Don't Fight The Feeling

Combat really doesn't seem their style. They can hack into almost any system they please (but don't, otherwise Roko will be pissed), have a gigantic fortune they can piss away just for funsies (plus the means to build another one eventually), hack into robots' sensoriums just with physical contact (e.g. Corpse Witch), paralyse humans ditto... Really, what more do they need?

Nicolas Demers

Yay has many frames. I've said it before - I wonder if they have a heavy combat, an honest stealth, a generic fem or male, and maybe an animal synth? (The animal would be an early attempt to come down to their pet's level of play?) Jeph needs a ghostwriter and a series of books of different facets of his world. (No,... I am not volunteering!)

Darnel D Cooper

Oh no! What about Yay's cool?

Bagge

That’s deep.

Mad Marie

When we're not exterminated by the AI, it will be because of people like Aurelia.

Highly abstract and destructive to the neurology of single those consciousnesses

Todd Ellner

Yes. Also, their animal avatar will open the door to going online, since it doesn't look like them, and they're confident in their ability to take enough steps to anonymize their involvement to continue doing it. This will fairly quickly lead to them having a following and being amazed at just how many human people *like* them.

Some Ed

Yay is going to end up with an animal avatar during a stream, aren't they?

I do predict doggie playdates for Cosmo, Azathoth, and Mr. Smooches so that Yay and Aurelia can hang out...

Kenneth

Yay! Aurelia! This is great.

John Fiala

Yesssss the ideal combination of characters XD

yay analyzing- gravity magnetism strong force weak force-no, no, not right—mom force??!

jimbo

She might have to get a lot more tea.

Todd Ellner

OMG, I probably am too! Do we know roughly how old Aurelia is? I feel like she had her kids pretty young, so I'd guess she's in her mid- to late-40s, but I can't remember if she's ever gotten that specific about her younger days in front of us. But yeah, if I'm right, she can't be more than 5 years older than me. At least, for the moment. No doubt I'll catch up with her before long. I'm not sure how time works in the QC-verse relative to ours, but it definitely moves slower - when the comic first started publishing, I was roughly of an age with Marten (early 20s), but he can't be older than 35 now, and is probably not even that old.

Taellosse

Anyway, Yay isn't going to drink it. Probably. I wonder if Aurelia will try to get Yay on her live stream, not knowing how Yay reacted to an attempted photograph earlier.

Bill Marcum

I think Yay hesitated before giving their name because they fully realise it's a stupid joke name, and FOR THE FIRST TIME they want to have a real name to give... but don't have one.

Nicolas Demers

Mom and the two siblings look so much alike it's unreal. If I didn't know Claire was older than Clinton, I would totally have pegged them as identical twins

Nicolas Demers

Now I really want to see Yay's teascape. Also this is one of the best hurt/comfort stories I've seen lately.

Evgeniy Semyonov

we all need an Aurelia in our lives

Absentia

I wonder if Aurelia's tea will bring all the Yays to the porch?

Leak

Aw man, I wish Aurelia was my mom. (Although now we're about the same age so that wouldn't work lol. Best friend maybe.)

Onyx

Aww, I love Aurelia. I wish she could be my friend in real life.

Vic or Vyxter

What's wrong with being warm and supportive without romance or lust?

Todd Ellner

In a surprising turn of events, Aurelia is now my favorite.

Brian

Whoops now I'm shipping them

Fart Captor

YAY MEETS AURELIA WHAT WILL HAP... oh right, she'll adopt them.

Yonatan Zunger

CLAIRE BEAR STARE!

Sleepy John

As a hive mind they must be able to experience many states simultaneously but I would think that the state being experienced first hand would dominate for any particular member of the hive.

Chris Heg

I was suddenly struck by how Claire-like Aurelia looks in the last panel. The sideways/backward glance coupled with the slight grin seems like a classic Claire expression.

William Cole

In Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series, smaller distributed AI had the same sensation all at the same time, but big ones had enough latency to have two or more different responses. I am really curious to see how Jeph handles this with Yay. It's such a cool concept

Does the entire host of Yays experience the same thing at the same time? What if one of the host is simultaneously experiencing an opposite "feeling?" Is there an hierarchy or a mediation mechanism or is the whole problem solved by a quantum superposition -like mechanism where they can be in different states at the same time?

OH NO THEY ARE DOOMED

Minzoku Bokumetsu

Aurelia is now my number 1 favorite. I need a friend with mom vibes.

Orion Rhine

Omnipotent AI encounters irresistible force, they are confused.

