21-09-17 And you believed her

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/and- ... ieved-her/

[Azrael]

Welcome home, Lita.

[Spidrift]

I have squandered my resistance / For a pocketful of mumbles, / Such are promises / All lies and jest / Still, a man hears what he wants to hear / And disregards the rest.

Hint, Peggy; there's a whole selection of walls available, and you have the height advantage. If you bang Zii's head against a hard surface, repeatedly, you might jolt a synapse loose before DiDi stops pretending to be a human being and stops you. As you'll have noticed, it can't make her any dumber.

(They could all have a word with Kiley, of course. But I suspect that her response would be "Have you tried dropping DiDi in the Montreal River? I think it'd solve most problems. I mean, she'd be fine, she'd float very well, but she might drift a few miles downstream and get the hint.")

And Gary - nice start on the complaining. Now, you just need to start complaining audibly, and you might achieve something. (Though I suspect that Peggy will pick you up and check you over in a moment. She's got the righteous anger thing going nicely just now, but she'll remember your recent concussion soon enough.)

Good writing (and good art) on this strip, by the way; compressing a whole conversation's worth of home truths and evasions into three panels is harder than it looks. And I have no real idea how the bookend strip will be constructed, but my current best guess is Sonya going to recover her stuff from the rehearsal room and colliding with Izz there.

[OllieOrOlly]

Damn, love Peggy keeping up the reality checks! One of the reasons why she is one my consistently favourite characters - while she does get caught up in the haphazard schemes of her more eccentric friends, she does seem to be a reliable anchor when needed, and can hold her own against the most denial-y foe.
I enjoy the fact that Peggy is breaking apart Zii's increasingly feeble attempts to dodge responsibility for Sonya's breakdown.* Also, maybe not *enjoy* but do like that DiDi's conscience (as unreliable as it can be in the search for an O) is making her realise that, yes, she does share some blame for the situation; so, with Peggy dismantling Zii's annoying self-indulgence, and DiDi feeling guilty thereby won't be able to help Zii's excuses (but neither will she likely to turn against Zii... yet), this may force Gary into becoming a " deciding vote" of sorts.
Regardless of the oft spineless man, it appears as though Peggy will not relent, to the point where Zii will finally acknowledge what a selfish user she has been herself... however, Zii will probably flee again and gain another golden ticket somehow.
Still, interest is piqued.

It is good that Lita seems to be feeling better!
I think Gary's silent mewling is simply meant to be a joke, which is amusing; though, it could also very well be his characteristic of whining for the sake of it.


*Sonya is also responsible for her own current unhappiness, since she did choose to take a serious gamble, only for it to backfire arguably worse than any of her prior mishaps. Just wanted to clarify, even though both Zii and DiDi - especially the former - do hold significant fault for Sonya's sadness, she isn't exactly a saint either.

Good writing (and good art) on this strip, by the way; compressing a whole conversation's worth of home truths and evasions into three panels is harder than it looks. And I have no real idea how the bookend strip will be constructed, but my current best guess is Sonya going to recover her stuff from the rehearsal room and colliding with Izz there.

You beat me to the punch. ;)
Yeah, the art has been continuously excellent, and the writing (for me) has been picking up with Peggy.

If Sonya runs into Izz, wonder if the next volume/chapter will begin with what is a classic Ma3 trope of a morning after scene? Hopefully not. It could result in something relatively innocent, such as Sonya recruiting Izz and Yuki into a new band. Though, since it has been a while, the next volume may return to one of the wrestlers, even if their function has ostensibly been a protracted yet effective way to manoeuvre DiDi into hooking up with both of her roommates (awkward).

[DocMesa]

"Lita, are you okay?"

"Purrrrrrrr." <3

[Fluffy]

Awww...Lita is happy to see Gary.

[Spidrift]

If Sonya runs into Izz, wonder if the next volume/chapter will begin with what is a classic Ma3 trope of a morning after scene?

Unlikely straight away, I think. That'd really need a bit of setting up, in terms of the characterisation. Not only is Izz a Zii fangirl, she appears also to be a virgin, making a first time with Sonya quite an emotional jump. It could all be explained in flashback, but it'd need a heck of a lot of flashback.

Anyhow, a relationship between Sonya and Izz would be about as toxic as this comic gets; Sonya would be using Izz as a blatant Zii substitute, and Izz would be using her first sexual relationship as part of her screwed-up quest to become Zii. Which isn't to say it's impossible, but it'd be quite messed up. On t'other hand, if there's one character in the comic who really needs a boyfriend or girlfriend, it's Izz - she needs to get her head out of the emotional echo chamber of her Zii-fixation. I'm kind of wondering what her end state will be if we are just hitting the final volume.

But we digress...

[Bat-dork]

I thought Lita hated everybody! Looks like having Sonya boo-hoo at you for a whole night can do wonders for your feline apathy.

[Alice Macher]

Zii does have a point. Sonya did confirm it was a casual relationship.

But no, it's easier to hate on Zii and wish for her head to be repeatedly knocked against a wall, because everything she's ever done in the comic is wrong and she isn't entitled to her feelings; only manipulative, double-talking, animal-abusing Sonya is.

