Grrl Power #731 – Here’s the windup… and it’s a triple!
Dabbler’s serious, succubi are actually so disease resistant they can cure some ailments venereally. Virological, bacterial, even some kinds of thaumitological conditions, like certain curses. It’s like a really thorough laying of hands. It’s not universal though. A cure for xanthous palsy to one species is priapismal fever to another. So I guess they do have sexually transmitted cures where Dabbler and Frix are from. Fortunately these effects aren’t communicable. There aren’t any succubi driven “positive plagues” with side effects similar to slipping Viagra into the local aquifer. The have spells for that if they’re feeling mischievous.
Succubi disease resistance is by design. They didn’t evolve from another branch of demons naturally. Dabbler will tell Sydney all about it one day, but it’s a long tangent so I won’t get into it here.
Frix isn’t tall enough on these recent pages. I had to cheat to get him to fit under the word balloons. He’s supposed to be like, I dunno, 6′ 8″ minimum. (Measured to the top of his head, not the horns or ears.) All of Cora’s crew are way taller than her.
He is certainly taking Sydney’s behavior in stride. Some people might be offended by her antics. He also recovered quickly from Dabbler’s groping. He’s resilient. That or he plans on spanking her later. Both probably.
I’m not sure why there’s a bottle of hand sanitizer just… floating in the hallway there. (Down in the corner of panel 1.) I guess they are standing by the elevators. People can be weird about buttons.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
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.
Syd’s facial expressions are the main event today!
+1
Blue balls is 95% lies and exaggeration used by teenage boys to try to get somewhere with under-educated and/or naive teenage girls.
And the other 5% is a genuinely uncomfortable and dangerous medical condition!
Dangerous, in no world, anywhere, ever.
Uncomfortable? Quite. Can be surprisingly painful.
Which of course has nothing to do with teenage boy excuses. Every one of those boys has readily available treatment right in the palm of his hand, so to speak.
no Mako, if your balls are blue, more than likely you have an inguinal hernia and need to see a surgeon, so yes, having blue balls is a genuinely dangerous medical condition
That kind of “blue balls” has nothing to do with the “lack of sexual intercourse” kind of blue balls.
Mako is correct. The lust related blue balls are easily cured with a handful of tissues and a little bit of privacy.
which is slightly humorous.. well just read this link instead of me repeating everything I read on it. https://www.healthline.com/health/mens-health/blue-balls#causes
“Tight pants” under causes is my favorite bit.
Not always. Once the pain becomes prominent, release or not it’ll still hang around due to the pressure on the tubes. The only thing that cures it at that point is time. Miserable time.
The medical term is epididymal hypertension. I only found that out tonight when I typed “blue balls danger” in google. because I never thought to search.
Sure it’s not dangerous..necessarily. but if you’ve already been diagnosed with hypertension. then have Blue balls aka a form of hypertension…
Uhh… what’s up with the tags? I mean, “halo03”? “max02”? What’s the logic there?
That are the different portraits at the side. Not the way I would do it.
It’s to avoid spoilers, go back to the first time we see Maxi and Anvil, read what their Who’s Who entry says
For that matter, read Sydney’s early Who’s Who entries
As Guesticus says, but to rephrase. The who’s who entries have different versions which appear when accessed from early comic pages compared to the ones in later pages. So the initial ones are spoiler free, and gradually gain more information, as the story progresses. These tags correspond to the appropriate version of the who’s who entry.
Which is actually a cool thing to do, and extra work on DaveB’s part to maintain for new readers.
Dave, How do the newest round of Patreon changes effect artists? It was hard to tell what actually changed in all the fluff.
I figured the hand sanitizer was from Halo’s utility belt.
As a retired federal employee I can attest to the fact that in the early 2000’s federal agencies went on a hand sanitizer spree during one of the periodic flu outbreaks. Suddenly the little pump bottles of Purell were popping up all over the place. Of course they didn’t realize that Purell did nothing against virus caused diseases, such as the flu.
And it works even less when you’re not the one introducing the bacteria to the system, like the cooks that don’t wash their hands before serving food and the medics have the gall to claim it was all 100 people in a row in the line that didn’t sanitize their hands (despite there being a sanitizing station at the front of the line) and now 100 people have dysentery. No, that couldn’t be what happened. Impossible.
