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Tropical Storm Martenclaire meets Northern Hurricane Faye for disastrous results

32 (26.2%)

The Svenectomy begins

16 (13.1%)

Tai razzes Marten and Claire till they're both as red as Claire's hair

16 (13.1%)

Steve Eating Cereal: The Legend Continues

8 (6.6%)

Clinton finally finds out that big sister has a boyfriend

41 (33.6%)

5 straight days of yelling bird cloaca jokes

9 (7.4%)

Total Members Voted: 110

[GarandMarine]

And so we begin again. Once more into the breach dear friends. Once more into the breach.

[ASB84]

I kind of get the impression that Steve's never going to eat cereal again...even if he does have a year's supply of it, free.

[valkygrrl]

Once more into the breach.

Does that mean you voted yelling bird cloaca?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Five days of Dale and Marigolds cuddling in front of anime.

[HauntingPoem]

Once more into the breach.

Does that mean you voted yelling bird cloaca?

I think that would be more or an infinite cavern of filth from which we could never return once we entered it.

Edit: Spelling

[hedgie]

So *that's* where Sara ended up (remember, birds are dinosaurs), she just ended up as a suppository rather than being eaten.

[Rghfrgl]

I predict midweek robot filler, where the forum gets mad and the AI's have to take the blame.

[BenRG]

My idea doesn't really match any of the options. I think we'll follow Marten and Claire through their day until they arrive at Coffee of Doom shortly after Friday 10/17's strip. The week after will be the moment when Faye is told by all her friends that she has to fight for her 'happily ever after'.

Yeah, Tai is going to tease Marten and Claire but she won't push it too far.

[Carl-E]

Yeah, Tai is going to tease Marten and Claire but she won't push it too far.

No, she's going to go all googly-eyed over them. 

Assuming she doesn't actually "squee" over the library's sound system...

[Staff_Inflection]

You know who we havent seen in awhile?

The Bros. What are they up to?

[BenRG]

You know who we havent seen in awhile?

The Bros. What are they up to?

As always, they're in hiding, waiting for their trigger word! All together now...!

[techkid]

Bros bros bros bros.

[ASB84]

I have to say, my enjoyment of the bros' appearances is disproportionate to their prominence/importance to the strip. Love that library gag.

[Staff_Inflection]

A spinoff comic staring the bros would be fantastic

[FunkyTuba]

Brostionable Brontent?
Brolice Brove?

[Neko_Ali]

We can discover that they are actually members of a secret, super powered Bro Force, who use their powers to sense when someone is about to 'bro' and teleport there to provide backup bro.

[Is it cold in here?]

I took the liberty of fixing a spelling error in the poll.

[Pilchard123]

Not to tell you guys how to do your job, but aren't ship names somewhat frowned upon? Or is that just yacht names, since they have no cannon?

[Kugai]

Ship names are frowned upon, but the weather is a force of nature.

[Aimless]

The bros always make me think of the "Boats boats boats!"-girl from HIMYM

Broats Broats Broats!

[Omio]

I smell blood. =L

[GarandMarine]

Not to tell you guys how to do your job, but aren't ship names somewhat frowned upon? Or is that just yacht names, since they have no cannon?

It's not a ship name if they're an actual couple.

[de_la_Nae]

Yeah, like GaRarity.

(I couldn't think of a good one for Fluttershy sorry)

[MooskiNet]

Tora Tora Tora?

[eschaton]

A spinoff comic staring the bros would be fantastic

Maybe the bros recruit Steve to be part of their secret order? 

[Aziraphale]

A spinoff comic staring the bros would be fantastic

Maybe the bros recruit Steve to be part of their secret order?

He's the secret member of the secret order. The HBIC, as it were.

[cesium133]

D'awww... If Angus weren't a moron, he'd be the one giving that hug.

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Marten is in his personal zen space. He doesn't necessarily know why he does what he does, he just does.

[snarkyone]

Awwwww Marten's all grown up.   Mindful of the pain of those he cares about, even when there's an obvious spring in his step and you'd think he'd be too self-absorbed.    I know it's sad for Faye, but I think this is really a happy page.   

[MooskiNet]

Marten is good people.  "Hey, I'm having a GREAT d- oh, let me comfort my friend."

