I get the feeling Sal would close the window on Walky and make him climb back down. Only one Walkerton gets to climb in windows at this school, and it ain’t Walky.
walky isn’t exactly un-fit but at the same time other than a consistent athelete i’d think an ‘average’ person would struggle climbing up the windows and such
Sal surprised even herself by using a door when a window was on the table. Good thing Danny understands how strange that is, and whether to be worried.
Semi-relatedly, are we about to get some Sal and Danny loving? I imagine Sal could use any excuse to not think about her parents, and as for Danny… he’s just happy to be here.
And while they both still have maturing to do, they seem to be in a position to do it together–I’m not getting the usual co-dependency or toxic spiral vibes that a lot of the other past, established, or potential relationships have.
I was immediately curious to see if ‘infenestration’ is a word (I’m familiar with the less rare, but by no means common, ‘defenestration’. I was please to learn it is. But technically, what we’re surprised at here is Sal’s lack of auto-infenestration, because the term refers to throwing something or someone through a window.
That is a damn good idea, can’t argue if you are in another city. Well, they can call I guess, but the cool part about phones how you can just turn off the phone or put it on silent.
Actually I can see a situation where Sal introduces Danny to her parents, and because of Danny’s, ahem, skin tone, Sal then becomes the “favorite” child.
It’s called keeping them on their toes, Danny boy. You wouldn’t have that level of shock and awe seeing her at the window. Next thing you know she’ll be coming in from a loose ceiling tile.
I feel like it was already mentioned when they first arrived, but I’m just waiting for the Walkertons to meet Danny and suddenly Sal gains status in her mother’s eyes (especially if Lucy and Walky are there to make this point painfully obvious).
I got severe difficulties describing them in more than very basic or overly elaborate and hyperspecific ways. The difference between “Mad as hell” and “Pissed off like when that one teacher fuckin threatened to call the police in because I was reading too loudly, except if that day was 96°F and I had a headache and couldn’t wash my hands because the school bathroom was out of order”. There’s usually not a lot of in-between.
It’s fucking weird. Especially if your driving or working. For me it feels like I’m stuck on a semi autopilot that I can only input basic commands for. Like you can do anything but there’s just no feeling behind it.
It’s kinda hard to explain lack of something while feeling nothing. But I guess that’s the point?
I get a whole lot of not noticing when I’m feeling something for way too long. Anything from “whoops I’m really thirsty/hungry” to “why can’t I stop scrolling the internet? Oh – I’m actually really lonely and haven’t said an IRL word in like two weeks. Whoops.”
Once I do remember to pay attention, I can usually identify things though. If only through a rather “mechanical”/”intellectual” approach of e.g. “hm, high heart rate, uncomfortable, must be anxiety”. Probably lots of it learned. And probably lots of detail missing.
I am familiar with the autopilot Auroki describes, though. Rather glad I don’t get it as much these days, but there was like more than a year in my late teens during which I’m not sure I *had* emotions.
Related question: Do you guys&gals have that issue of “not being able to talk to people due to filtering your own thoughts (in an attempt to look normal) so much you’re not even aware of them”? I had that for a really long time, and suddenly it disappeared and I can share my dumb thoughts now. It’s weird.
Also I’ve discovered that, as I’ve gradually had to juggle the “fewer mana points / more draining spells / added difficulty” through the years (and the Pandemic!!), my ability to mask went like. Way down. It’s allowed me to be kinder and more outgoing, which is worth the hangovering anxiety; but also, I’m getting hit with a ton of “oh, so you are actually autistic huh” nowadays |’DD;;
Yeah, I’ve had to like manually figure out mental toggle switches for my emotions and behaviors and flip them as needed to get through work and important situations. But doing so causes a major burnout.
Like if I got long meetings at work snd gotta appesr “normal” I can do it but when I get home, I need to sleep almost immediately. Otherwise I become this mess of mentally unstable behavior and bad decisions trying to cope
Am autistic. Not sure I’ve experienced that. However, I wouldn’t really label most changes in my mood either? Depression is.. background noise, punctuationed by “this thing/person is funny/annoying” and “this food/drink is good”?
So maybe I do experience that, now that I examine that?
I do. I learnt to identify feelings the long way round through mindfulness and body checks
Like those charts of where you feel heat for different emotions. Otherwise everything just registers as anxiety (I used to have a lot of panic attacks because any time my heart rate changed my brain would automatically go “we’re having a panic attack” and I’d have a panic attack, even if it was from exercise or excitement.
