A thousand thanks to @princess-of-purple-prose for helping me with the ID!
It's nine pages so it's a bit long, keyboard shortcut to jump to next post is J, and if you can only skip paragraphs there are forty one of them.
[ID: A nine-pages The Magnus Archives sketchy comic in blue and white. The scene takes place in a sunny kitchen.
On the foreground is the countertop: a slicing plank, an empty glass, a mug, and a tall glass filled with fresh mint and parsley. Behind it, the kitchenette.
We see Melanie’s back while she’s reaching for couscous box on the upper shelf. She wears a tank top and boxer shorts, and only the tips of her hair are still dyed blue. There is an electric kettle, and an Italian coffee pot on the stove. Gerry is coming inside from the right, stepping into the light.
The second panel is a close-up of Gerry, from the chest up to his lips. He is shirtless, fiddling with his necklaces, chains and eye-shaped pendants, making a “clinkle, clinkle” sound.
Third panel shows Melanie’s hand shaking the couscous box, the dry grain moving inside with a soft, dry and quick sound.
The panel below takes the entire width of the page, it shows Melanie as she turns away from the shelf and to the counter. Her right hand sets the couscous box down while the other fumbles on the countertop with a “pat, pat, pat” sound. In the background, we see Gerry’s back as he goes to the stove. His figure is distorted through the empty glass on the foreground.
The last panel is a close up of Melanie and Gerry’s hands: simultaneously, Melanie’s hand settles on the empty glass with a final “pat” and Gerry grabs the mug from the counter, pouring coffee with a wet, warm gurgling sound.
The first panel steps back a bit, and we can see both Melanie and Gerry from the waist up, their legs hidden by the counter. Beneath the counter, bowls and plates are piled up on shelves, and before them are two stools. Gerry is putting the coffee pot down on the countertop with a “poc”, and Melanie pours the couscous in the empty glass with an elongated swishing “shhhhhhh” noise. Her eyebrow and bridge are pierced, her eyes are closed as she says: “You do it on purpose.”
The second panel overlays the first one, the silhouette of the countertop with the couscous box, the glass and the coffee pot separating the two spaces. Melanie is bending down beneath the counter, one hand on it as the other grabs a bowl from the pile. She has a tattoo of a knife on the inside of her forearm.
We see Gerry’s back as he sits on the stool on the right, the fabric of his dark bottoms rustling with the movement.
The angle changes, making this page slightly darker. We see the characters backlit, like we are part of the kitchenette wall, facing the counter.
On the first panel, we are behind Melanie. She is facing Gerry, the counter, and the window. Gerry is taking a sip from his coffee, looking at her as she pours the couscous from the glass into the bowl with another “shhhhhhhh”.
The second panel shows her turning towards the kitchenette, one hand holding the empty glass and the other gliding over the inox drying surface towards the sink.
“Fiddling with your chains,” she continues, “when you enter a room I’m in.”
The third panel shows her pressing against the sink, switching the glass from one hand to the other.
The last panel is a close-up of her hands, one on the sink handle, the other, holding the glass, tapping softly on the faucet to locate it.
A full-page, low-angle drawing of Melanie as the water runs from the faucet. Her expression is muffled, brows slightly furrowed, almost smiling and somewhat peaceful. The page is drowned by the sound of water rushing.
A close-up of Melanie’s hand holding the glass, as the sound of water rushing is interrupted. On the next panel, the sink is closed, the last drops falling down the entire page, over the other panels. She picks up her sentence: “You’re more subtle than that.”
Next, the kettle is seen from the same angle. Melanie’s hand taps on the counter near it and then grabs and opens it. The fifth panel shows Melanie’s hands as she empties the glass of water in the kettle.
The last panel is focused on Gerry’s cup of coffee, seen from above. On the dark surface, his reflection is visible as he looks down at it. A drop of water from the upper panel seems like it’s about to fall in the mug.
As Melanie grabs the bottle of olive oil and turns around, one hand on the countertop, we see the kitchen again, Gerry’s back and his head raised from his cup, suggesting he is looking at her. A small panel contains the top of bottle of oil, Gerry’s steaming cup and of the coffeepot, followed by Gerry’s voice asking: “Do you want me to stop?”
The last panel of this page shows the shelf beneath the counter in soft shadows, Melanie’s hand searching the cutlery tray with a rattling sound.
There are only three panels on this page, and the drawings are less busy. First, we see Melanie, frowning and focused, from the knee’s up and cut in two by the counter, hand still in the cutlery tray. The second panel focuses on her hand holding a fork and a large spoon against a dark background.
The third, which takes up most of the page, depicts Melanie still frowning and covered in shadow. She is holding the cutlery close to her face, over a pure white background. The lines she is made of are left unfinished, as if eaten by the light in the background. She sighs.
This page is composed by an assortment of drawings who are not separated into clear panels.
There is Melanie’s torso as she pours oil into the spoon over the bowl of couscous. A view from over the bowl, spoon overflowing, causing drops of oil to fall into the bowl with small plocs. An olive branch with fruits and leaves. The kettle, filled with boiling water, and steam taking over the page with a loud mumbling.
Melanie’s hands holding the bowl and stirring, disappearing in the cloud of steam. “No,” she says.
The panels of this page are delimited by a thick cloud of steam, or smoke.
It starts on the first one — Melanie’s hand grabbing the kettle, silencing it with a clic. Steam still rises from the hot water when she pours it into the bowl, hiding her hands. She puts a plate over the bowl, steam escaping from it with a swift whistling.
In the middle of the cloud, a lighter’s stone rattles, a spark cracks.
Beneath the cloud, Gerry is still sitting at the counter, backlit. He has lit a cigarette whose smoke joins the cloud of steam. His cup of coffee is still before him, and he is sliding a second one on the counter, towards Melanie. His top surgery scars are visible.
The last panel depicts Melanie, from the chest up. She is holding the cup of coffee whose steam trails off. She is smiling a crooked smile, frowning with one eyebrow only. She has a dimple. She concludes: “It’s — Cool, I guess.”
Signed: Meaningless Mikhaïl.
