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The Old Hack

Story Monday October 9, 2017

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.... aaand Susan narrowly escaped mentioning her aversion to touching out loud, although it's possible Diane will already realize that anyway.

Also, yes, that weird phantom thing could easily be real in EGS. In fact, it likely IS more real than her logic, curiosity, nature and nurture.

55 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Poor Susan. That is just not an easy thing to deal with.

Definitely. And it also sounds similar to OCD.

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1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

Definitely. And it also sounds similar to OCD.

Mannerism first.

Hugging can wait. Sorta. Anything Susan does that diverges away from her overcleaned self is somehow a start.

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I suddenly had a worrying thought. Given that at least some aberrations can sense potential Slayers and that Sirleck has a whole horde of them running around, it occurred to me that two of them together might set off the suspicions of at least one of Sirleck's pet murder engines. I am not sure what would happen from there on but I suspect it would get messy.

Eh well, at least that would make Colonel Sanders happy. He is actively planning for a complicated mess.

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I think Diane earned a couple points in Susan's mind, I don't believe she lost any points by leaning against the wall I doubt Susan would have held that against her, but Diane understanding how Susan described the issue is worth something.

I'm still hoping for Susan apologizing for possibly giving Diane a bad impression. I think that could develop into some meaningful dialog between them.

Just thought of something in regards to what Dan said about feeling the need to make it clear that the form behind Susan in panel three was a symbolic representation of her anxiety. Aside from the form bearing a resemblance to Susan, Dan has done something similar back when Tedd was describing how Nanase staying burnt out for so long was helping her becoming stronger.  While the circumstances between then and now are different, the stylization is pretty spot on to make it apparent that it's a symbolic representation.

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6 hours ago, Scotty said:

I'm still hoping for Susan apologizing for possibly giving Diane a bad impression. I think that could develop into some meaningful dialog between them.

Meaningful dialog? Define "meaningful dialog".

If you mean explaining the whys and wherefores of magic, then maybe. They've already talked about magic a little. But they seemed to be alone while they were doing it. The food court isn't such a good place to talk about The Secret, and they're both more than smart enough to realize this. That's not to say Dan won't have them do it anyway, but still...

But the purpose of this meeting is to talk about what Susan and Diane really are to one another. That's not really about magic, it's about Susan's issues with her father and Diane's conflicted feelings about Susan being part of a family Diane never knew she was part of. That's what they should be talking about at the food court.

Dan has pretty explicitly explored Diane's turmoil and the reasons behind it, but I think he may have left out something for behind Susan's extreme behavior. I'm not talking about rubophobia and not liking to be touched. What I mean is how Susan's eccentricities are so amplified now.

It was only after learning about Diane that Susan that Susan ever defended her dad to anyone else. That scene kind of got quickly neutralized by Nanase telling Susan about Jerry at the New Year's Eve party. But it it also reveals that Susan still loves her dad. And that probably means Susan's been wondering for a long time if she hadn't told her mom as soon as she could about her dad and the other woman, maybe they wouldn't have divorced, or at the least they could have separated in a way that her dad could still have been in her life. And since Susan found out about Diane, could Diane have been a part of Susan's life before now.

And despite a long wait, Susan did get around to hugging Tedd last Saturday.

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9 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I suddenly had a worrying thought. Given that at least some aberrations can sense potential Slayers and that Sirleck has a whole horde of them running around, it occurred to me that two of them together might set off the suspicions of at least one of Sirleck's pet murder engines. I am not sure what would happen from there on but I suspect it would get messy.

Personally I'm far less worried that just when horde of aberrations are running around Diane is with Susan who can defend her quite effectively than alone, unable to defend against any vampire who decides that no matter how far from awakening she is better get rid of her.

That said, yes the vampires might end up pretty messy when Susan finishes with them.

13 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

If you mean explaining the whys and wherefores of magic, then maybe. They've already talked about magic a little. But they seemed to be alone while they were doing it. The food court isn't such a good place to talk about The Secret, and they're both more than smart enough to realize this.

The food court will be perfect place if vampires scares everyone else away.

20 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

It was only after learning about Diane that Susan that Susan ever defended her dad to anyone else. That scene kind of got quickly neutralized by Nanase telling Susan about Jerry at the New Year's Eve party. But it it also reveals that Susan still loves her dad. And that probably means Susan's been wondering for a long time if she hadn't told her mom as soon as she could about her dad and the other woman, maybe they wouldn't have divorced, or at the least they could have separated in a way that her dad could still have been in her life.

On the other hand notice HOW Susan defended her dad. "He wasn't cheated before". I don't think she did though about not telling her mom before ... BUT she might be thinking now. "If he DID cheated before and there STILL were good years after that ... maybe there could be good years when I wouldn't told mom ...". That was very likely part of that whirlwind of conflicting emotions ... which she likely didn't completely resolved since then.

