I have been praying that this is all a very elaborate training program and Phix is waiting in the wings to ‘pull Shelly out of the pool before she drowns’. Sink or swim, I suppose.
I wouldn’t out right curse them out even if it’s unbelievable. He’s running scared fine and has had a bad shock doubly fine but she’s been at least decent and hasn’t responded as harshly… Well yet. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s not even like her wrong was done on purpose either…I’m just rambling and tires since I just stayed up soley to catch the update Dx I hope I made some sort of sense whether you agree with it or not.
But her wrong WAS done on purpose. Her wrong has been leaving him out of the loop for the entirety of their relationship! She’s built this on nothing but lies, and it’s not terribly shocking that when she says something that sounds crazy, he view it as crazy and insulting.
Also, maybe you didn’t look at his CHEST? She gave him a good sight more than just a shock.
I’m sorry… I didn’t realize a relationship that was started and based wholly on sex if I remember correctly suddenly jumped to a relationship where you shared secrets. This cop got barely any face time up to the point to when she changed because he was living his own life and working. I also remember that she wasn’t a sphinx when she first met him and oh my goodness she finds out that she is a sphinx! Can’t imagine how “easy” it would be to tell someone you started at first a superficial relationship and began developing love feelings for as well as developing your relationship that omg man I’m a sphinx now btw omglmfao! Okay I’m done I have work in the morning aka 5 hours and there are plenty of patients to worry about then continue debating this point. You have your p.o.v. And I have mine.
I’m not sure I’d go with “nothing but lies”. Up untill she became a Sphinx, the things she kept from him were mostly secrets about other people. They weren’t her secrets to give away. I’ll grant you that she kept Justin mostly away from the inner circle, probably to have something in her life that was ‘normal’ and didn’t have anything to do with the supernatural. Also, so she wouldn’t have to explain how two of her best friends can teleport and one of them is an indestructable golum.
That all changed when she came back from 80k years of isolation as a Sphinx. That is a new development. I’m not sure how long she’s been back, but it couldn’t be that long. A few days, a week or two maybe. She’s been trying to figure out who she is now and is being caught of gaurd by changes in her fundamental nature. How do you explain that? How do you tell someone you love that since last Tuesday you’ve become a mythological monster? I agree that she could have handled it better, and Justin has every right, in his experince, to write her off and get on with his life. But as a wise person once said, “Would you rather be happy, or right?”
The problem here is Justin has two huge reserves of fear here: One is what Shelly just did. The next is him being sucked into “crazy woman” drama. I tend to agree with those who say it has to be dealt with now.
Unfortunately that’s Shelly too, crying, begging and pleading when she needed to show him self-control. She’s been one step behind events this entire exchange. If she could have gotten ahold of herself and met him like an adult she might have been able to salvage the situation. Now she’s down to hulking out and hoping she doesn’t break him or letting him go, probably for good.
I hasten to add I have great sympathy for why she’s running behind. I do it too. But in relationships at moments like this there is no mercy. Ya gotta do what needs to be done before it’s too late. An it just got too late for talking.
And I am hoping this is what Phix will tell her when she pulls Shelly out of the Matrix.
On the one hand I understand your opinion, but on the other hand, I know people who would feel like they were being played with or treated like an idiot if told that their girlfriend was a sphinx. For those people, cursing is the natural response to being treated/feeling that way.
I do feel like tomorrow may give us a clearer picture as to why his reaction is so vehement though. 🙂
This kind of thing is EXACTLY why I stopped dating immortals! They are very nice and teach you wonderful things about the universe but you always end up getting thumpped in the head with your mortality.
I’m assuming we get the transformation tomorrow, and then his reaction to that as our Friday cliffhanger. She kind of has to transform now. Just claiming to be a sphinx without showing proof just makes you look crazier.
Maybe I am reading this wrong, but considering the expression on Shelly’s face in the last panel, I have to ask — was that Justin? Or did he just come face to face with another character, say, Connie, and that’s what was said to him?
That look in the last panel? That’s Shelly realizing nothing she can say will make a difference. And the #&@* crossed the line. Either she’s gonna get pissed and leave him be or she’s gonna get pissed and SHOW him the truth. I’m betting on the latter. Shellinix in t-minus 10..9..8…
Yeah, and maybe get a SWAT team, the FBI, the BATF, and God-knows-who-else swarming all over her for assaulting a police officer and basically BEING a living WMD. Remember, according to Euryale, the Gov’t knows what’s going on with all of them, and up to this point have been leaving them to police themselves. If things got out of hand, it could soon be all over.
So the goverment will start trying to dictate rules to two women who have the power to blow up the sun? The important thing to remember is that Bud, Brandi and even Shelly are living by the rules because they choose to. If they decided to stop, there is literaly no force on earth besides Monica that could riegn them in.
The USA’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Enforces the laws involving those, Arson, and explosives. Most famous member was Elliot Ness who lead “The Untouchables”.
Don’t feel bad…I’m very aware of that Bureau (I don’t know many Texans who aren’t after that whole mess down in Waco back in the 90’s) but didn’t recognize it when abbreviated as BATF. I’ve only heard it in reference to the agents of the bureau…and they’ve always been called ATF Agents (iirc).
It crossed the line for her, and that’s all that really matters. Justin dosen’t realize he’s dealing with the hair trigger emotions of a lethal predator. But I get the feeling he’s about to get edumicated. The big thing to realize here, that even Shelly hasn’t fully internalized, is she isn’t human anymore.
I don’t think we can say for certain any lines were crossed for Shelly just yet. Her face is more surprised than upset, and I’d expect her to be able to portray upset pretty quickly if a line was crossed.
“Either she’s gonna get pissed and leave him be or she’s gonna get pissed and SHOW him the truth.”
Or first the one, then t’other.
By which I mean, transform, set him aside, walk out the door. Possibly with some comment about “not anymore you’re not”.
I do wonder, though, why she thought *saying* she’s a sphinx would help anything in the first place. He’s already accused her of being crazy, so saying something even *more* crazy than just staging an exploding punching bag and some sleight of hand with freddy gauntlets (or whatever he thought she did) might not be the best option. Seems it’d have made more sense to just go “look…”, and transform. “How do you like me *now*!” And if he convinces himself it’s just a trick with special effects, she can feel good about dropping him for being a maroon.
True, but I see it more a difference in degree than in kind. He was doubting that she was powerful, because he’d only seen her human, squirrel, and half-squirrel form. So she showed him her omega form. Though not quite her tippy-top most powerful; she only gets her horns when she gets angry… they disappear when she calms down. But I digress.
So, both cases of skepticism and revelation. Though granted, being skeptical you can transform at *all*, or that there is *any* magic is a bit different than being skeptical that she’s strong enough to defeat Damien.
Of course… she was specifically gengineered to defeat Damien, but he didnt’ know that.
Okay… Friday’s comic has practically written itself with that last panel… Place your bets, folks… We’re gonna see Shelly all sphinxed out and Justin with a big load of $#!+ in his pants.
I’ll take “Computer, freeze program” and Phix coming in from off-stage saying, “You could have done that better, dear. Let’s try that again, shall we?”
I’d still like it to go that way too–I called it as a possibility early Monday morning when that strip was first put up. Even so, we don’t want too many “Deus ex machina” moments like that, or it’ll get difficult to suspend one’s disbelief.
A) Justin is used to ‘Psycho’ relationships. He just thinks Shelly hid it better. And now she’s claiming it’s a spiritual animal or something. It makes him angry to have been fooled this long.
B) He’s been hurt. Like bleeding gashes hurt. This is well beyond something that would be done ‘accidentally’. While it should be ringing doorbells with his police training, his anger at the relationship breakdown is converting trained calm to plain anger.
C) Shelly has been avoiding him, and keeping this hidden. Not opening up about it. Unless she has some way to clean up his wounds quick too, he’s still likely to be carrying scars, emotional and literal, on associating with her.
I ‘expect’ her to show sphinx… but I think the most poignant response would be Justin leaving, just a shot of behind on Shelly, door clicking closed… and a divided cell of both of them with agonized expressions. Weekend, go.
Even without playing the guessing tomorrow game too much, this seems to be the most likely outcome. Not only for drama, for what we know so far too. In the strip linked below, Justin states he’s an emotional mess and, quite clumsily, states his view as to why he became attracted to her in the first place, see previous comic too.
As Tina claimed before, beside sex, they’re maybe in together for the wrong reasons, the selfish ones. Despite all this, they were happy together and had a chance to build something up. Maybe.
Not turning into a sphinx will break Shelly, obviously. Turning into one will break Justin, being confirmed you’re a certified fruitcake isn’t healthy. I say Drama!!!, break them both.
He really needs to watch his language. It’s suddenly all full of dingbats.
And yeah, ‘show don’t tell’ was the first thing that went through my mind too. But then, that’s very in character. She’s not the genre movie geek the rest of them are. It may take her another beat to remember her deep studies of people like Cassandra and apply it to herself.
After further research, the actual name for it is “grawlix”. The term was apparently coined by Mort Walker (of Beetle Bailey fame) as “the use of typographical symbols to replace violence and swearing in comic speech bubbles.”
