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$5 bottle of scotch

Human/robot makeouts

Juicy gang

Two-ton Espressosaurus Rex terrorizes the town

Sven vs. Angus cage match!

Harem of Bros

[Zebediah]

I'd say that this will not end well, except that would seriously understate how well this will not end.

[FunkyTuba]

ya definitely going in the wrong direction

[Rghfrgl]

I know it was really just laying around, but my mind can't stop thinking about the whodunit conspiracy to drive Faye over the edge.

I bet it was Winslow. He was there making the dildobot and he's both the one you least expect AND the one who hardly got any screentime.

[sluthy]

Does Faye have to work that day? Will she either get wasted and not go in, or more likely show up already half-cut and have Dora tear her to shreds when she smells it on her breath or something?

[Emperor Norton]

I have the perfect way to tell if I'm dreaming. If I cover my left eye, and I can still see, its a dream. (I'm blind in my right eye). It seems my subconscious still hasn't caught up with the accident I had around 5 years ago.

[sluthy]

One time I was dreaming and was in an almost perfect scenario, I can't remember the specifics but it was a "pinch me I'm dreaming" moment. So I did pinch myself, didn't feel it and realised I was dreaming, and instantly woke up.

[TheEvilDog]

New comic u----and this is not going to end well, is it?

[MrNumbers]

Pintsize snuck into her room the night before to put another liquor bottle on her pillow.

Pintsize is the liquor fairy

Beats the time he tried to be the lick 'er fairy, at least.

[Neko_Ali]

Yeah.. I think we can definitely say Faye's into the realm of alcoholism now.

[Method of Madness]

[jwhouk]

God DAMN it, Faye

(nods in sad agreement)

Double.

[mustang6172]

Anyone else disappointed Pintsize wasn't under that sheet?

[freeman]

Oh no! Second day in, second day in! She has a problem! No Faye, noooo!
(Seriously, I should not try be funny, but you get my point?)

Also, one can buy a cheap ~25 oz bottle for as little as $5 there? Wow.

Does Faye have to work that day? Will she either get wasted and not go in, or more likely show up already half-cut and have Dora tear her to shreds when she smells it on her breath or something?

Real people would probably have their sizable hair of the dog, go to work and continue immediately when they come back. Good thing all those hipsters live in those shameful downtown townhouses (that should absolutely be dozed to make more space for good and righteous single family homes with lawn), so they all can walk to work.

[hedgie]

For some reason, the Clash song "Train in Vain" (Should I Stay or Should I Go) is going through my head right now.  Faye is going to go through hard times now, *especially* if she continues to booze it up like that.

[Gladstone]

Also, one can buy a cheap ~25 oz bottle for as little as $5 there? Wow.

Probably not?  I just figured, since Dora questioned Faye's judgement over drinking a $15 bottle of Scotch, then maybe a theoretical $5 bottle would be...worse?  Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about Scotch, so that poll option probably falls a bit flat.  My bad.

I'm a bit disappointed that Marten hasn't expressed much concern over Faye, especially since she's been drunk or hungover every time he's seen her in the past 2-3 days.  Maybe today will be the final straw, though, and he and Dora can stage an intervention.

[Carl-E]

If she's hiding bottles and forgetting they're there under her pillow, she's crossed the alky line, from problem drinking to a drinking problem. 



Our organist and choir director, a man I've always admired, just finished a 3 month suspension concurrent with a rehab program (yeah, christmas music was just sort of thrown together with a substitute organist). 

Last sunday, he was shaking like a leaf.  Still played beautifully, but you can see he's having a hard time coping. 

I gave him a hug.  Wish I could do more. 



Same for Faye. 

[ysth]

Also, one can buy a cheap ~25 oz bottle for as little as $5 there? Wow.

Probably not?  I just figured, since Dora questioned Faye's judgement over drinking a $15 bottle of Scotch, then maybe a theoretical $5 bottle would be...worse?  Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about Scotch, so that poll option probably falls a bit flat.  My bad.

I know nothing about Scotch either, and got the message I think you intended with the $5 bottle, so not universally flat.

[dreed]

Yeah.. I think we can definitely say Faye's into the realm of alcoholism now.

yep.  there is no question about this.  she reached for the bottle before even being fully awake.  even if she didn't bring that second bottle into the bedroom she is alcoholic.

wonder how this subject will be treated in QC?  it is very serious one.  everyone knows at least one alcoholic and knows how devastating it can be to that person and to everyone around.

but this is QC world so maybe the problem can be tackled with a cybernetic implant which will expel all alcohol at 200 mph few seconds after drinking it?
Han can probably pay for it for her friend.

