Spilling Their Guts
Added 2025-01-30 02:28:22 +0000 UTCBubbles is a good person :3
Comments
Plot twist: real actual sea cucumbers run their consciousness in a distributed form just as Yay.
legobil
2025-02-01 10:35:08 +0000 UTCBased on some of the other scenes we've seen, they can drink they just don't need to. Like Millefuille drinking Ouzo with Brun (and it later coming out as 'tears').
Darius Jenai
2025-02-01 07:01:40 +0000 UTCYay is gender-ambiguous. Y'know, like some folks are.
Ursus Ridens
2025-02-01 03:53:36 +0000 UTC...slime girl? Short Netherlandish gobliin?? [Cue evil_snicker.wav]
Ursus Ridens
2025-02-01 03:46:00 +0000 UTC@Miyaa It would be cool if Patreon comments included font selection. Then again, I recently went deep into the font basement to help friends pick nontraditional fonts for their daughter's nontraditional wedding invitations. There are lots of hilarious and absurd fonts out there! We were giggling and snickering as we printed some samples, only about 10% of which were serious candidates. Reminded me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLPzea-db0 In the end, my friends went with a professional calligrapher for the master, which was some of the best money they've spent so far on the wedding.
BobC
2025-01-31 18:21:12 +0000 UTCThe title of this comic being a reference to sea cucumbers as well as Roko expressing her concerns is appreciated
KingAtticus
2025-01-31 16:11:47 +0000 UTCDon’t confuse dingbats for webdings or wingding fonts.
Miyaa
2025-01-31 15:40:27 +0000 UTCI was thinking the same! That is a drinking pose. But thank you BookBeard, that makes sense.
GoMrBob
2025-01-31 15:00:58 +0000 UTCWell with Dora getting married she's been busier than usual as the assistant manager at coffee of doI MEAN NOTHING! YOU HEARD NOTHING!
BookBeard
2025-01-31 14:49:56 +0000 UTCYeah, Yay is going to have their work cut out for them if/when they return. Smoothing this over with Roko will be no small task.
BookBeard
2025-01-31 14:43:37 +0000 UTCI still can’t get over Yays grotesque from during their encounter with Moray. My theory is that the whole encounter just lasted a brief moment before Yay eloped and was some kind of internal communication method between the two AI, but yeah. Would love to see more of that.
legobil
2025-01-31 13:23:36 +0000 UTC23% better may still be insufficient for widespread convincing. 123%?
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-31 13:16:35 +0000 UTCAnd boy was Antimony in trouble!
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-31 13:13:41 +0000 UTCOnly if you decide that it’s also important to eat, sleep, maintain other commitments… 😏
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-31 13:11:54 +0000 UTCFKA Scarecrow Boat?
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-31 13:07:58 +0000 UTCSurely, possessing the ability to manifest various instances, they would experiment with many forms… Sea cucumber, giraffe, tapir, yak…
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-31 13:06:48 +0000 UTCThe Director wants to be friends with them and seems to be as adorkable as Moray (understandably).
Mark
2025-01-31 12:05:36 +0000 UTCWe've never seen Pizzagirl and Yay together...
Mark
2025-01-31 12:02:16 +0000 UTCSame. 🥺
legobil
2025-01-31 11:55:53 +0000 UTCYesssssss.
legobil
2025-01-31 11:54:45 +0000 UTCDo you happen to read Gunnerkrigg Court? Something similar happened there recent-ish (almost 7 years ago)
Nulgar
2025-01-31 10:50:53 +0000 UTCYay and the Director are on their honeymoon?
Matt Grayson
2025-01-31 08:16:36 +0000 UTCThere must be many things that frustrate such people. Idk, always seemed like a skill issue to me, it’s not that hard to get.
AlexKorobeiniki
2025-01-31 05:27:25 +0000 UTCI think she just raised it to her nose to get a good sniff.
BookBeard
2025-01-31 03:59:57 +0000 UTCBubbles is drinking the tea? I thought robots just sniff the smell of it, not consume it.
