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Faypocalypse Sven

9 (6.9%)

Claireten Snuggles

12 (9.2%)

Clintonhand Naughtyness

3 (2.3%)

Dora fires Faye - Drama and drunkenness ensues

50 (38.2%)

Clairemom and Martenmom accidentally meet

4 (3.1%)

Emily gets weirder (is that even possible?)

4 (3.1%)

Sven rescues Faye - Dora gets wrong end of stick

12 (9.2%)

The surprise return on Angus - Blood and mayhem ensue

5 (3.8%)

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

7 (5.3%)

Whatever it is, it'll be completely unexpected

22 (16.8%)

ALIENS!

3 (2.3%)

Total Members Voted: 123

[jheartney]

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

Unless Faye has a legal directive authorizing Marten to do so, he can't make any medical decisions on Faye's behalf. Hospital will try to make contact with next of kin, so I hope Marten has their number. He wouldn't be a designated emergency contact unless Faye has woken up and made him such.  Assuming Faye's still out, they'll either be treating her in the ER or admitting her. If there's no insurance available, they'll be less likely to admit her. (Yes, I've been through family medical drama. It's grim.)

This all assumes that Marten is on the ball enough to realize he needs to call 911. The fact that he called Claire first is not a good sign. WRT all the speculation about how much she consumed/pills or blood in the vomit etc. this is all beside the point. She was passed out in her own vomit. That's enough to call in professionals and not play guessing games.

[SRRRRRRRR]

New bet:

What are the odds Sven finds out about this, ends up on Angus's talk show as a music guest some day, and punches him in front of the cameras for reasons neither of them fully understands?

I'd pay to see that.

Then the next comic is immediately a joke about butts.  Possibly about how someone got their butt kicked.

[BenRG]

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

Unless Faye has a legal directive authorizing Marten to do so, he can't make any medical decisions on Faye's behalf.

This is only a gut feeling on my part but I suspect that Faye has long since had either Dora or Marten listed officially as having authorisation to act on her behalf if she's incapacitated. Her mother lives several states away and there is no guarantee that she would be available; the sensible move for Faye would be to have the most clear-headed of her friends named to act for her.

[eschaton]

Prediction:  This is Faye hitting bottom, at least for now.  She may relapse later, but nearly killing herself (either intentionally or unintentionally) with booze is so excessive that everyone will know she has a drinking problem and do everything they can to make her stop.  And presuming she didn't actually try to commit suicide (or, when she sobers up, is horrified that she tried) she'll probably be scared straight for a bit.  After all, Jeph has never before shown the degree of sadism to make one of his characters have a very, very bad spell for months of comic time on end.  Also, Jeph has been open about is own alcoholism, and of course he himself never "hit bottom" in the sense of destroying every aspect of his life before he got wise and sobered up.  There's no reason to think that Faye will either. 

One other prediction:  This will sunder the friendship between Dora and Marten.  Marten will hear about what happened - either when he calls Dora to ask if anything unusual happened at work today, or when he reboots Pintsize.  He will be viscerally angry at Dora for how she handled the situation, even before Faye gets a chance to put her two cents in and make herself look better.  Like many in the thread, he will wonder why she didn't just tell Dora to go home, or put her on leave without pay.  Dora may blame herself, or may take the "I'm sorry to hear this happened, but she made her own choices here, not me."  Either way, Marten will be much more upset with Dora than Faye, and it may take him quite a long time (even longer than Faye, perhaps) to forgive and forget. 

Ya'll's is forgettin'. Marten's barely 26. Party days are not a distant memory. He's probably not really versed on the dangers of alcohol overdose. Passed out, puked, and breathing is a party foul at that age.

Indeed.  It's a good thing both bottles are still next to her, or he wouldn't consider the seriousness of the situation.

Yet another misery she has visited upon poor Marten.  She really is a happiness vampire.

For fuck's sake, stop it with this.  As I said upthread, you can hate Faye, but pretty soon after "the talk" she settled into being a great friend for him.  Almost all positive changes in his life, other than working at the library, are due to knowing Faye.  She's a good friend who headed into a dark place, and Marten is responding with compassion, as he should. 

[dexeron]

OK, I'm a noob, and I know this isn't the time for it...

but someone has to explain to me the whole "While you were posting, such and such" thing, and how it seems to (sometimes) intelligently comment on what's been posted.

Are these forums actually a self-aware AI?  They are, aren't they?  And QC is just Jeph's extremely round-about way of making society comfortable with the concept of AI-human interaction.

We copy and paste them, add a colour tag and edit it ourselves.

Sorry. Is this like telling a kid the Santa Clause in the mall isn't real by shooting him execution-style in front of them?

Awwwwww, there goes my headcanon. 

Unless... that's what the self-aware forum AI wants me to think... 

