Welcome to the surprise (1/7)!
I've had this drafted since February. The next 6 pages have been a collaborative effort between myself and four other very talented women. I wrote a scene, and thumb-nailed it (with dialogue), and assigned each artist her own page(s) to then interpret/draw in her own style. To keep things consistent I then added the colour.
Page 2/7 comes out this Thursday, as it is a new month!
Boosty Update:
There’s only one week left to get your OC/Persona Cameo in for Chapter 12! Click Here for details.
Shez’s Family Have Bios – With blanks you can help fill in!
Character Concept Sheet – Blaire (2017)
CH12P7 Speedpaint
So if I’m reading this right, Blaire takes Riley dress shopping to “help” figure out her “real gender” despite Riley very obviously not wanting to.
And when she sees that wearing feminine clothing is a trauma trigger for Riley and she’s having a horrible time, Blaire doesn’t so much as comfort her and figures “must be a gender thing, Brick (a complete stranger to her) can help.” For someone who studied psychology and uses the word “trauma”, Blaire is really insensitive to Riley’s pain.
No wonder Riley doesn’t want to talk out anything resembling conflict with her. Blaire is more concerned about fitting her girlfriend into her ideology than she is about her girlfriend. Painful to read, but well-written.
Anyway, I can’t wait to see what you and the other talented artists drew for this scene. It’s a really exciting surprise, tempered by how much I’m probably gonna hurt for Riley during these next six pages.
Oh no… she’s going to take Riley to a femininity coach isn’t she 💀
You’re such a good writer, even without the visuals I can feel the pain in her voice 😥… the traumatised silence. I never got the Blaire redemption arc hype but seeing this makes me seriously doubt it. Blaire is being straight up abusive.
It just kills me to read that … even tho she KNOWS how traumatic this is for Riley, she made her try on MULTIPLE dresses, and for what?? To prove to her that she is a woman?? Because obviously Woman= Dress duh …
Blaire is not listening to Riley AT ALL and it makes me so furious :sob: I am glad you opted for the text option for this page. I can already vividly see the scene in front of me and if I had seen Blaire’s face during that, I would’ve thrown my laptop across the room
Poor Riley 🥺, get the poor girl a suit dammit
“I think we need someone with more expertise” oh god.. please no. Rusty please don’t.
Holy fuck what is wrong with her. Why not stop pushing the subject after hearing she didn’t want to wear dresses at all? What is the matter with her?
“We need to get someone who has more expertise than me baby”
Yeah you need to talk to some actual lesbians who can tell you you need to curve Blaire and her lame ass friends. 😐😐
Get into a gym
Work for the forest service
Anything but letting this schmuck treat you like a mental case.
WELL THIS WAS FUCKING CHILLING
This is genuinely a little distressing to read, by which I mean, well done.
It’s strange to see on one hand Blaire being sweet and thoughtful in a Riley-specific way with the zoo outing, where she was happy to let Riley experience things she enjoys that Blaire doesn’t, but then be this insistent about something else – really shows both the depth of that ideological belief for her, and how complicated non-functioning relationships are.
I’m not sure whether I’d call it abusive yet, but in this instance she’s definitely being controlling and should’ve backed the hell off, or rather not pressured her in the first place.
Hopefully Riley will learn to handle conflict. It’s necessary. You have to stand up for yourself, especially if you don’t fit into the boxes people want to put you in.
Why I feel like Blaire made Riley wear the most restrictive feminine dress ever, full of ribbons and frilly details, super thight and short with textured fabrics… She could have asked Riley to try a muumuu (hawaiian tunic worn by both sexes) if making the poor girl wear a dress is SOOOO important for Blaire. The “plus size” dialog is such spot on too, I’m thin but I used to be plus sized and ppl who have been thin their whole lives know nothing about being uncomfortable in clothes lol! I just pray to goddess Blaire won’t make Riley talk to mr. Mummy milkers to re-discover femininity in a non traumatic way 🤮
Blaire needs to back off 😤 at no point did Riley seem okay with what was going on. It’s no skin off Blaire’s nose if Riley never wears a dress again. It’d be a different story if Riley’s perspective was “I had some really terrible times with dresses because of my upbringing, but I like them and find them comfortable and want to find a way to make it work “, but she doesn’t feel that way! I know Riley is a sweetie, but I want to bite Blaire’s head off rn.
Idk why but this is actually the most viscerally upsetting page I think you’ve posted (BIG compliment lol). Like this genuinely made me uncomfortable and made my skin crawl and made me deeply feel for Riley.
I was really looking forward to Shez this week, but I can’t say this art collab doesn’t sound hype! I’m excited to see these artists and hope they themselves have their own comics/writing/etc that I can check out!
Not to mention I WAS wondering if you were gonna do anything spooky for Halloween and man, you really got me in the spirit of the season with this one.
The “women and girls squashing other women and girls into compliance performing aesthetic femininity/beauty/glam culture with a smile or super serene expression” kind of psychological horror is SO incredibly jarring. Not even those in economical difficulties are spared, they’re just ‘encouraged’ to go cheaper but STILL make the effort.
Try this areola blusher, try this super realistic wig kit if you struggle with long hair.
Try these butt plumping suppositories, Try these discount pumps, choose that pore-fading BB cream, check this no-lipstick waterproof lipstick for swimming and showering, look at this crop top, omg have u seen this new perfume for vulvas?? no way look at that 5×1 pink razor kit!!
