Couldn’t do it

Seems he knows you more than you do, Ada~

My life is slowly going back to normal, I hope, but I’m still behind with drawings so I’ll probably continue to be a little quiet. You guys got tired of this scene too, huh? I guess I overdid it a little. I knew it was going to be a drag, especially when it’s a heated discussion and only one page per week, but in the end, I decided that this is exactly how I want to have it and you’ll just have to suffer through it… I certainly hope it reads better when the whole scene is in place. There’s going to be one more page, kind of like an epilogue to the whole thing, and then we’ll move towards new things (although still following those two poor idiots).

I liked it that different people picked different sides in this argument. This is how relationships are! When feelings are involved, usually it’s not clear who is “right”. I just had a fight with my fiance so I know ಠ_ಠ

If you are curious about Singapore or spring in Japan (yes! it’s coming!) – check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/notimportant.travel/ I post photos from time to time, both from the trip last week and from various places around Tokyo. We’ve been to Kamakura this week and the ocean is just as stinky as usual! Some early sakura trees started blooming too. And Poland, on the other hand, is covered in snow hehehehe…

52 comments on “Couldn’t do it”

  1. NiWo21k Reply

    I think even if you have such a big argument – there will be always the part after where everyone will think about what happened – it might not be the day after, but if the bond between two people is strong enough they will see what they got before them and find a way to overcome these problems in any way.
    I learned this over the past years with very good friends – and there is never one right side in the argument. And even if they look pointless, they are needed to come back to a zero level.

    I think you two will see it, because, from what i just got from your tellings you two are getting through this.

    Personally i liked the whole scene, yes it was long, and the wait for a new page was really hard, but in the end, i think you nailed it how such a “conversation” could go (even with the end bit).

    And if you are behind, no need to worry, as always (i know, i know), but dont start to rush something, better to take a small break and then continue – everyone deserves a small pause in any way, even if you just want to create a new buffer).

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thank you! We made up, we argue a lot about stupid things, it’s normal in this household hahaha~
      And I’m really happy that you liked this scene, I spent a lot of effort on it so reading those comments is really rewarding 🙂

      • NiWo21k Reply

        It is good to hear 🙂
        And its really visible how much effort and heart you put into it, it is really well made – and good work alway deserves rewarding comments 😉

  2. Rateus Reply

    Loving to composition of this page and the background of the final panel. Beautiful work.

  3. anotherGuyOnTheInternet Reply

    I don’t usually post on pages like this but I just want to say that I think you did a fantastic job with this entire scene, both with the writing and the art. One rarely sees emotional arguments written with such nuance and drawn with such power.

      • atthis Reply

        This is the first time I’m commenting here since I found this comic about 3-4 months ago. After reading your text below the page (which I love that you take time to write even though I understand that there is not enough time for a novel every time) I felt that I just had to say exactly what anotherGuyOnTheInternet said. So I guess I’ll just say +1 to him.

        Greetings from a part of Sweden with a little snow btw.

  4. Crestlinger Reply

    Good. Called her out on it. Now, at last, they can move forward.
    Which way forward ends up taking them is still in question of course but it can Happen now. *Confetti*

  5. Onceller Reply

    @Not Important, it was a hard scene, but I definitely didn’t get tired of it. I was eager for it to be over/resolved (?), but it was good. Our discussion may have felt discouraging, but this scene was very real and well done.

    I hope things work out with you and your fiance; arguments with the people we love are never fun, exhibit A in these past several pages. However, they are often necessary for personal growth and sometimes a deepening of the relationship.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Yeah, no worries, we argue a lot but mostly about stupid stuff. We’re both very stubborn people, that’s why 😉

      And thanks! I’m really glad to hear that it wasn’t all that bad, a huge relief!

      • antrik Reply

        I’m not a counsellor: but if you are arguing about things you consider stupid, doesn’t that mean those are just proxies for a more fundamental values dissonance you need to work out?…

        I don’t think stubbornness is the real problem. If you were more willing to give in to poor compromise, things would *look* more harmonious on the surface — but it wouldn’t really do anything to actually resolve issues in a satisfactory manner…

        Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not claiming that “talking things out” will solve everything. Far from that: there will always be some unresolvable value conflicts, that mandate a certain level of acceptance… However, the better you understand these unresolvable conflicts, the less unnecessary drama they should cause.

        (Well, unless you are among those people who *need* the drama… 😉 )

  6. Dragon Master Reply

    I’m going to be honest, I’m loving the art but have totally lost track of what’s going on. That’s likely to due to the fact that I don’t get people, (I’m a highly introverted snark filled loner who really doesn’t like going out into social situations.)

