21-09-17 And you believed her

[rogermart]

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

I don't have the time (or patience) to look through the archives, but Lita has consistently shown that she likes Gary very much and hates everyone else. Well, ok, I'll assume she likes Zii as well, but there's more evidence showing Lita hanging with cat-allergied Gary.

I do... here are some:

[worldshaking00]

IIRC, Lita has been sleeping in Gary's room for quite some time. Early strips had Zii remark that Lita seemed to get along with him, which was rare since 'the little bitch' didn't like anyone but her. I have always assumed it was an allegory, since pets oftentimes take after their owner's behaviors (and vice versa), that Zii would (ultimately) enjoy sleeping with Gary. Could be a misdirect too, as the early Gary-allergy jokes were helped along by Lita being forced onto Gary.

Not gonna beat a dead horse here, but Zii is realizing her using Sonya is going to have consequences. The more I see how she is reacting, the more conceited she seems. With such an ego, I suppose it is possible (but still highly dubious) that she did not know exactly how deep Sonya's emotions went toward her. If Zii was fine with so much casual sex, why shouldn't others think like her? I still don't buy her 'love for Didi' yet, just like I don't buy it from Didi. Undeniably Zii is happy to get to shag with Didi; playing with her other baggage.. well, is for next volume.

If Sonya is quitting the band, I see no reason for her to try to steal away the others to form her own band... other than for spite. Some would argue that doing such is reason enough. I think that Sonya is done with Zii's interests, for the most part, at least as long as Didi is around. I honestly don't know what to expect from Sonya, or if this is the beginning of her Ma3-exit. I hope it isn't; but at this point, I really don't see much more benefit in having the Sonya/Zii plot go on... especially with only 1 more complete volume left. Unless Zii is wanting to apologize to her. There's a lot of plot threads to still weave. Maybe Sonya can find another character to latch onto, after learning her lesson with selfish-ZIi. Maybe she'll look for a more permanent/less casual relationship once Zii's sting goes away.

For the final strip, maybe it will have Sonya kissing her guitar... or maybe Sonya will gift it to Izzy and Izzy will be kissing her new guitar. Doesn't seem to have the same sexiness/comedy as the opening strip but meh.

[Vitocap]

It actually occurred to me that maybe the key for Gary to start being more assertive is to find a girl/cause that he really WANTS. So far, with all the girls he's gotten involved with; he likes them, he's attracted to them, but we haven't seen nearly the same kind of fixation that other characters have exhibited at one point or another. He needs to find a girl or project that he's crazy about!

Ophelia... that girl is Zii.

Poor Gary. Every bad thing that can happen to someone must happen to him. It's in his contract, I guess.

Ah well. On a more positive note: Lita's in Her heaven — all's right with the world!

[Spidrift]

Could be a misdirect too, as the early Gary-allergy jokes were helped along by Lita being forced onto Gary.

Has Gary's cat allergy even been mentioned since Lita's first ever appearance? It may have been, but I honestly don't recall it coming up. In any case, it's clearly a very mild allergy at worst, easily controlled by his meds; we don't see him sneezing or with streaming eyes. I'm inclined to put that specific subject down as early-installment weirdness.

With such an ego, I suppose it is possible (but still highly dubious) that she did not know exactly how deep Sonya's emotions went toward her.

She absolutely knew that Sonya was dangerously fixated on her; she spent a lot of strips dodging Sonya, sometimes with serious difficulty. I suppose that she may have thought of Sonya as a worryingly clingy stalker but with purely shallow motivations, but really, that'd be silly logic-chopping in itself.

I honestly don't know what to expect from Sonya, or if this is the beginning of her Ma3-exit. I hope it isn't; but at this point, I really don't see much more benefit in having the Sonya/Zii plot go on... especially with only 1 more complete volume left.

They don't have to get back together, but if Zii can accept that she fucked up, the ensuing problems are her own fault, and it's down to her to resolve them, then that's crucial character development for Zii; and if Sonya can get over Zii and realise that it was her new, wilder life that she loved, and not the woman who introduced her to it, that would be essential character development for Sonya (who's a major character now). So it's not the Sonya/Zii relationship that has to go on, but its aftermath.

Maybe Sonya can find another character to latch onto, after learning her lesson with selfish-ZIi. Maybe she'll look for a more permanent/less casual relationship once Zii's sting goes away.

I've said it before; a new relationship (which would have to come from right out of the blue) is NOT the optimum resolution for Sonya. Becoming her own woman, no longer defining herself by her relationships with other people, would be the culmination of Sonya's character development. And if that leaves her breaking the hearts of every cute rock fan in Montreal... Well, the point with Sonya was always that she learned so much from Zii.

[uzivatel]

And this strip just confirms that, on some level, she KNEW that Sonya was giving BS about the whole "casual sex" thing.

http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/Too_Gary

Of course she knew...

['J']

obviously, what zii's done here is not very nice, but i can't really feel too bad for sonya in this situation. whether zii admitted it to herself or not, she was basically just going along with the pretense that sonya was offering.

"You kept saying we weren't serious."
"Yeah, but I didn't mean it!"
"Well then you shouldn't have kept saying it."

if you're dealing with someone in bad faith, you don't get to be mad when they call your bluff. sonya tried to seduce zii with a zany scheme, and zii went along sonya's zany scheme for as long as it was convenient. now that it's blown up in both of their faces, they are both responsible for the damage.

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.

of course, he's got a face full of warm pussy. that's basically his thing these days.

