Today's voting incentive is the inked version of the mermaid I posted yesterday! And then tomorrow, I'll post up the finished version in various places. I like how it turned out. Haven't done art just for fun in...years. HM. So, I wanted to bring back around what Malaya's mom told her in Chapter 4, which was ages ago, but I assume by now you've all committed this entire comic to memory. (And if you have, I'll need to ask you questions as I get farther along and forget what I've written...shhhhh.) And because this comic is basically just my autobiography, except I am like a dozen werewolves and a few humans and I guess I live in Michigan somewhere and have multiple jobs, Malaya's mom's advice is mostly just the mantra I use to remind myself to do shit that scares me. Everything is scary if you haven't done it before, but you only have to be brave until you're used to it. It's easier to shore myself up to be brave in short bursts than it is to just be brave in general. ...Which is funny, because I've been pretty ballsy in the past repeatedly. I once drove my '95 Crown Victoria (with well over 200k miles) through the Mohave desert with a failing radiator, blasting the heat in the middle of the summer to keep the engine cool enough to make it to Arizona. It worked! It sucked. But I was also in constant fight-or-flight mode through most of my 20s, so I think that kept anxiety from kicking in as badly as it could have. Now, I mostly just poke around in the yard and paint things, because I'm in my 30s, but mentally I'm 85. Anyway, we've only got two more pages in this scene, which I totally planned to coincide with the end of the fashion contest...after I chose an end date. It worked out, regardless. Anyway, send me fashion contest entries! You've still got time! I think I've conquered my wander lust for the week. I made my way out to Schaumburg to the Ikea yesterday, which is not a quick trip from me, but I just needed to sow my wild oats, I guess...by driving an hour and a half to Ikea. (I'm mentally 85.) I also went to the Japanese mall in Arlington Heights, which I've been going to since I was in middle school. Looks just like the Mitsuwa I went to a few times out in Torrance when I lived in LA (Torrance also had a bad ass independent comic shop), except Arlington Heights location needs a bit of a face lift after all these years. I like how dark it is, though. It's got atmosphere. And the bakery has bread shaped like a panda with chocolate custard in the middle, and that's all that matters. I ended up buying a duvet insert at Ikea, so now my bed is nice and fluffy, which is how a bed should be. Okay, see you guys next week with the end of this scene!