Issue 27, Page 27
I’ve finally got another video out on YouTube! Check it out, won’t you?
Transcript
1: Melissa lays atop Julia, facing the wall. Julia, pensive, stares off into the distance.
2: Julia’s speaks.
Julia: Do I… feel the same?
Mel: Mmh?
3: Their paws, entangled in sheets.
Julia: My body…
Did it change? Does it feel the same as it did before…
4: Melissa’s cheek is rested on Julia’s shoulder. She’s looking away, looking sleepy.
Mel: Yeah. It does.
You’re missing a scar or two, but…
You’re the same girl I had the hots for a year ago.
5: Mel sits up.
Mel: What’s up, hon?
6: Julia shifts to lay on her side, seen from above.
Julia: Do you think the Kas impersonator knew he was an impersonator the whole time?
Mel: Yeah, actually, I’m pretty sure…
Julia: If you were an exact copy of someone… physically, mentally, with all their memories…
Would you even know you were a copy?
7: Melissa kneels beside Julia.
Mel: Would it matter?
“Is the new XYZ, the same as the old ABC?”
“Yeah/does it even matter?”
WHAT THE FUCK???? YOU HAD THIS CONVERSATION IN THE VATICAN ISSUE. WHAT IS THIS WRITING.
– JULIA, I DON’T FUCKING CARE ANYMORE. –
You telling me you’ve always thought about something, come to a direct conclusion, and then filed it away and never worried about it again?
Is it possible to LEARN this power? Because I clearly don’t have it.
That was my exact thought process lol
The berating attitude of this user is a little excessive, in my opinion.
What the above two said, though also: the button to close the tab is right there, buddy. I’m sorry if you can’t parse events sequences that aren’t people screaming and hurtling at top speed towards an impossible problem with no semblance of character, plan or possible solution, all while those characters continue to act like, y’know, characters rather than whatever you’re obsessing over they should act like,
But have you considered maybe get over it?
(Second comment for my comment section revisit in Oct 2024!)
Heeeeee I’m absolutely thrilled to get a reaction like this. Like a deity rediscovering what mortal interactions are like! I’m actually being full of love here, not condescending at all.
It’s always “just leave if you don’t like it”, “get over it” (cough I don’t validate your emotions just because you have a petty opinion on the internet cough) and giving an extreme hypothetical based on ONE reaction comment. Which ABSOLUTELY make sense as we’re internet strangers and we DO tend to make extreme assumptions about each other, because we only see a tiny fraction of each others’ lives.
Anyways I’m not even here to argue or snark. This is all very typically human, this is nature that I’ve embraced. Love each other guys, please ❤️
Here’s a fun tip from me btw!!! When I don’t know an internet user and I see ONE “hate” comment or post from them (+ whether or not it’s PERCIEVED hate);
To me, it’s just like a *random event*. They just need to VENT that ONE time. It’s unfortunate that some people could get upset, but if it’s some petty fandom thing, then *nobody should care*, seriously. To me, it’s just an accident—an acorn falling onto my head, the wind blowing my hair into my face, me scratching myself on something I didn’t see.
Full empathy here—we ALL vent and snark at things without, like, wishing for horrifying things to actually happen to the REAL people involved, right? And we ALL post That One Comment then forget about it very soon after? Same for That Internet Stranger. I have better things to do than assume that their one “hate” comment represents their entire personality, past, present and future. So maybe we should “get over it” all the time, every time.
Unless you can ACTUALLY access their full account/blog where they prove themself to be a consistently awful person…
It wouldn’t matter to me.
Also, I kind of agree with “$”. Then again, I’m not what you would probably call “neurotypical”, so what would I know?
Honestly being on the autistic spectrum is making this situation highly relatable to me. Talking about an issue one time, especially while emotions are high, doesn’t tend to cast out all doubts. In those quiet moments late at night, when all the distractions of the world are on hold, I often find myself retreading old ground.
I feel like maybe people are just used to typically comic characters who go through one emotional conversation and then are just like, “hooray, I’m cured! And we will never speak of this again, cause that’s how trauma works!”
But that’s just my perspective. It feels realistic to me, but everyone’s experiences are different.
I find it kinda funny how they waited for the saucy scene to go on that spiel
(First comment for my comment section revisit!) Your friendly neighborhood $ coming back for fun in Oct 2024. I find it funny this comment implies that I await horny stuff + that it has anything to do with what I do (me, my low libido a-spec ass).
Not that this discussion matters. Love for everyone who reads this! /gen
I should avoid making comments when I’m tired and stressed. Royell and VulpineMac have very good points.
Oh no, you’re fine! It’s perfectly okay to speak your mind so long as you’re being amicable, and I think your comment was completely okay!
@Royell: I agree. There are times in one’s life where you begin to wonder if you’re really the same person you were. Some don’t change in any way, in others the change is more visible, either in body or mentality.
Beautifully said.
This is someone else’s story
Someone that I never knew
This is someone else’s body
Am I getting through to you?
If you peel away the layers
Is there anybody there?
– (From the song, Skin, by the band- Oingo Boingo.)
A bit of a ‘Ship of Theseus’ exercise, but Mel has the right of it. They are there. They need you. They love you, no matter what. So… would it matter? No. Nor should it.
I think the post-1960s, Dr. Mccoy…from “Star Trek the original series”, in novels based on that tv show- battled with a similar question:
The question is: Is there anything that is [uniquely yours], that can’t be cloned [in copies of your memories], or that can’t be cloned [in copies of your physical body]?
If a transporter-beam [separates all of the atoms of my body], and then re-assembles them on another planet]…is that ME…on the other planet, or is it just a [copy] of ME???
“So basically, I’m a clone of the original Sho Fukamachi.
How should I feel about that?”
The thing that’s most fun for me in this panel is that these girls exist in the ONE scenario in which the question matters. In this world you can be ‘you’ and something else, something horrific beyond reason, at the same time.
The monster is under both of their skins. It could spring into being at any time. Noone in their world is really who they seem to be, or even who they *think* they are.
No, it doesn’t matter. This is an easy question to answer, like most philosophy of its kind. Unless there IS some difference. Unless what you think you are is just a tool for someone or some*thing* else.
Julia isn’t asking ‘what if you were an exact copy?’ She’s asking, ‘what if you were an exact copy, *except*.’ And she has good reason to worry about the “except”. Layers of existential horror in a single line of thought.
This may be.
But my life would be scary enough, if I found evidence of a situation, where I have to ask myself: “Am I [really] me?…the person on my birth certificate + on my driver’s license?…Or do I only [think] I am? *shivers*
🙂