Please appreciate how many fucken animals i had to (self imposed) draw for this x-x
--
Also holy shit, gyns!!!
Watching the three way tug-of-war that was the emoji polls this week was so insane. I could not tell the verdict until I checked just now to post the new page.
59 thoughts on “CH11Mini9 – Riley’s 1st Birthday”
rustyhearts
This Week’s Poll
(middle amount of votes wins!)
rustyhearts
Boosty Update
There are two new speedpaints of Chapter 12 for both subscribers/ or those who make a 1 time donation. If you are an enjoyer of spoilers, shez and/or want to support LB, click here.
K
Riley comparing every animal to a cat is adorable.
Do they just let you hold the snakes in Australian zoos though?? If yes, I’m so jealous! I only got to hold a snake once and it was awesome.
Also, I have to say that I really appreciate this page for the extra look at their relationship and an example of Blaire being a good girlfriend. I know most of us are already rooting for Riley/Jaden, and that Blaire hasn’t made herself look like a good partner lately, so pages like this are great to remind us (me) of what Riley sees in her and that Blaire can be a good partner (and knows what Riley likes, in this case animals not generally seen as pettable or cute) – she’s just really caught up in a harmful ideology. Like dating someone in a cult, I suppose.
rustyhearts
Riley around any animal: getting cat vibes.. anyone else?
Re: aussie zoos. Snake encounters are pretty common from my experience! It’s usually an extra cost – and the handler supervising you would likely not let the snake get as wrapped around you as I drew her on Riley. That was just for the fun visual. But they do drape them over your shoulders and let them slither on you, yeah!
Fun fact: I actually held snakes waaay before I’d ever been to a zoo. When I was very young we lived in a teeny tiny country town (no traffic light tiny) and one of my Mum’s friends literally worked as the town Snake Catcher.
Snakes in rooves were quite common. Usually carpet pythons. Harmless when left alone, but pretty shocking to find one having slithered into your living room.
It was her job to safely remove and relocate the snakes back outside. When it was a non-venemous one, she often let us pat or hold parts of it.
Imagine if you will, four kids under 5 standing in a line to hold a part of a snake while she held the head 🤣
Ironically, the ONE time she was on holiday, we got a dangerous snake visitor in our own home. Redbelly Black Snake coiled on the toilet seat 💀💀💀
Thankfully she wasn’t the only Snake Catcher in the area and nobody was harmed.
Re: Briley- thank you! It’s always fun keeping that balance of “ooh that’s what Riley sees in her” VS “Run, Riley. RUN!”
It can be very easy as an outsider to see redflags, but for Riley, this is likely a treasured memory she revisits when things aren’t going so well between her and Blaire – which clouds her judgement.
Mary
I didn’t want a Blaire redemption arc until this moment, breastie… Blaire/MJ healing era spin off?
rustyhearts
👀👀👀👀
They’re not gonna ship themselves, breastie!
Lennie
I thought of Blaire and MJ too! Glad I’m not alone.
HorseBlaire
im SO interested in an encounter
rustyhearts
Sorry Miss, Human Blaires only U_U
Norm L. Esbian
Is Riley’s mom a JW/Jehovah’s Witness, rusty??? The gender roles and how Riley would dress, the seeming shunning now, no birthdays….
Norm L. Esbian
also, starting to think Riley has a thing for car sex….. call that shit the Pussy Wagon 😳
rustyhearts
Was joking with a friend that maybe that’s her preferred place to go at it. In a house she’s just like “idk.. just not the same without foggy windows and a steering wheel pressing into one of our backs 😔”
“If I’m not afraid we might bump the horn… what’s even the point?”
“I guess if I sit on a chair, blaire on my lap, and have my knees pressed to an adjacent wall it’s KIND of similar… but its just not the same KIND of leg cramp-inducing you know..?”
rustyhearts
Spoilerish:
I’ve actually written a fictional religion/cult/group that Riley belonged to. It does borrow heavily from JW rules and behaviours, tho.
The reason I crafted my own was mostly to be able to incorporate difference facets of religious misogyny – for example JWs don’t celebrate birthdays, but afaik they dont actually have rules about women wearing pants (unlike Riley’s old group). A certain type of pants, sure, but I don’t think it’s outright banned.