[Zebediah]

Also, one can buy a cheap ~25 oz bottle for as little as $5 there? Wow.

Probably not?  I just figured, since Dora questioned Faye's judgement over drinking a $15 bottle of Scotch, then maybe a theoretical $5 bottle would be...worse?  Admittedly, I know absolutely nothing about Scotch, so that poll option probably falls a bit flat.  My bad.

I know nothing about Scotch either, and got the message I think you intended with the $5 bottle, so not universally flat.

I just did a search for cheap scotches, and I couldn't find anything less than $14 a bottle. Not sure I'd want to either.

[tragic_pizza]

I expect that, precisely because alcoholism is a serious and close-to-home subject for so many people, Jeph is going to attack this arc with the same care he did with Claire's coming out.

The man is no idiot. He has proven his ability to be funny, compassionate, and real. I'm hurting for Faye, but this is going to be a good arc.

[freeman]

I expect that, precisely because alcoholism is a serious and close-to-home subject for so many people, Jeph is going to attack this arc with the same care he did with Claire's coming out.

The man is no idiot. He has proven his ability to be funny, compassionate, and real. I'm hurting for Faye, but this is going to be a good arc.

Now that you mention it, in that last time the man stabbed his own hand.

Hopefully he is now in better shape to handle this.

Anyway, what about the cheapest bottle of vodka?

[Emoroffle]

Cool, the Hooch Fairy is real. All you have to do is leave your dignity under the pillow.

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Welp. Clambered out of one bottle just long enough to dive into the next. When was the last time she saw Dr. Corinne?

[ReindeerFlotilla]

This will not end well.

[Kugai]

Welp. Clambered out of one bottle just long enough to dive into the next. When was the last time she saw Dr. Corinne?

Too long by the looks of it.

[BenRG]

Either someone in the apartment is buying Faye booze on the sly or she's forgetting doing so herself. This latter option is very worrying. A significant time in Rehab is possible in her immediate future. She's not just backslid, she's lost all the progress she made during the lifetime of the comic so far and is still regressing.

Jeph is clearly spending time to establish just how bad (and quickly bad) things have got for Faye. This is good writing -You need to properly establish the peril before you talk about counter move.

This will not end well.

I worry that she'll come in to work drunk, Dora will send her home 'until you're sober' and that this will send her off the deep end. Alcoholics can massively overreact to personal setbacks.

[NilsO]

The power to get to the root of the problem is just a step away. It's not imaginary, it's real. Hyperreal. Integrate it in your life and you're all set. Then you can have pi. Or tau, if you're really hungry.

In my language, "tau" means "rope". Yes, you must be really hungry to enjoy it.

(click to show/hide)

[themacnut]

Either someone in the apartment is buying Faye booze on the sly or she's forgetting doing so herself. This latter option is very worrying. A significant time in Rehab is possible in her immediate future. She's not just backslid, she's lost all the progress she made during the lifetime of the comic so far and is still regressing.

It's worse than that. Faye's always been a hard drinker, but she's never drank like this - hungover from finishing one bottle and immediately starting the next? Those are the actions of a person who simply does not want to stay sober. Which means she'll only go to rehab by being dragged there kicking and screaming. And knowing Faye, punching and biting.

This will not be resolved quickly or painlessly, believe that. It's going to get worse before there's even a hope that it might get better. We may see Faye lose her job, at least temporarily, alienate her friends ('cause that's what alcoholics tend to do to their non-alcoholic friends who object to their drinking) and maybe even get kicked out of the apartment because, y'know, she's not supplying her half of the rent anymore and Marten will need to either replace her with a working, paying roommate or end up moving in with his Mother (shudder), in which case Faye's gonna end up on the street anyway.

No intervention is going to solve this quickly - Faye knows full well what she's doing and doesn't seem to care very much. She just wants to stop the pain of her breakup and staying drunk seems to be the most expedient way to do that. Anyone who seriously tries to interfere with that, to essentially make her face her pain, is going to be fought tooth and nail with everything Faye can muster. Yep, this is gonna get ugly, we've only seen the pretty side so far.

[jwhouk]

[NilsO]

... Those are the actions of a person who simply does not want to stay sober.
... Yep, this is gonna get ugly, we've only seen the pretty side so far.

Agreed. So far, we have mostly seen the funny side of Faye drinking, but there is a very dark undertone here. We may speculate if Pintsize was the Booze Fairy in today's strip (as he seemed to encourage Faye to drink in strip #2870), but in all probability, Faye bought the new bottle herself. Pintsize is a pervert, but he does not want to harm anyone.