The hardest for me is hunger/satiation because hunger and fullness feel the same and a lot of emotions also trigger it.
Yesterday, my abuelita fell and bruised her face. She has microfractures on her jaw and cheekbone. And this woman, y’know, she raised me. I love her to death. And all I could feel was a featureless”!!!” that I didn’t challenge because… I’d rather have a(n emotional) shutdown than a breakdown? I live in a 6-people household, I have to keep functioning.
I think it’s a defense mechanism against melting down/getting overwhelmed. But it’s draining as all fuck, it’s not a system meant to stay engaged for long… And society today turns it on all the damn time 🙁
Definitely sounds like shock. Shock acts like a temporary shutdown, so that you don’t get the full brunt of the emotions all at once (especially not while you’re still in danger or still need to solve all the things).
The feelings are still there, shock just pushes them away for a bit — which as you said, is extremely draining, not meant to be engaged forever.
I hope you can get to get to an extra-safe place where you can be gentle with yourself. Maybe with a blanket, and a glass of water or chocolate. I hope you can let shock know that its work is done, good job shock, and you’re now safe to feel the feelings that come up. ♡
Dante
I wish it was temporary. It tends to, like… last a lot, with some pockets of [How To Disappear Completely.mp3] Blue Screening from time to time? Not knowing how to process An Emotion as in, “connecting it to my body” instead of “analyzing the fuck out of it”, does play a part in how I tend to have shutdowns rather than meltdowns unless shit truly hits the fan.
That said – Thank you for the good wishes!! ♥♥ I promise I’m doing my best to hold onto what I’ve learned through the years and stay hopeful. I mostly manage! I’m just… Really tired all the time TwT Hot chocolate does sounds like a great idea right now. It’s cold as hell down in my country. I hope you’re having a nice night, friend ^^
Discussion (123) - “Sal”
Ana Chronistic
Dan: “QUICK, CALL 911”
911: “What’s your emergency?”
Dan: “Sal came in THROUGH THE DOOR”
911: “Hold on, sir, we are dispatching an ambulance”
Cattleprod
The paramedics enter through the window, it’s quicker that way.
Kyrik Michalowski
Is Spider-Man moonlighting as a paramedic these days?
Jamie
I kinda wish Spider-Man had always been a paramedic.
ktbear
Wait, Spiderman isnt a paramedic?
Clif
No but SpiderCar is.
Kaiyalai
Paramedics but, like paratroopers.
MM
Yeah, this is definitely DEFCON-1 levels of alarm.
FaerwenOfValenwood
well, at least she didn’t come in through the bathroom window
Chaucer59
Protected by a silver spoon?
elebenty
Didn’t anybody tell her?!
Didn’t anybody see!?
Ed Rhodes
Could she even BE protected by a silver spoon?
Windowpane
Cue Walky climbing in through the window to avoid their parents, picking Danny’s room purely by accident
Kyrik Michalowski
I get the feeling Sal would close the window on Walky and make him climb back down. Only one Walkerton gets to climb in windows at this school, and it ain’t Walky.
Casi
but since she used the door, that requires walky to use the window to keep balance.
Angel
walky isn’t exactly un-fit but at the same time other than a consistent athelete i’d think an ‘average’ person would struggle climbing up the windows and such
cain
this is no problem for NIGHTGUY!!… he says, as he wheezes trying to pull himself up past the second floor.
sultryglebe
1-der Bread.
Puppeteer Nessus
That’s oneeder-bread
Frelance
hah! didn’t have to scroll far
Decidedly Orthogonal
Making babies with One Direction?
Kyrik Michalowski
Sal surprised even herself by using a door when a window was on the table. Good thing Danny understands how strange that is, and whether to be worried.
Semi-relatedly, are we about to get some Sal and Danny loving? I imagine Sal could use any excuse to not think about her parents, and as for Danny… he’s just happy to be here.
Freemage
Sal and Danny is definitely my current ship. They have legit chemistry, and the relationship itself feels earned.
Freemage
And while they both still have maturing to do, they seem to be in a position to do it together–I’m not getting the usual co-dependency or toxic spiral vibes that a lot of the other past, established, or potential relationships have.
Stephen Bierce
*plays Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita” on the hacked Muzak*
Van Jealous
I am surprised at Sal’s lack of infenestration!
