Kwillow

Ah yeah she uh, would really not appreciate Hyden's advances. At least she has no obligation to entertain them, and is definitely more confident in asserting herself when she's older (she was only 19 when she was married).

Not exactly a happy situation he was born into, no. I think a less sensitive person (not necessarily less empathetic, just someone more oblivious) or someone with different issues may have turned out "fine" - though Theo raised in a different household would probably have still been pretty weird.

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much. This is heavier subject matter than I usually attempt to tackle, so I'm glad it's touched on something relatable for other women, even if it's a painful feeling.

It does, not in that she's afraid of him touching her - but his birth + survival represented a release from her loathed marital obligations so she was immediately grateful to him for that, and his later aversion to courtship and apparent lack of lust for women are positive traits in her eyes.

A short comic features an anthro ermine woman. A question asks "Jo - what was your most embarrassing moment in life?" The first few panels show her beginning to say, "The night --" before involuntarily wincing, then releasing her breath. She says "The night of my wedding," above a flashback of her younger self lying on a bed in the dark. She stares at the ceiling with a blank but subtly nervous expression, lying on her back like a corpse, her hands clasped tensely on her chest. A man sits on the edge of the bed, smoking in his undergarments. He makes a snipe at her expense for just "lying there." In the last panel, back in the present, she looks away from the viewer and says "...It is a cruelty of nature, that the soft clay of a woman's body must be molded and deformed by a man's rough hands to sculpt her child. Yet as the years pass, as it is used up, clay grows hard, unyielding, too brittle to invite touch. That is nature's mercy."

Jocosa endured her conjugal duties because it was her obligation as the sole heir to her line, but after the birth of her son, she put the marital bed to death. A mercy killing.

She wouldn't dare speak of her dread of a man's touch, were it not for the rules of this prompt demanding the truth.

This one always makes me sob like a baby.

Drawing meant to show which parent a character takes after. His mother is an ermine woman he shares his pointy features, his dad is a rat man who shares his rounder features, but he's much stranger looking than either than of.

Which of his parents does Theo resemble? Kinda both, kinda neither. He's a bit of an anomaly.

It gives you cancer if you drinking it, but drinking it also cures cancer so it's fine.

A bottle of sparkly gold unicorn blood. It evokes an Odwalla Mango Tango.

Fresh squeezed unicorn juice, fresh from the vein!

Evil wizard approved!

I've always adored the sense of solid and believable form in your work and this drawing is no exception! Glad you were able to take a break and make some art!

Haha oh I wouldn’t count on that – his track record indicates he can only animate tumorous semi-ambulatory flesh lumps, which may be a fair description of *him* as a child, but not most people.

drawing of an anthro ermine woman fretting over her son's knowledge (or lack thereof) of producing children

as the sole scion of a noble family, Theo would be obligated to sire the next generation - unfortunately for his mother there is no such thing as sex-ed yet, just really awkward conversations

He is SUCH a whiner. And huffer. And generally a discontented grumbler.

I can imagine that Ridge has a tough time when his type is "macho" but thick-headed nasty soldier boys also like to look "macho." Having to engage in code and not knowing if the other guy is just not picking up on your signals or is straight or maybe even hateful is frightening.

I really like the details you've put into the background, the bits of discarded food and the crowds, really sells that this place is an absolute dive haha.

I like the association of nudity that would happen during sex with being literally bare, unarmored, with nothing between you and a potential foe. Awful when you've learned that even other people's perception can be a weapon.

Haha I like the through-line from "sex with knife as cynical joke" to "knife as joke about picking up chicks" I think that shows how much these two are aware they're living in a constant sort of danger but are also used to that life...

This train sequence is really cool. I love the change from the gloom of Ironfrost to this new world that Alex dreams about.

Augh that hurts the heart... to see this idyllic word of green as Alex's fantasy, and that she knows she wants someone to share it with, but can't quite imagine the woman that would be, really speaks to both how badly she wants this dream of a future but also her loneliness...

Ah, but the cut of the garment is everything! Jocosa would find the more modern garment terribly shapeless -- there might not even be a corset on under there, heaven forbid!

Theo has a hint of the Romantic in him, though Jocosa is much too practical for all that. She might be more into Neoclassical. :P

One of their favorite mother-son bonding rituals, next to ballet and wishing it were still the middle ages.

The immodesty of it all... truly this generation is lost... what will they think of next, women's trousers??

HAHA no kidding, now that I know a bit more about all the the complexities of putting on clothing made before the 1900s it doesn't surprise me when servants were considered "mandatory" for even middle-class households. There's no way to put some of that stuff on by yourself!

Drawing of an anthro rat character justifying why he owns and reads an absolutely awful romance book. The cover of the book has a buff rabbit man (a very generous interpretation of a historical evil wizard) embracing a swooning raven-haired damsel.

Theo's not lying about reading this tripe to understand how "normal people" view Hyden, except this book was not made for normal people. Which is why he - well. "Likes it" isn't quite right, but he definitely feels some kind of way about it.

Thank you! Tweed/plaid is always a good fabric to dress your curious protagonist type in, haha. She was just a random one-off design but I do think she came out cute!

Insulting stuff you don't like is the best way to bond!

Thank you!
And nah, these two are just scoffing at the squirrel's dress 'cause they're stuck up and stuck in the past.
Though Theo (the anthro rat) does dislike rats (particularly the animal) because his (beloathed) father is a rat (anthro). But that's not speciesism exactly, just daddy issues. :P

...REMAIN*S*. I MEANT REMAINS. GOOD LORD