Oh gee, I can barely stay awake tonight.
Sin Pararse
Como mi amor por ti…
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Oh gee, I can barely stay awake tonight.
Oh, hey, we haven't seen the shrink in… almost ever.
New bruises? Must have been a few weeks since the last panel. Going by the panel 2/4/6 neck mark he either ran in to some vampires again, or ran in to Avery again. Or giant leeches.
Charlotte says it's been a couple of weeks. And yowch, those wounds.
I'm honestly kind of astonished Gabry is still seeing Avery, since he's THE KNOWN RAPIST OF HIS NEW FRIEND.
I mean, that's pretty fucking sick. And of course Rei would be interested, because GABRY IS FUCKING HIS RAPIST.
I don't think I can honestly like Gabry anymore. :/
Yeah, I think I see what you’re saying.
I’m not going to defend Gabry’s decisions at this point, because hey, they are stupid and horrible. In my mind he hasn’t really thought about the implications of his actions yet, or how they might affect other people. I had thought it was pretty well established that he’s a very impulse driven character. It doesn’t excuse him, I know, but he will eventually figure out how fucked up this situation is.
Thanks for acknowledging the fact.
To clarify what I take issue with, it's (a) the content insofar it appears to trivialise rape (in that Rei has no reaction to this), and (b) the scenario itself on sheer plausibility.
Surely Rei would have more of a reaction than "weirdly interested in my sex life" to finding Gabry is still in (physically evident) contact with his rapist? They live in the same house (if the fact he is in Robbie's car is any indication).
I'm really struggling to conceive this as a believable scene, or how Gabry can have any redeeming future qualities when this page indicates he is A-OK about the fact Avery routinely rapes sex-slaves. Because that's all I see if he's not repelled by Avery in disgust, and I think that is a problem.
It was never my intent to trivialize it, I’m sorry it came across that way. Honestly I’ve been a little hesitant to show too many details because it’s such a sensitive topic. I worry now that I should have written something differently all together.
I do intend to show Rei actually reacting later, though. The line about him being “weirdly interested” isn’t intended to be an accurate representation of how Rei is actually behaving. It’s filtered through Gabry’s interpretation and the fact that he’s trying to avoid talking to the therapist. As for Gabry, I don’t see him as being okay with the situation, but he tries to rationalize it the way people in abusive relationships tend to do.
And I should probably apologize ahead of time for what’s probably horrendous wording on my part. I’m still extremely tired and am having trouble thinking straight. If I sound overly defensive or dismissive or anything like that I’m not meaning to.
No, you don't sound horrifically defensive, and I am glad you took the time to answer. Please don't take my critique as knee-jerk, "bad stuff is bad" mouthing-off, either. I enjoy the comic and your pairing(s), hence why I wanted to say something. I raised concerns about the comic trajectory, and you seem to have answered them (without giving away what is ahead).
In light of that there is still more to be progressed on the topic, I am okay to wait on that, and fair to point out it's being spoken through one person's viewpoint (though that doesn't exactly give me any more faith in Gabry). I'd say Rei needs more credit, but perhaps one of those Gabry-wounds is result of a good argument with Rei, so I'll hold my tongue for now. 😉
Honestly if I’d heard the same thing coming from a stranger I may have read it as a knee-jerk, but things read differently coming from a friend. Plus I try to take all criticism seriously anyway. I’m glad you said something, actually. If nothing else it’s prompted me to think more carefully about the story than I might have otherwise.
Holy mother of replies. Mother of… of… what? I really didn't expect this to be a big discussion 😐
I never really thought about this. I mean, on some level I thought "Avery is as stupid as a ton of bricks and an asswipe for wanting to do that", but I never really put it through a 'serious filter' (I take Worst Idea and Sin Pararse as mostly comedic, just because it seems like that for me. Comedy shuts off all areas of logical/serious thought for me, so I didn't think of it like that).
I guess this means I'm going to have to revise my "Avery is a stupid jerk, but not exactly a bad stupid jerk" position to "Avery is a would-be-if-not-for-Gabry-stopping-him rapist and stupid asshat" :C Why did he have to turn out to be a would-be rapist?
Already has committed rape, _Kaiten_ – he talks about having hired "the mouthy one" before. And regularly, at that. Hence my reaction.
Ah. I don't really have the best memory, you'll have to excuse me on that one .__.
Maybe Rei is more upset about it than Gabry gives him credit for to his shrink, but you also have to take into consideration that Rei may be somewhat of a friend to Gabry, but they've only known each other for about two weeks.
He really cannot jump into Gabry's life and start intervening, even if he is making epically bad decisions for himself, especially considering that Rei seems to only just now be getting used to even the most basic facets of the world he now inhabits. Rei might not even fully understand the ramifications of what he endured himself. The fact that he keeps "giving [Gabry] shit about it" actually shows more concern than I expected.
You are right though, rape is NEVER a trivial thing. The fact that Gabry is excusing Avery's actions just so he can get fucked speaks volumes about his sense of self-worth.
I don't think the moral validity of Avery's actions is up for debate by anyone, not even Gabry. It's not like people stay with abusive partners because they don't realize abuse is bad. Or that rape is bad. But things aren't always black and white for some people. And I think it's already been well-established that there's something psychologically wrong with Gabry. He is in a shrink's office.
While I'm inclined to agree with Charshy, I think it's best to put things in perspective before writing Gabry off completely as a redeemable character. I'm still eager to see where the story goes from here.
I knew this was going to be a shrink page. Didn’t know there were going to be more bruises, though. Man, sometimes I just wanna give Gabry a hug!
Dem sideburns.
You might've already mentioned this in a earlier page, but the question just occurred to me how do you pronounce Nai'ka? I don know if this sounds like a dumb question or not, so forgive me if it is…
It’s pretty phonetic. It could be pronounced nye-kah or nah-ee-kah, the apostrophe just represents a slight extension of the first syllable.
I've been pronouncing it nai-kah this whole time… Well, now I know.
That seems about right.