21 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Only because the trolls on the internet REALLY bothered her.

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48 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Meaningful dialog? Define "meaningful dialog".

But the purpose of this meeting is to talk about what Susan and Diane really are to one another. That's not really about magic, it's about Susan's issues with her father and Diane's conflicted feelings about Susan being part of a family Diane never knew she was part of. That's what they should be talking about at the food court.

Mainly this, Susan just revealed a flaw in herself in front of Diane, for Friday's comic I mentioned hoping that Susan would say something like "You must think I'm stupid for behaving this way" and hoped that Diane would respond with telling Susan about her flaws, maybe mention the fact that she used to string boys along for gifts. Maybe from there Susan might talk about how she used to think all males were bad until she got to know Justin and Elliot (she might mention Tedd but Diane hasn't met Tedd yet) and then Diane would ask how Susan met Justin. the subject of the review show comments could come up as well and Diane reveals that she's the one Susan had messaged. I dunno there's a bunch of stuff they could talk about besides magic.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

It was only after learning about Diane that Susan that Susan ever defended her dad to anyone else. That scene kind of got quickly neutralized by Nanase telling Susan about Jerry at the New Year's Eve party. But it it also reveals that Susan still loves her dad. And that probably means Susan's been wondering for a long time if she hadn't told her mom as soon as she could about her dad and the other woman, maybe they wouldn't have divorced, or at the least they could have separated in a way that her dad could still have been in her life. And since Susan found out about Diane, could Diane have been a part of Susan's life before now.

For a long time Susan did hate her dad for what he did, it wasn't until Grace's birthday that she started questioning her feelings about it, but by the end, she was still uncertain how she felt about him. I wouldn't say that her reaction to the possibility of her dad having cheated on her mom other times confirms that she still loved him, but she was on the path of possibly forgiving him, that if it was just one moment of weakness, that maybe she could give him a second chance to earn her love. But then she gets told that it might not have been an isolated incident and it threatens to push her back to distrusting him.

I don't think keeping quiet about it would have helped any, she'd have to live with keeping the affair from her mom, and there's no guarantee that he dad would have stopped cheating, and that's got to be a worse family environment to live in. Yes she betrayed her dad by telling her mom about the affair, but he betrayed them first, not telling would have rewarded him for the betrayal.

Also I think keeping things quiet would have made things much more difficult when it came time for Susan to learn about Diane, because even if Susan's parents stayed together, once Susan was told the possibility of Diane being her sister, she'd have gone ballistic because she would have believed she covered for her dad on the assumption his affair was a one time thing, and if she confronted him about it, she would likely end up telling her mom as well and so not only would she have hurt her mom, but her parents would likely get divorced anyway.

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1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Mainly this, Susan just revealed a flaw in herself in front of Diane, for Friday's comic I mentioned hoping that Susan would say something like "You must think I'm stupid for behaving this way" and hoped that Diane would respond with telling Susan about her flaws, maybe mention the fact that she used to string boys along for gifts.

Diane decided she needs more from relationship, but she still didn't show any signs of realizing that what she did was wrong. Also, Susan already said she's aware it's illogical ; she's unlikely to phrase it differently next time.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

For a long time Susan did hate her dad for what he did, it wasn't until Grace's birthday that she started questioning her feelings about it, but by the end, she was still uncertain how she felt about him.

Actually, for a long time Susan did hate ALL men for what her dad did, and on Grace's birthday she started thinking that maybe it was just her father who she should hate.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Also I think keeping things quiet would have made things much more difficult when it came time for Susan to learn about Diane, because even if Susan's parents stayed together, once Susan was told the possibility of Diane being her sister, she'd have gone ballistic because she would have believed she covered for her dad on the assumption his affair was a one time thing, and if she confronted him about it, she would likely end up telling her mom as well and so not only would she have hurt her mom, but her parents would likely get divorced anyway.

If it wasn't isolated incident (or, well, two isolated incidents), most likely her dad would be caught later and they would divorce anyway.

Not speaking about the possibility that the incident Susan reported wasn't first incident her mom learned about.

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2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Diane decided she needs more from relationship, but she still didn't show any signs of realizing that what she did was wrong. Also, Susan already said she's aware it's illogical ; she's unlikely to phrase it differently next time.

She might not think what she did was wrong, but from the Q&A page about her, she wanted something new, which would have meant stringing boys along was no longer appealing.

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Actually, for a long time Susan did hate ALL men for what her dad did, and on Grace's birthday she started thinking that maybe it was just her father who she should hate.

She assumed all men were like her dad and that all they thought about was getting a girl in bed with them and that even marriage wouldn't stop that. Her intentions at Grace's birthday were to find out if that was the case, she didn't really expect to think of her dad any differently, that he didn't do what he did because he was male, but because he made the choice to do what he did. So Susan could no longer use the "because he's a man" excuse her mom gave her.