Wild Card
2025-01-31 03:02:57 +0000 UTCif i were roko and yay came back after MONTHS of straight up ghosting with nothing more than an "i had to do that" explanation, id personally never forgive them. ive been hurt that way before, it doesnt go away easily or quickly. just saying.
Mabel Zanders
2025-01-31 02:01:10 +0000 UTCWhat might get Yay out of the cold might be she needs more socializing than just literally talking to themselves.
Opus the Poet
2025-01-31 01:30:34 +0000 UTCMelodramatic Ding-dong is the name of my new house/yacht rock band.
Joe
2025-01-31 00:55:41 +0000 UTCThose are some fancy words to describe a penis and/or vagina. 🤣🤣
legobil
2025-01-30 23:40:24 +0000 UTCThe real question is where has Pizzagirl been this whole time
Fabio Neves
2025-01-30 23:22:17 +0000 UTCthe conspiracy thickens! ~<3
Mitsuki Ayane
2025-01-30 21:48:49 +0000 UTCIn addition to what others have said, there's the difference that Station and The Director are known entities to the government. They may not know or understand everything about them, but they know that they exist. By contrast, Yay has done everything in their power to stay entirely unknown to everyone, particularly governments, only having recently relaxed that upon finding value in making social connections.
Likeablejerk
2025-01-30 19:45:38 +0000 UTCCant… hold… on… much longer!
Miyaa
2025-01-30 19:35:16 +0000 UTCYet.
BookBeard
2025-01-30 19:31:12 +0000 UTCFinally. A strip where the mug does no trans-dimensional leaps.
BobC
2025-01-30 18:58:41 +0000 UTCOr a dingbat.
Hugh Eckert
2025-01-30 18:39:03 +0000 UTCI thought I'd deleted this one. CURSE YOU, DELETE KEY!!!
Joseph Bonnar
2025-01-30 18:37:57 +0000 UTCDefinitely shipping Winslayo.
Miyaa
2025-01-30 18:24:43 +0000 UTCAccording to Wiki: “Sea cucumbers are typically dioecious, with separate male and female individuals, but some species are protandric. The reproductive system consists of a single gonad, consisting of a cluster of tubules emptying into a single duct that opens on the upper surface of the animal, close to the tentacles.” So basically all of the above, which must frustrate those who believe in a two genders system to no end.
Miyaa
2025-01-30 18:22:15 +0000 UTCIt’s gonna take a whole week for me to read all the comics.
Miyaa
2025-01-30 18:19:30 +0000 UTCOur dog is a melodramatic ding-dong (also a good girl), so I'll use it on her.
Hugh Eckert
2025-01-30 17:57:32 +0000 UTCOh god that is so real! Except for multiply embodiment thing. They could still be out doing other stuff.
SilverbackRon
2025-01-30 17:37:05 +0000 UTCNgl, I'm a bit crushed with all this Roko suffering and Yay disappearing
Igor Mosyagin
2025-01-30 16:36:15 +0000 UTCSome of them might even be wired for hugs. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5258
BookBeard
2025-01-30 16:25:53 +0000 UTCThat's why Aurelia is in hiding too, having been replaced by a sophisticated android duplicate that Yay designed to be identical to her in every way, but 23% better at lying. It's so obvious.
BookBeard
2025-01-30 16:22:04 +0000 UTCBut how does it end? Cliffhazard? Cliffhaberdashery? Cliffhamster!?! WE NEED TO KNOW!!!!
BookBeard
2025-01-30 16:19:33 +0000 UTCEmbrace the power of, 'and'.
Am Queue
2025-01-30 16:17:21 +0000 UTCSo then it all comes down to the gender of the sea cucumber.
BookBeard
2025-01-30 16:15:58 +0000 UTC"Potentially dangerous" in the analysis of a hyperintelligent paranoiac, note.
Philip Masters
2025-01-30 16:03:58 +0000 UTCBubbles gets interesting effects from the *scent* of tea. She's breathing dee... err, running the input fans on her chemosensor array at high speed.
