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Yes?

9 (19.6%)

Yes.

4 (8.7%)

Yes!

15 (32.6%)

It also contains space ham. (But yes.)

18 (39.1%)

Total Members Voted: 46

[Oenone]

I don’t know that Aurelia guilt tripped Clinton. I think she just offered and he said yes.

[hedgie]

In the anthro world, the "furries" are the "furless".

[cesium133]

[hedgie]

I've seen various other webcomics where orcs and such are playing tabletop games pretending to be humans.

[Sorflakne]

I don’t know that Aurelia guilt tripped Clinton. I think she just offered and he said yes.

Yeah, nothing about it says guilt-trip to me either. Sometimes parents just want to hang out with their adult children.

[Farideh]

As far as I could see, Aurelia didn't force Clinton to do anything. The 'guilt trip' just seemed like a joke to me. 'Oh, woe is me, none of my kids want to hang out with me during my twilight years! The ingratitude! Let me relate again exactly how many hours I spent in labor!' Heck, I joke about that sort of thing with my kids

With regards to the streaming, she did explain eventually and asked if he still wanted to participate, so... Seemed OK to me.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

That's a very nice abstract landscape on the wall behind them. I wonder if it's based on a real work? It strikes me that over the years Jeph has made a lot of art to decorate his interior scenes. I wonder if he has ever considered an exhibition? Virtual, of course. He could sell prints.

 ( zombie monkey wants your coffee )

[hedgie]

As far as I could see, Aurelia didn't force Clinton to do anything. The 'guilt trip' just seemed like a joke to me. 'Oh, woe is me, none of my kids want to hang out with me during my twilight years! The ingratitude! Let me relate again exactly how many hours I spent in labor!' Heck, I joke about that sort of thing with my kids

And, of course, there’s always “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it again”.

[Fuzzlepuzzle]

I dunno, since Aurelia shut down his going to the bar, he has had one positive facial expression on-screen. Doesn't seem like he's doing all this just because he wants to. Like yeah it's not the most malicious version of guilt tripping, but I'm sure it's affecting his decisions right now. Like agreeing to go on a stream he was clearly uncomfortable with from the start.

And like, streaming isn't just hanging out. When you have that many viewers, streaming is a job, not just something you do for fun. If she wants to hang out with her son she should do it offline, unless he is enthusiastic and fully informed of what to expect -- like the style/format of the stream, the way he should conduct himself so he doesn't make a faux pas, and the amount and disposition of her viewers. And you do a freaking test run before you go live so your co-host isn't blindsided by your erotic avatar in front of your entire audience.

[SubaruStephen]

I don’t know anything about this streaming stuff......is 40K really a big deal?

[Gnabberwocky]

Short answer: It's not inconsiderable, but you're not world-famous either.

[Oenone]

I dunno, since Aurelia shut down his going to the bar, he has had one positive facial expression on-screen. Doesn't seem like he's doing all this just because he wants to. Like yeah it's not the most malicious version of guilt tripping, but I'm sure it's affecting his decisions right now. Like agreeing to go on a stream he was clearly uncomfortable with from the start.

And like, streaming isn't just hanging out. When you have that many viewers, streaming is a job, not just something you do for fun. If she wants to hang out with her son she should do it offline, unless he is enthusiastic and fully informed of what to expect -- like the style/format of the stream, the way he should conduct himself so he doesn't make a faux pas, and the amount and disposition of her viewers. And you do a freaking test run before you go live so your co-host isn't blindsided by your erotic avatar in front of your entire audience.

You’re right about the bar... tho I think I’m still on Aurelia’s side. If a friend showed up to my house and told me they invited a stranger over for dinner without having asked me if either one was welcome, then disappeared for making out, then made it clear they wanted to ditch me for the rest of the night, I’d be really hurt. It seems reasonable to me to ask that the person who invited themselves over actually spend time with you.

[Farideh]

Comic's up.

Good on her for protecting her identity. Can't be too careful.

You’re right about the bar... tho I think I’m still on Aurelia’s side. If a friend showed up to my house and told me they invited a stranger over for dinner without having asked me if either one was welcome, then disappeared for making out, then made it clear they wanted to ditch me for the rest of the night, I’d be really hurt. It seems reasonable to me to ask that the person who invited themselves over actually spend time with you.

She did make him pay for dinner though

[Oenone]

I guess that means he’s better than a dwarf looking to hire a burglar.

[de_la_Nae]

oenone, i had to stare at that post far longer than i should have, before it finally clicked. hee 

[Farideh]

I don't get the reference Oenone.

*scratches head*

Probably has something to do with LOTR?

[awkwardness]

This week is turning out better than I thought...I hate drugs especially how casually it's tossed around but this week has been fun instead of cringy.

