09/01/08 [DMFA #933] - Poor Choice of Words

[Kipiru]

Well, don't all parents do the same mistakes. Poor crybaby Dan- no bad guy slain and no amazon bed-action! Pity!

[Aurawyn]

Im just glad to see the Amazon's survived.. Means they could someday come back!

[Sunblink]

I'm more hoping that we'll learn Destania's connection to Dark Pegasus, assuming Dan tells Destania the whole story.

[Naldru]

he never said that he won as we see he didn't still i wonder how his mom will comfort him when she hears the full story. maybe cookies or a new weapon?

I would expect both, plus a little combat training.  I can just picture it now.

"Now if you want to improve your chance of disemboweling your opponent, hold the sword like this.  And try the oatmeal cookies, they're really good."

[Dracora]

Honestly, this is Dan's story about the adventure, I really doubt that we'll actually get to see how Destania comforts her son, because thats not part of his adventure. Unfortunate. Though I'd place my bet on cookies!

[Tapewolf]

I'm vaguely curious as to why Dee doesn't know what happened already, given that Dan is going to be practically radiating it.  I guess reading her son's thoughts is considered impolite.  Either that, or she doesn't want to hear the babel of his friends' inner dialogue as well.

**EDIT**

What could really be interesting is Dee's reaction when she finds out that her darling son has been partying with a Dragon.

[Lego3400]

Poor Dan. Emotional aftershock. For a first adventure, it was a bit of a downer.

And good luck to Amber with the ambitious September update schedule!

What surprised me was that Dee is hiding her headwings.  She normally doesn't do that.

Civilian setting, town with a population of adventurers (presumably), and a kid with no overt magical abilities and another kid who refuses to use his magic and hasn't come into his Cubi powers yet? I can see why she'd do that. As for not hiding her backwings, while Dan would get treated weird if he had wings and neither of his parents did (see Abel), if one of his parents has wings then he probably gets treated a little better. I guess.

Its just that this is the first time we have seen Destania without her headwings when she is in her base form.  All other times we have seen her she has had them out, not counting when she was pretending to be someone else.

Yes, but this scene takes place when she was living a "normal" life with husband and kids among beings. Makes sense that she'd hide her headwings, as they'd identify her as a cubi and very likely make adventurers or angry mobs with torches and pitchforks pay a visit. (Remember how people reacted when she first showed up at the inn: They wanted to kill her.)

She likely hid them all the time when in Dan's presence. He was totally taken off guard by his own powers.

[Alterationartist]

Hmmm...
I got it!
Dan didn't seem to bode well with being called an incubus by Aary when Destania was first mentioned. It may have been that Destania didn't make her cubi heritage apparent to Dan when he was around her. Think about it. Born to a cubi, raised by a cubi, but being a cubi is a surprise to him? Destania, at this time, was probably still in her "new life" phase where she was dodging around the fact she was a cubi for the betterment of her family. Dan was probably completely unaware that his mother was a cubi throughout his early life. So Des was hiding her headwings to hide the fact she was cubi, not only to the people around her, but to her own family.

P.S. Young Destania is haaaaawt.

[Tapewolf]

Think about it. Born to a cubi, raised by a cubi, but being a cubi is a surprise to him? Destania, at this time, was probably still in her "new life" phase where she was dodging around the fact she was a cubi for the betterment of her family. Dan was probably completely unaware that his mother was a cubi throughout his early life.

That's an interesting theory.  While it's plausible, personally, I think Dan was just in denial.  There's at least one shot of her with headwings while Dan was around, though he was a babe in arms at the time.
DP tells him (eventually) that he's the son of a succubus.  When Aary confronts Dan, he says "the only thing I inherited from my mom was her wings," which suggests to me that he knew there were other, less savoury aspects that he could potentially inherit.

Des was hiding her headwings to hide the fact she was cubi, not only to the people around her, but to her own family.

Maybe, but Alexsi knew what she was.  I think it's more likely that Dee is hiding at this particular time, because Dan's friends are there.  Even if they don't personally object to what she is, word might spread.

P.S. Young Destania is haaaaawt.

You know she's about seven thousand years old, right? 

[Aisha deCabre]

All I have to say is, Dan's expression in the fourth panel is very "d'aaaw!"-worthy.  And despite all the hintings of Destania's evil-ness in the comic, she's gotten the role of a caring mother down pat.

[Goatmon]

ahahahahahahahaah

[Brunhidden]

my bet is that after Dan tells her what happened she hunts DP down and screams "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY LITTLE BOY!" and shreds his face off

[Naldru]

my bet is that after Dan tells her what happened she hunts DP down and screams "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY LITTLE BOY!" and shreds his face off

For all her motherly instinct, this is still Destania.  She would know that that would be embarrassing to Dan if he found out, and she is good at developing evil plans.  If she was to do it, she would probably disguise herself so that Dark Pegasus would think that it was another son of another distraught mother.  Of course, she could rip his face off and not tell him it was because of her son.  Which might explain why Dark Pegasus was interested in the fact that Destania had a son.

By the way is the way Destania looks so domestic and motherly.  Hotness seems to be a secondary attribute.

