Presence

Sorry for being a bit late, I just got back from Kyoto~ One more week and I shall return home, to Poland. There is a lot of comic pages to make, I ate a part of my buffer because of that trip and the master thesis. Need to rebuild it when I get back, plan the final scene of this chapter… Exciting things coming!

Well, I hope you enjoy today’s page and Ada’s little internal conflict ๏◡๏
And yes, Robert believes in aliens.

32 comments on “Presence”

  1. Adriano Reply

    HOW DARE HE? Believing in alien? But alien is shit! We have no proof they exist, and anyway, they probably wouldn’t even get on Earth! (sarcasm attempt. Was it good?) (I feel like it wasn’t :/)

    Anyway, Ada is really cuteon this page x3

    • JW Reply

      Robert’s belief in aliens is just a deep-seated (and misplaced) yearning for someone to hug his face.

      Also, sadly, aliens do not believe in Robert.

    • Refugnic Reply

      We may not have any sort of proof they exist.
      Neither do we have any proof that God exists, yet still a lot of people believe in his existence (or her existence if you prefer that).
      Neither do we have proof, that parallel universes do exist.
      Neither do we know just how far the universe expands. Nor do we know how the whole shindig started in the first place (Big Bang is all nice and stuff, but WHAT exactly exploded there with such might that it would create an entire universe?)

      However, on the contrary, we also don’t have any proof that aliens, God, parallel universes etc. DON’T exist either.

      Sticking with (intelligent) alien lifeforms, personally I think it extremely unlikely that, aside from what’s crawling around on this little speck of galactic dust we call Home, there’s absolutely nothing out there.
      The universe is a big place. And I mean really big. It would be conceited to believe that Earth is the only planet in the entire universe harboring life.
      It might not be carbon based like the life as we know it. Different circumstances might have lead to life based on Silicon for example.

      Heck, there might be Autobots somewhere out there. 😀

      Regarding the ‘visiting’ factor on the contrary…again, the universe is one huge place and our planet is but a speck of dust, the entire history of mankind but a whisper in the grand scheme of things (if even as much). So, if we assume that an alien life form has developed ways to perform FTL travel (i.e. bending space to connect two points in space via some sort of portal), they’d still need to find us.

      Imagine finding a single, particular speck of dust, a single grain of sand on a beach and you’ll know just how likely it is for them to ever find us.

      Of course that only applies if said alien species wasn’t what triggered the development of humanity in the first place (find a habitable planet and drop an engineered species on it), as some have theorized, but that’s beyond the scope of this little sermon.

      So yes, I do believe in the existence of alien life forms. Not in the whole abduction nonsense (a species who manages to come here would have other ways to do whatever they came here to do. They wouldn’t risk discovery by reckless abductions)

      Okay, I’m done. 😛

      • Dusk Reply

        That’s why I like you. You managed to say the main point that I would if not for the fact that my keyboard still broken and all I have is less than optimal voice recognition software. Just let me know I’m still out here. Still love the comic. Love to talk more once I get a new computer. 🙂

    • bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep Reply

      i believe in extra terrestrial life, and aliens, yes there is a joke in there but im not going to explain it, considering bacteria can exist virtually anywhere, and they have found fossils of bacteria on meteorites, and mars, theyve also found traces of methane on mars, and theyve found traces of water on mars too, truthfully, we have more evidence that extra terrestrials exist than don’t, intelligent extra terrestrial life, not so much

      • JW Reply

        [..] and they have found fossils of bacteria on meteorites, and mars [..]

        I don’t think that’s quite accurate. The so-called bacterial fossils on the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite are contested at best. Might be contamination from bacteria on earth, or might not even be biological in origin at all. People haven’t been able to tell with any certainty.
        As for Mars, I don’t think there are any devices that would even be able to directly discover bacterial fossils. What they have found are types of mineral/rocks that on earth are typically formed in the presence of bacteria, but that might still also have inorganic origins. We really need to send better equipment there to investigate further to tell conclusively which is the case. (And/or bring samples back to earth.)

    • NotImportant Reply

      Lucy became a prime example for all tsunderes to follow, huh?..

      • Rateus Camp dweller Reply

        Maybe just the first one I came across, who knows. I’ve seen the word ‘tsundere’ a lot but I must confess I don’t really know what it means! Both classic examples of the stereotype in different lovely ways!

      • antrik Reply

        Maybe Lucy is simply the prime example of a Tsundere in web comics?…

        Since I’m not familiar with any Anime (or non-web Mangas for that matter), I don’t actually know any other examples. I didn’t even know it’s a common trope. While I heard the term “Tsundere” mentioned before, I never knew what it means before reading the discussions here.

        And yet I wonder whether Lucy even *is* a good example of a stereotypical Tsundere? In my understanding, Lucy was emotionally dependent on Mike, rather than really in love with him. (Even though at some point she convinced herself otherwise…) And so far it looks like Ada might have that in common with her — though it still not clear at all whether that’s indeed all there is to it; as opposed to her actually having a hidden/repressed romantic interest after all… (Where the latter case would make her a stereotypical Tsundere AIUI?)

