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A slow and steady healing (in other words, she stops being the focus for a few weeks)

Hides for the rest of the day and refusing to speak to anyone but Faye

Goes to Emily because she thinks she is the key to learning socialisation and sponteneity

Develops a dependency on Hannelore's teas

Develops a crush on Faye

Quits the Fighting Arena and becoming a campaigner for the respect of AI civil rights

Creates a list of all the people she's wronged and does a "My Name is Earl" across the US

Doesn't seem to change much except being prone to hug Faye seemingly at random

Personally fixes Punchbot and is very penitant with him (much to his confusion - he didn't mind the dent)

Becomes a costumed vigilante with the attitude of the Punisher but target list made up of random bigots

Learns who Hannelore is (the Daughter of the Creator) and becomes a disturbingly cult-like fan-girl

[BenRG]

This may just me but I find it intriguing that Claire prefers to do her work at Marten and Faye's apartment. Marten and Faye don't appear to be there so it seems that Claire actually chose to inflict on herself Pintsize's reverse-psychology cheerleading whilst she's working.

What does this mean? As well as a completely different issue that, I think (like Marten and Faye), she kind of likes Pintsize, rough edges and all, I think that she's more comfortable at the apartment than at her mother's house. Some sort of move can't be far away, IMO.

[bhtooefr]

As I said before, in reply to the wolf urine episode and how Claire handled it... when Faye's not around, the apartment is her territory.

I concur that Claire's probably going to be officially moving in soon, but unlike with Dora, it probably won't be a big event... because Claire's basically already moved in. I'd guess that the official move in will be precipitated by Faye's gig with the robot fight club coming to an end, and needing another person to help pay the rent (and there's some indications that money is not a problem for Claire).

[theMarc]

It's why I like teaching younger kids. You tend to focus on how cute they are when they're wrong but at least they try, since you have a different set of expectations. The ennui still kicks in after 10-15 papers, though; I wonder if kids realise how much their grade might be affected by where they put their paper on the stack at the end of the test.
If everyone else is bad -> they get a way higher grade as expectations plummet
If everyone else is really good -> they get a lower one as expectations rise
If they're all kind of the same -> they get evened out
If they're the first paper the prof reads -> they pretty much set the mood for everyone else's grading expectations.

My parents are both teachers, and what they do is grade each question on everyone's papers at a time, rather than each paper in order.  I.E.: the first question on every paper, then the second on every paper, etc.

[swapna]

As I said before, in reply to the wolf urine episode and how Claire handled it... when Faye's not around, the apartment is her territory.

I concur that Claire's probably going to be officially moving in soon, but unlike with Dora, it probably won't be a big event... because Claire's basically already moved in. I'd guess that the official move in will be precipitated by Faye's gig with the robot fight club coming to an end, and needing another person to help pay the rent (and there's some indications that money is not a problem for Claire).

Dora was, too - she spent almost all of her free time there, and it was actually one of the reasons  why Marten and Faye thought it was a great idea if she moved in (and not Marten to her place).

I hope she doesn't quit the Robot Fight Ring; even if she does work together with Bubbles, I kind of hope we see more of Corpse Witch. I kind of want to see if she's really an evil witch.

[dexeron]

There is an episode in which Phoebe's estranged brother makes that same assumption.  A comedy of errors and sexual harassment follows.

That is, of course, before she decides to bear his children. 

[chaospersonified]

There is an episode in which Phoebe's estranged brother makes that same assumption.  A comedy of errors and sexual harassment follows.

That is, of course, before she decides to bear his children. 

The hell? Are you confusing Friends with Game of Thrones or did I miss something? Aside from the entirety of the show, I mean. Incest in Friends just seems like something they'd do if they just wanted the show to be finished already.

[Zebediah]

Game of Friends. Now there's a show somebody needs to pitch to Hollywood. 

[comicalArchitect]

That prompts the question: which QC character is which Friend? Tai is the closest thing we have to a Phoebe (sans Delilah), I think, Emily has a bit of Rachel, Marten is Ross, Dora is Monica, Sven gives off some Joey vibes, and no one resembles Chandler in the slightest.

[Mr_Rose]

There is an episode in which Phoebe's estranged brother makes that same assumption.  A comedy of errors and sexual harassment follows.

That is, of course, before she decides to bear his children. 