I know that these kind of people exist and it might be the only way they could get money so I can't complain about them, I'm just glad that Jeph took the high road here(no pun intended) with the drug use instead of the "haha she's stone" road. It's a niche, it's at home so she isn't hurting by driving after getting high, and she's aware of the consequences of her actions.

Good luck to her in her endevours...

[shanejayell]

"Good news, searching you online just brings up porn."

.....

"Bad news,  searching you online brings up porn."

Yeah, anyway....

[Salty]

Turns out Clinton has reasonable objections and questions about this whole thing.

I mean, besides being squicked about the 40k+ people being horny for his mom.

Huh, who'da thunk?

[Farideh]

"Good news, searching you online just brings up porn."

.....

"Bad news,  searching you online brings up porn."

Yeah, anyway....

Better porn than house address, phone number, SSN, etc. She'd have rabid fans on her doorstep.

[Platypodes]

I dunno, since Aurelia shut down his going to the bar, he has had one positive facial expression on-screen. Doesn't seem like he's doing all this just because he wants to. Like yeah it's not the most malicious version of guilt tripping, but I'm sure it's affecting his decisions right now. Like agreeing to go on a stream he was clearly uncomfortable with from the start.

And like, streaming isn't just hanging out. When you have that many viewers, streaming is a job, not just something you do for fun. If she wants to hang out with her son she should do it offline, unless he is enthusiastic and fully informed of what to expect -- like the style/format of the stream, the way he should conduct himself so he doesn't make a faux pas, and the amount and disposition of her viewers. And you do a freaking test run before you go live so your co-host isn't blindsided by your erotic avatar in front of your entire audience.

You’re right about the bar... tho I think I’m still on Aurelia’s side. If a friend showed up to my house and told me they invited a stranger over for dinner without having asked me if either one was welcome, then disappeared for making out, then made it clear they wanted to ditch me for the rest of the night, I’d be really hurt. It seems reasonable to me to ask that the person who invited themselves over actually spend time with you.

These are both excellent points. Taken together, I'm gathering that Clinton is kinda self-absorbed and thoughtless because he learned that from his kinda self-absorbed and thoughtless mom.

[Gus_Smedstad]

I don’t know anything about this streaming stuff......is 40K really a big deal?

Not really. I mean, sure, it means you've got an actual cult going, and you're not talking to just a basement full of weirdos anymore, but I think the "kinda a big deal" threshold is having, oh, 100k subscribers? Most of the cults, er, channels I subscribe to on YouTube (i.e. OSP) have 1 milllion-2million subscribers, but a few niche ones like John Francis (covers Oxygen Not Included, Rimworld, that sort of thing) are in the 40k-50k range.

I'm not sure what the threshold is for making an actual living from streaming is.

---

I would like to say that I had no sexual thoughts about the cow avatar until today's strip. Now that cow furry porn has come up, I am now involuntarily remembering the other furry porn I've run into. Furry porn on the internet is like coffee grounds in the kitchen - it somehow makes its way into the most unlikely places. You're not at all looking for it, but there it is. You'll be watching a Last Week Tonight segment, and suddenly, he's talking about anthropomorphic rat porn.

I'd be a bit put off if I were Aurelia. Making furry porn about your avatar seems pretty invasive.

[Torlek]

Or to put it another way: no character in Star Trek is a trekkie.

Don't give Lower Decks any ideas.

[Gus_Smedstad]

Probably has something to do with LOTR?

Close. It's The Hobbit. The dwarves are looking for a burglar when they recruit Bilbo. Because, y'know, a single tiny guy with furry feet is going to be enough to sneak an entire mountain's worth of treasure away from a dragon. Bilbo of course is decidedly not a burglar, being an entirely respectable fellow who doesn't like adventures, since they make you late for dinner.

It's Gandalf who talks him into going anyway, since the dwarves weren't going to talk anyone into anything.

[Farideh]

Argh, NOW I get it!

[hedgie]

I dunno, since Aurelia shut down his going to the bar, he has had one positive facial expression on-screen.

Disagreed about the bar thing.  She may have been clumsy AF, but getting him to be somewhere *else* than the bar is good right now.  Especially when one is inexperienced in relationship, a bit of space after the first snog can be a good thing for all involved.  Especially since Elliot is “captive” at work.  ’Tis best that Clin-ton be a bit embarassed about his mother’s hobby/side-line and have some time.

