December 9th, 2016
9 Dec 2016 · page 658 of 1306
Communication: they're bad at it.
Cast: Harriet Barber, Jack O'Malley
Comments (36)
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Hmm, so next would be Envy?
I mean, considering that this is Mal, talking to someone other than Wolfe, that was actually quite impressively eloquent and empathetic.
Also, poor Harry - she's really not having a good day. Good couple of days, really.
Not only that, but Mal didn't lose his cool when facing Wrath. Considering how temperamental he can be, that's huge.
Are spirits even able to affect him? Have we seen that? Because I can't remember.
I think poor Mal was too busy trying to figure out what he was meant to do while simultaneously doing it to waste time losing his cool. He's doing really quite well, especially considering the amount of shite the universe dumped on his head today. Particularly given how unhelpful Harry is being as a support (I know she's having a bad time too, but during the last few scenes I occasionally found myself wondering if she could be less helpful if she tried really, really hard ).
Hrn, no communication needed here, just hugs and good news. I'm afraid she will have to wait for the next family gathering. Lots of pages yet. Poor Harry.
Hm, I wonder what he's seeing in that third frame.
Well, she'd mostly be feeling shame and self-loathing at how she was letting Wrath get the best of her (particularly with so much, including her Grandfather's life, on the line). I'd imagine both of those emotions are shades of red (though somewhat less bright and fiery as anger; maybe something like maroon, as it leans toward the sadness end of the spectrum).
She's also probably barely keeping it together in worry and sadness about her grandfather's plight, so there would be a substrate of blue - maybe appearing as a blue lining around the cloud of red.
That was beautiful and well-thought.
OK, is this tartan? or Paisley?
He must have seen something he recognised, understood and empathised with - a craving for tobacco...
Said emotion is probably a spikey orange-yellow with brown and grey detailing. :)
Lovely! This is exactly why I didn't show anything in that panel, thought it might be best assumed.
It's like the monster-not-seen in horror movies. Far, far more effective to let the imagination run wild.
Oh. I see now!
while I find this would be very apt, I feel like it would be more than a cloud. a lot of the people had a person shaped aura above them, I feel that at this moment she would most definitely have that. and it would be big, and would probably make wrath seem very small and insignificant against her own self loathing mixed with sorrow.
We've actually seen her through The Sight before ([http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/march-23rd-2012/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/march-23rd-2012/") and I just realized her spirit form has what looks like a curl of smoke similar to from her pipe and that makes me very happy), and I kinda love the idea of those colors being focused either in the hair or the shield.
Joke's on her, Lux was sent by Benji.
More seriously, that would probably be fine. Raging at Lust seems a lot less counterproductive than raging at Wrath. Ira is probably the only Deadly who can get away with trolling that blunt.
.....It's probably because I read it before my morning caffeine, but that first sentence gave me an image of an alternate universe wherein Ben was the wizard Harry met with the Mark of Thieves on his wrist and Sidney was the wizard the councilwoman put Mal and Wolfe with to stop Malforms.
That universe wouldn't be near as successful in the final fight, I'd wager, without the character growth brought on by the contrast of personalities, but it makes for some interesting images.
I agree. Ben and Harry are subtly similar to each other in disposition. They could never be as challenging to each other as Sid was to Harry and Mal was to Ben.
It's a while Mal is without a cigarette O.o
I did never see him that way for so long time.
He doesn't think about smoking.
And it seems to me, to Harry reaching for her pipe was just an automatism, letting her to hide her emotion, not a real need for smoke.
(Somehow I don't like the thought this clean mid-spaces place would be spoiled with the smell of cheap cigarettes, cigarette stubs and tabacco ashes) ^_^
And yes, ThisCat is right. Mal sees something.
What could it be?
And as Mal having seen Harry's emotions and her trying to conceal them, turns his back - I think it's a sign of delicacy.
Ah, in the last panel he's WITH a cigarette...
But without a smoke yet...
FEAR THE MIGHTY POWER OF THE DESUMMONING EGG AND A VEXED WOMAN.
wrath should know better, hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned.
and wrath scorned her a lot just then. wrath may be wrath. but she be a woman scorned. she wins. hands down.
I'm glad we had this Not-Talk.
We're just gonna have our respective after-trauma smokes, and carry on.
We're not wasting an opportunity for a bonding after-trauma smoke together, or anything.
I don't quite understand the brown wall that keeps moving....
Don't just stand there O'Malley! Apologise!
What? What for? He didn't do anything except his best to cover when she lost her cool.
It was a joke I guess :)
Harry doesn't strike me as the sort of person you want to push into talking when she doesn't want to. I don't see that ending well.
I would agree if not for the fact that her sister Florence seems to make a hobby of it.
Sibling rules are very different to normal people rules tho.
Oh, yeah. Years of contractual adjustments lie therein. Learned helplessness, too. ;)
Oh get over it Harry. So you almost botched it with one of the seven deadly. O'Malley's done much worse with dozens of lesser mal-forms. Just ask Wolfe or Ben, they were in business with him.
Oh, look. They're bonding.