[osaka]

OK, I'm a noob, and I know this isn't the time for it...

but someone has to explain to me the whole "While you were posting, such and such" thing, and how it seems to (sometimes) intelligently comment on what's been posted.

Are these forums actually a self-aware AI?  They are, aren't they?  And QC is just Jeph's extremely round-about way of making society comfortable with the concept of AI-human interaction.

We copy and paste them, add a colour tag and edit it ourselves.

Sorry. Is this like telling a kid the Santa Clause in the mall isn't real by shooting him execution-style in front of them?

It's people making fun/smart comments about the automated "people have posted while you were writing" message. Not copy/pastes. It's kind of a forum tradition.

Although if we actually were a self-aware AI we would probably want you to believe otherwise. Not my call to make in all honesty.

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

Unless Faye has a legal directive authorizing Marten to do so, he can't make any medical decisions on Faye's behalf.

This is only a gut feeling on my part but I suspect that Faye has long since had either Dora or Marten listed officially as having authorisation to act on her behalf if she's incapacitated. Her mother lives several states away and there is no guarantee that she would be available; the sensible move for Faye would be to have the most clear-headed of her friends named to act for her.

NEXT UP: Actually, it's Pintsize. Since the night before. He broke into the government records just in case (since after all he was the one with more info about the situation, down to the actual chemical properties of the cheap booze Faye was downing).

This is my headcanon until proved otherwise.

Which would make getting Pintsize up to boot that much more critical.

Warning - while you were typing Dexeron has read right through us. The beans of doubt have been planted. Which is sad because we wanted to do it before

[Neko_Ali]

What I am not telling you of course is that it's all a cover up, that I became a mod by being assimilated into the forum Borg Collective.


I'm not telling you that because it isn't true, of course.




Or is it?

[osaka]

Dammit. I don't like being assimilated. I even got mad when I couldn't beat Borg Multiball in the Star Trek pinball table.

I guess I'll never moderate around here (which on the other hand might be better for all of us).

[DillyDolly]

Greetings, All -

Old fan and lurker. New to discussing.

In late, but here's my thoughts.

- We don't know if the bottle(s) were full when she started guzzling. I doubt she planned this binge by first making a shopping trip. She may have just drank whatever part bottles she could find in the house (and in her purse).

- the color of puke: Maybe she had marinara for lunch.

- Pintsize: Whatever happened, I doubt he was much other than a smartass. That's historically been his character.  His current apparently catatonic state could be anything from impact damage to a porn induced haze. Or he could have gotten bored after Faye passed out and simply gone into "screen saver" mode for a while.

We don't really know, but given that it's Friday, we're going to be hanging on this dramatic cliff-hanger for a couple of days. Jeph is a clever and evil man.

I think the fact that a whole panel is devoted to Pintsize looking, honestly, as if he has been deactivated or erased sort of indicates that whatever is happening with him, it's not mundane. Especially considering this. I think it's entirely possible that he tried to stop her and said he was calling Marten and she turned him off or, as suggested, threw him against a wall.

There had been something bugging me about this comic and I think I know what it is, and that's Marten's complete lack of surprise. As opposed to here. The cases are similar. If he had no heads up, he would probably, upon seeing Pintsize be like "What the fuck ...?" instead of resigned silence. The same with Faye. He looks concerned but he doesn't have the look of shock as a person who has no idea that their roommate got fired for drunkenness and might have gone on a bigger bender. So I am thinking, especially since prior to their first date he told Claire that getting all dressed up wasn't really necessary, that Dora did call him or text him, or at the very least, texted Tai.

I fear Pintsize is permanently deactivated—especially after what you pointed out. He's been showing up less and less, and this seems to be a really huge turning point for the whole strip. If he isn't deactivated, it wouldn't be a surprise if he's changed physically and/or personality-wise. Of course, I may be completely wrong, and he may be there so when Marten starts him back up he can explain what happened. Either way, this is quite a cliffhanger!

I don't think Faye will die or even end up in the hospital. We don't see Marten calling 911. Of course he could have done it off-camera prior to calling off the date, but it seems like the kind of thing we would have been shown if he had.

Faye's vomit looked more red earlier. It looks very brown now. Did it get edited? I was on a phone instead my laptop so maybe the color looked different, and that's why some people think it's blood. Seeing it now, though, it's definitely brown—and not in a dried blood way.

I think a lot of things are about to change in the strip—from the chemistry between the cast members to the actual cast itself. It's been kind of heading that way as we've been seeing more and more of the library.

