Grrl Power #1214 – The one with the demon gang
So this group is Parfait’s “the guys” she hung out with in high-school. At least mostly. Demon education is a little different than typical schooling, in that high-school is general study, but takes them closer to what we’d consider an associate’s degree, then college is almost all vocational. Succubi have their finishing schools, and the first draft of this page had Lulu mention that Brelx was attending “Demon Lording” school, (though clarified that’s not what it’s really called). They still get to hang out though, because often a given warlord’s domain will have a “college town” with multiple campuses clustered around a town center. For as much as demons claim to be into chaos and all that, it doesn’t mean they can’t design sensible municipal layouts. I mean, there’s chaos, sure, that’s great and all, but they’re not going to say no to easily accessible restaurants and cinemas and blood sports arenas. It’s nice to have a bit of a theme as a race, or as a collection of similar races, but it didn’t take long for them to realize that laying out their roads like the labyrinths of insanity was just wildly inefficient and only punished themselves.
Oh, Kraken is a cameo character, and “Zdorovo” is just Russian for “Hola.” It doesn’t mean Kraken is Russian. He just likes saying that like Sydney likes saying “hola.”
Binding Words 11 is out, and this one wraps the series. It’s always nice when an author can draw a story to a natural conclusion. I know the numbers of readers always tend to fall off after the first book in a series. I mean, if you look at the number of reviews a book gets over at amazon, no matter the author, book 2 usually have about half to 60% the number of reviews as book 1. After that, each book usually sees about a 10% attrition rate. Not always, but a lot of them follow that pattern. I know reviews aren’t indicative of sales necessarily, but it’s the only easy metric Amazon lets people get a look at. I guess a lot of people will venture into a series but then decide it’s not for them or just forget to ever buy book 2 in a series. I’m kind of bad about trying the demos for video games then never getting the actual game because I kind of got what I wanted from the demo. You know, just a feel for that core gameplay loop. I think some people are like that with books.
Actually, what I’m really bad about is buying a game, playing it one time for like 45 minutes, then never playing it again. Basically treating the game as a demo. But I usually only do that with games I get on sale.
Anyway. I haven’t finished the book yet, but it’s on track to be as good as the rest. Binding Words is my favorite of Daniel Schinhofen’s various series, though Aether’s Revival is up there too.
The September vote incentive is up! Let’s call it the November vote incentive and just say I’ve still got two I.O.U’s, eh?
Well, Dabbler is doing her Dabbler things, and the Patreon version has a nude variant and a comic that… I don’t know, expounds on the goings on of the initial picture?
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Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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last Pannel – “… i cannot disobery him” – is that a typo?
she probably wanted the say I cannot disembowel him. but she can’t.
Maybe “Obery” is what the type of his axe is called, (there was some discussion about the classification two pages ago.) Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obuch.
In which case she would be saying that she can’t take his own weapon and kill him with it.
Glitch in the universal translator.
Fixed!
Nope… But my brain did. I hadn’t realized that typo at all.
Great story and artwork.
I hope Lulu gets rid of that donkey-pit soon.
Universal translator? Me? ;-)
Sounds like Lulu might be in need of help and a note to the Succubus matriarchs about her situation.
It is pretty terrifying to not be able to disobery (sic) someone. Especially someone who seems to have impulse control issues, a short temper, and violent tendencies.
Not necessarily, a succubus needs to learn to disobey in this universe. He is supposed to be giving her orders to try to disobey. Slightly embarrassing but no long term harm orders are probably encountered to give the succubus insensitive to learn.
She needs to disobey in succubus finishing school.
Not while bonded.
You need to bonded to have a master to learn to disobey
Part of being a master in the whole succubus thing, according to both Dabbler and Parfait in the comic, is that a good master is chosen to help them learn HOW to disobey, since newer succubi can’t disobey at all.
Dabbler has gotten to a point where she’s very good at having independent thought and disobeying Tom. :)
True, but the repeated “I cannot disobey him” feels like the sort of subtle call for help that would get around badly-phrased “don’t call for help” commands. Especially when combined with the yelling about wanting to control who Parfait binds to. And the hesitation before “great”. If she starts talking about Parfait’s dog that she doesn’t have then that would confirm it.
But we’ve also established that succubi get orgasmic pleasure from obeying their master. That Lulu seems even neutral about it feels like cause for at least a check-in.
I’d say it’s worth calling Xuriel in to give the situation a once-over to make sure it’s cool by succubus ethics and medical.
> And the hesitation before “great”.
Exactly. Without that it would be easy to take it as “my dork of a boyfriend made me wear this stupid jacket”.
As is, it’s a bit more suspicious and further investigation is warranted.
Don’t forget master’s are rigorously vetted by… was it a council? Based on Dave’s work, I would assume he’s not a bad as you make it out to be in your mind.
Doesn’t mean a few not-great masters get a pass during the vetting, and then turn out to a complete arsehole once they have their permit (or what ever), and if the bonded isn’t allowed to disobey until they learn how to disobey, how would the council know the master is unsuitable?
And if they were, would the council turn a blind eye or admit their vetting system is less-than-perfect?
The notes on the page mention that in the first draft, they mention Brelx (our apparent instigator) is going to a Demon Lordling school. It could be that the Lordling school has a connection to the Succubus finishing school, could be a sort of scholarship program to put future Lords with capable Succubi. Which our demonic instigator might have abused that slightly to pass when he wouldn’t have otherwise and to get Lulu specifically. If he did get Lulu through the Lordling school’s backing, was it done with the school’s knowledge or did Brelx just use his status as a student there? Or is there faculty who may have helped Brelx get through the Succubi sign ups knowing he wasn’t fit?
There’s also the possibility that he didn’t have any of the red flags they would look for in the vetting process until *after* he had unilateral control over his succubus friend. There are lots of kinds of people who shouldn’t ever be given power over others, and many of those are not particularly identifiable until after they’ve already been given that power and the freedom to exercise it. Even Brelx might not realize how having that power has changed him, assuming he wasn’t as much of a dick before.
The problem, and the deadly danger, with psychopaths is that they can, and frequently do, learn how to mimic emotions perfectly. They do not feel any of them, but they can convince even the wary that they do.
A lot of women end up in abusive relations this way, and no few every year who try to get out of one end up murdered. (and yes, it works the other way around, but it is much rarer. It is much harder for a woman to control who a man can and cannot meet, and much much harder for her to convince him he is worthless without him. Boys learn from early age to be more independent and self-affirming while girls learn to derive their sense of self-worth from their relationships (in particular husband and children).
Brelix can easily be the demonic equivalent of a psychopath, and the vetting process is probably not really geared towards picking this up. One of the things they are looking for after all is people who are controlling. Admitted, it is controlling to a degree, but that is something a demonic psychopath could have learned to fake convincingly enough to not raise alarms. Add in an influential family and a dangerous or abusive master can easily have slipped through the vetting process.
Of course, there is no telling at this point in the story if Brelix is indeed a psychopath. We only have two clues, both of them somewhat ambiguous (it could just a easily be the character of Lulu that is the opposite of Parfait’s excessive exuberance. And we have a hint that Lulu is not exactly a fan of Parfait, not if she says that Parfait’s stink is all over Sydney. She would have phrased that quite differently if they were BFF in school).