William Foley

Aw, c'mon! I thought violating the innocent and wholesome was your kink

Todd Ellner

AIs don't reproduce that way

Todd Ellner

What you say!!

Chris Heg

Where?

Lenore J Jones

Your super ultra mega firewalls do nothing against the power of LOVE, Yay!

Dylan T

Omg they're weak to mom powers. I'm shooketh.

Scott Hilton

YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME

Alacrity Fitzhugh

Now this, this is beautiful

Yay's social-media subroutine already tracks MommyMilkers420 as a strange outlier in gamer society, but never bothered to hack into her identity. The upcoming moment of revelation is gonna be awesome.

Photon

I want to see Yay show up on Aurelia's stream. She left the milkmaids hanging. I predict many more followers for MommyMilkers420 soon, courtesy of mom vibes.

Kenneth

don't feel guilty, the concepts are a little bit serious

LH

THIS WHOLESOMENESS IS KILLING MY BONER!

Yelling Bird

Yep - Yay's utility functions aren't hardened against Empathic Mom Presence

Photon

The trembly lip. Their sardonicism is no defence against MOM VIBES.

Sleepy John

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Yay has never had a mom, have they?

Merle Blue

In fairness, we've never seen Yay in need of kindness, and never seen a human in a position to offer it. Their affection for dogs (and cats too, it would appear) is the chink in their armor that brought them to a position of vulnerability. Aurelia was through that gap in an instant without even being aware of it. Had she thought about it, Yay might have been able to block her. But, it's too late for that now.

OldGoat

Everyone; The God AI.

Thisguy

Do we want to see Yay high?

Drazi

Aurelia used MOM VIBES! It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!

Azrux

Yay is about to experience a Grinch like heart expansion.

Rachel Maeroff

(Tape is mysteriously erased)

Mad Marie

"Don't stop... Believing"

I have just realized what I love most about this series. My family makes friends(sucks in new people) without remorse or caring what they think is happening.

Abreon or Abrea

I wanted to pet the dog, but then I got hiiiiiiigh

MikeT

Mom vibes operate at a lower carrier frequency and can cause harmonics. Very hard for AIs to shield against.

Chris Gallaty

This is so great. I have to imagine no one has ever treated Yay with this kind of kindness, they look like they’re absolutely floored with wonder.

Runhildr Zaetl

Oh God! Yay will bring the other nodes over soon, won't they? And then Clinton shows up.

Michael Boettger

This is the opposite of that

darklion

(Howard Cosell adjusts his mic) Yeah, Yay lost that one before the round started. We will see what goes down when they play the tape back.

Reece Chenault

It's like that "AI vision" that Neo had in the machine city, but in reverse

darklion

That's why it's called a 'tea pot'

Vianki Bruenderman

As a red headed gamer mom, Aurelia is everything I aspire to be. 🥰

HillaryGayle

Oh my goodness. Behold the power of Mom Vibes!

Except instead of tea, she uses pot

Niskara

Omnipresent all powerful AI laid low by superior MommyMilkers420. News at 11.

Mr. Ifrit

This should be very interesting. Yay looks,.... conflicted. Personally,.... I think AI's want to be "people" in Jephs world. They want acceptance on their terms and I feel that includes an occasional pat on the head, (Like you see in Anime, where the junior is affectionately praised.), and a seat at the table. Yes yes,.. I'm once again guilty of taking the concepts seriously. I hope the tea is a good experience, I don't think anyone has offered Yay any.

Darnel D Cooper

No one can resist Mom Vibes.

awgiedawgie

This is too stinkin cute

Zeph

Aurelia is the best

Fart Captor

*their*

Mad Marie

Yay is absolutely going to be in the proverbial doghouse when they are caught "creeping on Clinton's Mom."

Thomas Halpin

Omg this is so cute. Yay is getting mom'ed

Forgettable

Cue music: REO Speedwagon, “Can’t fight this feelin’”

Mad Marie

That’s adorable

Tyler Findlay

Hmm, is that a bit of sketch layer accidentally left in or something else?

Peter Jensen

Yay just got adopted. They're now family. Shenanigans are bound to happen

Joel Bateman

Ah yes the patented mom method, flawless execution

Bacon Lord

considering what she was doing before, i hope there's no milk in that tea...

Peter McDevitt

Yup, Yay had met *their* match in Aurelia. Imagine what'll happen when Clinton drops by in the morning.

Michael Boettger

This makes me several kinds of happy.

Matthew McIntosh

Ah yes, the Iroh method.

Aurelia is fast becoming one of my favourite characters.

Melissa Smits

Rekt

Grace Kieser