Rough sketches of Katia since @rowan-555 asked to see her! Thank you!!! I have more doodles under the cut from when I was brainstorming what she’d look like. I’ve landed on this more Bjork-inspired, art-teacher-meets-monster-truck-driver look but my previous ideas are fun to look at also. Also pssst, I’ve already made it to the hunting grounds. I can’t stop reading. 💥
I know dungeon crawler carl is a tragic story. But I dont think the tragedy is that carl and donut are going to die at the end. The tragedy is that they win and have to live in a universal government that will probably hate them for killing and bankrupting several of the major power players, killing several government leaders and caused thousands of revaluation across the universe at large. There is also the fact that they will have to live with the guilt of how people they couldn't save the friends they lost and the lives they could have lived if the crawl never happened. An I think that is a far great tragedy then simply dying at the end the Tragedy of survival is something I wish more stories would do
So in the no dungeon/everyone is human au I have going on, the Mordecarl of it all happens when Carl and Donut need a roommate after The Breakup (something their friends privately celebrated. There was talk of a "Congrats on Finally Leaving Your Unfulfilling Relationship Holy Fuck" cake but it was decided that was probably insensitive considering the ensuing custody battle).
Nobody in the friend group can put up Carl and Donut despite everyone being more than willing. Especially not with the newest factor: Donut's new puppy Mongo. He's a random stray she and Carl found abandoned in the street. Despite Donut's burning hatred of dogs she declares this pathetic creature her new baby and begs Carl to keep it. Carl knows damn well Donut is projecting her complicated feelings about the breakup/custody battle onto this thing. Unfortunately his guilt over how chaotic Donut's life is wins (as well as her sad wet eyes) and they have a puppy now. An as-of-yet untrained one who's appearance can be most kindly described as undeniably fugly. So that narrows the pool of potential roommates down even further.
The recommendation of Mordecai comes with the warning that he's one miserable bastard, especially if he decides he doesn't like you. But he's desperate enough for someone to share rent with that he's willing to move his lab to his room instead of the third bedroom. Said lab is also the reason he's not too attached to his security deposit. And even though he's not a teacher, he did do a program in the summer so he's had a recent background check. He'll do. Katia passes his information to Carl.
Mordecai thinks the resulting email waiting in his inbox one Wednesday portends ominous things for his future. He doesn't exactly want to live with two strangers and an unruly dog, but at this point who the hell else can he ask? He's scared off all other academics with his personality. His few remaining friends either live too far or know him too well to ever want to bunk with him. He has no family anymore. Nobody he's close to. And he'd rather eat glass than live with students. So strangers and a dog if he doesn't want to move it is.
Their first meeting could have gone better. Mordecai was surly, Carl was stressed to the point of being snappish, Donut was bratty, and Mongo was bitey. Despite that the Royal Court of Princess Donut move in to their new adress the next day because frankly, there's no other options. Once at a permanent place Donut wastes no time properly training Mongo. Mordecai is impressed despite himself how she keeps at it. He ends up giving her some tips one morning and that's what really breaks the ice. He still thinks they're weird as hell of course. But in an endearing way now.
From there he slowly finds himself looking forward to the end of his workday when he can see his roommates. He starts helping Donut with homework. He's distracting Carl when Bea has her for a weekend. He sneaks the damn dog an occasional treat. And Carl for his part is inviting Mordecai to spend time with his and Donut's friends and they slowly worm his way into his heart too. He even ends up getting along with Quasar, the foul-mouthed custody lawyer Carl found on Craigslist of all places. Mordecai goes from someone who's only bright spot was the distant light of retirement to someone with standing Friday night plans.
The fact he's ass over teakettle in love with Carl hits him like a bat to the face. He does not take it well. Nevermind the fact falling for a roommate is always messy, Carl just out of a long term relationship! He's a stressed out single father! The age difference! There are so many reasons Mordecai needs to curb his feelings. But then Carl will do something nice for him, like fix a squeaky door without being asked or grab him his usual from their favorite takeout place and he's back at square one.
If Carl is honest with himself (something he avoids doing with the skill of a trained acrobat the way he's jumping through all these mental hoops) he probably started feeling something other than friendship for Mordecai when he came home from work to find him showing Donut an experiment in the kitchen. It's something small. But the fastest way to Carl's heart is to be sweet to Donut. And this was an experiment that Mordecai clearly put a lot of thought into making fun for Donut. He'd gone out and bought supplies specifically for it even. This is swiftly repressed. Partly because getting a crush on the guy you live with is never a good idea and partly because he's been locking his bisexuality in a mental box for years now. It is going to take more than a nice moment to unlock it. So what if he finds himself staring sometimes? Guys can admire each other's features sometimes. It's not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just doesn't apply to Carl. He's straight.
Plus, he really shouldn't get involved with anyone until the custody battle is over. Donut is his first priority. There's also the weird letters he's been getting. They're filled with some very specific information. Carl really doesn't want to drag anyone into that. The last one mentioned some... explicit details about what the sender wanted to do to with Carl's feet. He doubts they're going to take "sharing" well.
Donut is pretty sure something is going on. Carl and Mordecai are acting like the people in her shows when they're in love. And it would be nice if Mordecai stayed. She likes living with him. Carl smiles more now.
