Grrl Power #1294 – Sheet Fighter: Sapphic Warrior Turbo Plus Alpha
Dabbler: Question my ability to attach things to other things, do you? Engarde! (produces giant, floppy dildo from hammerspace)
Cora: Indeed I do, scurrilous trollop! Prêt! (produces fleshlight from hammerspace)
Dabbler: Allez! (sword fencing noises, but instead of that, it’s wet, squelching sounds)
Sydney: I feel like I’m watching the world’s worst sex ed film.
Is it just me, or does “makeup sex” evoke the image of a lipstick plunging into a jar of face cream and someone going “Ooh, I’m so moisturizing!”
I bet it does now. :)
So we’re finally going to see Peggy’s “origin story” as such. It’ll have a little less levity than most pages, but I won’t dwell on that stuff unnecessarily. Hopefully I don’t screw up the military stuff too much. I’ve got a guy to run things by, but, you know, it’s always the things you don’t think to ask, like someone walking around with their BDU sleeves rolled up, or do snipers transport their rifles in a hard case to keep the sights from getting knocked around? The answer to that one is “Peggy does,” because I’ve already drawn that page and I’m not changing it. The fact is I think they probably don’t, because if you google “military rifle case” you get a bunch of pictures of rifles cases that look tacti-cool, but aren’t, as far as I can tell, anything that’s ever been used by any actual army. “actual military rifle case, like for real, not just crap painted olive green with stenciled lettering on it” doesn’t produce better results.
Aether’s Revival Book 9 is out.
As is Mark of the Fool 8.
The new vote incentive is up!
Dabbler went somewhere tropical, in a very small bikini. As you might guess, it doesn’t stay on for long, which of course, you can see over at Patreon. Also she has an incident with “lotion,” and there’s a bonus comic page as well.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Garamm was right before, when intuiting why Peggy was reluctant to accept a new limb… but I feel he’s missed the mark this time. Scars are often treated as something to brag about – every scar comes with a story. The same thing goes for crippling injuries… even if you lost a limb, if you lost it while doing something badass, you have bragging rights about it. Usually while people pay for your drinks.
I’ve been having a lot of phone conversations with an elderly friend who is recovering from a bit of surgery (he’s bored). He’s not too happy about having to have his hip bones replaced… but he has no problems at all with talking about the time he was shot in the neck, or the other injuries he’s received during the course of a long and adventurous life.
I feel that really depends on the type of scar and how one got it.
“I wrestled an alligator to save a baby.” Awesome and something to brag about.
“Surgery for some random ailment / infection.” Mundane and not much to say about it.
“Got pulled out of a burning building in which several other people died.” Traumatic and not something that one would want to live through again in retelling.
Peggy’s loss of her leg is likely closer to the latter than the first.
“Surgery for some random ailment / infection”
Eh, sometimes that can be bragging rights worthy too. “This is where they cut the last of the cancer out….” is a worthy scar. Something that serves as proof that you survived the medical condition and came out the other side relatively intact….
Guess it would come down to individual perspective though….
YouTube keeps suggesting videos for me from a woman who lost a lower leg when bone cancer got established in her ankle. They cut off her leg about midway between knee and ankle to:
1) make sure they got all of the misbehaving bone cells away from her body.
2) give enough length below the knee to give a secure connection to the socket for her artificial feet.
I have learned a bunch about this condition from this woman.
Speaking of “if you can talk about it”
Have the scar from the cancer surgery, but not showing the scar nor what the cancer was (other than, it was one of the rare ones, like, less than one in 3 million {or was it 30 million?})
I expect not many people would show in public the scar from cancer surgery if it was somewhere in the pelvic region (testicular, prostate, ovarian, cervical, etc.). I guess the scars from breast cancer surgery (partial or full mastectomy) would also not be one to be showing off that often.
I had an infection several years ago and lost a few feet of intestines and most of my weight. I tell people surgery like that takes guts.
“Arr. It be the first day after I got me Hook.”
:)
So yeah, Sydney’s not the only AuDHDer who likes to drop straight to the punchline.
Also, THANK YOU SIR! I can’t believe someone fed me a pirate joke straight line on Sept 19th!!!
You can only brag about it, if you can talk about it
I very, very much doubt that a sex tape of Cora and Xuriel having a bout of epic catfight and makeup sex could ever come in the same neighborhood of bad porn, unless you are really, really not in the related kinks (lesbian, catfight/rough, alien, superhero, etc.).
The “I accidentally breached the Masquerade and got recruited in the secret organization” origin trope. Worked for many characters.
Sydney got to go to some secret meetings because the yellow orb allows her to breach the Veil.
How does Frix have tattoos through his fur?
His fur is probably short enough there that a permanent change to the hair follicle shows up as a tattoo would on skin.
So an advanced “space tattoo” that, instead of changing the color of the skin, changes the color of the hair growing out of the skin. I can go with that.
