Page 302

Didn't take long to hit Holland's soft spot again.

140 thoughts on “Page 302

  1. ;A; Oh Meela, stop hittin dem feels!

  2. Poor puppy! ♡

    I just want to hug her tight and tell her that everything will be alright, but something tells me it just won’t go that way.

    And yes, Holland is such a mama bird. You can see that by how he wraps his arms around her, kind of like bird wings and then the cooing shape of his mouth~ Aheh, it is just too cute.

    1. Whaddaya mean, MAMA bird?

      Holland may be eccentric, but he’s not effeminate. And if holding a distressed little girl and telling her it’s all right makes a guy maternal rather than paternal, I’ll eat my hat.

      …That said, he is a bit of a dandy, but it’s hard to blame him for that, being raised by royalty and all…

      1. She’s likely referring to the behavioral characteristics of most birds, in which the mother stays behind and cares for the young while the father goes and hunts food.

        I watch too much Animal Planet.

        1. …right now i could go for a whole marathon of animal planet… wow, I need to get out more.

        2. I would like a marathon of the old animal planet… lately it seems to be more “human with guns and/or tools” planet with occasional animal guests…

        3. Geeet it? Because Holland turns into a swan? =3= Mama Bird Hal

        4. lucky i dont have tv or radio or internet im reading this on my schools reading time

          lol in 7th grade

        5. that would be a harsh twist if feral did try to kill her

        6. I. would. sob.

          i suppose though, with him bein a bounty hunter and such, y’know? but that would still make me angry.
          As for the other things, Holland is definitely a mama bird, no doubt.

        7. but don’t forget…Meela can always phase on him as well in her demon form and…she’s got a little bounty hunter blood in her veins but Feral’s got a little bit of an advantage on her because her taught Meela what she knows but then Holland but be looking out for her or maybe….

        8. There’s not a chance of that. If you re-read the comic, you’ll see that Feral really cares about her. Like a lot. She’s the first person he’s cared about in a long time. She annoys him sometimes, but hey, that’s what kids do.

          I don’t think he’d hurt her intentionally even if she attacked him. Only as a last resort.

      2. …he is literally the human embodiment of a swan!!! -_-

        …he reeks of masculinity… to me.

        1. Oh, no. He is not the embodiment of a swan, he’s actually NICE. Have you met a swan? They’re worse than Canadian geese! They are EVIL! Norwegian rowing teams won’t even go out on the water if there’s a swan because of the possibility of an attack! They are VICIOUS!

        2. The swan by my house is nice to me… although he’s a real pecker to the dogs I watch (in all fairness they tried to attack him) and apparently some of the other people in the neighborhood.

        3. Soooo true, and yet still so funny.

      3. It’s just a saying… Calm your jets. :c Not many PAPA birds actually care for their young as much as they protect the household, and I’m pretty sure swans are one of those birds.

        1. Techinally, swans mate for life and while the mamma bird stays with the babies, the papa bird protects the family, violently and loudly.

        2. Hahah, and then the female swan buggers off occasionally and mate with other males who might be fitter than her mate. A lot of those eggs aren’t even his xD

        3. I didn’t go looking for this knowledge but feel educated anyway. w00t.

      4. Being effeminate is a bad thing? I think he is being “girly”, and that is perfectly fine. If masculinity gets all the benefit and positive traits of being tough, the femininity can be used to compliment how gentle and kind someone is. Holland is a very good mama bird.

        1. For a guy? Rather.

          A guy should be able to do really girly stuff and have people say, “Dang, he made baking cookies/dancing in a leotard/nursing that baby look MANLY.”


          Like I said, though, I was merely taking mock-offense on Holland’s behalf. Just havin’ a laugh.

        2. I… have a hard time seeing even Mr. T making breastfeeding look manly.

      5. Oh goodness, this made me laugh for a bit- But yes, like it was said by some other comment down below; I was thinking of bird behaviour, silly! You make it sound like I actually was saying something horrible and rude about him.

        Hm, to be honest though I was also more or less thinking about animated things like movies and series, where cartoon/anime/etc female birds wrap their wings around their young in such a motherly way- And yes, I did say mama because I cannot remember any certain time where I’ve seen a male bird do such.

        I wasn’t attacking the character nor saying that is was wrong in any way to be like that! So I do not really know why you seem so… Harsh with the words back?

        Everyone, just to clear things up. By my little comment, I did not mean to attack or offend anyone. No matter what you think about the birdy up there- Well, I was just saying something silly.

        1. Sorry, I was trying to be silly, too. Apparently I’m not as good at it, though, because so many seemed to take it seriously!

