RobinHarper
patreon
Being Fiona 259
🕑 Added 2024-11-04 04:58:47 +0000 UTCMeet Lucy everyone! Is the name Lucy too close to Lisa? Should I rename her to Penny? She just felt like a 'Lucy' to me for some reason.
Lucy is a former Epilepsy Response Dog (as will be explained in story in the next strip). I've been debating whether or not to include Lucy, since as a very social person Jess wouldn't be home that much. And I imagine Jess as the kind of person who would feel really bad about leaving Lucy home alone when she goes to class or goes out to socialize after school.
So adding a dog to the story might just complicate things?
And while Jess could put on Lucy's old service dog vest and bring Lucy everywhere with her, ever since Jess got her implant that manages her epilepsy, Jess hasn't bothered telling anyone about her epilepsy, and doesn't need a service dog anymore. And during the time in her life when she needed Lucy's help, Jess would have bad experiences with people misusing service dog vests and not want to do that herself.
I did have a compromise where Lucy was going to live back home with Jess' mom, and then stay with Jess on occasion, but I currently imagine Jess' mom as being a doctor (the real life person Jess' mom is inspired by is a doctor. so Robin and Jess' mom both being doctors is a bit of a coincidence) or some other professional, where she wouldn't be home much during the day either. Meaning that it would make more sense for Lucy to stay with Jess since Jess would have more time for her.
So maybe the solution is that Lucy goes to doggy daycare or stays with friend during the day and Jess just feels guilty about it?
Also in regards to Jess and her mom, I imagined Jess' Mom as a doctor who had a baby in the middle of med school, found a way to navigate through it, raised her child as a single mom, and the two of them having a super close relationship. Of course, Jess then gets into Sense Streaming, doesn't want to make her Mom worry, so doesn't tell her about her secret channel that's exploding in popularity, and then finds herself in a situation where she needs to lie more and more about things to her Mom, someone who she previously shared everything with.
Comments
From the Files of Robin Harper
Patreon does have a community chat feature that I haven't looked at, not sure if would offer something similar (probably wouldn't have the voice chat that discord does though)
Lonjil
I'm mostly interested in chatting with other fans of your work, so I wouldn't mind you not chiming in much at all.
From the Files of Robin Harper
My partner discovered a singer performing one of the opener sets at a concert she went to a few years ago, really liked the artist's sound, and looked her up afterwards. In that process my partner discovered that this artist also had an Only Fans where the artist made $30k a month for 'other activities.' That 30k a month is a rough benchmark I figured I'd use for Jess.
From the Files of Robin Harper
Yeah, that's basically the direction that it feels best to go with Lucy.
From the Files of Robin Harper
I haven't really thought about it. I'm more of a lurker, so I'm not sure what I'd do with it.
Senko
I am now wondering just how much she makes with her streaming service that even a one bedroom apartment is a "modest purchase".
Senko
I'm not a pet person but I'd imagine it'd be even stronger in this case. You have the usual owner/pet bond but also the service dog one where Jess is both taking care of and being taken of by Lucy. That's going to be hard to put aside even if she doesn't really need her anymore.
Lonjil
Have you considered having a Discord server?
stevedore
Attachment to pets can be incredibly strong. Just because Jess no longer needs a service dog doesn't take away from the bond that formed. So it makes sense she still has her even though it may not be the best circumstances, though I assume a service dog is accustomed to living in an mostly indoor situation. But the guilt would be there as Lucy probably does get out less than before and has lots of alone time. So daycare seems reasonable (if Jess can buy a condo i one assumes she has the money to do daycare)
From the Files of Robin Harper
It would probably depend on the magnitude of the personality change and how that other person reacts to the dog. If the borrower is friendly with the dog and helps them out when approached, the dog will probably be like, "that's weird," but roll with it. But if the borrower completely ignores the dog, and fails to react to the dog's social cues, the dog will probably freak out and be like, "what's wrong with you? Are you okay? Why are you ignoring me?"
Disbet
Lucy is a fine name. And maybe you don't need to explain exactly how she handled hey days when Jess is away, unless it needs to become a plot point.
Thatguywithaname
I kind of wonder if dogs or other animals can pick up that their masters bodies are being used by someone else? Like, if they can detect the personality change or whatever.
