Paying Attention 2014-01-22

[Sidhekin]

That was painful.

... well done, I suppose.

[Yamara]

Monica has no patience for any fault in others that may in any way apply to herself.

Well, she (and Phix) is a cat.


Aaand Atsali is... yeah.

[Fairportfan]

Cats have no faults.

Just ask one.

[Timotheus]

Something about this whole sequence has not been squaring with me. Too many characters are acting too far out of character and in ways that are just not gelling. I'm taking a step or two back and just going to let whatever is developing here to progress and come back later and see if it turns out to have been live or a shadow play for some purpose.

We've got too many shadow masters on hand for me to accept anything we're being shown as the absolute fact without a certificate of authenticity from Paul (and maybe not even then).

[Bathorys Daughter]

Who knew insensitive was contagious? Now Monica is doing it to Sali. You know this is a bit unlike both of them. I wonder if the change in Tina is causing this? She used to calm people down, make them feel good, and give a nudge or two. Today Tina is feeling off. Might that not mean she is affecting others negatively rather than positively? Could her whole vide have changed because of the dream? Monica's rant is way over the top. Sali being reduced to tears is not normal. Usually she just withdraws into herself. The two of them talking about Tina as if she is not there. Just maybe this is not a natural event and is being triggered by Tina accidentally or unknowingly?

Good point. I think you may be right.

Tina may be in the basement pouring her heart out to her muñeca para el Día de los Muertos.(doll for the Day of the Dead) She did, after all, talk to it as if it were more than just a doll that one time. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/yet-to-do/ (even the dummies have bigger busts than me *sigh*)

[MerchManDan]

Oh brother. This is going from bad to worse.

[Jay-Em]

Ah, yes. "irony" The meaning of which is wholly alien to Monica (as is Hypocrisy)

Then again young girls, rambling on, unaware of their surroundings.... They cán be rather annoying. Though, having said that, I have the vague impression Atsali is just rambling-on to stop her overwhelming dread for the entity called "Tina"- from developing in a full-on panic-attack.

"Whistling in the dark, girl-style"

Aaand, máybe, just máybe is this spat between Monica and Atsali the result from Tina's emotional status. She can, after all, make people kill others. Imagine what happens if an ability like that, involuntarily as it is, also goes for inner turmoil? "Projecting"in a rather strong way, so to speak?

[illiad]

When is Monica going to start wheezing, turning blue, and finally keel over? Didn't we see this scene played out by Atsali (as Monica) and Castella (As Atsali)?

no, that was because atsali had tightly bound herself....

and yeah, how do you stop a girl 'in full flow'' loudly talking with her foot deep down her mouth??? get her to realize how bad it feels... there is **always** someone who is worse than you....

[zachariah]

That being said, what happened to Monica trying to be more of a role model for 5 year olds?

She's not dealing with a five-year-old.

She's dealing with a 5 year old who is 10 years older. (Poor frontal lobe)

Paul, Thanks for the points in Monica's and sali's characters. Does that poor frontal lobe maybe hint she's a bit of a bird brain? As they have less of that than we do.

If so Sali is still a real Tweet heart.

Drops a bag of bird seed in the jar.

[jwhouk]

And here I was starting to think, "M's words aren't what's getting Atsali - it's something else."

I wonder if demons don't like certain "species", compared to humans? (Yes, I have been going through the archives, and I recall what Phix said about Demons and humans.)

[meisdadoo]

Monica has no patience for any fault in others that may in any way apply to herself.

Just like every other person on the planet. Those qualities that anger us the most are those which we ourselves posses (or fear becoming).

That being said, Monica is THE Demon Shepard and to her, Demons are people too. Poor Atsali has just been introduced to a walking talking corpse inhabited and controlled by things that are NOT people according to her understanding of the Universe. Now I ask ya, do any of you know any real person that wouldn't get creeped out by that--let alone any 15 year-old?

[Dave]

Poor Atsali has just been introduced to a walking talking corpse inhabited and controlled by things that are NOT people according to her understanding of the Universe. Now I ask ya, do any of you know any real person that wouldn't get creeped out by that--let alone any 15 year-old?

I think I know a number of people (including some teens) whose reaction might well have been "Wow! Cool! What's it like being a collective of that sort?"

Some of the goth or death-metal set might well have shown signs of extreme jealousy.

[eee]

That's it, Monica. Get so filled with righteous indignation at how clueless nerds pay no attention to other's feelings and cause people tremendous emotional hurt that you pay no attention to how much emotional hurt you're inflicting on Atsali. You clueless nerd.

[DilyV]

Oh brother. This is going from bad to worse.

