1384 Carpark.

by

John is drawn to the fursuit like a moth to a flame. What mysteries await inside? How magical must such a person be? He’s ready for adventure.

Everything past this point is just me complaining.
This weekend has set me back a little. If this is the only thing you see here when this page posts I’m probably asleep on the floor in front of my computer.

Well, I woke up before the posting time. Let me tell you about my weekend.

It started Friday with the Teen having a play to perform in. Her sister, who is a little simple, often has to be led to our house. I needed mailing envelopes for art, so my plan was to get those and lead her to the house before the post office closed. Went to town, got my stuff, and waited a while for her to call. Foolishly I chose not to call her earlier and by the time I did she had already navigated her way to the house with the help of an iphone app. Unfortunately I waited around too long and couldn’t get to the post office in time.

We all went to the play. I was the cinematographer. It was fine, except sitting on a folding chair was murder on my hip. After I took the girls out to eat. The Teen had spent a week begging to eat out so we finally did as a treat for doing well in the play. She was disappointed in her food because it wasn’t prepared the way she expected. To try and make it up to her we went for ice cream, except all the places that sell it were closed or too far. So we got cookies. Cookies of disappointment from her perspective.

I spent the better part of the night trying to catch up on work I hadn’t done during the day. My thought was that the Teen would be entertained enough by her sister to let me work in peace. In my heart I knew this was ridiculous. By noon she was desperate to go out into the world. Using her sister as a driver they went on an adventure themselves. The end result of this was my father coming to gather me up so we could tow their car to the shop. Teen Sis managed to sever a radiator hose on a curb somehow. We towed, then dad fixed, while I held the light. Because I’m exactly as useful to him now as I was when I was 12.

It was hot. Even in the shaded shop it was unpleasant. As I said, all I was doing was holding a light and that was toasty work. Leaning over the hot engine while dad toiled underneath. Eventually dad solved the Rubik’s cube that is a 90’s Ford engine and we set out for a replacement part. No part till Tuesday. Back home. Dinner. Asleep on the floor till 4AM.

I did some work. With no car they would know better than to pester me after yesterday. Worked till I fell asleep again. Noonish the Teen came to pester me about going to town. And every thirty minutes after that until I gave up. She then spent the rest of the day asking me what was wrong with me. For fear of coming unhinged I said I was tired, because I’ve been admonished multiple times now for being to harsh.

While this was going on my father repaired Teen Sis’s car with a part of his own devising. He called me so that she could get on the road before it was too late. Back to the house. Worked out the map app on her phone so I wouldn’t have to lead her back to town. I’m not sure she thanked my father at any point. I doubt seriously that he would care, but it’s still not cool. On the road. Asleep on the floor. Post comic. Now.

If this is the way the rest of the week goes I’m going to stab my brain with my stylus.

I had a 15 minute argument with the Teen over why I couldn’t get her two packages of cookies and a google play card. During that argument she tried to get her sister, who also has little money, to pay for part of things. No consideration for other people. We’re all just a means to an end.

Today her sister had sense enough to forget her purse at the house. Or maybe she just got lucky. She’s not exactly a schemer like I am.

52 Comments

What is the equivalent to being outed of the furry closet cos it sounds like she’s going to be outed for sure.

The answer to that question lies within the comment section of youtube.

Well, I’m not going there!
—————————–
My guesses / suggestions:
• Unmasked?
• Shorn?
• Delilahed??
• Skinned alive??? (overlong, but sounds appropriately unappealing …)

Cut from the anonymous herd?

And branded?

Something like that anyway.

Cattle rancher talk seems useful here.

Hi Jackie –

I’m sorry you’re having such a miserable time with the Teen … I don’t know whether it helps, but there is a large body of research showing that members of our species don’t become able to consider <abbr title="i.e. more than about thirteen seconds long-term consequences …

I hope the rest of the week goes better for you!

———————

Also, your owlets are great … great-horned to be exact ;-)

Most people only think their own money is precious, and *that* only if they have had to earn it through work.

