NofNA, "Syconium" page #217

Syconium
217

November 6th, 2017

42 .	by: Witticaster	November 9, 2017, 7:55 pm
All good points, one thing I didn't think of, too, is that even if he did just lap up a little, it probably doesn't take much at all to inebriate 1) a banana sized carnivore, and 2) someone inexperienced with booze as he is implied to be.

41 .	by: K (#2?)	November 9, 2017, 6:42 pm
And the title for this page is "Hangover".

40 .	by: Furrama	November 9, 2017, 6:39 pm
Some subtleties in his actions and lines on 211 indicate that he was at least a little fuzzy. He's a rather reserved person normally, and he stutters and is rather emotional after that. The "That's your job. I mean. Wait," line is suspect at least. (Fig did ask him to have some with her after the tongue lap so I assume he had a bowl.) @37 Fig could have literally made her body. "Fig" has teeth that can scar into reality, and it has been remarked on by (S)XY that her tail is so big that it's likened to a parasite. It's easy to forget that this more personal story still has psychic kung fu animals in them. And this "Fig" within Fig seems pretty darn strong when it comes to influencing the physical realm. (Though even PiXXel made a hatch blush needle that didn't fade, so don't count her out either.) So, in conclusion, I think Fig is like, Jean Grey or something.

39 .	by: K (#2?)	November 9, 2017, 6:38 pm
I think it's fair to assume that Smoothie did share the drink with her since she kind of brushed off his comment about starting the lesson, and the fact he kind of sounded drunk afterwards. Or at least sort of addled, in a way that isn't consistent with the other times he's been 'wow she's hot'. He's usually pretty eloquent, but at that point he was all 'lol ur tails big'. That, and the head grab on this page has been consistent with Fig's hungover behaviour the page before, and previously with her and Green's friend.

38 .	by: Witticaster	November 9, 2017, 2:58 pm
35 and 37, those were both amazing comments. And 35, I noticed the same thing re: Smoothie "being drunk", but figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

37 .	by:	November 9, 2017, 1:52 pm
My thoughts on color are the same as #13/35, that it's tied to personal identity and validation. Following that, it makes sense that the ''virtuous'' side of Fig still had all of her color (something society has never attacked the idea of, something society has only validated through its prejudices, something her mother impressed on her), and 'Fig' started out as colorless. 'Fig' had to find 'color' for herself, from herself. Fig had to 'build' the idea that 'sex is valid, my sexuality identity is my power' by 'stealing' 'color' from the 'virtuous' identity (that whole sequence of her turning XX into a gray nondescript form). Which makes sense to me-- society's ideas of sex being disgusting and primal are the same ideas that give it the 'power' it has in society. Only by that system of value does it move on from being simply a social act individuals can share, to something dangerous and worth being eschewed out of society for. Only by using that same ugly logic can sex maintain this idea of being a destructive force. Sex is a neutral agent. I really feel social ideas are the forces at work dismantling identity. I don't feel sex is directly responsible for anything unfortunate in this story. Though it is frustrating to read at times due to how loudly and convincingly it makes the same arguments our society does. Fig says she feels as if she "made" her body. She did... she defined for herself what it means to be a sexual being, how to take power and pride in it for herself, in a society that doesn't want to believe sex can be a part of 'identity' ('identity' may be seen as an 'evolved' concept, maybe in this world could be called a 'human' concept; so a 'sexual identity' may be a bit of an oxymoron to this society's prejudices). Her friend did not lose his color due to sex, but because he had hinged his entire pride of self on the idea of his thesis, and being sexless. He associated it with strength. XX had hinged her pride of self on her daring art thesis that tried to combine abstraction, sexuality, and art into one. Which was rejected. They are simply now in the same boat of having had their ideas of what is important to them pulled out from under them, unable to fully redefine themselves after their rejections/loss.

36 .	by:	November 9, 2017, 1:37 pm
This is kind of hard to visually read? Fig definitely doesn't look happy when she goes to grab his hand and is lifting it from herself at least because of the kind of grasp she's using, if not doing so on purpose, but from there it's kind of fuzzy what is happening.

35 .	by:	November 9, 2017, 1:23 pm
@13 Yeah, that's how I see it too. Loss of color seems to be about a broken down sense of self and deep seeded loss of faith in personal convictions/drives vs. having anything to do with sex itself, otherwise a lot more of the characters we've seen throughout would be colorless. XX/Fig's own loss of color happens following moments of conflict or judgement from others about her studies and art, and seems connected to moments of loss of conviction and feeling morose. She manages to get that color and positive conviction back during a moment of reflection that seems to lead her to the sexually charged thesis work she settles on, but we see her in color for the last time the moment before the crowd rejects her work, literally losing her color on the panel following the one with their negative reactions. It would follow that Smoothie caving to and admitting something in direct conflict with the values he's put his self worth and world view almost wholly into would have the same effect. ----- As an aside, I keep noticing people refer to Smoothie as hungover or as though he was drunk with XX/Fig, so I thought it would be a good time to point out that we never see him drink any of what XX/Fig does beside a single small lap to taste it. XX/Fig apparently gives him a portion, but the only panel we see of him with it is of him side-eyeing it disapprovingly, but he's never shown to drink it in any of the panels that follow. Near as I can tell he was admitting his affections and caving to them in earnest.

