well, today ended up pretty well, so I can do another page of Parallax!

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-04

yeah, Chara's in a school

🔴 THAT IS NOT ME

that's totally you, Chara. anyway, kinda hard to tell anything else. for some reason a physics class is starting at five minutes after noon. oh, eh, actually I guess Chara is late--

🔴 that wouldn't be me. if I was five minutes late to a class I just wouldn't go at all. I told you it wasn't me

despite everything it's still you

blech. had second thoughts about continuing this impromptu toot series of mine, but shit, I'm a chemist. if I tossed away everything of value just because it came from problematical sources, I'd have to throw my whole library away

anyway, page 5 of "Parallax".

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-05

looks like Chara has a name of their own, "Lomax Torchstone". what sort of name is THAT? I kinda _preferred_ "Chara"

oh, well, "Lomax" it is

🔴 booooo

I thought you said that wasn't you!

"Lomax Torchstone", there's a name that piles on the semiotic coding huh? "lo" + "max", and then "torchstone" is kind of a giveaway

anyway Lomax's teacher does that really shitty thing that teachers like to do, which is turn a small disruption like entering a class a few minutes late into a much bigger disruption by calling it out

🔴 hey that's why I'd never go into class if I was late. I was sparing the other kids!

yeah right Chara

teach's name is "Dan Rodgers", which is about as boring and white as a name gets. maybe he's related to Paul Rodgers

(puts some Bad Company on)

gawd I HATE being "introduced to the class". I'm with Chara in a way, classmates aren't my friends and I don't feel like I need to talk to 'em except in my own sweet time, don't need my teachers trying to push us together into groups and shit

let's continue I guess

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-06

not much goes on here. Paul Rodgers' physics-teaching cousin here acknowledges Lomax, Lomax is mortified of course and calls Rodgers an asshole (well, I mean, he IS a white physics teacher, I'd call that playing the odds), and then goes on with the lecture

Lomax tries to sneak out at the end (not smart enough to hide in the crowd huh kid) but gets hit with "talk to me before you leave". dun dun DUN!

bleh

fine, page 7

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-07

so it's the talk alluded to at the end of the previous page, except there's a bit of confusion because the teacher, Rodgers, referred to Lomax as a "new kid" on page 5 but now he's talking about Lomax's grades as though he's been dealing with Lomax for a while. maybe he's just looking at the kid's record as a transfer student or something...eh, whatever, but it feels like a slight inconsistency

anyway of course Lomax sucks as a student (just like we all did!) and Rodgers sorrowfully suggests that Lomax has given up. Lomax tries to shrug it off: "oh I'm just not good at studying."

Rodgers: "but why are you a science major then"? oh, so this isn't high school? and there's only one science major at this college? "the science major" (well I think that's not unheard of actually, sounds like some Evergreen State College write-your-own-portfolio crap though)

"but I didn't choose it" dun dun DUN!

I mean, pretty safe to guess Lomax's parents made the kid do it, but since this is a sci-fi webcomic I figure that the safe guess isn't the right guess

oh pfft I typed "p. 6" when I'm on Page 7

whatever, just...add one in your head for the previous three toots

the conversation between Lomax and the teacher, Rodgers, continues

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-08

still no definite answer about why Lomax is in classes they do badly at (do we know Lomax's gender at this point?) but they're hinting that parents aren't the reason. well, like I said last night, it's fair to assume there's some _exciting_ reason for Lomax forcing themselves through classes they suck at other than the obvious ones

trying to spot anything noteworthy in the _mise en scene_. one detail that stands out is that there's a big chart labelled "SPECTROSCOPY" on a wall, but it's taller than it's wide, which is not usually how visible-light spectra are shown on a chart. also it goes from pink to white to yellow, but I'll chalk that up to stylization (or simplification)

finally Prof. Rodgers offers the help of after-school tutoring to Lomax...if they have "some DETERMINATION"

dun dun DUN!

(I feel inclined to twit Chara a bit about that one, seeing as how they work "determination" into conversation an average of three or four times a day)

🔴 I'm not THAT bad

yeah sure let's ask @KaylinEvergreen about that

ok, things take a turn

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-09

a top row of small boring frames, then suddenly we get a clear left-right split, light going into dark.

