Needs Met, page 06

[erinptah]

Title: Needs Met, page 06
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: "Stephen"/Jon, l!"Stephen"/Jon, Sweetness
Disclaimer: This is a work of parody. Although reference is made to real persons, the dialogue, actions, and content are products of the artist's imagination only.

The Stephens react to the discovery that their Jons have switched places.




Also here on DA, with links to the rest.

Comments

[lady-sci-fi.livejournal.com]

awww at poor pantsless barefoot Jon on the street

Still liking this :)

[erinptah]

I had fun with those boxers.

Thanks :3

[(Anonymous)]

You know, I'm actually more worried about, and for, l!Stephen. I mean, c!Stephen is at least acknowledging, and expressing, his anger over the situation. l!Stephen, not so much. One wonders in what screwed up, sideways way it will come out.

[erinptah]

Ohhhhh, I like you.

Whoever you are, there's an impending "I Called It!" balloon drop with your name on it.

[nelleellen.livejournal.com]

That was me. I have no idea why it decided to post anonymously. Argh.

[nelleellen.livejournal.com]

And we've discussed the parallels between me and l!Stephen before, I do believe. :)

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

I was kinda thinking the same thing...

It's interesting when c!Stephen comes out of any comparison as the one with the healthiest reaction to something.

[erinptah]

"Interesting" is one word for it, all right. (For the full effect, c!Stephen probably should have fired, but I didn't want to be quite that cruel...)

[punkishgrin.livejournal.com]

I love the irony of "Stephen" trying to preserve his "modesty".

Oooh, passive aggression coming up soon, yes? This'll be interesting:)

[erinptah]

L!Stephen doesn't do passive-aggression (although independent observers might get that impression). He just sort of gets more and more passive, and twists himself in knots to do it.

[jmie.livejournal.com]

That's always been one of my weirdest hypothetical fears, being stuck outside of the house with no pants on. If I were in heart-boxer-Jon's situation, I'd probably be standing behind those bushes by now.

Speaking of which, I'm really digging the way that c!Stephen is clutching the cover to his chest, like he doesn't want this strange-Jon to see his bare chest in such intimate settings. Though our "Stephen" has flashed the audience his nipples before, so mabe it's just covering what he can after intimacy or just an extra barrier or layer of protection? Actually, I think c!Stephen let that Jon off kind of easy, no pants but a full minute to gtfo to a certain point before he'd shoot. I consider that an improvement, especially considering that "Stephen" has shot before and the stressful situation.

(Sigh) c!Stephen has his sob after he learns that his Jon was in on this pre-meditated switch, and that's sad enough, but l!Stephen's hurt is just as glaring, despite those quiet words "Did you really think we wouldn't notice the difference? . . . Oh..." Both the Stephens' reactions are different, but the hurt is the same.

Well... at least both Jons will have a small bit of time to compose themselves before they have to fix their mess. c!Stephen's Jon was treated to a waffle breakfast, so he has some food in his stomach, before he goes home to face his glaringly broken Stephen, who won't be shy in letting him know he's done wrong. And l!Stephen's Jon may be in his boxers (... imagining how he's going to get home is pretty funny, actually,) but at least he'll have a few moments to get some pants on, while his Stephen represses his emotions, before they come out.

If this comic weren't so cute and humorous at the bottom of it all, I'd be more worried. :)

[inspirine.livejournal.com]

Re: c!Stephen is clutching the cover to his chest.

Maybe it's just me but I think he feels somewhat violated and he's instinctively covering himself.

[erinptah]

Balloon drop for inspirine this time - c!Stephen feels violated, so he's using everything he can reach to protect himself.

And, yeah, l!Stephen is holding a lot in. (There's a reason his answer in the panel opposite the sob wasn't just "yes".)

Neither Jon knows for sure that the other one has been found out, so they can't just run straight home. Three-sided rendezvous in that interdimensional café, coming right up...

[inspirine.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how blasé l!Stephen is. I didn't think that he'd burst like c!Stephen did but at least show some disappointment. I wonder how it will eventually come out.

Jon's boxers are adorable and, no, I don't feel sorry whatsoever for him.

[erinptah]

Oh, he's disappointed, all right. Which is why he's overcompensating by being especially nice and giving. Because he is Tolerant and Forgiving, and by golly he's going to stick to that if it kills him. (...that wasn't foreshadowing for this story, btw, so nobody panic.)

Heh, fair enough.

[nelleellen.livejournal.com]

Heh. How did you crawl into my psyche like that? You know, it's a bit...unnerving...to have an inadvertent fanfic emotional doppelganger...::grins:: (I mean l!Stephen, not you...)

[erinptah]

Nah, that's the secret - l!Stephen is my emotional doppelganger, which makes him easy to sort out =)

[nelleellen.livejournal.com]

No wonder I adore your fic. :)

[sarcasticsra]

I'm worried about l!Stephen too. c!Stephen, however, can rock the fuck on.

(He's in my head, utterly bewildered by the idea that I would ever say that to him. "Something's wrong here! You never agree with me! Usually you sic the scary woman with the gun on me!" he says.

"Isabella likes Jon and Brian too much to actually hurt you and you know it. Besides, we both hate Maureen Dowd," I reply.

"...true enough."