On the other hand, we may be about to be exposed to the darker side of the existence of Succubi. There is no telling how reliable a narrator Dabbler was. Her story about the history and nature of Succubi was abbreviated as she was trying to keep Maxima from separating Thom from some essential body parts (which would have put Dabbler herself in mortal danger as well).
Finally, Succubi may have less freedom in the choice of masters than alluded to by Dabbler. It is clear that once they hit a certain point in their (meta)physical development they are on a ticking clock. A clock that starts ticking fast and only picks up speed from that point. They are specifically created to die unless owned by somebody, and die in an unpleasant manner at that. Given that this was a deterence against killing their masters, no matter how bad or abusive, that clock has to tick down very fast indeed. Lulu may well have found herself in a situation of: “you need to accept a master by the end of this week, but today would be much better for you. Here are the two candidates that are available at this moment.”
So, at this point we know little. The whole thing my turn out to be a red herring. We already had the visitors downgraded from imminent threat to former classmates who struck a wildly inappropriate tone. It is conceivable that Dave shifts the story in a relatively harmless direction as soon as the backup shows up (two pages back one of Sydney’s employees was on the phone, after earlier suggesting they should call this in to Archon).
Or … we are about to see a bit more of the reality of Succubus existence and how it is not /that/ far from the bad old days of being enslaved to arch wizards and enchanters no matter how much Dabbler sugarcoated it for Max’s (or rather Thom’s) sake.
The vibe I’m getting (the jacket tells the tale) that Brelx is a high school jock that is refusing to accept he’s nothing after school is over, and is trying to be the “football captain” again afterwards. Bulling and bossing people around, making up “rules” as he goes along, that sort of thing. Basically, he hasn’t grown up and they are the type to pick bar fights and bully smaller people because he can, until he gets his butt kicked by someone he thinks he can get away with it. Like the idiot boss with a football (winning game ball) on his desk, his jersey in a frame on the wall, and a picture of his winning game on another from 20 years ago, and a picture of his trophy-wife on his desk when she was the head cheerleader, NOT a current one. I had one like that, I had the urge to face plant him more than once…
> One of the things they are looking for after all is people who are controlling.
I’d say what they’re really looking for is good BDSM Tops.
That is the (dangerous) difference between a Psychopath and a Sociopath: Psychos don’t feel, but usually want to and learns how to fake it, whereas a Socio do feel but usually don’t give a shit (they don’t have to fake having feelings, they just fake caring about them, or how they impact others)
You don’t know what the council’s standards are. What’s considered good or bad by us might be considered just the opposite by the council. They ARE demons.
Yes, but remember they just tried to ambush Parfait to force her to switch her bond.
that’s not necessarily true. All he said was ‘Where is parfait!’ and Sydney assumed the rest.
“She belongs to him!”
The ‘him’ that Brelix was referring to was Tom, not himself.
Actually no.
Brelix specifically said that Parfait did not belong to Thom (“not sij Thothogoth” was what he said) but to ‘him’ who was at the time only identified as the ‘hullo demon’.
There is still some possiblilty that the intent was not to use force and that Brelix just badly stepped into it when he used ‘normal’ demonic introduction style (as in making it clear that he was the big bad in the conversation and not puny human Sydney). But there is every possiblity as well that the plan was indeed to simply abduct Parfait and keep her until she agreed to switch ownership. That would not be a smart plan, but we are looking at teenagers here, not a demographic famed for their well thought out plans.
“Brelix specifically said that Parfait did not belong to Thom (“not sij Thothogoth” was what he said) but to ‘him’ who was at the time only identified as the ‘hullo demon’.”
The persojn who said that WAS Brelx. Why would Brelx refer to himself as ‘him’ instead of referring to himself as ‘me?’
The “him” that Brelx was referring to was Aster.
Ohhhh I see that he’s pointing now.
Oh okay now I see what you’re saying. I didnt even notice Aster in that picture. I thought it was Sydney saying Hullo. And i didn’t see Brelx pointing either.
Also threatened to break both their place of work and other things they were about to mention and drew a weapon.
A threat with a drawn weapon is an unacceptable act in and of itself regardless of whether they were only bluffing. Demon culture might see it differently but that does not mean humanity will accept it as acceptable behavior within their borders.
Threats like that are just a demon way of saying “hello, nice day isnt it?”
That not clear, Parfait upon seeing them certainly didn’t react like someone expecting as assault. It’s entirely possible that they simply wanted to convince her to ditch Tom, which even Dabbler proposed.
Yes, but I would make a much better master. Durrr
I read it more as “Brelx is an inconsiderate jerk of a master and I dont mind if you beat him up for his hsving been a jerk in your shop, Sydney.”
But you could be correct too.
Sounds more like I can not disobey because he has all this muscle minions that will beat me up than I’m turned on too much from obeying to disobey
No, it’s the magical compulsion for obedience. (It also normally also turns them on, but in #998 “learning to fight it” and “learning to want to fight it” are noted separately, not that’s not the same.)
Brelx is the muscle guy with the axe, we haven’t heard anything of him having minions. (Brelx isn’t Aster’s minion either, they’re more like friends.)
Succubi have a magical compulsion to have to obey their masters. And they need to have masters or they’ll rather quickly die after a week or so. So a good Master, in demon/succubus society, is one like Tom, who seems to teach his succubi slave how to disobey the compulsion. And sometimes they teach them too well, like with Dabbler :) :) :)
Then they steal all your loot.
If this were a normal situation, she wouldn’t feel the need to mention it, much less reiterate it. This has the hallmarks of an abusive relationship.
There is an innocuous explanation for it, which is that she’s extremely embarrassed about wearing the jacket.
From the Doylian view, That’s not the way to bet. I’m betting this is where Dave explores one downside of the system.
> From the Doylian view, That’s not the way to bet.
Not necessarily, it wouldn’t be the first time Dave has turned a seemingly dark situation into something light-hearted and humorous. In fact, this most recently happened on this page, where what looked like a forced kidnapping and enslavement of Parfait turned into a friendly visit, except with demon manners. Which I saw coming, using Doylist reasoning.
And “exploring the dark side of consent issues” is not really something Dave has done very much in this comic, even though there’d have been plenty of opportunity given all the shenanigans including (but not limited to) succubi.
I mean, I’m myself tending towards this actually being a bad situation, but I do want to point out that we currently know is ambiguous.
My concerns actually run along those lines. My worry is that Dave is setting it up to look problematic, then does a reveal/plot-twist (ala the “Parfait Lust Aura” arc we just finished), in which it’s shown that no, this is all totally fine and dandy, and naysayers are wrong for clutching their pearls again.
That did finish up with the sting that Dabbler was manipulating everyone with suggestion magic to be cool about it and not raise objections. Sort of like if someone was going to raise a complaint but you sedated them before they could and then argued against them while they stumbled over their reasoning.
Except that did not happen.
Mr Amorpheus asked Dabbler to do this to Brooke (Heatwave) because he justifiably feared that Brooke would set him on fire for cheating on her and he wanted to escape her anger by forcing her to experience how strong Succubus powers are (i.e. he wanted to use Dabbler to force Brooke to accept that ‘it was not his fault’).
Dabbler, having an extremely loose relationship with consent did not see any problem with this, but Max made it clear right away that she was NOT okay with this. Max also was not impressed with the attempt at rules lawyering her into giving the okay.
