Shades After page 104
This page started with normal sized faces but they just got bigger and bigger and suddenly EYES.
This weekend I’m at Kitacon- doing a panel called ‘Fanfiction for the Win’ and ‘How to make art pay’. Also debuting a skit video I’ve been working on for months- wish me luck!
Is ‘red’ his safe word?
There’s this super common safeword system based on streetlights. Green means yes, Yellow means stop that one thing you’re doing right now, and red means stop everything I’m done with this whole scene. The link below is a comic by Abby Howard about it, and where I first heard of it.
http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/bdsm/
Ohh maaannn… I hope this doesn’t go as sideways as I fear it will. I hope that Chris can quickly disengage and talk to Anwar (and ‘war will actually fucking stick to his own rules! He said he didn’t want to go to the club again and he went anyway! Knowing what he would see!) and that they can still work things out. Anwar is in a lot of ways disrespecting Chris by showing up at his special place after saying he wouldn’t, it’s kind of an invasion.
Hey Aroree! Hello to a fellow Elfquest fan!
Anwar said he wouldnt go back because he was uncomfortable, instead he was going there to see Chris because he NEEDED comfort. It’s not like he was banished from the place, just said he didnt like it so he didnt intend to go back. He’s not disrespecting Chris by going there bc he wanted to talk to his damn boyfriend after just finding out his mom told his uncle he was p much a prostitute. He shouldn’t have gone, but remember every time Anwar has been there all Chris did was drink and hang out and talk to the dommes he knew. How was Anwar to know he would walk in on his boyfriend putting on a show in front of everyone. That’s like your boyfriend telling you he was at the strip club and when you show up he’s the stripper, or saying he’s going to the concert and when you show up he’s the one putting on the concert. Anwar just wanted to find him so he would have someone to talk and relate to, he was definitely a little abrupt and careless in showing up but that’s not exactly something you EXPECT.
Your analogy doesn’t really work. It’s more like your boyfriend telling you he’s at a strip club when you already know he’s a stripper. Maybe he doesn’t actually strip there every day, but it would be silly to be surprised he’s doing it tonight.
That sounds like a awesome system. I’m ace but half of what i love about this book is learning about kinks and things like that.
Pretty much every dungeon and event I’ve been to used the “stoplight” system (as explained perfectly by noelleyb.) This doesn’t mean that the people playing may not have one (or more) of their own, but it’s a nice universally understood set. It also means that if a dungeon monitor hears you call ‘red,’ and the play continues (which, unfortunately, can happen if you play with strangers) then they know to step in to halt the play and often remove the violator from the area.
Wow Tab. The art in this one is stellar. I’ve been following you since the middle of Amber and Nay’s story, and I have to say, it’s been a joy to watch you grow as an artist. I know that Shades is almost over, and while I’m a bit sad to say goodbye to Anwar and Chris and JD, I know your next project is going to be even better.
Oh, I’ve heard you Brits have trouble with compliments, so please believe me when I say I’m being totally sincere. You’re amazing!
Agreed, the way your art has developed has been fun to watch! It’s still so clearly yours.
And what I love about your webcomic is that it’s a remarkably comfortable, intimate way to explore things that “mainstream” society doesn’t focus on as much. I grew up very Republican (yes I know) and I’m cis and straight, so your Khaos Komix was actually a huge part of how I learned more about the LGBTQIAP community, Tab! Wonderful writing, wonderful art.
Would I be jumping to conclusions if I thought “uh-oh! This is gonna end baaaadly, isn’t it? But they’ve come so far! Why??” ?
Oh this is the prettiest page.
The artwork makes me think he’s saying “Red” to Anwar, not his domme. (Because Chris is making eye contact with Anwar, not Raven.) Which is a really sad scene… :( Somehow, I don’t think Chris is just trying to end the roleplaying in the accepted way so he can talk to Anwar. It seems more serious.
That’s not really how safe words/the scene work. Unless you have a pre-negotiated kink arrangement with someone, they’re not likely to “get” the safe word and given that Anwar is as inexperienced as he is in general (but especially in the scene) he wouldn’t be the target of a safeword.
I think Stephanie maybe meant it more as like a metaphor sort of thing? Cuz I got the vibe that it had a double meaning. The more literal meaning, which is him safewording, and a more abstract one, which is him trying to signal something to Anwar.
