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Plenty of Fish in the Sea!

0 (0%)

"Psh, I'm not that desperate."

6 (6.9%)

I'M SO SORRY!

2 (2.3%)

Want me to take off my pants? (No, thanks, you already did that once)

9 (10.3%)

Sorry I made things awkward

1 (1.1%)

HERMIONE & GINNY VS. THE SPACE WIZARDS

44 (50.6%)

Puberty stories

1 (1.1%)

The Mistaken HS Health Teacher

3 (3.4%)

"Why do I need lotion in my bedroom?"

5 (5.7%)

What kind of porn does Marten like?

4 (4.6%)

"You really wanna do that?..."

7 (8%)

Nah, too white bread.

5 (5.7%)

Total Members Voted: 73

[reicreature]

See the proper response on Marigold's part would have been something along the lines of: "Ha ha, Yeah too bad I'm straight" or something of that ilk. Instead she responds in a way that is while honest on her part, incredibly hurtful in that it implies that making-out with Tai would be an act of desperate last resort.
So, Tai gets the reminder that her sexuality is "wrong" but also that there is something wrong with HER own attractiveness. Instead of just getting shot down with the "I'm straight" reply (disappointing) she gets "I'm straight and you're gross" which is far far more painful.

I'm sure Marigold didn't mean it that way, it probably just didn't occure to her that it was insensative.

[iduguphergrave]

I swear when I put up my cat icon pwhodges' icon looked like it did before. I guess I didn't refresh the page or something. Anyway uh....yeah. 

I'm guessing the next comic is Marigold getting super-flustered and apologizing for the inadvertent burn. Marigold doesn't seem mean-spirited enough to mean it the way Tai thinks she does. I hope Tai gives her a chance to explain and doesn't storm out all pissed off.

[pwhodges]

I swear when I put up my cat icon pwhodges' icon looked like it did before.

My avatar is a call to a routine on my server* that delivers a random image from a list of over 20 - so each time you refresh it, it changes, and each person may be seeing a different one at the same time; it is meant to confuse or intrigue, depending on your nature.  So when I added the cat, you still had only a 5% chance of seeing it right then.

* For the technically minded, this is done by the following lines in my Apache config:
RewriteMap AviFile rnd:C:/WebPages/cassland.org/html/images/Avatars/AviList.txt
RewriteRule /images/QCavi.jpg /images/Avatars/${AviFile:QClist}.jpg

[iduguphergrave]

Ah. Well played, sir.

[The Duke]

She didn't mean "no idea Tai is a lesbian."

She might have.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did.

[LeeC]

I wonder what Marigold's reaction will be when she goes back to CoD and Dora asks for details.

We've all had foot in mouth syndrome at one time or another.

[Mad Cat]

Seems pretty clear to me that not only did Marigold not know that Tai's a lesbian, but apparently, Tai was unclear on the fact that Marigold's straight.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Apparently, we also have a failure to consummate... effectuate... or indeed initiate proper make outs.

[ChippyD]

See the proper response on Marigold's part would have been something along the lines of: "Ha ha, Yeah too bad I'm straight" or something of that ilk. Instead she responds in a way that is while honest on her part, incredibly hurtful in that it implies that making-out with Tai would be an act of desperate last resort.
So, Tai gets the reminder that her sexuality is "wrong" but also that there is something wrong with HER own attractiveness. Instead of just getting shot down with the "I'm straight" reply (disappointing) she gets "I'm straight and you're gross" which is far far more painful.

I'm sure Marigold didn't mean it that way, it probably just didn't occure to her that it was insensative.

You're not remember that Tai is a stranger to Marigold. Marigold has no idea that Tai is gay, or interested. It's pretty obvious, considering every single come-on and inuendo Tai slips into the conversation flies RIGHT over her head.