Well, after his exhibition of utter openmindedness… or at least listen halfway to what she’s saying… or perhaps say “Sphinx… what do you mean?!!”, she’s left with about four choices:
1) Say nothing more and let him walk away, probably for good,
2) Tell him to go to hell,
3) Turn into a sphinx to presuade him she isn’t really crazy, or
4) Turn into a sphinx, tell him to go to hell, turn back, walk away, and let him think he has gone crazy.
I don’t actually blame him for his reaction, all that much. From a mundane’s point of view, everything he’s saying is actually the most likely probability in a situation like this… she’s just another delusional psychotic who happened to hurt him pretty badly.
Personally, I hope for 3. Their relationship may still be shot to hell but I’m hoping she shows him that the supernatural exists and gives him the option of coming back for a full explanation if he’s willing to consider formally dating her.
If he’s not then she’s not lost anything. If he does then it shows he’s at least willing to consider looking at things from her perspective.
Justin: [You are a crazy chick. This conversation is over. I’m walking away.]
Shelly: [I’m confessing something about myself that makes NO sense in mundane reality]
Justin: [You are spouting non sequiturs, so I will throw back an expletive to punctuate that I am already out of this conversation]
I mean, really. Even if they were in a calm situation, with no stress (or bloodshed), if Shelly were to just say “I’m a sphinx”, Justin’s only logical response would be, “What does THAT mean??”
Right?! He just shut down. Honestly, a real man could laugh something like that off. You don’t just have a tissy fit and refuse to listen to anything a person says.
Fact: I’m…extremely jumpy. A similar situation happened to me only sans claws. Just…with a knife. He was in pain, yeah, but he didn’t flip his shit. That’s the reaction of a guy who can’t handle a strong woman. End of story.
A lot of guys have no problem, whatsoever with a stong woman, but there’s a pretty wide distinction between a strong woman and a violent and erratic woman. Shelly has done a really good job of showing herself to be the latter.
She got startled and hurt him. That isn’t a woman with violent and erratic tendencies. If she did this before then maybe I’d understand. But she was in the zone and he startled her. Then she proved her strength and he called it quits.
Is that a rational reaction or fear of her being stronger than him?
Dude… that is NOT something that a normal person can do!!
Any normal person could have maybe backhanded him or punched him. He could have comprehended that and probably dealt with it fine. Even blocked it.
Shelly spun around at super human speed and gave him long (and rather deep) lacerations. A normal person couldn’t do that with just their finger nails.
And someone said before, Justin could possibly be thinking Shelly attacked him with concealed knives. Obviously not, because you can’t see them anywhere, but he’s in the “I have to rationalize what I just saw SOMEHOW or I will lose my mind” stage.
It’s not some sexist crap where he’s afraid of his woman being stronger than him. It’s the perfectly understandable concept of “hey this person just hurt me and from past experience, this is sending my red flags up”. I can comprehend that. Men are not immune from winding up in relationships with dangerous people that could really hurt them.
Justin is trying to save himself right now. I want him to understand, but I think everything he’s done so far is on par with the way many, MANY real people might have reacted to the same thing.
*embarrased* Remember a couple days ago I said we’d started this no-hitting thing? Um… I got surprise-tickled about two hours ago and whacked him right in the shoulder. I guess jumpy/reactionary/old habits die hard?
I have to admit that I always loved what she did there. The only problem I have with it is you really don’t know what city squirrels are carrying disease wise. I don’t know if rabies etc. can be cooked out of meat.
Interesting comic! I would’ve probably said to her, “Look, you’ve got wings and can fly, yet you choose to walk and impede traffic? Who’s being the obnoxious one here?” But I would’ve probably gotten eaten anyway…
I have to figure out how to post that 2 panel sidebar on my blog, with the “DONT WALK” and “RELOADING” lights. I do a blog on bicycle safety and that pretty much sums up what it feels like on the roads some days.
I just realized something odd. Monica can usually get away with dropping F bombs in the comic, but when Justin does it, he gets symbol swearing instead. Do you have to be a main character to swear in comic?
Aren’t hers more, “WTF,” situations that may be directed at another character like, “WTF have you gotten me into now?” but not so direct as telling people to go F.
If you claim the coins and ingots and jewels, you’d also have to accept the other payments made to date. I don’t know if you would have a good use for the occasional kidney that has been donated, the cookies are probably stale, and you’d have to figure out what to do with my very own virtual corpse (I was condemned to suffocation in the Jar back on the day of the Great Flintlock Tackle).
Not to mention wierd paraphernalia like houses, wallets, sunglasses, nail clippings, horseshoes, novels, empty printer cartriges, peanut shells, string…
…hey I wonder where the other end of this string goes…
It’s an interesting turn to see a guy in Wapsi who responds to the weirdness with a less accepting reaction. Although he really hasn’t seen anything truly weird yet lol
Shelly: “No really, I am truly a sphinx! Here watch!”
“Hnnnnnn….”
“HnnnnHhhhhhnn….”
*PFooooooot*
Justin: “….Don’t ever call me again, in the history of EVAR!!”
Shelly: “No really, I am truly a sphinx! Here watch!”
“Hnnnnnn….”
“HnnnnHhhhhhnn….”
*PFooooooot*
Justin: “….Don’t ever call me again, in the history of EVER!!”
Shelly: “Wait! Come back and pat me on the butt again so I can change!”
I’m still convinced that this is some sort of test for Shelly to get her to face her relationship fears. But with Justin acting like a pure bred horses ass I’m all for Shelly pulling out all the stops and letting him feel her full measure.
Yes. Even attempting “tell” was a pretty dumb move given his whole hang up about “crazy chicks”. It was always gonna have to be show or nothing. If she didn’t get that, than her definition of “normal” and not crazy has seriously drifted. Understandably… But yeah.
His anger doesn’t show him in the best light at all. Semi understandable given the attack and wounds but still les than a positive character note. Although of course that’s with him thinking she’s crazy and dangerous. What he does IF she shows him the real “truth” That’s kinda definitive…
Ironic, that — Shelly’s the only other person I can recall who’d swear powerfully enough for it to be inexpressible in letters. Is Justin going to throw an engine too, now? 😛
For Shelly’s part in today’s strip, I really don’t know what reaction she’d expected to that.
But those are other languages, with other alphabets. The effect would be similar if I were to swear in Greek or Chinese. What language uses characters like “#&@*” as part of its alphabet?
That’s the ‘variable’ alphabet. Just like in algebra where you have letters signifying variable values, here we have symbols signifying variable letters that can be changed depending on the intended magnitude of the statement. :p
Oh, I hope she doesn’t react to those words the way I react to being told to “F” off in that tone. I really don’t think she’ll like herself after she snaps out of the berserker rage & realizes she just squished him.
Really? The guy gets his chest ripped open, and then excuse he hears for it is that Shelly is (what he believes to be) a mythical creature? And he’s out of line for swearing?
I’m flabbergasted at the responses insinuating that he is being irrational. If anyone, male or female/loved on or stranger inflicted that kind of damage on me the last thing I’d be is calm and collected.
Ok let’s get this score card out.
She detonates a punching bag with her hand.
She cuts him faster than he can blink.
She says she’s sorry but she’s a spinx.
I’d say she filled out the psycho B!tc# bingo card. I’d say the bleeding guy has every reason to doubt since no one has ever said this to him before.
Is she wrong in what she said, no. It’s all in the presentation however.
Not that it will happen, but how about:
Shelly moves ahead of Justin (remember, she is FAST) and turns Sphinx, giving Justin a good view of what must be at least a 3 foot head at a distance of 1 foot – “SATISFIED?”
Shifts back to Shelly
“Good. You need stitches. We are going to the Emergency Room. I’M DRIVING. We will discuss the rest later.”
Actually, that may make it worse instead of better.
Officer TB may assume Shelly is some monster and react in a hostile fashion.
If he doesn’t, and allows Shelly to take him to the hospital, he may just view her with nothing but fear and resentment.
Finally, Officer TB is still a cop. If he doesn’t accept Shelly, you’ve now just revealed you’re a monster to a member of law enforcement. Sure, he can’t TELL anyone you’re a sphinx without getting put in the looney-bin himself, but he can still cause you problems if he were so inclined.
Sonic, my boyfriend who I’ve sort of drawn into this comic just said the exact same thing you did in your 3rd paragraph there..
and I’ve rather been thinking myself that Shelly transforming in attempt to prove herself could serve to only worsen the situation.
Clearly he just ISN’T SEEING her fangs/claws / nose markings right now either because it’s all just too crazy. If she suddenly turns into a giant scary half-cat, he’s only going to lose it.
A man who has been suddenly attacked by someone he trusted intimately, was significantly injured as a result, *and* apparently has a history of having been involved with at least a couple of women who had turned out to be well-concealed psychotics and whose latest lover is now making what sound like completely delusional nonsense?
I’d like to think that we males are all the very picture of rationality when physically and psychologically beaten up like that… but I really don’t. Justin’s response may be a sigma or so to the hot-ended side of the graph, but it is by no means off the charts.
