It Hurts: 12-30-06

[Turnsky]

i dunno, but viewing this, then the comic on a sleep-deprived and caffinated tangent, i can't help but concoct in my mind, a stream of various "black knight" quotes from monty python and the holy grail..

and let's not forget the all immortal "it hurts and stings!"

but really, from this point, abel's path could take any multitude of paths, some good, some bad, some that others might not even suspect..

[Faerie Alex]

Hope Abel be able to help Devin.

Wouldn't be nice see he just sit there and watch as life pass away from Devin.

But an though, abel abelity to hear what Devin thinks poped up lil suddenly, i mean, Dan now have it's head wing awhile, still can't read others mind, and also Abel him said before it take time till he be able to do that, so from this aspect this is strange

Perhaps all the people at Lost lake were thinking loud thoughts, thus giving Dan a headache, but not allowing him to be able to decipher any one line of thought. It seems like Glory might have thought far enough ahead to have a mind shield, so Devin's were the only thoughts he could read.

Also, I thought he was reading thoughts passively (at least, not trying to) in http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_562.php

[Jinni]

Thats sad, poor Abel doesn't even understand his powers yet and they are just kinda slapping him in the face. I would guess he is reading the thoughts without realising it. And the attacks stopped because they are probably unaware of Abel since he is hiding, or perhapse Glory finished them off. Its also possable Glory has been bested and whoever they were figured vicorty, but i guess thats less likley. It sucks everyones dying around him, but it would be kinda cool if he goes all "enraged" and kills all the baddies without even knowing how.

I wanna give Abel a hug 

[thegayhare]

But an though, abel abelity to hear what Devin thinks poped up lil suddenly, i mean, Dan now have it's head wing awhile, still can't read others mind, and also Abel him said before it take time till he be able to do that, so from this aspect this is strange

Devins the only one near Abel.  The only mind near by, and his mind is screaming at the top of it's voice.  He's in pain, can't breath and utterly terrified it makes sense that Devins mental volume is cranked up to the point where even Abels still developing cubi powers might pick them up

[Jinni]

ps: i tried zooming in on the last words, but they just become to pixelated to read, i believe part of it is "i cant move" but thats about it.

[Sid]

Other than what Modelincard and TGH said:

But an though, abel abelity to hear what Devin thinks poped up lil suddenly, i mean, Dan now have it's head wing awhile, still can't read others mind, and also Abel him said before it take time till he be able to do that, so from this aspect this is strange

I think that Cubi powers don't fire up in fixed order or timing. Amber might've said so somewhere, but I'm kinda in a hurry right now and thus can't check, so I'll just file this under "educated guess" for now. Additionally, Abel has been studying magic for a good while now, so it's hard to compare Abel and Dan in terms of progress. It's possible that mindreading just comes easier when you already have some knowledge of magic. Who knows?

[AndersW]

edit: I am referring to the mind-reading text at the bottom of the last panel

We may not be able to discern what is it, because Able wasn't able to discern what it was.  Like if you hear someone say something, but you didn't hear what they said, but you know they said something.

If this makes no sense, it is because I just got up.

[Turnsky]

Hope Abel be able to help Devin.

Wouldn't be nice see he just sit there and watch as life pass away from Devin.

But an though, abel abelity to hear what Devin thinks poped up lil suddenly, i mean, Dan now have it's head wing awhile, still can't read others mind, and also Abel him said before it take time till he be able to do that, so from this aspect this is strange

Perhaps all the people at Lost lake were thinking loud thoughts, thus giving Dan a headache, but not allowing him to be able to decipher any one line of thought. It seems like Glory might have thought far enough ahead to have a mind shield, so Devin's were the only thoughts he could read.

Also, I thought he was reading thoughts passively (at least, not trying to) in http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_562.php

Dan's headaches were explained already: http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_488.php

plus this thread's about abel, don't forget he's not good at the sight of blood, and doesn't seem to have a head for combat at all, who knows what sort of edge this's push him off of.

[Sunblink]

Holy--

Oh my God, poor Abel. Poor, poor Abel. What a way for your mind-reading abilities to manifest... I rarely really pity a character without cackling evilly, but, as much of a fantastic strip (probably one of my favorites for the emotion and how elaborately Abel's hair is drawn. It reminds me of how great Page 38 was in how excellently Abel was drawn in the first panel) and what a great source of character development this is, I'm really feeling for Abel. If he already didn't have hemophobic problems to begin with since he was a kid, I wouldn't blame him for gaining them after all this trauma.

Now there's the matter about Abel's attacker, and Glory. Can't wait for the next comic, Amber.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[superluser]

Additionally, Abel has been studying magic for a good while now, so it's hard to compare Abel and Dan in terms of progress. It's possible that mindreading just comes easier when you already have some knowledge of magic.

It's also possible that Abel has learned some mindreading spells, and that they have accelerated his development in this regard.  There's also the off chance that some `cubi can't read thoughts at all.  Destania, Dan, and Aary have all shown disinclination to read minds (sometimes straining credulity in the process), so perhaps Abel was basing his assumptions off of his own development, which are not generalizable to the entire `cubi population.

It might be very interesting if Devin is still conscious, and hearing Abel read his thoughts, while Abel probably thinks that he's just hearing Devin speaking normally.

