･ ｡ ☆∴｡　* 　･ﾟ*｡★･ 　　･ *ﾟ｡　　 * 　 ･ ﾟ｡･ﾟ★｡ 　　　 　　ﾟ｡·･｡ ﾟ 　　　ﾟ *.｡☆｡★　･ 　　* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡ 　　 　 *　★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡

Last drawing of the year before I go on vacation tomorrow!

Happy New Year!!! ^_^ ⋆✴︎°｡⋆⋆✴︎°｡⋆

god it’s so sad living in an allocentric world. There are so many relationships that are so complex and nuanced that are all put under the label of ‘romantic’ and immediately all the intrigue is taken from it. Like don’t you realize that these relations are actually ENHANCED by the fact that they are not romantic or sexual?

NOOO DONT PUT THE CHARACTERS IN A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP YOURE TAKING OFF THE SEASONING!!!!

"I would do anything for you; I would cross worlds for you; I would kill for you; I would die for you" etc in fictional romance= tired and expected

from a boss to their employee= what the fuck is happening there

There’s two more pages I need to figure out how to add to this

Here they are.

Anyways, thank you for waiting. Here’s the beast of a comic I mentioned I was working on

EDIT: HAHA SORRY I FORGOT AN ENTIRE PAGE OF SMOOCHING (It’s in there now)

looking through discord messages trying to find lore of your own oc is so funny. like let me consult the sacred texts

Sapper

Sun-like, Moon-like

🐟🍰 'a sickly sweet betrayal' 🍰🐟

Mouthwashing

Some small Mouthwashing paintings :)

Tiny

theyre sad together

Couldn't help but think, what's actually stopping Caine from simply generating 'friends'?

Anyway, here are some sketches of Caine spawning sad little🐝children to keep him company...

the concept of jax having a pink room. and hating being feminized. and consantly trying to fit into a "picture perfect archtype". IDK SOMETHING SOMETHING JAX TRANSMASC CANON AND REAL SOMETHIN SOMETHIN

So, Episode 7

This is my takeaway: Abel was Caine's projection.

Caine used Abel to voice all of his concerns and insecurities. Abel brought up Caine being just as trapped as all the humans. He used Abel to see if anyone would care if he got left behind.

Abel had Jax spend time with Caine and ask him about his hobbies because no human has ever done that for Caine. He was desperate for someone to talk to. He's lonely.

Abel talked about watching the humans from afar, wanting to join them. Caine's been doing that for years.

Everything Abel said was a reflection of how Caine felt and what he wanted. He feels like a prisoner in his own world. He wants to join the humans and be happy with them. He just wants someone to care about him.

Was what Caine did with the Escape the Circus adventure fucked up? Absolutely. But it all came from a lonely AI with a fear of being left behind. Who just wants to belong.

This was made back in 2023 off the heels of a very long graphic novel freelance gig, when I told myself it was time to try my hand at writing my own comic. I always had issues with abandoning projects because I ended up making the scope too big, so I forced myself to do something no dialogue and constrain it to 8 pages. This ended up helping me with figuring out my process, as well as explore some concepts I've been sitting on (I ended up using bits of this comic in Dust n' Dread proper).

This was made before Dust n' Dread even had a name or premise, but this definitely was what got the ball rolling to building enough confidence to start actually sitting down and writing Dust n' Dread into the comic it is now.

If you want to read the comic for real, then you can here!

Anyways