Look at how many men go ino a murderous rage over insults, kill each other in street and bar fights, etc. We’ve all got a berserker buried inside, to some extent.
He hasn’t struck her back, or even threatened to. He’s just walking away, even though he is clearly steaming mad. That’s better than a lot of men would manage, under similar circumstances.
Okay, I normally avoid pulling out the sexism card, but that sentence is simultaneously insulting BOTH genders.
Basically you just said that only women are emotional and irrational AND that men aren’t allowed to express their true emotions because they’re men.
That is total and complete NONSENSE.
you’ve *obviously* never ended up with broken bones (ribs dont *show*, you know) because you snickered when someone else got a good verbal smackdown on your signifigant other. males do indeed act in emotional irrational ways.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised she didn’t just outright change. With the way he was reacting in there to what she did, that’s about the only thing that will really get his attention.
I find it interesting how everyone wants Shelly to show him her sphinx form. In the state of mind Justin is in right now, do any of you really think that anything Shelly says or does would make him cool down or listen to her? I have a feeling if she transformed, it would only scare and freak him out EVEN more. If in the next comic she does transform and he calms down, I’d say that would be uncharacteristic of the Justin we’re seeing now. What are the odds that EVERY guy these girls are involved with is understanding? It’s clear that he isn’t quite as understanding as the other men have been. He’s in a blind rage and I don’t expect anyone to calm him down, even Shelly’s Sphinx form. It would be way more believable for him to run off in a blind rage and then talk to Shelly after cooling down, than suddenly calming down after she proves she’s a mythological being.
I don’t expect him to calm down but it’ll give him something to think about when he does. At the moment he has written her off as “crazy”. Although he has enough evidence that she isn’t he is just going to close the door.
That actually might work to the team’s advantage. Given how he seems to be feeling I suspect it won’t because he would probably want to press charges against her. After all he has already pigeon-holed her as a violent crazy woman.
Whilst showing him what he is would not make a significant difference to his current behaviour it should, when he eventually calms down, make him question what happened. At the very least it would keep him from pressing charges because he would be afraid of being called “crazy” himself.
It might be enough to make him talk to her when he’s calmed down but that’s not guaranteed. Even if he does he’s likely to be too afraid of Shelly snapping to be with her.
At this point in time I think the risk balance is in favour of Shelly showing him. At the end of the day Shelly can’t do much from jail or with a criminal record.
Ignoring the fact that imprisoning Shelly would be on the same level as locking up The She-Hulk, Shelly wounded Justin in self-defense. When she realized she wasn’t in danger she immediately stopped all hostile action. Justin in effect committed assault and battery which in itself is a felony. At the moment due to extenuating circumstances, no crime has been committed— yet.
Mmh… not a jerk, in my opinion. Normal, more like it. All the other dudes in Wapsi have been these amazing, ground-and-center characters who seem to be OK with the weird-crapometer starting at 9.5. Which, for Jin and Monica, is phenomenal awesome.
But Justin’s a cop… which means he sees the worst of the worst on a daily basis, including people who lie to him at the drop of a hat.
And, he’s already mentioned very early on that he has this image of himself as a crazy magnet. Of course he has a backstory.
He just had the living hqiz scared out of him. He’s not processing the fact that Shelley just vaporized a heavy bag. And he doesn’t want any more crazy.
So my only question is, will his “#&@* you” be enough to rock Shelley out of her sad and into “Oh yeah? Well, what do you think of this?
Ah, the first normal person in this comic strip. Thank god. I’m a virgin, and I refuse to date after watching my friends go through hell and back for women. I have one rule. Don’t stick it in the crazy.
I apologize in advance. Okay, stand back rant time. Males and females are different. You shouldn’t need a psch class to understand that. The problem with that rule is from the male perspective, they are all crazy(and vice versa). The corollary to that stupid rule is you decide what level of crazy is acceptable because they are all crazy. Unless you date, you never find out what level of crazy is acceptable to you. If you don’t want any crazy enjoy being a bored virgin. /rant.
Hang on a sec, everyone thinks women are crazy? You’ve got a really broad access of crazy then. Okay, I’ve got class until 10pm tonight, so let me get back to you on this.
I certainly thought that was a universal truth. I think women are crazy, and I am a woman. Granted, we don’t like being called crazy to our faces, but then again…who does? 🙂
Men are a different kind of crazy altogether, but it may only be because they don’t speak our language. 😛
Thank you for the over generalization of male behaviour that all males think that all women are crazy. No, crazy is causing physical and/or psychological harm to another with the expectation that the harmed/abused person will have been so beaten down that they don’t dare leave them.
I reserve the right to judge everyone, no exceptions. I’ll even vet you against my sisters if I must. Women just aren’t safe to date or be around unless they are co-workers or money is being exchanged such as contractors.
I’d rather be a virgin, than:
Maced in public (last spring semester 2011 for sitting on the same half of the cafeteria as this one chick.
Lied to repeatedly about con-current relationships.
The usual (holes in condoms, pets to replace imaginary children, public harassment, restraining orders, constant phone and/or texting at all hours of the day/ everyday).
Physical trauma including broken bones
Showing up at family events uninvited.
Crippling/Paralyzing boyfriend after he broke up with her (Fall 2010 Stacey is now wheelchair bound for life)
Stalking
Marriage to acquire access to bank accounts
Children farming with multiple guys to provide income via child support
There are evil criminal women. There are evil criminal men. That list you gave has the equivalent guys doing it to women. They are a small percentage of the whole population. Airplanes fall out of the sky. Will that prevent you from flying if you need to go somewhere? Your sample size is too small to count. If you used it as a scientific paper you’d fail. You have to change your risk perception because it is skewed and will hurt you in the long run. Sure women are crazy because they think different than guys do, but that is a good thing too. There is risk to everything you do. You are in college, there are a lot of smart fun regular crazy girls out there, get to know them. But, do what you will you are the captain of your own ship.
Ah, but semc’s attitude will keep him safe and the captain of his ship. He’s simply learned the truth early. He doesn’t have to remain celibate, however, just be immune to female snares.
That is the basic idea behind DATING! To weed out the crazys before you make any kind of commitment or investment in them. Or stick it in one, as it were.
I think that she will just let him leave. I supect that he would try to gather evidence to press charges but the MiBs (who may not even be refered to) would turn up and hamper the investigation.
True, although there’s a chance she could be on the ground floor and there’s a concrete foundation. More likely, many (but not all) of those commercial buildings have concrete/rebar floors, either being constructed that way or are renovated old factory buildings (common in big cities like Mpls/St. Paul). Remember about a month ago she “sphinxed out” in her apartment after dreaming about a spider on her leg, crushing her bed in the process. She was thankful then about having concrete floors and 10-foot ceilings. Yes, Paul could have her turn sphinx in front of Justin only to then have her go through the dang floor!
In the real world, if your boyfriend or girlfriend angrily responds to surprise by lashing out and cutting you without checking to see who it is, you’ve got a problem. We forgive our favorite characters because we like them and also because we know their backstory. All this guy knows is that this wild girl initiated a fast and furious relationship with him, but has recently become moody and distant and now responds explosively to his playful spank with real violence. Given what he knows he’s smart to get out while he can.
If it was a dangerous-but-misunderstood, moody man who lashed out unthinkingly at his girlfriend I think fewer people would be objecting when the girl wanted (reasonably) to break it off.
That’s true to a certain extent but it all depends on the situation — if someone is in a vulnerable position (e.g. is in a public place where they don’t know who’s there) then an extreme response may be justified if the person receiving the “surprise” has reasonable grounds to believe it’s an attack. If they’re in a situation that is considered safe (e.g. at home with only your other half around) then you do have a good point.
Actually in the real world, If boyfriend or girlfriend reacts to a surprise SLAP in a public place, by angrily lashing out in defense. Most boy / girlfriends would cut them some slack. Especially if you know that they have a few issues. Justin knows that Shelly has a few issues, She knows that he has issues. They have just never told each other what those issues are. Other than him being afraid of having another “crazy” girlfriend. She has told him that she has issues with being vulnerable or helpless, and with fears of abandonment.
Gee, I’m a woman, who thinks I am all alone in a public room while I work out. ~you better believe that at the back of my mind I am feeling more than a tad vulnerable~ Someone sneaks up on me and hits me, making me instantly afraid of being hurt .. aka HELPLESS.. Yes, reacting with vicious alacrity is a normal female response. Pulling pack that response when I realize who it is, is also a normal response.
My best friend of 20+ years found himself flat on his back with my boot about to crush his chances of ever being a father for that same kind of reason. Only because I realized who it was at the very last moment did I stop the final blow from happening. I was walking home, the street lights were out.. he snuck up behind me wanting to scare me… reached out grabbed my shoulder while kinda reaching for my neck. … I Reacted exactly as I was trained… He learned not to play stupid tricks …
Yes, Shelly needs to be honest with him. He needs to heal from his past… They both need to stop being so damned judgmental.
I say let him go…if he doesn’t come back after cooling off, so be it. If she really is at peace with who she is, she deserves someone who is willing to wait through the drama to get to know the REAL Shelly.