Miss Moira
Blaire you are being very wholesome, but wtf is that shirt? It looks so impractical 😭
rustyhearts
Inspired by this, but with stupidly useless dangly arm straps.
Blaire would DIE before wearing a T shirt and practically lengthed pants 😤😤😤
ShyBottomDweller
When you dislike crop tops but think the heart cutout is cute> : ( :
rustyhearts
me n you hating croptops 🤝
(love the doubke emoji!)
ms woman (not a girl anymore, i've aged thxxx)
yuo can wear another layer under a crop top/wear a jacket with a zipper if you really like the shirt but don’t want to show to much skin. Or you can get it in a larger size but the proportions might look a bit off.
or, ya know, diy the heart cutout with a normal shirt
anonymoo
so cuteeee
Ms. Clicker
Aight so Riley was definitely a JW *shudders* lawd have mercy. Now I get her. I feel like I’ve come to like Riley more and more bc I was really annoyed at her pussyfooting, but I kinda understand where she comes from at least, and I would KILL for one of those zoo passes need me a gf like that.
rustyhearts
You’re definitely not the only one to see Riley as a pushover😅
But glad to hear she’s getting more likeable – or atleast understandable. She’s still got some big spine-growing to do tho x-x
Their zoo trip was actually heavily based on a trip my wife and I took to Tasmania for my birthday. My wife bought us the plane tickets, and we visited several amazing conservation zoos – and to surprise her back I got us animal encounter packages. It was amazing!
Top 10 date ideas for sure.
hulið hjarta
I think you’ll find that in the hypermajority of cases if someone is struggling with assertiveness they have some reason in their past for it, like a strict upbringing and/or trauma/PTSD. Nobody chooses to struggle with assertiveness, why would they?
I remember when I first got out of my abusive relationship and was struggling to rebuild myself and my life, I struggled a lot with assertiveness for many years because my brain had just spent years being conditioned that asserting myself was putting myself in physical danger, and you can’t just turn off that conditioning overnight.
I was really disappointed and hurt that just about everyone’s reaction to seeing me struggle with assertiveness was to judge me and look down on me as weak and pathetic, even people who *knew* I was fresh out of an abusive relationship and still struggling to rebuild myself, instead of showing compassion or asking themselves why I was struggling.
I think it would do a lot of good if more people stopped to wonder why someone else was struggling with assertiveness, because again it’s rarely a conscious choice. Who just decides “oh gee I just really want to have a hard time speaking up for myself, I’m sure that’ll go well for me and make me really happy”? There’s usually a strong reason in their background.
rustyhearts
I think it wouod do a lot of good if people stopped to wonder why someone else was struggling with assertiveness
I agree with this sentiment. It’s good to stop and ask yourself why someone might behaving in certain ways – particularly ones that are detrimental.
People aren’t mind-readers though, and even if they do know about your experience, they havent lived it. Their own experiences in life likely reflect why they react negatively to someone who isnt assertive. Life experiences go both ways.
I am very sorry to hear what happened to you though, and that you lacked a support system who could truly empathise with how deeply scarred abuse left you. I hope you are around more understanding people now🩷
I don’t think it’s best to compare people’s reactions to Riley being meek and conflict averse, to your struggle with assertiveness due to abuse though.
Riley isn’t a real person. So while as a writer I do like when readers ask and want to know why my characters behave the way they do, I think it’s pretty reasonable to express frustration/distaste for their actions (or LACK there of in Riley’s case.)
Especially, when you consider the subject matter surrounding Riley’s lack of action. Many of us have been deeply harmed by gender ideology. Lost friends, faced harassment, online and physical. Been constantly exposed to homophobia and misogyny and shouted down when we tried to speak up about it.
So it’s frustrating to see someone be on the cusp of smelling the bullshit, but never speaking up/ backing down from confronting it.
Riley’s inaction is aiding the problem. Its not just a general lack of assertiveness that’s frustrating to readers. It’s all the context behind it.
I imagine, again as a fictional character, even when more is revealed about Riley’s upbringing, if Riley doesn’t grow into someone who tries to speak up for herself (and her friends), knowing the reason why wouldn’t remove all frustration.