"determination" is repeated from page 8 *snorts* Chara, any thoughts?

🔴 you know, it's a good word, I like it

the Sun's setting behind Prof. Rodgers. (it looked higher up in earlier pages...we don't really know how long they talked)

anyway Rodgers uses the striking composition to castigate Lomax for being a doormat

*sighs* Chara, we know who did this, after all. I wouldn't put it past 'em to just AIM this at you

why have I even been typing this shit out as daily as I can manage? I suppose I was curious. but gawd this duty has really seemed like self-punishment sometimes

like...you know we're being played.

that's all I'm saying

🔴 whatever this is...it's more pleasant than whatever things were *shrugs* I'm game. might as well get some fun out of this charade

🔴 and let's face it, the folks playing with us have the advantage of being booked up. they've been marinating in decades of theorizing, we've just been cruising along with pure improvisation. we don't know what we're doing, we just...have a scent we're following

🔴 if nothing else we're probably gonna be learning some new shit, none of us have ever not enjoyed that

still think I should get the tattoo?

🔴 "the threat is often stronger than the execution". didn't some chess player say that

Nimzovich maybe. probably not really Nimzovich though

anyway I take your point

fine, let's keep playing. page ten

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-10

still expounding on Lomax's willingness to be a doormat, Prof. Rodgers advances on Lomax, casting the shadow from the setting Sun on him, which of course is totally not intimidating in any way: "you're powerless".

hehe didn't mean to scare you though! both Lomax and Rodgers are sweating at this point. Rodgers promises he's only wanting to help, and holds out...a small ornamented wooden box, perhaps?

page eleven.

detailed closeup of the box sitting in Prof. Rodgers's outstretched hand. there's some lettering on the lid and I can make out the word "LUX" (light, of course) but nothing else is immediately clear.

what is it? Lomax sensibly asks. "consider it a gift". o-kay. Lomax is already mentally preparing to bolt for the door and Rodgers does the "hehe sorry for keeping you" thing. just how long have they been talking?

and page twelve, just because these have been swiftly moving pages with little to summarize really

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-12

Lomax does in fact bolt, but not before Prof. Rodgers assures them, "if you ever need help you can come to me". not worrisome at all! Lomax thanks him with a hasty backwards glance. the kid wants out of the awkwardness, fast

they hasten away, almost running, and finally give vent to a "WHAT THE HELL" when they're a safe distance down the hall

I'm trying to think of how I'd react to an exchange like this when I was Lomax's age. (like, okay, I sort of feel myself to be a teenager, but I'm occupying the same head as a forty-four-year-old human, so it's complicated)

Chara, any thoughts?

🔴 eh when Kara was this age she probably would have at least half believed the teacher could be some source of help, she still tended to look up to teachers as trusted authorities, despite the calamities, until her 30s, it's sad

what the heck, I'll do another. lucky thirteen

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-13

Lomax really IS running now, drawing the attention of other kids. and it doesn't look like they stop until they're well away from the school. it's evening, and Lomax is on some remotish-looking road, trees behind him, looking down on a town nestled in among mountains

🔴 ...huh

more coincidences, Chara?

🔴 well I'm thinking of the Ebottsville stuff of Kara's but shit nobody paid attention to that

🔴 anyway "town in the foothills of some mountains" ain't exactly uncommon

yeah there's that. we're still in reasonably generic territory here

the town has a name, "Silverdalen", which just makes me think of Silverdale, WA, in Kitsap County. we've been there once!

🔴 yeah Kara drove that far to buy an electric piano. it was an expensive machine and her / our left-right coördination issues meant we hardly improved with practice and Kara quit trying early. as per usual hah

are we doing some kind of reverse cold read on this thing, Chara

🔴 eh maybe. patterns are patterns

another page before bed

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-14

another hint that Lomax's situation is unusual. they'd said something earlier about the reason for their being stuck in an ill-fitting major wasn't their parents, but wouldn't say what the reason was. now another hint: "this is the worst of the places I've lived". so Lomax has been kicked around from place to place...Army brat?

up a steep-looking grade to a single family home. Lomax collapses into bed

page fifteen.

