Bedtime For A Little Sprout

Yesterday I had fun while improvising this little comic strip about the meeting of Hershel, Clark and Claire in university.

Spoiler Miracle Mask: I imagined Hershel being really upset and quiete after loosing Randall the summer just before… So at first they don’t really get along and the situation is quite awkward…

I really like the result so I took a little of my time to translate the dialogue !

 I hope you’ll like it :D

Maybe I’ll wrote how they finally got along at the end (or maybe not, I have other shit to do, like being an adult I guess)

"Don't," your girlfriend says, yanking your arm. Your thumb was up in the corner of your mouth, and you were gnawing on it slightly.

"Hey!" the grab was jarring, and honestly you weren't even aware you were nibbling your thumbnail, too focused on the movie in front of you. "Cut it out," you try and wriggle out of her grip.

She grabs the remote and pauses the movie. Her wrist is still around your arm and she jerks it up and towards your face again

"Look. Your cuticles are all peeled away and your thumb is wrinkly and red," she says.

"So?" you avoid eye contact, suddenly finding a loose thread on the couch very interesting. The hand not clenched by your girlfriend picks at it.

"So, it isn't good for your finger. Or clean, when was the last time you washed your hands?"

"Uhm..."

"That's what I thought. Next time I catch you doing it, there will be consequences."

Consequences, you think, yeah right. What's she going to do, cut my thumb off?

---

It's been bumper to bumper for what feels like forever. Your navigation app says there's an accident, on top of typical commuter traffic, plus an off ramp being worked on means you're late. Really late, for dinner with your girlfriend's parents, nonetheless.

There's a sudden tight burning feeling on your thigh. Something, or rather, someone, is pinching you. It breaks the anxious spiral you were in and you yelp, finger falling from your mouth.

"What was that for?" you turn to your girlfriend in the passenger seat, looking smug.

"Finger in the mouth. Consequences, remember?"

"Not while I'm driving! I could have crashed!"

"I wouldn't say you're actually driving right now," she says, indicating the sea of stationary cars around you.

You roll your eyes and huff, "semantics."

You consider just shutting up and letting it go, but the anxious tension in the car is making you a little edgy.

"It's not a big deal if I chew on my fingers or bite my nails. I don't get sick from it, my fingers don't get infected. Plus, I think it helps me focus sometimes."

"Not infected yet. But, that's not all it does."

"What do you mean?"

"You really haven’t noticed? Anytime you're sad, or scared, or stressed you start gnawing on your fingers like a beaver," she's smirking now, like this was some grand revelation she'd been hiding from you. "It's pretty obvious you find your fingers comforting. I'm surprised you've got any nails at all!'

"I mean, I guess..." you don't want to admit to it, but you know she's right. You do find nibbling your fingers soothing. God, how embarrassing. Who else puts their fingers in their mouth for comfort? Babies.

"This is giving me an idea!" You glance over again and can practically see the lightbulb flash over her head. She starts tapping rapidly on her phone, leaning to the side so you can't see.

"Care to share with the class?"

"No. Now focus on the road."

You're about to argue that there is literally nothing you need to be focusing on, when the car in front of you starts to inch forward. You relax your foot off the brake, and as you pick up speed the whole conversation leaves your mind.

----

"Ready?" she calls from the living room.

"Ready!" you respond behind a mouthful of popcorn. You carry the steaming and buttery smelling bowl into the living room and park yourself on the couch next to her, tossing in another mouthful.

"Before we start, close your eyes," your girlfriend says.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

You close your eyes. You can hear a faint rustling...maybe she's digging in her pockets?

"Open your mouth,"

"Open my m-mmph!?" You don't even finish your thought before something is shoved in your mouth. It's bulbous, and hollow, and something connected to it is pressed against your lips. It's a...no, it couldn't be. Could it?

You open your eyes and go slightly crosseyed trying to look at what has been, quite abruptly, inserted between your teeth.

"A pashi-," you spit it out, "a pacifier, really?"

"Yeah!" She's beaming, for some reason. "Now you can have something in your mouth when you need to focus, or when you're anxious, or-"

"Um, I don't think so. I'm not a baby."

"This one is for grownups," she says, matter of factly.

"Well, this grownup doesn’t need a pacifier, thank you very much,"

"Says the grownup who sucks and chews their fingers,"

"I don't recall seeing an age limit on the finger-chewing-manual,"

"Just try it? Please, for tonight?"

Her sincerity catches you off guard. She really is trying to help you, it seems, even if her methods are a little humiliating.

"Fine, fine. If I think I'm going to put my fingers in my mouth, which I won't, I'll use the..." you can't quite get yourself to say the word.

"Pacifer? Binky? Paci? Soo-"

"Ok, ok I get it."

