Page 17. Problem.
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O Human Star
by Blue Delliquanti
MORE OF BLUE’S STUFF
Gee whiz, Brendan! Can’t you see you are part of the problem, Dude? Labeling someone you love like that is never a good way to help them see they need to change—especially when their big issue is self-hate.
True, but unfortunately Al knows what he’s doing, thereby sees how it’s affecting Brendan, and it doesn’t take someone with Al’s brain to realize they should change. He’s deliberately not changing, as a matter of fact.
So, he’s going to back up himself to be reinstated later? That sounds just like the sort of “solution” a roboticist would come up for a I-know-I-am-dying-and-I-am-too-scared-to-tell-you-but-you-said-be-a-man-and-fix-things sort of problem. And conveniently completely ignoring his internalized homophobia. Yup. Consider that my guess.
Oooh, I really like this guess. I’d been wondering whether someone copied 2021-Brendan in order to copy 2005-Al well (and know where to get the multitool), but your theory’s much more elegant. It’s also consistent with how in 2021 the androids responsible for activating and dropping off New-Al are from deep in Original-Al’s history and psyche. Doesn’t require a single human being from 2021 to know what’s going on.
Oof, that “real man” comment… :-(
Oh wow look at that: the exact wrong thing to say. :I :I
They’re both pretty awful at this relationship thing. It sucks even more so because we’ve seen how happy they can make each other.
Jesus, Brendan needs to calm down and step back to take a bigger look. I understand is frustration but yelling at Al and accusing him of being selfish is just painful to read (watch?). Hopefully having Al back and losing him for a second (could be considered third) will finally knock some sense into him.
But on a writing perspective, I like how you can see that Brendan has pretty much the same problem in the future. He’s older but he still seems to be caught in the same short-sighted, rather narrow perspective that is holding him back as much as it did during this time.
I’m not so sure it’s ‘narrow’ really. When it comes to being open about your sexuality, that’s one thing. A relationship? That’s another.
But Al could still treat Brendan in public like an equal and hard working business partner, and he’s not doing that either. Brendan is being very ugly, but Al is pushing him to that point.
Past or present, Brendan definitely knows how to say the exact thing to hurt the ones he loves.
Man, I generally liked Brendan as a character up til now, but seeing him act so insensitive and abusive lately has completely soured my view of him. I empathize with where he’s coming from and the difficult circumstances he’s been put through in both situations where he blows up at Al, but it’s exhausting seeing Al get hurt like this. The old guy desperately needs some positivity in his life (lives?).
Kudos to Blue for writing good drama, though.
I’m starting to hate them both (though loving the comic still).
Al has a very gentle giant stalwart nature, but he’s also very passive. Brendan isn’t responsible for all of Al’s success, but he did help him focus it, and kind of lit a fire under his ass.
Brendan isn’t being as understanding as he could be (at all), and is definitely using the wrong approach, but for everyone that’s recalling the last fight they got into, Al didn’t apologize until after Brendan gave him the silent treatment.
Al can choose to hide their relationship, and by extension his sexuality, but to also allow public disregard for Brendan as a business partner on top of the other two? That’s a relationship that needs to end.
I’m completely over Brendan and his histrionics/waterworks. If you have to cry every time you get angry or have a problem or disagreement with your partner you need turn down the drama dial way back.
Crying during an argument is the manipulative crap move of a child. On more than one occasion I’ve told someone to ‘put your tears away or we are done for now.”
Crying is a pretty typical response for some people, so I have some sympathy for some that do it, but there’s a time and place for it sure.
As for Brendan, I think the point your missing is that it’s gotten this far that he’s actually crying now, because he really hasn’t been this ’emotional’ before this point.
He’s at the end of his rope here, stress wise, whereas Al’s kinda meandering, with his mind on other things. Whether those other things are important, more important, or a mix, doesn’t matter, because in the end, we know he doesn’t do anything about any of them.
@CT As Snorlaxation said, crying can be a pretty typical response to a terrible or stressful situation. Yes, crying to be manipulative is no bueno. But by assuming that crying during an argument is always “the manipulative crap move of a child,” you could be minimizing/belittling your partner’s pain and emotional response. There are many ways that people process emotions… I think crying is one of many perfectly valid ways of doing so.
I don’t think Brendan’s crying here because he’s trying to manipulate Al. I think he’s terribly overwhelmed. I don’t think he’s handling this well, but I don’t think crying is part of the problem…
Crying is a natural response to feeling hurt or stressed, and not really something people do intentionally.
I cry every time I get angry, it can make having an argument pretty hard. I can’t help it, and I don’t like it.
So I think Brendan doing this right here intentionally to manipulate his partner seems pretty far fetched.
Nice. Some of us can’t *help* the tears when we talk about something personal, or when we get angry, or when we’re hurt. Believe me. I’ve gone to frickin’ *therapy* about it. You know what? The people who told me things like “oh, you’re being manipulative, stop or this conversation is over” generally turned out to be the abusive, manipulative ones who were ripping me apart. And NOW I have to go to therapy to stop myself from surreptitiously self-harming during arguments/personal discussions in an attempt to stop crying.
Refusing to argue with someone who’s crying is definitely your right, but I don’t think that crying is necessarily a deliberate or manipulative “move”! Some people just cry real fast (myself included), even if they’d rather not. As for Brendan, you might be right, but then: he is a very dramatic person. I think this might just be the way arguments go for him. (Not the most constructive way, but neither is Al’s evasiveness and silence.)
Brendan sees your internalized homophobia and raises his own toxic masculinity!
Actually this sort of thing is bad enough if Al is actually cis male, but if Al *is* a closeted/unrealized trans woman, having Brendan say: “If you were a REAL man,” and “When you grow some BALLS,” is…so harmful.
so maybe i’m confused, but i always thought Al was a trans guy? and that was why Sulla being a girl was so disorienting to him. IDK if i’m just totally lost, or what.
Al was designated male at birth, as was Sulla at creation. Sulla has only been overtly presenting as female for three years before Al’s reawakening.
It’s even worse because I’m pretty sure Brendan mentioned at some point that he had suspected Al might be trans. He definitely sees how careful Al is to meet the masculinity standards of the military guys, and now he’s using those standards to hit Al where he knows it will hurt.
I dont know you guys, this is also sad. Not holding hands with your loved one for over 3 years ,in public, is sad.