Not usually, but sometimes- when they’re really happy, cats sometimes pull back their lips in a manner that looks like a human smile; not all cats do this, though, and those that do don’t do it every time they’re happy.
Source: my friendly, lazy tabby.
Well cats can already kill commoners and one belonging to a gamer is bound to be extra violent as well as at least somewhat leveled and geared up, maybe it can take out a hired goon. C’mon kitty, he’s just a big fat rat.
That would be my guess. Awful convenient that she muted right before she got up (though I guess if you’re used to that sort of thing, you probably would).
That does seem awfully fast for a guy whose modus operandi so far on this job has be to start out acting friendly-but-implicitly-threatening, and only escalate to actual violence when someone’s uncooperative.
Maybe he’s planning to hold her hostage in an attempt to force Shanna to come to him?
I calico-late she’s about tab-by taking a permanent catnap. Lack of curiosity killed the cat owner. Her sense of self-preservation should’ve been a Little Friskie-er.
And, I’m done. *slinksoffinshame*
Fifteen years and three kids later, whenever people ask JJ and Kaye how they met, they can only smile knowingly at each other and remember the day that they startled her cat not with violence, but with passion.
No seriously, that’s all they can do (at least until a couple statutes of limitation expire).
(sigh) Seriously guys, you need to make Lia THIS naive/stupid for JJ to be able to take a hostage -__-
Protip on living alone for anyone who cares about survival: You ALWAYS check the keyhole/window. Always.
If you order food and get a brick ***thouse mountain of a man who could easily be using his physique to make a LOT more than delivery wage (extremely unlikely), you slide cash and tip under the door then ask him to leave the food and walk away. Yes delivery boys will do this happily.
If you’re wrong about him, what’s the harm done?
Lesson learned, thanks for failing at life so overly trusting readers might succeed, Lia
Um, may I get a source on that? But really I’m not talking about statistics, I’m stating as fact if you live alone in a city and CARE about long-term survival you always want a way to check the door easily and use it when even a delivery guy comes.
It can be a window by the door, keyhole, sturdyish locked screen door, whatever. A BIG friggin dog can negate the need for this if you want one anyways and are too lazy for this. I’m not talking more than a second of glancing here ok, its not unreasonable and could save your butt. I’ve seen plenty of people do this as a matter of routine and they could easily tell something is a miss when a 1920’s WEIGHTLIFTER Shows up with a generic pizza box (if that) and a bloody knee.
Look for the record I kinda agree with you and I’m not condemning her as dummer/naiver than the average american or average nerd but she’s definitely not meeting the bar for being SCIPIO! Scipio outta be a bit smarter/savier than this is all I’m saying. Pardon if it came off more caustic.
Now Daniel I would believe never thinking to check before letting a giant inside with a big smile XD
I rarely bother using my peephole, and I certainly never use it when I’m expecting someone. It would also be nigh impossible to make out any particular details anyway, such as “this guy looks like he could kill me”. But it’s certainly a handy thing to have if I’d be expecting trouble of any sort.
Then again, I don’t live in USA. I remember one time playing Shadowrun over the internet, I was of the opinion that the probability of having a break-in was ridiculously inflated going by the rules as written. But another player disagreed with my assessment and claimed to have had quite a few break-ins over the years. I’ve had none in 20 years, and among my 70+ neighbours there have been only two break-ins that I know of, although one of those happened to my next door neighbours.
I’m not sure why you’d think it’s NECESSARY for Kaye to open her door without much of a security check here, considering than Xan was about as paranoid as he could be and JJ still gained entry to his place without any trouble at all. Now, yes, some places do have alarm systems and/or better locks, but I’d say that unless he’s facing the kind of security that only one-percenters can afford, a man of JJ’s abilities is getting pretty much anywhere he wants.
And just for the record, I’ve never heard of anyone taking the level of precautions Danzin suggests. I’m sure people do, especially in rougher neighborhoods, and I definitely am someone who leaves the blinds open to let the sun in even if it means someone can see into my home, so you can take that with a grain of salt. But it’d take a lot to convince me Kaye’s not doing so makes her some freakish outlier.