What?! dont like razors? Try bleaching or waxing then 😊 Thongs are soooo comfortable you dont know what you’re missing tbh…
Oh btw here’s this pinterest recipe for DIY nail polish! And here’s a numbing spray with glitter for your anus!
Cant afford botox?! no worries, use bee stings!
Find long nails disabling? use these removable press-ons!
Pierce the baby girl’s ears soon cause later is more painful!
Don’t let her be shirtless as a kid so she doesn’t resent/miss it later as her boobs grow and she can’t do it anymore!!
Compliment her when wearing makeup so the habit sticks early!! Go go go 🤗❤ You can do it! Lovely!! Adorable!! 😍 Come on, Work it! 🙊Faaabulous!!
OTL Goshh it’s just…. It looks so flashy colorful and smiley and #girlbonding on surface but so heavy and OVERWHELMING underneath. So smartly passive aggressive.
I wish i could describe it more eloquently but its like, being given a bunch of heavy bags and luggage you didn’t even intend to carry around, or like being slowly tied and choked little by little and you cant even say you’re exhausted and sore because its supposed to be wholesome and worth it.
You can’t even label it as horror comfortably. Because to them the horror is not doing anything when you have SO many options at disposal for adjusting any inch of your being. Horror? What horror??? The legit horror is being bare, raw, the simpleton female. So plain, so boring, so… Worthless. That’s the monster to fight, the lingering nightmare.
Aahhhhhh this page has no pictures yet gave me hives. F Off! but also Brilliant, gimme more. Keep it up
Oh god. You showed so much emotion through simple dialogue. I feel for Riley so much and am reminded of similar situations with my mother (not the gender stuff, an opposite kind of misogyny). This is a horrible way to treat a partner… Blaire, what the hell. Great work on this special!
So Riley says “dresses never feel good” and Blaire’s immediate response is “don’t worry we’ll find you something CUTE and not FRUMPY”…. like the only problem with Riley having been forced to wear feminine clothing was that it wasn’t CUTE feminine clothing.
It doesn’t occur to Blaire that the appearance of the clothes might not be the issue here. Is it because she thinks it’s more important for your fashion sense to line up with the “aesthetic” of your “gender identity” than it is to be physically comfortable in what you’re wearing… or is it because the concept of physical comfort playing a role in clothing choice doesn’t even cross her mind, like that’s a completely alien thought process to her?
Why is it so damn important to Blaire that her girlfriend dresses a certain way anyway? Regardless of any good intentions she might have, she’s coming off as really controlling here. Poor Riley. D:
Rusty… This page… I can’t. 😭❤️ I feel Riley SO much, but I can’t help but feel sorry for Blaire too. Obviously she has her own unresolved issues and perhaps can’t take steps to fix them because that would make her a worse trans ally?
Ugh. Just so, so real. Don’t all women who feel imprisoned feel the urge to trap their female loved ones in a cage even smaller than they are in? A prison within a prison within a prison.
I wonder, perhaps, if Mr. Babygirl and Brick never existed, would Blaire be trapped still? I swear this comic keeps me up at night. You’re a true artist, breastie. ❤️❤️❤️ I even cried a bit thinking about Riley’s anguish. It’s like I suddenly woke up in a small room that reeks of perfume, something with an intoxicating floral scent, something so sweet it makes your teeth hurt.
The walls are painted pink and Blaire looks at me through the window. Was she always that tall? Her face is the size of a washing machine and every inch of it is covered in makeup. My dog is lying on the floor. There’s something wrong with her.
Blaire tells me not to get mad, you wouldn’t want to imitate toxic masculinity, she says. I cry and she tells me crying is valid even if I’m a transboy. She opens the window and pats me on the head with her pinky.
I feel really bad for Riley, ngl it’s getting more and more difficult to read Blaire as a good person even if she is a person with good intentions, how can she see her gf in obvious pain and try to make her continue it?
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the collaboration!
seconding what others have said, this page is so… uncomfortable, lol. So Blaire is like. Borderline abusive and not just an asshole lol.
Blaire sounds like my mom throughout my adolescence, pointedly informing me that “girls who wear baggy clothes and only that because they’re ashamed of their bodies!” while trying to get me to wear makeup and girly stuff. 🤮
She’s genuinely a shit girlfriend, Riley deserves better than this. Also if she loves & is genuinely attracted to Riley then I don’t understand why she’s trying to change her so much!?
riley :(( women like blaire piss me off. i have a sister who insults me constantly because i dont ‘conform’ but my TIF sister can dress ‘like a boy’ all she wants and thats fine.
GNC women have to either trans themselves or conform hard to be accepted. hate it so much. seeing even a fictional character in this much pain is so sad.
I can’t do this anymore
Oh gods… this hits hard as a woman who has never enjoyed femininity. I hate dresses and make up, but I especially hate the expectations (be small, be dainty, be quiet and accommodating, stop being so loud). All my life I’ve been fighting people like these, both online and irl. Blaire sounds like my mom, but also like so many women who call themselves “feminists” yet can’t tolerate other women deviating from the femininity hive mind.
I used to think they were a cute couple (despite Blaire’s beliefs) but omg Riley should seriously break up with her, this part is so sad to read.
blaire stop being lesbophobic, pickme-ish and a handmaiden