We may speculate if Marten tried to Talk to Faye last night. If so, she probably just shrugged it off. Apparently, things are going to get much worse before this is over. There will be Dark Times ahead, but I sincerely hope Faye will get help to get through this.

The Booze Fairy revealed (a distant relative of the Tequila Monster):

(click to show/hide)

[Akima]

I'm a bit disappointed that Marten hasn't expressed much concern over Faye, especially since she's been drunk or hungover every time he's seen her in the past 2-3 days.

Mmm... though it can be tricky to distinguish between drinking too much and alcoholic behaviour. I suspect that if he'd seen Faye's morning routine from the last strip, he'd have reacted more strongly.

[HauntedNorth]

That's one of the worst parts of it. My dad is/was/is an alcoholic. Yeah, he'd have a heavy on the whiskey jack and coke in front of me pretty much nightly, but I started monitoring the level in the bottle out of the fear of how much he was drinking. It was a hell of a lot more than I realized, and near constant.

[jwhouk]

Which brings me to my next observation: David Whitaker.

I openly wonder what his BAC may have been when the events of strip 505 happened.

[Japheree]

Pretty scary stuff in todays strip.

As someone who has had problems with drinking I have been monitoring this storyline pretty closely and it breaks my heart. Up until today it looked like a classic case of someone desperate for her friends to notice something was up and to do something about to help her. I have been there and how I wished for an assertive friend to have kicked me in the arse at times. It looked like problem drinking but not quite alcoholism (I know problematic definitions but there are differences IMO.

Thankfully, I have never ever got as bad as todays strip (and hopefully now sober, I never will). I never had a physical addiction, always regretted drinking the morning after and never started up the morning after (I just couldn't face the evenings). I was actually pretty functional. Make no mistake, Faye is in a very very bad way indeed. It seems to have come about fast but then, if she was drinking heavily in a social context anyway, I guess she didn't have far to fall to get where she is.

I hope something can intervene before it gets even worse, I hope something comes along to shock her into sense and not send her the other way.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm a bit disappointed that Marten hasn't expressed much concern over Faye, especially since she's been drunk or hungover every time he's seen her in the past 2-3 days.

Mmm... though it can be tricky to distinguish between drinking too much and alcoholic behavior. I suspect that if he'd seen Faye's morning routine from the last strip, he'd have reacted more strongly.

This is the "danger" of the way the story's being told. It was clear to us that Faye had a potential problem weeks ago. Knowing that, it was also clear to us that the things she's done with Marten and Dora were red flags.

But Marten and Dora don't have our perspective. Dora doesn't know that Faye's been over doing it home. Marten doesn't know that Faye tried to drink at work. Neither knows that she's starting the day by reaching for the bottle on the floor.

All that said, it is already straining suspension of disbelief that neither one of them has cottoned to what's happening.  That's due to presentation.

[Japheree]

Probably worth pointing out that although Faye has been pretty bad at hiding her problems, it is quite easy to keep problem drinking a secret from all but the closest people until it is very far gone. i was a ridiculous over achiever which hitting the sauce quite hard. I doubt anyone but my nearest and dearest even had an inkling.

Unless Marten is going to start spending all his time with Claire from now on, it should become fairly obvious to him soon enough though. The hope is he doesn't go into denial over it. 

[bhtooefr]

I expect that, precisely because alcoholism is a serious and close-to-home subject for so many people, Jeph is going to attack this arc with the same care he did with Claire's coming out.

The man is no idiot. He has proven his ability to be funny, compassionate, and real. I'm hurting for Faye, but this is going to be a good arc.

And, unlike Claire's coming out arc, Jeph has first-hand personal experience with this one (which reared its ugly head during Claire's coming out arc, re: him stabbing himself in the hand).

[Thrillho]

For some reason, the Clash song "Train in Vain" (Should I Stay or Should I Go) is going through my head right now.  Faye is going to go through hard times now, *especially* if she continues to booze it up like that.

That's two different songs.

[freeman]

I expect that, precisely because alcoholism is a serious and close-to-home subject for so many people, Jeph is going to attack this arc with the same care he did with Claire's coming out.

The man is no idiot. He has proven his ability to be funny, compassionate, and real. I'm hurting for Faye, but this is going to be a good arc.

And, unlike Claire's coming out arc, Jeph has first-hand personal experience with this one (which reared its ugly head during Claire's coming out arc, re: him stabbing himself in the hand).