World needs more Martens.

[Roxtar]

D'awww... If Angus weren't a moron, he'd be the one giving that hug.

I don't think that's fair... Angus has kept Faye in the loop for his whole "this is what I aspire to" story arc.
her refusal to even make an attempt to help him follow his dream (or try to make the distance thing work) makes me side with Angus over Faye in this case.

He's been open with his aspirations and feelings, she has not.

[jwhouk]

World needs more Martens.

And not the bird kind.

[Aziraphale]

World needs more Martens.

And not the bird kind.

I always rather liked the Housemartens.

[valkygrrl]

F yeah hug the shit out of her

[ASB84]

A+ for Marten. He knows how to Good Friend.

Hopefully, Dale can tone it down today.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

D'awww... If Angus weren't a moron, he'd be the one giving that hug.

I don't think that's fair... Angus has kept Faye in the loop for his whole "this is what I aspire to" story arc.
her refusal to even make an attempt to help him follow his dream (or try to make the distance thing work) makes me side with Angus over Faye in this case.

He's been open with his aspirations and feelings, she has not.

He's also been aware that this was a problem, but ignored the issue. Neither Faye or Angus is in the right here. Faye set this situation up by failing to be honest with Angus. Angus set this situation up when he recognized the problem and asked Marten about it, instead of confronting Faye. In a perfect world, they both would have done more--Faye with honesty and Angus with attempting to do more than just dismiss Faye's concerns as bridges they would cross later. In the "real" (fictional) world, Faye told herself she could deal with it, and Angus told himself it wasn't a big deal (clung to evidence that supported what he wanted and let contradictory evidence slip past). That's pretty human of them.

They both deserve sympathy. And, in the end--fair or not, the onus is on Angus to make it right. They were both moved by powerful emotion, but Angus's comes of getting great news while Faye's comes of deeply seated emotional damage. We're talking about something that may or may not have inspired her to try to kill her self. Even if it wasn't a suicide attempt, it impaired her consciousness to the point she lost control of her car.

Marten is good people.  "Hey, I'm having a GREAT d- oh, let me comfort my friend."

World needs more Martens.

And this is where Marten did better than Angus. And also why it's important to have an array of friends. Some are going to better equipped to support you with this, while others are better at that.

[Stoon]

Perfect Marten.  That was just perfect.

[Nyithra]

Awww, friend hugs are the best.

I was afraid to pitch in during the explosion of last weeks thread, so I might as well throw in my opinion now. As someone who used to be terrible at being honest with myself and others, I kind of understand both sides of this whole Faye/Angus falling out. That doesn't make either of their actions right, I think we all saw the height of the communication issues when Angus' question was met with silence and he decided to walk away instead of attempting any sort of reconciliation.

I think both of them knew this problem was going to come up, but they both avoided it. Totally normal thing to do, however disastrous. I don't think the issue is totally over yet though, most people would want some level of closure other than just never talking again after something like that.

[Emperor Norton]

To all the people who think Angus should have hugged her: Ok, when someone pulls away from you, then breaks up with you, which is effectively what she did, the right answer is sure as hell not to initiate physical contact with them. That has all kinds of creepy boundary issues to it.

And the whole thing of the onus being on him to fix things: As someone who has huge issues with letting things go myself, one thing I've learned is that YOU CANNOT FORCE SOMEONE TO INTERACT WITH YOU. Faye is not interacting. As long as she refuses to do that, there is literally nothing he CAN do. Every time you force someone to interact with you, it just builds resentment and anger. It puts them on the defensive. She has to be willing to talk things out for him to take any action. She clearly wasn't at that time. There was nothing to do.

I have never ever had it work out where I tried to force a conversation with someone who refused to engage it. Ever. It just leads to bad things.

On this comic though: Marten is a great friend, and he was the perfect person to walk in right now and do this.

[Carl-E]

Emperor, you're quite right.  I think Angus is more than savvy enough to know that of all the comforting Faye may or may not need right now, his isn't it. 

Marten isn't always at his best, but he sure is here. 

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I don't think the issue is totally over yet though, most people would want some level of closure other than just never talking again after something like that.

