which, after all, is something that happens to many of us as we start letting down our guards.
Continuing the process of becoming fully human… for a broad definition of human. Not an expected twist, but as with much good art it’s in the “oh, of course” category once we’ve seen it.
Looks like we’re all ‘Justin’ time for the massacre (Brinks armoured truck pulls up next to pun jar)
. . .
http://youtu.be/dAagFKdsSNs
Those are not Shelly’s eyes.
Are they?
Yes, they very probably are.
Take a look at the first frame. You’ll see the little mark on her nose (right about where a pair of eyeglasses would leave an impression), and also a furrow between her brows and some rather impressively jagged fang-teeth. These are changes in her appearance that we’ve seen before… in the Time Forest, when she was fully in sphinx form… and again, when she accidentally sphinxified in her apartment while having a nightmare.
Also, notice how the shape of her eyebrow is consistent in the first, second, and third frames… we’re being show three views of the same eye.
To me, this all says that she’s already started to shift into sphinx form in the shower.
Shelly is not mad at Justin. She is afraid of turning into a sphinx because she is aroused by him. The attention is not unwanted, but she is undecided about whether to burden him with her preternatural aspect. Apparently, the sphinx is about to be let out of the bag. And no she won’t hurt him on purpose , she isn’t that kind of sphinx. (She could squash him unintentionally in the shower though.) Just my $.02.
Also, Shelly has been, I believe, stuck in the time forest for 80,000 in sphinx form. No changing, because that plutonium was lethal to humans. Shelly is a sphinx. That is her true form. She is exerting some energy to maintain her human aspect. She has not had a lot of practice doing this, I think. Even Nudge had to read up on shape-shifting and I don’t think there was a Library branch in the time forest. That is my take, and I could be horribly, horribly wrong.
If those are standard 4″ shower tiles Shelly is Shellinx in the last 2 panels. There’s over 11 3/8″ between the thumb gouge and the pinky gouge from her nails. If I spread my fingers out as far as they could go I can barely get 8″ from the tip of my pinky to the tip of my thumb, and I’ve got my nails pointed away from being able to make gouges in anything. When my fingers are in gouging position I can barely manage 5″ at best.