#mouseworld

She should be at the club

Baby mouse had earplugs in the sketch and I straight up forgot to ink them pretend they're deep in there

Meanwhile not at the club:

Thrifted a frame for our lovely print that we were lucky to get on @bedupolker 's inprint shop 🍓🐀

I attempted @bedupolker 's charming deer mouse, Mariella! She was a fun practice for digital painting.

Love is Learned in All the Bright Spaces

When Rusty met Mariella, he wasn’t looking for a relationship, let alone a family. But now, as he tucks in the last little one, all fed and warm from his bath, he can't bring himself to regret his choices.

“You kids ready for a story?” Rusty asks, moving Ed's tail back under the covers as he reaches for the stack of books.

He hears a quiet squeak and turns to see Manzanita covering Modesto's mouth. “Manz, let go of your brother.” Manz drops her hand reluctantly, and Modesto sticks his tongue out at her in retaliation. “Mode,” Rusty says firmly, and Modesto's cheeks turn pink as he sucks his tongue back in with an ashamed slurp. “Now, what did you want to say?”

“I just wanted to ask if you’d sing us a song first?” Modesto asks, twirling his sister Madera’s tail between his fingers. Madera doesn’t complain; she’s too busy licking a stray hair on her brother Ed’s head.

Manzanita huffs and shuffles further under the blanket, revealing just the tip of her nose and her little whiskers. 

“Manz, what’s got you in a huff?” Rusty asks. He hears mumbling from beneath the blanket but can’t make out the words. “C’mon, kiddo, I can’t hear you.”

Mesquite, annoyed by her sister's behavior, rolls her eyes and yanks down the covers, exposing Manz. Surprised, Manz curls into a tight ball, tucking her legs and arms around her tail and burying her face in her brother Ed's back. Rosie, their velvet ant at the end of the bed, makes an annoyed, sharp squeak and twitches her antennae. Rusty soothes her with a gentle pat along her thorax before turning to Manz.

“C’mon, kid, it’s okay. Just tell me,” Rusty encourages, leaning forward to affectionately nibble at Manz's ear. The action has the desired effect; Manz uncurls with a giggle and playfully bats at Rusty's nose with her hands.

Rusty leans back, smiling, while Manz sighs dramatically and flops back against her pillow. “I always fall asleep when you sing, and I don’t want to miss the story.”

“I always fall asleep too,” Madera pipes up loudly, trying to smooth down a cowlick on Molino, who is doing everything he can to avoid her.

“Oh, I know you do, Dera, but you also don’t mind missing the story. Now keep your hands to yourself; you know Lino doesn’t like being groomed,” Rusty says, gently catching her hand and placing it back in her lap. “How about I read the story first, then I’ll sing a song? I’ll even use my guitar.”

This declaration catches everyone's attention. Ears perk up, noses twitch, and tails vibrate with excitement. Rusty laughs and finally opens the book in his lap. “Knew that would get all your attention. Alright, now where were we?” 

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Their names come from this drawing, also by the artist.

Rusty (the dad who stepped up) gave them all nicknames so I wanted to clarify them here.

Manzanita: Manz

Modesto: Mode

Molino: Lino

Mesquite: Squite

Ed: Just Ed

Working on some more looks for the some of the ladies of Ratterrock. Also some fun teasing of Bogdan because that's always funny. 

Read the Comic

-So the reason Cluny wants Redwall is that he thinks it would make a nice castle, especially with all the resources around it.

-If Redwall Abby is peaceful and doesn't get attacked, then why does it have defensive walls and gates?

-How did the rat sentries not notice Matthias and Basil mucking around on the opposite side of the field?

-Matthias had a great opportunity to try and sabotage something at Cluny's makeshift camp in the church. Burn the place down, smash the weapons..... Piss in their food rations. He had options!

-Cluny has an amazing disregard for his own source of manpower. Not only that, but he treats his soldiers like shit. If anything his soldier and officers should mutiny.

-Why doesn't Asmodeus (the giant fuck-off snake) simply swallow Ragear whole?

-Pushing forward into Cluny's retreating army (with him being carried off) was ABSOLUTELY a great idea! This sort of thing is a classic maneuver done all throughout history. It would've caused a route. Strike while the iron is hot!

But no. "Father" Abbot let the iron cool off.

-The sun and moon don't move in static arcs in the sky. Seasons and the tilt of the earth. All that stuff! As such the shield moonlight reflection thing would only point out the correct spot, at best, a few weeks every year.

-Why on god's green earth did Martin put all this effort into creating these insane riddles and stuff?

-Fangburn, one of Cluny's commanding officers, is illiterate. How the <b>FUCK</b> did Cluny appoint an illiterate rat into a position where he needs to read and write shit!? <b>WHY!?</b>

-And why.... Why would you install your sword inside a weather vane? And surely someone would've noticed it by now. Not so much looking up at it from the ground (the subconscious filters things out) but definitely when someone inevitably has to go up there to perform roof work. (Damn Abbey roof be leaking again!)

