Here you go. The true last page of the chapter, and a much less depressing page. An interesting one, though.
So, meanwhile at the same time, it looks like someone spent the night. I guess grabbing a bite to eat turned into a little something more. Doesn't necessarily mean they're back together, by the way. They're just two totally consenting non-asexual adults who probably haven't gotten any in a while, and were having a good enough time on their not-date. Good for them.
However, it is 6 in the morning on a Sunday in the Rainverse. Most people are usually sleeping at this time, and these two were no different. So, Emily's call must be a rude awakening. Mama Bear (or Auntie Bear in this case, I guess) now knows what happened. This will get interesting, I'm sure.
Also, fun fact: For the first time in the comic, every character on this page is naked in every panel! Scandalous! XD
Dang when Vince hears what happened I'm thinking Fara will be the one who has to keep him from committing murder or maybe they will team up and end up with Kellan's head on a pike and her body on a pyre. I would not be opposed to seeing this
I ment only that Killing or causeing bodily harm to Kellen may seem like the knee jerk reaction to what she did to Rain but the reality of this is that violence is not the answer. Kellen will be punished for what she did... but I don't like that everyone is calling for her death. What she did was terriable and tramatic but I don't think she realized the effect this could have or how tramatic it is. I honestly think she was doing it out of love, granted it was misguided and wrong... she doesn't deserve to be killed or beaten (I'm defending a charecter I myself called irredeamable -_- the irony is not lost on me)
Uh... she assaulted her sister in said-sister's sleep. That's past open-her-mind-a-little, and into incarcerate-her-until-rehabilitated-into-non-assaulting-society.
NO NIPPLES. MAGIC BOY HAS MAGICALLY GOT NO NIPPLES.
Can I just remind everyone that nipples are a natural part of us all, and don't need to be censored to keep things SFW? Cos, I mean... everyone has nipples. Why is there no book about this, there's one about defecation!
I'm not censoring them; I'm just no good at drawing them. It's stylized. Kinda like the noses. The fact that I don't draw noses like 90% of the time wouldn't be considered censorship, would it? So why would this?
I don't censor my work. If I'm omitting something, it's for other reasons. Trust me; it just looks better like this with my art style.
This is a couple years late, but for anyone coming in, I know it was stylized. But sometimes trans men don't have nipples. So no, not everyone has nipples.
Well I don't think Kellen needs to be murdered. But she needs a verbal butt kicking from everyone for that betrayal. Seriously it needs to be epic and soul destroying.
I had to take a break from reading comics (newly pregnant, and all it seems I can do after my son goes to bed is drop into bed and sleep)... my heart hurts immensely for Rain. I am so angry. Not at you, of course, but at Kellen. I cannot believe she would stoop so low. I hope she gets an ass beating, or at the very least, I hope that their brother and the rest of the family cuts ties. If this happened to any of MY trans friends, I would be urging them to press charges.
You are an incredible writer, I thank you so much for this comic.
Looks like my comment on the last page was right, calling Fara was the next logical action. But murder is unnecessary. Just sloppily cut Kellen's hair, perhaps with a rusty knife. And if your hand happens to slip and nick something, who could blame you?
It's been a while since I've read the archives, but don't Rain and Vince still have sessions together? If so, she's not dragging him into it, just giving him the opportunity to help her start working through this sooner
I suspect this comment will probably get me lynched but I kind of need to say it.
I feel sorry for Kellen.
Not because of some of the grostequely violent things that some readers want to do to her (although I admit they do make me feel a little ill). It's more the stuff going on in her head. Think back to when Rain contacted her just before Christmas using her "guy voice" as opposed to her natural one. Kellen sounded really happy to hear from her, even though Kellen was unaware of Rain's transition. Then think about the comments she made before she cut Rain's hair (assuming she did) - "I'm sorry, Baby Bro". That means she knew full well what she was about to do was a horrible thing. She had a moment of empathy and if Kellen had been able to connect further, she'd have put the damn scissors back.
But something stopped her making that final thought. What the hell did her dad do to her that made her hate transitioning more than loving her Baby Sis. So that's why I feel bad for her. Bad stuff in her past causes her to do bad stuff in the present and that will lead to more bad stuff in her future.
I'd still like to hope that Kellen can go through her own time of change and become a happier person as a result.
This made me think of MLK's writing on the subject, "hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction..." It seems to describe where Kellen may be far too well.