You would be amazed how far avoidance can take you.

That said, this would be a terrible comic about relationships if this was over here.

To all the people who think Angus should have hugged her: Ok, when someone pulls away from you, then breaks up with you, which is effectively what she did, the right answer is sure as hell not to initiate physical contact with them. That has all kinds of creepy boundary issues to it.

And the whole thing of the onus being on him to fix things: As someone who has huge issues with letting things go, YOU CANNOT FORCE SOMEONE TO INTERACT WITH YOU. Faye is not interacting. As long as she refuses to do that, there is literally nothing he CAN do. Every time you force someone to interact with you, it just builds resentment and anger. It puts them on the defensive. She has to be willing to talk things out for him to take any action. She clearly wasn't at that time. There was nothing to do.

Angus had an opportunity for a reassuring hug, but he missed it. It's unfair to him to assume he could have recognized the need and the opportunity. That's why the hug bit is a non-issue.

What sets Marten apart is the willingness to switch gears, emotionally. He has every right say, as Angus did, "Why can't you be happy for me?" He realizes that Faye's problems don't make his good news less good.

As for the onus. That's got nothing to do with Faye's current response. The fact is that what just happened happened, and couldn't have happened any other way. The moving pen, having writ, and all that.

But, if they have a future, Angus is going to have a larger external load to carry. He's going to have to adjust to the damage inside Faye, because realizing her mistakes is not going to heal her. His hangups seem to be less from emotional damage than hers. He's going to have to put up with and be understanding of unfair reactions on her part, to give her time to see them as such, and work on them. Faye has hard work ahead but, as far as the relationship goes, Faye has to work on Faye. Angus has to work on Faye and Angus. It's not fair, thus onus. And if he can't accept that, things will be more painful at best. Impossible to reconcile at worst.

[Emperor Norton]

I do think he could have said something like "I hope we can talk about this later" before walking off, I'm not saying his actions are perfect (cause he did kind of miss the seriousness of this to begin with, though that was exacerbated by her not talking to him about it beforehand).

[Is it cold in here?]

Marten is a true friend.

[ysth]

Perfect Marten.  That was just perfect.

A-

In a perfect hug, either both close their eyes or neither.

[valkygrrl]

Perfect Marten.  That was just perfect.

A-

In a perfect hug, either both close their eyes or neither.

Hug pedantry?

I like you!

[Emperor Norton]

Faye has issues. Faye has trauma. Its understandable. Its sympathetic. It explains why she acts the way she does.

That doesn't though, make her actions any less painful for other people.

Angus reacted hurt because he was hurt. He just got the opportunity of a lifetime, and Faye turned it around and made it all about her. He wasn't being flippant when he joked about the couch, he was being reassuring. He was saying "There is still room for us/I'm still thinking about us." He knew she didn't want to move to NYC, at least not at the moment, so he was talking about her visiting. Maybe he was wrong about them being able to make it, but he was trying.

Was his hurt reaction of "Why can't you be happy for me?" the right thing to say at the time? No, not really. But neither is what Faye is doing. Its understandable, on both parts, but not RIGHT.

The onus is on both of them. The responsibility for a relationship is NEVER on one person alone. He is responsible for fixing this, but so is she. Even if fixing it is just talking about what they want and coming to the conclusion that they can't be together anymore.

[Krald]

Unpopular opinion. Maybe Angus is a bit more self centered, like Sven, then people would like to think, the way looks as he tells her "why cant you be happy for me"..... and maybe that is what attracted Faye to him after Sven?

[Stoon]

Perfect Marten.  That was just perfect.

A-

In a perfect hug, either both close their eyes or neither.

Hug pedantry?

I like you!

Hugs aren't my forte.  I'm pretty sure I can count of the number of hugs I've had in my entire life on one hand.

[Stoon]

Unpopular opinion. Maybe Angus is a bit more self centered, like Sven, then people would like to think, the way looks as he tells her "why cant you be happy for me"..... and maybe that is what attracted Faye to him after Sven?

I've had that "Angus is bit self-centred" thought myself.

[snarkyone]

Hugs aren't my forte.  I'm pretty sure I can count of the number of hugs I've had in my entire life on one hand.

Why so few?