Camel Spider Food 2014-10-02

[Skruddgemire]

And once again M goes back to heavy handed.

I do not see this going well.

Honestly, there was nothing wrong with her speech. Taking that fearful stare approach however just undid what she just accomplished with Calista seeing her vulnerable while talking to Phix and the apology at the beginning of this strip. You have that moment of "Wow, maybe we're all flawed and it's just a question of dealing with them in a healthy manner" and turned it right back to "Holy @#$%ing asscrackers she's the Jaguar Girl and could @#$%ing end me without blinking."

[Dave]

Boy, would I have been embarrassed...

Yes. "A dromedary, thank you" is always an acceptable response to the question you're going to be asked, after you politely say to your host "May I have a camel in my coffee, please?"

[illiad]

Wow.

Talk about emotional whiplash - Calista's been yanked back and forth so thoroughly in the last couple pages that i'm sure her teeth haven't stopped rattling...

I know. Pick a method, Monica, and stick with it. I'm beginning to doubt your mental stability.

well I think even Monica thinks that... even her demon reminds her!

she said a while back that all she wants to do is just have a nice simple job, no crazy stuff... She has had 'greatness' thrust upon her - not easy getting used to it...

And she is making sure its sticks, by meaning, "you have not got off lightly, I will be watching!"

Be ready for whiplash friday! will the book fall open at the right page??? will dietzel go off on adventures with his friendly spider??? or will M 'go off' half-cocked... :p

[Dave]

And once again M goes back to heavy handed.

I do not see this going well.

Honestly, there was nothing wrong with her speech. Taking that fearful stare approach however just undid what she just accomplished with Calista seeing her vulnerable while talking to Phix and the apology at the beginning of this strip. You have that moment of "Wow, maybe we're all flawed and it's just a question of dealing with them in a healthy manner" and turned it right back to "Holy @#$%ing asscrackers she's the Jaguar Girl and could @#$%ing end me without blinking."

I see your point... but I think M's approach may actually make good sense in this case.

Look at what Calista just got finished saying. She absolutely feels like s*** about herself and what she did. She seems to fully appreciate the wrongness of her actions... not just because she was facing serious punishment, but because she hurt the people she was angry with (not as badly as she might have done, but badly enough).

Cricket feels that she has irreparably "crossed the line"... she is evil, she is beyond help or hope, she doesn't deserve a second chance. The only even-slightly-good thing Cricket sees about her own actions, is that she had found herself unable to actually compel her victims to harm themselves or each other... she stopped at humiliation.

Now, there are a bunch of things Monica didn't do, in responding to Cricket. Monica didn't minimize. Monica didn't make excuses for what Calista had done. Monica didn't offer Calista any "un-earned" forgiveness.

I see two important reasons Monica didn't take this appoach. (1) Cricket probably wouldn't have bought it, and (2) if Cricket did buy it, and began to believe that what she did wasn't truly a Bad Thing, she could easily become an even more dangerous monster.

As she's the (likely) future leader of a people who already have an (earned?) reputation for being self-centered, amoral, powerful, and dangerous, it would probably be a really bad idea for Monica to lead her down a path of "Oh, you poor little dear, you committed virtual rape on a bunch of people who dared to displease you? Pay it no mind, really; we all do that sort of thing from time to time. It doesn't matter. You were pissed off. You're forgiven. Have a cookie."

So, let's look at what Monica actually did... what her real message is.

• She confirmed the wrongness of most of what Calista did. All she really did here, was "mirror back" what Calista had just finished saying. (This "mirroring" is a standard technique for psychotherapists... it's part of "active listening", and shows the other person you understood what they were saying. Monica has been through enough therapy herself to be very familiar with this technique)
• She confirmed the goodness of the one good thing Calista had said about herself... that there was one line Cricket refused to cross. Again, she "mirrored" Calista's own communication, reinforcing it.
• She refutes Cricket's hopelessness... by declaring that Cricket's "one good thing" is precisely the key to Cricket's eventual salvation. Monica gives Calista a reason she can accept, for believing that she's not beyond hope, and deserves to be helped.
• Monica declares that "there is a way back" for Calista, that redemption is possible, but that it must be earned. No freebies.
• Monica declares that if Calista "walks that path" properly, Monica will lead and guide her... and, by implication, will guard and protect her (and Monica just apologized for not having done so, when she should have).

