Serious cuteness overload in the last panel.
- Sandra: Oh, Liz, I’m–
- Larisa: Please, Sandra. Let’s rather do something fun instead of talking about my Wolfram syndrome!
- Larisa: Do you think Woo and Lily would let me play with their kits?
- Sandra: I don’t know. Maybe.
- Larisa: Fire’s really fascinating, huh, Vega? Do you want to see a bigger one?
- Sandra: Please don’t corrupt the youth, Larisa.
- Larisa: Already happened!
|
We finally have a name for the ailment.
This little light of mine …
Sandra did know! Apparently! That’s good, I wasn’t sure if I was fully prepared for another drama bomb today.
Okay, roundup time, let’s see if we can’t get out a simple explanation for Wolfram Syndrome.
Wolfram Syndrome happens when your cells don’t produce a protein called wolframin. It is a genetic disorder. Wolframin is important to many cells in the body, especially those in the brain, nervous system, and numerous vital organs. The lack of it, can cause these cells to die prematurely. This particularly takes place in the brain stem and pituitary areas of the brain.
The effects of this syndrome manifest with those areas being damaged; a person with Wolfram Syndrome will have diabetes, problems with water retention, and curtailed physical development, especially in adolescence. Because of the nature of the syndrome, it can result in many different symptoms, and no one really experiences it the same. Common symptoms later in life are blindness, deafness, changes in mental state, dizziness, and seizures. These symptoms, as well as others, will continue to accumulate as a person with WS ages, and unfortunately, will eventually cause organ failure and death around the age of 28. However, this is not an exact age, 28 is the median age and the disease can progress much faster, or slower than that. The oldest known suffer of Wolfram Syndrome was 49 at time of death.
Now that’s the S&W I fell in love with!
Three panels and it touches deep emotions, adventure, cuteness and humor!
I’ve missed you, old touch 🙂
@ MHW:
I think you might be misremembering a bit. S&W has always tackled some more mature/dark stuff.
Here, have the second page of the comic: http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2008/10/27/homesickness/
So how did Larissa get Vega’s name?
She just introduced a young voracious omnivore to the wonders of fire… welp, time to leave this forest.
@ Sarusig:
Oh, I think we have a misunderstanding here:
I especially like the fact that they handle difficult topics – and do so in a good spirited way!
I also ‘liked’ the last update, even though the bomb kinda hurt. I just had the feeling in the last half year that it lost focus and told me more anecdotes about clouds family than I really cared to hear, instead of keeping it on the corevalues: adventure, comedy and friendship (and the latter is especially strong when it gets tested by the surrounding world)
Sarusig wrote:
Or they remembered it just fine but didn’t like it back then either.
They didn’t say ‘the old S&W’, they said it was the one they ‘fell in love with’,
Wait, WHAT!? So that’s how it ends? “Simple” as that!, not with a bigger story about it or anything?
Damn, I’m disappointed! DX
Well, at least Larisa have found a (rather raccoon-ish of sorts =P~ ) successor of her “blazing” love…
Wha… I didn’t realize Larisa had a degenerative disorder. That’s… actually very sad and explains a couple of things. Was this alluded to before and it went over my head?
aerion wrote:
They clearly said “I missed you, old touch” though =D
@ MHW:
I completely and wholeheartedly agree with you then, and I completely get where you’re coming from. Hoping for a Sandra + Woo arc myself
So, it is Wolfram Syndrome, after all.
Dammit.
Feeling your own body fall apart instead of blossoming into a wonderful being.
Now that’s sad.
@ Qwertystop:
Most likely, Sandra told her, off-panel.
@ AshKetchup:
Yeah this was started a long time ago: http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/01/04/0126-secrets/
If I recall correctly, Novil said something along the line of “you’ll get the whole story in a year or two”, and later commented that we didn’t because he wasn’t happy with it. It has been a very long time in the making. And he’s been teasing us.
Armies of raccoons with flamethrowers.
I think we all knew that’s the way the world would end.
@ Qwertystop:
I’m assuming the third panel is an imagination – a theoretical situation which didn’t ACTUALLY occur. I doubt Lily would let anyone but Woo and Sandra near her kits.
Also, about the name, Woo could have easily told Sandra, who could have easily told Larisa.
No Larissa, you want Vega to play with the metal claw.
@ Petah-Petah:
i see what you did there 😀
seriously though. that comic got way darker than i ever expected. i’m glad Larisa’s keeping her spirit up
I know we’re all Interested in Larisa;’s health but…
Is no one going to discuss Lily enjoying ear scratches off Sandra there?
Cirom wrote:
Not when the Raccon’s Living God is gonna screw anyone’s (after)life if their kits suffer any harm…
http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2015/06/11/0691-woo-knows-the-right-people/
I’m so in love with this. I put Larisa on the Wolfram Syndrome page and made sure it was put on the S&W. Hopefully it won’t be taken down. I could hug you all for this one!
@ K:
Raccoons ‘character develop’ faster than humans do. It’s part of their urban survival instincts.
Seeoahtlahmakaskay: For your instinctive generosity of spirit in showing my children how to set fire to things, I will happily bestow on you a cure for your condition… on condition that you show them how to put out fires, and QUICKLY!! D•:
>:=)>
This all but confirms Larisa knows Woo can talk, or at the very least she knows he is MUCH smarter than he acts.