On a different note, having worked at a college library (and very briefly at a crappy concession stand), it's totally normal for staff/faculty members to smoke pot once in a while at a college workplace versus a food place. My ex-library boss even told me he smoked on campus during work with one of my relatives. I suppose you could harm someone with a book, but it's a lot less likely than the harm you can cause in the food industry where you can wreck things easily—from screwing up someone's order to burning them or giving them food poisoning. At a restaurant, you quickly can destroy your company's reputation and put it out of business through lawsuits or health violations. Coffee houses are generally considered higher end than something like fast food, too—even though you have to hustle the same (even not quicker—pre-caffeinated customers are grumpy). But college libraries? Most of those are state funded. And being stoned on a little pot is usually a lot less severe or noticeable than being drunk unless you are spending all day smoking or doing some really heavy stuff (speaking as an observer—I've only drank but been around a lot of pot smokers).

[TheCallMeFez]

You know whats cool about this though? We get to see Pintsize being a companion. As he said here he has a different view on how to do his job. I think he has been acting a bit more subdued in his interactions with Faye and perhaps part of his natural aptitude with being a companion  compelled him to gravitate towards Faye recently. Drinking with her and listening to her problems and possibly even trying to help her to the point of getting in harms way. I like to think that Pintsize is a lot more deep than we give him credit for. Really hoping this shows his softer side and doesn't end up being another butt joke

[Neko_Ali]

I have been around a lot of people who smoke and a lot who drink. It's really more about how much you do more than what you do. Pot is often touted as a 'lighter' drug than things like cocaine or alcohol... but it's not, really. You can get just as messed up. I can't speak for long term effects of it, but in the short run I've seen people as disabled by smoking as by drinking. I've seen those who have enough of a buzz on that their judgement is impaired on both, and enough that have just a light buzz but otherwise function normally. I couldn't tell you personally though. I've been mildy drunk before, but never falling down drunk. And I can't go near pot smoke. Even being near people who are smoking gives me migraines. Tai seems to be someone who just gets a light to moderate buzz, and has enough awareness to know when she has had to much and should just sit down and watch Adventure Time.

[BenRG]

Regarding Pintsize: If his current chassis has been seriously damaged, then they'll need another one to get him operational again. The only two available are Momo's original Chibi-chassis and, possibly (if she never got around to shipping it back) the RoboBoyfriend Dr Elicott-Chatham built for Hannelore.

Now, just think about what Pintsize might be like running around in a human-sized body that's just a bit too 'uncanny valley' for any girl to find attractive.

[DillyDolly]

I have been around a lot of people who smoke and a lot who drink. It's really more about how much you do more than what you do. Pot is often touted as a 'lighter' drug than things like cocaine or alcohol... but it's not, really. You can get just as messed up. I can't speak for long term effects of it, but in the short run I've seen people as disabled by smoking as by drinking. I've seen those who have enough of a buzz on that their judgement is impaired on both, and enough that have just a light buzz but otherwise function normally. I couldn't tell you personally though. I've been mildy drunk before, but never falling down drunk. And I can't go near pot smoke. Even being near people who are smoking gives me migraines. Tai seems to be someone who just gets a light to moderate buzz, and has enough awareness to know when she has had to much and should just sit down and watch Adventure Time.

I don't completely disagree with that—having grown up with parents who were addicted at different points of my child and adulthood (part of why I won't smoke—though I don't judge others who do). When people high on pot, though, they tend to be a lot less likely to exhibit volatile behavior—though some can be complete @ssholes coming off their high. Also, how much they are stoned depends on what they smoke and their personalities to begin with.

That aside, it's generally more accepted (sometimes expected) at a university or even in an art environment (like an ad firm I designed for) to occasionally smoke on the job, but very frowned upon to drink to the point of drunkness. Ironic—considering pot's been illegal in the US until recently.

[TheEvilDog]

(if she never got around to shipping it back)

You....you do realise that this is Hannelore Ellicot-Chatham you're talking about right? The woman who has a military grade robot for cleaning her living room? The woman who ends messes? The woman who took her OCD and made it a business for counting? We are talking about the same woman, right?

[DillyDolly]

Regarding Pintsize: If his current chassis has been seriously damaged, then they'll need another one to get him operational again. The only two available are Momo's original Chibi-chassis and, possibly (if she never got around to shipping it back) the RoboBoyfriend Dr Elicott-Chatham built for Hannelore.

Now, just think about what Pintsize might be like running around in a human-sized body that's just a bit too 'uncanny valley' for any girl to find attractive.

Unless Hannelore got a hold of something else from her dad. I really have a feeling, though, Pintsize could be gone. Pretty symbolic if he is. Or he will be a source of information if/when he wakes up.

Was thinking about the lack of surprise from Marten could be a sign his emotions are shut down right now until everything is assessed and cared for. Been there as a parent during emergencies. Somehow instinctively you shut feelings away in these situations until the person(s) under your care are out of danger. You have to in order to think clearly and get done what needs to be done.

[dexeron]

If it turns out that Pintsize is seriously injured, that really could be a turning point, some real consequences that might force Faye to think about where she is and where she is going.  (Whether it would lead to the beginning of a struggle towards recovery, or a further sliding down the spiral is another question entirely...)