[Alondro]

*Charline smiles wickedly, her wing tentacles arcing about Abel in translucent spirit form*  Ah, poor little Abel.  You know not what you are, nor what you can do.  And now you hear in your mind the last vestiges of your friend's life as it ebbs.  What else do you think you'll hear, my dear?  What will he be thinking about you?  You'll learn the whole truth as it echoes in your mind, every last facet of it, even the parts you won't want to hear!  *she cackles with cruel glee in anticipation!*

*Charles erfs*  Charline is enjoying this too much.  Abel's gonna need therapy.. about 400 years of it, to be exact.  

[Arcalane]

But an though, abel abelity to hear what Devin thinks poped up lil suddenly, i mean, Dan now have it's head wing awhile, still can't read others mind, and also Abel him said before it take time till he be able to do that, so from this aspect this is strange

Devins the only one near Abel.  The only mind near by, and his mind is screaming at the top of it's voice.  He's in pain, can't breath and utterly terrified it makes sense that Devins mental volume is cranked up to the point where even Abels still developing cubi powers might pick them up

Abel is also listed as being a "natural" at picking up thoughts, to boot, so that's something worth taking into account.

[Alan Garou]

Dammit. Not only is Devin dying, but Abel has to endure the torture of hearing his dying thoughts. Fate is being downright sadistic to our Abba.

[VioletDusk]

Alas, Abel did go for "whimpering  pool of snivel" with a generous portion of helplessness thrown in.  Looks like I lost that bet. *sigh*

Though, yeah, if Abel has picked up any healing abilities in his magical studies, NOW would be a swell time to whip them out, before the little blue fluff ball kicks the bucket.

[willow186129]

*blinks* Well, I blew it up on photoshop 300%

Does anyone wonder why it's "we can't move"?

[Snap]

[tr][/tr]

"...puncture in chest...we can't move..."

zoomed in on the text also (though watching the pixels close up doesnt help the letter recognition), my bet would be on hazmat`s guess. The problem there is that the highlights on abels cloth right there have a similar bright white color like the letters, adding strange lines that form weird non-existing letters. Funny thing: the last "e" from move combine with the "..." almost looks like the thoughts turning into a flatline...

Also, i dont think everybody we want to will walk away from that scene alive... theres no pg13 rating for a reason.

[Izkata]

Maybe "We", for some reason or other refers to both Devin and Xander?

Hm.  Without blowing it up or zooming in - just putting my face close to the screen - the word you say is "can't" looks like "cease" to me....  But that doesn't make sense with the other words...

[Sid]

...next time, Amber will/should just put something like "Lorem Ipsum" at a small font-size font into a comic and take a week off, just to watch us speculate about the text until we all foam out of the mouth.

[Cogidubnus]

Devin, unwittingly, has become the torture to Abel that he always wanted to be...

I think, we now know why Abel did not want to leave SAIA.

[Aleolus]

And Abel's mind-reading powers awaken, along with his head-wings!  Yay!  Now, hopefully his Cubi magic will awaken at the same time, and allow him to pull off a miracle and heal Devin from the brink of death, and annihilate whatever it was that was attacking them!

[bill]

I see someone's cup is half-full.

[Kasarn]

IF THE CUP IS NOT FULL THEN YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB PROPERLY!

[ChaoSynergy]

Did a little fiddling in photoshop.  It's not crystal clear, but it is easier to see than in the original image.

[Teroniss]

Who says its thoughts that he's hearing?  I have no idea what reanimation feels like or how long it takes but this could be the start of the undead race. (or at least a increase to their numbers)

That kind of fits with the the "can't breath" and "It hurts" voices, I would expect 'so cold' to be heard as well soon, maybe with a little a little screaming as some of them realise whats going on.

Nah, the undead race was started 34 years ago according to Demonology 101

[Tapewolf]

If a fully-trained 'cubi can trap and eat souls, it also follows that 'cubi should be able to sense them, and I'd wager it's a damn sight easier if the soul has just detached from the body.

This is a theme I've been slowly weaving into my CJP story but it looks like Amber may have got there first.  (That's assuming Devin's already died from shock and Abel isn't simply reading his dying mind)

[Alablast]

I see someone's cup is half-full.

The cup is always full!  Just sometimes with air... 

The first word in the first line is "I" but I can't make out the second word... g something... doesn't look like 'guess' though.   Maybe it's something like "I guess in the end we can't move?"  I think though it's supposed to be smaller because it's getting harder for Abel to hear- meaning Devin is dying quickly.

[Kenji]

He's obviously just mumbling about his love for Xander. Devin's got the hots for spots.

[bill]

"You know, I've always loved you."

[Manawolf]

The man has a punctured lung, that's why he can't breath.  Unfortunately, I don't think healing was that much of a skill for anyone here but the paladin.

Speaking of which, where did the barbarian and swashbuckler go?  Seriously, the sniper take them out too?

[Sid]

Speaking of which, where did the barbarian and swashbuckler go?  Seriously, the sniper take them out too?

If I had to guess, I'd say that (since they're cameo characters) they got Plot Armor and survived the battle.
Not saying that they were uber-useful in the fight (since I don't recall them having ranged weapons, though they might be magic-users, too), but surviving should be a definite possibility.