By that then the ingredients list for a panacea potion are the blood of a mature succubi and a leech or needle capable of extracting it.
A true panacea is a very complicated mixture. Many recipes do involve succubi, but it can vary. Some require blood, some the “fluids,” even the hair of a succubi could be an ingredient. This isn’t the only part, though, as the panacea would require even more curing agents. Plus, the blood alone won’t imbue the curing power. It will actually cause more harm than good if not properly prepared. A panacea is a very powerful, very complicated substance, one that could become a thoroughly fatal poison if prepared improperly.
As I said once before, years ago, the risk with Dabbler isn’t STDs, it’s all those pointy things sticking out of her head. Ai yi yi. Maybe you can stick tennis balls on the ends or something?
That’s a vote incentive, right there.
Don’t Dabbler’s ears look a wee bit drooped in that last panel…?
They appear tp be controllable by dabs and also might indicate moods etc. kind of like cat and dog ears.
I remember an Epidemiologist who worked with the CDC at the time who basically said “we need to stop trying to say something is not an STD because it does not matter if its on your blood or causing lesions in your skin or living in your sweat or can be breathed on someone your in intimate contact range with IT either is or can be transmisible. It will not say Oh no I’m Not An STD! and therefore I SHALL NOT! Infect this fine person with my disease while they are having sex! (he was quite openly sarcastic about it too!)
He had personally run cultures on flu strains in semen, Malaria in vaginal fluids, and tuberculosis strains in surface skin samples. in his words Humans have been working on making every Microbe they come across into Viable STDs since the first time a Human got too horny for their own good.
He had missed the point entirely.
STDs never meant a limit of diseases which could be transmitted during sweaty sexual activities. It means diseases which DO NOT TRANSMIT easily, and do not transmit without a fluid exchange.
So yeah, sexual activity will transmit every disease out there and with the fluid exchange prostitution has the same dangers of disease as nursing (or higher)
I went on a cruise last summer. The ship had little hands-free sanitizer dispensers outside all the dining areas. I think there were a few in other places as well, but I can swear to the ones outside the dining areas.
Sounds like Royal Caribbean. They have had a big problem with Norovirus on their ships in the last few years and mistakenly think that putting Purell everywhere (they added over 700 dispensers per ship) will somehow cure the fact that having 5000 people in close proximity means that germs are gonna transfer.
Never mind that Purell isn’t effective against Norovirus, it’s mainly sanitation theatre.
If it gets people to start thinking about spreading of disease and bacteria, it’s a start
I’d be happier if more guys would at least wash their hands after using the men’s room.
The ladies aren’t much better in that habit as attested to by finding E. coli on production equipment after wash-down with 1.0 M hypochlorite.
Actually, it was Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Also, is sanitation theater anything like security theater?
Exactly the same only less invasive or with a chance of hot lead poisoning.
More plot, less sex groups requested.
That is part of the plot, just because it’s not part of the plot you want doesn’t stop it from being part of it
In the man with the mask’s defense… the sex-talk shenanigans are wonderful for worldbuilding, but Max should maybe be reining them in so as to get Recruit Scoville’s report on the last 53 hours/53 days/288 days depending on ones frame of reference.
Not gonna disagree with that: Maxi shouldn’t even be joining in the sex-talk shenanigans :P
And you do realise that “Guesticus” is literally “Guest-icus”, so, just as ‘man(?) with a mask’ as ‘Anonymous’ :D
Are we not all anonymous to one degree or another?
Plus, Sydney’s parents may be at the party and we haven’t seen them yet.
Also, any new recruits Sydney hasn’t met yet might be at a welcome back party (hoping for Marble Maiden) and some of her Arc-SWAT friends may have brought their families to intermingle with Sydney’s parents, so we could see how Maxima’s younger brother turned out.
Worth pointing out: This is Sydney’s welcome back party. She’s not going to insist on a report during a ‘Welcome home private who was MIA and finally returned home!” party. Don’t worry, Maxima will get the chance to freak out about the fact that Scoville is now demonstrably faster (and maybe more Dakka) than Maxima here soon. Just not at the party. Also, Sydney’s closest friends in the group thus far have been Dabbler and Maxima. They just spent a month together pining over their missing recruit.