I thought a little more after I wrote that wall of text and I think there is still hope for Kellen.
Think back to the dream sequence. Kellen's character was nasty and unpleasant but ultimately it was Marcus directing Kellen's actions in the dream. Some people follow orders out of respect. Some follow out of fear...
My final thought on this is that Rain, as a comic, is a lot about acceptance and understanding, but also about redemption. We've seen it time and again - Gavin's initial reaction to Rain's transitioning followed by a renewal of their friendship. Aiken's treatment of Jessica and Rain, which after a slap round the face, has begun to change for the better. Even Brother Arthur's protection of Rain is his atonement for a very dark deed in his past.
Kellen does deserve a slap round the face for her actions, but I believe Rain would still want a compassionate and *understanding* Kellen in her life, even if it took a long time.
I agree. What Kellen did was horrible and I couldn't really find it in me to blame Rain if she never forgave her, as I'm not really sure if I could do so in her position, but I don't think Kellen is anywhere near "beyond redemption" as some readers have said. Yes, that act was terrible and yes, getting chewed out about it, possibly slapped, and feeling remorseful for it are all deserved, but ultimately so will be forgiveness if she comes around and manages to come to a point where she understand exactly WHY what she did was not okay, and genuinely and fully apologizes for it. And yeah, her suffering is not made "okay" because she hurt rain. Violently injuring, torturing, or killing are FAR from reasonable or empathetic reactions, but at the same time, I can very much understand where those people are coming from too, and their frustration and anger (though not, in my opinion, the proposed acts themselves) ARE justified and understandable.
Basically, the whole situation created by this act is awful and I just hope that healing—for all involved (yes, Kellen too)—can come with time.
And Fara has inherited one of The Doctor's many titles:
The Oncoming Storm.
Personally, though, I wouldn't have called Fara. I would have let her arrive at the normal pickup time, and force Kellen to be in attendance, and remind her of the impending judgment regularly and loudly. But honestly Fara in this state will probably make up for the lack of day-long dread.
Anyhow having seen this development long enough I just kinda inadvertently built up a rant I'd throw at Kellen if I could, but I bet Fara will probably outshine it with the wrath of a thousand burning suns. Or perhaps more.
And maybe there will be a further twist, that perhaps explain's Rain's dad's appearance in the dream, or something else surprising.
Okay, I feel stupid for some reason. I think I remember a page that actually shows Kellen getting ready to cut hair, and I can't remember which one it is. Like, I went all the way back to the dream starting, and I cannot find it for the life of me and I feel like I'm going insane.
The magic nipples aside, who sleeps like that? Stiff as a board doesn't do it justice, PLUS it's after what I only assume is coitus. Seriously! That spacing...must not have been very good :P
I know this is my first comment and I love the comic but I am not the loud kind of supporter usually, so uh. I am gushing just... in my mind. But... where are Vince's Scars? If he got top surgery, which he did obviously, and his boobs were that big, he should have masectomy scars under his pecs.
I actually wanted to include them, but when I did this page, I was under the impression that those scars disappeared after a while (years, but disappeared nonetheless). Vincent would have had his top surgery about ten years ago, so I didn't really think they'd still be there anymore. Apparently, I was mistaken, as a few guys have corrected me on this since. And I meant to fix this page months ago for that reason, so I'm not sure why that hasn't happened yet.
Thanks for the reminder though. I'll put it on my to-do list for the day. ^_^
Actually, there are several ways to deal with scars if you don't want those reminders of what you've been through.
Massage therapy: given your artistic style, getting a chest massage three times a week (could be self administered) for ten years would probably be sufficient. Scars would still be around, but not enough to be more apparent than nipples.
Laser scar removal: I don't know the full details of this, but apparently lasers can work magic to make scars heal more fully. It takes a bunch of treatments, after which the scar will still be very visible - but will be able to heal over time. There are limits, but I don't know what they are.
Anti-scar creams: Commercially available creams that work are kinda new. I've heard they still need to be coupled with some amount of massage, but they improve the rate of scar repair over massage with a basic lotion enough to satisfy the FDA during Obama's administration. That said, given my wife's job, I'm aware that the FDA never does its own studies, it just tries to audit the crap out of industry studies and approves what survives that process. I have not actually used these products, as my wife doesn't mind her scars, and my scars are all somewhat internal.