[de_la_Nae]

eh, it could be invasive, but she seems more flattered than anything, in the main in this context. and why shouldn't she be?
i get the main demographic that's gonna participate on a forum discussion of this comic aren't, like, used to this sort of thing i suppose, but there's plenty of people that like to feel sexy and appreciated. context matters a whole helluva lot, for example public catcalling can be obnoxious (most guys who attempt it are really bad at it), but like... it can be harmless. and fit into the vibe of the performance she's putting on.

i mod for a vtuber, and i've had to step in a couple times when someone started crossing boundaries in chat that she wasn't comfortable with, from people that honestly seemed fairly well-meaning just too enthusiastic for the most part. but she gets to set what those are. it's her space to perform in, to play with her actual friends and her fans in.

i'm not saying you can't set those boundaries tighter for yourself. i do! just i want to encourage examining those on the regular. i had, and still have, a lot of baggage that causes me to needlessly, uselessly, often harmfully constrict myself. (gasp, a queer person having self-repression issues, i know who'd have thought). and i don't want you to hurt yourselves the same way i hurt myself. make different mistakes! 

[BenRG]

This is probably just how my mind works but I can't quite shake the feeling that Aurelia having contact with this 'SexDrawer69' won't be just a random moment of 'colour'. Maybe we'll even learn the face behind the name one day!

That said, okay, if Aurelia is okay with it then I suppose she' s okay with it and that should be enough for Clinton. However, I do wonder if she's aware of the really weird fringe that inevitably must exist in her fandom and the things they write about what they fantasise doing to her.

[de_la_Nae]

However, I do wonder if she's aware of the really weird fringe that inevitably must exist in her fandom and the things they write about what they fantasise doing to her.

admittedly, that can be a THING, and not always a happy one. i might be a little more cavalier in my attitude than some about it, since it's an unavoidable part of existing in public, especially being part of a visible minority. in my over-culture at least, lower members of the caste system are regularly scrutinized sexually at increased rates by the upper castes than those castes do to themselves. so like... had to confront my baggage and concerns and the real risks to even get to exist in public in the first place. which ain't great, but unfortunately i'm not allowed to unleash my holy crusade across the land yet so y'know

[APersonAmI]

People also get horny about antropomorphic animals. Less surprising. People get horny about table legs if they stare at them long enough.

Clinton gets protective about people he cares about. Hmm.
Hope prediction: Next comic, Clinton will be slightly uncomfortable with this whole thing, but will respect Aurelias agency.

Teehee. I've always liked the "Good news: X. Bad news: Also X." structure. It's good.

[Shjade]

Just a note on the subject of Clinton seeming negative about all this time at home: Clinton's default state seems to be negative/critical. I wouldn't read too much into him looking "not happy," personally, unless it's attached to a more significant communication than mild concern about his mother's OpSec.

[JimC]

Well, Clinton is finding that his mother is cooler than he is...

It got me thinking about the casual sexism kids tend to display to their mothers, especially those who don't work... And that back in the 80s and 90s there were a lot more girls in IT than there were later... And how a number of those lasses gave up IT because they found raising kids more fulfilling. Which gave me a vision of one of the girls I used to decode packet traces and other esoteric Internet stuff with being kidsplained how to use Instagram or whatever because they don't reckon momma is technical...

[Mr_Rose]

You’d hope that ladies like that would have at least a little of Little Bobby Tables’ Mom about them… not too much though; hell of a thing to name your kid that just for a prank. Even if it is a gift that keeps on giving…

[hedgie]

. And that back in the 80s and 90s there were a lot more girls in IT than there were later...

In my anecdotal experience taking IT courses, I certainly did see more women who were older than even my “mature student” self (generally just there to keep their skill sets current), than I did younger women.  Honestly, though, given how sick the subculture is, I can’t necessarily blame anyone for wanting nothing to do with it.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Wait, I thought Clara Bow was the IT girl.

( desperately trying to avoid comments about the anthromorphic cow in the room )

The LilBeef avatar is way too personalized to be a pre-gen.
Any psychoanalyst would revel in the things Aurelia fondly thinks she has "locked down".

[Haneko]

I'm happy to see that Aurelia is well aware of the porn that is inevitably being drawn of her.

at this point, I don't see how Clinton could really have an argument againt her streaming.

I'd say I hope for him to chill out about it, but Clinton doesn't really know how to chill, does he?

[hedgie]

I don’t think that anyone in that family knows “chill”.  They’re just pathologically themselves.

[SubaruStephen]

To the Agustus-es, “chill” is a setting on the refrigerator.

[IantoSteerpike]

So... was Aurelia playing 3-dimensional chess all along?  Was the "come stream with me/Clinton's discomfort/her revealing a secret" all a premeditated plot to try to get him to open up?

Or was it all just spontaneous and unplanned and basically just an accident... and she just realized at the last moment she could use it all as an opportunity to get him to open up?

