New pages!

Hey! I think you’re a new member, it says your lifetime support is 0$ probably meaning your pledge hasn’t been processed yet! Is this the only one you can’t see?

Z-Pico

I am a member and have received a mail about this new post, but I’m still seeing “Join to unlock” and unable to see the page. Can someone help? Thanks!

YK Tsang

I have an overabundance of emotions from each chapter, I can’t count how many times I’ve reread the comic!

the pretty boy

haha yay 🥰

Cristina Águila

I haven’t been sure how to bring it up, so I’m just going to dive in, my experience of the waist is very different. I feel that while neither the Boy or Tera have sexual attraction, they do have sensual. This is the desire to touch someone in nonsexual ways. Including things that could vary between: holding hands, hugging, cuddling, dancing, sleeping(and only sleeping) together, and for some kissing, as a kiss is not by itself sexual, it’s context dependent. Touch, like eye contact(which I feel is a form of touch) and speaking, is a type of communication. When Tera held the Boy’s waist now what I feel this shows is the way Tera had felt reassured the Boy cares during the walk back. That the Boy touching first was a nonverbal saying, “I’m here too” and Tera returned this gesture the moment he saw the Boy again. When I hold someone, or I’m held by them, what I feel is the message that I care for them, that I’d protect them and that I trust they'd do the same. Your waist is one of the most vulnerable areas of your body. Your abdomen is among the places(the neck being another) where you’re physically the softest and it’s, at least for me, extremely sensitive. I wouldn’t want anyone except those I trust to touch me there. Nor would I assume someone else was comfortable with me touching them automatically. I do have multiple conditions that give me intensified touch sensitivity, even certain types of clothes can be overwhelming, which means I may be a biased perspective. The reason I focus on this now is that we’re at the beginning of this part of their life and I felt it could be useful to have some additional views about it. ~ I have a few more things I’d like to mention: It had gotten lost in my previous thoughts, but the Boy being on Tera’s back also brought up chapter 7. The contrast with the way the Boy had launched from the bed that time onto Tera. Their dog and cat ears jutting out of the towels was absurdly adorable. Them working together reminded me again of chapter 3 with the guinea pig and how Tera didn’t help with that so called burial. The way the broken part of the mask switches sides throughout this chapter, or isn’t visible at all, combined with the light sources, shading, texturing, and location of the Boy and Tera is something I’ve loved seeing. When they’re in front of the window on the last page it brought back chapter 11 vividly. Something I’ve thought about that moment in particular is how the Boy would have needed to brush his hand against Tera’s neck to access the pendent. Both these scenes have a shocking closeness and distance. That they’re both right there, and yet one is suddenly ripped from the world. Before that, I felt this flustered sense from Tera when he says, “you’re so focused.”(I see him blushing.) Tera is surrounded by people who talk and he seems lost with how to react to someone, especially the Boy, being quiet. That the Boy was so at peace is beautiful. In a humorous way, it’s another connection to chapter 3 and how Tera wondered if the Boy ever doesn’t make so much noise. Having the paint be luminous – glow in the dark, has my heart. ~ The scene, music note, and other details are cherished by me. I don’t what else to say.

anon

Yeah same! I’m getting a bit worried 😢

Katie_Wdz03

Yessss 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ but rn I'm really wondering whether it'll be discontinued bc we have no news of the "come back" date 😭 not even that, we have no news/updates at all...

Rima

Tera <3 I want them to cuddle and love each other for ever and ever at some point but for now I just love them both

Ammeg

Are you one too then? Love both of them.

Katie_Wdz03

I didn't think I'd see a Midnight Poppyland fan here 👀

Rima

moose, that’s such a lovely reply, thank you for sharing with me. I hope you’re doing well on your journey of exploration, things with orientation can be incredibly challenging to understand. If you haven’t already heard of AVEN it’s a place online you could find some possible connections as well. The information website: https://www.asexuality.org/?q=overview.html The forums: https://www.asexuality.org/en/

anon

I am so glad I started finding your little essays on here, I’m gonna go back to previous chapters and read what you’ve been saying in there because this comic is very moving and strikes a deep chord in me and I love the bridge you build to a deeper understanding and perspective. I really so appreciate it. This comic does a lot for me as a budding self-realizing asexual person as well and I’d love to check out Asexual Erotics

moose

Didn't know that ppl could check that just by holding someone's waist 😶‍🌫️

Rima

Let me say it this way: the boy might wanna get ready to learn how to use crutches and walk with a shattered pelvis...

