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I will not leave a debt unpaid. I offer my left hand as collateral.

Let us consider that "plan C".

I could rip you apart, tear out your mind substrate, and crush it to dust in my hands. There is nothing you could do to stop me. I choose not to.

That is an... alarming endorsement.

I am a font of merriment and cheer

I have a houseplant, now. Arthur can vouch for my trustworthiness.

We have holes in our hearts. We can paper them over, and learn to live with them, but they are still there.

I am calling the police on this conversation.

If your love life requires close air support, something has gone very wrong.

It is true. I do not sparkle.

Betwixt my mighty glutes

Please do not taint the sanctity of Unicorn Grove.*

I am the Skull Master now!*

I have cast off so many burdens recently. It is time for one more to go.

When, in your experience, have I ever been magical?

[a different quote] (please share the quote)

purple monkey dishwasher

[MrNumbers]

Okay, I confess: I'm a Patreon member. I can assure you that no parts were visible and that May indeed doesn't have parts.

Thank you for answering so I didn't have to ask.

[hakko504]

On the top left corner of the last panel, between Sven's head and the lube dispenser, is that a can of WD40?

...aaaand I can't see any clown nose. Maybe it's still... under Sven's censor banner?

Okay, I confess: I'm a Patreon member. I can assure you that no parts were visible and that May indeed doesn't have parts.

The censor banners really makes things much more dirty than the uncensored version posted on patreon. Not that the patreon version doesn't raise a lot of other questions.

[cybersmurf]

On the top left corner of the last panel, between Sven's head and the lube dispenser, is that a can of WD40?

...aaaand I can't see any clown nose. Maybe it's still... under Sven's censor banner?

Yes, I suspect that to be a can of WD40.

Also, the clown nose might be under the censor bar, and under the slice of watermelon that's subtly peeking beyond the bar. or in the piece of watermelon in the top right corner. We may never know.

[bhtooefr]

Or even better, respectfully wait until she decides to get up, then ask her respectfully if she wants to go to Union Robotics.

FWIW, you're replying to a post that is based on a comic only released to patrons currently (tomorrow's comic), and I'll just leave it at that.

(That's why I usually don't participate in the WCDTs any more - by the time people here are discussing something, I've already seen the next comic...)

[Drunken Old Man]

The censor banners really makes things much more dirty than the uncensored version posted on patreon. Not that the patreon version doesn't raise a lot of other questions.

Perhaps Jeph is making an ironic point about censorship?

[Inconsequential]

I'm really glad a few of you figured out that was a slice of watermelon.

Imagine the... disturbance if your brain couldn't work out what the hell that pink thing with black bits and a squicky hole in the middle was. Still disturbing, but now it makes a twisted sort of sense.


Also, I'm sort of trying to figure out where the hell they are. Did they make it to Sven's place? Did they subject Dale, Marigold, and Momo to, um, y'know? Or did they just get squicky on the floor in the back room of the convenience store, the absolute trashiest option of all?


In any case, this is one frickin' hilarious train wreck. Can't wait to see where this goes.


Also, my absolute favorite Bubbles quote is here: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3753
"Millisecond pauses between words. And your courage is one of the things I admire most about you."

[Zebediah]

Has Momo's thing come up in years now, our time? Does May even know?

May knows; she actually noticed Momo's reaction to Sven and challenged her to act on it (before trash-talking Sven and suggesting that no-one could admire him the way he does).

I agree with what people on the Subreddits have been saying: If May was interested in Sven, she was under no obligation to honour some alleged 'prior claim' on her friend's part. Momo has had a couple of years and has never taken action, even after getting a highly anthropomimetic chassis, so she really has no moral basis to complain, especially as she specifically denied it to May. In any case, this seems to have been more of a mutual curiosity thing for both of them; something along the lines of: "Can I really do this (and enjoy it) and will the other party enjoy it?"

More to the point: Sven displayed zero sexual interest in Momo. He seemed to read her as “underage girl” and treated her with polite indifference. So anything Momo feels for Sven is entirely one-sided and is destined to remain unrequited.

[shanejayell]

Of the MANY possible places this story line could have gone, I REALLY wasn't expecting it to go THERE. *LOL*

[Theta9]

“What’s the watermelon doing there?”
“... I’ll explain later.”

