06-06-17 That never happened

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/that-never-happened/

[Passing Through]

Don't worry, they won't.

['J']

Yes know Peggy, if you don't want to sleep on the couch, you could always go get an air mattress or a camping mat or something like that.

[OllieOrOlly]

Hxxlllfllergggsh.... Ahem. Hahahha! Oh, Peggy. Since it is her bed, perhaps she is staying there out of principle and/or she is too weary from her night shift to set up a different sleeping arrangement?

EDIT: Sonya sure is a pathological liar. But, guess we already knew that? Still though, she has been obsessed with establishing a relationship with Zii, yet she is willing to build the relationship on a foundation of lies? Izz better be planning something maniacal, otherwise Sonya is essentially one of, if not the, main antagonists of this series.

[Spidrift]

Well, that's a genuinely sexy first three panels...

Yes know Peggy, if you don't want to sleep on the couch, you could always go get an air mattress or a camping mat or something like that.

Those two started on the couch, then presumably moved to the bed - by which time they must have been too preoccupied to notice that it was already occupied.

Oh, Peggy. Since it is her bed, perhaps she is staying there out of principle and/or she is too weary from her night shift to set up a different sleeping arrangement?

Technically, it's Sonya's bed. But she gave Peggy use of it after Peggy's muffin masterplan went off, and presumably hasn't reclaimed it yet.

Sonya sure is a pathological liar.

I don't see her as a liar, exactly. She's habitually self-deluding, and she hasn't got over an early hang-up about conventional respectability and "normality" that now makes her seem weird. (Forchrissakes woman, you're a bisexual rock musician with a killer bod that you've weaponised to WMD levels, a talent for making your own soap, and a clutch of good friends who love you for what you are! That's cool! Roll with it!) But she rarely actively deceives other people; she's too good at getting what she wants by being herself.

[worldshaking00]

Very correct on the "self-deluding". Remember: "she's not a lesbian."

I wouldn't label Sonya as villainous, with the one serious exception of staging Zii's break-up with her boyfriend-at-the-time Eric. She certainly offers Zii an alternative to Didi or Gary, or anyone else in the Ma3 world it would seem. She is selfish and an attention-whore, and relies on drama to fill her life with excitement. But she also brought into her house a relative stranger, to live comfortably for an undetermined amount of time. I'm sure Peggy's paychecks don't bounce, but still.

Side note: missed you Peggy!

Final thought: Peggy should be able to get her own flat on a nurse's salary if a waitress (Sonya) and a student (Kiley) have their own. I mean, unless she has racked up some serious student loan debt or adult toy bills, or the others just happened into some money/property early on pre-strip. She's got two strapping young men to help her move any furniture she might have (in storage?) and at least one friend who could help with interior decor advice (her nurse friend). And sleeping & working only should give her plenty of ability to save up. Take a week or two of vacation and 'move on up to the east side.' Think of the moving-in party and the house warming gifts. Comedy versus character development, I guess.

[brasca]

Yes know Peggy, if you don't want to sleep on the couch, you could always go get an air mattress or a camping mat or something like that.

Or wait for Gary to call since he and Didi will need someone to replace Zii's share of the rent.

[lordoffiling]

Of course we have to allow for comedy being more important than sense here, but...

If we look at this from a sense standpoint, it seems relatively clear that Peggy has latched onto Sonya on some level. She's had plenty of time to find her own place, or at minimum her own bed, to say nothing of the fact that she kinda shoved her way into Sonya's apartment in the first place when she barely knew her and probably didn't need to anyway.

I don't think she 'wants' Sonya, exactly. I think she's just attracted to her crazy life, and letting it inject a little crazy into hers. Y'know, going from a boring life in a boring relationship to lesbian orgies and cosplay-pegging geeks and underwear models, that kind of thing.

Or, I'm overthinking this and Peggy's putting up with Sonya's crap because comedy.

[Spidrift]

Very correct on the "self-deluding". Remember: "she's not a lesbian."

Yeah, yeah. Personally, I got bored of that joke on the third or fourth repetition; nowadays, it doesn't make her look self-deluding so much as too stupid to live. But I know that some fans do like their familiar little repeated catchphrases.

I wouldn't label Sonya as villainous, with the one serious exception of staging Zii's break-up with her boyfriend-at-the-time Eric. She certainly offers Zii an alternative to Didi or Gary, or anyone else in the Ma3 world it would seem. She is selfish and an attention-whore, and relies on drama to fill her life with excitement. But she also brought into her house a relative stranger, to live comfortably for an undetermined amount of time. I'm sure Peggy's paychecks don't bounce, but still.

I've never been able to see Sonya as evil, even at her relationship-wrecking moral nadir. She's... just an excitable girl. She does love her drama, and her feelings for Zii are certainly passionate, if probably based more on lust and less on love than she wants to admit. She's got a big heart; it just beats far faster than it should. She'd be fun to know, if you could keep her at a safe distance.