We have mixed info on Frix’s hair length, though. It’s short enough to see his ab definition, but long enough for Sydney to bury her face in it when wet. So… whatever length is convenient at the time.
Some Erf Dogs have no hair on their legs (and not talking about poodles who have been butchered by the French to look ‘snooty’)
I have heard that poodles were originally bred as retrievers and that the traditional “poodle cut” was to reduce drag in the water and still leave fur around the joints for warmth in the water.
There are virtually no mammals that have universal hair length across their bodies. All of them have areas that are shorter and areas that are longer
Given the tech we’ve seen, it could also be holographic.
I’ve had a long, adventurous life involving motorcycles, rugby, mining and drilling rigs. Along the way I’ve smashed one hand quite badly and it’s noticeably deformed. I get bragging rights on that… sometimes I even tell the same story twice…
Try searching for “government issue rife case”.
*”Rifle”. (jeez)
I got one of those when I was a soldier for the Royal Canadian Army. Mine came with a rifle in it. I had to sign it out and give it back when I was done with it.
The fewer people in your audience understand a reference, the more people will learn from it, so yes, it is more educational that way. But that’s only true if you explain the reference or your “students’ research it themselves, otherwise no one’s learned anything from the process – other than possibly that the “teacher” is a confusing person to communicate with or that the students are unwilling to decode one’s cryptic utterances.
None of which implies anything about whether teaching a reference is actually useful education, or simply a waste of everyone’s time.
Though the author blurb below the comic somewhat covers it I’m surprised that Dabbler’s first comment didn’t lead into an innuendo about a strap on.
Floaty-fire head would know that reference, though, as she has been blessed (cursed) with Halo’s memories.
She’s the half that does understand it, Peggy is in the half that doesn’t :P
meanwhile I’m someone old enough to understand both of the references made lol
Yeah, now I understand how Captain America felt when someone mentioned flying monkeys.
I can connect Anything to ANYTHING I AM DABBLER!!! lol
“Yes, but can you remove it safely afterwards if there’s a mistake?”
Dabbler is quite proficient in the safe removal of limbs.
Whose safety is guaranteed is entirely up for debate, but it certainly includes Dabbler, not necessarily the one whose limb is removed.
On the other hand, Dabbler did replace her own eye for a cybernetic version after she lost it in a swordfight (referenced to when Achilles took a powered up energyblade to the eyeball to block it)
Party on!
Excellent!
A couple of good book(Kindle) series recommendations.
‘have to say this Aether’s was a bit slow and it also pointed out that plot progression is measured in decades at this stage of the series.
Whereas Mark of the Fool is continuously engaging and progressing on a coherent quest line and character growth.
People currently at the table include: Sydney, Peggy, Lapha, Frix, Garamm, Altus, and Sylv. Dabbler has not yet joined the table, and Cora has left the table to fight with Dabbler, so neither should be counted.
Obviously Sydney understands the reference. Lapha ultimately understands any reference Sydney does. Peggy clearly understands the reference. Frix has probably spent enough time around Sydney to at least half-understand the reference. 3.5 is exactly half of 7, not less than half, so Sydney’s in the clear.
Apparently Lapha has Sydney’s memories but they don’t seem to be integrated as such.
The analogy I think of is like carrying around a dictionary. Someone uses a word you don’t know, you can open the dictionary and look it up.
Except this being memory, it’s also associational. So it would be occasionally like someone grabs the dictionary and recites the definition for you.
Sydney got the memories of Lapha’s intimate relationship with Garamm (in the extremely clear and detailed recollection that she could use as a marker for “this is a Lapha memory”) just by talking about it.
I suspect Lapha would be better at handling this, both due to her species design (I’m assuming their origin is a wizardly creation like succubi) and more experience.
Even if she’s never possessed anyone other than Garamm, she probably has some experience running a computer system, which for aetholiths appears to be a “full body workout”.
I
“Dabbler: Question my ability to attach things to other things, do you? Engarde! (produces giant, floppy dildo from hammerspace)”
En garde is two words it means “on gard ”
Prêt means “ready”
Cora: ”Challenge accepted.”
Cora morphs her arms into several dildos of the same size as Dabblers.
I wonder how well Cora is proficient in controlling a larger than usual (more than 4) and more flexible than usual limbs.
She did do pretty well with a lamia-like bottom half and a tank thread, so it could be quite a lot of all hands full and more for Dabbler.
Vote incentive idea, Cora as a tentacle monster tickling and otherwise keeping Dabbler occupied?
Well if the extra limbs are partially controlled by AI maybe? Cora could give them a command like for example ”grab Dabbler by the horns” and then it goes automatic.
I approve of this suggestion!
Well, guess that answers my question. It was the aspersions.