[Gil Hamilton]

"Lita, mind getting off my allergy full face?"

"No, this is where I live now."

[uzivatel]

Zii does have a point. Sonya did confirm it was a casual relationship.

While I dont have first-hand experience with such arrangement, I do believe even in casual relationships it is common courtesy not to sleep with other people at your partners place ... especially if they asked you not to and you agreed.

And Gary - nice start on the complaining. Now, you just need to start complaining audibly, and you might achieve something.

Despite his sarcasm, he seems to be smiling.

[Spidrift]

I thought Lita hated everybody! Looks like having Sonya boo-hoo at you for a whole night can do wonders for your feline apathy.

Gary's face is warm and soft. Therefore, it's a cat bed. That's nothing to do with liking Gary.

Zii does have a point. Sonya did confirm it was a casual relationship.

While I dont have first-hand experience with such arrangement, I do believe even in casual relationships it is common courtesy not to sleep with other people at your partners place ... especially if they asked you not to and you agreed.

Not just agreed; promised. And anyhow, as Peggy is saying, if Zii actually took what Sonya said there at face value, Zii is too stupid to live -- especially given the speech from Sonya that brought Zii back to her bed this time round.

And even if Zii wants to play the Exact-Words card, she shouldn't be too surprised by Sonya then exerting her right to move on. Even if that does leave her down one bass player.

And Gary - nice start on the complaining. Now, you just need to start complaining audibly, and you might achieve something.

Despite his sarcasm, he seems to be smiling.

Stockholm Syndrome. Or a wince.

[Linnah]

I think the whole 'dilemma' (if we could call it that) is that Zii knew deep down that Sonya was obsessed, but she was quite desperate for sex too, so she blisfully (and perhaps desperately but most definitely selfishly) clinged towards that false truth that Sonya was being honest and legit about the fwb-ship.

Sonya was definitely an enabler, but anyone with half a brain (which, I suppose, is a surprisingly rare sight in the ma3-verse) would've realized after the first 20 seconds that she was just using the Friends with Benefits Façade to try becoming Zii's full fledged girlfriend. Zii probably has more than half a brain, but she chose to act stupid and feign obliviousness to the truth in order to scratch that itch.

While I do think that Zii is entirely in the wrong and is am more than glad that she's being served some well deserved retribution for her jerkass-ness, it's slightly saddening.
She was very similar like DiDi with this aspect, because her horniness was taking over her head. Being 'dumped' by your sexy roomate, followed by said sexy roomate and another awkwardly-possible-roomate-sex-interest (that being Gary) banging loudly afterwards left her in a desperate-for-relief state. I guess the biggest different is that DiDi is at least a tiny bit more redeemable in this aspect, since not everyone can give her l'orgasmes. Zii, meanwhile, is also attractive-ish and can probably score with tons of people, yet unlike DiDi, I'm pretty sure anyone would be able to satisfy her.

I guess in the end Zii chose the most comfortable, least effort approach since Sonya was serving herself in a silver platter and she was craving for some flesh. She was tempted, and decided to shut down any sort of prudence a normal person might have when considering the consequences of feeding a hopeless cause.

But alas, if only she used Tinder. ♪

[uzivatel]

Stockholm Syndrome. Or a wince.

He probably enjoys the reunion with Lita.

[Spidrift]

She was very similar like DiDi with this aspect, because her horniness was taking over her head. Being 'dumped' by your sexy roomate, followed by said sexy roomate and another awkwardly-possible-roomate-sex-interest (that being Gary) banging loudly afterwards left her in a desperate-for-relief state. I guess the biggest different is that DiDi is at least a tiny bit more redeemable in this aspect, since not everyone can give her l'orgasmes. Zii, meanwhile, is also attractive-ish and can probably score with tons of people, yet unlike DiDi, I'm pretty sure anyone would be able to satisfy her.

I guess in the end Zii chose the most comfortable, least effort approach since Sonya was serving herself in a silver platter and she was craving for some flesh. She was tempted, and decided to shut down any sort of prudence a normal person might have when considering the consequences of feeding a hopeless cause.

It's always been clear that Zii finds Sonya very physically attractive (and quite right too, thank you Giz), given how easily Sonya has repeatedly seduced her against her better judgement, so her going for Sonya rather than a random hook-up was hardly surprising - especially after Sonya's impassioned "witholding bitch" speech - if not very wise.

You can say that this level of stupidity and self-deception is more surprising from Zii than from DiDi, given that Zii has usually shown some low cunning, whereas DiDi has always been dumb as a rock - but the word for DiDi is "predictable", not "redeemable". Zii may yet just about redeem herself, if and when her brain takes over from her ovaries. DiDi, on the other hand, has always been stupid and will surely always be stupid (unless someone extracts a pencil that's lodged in her sinus cavity or something), which makes it hard for me to imagine her being truly redeemed. Because she'll never get better.

Stockholm Syndrome. Or a wince.

He probably enjoys the reunion with Lita.

Like I said, Stockholm Syndrome.