Freemage
I was immediately curious to see if ‘infenestration’ is a word (I’m familiar with the less rare, but by no means common, ‘defenestration’. I was please to learn it is. But technically, what we’re surprised at here is Sal’s lack of auto-infenestration, because the term refers to throwing something or someone through a window.
RassilonTDavros
I see she’s finally fed up with Microsoft.
BBCC
His concern is so cute!
Seriously you two I’m begging you to go on a weekend long road trip. Spare yourselves two days of Walkertons.
Kyrik Michalowski
That is a damn good idea, can’t argue if you are in another city. Well, they can call I guess, but the cool part about phones how you can just turn off the phone or put it on silent.
Puppeteer Nessus
And their chemistry is so good. I want them to visit small towns and solve murders.
Ed Callahan
That might actually work as a premise for an online strip but I don’t think Willis would go for it himself.
I also like the Ringworld reference.
DailyBrad
Oh, has Danny been informed yet of the Walkerton’s presence? He might be wanting to visit the clinic himself, soon enough.
Kyrik Michalowski
Why? For a broken hand?
It isn’t that bad; Charles’ face broke enough of the impact so it should be ok.
JBento
Feels like if you’re going to punch one of the two Walkerton parents, Charles is a solid second, though.
Icalasari
Charles getting hit is because the force to hit the mother does piercing damage, and he is standing behind her
Segnosaur
Actually I can see a situation where Sal introduces Danny to her parents, and because of Danny’s, ahem, skin tone, Sal then becomes the “favorite” child.
Koname
I can definitely see that happening… as well as how repulsed it would make both Sal and Danny feel.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Funny, I see it making Danny the favourite Walkerton child. If he can unseat Billingsworth.
Opus the Poet
Unfortunately I can see that happening, too. It makes me feel bad for Sal, only loved because she’s in a relationship with a yte person.
Icalasari
Oh god, and that would be what eventually wrecks one of the only two healthyish relationships in the comic
Jo_cubstar
Poor Sal 🙁
NGPZ
I concur ?
Pocky
It’s ok, she just needs to go through the door like Leon from RE4 next time
Taffy
Sure, and then Bitores Méndez strangles her against a wall for backtracking.
Needfuldoer
She knocks “Shave and a Haircut” on the door, but for the last beat she just kicks it in.
https://youtu.be/j674w-CF1Z0?t=228
zims
It’s called keeping them on their toes, Danny boy. You wouldn’t have that level of shock and awe seeing her at the window. Next thing you know she’ll be coming in from a loose ceiling tile.
Needfuldoer
Ceiling Sal is watching you
Freemage
Perfect Gravatar for that….
darkgloomie
See, I think Danny would’ve been less surprised had Sal come in from a ceiling tile
pyrock_mania
I feel like it was already mentioned when they first arrived, but I’m just waiting for the Walkertons to meet Danny and suddenly Sal gains status in her mother’s eyes (especially if Lucy and Walky are there to make this point painfully obvious).
Joe Helfrich
So is Sal going to take Danny to dinner to really throw off their parents?
Reltzik
…. so are her parents her kryptonite? Every time Sal runs into them she gets depowered for a bit…
Amós Batista
Parents can ruin your entire life, even in your adulthood.
NGPZ
BTW, not sure if too early for off topic but,
Do any autistics around here experience Alexithymia, the inability to identify or describe emotions? What’s it like for you?
Just wondering because I think I might have it but not quite sure?
Taffy
I got severe difficulties describing them in more than very basic or overly elaborate and hyperspecific ways. The difference between “Mad as hell” and “Pissed off like when that one teacher fuckin threatened to call the police in because I was reading too loudly, except if that day was 96°F and I had a headache and couldn’t wash my hands because the school bathroom was out of order”. There’s usually not a lot of in-between.
Auroki
It’s fucking weird. Especially if your driving or working. For me it feels like I’m stuck on a semi autopilot that I can only input basic commands for. Like you can do anything but there’s just no feeling behind it.
It’s kinda hard to explain lack of something while feeling nothing. But I guess that’s the point?
Masumi
I get a whole lot of not noticing when I’m feeling something for way too long. Anything from “whoops I’m really thirsty/hungry” to “why can’t I stop scrolling the internet? Oh – I’m actually really lonely and haven’t said an IRL word in like two weeks. Whoops.”