34 .	by: bluefan	November 9, 2017, 8:17 am
every time I come back to check new comments, I feel a pang of sadness for all-white Smoothie... It's so heartbreaking to see him completely deprived of color... RG will never understand, with his stupid birdish colourfullness! ...was that racist? :P

33 .	by:	November 9, 2017, 1:34 am
And, like, she's very obviously shocked (panel 2) when he jerks his hands away. I don't think she was trying to get him to let go of her given that reaction and also because she grabs his paw in the third panel.

32 .	by:	November 9, 2017, 1:31 am
Y'all, I think she goes to touch his paws while he spoons her. On the previous page, her paws aren't close to his. On this page, you can tell they're touching in the first panel. Fig wakes up, is like "oh shit! ohhh shit he's wrapped his arms around me...", then she settles her hands on top of his and I suppose this wakes up Smoothie and he freaks and pulls away from her.

31 .	by:	November 8, 2017, 5:28 pm
ah yeah... smoothie just lost the bet with that other guy from the beginning.

30 .	by:	November 8, 2017, 8:33 am
Scruffy more of a dick than first thought, more at 11

29 .	by:	November 8, 2017, 12:25 am
Yeah, I think it's pretty important to remember the "whats in this?" title from a lil' bit back... It's not necessarily him just "being unable to hold up to his own thesis" on the basis of his own strength of will or what have you, but potentially they both had their minds addled more than usual by something that may not have "just" been alcohol. Which, if so, neither of them /know/ that and the perception of their regret and shame being self-directed as a personal failure is pretty tragic in its own right. It's a pretty awful situation if that's an accurate read.

28 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 11:13 pm
Yes, he did transition, but very fast. Sorry, I should have been clearer. You can see it start happening in his eyes when he answered "Yes" to her "Do you want me?" question. You can also see the gray actively seeping out of his muzzle when he bites her.

27 .	by: Witticaster	November 7, 2017, 8:43 pm
HEY ZACK YOU FORGOT SMOOTHIE'S SC- just kidding they're all there. laughing real hard at RG's smooth exit. Not much more to say about this page except I'm glad he doesn't appear to be bleeding. Also, lovely hands on this page. Furrama, I think his gray transitory period was on page 215.

26 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 7:20 pm
It's a little funny when you remember that they're both probably covered in blue pigment right now. To go with the crinkled whiskers.

25 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 5:56 pm
To me it looks like Fig took advantage of Smoothie while they were drunk and now she doesn't understand why he's too ashamed to look at her. It was supposed to be a victory, but when it actually happened it just hurt someone she cares about. It'll be interesting to see how she deals with it!!

24 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 5:45 pm
RG is so cute rn

23 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 5:44 pm
Panel 4 could do with a slight suggestion speed lines on Smoothie's hands. But to each artist's their own.

22 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 4:32 pm
I don't think there's been enough time, I think he went from "ZzzzzZZzz" to "WHAT WHO HOW HUH?" to "OoooooooooOOoh no. Ow. Crap." in the span of a few seconds. Next page will be key.

21 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 3:02 pm
I get what's visually happening now. Thanks y'all for the clarification. Smoothie implied Fig might be the one to push him away in the morning and he'd be heartbroken, but ultimately, it was the opposite. IMO his thesis doesn't matter if he's got someone who loves him. Balance is great, would have been nice if they could work on both as a couple. They could be powerful. I wish he would have reassured her in some sense when he woke up, instead of this, even if just to confess it was a mistake. Imagine trusting someone's word so hopefully, and all of it being dashed in the morning. Wouldn't you feel like you stole from them? Wouldn't you feel corruptive?

20 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 2:43 pm
I forgot to note, (S)XY went straight from color to white, he didn't have a middle gray period like XX or Açaí. He went down all at once. Devastating.

19 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 2:25 pm
Started? Startled. Sorry.

18 .	by: Furrama	November 7, 2017, 1:13 pm
@13 @Nobody - Yup. He woke up started, hungover, and realized what happened. His art has been rendered worthless.