Michael Lohmeier

Wait wait, watchu mean by "the space available"...space available for what...??? 😶‍🌫️

Rima

I love how Tera look at the boy's cat ear (like, tilted his head ) goddamn im sure he be smiling and sh*t

Joey trying her best

During July I was having something of a creative pause, it made me feel a sense of recognition with what you said about that first art extra. I wrote a bunch and the bulk I left in my scraps. Things weren’t flowing the way I wanted as I was doing a substantial amount of research and most of it became notes. I’m still moving through that phase, but I have a piece to share. ~ I'm nervous. I need to say that before I can get into this writing. Recently I’ve been rethinking some personal matters. Most of them I don’t feel need to be spoken of, others however feel relevant. Many things about this story move me in ways I find difficult to explain, as I read and write about it, I learn about myself. What I hadn’t named is that I’m so impacted by how the Boy and Tera care for each other because it feels like how I love. I’d been hanging onto the label demisexual as a way of giving myself a, “just in case” clause.(Being demisexual is completely valid, it just doesn’t feel like me. I held it out of fear, and I don’t want to anymore.) It was created by two relationships I'd had as a confounded teenager who was grappling unknowingly not only with a question of, “am I bi or gay?” but with, “how does this all even work?” I didn’t have anyone around me who expressed feeling the way I did.(The current estimate is that only around 1% of people are asexual.) It wasn’t until adulthood that I heard the word. When I did I avoided fully taking it on, I continually invalidated my experience. Seeing how Tera in particular behaves helped me with self-acceptance. I don’t know that it was intended, but this relationship is a beautiful showing of what could be called asexual love.(Not that either of them need to be asexual in terms of orientation, but in their behavior.) I read a number of books on asexuality during July. Two I feel connect are, “Asexual Erotics” by Ela Przybylo and, “Ace” by Angela Chen, both books explored a concept of the erotic beyond the sexual. This was partially inspired by Audre Lorde’s essay, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” in it Lorde was bringing forth a call to see beyond the Freudian view that erotics is strictly sexual.(I have so many issues with Freud.) From Lorde, “The very word “erotic” comes from the Greek god “eros”, the personification of love in all its aspects – born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony.”(Quotation marks are mine as in the writing she used italics, but I can’t do that here.) She saw this as driving everything, especially the resistance against oppression, her writing is brilliant and fiercely passionate. I adored, “The Selected Works of Audre Lorde” edited by Roxane Gay. From this vantage point I see the Boy and Tera’s love as erotic and nonsexual. I feel that the comic is dealing with heteronormativity, compulsory sexuality, disability, trauma, economic disadvantages, and violence.(I don’t want to assume these terms are known, I didn’t know them until a while ago. If you do already have knowledge I hope you’ll forgive my repetition for you.) Heteronormativity is the conscious and/or unconscious assumption underlying beliefs that heterosexuality is the natural or given state of humans and that everything else is thus an abnormality. Something which can be taken to show either disease or deviance in those who do not fit inside this one mode. Compulsory sexuality is an evolution of the term compulsory heterosexuality. This is being made to include not only allosexual people, those who experience sexual attraction, but also asexual people and how assumed sexuality impacts people across the spectrum. Bringing in another type of, “coming out” I’m disabled and I read the Boy as being so as well. His PTSD impacts his life to a significant degree and it means he has a series of ways he's had to adapt trying to live in an abled world, that’s how I see disability. The ways I’ve spoken about him are things I’ve needed to hear and it’s been healing for me. Wounds I did, and didn’t, know I had feel soothed by his character. With Tera I see the issues of heteronormativity and compulsory sexuality. I read his tinder activity as someone desperate for human contact and not knowing at the time he could find it a different way. It connects to another book I read, “Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin” by Ashley Montagu. In it the longing for physical contact is discussed to great depth.(Please be aware this book is a product of its time and so contains some information that’s both inaccurate and insensitive. Not everyone wants to be touched, for some it’s unbearable and this book frames that trait negatively, among other issues.) I feel that Tera has been going without this. Part of the book speaks about how people may seek sex when what they could really want is to cuddle. Yet because of compulsory sexuality and homophobia, cultural norms say people across genders in westernized societies can only be in contact when it’s sexual and that same gendered people should avoid touching lest they be thought gay. The book was published in the twentieth century, so things have shifted some, but these problems are ongoing. For Tera growing up in the environment he did they would be more noticeable than elsewhere. He’s in an extremely violent, male dominated world where touch is connected to threat. I feel that this means Tera has never experienced safety in closeness like he’s having with the Boy now. Despite the age difference, it comes across to me that they’re both having something happen for the first time. That would make things all the more confusing. They have no guide in this either, there is no where for them to turn to except each other. I always felt that Tera wasn’t only surprised the Boy approached him because the Boy started off pushing him away, but also because to be touched safely is a new thing by itself. It was only said once, but Kain saying, “fags” in the bank during chapter 4 has stuck with me. I’ve often wondered what it’s like for Tera to be falling in love with another young man. What those in his life he’s leaving behind would think of it. Kain asking about, “a chick” in the car during chapter 12 also scratches at me. The immediate assumption that the explanation for Tera’s mood and his broken mask is a woman. Further on, I’ve felt intensely curious what Kain might say if he found out. How far that homophobia may lie in him. The difference between Joris not seeming to care much about it is interesting, families can have massive differences in beliefs. These things have been in my background of thoughts while I was working through the shocks of chapter 11 and their implications. Now that I’ve passed those, I have all these other questions. Tera is showing a tremendous amount of courage to let go of his previous life to find who he is. I know I was enraged at him, and I’m not blind to what he has done, but I love him dearly. He’s an example of what I’ve seen people term, “bad representation” they don’t mean in the sense of harm. What they mean is how we benefit not only from marginalized people being “good” and seen in a positive light, but having characters shown that aren’t perfect. Seeing characters who are deeply human and flawed. I love seeing a story like, “Heartstopper” where there is, “good representation” it’s special. I also celebrate stories like this one, I see both as essential. Isaac from, “Heartstopper” is a treasure of an asexual character, he’s even seen reading, “Ace” but Tera is where I feel most represented.(Again, regardless of his orientation, which I don’t feel needs to be stated. It could, I just don’t feel that it has to.) I am not good representation. Being bi and asexual makes me bad for the gay community, being disabled makes me bad for the asexual community, being asexual makes me bad for the disabled community, and being all of that together makes me bad representation for the other marginalized communities I occupy. I am all of these things, just as Tera and the Boy are their everything. I love that they’re so gloriously messy.