          If it made you laugh, then that’s good enough for me. ;)

    2. Aww, i totally agree with you, like IN EVERYTHING <3

  3. Poor baby DX.

  4. Bandages… I love how you added them on the last page XD
    ABUT MEELA!!! So adorable… I just wanna hug her

  5. S-She has fangs!

    1. Oh wait I guess she’s always had them… xD

  6. Can I just say, Holland looks so hot on this page. Maybe It’s his tenderness to Meela that is making him look that way to me?

    1. *every page :P~~~

      just me… I couldn’t see Feral anything more than a “brother”… too beefy or something.

      1. See, I always feel the opposite. Holland always seems more like an awesome older brother, he’s very pretty, but manly? eh, I guess, sort of….
        And swans in nature are generally assholes, so I don’t really see the fact that he’s a swan as having any kind of influence on his personality… I wonder what his brothers are like?

        As for Feral? Mmmmm… :3
        I’ll take the fluffy beefcake. You guys can fight over Holland.

        1. KaelinaLuvsLomaris

          “Fluffy beefcake”? LOLZ. Right now I am picturing Feral’s reaction to being called that…. :)

        2. i guess the swan part of protective instincts might apply to Holland the way he’s taking care of her

  7. oh them feels so many feels T.T

  8. Motherly Holland is the best Holland.
    Also, Feral must never know…EVER.

  9. i doubt feral would kill her. they’ve traveled together for too long not for him to grow attached to her, or her company. i highly doubt he could stomach doing so.

    1. kill her, no… take her to live with others like her (if such a place exists), maybe?

  10. Page finishes just before we can get hollands answer!
    Holland you look after that darl

  11. Oh my goodness. Holland hugging a distressed Meela… too sweet!

    Also, is it bad I only remember its Friday when I see a strays update?

    1. “only remember its Friday when I see a strays update?” – there are more of us than you know :)

  12. Hey, this might be a bit random, but how big is the male fanbase here? I’ve seen a lot of comments by girls so far.

    1. I thought that “guys” generally didn’t like to comment/share feelings…much.

      I know of 4 male ‘strays’ readers who would never comment… for some reason.

  13. I am sure there is a good size male fanbase. I am one of them. I have loved Strays since the beginning. The art and story is absolutely amazing.

    1. Good! Then you can tell us who’s more attractive: Piper or an adult Meela. :P
      (because that’s apparently all we can think about while reading this comic)

      1. Adult Meela. I’d prefer a girl who won’t start searching my room for valuables when my back is turned.

  14. Might just be me, but has anyone seen Meela’s bracelet-thing in a while? I went back a few pages, but couldn’t find it…

    1. The last time you see her bracelet is right before she transforms into her ultimate demon wolf form. From then on we have only seen her in the wolf state until now, where she is wearing long sleeves. So it’s probably hiding under the cuff of the sleeve. I still think she has it on because Holland knows better than to take it off her. And when they transform into the wolf state, all their clothes vanish until they transform back into their human state. So if she was wearing it at the point of transformation she would still have it on when she changed back to human form. Make sense?

      1. yep! …quite sure, or we’d get “HULK” mode…

  15. It’s funny how people are referring to Holland as ‘Mama Bird Holland’ >3> He can turn into a swan. Mama Bird Holland =3=

  16. Holland, you’re so wonderful, Meela, hang in there, Feral would never hurt you, oh this is all right in the feels and is triggering my protective side.

  17. Oh my god Holland and Meela are so cute :3

  18. *Wants to hug Meela and Holland in a group hug* ;___;


    1. I think piper would kick her rear, then when meela gets angry & transforms… she’d kill/gravely wound piper? & holland dies trying to protect Piper & Feral gets injured trying to save piper + Holland… yeah… that doesn’t sound…fun.

      1. Why would Piper kick her…?

  20. Can we please just have Feral give Meela a big hug, please…. pretty please?

    1. that’d be perfect! having Feral give her a hug it’d be cute and adorable :)

  21. This comic updates too slow, I can’t wait for the next page…! Holland comfort me tooo-! ;A;

  22. I need the next page ;_; pleaseeeeee!! Feral, c’mon!!!

  23. I have a feeling Feral wont kill her. <3
    This is too cute I just want to hug her. T^T

  24. The last panel… Aren’t Meela’s horn right into Holland throat ? Ouch. xD

    1. I doubt they are sharp enough to hurt. :P

  25. Awww, Meela! :(

  26. All the feels. To know and remember what she did and is afraid of getting killed herself….poor Meela. ;_;

  27. Oh, Meela… *snf* Darn, the onion ninjas are at it again…

    1. KaelinaLuvsLomaris

      Those darn onion ninjas! They are here too…. :'(

  28. i highly doubt feral will try to kill meela. he like her too much.

  29. KaelinaLuvsLomaris

    I bet next page will cut to Feral, so we don’t get to see Holland’s response, or Holland just won’t answer that question….