Now, I have a lot of background with girls that are like Marigold. What Marigold is reading Tai's comment as is a sympathy, even pitty statement from Tai. Loads of girls in my social circle (I am a gay man, so I infiltrate female minds for my straight guy nerd friends) often make comments of "I'll totally marry you if we're single when we're older," or "I would totally date you if I was gay." Marigold comes from a counterculture where sexual preference doesn't really make that big a deal. It's obvious, given the subject of her writing, that she has no problem with same sex couples. She probably just has never had any contact with a lesbian before.

So really this is just situation of intent being lost in translation. Marygold interprets Tai as saying "Awww, I'd totally go for you, if we were gay," a comment Marigolde probably hears 50 times a day online.

Tai is making the blunder by assuming that Marygold is aware that she's hitting on her. If she had known Marygold's background, she'd know she's incredibly sheltered and inexperienced with flirting.

[Jerein]

We can see Marigold's tummy in panel 3!

And there is still a chance of mischievous marigold makeouts, she just needs to realize that Tai's actually offering and not being hypothetical.

What makes you think Tai would still be interested at this point?

Mari: "Oh you meant you actually wanted to...with me...?  Oh....OH!  I'm -so- sorry!" *blushing furiously*

Tai: "It's okay, I wasn't sure if you were into that kindof thing, I thought you knew about me and my promiscuous ways."

Mari: "Well, I knew -of- them but I didn't know you meant...well..."

*commence kissy noises*

[Insectile]

Marigold loves slash fanfiction but I don't think she ever considered swinging that way

Besides I don't think Jeph will draw a lasting same gender couple in his comic, so far Tai has only been in large orgies and or relationships that last 1 or 2 panels.

[Carl-E]

Marten's dad and Maurice (or was it Marcel?). 

I know, not regulars.  But still...

[raoullefere]

See the proper response on Marigold's part would have been something along the lines of: "Ha ha, Yeah too bad I'm straight" or something of that ilk. Instead she responds in a way that is while honest on her part, incredibly hurtful in that it implies that making-out with Tai would be an act of desperate last resort.
So, Tai gets the reminder that her sexuality is "wrong" but also that there is something wrong with HER own attractiveness. Instead of just getting shot down with the "I'm straight" reply (disappointing) she gets "I'm straight and you're gross" which is far far more painful.

I'm sure Marigold didn't mean it that way, it probably just didn't occure to her that it was insensative.

You're not remember that Tai is a stranger to Marigold. Marigold has no idea that Tai is gay, or interested. It's pretty obvious, considering every single come-on and inuendo Tai slips into the conversation flies RIGHT over her head.

Now, I have a lot of background with girls that are like Marigold. What Marigold is reading Tai's comment as is a sympathy, even pitty statement from Tai. Loads of girls in my social circle (I am a gay man, so I infiltrate female minds for my straight guy nerd friends) often make comments of "I'll totally marry you if we're single when we're older," or "I would totally date you if I was gay." Marigold comes from a counterculture where sexual preference doesn't really make that big a deal. It's obvious, given the subject of her writing, that she has no problem with same sex couples. She probably just has never had any contact with a lesbian before.

So really this is just situation of intent being lost in translation. Marygold interprets Tai as saying "Awww, I'd totally go for you, if we were gay," a comment Marigolde probably hears 50 times a day online.

Tai is making the blunder by assuming that Marygold is aware that she's hitting on her. If she had known Marygold's background, she'd know she's incredibly sheltered and inexperienced with flirting.

Ninja'd (more or less). I agree that Marigold sees Tia's come-on as pity. How can she not, given her low self-esteem?

[Insectile]

Oh yeah, completely forgot about them.

I still don't think this Marigold/Tai thing is going to develop

[jwhouk]

What's on tap for us this week?