BBFTW! 

[Magniras]

Well, that answers some questions I had about May's chassis.

[traroth]

Has Momo's thing come up in years now, our time? Does May even know?

May knows; she actually noticed Momo's reaction to Sven and challenged her to act on it (before trash-talking Sven and suggesting that no-one could admire him the way he does).

I agree with what people on the Subreddits have been saying: If May was interested in Sven, she was under no obligation to honour some alleged 'prior claim' on her friend's part. Momo has had a couple of years and has never taken action, even after getting a highly anthropomimetic chassis, so she really has no moral basis to complain, especially as she specifically denied it to May. In any case, this seems to have been more of a mutual curiosity thing for both of them; something along the lines of: "Can I really do this (and enjoy it) and will the other party enjoy it?"

More to the point: Sven displayed zero sexual interest in Momo. He seemed to read her as “underage girl” and treated her with polite indifference. So anything Momo feels for Sven is entirely one-sided and is destined to remain unrequited.

...or maybe it will end in a joyful threesome. But probably not, I agree.

[dutchrvl]

Has Momo's thing come up in years now, our time? Does May even know?

May knows; she actually noticed Momo's reaction to Sven and challenged her to act on it (before trash-talking Sven and suggesting that no-one could admire him the way he does).

I agree with what people on the Subreddits have been saying: If May was interested in Sven, she was under no obligation to honour some alleged 'prior claim' on her friend's part. Momo has had a couple of years and has never taken action, even after getting a highly anthropomimetic chassis, so she really has no moral basis to complain, especially as she specifically denied it to May. In any case, this seems to have been more of a mutual curiosity thing for both of them; something along the lines of: "Can I really do this (and enjoy it) and will the other party enjoy it?"

More to the point: Sven displayed zero sexual interest in Momo. He seemed to read her as “underage girl” and treated her with polite indifference. So anything Momo feels for Sven is entirely one-sided and is destined to remain unrequited.

Does Momo have a moral basis to complain? No, she doesn't
Does May have a moral obligation to honor some kind of 'claim' to Sven? No, of course not
Does May have the right to do whatever she pleases with Sven? Of course she does

All these aspects aside though, there is still the question of whether she should consider Momo's feelings in all this. The point is that, even if Momo has no moral basis to feel hurt, she may very well feel that way nonetheless. And if you know your friend may be hurt by it, wouldn't that justify considering whether you want to go through with it?
 
In other words: if your best friend has a crush (or even strong feelings?) on somebody you have no real interest in besides possibly an NSA night (which you could arguably have with others), would you still have that NSA night if there is a real chance your friend will feel hurt? Is 1 night without feelings (debatable, I know) worth hurting your friend's feelings? It may be unjustified for your friend to feel hurt, but that wouldn't change the fact itself.

[Democratus]

A friendship isn't a hostage negotiation. You can't call someone off-limits for your friends just because you are also interested. That is a slippery slope that results in more damage.

Pursue who you like. If someone else who likes them is also your friend - they will be happy for you if you succeed.

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, insightful new person!

[Is it cold in here?]

Global Moderator Comment

Patreon is part of how our host supports himself and part of that is that the dollar-a-month people are the only ones with access to material from there. No more leaks, please.

[TheEvilDog]

Unlike the comic which is having a completely different kind of leak.

[Is it cold in here?]

The interesting thing here is we seem to be getting a picture that you don't have to have a robosexual orientation to be intimate with synthetics. It's not exactly taken for granted yet, but going to bed with an AI seems to be more likely for people than going to bed with someone from a different gender than their usual.

QC society is still fighting robophobia of course but these encounters are a signal of how much real integration has happened.

[Marco]

I'm slightly squicked out by the comic. Which is surprising, because technically, I've seen much, much, MUCH weirder on the Internet and am pretty jaded by now (plus, weird = fun). There's just *something* about that last panel. I can't quite figure out what it is.

The amount of fluid displayed, surely.

[cybersmurf]

Unlike the comic which is having a completely different kind of leak.

You made me lol.

[dutchrvl]

A friendship isn't a hostage negotiation. You can't call someone off-limits for your friends just because you are also interested. That is a slippery slope that results in more damage.