[Zebediah]

Pintsize is going to be fine. Jeph would not have the death of a major character happen off-camera. And yes, Pintsize is still a major character, even if we haven't seen as much of him lately.

[TieDyeKat]

There had been something bugging me about this comic and I think I know what it is, and that's Marten's complete lack of surprise. As opposed to here. The cases are similar. If he had no heads up, he would probably, upon seeing Pintsize be like "What the fuck ...?" instead of resigned silence. The same with Faye. He looks concerned but he doesn't have the look of shock as a person who has no idea that their roommate got fired for drunkenness and might have gone on a bigger bender. So I am thinking, especially since prior to their first date he told Claire that getting all dressed up wasn't really necessary, that Dora did call him or text him, or at the very least, texted Tai.

I suspect the scent of puke hit him the moment he opened the door.

[Natswash]

Ben stop making scary predictions! It's scary!

I think Pintsize may have tried to stop Faye from overdosing with the booze and she turned him off in a grumpy taciturn response.
Thinking about an AnthroPC getting turned off is actually kinda frightening, it's a massive loss of personal power (pun unintended and then relished and kept). I have to wonder if they have the ability to turn themselves back on after being externally deactivated, or if they must wait for external reactivation. If it's the first that must be a massive fear for some of them.

[A Duck]

What I think can happen now that Marten had to cancel his date:
Claire, being inexperienced and apparently quite insecure, might be a little shaken. I don't think she knows about Marten and Faye's pre comic 500 past, so when she DOES learn about that, she might start going down the same insecurity route Dora went.
And that's the moment Dora herself enters the picture and tells Claire not to make the same mistake she did.

I can see Pintsize's current situation being used to bring up a AI rights subplot.

[Is it cold in here?]

Sharing a bottle with the Grim Reaper

When you can turn a phrase like that you are either a writer or should be.

Welcome, dielicious! We have a lot of ESL speakers around with different skill levels.

A random thought is that even if Faye didn't need medical attention (Marten's not qualified to judge that of course) then it would still do her a different kind of good if Marten calls 911. Waking up in a hospital would be a cold splash of reality in her face.

[MooskiNet]

What I think can happen now that Marten had to cancel his date:
Claire, being inexperienced and apparently quite insecure, might be a little shaken. I don't think she knows about Marten and Faye's pre comic 500 past, so when she DOES learn about that, she might start going down the same insecurity route Dora went.
And that's the moment Dora herself enters the picture and tells Claire not to make the same mistake she did.

I can see Pintsize's current situation being used to bring up a AI rights subplot.

Claire is aware of Marten and Faye's early relationship - as a matter of fact, it was summarized by Pintsize.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

If one fifth of 80 proof liquor REALLY had a 50/50 kill chance, I, as well as a large number of my friends, have all had lottery winning levels of luck in not dying in our 20s. I think that there is something you might be missing in how those calculations are done.

(also, I'm sure Faye weighs more than 60kg, though I didn't in my hardest drinking partying days)

It's not a fifth, you're right. It's 535 millimeters. About 13 shots for a 75 kg person.

It's actually somewhat surprising that human beings survive anything, but in this case it generally takes some work to reach that level, and it does all have to be consumed faster than the liver can process it.

Around 13 shots per hour will give 50/50 odds of death for a 160-ish pound person. I'd guess Faye to be in the 140 to 160 range, so the fact that she's had more than a liter and a half, possibly more than 2 liters, is worthy of consideration.

Math is not that hard.

[Quartsize]

This clearly opens the door for the return of Sarah, who Dora will hire as Assistant Manager.   Faye will go with Angus to do arts in the city where she can sell arts.  Just as the drama is set to peak the story will cut away to Emily for a day doing something that the kids would refer to as "totes cray cray."

[A Duck]

Claire is aware of Marten and Faye's early relationship - as a matter of fact, it was summarized by Pintsize.

That's great to know! I still really hope Marten explains the current situation so she doesn't get any wrong ideas.

Having your possibly best friend passed out on a pile of their own vomit is a reasonable reason to kill any date, sadly.

[themacnut]

I'm not surprised Marten hasn't called 911, assuming he isn't about to do so next comic. After all, Faye's a long-time hard drinker and this is not the first time she's drunk herself unconscious, or even thrown up on the couch. He simply may not think she's in any danger and indeed she may not be, after all her tolerance would be a lot higher that the rest of her present social circle. We may just cut to her waking up in bed with the mother of all hangovers, with no recollection of how she got there, or of being fired either.

The fact of Faye's hard-drinking habit may be part of the reason he's not very surprised at what he walks in on, though a heads-up from Dora or Tai makes more sense.