Yes, I was thinking that it was more of a metaphor that Anwar has crossed a line. It’s true that Anwar, not being too familiar with kink, could have literally no idea what “red” means. :P
I didn’t get that vibe, I got the vibe that he saw Anwar and new this needed to not go any further as to not freak Anwar out. I got a more knee-jerk feel from it.
See i figgured it was a ‘ oh fuck, someone i know doesnt like this is watching me and a- stop so they dont see and b- stop because im not ok with continuing knowing they are watching
Uh-oh. I guess it’s something else knowing that Chris is getting spanked than seeing that it’s up in front of everyone – and even more that there’s a happy intimacy between Chris and her.
Not what Anwer wished to see, going with how he’s felt about it all in that scene we saw recently. No wonder DJ tried to keep him out. They’ve seen it before.
I guess Chris just put a stop to the scene, after seeing Anwar and the look on his face. Red is a powerful word in BDSM.
We only see the eyes, and that’s more than enough. Chris sees it all. So how pear shaped is this going?
Yeah. If I were in this situation and saw someone snuggling my SO, that’s what would upset me. If they wanted to indulge in this like Chris would, they can go for it. If they want multiple sex partners, I could handle it. But seeing someone I love being romantic and/or cuddly to someone else is what would really hurt me. Kind of sympathize with Anwar here. That’s something I wouldn’t want to watch.
I hope that JD will show up. For both of them.
Oh. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
I remember two pages back we were freaking out because we knew Anwar was going to walk in seeing something that he didn’t want to see, but I think I speak for most when I say that it was more of the physical aspect (I kept picturing “blood play” being involved since it’s only been mentioned before). But this? For Anwar, this is probably much worse.
Thinking back on it, since he deliberately went to the club, he probably KNEW he was going to see the spanking or flogging. He KNEW and thought he was ready for it. What he wasn’t ready for was the intimacy in it all. He went prepared to feel uncomfortable, but he wasn’t prepared to feel hurt.
Something I hadn’t considered.
I was like “Jesus Anwar, do you go to a florists and get surprised by the roses??”
But I hadn’t considered the intimacy staring me in the face on the page, and suddenly I feel crap for being so dismissive.
I know it’s part of the aftercare, and pretty necessary to the BDSM scene, but I feel Chris should have discussed the ins and outs of his kink so that War has a complete understanding of it all.
Should he have? During that conversation in the bathroom, he was feeling very defensive and angry with ‘war. Anwar said he wasn’t going to the club anymore, so the fact that Chris didn’t bring the intimacy / aftercare up to Anwar while he was already kinda triggered makes sense to me. If ‘war had prepared Chris for the fact that he’d be coming back to the club and given them both a chance to discuss it calmly, Chris might have known it was time to continue to the conversation.
My thought about it is that Anwar is entirely too excited about this job, and way too uncomfortable with Chris’s kink, for his surprise visit to the club to be anything other than a sadly manipulative ploy. I think Anwar wants out of this relationship and unconsciously gave himself an excuse by dropping by the club to drop a “I might be moving to London” bomb on Chris, put Chris publicly on the spot, and have reason to flounce off elsewhere without Chris.
Instead, Anwar’s got an even better excuse to dump the relationship because of watching the scene *and* seeing the intimacy. I think that ‘war was subconsciously looking for a reason to be the wounded party, and found even more than he bargained for.
Whether or not he and Chris can pull their relationship out of a tailspin is another matter altogether; but given how Anwar is behaving, that Chris fully embraces his kink, and the fact that this comic is ending soon … to me this doesn’t look likely to end well for the couple as, well, a couple.
Definitely this! More than likely it wasn’t a conscious manipulation (because no one likes to admit their own cowardice even to themselves!), but does seem like he manufactured a situation where Chris would take the decision out of his hands, and if that fails he can make the ensuing argument about the kink rather than about his move-or-not decision and thereby avoid responsability for whatever the fallout is.
If that’s the case, then Anwar’s unconscious is a genius strategist. I believe it’s far more likely to be the result of War’s impulsive and immature nature. He just needed to see his boyfriend, and the fastest way was weathering the dungeon, regardless of his friend’s warning.
In that case, I almost want to blame Chris for not warning Anwar about how intimate aftercare can get, or heck, just why he likes being in the scene in the first place. But again, Anwar, like Ana in the book, didn’t even try to do research, didn’t try to understand why Chris can’t live without BDSM, and that’s something I can blame him for.
