October 20th, 2017
20 Oct 2017 · page 741 of 1306
Huh.
Cast: Harriet Barber, Jack O'Malley
Comments (67)
Events

ThoughtBubble
14 Nov 2026 – 15 Nov 2026
Harrogate Convention Centre
Manchester Megacon
31 Jul 2027 – 1 Aug 2027
Manchester Central






Good job Harriet
You done emotion'd pretty good, Harry.
I think it was the depth of her concern and sincerity that convinced him! Which he can see by looking at her spirit... which is probably where we see her speech bubbles... so it looks like he's looking at her speech bubbles.
O'Malley: You are the Chosen One.
And... The One Who Sees.
And... The One Who Chooses.
AND... The One That Stands Between.
ANND... The One Who Needs a Haircut.
ANNNDD... okay, never mind.
What, you don't like the English sheepdog look?
I like the English sheepdog look!
It's not really my fav
As long as he's not The One Who Walks Behind, we're good.
Ah, the children of the corn. What racket they make!
....I don't think we are making the same reference. Sorry?
He Who Walks Behind- Dresden Files
The Walker Behind the Rows- Children of the Corn
Much obliged!
+ "The Children of the Night. What music they make!"
("Dracula" by Bram Stoker)
You just caused a re-read... Or maybe a re-listen? Marsters has an awesome voice after all...
Ooooh, yes! One of a handful of audios I'll actually listen to!
Wait I have the Aeronaut's Windlass audio right now. I'm going to find out how awesome "Euan Morton"'s voice is.
I need to re-read Aeronaut's once or twice before I listen to it - to make sure I have my own versions of the characters firmly in place before I allow someone else to suggest what they're like :p
Turns out, I disliked it. Buuut I usually hate audiobooks, so meh?
Try the Redwall audio books (if you like that series). As a fellow audiobook-hater I can highly recommend them--narrated by the author and read by a full cast. Even though some of the voices can get a bit cringey, overall they're definitely worth listening to. (I mean, the music /alone/...but I don't want to oversell, so I'll shut up now.)
Full-cast? Blugh. Admittedly the first-and-only full-cast audibook I 'read' was an angsty teen fantasy pseudo-drama thing.
Wait, ye gunna cut my hair now? Tha's it, I'm done.
....perhaps we should not mention the bath.
Whoa, who said I was gonna cut your hair. We were going to get the purple hippo of happiness to do it.
I will now assume this to be the primary reason wizards summon the PHOH until proven otherwise
Well done, Harry!
Looking at the tags. You are Harriet Barber, not Henry, aren't you? :)
Oops, fixed.
Either that or Luxuria's Necklace wasn't as drained as they thought. ;-)
Player looks at their Nat 20 and breathes a sigh of relief.
I'm wondering who saved him, in the past. Maybe Grandpa/Grandma Barber ?
I was wondering if this, right now, is what saved him in the past, tbh.
...uh. Good point.
I'm not sure if the Sins are strong enough to affect causality like that, but it's on top of my theories list right now.
Well, young Mal still doesn't have the white tips on his hair yet. Given the whitening of hair is often linked to stress, trauma, or the occult in this case, I believe many of us were expecting what Acedia does to Mal to be the catalyst for that.
I was expecting the white to be a result of a steady accretion of everything, I suppose.
There is no blue Sloth' swirls on the last panel.
Edit: there is just one little fading Sloth' swirl on the whole page! :)
And the outline of Mal's hand as he takes hold of Harry's is solid black, not faded anymore.
Shit, this flashback doesn't have a forth wall, does it? Please be careful not to break causality by inadvertently interacting with Mal's younger self.
Methinks young Mal will be doing something very rash, foolish, and utterly unpredictable very soon...can't wait to see what's next.
Mal's expression in the sixth panel is so... so meaningful and touching.
"Our friends out there..."
"...they're counting on you to choose them..."
I wonder if this made Mal think of Wolfe, in which case this was the smartest thing Harry could have said. Mal will do just about anything for Wolfe's sake, even if he won't admit that's why he's doing it.
I want to print this talk out and us it on myself (and friends, when they're in "that spot").
You could always write it down with your computer, pick out a fancy font, appropriate size, symmetrical spacing and other personal touches, and do just that.
Edit: Corrected 'down' from 'done'.
"The Duff Degree" - an English version of "Диплом для бедных" by Heylir.
[http://archiveofourown.org/...](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12427752 "http://archiveofourown.org/works/12427752")
I hope you'll enjoy it :)
Thanks for sharing. Heylir has done some good stories.
Thanks for your kind words!
That story is adorable, especially the letter at the end.
Thank you! The letter is my favourite part of the story, I must confess. :) It was written at the very beginning of the Pride part of "Curtain Call", and I'm very happy that Ben and Vee's interactions as we see them now don't contradict the tone of that letter. :)
Heylir, this whole thing is so excellent. I'd really like to edit it to improve the English just a bit, is there any way I could send you a file with an edited version?
Certainly, I would be very grateful! My e-mail: heylir (at) [gmail.com](http://gmail.com "gmail.com")
Okay, cool! Yay : )
Choose Hope.
Did she switch hands between panels 6 and 7, or is Mal just the worst ever at shaking/grabbing hands?
I think the correctness and litteral realism were consciously sacrificed here for the greater expressiveness and beauty of the image.
There are two switches. In panel 6 Harry is extending her right hand, in panel 7 they're clasping left hands, and in panel 8 Harry's right hand is holding Mal's left. Must be a sleight of hand trick that Harry picked up from Sid.
Not quite, In 7 and 8 both, Mal's left hand is holding Harry's right. This is accomplished by having Mal grab the BACK of Harry's hand instead of her palm. McNutty's right, it looks fairly awkward, and I don't blame you for guessing Harry switched hands, Lorenzo. The best illustration of how this works out is in panel 8 where Harry's hand is cupped, palm up, inside of Mal's as if he is a palmist doing a reading.
While browsing the graphic novel section at my local library yesterday, I noticed a series called Casanova. It seems to be a dark lone-gunman sort of story, which isn't my thing - but the three volumes on the shelf were titled "Acedia", "Gula", and "Avaritia"! Somewhere I've heard those names before...
Harry.... that was INSPIRED! :)
I wonder what does Mal see now above Harry's head?... He looks at her spirit trustingly and hopefully and... and like a little kid.
Wonderingly! : )
Maybe, he trusts her "knight-defender" aura and is inspired by it to help his friends.
Hmmm?
More time travel shenanigans?
Did Mal deciding to act in the "now" literally unlock the door that lets Young Mal "then" escape?
I think Mal's overcoming Sloth's influence just made his flashback move further. While Mal wanted to "stay here", his mind was confined to the memory of being locked in the cell.
Have I done something wrong? I cannot get to the next day, and it is the 23rd...
Tuesday and Friday are when updates happen!
Thank you! I started reading on GoComics and they are updating 5 days a week (I think). But i lost my password and got impatient. This is so much fun, Kate! May you have many more years!
Thanks! Gocomics is only on a five day a week schedule as its going through the backlog, I wish I could do a page a day with new pag es but that's a little more than I can handle! Glad you're enjoying the comic :)
That's a lot of work!
I just realized something: the door opening as Jack shakes off Sloth isn't mere narrative coincidence. Sunk into hopelessness and resentment, Jack can't help but replay a specific set if memories over and over and over. It isn't until Harry helps him snap out of him that he remembers that "This isn't how the story ends."
There's also shades of "If I'd just wasted away and died back then, none of this rhymes-with-bit would be happening. I guess he and Ben have something else in common.