I think I’m coming to the same place… let him go, wait until the mutual shock wears off, and see if there’s still any potential for a new relationship in the future. If there is, it will truly be a new relationship for them… there’s no chance at all that their previous intimate-but-limited remationship can continue.
Yes, this is going to be painful for Shelly, whether he comes back or not… but Shelly has shown herself to be a survivor, under conditions that boggle the mind. I’m betting she could survive, heal, and come out stronger and more assured in the end.
Since she can’t POIT! him over a lake like Monica did, she has to be a little more circumspect in providing proof. If this is a test, then she will figure out how to reel in the stress, and make a controlled change, like maybe going sphinx without too much change in mass.
So inventive and efficient. You could run all of the snowplows in Minneapolis for a month just on the wind-turbine energy harvest from the AAUGH! GODDAMNIT, PAUL screams that would occur at 12:01 AM EST.
I wonder the doctor who fixes him points out that the wound is wrong for fingernail cuts as the sharp points are clearly running in a vertical direction?
Kinda not liking the dissonance here. What drama is he speaking of? He is using the archetypal “relationship is in trouble” verbiage without any of the evidence for such a conclusion. My reaction at this point to what just happend would have been a more overwhelmed “what the heck did you just do and how did you grow claws that dang fast?”
As somebody commented a couple of days ago, there are almost two different “conversations” taking place here. Justin and Shelly have such different levels of knowledge about what’s really going on, that their comminications are distinctly skewed and dissonant.
It does feel as if Justin’s reaction to what happened with Shelly, is being very heavily influenced by his experiences with the “crazy chicks” he was involved with before he met her. He’s jumped right to an “Oh, no, not this again!” conclusion. He’s so sure that this situation with Shelly is simply replaying a “drama” that he has lived through before, that he’s not really paying attention to the real anomalies in the situation. His brain is rejecting the “impossible” aspects of the situation… it’s almost a form of tunnel vision.
There’s a marvelous meaning of the word “rupture”. It refers to a situation in which you and another person are having what seems to be a very meaningful comminication about something, and then one person says something which makes it clear that this isn’t the case. You’ve been using the same words, but with such very different interpretations that you’ve actually been “talking past” one another… neither of you actually understood what the other person meant when they were speaking, and neither of you realized that fact until now.
That’s not quite what’s happening here, but it’s close.
Remember Justin is not totally rational at this point (would anybody be with what he does and does not know).
There are many points about this encounter that would not add up to a rational, totally logical look; but he hasn’t had the time or the frame of mind to apply them.
Most likely, when (actually “if”) he gets in that frame of mind, his memory of the incident will be some jumbled, he will not be able to make any sense of it.
and he will have all sorts of mental alarms going off if he considers talking to her about it.
If Shelley lets him leave without going all sphinxy at him, I know someone she can trust who may be in the process of leaving her own partner about now, for her own reasons. They may coincidentally seek each other out just for someone that they can trust to talk to.
If Justin walks out that door, look to see a Shelley – Heather pairing. True, Shelley wasn’t interested in her that way before, but that was 80,000 years ago.
It’s clear that Shelly doesn’t see Heather that way — never did. Shelly is straight so would not go there.
I suspect the fact that Heather doesn’t know about the supernatural stuff is a plus as far as Shelly is concerned. I still think she would prefer to talk to someone in the loop rather than tell Heather. However, she may cry on Heather’s shoulder.
I’m not convinced Shelly went the distance completely without affections, and we have yet to see a male sphinx. She knew Nudge was coming in with the tongue bath, for instance.
But this is a conjecture for another time, since it’s not likely relevant for the current scene.
Truth hurts?
Paul has a new pic in his Project Gallery:
http://wapsisquare.com/projects/pablowapsi-illustrations/attachment/wapsi-nerd-carwash/
So much for the high ground. He’s going to need proof. *fake dramatic* Why can’t things ever be simple?
nope.. he has gone past shock, into not believing – anything else he sees / hears just taken as hopeful hallucination…
just let him cool off, next day he may be able to handle it… :/
No, he won’t. He will run away, get a restraining order, tell her he’s going to shoot to kill if she even thinks of coming close to him…
…she, unfortunately, needs to deal with this right now.
(Unless, of course, this is all a “training program” put together by Phix…)
I have been praying that this is all a very elaborate training program and Phix is waiting in the wings to ‘pull Shelly out of the pool before she drowns’. Sink or swim, I suppose.
To me it looks like the “What’s the worst that could happen” scenario.
Great for keeping your spirits up when the worst doesn’t quite happen. 🙂
Woah copper…wth?! That just shows the level of intelligence and ignorance when he resorted to using that language even if it is unbelievable to him.
Shell…you can do better.
If someone told you they were a sphinx would you really believe them? It’s something that IS stupid to hear, and WOULD need proof.
Yeah, I don’t think she’s getting out of this one without transforming. And even then he might think that he’s hallucinating.
And if HE is the one hallucinating, who does that mean is the crazy one? I think Justin is in for a shock.
I wouldn’t out right curse them out even if it’s unbelievable. He’s running scared fine and has had a bad shock doubly fine but she’s been at least decent and hasn’t responded as harshly… Well yet. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s not even like her wrong was done on purpose either…I’m just rambling and tires since I just stayed up soley to catch the update Dx I hope I made some sort of sense whether you agree with it or not.
But her wrong WAS done on purpose. Her wrong has been leaving him out of the loop for the entirety of their relationship! She’s built this on nothing but lies, and it’s not terribly shocking that when she says something that sounds crazy, he view it as crazy and insulting.
Also, maybe you didn’t look at his CHEST? She gave him a good sight more than just a shock.
I’m sorry… I didn’t realize a relationship that was started and based wholly on sex if I remember correctly suddenly jumped to a relationship where you shared secrets. This cop got barely any face time up to the point to when she changed because he was living his own life and working. I also remember that she wasn’t a sphinx when she first met him and oh my goodness she finds out that she is a sphinx! Can’t imagine how “easy” it would be to tell someone you started at first a superficial relationship and began developing love feelings for as well as developing your relationship that omg man I’m a sphinx now btw omglmfao! Okay I’m done I have work in the morning aka 5 hours and there are plenty of patients to worry about then continue debating this point. You have your p.o.v. And I have mine.
I’m not sure I’d go with “nothing but lies”. Up untill she became a Sphinx, the things she kept from him were mostly secrets about other people. They weren’t her secrets to give away. I’ll grant you that she kept Justin mostly away from the inner circle, probably to have something in her life that was ‘normal’ and didn’t have anything to do with the supernatural. Also, so she wouldn’t have to explain how two of her best friends can teleport and one of them is an indestructable golum.
That all changed when she came back from 80k years of isolation as a Sphinx. That is a new development. I’m not sure how long she’s been back, but it couldn’t be that long. A few days, a week or two maybe. She’s been trying to figure out who she is now and is being caught of gaurd by changes in her fundamental nature. How do you explain that? How do you tell someone you love that since last Tuesday you’ve become a mythological monster? I agree that she could have handled it better, and Justin has every right, in his experince, to write her off and get on with his life. But as a wise person once said, “Would you rather be happy, or right?”
The problem here is Justin has two huge reserves of fear here: One is what Shelly just did. The next is him being sucked into “crazy woman” drama. I tend to agree with those who say it has to be dealt with now.
Unfortunately that’s Shelly too, crying, begging and pleading when she needed to show him self-control. She’s been one step behind events this entire exchange. If she could have gotten ahold of herself and met him like an adult she might have been able to salvage the situation. Now she’s down to hulking out and hoping she doesn’t break him or letting him go, probably for good.
I hasten to add I have great sympathy for why she’s running behind. I do it too. But in relationships at moments like this there is no mercy. Ya gotta do what needs to be done before it’s too late. An it just got too late for talking.
And I am hoping this is what Phix will tell her when she pulls Shelly out of the Matrix.
Also yes of course proof is needed Dx now….zzzzzzzzzzz
On the one hand I understand your opinion, but on the other hand, I know people who would feel like they were being played with or treated like an idiot if told that their girlfriend was a sphinx. For those people, cursing is the natural response to being treated/feeling that way.
I do feel like tomorrow may give us a clearer picture as to why his reaction is so vehement though. 🙂
I hope you got enough sleep before work!!
Extreme claims do require extreme evidence.
It’s time for show, not tell.
agreed. if your going to take him for a trip down the rabbit hole you have to go all the way.
This kind of thing is EXACTLY why I stopped dating immortals! They are very nice and teach you wonderful things about the universe but you always end up getting thumpped in the head with your mortality.
Well, Gil and Calliope seem to be working out and, before she changed, Jin was immortal.
How do you think we immortals feel? Just when we get comfortable with an ephemeral, they go and die on us. It’s very upsetting.
Well the good news (?) is that Shelly’s not immortal. 🙂 She’s just supernatural. 😛
I’m assuming we get the transformation tomorrow, and then his reaction to that as our Friday cliffhanger. She kind of has to transform now. Just claiming to be a sphinx without showing proof just makes you look crazier.
Sort of called it — just missing the transformation part.
And his response is understandable.