I’m going to have to strongly disagree and while I already know how it ends, I would’ve disagreed before that. Anwar’s not one to deal well with stress and between the situation with his mother and uncle, the possible moving so as to have a job and not being able to get ahold of Chris otherwise, I think he was just seeking out someone who has been a great comfort to him as of late. It was rash and poorly thought out but I don’t think he wants to end things or was trying to manipulate Chris either.
Yep, totally agree. While ‘War shouldn’t have just turned up at the club without checking with Chris first, he probably thought “I’m going to see Chris being beaten, but I’m prepared for that and it’s going to be okay.”
And then he sees this emotional intimacy, which he probably wouldn’t have considered was even a part of sub-domme interaction, since he’s still learning about the whole concept. And since his relationship with Chris is all about the emotional intimacy…well, I can imagine he’s likely going to think of it as cheating and be upset, and Chris is going to be upset because Anwar previously okayed him seeing Raven, and augh it’s all going to go wrong isn’t it?
I actually had the opposite initial thought, that Anwar was shocked that there was intimacy and not just senseless beating. I’m not in his shoes or mindset, but to know that Chris isn’t just going to be hurt and there’s aftercare involved would be reassuring to me, although I can fully understand that it might seem cheating in Anwar’s eyes too. Perhaps I just want this to end well.
I certainly don’t see it as Anwar carrying out some ploy to ditch Chris. The whole thing has been a struggle for them to understand each other, and there’s been plenty of opportunity for both of them to walk away, but they’ve kept working at it. He’s just been dropped two bombshells, one that his mother initially thought he was selling himself, and secondly that this opportunity has opened up but it means a total rejig of his life and their relationship. I know that for me when I was offered a job that meant moving the other side of the country the first thing I wanted to do was discuss it with my partner, so much so I basically did so in front of my mother who was in the dark about the relationship for a few reasons.
As an end note, I also concur that the art here is utterly beautiful.
This is the most beautiful page. I’m especially in love with the lower two panels.
Lots of emotions floating through this.
Faye, I’m with you on this.
And I also agree with the words on Tab’s growing style of drawing and writing. It’s getting clearer, and more intense. I’m usually silent, but I’ve been following Tab’s comics for years, and it’s a growing pleasure to do so.
Would “harder” be a good safe word, or a bad safe word?
A bad one. A good safe word is something you won’t forget and something you won’t say or yell in the middle of sex/a scene (also something clear and concise). “Harder” is definitely something you could say without thinking in the middle of whatever you’re doing, so it’s completely not fit for purpose.
Which is why my safe word is “Sarah Palin” because there is no good reason to say that during sex.
haha mine is “Bill O’Reilly.”
this kills the boner.
This is the most heaviest page out of the series so far. It feels as if time has slowed down significantly.
It has been such a fun journey to seeing how your art has grown, Tab :)
Beautiful page, Tab!
FUCK. BABY WAR GETS HIS HEAR BROKE AND THEY BREAK UP AND I CANT EVEN BE MAD AT CHRIS
If there’s one thing that is so often underappreciated it’s a simplistic and almost universal safeword system. If I’d had these and a spine last october I’d have saved myself 10 months of self-hatred, anguish and much physical and mental discomfort as well as therapy bills. At least I’ll be able to give blood again in a couple months so that’s a plus.
tbh this comic has made me even more anti kink than before lmao
Tab, this is a gorgeous, wonderful page. Kudos.
Well, this is a 50 Shades of Grey parody, and that book ends with Ana leaving…
I appreciate all the comments here reflecting the very many points of view regarding this situation. In many ways this comic has done an excellent job of allowing me glimpses into sexual identities and ways of being I’ve not been exposed to, and it’s been very enlightening. In all honesty, I’m not really sure how Chris and Anwar can make it through the difficulties in their relationship, sadly. Each has very specific, identity-related needs that, at the end of the day, neither can fulfill for the other. It’s like a 100% gay and 100% straight person attempting to have a committed, monogamous, fulfilling and romantic lifelong coupling with each other; many have tried, and few have succeeded, because it involves sacrificing too big a part of what makes you, well you. If Anwar is going to freak out regularly over what was enough a part of Chris to give up his marriage and part of his relationship with his children for, I don’t see either of them getting the support they need from the other to keep this relationship going. I hope for their sakes I am wrong, but if I’m not, I hope they both find people that will be a better fit for them down the road. :-(