Poor old Aoife, how much more of this can she handle before she suffers an embarrassment-induced coma? Ashling would probably be laughing her head off if she could see this.
Since this is page 10, there will now be a break. Just like with Back Office, I would like to push my luck and make this a 2-week break. This is due to me finishing up work on this year’s Coffee Party book with Nao & Co. All going well the book will be appearing in a few weeks in COMITA at Tokyo Big Sight.
Here’s a sneak peak of one of my pages 😀
Next update: Friday 28th of October
No, no, Aoife. You think all the sexy thoughts you like. We don’t mind. 😈
Good luck on the book, Rawr. Have a good and productive break. 😀
You’re washing your whole body, Aoife. Start with your arms and work your way down. Nothing HAS to be “sexy”. Oh, wait, it’s YOU we’re talking about here, isn’t it. My bad.
All snarkyness aside, I think washing hair would present a greater challenge, since Aine’s hair is probably pretty matted.
I like how the brand name of the bodywash is “Fan & Serve”.
Well, Aoife may not have had any luck at all with Ashling, but she seems to have grabbed Aine’s attention. I’m guessing that’s what her embarrassment is really about. 😉 Although I do wonder what Aine makes of Aoife’s very obvious discomfort here.
Hey, I suddenly realized that Aoife can break the fourth wall! That means that even though she may not be able to see them right now she knows that hundreds of people might be watching her, and quite a few would be snickering at her predicament. MOST people would blush under those circumstances. ^^
I think you’re wrong, Delta. I suspect that Aoife would be a lot more confident and comfortable with an audience. I think it’s being alone with a girl she’s attracted to and who shows some signs of possibly reciprocating that has her all flustered.
@Kessy: So an exhibitionist WITHOUT a big audience gets flustered? O.o I just learned something new. ^^
But seriously, it remains to be seen whether Aine’s response is more interest or gratitude for all the help. Aoife has misread intent before, so we’ll have to just wait and see.
The one thing I do know is that whatever the answer is, it will be presented entertainingly. ^^
@Delta: You’re right about it remaining to be seen what Aine’s intent is. but in this case I’m talking about how it feels to Aoife. When Aine held Aoife’s arm a few pages ago I’m not sure what Aine was thinking but I’m pretty sure about what Aoife was feeling. It’s a subconscious thing – even if Aoife knows better intellectually (and she does seem to know better than to jump to conclusions) the heart does as the heart does.
As for an exhibitionist without an audience, think of it in terms of doing something familiar and comfortable as opposed to being in a new situation. As Random Guy on the bus demonstrated, Aoife isn’t bothered by someone looking at her at all. so being naked (or nearly so) in front of people where there definitely isn’t any mutual interest is something that Aoife has done many times before – it’s familiar, it’s comfortable. But being in a situation like this with Aine is something completely new for her. Having an audience would take the situation back to something that’s familiar for Aoife. (Although being completely naked in front of a general audience might be something different from just being in her underwear, I dunno.)
@Kessy: You make some excellent points here, and, to be honest, If I had to guess, I’d guess that Aoife is probably quite a bit more complicated than her single-minded pursuits would suggest. The whole persona that she presents to the world may even be a mask to hide the more vulnerable “real” Aoife.
One of the things I like about Bata Neart, is the emotional depth of the characters. The more I read, the more I realize that none of the “speaking roles” are actually two dimensional–even the secondary characters (well, perhaps not Gary) have more than you see on the surface.
@Deedles: Yay! I’m glad you noticed that 🙂 I like throwing in little Easter Eggs like that in my work.
@Delta: Aww shucks…you do know how to embarrass an old(ish) cartoonist. Thank you again for the kind words about Bata Neart.
I am very tempted to tell you all a lot more about Aoife, but I feel that I would end up robbing you of the experience of getting to truly know her. There is a lot more story behind Aoife alone (not to mention Áine who gets focus in this chapter, and also Ashling who also has her own past).
By the time we reach the end of Bata Neart, I hope that you’ll know her as well as I do.
I’m going to start calling showers rain boxes from now on.
Hah, and Aine’s first word in English is a reference to an American politician. I love the irony.
The most widely accepted etymology for OK is that it originated from an early 19th century fad for acronyms and comical misspellings in the US. It actually reminds me a little of internet speak. You had expressions like OFM our first men, GT gone to Texas, SP small potatoes, NG no go. OK is thought to have been for oll korrect – all correct. But the term really got popularized in the election of 1840. At the time public figures were often given knicknames of the form, “Old ____” Andrew Jackson was Old Hickory. Zachary Taylor was Old Rough and Ready, Winfield Scott was Old Fuss and Feathers. (Don’t feel bad if you don’t know who any of those are – most Americans would only recognize Andrew Jackson’s name.) In the election of 1840 the Democrats retconed OK to stand for Old Kinderhook, a reference to their candidate’s (Martin Van Buren)’s hometown, Kinderhook NY.
Fascinating. I recognized all of them except for Winfield Scott (though he sounds familiar) as somewhere in the first dozen presidents. It’s funny: whenever I think of who’s who in the line, I always remember my old freshman year Civics book. it had photos of all of the presidents up to…either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. I can’t quite remember which since the books were a few years behind.
But I’m pretty sure Taylor was 10th or 11th, Jackson was 13th(?), and Van Buren was 14th or 15th. *does a quick Google search* Wow was I off. The correct order is: 7th=Jackson, 8th=Van Buren, Taylor=12th. I think I need to go back to school. :>P
@melaredblu: Glad you liked the saying. I owed you one ever since you gave me the “Sense!” punch. (I’m still very tempted to do that to someone).
@Kessy: Yay! I’m glad someone noticed Áine’s baby-steps into English 🙂
I had always reckoned that ‘OK’ had some origin in the States, I never guessed it was popularised in a presidential election.
It makes me wonder if Kinderhook was….not bad? 😀
@Farren: Like many Europeans, the only way I know any of those names is because of this:
@Farren: I have never for the life of me understood why schoolkids are made to memorize the list of Presidents. That seems like one of the more pointless things in school. Anyway, Winfield Scott was a general in the Mexican-American War and led the amphibious assault on Vera Cruz and the subsequent attack on Mexico City. He did run for President but lost.
@Rawr: I have no idea what Kinderhook is like, I’ve never been there and to be honest didn’t even remember the name until I looked up what the K stands for. According to Wikipedia it’s a tiny town of 8,000 in the Hudson Valley. Van Buren himself was pretty unremarkable.
The funny thing is that Zachary Taylor is the only one I mentioned that’s in the song. The reason he’s forgettable is because he died a little over a year into his Presidency. As I recall he was quite the colorful character but I don’t really remember much detail. Politico recently wrote an article about him comparing him to Trump because he was a celebrity who took over an established party by sheer force of personality and created tremendous divisions. Politico blamed him for the demise of the Whig Party, but that seems like a stretch – the Whigs were killed by slavery.