Being harsh is good. Eventually she’ll figure out what sets off the “harsh” and avoid it, even if she doesn’t understand why it’s justified.

Do not stab brain. Brain necessary.

Although she appears to be calm, a meltdown is brewing behind that mask the likes of which have never been seen in that building before.

Yeah… Unfortunately, welcome to teenagers. Even the ones who try not to be self-centered end up being self-centered a good bit of the time. It’s a developmental thing, she’ll grow up and have regard for others, I promise. I mean, it has to be instilled in her to an extent, but yeah.

you hope they grow out of it, most do, but i can point to at least a couple of women i know who are in their middle 50s and still operate like they are the center of this world, and everyone should just do what they say when they say it, oh and pay for it too. I guess it worked for them somehow… Patterns that don’t work usually get tossed aside.

Which is why parents, (legal) guardians, teachers, and so on, get the job of making teenagers toss some patterns, some by preference post haste. Even so, not an easy job.

This. … I hesitate to ask, but… Jackie… you do know it’s not your job to make the Teen happy, or satisfied, or content all the time, right?

I don’t even have kids, but your stories are starting to remind me of me with ex-girlfriends, where I thought it was my job to keep them feeling happy or secure… It isn’t.

Everyone needs limits, and in all the stories you’ve told of your interactions so far, I don’t think you’ve mentioned any consequences to her of the various annoyances she inflicts on you.

^This. I am a relatively well-adjusted 21-year-old… I don’t pretend to be perfect, but I do know what it is to be told “no,” to be told “that’s not within the budget right now,” and to realize that life isn’t all about me. Being told “no” as a kid and as a teenager was part of that.

Yes. You will be the bad guy sometimes. Yes. She will “hate” you and tell you as much. She doesn’t. She appreciates you, when she goes back and thinks about it. She just doesn’t like learning those life lessons about the difference between “want” and “need”, and you’re the teacher of that lesson. She’ll live. We all do.

Well, nobody can say John Kepler doesn’t think ahead. I suspect he’s an expert at planning and executing escapes, or at least he’s experienced.

And, no. No, I will not trade my niece for either of your cousins. Not even for a minute.

I really don’t get why she seems fixated on blood-relation with her brother and family when she needs an “away from family place” to begin with. If they’re that terrible, then they deserve no loyalty of that kind.

Reggie especially is a Grade-A asshole who would get shanked for his attitude in less polite society. So far, even in this arc, I have yet to see him being anything but an asshole for the sake of being an asshole, even those parts where he’s interacted with John.

I think if Victoria doesn’t want to live in a nightmare scenario at home where she eventually commits suicide, she’s going to need to either blackmail her brother or hurt him physically. I think the latter is probably more worthwhile considering that blackmail is a one-time thing if it’s revealed, but you can always hurt someone if you have the physical strength or a colorful imagination.

– – – – –

Now, as for the teen, I have no idea. She sounds like she had a tough childhood before she got to living with you guys, but that’s no reason for her to be a selfish little twit.

As other people here have stated, it’s not YOUR responsibility to raise her, though obviously life has pushed her into your household. Maybe your folks think you’re too harsh with her at times, but you have to stand your ground and teach her that she can’t always get her way.

Perhaps you should sit her down and have a serious discussion about what your relationship with her is, what your obligations are to her and others, and what you expect from her when you tell her “No, I can’t do that” or “No, I’m not buying that for you.” Let your parents know you two had this discussion as well, so they know for future incidents.

If she gets to mouthing off even after that, demanding things every half-hour, THEN feel free to be as harsh as you want. She’ll know what you’ve got going on and what limits you have set, and if she can’t respect them then she doesn’t deserve respect in return.

I think with Regina and wishing to have a place away from family. it could be that her family doesn’t disapprove of the furriness but rather they don’t understand the appeal of it. That alone could make her uncomfortable or out of place and overly stressful. I’m in the SCA and my family doesn’t see the appeal of dressing in armor or historical garb, beating people with wood weapons (whilst being armored) or any of the other activities they provide. However, they don’t forbid or discourage me from the activity. It just makes connecting our interests difficult or uncomfortable. and being in the group allows me to connect my interests with like minded people without having to clarify or being awkward about it.