Angus/Faye II - The Second Date    - 7 (10%)
Marigold/Tai, week II - where Marigold learns how to WRITE.    - 30 (42.9%)
Sven gets a date.    - 4 (5.7%)
Marten & Steve go drinking.    - 7 (10%)
Cosette finally burns down Northampton.    - 11 (15.7%)
Pintsize does something wacky.    - 4 (5.7%)
Yelling Bird. ALL. THE. TIME.    - 4 (5.7%)
GUEST COMIC WEEK!    - 1 (1.4%)
GOOGLE IT!    - 2 (2.9%)

Total Voters: 70

[JackFaerie]

Two small things:

1) others have already explained why Marigold's statement would have offended Tai--it's one thing to say "I'm not interested in girls" and another to basically say "One would have to be even more desperate than me to make out with you." Especially when in the current cultural climate, one does not have to be a lesbian to enjoy an occasional same-sex make-out (no, really), and plenty of straight women like to proclaim how "they'd go gay" for one especially attractive female celeb or another. Since many people seem willing to treat a same-sex kiss as not an especially big deal and something they might do with an attractive woman even if they were straight, Mari's remark is definitely cutting. I mean, guys: you're not gonna be every woman's type and that's no aspersion on your looks in general, but there's a difference in being turned down by the woman saying you're not her type or she's not interested, and her saying "god, I would never be that desperate," no?

2) All the talk of "well Marigold writes slash so she must be fine with gays of all stripes!" is um... very bad logic. Marigold MIGHT be fine with gays and lesbians, but would you say "that guy watches a lot of lesbian porn, I bet he's a great supporter of lgbtq rights"? Marigold enjoys a fantasy of male sexuality and objectifying men for her erotic pleasure. She is probably not against gay men, yes (although enjoying reading idealized porn about them hardly makes her a string gay ally either). But we have no idea what her level of comfort or discomfort is with lesbians. (Actually, we already know she's not entirely comfortable with lesbianism, but we don't know to what extent and how it relates to people other than herself.)

[Mr_Rose]

I think it would be more accurate to say she's not comfortable with the idea of lesbianism as conveyed to her by the internet, most typified by her reaction to her guild-mates suggesting she and Hannelore "lez out" for their entertainment. Specifically, I'm not sure she really gets the idea that two women might choose to spend the rest of their lives together as a couple just because they really like each other. In fact I'm nearly sure she hasn't quite made that connection with regards to heterosexual relationships, even her fantasy one with Angus.

[jwhouk]

1. Katy Perry called. She says "thanks for listening to my music."

2. We're forgetting how much Marigold blushed when she heard the statement that led to her saying, "NO WE ARE NOT GONNA LEZ OUT!" while playing WOW. Grr... Ninja'd by Mr.Rose.

[akronnick]

What's wrong with Katy Perry's music?








What?








Stop looking at me like that!

Girl's got verve.

[AnAverageWriter]

Marigold doesn't seem mean-spirited enough to mean it the way Tai thinks she does.

I hope you're right. Here I was worrying about Marigold's feelings, when in reality we all should have been worrying about Tai.

Marigold's put-down was really, really harsh. I mean, totally out-of-the-blue mean.

[reicreature]

there's a difference in being turned down by the woman saying you're not her type or she's not interested, and her saying "god, I would never be that desperate," no?

Exactly. Even if Mari doesn't know that Tai is a lesbian, its a pretty careless thing to say.  
I think Marigold didn't even realize that saying that would be hurtful.

I also agree that her response has more to do with her own self esteem issues, but I think a lot of hurtful misunderstandings have their root in insecurity.

I'm sure everyone will be friends by the end of the week.

[reicreature]

What's wrong with Katy Perry's music?

I hated everything until Teenage Dream which makes me get all soppy and long to hold hands with my SO.
Damn you Katy Perry!!!

[Ethereal]

Turn it upside down, Marigold isn't giving any 'come on' signals so pushing for make outs isn't going to warrant a mild response in this case.

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

Next strip: JEPH CAUSES A FORUM EXPLOSION

[zombie moon]

I don't get why Tai is offended.