Then again, maybe the (Friday Cliffhanger) next step is becoming Shellnix and yelling “Stop, dammit!”
Slowly he turns, step by step, inch by inch….
line by line…
And then *womp!* Justin, for the first time in his life- faints.
De-constructing his machismo completely…
😀
My mystery bet is still open, but getting less likely the more out in the open they get.
Unless…
that speech bubble…
Does Shelly look more surprised than hurt in the last panel?
Yeah. Her tears have all dried up; and I doubt that she’ll just say “double dingbats on you!”
Maybe I am reading this wrong, but considering the expression on Shelly’s face in the last panel, I have to ask — was that Justin? Or did he just come face to face with another character, say, Connie, and that’s what was said to him?
I noticed that too. That’s why I’m reserving judgement on Justin’s (I’m assuming it’s him who spoke in the last panel) reactions. 🙂
Maybe it’s just the sound system playing the Pickledippers. 😀
Nu-uh, you don’t get to pull that one, nobody said “Niagara Falls”!!
Oh wait… crap. *ducks*
Niagra Falls!
Jeez, a Three Stooges reference just there for the plucking, and it’s up to me to take it…
{skulks back to reading the rest of the commentary}
Well, duh! And it took you long enough!
(mutters quietly about the kids these days)
That look in the last panel? That’s Shelly realizing nothing she can say will make a difference. And the #&@* crossed the line. Either she’s gonna get pissed and leave him be or she’s gonna get pissed and SHOW him the truth. I’m betting on the latter. Shellinix in t-minus 10..9..8…
Pissed Sphinx+Short-fuse Shelly..
This is going to be GLORIOUS!!
Yeah, and maybe get a SWAT team, the FBI, the BATF, and God-knows-who-else swarming all over her for assaulting a police officer and basically BEING a living WMD. Remember, according to Euryale, the Gov’t knows what’s going on with all of them, and up to this point have been leaving them to police themselves. If things got out of hand, it could soon be all over.
So the goverment will start trying to dictate rules to two women who have the power to blow up the sun? The important thing to remember is that Bud, Brandi and even Shelly are living by the rules because they choose to. If they decided to stop, there is literaly no force on earth besides Monica that could riegn them in.
Nope – no SWAT, etc. – just MIB’s with Miss May’s handy ForgetMeStick….
…What’s BATF?
The USA’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Enforces the laws involving those, Arson, and explosives. Most famous member was Elliot Ness who lead “The Untouchables”.
BATF = Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
It’s the people in charge of collecting Democrat political donations from the Mexican Mafia disguised as payoffs for illegal arms smuggling.
OK, that wasn’t funny. But they ARE proof that the Peter Principle can apply to bureaucracies as well as individuals.
Ah, thank you. I was worried that it was something about Batman.
Don’t feel bad…I’m very aware of that Bureau (I don’t know many Texans who aren’t after that whole mess down in Waco back in the 90’s) but didn’t recognize it when abbreviated as BATF. I’ve only heard it in reference to the agents of the bureau…and they’ve always been called ATF Agents (iirc).
Actually, the currently preferred by-the-suits abbreviation is BATFE, where the “E” stands for explosives.
Some of us prefer BATFX. Why? Heh. Go ahead, try to pronounce it.
“Bat Effects”… Isn’t that one of the graphics department divisions in the Dark Knight Postproduction room?
…sorry… 😉
I certainly hope that she turns into a sphinx, and tells him the truth about everything. I really sincerely do.
But cursing her after she physically assaulted him and said something utterly nonsensical is hardly crossing any lines here.
It crossed the line for her, and that’s all that really matters. Justin dosen’t realize he’s dealing with the hair trigger emotions of a lethal predator. But I get the feeling he’s about to get edumicated. The big thing to realize here, that even Shelly hasn’t fully internalized, is she isn’t human anymore.
“But I get the feeling he’s about to get edumicated.”
He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get masticated.
If he’s really lucky he’ll be osculated, although preferably post post morph morph (since it’s unlikely to be pre-morph).
I don’t think we can say for certain any lines were crossed for Shelly just yet. Her face is more surprised than upset, and I’d expect her to be able to portray upset pretty quickly if a line was crossed.
“Either she’s gonna get pissed and leave him be or she’s gonna get pissed and SHOW him the truth.”
Or first the one, then t’other.
By which I mean, transform, set him aside, walk out the door. Possibly with some comment about “not anymore you’re not”.
I do wonder, though, why she thought *saying* she’s a sphinx would help anything in the first place. He’s already accused her of being crazy, so saying something even *more* crazy than just staging an exploding punching bag and some sleight of hand with freddy gauntlets (or whatever he thought she did) might not be the best option. Seems it’d have made more sense to just go “look…”, and transform. “How do you like me *now*!” And if he convinces himself it’s just a trick with special effects, she can feel good about dropping him for being a maroon.
( For a “how do you like me now” moment, see http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-12-20 )
on the egs strip: he knew her capabilities, so was half expecting something, and as he was challenging her abilities, she had to do something… 🙂
it would be very different if she did that to someone who had no knowledge of her ‘powers’.. 🙂
True, but I see it more a difference in degree than in kind. He was doubting that she was powerful, because he’d only seen her human, squirrel, and half-squirrel form. So she showed him her omega form. Though not quite her tippy-top most powerful; she only gets her horns when she gets angry… they disappear when she calms down. But I digress.
So, both cases of skepticism and revelation. Though granted, being skeptical you can transform at *all*, or that there is *any* magic is a bit different than being skeptical that she’s strong enough to defeat Damien.
Of course… she was specifically gengineered to defeat Damien, but he didnt’ know that.
“Did I mention I’m part space alien?”
Heheheh.. Yeah THAT”ll help.. Shelly, Shelly…
Time to morph now.
“hold on to Your breeches, Jstin my old boy..better get the giant flee-collar ready….”
Okay… Friday’s comic has practically written itself with that last panel… Place your bets, folks… We’re gonna see Shelly all sphinxed out and Justin with a big load of $#!+ in his pants.
Or, that’s what Pablo wants us to think…
I’ll take “Computer, freeze program” and Phix coming in from off-stage saying, “You could have done that better, dear. Let’s try that again, shall we?”
See, that wouldn’t really bother me, but there would be lots of people here rolling on the floor gnashing their teeth. 😉
I’d still like it to go that way too–I called it as a possibility early Monday morning when that strip was first put up. Even so, we don’t want too many “Deus ex machina” moments like that, or it’ll get difficult to suspend one’s disbelief.
Now THAT’S a wrong move. Justin, you’re now on very thin ice…
To be fair
A) Justin is used to ‘Psycho’ relationships. He just thinks Shelly hid it better. And now she’s claiming it’s a spiritual animal or something. It makes him angry to have been fooled this long.
B) He’s been hurt. Like bleeding gashes hurt. This is well beyond something that would be done ‘accidentally’. While it should be ringing doorbells with his police training, his anger at the relationship breakdown is converting trained calm to plain anger.
C) Shelly has been avoiding him, and keeping this hidden. Not opening up about it. Unless she has some way to clean up his wounds quick too, he’s still likely to be carrying scars, emotional and literal, on associating with her.
I ‘expect’ her to show sphinx… but I think the most poignant response would be Justin leaving, just a shot of behind on Shelly, door clicking closed… and a divided cell of both of them with agonized expressions. Weekend, go.
Even without playing the guessing tomorrow game too much, this seems to be the most likely outcome. Not only for drama, for what we know so far too. In the strip linked below, Justin states he’s an emotional mess and, quite clumsily, states his view as to why he became attracted to her in the first place, see previous comic too.
As Tina claimed before, beside sex, they’re maybe in together for the wrong reasons, the selfish ones. Despite all this, they were happy together and had a chance to build something up. Maybe.
Not turning into a sphinx will break Shelly, obviously. Turning into one will break Justin, being confirmed you’re a certified fruitcake isn’t healthy. I say Drama!!!, break them both.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/ton-of-baggage/
btw, I’m pretty amused with some current comments and the ones on this strip. We are a fickle bunch aren’t we :)?
+1 to this.
well, even with a guy like justin, there is a limit.. and its been exceeded a few times over…
My bet is on more drama with M mopping up her tears, so you can all guess what will happen monday…
Claiming you’re a sphinx is a great way to prove that you’re not crazy.
Shelly should really just get one of those Right as Rain Club membership cards.
He really needs to watch his language. It’s suddenly all full of dingbats.
And yeah, ‘show don’t tell’ was the first thing that went through my mind too. But then, that’s very in character. She’s not the genre movie geek the rest of them are. It may take her another beat to remember her deep studies of people like Cassandra and apply it to herself.
full of dingbats? 😀
I am so stealing that to use at a future date ^^
Actually, she was into the zombie apocalypse meme before she left…
Sure, Paula, have it pass into a proverb. 😉
Seconded, except I’ve been using it since I was little–one of the “it’s ok to call your little brother that” words when I was five.
Which led to “bats in your bellfry” AND “bells in your bat-free”… 😀 I love my family.
After further research, the actual name for it is “grawlix”. The term was apparently coined by Mort Walker (of Beetle Bailey fame) as “the use of typographical symbols to replace violence and swearing in comic speech bubbles.”