Peggy should be able to get her own flat on a nurse's salary if a waitress (Sonya) and a student (Kiley) have their own. I mean, unless she has racked up some serious student loan debt or adult toy bills, or the others just happened into some money/property early on pre-strip. She's got two strapping young men to help her move any furniture she might have (in storage?) and at least one friend who could help with interior decor advice (her nurse friend). And sleeping & working only should give her plenty of ability to save up. Take a week or two of vacation and 'move on up to the east side.' Think of the moving-in party and the house warming gifts. Comedy versus character development, I guess.

It'd be a good storyline, though evidently not as good as keeping her in Sonya's place. But anyway, it's not clear how long she's meant to have been staying with Sonya; time in Ma3 is notoriously wobbly, but it may not have been very long -- and she clearly works long hours, so it's not impossible that she simply hasn't had time to go apartment-hunting properly yet. She was previously living with her boyfriend, so she may have trouble getting references if she needs them, too. And it's not like nurses are famously overpaid.

Yes know Peggy, if you don't want to sleep on the couch, you could always go get an air mattress or a camping mat or something like that.

Or wait for Gary to call since he and Didi will need someone to replace Zii's share of the rent.

Does anybody seriously believe that Zii is moving out of the apartment permanently? That's just not how these things work in this sort of narrative. It just isn't.

If we look at this from a sense standpoint, it seems relatively clear that Peggy has latched onto Sonya on some level. She's had plenty of time to find her own place, or at minimum her own bed, to say nothing of the fact that she kinda shoved her way into Sonya's apartment in the first place when she barely knew her and probably didn't need to anyway.

I don't think she 'wants' Sonya, exactly. I think she's just attracted to her crazy life, and letting it inject a little crazy into hers. Y'know, going from a boring life in a boring relationship to lesbian orgies and cosplay-pegging geeks and underwear models, that kind of thing.

Or, I'm overthinking this and Peggy's putting up with Sonya's crap because comedy.

Peggy has said explicitly that she sees Sonya as someone to whom exciting stuff just happens, and also at other times that she needs stress relief after a week of high-stress medical work. And it was pretty clear that her fundamental problem with her old boyfriend was just plain boredom. (Funnily enough, something similar applies to Sonya.) So yeah, I doubt that Peggy really wants to rush away; her view of the rest of the cast must be very similar to the readers' -- they're a bunch of sexy, crazy, fun people.

And on Sonya's side -- if Peggy is paying a bit of the rent, or at least helping cover the bills, helping with the housework and cooking, and lending Sonya a sympathetic ear and talking her out of her most insane schemes, Sonya may not be dropping too many hints about Peggy moving out yet. Peggy may have become a necessary point of calm in Sonya's life as well as a great baker.

Still, as I've said before, one of my fanboyish preferred end-games for these stories would include Peggy and Ruby, the two polite moochers, moving into an apartment together. Peggy is exactly the big sister figure that Ruby needs to replace the defective unit she's got, and Ruby is the kind of neat freak who'd keep the place as neat and tidy as a nurse would want. I can just imagine them hanging out on the sofa on a Saturday night, watching an old movie on the TV, sharing that-crazy-Zii stories, and discussing the care and feeding of stress-relieving boyfriends.

[samtheman]

It's nice to see the comic return to it's roots of sex comedy that leads or will lead to a hilarious disaster. I'm now betting Kiley will go to Matt's looking to have make-up sex with him only to walk in on Matt and Yuki going at it. Matt then somehow turns it into a threesome and then all will be right in the world of Menage a 3 again.

[Boomer_Gonzales]

Question: What's Zii gonna do when she finds out that Gary sees Peggy from tinme to time for a good and proper prostate pounding?

[Spidrift]

Blink?

One thing to be said for most of these characters is that they aren't prone to much sexual jealousy. They aren't that hypocritical.

[worldshaking00]

I agree with Spidrift there, although there'd probably be a hair *sproing* too. But depending on Zii's courage (liquidly imbibed or not) she might just ask if she could have this dance (with Gary), if you know what I mean. Personally I am hoping that Peggy helps to mediate with Gary & Zii. Peggy is one of the few women in Gary's life who knows exactly what he is looking for and what pleases him. She in comfortable with her sex/love life, and doesn't appear jealous of other women where Gary is concerned. In fact, Peggy probably wouldn't mind being in on a three-way date with Gary & Zii, for his sake if not hers.

Zii is not yet ready for a permanent relationship yet. She's still too wild (or at least self-identifies as such), although it is possible that her time with (and pangs over) Eric combined with her confused feelings toward Gary might be helping to mature her in that manner.

And as far as sexual jealousy, apart from DIllon/Matt & Kiley/Matt cohabitating, there haven't been a lot of 'steady' relationships. Or put another way: the sexual relationships tend to be either non-committal or are non-exclusive, with few exceptions.

[WizzarTheRed]

Hi! That's not creepy...

[Opus the Poet]

So, nobody noticed that Sonya's dialog didn't match the action in the art?