Pretending the authors didn't already read this heehee
- mMMMMMM fuck okay what to say. Well simple way to put it is that Labour of Love was REALLY FUN LMAO. LIKE. IT WAS HONESTLY SUCH A PLEASANT surprised to be this fucking engaged with a story you just randomly pick up to read. God like I am? Genuinely really fucking impressed? Yall fucking popped offffffffff f f f f f f f f f f ff f in the making of these characters. I dont think anyone in the niche has tackled the older middle-aged queer married dynamic yet like this, Like I know Redd is basically going OFF on that with Raoul and Milo in Glory Hounds but they arent exactly an established couple there (yet) even though they show signs of what an old married couple would be like lmao
- So honestly this was just. SUPER fucking refreshing and new. I think Jack and Petri did a beautiful job of getting like all the tones down, yknow? Like the old age showing, the long shared history they have together and how that translated into their interactions. Getting to hear about their lives in such an interwoven way with the narrative and the moving plot was so fucking cute and wonderful and endearing that it just GRIPS YOU. it's IMMERSIVE as hell, like THATS THE WORD for it. I had a fucking lovely time dunking my head fully into their relationship and their personal gripes.
- Like not only we get a fun dynamic that you dont see often at all, you also get a plot point of the WEDGE between that couple. See this is where things start getting fucking tasty where relationships are tested and you realllllyyyyy get into the nitty gritty of the boundaries of it and how much theyre willing to bend for each other before it snaps. All the accumulated frustrations from their own problems to shared problems, the little (and big) tells of annoyance and how disregarding that is a BAD idea was sooooo fucking FUN TO READ I CANNOOOOOOOT SAY IT ENOUGH. HRXFRTHR THAT KINDA SHIT JUST rOCKS ASS AND I LOVE WELL WRITTEN RELATIONSHIPS AND CHARACTERS SO M U C H.
- NOT JUST THAT BUT ALLLL THAT BUNDLED WITH LIKE, A super fucking fun meta narrative about writing and the struggle of it, the good and the bad, taking shape in the form of an art block and a woooonderful in-universe fictional noir story that god I fucking HOPE they'll turn into its own standalone story too hopefully LMAO I cant get fucking enough of noir furries
- ^ THIS point specifically felt suuuuuuuuper enhanced by the style of writing specially! Like They really really managed to make overly ornamental writing not overbearing and actually very natural to the protagonist's inner monologue, because he IS a writer but he's also specially frustrated which makes it honestly funny htrfxthd
- Petrichor honestly really flexed with the art recreating the sprite given by Cody for the wolf, making him appear much older to fit the story which ofc made it all the more immersive. I fucking ADORED the style chosen for the noir sprites where theyre dual tone and HEAVY shading to carve out the shapes of the characters. It all served the story so fucking well and he's got my HELLA respect for it
- To be quite honest, through the whole thing (AND THIS IS A BIT MORE SPOILERY) I ended up siding more with Benny (The wolf) in the whole debacle, he definitely seemed like just a tired tired husband trying to keep them both afloat with a demanding job that left him so little free time with the very person he's trying to support and when he finally gets to HAVE that dream weekend with him, he's met with being stood up again and again because of Xavier's (The elk protagonist) sudden BURST of inspiration after an art block and taking notes away due to his own lack of faith in his own memory after so long of being stripped of ideas left and right. But I guess my real grievance was how Benny's apparent annoyance at that behavior pissed Xavier off, which felt so damn sad and hurtful to see. WELL in the end I think they did manage to sell them both being a bit wrong off though. In the BIG HUGE FIGHT they both made big points of where their frustrations where coming from but I guess it's just, i dont know, the way Benny says "I was making you feel useless" and everything after that felt a bit too pointed towards him for simply trying to make a fun itinerary with his husband, the narrative repeatedly expressed how considerate he was of Xavier and his quirks through their relationship it's hard to believe the way he planned the trip was such a HUGE unenjoyable fiasco to them. But, that is all laced with the bad miasma in the air between them after their spat, so of course emotions were running high and they just kinda blurted everythign out, I think that scene was ultimately handled very well and wrapped up much much better by how it followed with the epilogue. Needlessly to say, the path to this whole thing was filled with WOOOOONDERFUL building tension that I fucking ADORED. KISSING the fucking Chefs for this MORSEL of a story god damn