Jessica is one of the characters in the comic who is cursed with future thinking. A lot of her behavior is caused by her desire to disrupt it. Thomas also has this problem. Their minds are always reminding them that nothing lasts. It causes an intense desire to make good situations last as long as possible, but also sometimes to not try new things because, even if there is success, it will eventually end. Thomas tends to roll over and accept fate whereas Jess tends to actively fight against it. On some level both of them do it irrationally. To one degree or another, at any given time, they are living in a moment that doesn’t, and may never, exist. Most people do this from time to time, but some of us do it to a degree that can be toxic.

Edward only does it a little bit comparatively. He’s more capable of just accepting that things are how they are until they aren’t. With Jess and Thomas they are ultimately cursed to know that they cannot win, no matter how hard they try. Death will come. The end always comes. That’s a fundamental part of mortality that all sentient beings must resolve within themselves.

On some level the reason why Jessica is willing to do nearly anything to get what she wants is because she feels like she is fighting an opponent that doesn’t follow any rules. When one fights monsters it’s very easy to become one. Ultimately her goal is to benefit as many people as possible while also finally getting to feel safe and happy. In light of her intelligence one could argue that her talents might be better utilized in the service of mankind. You can’t force someone to live up to their potential. Even if you try you’ll just make them resent it all the more. Jess is on a journey that will hopefully lead to her becoming whatever her best self is. There are a lot of people who stumble on a journey like that, and many who stay down once they do. I guess it’s good, for her sake, that god is rooting for her.

I would like to think that god is also rooting for me, but as the divine hasn’t given me obvious signs I will settle for you, dear reader, rooting for me by way of supporting my work via the links above. For my part I will root for you in return by way of making comics that will hopefully ease your passage through this mortal existence. I will see you Friday with the next offering. Stay safe until that time for me.

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Ummm – just what does that say about their relationship – at least from her end?

Probably that despite her outward projection of almost aggressive confidence, she is inwardly insecure and scared of losing her brother’s attention.
Maybe. Too early in the day for the thinky think. Sorry.

She cares about her brother, and they get along well enough to share an apartment, head out for meals, etc. He’s an important part of her life and she might not like that familiar and dependable presence moving out to be with someone in a romantic capacity.

Mmmf!….[cough!]…I’m not crying, Jackie…[cough].
It’s dust in my eyes! It’s dust in my eyes! *sniffles*

(This is [very], good writing). :)

I’m not crying! *sob* you’re crying! *sniffle*

Someone cutting some REAL big onions somewhere.

Thanks for the beautiful blog post, stay safe yourself.

There’s people like this who also fight to preserve the status quo because they are happy when there’s no change. Change creates uncertainty. Change can be painful. And people who love being comfortable as things are always get really sentimental and struggle against change.

The good news is that change usually impacts the people at the top more than it does at the bottom. It often creates unrest against them, a loss of money, a loss of fame and alters the landscape against them. It really depends on how the bottom views the status quo.

Look at Mr. Avocado-Toast-Millennials CEO Tim Gurner – he’s currently getting dragged and death threats for telling people at a real estate conference that CEOs need to raise unemployment to 50% or more to make workers realize they are not in control and they have no power. He’s advocating turning workers into slaves. Mostly because good change from the bottom after the pandemic is killing his fortune (workers working from home).

Change is inevitable regardless of what people want. I always considered the “uncertainty” argument against change to be lame because nothing in life is ever certain. There is no certainty whether we even will wake up the next morning alive or not or suffer a terrible accident on the way to work. Yet, we still get up and do these things anyway even though no two days are ever the same. Plus, if change does happen on a major level, it’s because there is a majority that have pointed out enough faults in the status quo that change NEEDS to happen in order to restore a sense of stability. Otherwise, you’ll have a powderkeg.

As for Tim Gurner, the man is out of line and has shown himself to be the Crony Capitalist that a lot of members of this generation despise. To take power away from the workers and advocating slavery is precisely why labor unions exist and I’ll even dare say, why Communism also exists as a political ideology. People like Gurner need to understand that a company is nothing without its workers and workers are human beings too. To disregard that in favor of setting an example on who rules the roost is the textbook example of power tripping and this shit needs to stop.

Good work as always dude. This is a good little arc right here.

“…you’ve just given me license to be jealous of Brooksie.”

I’m not sure if I definitely do, or definitely do not, want to see the girl Ed tried to date that *wasn’t* worthy of him, and how Jess meddled.

“You finally picked a girl worthy of you.”

Right in the heart!

And I don’t know if Ed gets communicated with on this level often. We don’t know much about their mom. The dad seems a stern sort.

Whoa, hey, the short joke wasn’t needed for this emotional scene.

(That was a joke)

I may just not be remembering, but I don’t recall Jess having all that much interaction with Nina. Just enough for her to be attracted to the tall blonde, which is understandable, but did she really get a feel for her character?

No, she didn’t. I should have written this entire part differently.

Okay, I’m not crazy then. Wasn’t meant as a criticism, I just thought I was forgetting something.

No, you’re wrong. I just wanted to see if you would think abut your statement. I have my answer now.

I’m usually pretty open-minded and I try to interpret people’s behavior in the best possible light, but all the ways I can think of to interpret this are all strange–are you accusing me of lying, or telling me I’m an asshole for daring to question your writing, or calling me an idiot for having an imperfect memory? None of these things really sound like you, though. All I did was state that I couldn’t remember if something had happened, and then asked if something had happened that I couldn’t remember, so please tell me, what should I have “thought about”?

I refuse.

lol, alright I guess. Sorry I pissed you off somehow, but I wish you the best anyway.

Appearance is important, initially. It’s often the cause of love-at-first-sight, which can be completely idiosyncratic, overwhelming, and subjective.
But love-at-first-sight, or lack of same, gets revised by getting to know the person. It can turn into long-term relationship or vanish entirely.
I don’t see Jackie presenting an inconsistent character at all.

2568 Meddling.

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