  30. At first I was not a mega fan of Holland. I mean I liked him alright and all but right now I am loveing me so Holland. He is such a good guy and I am so glad he is their friend..Poor baby..

  31. So I’m a little confused. Why would Feral try to kill her?

    1. she a demon wolf!!!! but seriously why would he wanna kill her

  32. As a fan since a long while back now,I think I can safely say this will not lead to warm fuzzy feelings if Feral ever finds out. (Piper wins.)

    1. piper would die. …ever see a wolf attack a fox? it ain’t pretty.

  33. i think because of what he did to her a while back (the choking towards when they first meet) and she might be more afraid of him leaving, not killing her.
    And i just love how Holland hugs Meela. Is it weird I want him to hug me? Or maybe Feral… It’s too hard to decide: caring or tough?

    1. I would love to have Holland hug me. I think i would feel like being hugged by someone who would do anything to make sure you were safe and sound, even if you’ve done something bad.

    2. Why not both? (not necessarily at the same time).
      I think I would prefer tough… I’m not sure…

      1. i’d prefer being the protective territorial and aggressive yet caring and loving one

  34. I can’t help but feel that Holland is supposed to be the embodiment of the audience. I mean, who WOULDN’T feel the need to hug and comfort her right there?

  35. T-T Feelz overload!
    I love this comic soo much!!!!!!!!!!
    It’s alright Meela! It’s alright right!

  36. #MotherHenHolland
    Or should I say….

  37. I feel like I would go with the comforting type, I mean if I were sad I wouldn’t want Feral to come near me! But, at the same time, if I were angry I wouldn’t want Holland to be hurt. Then I would end up hugging them both and sobbing. Oh, and let’s not forget about poor Meela, who I would strangle to death because of her cuteness and her sad life/ history.

    1. If after this Holland doesn’t go back and desecrate Korin’s body he’s gonna lose points.

  38. Hmm…as far as I can tell from this comic, the half-demons (if that is what meela is) aren’t that all mean and evil. I mean, look at meela, she is a nice girl. Why would people try killing the half-demons anyway? They don’t seem to be dangerous…

    1. -Demons- sure seem to be dangerous. It’s not unreasonable that people would be afraid of anything they spawned, whether the fear is justified or not.

      Although technically, I feel like Meela is specifically not confirming what she is for the audience, so it might not even be that. The only person who calls her a demon is Korin, and it might have been derogatory.

      1. She says she’s a half demon to Holland on the next page ^^

        Agreed on the whole fear thing; people are always afraid of things they don’t understand. Demons are just like anything else: they can be dangerous, but only the bad ones are.

    2. Also–Meela just tore a guy’s limb off and snapped Holland’s arm last night. 8/

      1. as stated before in the comments for that page… Holland’s arm was not broken!! he would not be able to hide that from Feral or carry Meela if it was.

        1. Yes, it -was- broken, there was a very loud crack when she bit into it, and Holland explicitly states “I think you might have -fractured my arm-.” He heals it on that same page. That is how he was able to carry Meela.

          That misses the point of everything else she did being dangerous though :P Even if it was under circumstances where it wasn’t her fault.

        2. page 292

          November 9, 2013 at 1:16 pm
          No, she didn’t break his arm; maybe close but not quite.

        3. yeah, he did heal himself on page 294…
          …healed himself enough that he had strength in the next panel to put her hat on…

        4. Gooosssh darn it. I need to check creator comments.
          You have bested me on that point, and I apologize 8V

        5. Replying here because your other posts further down don’t have a reply button any more:

          Does it really matter whether Meela broke Holland’s arm or not? She obviously bit into it really hard, so I think Bluerosebud has a point stating that she is rather dangerous (and that’s aside from the fact that she tore off Korin’s arm and ripped out his throat).

          Thankfully, Algy stated somewhere that this violent streak only occurs when half-demons transform for the first time, but still… I would not want to be on her bad side when she’s in demon wolf mode.

        6. 0_o

          of course she’s dangerous!
          too many people were assuming that because of the “snap” word that it automatically meant that it was a broken arm.

        7. Celesse
          January 24, 2014 at 7:56 pm

          – – – – – – – – – – –

          might be right about only one time Lleyn… could also mean that she’ll never be the spunky little wolf we saw on page 226… we will see

  39. So… Wouldn’t Meela’s horn be poking right into Holland’s throat in that last panel? O__O

  40. W-wait a minute. She said that Korin killed her brother, rather than saying “He killed my family.” That means there’s still the possibility of the killer on page 9 being Mal/Yuen/Feral. Hmm…. I feel like these dreams are going to come full-circle soon. Meela’s dad was strong, and Mal wants to fight strong people. Not looking good x__x

    1. OMG! You are right. I think the killer was Mal. Totally the same hair and smile! I bet Yuen/Feral just got in the middle of it–hence his strange injuries and demon eye. It was even implied he was attacked by a demon wolf.