If I recall correctly, this was more a result of certain faction of tumblr criticizing Jeph for only having "hollywood pudgy" females in this comic, not seriously obese ones. Because that's unrealistic and objectifies women and is sexist and so on, hundreds of messages from the page that had the Marigold bikini shot. I don't know the specifics and only read it only from second hand sources.

I wonder if Jeph has started to drink in moderation since the incident or is he trying to remain completely dry? What I understood, he wasn't exactly in state of drinking "problem" yet, but in high risk and high quantities nevertheless. That's the thing when one is entrepreneur/politician/musician/actor, too many free drinks.

[ysth]

So has this been going on to this extent since Angus left?

Or did it get dramatically worse after Clairten?

[Carl-E]

Rough guess is that it started when Angus left, and has been not-so-slowly ramping up to the present level.  I think we've hit a zenith / nadir. 

[Neko_Ali]

As someone who has experienced this from watching my father growing up... When you have someone who is a regular drinker in your life, it can be difficult to tell when someone has gone from being a regular drinker to being a problem drinker. Angus actually picked up on this some time ago I think, but his concerns were brushed away when he complained how much Faye drank. It is entirely likely this problem has been going on for a lot longer than the readers realize. Angus hasn't known Faye as long as Dora and Marten, and he is around her a lot more and in private situations than they are. So it's likely he saw the signs before anyone else did. Dora and Marten are used to her being a drinker, but as they are not constantly together anymore the way they were when Dora was living in the apartment, neither of them have realized it's turning into constant drinking. Dora just recently got a warning when Faye brought the bottle to work. It would probably be a good idea if she got together with Marten to compare notes.

edit due to new comments while typing: I think the drinking problem started before Angus left. As evidenced by him getting upset when he found her drunk again. She was either drinking more after finding out about Angus' possibly moving to The City. Or maybe she was drinking to cope with being in a relationship with Angus. That did represent a major change to her life. While she wanted it, it may also have scared her enough to crawl into a bottle as an attempted coping mechanism. Either way, I think the problem has been going on longer than we the readers realize.

[TheEvilDog]

The problem has been there for years.
It's been there when Dora and Marten tried to intervene and Marten put his foot in it.
It was there when Faye moved in. We just didn't notice because we thought Faye was quirky.
I'd wager it's been there since the aftermath of Faye's father's suicide.
Faye has never really been a person to face her problems head on, it's usually been a case of reaching for a nearby bottle or bar instead. To use something of a cliche, Faye has always been in the rabbit hole, we're just seeing how deep it goes now.

[Neko_Ali]

The thing is she seems to have gone from self-sabotaging behavior to self-destructive behavior.

[Is it cold in here?]

It will be interesting character development if Pintsize is the one who blows the whistle.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Some people self medicate. It's not a good thing, but its also not alcoholism. Problem drinking is a good word for it.

All things considered, Faye's always been a problem drinker. Like I said, running away, in one form or another, has always been her MO.

I've known too many alcoholics. Oddly, none of them was ever a problem drinker. They were all addictive personalities. There's probably an infinite number of redlines, but in my experience the thing that separates the problem drinkers for the drinking problems is what a person does when the first wake up.

Every person I've ever known to have a drinking problem got in the habit of starting the day with a drink. I knew one guy who ended every day with most of a 24 pack (cans) of beer and had the last two first thing in the morning. Another who started with a triple S and a shot of vodka, then progressed to a shot, triple S, and then another shot.

It's possible that Faye's been doing this longer than we know. Most of the alcoholics I've known were indistinguishable from sober until they were near passing out. But I get the feeling this is a new place for Faye. Her problem drinking has evolved.

[A Duck]

It will be interesting character development if Pintsize is the one who blows the whistle.

With Marten focusing on Claire and Dora not as phisicaly close as she used to be (and already having been estabilished as "Boss Dora" in Faye's eyes, at least for now), maybe it'll really be Pintsize the one to give Faye a push to get out of this.

We've had Pintsize's "hidden depths" hinted at before. Maybe now it's time for him to ascend even more beyond a comic relief, just like Momo gained much more importance after she changed her chassis.

[Rghfrgl]

So has this been going on to this extent since Angus left?

Or did it get dramatically worse after Clairten?

They pretty much happened at the same time(And they kind of had to, stop readers from thinking 'Hey, Marten and Faye are both single' and getting ideas). Faye was told the day after the breakup, but suspected it the day before the breakup.

[crazdgamer]

Which brings me to my next observation: David Whitaker.

I openly wonder what his BAC may have been when the events of strip 505 happened.

A chilling thought, one I didn't initially consider. 

[celticgeek]

Uh-oh.