I'm with you Merch... My fear now is that the next time we see Tina it will be her shell, empty eyed and slack jawed as the covey has fled the scene... giving even more fuel to the fire. Tina would be the opposite of irony without the covey to fill her... wrinkledy...

Monica has her work cut out for her... she not only has to calm Atsali now, but she has to find Tina and give her reason to continue. Right now, I'm sure her covey has a serious case of doubt about why they even exist. Still, I feel a lot worse for Tina than Atsali at this point.

[Julie]

Phix's lecture of Shelly and M feels a lot like this.

Yeah but -

I see the difference (as i said) being that Shelly and Monica are supposed to be adults, who Know Better.

(Notice, i say "supposed to")

True...but M (by her own admission) doesn't have a lot of experience dealing with teens, and it probably would be very easy to just treat Atsali like any of M's adult friends, forgetting for that brief moment that she's needs to handle youth differently than she'd handle someone her own age. I mean, she just went from telling Tina not to use the F word in front of Atsali to throwing it around herself like there's no tomorrow.

Patience is a virtue that is required when dealing with teens and children...and it's one that M seems to have in small supply when someone she cares about is hurting. When you add in Paul's commentary that M has no patience for faults in others that she may display as well...yeah...this couldn't go anywhere but to a hurtful place.

So tomorrow M gets smacked by the clue by four, she and Atsali hug it out, and Tina comes back and accepts Atsali's timid apology, right?

[NOTDilbert]

Suddenly got the idea that maybe Bia might be stirring the emotional pot a bit, somehow - wouldn't be unlike her to, out of a fit of pique, try and undo Phix's work on Tina's integration - if at least in retaliation for the punch-through-the-wall scene.

[Boxilar]

Yeah but -

I see the difference (as i said) being that Shelly and Monica are supposed to be adults, who Know Better.

(Notice, i say "supposed to")

I'm finding myself remembering Warren Oates' line to Daniel Stern: "You're supposed to be stupid, son. Don't abuse the privilege."

It's a similar situation. Shelly and Monica were just as clueless as Atsali is here when they went on their romp in downtown. Both of them are adults, but they grew up human. Monica went from a mortal with access to the power of the GGGs and the ability to POIT, to being a Demigod almost overnight.

Shelly may be over 80,000 years old, but all but a tiny fraction of that time was spent in isolation with only Conscience as her companion, Phix as an occasional mentor, and threatening Apos who wandered in from time to time.

Neither of them grew up with any experience in the larger paranormal community, and their only exposure to it up to this point was rubbing elbows with the undisputed apex predators of the supernatural.

Once they had Phenomenal Cosmic Power dumped in their laps, they had no idea how cutting loose with that power might endanger those with less power than them selves.

Having Bia and Phix both tell them that they were basically accountable to no one but themselves without explaining what that meant to those around them was irresponsible at best and recipe for disaster at worst.

M and Shelly intended no harm when they played their game in the city, and had never been given the context to understand that they were putting others in danger by doing so.

Phix reacted with anger because when she acted that way, it was malicious. She meant to kill. She meant to do harm.

So, eons later, when Shell and Monica went on their romp, I think Phix projected a bit, and the Sage and the Jaguar Girl caiught the brunt of a Sphinx's guilty conscience.

So now Monica is well aware of how a misuse of her power can hurt others, and as Paul has said, has little patience for Atsali's lack of understanding of how she can hurt other people.

Except instead of patiently explaining why what 'Sali did was wrong, M is following Phix's example and lashed out at the person who doesn't know enough to know better, and in the process crushed someone who practically worships her.

And that's why I read this comic, because no matter what their species, these characters are all wonderfully human, flaws and all.

edit; i got a cookie!

[Dave]

Oh brother. This is going from bad to worse.

I'm with you Merch... My fear now is that the next time we see Tina it will be her shell, empty eyed and slack jawed as the covey has fled the scene... giving even more fuel to the fire. Tina would be the opposite of irony without the covey to fill her... wrinkledy...

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$punJarDebt{"DilyV"} += $much;

And that is my perl of wisdom for the day.

Or, as one of Spider Robinson's characters pointed out, "God is an iron."

[kingklash]

We may need to consider that Atsali might have a different definition of "sheltered" than Monica. She's only recently acheived a lifestyle that lets her have a smartphone to stick her eyeballs to.

[Tenjen]

i'am not seeing any OOC here. just sayin.

This is pretty much a new situation and context we're seeing them under. We're still learning about Atsali and Monica isn't volatile, short-tempered and protective of her friends.

That lecture really doens't apply to Atsali :\, pretty horrible.