I feel this so much Abeille…. ♥ Also dad is amazing in my books… what he does with knowing how his daughter feels now will really change things, I hope…
The harlequin pattern on Mallow’s clothes makes a point, I think. An ex cut my hair with one side longer than the other. It was a decade later that I realized that was supposed to shame me.
It’s such a treat seeing Abeille act like this. I feel for Mallow. Loving someone implies heartbreak, I guess.
Not the vibe I am getting. Amaryllis will not be leaving Monotropia without Mallow. If they are going to separate, it will be at their permanent place of residence, and Mallow would be doing Abeille a disfavor by not having that be in Pasque if ever it comes to that.
I agree that Mallow has done amazingly during this father-daughter-experience so far, but I can’t forget how he has been, up to now, been extremely passive whenever Amaryllis has been around. We have now seen that he snuck out to see Abeille off when she left, but that – just like now – has been without his wife around. And while he did help a tiny bit during the scene at Miel’s home, we have also seen him defending Amaryllis just a few pages ago as “meaning well” (which she isn’t).
I think that Mallow might have to make some difficult choices soon – standing up for his daughter, who just basically admitted that she feels like she can’t just cut her mother off, or becoming a bystander again while Abeille struggles against Amaryllis. I really hope he makes the right choice; he clearly has the heart in the right place, but he’s – either by nature or from Amaryllis’ abuse – too passive.
I think the story would be less interesting and less realistic if bad guys do bad things and good guys do good things. I certainly relate to Mallow enabling Amaryllis, having not known what to do about a partner’s behavior in the past. Standing up to her, didn’t do anything other than aggravate the situation. Jumping out of the game had some success. I’m hoping we are seeing Mallow give up the game.
So it’s more clear vs unclear rather than passive vs aggressive, I think.
unrelated to the comic, but has anyone else been having a really hard time getting to the website lately? i missed four weeks of updates because i would get a browser error every time i tried to access it.
On a pc, I think it’s always been firefox that has a dns problem when I first go the site. If I refresh it then loads, or if I use a different browser (vivaldi)
I’ve followed this comic for years now but never thought of being able to reply before! I love seeing Abeille and her dad spending time together and their honesty about how they’re feeling. I’m excited to see what comes out of it. I really wonder how the author is going to pull of Abeille’s reconciliation with her mom, it seems almost impossible to start liking and understanding her now!
I don’t know if anyone else has brought this up as a theory yet or not, but does anyone ever wonder if part of the reason why Abeille’s mom expects her to be more like Evette is more than just “overbearing mother syndrome” and is actually something like, maybe Evette and Abeille are like, genetically identical?
I’d been thinking for a while that Evette and Abielle look incredibly similar, but that Evette is just older, which isn’t in itself a strange thing to have happen with kids. But in a future where parents are literally not leaving their children’s genetics up to random chance, I could absolutely see Amarylis going “Wow, I did such an absolutely lovely job with the genetics on my first daughter, let’s just use the exact same sequence again.”
It just feels like something their mom would absolutely do. Control her children’s genetic makeup to make the “perfect” baby, and when that baby turns out to be hyper intelligent and gifted, she makes another copy with the idea that she has double the geniuses, and therefore double the praise from others (because it of course won’t be about being proud of her kid’s accomplishments in general, because anything her kids accomplish are actually *her* accomplishments, because *she* created them.)
So Amarylis gets all mad and huffy with Abielle and pushes “If you just *tried* like your sister” because in her mind, Evette has the ability to do it and Abielle is a genetic copy, so she has the same potential.
Well, take “if you just seriously _tried_ doing the things you can pull off without even trying”: that’s even more maddening than a genetic clone, and my parents survived this frustration in a more graceful manner than Amaryllis. After all, it affects my life more than theirs.
That makes more sense to me than being duplicates: Evette was the designer and Abielle was not. Maybe Evette was planned pre jump to the ice planet and once on the planet they wanted another but they’ve mentioned the tech our there being so far behind?
