NofNA, "Syconium" page #215

Syconium
215

November 1st, 2017

49 .	by:	August 23, 2019, 4:02 pm
I remember as I was reading along with this page by page, it seemed likely that Scruffy had drugged Smoothie's liquor. But I don't think he did. They were just a little drunk, and this was going to happen eventually. Mind!XX talking about respect a couple pages back seems relevant to the discussion on page 164. "Respect for others becomes our own self-respect. The hallmark of society... and art." Respect, not seeking conquest even when one wields power? To deny The Animal?

48 .	by:	November 3, 2017, 1:34 am
the tunnel vision in this page feels so panic induced. most of the dialogue happening in her own mind is telling of that as well. i relate a little too much.

47 .	by: Nobody	November 2, 2017, 8:36 pm
to be fair, we were also told no one dies in this story in the early pages, and like 5 of them have died so far.

46 .	by: Furrama	November 2, 2017, 6:57 pm
Perhaps this will be cyclical, and Fig ends up all alone, old and trying to make it out in the world the best she can, while taking care of a daughter by an absent or dead (S)XY, and she tries to push her into art to better herself but she fails too. Because I think about XX's mom a lot. I don't think that's where this is going because I SENSE CATHARSIS ON THE HORIZON but sometimes I like to think "If I had to finish this and wanted to rip my readers hearts out and stomp on them what would I do?"

45 .	by: Dani	November 2, 2017, 6:21 pm
Lmao @44! Now I need to know the story behind Scruffy's scar. Also...has a sexual encounter between XX and SCRUFFY occurred? I don't recall tbh. Because if it hasn't happened yet, I am willing to bet it might!

44 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 5:03 pm
That's right, Scruffy hasn't seen Smoothie's bitchin' new scar yet! Now they're face scar buddies.

43 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 4:14 pm
what would scruffy think if she does maul him?

42 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 11:18 am
Honestly, I'm really worried if she does get pregnant... Fig seems to emphasise all the worst parts of animal instinct, not the good parts like nurture or empathy. Also Greeno would NOT be cool about it.

41 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 10:28 am
There was definitely a comment on pregnancy, it was in the comments of a pretty early page iirc. Zack said something like pregnancy wasn't a part of the story, although since then he's used pregnancy imagery a few times. So maybe it will be, later.

40 .	by: Juna	November 2, 2017, 3:31 am
Oh whoops, I left out an entire thought. I meant, he said XX herself won't die but there will (and have been) deaths of other characters.

39 .	by: Juna	November 2, 2017, 3:23 am
@35 I don't remember anything re: pregnancy (I wasn't banking on that happening anyhow), but I remember Zack amending himself by saying, no, XX herself won't die for sure. He still had to get his kills in for the narrative to work out, hah. The comment in question is prooobably where Plum first learns her father died. Anyhow, I don't want Smoothie to get killed, and XX doesn't either, but you never know...

38 .	by: Mutt	November 2, 2017, 3:06 am
I guess I missed where he said that. Gotta go back and reread the comments. This story is the most well written train wreck I've had the pleasure of reading. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, and XX is just along for the ride, it seems. If this fling with Smooth isn't what makes her decide 'enough is enough', I wonder what event will finally be the turning point.

37 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 2:43 am
Please just let these dumb weasels be in love and live happily ever after in a poly with Pomelo. Cherry and Acai are their neighbors and they are fox married. Chef weasel happily owns a food truck a few blocks down. Greenwich is in solitary serving a life sentence and so is Sherry. Etc etc etc

36 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 2:35 am
Orrrr a walk of shame back to the brothel?

35 .	by:	November 2, 2017, 2:34 am
I think Zack already said that she wouldn't get pregnant, but didn't he say nobody would die in this arc? I'm proverbially on the edge of my seat waiting for the next page. Are we going to see an exchange between Fig and Smooth?

34 .	by: Mutt	November 2, 2017, 2:18 am
Anyone else think that there's a chance that she'll become pregnant...?

33 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 11:18 pm
I have a horrible fear that Smoothie will be overcome with shame about this incident and be too chicken to face Fig again, and just leave her to rot in the brothel. :(

32 .	by: Dani	November 1, 2017, 10:19 pm
@Witticaster: that's a good way to put it. When you say it like that, it exposes how precarious this event is. Fig may have won right now, but it is a temporary win. Fig will never be satisfied with just one "victim"...will the cycle end after Smoothie, if PiXXel takes a stand?

