Two Month Anniversary

 Thanks to all my patreon backers for your continued support. Without you...I mean...I've said it so many times before...”Your support means more to me than you'll ever know. And that's even more true during the current crisis than it's ever been.

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So... it's the two-month' anniversary of the fire. Would you call it an anniversary? The term sounds too...positive...like it's worth commemoration, celebration. Of course it's not. It's hard to believe it's been two months. It feels like yesterday. I can still remember that night so vividly...when I close my eyes I can see that hallway, the smoke...everything.

I'm supposed to start speaking with a therapist soon, so hopefully that will help...mitigate some of these...feelings and visions. Not...exactly excited about opening up to a stranger via 'telecom', as phone stuff gets my anxiety up, but I've gotta do it.

In case you are wondering why I'm not in Colorado yet, my brother won't be in his new house until April 30th, instead of March 30th. That gives us a little more time to get our stuff together in terms of important paperwork replacement and preparation for the 2000 mile trip. Thankfully, while the town stopped covering for the Hotel as of today, my renter's insurance is picking up the tab from there, and it will see us through until we can head west. Thankfully the hotel pay will not detract from my renter's payout which...for the moment seems on track to come through.

In the meantime, I've been using some of my remaining time to try and do all I can to find a place that isn't a complete slum that will take my mother and I in state. Basically a last-ditch effort to stay in New Hampshire in order to not have to put my brother out and...really because I liked living here. But it seems the entire North East is under a sort of 'Rental Run'. Apartments and housing opportunities are currently few and far between, and places get snapped up at light speed as soon as they show up on the market. And that's not counting the fact that I and my mother have some necessary needs that further complicate what we can get. (2 Bedrooms, Ground Floor, Low Income). I get the distinct impression that New York is having a similar exodus to that of California, and so the North East is filling up with NYC refugees...well that on top of it being a bad season to move. The Apartment complexes we've touched base with have waiting lists thirty people deep or more, and so considering the dwindling time factor, submitting applications and paying fees for said applications seems like...ironically a waste of time. Needless to say, it looks like Colorado is unavoidable at this point.

At least my mother and I are vaccinated now and will be...as resistant to covid as we can be during the drive. The only thing I'm debating now is whether to try and make the trip in the Bellwagon (My Smart Car), or sell it off and get a Jeep Grand Cherokee or something. I've had my smart for two years, and it's been very reliable and good on gas. But storage space is limited, and the week-long drive might be more uncomfortable in a smart car than something bigger with storage space. (Not that we have all that much to travel with). But a new vehicle...I mean, I don't know if it'll turn out to be as reliable, or be able to handle the trip...I'd have to trust the dealer, which is always a risk...and with everything else going on right now being uncertain about the car I'm driving across the country in is...I mean it's another level of stress I don't need.

Art-wise we're still looking at sketchbook photos for at least another month or more...

-_-... I'm not even super confident about writing on this thing thanks to how slow and miserable it is to use this laptop. Running a browser and Discord at the same time is too taxing for this thing... I know that's a first-world problem, but I'd like to be able to share cleaner, clearer art with everyone. At this point, it's the bare minimum I can do.

So that's the long and short of it at the moment...It would be redundant at this point to say I'm tired. That I want this to all be over, and for life to return to...something resembling how it formerly is. I'm emotionally tired, and my and my mom's health is being pushed to the brink. I'll just be...relieved when this is something I can just...look back at this as nothing more than a dark, painful memory. Distant in the reflection of a more positive future.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support, both Patreons and fans who supported the GoFundMe. I'd also like to thank everyone who just...reached out with kind words and emotional support. I know I keep saying it, but it truly means and means the world.

-Wasty

Gil's Band Continued; "Mad" Max, on rhythm guitar.

 

Last we have Maxwell Gulstafsson, a.k.a "Mad Max"; The group's rhythm guitarist. Max is a wolverine, and ostensibly the 'wild' member of the group. However, his 'wild' nature is solely limited to his actions, as Max was born totally mute. Without the use of his voice, the mammal is forced to communicate in sign language, which always requires Henri to interpret him for Gilbert. However, lacking the trademark 'wolverine scream' most mammals expect of his species hasn't slowed Max down in the slightest. In fact, to date the wolverine has gotten into at least two out and out brawls with audience members over seemingly nothing, stopping the performance in its tracks each time. He's also the groups 'lady's mam'", as being the only 'technically' single member of the band has him dealing with the overflow of fangirls. Not that he minds of course. 

So yeah, that's Gil and his band of misfits. I hope you guys like 'em.