TifHater
AWWWW!!
I’ve actually always liked Blaire, since her goal seemed more to me to be being compassionate and supportive, not lording her gender superiority over others like SOME PEOPLE, and she’s SUCH A GOOD GIRLFRIEND HERE. She thought specifically of something RILEY would enjoy, even if SHE wouldn’t, and went to what was surely a great expense to make her gf happy.
I think she truly does care about Riley and I feel like they would really be a great couple if not for the gender shit rotting her brain. AU where instead of her pushing trans ideology on Riley, she gets inspired by Riley not wearing makeup or shaving and becomes gnc herself!
Also love the callback to the car lol (and that’s DEFINITELY a lesbian couple noticing <3)
rustyhearts
Meanwhile Blaire in her brain: wow Riley isn’t scared of spiders… getting boy vibes~
jk jk jk 🤣
I’m glad you enjoyed this update, I had a lot of fun planning out this little storyline 🥰🥰
Gotta get some core happy memories out there to remind us how Riley got tangled up with Blaire in the first place 😎😞
Very ambitious AU 😅 I feel like LB is perfect for “fix-it” fics for characters like Blaire.
(And yes those two walking by are absolutely a lesbian couple).
Parniyas biggest fan
Maybe one day an encounter will be good enough to convince Blaire that men cannot be women.. right?.. right??
rustyhearts
Riley wrote this.
Parniyas biggest fan
Me and Riley are one in the same so I do not blame her haha.. everything that Riley has gone through is pretty much me. The not wanting to wear skirts as a kid, dating gendies or trans allys, only just now becoming radfem. I relate to Riley a lot and I love her. in other words, I AM Riley lmao
Miss Kory
RILEY IS TOO CUTE TOT
everything is like a cat ! (don’t know if i should aww or cry that riley has been deprived for so long of little joys like going to the zoo, having someone care for her, and never having her birthday celebrated ;_;)
ALSO RILEY FUCKS AND IS A CHAD
Love the ladies in the last panel being like “madam, not in front of the animals !”
rustyhearts
Never been celebrated, so easy to grow attached to anyone who will celebrate her 😔😔
#RileyFuuuuuuuuuucks
TDOTNDOT21
BAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH RILEY IS SO CHEESY… HOW LONG WAS SHE THINKING OF USING THAT LINE 😭😭😭😭😭😭
rustyhearts
Omg noooo, now I can’t unsee her planning it out 🤣🤣
TifHater
Also I love how everything but the lion is female (wow Blaire, isn’t it problematic that Riley assumed the lion’s gender based on obvious sexual dimorphism?)
rustyhearts
Especially when the lion is pink!!! 😤😤😤
Parniyas biggest fan
That poor car has seen some things 😅
rustyhearts
The car: omfg not again!!! GO INSIDE!!
Also also also breastie!!! Did you see her.. your girl.. in the poll. Just for you (and all Parns fans) 👀👀
Parniyas biggest fan
I’m going to be extremely honest… my original comment was going to be “*INHALESSSSS* IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS IN THE POLL?” but upon typing, realized that Parniya I have never see her wear a headband at least I think so..) and so I got scared if it was not her and feared I was going to be judged for being TOO Parniya obsessed so I deleted what I typed but still voted for that one…
BUT IT SEEMS I WAS RIGHT MUHAHAHAHA.
So long-story-short, yes I saw her and I love her. Everyone vote for her. But it’s hard being one of leasebound’s youngest viewers, getting to look at all these beautiful women knowing they’d never go for a 19 year old newly rad-fem butch 😭
rustyhearts
Omg noo queen, so much second guessing 😭😭😭
I understand why the headband threw you. I was borrowing from the CH6: ASK THE CAST
where Parniya was a child and wore a headband.
While I understand your age anguish I think the LB ladies would become much less appealing as characters if the alternative (pursuing teenage lesbians) were true ☠️☠️
Ari is 21…Clancy is 19, the orher gendies are similar ages. LMAO sorry queen 🤣🤣
But remember, their ages don’t change so you’ll age into their interest bracket one day~ Got me remembering that I was 21 when I started writing LB and I was picking everyone’s ages with “maturity” in mind.