Not offended; just startled at being rebuffed so comprehensively, partly because she, by her nature, tends to think of gay as being as normal as straight, or even more so (like many in this forum, it seems).

That's most likely because "Smif" college and the city that they live in has a large and very outspoken non-straight population. So, it often is just as "normal", if not more so.

[Millennium]

I swear when I put up my cat icon pwhodges' icon looked like it did before. I guess I didn't refresh the page or something. Anyway uh....yeah. 

I'm guessing the next comic is Marigold getting super-flustered and apologizing for the inadvertent burn. Marigold doesn't seem mean-spirited enough to mean it the way Tai thinks she does. I hope Tai gives her a chance to explain and doesn't storm out all pissed off.

Yeah. Among other things,there seems to be a case of two mistaken orientations here: Tai thinks Marigold is bi (or at least bi-curious), while Marigold thinks that Tai is straight. Marigold is also coming off of the hard realization that she actually is "that desperate," at least within the context of her own orientation, and thus may have thought Tai was actually making fun of her. That's not really a rational thing to think, as Tai couldn't have known about all that, but Marigold isn't all that much more rational than Hanners is.

Either way, I'm guessing that we're in for Awkwardness. Cue the Victorian outfits.

[Near Lurker]

I hated everything until Teenage Dream which makes me get all soppy and long to hold hands with my SO.

  GODDAMMIT WHY DID SHE HAVE TO USE THAT TITLE.

(...sorry, couldn't resist.)

(Seriously, though, what the hell happened to Teenage Dream?)

[jordinyc]

HOLY CRAP!! The first comic of the week hasn't been up more than an hour and already we're on page 2 of this week's WCDT????

[mpknighit]

JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY 

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

Awwww. While I'm disappointed that they didn't get to have hot makeouts, I gotta say, this arc has really made me appreciate Tai. She is far classier than I gave her credit for.

Today's strip is a rather nice little denouement, and it's good to see Mari isn't an insensitive jerk. Cheer up, Mar-bear! You'll land someone!

(although it might be Dale and his creepy glasses and monomania *shudder)

[akronnick]

Tai: If all else fails, take off your pants!

[Near Lurker]

Good of Tai to take this in stride.

...actually, now that I look at the Monday strip again, she doesn't seem as offended as I remembered.

[helloandgoodbye]

  Is it weird that this comic made me baaaaaaaw?  Because I so totally did.

[raoullefere]

So no harm, no foul. Tai comes off as less of a horndog, and Marigold gets a much needed ego boost. Everyone wins.

Well almost everyone…



Torpedos away…… and blub blub blub goes the SS whatever ungodly portmanteau has been assigned to the Marigold-Tai ship.

Aye! Have a bath, Shippers! Arhhhrr! Ha HA! <strikes a vaguely Flyinnish pose>

[Carl-E]

  Is it weird that this comic made me baaaaaaaw?  Because I so totally did.

OK, I know D'awwww, and awwww, and even baaawwwl, but what's a baaaaaaaw? 

Something with a goat...?

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

  Is it weird that this comic made me baaaaaaaw?  Because I so totally did.

OK, I know D'awwww, and awwww, and even baaawwwl, but what's a baaaaaaaw? 

Something with a goat...?

"Baaaaawww" is the emote for, well, baaaaawwwwling. Or at least shedding tears of some sort.

[westrim]

I like how gently he let down the predictions of possible doom and gloom last week. 8 pages of arguing, all for naught (okay, if I culled it, maybe 5). I'm just glad I realized it was better to wait and see and ducked out for the last couple days

[iduguphergrave]

Yes, Tai you did that once before, remember? Actually you probably don't.  

No, but very good cap to this little arc (assuming its over). Marigold made another friend! Personally I think she needs more real-life friends more than she needs a romantic partner right now.

[MightionNY]

On a side note, I think Tai needs/deserves her own long-term relationship... problem is, Jeph would have to add another female character to do that.

