March Doodle Dump (Patreon)

Cleaned up some of the bajillion sketches I have lying around. These batch features some crybabies, haha

1.) exploring Oddball, his mother Mimi, and of course their cousin Penny. I made his proportions a bit goofier/fun to draw, just look at dat tall dr seuss lookin muppet boi. Odd’s real name is Orion, but his family nickname stuck. Odd kinda likes it. He’s a binturong, or bear-cat, in case anybody missed it. Mimi, his mad scientist mama, is an aye-aye.

2-3.) Mal and Topher met in their youth, but drifted apart when Topher dropped out of college. A few years later, however, they run into each other by pure chance at an outdoor festival. Mal, freshly disowned by her parents upon coming out as a trans woman, feels lost, without purpose or roots. She’s surprised to find Topher living in a tent, claiming to be between music gigs, but to Mal it looks a lot more like he’s broke and homeless. She drags his stubborn ass all the way across the country to go back home. Eleanor, a longtime empty-nester at this point, is quite eager to have company again, welcoming her wayward son and Mal into her home. Mal only means to stay for about a week, but this was foolish on her part, as Eleanor’s mom instincts had already zeroed in on her. How could anybody throw out such a perfectly good daughter? She’s Ellie’s now, thank you very much.

Mal comes to love Eleanor so, SO much. Partly for being the warm and accepting mother figure Mal has always longed for, but also for introducing Mal to her one true love….funk rock. Mal turns into a big dumb kitten around Eleanor and wants ALL the hugs and cookies and fawning, it makes Topher roll his eyes (in a begrudgingly affectionate sorta way).

4.) A glimpse into Mal and Topher’s potential future…Topher has expressed complete disinterest/mockery at the idea of having kids, but in his case, it’s actually a front.  Topher has quite a lot of trust issues, and a fear of letting people close, lest they hurt him. This does not mean that he doesn’t desire meaningful connection. Mal is his oldest friend, and the thought of creating a family with her- the thought that she would want that with him- is a thought he finds…really beautiful, whenever he actually allows himself to dwell on it. It makes his chest feel tight with weird stupid normie emotions he doesn’t entirely understand….well, save for terror. Terror at how fucking badly he wants what Mal is offering….and terror that he’ll only hurt her and fuck it up, the way he fucks everything up.

Mal says she wouldn’t have stuck around him this long if she didn’t already know the kinda person (annoying grumpy secret blubber-puppy) he was. She still wants to take this step together. But ultimately….they’re already a family. Whatever move they make next, she doesn’t want it unless Topher’s on board 100%.