Story Friday January 11, 2019

[Stature 96]

http://egscomics.com/comic/tsos-26

[hkmaly 490]

... that wasn't best question. If he was marked with Pandora, he may not know he has any mark - just that he can do the spell now.

... if he was marked by Voltaire he may have good reason to avoid Grace. Not sure what other danger could be there.

[Tom Sewell 268]

3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

.. that wasn't best question. If he was marked with Pandora, he may not know he has any mark - just that he can do the spell now.

Very plausible' Pandora did mark Sarah and Tedd at the comic shop the same night Sarah met Sam. The open shirt might suggest that Sam actually has a male body now.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,619]

So much build up, and then the plot takes a turn I did not expect.

And the story is not over?

And the twist develops the plot into new stories?

M Night Shyamalan could learn something from EGS.

 

 

[Scotty 1,061]

Guess the question is now, how will Sam react? Will he concede that he can't avoid Grace and just talk to her about this cus she apparently knows more than he expected? Will he bit pissed off and tell her to mind her own business? Or will we find out that he doesn't have a mark at all and he got transformed some other way, either knowingly or unknowingly,  like maybe he woke up Friday morning with a male body that he couldn't explain, avoided the card tournament because he figured Grace might notice and ask more questions, and panicked Saturday for the same reason.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

The open shirt definitely confirms for me that Sam is transformed into a physically male body now.  His expression and body language in the first and second panels he's in here confirm it for me.  It's smart of him to keep wearing the same shirt, just as an outer layer now -- someone with such a trademark look would draw a lot of attention if he suddenly stopped dressing that way, even if the pockets did originally serve to help mask the presence of unwanted body parts and are thus no longer needed.  

I expect lack of pockets in female clothing would be a big one of the many things he'd hate about having to present as female, seeing as how he's overcompensating so much!  ;-)

Wanna bet he's going to be ready to start snuggling and kissing on his next date with Sarah?  And good thing Grace is going to let him know Sarah knows about magic, so he won't hesitate to come out to her just for fear she wouldn't believe him!

[The Old Hack 2,489]

2 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

I expect lack of pockets in female clothing would be a big one of the many things he'd hate about having to present as female, seeing as how he's overcompensating so much!  ;-)

...my God. Liefeld's obsession with pouches. This explains SO MUCH.

[Scotty 1,061]

4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Wanna bet he's going to be ready to start snuggling and kissing on his next date with Sarah?  And good thing Grace is going to let him know Sarah knows about magic, so he won't hesitate to come out to her just for fear she wouldn't believe him!

We haven't heard how the Sunday movie night went, maybe there was a hug.

Although I'd think that after Sarah's mention of her confusion over it before, hugging on the next date might be something Sarah would want to tell Grace about right away....unless....

Nope, I doubt Dan would have them go any farther than maybe a kiss, but I think Sarah would be willing to give Grace details about smooching too.

[hkmaly 490]

14 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

.. that wasn't best question. If he was marked with Pandora, he may not know he has any mark - just that he can do the spell now.

Very plausible' Pandora did mark Sarah and Tedd at the comic shop the same night Sarah met Sam.

Yes.

Pandora could've easily marked him when he was leaving the shop ... or bit later.

14 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

The open shirt might suggest that Sam actually has a male body now.

"Might suggest"? ... where was that "understatement of month" image ...

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

Guess the question is now, how will Sam react? Will he concede that he can't avoid Grace and just talk to her about this cus she apparently knows more than he expected? Will he bit pissed off and tell her to mind her own business? Or will we find out that he doesn't have a mark at all and he got transformed some other way, either knowingly or unknowingly,  like maybe he woke up Friday morning with a male body that he couldn't explain, avoided the card tournament because he figured Grace might notice and ask more questions, and panicked Saturday for the same reason.

Actually, IF he woke up Friday morning with a male body, there is high likehood it IS because he has magic mark.

5 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

The open shirt definitely confirms for me that Sam is transformed into a physically male body now.  His expression and body language in the first and second panels he's in here confirm it for me.  It's smart of him to keep wearing the same shirt, just as an outer layer now -- someone with such a trademark look would draw a lot of attention if he suddenly stopped dressing that way, even if the pockets did originally serve to help mask the presence of unwanted body parts and are thus no longer needed.  

Also, just because it was helping him hide those unwanted body parts doesn't mean he doesn't LIKE the clothing.

5 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Wanna bet he's going to be ready to start snuggling and kissing on his next date with Sarah?

I wouldn't be so sure about this, but he will definitely be ready for hug.

5 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

And good thing Grace is going to let him know Sarah knows about magic, so he won't hesitate to come out to her just for fear she wouldn't believe him!

Is she? That would be quite irresponsible and ... yeah she totally is.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

We haven't heard how the Sunday movie night went, maybe there was a hug.

Although I'd think that after Sarah's mention of her confusion over it before, hugging on the next date might be something Sarah would want to tell Grace about right away....unless....

