Vote over at TWC and you can see the super cute sketches that I'm going to turn into stickers :). They are a good contrast to the heaviness of this part of our chapter O_O I can't write much, because it's a very important day today. Today is Paczki Day! Which are basically jelly donuts. But they're POLISH jelly donuts, and they're filled with many delicious fillings, and I pre-ordered mine this year and I have to go pick them up in a few minutes. Little pillowy donuts filled with strawberry and cream cheese and chocolate mousse...I love Paczki day. Actually, more than anything, I like what it represents: I'm almost done with February and spring is coming. The end of winter is on the horizon. Never mind that I have two feet of snow on the ground still. Winter is almost done. Almost. So close. Anyway, to address what a few people brought up from the last few pages, Connie's not dumb! She makes sketchy choices with obvious consequences, but she's fairly smart overall. The problem is that she's not rational, which is different. Will this pregnancy technically kill her without enough magic to make it work? Sure! But in her mind, she'll figure it out. And if the end game is to get Thomas to stick around, then all the better if the stakes are higher. One thing that pops up pretty commonly on abusive, dysfunctional relationships is that one partner will threaten to kill themselves if the other person leaves. Will they actually do that? It's hard to say. But they've put their partner in a position of responsibility over their own life, them being irrational enough to possibly go through with it, and thus their partner stays. And if they do kill themselves, well, it was the partner's fault. Not theirs. (Note: this is not actually true, it's not their partner's fault at all.) Abusive relationships are not based in rational, logical thought. They are based on getting one person's desired emotional outcomes, damn the cost, and function on the whim of a reality of their own making. Connie chooses the reality she wants to live in, which is the one where she cannot fail and no one is allowed to leave her and her choices are correct despite all evidence. Side note: if you're in a relationship where your partner threatens to kill themselves if you leave, please report this to the police and seek assistance. You are not responsible for the actions of that person and they need help you cannot provide them. I should add that Thomas is not necessarily a good person here, either. This is an all-around toxic relationship, even if at this point in the comic, he still seems sympathetic. Neither of them are good people, even if they're messed up in different directions. We'll get to that pretty soon, though. Anyway, I'm off to retrieve my fancy donuts and then finish inking and coloring some cutesy stickers while listening to the Congressional hearing with the FBI. Such a great Tuesday!