Wapsi Square Forum

Uh-huh . . . I thought that might happen.

--FreeFlier

https://wapsisquare.com/comic/took-a-sip/

There's been some question about just what sort of eldritch Cthulhoid horror Valerie actually is.

I don't think we've ever gotten a good answer to that.

However, it's now apparent that despite her tentacles, she must have some avian-dinosaur heritage. That is, she's at least part bird.

Because I swear I just heard her cry "Cheep! Cheep! Drunk!"

(She's gonna need an icepack about the size of the 'berg that sunk the Titanic.)

Dave wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 9:29 am . . . (She's gonna need an icepack about the size of the 'berg that sunk the Titanic.)

Maybe . . . AFAIK a major part of a hangover is dehydration,and I doubt she's had enough ethanol to dehydrate her . . . Though it's possible that she's especially sensitive that way too.

--FreeFlier

Dave wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 9:29 am https://wapsisquare.com/comic/took-a-sip/

There's been some question about just what sort of eldritch Cthulhoid horror Valerie actually is.

I don't think we've ever gotten a good answer to that.

However, it's now apparent that despite her tentacles, she must have some avian-dinosaur heritage. That is, she's at least part bird.

Because I swear I just heard her cry "Cheep! Cheep! Drunk!"

(She's gonna need an icepack about the size of the 'berg that sunk the Titanic.)

I think the term is "Spawn of Cthulhu". From "C" having sex with a woman, and the kids eating their way out of the mother. Or something like that, it has been the better part of a half-century since I read that book.

She wouldn't have to be a descendant of Cthulu . . . the low tolerance would, IIRC, suggest the offspring of Vorn the Unsqueakable . . . (Okay, his username was actually Vorn the Unspeakable, but we sometimes called him the Unsqueakable.) Yes, he was a tentacled horror.

We won't discuss Einar and his affection for tentacled horrors.

--FreeFlier

Something I forgot about... supposedly, spiders get drunk from caffeine. There's been a ton of comics, but I don't recall if there's been any time we've seen Digit have coffee, or if she's made any mention of the stuff.

Edit: And after a quick search to see if that was actually true, well... if it's true for any kind of spiders, it isn't true for jumping spiders. They seem to get similar effects to what we would get.

Alkarii wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 10:12 pm Edit: And after a quick search to see if that was actually true, well... if it's true for any kind of spiders, it isn't true for jumping spiders. They seem to get similar effects to what we would get.

Plants seem to have evolved to produce caffeine because it acts as an insecticide - when consumed by insects it interferes with their ability to produce certain enzymes. This can have a bunch of interesting effects, including paralysis, reproductive failure, loss of certain behavioral capabilities, and death.

Spiders being arthropods (as are insects) they seem likely to suffer a similar range of effects. There's apparently one study which shows that caffeine interferes with some spiders' ability to weave their sense in a symmetrical fashion. Whether they're "drunk" or "jittery" is a subjective question that I don't think we know enough about spiders to answer properly... at least, I don't.

This suggests another thing that The World Really Doesn't Need: Shelob with coffee nerves. She was bad enough as it was. I suppose this is why Galadriel gave Frodo a phial of light-infused water, rather than a bottle of cold-brewed espresso.