[eschaton]

Somewhat relevant, an interesting article I ran into on addition today. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html

[stephber]

Using ReindeerFlotilla's assumptions, here's where we would be for the BAC:


from  http://www.globalrph.com/bac.cgi

We don't know how long she's been away from COD - I'm assuming 6 hrs from the AM firing to when Marteen arrives. I'm also assuming a slightly higher then normal alcohol clearance due to how much Faye drinks. Quite a few studies from Toxicology journals show "There is wide variation in the metabolism of ethanol. The unhabituated drinker clears ethanol from the blood stream at an approximate rate of 15 to 20 mg/dL (3 to 4.5 mmol/L) per hour. Patients with chronic ethanol abuse can clear ethanol at a rate of 25 to 35 mg/dL (5.5 to 8 mmol/L) per hour, or even faster in some cases."

Now, we're all making assumptions that the vomit there is "coffee-ground emesis" - pretty much the standard for showing a GI bleed. We don't know if that's the case or if Jeph just likes his vomit drawn dark brown with the ever-present corn and carrots.

Should Marten call 911 and get her to the hospital? With her looking like that and having a likely BAC over 0.3, heck yeah. Do I think that Faye's likely to die from this? Not very as we have a few 'regulars' showing up to our ER by EMS with BAC like this getting discharged 4-5 hours later after some IV fluid and thiamine.

[bhtooefr]

Pintsize is fine, we've seen him shut off before, and Marten keeps backups.

[Emperor Norton]

If one fifth of 80 proof liquor REALLY had a 50/50 kill chance, I, as well as a large number of my friends, have all had lottery winning levels of luck in not dying in our 20s. I think that there is something you might be missing in how those calculations are done.

(also, I'm sure Faye weighs more than 60kg, though I didn't in my hardest drinking partying days)

It's not a fifth, you're right. It's 535 millimeters. About 13 shots for a 75 kg person.

It's actually somewhat surprising that human beings survive anything, but in this case it generally takes some work to reach that level, and it does all have to be consumed faster than the liver can process it.

Around 13 shots per hour will give 50/50 odds of death for a 160-ish pound person. I'd guess Faye to be in the 140 to 160 range, so the fact that she's had more than a liter and a half, possibly more than 2 liters, is worthy of consideration.

Math is not that hard.

I've known plenty of people who have regularly downed 1-2 fifths in a single night. They got sick, woke up fine (though very hung over). This happened a LOT when I was in my early 20s. To myself and others I have known.

The problem with the math is that that is in ONE HOUR. I sincerely doubt she downed two bottles in an hour, and depending on how much it has taken in the past for her to get drunk, Marten might actually not find it as that much overkill. The biggest two warning signs that this is "big problem" rather than just Faye getting drunk the way she has most of the comic is that A. She was completely alone, and B. its the middle of the day.

She was fired at what looked like opening. He was just getting off work before preparing to go out on a date. I'd guess it was around 4-5 o'clock. My bet is that she had a good 6-7 hours of drinking in there before she passed out. Also, that one bottle looks like the one she had at CoD, which she started drinking when she first woke up.

Literally, if 13 shots killed people 50/50, there would be more than around 2,200 alcohol poisoning deaths a year in the US. You'd probably have that just on University campuses. I know from experience.

Also, the actions to take before calling 911: Check and see if they are breathing irregular, check to see if their pulse is low, check if breaths per minute is low, check if they have a pain response. If none of those things come up negative, you really just need to keep a REALLY close eye on them. If any of those come up as a warning sign, THEN call 911.

[Is it cold in here?]

What if Pintsize files charges?

It would be out of character but good exposition.

[Mr. Skawronska]

Also, the actions to take before calling 911: Check and see if they are breathing irregular, check to see if their pulse is low, check if breaths per minute is low, check if they have a pain response. If none of those things come up negative, you really just need to keep a REALLY close eye on them. If any of those come up as a warning sign, THEN call 911.

Um...do YOU want to tell Marten, or should I?

Warning - while you were typing something you thought was funny, someone else typed something they thought was relevant.  You may wish to review your priorities about life.

[Rghfrgl]

It's fine to talk the science of it for the sake of it, but I doubt it's actually relevant since Jeph probably doesn't know the science. He probably didn't research appropriate puke colors for the strip.

Faye fucked herself up good, but if she were literally dying it'd be a much different tone.

Pintsize on the otherhand is totally dead.

[gprimr1]

"Assuming Faye's still out, they'll either be treating her in the ER or admitting her. If there's no insurance available, they'll be less likely to admit her. (Yes, I've been through family medical drama. It's grim.)"

MA has universal health care. I drive an ambulance, I've taken plenty of drunks to the hospital, some passed out, some annoying, none get turned away. I don't live in MA.

On the bright side, I want to comment Jeph for drawing Faye in close to the recovery position. We always put drunks on their sides, makes it easy to throw up.

[Emperor Norton]

It's fine to talk the science of it for the sake of it, but I doubt it's actually relevant since Jeph probably doesn't know the science. He probably didn't research appropriate puke colors for the strip.