Pursue who you like. If someone else who likes them is also your friend - they will be happy for you if you succeed.

Thank you for your comment, but I think you might be misreading my point. I am not talking about someone (e.g. Momo) calling someone offlimits for their friends.
I'm talking about e.g. Momo feeling hurt, even if she can rationalize that she shouldn't and can pretend to May that she's fine with it.

Of course you could say: "well my friend may feel hurt if I choose to bang this person she has a crush on, but tough luck for her because I simply want to bang that person once anyway", but I'd like to believe that most people would at least consider their friends feelings before doing so.

As I said, if no particular feelings of your own are involved with banging that person (besides lust), is it then worth potentially hurting your friend's feelings?

[Democratus]

A friendship isn't a hostage negotiation. You can't call someone off-limits for your friends just because you are also interested. That is a slippery slope that results in more damage.

Pursue who you like. If someone else who likes them is also your friend - they will be happy for you if you succeed.

Thank you for your comment, but I think you might be misreading my point. I am not talking about someone (e.g. Momo) calling someone offlimits for their friends.
I'm talking about e.g. Momo feeling hurt, even if she can rationalize that she shouldn't and can pretend to May that she's fine with it.

Of course you could say: "well my friend may feel hurt if I choose to bang this person she has a crush on, but tough luck for her because I simply want to bang that person once anyway", but I'd like to believe that most people would at least consider their friends feelings before doing so.

As I said, if no particular feelings of your own are involved with banging that person (besides lust), is it then worth potentially hurting your friend's feelings?

If that person was my friend, they would be happy I found a moment of intimacy with someone. If they were instead hurt or eaten up by jealousy then we would need to discuss one of two things: 1) How good of a friend are they really? 2) Is this due to some trauma they suffered elsewhere - and how can they get treatment for it.

Work on the root of the issue, not the symptom.

I've been in this situation as "the friend" a few times before - and when I was told about it, I just said "Details, please!"

[Morituri]

Well, I saw the hookup coming from three strips back. 

Gotta admit though, the watermelon and the oven mitt are surprises.  Points for creativity!

[TheEvilDog]

If that person was my friend, they would be happy I found a moment of intimacy with someone. If they were instead hurt or eaten up by jealousy then we would need to discuss one of two things: 1) How good of a friend are they really? 2) Is this due to some trauma they suffered elsewhere - and how can they get treatment for it.

Work on the root of the issue, not the symptom.

I've been in this situation as "the friend" a few times before - and when I was told about it, I just said "Details, please!"

Friendship doesn't work like that.

Yes, you would think "Hey, my friend should be happy that I hooked up with someone and got to partake in a unique experience". But on the other hand, you can't predict how someone is going to react. Especially someone like Momo. Momo is opinionated, she's particularly concerned about Human-AI relationships and how the actions of one can have a negative impact on the perception from Humanity, for example, Bubbles' service in the armed forces.

But if you scratch the surface, Momo, despite all the contact she has had with the likes of Pintsize, Tai, Marten, Bubbles, Faye and Marigold, is still somewhat sheltered. In essence, Momo is still that AI that we saw in the chassis, but without the emotional development that others have had. Pintsize is a troll, but does so to provoke Marten to get his thumb out of his ass because he knows that if he didn't, Marten would just stay home all the time. Bubbles has undergone severe psychological trauma and loss, but has managed to build herself back up and entered into a healthy relationship. Likewise, Winslow has become more aware of his privilege but is also that he can do something worthwhile now in his role as a companion to Hanners. But looks at Momo. Yes, she's gotten a new chassis, a job, but she hasn't had much development in other areas. May having sex with Sven, regardless of whatever or not Momo still has a crush on him, is still something major in terms of Human-AI relations. You don't know how she can react. And you can't have an arbitrary "she's either happy for me or she's not my friend."

[Shremedy]

The censor banners really makes things much more dirty than the uncensored version posted on patreon. Not that the patreon version doesn't raise a lot of other questions.

Perhaps Jeph is making an ironic point about censorship?

I like how youtube videogaming (Skyrim & Fallout) reactor MxR labels such boxes as "SQUARE OF FAMILY FRIENDLINESS"

[Case]

A friendship isn't a hostage negotiation. You can't call someone off-limits for your friends just because you are also interested. That is a slippery slope that results in more damage.