[AnAverageWriter]

He could re-introduce VespaVenger...

[Kugai]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr   Hulled between wind and water.

Some serious back-paddling there Marigold.  Though Tai seems to have taken it pretty well.

[Near Lurker]

She didn't mean "no idea Tai is a lesbian."

She might have.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did.

[/bovvered]She di'n't, tho.[bovvered]

Or more seriously, what Dora and Faye were saying "she has no idea" of was that Tai was counting this as a date, from cues obvious both to them and to the reader that Marigold, being Marigold, missed.  The only way to read "she has no idea" as "she has no idea Tai's a lesbian," in conjunction with Dora's smile and Faye asking if they should have "warned" her, is if no lesbian would want to read another girl's fanfic without having designs on her, something I can't imagine Faye, and certainly not Dora, would believe.  Marigold not realizing Tai to be a lesbian is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to Marigold not realizing how Tai initially saw their rendezvous, since whereas Marigold assuming Tai to be straight would be sufficient, the one doesn't necessarily imply the other, especially to someone as used to at least the idea of homosexuality as Marigold (both living in Northampton and immersed as she is in anime fandom) and someone as, well, "loud" as Tai; indeed, it would be more like someone sheltered in the way Marigold is to assume Tai to be a lesbian without further evidence.  Likewise, Marigold, apparently unlike many on this thread, could believe that a lesbian reading her fanfic might not be trying to get into her pants, even if missing some rather obvious hints that this particular one is.

Frankly, I'm disturbed that two people in this thread have not only equated the two, but assumed Faye and, of all people, Dora, who must have put up with the Carlin "imagine wanting to fuck everybody you meet" line of thought half her life, would as well.

...I think perhaps my syllable-to-word ratio suggests a degree of tipsy.

[Kugai]

Here's a thought, what if it's the other way round?

"She has no idea." meaning that Tai has no real idea of just how socially clueless Marigold is.  That certainly turns the conversation on his head and makes the humour of the situation a lot different.

[zadojla]

...I think perhaps my syllable-to-word ratio suggests a degree of tipsy.

Another tip-off was the 100-word sentence.

[JackFaerie]

1. Katy Perry called. She says "thanks for listening to my music."

Ugh. Fuck that. Not aimed at you, but I am SO TIRED of the bitching about "I Kissed A Girl" as though you are only allowed to kiss a girl if you are a true-blue total gay-as-Christmas lesbian, who's then going to whisk that girl you kissed off to wedded bliss and 2 cats. I LIKE that, lyrics-wise, the song is about simply the fact that sometimes it can be fun to kiss a girl even if you're not a lesbian, or just don't even know what you are--and that no, it doesn't have to be love. Not for getting guys' attention, not for anything in specific--just for fun, trying out what you might enjoy or not enjoy.

[Near Lurker]

That song, and that entire album, are a symbol of a sick post-feminist mentality asking of all men to abandon all but violent machismo, homophobia, and subservient lust.  It's no wonder a Christian should come up with it.

[ecstaticjoy]

Man, I really wanted Marigold to be surprisingly attracted to Tai.

on a side note: <---have I been blind or is this new?

[snubnose]

Funny ! I didnt expected to feel sorry for Tai ! 

[snubnose]

OK, I know D'awwww, and awwww, and even baaawwwl, but what's a baaaaaaaw? 

...

I dont know any of these.

[snubnose]

He could re-introduce VespaVenger...

OMG 

[AnAverageWriter]

That song, and that entire album, are a symbol of a sick post-feminist mentality asking of all men to abandon all but violent machismo, homophobia, and subservient lust.

Or... um, you know, it could be a song about a straight girl kissing another girl and enjoying it.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes songs aren't meant to go any deeper than the lyrics in them suggest. In my latest book, I deliberately made sure to place a rose in a jar somewhere in every other chapter. Does it mean anything? Absolutely not, I just wanted to put a flower in there.