Once I do remember to pay attention, I can usually identify things though. If only through a rather “mechanical”/”intellectual” approach of e.g. “hm, high heart rate, uncomfortable, must be anxiety”. Probably lots of it learned. And probably lots of detail missing.
I am familiar with the autopilot Auroki describes, though. Rather glad I don’t get it as much these days, but there was like more than a year in my late teens during which I’m not sure I *had* emotions.
Related question: Do you guys&gals have that issue of “not being able to talk to people due to filtering your own thoughts (in an attempt to look normal) so much you’re not even aware of them”? I had that for a really long time, and suddenly it disappeared and I can share my dumb thoughts now. It’s weird.
Dante
This is familiar as hell, including the approach.
Also I’ve discovered that, as I’ve gradually had to juggle the “fewer mana points / more draining spells / added difficulty” through the years (and the Pandemic!!), my ability to mask went like. Way down. It’s allowed me to be kinder and more outgoing, which is worth the hangovering anxiety; but also, I’m getting hit with a ton of “oh, so you are actually autistic huh” nowadays |’DD;;
Auroki
Yeah, I’ve had to like manually figure out mental toggle switches for my emotions and behaviors and flip them as needed to get through work and important situations. But doing so causes a major burnout.
Like if I got long meetings at work snd gotta appesr “normal” I can do it but when I get home, I need to sleep almost immediately. Otherwise I become this mess of mentally unstable behavior and bad decisions trying to cope
An Old Bear
Am autistic. Not sure I’ve experienced that. However, I wouldn’t really label most changes in my mood either? Depression is.. background noise, punctuationed by “this thing/person is funny/annoying” and “this food/drink is good”?
So maybe I do experience that, now that I examine that?
Bogeywoman
I do. I learnt to identify feelings the long way round through mindfulness and body checks
Like those charts of where you feel heat for different emotions. Otherwise everything just registers as anxiety (I used to have a lot of panic attacks because any time my heart rate changed my brain would automatically go “we’re having a panic attack” and I’d have a panic attack, even if it was from exercise or excitement.
The hardest for me is hunger/satiation because hunger and fullness feel the same and a lot of emotions also trigger it.
Allandrel
Frequently. It’s why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy doesn’t work for me.
v.gay.person
BIG same. Plus a lot of CBT is like “think your way out of it” and my brain is the master of overthinking so I just ended up worse than I started.
Ari
Yeah. I know I’m feeling bad, but it’s the body equivalent of a “check engine” light. I can’t tell if I’m sad, angry, thirsty, sick, etc.
Dante
Yesterday, my abuelita fell and bruised her face. She has microfractures on her jaw and cheekbone. And this woman, y’know, she raised me. I love her to death. And all I could feel was a featureless”!!!” that I didn’t challenge because… I’d rather have a(n emotional) shutdown than a breakdown? I live in a 6-people household, I have to keep functioning.
I think it’s a defense mechanism against melting down/getting overwhelmed. But it’s draining as all fuck, it’s not a system meant to stay engaged for long… And society today turns it on all the damn time 🙁
Leorale
Definitely sounds like shock. Shock acts like a temporary shutdown, so that you don’t get the full brunt of the emotions all at once (especially not while you’re still in danger or still need to solve all the things).
The feelings are still there, shock just pushes them away for a bit — which as you said, is extremely draining, not meant to be engaged forever.
I hope you can get to get to an extra-safe place where you can be gentle with yourself. Maybe with a blanket, and a glass of water or chocolate. I hope you can let shock know that its work is done, good job shock, and you’re now safe to feel the feelings that come up. ♡
Dante
I wish it was temporary. It tends to, like… last a lot, with some pockets of [How To Disappear Completely.mp3] Blue Screening from time to time? Not knowing how to process An Emotion as in, “connecting it to my body” instead of “analyzing the fuck out of it”, does play a part in how I tend to have shutdowns rather than meltdowns unless shit truly hits the fan.
That said – Thank you for the good wishes!! ♥♥ I promise I’m doing my best to hold onto what I’ve learned through the years and stay hopeful. I mostly manage! I’m just… Really tired all the time TwT Hot chocolate does sounds like a great idea right now. It’s cold as hell down in my country. I hope you’re having a nice night, friend ^^
Opus the Poet
Describing them, no. Experiencing them, big time problem.
quark
what a spiffy strip!