Well…
Unless we see a conversation like, “So… how’d you hide from doomsday creatures long enough for Cora to arrive?”
“Oh, I kept dodging them until I leveled up enough to take them on.”
“Oh, that seems a decent strategy for being forced to ru…
… wait… take them on?!?”
“Oh yea, you should have see the look on the first one’s face when I ripped it apart through the nether regions.”
“You took one of those things on…”
“And then they called for reinforcements.”
“So… you ran?”
“Well, I took a number of the reinforcements out before they called even more reinforcements.”
“…”
“Yea, it was pretty hairy.”
“How’d Cora get past all the firepower?”
“Oh, she didn’t.”
“She didn’t?”
“She met me halfway home.”
“… wait, what?”
“Lucky for me she found me. I didn’t know exactly how to get back to Earth from that Dyson sphere. I would have spent weeks having to ask around, although might not have been that bad since they spoke English there.”
“So she didn’t rescue you? Then why’d we have to pay for… wait, Dyson sphere? English?”
“How did you get halfway…”
“Oh yea, I AM an interstellar spaceship now.”
“… debreifing. Now.”
Hey, DaveB!! I found brunette Sydney! https://youtu.be/ll3t8AUJX8M?t=376
Not far off.
Dave?
Anyone else weirded out by how Sydney finds having been with someone who has been with Dabbler ickier than fucking an anthropomorphic dog.
Not really. Sydney’s clearly established she’s down with the furriness in several pages previously, Frix has been nothing but respectful, helped rescue her from the the Planet of the Ultra-Squidwards, and is hung like Fenris, apparently.
Conversely, Sydney’s been conditioned by society in general with the whole “sex is dirty” trope, and Dabbler makes a fair point in re: STDs contributing to that notion. And Maxima really doesn’t set a good example with the way she regularly gets on Dabbler’s case about her sexuality . . . seriously, how is it necessary to turn away from a conversation to yell at two long-parted lovers about a particularly affectionate reunion.
I know it’s effective comedy, but it seems like in-universe, Maxima’s ragging on Dabbler’s sexual proclivities would eventually get her a talk from HR (not that Dabbler’s teasing wouldn’t get her several more). Dabbler’s a civilian consultant (so not held to military standards per se), from an alien cultural and demonic religious background — there just isn’t a strong justification for Maxima to hold Dabbler to any human standard other than respecting consent and age of majority.
Maxima really doesn’t have any call to pass judgement on anyone’s sexuality at Archon unless it effects mission readiness or security (so she did have the right to make Dabbler not have sex with her teammates, since it zonks them out for at least a day, and she did have some call to scrutinize Harem’s relationship with Deus, for instance). It kind of comes across (no pun intended) like she can’t climb Mount Hiro, so she’s irritated when she sees other people getting to . . . relieve tension.
A+ on the sex positivity there, but people being overly physically affectionate is generally a thing that people get uncomfortable with. Dabbler being the kind to grope the genitals of the people involved is an understandable thing to get uncomfortable with. Common courtesy is a thing regardless of how horny, sexy, or alien you are. Cultural respect goes both ways.
Also, regarding HR? They clearly don’t have an actual HR department or everyone would have been fired for various issues of Max being slightly racist. Sydney assaulting her coworkers, and dabbler and harem sexually harassing anything with a pulse.
Ps: at parent comment… I mean in universe he’s not an anthro dog. He’s his own legitimate species? Dabbler on the other hand is very specifically dabbler and being weiner cousins with someone you know is a weird line to land on in the first place. Let alone your alien sex demon coworker.
Dabbler is a Groper.
She is prone to sexual assault as a casual hobby.
No, HR is not under any circumstances going to call anybody down for resigning her in.
I am sure that your take on things is “in” with the incels but alien or not you don’t get to cop a feel anytime you please after being rebuffed.