    • NotImportant Reply

      It probably doesn’t help either that I post a fragment of discussion once a week hehe… I hope it’s more understandable once it’s completed.
      And tell you what, I think social people don’t get other human beings either but they are better at assuming things.

  7. datbarry Reply

    The emptiness in Robert’s eyes in the second panel is very well done and the final shot of this page is absolutely gorgeous, thank you for this great comic.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thank you for reading and liking it!! Really, I’m very happy to hear this 🙂

  8. Jordan Reply

    Well that seemed largely unnecessary of Robert. I agree with Laura. If Ada wanted to bone him, it would have happened years ago. He needs be more mature and understand that having a close friend like Ada, who cares about him a lot, is actually pretty great. And not toss it in her face because he can’t sleep with her.

    • Aeldryn Camp dweller Reply

      Except it was very much necessary. Given an apparently common occurance of mixed signals from Ada and misreads therein from Rob, something like this had to happen to break the stalemate. It’s less about not being able to be with her and more about any semblance of closure to be able to move forward. But, as NI said, the beauty of situations like this is there isn’t really a “right” side so to speak. Everyone will interpret things a bit differently and that’s part of how life goes 🙂

  9. th Reply

    ok I feel kind of dumb but I actually don’t know what they are talking about on this page… like they reached some unspoken understanding about something but it went over my head

    • NotImportant Reply

      Try re-reading a couple of pages. On the previous one he dared her to “give him a stupid kiss” if she wants to claim that she loves him.

      • antrik Reply

        Well, while the current page makes it rather clear that it was in fact a kiss dare, to me at least it wasn’t quite as clear previously whether it was indeed that, or something else entirely — mostly because it seemed to come a bit out of nowhere…

        I’m still trying to understand how the different parts of the conversation fit together. For the first half, Robert seems to believe / hope that Ada is indeed interested in him romantically, even though she doesn’t really show it; but in the second part, he seems to turn around completely, now dead sure that she’s not into him at all, even though she doesn’t want to admit *that*?…

        I guess one aspect is pretty clear now: apparently, all this time, she has been *saying* that she is interested, in some vague terms; while at the same time entirely refusing to act on it.

        However, his sudden conviction in the second part of the conversation still feels rather odd…

        Apart from that, all that Robert’s “experiment” has proven, is that she really doesn’t want to get intimate with him — which they both pretty much already knew… However, this doesn’t prove much about how she actually feels: whether she *really* isn’t into him at all, but for some reason wants to believe she is; or whether she actually *is* into him, and just afraid of intimacy for some other reason? (I guess the default explanation in this case would be childhood abuse…)

        Although the second option seems far less likely, I’m nevertheless tempted to give it some credibility: her aversion to getting physical seems just too strong for a “mere” lack of interest… It seems to me that without a more fundamental problem with intimacy at play, she should be able to play pretend at least up to some point.

    • Regis Earsquake Reply

      He really shouldn’t. Not if he respects her as a person with an own opinion. I really didn’t like the way she said that she makes a sacrifice to let him be with someone else, but she made one thing clear. She doesn’t have romantically interest in him.

  11. Alex Reply

    Oh it’s fine, some scenes require time.

    One more page, huh? Okay, that means next week we’ll get to see if they pick up that sandwich again. 😀

    • antrik Reply

      Don’t you think your concern for this poor sandwich is getting a bit obsessive?… 😉

        • JW Reply

          Maybe they will run across the sandwich again when they go back to camp after they’ve been to the cabin.

      • Alex Reply

        Good point! Now I won’t have to give up annoying the comment section about it after this scene is over. 😀

  12. Howard Reply

    Something is just not right here she is holding something back. I have known girls who string you along and such but this does not feel like that. It’s more like she is preventing herself from acting on her true feelings for some reason. I thought maybe she knows she has to be a virgin to use magic or something but that does not track cause why would she not just tell him so and stop torturing him. But still nice job here man you really make the emotions feel real which is something not many artist can do!

    • NotImportant Reply

      Woohoo thanks! It’s awesome that it’s working 😀 Thanks a lot for commenting and letting me know, this is really motivating!

  13. Kale Reply

    Recently found this comic. I’m really enjoying it! You are definitely one of the better artist and storytellers. I applaud you.

  14. DKpsyhog Reply

    This scene has made me so angry at them… but don’t worry NI, that’s not a bad thing! That’s exactly what an emotional “romantic troubles” scene like this should do!
    A good story gives you strong feelings toward the characters, and those feelings shouldn’t always be good ones or else the story would be boring. Great job as always!