[Farideh]

My money would be on the latter. Aurelia doesn't strike me as being that sneaky.

[shanejayell]

Awww. That was cute.

[Haneko]

I mean, maybe?
she did realize that elliot and him were a probably a thing, and she seemed to want him to stay so she could talk to him
I don't think she PLANNED it that way, I would bet that she just tried to hang out with him and expect him to open up, maybe pry him a little at some point

[Oenone]

oenone, i had to stare at that post far longer than i should have, before it finally clicked. hee 

👁👄👁 I couldn’t think of a pun so I made a nerd joke 👉🏽👈🏽

[BenRG]

IMO, panel 2 today is basically Aurelia saying to Clinton: "Look, I've tried to give you time and space. I've even showed you an aspect of my life that some might regard as embarrassing. However, this is the last chance: Either you you tell me what's going on or I'm just going to continually badger you until you do so!"

[JimC]

The LilBeef avatar is way too personalized to be a pre-gen.

In *our* universe. In the QC universe AI technology is self evidently way ahead of ours. Who knows what is possible in theirs?

[Christophelous]

IMO, panel 2 today is basically Aurelia saying to Clinton: "Look, I've tried to give you time and space. I've even showed you an aspect of my life that some might regard as embarrassing. However, this is the last chance: Either you you tell me what's going on or I'm just going to continually badger you until you do so!"

Doesn't seem like this to me at all. You may be projecting your life experiences onto the comic. I don't see anything in this comic that screams "last chance" to me, nor does it seem like she wants to badger him about what he's going through. My mom tries to badger her way into my life on a regular basis, but I just don't see this in the way Aurelia's acting.

Now, there may be some merit in her using the whole streaming thing as a way to bring up that sharing these parts of ourselves that we've kept secret so far, while awkward, can also be very rewarding. But frankly, I don't see her as being all that sneaky. Anyone who has an instantly recognizable lying voice is probably the opposite of sneaky. Unless of course... she only makes it sound like she's lying when she WANTS to be caught!

[Aegir]

IMO, panel 2 today is basically Aurelia saying to Clinton: "Look, I've tried to give you time and space. I've even showed you an aspect of my life that some might regard as embarrassing. However, this is the last chance: Either you you tell me what's going on or I'm just going to continually badger you until you do so!"

Aurelia hasn't really been featured enough for her complete personality to be obvious, but let's took to the children she raised: Clinton started off as a creep and still occasionally has terrible social skills. Claire has bad anxiety and catastrophic thinking and is socially manipulative. So I more or less agree with that interpretation of the events, and yes, I do believe it was intentional.

[SpanielBear]

Probably worth remembering in all this that whilst he was still about, Mr Augustus put his family through absolute hell. All of them have reason to be (relatively) late in discovering themselves, and for having varying types of psychological defences to work through as they do it.

[Is it cold in here?]

Yes. I was just about to mention that they had two parents for a while. The children have their dad's behavior to deal with plus the impact of a rough divorce.

A puppy was born with six legs.

[neurocase]

I don’t know anything about this streaming stuff......is 40K really a big deal?

Not really. I mean, sure, it means you've got an actual cult going, and you're not talking to just a basement full of weirdos anymore, but I think the "kinda a big deal" threshold is having, oh, 100k subscribers? Most of the cults, er, channels I subscribe to on YouTube (i.e. OSP) have 1 milllion-2million subscribers, but a few niche ones like John Francis (covers Oxygen Not Included, Rimworld, that sort of thing) are in the 40k-50k range.

I'm not sure what the threshold is for making an actual living from streaming is.

Keep in mind though, subscribers on YouTube and subscribers on Twitch are two totally different things. To subscribe to someone's YouTube channel is just a click of a button to keep track of their uploads. To subscribe to someone's Twitch involves paying monthly as a direct means to support the streamer. If you subscribe to someone's YouTube for a year, it costs you nothing. To subscribe to someone's Twitch for a year will run you about sixty bucks.

Streamers will generally make 50% of a sub cost after Twitch's take. To put that in perspective, if Aurelia does have 40k subs (I maintain that was erroneously stated, either in-universe by her, or by Jeph himself, and that the intended metric was meant to be followers) that would mean that if they're all subbed at the lowest tier -say $4.99 USD per month, as it is in our world- and Aurelia is making $2.50 a month from each sub?

2.50 x 40,000 = 100,000

Which would mean that she'd make $1.2m a year. So yeah, big BIG difference to subscribers on YouTube. The follower>subscriber ratio for most Twitch channels, even the biggest, is often very low, so if someone has enough followers that their ratio still nets them 40k subs and, ergo, six figures a month in sub fee cuts alone? Then yeah, they're pretty damn big.