Ok, calling me an ‘incel’ by implication is right out. Factually inaccurate, baseless, just plain offensive even if you cleared those first two hurdles. Not accidentally so, either, and possibly deliberate trolling. Even if I made allowance for the possibility that you were merely implying that I was pandering to an ‘incel’-favored position, it’s still trying to set up a straw man fallacy mixed with a guilt by association fallacy, so it would be insulting the intelligence of anyone you expected not to be offended by the obviously manipulative phrasing.
To the point in re: the claim Dabbler gets to “cop a feel anytime you please after being rebuffed”: the one person she’s shown to have, arguably, groped after being rebuffed is Maxima (the fact that she’d forgotten she came in to make a pass at Maxima and was moving her boobs to make a funhouse mirror doesn’t excuse it . . . she was *trying* to walk in on Maxima while Max was undressed, after all). She was then punched through a wall, and nearly brought up on sexual assault charges and drummed off the team. Certainly not consequence free action.
Unless you’re implying that Dabbler’s nature (“all of a succubus’ body parts are naturally hypnotic”) makes consent problematic in general. That case could be made, in-universe, with some fairness. But I assume that’s not your point, since “after being rebuffed” would never come up n that case.
You are the one who inferred that opposition to Dabbler’s sexual aggression warranted action by HR.
You take their position you get associated with them.
You hypocritical outrage also fits.
As does you attempt to assert that it doesn’t matter of rebuffed gropings keep happening to only one person. That would be repeatedly to one person even in the closed meeting where we met the high command.
Here is a thought that is going to be entirely new to you:
If you don’t want to be lumped with incels you might change what you are doing entirely, and stop both espousing and defending their positions.
Dabbler is has never been treated unfairly or unkindly, and the people around are immensely tolerant in spite of her actions.
Breaking it down by paragraph:
1. I didn’t infer anything, much less your false claim. I *stated* that Dabbler’s behavior and Maxima’s would both merit action by HR. ‘Slut-shaming’ *is* a form of sexual harassment. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Also punching subordinates is usually considered bad form, at least.
2. Doubling down on a straw man argument doesn’t make it true, it just shows a limited grasp of what ‘true’ is, or a strong willingness to continue knowingly making false claims.
3. Tripling down on a straw man argument: see 2, above.
4. Again, “getting away with” implies a lack of consequences. In both cases, she was physically struck by Maxima (got a shield up the first-shown time, presumably because she didn’t the first-occurring time and didn’t want to get punched through a wall again) and was verbally reprimanded by a superior (Maxima in her quarters, the General in the interview with Sydney). It would be fair to claim that her unique breadth and depth of skills and abilities probably lets Dabbler get away with BS that would get a less useful person booted out the door, and that that isn’t morally correct at all. IF that were the point you were making, instead of being intellectually dishonest and engaging in name-calling (and arguably trolling), it would have been a valid point.
5. Nothing wrong with thinking new thoughts or embracing a new perspective. You might try it yourself sometime, just for fun.
6. Quadrupling down on a straw man argument: see 2 and 3, above.
7. I’d actually argue that Dabbler has been given unfairly tolerant treatment in re: the groping, but that Maxima’s ragging on her about a consensual public display of affection, as well as repeatedly engaging in name-calling and ‘slut-shaming’, not to mention punching her, aren’t excused by that. Again, two (or three or four) wrongs don’t make a right. Which was my original point in re: their behavior. Which you might have noticed if you weren’t so busy labelling, making up straw man associations, putting words in my mouth, and pigeon-holing me as an ‘incel.’
An aside: It’s much easier to take you seriously as actually having an intellectual position (instead of, say, a knee-jerk reaction) if you take the time and effort to notice which words you used vs. which words make sense in the sentence. For instance: “you” is not “your,” and “resigning” (as in quitting a job) is not “reining” (as in pulling back on the reins to stop a horse). A spell checker only warns you if you wrote something that isn’t a word. Actually reading what you wrote before you post it warns you if you chose the wrong word.
Oh, as a personal aside, in regards to accusations being an ‘incel,’ hypocrite, etc. (and noting that none of this is in any way any of your business, but I feel voluntarily sharing it might be instructive):
I’ve been in a committed relationship with the same person for more than 27 years now, and counting. Longer, I’d wager, than you’ve existed at all (barring reincarnation or suchlike). Not so ‘in,’ nor so ‘cel,’ as you presumed.