The hell? Are you confusing Friends with Game of Thrones or did I miss something? Aside from the entirety of the show, I mean. Incest in Friends just seems like something they'd do if they just wanted the show to be finished already.

Nope. His children, but not hers.
Don't worry, they play with that a lot in the show.

[DSL]

Game of Friends. Now there's a show somebody needs to pitch to Hollywood. 

"Before we kill each other off in this charming neighborhood mead shop, has anyone figured out how the hell we're paying for the castle?"

[dexeron]

There is an episode in which Phoebe's estranged brother makes that same assumption.  A comedy of errors and sexual harassment follows.

That is, of course, before she decides to bear his children. 

The hell? Are you confusing Friends with Game of Thrones or did I miss something? Aside from the entirety of the show, I mean. Incest in Friends just seems like something they'd do if they just wanted the show to be finished already.

It was funnier to just post it like that without an explanation at first, but yeah, it's actually a surrogacy situation.  Her brother's wife is 26 years older than him, and too old to have children, so they ask Pheobe if she'll be a surrogate mother and she agrees.  The conception is done medically through IVF, and it's honestly a lot less creepy than it seems, but the inherent weirdness of it is used for comedic effect in the series.

She ends up giving birth to triplets... and yeah, it's weird.

[War Sparrow]

I wonder if Corpsewitch has ever been hurt, and her reactions are coloured by that? And misery loves company, so that's why she seemed almost cheerful when Bubbles came back angry and hurt. That way, it's not Corpsewitch who has a problem-people are just jerks to AIs. Faye is showing that humans can be kind..even abrasive, smelly, cantankerous humans. So perhaps she will gain some introspection, start to heal, and go back to the friend who had hurt her in the past...
Gordon the spider AI, who refused to place her as a companion, which was her dream.

[Kugai]

More proof that Claire has Pintsize sized up well and good.

[Rghfrgl]

After catching Ross and Monica kissing, Joey gets thrown out a window.

[Thrudd]

Everyone gets exactly the grade they deserve.

(Everyone deserves an F.  )

F for Faaaantastic!

It's why I like teaching younger kids. You tend to focus on how cute they are when they're wrong but at least they try, since you have a different set of expectations. The ennui still kicks in after 10-15 papers, though; I wonder if kids realise how much their grade might be affected by where they put their paper on the stack at the end of the test.
If everyone else is bad -> they get a way higher grade as expectations plummet
If everyone else is really good -> they get a lower one as expectations rise
If they're all kind of the same -> they get evened out
If they're the first paper the prof reads -> they pretty much set the mood for everyone else's grading expectations.

I taught College night school / continuing ed
- I hated doing first year courses because you had no idea if anybody knew even the basics to be there
- The continuing ed and day students doing schedule shifts were for the most part teachable because they wanted to be there
- The second+ rounders were a pain in the butt due to all sorts of issues centered on "I'm a lazy dumb-ass"

Teaching technical subjects and/or math makes creating and marking tests easier
Mixture of multiple choice, definitions, calculations, complete the diagram/chart

I was also a bit of an ass to the lazy students - my tests went either front to back or back to front in the order the subject was covered in class - heck I even included questions verbatim direct from the textbooks question bank [sometimes exactly and the answer was in the book]
Guess what - the idiots still struggled and the smarter ones quickly learned to read the damn book and do the review questions.

[jwhouk]

SKULLMASTER MASTER OF SKULLS LIKES MARSHMALLOWS!

[SubaruStephen]

Well, who doesn't?

[Storel]

Somehow that comment reminded me of some research I performed on marshmallows once: http://chris-w.livejournal.com/3353.html

Yes, I used to have a (mostly neglected) LiveJournal...

[MrNumbers]

Aww that's so cute and- Oh, shit she has an actual sword on her back, appease! Appease!

[Storel]

At first I thought Penny-lope was snrking at the notion of "a more metal Carly Rae Jepsen", until I noticed she was pointing at something behind Dora (presumably Skullmaster).

SKULLMASTER OCCASIONALLY CONDESCENDS TO DRINK HOT CHOCOLATE, IF THERE ARE MINI MARSHMALLOWS!

[thedevilissix]

I'm having difficulty loading QC today to read today's comic, I can only see the teal background & that's it. Anyone else finding the same?

[DonInKansas]

I for one welcome my new Skullmaster overlord.

