In the wake of the breakup, Chay stops using the guitar Kim gifted him. He can't bring himself to get rid of it, but he can leave it in a closet and pretend it doesn't exist.
Kim finds out; maybe he sees Chay's playing someday, and recognizes the old, beat up instrument Porsche originally gave him. Asks what happened to the other one. Chay' still angry, says he doesn't want anything to do with it, the meaningless gift that Kim used to buy his way into Chay's good graces.
Kim doesn't say anything to that. He looks briefly wounded, but of course he covers it, never one to show he's hurt.
Sometime after that, Chay digs out the guitar with the intent of giving it back to Kim. That's when he notices it - etched into the back of the neck: Kim. Except, on closer inspection, he realizes it actually says Kinn, the letters tight in the small space, making the nn look like an m.
Chay realizes several things in that moment: 1. this guitar belonged to Kinn, 2. he must have given it to Kim, 3. this must be Kim's first guitar, and 4. it wasn't such a meaningless gift after all.
He looks at his own guitar, gifted to him by Porsche; it may be old and beat up, but he treasures it. It's a symbol of Porsche's love and sacrifice and support, it allowed Chay to chase his dreams, and as much as he loved that Kim gave him a guitar, this one means the world to him.
And now, he realizes that Kim gave him not just a random guitar, something to bribe Chay with, but something that must carry the same sentiment for him. because Chay has learned a lot about the Theerapanyakul's, now. He knows Kim left the family to pursue music, and he knows it cost him a relationship with his brothers. The fact that he still has Kinn's guitar all these years later shows it can't have been an easy decision.
He wouldn't still have the guitar if it wasn't important to him. The thing must be a decade old at least, yet it's in perfect condition, clearly well-maintained. Loved. And he trusted Chay with it. Even after everything that happened between them, he never asked for it back, even when Chay called it meaningless and unwanted.
That goes a long way in helping Chay understand him a little more, and eventually, forgive him.
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One of the most memorable interactions was Saturday. Into our booth strolls a small family, tempted by free samples of freshly brewed tea. We chatter and give them the spiel, that the tea is character merch and we’re a cozy health-based app called Forage Friends.
The young girl zeroes in on our pride pins.
“They have my pin!” She says excitedly. “They have my flag!”
The dad blinks. He is surprised, but also calm and positive when he sees it’s the lesbian flag. “Oh. That’s… different from what you told me.”
“That was months ago, dad.” And she rolls her eyes. Definitely a teenager.
I turn to him and say, “Yeah, dad.” And we share a little laugh about it.
He says, “No, it’s great. That’s amazing, honey. It was just news to me.”
“Well, I guess I just decided to stop lying to myself. About liking guys. Like right now.”
A little lesbian just came out to her dad and he was super cool about it.
I’m standing there in my tie-dye mask and my cheery blue apron pouring tea and making small talk and I’m trying really hard not to cry or compare it to my experience, the fire & brimstone, the disgust, the conditional acceptance as long as I never bring it up.
So as this beautiful bonding is going on, the girl’s even younger brother turns his gaze around. He’s in a snorlax hoodie and bored and wants to go look at the swords across the hall. But on the other side of our booth….
“WHY DO PEOPLE DRAW THAT?” He asks loudly, and we all turn to our neighboring booth.
Our neighbors were extremely lovely people. Every time we had a break we would talk, and we became good friends over the weekend. They kept apologizing that their booth was next to ours and we kept repeating that it was totally fine. Their booth was great. I even bought their merchandise.
The thing that was so contentious, that they felt the need to apologize for, was that they were selling explicit titty hentai stickers of popular characters. They were censored with little yellow R18 labels but the content was very clear.
So back to the family: I freeze and immediately go somewhere else to let dad handle this question. With adult customers I’ve been loud and positive about our neighbors. (“Man, how has it been boothing next to them?” It’s been great! They bring a lot of foot traffic and they’re kind and wonderful professional neighbors. If anything it’s a fun juxtaposition. We believe in artistic freedom. I bought a sticker too!)
But this is a kid, it’s not my place to explain anything…. But I was extremely curious about what this chill dad would say.
“Well,” dad says with a long measured silence between each word. “Sometimes people are horny.”
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I wish butch n femme balls existed. Not to b a fucking sap n a massive dyke but wow. Ugh even. Just wanna wear a gown n stilettos n have my honey greet me w a bouquet before we leave n we wear matching or complimentary jewelry n spend hours on my hair and makeup to impress. N then when we get there my honey will spin me around the room for a brief dance before grabbing something to drink, wine for me n whiskey for her, as we chat w other dykes n celebrate butchfemmeness. Or whatever
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lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)
if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.
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no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.
I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.
I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.
If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.
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