Oh wow, and that just piles on more resentment from Amaryllis given Evette’s death. Amaryllis lost a lot of her own perceived clout and I can’t imagine she doesn’t blame Abeille for that.
.. given that Evette’s death was an accident that involved Abeille.. this could get really, really ugly. She could very well have the power and clout to accuse Abeille of murder.
Oh Abeille… honey it doesn’t matter how much you did or didn’t resemble your sister. Your mother is just looking for someone to push around and control. 🙁
I don’t even think Amaryllis understands “happy” outside of her own perception/ box. If it doesn’t fit into her world view it is, wrong/bad/ will lead to ultimate unhappiness or death. I think this was increased after one of her daughters died doing what wasn’t in line with the perfect rules. Its easy to hate Amaryllis, and her actions are abusive. But I don’t think she can understand a different way of seeing things. At least not yet. I hope she changes and grows. But not everyone does.
There’s so much to unpack in what Abeille says in the last panel. I hope the conversation doesn’t divert fully to the bit about feeling “lesser” than her sister. That’s important to address, but it’s also a symptom of everything else Abby’s talking about. It’s always been about her mother – Amaryllis using the idealized image of Evette to destroy Abeille’s self-image is just another tactic.
I feel this so much Abeille…. ♥ Also dad is amazing in my books… what he does with knowing how his daughter feels now will really change things, I hope…
Aww 🙁
The harlequin pattern on Mallow’s clothes makes a point, I think. An ex cut my hair with one side longer than the other. It was a decade later that I realized that was supposed to shame me.
It’s such a treat seeing Abeille act like this. I feel for Mallow. Loving someone implies heartbreak, I guess.
Something tells me that momma may be going home alone.
Not the vibe I am getting. Amaryllis will not be leaving Monotropia without Mallow. If they are going to separate, it will be at their permanent place of residence, and Mallow would be doing Abeille a disfavor by not having that be in Pasque if ever it comes to that.
I agree that Mallow has done amazingly during this father-daughter-experience so far, but I can’t forget how he has been, up to now, been extremely passive whenever Amaryllis has been around. We have now seen that he snuck out to see Abeille off when she left, but that – just like now – has been without his wife around. And while he did help a tiny bit during the scene at Miel’s home, we have also seen him defending Amaryllis just a few pages ago as “meaning well” (which she isn’t).
I think that Mallow might have to make some difficult choices soon – standing up for his daughter, who just basically admitted that she feels like she can’t just cut her mother off, or becoming a bystander again while Abeille struggles against Amaryllis. I really hope he makes the right choice; he clearly has the heart in the right place, but he’s – either by nature or from Amaryllis’ abuse – too passive.
I think the story would be less interesting and less realistic if bad guys do bad things and good guys do good things. I certainly relate to Mallow enabling Amaryllis, having not known what to do about a partner’s behavior in the past. Standing up to her, didn’t do anything other than aggravate the situation. Jumping out of the game had some success. I’m hoping we are seeing Mallow give up the game.
So it’s more clear vs unclear rather than passive vs aggressive, I think.
The fact that your daughter even *thinks* that you hate her, Amaryllis, is irrefutable proof as your failure as a mother.
unrelated to the comic, but has anyone else been having a really hard time getting to the website lately? i missed four weeks of updates because i would get a browser error every time i tried to access it.
On a pc, I think it’s always been firefox that has a dns problem when I first go the site. If I refresh it then loads, or if I use a different browser (vivaldi)
Yes, I was having issues too. I started using incognito browser and that somehow works when my regular browser doesn’t.
I did for a couple days, clearing my cookies fixed it
I’ve followed this comic for years now but never thought of being able to reply before! I love seeing Abeille and her dad spending time together and their honesty about how they’re feeling. I’m excited to see what comes out of it. I really wonder how the author is going to pull of Abeille’s reconciliation with her mom, it seems almost impossible to start liking and understanding her now!