Snipers probably would use a carrycase (either hard case or soft bag) to protect their death-spitter while in transit, but once ‘onsite’ they would ditch the case in the transport
Haven’t seen too many modern movies with snipers (can only really think of that movie with Wahlberg that was turned into a TV show, and “Clear And Present Danger”), but have a feeling they did have cases for when they weren’t ‘on the job’
I would think that even on mission they would have it in some kind of cloth /ghillie bag basically up until they’re ready to set up and start looking for a target. It would help protect a precision instrument from moisture and dust, make sure that any smooth parts don’t accidentally reflect a bit of light (matte paint notwithstanding), provide (a little bit of) padding against bumps (especially if said bump would make noise), and depending on the design of the bag, maybe even make the rifle less likely to hook on foliage or whatever.
and the only real downside I could see is that it would take an extra 30 seconds or a minute to get it out of the bag.
That makes sense, and they would have a sidearm if they get caught ‘hotfooted’
They have a spotter for that and often carry a cqb weapon themselves, just in case things go south.
A good well padded softcase is much more useful than a hardcase that’s more awkward to handle and takes up more unsquishable space.
The first question that occurs to me is since Maxima got her powers sometime in high school, how’d the government know they should classify her before/when she enlisted?
They did not. It happened retroactively. Once the government acknowledged Maxima’s existence and recruited her, it moved to suppress evidence of her nature from becoming public knowledge. E.g. bribing/intimidating/talking relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, etc. into silence, getting them to sign ironclad NDAs that land you into maximum-security prison for a long time if violated, seizing or destroying physical evidence, etc.
Assuming Max’s first uses of superpowers did not immediately catch the media’s attention in a major way, but they did with the likes of FBI, CIA, DoD, etc. it is feasible and believable. E.g. if only relatives and neighbors knew about that time she accidentally blasted down a wall, only the doctors and nurses that examined her knew about her turning golden, etc. Then a lot of people in suits and mirrorshades swarmed down and took control of the situation.
What I am curious about (not knowing how that kind of NDAs would work in such a situation), is once existence of supers and Maxima’s status as America’s top super became public knowledge, witnesses of her early exploits would be free to tell their story or not. I bet “I went to high school with teen Maxima” tell-alls would fetch a pretty penny. Public curiosity about every gossip-worthy detail of Archon members’ background would be huge and worth a fortune.
@DaveB would need to confirm, but I’m pretty sure most of what you just said would have been rendered unnecessary due to supers being covered by The Veil prior to the press conference*. Granted, if her family was anywhere near a military base, that accidental particle beam blast from when her little brother startled her awake** would have been investigated quickly (and likely somehow written off as a gas leak), but either way, The Veil would have conveniently made people in her hometown disinclined to talk about how she was gold, much less anything else. It’s very likely that any cover up would have needed to be done once she was actually in the military, and the people in her hometown were never contacted. Also, I’m guessing it was likely she was getting attempts to recruit her shortly after said particle beam incident.
That being said, I’m seriously interested in Max’ first few weeks/months/years of being in the military; I’m assuming she got called ‘clown hair’ a lot, given the military’s normal standard of no dye jobs, and that Archon is a definite outlier (you can have dyed hair in the US Armed Forces, but only if you have superpowers type of deal). Granted that this assumption about abnormal hair colors is based on Peggy having brown hair in flashbacks***, instead of her current pink.
*https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-459-throw-pas/
**https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-122-if-only-all-behavioral-therapy-was-this-easy/
***https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-150-not-sure-where-max-stencils-her-kill-marks/
Uh, I was oblivious that the Veil covered supers too before the press conference. Although it had been kinda failing in that regard before that, since rumors about their existence were spreading and people were acknowledging Max’s oddity in the build-up to that bank event and wondering if she was a super. You have a point, although given the Veil’s unreliability at the time I wonder if some mundane cover up was still necessary.
I assume standard military discipline got relaxed to Archon standards very quickly and quite effectively once they started recruiting supers. You really don’t want to antagonize them into rebellion or defecting to your rivals with petty and unnecessary regulations. Extending that modified standard to Muggle support personnel was much less critical and quite possibly occurred organization-wide when Archon was established and Peggy transferred to it.
Recruiting officer: Welcome to the United States Air Force. Are you here to enlist?
Maximillia: Well, I can fly already and I think I can help in trouble spots.
Recruiting officer: Excellent! A good pilot can often fast-track to an officer. Are you wearing gold makeup?
Sorry Dave, but since Cora stood up, and Lapha has Sydney memory, 3 of the 5 at the table got the reference.
3/5 > 1/2 unless you’re part of the 5/4th of the world that can’t understand fractions.
Or you are 9/11th of the world who takes what someone says as literal, and not an exaggeration (specially when Sydney is involved)
And just because Peggy knows Sydney is making some weird reference doesn’t mean she knows which weird reference (half of what she says is some weird reference that only Sydney understands)
Dabbler Hen has 4 wings!