Philip Masters
2025-01-30 16:02:45 +0000 UTCJust fell off around when Martin was looking to open up his shop
Dave Wilson
2025-01-30 15:58:19 +0000 UTCI've done that several times in the last.... *cough cough years*
Dave Wilson
2025-01-30 15:57:49 +0000 UTCWell, the US authorities freaked out a little when one of the Director's creations was drawn to their attention. But Yay's specific worry is that the basis of their existence - running a single consciousness across multiple processors, granting them vast processing power - is not only unique, but theoretically impossible. That makes them especially interesting to too many people, if their existence becomes known. Of course, Yay does overestimate themselves a bit; they thought that they could just walk through any existing computer security, but the Director apparently spotted them without much trouble. So either Yay isn't quite as special as they thought, or the rest of the world doesn't quite appreciate how powerful the Director is. But governments and the alphabet soup agencies presumably play it a little bit careful around powerful AIs; not only are they, well, powerful, but you don't want any of the more publicly visible high-end AIs like Station thinking that their rights and personal privacy are in danger. Especially not the ones who already control orbital battle stations. Which said, being invisible to those agencies may keep Yay safer in some ways, and suits their paranoia, but it also puts them at greater risk of being treated as a threat and fair game by other AIs as well as governments if they do become visible. Paranoids and unknown forces are inherently scary to everyone. But Yay considers that better than being visible.
Philip Masters
2025-01-30 15:55:57 +0000 UTCStart here and work your way up. That's how I do it. ;) https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1
BookBeard
2025-01-30 15:40:30 +0000 UTCmaybe she's been playing a reeeeeeeeeally long con. ~<3
Mitsuki Ayane
2025-01-30 15:27:35 +0000 UTCThey may deny being a ding-dong, but they will NEVER deny being a sea cucumber.
Summer
2025-01-30 14:25:18 +0000 UTCAnd Bubbles goes all shivery when Faye runs her hands up and down her (redacted)
Stephen Wells
2025-01-30 13:49:33 +0000 UTCGiven that, at least in her old body, she had ticklish feet, probably. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3567 Moray seems to enjoy hugging people https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5489
Mark
2025-01-30 13:47:30 +0000 UTCI REALLY hope this is leading to Yay coming back, they are one of my absolute favorites, I want to know what's been going on!!!
Drew Blas
2025-01-30 13:46:12 +0000 UTCThe Director and Station are certainly just as powerful, but the thing that makes Yay different is the fact that they are multiply embodied, which is believed to be impossible. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4591
BookBeard
2025-01-30 13:33:10 +0000 UTCYes, BookBeard! & I expect they have ZERO awareness of the fact that they’ve been at this deliberation for months, or that it has been excruciating for those that care about them… Will they be inappropriately & egotistically validated when they learn about this? Or, in an unprecedented surge of character development, will they feel sorry for said dear ones, when they become aware of the anguish provoked by their radio silence? I can’t wait to find out!
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 12:29:25 +0000 UTCFascinating theory; I’d buy it.
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 12:17:49 +0000 UTCTy, ill pop back there. Got a few hours in an airport so thats some of the time made up
Dave Wilson
2025-01-30 11:48:06 +0000 UTCI want to use "melodramatic ding-dong" to describe my nearest and dearest, but none of them are particularly melodramatic.
BrenaMarie
2025-01-30 11:42:10 +0000 UTCAnd Aurelia is a horrible liar. If she knows, we'd know she knows. Y'know?
Alias Fakename
2025-01-30 11:07:05 +0000 UTCIIRC they've described themselves and their bespoke custom chassis as "gender non-committal".
Stephen Wells
2025-01-30 11:00:06 +0000 UTCMy headcanon fanfic resolution is that most of Yay have chosen to disappear permanently (possibly to Enceladus) but that ONE of Yay chose to remain as a single entity and shows up at Roko's door saying "It's m- m- m- m- me. It's... me" also they brought baguettes. I may have thought about this too much.
Stephen Wells
2025-01-30 10:58:04 +0000 UTCAnd, of course, CLIFFHANGER!!!