Ok first please lemme be lazy and say most of what I said to Sergei applies here.
Now to reiterate kinda, I’m not saying Kaye (I dunno why I keep getting her and Lia mixed up, pardon) is truly dumb/naive, that was a bit hyperbolic and I apologize if it caused any offense.
I’m just saying the real life Scipio should be one who takes bare minimal tactics that help your chances of survival. That means a simple habit of quickly glancing at someone before you open your home or car door, learning at least one trick or two for dealing with a stronger bigger aggressor etc. Yes JJ is a professional at this and will likely still get in but doing everything you can to resist and MAKE NOISE is important. You want him to think cops could be on the way, so he needs to leave you alive but scared of him so you won’t make trouble.
It’s just a bit dissappointing, I’d more likely believe Lia or Daniel would be as vulnerable as the rest of us but that Kaye would put up a fight.
I’m sorry it came off whiny and demanding, I truly don’t mean to nitpick and nag and I really love the story as a whole. It’s my love of the 99.9% of awesome that makes me pounce on this stuff. Or maybe I’m possessed by my gravatar’s grump face @_@
Oh, it didn’t come off that whiny! I hear ya, and I do try not to make characters go down like punks (unless they ARE punks, like the average Cultist). I’m just not sure there’s anything Kaye could have done that would make what we saw appreciably different, especially since the muted conversation means that Kaye may have indeed made plenty of noise, but we wouldn’t have heard it. (I suspect today’s installment may answer some of your other issues.)
That’s a big part of what makes JJ scary, to me: we HAVE seen normal people taking sensible precautions against him– Shanna buying the gun, Xan refusing to let him in– and yet suddenly that doesn’t matter and he’s in your house, he’s in your face, he’s blowing a hole in your chest, because he’s thought about the same safety issues you have a lot more thoroughly for a lot longer.
If that is a hissing, angry cat, why are its eyes wide open and its ears all perked up? Hissing angry cats almost close their eyes and their ears go flat, pointing away from the “enemy”.
I bet she’s a dog person.
Lassie! Quick! Growl and bark so that the Chrissie and the others know there’s something wro-
Aw, crap. You’re a cat.
Lassie! Quick! Unmute the mic so they can at least hear my blood filled screams!
The cat is not smiling.
Cheshire cats notwithstanding, cat’s don’t usually smile.
nooooooo how did that stray apostrophe get there :'(
It’s a catapostrophe!!!
Not usually, but sometimes- when they’re really happy, cats sometimes pull back their lips in a manner that looks like a human smile; not all cats do this, though, and those that do don’t do it every time they’re happy.
Source: my friendly, lazy tabby.
I sense a CATastrophe coming…
So I guess Scipio and Fr’nj will be NPCs together now.
Even her in-game quest was isolating her from the pack before the predator moved in…
(Also, that is so wrong, oh my but that made me laugh and pout at the same time.)
Well cats can already kill commoners and one belonging to a gamer is bound to be extra violent as well as at least somewhat leveled and geared up, maybe it can take out a hired goon. C’mon kitty, he’s just a big fat rat.
Anything terrible happens to the cat, and I’ll deliver your pizza, Bud!
The cat will be fine.
The cat had better be fine… or I will personally force my way into speculative fiction to fuck JJ’s shit up.
That seems awfully fast for JJ, assuming that is him. Did he just grab her when she opened the door?
That would be my guess. Awful convenient that she muted right before she got up (though I guess if you’re used to that sort of thing, you probably would).
Better hope no one driving by/across the street/the actual pizza guy saw it happen, JJ.
If it really is JJ, my bet he replaced the pizza guy and/or killed him.
And took the pizza for himself. Hey, hired goons have to eat too.
He probably met the pizza guy at the door of the apartment building, tipped him well, and held the pizza up to Kaye’s peephole.