I don’t know if anyone else has brought this up as a theory yet or not, but does anyone ever wonder if part of the reason why Abeille’s mom expects her to be more like Evette is more than just “overbearing mother syndrome” and is actually something like, maybe Evette and Abeille are like, genetically identical?
I’d been thinking for a while that Evette and Abielle look incredibly similar, but that Evette is just older, which isn’t in itself a strange thing to have happen with kids. But in a future where parents are literally not leaving their children’s genetics up to random chance, I could absolutely see Amarylis going “Wow, I did such an absolutely lovely job with the genetics on my first daughter, let’s just use the exact same sequence again.”
It just feels like something their mom would absolutely do. Control her children’s genetic makeup to make the “perfect” baby, and when that baby turns out to be hyper intelligent and gifted, she makes another copy with the idea that she has double the geniuses, and therefore double the praise from others (because it of course won’t be about being proud of her kid’s accomplishments in general, because anything her kids accomplish are actually *her* accomplishments, because *she* created them.)
So Amarylis gets all mad and huffy with Abielle and pushes “If you just *tried* like your sister” because in her mind, Evette has the ability to do it and Abielle is a genetic copy, so she has the same potential.
Anyway, that’s my theory!
Oh that’s a really strong theory!!
Like, whether or not the author is intending that or even going to cover that, headcanon accepted.
That is an amazing theory and if it’s not what’s going on I’m totally going to borrow the idea for something else! <3
That’s an incredible theory, and I’m happy to subscribe to it!
Well, take “if you just seriously _tried_ doing the things you can pull off without even trying”: that’s even more maddening than a genetic clone, and my parents survived this frustration in a more graceful manner than Amaryllis. After all, it affects my life more than theirs.
Rofl thank you all so much! I wish there was a discord or something so we could talk about other neat theories, too!
I miss Strawberry comics forum.
It’s pretty spare, but there is the start of a fan theories wiki page here: https://lovenotfound-fans.fandom.com/wiki/Fan_theories I think the theory could make sense because Ivy was a designer baby of sorts.
That makes more sense to me than being duplicates: Evette was the designer and Abielle was not. Maybe Evette was planned pre jump to the ice planet and once on the planet they wanted another but they’ve mentioned the tech our there being so far behind?
Oh wow, and that just piles on more resentment from Amaryllis given Evette’s death. Amaryllis lost a lot of her own perceived clout and I can’t imagine she doesn’t blame Abeille for that.
.. given that Evette’s death was an accident that involved Abeille.. this could get really, really ugly. She could very well have the power and clout to accuse Abeille of murder.
I like this theory. I also wonder if one of them was conceived naturally and that’s why mom reacted so viscerally. And why mom seems to prefer Evette.
I still think this is less overbearing and more the textbook golden child/scapegoat dynamic.
Oh Abeille… honey it doesn’t matter how much you did or didn’t resemble your sister. Your mother is just looking for someone to push around and control. 🙁
She has it all wrong. Amaryllis doesn’t hate you. She hates you being happy without deriving your happiness from HER.
But Amaryllis will gladly take unhappiness just as well as long as it is she who is in control. What she won’t stand for is independence.
I don’t even think Amaryllis understands “happy” outside of her own perception/ box. If it doesn’t fit into her world view it is, wrong/bad/ will lead to ultimate unhappiness or death. I think this was increased after one of her daughters died doing what wasn’t in line with the perfect rules. Its easy to hate Amaryllis, and her actions are abusive. But I don’t think she can understand a different way of seeing things. At least not yet. I hope she changes and grows. But not everyone does.
There’s so much to unpack in what Abeille says in the last panel. I hope the conversation doesn’t divert fully to the bit about feeling “lesser” than her sister. That’s important to address, but it’s also a symptom of everything else Abby’s talking about. It’s always been about her mother – Amaryllis using the idealized image of Evette to destroy Abeille’s self-image is just another tactic.