[BenRG]

Okay, I actually know what's going on here and it actually makes a kind of twisted sense (like a lot of things in QC do after you think about them).

It's actually all Faye's fault, at least unintentionally. Sam so enjoyed playing with Faye's sword that time that she became obsessed with this particular martial art. After catching her for the tenth time with some makeshift limb detacher that she contrapted, attempting to teach herself swordplay, Jim surrendered and found someone (likely a reenactment expert) to teach her properly. She's good enough that Jim bought her an actual deactivated broadsword.

So, Jeph wasn't kidding when he wrote that Sam is still 'wound up from sword practice'.

The boys from school call her 'Brienne' behind her back and many have a secret crush on the school's most fearsome sophomore.

She still does the 'Skullmaster' thing in CoD because she feels that the staff have come to expect it!

I'm having difficulty loading QC today to read today's comic, I can only see the teal background & that's it. Anyone else finding the same?

The comic only loaded on my third attempt.

[Timemaster]

Second attemt, now in the right thread. 

Welcome back, Skullmaster, Master of Skulls.
Timemaster, Master of Time, is greeting you. May mayhem, the blood of your enemies and hot chocolate with marshmellows mark the way you are walking. Doom shall fall on everyone who denies your wishes and mistakes you for a little girl that has no use for high-tech computer microphones.

I tremble in the glory of your presence, so much that I even posted in the wrong thread first.
Please have mercy with your pitiful mignon.
Timemaster

[Tova]

Please have mercy with your pitiful mignon.

You will be spared, largely because you are so small and delicate.

[K1dmor]

 SKULLMASTER, MASTER OF SKULLS,
 CAME BACK TO SCHOOL
 TO TEACH MORE LIFE SKILLS
 TO THOSE ENTITLED FOOLS!

[BenRG]

This whole thing with Sam maybe having sword-fighting lessons suddenly dropped a long story arc idea into my head.

The town council announces that, this Spring, Northampton will have a Historical Faiyre (yes, they spell it that way) with different days focussing on different periods including the colonial, old West and gaslight/steampunk era (the owners of The Horrible Revelation are sponsoring that day) and the like. A medieval day is included mostly because of the enormous popularity of the TV show The Contest of Crowns (so named for copyright protection purposes).

Sam, much to everyone's shock, announces her intention to compete in all the martial contests to be held on the Medieval day - Jousting, sword-fighting (individual and melee) and archery.

Now, most people would try to put off a 15-16 year old girl who is planning to compete against professionals re-enactment performers from across the continental US and Canada. Not our heroes. Faye bullies the entire cast into helping her get ready. This takes on several forms, some expected and some less so.

• Faye was going to be doing a blacksmithing demonstration anyway and takes it upon herself to design and build Sam's armour - plate over mail;
• Claire does some research at Amhurst's library and designs a coat of arms for Sam's shield (A green cobra head from GI Joe on a coffee brown background with a horizontal wheatsheaf underneath, representing Jim's career as a baker);
• It turns out that one of Veronica's clients from way back was into medieval role-play and she taught herself archery as part of that job; she's willing to pass on a few tricks to her stepdaughter; she also helps her with her previously-minimal horse-riding skills;
• Bubbles acts in the least expected way; she invites Sam to several 'sleepovers' at the Arena during which she imparts the Code of Chivalry and the Way of the Warrior in a deep and impressive voice whilst in a dark, candlelit room;
• The other fighting 'bots also get in on the act, deciding that Bubbles' little friend needs to 'learn a few moves' - I just like the idea of the fighting 'bots 'adopting' a few of the cast in a weirdly eccentric way.

The festival comes and Sam actually does quite well, especially in disciplines that require individual skill over size and strength. May is very impressed that Momo's little friend can fight like that and briefly wonders if she wants to do it on a professional basis. The joust is basically a long series of re-scripted A Knight's Tale jokes, with Marten, Faye and Sven acting as Sam's 'squires'. Similarly, the archery contest should have every possible reference to The Hunger Games and Brave.

One possible scene would be for Sam to lose one individual sword-fight bout because her opponent tricks her into thinking he is hurt so he can get inside her defences. Bubbles is particularly furious that the referee is 'rewarding dishonourable conduct' and Faye is needed to stop her from saying or doing something stupid.