Faye fucked herself up good, but if she were literally dying it'd be a much different tone.

Pintsize on the otherhand is totally dead.

This too. I think people are reading way too much into this as far as the literal immediate danger. This is a plotline about a downward spiral. I seriously think the whole "she is vomiting blood", "pintsize is dead" stuff is just... a little weirdly over the top.

[Natswash]

It's fine to talk the science of it for the sake of it, but I doubt it's actually relevant since Jeph probably doesn't know the science. He probably didn't research appropriate puke colors for the strip.

Faye fucked herself up good, but if she were literally dying it'd be a much different tone.

Pintsize on the otherhand is totally dead.

I think he probably does at least know some of the science, but didn't much bother with it. I agree that it'd be more serious if she were dying, although I do not envy her the hangover.
Hush you, Pintsize will live on wherever people watch porn.

Warning - while you were typing 2 people had better points. You may wish to be envious of them

Prediction wise if Marten consoles Drunk!Faye and Claire comes over to find out what happened I could totally see her walking in on a hug and getting the wrong idea. Or worse.

[bhtooefr]

Prediction wise if Marten consoles Drunk!Faye and Claire comes over to find out what happened I could totally see her walking in on a hug and getting the wrong idea. Or worse.

We've already had that storyline, though.

[Orkboy]

Prediction wise if Marten consoles Drunk!Faye and Claire comes over to find out what happened I could totally see her walking in on a hug and getting the wrong idea. Or worse.

Nah, we did that arc with Dora already. 

[TheEvilDog]

It's fine to talk the science of it for the sake of it, but I doubt it's actually relevant since Jeph probably doesn't know the science. He probably didn't research appropriate puke colors for the strip.

Faye fucked herself up good, but if she were literally dying it'd be a much different tone.

Pintsize on the otherhand is totally dead.

This too. I think people are reading way too much into this as far as the literal immediate danger. This is a plotline about a downward spiral. I seriously think the whole "she is vomiting blood", "pintsize is dead" stuff is just... a little weirdly over the top.

A lot of people on this forum tend to have a habit of putting the cart before the horse. And quite a few of them think they're the Nostrodamus of webcomics. Are we really surprised?

[DillyDolly]

Ben stop making scary predictions! It's scary!

I think Pintsize may have tried to stop Faye from overdosing with the booze and she turned him off in a grumpy taciturn response.
Thinking about an AnthroPC getting turned off is actually kinda frightening, it's a massive loss of personal power (pun unintended and then relished and kept). I have to wonder if they have the ability to turn themselves back on after being externally deactivated, or if they must wait for external reactivation. If it's the first that must be a massive fear for some of them.

I don't think Faye hurt/turn him off directly. I think he damaged himself drinking with her. He's already wrecked his body once before consuming cake mix (if I remember right).

It's fine to talk the science of it for the sake of it, but I doubt it's actually relevant since Jeph probably doesn't know the science. He probably didn't research appropriate puke colors for the strip.

Faye fucked herself up good, but if she were literally dying it'd be a much different tone.

Pintsize on the otherhand is totally dead.

This too. I think people are reading way too much into this as far as the literal immediate danger. This is a plotline about a downward spiral. I seriously think the whole "she is vomiting blood", "pintsize is dead" stuff is just... a little weirdly over the top.

A lot of people on this forum tend to have a habit of putting the cart before the horse. And quite a few of them think they're the Nostrodamus of webcomics. Are we really surprised?

Just because someone has theories about what will happen (regardless of whether it does or not—I'm not Jeph) doesn't mean they think higher of themselves than others. A forum is a fine place to talk about theories. It's not like I'm trashing others who don't agree.  

[A Duck]

Maybe Pintsize tried drinking with Faye, as he did before, as a subtle way of making her drink less. She drank WAY too much and that killed his chassis.

[Smallest]

Two bottles -- is this when you call 911? With or without the risk of choking?

I'd hate to hit someone with the medical expen$e$ of an emergency room visit if all that were needed was carrying them to a bed, but the opposite mistake would be incomparably worse.

Agreed about Pintsize. Turning off a citizen who has equal rights has got to be an issue.

I'm a couple pages behind on comments, so people probably have addressed this, but I think yes. Not just choking but alcohol poisoning, and it's also not as though he doesn't know she's depressed, whether or not he knows what degree it's to. QC hasn't called the police over mental health emergencies yet (they're all either settled with friends or okay to wait until therapy), so I don't know if or where Marten would draw the line for calling. That said, he doesn't know if it was only two bottles, and probably would assume it's more- I mean, Faye has been pretty wasted in the past, and he's seen her drunk many many times, but she's only passed out vomiting the one time in his lap, and I would argue that that was different (a different kind of passed out, more snoozy than unresponsive and floppy, plus he was there when it happened so he had an idea what happened).