Except that (Dabbler magically drugging everyone to help parfait) is *literally* what happened. Dabbler *literally* told parfait that she was magically making everyone feel okay with parfaits lust sura/the things they did as a consequence of the aura. Did you even read the comic? She called it her “Hey, that was just what I needed” aura. It’s literally 13 pages before this one. How do you manage to pedantically correct someone and fail to double check your pedantry first? Embarrassing.
Here, a link:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1201-impossible-aura-elevator-mission/
Bask in your wrongness.
I don’t know who replied to me. There is no name in the post and no way to reply for me.
(this probably also will not show up in the correct thread)
Correcting me when I am wrong is fine. Being rude about it is not.
That said, I did write that Max was not okay with the idea, but that Dabbler has a loose connection to morality and did not see a problem.
I forgot about that one panel where she confessed to her little sister that she was already doing what Mr Amorpheus asked for and what Max was not happy with. She almost certainly has been doing that since she returned to the Archon HQ and did not care to ask for permission, nor to stop now that permission was witheld.
That does not make any of this right, and nobody is arguing that it is. The people who were okay with the Parfait Aura story arc did not say that mind control is acceptable. Only that the lack of intent and inability to control herself made answering the question of accountability difficult to say the least.
> There is no name in the post
They made their name “Roofies are bad unless they’re magic roofies and Dabbler makes everyone okay with it. Some people here think that it’s not “really rape” if she or he wasn’t blackout drunk.” but it broke the site formatting.
Also we’re at the bottom of the thread depth.
her reterating it could also be just please leave me out of this.
That would not have started with “I reiterate,” which in context is like blinking your eyes in morse code.
There’s nothing innocuous about moving to whispers to convey that you can’t disobey, there’s no reason to do that unless she wants to but can’t and can’t let those with her realize she’s trying to get help. They come off as much as being there to prevent her asking for help as being there to try and force Parfait into also being one of his slaves.
Agreed about the whispers part. If it was just embarrassing, in a relationship with trust and respect, she would say that part loudly and in Brelix’s direction. Similar to a dude who loses his fantasy league and has to wear a tutu to the bar with the guys. He would explain it loudly and pointedly glaring at his friends.
Fair point, the whispers part is very suspicious.
Also the fact that Parfaits exctatic smile at seeing her old friends one of whom is a succubus with her newly bonded master, just gradually decreases panel to panel and is completely gone in the last one.
Not necessarily. A succubus is ment to learn to disobey her master. Slightly embarrassing orders that have no long term repocutuons are probably the best thing to practise on.
I accept that English might not be your first language, so I mean this with no offence, but I couldn’t let “repocutuons” just slide by.
“Repercussions” is the spelling you want.
I suppose that is only for emergencies. I mean, sure, he is a jerk (and for some reason I think he is going to get some comeuppance soon) but if that is the worst he ask her is not enough to call on the matriarch, I think.
It’s only the first opportunity she’s had to comment on it “naturally”, though. I agree it’s way too soon to call in the matriarchs, but it is concerning enough to warrant further investigation to ascertain whether she actually does need help and if escalation to the highest authorities on the matter is the kind of help she actually needs. It is entirely possible that Brelx just needs someone to school him on where the lines are so he knows not to cross them, or that he’s trending down a bad path and needs to be course corrected, which they don’t necessarily need the matriarchs to do, Dabbler should be more than sufficient for that purpose, assuming that’s all that needs to be done (for now, obviously if some schooling or course correcting is applied, they’ll want someone keeping an eye on things to ensure he stays on the right path as a master).
> It is pretty terrifying to not be able to disobery (sic) someone.
I mean, it’s standard for succubi, and they’re rather into it. As long as the guy isn’t too much of a dick, they shouldn’t have a problem with it … although it’s certainly starting to look suspiciously like Brelx is much of a dick.
Also consider the fact that, of all the succubus matriarchs Parfait, or even Dabbler, are going to have contact info for, the most likely one they’d send to investigate is their mother, the infamous Xanadu. As this is a woman many of us would very much like to meet, I am all for sending a note to the matriarchs.
Eh, no.
I read it as ‘the big crush I had in high school still hasn’t matured, and now I’m stuck with him. I’m a gorgeous succubus who should be a fashion plate and showing off my looks, and I’m stuck in this travesty of a outfit due to my master, not because I want to be.”
With possible schadenfreude that her boyfriend is smarter than he looks and is making her wear his jacket until she can force herself not to as part of his Master Obligations.
This doesn’t radiate abuse situation to me at all. It radiates ‘my boyfriend/master has no fashion sense’.
That’s not the way it reads to me.
The “Yeah it’s been…great” combined with the whispering “…I would like to reiterate that I cannot disobey him, I’ve tried” really suggests a bigger problem than that
Which isn’t to say that it’s certain but it’s the way it looks to me
I can see Brelx getting a very painful lesson in the very near future
Meanwhile the spell pylons supporting The Veil are starting to smoke again.
…. was it Polk High?
My first thought as well.
Nice to see Parfait knows these demons….!
BTW-Wasn’t Olivia on the phone with Archon,did Sydney grab it and say “Sorry,wrong number!”
She probably still is..
Syd took the Menaces outside where there’s less chance of collateral damage and innocent bystanders getting hurt. But in terms of time not much has elapsed, maybe 10 minutes?
And for all we know… Daphne could have Vorp!-ed in out of sight to have eyes on the ground, Dabbs and/or Max could be on their way, with the rest of the squad gearing up, etc…
Archon has a fast reaction time, but between Olivia’s call coming through, an All Hands!, and getting from A to B without breaking sound barriers… Half an hour minimum to get there..
I don’t think they need “all hands”.
Dabbler will probably be required, but for her cultural expertise more than her firepower.
Maxima has the power to deal with all eventualities, the superspeed contain all of them, and the flight speed for a fast response, so she might be sent, but probably isn’t strictly necessary.
Vorping over a few Harems can’t hurt.
I rather think they’d need an “All Hands!” here…
Not to deal with any violent shenanigans. Max could deal with that, Sydney is not exactly powerless, and Dabbler can take them down a peg or two either way.
The thing these college brats miss is that they’ve illegally entered a nation on a planet that is *still* formally a no-go zone, and has Views about these things.
Both in the US government and the Council… And the Galactic Police Thingy… The cat may be out of the bag, but the Red Tape hasn’t been spun out yet…
Now if they were doing this along the lines of a frat dare they could possibly have gotten away with it with a slap on the wrist.
But no, they immediately opened hostilities against what they *thought* was a mere ordinary denizen of this planet, with the express purpose to forcibly break a succubus contract.
With said succubus being the property of a demonic entity under contract of a nation the US has a deal for New Shineys with.
Something tells me the Matrons may see the highschool jacket thing as Character Building, but they will have Opinions about people trying to evade Proper Channels and trying to break established succubi contracts.
And potentially derailing pretty sensitive negotiations/deals regarding new shiny military hardware when it comes to the US ( or any nation, but the US is by far the most ..emphatic… about these things..) is… A Really Bad Idea.
So, not counting Sydney et. al., they’ve already ticked off the US twice, the Council for sure, probably the Galactic Peacekeepers, and quite possibly the Matrons once they get wind of this…
While dealing with the situation *could* be done with minimal force/personnel, this is one of those things where you want to make certain things *absolutely, publicly, clear*.
