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A Trick Of The Light

hi cosmo

A Trick Of The Light

Comments

Apparently Patreon messed up. None of us got notified.

Stephen Wells

Shoot, sorry guys, I thought I’d remembered this from my viewing of “The Gods Must Be Lazy”, but now I’m not so sure.

Comics Ladybird

Speaking of foreshadowing, right after Marten first met Claire, Emily, and the other intern Gabby: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2217

Clifton Royston

HELPING

Maurice Kessler

I somehow missed this comic. HOW DID I MISS THIS COMIC! Did Windows update or something?

BobC

...Aurelia's hair is making me want bacon.

Marin Page

Messing with the town's power would be very much anathema to their aim of staying off the radar. That's not to say they wouldn't normally have the hubris to do it anyway, but the past hour(?) has changed that.

Graydon Armstrong

So it wasn't just me! I wondered how I'd missed this one!

Graydon Armstrong

They are not necessarily immune to Yay. Yay is capable of manipulating EM fields to the extent that they can put even humans in stasis with just a thought.

Graydon Armstrong

Maybe not always, but at least last time we saw her, yes. Jeph may have ham-ped up the porcinity since then, though.

Graydon Armstrong

love this, its getting tense and kind of scary and pulling me in

Cozy

Strip 3407 suggests that Yay might be a metaphorical giant squid lurking in deep waters. By strip 4943, the Director appears--as a literal giant squid lurking in deep waters.

Zygo

There's also Sven's cat, Princess. She hasn't shown up in quite a while though. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=877

BookBeard

Also side note... went down a rabbit hole of old strips starting with furst time claire appeared and the amount of foreshadowing is astounding. Strip 2262 especially 🤣

Benjamin

Has her hair always looked like bacon?

Benjamin

*slaps table* THANK you push button, receive bacon

Pejo

Hercules and Mieville (I think) are the QC cats I can think of.

legobil

Sitting here at 830 on Friday wishing it was Saturday…

Darren Franzen

I doubt even her new and improved body could survive that flight. Well, the flight wouldn't be so bad, but the landing would be an issue.

awgiedawgie

i just realized there is a significant absence of cat in QC might need to pull a Yay to process this

skinnybdink

Poor Yay :(

Cole Blackblood

The sentient smartbulbs online book club calls themselves "the illuminati".

BookBeard

Agreed. I had to go to Subway and order a BMT with bacon after reading this.

OldGoat

The big question remain! Did Crushbot *catapult* Roko, or not! That was Rapid Transit, after all!

legobil

Weekend cliffhanger...

Marc Tabor

Or, is it just….. A Trick Of The Light.

legobil

It feels to me like it is Monty Pythonesque…? But I could be wrong.

legobil

Yeah, nah. Under normal circumstances, Yay totally would (albeit unintentionally) cause an awful lot of food to go bad as some kind of trick. And then have Roko yell at them about it. And then have Melon try to "fix" it somehow. And then have Roko yell at them both.

David Paul

I feel like Comics Ladybird is quoting something, but damned if I know what...

David Paul

Well that's all right by me...

Bill Marcum

Robobulbs. Very bored. Or maybe just spending a lot of time reading (online copies of) _Les Miserables_ and such, and hanging with their online book club.

Ursus Ridens

Poltergeistery. At last, someone actually wants some.

Ursus Ridens

Not to worry. They're just having an extended, calming interaction with Azathoth and Mr. Smooches. I think.

Ursus Ridens

*Decided* she's awesome? You make it sound like someone could decide that she's *not*. It's not a decision waiting to be made. It's a simple fact waiting to be noticed. And it doesn't take long to notice it.

awgiedawgie

Thank goodness I’m not the only one who saw it that way… I thought maybe I’d been vegan too long. 😂

Melissa Wilson

Cosmo has literally just met Roko for the first time, and has already decided she's awesome.

Shaodyn

That's not an anteater, that's a borzoi hound. Anteaters are even pointier than Cosmo.

Opus the Poet

She's upset with us, or they're upset with us.

Opus the Poet

It's definitely because the front is brighter than the rest of the hair, which doesn't have gray streaks.

Gamera

Maybe she did install smartbulbs with her milf money.

Gamera

"snoof"

Lucas Werkmeister

'swhat you get for waiting on a notification and not obsessively refreshing the app 😉

Not that Patrick Foltz

I can’t deny Aurelia is hot, and her chemistry with Yay is weirdly amazing.

Andrea Andrew

Who is the other girl friend? There's Roko, Aurelia is more of a mom than a girlfriend, and? Melon?

Opus the Poet

COSMO!!! ♥️♥️♥️

Andrew Mitchell

She’s always had the gray streaks but I think she’s also highlighting it now -they’re a different shade of red.