  3. Insomniac Reply

    First thing that popped into my head after that last panel: b-b-baka! …Also @Rateus, I don’t remotely miss Lucy. Such an abusive gal. Though her and Paulo could’ve had something good, at one point.

    • antrik Reply

      Eh. Sure, Lucy doesn’t exactly presently herself as a likeable person most of the time… Nevertheless, that is (at least) half of what the comic is all about. We can’t watch her work out her issues and (hopefully) become a better person, when she is absent. Frankly, the whole comic felt mostly pointless to me during this eternal absence.

      (That’s actually my main peeve with BCB in general: it spends way too much time with boring side stories, rather than bringing the main plot forward…)

      @NotImportant sorry for hijacking this comment section for discussing another comic… Hope you don’t mind too much 🙂

  4. Miszel Reply

    such a great series :> you have great talent in drawing. I really like the characters, especially robert, he’s walking definition of word “baka” 😀
    there was a times when i thought that waiting week for one chapter of manga is annoying but one page weekle is like a torture :>
    can’t wait for next pages, and especially for next meeting of robert and sofia^^

    • NotImportant Reply

      Haha thanks and welcome aboard! Believe me, I’d love to have more time for the comic but stupid bills just don’t want to pay themselves, eh!
      Sofia’s got herself a ton of supporters lately… Few more and I’ll need to kill her off or she’ll steal Ada’s special place ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

      • Refugnic Reply

        And that would be a bad thing…why exactly? A little ‘friendly’ competition would most certainly spice up the relationship dynamics of the comic and also give the FaustxAda Shippers something to hold on to. 😉

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        Noooo, don’t do that! It’s not like we’re going to run out of love anytime soon you know.

  5. Refugnic Reply

    Heh…now I may be completely misinterpreting things here, but my personal two cents (aside from the things I’ve already said) about this page would be Ada’s thought: ‘Here I am, showing off my nice cleavage to you, and yet you still run off to another girl! What are you, stupid?!’ (And yes, I am aware that there are perfectly valid explanations for her cleavage showing, i.E. mismatching clothes due to extremely limited supply. ;))

    Also, regarding the ‘By whom’…let’s see…there’s a number of ‘interested parties’ inside the camp, some of which might get the funny idea of ‘convincing’ Ada that she should be with them instead of Robert. Okay, Ada would probably kick the butt of those.

    However there’s still one big unknown out there. There be monsters, and these monsters work for someone…someone, who’s been shown to have taken a liking to our heroine…so yeah, by whom? By demons, Ada. By demons.

    • Refugnic Reply

      Also, to expand on my previous statement (and to give the fellow audience a bit to laugh about), imagine Ada’s thoughts to be like this:

      ‘Here I am, a perfectly fine Canidae, right in front of his nose, and he runs after that cat like a puppy just because she wagged her skinny little tail in front of him. Stupid mutt.’ 😛

    • Doom Reply

      Agreed. Ada is under a serious risk of being abducted by The Comments Section, whether all of us together or a subset thereof.

      • Doom Reply

        For the sake of clarity: not saying abducting Ada would be a good thing, just that I am certain it would happen were it possible.

  9. Howard Reply

    toss up between the two i’m not sure who is cuter. I mean Ada has that fiery red head thing going and all (plus who does not want a girl that can stand toe to toe with monsters). But you just want to protect little Sofie lol and the shy thing is very cute.

    • Refugnic Reply

      They are both completely different types of girls, each with their benefits and their downers.

      In the end it all boils down to personal preference.
      Do you prefer the strong independent woman (who’ll kick your ass if you cross her) or do you prefer the timid, shy type? The loudmouth athlete or the quiet librarian?

      Judging from the male archetype, Sofia would be the better choice (the man protects and brings food back home), whereas Ada is more for the people who like a challenge (taming of the beast) or who like being bossed around (yes, people like that do exist).

      Of course there’s far more to these characters than these generalizations, but if we reduce it to the bare minimum of information (there’s still a lot about the characters and especially their world we don’t know about), that’d be the point to be looked at.

      The interesting thing about Ada is, that she’s mainly just fronting the tough girl in my opinion. At the very least when it comes to Robert.

      • Zero Reply

        We all know that Sofia at least appears to be a Dan, and thinking she may become Yan later on. Question is, is Ada currently Tsun or Kami?

        • JW Reply

          In my opinion neither, but very definitely not the latter.
          Though, as I think NI has pointed out to me before, Ada’s older than pretty much every reference I have for tsundere characters, so it’s not surprising she doesn’t fit the behavioral mold.

      • antrik Reply

        @Refugnic regarding Ada, I would agree on “strong-willed”, but not on “independent”. She does seem very much dependent on Robert in fact for all we know… Which may be what you mean by “fronting the tough girl” I guess?

        Sofia and Ada indeed both seem very much in need of approval from others — though Sofia is desperately seeking it out, while Ada tries to wall herself off. I believe Sofia qualifies as the Anxious attachment type, and Ada as Anxious-Avoidant.

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