Like “proper channels and procedures” and “We have Rules about these things..”
So you really want a show of force. A very public one, picked up by the intergalactic community, that some Ideas are Bad Ideas.
So yes… An “All Hands!” with sprinkles and confetti. Pour encourager les autres.
> The thing these college brats miss is that they’ve illegally entered a nation on a planet that is *still* formally a no-go zone, and has Views about these things.
No, Tom and his army are banned from the US, but these folks are apparently not affiliated with him. Note that in previous pages we’ve seen loads of demons visiting the comic store without anyone appearing to have a problem with it.
> with the express purpose to forcibly break a succubus contract.
We haven’t seen them try to “break” the succubus contract. For all we know they just want to talk Parfait into ditching Thothogoth, which is hardly illegal, given Dabbler also recently did it, and Tom would probably take it in stride. (They haven’t declared any intent either, although WoG suggests it’s indeed what they’re after.) And the US will hardly be very enthusiastic about enforcing a slave contract, even if “a mercenary in service of a nation a defense contractor has ties to” were diplomatically relevant enough to care.
So what remains is the threat of vandalism, but demons are probably pretty laid back about that thing, and while Archon will want to make clear they’re not supposed to do that, we’re still talking about misbehaving college kids, the kind of thing where you send the equivalent of two beat cops for a stern talk, not a SWAT team and the mayor.
They almost certainly did not go through customs, so they have entered the country illegally.
Technically true, but aliens have done that since forever and no one really cared. Parfait and Sydney only got in trouble for summoning Parfait straight into a military base (and the mind control shenanigans.)
Aliens, including the demonic kind, certainly have, indeed.. Hence the Council and the Veil…
And note that the veil may have been ..diminished.. in some areas, under certain circumstances, but that it has *not* been lifted, and that the edicts of the Council are still valid. Legally and otherwise.
And note that Tom, nor select parts of his Army are not banned from the US.. Max would wish, but she hasn’t quite got that power or influence.
As evidenced by Deus’ latest appearance, members of Tom’s army are part of Deus’ retinue, and can show up in the US.
If Deus wanted to tickle Maxima to the Max, he’d be quite able to bring Tom with him to the US under some form of diplomatic/need-to-bring mantle.
The *very best* excuse would actually be the “regular interaction” clause built into the subbubus bond..
Deus would be “merely facilitating an established contract involving the continued well-being of a valued member of the US forces. [insert more Deus logic and snark here]”.
Max would *know* Tom and Dabbler would be at it like rabbits, and then some, *know* Deus only does this to push her Buttons, and *know* there isn’t anything she can do about it because both Deus and Tom are well within their rights, and Dabbler wouldn’t object to a check-up session with Tom…
(Damn… Deus is a *fun* supervillain to imagine… )
Dabbles is not a member of the US forces, she can leave at any time she gets bored or insulted beyond the fun she gets from hanging around Maxi and the other tasty Supers
And Tom is banned from the US unless he has the proper paperwork (that is something Maxi is empowered with), as evidenced by SmugD’s last appearance (also backing up the ‘requiring proper paperwork’, they can’t just show up on their own)
So yes it is a situation, but I think this is mainly a semper Vigilantis (or whatever the twilight council police force is called) issue. However; it is also an Archon issue as its on American soil, involves a VIP Archon police officer, and a family member of someone on the team whose “no-tech sharing” rule might get signifigantly more lax if help arrives to resolve the issue quickly and effectivly. So yeah with the weakening veil SemperVi teams worldwide are probably gonna have to start acting more and more as an international police service. And will always have to negotiate with local law enforcement.
> And note that Tom, nor select parts of his Army are not banned from the US..
Well yes, but that merely strengthens my point.
> And note that the veil may have been ..diminished.. in some areas, under certain circumstances, but that it has *not* been lifted, and that the edicts of the Council are still valid.
I’m not sure. The masquerade is broken. There’s no point in policing this anymore, and while it may formally still be on the books, no one is going to be enthusiastic about enforcing it, since there’s no point anymore.
And it’s certainly not Archon’s job to enforce it.
I think my idea might be where they transition to. As the supernatural community is well developed and spread across the world with its own traditions and organisation with the Twighlight council acting somoene like their UN, I think their police force will be shifted from keeping the veil, to making sure cross cultural incidents are resolved as best as possible between the globalised Supernatural community and the (comparativley) mundane nations they exist within. No more secrets but public scrutiny is going to be a thing.
> And the US will hardly be very enthusiastic about enforcing a slave contract
Have you actually read the 13th amendment? The USA does slavery all the time. Within its own borders.
1. I’m pretty sure the exception only applies to the involuntary servitude part, not the slavery part, certainly that’s how the current usage looks like. Citation needed for the USA “doing slavery all the time”.
2. Parfait hasn’t been convicted to slavery for a crime, so it wouldn’t apply anyway.
3. Even if you had a point, that would make the USA merely hypocrites. They’re not going to put themselves behind enforcing foreign slavery.
1. He’s probably referring to the USA for profit prison system and possibly(more grey area) to the lack of worker protections in architecture. The USA for profit prison system has some very strong parallels with old style slavery(black people working for no or little pay, with basically no view of getting out except sometimes paying a large ransom, etc).
The citations you wanted:
https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/06/05/2021/slavery-and-us-prison-system,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States and
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/27/slavery-loophole-unpaid-labor-in-prisons.
Having said this by the more strict definition provided by britannica.com it doesn’t actually match, because a prison doesn’t have legal ownership over their inmates(as far as I know).
2. Good point.
3. Certainly correct.
This isn’t actual slavery. While some might disagree, it’s the point of view of US officials, which is what matters here, not philosophical comparisons.
Sorry, are you saying that locking people up and making them do work against their will for no pay isn’t slavery?
Because that’s an accurate description of penal labour.
Yes. Because slavery means treating people as property, which is entirely absent here.
From wikipedia:
Slavery typically involves compulsory work with the slave’s location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage.
I don’t really give a shit about if they’re technically owned or not. In practice they are.
You’re committing a logical fallacy. “X has characteristic Y” does not imply “Everything with characteristic Y is X”. Also note the “typically”: For example, slave traders resell slaves instead of making them work – that hardly means they aren’t slavers.
I don’t really give a shit about what you give a shit about. Words have meanings.
I’d say you’re focusing on completely the wrong bit when it comes to the definition of slavery.
You’re focusing on “the local law says they’re property.”
I’m focusing on “they’re treated like property.”
No, I’m focusing on the definition of slavery, period, while you’re focusing on something different.
Because “forced labor” =/= “treated like property”, and the former is absent from the definition of slavery.
Not necessarily “all hands”, but probably at least a “all very large/very powerful”, to make a showing that will drive the needed “oops” into Brelx’s skull, without turning it into “oh shit the humings are attacking!”
You don’t need that much to scare a college kid straight. Sydney is already sufficiently stronger than him to impress that he shouldn’t have picked that fight, and beyond that you only need someone to explain to him how he messed up. Dabbler is probably the best choice.
City Architect: A well laid out town will showcase your chaos. Otherwise you can’t see the chaos for the chaos.
I suspect that Demons use chaos as to tool that they inflict on other people. You can use it as shorthand for “Gonna do what I wanna do”. But once it is done they like their environment as predictable as anybody else.