Pursue who you like. If someone else who likes them is also your friend - they will be happy for you if you succeed.

Thank you for your comment, but I think you might be misreading my point. I am not talking about someone (e.g. Momo) calling someone offlimits for their friends.
I'm talking about e.g. Momo feeling hurt, even if she can rationalize that she shouldn't and can pretend to May that she's fine with it.

Of course you could say: "well my friend may feel hurt if I choose to bang this person she has a crush on, but tough luck for her because I simply want to bang that person once anyway", but I'd like to believe that most people would at least consider their friends feelings before doing so.

As I said, if no particular feelings of your own are involved with banging that person (besides lust), is it then worth potentially hurting your friend's feelings?

If that person was my friend, they would be happy I found a moment of intimacy with someone. If they were instead hurt or eaten up by jealousy then we would need to discuss one of two things: 1) How good of a friend are they really? 2) Is this due to some trauma they suffered elsewhere - and how can they get treatment for it.

Work on the root of the issue, not the symptom.

I've been in this situation as "the friend" a few times before - and when I was told about it, I just said "Details, please!"

So ... you cannot possibly hurt a friend's feelings by indulging your desires, since, by definition, everybody who might feel hurt by your indulging your desires is either not your friend, or the problem lies with them/a hurt not caused by you?

Neat.

As I said, if no particular feelings of your own are involved with banging that person (besides lust), is it then worth potentially hurting your friend's feelings?

Consummating your lust might spark a deep, lasting relationship. The situation would then no longer be appropriately described by your framing of "only lust" vs. "friendship".

Happens rather frequently, or so I've heard ...

[OldGoat]

I think you meant to post this on patreon as it discusses things not yet posted here.

Ack!!!  You're right.  Mea culpa.

[de_la_Nae]

As I said, if no particular feelings of your own are involved with banging that person (besides lust), is it then worth potentially hurting your friend's feelings?

1. Bears pointing out that lust is not May's only feeling involved here.

2. At a point, yeah, living life is worth puncturing an immature teenage crush your friend has.

as a neurotic, self-repressed person, i may have some baggage and viewpoints about people like Momo and situations like this that color my views in a weird light. But not all hurt is equal.

[Thrillho]

I try to hang out in friendship groups where that kind of jealousy is unlikely to manifest, because sex can be solely sex.

It's not like it's impossible for it to happen and I wouldn't throw someone else's feelings on the fire, but the combined sexual history of me and my best friend is quite hilarious to look at, especially for the monogamous, and it's in very specific scenarios where there have been problems. And I also have to agree with de la, where yes, the hurt caused to a friend may be a fact regardless of what 'should' be okay, but... to a degree other people's feelings are their feelings to deal with.

I'm also not saying people are wrong for feeling that way either. You can choose an action, you can't choose an emotion.

As for Sven and May, to be honest I'm not sure I can imagine a more well-suited pairing either as a one-night tryst or a prolonged thing.

[Roborat]

Wow, I saw this coming, but I thought it would take a few more pages first.  And this was way funnier than I was anticipating, I really want to know how the nunchucks were involved, and how did they kill the poor phone?

[Drunken Old Man]

Wow, I saw this coming, but I thought it would take a few more pages first.  And this was way funnier than I was anticipating, I really want to know how the nunchucks were involved, and how did they kill the poor phone?

They didn't.

The phone committed suicide.

IT HAD SEEN THAT WHICH CANNOT BE UNSEEN.

[Mr Intrepid]

Wow, I saw this coming, but I thought it would take a few more pages first.  And this was way funnier than I was anticipating, I really want to know how the nunchucks were involved, and how did they kill the poor phone?

They didn't.

The phone committed suicide.

IT HAD SEEN THAT WHICH CANNOT BE UNSEEN.

Eye bleach tends to void the warranty.

[DaiJB]

I read this strip.

o.O

WHAT

I can't even...

I don't...

But...

(Gives up and goes with the flow) 


P.S. I wouldn't know what half of that "apparatus" is even for.....(Are those nunchucks???)

[TheEvilDog]

(Are those nunchucks???)

Hey! Whenever you have sex, you need to have some form of protection! Its called safe sex for a reason!