Joseph Bonnar
2025-01-30 09:09:13 +0000 UTC5100 is not a bad start off point, recruitment of Ayo and so on.
legobil
2025-01-30 08:56:14 +0000 UTCThe entire storyline started a few hundred strips back with Liz visiting North Hampton, Moray following close behind and then a night out clubbing.
legobil
2025-01-30 08:51:17 +0000 UTCI wonder how The Director (or Station, for that matter) and Yay are really different, from the viewpoint of governments and research and stuff like that. Like, Yay chose to live covertly while The Director chose to surround himself in the compound that is Cubetown. But wouldn’t both be under equal threat of coming under scrutiny?
legobil
2025-01-30 08:48:13 +0000 UTCWhen did yay go AWOL? been gone for a while and im playing catchup
Dave Wilson
2025-01-30 08:02:08 +0000 UTCDo AIs respond to hugs, though?
Opus the Poet
2025-01-30 07:53:45 +0000 UTCAs long as they talk about something other than men!
Anders Rapp
2025-01-30 07:53:32 +0000 UTCMaybe Yay needed a safe space first to protect their friends if needed. But they owe Roko hugs & apologies real soon now.
Sparky
2025-01-30 07:39:54 +0000 UTCDoes it still pass the bechdel test when two female characters discuss an agender, all powerful (?) uber-ai?
AlexKorobeiniki
2025-01-30 07:14:04 +0000 UTCNah, a bit of that would normally provoke them, but if it had to continue for quite a while, I think it would have the opposite effect; why would you want to show up to someone who criticises you daily.
Graydon Armstrong
2025-01-30 06:40:15 +0000 UTCNah, Aurelia hasn't seen any sign of them either, unless you mean Aurelia was lying for them, but I think she would've mom-guilted Yay into letting her tell Roko at least that they were okay.
Graydon Armstrong
2025-01-30 06:34:53 +0000 UTCUnless they're gone because they were caught and sent to Sing Sing.
BobC
2025-01-30 06:13:49 +0000 UTCA thought: Yay went to talk to the Director, who thinks on a totally different time scale. All this time Yay has thought they were in a half hour conversation; but it just took, um, half a year?
Joseph Bonnar
2025-01-30 05:41:46 +0000 UTCAnd, of course... CLIFFH A
Joseph Bonnar
2025-01-30 05:39:40 +0000 UTCso, a trit of a ding-dong-dang? or a qBit of a døng?
Ísabel Pirsic
2025-01-30 05:35:03 +0000 UTCThat's funny! I'm not going to give you just one Ho Ho; I'm going to give you two Ho Ho's!
Michael Steamweed
2025-01-30 05:34:48 +0000 UTCHah, ”Yay bursts in to deny being a ding-dong” was my exact first thought too.
legobil
2025-01-30 05:33:08 +0000 UTCMay we hope that Yay reappears at Roko's door saying, "Socially appropriate greeting!"?
Ursus Ridens
2025-01-30 05:23:43 +0000 UTCinb4 we find you Yay has just been hiding out at Aurelia's place this whole time, keeping it a secret from everyone. ~<3
Mitsuki Ayane
2025-01-30 05:21:56 +0000 UTCA bit is binary. Yay is as non-binary as they come. :D
Michael Steamweed
2025-01-30 05:20:19 +0000 UTCAlas, if they were a ding-a-ling, we could simply give them a ring-a-ling when we wanted them.
Smashy smashy
2025-01-30 05:00:53 +0000 UTC"We are not a BIT of a ding-dong! We are a BYTE of a ding-dong!!"
Minzoku Bokumetsu
2025-01-30 04:52:42 +0000 UTCYay is more like Melon than they would like to admit. Speaking of which, what is Melon doing these days? And Lemon too?
Miyaa
2025-01-30 04:45:41 +0000 UTCYay are still stuck in the VIP-Room because they won't cede their Very Important Personhood
Bagge
2025-01-30 04:40:03 +0000 UTCYay should get that on a t-shirt: "We are a bit of a ding-dong, yes."
