White Noise (Webcomic by Adrien Lee) SPOILERS

[Jitter]

Yeah, he’s certainly one badly traumatized kid!

[Keep Looking]

I was just gonna say, I really hope this is a dream. It'd be pretty weird to transition to this kind of scene with no prior warning otherwise, definitely not the style of the author. But yeah, poor guy either way.

[thorny]

Page --

and OK, definitely a dream. (If still in doubt, check the text below the comic.)

[Jitter]

Whew on that. But I feel so sorry for the poor boy! Don’t they have any mental health support for those rescued from the trade? At least he’s getting hugs!

But all this makes me wonder how capable he is of coping with the inevitable Mari / Cynn situation.

[thorny]

Maybe he's having those dreams despite getting mental health support. Even good treatment, at least by current standards, isn't guaranteed to fix everything; let alone to do so in short order.

I really hope he is getting such treatment, though. It might at least help.

I think actually maybe it's good to show things like this? All too often, in comics and even in other fiction, people are shown as going through horrendous experiences and then, as soon as that bit of the story is over, it's supposed to be over. Getting hit on the head and knocked out is often shown as something that people recover from totally and more or less instantly, and mental trauma is often dealt with the same way.

[Jitter]

You are right, it is important that the trauma is not brushed off! It would be great if he were shown to be getting help too, too often counseling etc is also considered as a mark of weakness.

You are also right about violence in general being shown as no-biggie. Hawk at leas was flightless for a considerable amount of time when his feathers were growing back. But the sort of treatment we are shown on this page, could and would have caused his smaller wingbones to break as well.

I think in much of fiction, people both recuperate and die too easily. It’s not easy to stab or shoot a person to their immediate death with one hit only. On the other hand, even “just a fleshwound” takes weeks to heal, if it ever does, and can well be lethal due to infection especially in conditions like Hawk’s cell or outcountry in SSSS.

[Róisín]

 Yeah, that is something I find annoying, how the aftereffects of wounds and trauma are minimalised in fiction. Having survived both in the course of a long and sometimes far too adventurous real life, and known enough other people who have done so, I can tell you that it isn’t always easy. Having helped to nurse my father, who had been an army medic in the Pacific War part of WW2, through his long and slow dying after he had been a prisoner of war, an experience during which he was starved, tortured and suffered several nasty tropical diseases as well as beri beri, I can tell you that some damage never heals.

Yet I have also seen people who continued to live, and in some cases even to live well, after terrible experiences and injuries that might have been expected to kill them.

[thorny]

Are they indoors or outdoors? Is Numair dreaming the rain and the outside scene, and if so is Hawk also in the dream, or is only Numair in the rain?

I am confused.

[Jitter]

The grass plain and the weather phenomenons are Numair’s truthseer ability. He sees / hears / feels things about people, which somehow represent the person and he person’s feelings. It also indicates if the person is lying.

In case of Hawk the effect seems to be more intense than with most people. We’ve seen things such as marbles dropping out of nowhere or sparkles of light, but nothing shown in the comic comes close to the way Numair was “transported” into the plain, which is Hawk, when they first met. Usually the weather is good there but he dark clouds linger on the horizon. Now the storm tells Numair (and us) how distraught Hawk is.

I’ll try and find some of the earlier pages about this. It is indeed confusing at times, what with the way Thepooka writes the description of these experiences with no indication that the phenomena are only visible to Numair.

I found it, Chapter 9 has their meeting. First when Hawk steps between Numair and his attackers, and again when Numair wakes up in Hawk’s room after not having died. In the latter scene he also explains it.

I am sure there is also a scene where the weather is good, the ones I found have the storm boiling as Hawk is upset or nervous.

11-33 onwards is a beautiful scene where they talk about it. It’s not necessarily an ominous storm.

[thorny]

Ah. Thanks. I binged through a lot of that comic too fast, I missed things the first time through.

[Jitter]

Btw I love this page. Firstly it is sweet to see the cuddle, and especially how Hawk is beings held by Numair despite being approximately five times bigger Their position looks very soothing, and the way Numair “shields” Hawk from the “rain” tells volumes about the feelings in the moment.

I also find it great storytelling concerning trauma and dealing with it. Too many people try to cope alone, like Hawk says he doesn’t want to talk about it to “not give room to it”. This is probably a response familiar to many, either by their own or a another person’s experience, or both. Very relatable. And then there is Numair, gently reminding him that it is not an answer on the long run. He is helping Hawk towards dealing with the trauma, but not forcing or hurrying. Just reminding that something should be done, that he’s available, or if Hawk prefers to talk with someone else, that is also a possibility.

Everything is wonderful except the deceit. Hawk needs to know! The radio stunt will likely also put Numair in danger, and by extension also Hawk.

Furthermore the bad guys are going to do something, so Hawk’s trauma is about to fly into his face. I very much hope all of this,p won’t go down simultaneously, but I fear it will.

[Keep Looking]

Furthermore the bad guys are going to do something, so Hawk’s trauma is about to fly into his face. I very much hope all of this,p won’t go down simultaneously, but I fear it will.

Alas, plot often does tend to work in such ways. But I agree - it's a lovely page!

[Jitter]

This must be it! Surely! Thepooka wouldn’t be so cruel as to have Numair not say anything. Right?

[thorny]

Whoop!

He had better say something.

-- but it's going to blow his secret. Liya knows him as the Cynn.

And she's walking out the door. Is he going to react fast enough to stop her? If he hesitates, will it be on purpose, or from shock?

[Keep Looking]

Oh GOD I hope he says something (this reminded me to check the page, I've been real busy today). I swear, my heart just about left my chest with that last panel.