“Hmm yes. 24 seems like old enough to have your life together”.
I am now Parniya and Violet’s age 🤣🤣
Crypty
Let Riley Pet The Big Kitty!!!! I know she could handle it!!!! I love how much Riley loves all different sorts of animals/Weird Cats.
Also love Blaire’s jojo outfit cause I am a Fool.
rustyhearts
You arguing with the zoo handlers 🤣🤣
I am not familiar with JJBA, but it seems even I cannot escape making a reference (that’s the meme isn’t it..?)
ShyBottomDweller
Huh, she hasn’t arrived? Where’s HorseBlaire??? somebody call her
Thoughts:
1. Nawww they are SO SO adorable here it should be illegal. Liking how we get to see Blaire’s appeal and actually understand why Ri likes her instead of just presenting a flat character to mock and deride. Even if it’s known Jaden x Riley is endgame you make sure to tug at our heartstrings in the meantime.
2. Nice touch on using she for the animals, 99% of the time a random animal is mentioned i’ve seen people assume it’s a he, and in comics-cartoons it also tends to be a he, especially if it’s not a “cutesy” specie (like Aye Aye vs Butterfly, or Komodo Dragon vs Kitty). Was that kind of experience part of the reason you did it? Or its the character policy you enforce?
3. I thought the lion was gonna be one of these ngl: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/lioness-manes/ hehe
4. CLANCYYY ❤ wooooo
rustyhearts
HorseBlaire is much higher up in the comment section – I think you might have missed her XD
1.That’s always been a balance I’ve tried to strike with Blaire. Because just real life, there are many incredibly talented, kind, otherwise intelligent women who end up supporting gendie stuff. I want to make sure people know what RILEY sees in her, and why it might be hard for her to see the redflags. Again, much like with IRL relationships. Glad it’s coming across!
2.A bit of Column A a bit of Column B. I also hate male-as-default language, and it’s so damn noticable when it comes to animals. Especially when you see people referring to animals like calico/tortiseshell cats as ‘he’ and ‘boys’ x-x!!
3. Oh yeaaah, I’ve heard of lionesses’ with manes (unfortunately it was attatched to a gendie post, where they proclaimed because a very small percentage lionesses have them as a result of higher testosterone levels and thus manes, that the animals are trans x-x).
4. It looks like she might not be winning this week’s vote U_U
HorseBlaire
dont worry im here 😘
lynnline
the last panel implying they’re being loud enough for bystanders to notice 😳.. blaire honey, how dare you try to slap a gender identity onto a woman who fucks you THAT good lol
+ (mentioning the mj/blaire commenter in here cause i can’t reply on mobile) can someone more creative than me come up with a ship name for those two? i think they’d look cute together as blaires post-riley rebound but the ship name “Blartha” sounds like the noise i make when im sick, haha. (maybe a space pun for mj’s whole ‘cosmic’ thing?🤔🤔 idk)
rustyhearts
Surely finding the clitoris should disqualify Riley from being headcannoned as a man U_U You’re right, you’re right, you’re right.
Tbh breastie, I kinda love Blartha, LMAO. Blamar? Blaine (using Jane, rather than Martha)? I leave it in the hands of the shippers.
Terf-chan
Cool, all female animals are safe to pet but the one male animal isn’t 👀 just like real life lmao
rustyhearts
Omg you’re right XD
Charly
Damn, much like Blaire’s legs Riley is smooth as hell…
Also my description of non cat animals is *like a cat but x* lmaoo love this accurate cat person rec
Also do Blaire and Riley always have automobile sex? Is that a recurring thing for them 😭 ngl I’m surprised they haven’t got caught by now if they have
rustyhearts
By the powers vested in me, they shall never be caught~
Jay
Yes I thought so! Could of lived another day without seeing the dong shirt again tho… I’m still recovering from that lactose-intolerant gendie’s dong shirt 😅
Scully
I have to say I really appreciate the way you drew the spider, not too creepy looking, actually bearable for a serious arachnophobe like me to look at without getting the willies. I know it might sound ridiculous to some but my arachnophobia is serious enough that I can’t even look a pictures or really detailed drawing of spiders without getting the willies. But this one is actually almost kinda cute.
rustyhearts
Eesh that sounds like a very debilitating phobia to have. I’m not super keen on pictures of spiders myself. I want to respect them as an animal and their important part in our ecosystem, but my wife is always the one who has to put them outside 🤣🤣
The one I drew is actually based off a picture she took of a Huntsmen she found in our front doorway. I think the pink colour, and giving her much bigger eyes does help with the palatable factor.