Asking if Woo and Lily would let her play with their kits is tantamount to acknowledging they’re sentient. If she knows Vega’s name, that means (at least some) animals can talk. OK, Sandra might have told her the name, but then Sandra has to explain how SHE knows.
And she can’t fob Larissa off with an “I named them all” excuse. Look at the way these (supposedly) wild animals have no fear of humans.
BTW: I hope Sandra had all the raccoons vaccinated, for her own protection, Larissa’s, and that of the animals. It may sting for an instant by Lily seems smart enough to understand an explanation about how they’ll all live longer, hap[pier lives.
More proof the life is both precious and short.
@ Greenwood Goat:
You’re right: Teaching raccoon kits to start fires could be what causes the Great Fires.
I’m just waiting for the kits to inherit Woo’s ability to talk. That’ll be fun!
Lukkai wrote:
Of course, the reason why it hasn’t happened yet – and is unlike ever to happen – is that getting Procyon lotor to the level of coordination required to make “Armies” simply ain’t gonna happen.
“Hordes,” maybe. “Armies”…. Nope. Imagine a raccoon S-4 sometime, whydon’tcha?
“What do you mean, ‘There’s no more jellied gasoline in the depot’? You didn’t order enough jellied gasoline?”
@ MidoriLuna:
I think maybe she did know, it’s just never come up by name int he comics before. She could just be offering a sympathetic moment.
That’s the first time I’ve seen Larisa being called “Liz”.
I saw someone figure out it was Wolfram’s at the end of the comments section yesterday. I think her only hope is if someone IRL develops a cure.
@ KillerOh:
W.S. is always terminal and she’s already come to terms with it and is just focused on living as much as she can before her time comes, which is most likely why she acts so spontaneously.
@ Greenwood Goat:
I hope that wasn’t a “serous” suggestion. Not only is deus ex machina a lazy author’s way to resolve a plot-quandary, but it’d be insulting to the people who actually have this disease.
Also, comic superheroes aren’t allowed to deal with real-world problems; cancer, global warming, ISIS, Hitler, etc. Men in capes and talking raccoons are permitted but that other stuff stretches credibility too far.
Direct question for Novil.
Has Sandra ever met Seeoahtlahmakaskay? Or, at least, know she exists? Only fair to tell Larissa to be careful. Even if unintentional, a careless act could give Larissa a lot more grief than she’s already facing.
Cirom wrote:
Well could be that Woo succeeded in telling Lily that Larisa is okay. 🙂
Now that we know what Larissa has, I’m not sure if it was better knowing or not knowing. That sucks, but she is living life to the fullest.
And she has a legacy now, known as the Progenitor of the Great Fires.
I have to say this arc have been qute the roller coaster, starting with a mistake with a nudie shot and escalatd into getting to know Larisa’s secret and her short life expectancy and a bit understanding why she is as she is anv npw creating a species of pyromanic racoons. 😮
Still – Wolfram syndrom alone don’t seem to fully correlate with all the medication Larisa took in
http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/01/04/0126-secrets/ – for wolfram, unless she already suffers from neural symptoms (and she’s not blind nor deaf)- there’s not much things manageable apart from the diabetes mellitus and insipidus.
Besides – if sandra’s aware of larisa wolfram syndrome (as is implied in this strip) – when did larisa told sandra ? Or is larisa keeping other secrets from her friends ?
Possibilities :
Larisa told sandra between ‘secrets’ and now, and develloped secondary conditions to her wolfram syndrome accounting for the additional medication she took (nasal spray & pills)
sandra knew for larisa’s wolfram before ‘secrets’, and larisa’s hiding something else.
– maybe larisa follows some kind of experimental treatment / management drug with very low chances of success (who knows, something which could delay neural symptoms ?) – and she don’t want to give false hopes to other people.
Who knows from there ? 🙂
Greenwood Goat wrote:
The raccoon god has no power over human beings nor could communicate with anyone who has the ability to cure Larisa’s condition.
http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2013/07/01/0495-office-prank/
Only you can prevent forest fires!
Everyone seems to be completely ignoring the fact that Larisa is guilty of spreading child pornography. Literally millions of people in the US are now guilty of possession of child porn. This is not just a “prudes hate nudity” thing. This should have massive legal repercussions, not be brushed over.
@ Aggrax:
And that should tell you that current laws need refining. Whatever your opinion of teenagers sexting, child pornography charges are just not the right answer. I mean really child prography laws are there to prevent adults exploiting children, and rightly so. Right now its all too easy for horny teenagers to end up on the sex offenders register, and that can be a life ruining event.
…run
@ Peter:
@ MaxArt:
She already is a wonderful being. Also it can be argued that a shorter life helps someone appreciate the time they have been appointed a bit more.
I suspect that much of her wild behavior stems from wanting to get as much out of life as possible.
SmartAlec105 wrote:
Actually, the one of the Cartoonists spoke up and Confirmed it a few days ago in the comments. Somewhere on Page two of that episode’s comments which ran over 4 pages long..
Sgt_flyer wrote:
There is a Very Strong implication that Larissa Just Now told Sandra.
.
That’s why Sandra’s first panel line is: ” Oh, Liz, I’m–”
Followed by Larissa saying she’d much rather NOT talk about it.
.
@ Aggrax:
Just… be patient…
Why would you take her into the forest that’s like straight up causing a forest fires off the bat.