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-15

Lomax's mom comes into the room asking what's wrong. she looks young, and kindly enough. well that puts to bed any idea this is based on YOU in some way, Chara, haha ;=3

🔴 guess that depends on which mom you mean. *sighs* none of my moms have been entirely nice. certainly none of the human ones

anyway mom is sensible enough to give Lomax some space (yeah, Chara, I see what you mean) and the kid's left alone

two more years to graduation, then maybe things will get better...

"I will just have to endure" are hard words to come from the mouth of someone that young...dunno how old any of us was, when we first decided that was our lot in life, endurance. mere persistence is an empty sort of goal, but it _is_ a goal

and in page sixteen Lomax's reality instantly shatters

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-16

(also unlike our experiences. we don't remember dreams)

all right, let's move on

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-17

welp, this won't take long. Lomax in his dream / vision sees a pair of figures in shadow whom he takes for his parents. Lomax dreams they're in a glass bottle.

"will you let me out?"

"sorry you'll have to stay in there a little longer Max" says dad (maybe)

okay, interesting that they shorten "Lo + Max" to just "Max"

eighteen.

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-18

the bottle is filling slowly with water but conversation continues. the parents (mom is much more clearly seen than dad) says something about "well you know what our jobs are like" and Lomax accepts it

only then in the bottom half of the page does Lomax notice the water. it's submerged them

and now Lomax is drowned

oops forgot to edit the CW properly on the last one. oh well

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-19

Lomax bolts awake. so, a "night terror". after an ordinary nightmare you don't move around, you just wake up. Kara used to have night terrors but it's been ages since their last one

"same dream" says Lomax. hm

turns out Lomax has a kitty! striped orange kitten named "Ramsay". (Gordon Ramsay? William Ramsay, discoverer of the noble gases)

"I feel terrible"

and page 20 before I do something else

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-20

Lomax starts to shamble out of bed to the bathroom to wash their face when they trip over something and land flat on their face. "my backpack?" nope, it was that ornate wooden box Prof. Rodgers gave 'em. oh SNAP!

Lomax is furious, crying. they snatch up the box, ready to dash it to the floor I guess

all right, page twenty-one

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-21

Lomax hesitates and doesn't toss the little box down. a meow from their kitty Ramsay (Ramsay Lewis? no, wait, that's "Ramsey" Lewis. nm) calms the kid and instead of throwing the thing Lomax looks at it again.

there's a phone number on a scrap of paper that reads, "Call me if anything happens." that's...a bit weird coming from a teacher who's known Lomax for like a day, but I guess this is an unusual situation

page twenty-two.

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-22

Lomax quite sensibly worries about what's in the box, calling Prof. Rodgers a "creep" (I mean) and, with the cat Ramsay looking on curiously, Lomax opens it

there's a small square, or lozenge really, of what looks like glass, polished with bevelled edges, laid in the box on a bed of velvet

Lomax picks it up and looks at it, baffled

🔴 ooh it's like that scene in that awful "Golden Compass" movie where what's her name gets the alethiometer! hope this comic turns out to be better than that fuckin' movie

I really hope we don't end up having to read any Philip Pullman, Chara, I really don't

well anyway the thing looks ordinary enough and Lomax is sarcastic. "here, have this piece of glass!" they imagine Rodgers saying, "it'll make you better at math!"

but then

BUT THEN

oops, forgot to change the CW AGAIN

ok, page twenty-three

https://www.parallaxcomic.com/comic/page-23

but THEN the glass lozenge starts glowing very brightly, with a pinkish light, bright enough to illuminate the room. the cat's excited to see it but Lomax is stunned, tears in their eyes

the glass lozenge asks a question and here the comic has resorted to some kind of alien-looking script.

now I know from experience that such scripts tend to be simply transliterated from some human writing, probably English in this case. and studying the short line of text I can see things like repeated double letters. so I bet there's a simple English statement concealed by the strange letters

then the glowing lozenge (held up almost perfectly in front of a windowpane with a cross pattern, in a manner not symbolic in any way) asks a question

"speak key"

Lomax stammers out "w-what?"

"key accepted" [burst of onomatopoeia]

so maybe the thing was keyed simply to Lomax's voice, or possibly the voice of any speaker. guess we'll be finding out huh? maybe