anon

I love it. Especially the symbolic nature of the cracking mask. His cover, the man who is a member of Black Death and a ruthless individual only interested in his own gains, starts to crack and the human behind the mask starts to shine through. Also, as someone who is tall myself I can tell you: grabbing someone smaller by the waist (and even touching your own fingertips) does something to you deep in your guts. And it doesn't matter if it is a dude or a girl...So Tera is kinda checking out the boy regarding...the space available.

Michael Lohmeier

I wish we could get a colored version of the closeup panel of the Boy towards the end.

jodyri

I just can’t get enough of their growing dynamic. And as someone who frequently has their birthday forgotten, having just one person remember can mean the world. I love this scene in the boys room so incredibly much.

Rin

Oh wow this update was so sweet! I love the fact that Tera's gift is not really a material thing but more of a moment they spend together and a thoughtful present. And the pages are truly fabulous, I especially love the composition of the first (it really reminds me of the pannels of the first time Tera came in the Boy's room but now he deosn't feel like a threat anymore, just like a big damp puppy XD) and page 23 with the high-angle shot is so cool, it really gives me an intimate feeling to the scene I don't know why. And obviously seeing the Boy painting on Tera's mask...my heart just melted, it's so tender and I hope we will see Tera give up a bit of his armor next month. I think he also went through some shit as a child that led him to join BlackDeath and I can't wait to learn more about his past. Maybe we will discover a little bit of it next time? I feel like, in a way, he already started to open himself up a little bit in the last panel (wether or not he did it consciously) cause I really see a double meaning in his sentence. I think something broke in him after chapter 11, Tera literally could'nt withstand the impact of facing the consequences of his own actions... Gosh I love this comics so much, you're doing something truly amazing Pico!