[Jack McSlay]

What could really be interesting is Dee's reaction when she finds out that her darling son has been partying with a Dragon.

I don't think she could find out about that by reading his thoughts given that Dan apparently didn't see Shanna as a dragon

[Jairus]

What could really be interesting is Dee's reaction when she finds out that her darling son has been partying with a Dragon.

I don't think she could find out about that by reading his thoughts given that Dan apparently didn't see Shanna as a dragon

Considering that he's telling the whole thing in flashback and knows that Shanna was a dragon, I'd say he either learned it now or at a later meeting, which allowed him to fill in the blanks. So, he might not have known that Shanna was a dragon then, but I'd wager that he did.

[Tapewolf]

I don't think she could find out about that by reading his thoughts given that Dan apparently didn't see Shanna as a dragon

Do we know that he doesn't recognise her?
Either way, Dee, being a good mother, is likely to want to know what's up with Dan, and she's going to ask him what happened.  (Even if she reads his thoughts, she's presumably going to ask him for verisimilitude).

Even assuming that he doesn't know what Shanna is (the WFH arc suggests he probably does since he tends to owe money to dragons) - a description like "a Being who turned into a giant reptile" is probably enough to set some wheels turning inside his mother's head...

[Rakala]

Yeah, Destania has been made out to be, not just a little, but really smart. It's not like she can't figure it out on her own anyways. Most Mythos' we've seen haven't had the standard being shape of two legs, two arms and such. While that doesn't say much as far as figuring out (considering how little is known about the Mythos') it could mean something.

[Psaakyrn]

Just a note, I don't think Dan actually saw Shanna changing into a dragon. He was somewhat busy running the opposite direction at that time.

[Eibborn]

...Wait, did the amazons ever learn his gender?

[PencilinHand]

Is it just me or does Destania look slightly different than in older comics.

When I first spied the comic something struck me as different and it took me a bit but I think Destania's head and eyes are slightly narrower, her neck a little longer, and I think her frame is slightly more robust(though it might be the nature of the clothes).

[Jairus]

Is it just me or does Destania look slightly different than in older comics.

When I first spied the comic something struck me as different and it took me a bit but I think Destania's head and eyes are slightly narrower, her neck a little longer, and I think her frame is slightly more robust(though it might be the nature of the clothes).

It could possibly be due to aging, or she altered her form slightly (unlikely), or it could be that Amber has been refining her style regarding Destania.

[Shadowcatcher]

Poor Dan. Emotional aftershock. For a first adventure, it was a bit of a downer.

I dunno, I think he learned a valuable lesson, and that adventuring isn't fun and games.  It's not glamorous.  It showed that not everyone gets a happy ending, people do die adventuring.  But to learn that on his first day out of school, ouchie.

[GabrielsThoughts]

two updates...and I missed the second one by that much.

[DarkAudit]

Is it just me or does Destania look slightly different than in older comics.

When I first spied the comic something struck me as different and it took me a bit but I think Destania's head and eyes are slightly narrower, her neck a little longer, and I think her frame is slightly more robust(though it might be the nature of the clothes).

It could possibly be due to aging, or she altered her form slightly (unlikely), or it could be that Amber has been refining her style regarding Destania.

Shape. Shifters.

Older? Younger? C'mon. Four years to her is like last week to the rest of us.

[Tapewolf]

Just a note, I don't think Dan actually saw Shanna changing into a dragon. He was somewhat busy running the opposite direction at that time.

That's true, but then how would Dan know that she was a dragon when relating the story to Fi?  Unless Shanna turns up again later, someone must have told him.

[Psaakyrn]

Just a note, I don't think Dan actually saw Shanna changing into a dragon. He was somewhat busy running the opposite direction at that time.

That's true, but then how would Dan know that she was a dragon when relating the story to Fi?  Unless Shanna turns up again later, someone must have told him.

Or maybe it was drawn for our benifit, and Dan didn't actually say that.

[Mao]

Or maybe it was drawn for our benifit, and Dan didn't actually say that.

I think that's about right.  It wouldn't make for as interesting of a story if we were limited to seeing things only from the eyes of Dan and I'm pretty sure boring your audience doesn't go well for any webcomic artist.  This is entertainment so some reality bending is required.  Beyond that.. this is a comic about anthromorphs in a magical realm:  Some suspension of disbelief might be required.

[Aleolus]

Wow. Poor Dan, all sad. Also..Is it just me or does Dans mom at that age still ahve her 'perky wingspan'?

Why yes, yes she does   

[Naldru]

Just a note, I don't think Dan actually saw Shanna changing into a dragon. He was somewhat busy running the opposite direction at that time.

That's true, but then how would Dan know that she was a dragon when relating the story to Fi?  Unless Shanna turns up again later, someone must have told him.

We do know that Aliyka saw her as a dragon, and that Aliyka and Dan met in other adventures that occured between the flashback and the current timeframe.

[Aleolus]

Although, honestly, I'm not sure what part of Desti's little schpeil was what triggered Dan crying, it all seems fairly innocent to me.  Maybe he just had all that building up and he couldn't hold it in any more.

Plus, I bet the next comic shows Dan spilling everything to Desti, while she holds his head against her massive heaving bosom!