Home on the Strange: In The Belly Of The Beast, Part 10

In The Belly Of The Beast, Part 10

Sponsored by Toothless

Tanner and I share a mantra.

The Script For Today's Comic!

SCENE:
Izzy is leaving the house, up and back in the banquet room. Seth is following her, still in his ludicrous outfit.

PANEL 1:

IZZY (not coldly, but coming to a distant realization that's so intense that she barely remembers Seth is in the room - this has been a long day): That’s it, Seth. I'm going back home.

SETH (disbelief): To Tanner? To THAT life?

IZZY: Why not? You just convinced me that everyone’s a little screwed up inside.

PANEL 2:
IZZY (a silly smile on her face as she thinks about this, and the camera shouldn’t even have Seth in it – she’s not talking to Seth, but to the readers, a monologue where she steps away from the camera, perhaps even with a blank background to indicate the timelessness of this revelation): See, when I first met Tanner, he was cute. And so funny. I liked him right away.

IZZY: But he was damaged goods.

PANEL 3:
IZZY (even though she's talking to Seth, Seth is nowhere to be seen, because in Izzy's emotional state Seth barely registers): You’re right, Seth: He's insecure, and clingy, with this psychotic Lancelot syndrome... And he still carried a torch for Ann.

PANEL 4:
IZZY (shamed, small, perhaps even the background ): That’s why I didn't want to fall in love with him.

PANEL 5:
IZZY: I kept saying, "I can't commit to this man. He's too messed up." But I'm messed up, too – I’m mean and defensive sometimes.

IZZY (vulnerable, really vulnerable, expressing the one thing she’s terrified of): If I let someone like that inside, do you know how BAD we could be for each other?

PANEL 6:
IZZY (slightly disgusted): “He’ll get his act together,” I said. “Then we’ll date.” So that being with me was the prize.

IZZY: He had to change first. And why should he bother when I’m not changing, and….

PANEL 7:
IZZY (the moment of realization): Oh, God, what am I doing?

IZZY (crying to the heavens): I am dating him. I’m in love with him. He doesn’t even know how much I care, because I’m trying to strongarm him into getting his life together!

PANEL 8:
IZZY (making up her mind as Seth is suddenly back in the camera, watching as she puts on her coat): So I'm going home to tell my boyfriend that he IS my boyfriend, and that I love him no matter how many possums he runs over. Because yeah, he’s going to make mistakes — but it’s time to start making them together.

(CUT TO: Tanner’s apartment. He is opening up the door in his underwear, cringing, blood all over his forehead. Through the door, we can see the following:

1) That the furniture is askew, as if there has been a fight.
2) There is blood on the walls.
3) There is a prominent light with a white, sexy slip hanging off of it, also with blood on it.
4) Many, many (or at least a few) empty bottles of rotgut booze.

(IZZY is, needless to say, shocked.)

TANNER (worried and still drunk): I can explain…. 196b

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Ferrett Says

This is it. The end of the first year of Home on the Strange. We'll be taking a two-week break with guest strips by some wonderful people, and then... well, maybe we'll answer some of the questions here.

But don't go away! Just because Roni's exhausted (and can you blame her, after all of this artwork she's been churning out?) doesn't mean that I won't blather on! There will be an end-of-year retrospective! A poll! And, perhaps, even a contest (assuming I can get Roni to buy into it!)

Stay tuned!