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not speaking about the possibility that the incident Susan reported wasn't first incident her mom learned about.

It might be possible Mrs Pompoms knew about the affair with Diane's biological mother, and gave him another chance, but then when Susan told her about catching him with another woman, that was the last straw.

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1 hour ago, Scotty said:
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Diane decided she needs more from relationship, but she still didn't show any signs of realizing that what she did was wrong. Also, Susan already said she's aware it's illogical ; she's unlikely to phrase it differently next time.

She might not think what she did was wrong, but from the Q&A page about her, she wanted something new, which would have meant stringing boys along was no longer appealing.

The point was she's unlikely to use it as example of her flaws.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Actually, for a long time Susan did hate ALL men for what her dad did, and on Grace's birthday she started thinking that maybe it was just her father who she should hate.

She assumed all men were like her dad and that all they thought about was getting a girl in bed with them and that even marriage wouldn't stop that. Her intentions at Grace's birthday were to find out if that was the case, she didn't really expect to think of her dad any differently, that he didn't do what he did because he was male, but because he made the choice to do what he did. So Susan could no longer use the "because he's a man" excuse her mom gave her.

Yes, I oversimplified it. She didn't actually hated men, she simply assumed they are naturally messed up and can't help themselves. And yes, Grace's party proved it not true. Despite how far she got with Justin ...

1 hour ago, Scotty said:
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not speaking about the possibility that the incident Susan reported wasn't first incident her mom learned about.

It might be possible Mrs Pompoms knew about the affair with Diane's biological mother, and gave him another chance, but then when Susan told her about catching him with another woman, that was the last straw.

Exactly - or, possibly, some other affair between the one with Diane's mother and the one Susan uncovered. It's even possible this was third time - although I don't think Mrs. Pompoms is the kind who would give him third chance.

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6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Despite how far she got with Justin ...

I think Susan's experience with Justin there proved that both sexes were capable of making the same choices. That woman that Susan caught with her dad didn't seem upset to find out he was married, she was surprised that she got caught.

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OCD is generally considered to be an anxiety issue.  In my case, though, I have the compulsion without anxiety forming as a result of not giving in.  It's patterns that I reflexively fall into  when not consciously suppressing them, and a nagging pressure at the back of my mind saying* "Check it.  Check it again.  Are you sure you checked it?" and, "You know, there's only 50 more things you need to complete your collection/game/etc.  You don't need sleep, you don't need work, you need to complete that collection."  The one I think that bothers me the most is when I'm talking/typing/etc. that insists that what I've said might be misconstrued, and so I have to over explain.  At length. Far past any reasonable concerns, I just have to keep explaining and explaining....

I have enough self awareness and self control to mostly contain these issues, but the compulsions still nag me.

*Not in words, mind you.  That would be schizophrenia, which the voices in my head insist I don't have..

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10 hours ago, Scotty said:
16 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Despite how far she got with Justin ...

I think Susan's experience with Justin there proved that both sexes were capable of making the same choices. That woman that Susan caught with her dad didn't seem upset to find out he was married, she was surprised that she got caught.

That would only prove women are messed up as well :)

But, yes ; her experience with Justin shown her what the choice is and that it is still choice.

On 10/9/2017 at 0:20 PM, ProfessorTomoe said:
On 10/9/2017 at 8:22 AM, hkmaly said:

And it also sounds similar to OCD.

It sounds much, much closer to OCD than it does an allergy, I believe.

Maybe something like OCD triggered by allergy? Just like hay fever is cold triggered by allergy?

6 hours ago, Wyrd42 said:

"You know, there's only 50 more things you need to complete your collection/game/etc.  You don't need sleep, you don't need work, you need to complete that collection."

Based on commercial success of those games, this kind of OCD is vastly underreported.

6 hours ago, Wyrd42 said:

The one I think that bothers me the most is when I'm talking/typing/etc. that insists that what I've said might be misconstrued, and so I have to over explain.  At length. Far past any reasonable concerns, I just have to keep explaining and explaining....

Based on my experience, I'm not sure it's possible to explain something thoroughly enough so it COULDN'T be misunderstood.

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On 10/10/2017 at 6:18 PM, hkmaly said:

Based on my experience, I'm not sure it's possible to explain something thoroughly enough so it COULDN'T be misunderstood.

 

This is why it bugs me so much.  I'll rewrite or rephrase something a dozen times and still not be happy with it.

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16 hours ago, Wyrd42 said:

This is why it bugs me so much.  I'll rewrite or rephrase something a dozen times and still not be happy with it.

Don't worry about it so much. No matter how you word it, there will be those who read half of the first sentence, decide you don't agree with them absolutely perfectly, and demand that you explain why you are asserting that kicking puppies is morally required. Even though what you wrote contains no reference to canines or to kicking anything. And they will not listen to anything you say that they don't construe as an attempt to justify the absurd claim you never made.

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