Well, after his exhibition of utter openmindedness… or at least listen halfway to what she’s saying… or perhaps say “Sphinx… what do you mean?!!”, she’s left with about four choices:
1) Say nothing more and let him walk away, probably for good,
2) Tell him to go to hell,
3) Turn into a sphinx to presuade him she isn’t really crazy, or
4) Turn into a sphinx, tell him to go to hell, turn back, walk away, and let him think he has gone crazy.
I don’t actually blame him for his reaction, all that much. From a mundane’s point of view, everything he’s saying is actually the most likely probability in a situation like this… she’s just another delusional psychotic who happened to hurt him pretty badly.
I still want to see the point where he realizes all the things she did are beyond human ability. Supernatural, even.
I was hoping for number four yesterday. Hehe.
5) Turn into a sphinx, rip his guts out, mummify the corpse in the library, and try again with a new boyfriend.
What’s to worry?
😉
If you’re a sphinx, I think you just keep the skull.
If you took the bones out, it wouldn’t be crunchy, would it?
OOH! I changed my mind! I like option 5!
Personally, I hope for 3. Their relationship may still be shot to hell but I’m hoping she shows him that the supernatural exists and gives him the option of coming back for a full explanation if he’s willing to consider formally dating her.
If he’s not then she’s not lost anything. If he does then it shows he’s at least willing to consider looking at things from her perspective.
Justin: [You are a crazy chick. This conversation is over. I’m walking away.]
Shelly: [I’m confessing something about myself that makes NO sense in mundane reality]
Justin: [You are spouting non sequiturs, so I will throw back an expletive to punctuate that I am already out of this conversation]
I mean, really. Even if they were in a calm situation, with no stress (or bloodshed), if Shelly were to just say “I’m a sphinx”, Justin’s only logical response would be, “What does THAT mean??”
Right?! He just shut down. Honestly, a real man could laugh something like that off. You don’t just have a tissy fit and refuse to listen to anything a person says.
Fact: I’m…extremely jumpy. A similar situation happened to me only sans claws. Just…with a knife. He was in pain, yeah, but he didn’t flip his shit. That’s the reaction of a guy who can’t handle a strong woman. End of story.
A lot of guys have no problem, whatsoever with a stong woman, but there’s a pretty wide distinction between a strong woman and a violent and erratic woman. Shelly has done a really good job of showing herself to be the latter.
She got startled and hurt him. That isn’t a woman with violent and erratic tendencies. If she did this before then maybe I’d understand. But she was in the zone and he startled her. Then she proved her strength and he called it quits.
Is that a rational reaction or fear of her being stronger than him?
Dude… that is NOT something that a normal person can do!!
Any normal person could have maybe backhanded him or punched him. He could have comprehended that and probably dealt with it fine. Even blocked it.
Shelly spun around at super human speed and gave him long (and rather deep) lacerations. A normal person couldn’t do that with just their finger nails.
And someone said before, Justin could possibly be thinking Shelly attacked him with concealed knives. Obviously not, because you can’t see them anywhere, but he’s in the “I have to rationalize what I just saw SOMEHOW or I will lose my mind” stage.
It’s not some sexist crap where he’s afraid of his woman being stronger than him. It’s the perfectly understandable concept of “hey this person just hurt me and from past experience, this is sending my red flags up”. I can comprehend that. Men are not immune from winding up in relationships with dangerous people that could really hurt them.
Justin is trying to save himself right now. I want him to understand, but I think everything he’s done so far is on par with the way many, MANY real people might have reacted to the same thing.
The rest probably would have fainted right there.
*embarrased* Remember a couple days ago I said we’d started this no-hitting thing? Um… I got surprise-tickled about two hours ago and whacked him right in the shoulder. I guess jumpy/reactionary/old habits die hard?
(softly chanting) eat him, eat him, eat him (growing louder) Eat Him, Eat Him, Eat Him (Louder still) EAT HIM, EAT HIM, EAT HIM! EEEeeeeeEEEEEEEAT HIM!
PLEEEEAAAASE YES!
I am suddenly reminded of Andy Sirkis… again.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/tasteslikechicken/
I have to admit that I always loved what she did there. The only problem I have with it is you really don’t know what city squirrels are carrying disease wise. I don’t know if rabies etc. can be cooked out of meat.
Cop vs. Sphinx – it’s been done already… 😀
Interesting comic! I would’ve probably said to her, “Look, you’ve got wings and can fly, yet you choose to walk and impede traffic? Who’s being the obnoxious one here?” But I would’ve probably gotten eaten anyway…
I have to figure out how to post that 2 panel sidebar on my blog, with the “DONT WALK” and “RELOADING” lights. I do a blog on bicycle safety and that pretty much sums up what it feels like on the roads some days.
I just realized something odd. Monica can usually get away with dropping F bombs in the comic, but when Justin does it, he gets symbol swearing instead. Do you have to be a main character to swear in comic?
More fun this way; we can substitute in one of those Russian swears I haven’t looked up yet. 😉
I thought you would accept my idea. lolz
Aren’t hers more, “WTF,” situations that may be directed at another character like, “WTF have you gotten me into now?” but not so direct as telling people to go F.
Justin, though, has told her to go #, which may not have been very sharp.
*points to the pun jar authoritatively* Go. Now. Donate. 😛
The pun jar… it demands an offering for that.
*Tosses in a forgotten chasing hammer.*
So, the pun jar. Is it like the house rule for landing on Free Parking in Monopoly and you win the fines from earlier in the game?
Like if I guessed right about the plot, I’d win enough MacGuffins to buy Fantasy Island.
If you claim the coins and ingots and jewels, you’d also have to accept the other payments made to date. I don’t know if you would have a good use for the occasional kidney that has been donated, the cookies are probably stale, and you’d have to figure out what to do with my very own virtual corpse (I was condemned to suffocation in the Jar back on the day of the Great Flintlock Tackle).
eBay, Freecycle… or I suppose I could buy a few rounds of puns for everybody. That would be in spirit of the thing.
Not to mention wierd paraphernalia like houses, wallets, sunglasses, nail clippings, horseshoes, novels, empty printer cartriges, peanut shells, string…
…hey I wonder where the other end of this string goes…
It’s an interesting turn to see a guy in Wapsi who responds to the weirdness with a less accepting reaction. Although he really hasn’t seen anything truly weird yet lol
SHOW, DON’T TELL, SHELLY!!
See, that’d be the funny part: She tries to turn Sphinx, but can’t.
Yikes, that would suck.
Shelly: “No really, I am truly a sphinx! Here watch!”
“Hnnnnnn….”
“HnnnnHhhhhhnn….”
*PFooooooot*
Justin: “….Don’t ever call me again, in the history of EVAR!!”
That’s a TOTAL possibility. I just hope it doesn’t happen.
Shelly: “No really, I am truly a sphinx! Here watch!”
“Hnnnnnn….”
“HnnnnHhhhhhnn….”
*PFooooooot*
Justin: “….Don’t ever call me again, in the history of EVER!!”
Shelly: “Wait! Come back and pat me on the butt again so I can change!”
I’m still convinced that this is some sort of test for Shelly to get her to face her relationship fears. But with Justin acting like a pure bred horses ass I’m all for Shelly pulling out all the stops and letting him feel her full measure.
Yes. Even attempting “tell” was a pretty dumb move given his whole hang up about “crazy chicks”. It was always gonna have to be show or nothing. If she didn’t get that, than her definition of “normal” and not crazy has seriously drifted. Understandably… But yeah.
His anger doesn’t show him in the best light at all. Semi understandable given the attack and wounds but still les than a positive character note. Although of course that’s with him thinking she’s crazy and dangerous. What he does IF she shows him the real “truth” That’s kinda definitive…
Ironic, that — Shelly’s the only other person I can recall who’d swear powerfully enough for it to be inexpressible in letters. Is Justin going to throw an engine too, now? 😛
For Shelly’s part in today’s strip, I really don’t know what reaction she’d expected to that.
Monica can swear in Olmec, and the GG’s can swear in Lanthian (and prolly several other dead languages).
But those are other languages, with other alphabets. The effect would be similar if I were to swear in Greek or Chinese. What language uses characters like “#&@*” as part of its alphabet?
That’s the ‘variable’ alphabet. Just like in algebra where you have letters signifying variable values, here we have symbols signifying variable letters that can be changed depending on the intended magnitude of the statement. :p
Does this require a constant variable, such as a Fudge Factor, or a variable constant, such as Finagle’s?
I think Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle fits in somewhere.
Welp, you gave him his chance. Now you have to eat him.
Oh, I hope she doesn’t react to those words the way I react to being told to “F” off in that tone. I really don’t think she’ll like herself after she snaps out of the berserker rage & realizes she just squished him.
Really? The guy gets his chest ripped open, and then excuse he hears for it is that Shelly is (what he believes to be) a mythical creature? And he’s out of line for swearing?
I’m flabbergasted at the responses insinuating that he is being irrational. If anyone, male or female/loved on or stranger inflicted that kind of damage on me the last thing I’d be is calm and collected.