31 .	by: Furrama	November 1, 2017, 9:57 pm
Scars are not the worst thing to forget, this last week Papermonkey of Wurr forgot she sent a whole character elsewhere a few pages before and put them in a scene with lines and had to redo the thing. (Even I didn't notice until it was pointed out.)

30 .	by: Zack	November 1, 2017, 9:17 pm
Hi Furrama, Thank you for spotting his missing scar again. It has now been restored.

29 .	by: Witticaster	November 1, 2017, 9:07 pm
If I were SexFig, I'd be kinda shook up too if I had the absolute perfect storm (winter hormones, lack of sex for ages, alcohol, quiet secluded bedroom, one of them totally naked and the other partially disrobed, newly discovered kinks, falling in love) and yet both partners were STILL having tons of second thoughts like they are here. That would be downright unsettling. She finally won, but she needed an absolute landslide of luck on her side to pull it off.

28 .	by: Dani	November 1, 2017, 7:33 pm
@bluefan: After reading your question, I went back to the dream invasion scene with Smoothie and Fig. Smoothie says to Fig moments before she attacks him: "People who demand from and hurt others have deep issues. You fear something....the element you represent is filled with fear." My guess is that Fig fears her element, sex, will eventually lose out to the "society" element (the idea that we can be above The Animal). PiXXel wants that to happen, I think. Perhaps some exchange happened when PiXXel grabbed Fig's arm there. Also, thanks to the people on the previous page who pointed out that some of the panels were from previous pages. I see that now!

27 .	by: Corvidophile/26	November 1, 2017, 7:31 pm
THAT WAS ME I FORGOT MY NAME. Can’t let one liners go unclaimed in cyberspace you know.

26 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 7:21 pm
WHO’S THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT NOW, LOVERBOY

25 .	by: bluefan	November 1, 2017, 6:42 pm
@24 beautifully said. With this in mind, I absolutely love mindFig's response to herself, when she looks for the shadow of Smoothie's corsage on panel 3 (thanks Witticaster, I didn't notice it at first). She has a moment of doubt, and mindFig jumps in with the thoughts about how sex is too powerful to overcome. I do wonder what PiXXel means with the "you are scared" comment. What exactly is mindFig scared of? And how did PiXXel figure that out from this scene?

24 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 5:08 pm
I believe this is all mind-Fig's dialogue other than the 'bite me' part. Kind of speaking directly to real-world Fig since she says 'both your bodies' and referring to Smoothie as he/his rather than yours, and referring to Fig with yours. I think it's intentionally a bit vague because this IS Fig's inner thoughts. It's easy to divide mind-Fig and mind-XX as very separate and distinct entities, but this is all Fig. Her thoughts, her feelings, her actions, just given a visual form as two different iterations of herself for the story. You can't blame mind-Fig, you can only blame Fig, because this is her, and that 'evil' stoat in her brain is still her, not some monster that's possessed her better nature that she's powerless to (metaphorically that's true, but not literally).

23 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 4:57 pm
I'm confused too! sure it's like she is talking to her self(s) but that is pretty much what it is but who to who? mirror to pixxel?

22 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 4:48 pm
I think mirror fig is speaking (to piXX?) up until the panel where she shows up. Then it's real Fig. Then piXX's speech is obvious by the color change. At least, I think?

21 .	by: Juna	November 1, 2017, 12:06 pm
@bluefan, now that you mention it, that makes a lot of sense. It's a little ambiguous cuz her talk about the voice of conscience and both their bodies could equally apply to XX and smoothie's moment, but the monologue goes on as the two kiss on this sequence. So it makes more sense that Fig is talking to piXXel there.

20 .	by: bluefan	November 1, 2017, 10:35 am
because it says: "And you can't help to think of HIS words as you destroy them"

19 .	by: bluefan	November 1, 2017, 10:34 am
...I'm confused. At first I thought all the gray text is fig speaking to Smoothie out loud, but from the comments I got a different vibe and after rereading it... Is most of the text mindFig talking to PiXX? Except for the "Bite me and don't let go" bits?

18 .	by: Silkworm	November 1, 2017, 9:47 am
His time is up. His flower has bloomed and will wilt by morning, and with it possibly his role in XX's story as well.

17 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 8:47 am
Funny how the flower shadow kinda looks like her "big, fat, sexy tail. "

16 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 8:35 am
#15- or his genitals.

15 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 7:39 am
hopefully just his heart? and not a forpaw and ear, nose, eye.

14 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 4:23 am
He's gonna have his heart broken in the morning.