Clifton Royston

“Blep”

William Stark

Aurelia has Cosmo. No way Yay didn't bring Roku over for that.

Seth Swanson

“God did not send us a sign! That must mean He’s upset with us!”

Comics Ladybird

Ran very very fast.

Stephen Wells

Your lights aren't smartlights, Aurelia. Plain old lightbulbs are immune to cybershenanigans. or at least thats what I'm telling myself, because the alternative is so much more ominous.

Tim

mmmm bacon hair

Jennifer Pylko

Same. Desktop/website, not app, flipped order (with load more at the top instead of the bottom, too), comments reversed, and also the threaded replies are no longer partially expanded (showing first two) as they were yesterday. Here's betting that they didn't plan all of these changes, and in the scramble to handle unexpected changes in behavior, the missing notifications (which would be the absolute hardest thing to test outside production) were overlooked. All that said, I mostly like this state better (not the missing notifies, but everything else :thumbsup:).

Amelia Lewis

I'm pretty sure Jeph started adding those because she looked too much like Claire and people kept getting confused.

BookBeard

Meh, there doesn't need to be anything like smart lighting. Yay could just vary the power going to the whole block (or the whole town).

David Durant

But dogs don’t know it’s bacon!

Miyaa

It just flipped order for me too, Minzoku.

Clifton Royston

Good head-canon.

Clifton Royston

Same as well. No notification, and reverse order on comments.

David Paul

Same here

djellafine

Yeah, smart lighting is what I was thinking, I mean this is a universe with pretty advanced tech

djellafine

I also thought of bacon

djellafine

I've just realised that this is the first time that Roko and Aurelia have interacted (right?). Or maybe it's just the first time we've seen. Because Aurelia doesn't seem surprised to see Roko, and it's almost like they're picking up where they left off previously. I bet they have a group chat or have exchanged messages, if not met up for drinks and Yay-gossip :D

enchantedsleeper

I find it hard to imagine Yay thinking: "I could show them that I'm here. But the refrigerators..." It just doesn't feel in-character as a train of logic 😅

enchantedsleeper

💯💯💯

enchantedsleeper

My money's on Yay being at home, watching Real Genius again for the 396th time.

PostRetroism

It does look like bacon xD

enchantedsleeper

Aurelia is more sensible than many of the cast. But her hair is rasher.

Stephen Wells

Disconnected Yay-we-know comes sheepishly home to Roko and they can get married at last :)

Stephen Wells

The point of the exercise (from Cosmo's point of view) is that Roko smells like Cosmo now :)

Stephen Wells

Oh, is it supposed to be grey? It looked like bacon to me, which I appreciate wouldn't make any sense at all.

Constanze Carstanjen

Also no notifications from Patreon, either here on the website or in my email.

Chris Vermeers

Next we go to Hanners, for her reaction on Yay being missing.

PostRetroism

Right, and I don't know if an independent Yay node could rejoin the collective, whether they'd want to, or if disconnecting is even possible. Even if they end up in a similar situation, the details and their feelings about it are likely to be different.

BaronHaynes

I buy it :D

enchantedsleeper

But I think that Moray *could* be reabsorbed into the Director if she chose. She hasn't been cut off. She's just choosing to remain external.

enchantedsleeper

Nah, they're streaks of grey. I think Jeph has started emphasising them more since Aurelia was first introduced. (Maybe some Milkmaids drama caused it xD)

enchantedsleeper

It didn't show up in mine, either. No Cosmo kisses for Patreon

Joseph Bonnar

Has Aurelia had highlights done to her hair? Is that the word?

Thisguy

I’ve been waiting for this for hours! Why didn’t it come up in my notifications?

Thisguy

Yes, this week is ending very differently from what I expected :(

Stephen Wells

Same

Ste Saunders

She could have smart lighting installed, my lights are all connected to my network in my home.

Ste Saunders

BACON HAIR

JourneymanWizard

A possibility I thought of when Yay and Roko had that conversation about what they'd do if they were discovered: The shared consciousness scrubs all identifying features, goes dark, and the node that's been interacting with the cast separates from the whole. Like an octopus severing a tentacle to escape, but in this case the tentacle operates independently forever. It'd be wild if coming into contact with Moray led to them becoming a mirror image of her.

BaronHaynes

@Todd Like this would surprise you.

R L

I’m very upset!

Kara

Yay doesn’t need to cut the power to the house, they could just target the energy flow to specific bulbs to message!

Kara

Jeph this is really stressing me out can you please give us a ‘proof of life’ for Yay soon??

Kara

Ceiling Yay is watching you masturbate?

Todd Ellner

I certainly agree, if it was just the lights. There is still a fair number of things that do poorly with sudden power loss, especially when the power quickly returns. Refrigerators are particularly bad with flickering power.