That does seem awfully fast for a guy whose modus operandi so far on this job has be to start out acting friendly-but-implicitly-threatening, and only escalate to actual violence when someone’s uncooperative.
Maybe he’s planning to hold her hostage in an attempt to force Shanna to come to him?
It would at least make more tactical sense than uniting a bunch of previously neutral parties against him and giving them a martyr.
Pleasedon’tbethehitmanpleasedon’tbethehitmanpleasedon’tbethehitman
I’m feline like she should’ve seen this coming. What a catalyst for the plot! I just hope we don’t lose another purrson.
I calico-late she’s about tab-by taking a permanent catnap. Lack of curiosity killed the cat owner. Her sense of self-preservation should’ve been a Little Friskie-er.
And, I’m done. *slinksoffinshame*
This feels familiar…
Wow you just sent me on an adventure laden with hours of entertainment value o.o Thanks mate!
What? Already? Is this truly the end of our tail?
Self-defense Training could save her.
If “Self-defense” and “Training” were the names of two giant Pit Bulls who she also had as pets.
I’m really hoping she not only muted her mic but also muted the speakers on that laptop before she got up from the skype call.
Welp, that Gravatar was more accurate than I thought it would be.
Pretty sure the implication in the previous comic is that she muted the mic only.
Which means most likely that the hitman might have some idea where to go next.
Cats always need to be the center of attention
Fifteen years and three kids later, whenever people ask JJ and Kaye how they met, they can only smile knowingly at each other and remember the day that they startled her cat not with violence, but with passion.
No seriously, that’s all they can do (at least until a couple statutes of limitation expire).
Do you think Love can Bloom… even at a crimescene?
Haha, sweet. Look, she’s trying to impress us ! Silly cat…
Ha ha, yes. Cat. Someone is totally not getting murdered right now by a fake pizza guy. Yep, it is all cool.
It’s been a while since a comic put a knot in my stomach like that.
Well played, you magnificent bastards. Well played, indeed.
This is such a great comic! Maximal tension, while showing a minimum: just the cat’s expression. You guys rock!
She’s gonna die. She’s gonna die and I am going to feel sad.
Sheesh this page is actually stressing me out. Heart rate increased, cold sweat and everything. Way to go guys, i guess?
Ah dramatic irony. You strike again.
Cat scare! Or maybe double-reverse cat scare, because the gang should be scared, yet aren’t.
This is actually kind of horrifying. Kudos, GA crew, for excellent panel work and writing!
Chrissie means Kaye’s laptop, right?
Yeah. It’s usually not a good sign when even the makers of a comic have no idea which name belongs to which character.
(sigh) Seriously guys, you need to make Lia THIS naive/stupid for JJ to be able to take a hostage -__-
Protip on living alone for anyone who cares about survival: You ALWAYS check the keyhole/window. Always.
If you order food and get a brick ***thouse mountain of a man who could easily be using his physique to make a LOT more than delivery wage (extremely unlikely), you slide cash and tip under the door then ask him to leave the food and walk away. Yes delivery boys will do this happily.
If you’re wrong about him, what’s the harm done?
Lesson learned, thanks for failing at life so overly trusting readers might succeed, Lia
I believe you mean Kaye, but no worries.
Consider the possibility that 99% of people never, ever do any of that? And so not doing those things does not make Scipio naive or stupid?
Um, may I get a source on that? But really I’m not talking about statistics, I’m stating as fact if you live alone in a city and CARE about long-term survival you always want a way to check the door easily and use it when even a delivery guy comes.
It can be a window by the door, keyhole, sturdyish locked screen door, whatever. A BIG friggin dog can negate the need for this if you want one anyways and are too lazy for this. I’m not talking more than a second of glancing here ok, its not unreasonable and could save your butt. I’ve seen plenty of people do this as a matter of routine and they could easily tell something is a miss when a 1920’s WEIGHTLIFTER Shows up with a generic pizza box (if that) and a bloody knee.