Nah. She would definitely mention it when talking to Grace, but it is completely possible they didn't talked on Monday.

[Tom Sewell 268]

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 3:42 PM, hkmaly said:

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 1:04 AM, Tom Sewell said:

The open shirt might suggest that Sam actually has a male body now.

"Might suggest"? ... where was that "understatement of month" image …

In the third panel of TSoS-04 Sam doesn't have his shirt-of-many-pockets on. This was in a flashback to the first date between Sarah and Sam. However, Dan "might" have chosen a significant placement for the text box containing "A tacky, terrible gift."

[Scotty 1,061]

Just now, Tom Sewell said:

In the third panel of TSoS-04 Sam doesn't have his shirt-of-many-pockets on. This was in a flashback to the first date between Sarah and Sam. However, Dan "might" have chosen a significant placement for the text box containing "A tacky, terrible gift."

Yeah, if Sam was in a male body then, the chances of him being marked by Pandora prior to her reset are higher, we already know that Pandora liked Sarah enough to genuinely want to offer help in awakening in exchange for helping deal with the energy clog. If she saw that Sarah was getting involved with Sam and saw that Sam had anxiety of the fact that he's trans, she might have marked him to help that relationship along.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

Yeah, if Sam was in a male body then, the chances of him being marked by Pandora prior to her reset are higher, we already know that Pandora liked Sarah enough to genuinely want to offer help in awakening in exchange for helping deal with the energy clog. If she saw that Sarah was getting involved with Sam and saw that Sam had anxiety of the fact that he's trans, she might have marked him to help that relationship along.

Although, by that time she knew Magic was in danger of resetting, mostly because she'd been marking too many people, so it doesn't seem likely she would casually give out another one.  Not saying she didn't make an exception, just that she'd have thought hard about the plusses and minuses.

But then, if Sam was in a male body on that date, why the wave?

[Tom Sewell 268]

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

Yeah, if Sam was in a male body then, the chances of him being marked by Pandora prior to her reset are higher, we already know that Pandora liked Sarah enough to genuinely want to offer help in awakening in exchange for helping deal with the energy clog. If she saw that Sarah was getting involved with Sam and saw that Sam had anxiety of the fact that he's trans, she might have marked him to help that relationship along.

That sounds like something Pandora could and would do, but I doubt if the placement of the third text box is accidental. The premise of the breast pockets is, after all, to disguise Sam's breasts. What's behind that text box? Could be:

• Breast pockets on the black shirt, disguising breasts.
• No pockets, but Sam has bound his breasts like any number of females passing as males in anime and manga.
• No pockets and a flat, male chest.
• No pockets because Sam has revealed his secret to Sarah--and neither Grace nor Ellen knows this yet. Sarah cares about Sam and would want to keep his secret unless she felt there was a compelling reason not to.

It's also canon that the duration of transformations depends on what the transformee feels about that transformation. As long as the transformee likes the transformation, it's permanent. The sticker for Sam would be that some people, certainly his family, know that he's physically and biologically female, so unless he's ready to reveal his power, he'll want to be "normal" for them.. But maybe by now Sam has learned to manage his transformations, since he felt comfortable coming into the comic shop even though he was spooked by Grace earlier in the week.

[Scotty 1,061]

Just now, CritterKeeper said:

Although, by that time she knew Magic was in danger of resetting, mostly because she'd been marking too many people, so it doesn't seem likely she would casually give out another one.  Not saying she didn't make an exception, just that she'd have thought hard about the plusses and minuses.

Pandora might have deemed Sam to be low risk to magic becoming known to everyone, and his connection to Sarah would probably ensure that, Pandora didn't seem to expect things to happen the way they would after her visit with Tedd but we don't know what she did after she spoke with Tedd either and how she found out that vampires were in the mall.

 

Just now, CritterKeeper said:

But then, if Sam was in a male body on that date, why the wave?

Either Sam was still unsure of himself using the spell in public, or he hadn't used the spell yet until sometime after that date. One would wonder why it'd have taken Sam over a week from being marked to use the spell given he'd likely have had plenty of occasions where he'd desire a male body enough, and if he was the one that messaged Elliot about it, that would have been a prime moment to accidentally use the spell and if he did, then he'd have likely used it for the "maybe date".

 

We don't know the exact timeline of Sarah and Sam's "maybe date" in relation to the vampire attack, if the date started before the attack, maybe Pandora had time to peak in on Sarah before catching wind of the vampires, at that point Pandora might have realized that her time was running out and gave Sam the mark then as one last act of kindness in case her refresh didn't work.

Just now, Tom Sewell said:

That sounds like something Pandora could and would do, but I doubt if the placement of the third text box is accidental. The premise of the breast pockets is, after all, to disguise Sam's breasts. What's behind that text box? Could be:

• Breast pockets on the black shirt, disguising breasts.
• No pockets, but Sam has bound his breasts like any number of females passing as males in anime and manga.
• No pockets and a flat, male chest.
• No pockets because Sam has revealed his secret to Sarah--and neither Grace nor Ellen knows this yet. Sarah cares about Sam and would want to keep his secret unless she felt there was a compelling reason not to.