As for hypocrisy, I’ve actually experienced sexual harassment and actually been groped in the workplace, on more than one occasion, at more than one job. Not claiming that you haven’t (it’s sadly not uncommon) but pointing out that I have some grounding in personal experience for not taking it at all lightly as a topic. In fact, I lost a job for refusing to submit to a sexual advance from a supervisor (he fired me *immediately* thereafter for my “uncooperative attitude). I was 15 years old at the time.
So, here’s a bit of a thought: before the next time you write something that reads like you think you have some metahuman insight into the motivations, beliefs, actions and/or life circumstances of the person you’re addressing, may I suggest:
Check your privilege, check your attitude, check your assumptions, and check your facts.
I’m impressed by your patience with what I truly hope is a troll.
To anyone who is saying that ANY of these people would get brought down to HR…
*cough*
“Supers are considered a vital national resource.” ~ Paraphrased from when Sydney was brought onboard.
HR (and the concept of HR violations) exist to make sure employees stay in line and don’t end up suing you. The employees of Archon are very few in number, and, if fired for any reason, half could likely punt the HR department into the Sun; and firing them is a big red “X”. Further, every super employee is known for being weird, unique, or strange and so accepting of differences to some level is a trait most of them will have developed at least to some degree. At this combination of points, a standard HR department (at least as anything other than payroll and party planner) becomes a frivolous and useless, if not potentially costly, expenditure.
Company COUNSELORS on the other hand…
… I mean, seriously… sending a Super to HR is the equivalent of telling the Navy General that they have to scrap the aircraft carrier because it’s color doesn’t match with the bay’s housing association large structure design requirements.
He is an Extraterrestrial, not a dog, merely the analog of one.
I think it is because Dabbler has been with, well, everybody possible. “Village bicycle” times a factor of ten.
The last panel doesn’t read that well. I saw it yesterday, and I got what Doc Fluff was doing, but the cramped spacing and perspective made me unsure what was going on with Sydney. I get it now, high five with Maxima, but it still doesn’t read well, I am afraid.
I managed to figure out the high-five thing, but could you enlighten me on the doings of Flufficus MD?
Is that a song?
Like blue balls
Yeah, like blue balls
Like blue balls yeah yeah yeah
?
Maybe to the tune of “Blue Moon?”
Bom ba ba Bom ba bom ba bom bom ba bom bom ba dang da dang dang ba ding de dong ding Blue Balls!
Blue balls…you left me standing here…
Had to check the archives because that last comment made me think of the “Make Maxima Say” Bingo cards. Blue Balls wasn’t on the list :(
VOTE
A worthy reminder! The new month means the voting has been reset and it is very close running in the lead!
Plus thanks to everyone who voted last month and kept the comic in first place right to the end (to the best of my knowledge).
You know me: vote at least once every day :D
Just want to point out: nic to see you didn’t fall into the “Maxi’s part switches side” trap when you flipped Dabbles (not just the crossed arms, butt the shoulder-slip), not only did you remember to correct the lettering on her outfit, you remembered which ear had the translator (the clip on the top) and the dangly loop earring :D
I bet she’s not immune to lice. Or, y’know, crabs.
She has magical cantrips, so those minor problems are instantly removable.
That hand sanitizer looks pretty nice right about now…
Yeah as a COVID thing I’m downright used to seeing a hand sanitizer dispenser next to an elevator now.
Floating hand sanitizer bottle? It’s simple. The Lighthook Orb detected what it sensed as a potentially life threatening situation to its ‘host’. As this was, as Sydney felt, a life or death situation, the Lighthook found, in Sydney’s rather convoluted mind, the closest and most accessible remedy available, the hand sanitizer in Sydney’s Utility Belt, and provided her with immediate access to it. After the situation had been ‘properly’ treated, the Lighthook placed the sanitizer back in its appropriate compartment and resealed it.
As it is not yet fully auto activated, it could only do this in what, in Sydney’s mind, was an immediate threat to health, life, and sanity. A previous incident at the Candy Factory did not activate this function, as the ‘Save Point’ had been activated before the system was triggered…