To borrow from Freefall, who borrowed from Terry Pratchett; “If you are going to cause chaos, you need to be organized.”
And you need to bring plenty of ice cream to pay for the angry mob chasing you.\
Cannot forget that.
I just know now that Sydney should go back and get the skulll from the kaiju to mount on the mantle.
maybe it would be like the signs at amusement parks: must be at least this high to ride this ride
So what is Brelx’s soul symbol? It kinda looks like a hoofprint, but he doesn’t even have hooves.
Looks like… something flacid.
Maybe a water lily leaf? That would be surprising for a guy who looks like him.
Maybe an Omega sign?
Appears to be a lowercase n. Probably stands for “nitwit”?
A shelled shrimp?
Lambda in most of a circle?
the NoMa’am symbol, of course
Is it possible that this goes beyond the normal succubus obeying thing. Does this guy have a mindcontrol thing. Is he on a succubus collection spree. Are we getting a dabler vs max thing. Those it work on supers too. Is this the sydney vs brainwashed max episode. We have to get one at some point right.
So, a succubus who wants to disobey and cannot, and Parfait’s bonded *well* above her power level, so she’s having control issues. That’s two things that are *not* supposed to happen, in the same graduating class.
Someone at that school is either incompetent or malicious, and probably both, because if you know there’s a problem and you’re not trying to get help, you’ve made the choice to be malicious by putting your ego ahead of others safety.
> and Parfait’s bonded *well* above her power level, so she’s having control issues. That’s two things that are *not* supposed to happen
All young succubi have control issues, it comes with the territory. This has nothing to do with Tom’s power level, that only made her loss of control more impactful. It was Sydney summoning her and riling her up that led to the situation.
To further Voyagers logic. It is also Dabblers fault for knowing Sydney probably got Parfait’s summoning token judgeing from how well she gets along with both her sister and Sydney. She should know that Sydney would probably summon Parfait at some point and would encourage it happening as often as possible. She did not and the previous par tof the arc happened. She is both the experienced succubus expert on the team, super intelligent without hit being literal like Deus(probably), and on team every gets boinking and boinking all the time. (Horrible non-consensual outcomes like at the base are unbeleivably anti-boinking all the time).
I am all for teams “everyone gets boinking” and “boinking all the time”. This is only on the prerequisite that all boinking is consensual. Also other parts of life are fun too so being overfocused on sex would just make it not fun. Not for a succubus but for any sentient that doesn’t have hyper specialised brain development for boinking.
However; to her credit, she has done a decent job of promoting the Boink teams for Sydney and Krona. It is also both due to her that Sydney and Parfait met and are still on good terms after the unfortunate events at the base. Sydney also knows of the emotional suppresion going on and isn’t having a strong negative reaction even after leaving the AoE.
So yeah, flawed characters make us feel things and think about our views more.
Hopefully I can get back to sleep without fridge logic demanding I post something somewhere on the internet.
>_<
Last panel: That’s a plea for help if ever I hear one. Sydney’s bound to get involved.
There is always that guy, the one whose life peaked out their senior year in high school. Maybe it happens with women as well but it seems more noticeable with the men.
I feel there is also a certain amount of “I’m sorry for this situation but I’m not able to stop it please do not take my actions against me as it isn’t my fault” as well as a possible “please help me out of this situation”.
“I was just following orders” a literal defence for succubi.
Hmm, maybe its an innocous “I am embarrassed by this jacket” thing or maybe its a subtle call for help but given Sydney side eyeing the 4th wall I’m guessing Xuriel is about to get a call to do a quick welfare check.
Especially if mr.impulse-control-issues has designs on her wee sis.
If we want to give Brelx the benefit of doubt, it’s possible he’s given her an embarrassing order (“Wear my old Letterman jacket”) not as a dominance or insecurity thing but rather in order to help her learn to resist orders.
The “embarrassed by the jacket” would not have required “I reiterate”.
That phrase was a clear statement, “I am sending YOU a message NOW”.
Combined with Parfait’s “his soul symbol isn’t what i expected’, it’s likely that that is a control collar, not a bond collar.
> The “embarrassed by the jacket” would not have required “I reiterate”.
Not if she thinks her point hasn’t quite gotten through to Sydney. “Yes, I know it’s stupid. So let me point out again that it wasn’t actually my fault.”
> Combined with Parfait’s “his soul symbol isn’t what i expected’, it’s likely that that is a control collar, not a bond collar.
If they have a bond, she’s already magically forced to obey his orders. A “control collar” as separate from a bond collar would be totally superfluous.
Sounds like a demon that peaked in high school. Poor Lululemon
You mean, the demon college town street plan was not laid out by the fine people who gave us Greater Boston?
More like the civic planning characteristic of that fair carbuncle of cities, London, notable for being a place where not even a good fire and major bombing campaign by a foreign military have made things better.
Greater Boston is a collection of tiny villages that the streets were initially laid out by/as cowpaths going from barns to pastures. Those cowpaths did not line up at right angles particularly at the boundaries of the villages.
Is no one going to mentions Kraken’s top tyr human disguise.
I don’t think we can say for certain he’s even wearing a disguise. Maybe his demonic species just naturally looks human. The hat and sunglasses could hide weird eyes and hair, but they could also just be fashion statements.
Hmm, there is certainly something iffy with Lulu’s situation, but I cannot tell if her hints mean ‘I have an abusive master that slipped through the checks and I cannot disobey him, please help’ or ‘I know we are looking for trouble and making a mess but I have an idiot master as gang leader and I cannot disobey him, please do not take my actions against me’, or a mix of both. Certainly something to look into once Sydney is done giving these arrogant idiots the trouble they are looking for.
Am I a bad person for wanting to bring Lulu home so much? As known succubae go, Decollete is more my ideal body type but Lulu so far strikes me as a near-perfect mix of cuteness and sexiness, she taps my protective urges. Ofc, if she is as inexperienced as Parfait with self-control (quite possible if she never learnt to disobey a master) I’d really risk death by snu-snu lacking a super’s resilience but who cares, what a great way to go.
Funny thing: Brelx’s school colors are the same as the HS I went to, back in the Before Times. Funnier — and perhaps scary — thing: one could get a letter jacket for driving school buses.
Yes. High Schoolers could be school bus drivers there.
The part in Lulu’s hair moved in the last panel and it is bothering me SO MUCH. It makes her look like she has a comb-over. She is so cute in all the other panels!
What Would happen to asexual succubi?
I want to go into a deep dive about how sex as an energy source, sexual stimulation, and sexual attraction are 3 different things but I suspect asexual is complex enough that I need to research it before trying to define terms let alone provide an answer to your question.
1) It COULD be hand-waved as something that never happens with that species. It’s not an interesting answer but as long as we’re making a species up wholesale it’s allowed.
2) In-universe it seems like they get not just a rush but actual nourishment from being physically near the act, without even watching. So I’d imagine they could top off by reading books in a bordello waiting room or something.
3) I also expect they’d have a rougher time even than ace humans, given the whole slave dynamic. There’d be so much more cultural expectation that they’d be into it and/or that it’s one of The Things They Provide, AND a dangerous power dynamic, so potential for relationships going Real Bad seems pretty high.