Well obviously her family doesn’t even KNOW about the furriness, or else Reggie would already know about her being a furry.

its not like he can judge anymore he’s a member too

he’s her brother, of course he will judge her, maybe not there, but definitely at home, just consider, he’s wearing ears, she’s full fur suit. You don’t think for one minute our Reggie will let an opportunity for total destruction of a sibling slip away, like so many tufts of fur in the back of her car… hmmm?

It’s hard to say what Reggie will do. Both he and his sister seem to display an interesting code of ethics. While he is still a major dick to his coworkers most of the time I can’t recall him ever saying anything bad about family, and her reaction earlier kinda proves that there must be some measure of respect between the siblings even if they don’t actually get along.

then why the oh shit moment about her car being out front, if you go back even earlier she was about to exit stage right as soon as she saw Reggie was in the house. i don’t think that feeling has changed just because ears or his sudden indoctrination to the club… Guess we shall see…

Even if there is respect there can be fear in regards to ones fetishes. Our quasi Puritan culture has kinda underlined that we should treat sex as something very private under the best of circumstances. Odd or different fetishes are very much taboo for a huge number of people. Also even if she knows he is ok with the fetish there is still an awkwardness factor that comes up when discussing or realizing ones siblings sexual preferences/desires.

Unless she drives a particularly distinctive car, like a rare model or one with visible dents/other damage, I doubt Reggie will know just from that that his sister is here. He might notice the car and think, “That’s the same model and color my sister drives,” but not, “Victoria is here?!”

Predicting his reaction when he finds out (if he gets involved with Alex for any significant period of time and continues to attend meetings, it’s only a matter of time) is a trickier business. The Boothes do seem to have a certain solidarity, at least when dealing with outsiders, but between themselves there still seems to be room for antagonism. We’d need to see him interacting with his sister in a “normal” setting to have more relevant information.

Given that Reggie has no overt problems with anyone at the club save Evrina, at least so far, I’d say he might give Victoria a little guff about the suit, but not anything truly hostile unless provoked.

He already knows that she has the same name as his sister … I think if he notices that there is a car that looks like his sister’s after meeting someone with her name (who refused to show her face) … Reggie has some blind spots (as do we all), but I suspect they aren’t big enough to drive a car through …

I dunno, I guess I sympathize with the teen. It must be hard being a teenage girl in a small town and with what seems like a family situation that is in flux. I teach at a uni with a high school attached so my students have ranged from 14 to 24. They don’t have fully grown brains yet and they are hormonal and insecure. It’s also weird because they look to me for guidance and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing as an adult. Some of my older kids have accidentally called me mom in class or during conferences, I’m only 27. I’d be willing to bet that most of us had really shitty teenage years.

For what it’s worth, you really seem to love and care for her. It seems she really loves you too. I hope I one day have as good of a relationship with my nieces when they get a bit older as you have with the teen. Still, sorry she can be a pain in the ass. I wouldn’t say her age excuses her actions, but it’s nice that you guys have an open relationship it seems despite that.

As for the money thing I’ve been meaning to join this patron. Hopefully I can do that after the wedding when balances even out. Least I can do for reading the comic.

Also been recommending the comic to friends, particularly those of the furry persuasion.

I’m going to sound like a nimrod, but who is The Teen? I haven’t paid much attention to the blogs in awhile and now this person is prominently mentioned. Anyone want to fill me in?

She’s my youngest cousin. Her Dad died a few years ago and her mom is in an assisted care facility. She lives with my family now. I’m the default keeper since Mom and Dad are busy doing things.

This may seem like a trivial observation, but kudos on keeping her mask a mask. Too many times in comics and cartoons, the mask becomes a moving part of the face, following the expressions of the character beneath. I’ve appreciated the fact that, regardless of her mood, the mask has remained the same.

I wanted to make sure the fact that it was just a mask remained clear.

It also continues to generate an amusing contrast between what she is obviously feeling (e.g. based on what she says) and the expression on her mask!

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