I wonder how an actual date would be. You couldn't keep your "PG-13 rating" anymore! :p
Anyway I try to sleep in but I'm useually up around 6 am almost everyday
NO NIPPLES. MAGIC BOY HAS MAGICALLY GOT NO NIPPLES.
Can I just remind everyone that nipples are a natural part of us all, and don't need to be censored to keep things SFW? Cos, I mean... everyone has nipples. Why is there no book about this, there's one about defecation!
I'm not censoring them; I'm just no good at drawing them. It's stylized. Kinda like the noses. The fact that I don't draw noses like 90% of the time wouldn't be considered censorship, would it? So why would this?
I don't censor my work. If I'm omitting something, it's for other reasons. Trust me; it just looks better like this with my art style.
You are an incredible writer, I thank you so much for this comic.
I feel sorry for Kellen.
Not because of some of the grostequely violent things that some readers want to do to her (although I admit they do make me feel a little ill). It's more the stuff going on in her head. Think back to when Rain contacted her just before Christmas using her "guy voice" as opposed to her natural one. Kellen sounded really happy to hear from her, even though Kellen was unaware of Rain's transition. Then think about the comments she made before she cut Rain's hair (assuming she did) - "I'm sorry, Baby Bro". That means she knew full well what she was about to do was a horrible thing. She had a moment of empathy and if Kellen had been able to connect further, she'd have put the damn scissors back.
But something stopped her making that final thought. What the hell did her dad do to her that made her hate transitioning more than loving her Baby Sis. So that's why I feel bad for her. Bad stuff in her past causes her to do bad stuff in the present and that will lead to more bad stuff in her future.
I'd still like to hope that Kellen can go through her own time of change and become a happier person as a result.
Think back to the dream sequence. Kellen's character was nasty and unpleasant but ultimately it was Marcus directing Kellen's actions in the dream. Some people follow orders out of respect. Some follow out of fear...
My final thought on this is that Rain, as a comic, is a lot about acceptance and understanding, but also about redemption. We've seen it time and again - Gavin's initial reaction to Rain's transitioning followed by a renewal of their friendship. Aiken's treatment of Jessica and Rain, which after a slap round the face, has begun to change for the better. Even Brother Arthur's protection of Rain is his atonement for a very dark deed in his past.
Kellen does deserve a slap round the face for her actions, but I believe Rain would still want a compassionate and *understanding* Kellen in her life, even if it took a long time.
Basically, the whole situation created by this act is awful and I just hope that healing—for all involved (yes, Kellen too)—can come with time.
The Oncoming Storm.
Personally, though, I wouldn't have called Fara. I would have let her arrive at the normal pickup time, and force Kellen to be in attendance, and remind her of the impending judgment regularly and loudly. But honestly Fara in this state will probably make up for the lack of day-long dread.
Anyhow having seen this development long enough I just kinda inadvertently built up a rant I'd throw at Kellen if I could, but I bet Fara will probably outshine it with the wrath of a thousand burning suns. Or perhaps more.
And maybe there will be a further twist, that perhaps explain's Rain's dad's appearance in the dream, or something else surprising.
I actually wanted to include them, but when I did this page, I was under the impression that those scars disappeared after a while (years, but disappeared nonetheless). Vincent would have had his top surgery about ten years ago, so I didn't really think they'd still be there anymore. Apparently, I was mistaken, as a few guys have corrected me on this since. And I meant to fix this page months ago for that reason, so I'm not sure why that hasn't happened yet.
Thanks for the reminder though. I'll put it on my to-do list for the day. ^_^
Massage therapy: given your artistic style, getting a chest massage three times a week (could be self administered) for ten years would probably be sufficient. Scars would still be around, but not enough to be more apparent than nipples.
Laser scar removal: I don't know the full details of this, but apparently lasers can work magic to make scars heal more fully. It takes a bunch of treatments, after which the scar will still be very visible - but will be able to heal over time. There are limits, but I don't know what they are.
Anti-scar creams: Commercially available creams that work are kinda new. I've heard they still need to be coupled with some amount of massage, but they improve the rate of scar repair over massage with a basic lotion enough to satisfy the FDA during Obama's administration. That said, given my wife's job, I'm aware that the FDA never does its own studies, it just tries to audit the crap out of industry studies and approves what survives that process. I have not actually used these products, as my wife doesn't mind her scars, and my scars are all somewhat internal.
rain beaus seeing the content of page 694: panel 6