Mal0 - Matched! [Complete]

Local Ghost Women On Your WiFi!

Some late-night creepy-pasta certainly took a turn.

Maya's been ranting about a "digital ghost woman" since the beginning of October, saying if you get a mysterious download late at night you'll be stalked by a being know as Mal0! And of course, she leaves off the "escalating haunting campaign of terror and pain leading to death" part of the urban legend - spooky women are squarely in Maya's court, mortal injury be damned.

Jake's barely had time to listen, with college classes going into full-gear. There's no time for "Maya Mysteries" when midterms are looming up - especially when a Maya Mystery actually leads to a REAL monster that Jake NEVER knew existed and now has to DEAL with the FACT that things DO go bump in the night. (And also he is one of those things, but not like a monster - just some kind of sex demon, which did actually explain a lot of Jake's problems in his life ... ) As potentially interesting the Mythical world was, Jake was planted in the real world - his world, of school and tests and jobs and bills. Focus was always a weakness for Jake, and college was suppose to about growing up.

But, well ... the story, uh ...

OK - so urban legends were cool, Jake had to admit and some time spent down a rabbit hole (no, not that) could be a nice distraction from the college student grind. Hours later, Jake found an end - a few nice spooky tales, a mountain of conflicting testimony and lies, long video essays, etc. But everything he read - the tales, the threads - while cool, just had to be bullshit. Too much inconsistency, too much of that middle school edge. If you even learn about her, she'll find and kill you, and there's nothing you can do to stop her - It's like that movie The Ring, you're just fucked. Bullshit.

Jake had learned that things like vampires do exist and zombies are real thing that evil sorcerers create. Witches do get together in the moonlight to brew potions. Werewolves howl out in the woods. Decades and centuries of legends do actually mean something - but a ghost in your internet? That was something created yesterday. Science Fiction. Just about the only Fiction left that Jake didn't believe in. It was comforting to have that line draw and uncrossed still.

Really, Jake felt confident in his research. Maybe just this once, he was right and Maya was wrong. He didn't need to be wrapped around Maya's finger, being stung along like an idiot in a world he didn't understand. Didn't have to understand, actually - and shouldn't be expected to. So what if he was something silly like a "latent incubus." What did that even really mean? His sex drive was just really strong and he had a big dick. He couldn't cast spells or fly or whatever. He wouldn't live 500 years. Jake was outside of normal, but not really in Maya's crazy world.

Jake resolved himself - He would say his piece on the whole "Mal0" thing tomorrow, if he managed to catch Maya out of her room. She'd been secretive recently, which was probably a bad thing. Plans and schemes and having shit blow up in her face - that was Maya. Yes, he'd knock on her door tomorrow, regardless of the concerning ritual circle that had been drawn over it. Tell her what he thought and do a little check up that a real problem wasn't developing over there.

Settled, Jake returned to his normal Saturday night - doomscrolling pointless apps and sites, until it inevitably turned into goonscrolling. Which was always quick, considering Jake's timeline was just about every thirst account or r34 artist he could find ...

This night was going to be normal.

(And there it is - 21 pages - my biggest furry-related project to date FINALLY completed. We're definitely out of October, so that Halloween release window has been missed. I did think it was possible to get everything done by Halloween, but not with MFF prep and commissions included. I don't often completely throw away deadlines - I tend to stretch them out to about two weeks past the initial estimate - but here I just had too much going on. So thanks to for the patience of everyone who followed along with this.

I consider this to be the first canonical comic of my universe. I didn't expect it to involve Mal0, but ever since my first drawings of her last summer, I've considered her perfectly in theme for my setting. Spooky, creepy, cryptids, legends, monsters - yep, it's about fucking women like that.

I did enjoy building Jake up more as a character. He was the self insert character I created, but I think I've developed a good amount of what makes Jake Jake. It may not be apparent here, but he's got some interesting themes going on - mainly being thrust dick-first into a world he doesn't understand, and struggling with how he should deal with everything. Oh, and Jake definitely has a problem with porn. A big part of his character is that Maya is constantly encouraging his bad habits and to "be himself" - i.e. embrace his incubus nature, which he thinks isn't really who he really is. A lot of my characters have dual senses of their selves that they struggle between,

But of course, I have to balance lore and character stuff with "interesting" scenarios that I think people will enjoy (sex), but I think I can have my cake and eat it too.

Mal0 will return, You're stuck with Jake, and Maya's going to be the star next time.

Note - Normally, I'd say that growth fetish stuff would be under the SideLineMOJO name, but I think this is just a bit more towards MainLineMOJO - no one is pregnant, and I consider this to be pretty canon. Mal0 is basically a shapeshifter, anyway. )