Succubus asexuality may be viewed much like an eating disorder – even if a succubus doesn’t enjoy sex, or only enjoy it in certain situations, they still need to eat, or it starts getting unhealthy. An aceubus ( coining a term here) may learn to “eat mechanically”, going through the motions of sex to absorb tantric energy from their partners without really enjoying it. There are a lot of people who treat food that way, viewing eating as “fueling an engine”, not caring about the taste. They find joy in other activities, so it balances out.
There are no asexual succubi most likely, according to Dabbler. Although there was a hypothetical nun one shown in one panel.
Asexual succubi would probably be a contradiction in terms like a midget giant or a quiet loudmouth.
Although i think there was a TV show that did have a midget giant who was average human size. I forget the nane of it but its a british show
I can see it,
Its just “food” not fun. Which would either be feeding by proxy, fill in as a voyeur for those couples into having an “audience”, or be completely detached during the whole sexual experience or mentally are experiencing it less as *that was a great orgasm” and more *that was a super delicious burger*.
It’s food and, for most, fun.
Sort of like the difference between eating plain rice cakes or being on an intravenous drip vs having a delicious pizza or steak or chicken parmesan. Vitamin T vs sex (which has Vitamin T) :)
As Dabbler said, “Succubi love being, ahem, Succubi.”
My suspicion:
It’s like being a human without tastebuts.
You can still eat(have sex), enjoying it is just harder.
0/~… “Gory Days, They’ll pass you by,
Gory Days, in the wink of a young succubus’ eye,
Gorrrryyy Dayyyyys!… o/~
(Apologies to Springsteen…)
Succubi are being fashion-victimized by their masters?
Guys I’m starting to think slavery is a BAD thing…
Just one touchdown? Did he get 4 in a single game? Advantage Bundy!
I hadn’t really spotted it this morning & I don’t know if anyone else has picked up on another one of those flame entity’s like the one encountered when Ray Cosmos brought his tourists to earth between Parfait & Halo.
Yups, mentioned last comic page (or the one before)
As a girl whose middle name is literally “Lilith”, I really appreciate the number of these comics that involve consorting with demons.
I suddenly feel like this is about to become a breakup movie, and young(ish) Master Brelx about to have an exquisitely bad, and humiliating, day.
I’m making popcorn. Anyone else want some?
Aster seems a lot more chill than Brelx.
But he’s still in for a heartbreak or at least disappointment, because Parfait seems very happy with Tom. (And he isn’t the angel guy either.)
Parfait just went with Tom because Tom is Dabbler’s master and, from what we saw from the conversation, she’d rather have that really flustered angel guy that you just mentioned. :) Tom’s a good master to her though, and apparently very patient since her wishes tend to give him things like audits. :)
Did she consider the angel guy because she seriously preferred him to Tom, or because he was an attainable peer, whereas Tom is her older sisters cool billionaire partner, who she probably didn’t think was an option? I mean, if she really had preferred him, she could have told Tom “thanks but no thanks, there’s already someone in my life”. But she accepted his offer, even though angel boy certainly would have been happy to take her instead.
I think she was mainly trying to follow in Dabbler’s footsteps, which is why she chose Tom.
That’s true, but there are a lot of other good things about Tom. The fact alone that Dabbler is his slave and only says good things about means she can trust in him being a good master and doesn’t have to take a leap of faith for such an important life decision.
As a master, he isn’t a bad choice. He’s experienced with a good track record, he has lots of mana and is willing to share, he has influence and resources he can support her with, he’s a friend of the family, he’s powerful and dominant :3.
All true, and all those reasons tie into why Parfait would have chosen him as a master to follow in Dabbler’s footsteps. She literally did say the reason she chose Tom was to follow in Dabbler’s footsteps.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1045-return-of-the-attack-of-the-boobs/
(panel 1)
And Dabbler outright stated that was the reason as well:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1202-the-one-that-got-away/
(panel 1)
Aster seems like a Mastermind type. I also get TechBro/Trust Fund Baby vibes off him.
I strongly suspect his two “friends” are essentially duped goons, and that he’s the reason Lulu is wearing Brelx’s collar.
I was being a bit flip before, but what I actually see happening here is Sydney manipulating Brelx into wagering Lulu – knowingly or not – on the outcome of a fight. She will, of course, do this without realizing that’ll make her at least temporarily Lulu’s Mistress, with comic implications, of course, which will probably resolve in relatively short order. More importantly, this will all bring the attention of the Matriarchs down on Aster, scoring some brownie points for Sydney, and winning her an antagonist.
Even money says we later find out this was all set up by Big D, who instructed Core to make himself unfit for service in order to position Sydney into the fight, and get Lulu close to her. Sydney is, after all, perfectly primed for this scenario now, and literally nobody in the cast but Dabbler would be inclined to suspect that Lulu – collared by Sydney – would be a plant, especially with all the emphasis being put on the theme of obedience & control. Then we find out Lulu is in fact very much not a recent Demon High graduate, but in fact a Baby Face using her ability to blend in with the younger crowd to divert suspicion from herself on assignments. Think 21 Jump Street, but for succubus spy/assassins.
The logical trope at that point would be “Lulu ultimately won over by Sydney’s naïve sincerity and joins Team Good Guy,” but suspect it’ll be more like, “is sufficiently won over by sincere concern for the well-being of a perceived victim that she finds a way to do a fade away assist while still technically completing her mission & fulfilling her obligation to her employer.”
Dunno. Real cloak & dagger stuff.
That sounded like a call for help, something is up with these demons.
That said something tells me Sidney’s shield can stop that control…after all it blocks both magic fields and quantum intangled minds
> and quantum intangled minds
No it doesn’t. It blocks Harem’s teleport, not her mind.
oh yeah, double checking, yeah that is weird it will block one but selectively doesn’t sever the bond that might be unhealthy for the individual to have severed.
Nth tech. Space Wizards did it.
yep, installed some go to unless functions in their stuff for circumstances that might not come up often for others…although if we consider that higher dimensional beings often use avatars (as their natural state could damage the lower dimensions) then that would be a quantum entangled mind, so if they had a lower dimension avatar using these orbs it would make sense they wouldn’t then via their shield block the very mechanism they are using to control their avatar in the first place.
Imagine playing a video game but every time you put up the forcefield it blocked your controller inputs and audio-video outputs. Or just straight up caused a game over by killing your character because the player is the life line.
I wonder if, when Harem is inside Sydney’s shield, she can un-teleport, or if her shield prevents that as well.
If Sydney’s shields blocked the slave connection, Dabbler would start draining mana everytime she’s inside of it, which I expect we’d have heard of. Remember that it’s first and foremost a medical procedure to plug the hole in their soul.
It’s not like the obedience is externally imposed anyway – it’s an inherent part of what a succubus is.
Dabbler has mentioned she has a large reserve on her own, so being in the bubble the few short times she has probably wouldn’t cause it to come up.
the obedience was stated to be enhanced by the bonding, they don’t just obey anyone, but feel a need to obey the one that collared them. So some magical bonding.
Also kind of getting the impression with the whispering about the obedience that her situation isn’t normal and these guys may be using an outside source to enhance the obedience as absolute.
Dabbler was in the bubble as they were flying over Africa, which was probably on the timespan of a few hours – wasn’t she? As an experienced adventurer she really should have started going, “Huh. My mana’s draining in here. That’s curious.”
> Dabbler has mentioned she has a large reserve on her own, so being in the bubble the few short times she has probably wouldn’t cause it to come up.