17 .	by: Nobody	November 7, 2017, 12:54 pm
smoothie tries to lurch away in panel one (see: motion lines). fig reacts to the sudden jerk (panel 2) and catches his hands and holds them with hers in panel three (you can see her black pawpads, his aren't dark like hers). panel 4, smoothie yanks away again from her holding his hands (see his light colored paw pads). this is supported by the fact that if fig had been the one to move away, he would have still been covered by his cloak, but he pulled away from her so hard that he fell off the side of his elevated bed. in panel 10, he's looking the opposite way of fig, out the window behind him. panel 11 is a shot of what's outside. you can see the same window in the last panel of page 147, where you can also see the flowy cloth canvas that's visible on this page to the right of the window (viewer's left). in panel 12, fig got up while smoothie was looking away, i'm guessing she was going to approach him or say something before RG popped in.

16 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 12:29 pm
I don't think Smoothie left, I think she left - he palms his face in panels 8/9, then has removed his hand in panel 10 only to realize she's gone? The back of that stoat's head doesn't match with what hers would look like from behind.

15 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 11:09 am
I believe it's that he's jerking his hands away in the first panel, in the second Fig grabs his hand trying to stop him, but he pulls his hands out of Fig's and backs off the bed after the third.

14 .	by: Ohlawd	November 7, 2017, 10:59 am
#9 I THINK.. it looks like on waking up, he's startled. The lines imply he yanks his hands away quickly, then the next panel he calms and takes in where he is, then the next he ultimately chooses to back away and try to slip off unnoticed but Fig sees him. I assume he's holding his face because of a rad hangover headache while he's trying to think? But then shame as everything sinks in. and then he leaves which is sort of a dick move

13 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 10:33 am
I don't think it's just 'sleeping with a sex worker' so now he's just 'corrupted' or something, I think it's a bit deeper than that. Smoothie's speeches have shown that he basically dedicated himself to this study, to feeling like he could be above his body's drives and instincts. All he stood for, he essentially just threw away, because he proved his own major point wrong. It's similar to how Fig's color was stolen when all the she'd worked for all her youth fell out from under her when she was rejected as an artist and nobody understood abstraction. Smoothie's beliefs are now bust, because he couldn't hold to his own word that he was in control of his body. Similar to Fig, I'm sure it calls for a lot of reevaluating what he stands for and doubt in his work and if it's even credible or worth pursuing any longer. Whether you agreed with his points or not, this was his thesis topic and now they're all pretty moot, or else he stands as a bit of a hypocrite. He pretty much trashed his own thesis in this moment. Could be reading too much into it, but it's how I interpret it.

12 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 8:28 am
Oooh, and he's seeing her and the rest of the world in black and white now??

11 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 8:04 am
Was it sleeping with a sex worker that "stole his color"?

10 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 5:58 am
(oh wait... at first i thought Fig was trying to move his hands to get away from that hug, but it's actually the other way around. he let go of her hoping she won't notice... but she did. hence the facepalm)

9 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 5:47 am
i... dont understand what is happening in this page

8 .	by:	November 7, 2017, 12:34 am
And XY is still flat white. Whoops.

7 .	by: Furrama	November 6, 2017, 10:40 pm
RG was so excited that his favorite ship had a relationship status update.

6 .	by:	November 6, 2017, 10:38 pm
Honestly I'm glad to see that Fig is at least not happy about this. She's come a long way from trying her absolute hardest to seduce Smoothie, and now that she has her way, feeling like absolute crap about it. It's hopeful progress at least, but I hope this isn't so damaging to their relationship that it's irreparable. I still think, for his flaws, Smoothie has so far been a positive influence on her current circumstances considering before now she was willing to throw her life as an artist away to destroy herself in the brothel.

5 .	by: Juna	November 6, 2017, 10:07 pm
The transition from the third to four panel is a little odd, but intriguing. It looks like XX started moving Smoothie's hands, then Smoothie drew them back. But then it looks like he shrunk away from her pretty quick, judging from their distance. The ninth panel of Smoothie, the grove of trees in the tenth, and concerned XX make for a silent but weighty exchange. Then there's RG peeping in, haha. (rolls eyes in bird)

4 .	by:	November 6, 2017, 10:00 pm
Oooh, wrong reaction Smoothie. She may have distanced herself, but she was watching you. I love that her death glare can push small birds. inb4 rapid mood shift and switch to superhero genre.... right?

3 .	by: Mutt	November 6, 2017, 9:31 pm
Also can we have a counter of how many times X has woken up like this plz

2 .	by: Mutt	November 6, 2017, 9:29 pm
I like how you manage to blend subtle human features into their designs, particularly their hands. So expressive. This reminds me of XX's first fling with the guy that slept in their apartment.

1 .	by: Dani	November 6, 2017, 9:15 pm
God bless poor RG, I forgot he went with them! And poor Smoothie. How will this play out...