-"nOt EvEn In ThE oLdEsT rEcOrDeD wRiTiNgS wAs ThErE aNy MeNtIoN oF a CrEaTuRe VeNtUrInG tO cLiMb As HiGh As ThE AbBeY rOoF". By that logic both the construction workers who built the damn Abbey and that bird who stole sword didn't exist, and whenever a nasty rainstorm came in the Abbot goes all "BRING OUT THE BUCKETS <b>BITCHES!</b>" all Jim Carrey's "The Mask" impression as, again, THE ROOF WORK THING!

My snark levels with this book merely grow larger with each turn of the page.

-"Nobody in all the world was a better climber then his mother." Brian be conveniently ignoring Shadow over here.

-Constance twirling and then flinging Redtooth around was fucking awesome! This isn't a plot hole, I just enjoy stuff like this!

-Matthias gains some trust of the birds, but like, why not try and rope the sparrows into harassing Cluny's forces? Gain air superiority over them!

-Basil and Jess really should've pissed of with Cluny's staff, not just the stolen banner. Would've really pissed Cluny off and, perhaps as a bonus, "partially incapacitate" Cluny's decision making from being so angry.

-Jess did the same "twirl the rat by the tail" thing Constance did but.... Constance is a lot larger then the rats! Jess isn't.

-So the sparrows talk in a manner only Matthias is good at understanding..... But we don't really get to see that? We get to see the way the sparrows talk! But Matthias doesn't really, like, change how he talks when talking to them, except for a few times.

Also: If Matthias is the only one who can understand the sparrows well, <i>then how the hell did Jess understood she had to climb up there and fetch Matthias?</i> Wouldn't she not understand the bird, assuming it was attacking her, and attack it out of assumed self defense?

-"He would never forget Dunwing and her eggchick Warbeak. Friends in need are friends indeed." Fair, but like, ignoring the bit where "Well you're all not really friends are you? Only knew each other for a few days." Shouldn't Matthias have told the birds about their <i>Cluny Problem™?</i> I'm sure the birds aren't entirely aware of the full context behind the massive crowd of rats, weasels, etc, right outside the walls of Redwall.

They'd probably really appreciate being informed that, well, they where under siege, and that Cluny plans on killing everyone! "Everyone" naturally including the sparrows. Maybe they'd, you know, <i>join in on the fight on the side of the inhabitants of Redwall.</i>

Yes, I'm harping at this again, but having air superiority over Cluny would've been <b>EXTREMELY USEFUL!</b>

-Jess's tail is now getting in the way of her climbing? Well that's oddly convenient for the tension portion of the plot! There was no mention of her tail getting in the way before! What the hell Brian? The fuck?

And don't "at" me with the whole wind thing. A: There's just a lot of wind high up; B: <b>JESS IS A FULL GROWN ASS SQUIRREL!</b> This shouldn't be a problem!

-"Anything that did not suit the young fox's taste was smashed or vandalized." Alright, how in the ass did nobody hear this charlatan going around stealing and smashing stuff?

(Various smashing noises.)

Maid 0: "What is that crashing noise? We should go see what it is."

Maid 1: "Oh that's just Chickenhound stealing our-"

Maid 0: "HOLY SHIT! We need to tell so-"

Maid 1: "No! No need. He'll run into Father Abbot, try running away, and then get killed by the massive fuck-off snake. Besides, the plot requires it!"

Maid 0: "Oh. Well, all's good the-"

Maid 1: "Brian does retcon out Chickenhound's death though. He's gonna come back in about five years and steal our children for the purposes of being construction slaves for an underground cult."

Maid 0: "What the fuck?"

This... This is why you don't add these one-off world "building" lines. Deleting the detail where Chickenhound smashes crap up would've prevented this stupid plot hole.

-"You young blaggard! So this is how to repay our kindness. You are far worse than your wicked mother!"

Wait, how does Methuselah know about Sela's tomfoolery? Did Constance hell him? Even then, Constance was merely suspicious of Sela. Wait.... Did Sela and Constance even talk with each other, or was that Chickenhound?

Regardless, this comes off as Brian doing one of them "author infoleaks" where the writer inadvertently gives a character info due to said info being upfront in one's brain, but the detail of a character not knowing that isn't.

At the very least, we do get to have the mental image of Constance chasing his ass down!

-Cornflower cries over Matthias' false death. <i>Except this isn't the PBS show.</i> Book version of Cornflower is a named background character who hardly interacts with Matthias past serving him food.

Bit of that "Team RWBY is stated to all be friends, but it doesn't feel like that" type of thing.

-Not a plot hole but "drummer-cum-soothsayer"? Lol.

-"What would you know about loneliness and trying to preserve one's standards in a decaying world?" I do think Brian initially intended Redwall's world to be sapient animals in a post-human world. Not a plot hole though, just an observation.

-Why doesn't Constance make more then one sniping arrow?

-Warbeak has her soldiers compromise the doors..... But not also attack Cluny's soldiers at the same time?

-It takes skills to use a sword effectively, but Matthias just..... Doesn't need to train I guess?

-Damn it Friar Hugo, you see Cluny and Matthias come towards you fighting each other and you hide? Coward. (Page 344)

-"A warrior needs a good wife." EW! Just EW! Fuck you Abbot. I don't care that you're actively dying, that decision is up to Cornflower, not you! We observe feminism here, specifically transfeminism. (Page 349)