Dabbler has traveled in the bubble with Sydney – across the states (HQ is in Texas, Sciona’s encounter with Cootil was in New Jersey) to hunt down Sciona. That’s several hours (they were travelling subsonic, as Hiro was flying separately), and and she described it as “only a few hours to live. A day, tops.” That sounds quite risky if she can just follow along in the Osprey. Even if she has enough mana to make it a day, she wouldn’t want be down on her reserve if she’s expecting a battle with Sciona.
Also, as Calydor pointed out, crossing the Atlantic. That’s also many hours, even at mach 10, also with a potential battle at the end. Dabbler would have said something.
Even if it weren’t an issue, I’d expect Dabbler to immediately react to the mana draining out of her. That can’t be comfortable.
> the obedience was stated to be enhanced by the bonding, they don’t just obey anyone, but feel a need to obey the one that collared them. So some magical bonding.
Needing to have a master is an inherent part of being a succubus. The bonding just defines who the master is. This shouldn’t even require some ongoing magical connection, the succubus magic just has to know who the master is.
> Also kind of getting the impression with the whispering about the obedience that her situation isn’t normal and these guys may be using an outside source to enhance the obedience as absolute.
It’s established that young succubi can’t resist their master’s orders. Just normally they would enjoy being ordered around and therefore not even try to resist (unless they’re supposed to train their resistance.)
As something said only for the audience that would make sense, however in universe it would make sense for Dabbler to have kept that to herself at the time.
Regardless of any of that, the last panel pretty much suggests given the emphasis made on the obedience factor that this isn’t a normal situation. That has a very *cry for help* vibe to it, so something beyond the regular obedience could be implied to be in action.
> As something said only for the audience that would make sense, however in universe it would make sense for Dabbler to have kept that to herself at the time.
The return from Galytn happened after she already explained everything.
Not that it made sense to keep it to herself to begin with. She had no hesitation explaining it in detail once it came up, it can’t be that much of a secret anyway (anyone who consorts with demons should be able to find out.) And it’s literally a potential matter of life and death for her.
> Regardless of any of that, the last panel pretty much suggests given the emphasis made on the obedience factor that this isn’t a normal situation.
The irregular situation is that she wants to disobey. She’s crying for help because he’s abusing his power over her or at least something in that direction, not because he has it, because that’s all young usccubi and they find it hot. Normally, the master would not abuse that power (with vetting and threat of severe punishment by the succubus council enforcing that) and the succubus would be rather happy to obey their reasonable orders. In https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-998-alls-well-that-succs-well/ we have a master suspecting his slave isn’t even trying to disobey, even though she’s supposed to to train her resistance.
I’m struck by the similarity between the collars that the succubi wear as a symbol of servitude and those worn by the Arcswat heroes. That can’t be a coincidence can it?
It’s not.
Dabbler is the one who introduced it and got nearly punched for it by Maxima.
Which section of the archives do we learn that again? I’m doing comicbook nerd style bingeing in the archive to learn minute details.
I don’t recall Dabbler being at all involved in the chokers. The chokers were a compromise between Max and Arianna to keep them from having individual outfits with their symbols on the chest, like comic book superheroes (yay, marketing!). Keeps Arcswat more military and less “battle hooker” (as Harem put it) for their uniforms.
No, it was stated that the chokers were Dabbles’ idea
Ariana wanted “silver age comic” suits for Archon members, the compromise with Max was the chokers. Dab’s choker is another matter, since she has a cybernetic implant for a comm, otherwise she would of had 2 chokers. Dab’s choker is from bonding with Tom, as is Parfait’s.
Someone able to do searches, please find the page where it was stated that the Chokers were Dabbles’ idea (or that it was entirely Maxi’s idea)
Can’t remember where it was stated, but it was not at the time when Harem was talking about the Battle Hooker outfits (and the wardrobe malfunctions waiting to happen)
My fault I mistook Dabbler’s party choker for Maxima’s alter ego with the standard Archon choker.
I had a hunch this was a bunch youngsters, a “crew” so to speak, and the Brelux was telling the rest what to do and how. I noticed when Sydney trapped his arm and said she would break it, he backed off fast. Typical bully, the moment they don’t have the upper hand, they chicken out. I noticed as well, NO one has stated that Parfait HAD to go with them, it’s like once they see her, they act all nice. So she’s the pretty, nice, energetic, cheerleader girl that everyone likes. That tells me they thought the “puny human” was her master, maybe? I’m getting the vibe that Aster was crushing on Parfait, Brelux decided to get the “crew” together to help Aster “rescue” his crush so they could be together… I noticed Brelux ignored Sydney’s statement that she was bonded with Tom, so either he didn’t know, or didn’t care. Ah yes, high school drama… Don’ miss it one bit!
Wait that is actualy the type of stuff more “normal” people might get mixed up in in High school? My Crippling Social anxiety/phobia (medical community was unsure which it fits better as last i heard) hadn’t been diagnosed yet when I was in HS. I hid in the games room each recess and played ping-pong and Magic the Gathering. My only drama is the school broke up our tournament and banned the game for a year becasue we were “gambling”.
Luckily none knee-jerk parents and school staff lifted the ban eventually.
Yeah, I have a looooong history with bullies and the “in” crowd, I was bullied in grade/middle school, but when puberty hit I started to bulk up, plus getting the lock code to the jock’s gym helped a lot ;). Since most of my friends were geeks, nerds, and what not, I became the bully’s bully, which resulted in some interesting encounters and the highest detention count on record! When I was accepted by the local dojo it got very interesting… long story.
Would love to hear it sometime, that sounds super interesting. I love stories, I don’t care where from but most of my hobby time is spent interacting with stories in one way or another.
The jocks ran the school, the Principle was reeeaaaly big on sports and cut costs everywhere he could to “help” out the teams, dropped things like home-ec, most of the music except for the marching band, you get the idea. One day I was at my locker getting books for the next class, the captain decided I needed to be IN my locker and I was strong enough to stop him. When he went to his I walked passed and shoved his face into his locker door hard enough to knock him out, cost me a month of detention but the ass never tried it again. There was another incident outside of the main office, I kinda lost it and beat one guy bad enough he was hospitalized, almost got arrested for that one, 3 months of detention AND forced to take counseling… He and 2 other’s were beating up this freshman and I launched myself at them… broke his wrist, 2-3 ribs, and dislocated his jaw… There’s more but you get the idea.
Sounds good to me: https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-102
As a girl whose name is the name of a famous demoness, I really appreciate all the positive representation of consorting with demons in this comic.
“Hello, Dabbler? Sydney. I’ve got half a dozen demons here, one of them is a succubus who may be being abused, another one may be the abuser, one of them threatened me in my shop, and one of them claims to own your little sister. I don’t really have the cultural context to evaluate this on its own terms. Should I stall for time until you get here, or just start in with the violence?”
She’s following her training as a “cop” and is trying to defuse the situation without violence, but it’s rapidly reaching the point where Brelx is going to be bounced off the ground, hard. Or otherwise folded, spindled, and mutilated in a pissed off Sydney fashion! So calling in Dabbler or Max would be a good idea, I think Dabs would be the best choice, this guy would be breaking orbit fast if he pissed off Max. “A demon was seen impacting the Moon! Film at 11!”