Sam

when will Tera show his beautiful faceeeee

yahboyysam

So beautiful. I’ve been listening to the track Two Shadows by a french composer Gustave Rudman, for some reason it always makes me think of them

V

THEY ARE SO CUTE OMG and Tera with his wet hair all messy falling over his mask… whew… ahem anyways. I love seeing them bond and be more comfortable around each other. It’s very wholesome and a rewarding journey. Thank you for bringing this story to us and creating it so beautifully.

Kai_InstantEspresso

I hope he paints tera and him hahahaha

Rae P.

I hope so, I’ve been purposely avoiding the drawings of Tera’s face because I want to wait to see it until it’s revealed in the story 🫣🫣🫣

moose

UGH love love love, is the boy finally going to see Tera’s beautiful face??

svdester

Haha, so cute! 😆 Makes one wonder just how much you'll make us cry later on....🫠 Regardless, these new pages were really cute, especially with our trusty comedian, Joris! (I hope nothing bad happens to him...ik you like drama...) Also he got kicked twice by Tera in the same night now, I wonder if he'll bruise 😭

Rima

this is low-key the most precious update to date *^* like, seeing how far these two have come and how much their bonding process has grown? Priceless. also, the twinkle in the Boy's eye because somebody thought about him and gave him a present on his special day ♡ and also, the hint of sadness we get (well, I don't know about you lot, but I did) from Tera towards the end. every line every detail every word it's literally pure gold. Thank you so much for this update ♡

Jelimel

I’ll never stop saying it, but you make them so raw and real that watching them be the catalyst for each other’s growth is immensely satisfying. ♥️

Dani H

So cute! Absolutely love their growing relationship!

Katie_Wdz03

omggg I loved so much 🤧 thanks for your hard work 🙏 and, the way Tera says "didn't withstand the impact" kind of broke me either ❤️‍🩹I can feel the anguish.. Also, thank you for this kind note, so lovely 🩷 can't wait for the next update!! i have so many thoughts right now, are the storyline was changed in anyway recently?! 😩 omg these two are gonna drive me crazy🫨 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ra

I'm at work but I had to read 😭 They're so precious!!! I adore seeing how much the boy trusts Tera now, even shielding him from being seen ( I think that was last update but it's still so impactful). Tera coming in through the window and the boy grabbing a towel for him. They've come a long way which makes me want to re-read again ❤️

BlueInkPens

I love them!!

Julie

they're so cute (⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠˙̫̮⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠)

Noah Elis Johnson

oh man everything about this is sweet and intimate. i adore it

Keefa Shine

C'est un super cadeau! Hâte de voir les dessins qui brillent!! ceux du plafond mais aussi ceux sur le masque!! Ils sont trop mignons!! Trop impatiente pour la suite!!

LadyKya

All I can say is LOVE...Deep Love, Tera ❤️ is burning and shining bright like the star 🌟.😍❤️🔥

Ah'Ran

This is so intimate! They’re in their own world now 🥹

Niiv3

anon

That was such a thoughtful gift. I love the imagery of them working together to reach the stars// and create their own (or whatever it is that the painting will end up being), with Tera lifting the Boy. What a thoughtful gift :,^] I love looking forward to these updates every month, it genuinely made me so happy to wake up and see that there are new pages Edit: I just read in the description that this is the intro to a scene that’s gonna have more cute stuff and I am quivering with anticipation 🖤🖤🖤

moose

It’s so subtle and so deep. I love the stars analogy.

Manderz Dragunova

I wonder what the rest of Black Death will think of Tera’s mask “glow up” 😂

SammiiSpark

Ahhhh help me this is so cute >///< I really love these panels!! Cant wait to see the next ones, I love Teras present already and I also love how Tera catched the Boy, for me it kinda shows how close they are (i hope you know what I mean).

