December 22nd, 2017
22 Dec 2017 · page 758 of 1306
Next Tuesday there won't be an update since its boxing day, I'll put up some filler instead. Have a good Christmas, if that is your thing, if not, have a good week!
Cast: Benjamin Thackerey, Heinrich Wolfe, Sidney Malik, Verity Cunningham
Comments (77)
Events
ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central
So that means she'll need to hit Harry, if anyone.
. . . Aha, well, she's probably not as inured to Lust's influence as Mal. But I've never pictured her as someone particularly weak to it either.
Well, you'd think the same of Nicola, but according to Verity she does enjoy human affection. So...?
I mean, you might be right, but we've all seen how long it took for her to start to consider Sid, and she hasn't done anything. And her sister is always so concerned that she normally never sees anybody, yaknow?
Con-Sid-er?
I consider it a deep and personal failure that I did not use that pun.
I dunno. Watching the Romantic Tension between Harry and a Certain Skinny Blabbermouth Magician.. If nothing else Lust could probably manage inspiring Confusion out of Harry than the actual Sin itself. :3
She's having to ask/coerce so she doesn't know the setup at the anchor. Unless there's some way to communicate with the deadlies that have gone before (s)he will only know that it's Wolfe's friend in action; Harry will be a surprise.
The simplest plan would be to arrive early at the anchor in the guise of Wolfe or Greed and hope to gain from the confusion.
Aww, and there it is. Though hey, just gotta think outside the box and tap into his lust for...peace and quiet and some good tobacco?
Heh, you know, I'm running a play by post superheroes campaign where I pulled an exact stunt like this on a player with am asexual demiromantic character who was curious to a fault. He very pointedly reminded me of this when he knew he was going up against Lust, and I told him I had already been accounting for that, no worries.
His character, despite being explicitly warned that Lust was more than just sexual desire, blustered in, and then immediately failed a Will save and got suckered in by his Lust for knowledge and almost blew the whole thing.
(He loved it, btw - when I dropped the reveal he was just like "OF COURSE")
You know, I like this incarnation of Luxuria better.
It operates more smoothly, without the creepypasta flirting; it insinuates and manipulates without tipping its hand to the whole world.
I think different people are going to be biased differently about this one, based on what type they are attracted to. ; ) I'm not attracted to women, so I'm finding this current version of Luxuria's flirting even more ridiculous and over-the-top than before! XD
Болтун - находка для шпиона... :(
[https://yandex.ru/images/pa...](https://yandex.ru/images/pad/search?text=не%20болтай%20советский%20плакат&img_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fprofile_images%2F442356599647399936%2FBUy-w-6m.jpeg&pos=1&rpt=simage "https://yandex.ru/images/pad/search?text=не%20болтай%20советский%20плакат&img_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fprofile_images%2F442356599647399936%2FBUy-w-6m.jpeg&pos=1&rpt=simage")
"Chatterbox - a godsend for a spy" -- if Google Translate can be trusted. : )
I wouldn't call Wolfe a chatterbox, though, not normally. Just friendly and open. And, unfortunately, an easy target for Lust's influence... but see, Wolfe isn't volunteering the important information, Lux is using its control to pull that out of him.
It's a Soviet slogan of the World War II period (as well as the poster, wich says "Don't chatter!"). The Stalinist SU was paranoid by itself, plus the war added to this its own complications.
Sorry, I refer too often to Soviet realities. It happens involuntarily. Perhaps it's 'cause I used to grow up in the USSR... Some slogans and stereotypes remain with you forever, in your subcortex, even if you, getting grown-up and a bit smarter, begin to take them skeptically and ironically :)
Well, my first association with "nonintentional betraying" of this kind was "The Gadfly", I don't think this response is more sensible. :)
You are too much literate :P
It sounds like Mal's reproach to Ben. :Р
I think the English version is "Loose lips sink ships"? Because rhyming and alliteration are great apparently.
As a person with interest in literature for the sake of literature, yes. Yes they are great.
Yeah, pretty much: [https://www.google.com/sear...](https://www.google.com/search?q=loose+lips+sink+ships&safe=off&client=opera&hs=sBh&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt0ba7-aHYAhUL7oMKHXZwCXAQ_AUICigB&biw=1242&bih=572#imgrc=_ "https://www.google.com/search?q=loose+lips+sink+ships&safe=off&client=opera&hs=sBh&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt0ba7-aHYAhUL7oMKHXZwCXAQ_AUICigB&biw=1242&bih=572#imgrc=_")
"Know your place! Shut your face!" is my favorite one now.
"Careless Talk Costs Lives".
[https://goo.gl/images/3YeDWS](https://goo.gl/images/3YeDWS "https://goo.gl/images/3YeDWS")
These chattering ladies of yours are way prettier than that gloomy grim "raboche-kolkhoznitsa" of mine.
That's a piece of really interesting historical information, Maria. As someone who grew up hearing about the Soviet Union as something that (surprisingly) no longer existed, I can't really even imagine this.
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIv0X4Ka-po "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIv0X4Ka-po") This was an WW II American training film concerning "loose lips sink ships".
I made this pride flag for Mal. It seemed appropriate.
A first commenter and just so brilliant at once!
:)
Welcome to the commentariat!
Heh, you know how it is, been reading for a year or so but never had much to contribute! Though I might have a limerick or two up my sleeve.