It's also canon that the duration of transformations depends on what the transformee feels about that transformation. As long as the transformee likes the transformation, it's permanent. The sticker for Sam would be that some people, certainly his family, know that he's physically and biologically female, so unless he's ready to reveal his power, he'll want to be "normal" for them.. But maybe by now Sam has learned to manage his transformations, since he felt comfortable coming into the comic shop even though he was spooked by Grace earlier in the week.

Ellen doesn't know about Sam at all as far as we know, at least we haven't seen anyone tell her.  Also if Sam knew that Grace was a close friend of Sarah's I'd think he'd mention "oh Grace had already found out and promised to keep it secret, she might be worried about keeping it from you now though so you can tell her to relax" Or Sam would let Grace know that he told Sarah. That would leave Sam's avoiding Grace to be the result of Sam wanting to hide being transformed.

And yeah if Sam didn't have any reason not to stay male, he'd probably remain such indefinitely, even making it permanent now that it's possible, but it's likely he has to go back to the female body for when he's home or with people who know him as female.

[ijuin 594]

29 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Either Sam was still unsure of himself using the spell in public, or he hadn't used the spell yet until sometime after that date. One would wonder why it'd have taken Sam over a week from being marked to use the spell given he'd likely have had plenty of occasions where he'd desire a male body enough, and if he was the one that messaged Elliot about it, that would have been a prime moment to accidentally use the spell and if he did, then he'd have likely used it for the "maybe date".

http://egscomics.com/comic/2017-05-08

Maybe, just maybe, Sam discovered his mark right before writing that "Sorry, nevermind" message to Elliot . . .

[Scotty 1,061]

20 minutes ago, ijuin said:

http://egscomics.com/comic/2017-05-08

Maybe, just maybe, Sam discovered his mark right before writing that "Sorry, nevermind" message to Elliot . . .

Possible, but that was before Sarah and Sam's first "Maybe date" so we go back to whether or not Sam was transformed and if so, why was he hesitant to make physical contact with Sarah? As well as the other possible reasons I gave.

[hkmaly 490]

34 minutes ago, ijuin said:

http://egscomics.com/comic/2017-05-08

Maybe, just maybe, Sam discovered his mark right before writing that "Sorry, nevermind" message to Elliot . . .

Yeah, the "that was before the decoy" could've been decoy.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

2 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

But then, if Sam was in a male body on that date, why the wave?

Either Sam was still unsure of himself using the spell in public, or he hadn't used the spell yet until sometime after that date. One would wonder why it'd have taken Sam over a week from being marked to use the spell given he'd likely have had plenty of occasions where he'd desire a male body enough, and if he was the one that messaged Elliot about it, that would have been a prime moment to accidentally use the spell and if he did, then he'd have likely used it for the "maybe date".

The timeline is more complicated.

First he was marked. (I still think that could've happened shortly after the tournament ; Pandora could've already see Sarah is interested in him AND she wanted to be nice)

Then he first used the spell by accident.

Then it likely took him more time to realize what happened and become able to cast the spell reliably.

In fact, it's entirely possible the wave was because at that point he wasn't sure if he's still transformed.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

And yeah if Sam didn't have any reason not to stay male, he'd probably remain such indefinitely, even making it permanent now that it's possible, but it's likely he has to go back to the female body for when he's home or with people who know him as female.

Even with the background magic, he may be so weak magic user he wouldn't be able to keep the spell all the time. Yet.

 

[ijuin 594]

20 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Possible, but that was before Sarah and Sam's first "Maybe date" so we go back to whether or not Sam was transformed and if so, why was he hesitant to make physical contact with Sarah? As well as the other possible reasons I gave.

Why hesitant to make physical contact? Maybe he was just uneasy with being touched in his new, unfamiliar form. To illustrate, let's say that "you" (a generic "you") are a transgirl who has just recently been granted the ability to magically change into an authentic female form. You are overjoyed to have real boobs and curves after years of wanting them, but are still kind of nervous about letting anybody else actually, you know, touch them.

[hkmaly 490]

7 minutes ago, ijuin said:

33 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Possible, but that was before Sarah and Sam's first "Maybe date" so we go back to whether or not Sam was transformed and if so, why was he hesitant to make physical contact with Sarah? As well as the other possible reasons I gave.

Why hesitant to make physical contact? Maybe he was just uneasy with being touched in his new, unfamiliar form. To illustrate, let's say that "you" (a generic "you") are a transgirl who has just recently been granted the ability to magically change into an authentic female form. You are overjoyed to have real boobs and curves after years of wanting them, but are still kind of nervous about letting anybody else actually, you know, touch them.

Yeah.

And that's not taking into account "you" may be afraid that someone else touching them would make them disappear. Or, in Sam's case, appear.