Page 38. Gentlemen.
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O Human Star
by Blue Delliquanti
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Aye, Sir, you move your hand from there this instant!
oooooooh, Brendan, so cute! Almost revealed their relationship and stuck up for Lucille. Very Sweet!
You tell those guys, Lucille!
I suspect these guys are probing for weaknesses, not just enjoying a drink and some flirting. They want to know who is sleeping with Lucille, and is that going to be a problem. So they might consider the men being in a relationship a problem or an advantage. Unless the doc who is so fascinated by Al is gay himself, in which case these are probably new allies. Or they could just be dorks with too much money, who knows?
Yeesh, indeed! Lucille is no “girl”, mister, and poor Brendan, caught up in the awkward “relationship dance”.
Ugh. Ugh. Uuuuugh, get your hands off her. Jesus, I can’t stand these characters treating Lucille as an accessory to the project (get to work on a lab, bonus cute female assistant with prosthetics) instead as one of the great minds behind it. I won’t miss these guys if they don’t appear ever again.
They cannot be that dumb, as they know she is the inventor of both the prosthetic limbs and the display stage used in the demo. I suspect that her expensive and delicate leg is being pulled slightly; you don’t just paw someone you are trusting with millions and military secrets. Watch for it to be Brendan’s turn next. He will surprise them; he is the one they think is a lab assistant.
Wow, you weren’t kidding about facial expressions, Lucille’s FACE is killing me, especially in the first panel. And I was liking this dude up until now! Sheesh.
Yay for friends.
You’re doing a great job at portraying this, though, the thoughtless dismissive micro-aggressions against not-middle-aged-male-white-straight people. This is hurts the good way, I’m glad to see it portrayed this accurately (and CALLED OUT).
Remember these people aren’t fools. They want to know if our heroes are up to handling millions with this much at stake. A cocktail party is a good place to find out how thick someone’s skin is. They deliberately put them in a place where they can tease and flirt and apply some micropressures. Is Lucille dating one of these guys? Would she be offended if one of them made a pass? Nope, she’s good with passes and used Brendan as a meat shield to escape. High five. Is Brendan going to drink too much or talk too much? Is he just a drone or does he have a real function? And I think Al is under some pressure there, because the doctor is very interested. Is he attracted to Al, or is he a psychiatrist evaluating a possible weak spot?
That part kinda threw me off with the arm thing. Lucille is built up to much as a strong, independent female character that I didn’t really pick up on anyone treating her as an accessory. She seems to respected and the arm thing nearly missed me because I was focused in on the conversation.
Re: Kickstarter. I bought chapter 1&2 from the store, but the kickstarter book is chapter 1&2&3. I’d buy a chapter 3, but that’s an awkward way to get it. :-/
If the Kickstarter’s successful, I probably won’t be printing single-chapter floppy books again. I think it’s about time I have a more substantial, better-lasting book. And Volume One will have never-before-seen developmental art in addition to chapters 1-3, if that helps sway you.
Geez, poor Brendan having to escape from all these awkward conversations.
I’da been poking him with my prosthetic fork instead of swinging my wine around with it haha.
Ughhhh, I’m a guy and even I feel a little creeped out. Way to go, Blue (Seriously, it’s a very expressive page.)
Uh, did Brendan and Lucille just more-or-less out Brendan and Al? Because their dialog came pretty close to implying that Brendan’s “already taken” referred to Al.
Not really. If anything, it’s almost like Lucille is stating an interest in Al. Brendan just said he was taken and Lucille wasn’t too keen on him, and right after that she wants to find Al, who is her “biggest fan”.
I dunno. I don’t think it out’d them at all.
Ah, I guess I missed the importance of the intervening statement, and directly connected Lucille’s “speaking of which, Brendan, where did you leave Al” to Brendan’s “already taken”.
Knowing the company here, ‘the boys’ would likely assume Brendan has a girlfriend who isn’t part of this.
Remember what this is about, though. They are handing our heroes millions of dollars, and first they may actually be teasing them a bit to see if they are going to be worth it.
They want to see if these are spoiled brats who will smoke the money up and never finish the project. They want to see if they are being taken for a ride. That prosthetic thigh he was patting is part of what they are buying, and we have seen the future and know they are going to deliver BIG.
They are correct about one thing – Lucille is a high-powered personality and they are lucky to be working with her. The fact that she is attractive is a bonus, and I’d prefer them to be petting her a bit than edging away from the prosthetics. He may perceive her as insecure, not thinking through how long she’s been dealing with her self-image, and want to project reassurance; it is also a probe for info. Flirting is going to happen at a cocktail party; he’s made it clear she’s attractive and that if he were Brendan’s age he’d say more, but he’s not, so he hands her off to Brendan and gets more info. He now knows she is secure to the point of smug self-satisfaction, and that neither one of these guys is her boyfriend. She didn’t get flustered or angry, just a bit amused. Probably happens a lot.
She didn’t take offense, much, and got away smoothly. Brendan’s not being perceived as the force that he is in the company, and I suspect he is about to get some spotlight before this party ends. Al was going to spend his life diddling around with toys, and Lucille was going to make great designer prosthetics, and then Brendan walked in. Now they are forging tomorrow. Just let him talk to these people for ten minutes and they will be throwing money at him.
I just realized that the older guy is probably one of the robots we’ve seen in the present day. If he still exists, it is due to this deal with Al and Brendan and Lucille.
I respect the opinions that the main cast is being tested by their sponsors…I think it is a mistake to not seriously consider that the groping was honest. He is prolly really that way with all attractive women he feels he can pressure into accepting his advances. I think the only probing part of it was towards Brendan. They now know he is seeing someone and it is not Lucille. Do not doubt also that it may not be a coincidence who these sponsors are hiring. Or that they know far more than they are pretending. These are the kind of people who know what you ate yesterday and how it is treating you today.
How many microaggressions can you do at the same time before it adds up to regular aggression? The guy is just a little objectifying, a little sexist, a little dismissive, a little possessive AND a little rapey, and Lucille can’t do anything because he’s paying her millions of dollars and talking very reasonably and politely while holding her down and touching her thigh. That’s an expert creep move, and I’m extremely creeped.