Limericks? Yes please. :) (And welcome!)
p e r f e c t
My first joyful cackle of the day. Thank you so much, and welcome!
cackle
i can't see the picture now
Edit: Now I can. Is it just my laptop that's messing with me . . .?
What is the flag? Just, blue? Or aren't ace flags grey?
uh, well, ace flags are actually black, gray, white and purple, from top to bottom
But as Mal can't see color....
I mean yeah but someone asked the question
<3
Just so you know Wolf, she, or rather it, is married... to someone who's just about old enough to be your mother... Thought you ought to know.
Given that Acedia is at least a contemporary of Henry and Izzy and doesn't seem to have been drinking the same Kool-Aid as Gula's butler, she is more likely old enough to be Wolf's grandmother.
Herr Wolfe doesn't let little things like that get in the way of true romance.
Looking at the fifth panel, then into the map. They go from Lamplight to "near Macavity's hideout" walking past the Anchor, it's some roundabout way... Looking at Sid's map. Ah, no. Greed is much closer to the Anchor than I remembered.
It's no good there are no promised wizards around the Anchor :(
Is it just me, or with the freckles and red hair shown here, could Lust be inhabiting a certain other female we've already encountered, perhaps?
Not inhabiting, I think, but possibly putting on a deliberate resemblance.
Aha! So the reveal comes not from Mal himself, but from his best friend. I figured Wolfe would know about it; they've been together for several years, and he's bound to have noticed by now that Mal is never attracted to anyone the way he himself is.
To give credit where credit is due, Lux keeps having to hit Wolfe with a blast of influence to get any confidential information out of him, even after it's already happened more than once.
Speaking of giving credit, I hope it occurs to Ben that they could have secured him someplace and let him sleep, but instead woke him up so he could continue being part of the group.
About Ben, well, Verity and Wolfe would never hear the end of it, in that case. Friends don't let friends oversleep adventures, and all that.
Maybe, it would be practical to tie Verity and leave her behind before going to Pride, but it would be more harmful than useful, in the end of things. "Never split the party", indeed.
perks up Canonically ace protagonist? Canonically ace protagonist!
Unbelievable, huh? :)))
Uh, just to be clear: Does "ace" in this context mean "asexual," or something else entirely? I've never heard that term used like that before.
Yup, short for asexual.
Yes indeedy!
The only other use for ace I have ever heard is basically meaning a expert or prodigy, like flying ace for very good pilots. That said, Mal by and large would not be described as especially good at most things, heh.
Yeah, he's more of a Jack of Several Trades.
Well, A Few Things
wait is that a pun
JACK of all trades
because his names jack
Throws purple confetti everywhere Good to see the asexuality working in his favor too. Fortunately at this point this isn't the only comic I know with a major cononically ace character :D
"Close enough." ...ack.
The more I think about it, the more this page makes me go "Uh-oh". I was counting on Mal being their surprise ace in the hole (ha ha), but now Lux knows the witch isn't susceptible to its power, and it has time to come up with a different plan.
That pun is ace 😉
Ah, but Lux doesn't know about Harry--whose family carries a centuries-long grudge against it. She might not be immune to the romance but she has a PhD in badassery and patience. Plus there are two other witches waiting in the wings to help out.
I'd forgotten about the other witches. I guess "witches are all ace" isn't a thing, then, if lust is surprised. guess that makes ours even more special
In panel 4 Lux looks ready to slug somebody.
Good boy™ is T H I R S T Y
Lust is certain to know the sequence so acting out-of-sequence is a sound strategy - do the damage whilst immune from permanent binding.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day") For those poor monocultural Americans and those from other countries, here is a description of Boxing Day.
Dear me -- you do realize that the USA is another country, I hope?
I think he meant other countries (besides the USA) where people might not be familiar with boxing day. He assumed that most people in the USA are not familiar with boxing day which is probably true. I am familiar with it, but I read a lot more UK fiction and watch a lot more UK television than most people I know.
Thank you, John. Ignorance of Boxing Day in the USA is so great that people have used the image of two boxers fighting it out in a ring to represent the extent of ignorance. When it comes to monoculturism, it seems that Americans are truly exceptional.
Somehow, I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't as obvious from my comment as I thought that I am an American...
i like the little lace choker.
Now now, don't go lusting after it.
gotta say i feel for wolfe here. I too share a weakness for perky red heads. They are my kryptonite.
A chapter centered around lust... hm... this is just going to be an opportunity for the author to confirm the characters’ sexualities and launch all the ships isn’t it?
Also: CANONICALLY ACE CHARACTER. GET OUT THE PARTY SUPPLIES AND PRIDE FLAGS FOLKS!!!
Making a prediction. Well, made it two years ago in private. But making one. Will post what the prediction was if it turns out to be right (or wrong, just for fun!).
Grand and honorable Kate:
Thank you for writing this. I'm an ace of spades myself, and having an asexual major character is awesome. (The fact that I also love violin music, get migraines, and view food as an obnoxious necessary evil has me investigating my inner circle for leaks, but that's beside the point.)
The racial diversity, the representation for women and for a variety of sexual and gender identities, the fact that the Barbers have Jewish features... I really respect you for the work you've done for inclusion and the wonderful quality of your story.
In short, again, thank you. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Josiah Greenwood