And, if we look at Cricket's reaction... I think she probably bought it. She has accepted Monica's leadership (more than just M's authority and power), and by doing so has accepted the message that she is capable of redemption and worthy (if perhaps just barely) of a chance to earn it. She has her "sense of hope" back.

I'm going to guess that her first labor on that path, will be something on the order of "OK, kid, now un-shrink my dog."

[Warrl]

If Monica heard Cricket's question to Dietzel (the one that got the stare), then she knows that Cricket did not shrink the dog as retaliation against her. There is no other obvious, plausible reason for shrinking the dog on purpose that would be clearly wrong*. That makes "it was an accident" easier to believe.

The fact that Calista is already researching how to UNdo it certainly won't hurt.

* Pre-emptive self-defense against a strange pit bull several times larger than you that is charging up to you, is not clearly wrong. Particularly when it's not directly harmful and is at least theoretically reversible. No, this isn't what happened, but it's something that could have happened if Calista knew how to shrink creatures on purpose... and if she did know that, she should also know how to undo it. Monica is mostly not (yet) aware of exactly how much magic Calista knows. She needs to have Tedd and Luke visit.

[eee]

I agree with Dave. Monica is showing Tough Love, and she's actually doing OK with it. Not perfectly - she's making mis-steps aplenty - but she's establishing the rules with Calista pretty thoroughly. Part of the problem is, we're only seeing the repentant, tearful, desperately lonely Cricket who knows she screwed up, wants friends, and to be a good person; we're not seeing the vengeance crazed Princess who almost went too far to get back at those who had hurt her. If we saw THAT side of her personality, there might not be as much sympathy. M. IS focusing on that part of her, and is warning the Princess that, if she steps out of line, she's going to get slapped so hard she won't be able to get back up; and that this will continue until the good part of Calista is so strong it can hold the bad part in check. It's harsh. But considering that Cricket's future is on the line, it may not be excessive.

Not to be confused with a spider camel.

Spider camel, spider camel, friendly neighborhood spider camel...

[jwhouk]

Wow.

Talk about emotional whiplash - Calista's been yanked back and forth so thoroughly in the last couple pages that i'm sure her teeth haven't stopped rattling...

I know. Pick a method, Monica, and stick with it. I'm beginning to doubt your mental stability.

She's been doubting her mental stability for a lot longer...

[Catawampus]

CAMEL SPIDERS!!!!! EEEEK!!!! Those things are EEEEEEEVIL!!!

Try looking at them as another curious explorer. With enormous fangs.

This could account for the rather stark reactions of Jessie and Krystal when they first saw Calista... they could have heard about her through the sea-grape vine, and knew just what she had done to People Like Them.

And if they did hear about it, they might not have heard an accurate re-telling. They might not be aware that it was gossamer cheerleaders who were involved, for example.

I know. Pick a method, Monica, and stick with it. I'm beginning to doubt your mental stability.

Right now she's riding the tail end of her panicked adrenaline surge, which tends to make people a bit. . .odd. Add to that the fact that she was letting loose with some of her Jaguar Girl powers to run around, and we've seen how much problem she has keeping that aspect of herself under control.

... but I think M's approach may actually make good sense in this case.

Also, don't forget that Calista isn't an ordinary human teenager. She's a totally different species, from a different background. Her psyche might not even work in quite the same way that a human's would. Mentoring techniques that might work on a human kid might have no result on a fae, so it's hard to say what might be the "right" approach in this situation.

Spider camel, spider camel, friendly neighborhood spider camel...

I'm trying to process the notion of "friendly" in relation to a dromedary, and it is not working.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Boy, would I have been embarrassed...

Yes. "A dromedary, thank you" is always an acceptable response to the question you're going to be asked, after you politely say to your host "May I have a camel in my coffee, please?"

No, it's "One hump, or two?"

[AnotherFairportfan]

Boy, would I have been embarrassed...

Yes. "A dromedary, thank you" is always an acceptable response to the question you're going to be asked, after you politely say to your host "May I have a camel in my coffee, please?"

No, it's "One hump, or two?"

============

Doggy Diner!

[Dave]

Boy, would I have been embarrassed...

Yes. "A dromedary, thank you" is always an acceptable response to the question you're going to be asked, after you politely say to your host "May I have a camel in my coffee, please?"

No, it's "One hump, or two?"

Right. You ask for a camel, your host asks "one hump or two?" and you respond by asking for a dromedary.

I suppose you could ask for a llama, as they're camelids, but since they have no hump they wouldn't sweeten your coffee very much.