Actually, definitely yes, but the rest of the reasoning was more on if Marten specifically would/would know he should.

Also, if Marten could, he could try to spare her the ambulance fees by getting someone (Hanners and Dale have cars and may be in the building) to drive her there, but moving her would be difficult.

ETA:

Ya'll's is forgettin'. Marten's barely 26. Party days are not a distant memory. He's probably not really versed on the dangers of alcohol overdose. Passed out, puked, and breathing is a party foul at that age.

I'm 21 and this is standard understanding for most people I know (if anything, it's just people who are under age ('what if we get in trouble?') or older (40 or 50+, whatever age bracket my parents are in) adults ('it's just alcohol let them sleep it off') who regularly don't, other than the occasional dumb person. I know a couple people who have been to the ER for alcohol poisoning, most of which were taken by their similarly young friends, and I know more people who were helping facilitate (or just watching while someone else did) 911 calls and calls home and who would go to the hospital with them.

I still don't think Marten would necessarily call right away, but I don't think remembering partying would be why. If anything, I think it would be another reason he'd know to (and I just realized, that's sort of a plot point early on with Billy in Willis' DOA comic).

[Omega Entity]

That said, he doesn't know if it was only two bottles, and probably would assume it's more- I mean, Faye has been pretty wasted in the past, and he's seen her drunk many many times, but she's only passed out vomiting the one time in his lap, and I would argue that that was different (a different kind of passed out, more snoozy than unresponsive and floppy, plus he was there when it happened so he had an idea what happened).

Exactly this. I don't think that Jeph would have been so explicit with Faye's condition (he's never drawn -anyone- lying in their own vomit, that I recall, and there's been plenty of puking in the past), nor would he have made the leadup with Pintsize so dramatic, i.e. with him lying right by the door as Martin walks in, and him looking down when, presumably, his foot hit him. It's a very unusual place for Pintsize to be laying even if he were 'awake', which leads me to believe Faye probably chucked him at the door to cause his shutdown, and especially taking into consideration that Faye has been known to be violent sober, let alone drunk and angry. If she'd taken the time to shut him down, she'd have likely put him on a table. You're also forgetting that Pintsize is mobile, and I would think that he'd run like hell if he realized that she was going to try shutting him down.

To also title the comic 'Heavy Stuff', and then proceed to half-ass it and not treat it with the seriousness for which his leadup has set the stage, would be extremely poor storytelling and frankly, be rather irreverent with what is often an extremely serious topic.

[Smallest]

Re: the general Pintsize worries: He's not going to be dead. It wouldn't make sense for his mind to be wiped (and as others said, backups exist). If his chassis is ruined, he works on the desktop (as seen when Marten cleaned his chassis), so that would work as an interim until they could afford a new one. Also, I'm pretty sure they still have his old chassis around- I believe it was mentioned when they were thinking of what to do with Momo's old chassis, but it might have been another time. There was a joke about skeletons in their closets.

I'm divided as to whether Faye hucked him at the wall, turned him off, or just let him drink. However, I am a fan of the 'Pintsize is going to help as Faye's companion now,' theory, especially seeing as unlike Marten, her friend count is dipping. I also like the idea of Steve helping, although Steve didn't ever seem to be at the 'call emergency services' point, other than that a brief stint to help sober him up might have helped.

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

Unless Faye has a legal directive authorizing Marten to do so, he can't make any medical decisions on Faye's behalf. Hospital will try to make contact with next of kin, so I hope Marten has their number. He wouldn't be a designated emergency contact unless Faye has woken up and made him such.  Assuming Faye's still out, they'll either be treating her in the ER or admitting her. If there's no insurance available, they'll be less likely to admit her. (Yes, I've been through family medical drama. It's grim.)

This all assumes that Marten is on the ball enough to realize he needs to call 911. The fact that he called Claire first is not a good sign. WRT all the speculation about how much she consumed/pills or blood in the vomit etc. this is all beside the point. She was passed out in her own vomit. That's enough to call in professionals and not play guessing games.

I'm still not sure whether he will call 911 (although since people here seem pretty heavily in agreement, I want to know what Jeph will do if he doesn't), but that aside- you can list whoever you please as an emergency contact. They don't have to have medical authority over you. They may be expected to call someone who does, or to know about your insurance, but they don't even have to do that. Your emergency contact is just the person they contact first, to know that you were injured (or however you were admitted). Since most people aren't comatose forever once they're in the hospital, your emergency contact is usually also someone to help you get home, since they don't like to just put patients out at the bus stop (usually- that sucked). They've been to the hospital more than once, it's not unlikely that they'd have asked for a contact upon admitting her the first time, and Faye reasoned that Marten lives with her, so if she needs help, he can get to her quickly and also can let her back in the apartment.