He already got folded by the lighthook, which defused the situation for now. Getting Dabbler over to clear things up and determine whether further violence is needed is the right play.
Brelx is still on his power trip, to save face in front of his crew, he’ll try something again. From the vibe I’m getting from Lulu, he needs a good “lesson”. He’ll talk himself into “proving himself” to Sydney and anyone else that HE’S the power here, no one else. And find out no, not by a long shot. I think Lulu needs to be free of her bond, she’s clearly not strong enough yet to resist the obedience issue. Maybe Dabbler can “loan” her enough to come clean about how she’s being mistreated? Or force Brelx to do it himself? Either way, Succubi have rules about this, and if they are being broken, Dabs would know what to do about it.
> Brelx is still on his power trip, to save face in front of his crew, he’ll try something again. He’ll talk himself into “proving himself” to Sydney and anyone else that HE’S the power here, no one else.
Doesn’t seem like it. He hasn’t been belligerent or even said anything after Sydney released him. Which makes sense, because he got a rather physical demonstration that he isn’t “the power”.
> From the vibe I’m getting from Lulu, he needs a good “lesson”.
I’m getting the same vibe, but Sydney should not be relying on a vibe, when she can use Dabbler’s expertise instead. There is no need for immediate action.
Before I read the comment about Kraken being a camo-character, I thought it was a homage of some kind to Tidehunter from DotA 2; they have a not-dissimilar appearance: https://files.cults3d.com/uploaders/20771513/illustration-file/8d7de0b2-4f2a-403d-92ef-879a3eab9a27/Tidehunter.gif
Also, I’m willing to bet at least 50/50 that this somehow ends with Sydney “collaring” a Succubi, somehow.
It would be cool if Sydney collared a succubus, but that involves mandatory sex, and Sydney isn’t into women.
Depending on how much of an emergency it is (say, they couldn’t find any other willing and suitable people for Lulu) Sydney asking Krona to tweak her to a 2.5K so she can look after Lulu would be quite a sacrifice from her.
(Volunteering to be mindraped, even by a friend you trust and for a good cause, *is* a sacrifice)
I think there would be other, better solutions available if Krona’s involved. Like hacking Lulu to deal with the mana drain, either temporarily or permanently.
That sounds like quite a lot of contrivance. We don’t know what it means to be suitable and whether Sydney is. She wouldn’t be particularly willing, but basically any single straight man would be.
We’d be talking “Sydney and Lulu get trapped in another dimension with no one else around” level of emergency. Any plausible situation would have better alternatives.
Only way I can see it happening though.
Hence the problem.
I’m 95% certain that it would be a “seemed like a good idea at the time” kind of situation.
Except that it was not a good idea. And in fact would only create more problems.
Looking back at this page more, I realize its now confirmed- you only get a full set of clothes if you’re a female demon. Male demons get a shirt or pants, but not both.
Dexon has pants and a jacket, but he keeps the jacket open, interestingly. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-999-seven-thousand-generations-a-sex-slave/
Blame American Puritans for that.
To be fair we havent seen all that many male demons yet.
Tom
Aster
Brelx
Kraken
Aster
WE did see two male demons who wear full clothing by the way.
1) the unnamed Scourger demon in the Senator’s office when they were discussing practical applications for building a Dungeon
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1174/
(panels 3 and 5)
2) The Chiktr-speaking demon standing next to the Alari and the human when Sydney translate what they were saying about Dabbler’s rear.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1019-rosetta-brain/
(panel 2)
Both of them were dressed in full armor, fully clothed, and were male.
Thre were also a bunch of armored male demons on TV on panel 7 in comic #1015.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1015-shock-and-brimstone/
1. I don’t remember us ever being told the gender of the unnamed scourger.
2. That demon doesn’t look clothed to me, I think that’s just natural armor. It’s also unclear for the armored foot troops. Dave likes to draw his demons with natural bone-plate-like armor.
1) He was very dismissive of women and of having to be disguised as a woman.
2) that isnt bone armor – it looks like actual armor, unlike Tom.
1. It’s unclear whether it was the “female” part or just the “weak and feeble human” part that the scourger was unhappy about. While it’s still kinda suggestive, on the other hand we have the shape of the hip looking female.
2. We’re still talking about the Chiktr-speaker, right? Because to me, that very much looks like bone armor, and actually quite similar to Tom.
1. It seemed more like the ‘female’ part was what was being stressed that he had a problem with being disguised as.
2. Somehow I feel that he would still be wearing pants, unless it was actual armor. :) The pantsless thing makes me think he was in full armor uniform, like the Alar and Galytn soldiers are wearing clothes as part of their respective uniforms as well. But still good arguments you’re making.
> Somehow I feel that he would still be wearing pants, unless it was actual armor.
Tom doesn’t appear to be wearing pants either.
I didn’t say Tom was wearing pants. :) Just that the Scourger is wearing armor and there were male demon soldiers on the Galytn war with Mozambique wearing armor.
> I didn’t say Tom was wearing pants. :)
You argued that bone armor would mean wearing pants, I gave Tom as a counterexample. By accepting that Tom has bone armor, but is not wearing pants, you’re effectively conceding that argument.
> Just that the Scourger is wearing armor
The Scourger is of indeterminate gender with only your interpretation of an ambiguous comment supporting them being male.
> there were male demon soldiers on the Galytn war with Mozambique wearing armor.
Here it’s also unclear whether thats just natural bone armor.
No, they were being dismissive over being disguised as a hyu-mon woman
Why do I get the feeling that Sydney will end up as Parfait’s Master/Mistress (and if so would she be able to interact with the Orbs?)
Not likely since it would involve Sydney having to have sex with Parfait regularly, according to what Dabbler said to Maxima when Maxima asked what would happen if Dabbler changed masters.
Dabbler: “Plus, we’d be obligated to have sex on a regular basis.”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-998-alls-well-that-succs-well/
(panel 6)
On several occasions, it’s been firmly stated that Sydney is definitively heterosexual and not into girls in that way, including by Sydney herself to Parfait, as well as by Dabbler telling this to Parfait after Parfait hypno-boobed Sydney.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1046-four-on-the-force-field/
(panel 1 and 2 – Dabbler: “So was she your first straight girl?” Parfait: “I think so! IS she straight? She seemed real interested.” Dabbler: “She might have some envy issues in the chest region.”)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1193-kiss-monsters-gonna-get-ya/
(panel 1 – Sydney: “I’m not into GIRLS, Parfait!”)
All that, plus she shut down a succubus in full lust aura.
yeah I think she knows exactly who’s standing there with the unidentifiable orbs running around her head which according to dabbler and she’s had experience of dealing with them. I think she’s kind of hinting to Sid that please don’t involve me in this.
Chaos and Random are two completely different things.
I’ve even seen it argued that “Order” is merely a subset of “Chaos”.
Now just on the side note, who noticed the alien / demon with the fire ball over her head in the first panel in the background? Wonder what are they up to lol.
That’s presumably Glibph.
That’s an eye-flame, we have seen their kind before
Labyrinthal roads actually fully fit within socially sustainable activities for a chaotic race.
Lying out your roads as a labyrinth of insanity is actually how you recognize middle age middle eastern cities.
Contrary to western cities they build their cities intentionally unnavigable as privacy and security feature.
It has also been explored post war against car short cutting in post world war, post baby boom european cities.