---

The popcorn bowl has been long discarded, just a few greasy kernels at the bottom. You're curled up, knees underneath you and head pressed against your girlfriend's shoulder when a particularly tense scene picks up on screen. Automatically, your fingers start creeping up your chin. Your pointer finger is hooked over your bottom lip and your teeth are clamping it in place.

Your girlfriend’s warm hand slowly tugs your finger away, and you let out a soft whine.

"Shh, shh," she says, as if soothing a fussy baby.

She slips the pacifier in your mouth, and you go to spit it out, but her fingers are pressing it tight against your lips.

"Try? For me?"

Her words trigger a deep urge in you, one to do whatever she says. It blossoms in your chest and a warm feeling you associate with blind obedience takes over. You give a little nod of your head and pull the pacifier in further, allowing her to release her fingers.

You rub your tongue over it and gently gnash your teeth on the soft rubber, getting a feel for it. Contracting your cheeks you give it a tentative suck, and find that it glides over your tongue smoothly. It takes barely any effort at all to get into a satisfying rhythm. Before you know it, your attention is back on the climaxing movie and the pacifier is bobbing on an even measure in your mouth. Any tension you'd been carrying from the day seems to melt away as you suckle. The stimulation in your mouth is helping you focus on the movie, and you don't feel the urge to give in to your typical restless squirming.

You don't think your fingers will be back in your mouth anytime soon.

I don't think we've really grappled with affini biorhythms, and their impact on society. We've all heard stories about them from overeager florets, or the urban legends about what happens if an affini decides to stay near you for too long. It's honestly kind of terrifying, knowing that our wills can be so easily subverted on the whim of our benevolent overlords.

But at the same time, I can't think of the last time I saw the parks on Tyriador-IV this crowded. Or the bars and restaurants, the bookstores and museums. Yes, some of that is undoubtedly that the old pollution has been scrubbed, transit has been made cheap and affordable, outdoor spaces have become vastly more pleasant, and we no longer need to work long hours just to survive. The affini claim that it is simply due to that, the fruits of their social reforms and alteration of our material circumstances. That is the easy narrative, one I haven't even heard the most rabid feralists question, though they see it as far more sinister than I believe it to be.

I think otherwise. If you're reading this post, I'd ask that you look, really look, at the spaces where people tend to congregate. The spaces and venues that fill up day after day. I'm willing to bet that, regardless of the planet or vessel you're on, you'll see the same thing I've noticed--people go where the affini are. Even with all the complaints I've seen independents make about their incessant flirting, or how unsettling it can be to be surrounded by florets, the majority of the humans here spend significant amounts of time hanging around areas also filled with affini. Even I've found myself doing it.

Nobody I've asked has even been conscious of this bias in their own behavior. Most seem to think I'm some feralist grasping at straws, or just plain crazy. But I'm not. I am as grateful as anybody that they got rid of the old fascist Accord and replaced it with this utopia. I just need people to take me seriously when I say that I think we're all unconsciously dosing ourselves on their biorhythm. Not to the point where we're getting tied to any one individual affini. But collectively? Our entire species is drifting towards subservience in ways we didn't even realize. I tried to avoid all affini this last week, staying in my hab to avoid any biorhythm exposure, and I almost had a panic attack. It was only after my Hab AI called for a crisis vet that I realized I used to have panic attacks all the time, and they'd stopped after the affini took over. Just being around them is subtly soothing, and we're slowly waltzing our collective way towards dependency.

I wonder how much easier to domesticate we've gotten after years of daily exposure. Not everyone is as on-the-brink as I am, and obviously there are still plenty of stubborn holdouts. But please, search your feelings. See if you enjoy being out and about, and then test whether you enjoy it as much if you're still outside but away from any affini. Everyone needs to be aware of this, even if I myself can't resist how much I enjoy their presence.

It's hard to even fall asleep without a biorhythm subtly pulsing through me these days. I'm very grateful that Phiola has been letting me sleep firmly nestled in her vines. But please, don't discount my words because I'm a ward, and will likely be a floret soon. This feels like important information to share, if just so all the rest of you wannabe independents can know just how deeply ensnared you already are.

-Eric Statler, he/they

Daredevil (2003) Alternate Ending

did not know there was such animosity towards london life. what did she ever do to you

The Beginning.

sketches for the parents of the other kids in the Cul-de-Sac

Chapter 6: A fullfilling night

Chapter 5

Haha who could possibly fall asleep on a bar's counter ??? Haha, No One !... No one......

I have so many memories of walking friends home and be walked/carried home... Good times...

Of course, stay safe, take care of your friends !

And as always, big shout out to @lutiaslayton with the translation !

An older life is strange commission i did! I ADORE a good dancing in the rain scene