Yes, I have head conversations with fictional characters. DO NOT JUDGE ME.)

...anyway, MOAR is needed. I can't wait for the Jons to get their much-needed smacks upside the heads about WHY this was so BLINDINGLY STUPID.

[erinptah]

Sounds about right :D

(As long as said characters aren't telling you to burn things, I think you're in the clear!)

More is on the way!

[aybara-max.livejournal.com]

I was going to comment on the art here, since I commented on the story on DA, but I'm still too angry at the Jons DX Also, nelleellen called it! ::waits impatiently for next::

[erinptah]

Still entirely fair =)

Also, fknwsgenderswap OT?

[aybara-max.livejournal.com]

Arrgh, yes it's on its way. I had a great topic planned out this am, then was derailed by a horribly sexist article. Didn't want to just go and rant.

[wishflower4.livejournal.com]

Aw man, I really wanna hug hippie Stephen. He looks all...broken. And that's not cool. D:

[erinptah]

They could both use a hug right now, I think. (From someone trustworthy, that is...)

[canadian-plant.livejournal.com]

I love how, despite the fact that you have c!"Stephen" wielding Sweetness, it's l!"Stephen"'s reaction that's really on centre stage here. He really does have just as many issues as c!"STephen", doesn't he?

[erinptah]

Oh, yes. At the base of it, they have pretty much identical issues. But l!Stephen has less abrasive/in-your-face coping mechanisms, so it's not always as obvious that he's being dysfunctional too.

[southerngaelic.livejournal.com]

....I sense a timebomb waiting to go off in Hippie!Stephen. D:

But really, Jons? What did you think would happen? xP

[erinptah]

Yyyyep.

The Jons clearly experienced a Critical Thinking Error on this one...

[shoebox_addict]

Aww! Poor Jon!! ;__; Still loving it!

[erinptah]

♥!

[sirdrakesheir.livejournal.com]

;__________________;

I'M GOING TO HAVE TO GO AGAINST THE GRAIN ON THIS ONE

FDKJDFK C!STEPHEN I AM SO WORRIED ABOUT HIM DDDD: HE'S NAKED AND ALONE AND SCARED AND HE JUST WANTS HIS JON BACK BUT EVEN IF HE DOES GET HIM HE'S BETRAYED AND FDJKFHDJKG WHO IS GOING TO TUCK HIM IN AND MAKE HIM SOUP AND HOLD HIM TIGHT

ALTHOUGH I MUST SAY ALSO L!STEPHEN IS JUST FLOATING AROUND OUT THERE, SO COMPLETELY CRUSHED AND DDJKFDS

HOW IS THIS GOING TO BE OKAY IN THE END I'M ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT

WELL DONE MISS THING WELL DONE DDD:



lol also i must there is so much retroactive danger in that stephen/stephen bit i mean HIS NAME IS HIS SAFEWORD THAT'S AN UNSAFE SITUATUION TO BE IN WHEN YOU'RE HAVING SEX WITH YOURSELF idk idk i don't think any of these people make very good life choices

[erinptah]

It is not a good situation for either of them!

Who will be left to hold c!Stephen? How will l!Stephen regain his self-assurance? Will there be any way to work in more fluffy sex before this ends? Are there secret messages hidden in l!Stephen's shirts?

TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR THE SOLUTIONS. And by "next time" I mean "the next six or eight times, maybe."


I totally need to draw omake for this story with l!Stephen telling c!Stephen "No, you need to pick a different safeword tonight."

[gaiafaye.livejournal.com]

C!Stephen is so obviously emotionally bludgeoned that his Jon would betray his trust like that. :( (And I'm sure eventually we'll see l!Stephen is bludgeoned as well.) These Jons suck. It's going to take forever for them to build that trust again.

[erinptah]

Yyyyep.

This one's going to need a lot of pieces-picking-up.

[zekris.livejournal.com]

I like how much juxtaposition there is in this story. Like between l!Stephen c!Stephen and that nifty split-screen look you've been doing. (I really love stylistic effects like that, and the extreme contrast it shows really helps lend more humor into the situation than if you just took each half of the comic and looked at it alone.)

And there's the juxtaposition between how adorable the drawings are compared to the complex issues/consequences of what those adorable drawings are doing. (It's so cute! But you just get a continual sense of impending doom because the Jons didn't take the Stephens individual needs into consideration and you just know that pretty soon c!Stephen's going to be suffering from his suddenly worse and now-justified trust issues, and l!Stephen's going to...what is l!Stephen's reaction going to be? He seems so accomodating, he just has to be boiling over on the inside...)

Anyways, tl;dr. Basically, I love contrast. And essay writing, apparently. Oh, and this comic/story thing! Gonna stop rambling now...but really, I'm loving this.

[erinptah]

The split-screen has been ridiculously fun. Especially when I can get the two parallel panels to look like they belong in sequence -- like the one Jon saying "I wonder what else I forgot...?" -- cut to the other Jon with "You have a gun."

And, yeah, I think this would tumble into over-the-top angst much more quickly if not for the chibi-ness. (It also allows the art to switch to a more realistic style in order to punch up certain moments. More on that later!)

A clue about l!Stephen: He is terrible at standing up for himself, but much more comfortable defending other people...

So glad you're liking it, and more is on the way!