Comment by Gambolpuddy

This is an awesome page. I love the lighting at these times, such glowy prettiness. This is a lame lame comment, but I had the need to say that.

... And the vote incentive almost killed me. (I BLAME YOU) Poor Xira, I feel for him. Being a witch would be HORRIBLE. Especilly having to listen to people's thoughs on really big sandwiches and their mental moping.

Reply by Shazzbaa

Ahhh, not lame at all! Thank you very much! ;u;

(yeahhhhhhhhh I don't really want mind powers somehow....)

Comment by Obligatonym

Yes Xira, this is a very cunning plan of yours. Lock a box, yank it away from where the owner knows it's meant to be and hide it under a nearby blanket. THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG HERE IN THE SLIGHTEST. It is, quite possibly, the perfect crime.


(The exceptionally worrying thing here is that, sloppiness aside, it looks like he's quite used to mindhacking people.)

Reply by Shazzbaa

Reply by Tehbeefer

I was going to force a remark about how we don't need to worry unless Xira starts eating potato chips, but in light of the Incredible Mindhacky Adventures of Doctor Dude, if Xira starts writing in books we may have crossed a line.
Except people are born runewriters, so he's probably put fake memories in people before. New conclusion: Witches are kinda creepy, +1 confirm.

Comment by Fal

Wow, he can destroy memories! That's cool!
If a bit worrying: an unskilled shapechanger gets stuck with horns or a tail on himself, but an unskilled witch makes a mess off the inside of other people's heads (leading to amnesy and maybe madness?).

I wonder if he can make false ones too or if you need a degree in art/writing (depending on the culture of the witched person).

Comment by Chrysalis

Okay… Before, I thought that Tareth's "kinda creepy" comment was a little unfair, but I'm starting to reconsider. Reading people's minds is one thing; rearranging the furniture and smashing things is just rude.

Of course, Xira did say he was going to make sure Jonan wouldn't scare her, and it seems like the only people who aren't scared of Jonan are the ones who don't really know him (such as Sev and Tareth). If this is his way of getting help for Jonan, I… guess I can understand his motivations, at least? Hopefully, he plans to unlock everything later, but it still seems a little extreme.

In any case, I'm sure that blocking the memories of a major traumatic event in someone's life will have no negative effects whatsoever.

Reply by Kellan

Chances are the box had a lock to show that the person was repressing those emotions and memories, however seeing Jonan could trigger that to open up hence the lock on it being easy to open for Xira. Best way to prevent resurfacing memories is to hide them deeper IN THE SUB CONSCIOUS which I assume is the dirt swept under the rug in a person's mind room.

BTW did anyone else think that Xira's witch powers have a lot in common with "Turban Guy" from Yugi-Oh's magic key? Xira also has a turban... Turbans mean mind-readers, HIDE YOUR DIRTY THOUGHTS!

Comment by Glew

Oh hey, you actually have to pay attention to the art to understand what the heck is going on. I think that is a good thing since most of the time, I really just "read" webcomics and superficially glance at the actual drawings.
Though maybe being dead tired have something to do with it too 8|

Reply by Glew

Oh yeah, and it is slightly disturbing to know Xira can alter ppl's memories like that. It IS freaky.

Comment by Threnodi

Ha! Xira approaches problems rather like a DnD character I see ^_^;; Meet by chance poor little girl who lost her friends? MUST HELP AT ALL COSTS. But expecting a social problem? Diplomacy score is just that thing you use if it can't be solved with power points. ;p

To be fair, I realize he's got good intentions, and he very well may be telling himself if this lady won't help a man will die over it, but still. He could have at least -tried- talking to her first. He's sweet, but he definitely needs to learn manners..!

Also continuing to love the mindscapes.. makes me want to know what the mindscapes of the rest of the main cast looks like..!

Reply by Shazzbaa

(I think this mostly teaches us that D&D characters' behaviour is often TERRIFYINGLY INAPPROPRIATE)

And ahhh thank you! *u* I've been having a lot of fun with them. C:

Comment by Why?!?!

Oh my goodness Xira I know you are trying to help but THIS IS NOT HOW WE SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS! He definitely reads as more of a teenager now: trying to do the right thing but having no idea how to go about that and not even completely sure what the right thing is.

On the stylistic side of things, 1)I LOVE YOUR ART YOU ARE SO TALENTED! and 2) each person's mindscape being unique and housing memories in a different way is awesomely cool.

Reply by Eldoran

In a way this is a relatively innovative way to get the desired result. I suspect Xira simply can't do the obvious way.

(Warning possible spoiler): My interpretation is that Xira temporarily locked away her memories about Jonan, thereby removing the obstacle they faced before - Jonans past.

