Chapter 20, page 10 – Glad I splurged for the combat option

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23 thoughts on “Chapter 20, page 10 – Glad I splurged for the combat option

  1. Wow! Never imagined in a trinnion years that Billy could ever become more of a pussy than he was as a kid!

  2. Wait, Loretta was still wearing her knuckles while holding the blade?

    1. Good point. She does takes them off before — but panel 5 still showed she was wearing them — so I’ve changed panel 5 and got rid of them!

  3. The knuckles are still visible in panel 6, at right. I can handle Billy being a nerd, but it will be interesting to see how the interaction between Trina and Tirin develops. Billy may end up odd man out…

    1. Hadn’t noticed them in panel six

    2. oops! panel 6 corrected – thanks for pointing that out!

      1. Actually, nothing wrong with wearing the knucks while wielding the short sword, if the palm part is properly designed–and that’s an easy thing to do.
        As with a French duel, the sword can be a distraction while the dagger is the killer. Here, the short sword can be a distraction while the meaningful pass is made with the knucks, or if a sword slash misses, the back stroke can be with the knucks, or….
        Lots of possibilities for brass knuckles on the sword wrist. Better, though, if the knucks were on the other hand. Loading the weapons on one hand–or even having only one weapon–leads the attacker to focus too much on that hand/weapon. A trained fighter likes that more than an unarmed assailant.
        Only thing I can think of that Billy might be “trained” at, and that Trina might like about him that she’s not programmed to like, is that he can lick his eyebrows.
        Eric Hines

        1. Excellent points – I should have made her use her left hand with the sword — as you suggested that would have made more sense and would have been a lethal combo (just not against Trina).

        2. Good points, except this blade has a crossguard that would normally act in the place of the aforementioned knuckles

  4. Okay his previous conversation makes sense. No reason why not to try and talk things down or get your own hands dirty when you’ve got a combat ‘bot at your side.

  5. Serious question for the “Billie is a pussy” brigade: just how much training would it take for him to not just be in the way of Trina here?

    I did not realize it at the time, but I stopped being a civilian when I was thirteen. Lots of folks never make the transition. His job is in tech. He’s smart enough not to go into the bad part of town without a bodyguard. So…???

    But he didn’t treat Trina right, and, as we see, she’s going to make him pay…

    1. Couple things. The one with the bodyguard has a duty to the bodyguard to not put (her, here) in danger just for the Hell of it, especially when the threats might outnumber the single bodyguard. The bodyguard has to be perfect; assailant(s) only need to be lucky.
      Second, these two assailants had separated; Billy would not have been in her way to take on the other, and being a techie does not stop him from being a man and getting trained himself, since he plainly planned to go in harm’s way and plussed up Trina with combat skills. Unless he’s a sub, which didn’t seem to be the case in the flashback with Tirin the Younger.
      Third, for another take on the interactions between a protectee and his bodyguards, pick up the Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh, and follow Cameron’s relationship with Banichi and Jago. Cameron’s relationship with Jago, especially, is a propos Billy’s situation. And Banichi and Jago are much more tightly bound to Cameron than Trina is to Billy.
      Eric Hines

    2. But he didn’t treat Trina right….
      As I look back on events, it seems to me that Billy has never been treating Trina anything close to right–just as a glorified inflatable doll with, apparently that fighting program added in–it seems there’s no reciprocity anywhere; they don’t make love, they don’t even have sex with each other. Billy just fucks her and takes from her.
      Eric Hines

      1. Agree 100%. Trina’s just a convenience to him.

    3. He’s had his ENTIRE life to train to not be a walking pussbot himself. He CHOSE to be useless, on a planet full of qualified warriors who could have trained him, both as friends just teaching him stuff as they went along, and professionals he could have availed himself of as a mEmBeR oF tHe RoYaL cOuRt.

      His uselessness is entirely on him.

      1. You mean that he has chosen to be useful in things other than fighting?

        What’s the problem?

  6. So, what do you do with a sex toy that is more capable, fairly intelligent and very emotional to boot. Take the batteries out? Would it even allow you to do that at this point??? (Does it even have batteries?) Does this world even have Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics?

    1. The Zenithian Robotics Authority requires that all bots have an override algorithm called Zero Tolerance, triggered whenever any robotic paradigm goes astray, regardless of how complex the robot may be. “Astray” is defined as any unlawful or illegal activity, including, but not limited to an unprovoked or unlawful assault of a living being, including the planning or daydreams of such an assault. Zero Tolerance essentially hobbles the robot until the owner can get it fixed. There is a long list of all of the potential “activities” that can trigger Zero Tolerance on the galactic net. Now whether the Zenithian Robotics Authority can ENFORCE this policy on all of the robot designers throughout the known universe is a different question entirely.

      1. And Billy, the tech nerd and Master Tinkerer, didn’t…adjust…Trina’s programming? To…improve…on ZRA’s ZT algorithm? Not a bit?
        Eric Hines

        1. Billy will deny any such actions 😉

  7. It’s your website and I am kind of prudish but… could the graphic nature of the Patreon thumbnails come back down a degree or two? Just askin’. Thanks.

    1. No problem — I’ve made it a link instead (for anyone interested).

      1. Always look forward to seeing the Pat-nails
        Never, personally, felt there was anything ‘graphic’ about them, and there was always the little NSFW warning on the pics that were

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