[chicgeek]

There's another big reason Monica finds this hard to do, and it isn't the 'I'm just a screwup myself!' she's been spouting.
Monica is a survivor of rape. She went through a traumatic experience in Georgia's psyche, not too long ago, and shared her story with her afterwards. A story she said even her closest friends don't know.
She won't admit this even to herself now, just why she's so strenuously fighting being a mentor to Cricket. And there's no one to call her on it, she'll have to come to that realization herself. Georgia and Tina are the only ones we know of that know about what happened to Monica in the mental institution. (although there is the mysterious violent death by possibly vampire of her rapist) But would they know Monica's mentoring cricket? And even if they did, would they be privy to what Cricket had done?
Hmm...we did see Georgia and Monica poit off together to go antique hunting for Monica's shop. And the model is a part owner. There's a bond there, a relationship, a shared history. (get your mind out of the gutter, I mean bonds of friendship ^^ ) And Georgia was shown interacting with one of her demons,so she's aware of the mystical world. Maybe Monica will vent/confide in her later...
No, Cricket didn't rape, but she came close.
And you notice right after Cricket said that's what she would have been charged with if it was real instead of gossamer? That's when Monica lost it and went back to being scary.
This is going to be-eventually if not right away- a serious story and Monica will have shit of her own to work through while mentoring this fae. You can slam a lid on a bubbling pot, but it's still going to boil over catastrophically.
Paul,I'm applauding over here. Layers upon layers, and even if I'm spectacularly wrong, you always have so much more than meets the eye.

[Dave]

There's another big reason Monica finds this hard to do, and it isn't the 'I'm just a screwup myself!' she's been spouting.
Monica is a survivor of rape. She went through a traumatic experience in Georgia's psyche, not too long ago, and shared her story with her afterwards. A story she said even her closest friends don't know.

You're right on target there, I think. The rape aspect of what Calista did, has to be pushing Monica's buttons in a big way... and it's probably not something she'd be comfortable discussing with Phix.

That day in the story was (in my opinion) one of the highest emotional power-points of the whole Wapsi Square saga. When I read Monica say that she'd never told any of her friends, but was breaking silence in order to help Georgette... well, I cried, and then went and bought Paul's original artwork for the strip. One of Monica's best-ever moments of courage and compassion... wow.

Dealing with Calista, and the implications of Calista's actions, could well be the next step in Monica's own healing.

This is going to be-eventually if not right away- a serious story and Monica will have shit of her own to work through while mentoring this fae. You can slam a lid on a bubbling pot, but it's still going to boil over catastrophically.
Paul,I'm applauding over here. Layers upon layers, and even if I'm spectacularly wrong, you always have so much more than meets the eye.

Hear, hear! (joins in the applause)

The depth and complexity of Paul's characterizations and plotting are quite amazing.

[illiad]

you ask for a camel, he may offer you these...

[Catawampus]

This is going to be-eventually if not right away- a serious story and Monica will have shit of her own to work through while mentoring this fae. You can slam a lid on a bubbling pot, but it's still going to boil over catastrophically.

Heh, when hasn't the girl been trying to work out her own problems? She just keeps getting new ones piled on top of the old ones.

On a not very related note, I was just now thinking about Dietzel and Calista's spider friend, and how nonthreatening it was. And then I remembered a paper I read a few years back about a species of jumping spider from Mexico that is the only known mostly-vegetarian spider. Perhaps this library spider could be an herbivore, which is why it's being so friendly.

Hmmmm, and now that I think on it, that could also be yet another reason why Bud hates to visit the Library: that species of spider gets its nourishment by nibbling on specialised parts of acacias. . .

[Catawampus]

Poor Bud.

[Dave]

Chomp.

From what we know about the physical makeup of the Golem Girls, I suspect that Squee is in for a long and difficult chewing session.

[lake_wrangler]

you ask for a camel, he may offer you these...

And yet, it's technically a dromedary, on that image...

[lake_wrangler]

There's another big reason Monica finds this hard to do, and it isn't the 'I'm just a screwup myself!' she's been spouting.
Monica is a survivor of rape. She went through a traumatic experience in Georgia's psyche,[...]

I'm sure you meant Georgette...

[MerchManDan]

Poor Bud.

That'll teach me to actually read comments in order - I had merely skimmed Catawampus's's's post immediately before this one, so when I read his comic* I had NO idea what was happening.


*Good one, by the way.