13 .	by: Juna	November 1, 2017, 2:50 am
I think what's tripping me up is where piXX's dialogue is here. If not for that I'd unambiguously say XX's request to Smoothie was piXX's nudging (which is still probably true), but at first glance, I thought piXX was saying that -because- of XX's request, as if a part of Fig was giving an out to Smoothie. But it makes more sense that piXX is using XX's own fetish to thwart Fig's capture, while commenting on Fig/XX's monologue.

12 .	by: Juna	November 1, 2017, 2:42 am
I think mindFig is still exerting more control, but piXXel is finally grasping the tension in Fig's existence, so to speak. Her grip comes with her realization. And we see the night flower bloom! In this lighting it looks uncannily like XX's tail. It's always a little entrancing to hear irl XX speak in this kind of ambivalent way. Fig is there putting a lot of the fire behind her words, but so is pixel XX motivating her perspective on art and identity. I'm thinking back to when XX tells Smoothie she feels like she 'made' her own body, and further back to one of RedXX's hidden messages: "TWO VOICES/ONE WAY" And as for the biting, it doesn't seem right that piXXel would be the manifestation of XX's mauling sessions. Actually, we saw Fig leaping to the occasion when she mauled the VD! I first interpreted her thing for being bitten as the masochist side of Fig, the 'being hurt' side of the one who likes to hurt and be hurt. But it's sort of confusing here: it's clear enough, to me anyway, that XX is telling Smoothie to do this to protect him from the worst of her chompers, more than she's coaxing him to push her buttons a certain way.

11 .	by: Furrama	November 1, 2017, 1:32 am
Subtly manipulating a situation that you have no control over in order to slightly divert what could be extra tragic isn't what I'd call working together.

10 .	by:	November 1, 2017, 12:40 am
I don't think this is a bad thing tbh? XX grabbed Fig's arm, so they're working together.

9 .	by: Furrama	October 31, 2017, 11:56 pm
Oooh, maybe that was PiXXel's doing. She grabbed 'Fig's' arm. She just saved his face. Whiiiich is missing its scar again.

8 .	by: Furrama	October 31, 2017, 11:45 pm
I actually think he'll be okay? I don't think he's getting maimed, I think her turning around and him biting her from the back is going to save him. Don't let go indeed.

7 .	by: Kanya	October 31, 2017, 11:44 pm
Is PiXXEl becoming the maze? URL : http://Theroamingredwolf.deviantart.com/

6 .	by:	October 31, 2017, 11:30 pm
This page seems to really concretely tie her biting fetish to the conflict between PiXXel and estrus-Fig, as if she's playing out in real life the events that are occurring in her head. We've seen multiple times estrus-Fig physically pinning PiXXel to the floor, much like Fig is being pinned now. Maybe her horrible violence during sex is the real-life manifestation of PiXXel taking initiative and trying to free herself from her captor. ...then again, we've never seen PiXXel do anything but whine and cry in other scenes. Maybe estrus-Fig is just a sexual sadist.

5 .	by:	October 31, 2017, 11:16 pm
Also I wonder if, from this point on, Smoothie will be permanently colorless. Fig had her color stolen from her, now has she stolen his?

4 .	by: Witticaster	October 31, 2017, 11:14 pm
heyyyyy his flower bloomed! (if you know what I mean.) That is an absolutely gorgeous panel. Interesting that she looks for the shadow of his flower, where it isn't anymore. Here's hoping the next page isn't set in Stoat ICU.

3 .	by:	October 31, 2017, 11:14 pm
Jeez. It's frustrating to see that Fig gave in and let this happen. She had all the power to say no, but she didn't, and it feels like this can only be a negative turning point. You always think 'well it has to get worse before it gets better', but this story has been a depressing case of 'no, it only gets worse' (in a good way of course, writing-wise, but still nonetheless depressing). I know in the end Fig will overcome her sexual impulse, because it's clear that mind-Fig is painted as an antagonist of sorts, but it's certainly sad to see her point driven home again and again and again. Hopefully this is the catalyst to something more positive, but being a nofna reader you always set yourself up for some level of heartbreak haha. I just wonder how this will impact the course of the story from here.

2 .	by: Furrama	October 31, 2017, 11:04 pm
He turned monochrome too.

1 .	by:	October 31, 2017, 10:21 pm
Gorgeous last panel. Excellent page. While it might be them "giving in," it feels like there's been a bit of a breakthrough - optimism, yes, but I try clinging to that until the dust settles.