Chapter 8 – Page 074
On the one hand, good for Si that Alice harbours no hard feelings.
On the other, “because those feelings didn’t mean anything” is, like, worse?
↓ Transcript
Panel 1:
Carol is staring down with what might be sympathy if not for her lack of expression. Nancy totters, levering herself up on her bat.
SI (off-panel): One thought!
SI (off-panel): One silly thought an’ I ruined your life!
SI (off-panel): An’ I’m sorry!
SI (off-panel): I’m so so sorry!
Panel 2:
Same view. A smile cracks Carol’s battered face. Nancy fails to totter and falls again.
CAROL: Si…
CAROL: ...honey, I wanted you to get lost and stop cramping my style, like, five times an hour.
Panel 3:
Si, suddenly looking and feeling very very small, is struck dumb.
SI: ...wot…?
CAROL (off-panel): Yes, befriending you was an act of charity to boost my ego, and a feint to show my friends how shallow they were, and I liked the idea of having a lackey. Often all at the same time.
CAROL (off-panel): And often none. God help me, sometimes I genuinely enjoyed your company. I could lose my inhibitions and be the sad larper I always was inside.
Panel 4:
Carol stretches her arms to illustrate a point before a broken Si. Lewis and Rab Q, still taking shelter, are both wondering if maybe they should be listening to all this.
CAROL: Sometimes I even fancied you!
CAROL: We were kids, Si! Swirling vortexes of contradictory emotions still figuring out the basics of who we even were!
CAROL: Hell, you’re still a kid! I don’t need to explain to you the psychological rollercoaster you’ve just been on!
Panel 5:
Rab Q and Lewis glance at one another awkwardly.
CAROL (off-panel): Part of growing up is shuffling those stray anti-social thoughts into a “do-not-action” pile and constructing a veneer of affable civility.
CAROL (off-panel): And then quantum mechanics comes along and circumvents all of that!
Panel 6:
Nancy, still attempting to stand, observes with one of her goggle lenses partly smashed.
CAROL (off-panel): Because that’s the problem, isn’t it? Stray thoughts from a confused prepubescent and a grief-stricken grunge student shouldn’t have the power to remake reality!
CAROL (off-panel): Yet they do, and the failure of these deranged thought balloons to pop against the shoals of civilised behaviour has trapped humanity in a state of perpetual adolescence!
Carol is staring down with what might be sympathy if not for her lack of expression. Nancy totters, levering herself up on her bat.
SI (off-panel): One thought!
SI (off-panel): One silly thought an’ I ruined your life!
SI (off-panel): An’ I’m sorry!
SI (off-panel): I’m so so sorry!
Panel 2:
Same view. A smile cracks Carol’s battered face. Nancy fails to totter and falls again.
CAROL: Si…
CAROL: ...honey, I wanted you to get lost and stop cramping my style, like, five times an hour.
Panel 3:
Si, suddenly looking and feeling very very small, is struck dumb.
SI: ...wot…?
CAROL (off-panel): Yes, befriending you was an act of charity to boost my ego, and a feint to show my friends how shallow they were, and I liked the idea of having a lackey. Often all at the same time.
CAROL (off-panel): And often none. God help me, sometimes I genuinely enjoyed your company. I could lose my inhibitions and be the sad larper I always was inside.
Panel 4:
Carol stretches her arms to illustrate a point before a broken Si. Lewis and Rab Q, still taking shelter, are both wondering if maybe they should be listening to all this.
CAROL: Sometimes I even fancied you!
CAROL: We were kids, Si! Swirling vortexes of contradictory emotions still figuring out the basics of who we even were!
CAROL: Hell, you’re still a kid! I don’t need to explain to you the psychological rollercoaster you’ve just been on!
Panel 5:
Rab Q and Lewis glance at one another awkwardly.
CAROL (off-panel): Part of growing up is shuffling those stray anti-social thoughts into a “do-not-action” pile and constructing a veneer of affable civility.
CAROL (off-panel): And then quantum mechanics comes along and circumvents all of that!
Panel 6:
Nancy, still attempting to stand, observes with one of her goggle lenses partly smashed.
CAROL (off-panel): Because that’s the problem, isn’t it? Stray thoughts from a confused prepubescent and a grief-stricken grunge student shouldn’t have the power to remake reality!
CAROL (off-panel): Yet they do, and the failure of these deranged thought balloons to pop against the shoals of civilised behaviour has trapped humanity in a state of perpetual adolescence!