Jared Kolbly

I'm thinking she called in a favor from Officer O'Malley and got a high-speed ride across town, complete with sirens.

BookBeard

My guess is that Yay had a predefined protocol for an "oh shit we've been detected" event. And like most protocols it hasn't been updated since it was written & approved

Uniquitous

The fifth panel pans up slightly and Yay is just clinging to the light fixture. "Well... this is embarrassing..."

BookBeard

I'm beginning to realize the gravity of the situation. Which means it must be very grave indeed.

Uniquitous

We need to know how Roko got to Aurelia's! Did she take an Uber (/QC in-universe equivalent), or did she take the Crushbot/Bubbles express?

enchantedsleeper

Yeah, pretty much all of us had our money on Aurelia's... And if they aren't even eavesdropping, that suggests they're not just at another familiar location like Elliot's. Is Yay sulking/hiding, or are they somewhere very distant?

enchantedsleeper

The (Android) app has been notifying me fine all week, except for today

enchantedsleeper

Goddamn it I knew it wasn't gonna be that easy

Green

Damn. Forgot it was Thursday and thus Cliffhanger Day 🙈

enchantedsleeper

because there's no way Yay could literally cut the power to her home just to prove a point

Blake Manor

Oh as if that would stop Yay...

Nicolas Demers

OH NO

Onyx

Your lights aren't connected to any network, Aurelia, that is a closed mechanical system that they cannot affect wirelessly.

Aeryn Monet

And is also entirely fictional.

Matthew Van Gangelen

weren't literally just yesterday granted, I ONLY use the desktop site, idk about apps

Minzoku Bokumetsu

Same

Matthew Van Gangelen

This damn walkable town.

Miyaa

Well now I’m a little concerned for Yay if Mom Vibes isn’t what they went for immediately.

Hawkeye

they've got a quicker licker.

Sleepy John

You remember correctly, that was a few comics earlier before she found out Cosmo was female. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3878

BookBeard

Or Roko smells like bread now.

Miyaa

...I thought Yay was literally being the ceiling. Is that bad?

R L

It's probably the lingering smell of fresh bread.

BookBeard

No doubt in my mind, Yay would absolutely flicker the lights of an entire neighborhood just to show that they could.

BookBeard

Cosmo likes the smell of facial myomers.

Sleepy John

That's what I get for relying on my obvious faulty memory. I could have sworn she said at one point "The universe has blessed me with a good boy!"

Shawn K. Younkin

They have been like that for a while now, a couple of weeks I want to say.

Shawn K. Younkin

Or it's the Elliot-Cosmo hybrid that lives in Clinton's brain. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4543

BookBeard

Patreon fucking everything up AGAIN look at these comments, they're REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL

Minzoku Bokumetsu

That anteater must have found some tasty ants on her face.

Timothy Roller

An aside: Patreon didn't notify me of this comic. No email, nothing in my notifications. (I've learned to look in from time to time,which is how I found it.) BAD PATREON! No Cosmo kisses for YOU!

Joseph Bonnar

I truly believe that Yay would not want their personal crisis to get in the way of Cosmo getting pets and snuggles.

BookBeard

I mean... probably yes, once Marten tells her about it.

BookBeard

She, actually. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3881

BookBeard

"Did you forget your keys?" It's fine, she doesn't really need them anyway. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4673

BookBeard

I mean, that sounds like *exactly* the kind of "cute poltergeisty shit" they would do under normal circumstances, so I agree with Roko that this is a bad sign.

William Cole

Same.

William Cole

I can imagine Aurelia not having smart lights, and Yay not wanting to (but able to) cause consequent black outs to convey a relatively low importance message.

Jared Kolbly

When I first looked at this strip I thought "Is this giving Claire gray hair?"

Yelling Bird

It doesn't matter what else is going on you greet the dog properly when you come in the house 😤

Fart Captor

Totally rooting for a Joyce Dorothy ANYTHING!

Not that Patrick Foltz

Did you forget your keys?

Not that Patrick Foltz

Cosmo just can't hold their licker

Eric Sieck

Damn right Cosmo is helping! He is doing was dogs do best, providing comfort and kisses!

Shawn K. Younkin

Yay will hunker in the bunker

Todd Ellner

>"cute" poltergeisty stuff Oh, Roko...

KiTA

Now I’ll be spending two days worried about Yay, an AI that can apparently do all of the things and truly doesn’t need me to worry about them…

Darren Franzen

SLRRRRP. Wait, that's Faye attitudinally drinking her latte. https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5178

ValdVin

Where did Yay go? Will their two girlfriends find them and fall in love in the process thus creating a polycule Joyce is looking for (besides her own with Joe and Dorothy)?

Andrea Andrew

Now I want Cosmo kisses!

Doc Gumby


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