      1. Actually, Mal has a mohawklike hairstyle last we see him–not exactly matching the killer’s silhouette anymore.

        1. Well it could be post-fusion when it happens (going on the popular assumption that Mal and Yuen DO fuze to become “Feral”)

  41. OH MY GOD THE FEELS!!!!!!!!!!!

  42. hehe, anyone else checking it every day regardless if its only once a week?

  43. ok now wait about the Mal/Yuen thing… Mal has the symbol on his hand and up his arm, so I would think Mal tried to fight Meela’s father and ended up like Feral… I mean, if you think about it, Yuen doesn’t have the mark or Feral’s attitude.

    1. a lot of things can change a person or happen to a person when they know nothing of their past but that is a good theory

  44. Holllaaand, damn you’re nice, so many FEELS for the characters on this page!

  45. The strand of hair keeps switching spots on Holland’s face.

    1. I don’t know about you, but when I move my head, my hair moves with it… I mean, it might just be me, but what do I know.

      1. It’s moving opposite of what it should be moving. If he tilts his head left should hang that left. Not be on the opposite side of his nose. It would stay left. Just an observation, I don’t really care.

        1. Holland has magical hair! idk. Maybe there’s a breeze?

  46. I don’t know much of anything about birds except wing structure but I know feral wouldn’t kill meela

  47. What? That confused me. Are you implying that Feral is a bird, or that you don’t know much about why Holland is being gentle?

  48. ok ignore that last comment i get it now.

  49. Maybe it’s just me but has anyone else had the thought, not that Feral can harm Meela, but rather the other way around could happen? Maybe Meela’s dark energy could overpower him and make him lose his mind and become demonic?

    1. yeppies… that has been a thought floating around.

  50. Big brother Holland holding Meela has brought me to tears…thanks

  51. Poor itty Meela. ;_; At least she has good friends.

  52. Just found this comic and it’s GREAT! Keep up with the good work :)

    1. glad to have another reader/great-mind/friend along this journey… Welcome!

    2. welcome…to the world of Strays…..Nimphy
      *walks away into the shadows*

  53. Don’t worry, Meela. If Feral dared to even hurt you now, after all you’ve been through, I’d kill him without second thought. :D

  54. On another webcomic we do this all the time, so it’s time for… poetry inspired by the page! Or more exactly, by this entire arc. It’s written from Meela’s point of view:

    I can’t stay here, I need to go
    Before my friends come to know,
    what I will become, what I am,
    what I have always hidden from them.

    And here I am, I’m back home,
    where I want to hide from what I’ve become,
    What happened to them, will they be alright?
    Will I resist yet another night?

    There he is, there he is!
    With those scars and that grin of his!
    He killed my brother, tried to kill me,
    I have to flee, I have to flee!

    What has happened, I don’t know
    whose is this blood, where did he go?
    I am a monster, now, more than ever
    will they still want to travel together?

    Oh, Holland, you knew!
    Why did you have to know?
    One thing I ask you, though:
    Will Feral hate me, too?

    Hope you liked it! :)

    1. gollum’s song comes to mind…

      thank you for shareing.

    2. I know what webcomic you mean! *hi5’s fellow fan*

  55. Um, I JUST noticed that Meela has horns…

  56. I loved the poem! We need to make that a thing on this comic, me and you. Then we could get others to try!

    1. We could! :)

  57. …Why does Holland look like people kill each other’s brother’s all the time? (O_O)

    Makes me wonder about his family…

    1. Indeed, perhaps “fourth in line for the throne” was less of an, “I am not first in line for the throne” and more of an, “I am not first in line for the throne… yet.”

  58. Feral might indeed try to kill her for running off and worrying Holland and himself, making them track her down.

    1. am i the only one noticing that Ferals opening up and his face of happiness when he finally found Meela?

  59. I think Meela might be worrying about what he/Feral did before (when he was startled and choked her, not sure what page) and not because of what recently happened.

  60. It took me a while to see cute little Meela with fangs and horns in her human form. It just didn’t quite mesh with my mental image.

    Totally do, however, find the new look far more awesome, it gives an edge to the cute that really accents its affect as well as putting her facial features in more of a “badass in training” kind of slant.

  61. oh my gosh what is feral going to do to her ???? can’t what till friday

  62. she said “he killed my brother” not “brotherS” hmmmmmm

  63. Normally I’d say “He’s gone now” are precisely the words that’d bring an a-hole back later in the arc, but I’m pretty certain they don’t get much more dead than that guy.

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