White Noise (Webcomic by Adrien Lee) SPOILERS

[thorny]

Oh my dear boys  :'( Hawk has every right to be furious, but I do hope they come out of this with something salvageable.

Yes, exactly.

-- And while Hawk has every right to be furious: he's not actually furious at the right thing. Numair wasn't laughing at him. Numair wasn't trying to use him. Numair is actually in love with him -- and did entirely the wrong thing about it; but Hawk has Numair's motives wrong. I hope he will wind up listening.

I don't know whether it'll help to find out that Numair only just found out who Liya is -- or rather, only just found out who Hawk is. But he's not going to find out that, either, if he won't listen. And Numair may, yet again, say the wrong thing first.

[Jitter]

You are right. He (Hawk) is painting a picture much darker than the reality about Numair’s motives. Hopefully he will listen to either Mari or someone else so that they can work it our. His terrible life as victim of cruel persecution since very young age cannot help him in building and keeping trust! It may require Liya and / or Teige to untangle this.

When Hawk has time to consider, he’s bound to figure out that Vlad must have known. Again, this is not helping with the trust!

[thorny]

Interesting. What people in the comics seem to be reading is Numair repressing his feelings in an unhealthy fashion. What I read was Numair fighting to get his fury under control because he understands that erupting in rage at the moment is only going to make things worse, and because he thinks that any hope of straightening things out with Hawk isn't going to be reached by screaming at him (or, worse, attacking him in some fashion; Numair's not the kind of fighter that Hawk is, but he does have some effective access to magic.)

A ruler has to be able to control their anger, if they're not to become the sort of tyrant who murders others for disagreeing. Control it, not ignore it; anger's a very useful thing, but only if it's under control. Maybe the commenters are correct and Numair's trying to ignore his anger instead of control it for later use when and as appropriate; but I hope not.

[Keep Looking]

I think potentially there could be some aspects of both there?

Being able to control anger is a useful skill especially for Numair as a ruler who needs to keep face for the public, and lashing out in this situation would definitely be unhelpful. So, in some ways it is good that Mari is calming himself - it's a wise diplomatic move.

However, I do feel that it is quite likely that he may also start repressing this anger, and may sit with it for too long and not bring it up at a healthy time, since it doesn't seem there are many people around whom he can genuinely express his emotions and he may have been practiced at just pushing everything down.

[thorny]

Maybe Liya can calm him down?

Hope so!

-- and whether Numair's repressing rage healthily or unhealthily, this (Oct 16 page) does seem like the right thing to do right now. But I suspect that you're right, and that both good and bad aspects of emotional control are involved.

[thorny]

Woooah.

Teige did well to recognize him. I'm glad Liya will have some idea what to expect.

I hope they can help. Though I suspect they can; this doesn't seem like the sort of work to just write Hawk off, and he certainly doesn't seem able to get this under any sort of control. -- though he didn't try to hit or bite Numair; so I think that while his shape is out of control, Hawk's anger is partially controlled, if not controlled enough to let him listen to explanations.

[Jitter]

He’s understanding that Liya needs to be warned, so that’s something! Also on previous page it could be interpreted that merely seeing Teige hlps him become a little more coherent. Maybe meeting his friend helps him ground himself? And if this is the case, maybe meeting his sister will help more. Here’s hoping!

[thorny]

Page.

And can I just say that Teige is amazing?

After the first astonishment, calm and exuding calm; like a skilled person trying to talk somebody down from a bad acid trip. Only I think these manifestations are real.

[Jitter]

Teige is superb! Gentle and caring, but also very no-nonsense, lie down here and I’ll calm you down. Thei bond is deep, as Hawk also knew even in his state that Teige will be able to help.

[Jitter]

Page again! With a shoked and angry person on it. Oh the tension!

[thorny]

Indeed.

Is Liya not going to believe that that's Hawk?

And what might Liya's upset do to Hawk's mental state -- especially if she appears to be rejecting him?

Or what if she just runs away?

[thorny]

What is that "stop"? I took it at first for somebody -- maybe Hawk? -- saying "stop" in a really weird voice. But, reading the descriptive text, it seems to just say that Liya stops, not that anyone tells her to; so maybe that odd text is just meant to show that it's a description of her action, and not a voice?

[Jitter]

Thorny, I think so too. It’s one of those effects that are common in other comics but it looks weird because it’s not normally in use in White Noise. I guess it indicates a very abrupt stop. I assume she sees hawk and is shocked (more).

[thorny]

Wow.

Liya is also amazing. That shift in a moment from utter freakout to utter and active determination --


-- and, on a second look, people in the crowd in the background turning their eyes to stare at her when she says that --

[Jitter]

She totally called it at first glance, but it seems like Vlad had also worked it out. But for now the main emphasis shall be on healing him! Soon!