[Case]

I read this strip.

o.O

WHAT

I can't even...

I don't...

But...

[OldGoat]

There's a Natalie Imbruglia song in there somewhere.

[Tyr]

Oh.
my
*******
GOD.

WHY THE HELL IS ROBO-NARCOLEPSY NOT COVERED UNDER MAY'S PAROLE?!

I understand not giving her top-of-the-line hardware. I can sort of see why they won't cover 'repairs'...
BUT TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE BECAUSE OF A SHONKY BATTERY?

[shanejayell]

THUMP

*me*

*BURST OUT LAUGHING LOUDLY*

I totally wanna see Sven haul her unconscious butt to Union Robotics. Just for the reactions. 

[haikupoet]

I mean... that isn't good, but it's recoverable... eventually...

[Skewbrow]

I guess in QC universe there's nothing unusual about a human seeking help for an AI friend whose battery ran out. The fact that the said AI happens to be nude may raise a few eyebrows. Anyway, Sven will need to find a blanket. And hope that May's chassis is not as heavy as Momo's (judging from her lack of buoyancy).

[Aniroc]

Momo's feelings aside, I think Sven where he's at now would make a terrible first boyfriend/fwb/etc for her, whereas May just seems to be there for the experience and kinda gets what issues he has so they seem on much more equal footing. I think it will come up between May and Momo for sure and spark some possibly tense conversations, but probably healthy ones. I don't think May and Sven did anything wrong. I think May has shown the presence of mind to navigate that conversation.

Also, not to make you all hate me from the get go (sensing some Sven-haters but I'm in it for the situational/social commentary so he doesn't bother me) but I was wondering if/when Jeph would get back around to Sven. I've appreciate how much Jeph hasn't rushed his development but I did hope to see it go somewhere eventually.

[cybersmurf]

Makes me wonder about two things:

How expensive is it to replace the battery in May's chassis? Both in parts, and in work involved (it may as well be that you need special tools or know how to do it). And could you replace the charging plug?

And would certain changes beyond simple repairs violate May's parole? it for sure won't void any warranty, since there's none left IIRC.


Also, dies running out of battery like that mess with an AIs internal clock?
Does it cause Amnesia? (I think memories aren't constantly streamed to storage, but what are the sync intervals?)

[BenRG]

"My synthetic girlfriend went into safe mode after we had sex." Yeah, it does sound like something Erika would write an Oh Joy, Sex Toy! strip about, isn't it?

Okay, here's where I'd like this to go: I suspect that this is only the 'visible top' of the iceberg of just how defective May's chassis is. Fortunately, she now has a friend with deep pockets and a certain sense of responsibility to her. Partly because he's trying hard to be less of a douche and partly because there is a nice side to him once you get around the lazy entitlement issues.

So, I'm thinking that, after a comedic meeting with Faye, during which Sven has to convince her that he isn't trying to 'buy' May for a return engagement or something else similarly unethical, she and Bubbles agree to take a look. Pretty soon, the list of parts needing replacement gets very long. As May's chassis is long out of production now, only spare parts of extremely dodgy quality or third-party clones of suspect compatibility are available. Something has to be done, though; Bubbles says that it's only a matter of time before May can't even boot up because the state of the chassis systems will just keep kicking her into safe mode to stop CPU and drive damage.

So, Jeph gets to put in a time skip by having May boot up again a couple of months down the line, wearing a towel and a much more refined body. At some point, Faye mentions to her that they've still got her old chassis lying in the back room of Union Robotics because the guy from the scrap yard demanded that they pay him to take it away.

Makes me wonder about two things:

How expensive is it to replace the battery in May's chassis? Both in parts, and in work involved (it may as well be that you need special tools or know how to do it). And could you replace the charging plug?

The minute I read 'proprietary charger', my mental alarm bells started ringing. It's probably very difficult indeed - Parts made only by the manufacturer that only work with that particular model.

And would certain changes beyond simple repairs violate May's parole? it for sure won't void any warranty, since there's none left IIRC.

I imagine that, so long as any replacement chassis is registered with the Department of Corrections as her 'current abode', the bureaucrats won't care too much. So long as it isn't a combat model or something that would let her flee jurisdiction like a fighter jet, of course.