-Wasty

Gil's Band Continued: Caroline the Basist

 

Caroline Ghàidhealach; Caroline is the band's basist. Caroline is a Scotrammish Highland Cow, and as the name suggests she was born in Scottram. Her family was another touched by Norwulffish culture,  as her earlier ancestors left with the Norwolves after one of their occupations of Scottram, only returning after the peace agreement. Caroline is missing her right leg below the knee, the result of a calfhood accident. Off stage she uses a general prosthetic which actually resembles a cow leg, however on stage she uses her grandfather's left horn as a stand in. Said horn was left to her by her grandfather in order to 'protect' her, and the Norwulffish depiction of the 'world-eater' was something he had etched into his horns while alive. Caroline feels using it on-stage is both a way to honor his memory, and allow him to 'protect' her as he wished. Caroline speaks fluent 'Chaoraic' (Zootopia's Gaelic Equivalent), but even when she's speaking Animanglish her accent is so thick she's very hard to understand, once again forcing Henri to act as an interpreter sometimes. Caroline is Gilbert's mate, and they've been together since shortly after the band got started in earnest. 

At this point you may be starting to notice two patterns. One, each remember of Gil's band seems to be disabled in some way. Gil's blindness, Henri's stubbed tail, Caroline's missing leg, each on has suffered some sort of handicap. The second thing, is that when on stage, they all have their hair over their eyes. Thar second bit is both acting in solidarity with Gil, and theming with the bands name. That said, our pattern remains unbroken with our last bandmate.

Gilbert's Band Continued: Henri the Drummer.

 

So let's talk about Gil's bandmates, starting with Henri. 

Henri Järvullen; Henri is Gil's masterful drummer.  Throughout history, foxes have been known to sort of latch on to other cultures, taking bits and pieces of it and giving it a foxish flare, or outright accepting it in full to become part of a community. This was the case with Henri's Yipsi ancestors who would eventually settle in Norwulff, and find themselves eventually absorbed into one of the more prominent packs in the nation. That said, Henri is fairly in touch with his 'Norwulffish' roots, even going so far as to regularly wear runes in his hair both on and off stage. Henri was born with a malformed, stunted tail, and to compensate the tod grew his hair out long enough to feign the appearance of one. It is the only real part of his look that transfers between his off and onstage persona, which is so drastic to most mammals that he largely goes unrecognized in public, which is not something he minds in the slightest. Henri speaks Norwulffish, and slightly broken Anamanglish, with often sees him working as the interpreter for the group. He is also never seen dating, foxes or non-foxes, male or female, leading most fans to speculate he's asexual. However, he is merely very particular about who he opens up to in that way and feels that fan adoration would get in the way of an organic relationship, thus eliminating most of the females who throw themselves at the band.

A Different Kind of Update: Gus' brother and his band.

 

    So, I've been reluctant to share any 'art' that I've made since the fire, mostly since it's all snapshots of sketchbook drawings. So not only am I not happy with the way I have to get them into the computer...but unless someone specifically asks for sketches...I always feel...kind of weird sharing them. It just feels unfinished, like sharing scaffolding. It's makes me feel like I'm naked in public. But I've still got another month or so before I'll have a tablet again, which is a conservative estimate. So I have to break away from my comfort zone.

    Anywho, some of you may remember in LAW I mentioned Gus had a brother, but I never went into detail about him. So I spent some time working on him, and those associated with him's design and lore. First off, Gus' brother is named Gilbert (Which was actually a name given to him by backer BatDuskyLycanroc, and I liked it and went with it, thanks Dusky. He's also the front mammal for his band, "The Order of the Bleating Eye", a popular death metal band in Roarope.

    Gilbert is Gus' older brother by about five years. He's considerably healthier than Gus overall, sporting healthier and more robust horns like their father Aslan, a slimmer physique, and without the whole 'fainting disorder' that Gus picked up from his mother Vitoria's side of the family. However, Gilbert was born totally blind. When not performing, the goat walks around with a particularly stylish walking cane that doubles as his guide cane. On stage, Gil has a series of grooves and pegs covering the floor of his performance space so that he can 'feel' his marks. Gil always had a passion for imaginative creative things and was actually responsible for getting Gus into BnB while they were growing up. However, Gil's biggest passion was music, and his dream was one day making it with a band despite his condition. At the end of his high school stint, and with the rather reluctant permission of his parents, Gil went backpacking across Roarope to 'assemble' his band out of the 'very cradle' of death metal, his words. Gil is the lead singer and guitarist of his band.

I'll continue the roster with the next few posts as the files are large and this Laptop is miserably slow. So yeah, look out for the rest.