It was a fun character trait to give to Riley tho – adoring creepy crawlies – because I wish I could be completely unafraid of them like her!
Ada
I have nothing intelligent to say I just love this page so much T_____T
rustyhearts
🥰🥰🥰 so glad to hear you enjoyed. It’s one of my favourites of the mini batch!
ms woman
gonna dangle an wolf spider in front of blaire any time she misgenders faith now i know her weaknes
CUTE PAGE BRO WTF <33
rustyhearts
Solving the Blaire-Problem Speedrun (any %).
And thank you, I’m really happy with this one, it was fun drawing Riley happy lmao!!
Didi
Feels like an odd page to leave this comment on, but it’s as good a page as any I suppose:
Similar to how digging into feminism permanently changed my view of the world at large, reading a story like LB has made me look at other webcomics I enjoy and think about how much our fellow female creators prioritize their male characters, even over their own female protagonists that the narrative is supposed to revolve around. I did a re-read of a comic I’ve been following for years, and the uncomfortable realization of how few female characters actually mattered – or were present at all! – in it washed over me.
The protag has no female friends that are important, and none of them have been explored like the men have. All the side stories are about the men, too, even if the pov character is female. It’s so disheartening, and a little upsetting that I hadn’t thought to look at it through this lens until now. Better late than never, but it feels so tiring at the end of the day just like everything else.
I listened to a stream from Radical Ramblings on YT the other day where the ladies discussed frustration over lack of lesbian (or les/bi in my case, since I’m a febfem and I’m very tired of straight relationships in 99.9% of everything I see, especially when it’s written like shit and all about the manpain, all the time, always) media and how nothing is “allowed” to be gay anymore, and she was right! It’s all ~*queer and gender*~ shit, and pronouns.
I’m exhausted by it and incredibly relieved to hear women voice similar frustrations about the same kind of media I want to enjoy. Sci-fi was the genre mentioned specifically, and it’s such a tiresome catch-22 to consume anything in that genre, because either you get outdated sexism from classics, or you get new queer/gender shit from the newer authors trying to be hip I guess. Enough, please.
Then you have something like LB here, where there’s normal-ass women of all types that feel like real people I’d meet on the street, and women I’d want to be friends with. They’re not concerned with looking cute or sexy for men, they have their own lives and stories waiting to be told, and they’re all happy. (Well, as happy as the narratives let them be, but you get me.)
Characters like Blaire, who are intended to be frustrating and steeped in the gender tea, still feel real, and it’s thanks to pages like this one where she shows that, despite her misguided attempts at being The Best Ally Of All Time, Ever, she cares about Riley. She’s not a one-dimensional villain, she’s a well-meaning woman who ultimately doesn’t use her critical thinking skills as well as she could, and it’s hurting people around her. Very real, very relatable. I wish more things could be like LB. I fucking wish.
Thank you for making your comic. Sometimes, it’s my little light in the dark.
Didi
Oh, gross, idk why the formatting went to hell on this. Sorry for the big block of text instead of the neat separation I thought I was going to get.
rustyhearts
Not weird at all! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your comment. Thank YOU so much for leaving it 🥰🥰
It’s incredibly flattering to know my efforts have so drastically shifted how you view other webcomics! I hope you’re not the only one, because honestly!! Fucken same here!!
Once you see it you can’t unsee it, and it takes such deliberate effort to decentralise men in stories. And it’s so disheartening to find a story you enjoy to only notice the conspicuous lack of rich female characters – if there are any at all :/
Re: the spacing issue.
That’s not your fault, it’s an annoying function of the comic theme I use to format the website. Sorry about that :/
I’ve gone back and forced the spaces for you (I do it with a lot of comments 😅).
What I’ve found works is inserting the text:
between each paragraph.
But I’m always happy to be the one to do it if you forget/ don’t want to remember that.
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