Olaf
2025-01-30 04:28:36 +0000 UTCIndeed, although in the very next comic she says she can't eat apples, so I suppose I misremembered after all.
Zynkei
2025-01-30 04:11:11 +0000 UTCThey also use "we", not "I".
Call me Ishmael.
2025-01-30 04:06:33 +0000 UTCI'm sorry but that last panel with Bubs fuckkn SENT ME
Eric Pike
2025-01-30 03:56:45 +0000 UTCIn all honesty, I believe that Yay uses they/them more because of their plurality than out of any sense of gender. Granted, if I'm wrong, I don't really view them any differently, I will just stand corrected.
Sorastro
2025-01-30 03:41:34 +0000 UTCLove is blind. And often deaf
Todd Ellner
2025-01-30 03:40:41 +0000 UTCBingo.
Todd Ellner
2025-01-30 03:40:11 +0000 UTCSea cucumber is generous. And for all their intelligence Yay is impulsive with a strong "out of sight, out of mind" MO
Todd Ellner
2025-01-30 03:39:45 +0000 UTCI believe this is the conversation you are thinking of. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3586
BookBeard
2025-01-30 03:33:06 +0000 UTCPut WE MISS YOU YAY signs on Hercules and Cosmo. If anything will do it , that will.
Sleepy John
2025-01-30 03:28:29 +0000 UTCI don't think Yay knows if they are coming back or not. I think they are off in their hidey hole somewhere debating endlessly with themselves over the same options they once discussed with Roko: whether to simply disappear or to consolidate themselves down to one body and return. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4596
BookBeard
2025-01-30 03:27:32 +0000 UTCPoor Roko. Months, huh?
Andrea Andrew
2025-01-30 03:24:11 +0000 UTCI want to hug Panel 5 Roko so bad oh my god
Ashbury Haight
2025-01-30 03:24:10 +0000 UTCNo-one knows where Yay's dogs live, though. They rented a charging pod in Roko's building but the dogs lived elsewhere.
enchantedsleeper
2025-01-30 03:17:30 +0000 UTCI'll bet Yay had arrangements in place for the pups. An omniscient AI surely wouldn't have let their hubris get in the way, right? . . . Right?
Doc Gumby
2025-01-30 03:16:13 +0000 UTCTbf Yay could have tattooed it to Roko’s forehead and I think she would still have doubt (hope?). Grief be like that
J
2025-01-30 03:15:24 +0000 UTCNot a ding-dong. More of a ding-a-ling, me thinks.
BobC
2025-01-30 03:14:35 +0000 UTCAll the sea cucumbers I know are fervent readers of QC. All of them.
Doc Gumby
2025-01-30 03:13:27 +0000 UTCApparently not clear enough, given Roko's continued uncertainty.
BookBeard
2025-01-30 03:12:30 +0000 UTCShe's just posing like the Kermit drinking tea meme
PsychOut
2025-01-30 03:09:06 +0000 UTCI mean, Jeph did write the story of a malign AI wiping Bubbles' memory and laughing. (Laughing can be taken as metaphoric.)
Carl Fink
2025-01-30 03:06:46 +0000 UTCPlease don’t! Word play only extends one’s welcome with this crowd, JMK. 😉
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 03:06:20 +0000 UTCThe note card read “It’s been fun.”
Darren Franzen
2025-01-30 03:05:49 +0000 UTCTwo things - first, has ANYONE checked on Yay's dogs since they vanished?! Second, is Bubbles actually drinking the tea in that last panel, or just smelling? I think I vaguely remember early in the introduction to Bubbles that she said she had the capability to consume food and drink, it just did nothing for her. I may be misremembering, though.
Zynkei
2025-01-30 03:04:57 +0000 UTC*insert captain America "I understood that reference" meme*
Zynkei
2025-01-30 03:02:46 +0000 UTCCertainly not to be confused with a Ho-ho, either!