[christopheftw]

This is a great strip! I love how so much is going on and yet you see the quintessential natures of Peggy, Zii, Gary, Didi, Sonya and Lita so clearly.

[JoybuzzerX]

Oh. So Zii's not a user, she's just stupid?

[Fluffy]

obviously, what zii's done here is not very nice, but i can't really feel too bad for sonya in this situation. whether zii admitted it to herself or not, she was basically just going along with the pretense that sonya was offering.

"You kept saying we weren't serious."
"Yeah, but I didn't mean it!"
"Well then you shouldn't have kept saying it."

Given Sonya's previous behavior, Zii knows full well that Sonya is crazy about her (look how many times Sonya tried to seduce Zii - first when Zii was trying to hook her up with Gary, then away from Zii's boyfriend before finally succeeding, as a prime example of this obsession). Zii, in all honesty, can't pretend she was unaware that Sonya was obsessed with her. Sonya's 'we'll be friends with benefits/no commitments' is just Zii's weak excuse to explain away using Sonya for selfish reasons.

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.

Yeah, no - I lost any kind of sympathy for Didi when she brushed off Sonya's concern over her intentions for meeting with Zii in the first place, blowing Sonya off when they made to leave the apartment after she and Zii spent the afternoon having sexy times, then having the audacity to disregard Sonya's pain after Zii thought about consoling her after her (sonya) attempt to prove Didi was only after Zii for physical relief backfired.

Didi only seems to show concern for another person's emotions when it beneficial to her - which makes her particularly deplorable.

[Error of Logic]

Oh. So Zii's not a user, she's just stupid?

Hey now, don't pidgeonhole her!
.... She can do both.

[Varanus]

The important thing is that Lita is happy.

[cheshire86]

Is that the first time we've seen Lita purring? I can't remember any prior to this; friendly at times (mainly to Gary), but I don't remember any purring + little heart. ;)

[Linnah]

Yeah, no - I lost any kind of sympathy for Didi when she brushed off Sonya's concern over her intentions for meeting with Zii in the first place, blowing Sonya off when they made to leave the apartment after she and Zii spent the afternoon having sexy times, then having the audacity to disregard Sonya's pain after Zii thought about consoling her after her (sonya) attempt to prove Didi was only after Zii for physical relief backfired.

Didi only seems to show concern for another person's emotions when it beneficial to her - which makes her particularly deplorable.

Oh no, I completely agree with you. My point was mostly saying that DiDi couldn't go out and have sex with anybody and expect her to be satisfied, while for Zii, just about anyone would work. I think DiDi is just about as rotten.

Speaking of which, it actually kind of surprised me she's saying that it was all her fault in this strip? Considering her brain's excellent ability of not giving a fuck to anything even slightly consequential, I'm surprised she's not saying something like "Oh what a beautiful sunny day to be en l'amour!" and promptly ignoring Sonya's existence once again instead of finally admitting it is all her fault.

[Spidrift]

Oh. So Zii's not a user, she's just stupid?

She's self-deluding, not stupid. Though those two can be very difficult to tell apart.

Speaking of which, it actually kind of surprised me she's saying that it was all her fault in this strip? Considering her brain's excellent ability of not giving a fuck to anything even slightly consequential, I'm surprised she's not saying something like "Oh what a beautiful sunny day to be en l'amour!" and promptly ignoring Sonya's existence once again instead of finally admitting it is all her fault.

Well, to begin with, notice that even this makes the problem all about her. Even when she thinks she's saying the right thing, there's a chunk of ego gets in the way. And she probably expects to be comforted at this point, even though Zii is currently dealing with a face full of cold water.

But more substantially, DiDi is horribly sentimental. She's not strictly emotionless, but she's shallow. Any sad story or sight of anything cute makes her go all gooey for a panel. (Park her in front of a bunch of cute Youtube kitten videos, and you'd probably have to mop her up with a sponge at the end of the day.) Remember, she got all weepie for one panel over Sonya's sadness during the confrontation with her and Zii. But none of it lasts; she forgets it all within a few seconds. She had enough empathy to cry over Sonya's story, but not enough empathy to refrain from screwing Sonya's (sort of) girlfriend.

So DiDi getting sad over anything, and even blaming herself, means bugger-all if it only lasts for one panel. She'll just forget it and move on a moment later. She's written as a terribly broken person, really; she just doesn't relate to other people as full human beings, by and large.

(Which I guess is a big part of Kiley's discovery about her. She needed to relate to her lovers as other people to get off. Unfortunately, people who aren't her lovers still don't qualify.)

Meanwhile...

A fairly simple possibility for Sonya's next move remains "Recruit Izz for rival band" (bonus deeply warped points for taking Izz to her bed as a substitute Zii in that case). A more sneaky option occurs to me; Izz starts playing the bass, rather well, and joins the Troublemakers, only to turn out down the line to be taking lessons from Sonya and acting as Sonya's minion in the band. But either would require Izz to suddenly be getting competent somehow, under Sonya's tutelage. Which makes me think of a possibility that doubtless makes me an horrendous Sonya fanboy, but which is strangely consistent.

What was the weirdest and most convenient thing that we ever saw about Sonya? That she turned out to be a competent bassist, at the precise moment when Zii and Erik desperately needed one. That was a hell of a coincidence. Sonya has hidden depths. But - how deep? And what could love for Zii make her capable of?

Probably not learning the bass, to semi-pro levels, in a few days flat, just so she could get close to Zii. That'd be crazy...

[rogermart]

It was really convenient:



I didn't believe her for a long time until i saw this strip:



So your hypotesis is valid...