Ok let’s get this score card out.
She detonates a punching bag with her hand.
She cuts him faster than he can blink.
She says she’s sorry but she’s a spinx.
I’d say she filled out the psycho B!tc# bingo card. I’d say the bleeding guy has every reason to doubt since no one has ever said this to him before.
Is she wrong in what she said, no. It’s all in the presentation however.
Not that it will happen, but how about:
Shelly moves ahead of Justin (remember, she is FAST) and turns Sphinx, giving Justin a good view of what must be at least a 3 foot head at a distance of 1 foot – “SATISFIED?”
Shifts back to Shelly
“Good. You need stitches. We are going to the Emergency Room. I’M DRIVING. We will discuss the rest later.”
I like it. Too bad my name isn’t Mikey.
*pays Pun Jar*
Actually, that may make it worse instead of better.
Officer TB may assume Shelly is some monster and react in a hostile fashion.
If he doesn’t, and allows Shelly to take him to the hospital, he may just view her with nothing but fear and resentment.
Finally, Officer TB is still a cop. If he doesn’t accept Shelly, you’ve now just revealed you’re a monster to a member of law enforcement. Sure, he can’t TELL anyone you’re a sphinx without getting put in the looney-bin himself, but he can still cause you problems if he were so inclined.
Sonic, my boyfriend who I’ve sort of drawn into this comic just said the exact same thing you did in your 3rd paragraph there..
and I’ve rather been thinking myself that Shelly transforming in attempt to prove herself could serve to only worsen the situation.
Clearly he just ISN’T SEEING her fangs/claws / nose markings right now either because it’s all just too crazy. If she suddenly turns into a giant scary half-cat, he’s only going to lose it.
What what what? Women react with this kind of irrational behavior, men do not.
A man who has been suddenly attacked by someone he trusted intimately, was significantly injured as a result, *and* apparently has a history of having been involved with at least a couple of women who had turned out to be well-concealed psychotics and whose latest lover is now making what sound like completely delusional nonsense?
I’d like to think that we males are all the very picture of rationality when physically and psychologically beaten up like that… but I really don’t. Justin’s response may be a sigma or so to the hot-ended side of the graph, but it is by no means off the charts.
Look at how many men go ino a murderous rage over insults, kill each other in street and bar fights, etc. We’ve all got a berserker buried inside, to some extent.
He hasn’t struck her back, or even threatened to. He’s just walking away, even though he is clearly steaming mad. That’s better than a lot of men would manage, under similar circumstances.
Keep in mind that in most of those scenarios liberal quantities of adult beverages are involved. Instant asshole: just add alcohol.
Okay, I normally avoid pulling out the sexism card, but that sentence is simultaneously insulting BOTH genders.
Basically you just said that only women are emotional and irrational AND that men aren’t allowed to express their true emotions because they’re men.
That is total and complete NONSENSE.
You don’t know many men with bad tempers, do you?
you’ve *obviously* never ended up with broken bones (ribs dont *show*, you know) because you snickered when someone else got a good verbal smackdown on your signifigant other. males do indeed act in emotional irrational ways.
How is “you’re crazy” his response instead of “YOU’RE A WEREWOLF!!!!”
Not paying attention to the catnose, and attributing Shelly’s speed and ability to shred his shirt/chest to her already freakish physical abilities.
Recall what Shelly was able to do back when she was just a normal human. If Officer TB’s already used to that, he may just attribute this to that.
You know, if some girl I was dateing suddenly told me she was a Sphinx I would give her a big #&@* YOU too!
I’m afraid things like this should be shown first, and then told.
Yours is called a normal response to this situation.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised she didn’t just outright change. With the way he was reacting in there to what she did, that’s about the only thing that will really get his attention.
Brian….
Friday.
I find it interesting how everyone wants Shelly to show him her sphinx form. In the state of mind Justin is in right now, do any of you really think that anything Shelly says or does would make him cool down or listen to her? I have a feeling if she transformed, it would only scare and freak him out EVEN more. If in the next comic she does transform and he calms down, I’d say that would be uncharacteristic of the Justin we’re seeing now. What are the odds that EVERY guy these girls are involved with is understanding? It’s clear that he isn’t quite as understanding as the other men have been. He’s in a blind rage and I don’t expect anyone to calm him down, even Shelly’s Sphinx form. It would be way more believable for him to run off in a blind rage and then talk to Shelly after cooling down, than suddenly calming down after she proves she’s a mythological being.
I don’t expect him to calm down but it’ll give him something to think about when he does. At the moment he has written her off as “crazy”. Although he has enough evidence that she isn’t he is just going to close the door.
That actually might work to the team’s advantage. Given how he seems to be feeling I suspect it won’t because he would probably want to press charges against her. After all he has already pigeon-holed her as a violent crazy woman.
Whilst showing him what he is would not make a significant difference to his current behaviour it should, when he eventually calms down, make him question what happened. At the very least it would keep him from pressing charges because he would be afraid of being called “crazy” himself.
It might be enough to make him talk to her when he’s calmed down but that’s not guaranteed. Even if he does he’s likely to be too afraid of Shelly snapping to be with her.
At this point in time I think the risk balance is in favour of Shelly showing him. At the end of the day Shelly can’t do much from jail or with a criminal record.
Just to clarify:
The bit about it may be to the team’s advantage is:
If he does believe she’s just “crazy” he’s not likely to ask awkward questions. The pressing charges is the downside risk.
Ignoring the fact that imprisoning Shelly would be on the same level as locking up The She-Hulk, Shelly wounded Justin in self-defense. When she realized she wasn’t in danger she immediately stopped all hostile action. Justin in effect committed assault and battery which in itself is a felony. At the moment due to extenuating circumstances, no crime has been committed— yet.
jerk
You’re proposing that Justin be skinned, rubbed with hot pepper, and hung over a low smoky fire for hours?
That’s harsh, man.
No, that’s BBQ!
Beef-cake jerk?
Probably. Since he recovered fairly quickly from his terror and hasn’t run away in fear, it wouldn’t be fair to refer to him as jerk chicken.
Mmh… not a jerk, in my opinion. Normal, more like it. All the other dudes in Wapsi have been these amazing, ground-and-center characters who seem to be OK with the weird-crapometer starting at 9.5. Which, for Jin and Monica, is phenomenal awesome.
But Justin’s a cop… which means he sees the worst of the worst on a daily basis, including people who lie to him at the drop of a hat.
And, he’s already mentioned very early on that he has this image of himself as a crazy magnet. Of course he has a backstory.
He just had the living hqiz scared out of him. He’s not processing the fact that Shelley just vaporized a heavy bag. And he doesn’t want any more crazy.
So my only question is, will his “#&@* you” be enough to rock Shelley out of her sad and into “Oh yeah? Well, what do you think of this?
This story can’t move ahead fast enough for me.
I remember he said it in-strip, but anyone got a linky to the strip where he said it?
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/warning-flags/
Ah, the first normal person in this comic strip. Thank god. I’m a virgin, and I refuse to date after watching my friends go through hell and back for women. I have one rule. Don’t stick it in the crazy.
I apologize in advance. Okay, stand back rant time. Males and females are different. You shouldn’t need a psch class to understand that. The problem with that rule is from the male perspective, they are all crazy(and vice versa). The corollary to that stupid rule is you decide what level of crazy is acceptable because they are all crazy. Unless you date, you never find out what level of crazy is acceptable to you. If you don’t want any crazy enjoy being a bored virgin. /rant.
Hang on a sec, everyone thinks women are crazy? You’ve got a really broad access of crazy then. Okay, I’ve got class until 10pm tonight, so let me get back to you on this.
I certainly thought that was a universal truth. I think women are crazy, and I am a woman. Granted, we don’t like being called crazy to our faces, but then again…who does? 🙂
Men are a different kind of crazy altogether, but it may only be because they don’t speak our language. 😛
Thank you for the over generalization of male behaviour that all males think that all women are crazy. No, crazy is causing physical and/or psychological harm to another with the expectation that the harmed/abused person will have been so beaten down that they don’t dare leave them.
I reserve the right to judge everyone, no exceptions. I’ll even vet you against my sisters if I must. Women just aren’t safe to date or be around unless they are co-workers or money is being exchanged such as contractors.
I’d rather be a virgin, than:
Maced in public (last spring semester 2011 for sitting on the same half of the cafeteria as this one chick.
Lied to repeatedly about con-current relationships.
The usual (holes in condoms, pets to replace imaginary children, public harassment, restraining orders, constant phone and/or texting at all hours of the day/ everyday).
Physical trauma including broken bones
Showing up at family events uninvited.
Crippling/Paralyzing boyfriend after he broke up with her (Fall 2010 Stacey is now wheelchair bound for life)
Stalking
Marriage to acquire access to bank accounts
Children farming with multiple guys to provide income via child support
Shall i continue W?
There are evil criminal women. There are evil criminal men. That list you gave has the equivalent guys doing it to women. They are a small percentage of the whole population. Airplanes fall out of the sky. Will that prevent you from flying if you need to go somewhere? Your sample size is too small to count. If you used it as a scientific paper you’d fail. You have to change your risk perception because it is skewed and will hurt you in the long run. Sure women are crazy because they think different than guys do, but that is a good thing too. There is risk to everything you do. You are in college, there are a lot of smart fun regular crazy girls out there, get to know them. But, do what you will you are the captain of your own ship.