Anyway, in the end, Sam is placed highly in all the disciplines (maybe even wins in some) and is rightly pleased with herself. Being a romantic at heart, I'd like for a nerdy boy from school to be smitten with the 'Magnificent Lady Knight' and for Sam to allow him to purchase her a milkshake "as I don't have any money in these tin pants!"

At the end of the tournament, through her mother, Hannelore has arranged a surprise. The tournament director calls Sam forward and has her kneel before him before touching his sword to both her shoulders and dubbing her Ser Samantha of the House of Bean.

The medieval day ends with a dance around the bonfire with Deathmöle providing the music (medieval metal being their original thing, in some ways).

[Akima]

I'm having difficulty loading QC today to read today's comic, I can only see the teal background & that's it. Anyone else finding the same?

Yes, though the comic did load eventually, it was super-slow. The problem seemed to be in getting a response from www.projectwonderful.com.

Sam could do better than that: "You want to know who I am? I am the Invincible Sword Goddess, armed with the Green Destiny that knows no equal!"

[osaka]

If Neptunia taught me anything is that goddesses of green favor spears over swords.

Being serious, it's nice to see that Skullmaster can change opinions when reasoned with.

[Zebediah]

I may need to know where one signs up for kid sword lessons in Northampton. There's about a 20% chance that I may be moving to the Northampton area in a few months (contingent upon a job offer that hasn't been made yet) and my son will want to keep up his sword practice.

My son would also want to hang out with Sam, if she wasn't a fictional character. 

[DSL]

Dora's a little ... less insecure ... lately. More (how you say?) "chill"? Dr. Tai's self-esteem injections seem to be working.

[BenRG]

I think that it helps that Sam is practically the entire main cast's surrogate baby sister. They feel at ease with her in a way that that they don't really feel with people outside their family and intimate circle of friends.

[Zebediah]

I just realized: Sam is about to meet Emily. 

[DSL]

It's Penelope's turn to clean up the blood.

[chaospersonified]

Sam! Sam amuses me.

[Rghfrgl]

That hair is much, much better.

[Thrudd]

I will add that today's strip made me chuckle and I really really needed that.

Well done maestro of digital pen and cobbler of verbiage.

[Timemaster]

This is basicaly how Iīm imagining Samīs fencing lessons:

Parley and Robot

Thinking about it, Coyotes tooth would be an appropriate weapon for Skullmaster, Master of Skulls. 

TM

[Welu]

Dora's hair is cute, I'm glad Jeph didn't just cut a load off quickly after letting it get long.

[Kugai]

THERE SHALL BE MAYHEM AND BLOODSHED

But first, Chocolate with Marshmallows



One must have their priorities right.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

This is basicaly how Iīm imagining Samīs fencing lessons:

Parley and Robot

Thinking about it, Coyotes tooth would be an appropriate weapon for Skullmaster, Master of Skulls. 

TM

I thought of Liechtenauer style too. That is not an epee or a saber.
It is definitely like the broadsword Dora keeps under the counter.

[Storel]

Dora now has the same hairstyle as Cosette. Will Cosette change her hairstyle now?

[Carl-E]

I thought it was Cosette at first. 

You guys sure it's Dora? 




<snrk>

[Method of Madness]

"Metal Carly Rae Jepsen" is my favorite line from the comic in a while, and also this is probably the best Dora's ever looked. MCRJ suits her.

Also I just noticed she said "more metal", implying CRJ is metal at all.

[DSL]

I thought it was Cosette at first. 

You guys sure it's Dora? 




<snrk>

She's still standing and there's no visible personal or property damage, so I'm sure it's ... not Cosette.

Though isn't it time for the Cosette Curse to kick in? You know, dizzastuh for the former employer? Dora gets investigated for keeping Faye on the insurance? Hannelore inadvertently gets Beatrice to have the place shut down or taken over? Hannelore starts a fire with the coffee roaster trying to sterilize the spiders? Someone orders a really BIG space pizza to go with their banana smoothie? Or is CoD safe as long as Cosette stays on?

[Kugai]

It's Dora.  She's let her hair grow out but is still dying it.

I think cutting back on her hours has mellowed her out

[jwhouk]

As a complete aside: assuming no major skips in the schedule of strips (and we know that that can, indeed, happen), here's our projected dates for the next three major milestone strips:

3,300 - 2 September 2016
3,400 - 20 January 2017 (Inauguration Day - insert own joke here)
3,500 - 9 June 2017