Reply by Asterai

I'm with @Why?!?!. It'd be innovative if he just got these powers, but nope, he's experienced using them. He knew what to look for and he knew the quick way to handle it. No, he's been doing this a long time, maybe since he was a kid trying to get away with stealing cookies, and he knows the tricks.

What I remember being different, when I was younger, was the level of... emotional desperation that accompanied every decision. Every crisis had incredibly high stakes, and there was no effort too great to expend on fixing things. Which is what I see here. He's decided to help Tareth and Jonan, and so he's plowing ahead at full strength now. A life is at stake, after all. He's not wrong either, just... ouch, he sure did go for the extreme solution first. Didn't even stop and gently check her personality before leaping to memory alteration.

I'd point out that he didn't just lock away the memories of Jonan; he locked away a whole pile of traumatic memories. A box dozens the size of the friendship/love box. And he appears to have straight up destroyed the memory of who he himself is. This is some pretty extreme thought-surgery he's pulling; he's probably messing with a large part of this person's identity.

Reply by Shazzbaa

Uahhhhh gosh thank you! *u*

Also "THIS IS NOT HOW WE SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS" should just be the like.... tagline of this entire comic

Reply by Glew

You mean like "Magic can always go wrong... BUT THIS ISN'T HOW YOU SOLVE IT!!!"

Comment by TuggyNE

Witches. Yeesh.

Srsly, Xira, this is not how you make friends and influence people.

Reply by ericthetolle

Actually, that is exactly how he makes friends and influences people.

Comment by Tehbeefer

I just noticed the designs on the boxes; that's not a very happy one, is it? I wonder what else was locked away with Jonan.

Comment by artificer urza

Sloppy? Oh this is not going to end well...

Comment by Kiri

.....I like Xira a lot more after this page and no one is surprised. Eheheheheh..... 8D

Comment by Wabbajack

I'm sure with being a mind-reader, you have to make up the rules of rude/not rude by yourself because you're unique and mundanes and runewriters just don't understand you. Especially when you're young and you don't know what you are, you'd feel either very special or a complete freak. No one would tell you that mind probing and memory-hiding is not all right, and you'd just do it like fiddling with something on your shirt because it comes that naturally.

I'm sure if I was a child mind-reader and inexperienced with the world, I would do many of the things Xira is doing. Imagine if you could erase a really embarrassing memory, like you peeing your pants, from everyone's mind. I would do it.

#babbling #taking up space pointlessly #sorry Shazz

Reply by Glew

That is actually a valid pont.

Comment by The Occupant

I love this comic, the characters and the world it's set in, and the basic art is really good. So much expression, flow and detail.
Unfortunatly, a lot of the time the colours and shading are really muddy, to the point it can be hard to see what's going on. I had to put this in IrfanView and amp up the contrast and brightness so I could comfortubly read it and see what was happening.
Like I said, I love the comic, and I would not be bitching about this if I didn't care about it, I would just not read this, so I hope this comes across as contructive criticism and not a mean spirited jibe at a work of love.

Reply by Shazzbaa

I do prefer to be emailed about stuff like this, but it didn't come across as mean-spirited, no! Thank you for the feedback! Is this an issue you're having with the comic as a whole, or just the mindscape scenes?

Reply by The Occupant

Thank you for the reply. It's not all the time, but it is fairly frequent. It was more common in the older pages, but it still happens.

Comment by Wabbajack

Double comment! But I just wanted to say that I love the idea of 'connections'. This Trader lady obviously associates Jonan with the doctor guy incident as well as with her past experience (I see doctor guy's face breaking away from the chest in panel 5) and that's a really neat idea.

Comment by Glew

Oh my goodness, I just realized, how very much Xira was not lying when he said: "I just want to make sure Jonan doesn't scare her."
For some reason I find it slightly more terrifying this way.

Comment by Random Passerby

...

I see where this is goiiiiing >:D

Also, it's very easy to forget that Xira hasn't been in the comic very long, and we still don't know much about him as far as motivation goes. He's still essentially a stranger, with all the danger attached. (No matter how much I ship him and Tareth.)

Reply by Random Passerby

Repeating myself, due to fish-like memory noooo you must be looking for that OTHER Random Passerby...

Comment by ericthetolle

I really find this very ethically dubious and generally sketchy- make that frankly disturing. It's no wonder the authorities persecute witches if this is the way they...uh...

*blink* *blinkblink*

What was I saying? Oh yeah. Anyway, I don't see what all the fuss is about. Xira would never do anything wrong. He is completely trustworthy. There is nothing to worry about. Trust Xira, he is your friend.