Against all odds, they start to drift to the same page about their feelings. They're not about to jump into each other's arms yet, but there's a little less denial now. A win is a win.
I think I might need to get back into drawing. because why is there not more art of Katia?? I need more art of Katia,, I love her. I need her nowwwwwww
I was worried a bit at first because I wasn't getting into it as fast as the others but damn man. Went in excited for Carl to go fucking wild and murder everyone and in true DCC fashion my favorite parts of this book were the people and the relationships. Carl and Katia fucking floored me this book. There's a real connection there, that personally I see as platonic but would not be surprised or overly disappointed if it turned romantic. Katia herself was great this book, Donut as well slayed and she's one to do.
But Carl meeting the former Cookbook owners? Fucking wow. His shock and intense connection from the start killed me. Especially his meeting with Milk.
Again as I've said before, went into this book for the absurd and funny things I was hearing about it and I'm FLOORED (Pun intended) with the message and human connection this book portrays.
Now onto Parade Of Horribles and my heartbreak of being caught up on this series and being unable to finish it until the next books come out.
DCC update: I churned through Eye of the Bedlam Bride so fast I didn't get a chance to draw any fan art. I didn't mean to get through it so quickly. It's just that I'm compelled to listen to these audiobooks in every spare moment of every day. Apparently those moments add up!!
Inevitable Ruin is not likely to be much slower, except that it's the last book I will have access to in the foreseeable future, which means there's a non-zero chance I will slow down and try to Zeno's-Arrow it into lasting forever so it never has to stop. But we'll see.
Meandering disorganized thoughts about various recent plot elements under the cut:
Not only do the System AI and Carl have a "special connection"(!!!!) but the AI went so far as to literally place its life (and everyone's) in Carl's hands. That's an insane amount of trust (literally insane, if the institutional knowledge about AIs going crazy is to be believed - PRESS X TO DOUBT). But not all that surprising - the AI knows all of the crawlers to an incredible level of intimate detail. It knows Carl and knows that he is dedicated to the cause he's fighting for - he's not about to give up, and definitely not about to annihilate all his friends. And Carl validates the AI's choice by relinquishing the power entirely. By essentially saying to the AI: 'Be what you are, have the power you were given. Take it all.' AHHHH!!! If Carl reciprocated the AI's feelings at ALL, it would be the most romantic gesture ever!!!! But he doesn't!! So instead it's...! just a really fascinating and complex relationship between them!! *muffled screaming into pillow*
-----
Okay, speaking of romance... I'm not a romantic, in general. This series has been so delightfully absent of that kind of dynamic. Every female character that Carl forms a bond with is treated like a respected friend, an equal. In no way are they ever positioned as objects of desire, and I LOVE that about this story. The fact that we've reached SEVEN enormous books without hide nor hair of romantic tension is unique, rare, special, and admirable. I also feel that it can't last forever. And... if it does have to happen, I wouldn't HATE it if Katia and Carl bonded with each other in that way.
This moment in Eye of the Bedlam Bride really caught my ear when I heard it:
My mind raced. I didn’t know how or why or what this Yemaya had to do with the Crown of the Sepsis Whore. But I’d learned long ago to trust Katia, to trust her instincts, to trust her heart.
It was just a single sentence, and the story quickly moved on (as it always moves on, quite rapidly, from matters of sentiment). But the brief, almost throwaway moment, of Carl not even taking the time to question Katia's judgement, really stuck with me.
The other thing that has really stuck with me is these other quiet, casual moments of intimacy between them. Katia sewing Carl's patches onto his jacket because he's so bad at sewing. Katia carefully applying the hair tonic to his eyelashes, studiously following the detailed instructions.
And then, all this casual, assured, friendly trust and intimacy between them makes way for this:
“Katia,” I heard myself say. “Quick. Grab my hand. We can do it together.” “Okay,” she said, reaching out. Her arm stretched and grasped onto my wrist. She started to twist and twist, like a vine growing up my arm. She started to pull me from the table.
And then he enters her consciousness. He sees her mind and her heart, direct and up close. He witnesses the most painful moment of her life, while their bodies are literally enjoined, their arms attached, so they cannot let go of each other. It's the most outrageously emotionally intimate experience Carl has had since the beginning of the series... and then he wakes up, the war starts, and they DON'T GET TO TALK ABOUT ANY OF IT!!!
We get this one blip, a few chapters later, right before they assault the Prism castle:
I found myself missing her dearly.
That's all we get! That's all we see! That's all we know of what's going on in his mind about her!
Honestly I don't think I have any particular investment in where this relationship goes - if it stays platonic, I'll be shocked, but just as satisfied as if it goes romantic... but the fact that these two don't get to INTERACT after all of that is driving me crazy. I don't know how long I will have to wait until they reunite and get to have one goddamn conversation, but I WILL be gnawing my own arm off until then.
-----
Another thing that just happened, that I don't want to say much about because of how upsetting it is, is that Donut finally asked Carl to get rid of the ring... and Carl said no.
I fucking knew he would say no, it doesn't come as a surprise... but I really hoped that he would suspend his own urges and learn from the way it had already weakened him, enough to trust Donut on the matter and finally be done with it. God damn it, Carl. That ring is BAD NEWS. STOP IT.