Also, dies running out of battery like that mess with an AIs internal clock?

Does it cause Amnesia? (I think memories aren't constantly streamed to storage, but what are the sync intervals?)

I think that synthetics write to their local memory in real time. So, there might be a few lost/corrupted seconds if the system jumped onto safe mode during a write job but that's no different from the distorted memory a human may have if they faint.

[Is it cold in here?]

A proprietary charging cable to me is perilously close to a civil rights violation.

[Y]

I guess in QC universe there's nothing unusual about a human seeking help for an AI friend whose battery ran out. The fact that the said AI happens to be nude may raise a few eyebrows. Anyway, Sven will need to find a blanket. And hope that May's chassis is not as heavy as Momo's (judging from her lack of buoyancy).

Sven has seen her naked so he wouldn't need a blanket if he just gets her cable from where she works (if it's still open). Or just get her back into her clothes. If it's an emergency however no precious time may be lost to prioritizing dignity over survivability.

[ihaveavoice]

Get the two of you cleaned up, dressed, and then head over to Union Robotics with May over your shoulder. 

Or even better, respectfully wait until she decides to get up, then ask her respectfully if she wants to go to Union Robotics.

How could she get up without a charge?

A proprietary charging cable to me is perilously close to a civil rights violation.

For real, it lines up with stuff about how our tech companies do business, but with an actual AI, that's at the very least holding someone's ability to remain conscious hostage (already horrifying), and since an AI is only actively "living" their life when they're powered on and never powering back on could basically be considered death, it's even worse than that. Imagine pacemakers or insulin pumps that you can only have serviced/changed at particular hospitals. If the nearest one doesn't work with your brand, you're SOL.

So...the comic works on a "heh, like phones" and a "oh god this sort of checks out with the perceived value/treatment of prisoners and paroled felons in our society" level. 

[cybersmurf]

Guess why the European Union told phone manufacturers to agree on a common charger, or they would force them to (or lose access to the EU's market)?

And now guess why they had to force them.

[Thrillho]

I guess in QC universe there's nothing unusual about a human seeking help for an AI friend whose battery ran out. The fact that the said AI happens to be nude may raise a few eyebrows. Anyway, Sven will need to find a blanket. And hope that May's chassis is not as heavy as Momo's (judging from her lack of buoyancy).

Sven has seen her naked so he wouldn't need a blanket if he just gets her cable from where she works (if it's still open). Or just get her back into her clothes. If it's an emergency however no precious time may be lost to prioritizing dignity over survivability.

Just to go on a tangent - having seen her naked does not mean he gets to continue seeing her naked when she is literally unconscious. And it would take two seconds to just throw a blanket over her so that she wasn't still totally naked when she came round at least.

[Raptorofwar]

1. TFW you can't actually read the letters in the registration for this forum. (I swear I'm not a robot.)
2. Well this has been an interesting set of comics! It does kinda remind me of Sven's almost-relationship with Faye, though, in the two's dialogue. Momo's going to be upset.

I wish I had money for the Patreon to see if Svarn has a clown nose.

[traroth]

WHUMP!

That made a lot of noise. Hopefully May didn't hurt herself. Especially with that crappy chassis.

Some thoughts for the forseeable future: their... relationship? will now inevitably be known (or maybe not if Sven is a coward enough to just go get her charging cable), which might stir up again tensions between Sven and Dora. And it will also surely make everybody aware of the crappy chassis May is living in and how it makes her life miserable. I think some kind of solution will emerge.

[BenRG]

@traroth,

Even if Sven just goes get May's charger cable, I've got the feeling that this isn't something that will be swept under the rug, no matter how much May wants it to be. We'll see how this works out but I suspect that either Sven will be sufficiently concerned about the poor state of repair of May's chassis that he asks Faye for advice or someone will turn up at Sven's place unexpectedly, find May and things will progress along a similar arc from there.

Ethical Debate Hook
Someone is in a generally poor state of health; not seriously ill but generally poorly enough that, long-term, it could have serious consequences. However, they are unable to access healthcare and are unwilling to accept what they describe as 'charity' or 'pity money' from their friends. That's a pretty good parallel to May's situation right now. Do her friends have a right to impose upon her against her will because of concern for her long-term health and safety?