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 03:02:40 +0000 UTCI’m a massive cynic but I feel like they *did* make it explicitly clear. I adore Bubbles’ optimism
J
2025-01-30 02:54:53 +0000 UTCI don’t think I’ve ever seen a single expression illustrate the proximity of love & loathing more effectively than the one Roko’s wearing in that last panel.
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 02:53:04 +0000 UTCIncensed, I headed straight here, positively *bristling* with righteous fervor, prepared to rant in defense of the charming & gregarious sea cucumber (groomer of coral, recycler of nutrients) only to discover that Doc beat me to it. Chapeau!
Melissa Wilson
2025-01-30 02:44:55 +0000 UTCYeah, I think a daily regimen of criticizing Yay would have to get results eventually. Maybe focus especially on their maturity and questioning their omniscience.
William Cole
2025-01-30 02:43:30 +0000 UTC"We do not ring, we doom"
SpookyPenguin
2025-01-30 02:40:43 +0000 UTCIt really wasn't meant that serious 🤦 it was just a what if joke. I've read the series since it started, I know how it works
Studio Errilhl
2025-01-30 02:39:47 +0000 UTCI only date Krimpets.
William Cole
2025-01-30 02:39:04 +0000 UTCDing dong, man, ding dong! Ding dong, yo!
Zig Justice
2025-01-30 02:38:58 +0000 UTCAnother potential is that Yay is aware of how much the situation is torturing Roko, but that it could be potentially dangerous for Roko to know anything concrete, so Yay has to keep their distance
Green
2025-01-30 02:38:45 +0000 UTCThunder: Yes they are, but you know they're trying hard not to show it. Being gallant.
Doc Gumby
2025-01-30 02:38:11 +0000 UTCYay uses they / them pronouns. It's extremely unlikely that Yay is any situation against their will. Partly because they're immensely powerful, partly because the other super-AIs like the Director and Station wouldn't allow it - but mostly because that's not the kind of story Jeph writes. This is an extremely good slice-of-life comic in a world just a little different our own. Jeph doesn't do politics or action.
David Durant
2025-01-30 02:36:56 +0000 UTCIt just occurred to me: "spilling their guts" is kind of a sea cucumber joke, isn't it?
Sean Kinlin
2025-01-30 02:36:25 +0000 UTCI said it before and I'll say it again, I also really wanna know how Melon has been taking this too :(
Green
2025-01-30 02:36:00 +0000 UTCAh, fair enough, I had honestly forgotten. Apologies.
Studio Errilhl
2025-01-30 02:35:48 +0000 UTCCould yay be a Twink-ie? I’ll see myself out
JMK
2025-01-30 02:35:44 +0000 UTCSocially adept, but not very good financially; they're pretty far underwater.
Sean Kinlin
2025-01-30 02:35:26 +0000 UTCIf there was any way to provoke Yay into a response....
Maurice Kessler
2025-01-30 02:35:20 +0000 UTCYay is they/them.
Sean Kinlin
2025-01-30 02:34:21 +0000 UTCI miss Yay. Time to re-read their entrance saga.
Paul Higdon
2025-01-30 02:34:13 +0000 UTCDoes it have to be in a bathroom, in the dark?
Sean Kinlin
2025-01-30 02:33:18 +0000 UTCBut then again, if she CARED, and didn't want Roko to suffer, she could've... Found a way to send a message. Which might mean she IS in an AI blacksite
Studio Errilhl
2025-01-30 02:33:06 +0000 UTCAre they currently feeling rather insulted at being compared to Yay?
Thunder
2025-01-30 02:32:49 +0000 UTC"We are not a Ding-Dong, thank you very much! We are a Suzy Q."
Sean Kinlin
2025-01-30 02:32:25 +0000 UTCif you say their name four times they'll steal your money and use it to buy you flowers
Brendan Luster
2025-01-30 02:31:19 +0000 UTCTimeline panel! Not a lot to go off, but something.
Bill Silvia
2025-01-30 02:30:23 +0000 UTCHey, I know a very socially adept sea cucumber!
Doc Gumby
2025-01-30 02:29:51 +0000 UTC