  15. Egamer557 Reply

    Ada Ada Ada ughhhhhh….
    You are so frustrating sometimes
    don’t say you are making a sacrifice when you cant even bring yourself just to tell him that you don’t love him like that or just kiss him on the cheek or something.

    • antrik Reply

      Well, she told him that she loves him in a different way… Doesn’t that kinda amount to the same? I’m still confused what point exactly he is trying to make.

      At any rate, I think a kiss on the cheek would be rather ridiculous in this situation?

  16. Lady Philyra Reply

    No, I don’t think this scene has gone too long. This has been the most interesting part so far! I have been wondering about their relationship since the beginning. This will change things between them. The tangle of emotions needed this time to expressed.

    • Rateus Camp dweller Reply

      Seconded, it’s worth the time. We can go back and re-read it once it’s completed to get the full effect.

  18. Jordy Reply

    So… Did they kiss? It’s really ambiguous as to whether Robert is saying “Told you” as in they just kissed and now he thinks she really has feelings for him, or she didn’t and he thinks she was lying about loving him the whole time.
    Honestly Robert is being quite childish regardless, you can’t help how you feel, but you can control your actions and this is pretty much textbook male entitlement.

    • Rateus Camp dweller Reply

      No they didn’t.

      Robert is saying told you that she doesn’t feel what she said she felt because she can’t bring herself to kiss him.

      I’m with you that Rob isn’t really handling this very well and isn’t behaving in a way that someone who has unrequited loving feelings for someone should.

    • antrik Reply

      Now I want to see that textbook! 😛

      Seriously, I don’t see how this is related to entitlement at all. He’s not saying, “I deserve a kiss no matter how you feel about it”. He is saying, “prove that you feel the way you claim you do”. While I think he is probably oversimplifying things, and his “experiment” doesn’t really prove much, that’s not a matter of entitlement.

      • Jordy Reply

        Yes, but saying that only a kiss will prove how you really feel, and that only Ada has to prove anything, is a matter of entitlement

        • antrik Reply

          Care to elaborate?

          While his idea of “kiss for prove” seems kinda narrow-minded, I still don’t see how that’s an expression of entitlement.

          (And as for “only Ada has to prove anything”, I don’t even know where you are reading this…)

      • Jordy Reply

        It’s a matter of entitlement because (apocalypse or not) men are socialised to believe they deserve a woman just because they have feelings for her. And it’s all on Ada to prove her feelings as (in his head) Robert has already proved his feelings so it should be obvious to Ada how he feels and “Why can’t you just love me because I’m a #NiceGuy”

        • antrik Reply

          I think you are misreading these events. Robert never says (or otherwise indicates) that he “deserves” an intimate relationship with her. On the contrary: he actually says he can live with his feelings being one-sided — all he is asking for, is that she stops giving him false hope.

          We can’t judge whether that request is justified in this particular case: but in general, I really don’t think it’s too much to ask… And it’s certainly not a gender issue. (Indeed my impression is that this is a complaint women tend to file more often…)

          On a tangential note, I suspect that certain men thinking they deserve any woman they set their eyes on, is mostly instinctual rather than a matter of socialisation. In fact, outside of certain macho circles (which I’m pretty sure Robert isn’t part of), I’d say socialisation nowadays tends to go the opposite direction: “just because you like her, doesn’t give you a right to hit on her”…

          (Which is a valid observation of course in cases where she has already shown clearly that the attention in not welcome — though as a more general notion, it’s rather hypocritical, since most women are actually only annoyed by the “wrong” guys hitting on them; while they very much want the “right” ones to hit on them… But how would a guy know whether he is the “wrong” one, if he’s never allowed to try in the first place?)

          As for Robert proving his feelings, this is simply a non-issue here, since they aren’t ambiguous to either of them in the first place.

  20. antrik Reply

    I have to concur with the other comments: that sunset is truly amazing! Another entry to file under “can’t believe it’s not a photo”…

    The small hill the wind towers are standing on is almost invisible though — it looks like they are levitating 😉

  21. Speedy Reply

    “I’m… I’m not who you think I am. What you see is a glamour. It was my very first spell that actually worked. I’ve been trying for years, to undo the spell, but I can’t… I was so happy, at first. I was able to walk into the girls locker room, and no one tried to stop me or throw anything at me…”

    “You mean… DUDE!!!”

    “Exactly.”

    “Not cool!”

    “Exactly. You’re my best mate. Just, not my best… mate.”

    “Dude…”

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