Look for the record I kinda agree with you and I’m not condemning her as dummer/naiver than the average american or average nerd but she’s definitely not meeting the bar for being SCIPIO! Scipio outta be a bit smarter/savier than this is all I’m saying. Pardon if it came off more caustic.
Now Daniel I would believe never thinking to check before letting a giant inside with a big smile XD
I rarely bother using my peephole, and I certainly never use it when I’m expecting someone. It would also be nigh impossible to make out any particular details anyway, such as “this guy looks like he could kill me”. But it’s certainly a handy thing to have if I’d be expecting trouble of any sort.
Then again, I don’t live in USA. I remember one time playing Shadowrun over the internet, I was of the opinion that the probability of having a break-in was ridiculously inflated going by the rules as written. But another player disagreed with my assessment and claimed to have had quite a few break-ins over the years. I’ve had none in 20 years, and among my 70+ neighbours there have been only two break-ins that I know of, although one of those happened to my next door neighbours.
I’m not sure why you’d think it’s NECESSARY for Kaye to open her door without much of a security check here, considering than Xan was about as paranoid as he could be and JJ still gained entry to his place without any trouble at all. Now, yes, some places do have alarm systems and/or better locks, but I’d say that unless he’s facing the kind of security that only one-percenters can afford, a man of JJ’s abilities is getting pretty much anywhere he wants.
(I could say it’s purely hypothetical that JJ has entered Kaye’s living space, but really, whom are we kidding at this point?)
And just for the record, I’ve never heard of anyone taking the level of precautions Danzin suggests. I’m sure people do, especially in rougher neighborhoods, and I definitely am someone who leaves the blinds open to let the sun in even if it means someone can see into my home, so you can take that with a grain of salt. But it’d take a lot to convince me Kaye’s not doing so makes her some freakish outlier.
Ok first please lemme be lazy and say most of what I said to Sergei applies here.
Now to reiterate kinda, I’m not saying Kaye (I dunno why I keep getting her and Lia mixed up, pardon) is truly dumb/naive, that was a bit hyperbolic and I apologize if it caused any offense.
I’m just saying the real life Scipio should be one who takes bare minimal tactics that help your chances of survival. That means a simple habit of quickly glancing at someone before you open your home or car door, learning at least one trick or two for dealing with a stronger bigger aggressor etc. Yes JJ is a professional at this and will likely still get in but doing everything you can to resist and MAKE NOISE is important. You want him to think cops could be on the way, so he needs to leave you alive but scared of him so you won’t make trouble.
It’s just a bit dissappointing, I’d more likely believe Lia or Daniel would be as vulnerable as the rest of us but that Kaye would put up a fight.
I’m sorry it came off whiny and demanding, I truly don’t mean to nitpick and nag and I really love the story as a whole. It’s my love of the 99.9% of awesome that makes me pounce on this stuff. Or maybe I’m possessed by my gravatar’s grump face @_@
Oh, it didn’t come off that whiny! I hear ya, and I do try not to make characters go down like punks (unless they ARE punks, like the average Cultist). I’m just not sure there’s anything Kaye could have done that would make what we saw appreciably different, especially since the muted conversation means that Kaye may have indeed made plenty of noise, but we wouldn’t have heard it. (I suspect today’s installment may answer some of your other issues.)
That’s a big part of what makes JJ scary, to me: we HAVE seen normal people taking sensible precautions against him– Shanna buying the gun, Xan refusing to let him in– and yet suddenly that doesn’t matter and he’s in your house, he’s in your face, he’s blowing a hole in your chest, because he’s thought about the same safety issues you have a lot more thoroughly for a lot longer.
So something bothers me about the last frame.
If that is a hissing, angry cat, why are its eyes wide open and its ears all perked up? Hissing angry cats almost close their eyes and their ears go flat, pointing away from the “enemy”.
Something does not add up there.
Everything but the ears says “hissing cat” to me. I’ve seen plenty of cats hiss with their eyes open, and the ears could simply be an artist error.
…Guys, her cat is clearly just terribly excited and ready to pounce upon the pizza. Really. …she’s not gonna die…
YES! GET SOME!