Lereri

“I just fell and it didn’t withstand the impact” is such a good line because he’s falling for the boy and it’s changing him 🥺🥰

Ash Nasen

this chapter is so sweet😭🫶

syd thwaites

*kicking and Giggling* THEY'RE ADORABLE OMAAAGAAAAD

Pandyakuza

This is the cutest. I'm dying. I love how tender Tera is with the Boy. The shift in the Boy's opening has my heart in a chokehold

Mod.Colette

What a beautiful, light-hearted scene!! Funny, playful and yet still with such a heavy impact, like Tera’s fists had on the wall or the impact the floor had on the mask. (“Remember, it’s not the fall… it’s the sudden stop”). So much in motion and so much emotion. Looking back, it’s silly what ideas and expectations I had for this update. In hindsight, even outright stupid. This is so much better than what I could have come up with and I am so impressed with how natural it all came together. Not too long ago, Tera was an intrusive stranger, someone the Boy didn’t trust at all – and since then, little by little, detail by detail it all added up to this moment. Tera is still not using the front door and probably never will, but I think the Boy’s window will be left open, just in case, more often than not. It’s all those little hints and details I love so much, like Tera partaking in this project of replacing artificial stars with something else, holding the Boy steady this time, different from when the Boy simply decided to climb Tera and get home like that. He doesn’t even have to say “happy birthday” and the Boy doesn’t have to say “thank you” – it’s completely out of the box, out of the ordinary and even by missing those classic society rituals, it’s more real between them than it would have been otherwise (just like their whole relationship is!). It is genuine and heartfelt. The Boy does thank Tera though – (for the first time throughout the whole story, I think) – for getting him home this time and also handing him the brush. And I think that’s totally like the Boy, just like Tera did say “thank you” for the cover the Boy provided on their way to the Boy’s place. It’s not just a phrase used to use out of reflex (the Boy didn’t even say “thank you” when Tera was handing him the puzzle for his grandma, after showing up uninvited once again in chapter 11). I can’t wait to see what replaced the artificial stars… (Van Gogh’s Stary Night? The Carina Nebula, birthplace of a billion of stars? Splatters and lines of glowing paint, just because?) Yeah, I know. No need to point out my imagination is pretty limited. Can’t be helped. ^^’ And can we talk about “consent” for a second? By now I think the Boy could get away with anything, regarding Tera. Even if Tera has no idea what will be the outcome. The Boy clearly had fun changing Teras mask, transforming it, since it has become his face, his appearance. The Boy accepted that, though at first, he wasn’t interested enough to take a peek, and now I think it’s some kind of respect and understanding which prevents the Boy from asking Tera to take it off. Instead of verbally biting the Boy’s hand off, the beast simply sits still. Patient, while the Boy is touching his “face”, focused and probably highlighting the visible outlines of Tera’s crisis and mental melt-down. It’s still a gentle gesture by the Boy, while in a different situation, Kain pointing out the state of the mask made Tera snap back at him, verbally. And the Boy kept asking… Tera’s reply made me sob. But hey, the Boy might just be painting flowers, whiskers and the typical raccoon-blindfold instead, who knows ^^’ (Which reminds me of some of my favorite doodles from 2021: https://www.patreon.com/posts/doodles-46740044 https://www.patreon.com/posts/revenge-pt-2-47323353 What also came to mind, watching those two…: The Dog Days Are Over! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9CvQYMAGzw “Trust the process”. I do. And I enjoy it plenty. Thank you so much Pico. PS: those flying cat ears when Tera is chasing the Boy... doesn't the Boy look smug... (in a playful, satisfied, happy way)?! My birthday-wish for him came true.

Mellowcat

That's so cute when tera is playful 🥰

Eli

I loved this chapter so much you did a great job showing their playful side and hows it’s changed over time :) can’t wait for next months chapter!!

JaywithaD

👑🫀

savantegard

Omg i love every Update but i love this one especially ❤️‍🔥 i want it painted on my bedroht walls ❤️‍🔥

foxkitten