Ah, but semc’s attitude will keep him safe and the captain of his ship. He’s simply learned the truth early. He doesn’t have to remain celibate, however, just be immune to female snares.
That is the basic idea behind DATING! To weed out the crazys before you make any kind of commitment or investment in them. Or stick it in one, as it were.
I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found a woman whose baggage matched mine. 🙂
I think that she will just let him leave. I supect that he would try to gather evidence to press charges but the MiBs (who may not even be refered to) would turn up and hamper the investigation.
Ooooo, bad move.
Sure, let’s spray the already upset, WAY oversized feral kitty with cold water and then grab its whiskers with both hands…
tomorrow. (friday) i think there will be some wings 🙂 just how much bigger is Shelly’s full on Sphinx mode?
A size comparison
Punk Yoga is in a low rise commercial building.
It may have high ceilings, but some of its floors may not be able to handle a full-weight sphinx. Shelly may have thought that far ahead, at least.
True, although there’s a chance she could be on the ground floor and there’s a concrete foundation. More likely, many (but not all) of those commercial buildings have concrete/rebar floors, either being constructed that way or are renovated old factory buildings (common in big cities like Mpls/St. Paul). Remember about a month ago she “sphinxed out” in her apartment after dreaming about a spider on her leg, crushing her bed in the process. She was thankful then about having concrete floors and 10-foot ceilings. Yes, Paul could have her turn sphinx in front of Justin only to then have her go through the dang floor!
Shelly — SHOW & tell. NOT “I’m not crazy, I’m a sphinx” yeahhhhh… he’ll think your not crazy….
In the real world, if your boyfriend or girlfriend angrily responds to surprise by lashing out and cutting you without checking to see who it is, you’ve got a problem. We forgive our favorite characters because we like them and also because we know their backstory. All this guy knows is that this wild girl initiated a fast and furious relationship with him, but has recently become moody and distant and now responds explosively to his playful spank with real violence. Given what he knows he’s smart to get out while he can.
If it was a dangerous-but-misunderstood, moody man who lashed out unthinkingly at his girlfriend I think fewer people would be objecting when the girl wanted (reasonably) to break it off.
That’s true to a certain extent but it all depends on the situation — if someone is in a vulnerable position (e.g. is in a public place where they don’t know who’s there) then an extreme response may be justified if the person receiving the “surprise” has reasonable grounds to believe it’s an attack. If they’re in a situation that is considered safe (e.g. at home with only your other half around) then you do have a good point.
One small problem… another situation…
…if you’re in a private place, think you’re alone, and you’re ‘psyching’ up to pound a heavy punching bag to ‘help think through’ a major problem…
A violent reaction to an unexpected ‘swap’ on your butt is quite reasonable.
Granted, Shelly’s ‘violent reaction’ lends a whole new definition to ‘oops’.
Actually in the real world, If boyfriend or girlfriend reacts to a surprise SLAP in a public place, by angrily lashing out in defense. Most boy / girlfriends would cut them some slack. Especially if you know that they have a few issues. Justin knows that Shelly has a few issues, She knows that he has issues. They have just never told each other what those issues are. Other than him being afraid of having another “crazy” girlfriend. She has told him that she has issues with being vulnerable or helpless, and with fears of abandonment.
Gee, I’m a woman, who thinks I am all alone in a public room while I work out. ~you better believe that at the back of my mind I am feeling more than a tad vulnerable~ Someone sneaks up on me and hits me, making me instantly afraid of being hurt .. aka HELPLESS.. Yes, reacting with vicious alacrity is a normal female response. Pulling pack that response when I realize who it is, is also a normal response.
My best friend of 20+ years found himself flat on his back with my boot about to crush his chances of ever being a father for that same kind of reason. Only because I realized who it was at the very last moment did I stop the final blow from happening. I was walking home, the street lights were out.. he snuck up behind me wanting to scare me… reached out grabbed my shoulder while kinda reaching for my neck. … I Reacted exactly as I was trained… He learned not to play stupid tricks …
Yes, Shelly needs to be honest with him. He needs to heal from his past… They both need to stop being so damned judgmental.
Aw, but I WANT Justin to stick around. So not fair. 🙁
Turn into Sphinx mode in the middle of the street in broad daylight?I doubt it.
Happens all the time over at “Subnormality!”
I admit, I got a nice chuckle out of Justin’s reaction.
Personally hoping Shelly doesn’t just Sphinx-out tomorrow. Monica’s already revealing her powers to everyone who says hello to her nowadays.
I’m thinking tomorrow may be a visit to the boiler room instead.
This better turn out okay in the end. If Shelly’s heart gets broken I will stop reading Wapsi forever.
Now now…don’t go all “Justin” on us and walk away just because you don’t like or understand the full implications of what you’re seeing. 😛
…Screw it, get Phix to talk to him.
I say let him go…if he doesn’t come back after cooling off, so be it. If she really is at peace with who she is, she deserves someone who is willing to wait through the drama to get to know the REAL Shelly.
I think that’s the best advice Shelly could get right now. Even as a Shelly-Justin shipper, I’d be perfectly content with that result.
Though I imagine it would hurt for her for a long while…
I think I’m coming to the same place… let him go, wait until the mutual shock wears off, and see if there’s still any potential for a new relationship in the future. If there is, it will truly be a new relationship for them… there’s no chance at all that their previous intimate-but-limited remationship can continue.
Yes, this is going to be painful for Shelly, whether he comes back or not… but Shelly has shown herself to be a survivor, under conditions that boggle the mind. I’m betting she could survive, heal, and come out stronger and more assured in the end.
Since she can’t POIT! him over a lake like Monica did, she has to be a little more circumspect in providing proof. If this is a test, then she will figure out how to reel in the stress, and make a controlled change, like maybe going sphinx without too much change in mass.
It just occured to me.
Tomorrow : Dietzel & Pizza Gurl time.
So obvious.
So cruel.
So inventive and efficient. You could run all of the snowplows in Minneapolis for a month just on the wind-turbine energy harvest from the AAUGH! GODDAMNIT, PAUL screams that would occur at 12:01 AM EST.
ROTFLAFAO!!!!
Agreed. But it’s a mild winter so far, so maybe two months.
I wonder the doctor who fixes him points out that the wound is wrong for fingernail cuts as the sharp points are clearly running in a vertical direction?
Kinda not liking the dissonance here. What drama is he speaking of? He is using the archetypal “relationship is in trouble” verbiage without any of the evidence for such a conclusion. My reaction at this point to what just happend would have been a more overwhelmed “what the heck did you just do and how did you grow claws that dang fast?”
As somebody commented a couple of days ago, there are almost two different “conversations” taking place here. Justin and Shelly have such different levels of knowledge about what’s really going on, that their comminications are distinctly skewed and dissonant.
It does feel as if Justin’s reaction to what happened with Shelly, is being very heavily influenced by his experiences with the “crazy chicks” he was involved with before he met her. He’s jumped right to an “Oh, no, not this again!” conclusion. He’s so sure that this situation with Shelly is simply replaying a “drama” that he has lived through before, that he’s not really paying attention to the real anomalies in the situation. His brain is rejecting the “impossible” aspects of the situation… it’s almost a form of tunnel vision.
There’s a marvelous meaning of the word “rupture”. It refers to a situation in which you and another person are having what seems to be a very meaningful comminication about something, and then one person says something which makes it clear that this isn’t the case. You’ve been using the same words, but with such very different interpretations that you’ve actually been “talking past” one another… neither of you actually understood what the other person meant when they were speaking, and neither of you realized that fact until now.
That’s not quite what’s happening here, but it’s close.
Remember Justin is not totally rational at this point (would anybody be with what he does and does not know).
There are many points about this encounter that would not add up to a rational, totally logical look; but he hasn’t had the time or the frame of mind to apply them.
Most likely, when (actually “if”) he gets in that frame of mind, his memory of the incident will be some jumbled, he will not be able to make any sense of it.
and he will have all sorts of mental alarms going off if he considers talking to her about it.
If Shelley lets him leave without going all sphinxy at him, I know someone she can trust who may be in the process of leaving her own partner about now, for her own reasons. They may coincidentally seek each other out just for someone that they can trust to talk to.
If Justin walks out that door, look to see a Shelley – Heather pairing. True, Shelley wasn’t interested in her that way before, but that was 80,000 years ago.
It’s clear that Shelly doesn’t see Heather that way — never did. Shelly is straight so would not go there.
I suspect the fact that Heather doesn’t know about the supernatural stuff is a plus as far as Shelly is concerned. I still think she would prefer to talk to someone in the loop rather than tell Heather. However, she may cry on Heather’s shoulder.
I’m not convinced Shelly went the distance completely without affections, and we have yet to see a male sphinx. She knew Nudge was coming in with the tongue bath, for instance.
But this is a conjecture for another time, since it’s not likely relevant for the current scene.