Before I was married, I didn't want the hospital phoning my legal next of kin unless I was dead (in which case, they wouldn't really be getting an emergency contact out of me anyway), and I'm not an extreme abuse case or anything, it was mainly a privacy issue. Seeing as Faye's next of kin live pretty far away, I think it's more than understandable that at least one of her emergency contacts (most forms ask for two) would be Marten.

(She might not have emergency contacts at all, even if she goes to the hospital, of course. If she does, I see Marten.)

Someone has replied so now you won't be double posting.
Yes!

[ReindeerFlotilla]

If one fifth of 80 proof liquor REALLY had a 50/50 kill chance, I, as well as a large number of my friends, have all had lottery winning levels of luck in not dying in our 20s. I think that there is something you might be missing in how those calculations are done.

(also, I'm sure Faye weighs more than 60kg, though I didn't in my hardest drinking partying days)

It's not a fifth, you're right. It's 535 millimeters. About 13 shots for a 75 kg person.

It's actually somewhat surprising that human beings survive anything, but in this case it generally takes some work to reach that level, and it does all have to be consumed faster than the liver can process it.

Around 13 shots per hour will give 50/50 odds of death for a 160-ish pound person. I'd guess Faye to be in the 140 to 160 range, so the fact that she's had more than a liter and a half, possibly more than 2 liters, is worthy of consideration.

Math is not that hard.

I've known plenty of people who have regularly downed 1-2 fifths in a single night. They got sick, woke up fine (though very hung over). This happened a LOT when I was in my early 20s. To myself and others I have known.

The problem with the math is that that is in ONE HOUR. I sincerely doubt she downed two bottles in an hour, and depending on how much it has taken in the past for her to get drunk, Marten might actually not find it as that much overkill. The biggest two warning signs that this is "big problem" rather than just Faye getting drunk the way she has most of the comic is that A. She was completely alone, and B. its the middle of the day.

She was fired at what looked like opening. He was just getting off work before preparing to go out on a date. I'd guess it was around 4-5 o'clock. My bet is that she had a good 6-7 hours of drinking in there before she passed out. Also, that one bottle looks like the one she had at CoD, which she started drinking when she first woke up.

Literally, if 13 shots killed people 50/50, there would be more than around 2,200 alcohol poisoning deaths a year in the US. You'd probably have that just on University campuses. I know from experience.

Also, the actions to take before calling 911: Check and see if they are breathing irregular, check to see if their pulse is low, check if breaths per minute is low, check if they have a pain response. If none of those things come up negative, you really just need to keep a REALLY close eye on them. If any of those come up as a warning sign, THEN call 911.

If Faye weren't drinking hard, given that she ought to have a drinker's liver, she wouldn't have puked. Seriously.

There's no doubt in my mind that Faye is going to be fine. But in the real world, when you find a hard drinker passed out in their own vomiting, it's time to start thinking about alcohol poisoning.

Most binge drinkers don't singlehandedly knock back 13 shots per hour without vomiting, even in college, just like most aren't going to consume a fifth without sharing. About 2,200 people die each year in the US from alcohol poisoning. The rate of hospitalization rate is around 30,000 and that excludes cases where drugs are also involved.

Oh, and those numbers are for 18 to 24 year olds only.

It turns out that people aren't dropping dead at the rates you expect because emergency medicine is a thing.

I've known hard drinkers myself. I've seen fifths taken down in a night. In fact. I once saw four men consume 5 fifths in one night. Over the course of about seven hours. Some woke more hung over than others, but none actually drank as hard as Faye has to have. Unless she got a stomach bug the same day she decided to go on a bender. So either the time between Faye's sacking and Marten's return is shorter than you think, or Faye drank a lot in short time at the end.

Odds are Faye didn't go home and begin a measured drinking, or guzzling bottles. She worked up to it.

So, again it's unknown how much she had, how fast and a BAC .3 could kill her.

[Mr. Skawronska]

She's a good friend who headed into a dark place, and Marten is responding with compassion, as he should.

I am ever so glad I don't have "good friends" like her.  Ugh.  Guess it's all about standards.

S

[pwhodges]

Standards which are too high can limit your options and lead to loneliness.

[Mr. Skawronska]

Standards which are too low gives you a large circle of acquaintences who take more than they give.

[madamlark]

Meh, you can still be lonely if your "friends" are people that insult you/are a general jerk/etc.  Never been much of a Faye fan, she's just plain mean sometimes and there's no way I would put up with that in an actual friend.  I get enough jerky behavior from other people, I don't need it from the people I have in my life that I choose to spend extra time with.  A little teasing now and again is one thing, but there's a lot of actual meanness in what Faye says to people.  I don't understand it and couldn't keep a friend who was like that, even if it meant I was lonely.  I'd rather be a little lonely than be made to feel bad.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Standards which are just right lead to being eaten by bears.