...And right in that last frame, is where the background music changes into something a little heavier, and more tension-inducing...

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Hawthorne... ;)

I can hear that myself.

Oh jeez. I think i have even played snakes and ladders sometimes in the past...

Also, happy Sudarsini showing the game board is adorable and i would kiss her all night long.

For her, Mokshapat is an important game that has teachings. The spiritual aspect was stripped away when imported to the west. Each space in the board had meaning.

And for her, it's lots of fun.

guy here playing some dangerous games XD
digging the lioness's subtle smile on the last frame here~

Thank you. Is Aransas Hawthorne playing a game or just crashing around like a brash Texan/rude American? :)

Can I come to their next party, I love board/parlor games! Still loving your work years later man

They throw good parties. Small. Intimate. A certain amount of savvy and fkexible sexuality is required to truly make the most of it.

I have a had a fair amount of wrong time, wrong place myself. Fortunately, I've had enough right time, right place to keep on risking it.

Oh this is wonderful. Since you have shown us some of where this is going the absolute last thing I would have expected from the Fun Box is Snakes and Ladders.

As for Arkansas Hawthorne? Brash Texan perhaps. (The Lone Star button is a nice touch. :) ) But I know of some people who would be very excited to play and lose games with a certain element of danger to them, if and when they could bring themselves to risk it.

Of course his buttons are lonestars. Peak Texan.

Aransas is use to a certain amount of risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?

Generally true. Be it noted also that the definitions of winning and losing can vary based on personal taste.

Oh, by the way, I should mention that it was good my coffee was down on the desktop when Snakes and Ladders was revealed, 'cause if I'd been drinking it I would have spit it all over everything.

Ah, yes, Snakes and Ladders. The ultimate foreplay.

It can be a deeply spiritual game in its early form.

Chess? Wow.

You know... games for adults.

'Why no, I've never played poker. Can you teach me?'

Heh heh. House rules.

"Something with risk"

See that was your first mistake, Mr. Hawthorne. LOL.

So essentially this will answer Hawthorne's apparent "So you're probably wondering how I got here" early in the comic.

If parlor games are for polite company, Aransas Hawthorne seems not for for parlor games at all. Rude fellow, ain't he?

Well we shall see but he definitely seems very entitled and that never ends well. I would not be surprised if he leaves the house with 'blue balls.'

listen here buck, when the camp councilers in friday the 13th are able to invent strip monopoly what's your excuse lmfao

Heh. I nearly went that route. Bucks needs something a little more exciting. Something properly Texan feeling.

maybe its the pennsylvanian in me but a buck that interested in excitement aint gonna be around many summers, unless over the wall in someones living room. and at the start he WAS sort of headed that direction lmfao

The night is still young in the comic.

I haven't really thought of board games as spiritual before. Interested to hear about how that works! I may just have a religious hall of worship in my house, haha.
I was wondering how things could go from snakes and ladders to where we were in earlier pages...but as of the last panel I think I have a guess }:)

Specifically Mokshapat can be.

I'm sure your own gaming room is quite fun though.

The pieces of the puzzle are being arrayed before you.

something very compelling about the panel of her holding up the game board. I’m enjoying where this is going!

Thank you. Sudarsini is quite into that game.

I'm glad you're enjoying where this looks like it is going. Hopefully you'll enjoy the journey and the destination.

Ah, you want dangerous games?
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=ht.....abd60343f74f61

I begin to see how Herr Hawthorne got himself into trouble.

It will be quite evident soon.

Good dialog! Yes, intriguing.

Thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of this story as it unfolds forwards and backwards.

The scene on this page is a little highlight for me - there are so many nuances of Sudarsini's personality here. And only you, Mulefoot, know, which of these were intentional and which of them are interpreted into the lioness's nature by my very own imagination.

The whole time I was wondering what the box might have in store, and when it is finally opened, there are "only" board games inside, some of them - I'll mention Pachisi - even games for children, though Sudarsini claims otherwise. On top the lioness stands in front of Hawthorne with a serious expression and full of conviction talking about strategy and spirituality, almost acting as if only the most educated creatures among them play children's games.

When I read this page for the first time, I wondered if she was serious. I looked at the slides a second time - there was no doubt, the lioness meant every word she said. At that moment, Sudarsini seemed so wonderfully naive to me. As a lioness and matriarch, we have come to know her as strong, commanding, confident and unquestioning, and now she reveals a little bit of naivety. At the same time, this brief moment of naivety is so wonderfully fitting for a lioness, because cats are often said to have a certain arrogance - in this case it is her firm belief that everyone would praise her for her sophistication just because she plays parlor games. Her self-confident gestures fit in with this.

Even though I had Google to teach me »Mokshapat« actually exists and also has spiritual traits, it does not refute every thought I had about Sudarsini. However, the scene does not tell us whether Sudarsini wants to challenge Hawthorne with her feigned naivety and ultimately lure him into a trap. Nor does the scene tell us whether the lions really enjoy the Palor games so much or whether those games serve them as a tolerable pastime for those days in a lioness month when Sinh and Walter cannot do anything for their amusement.

Is Sudarsini just manipulative as hell? Is she particularly good at reading character traits, alluring Hawthorne into a trap? Or is she a little bit naive, framed by a natural arrogance of a cat?

Anyway, this is a wonderful page.

I just wanna sneak in and say I love how you draw your characters (especially Hawthorne, but I'm biased towards deer ahaha). The realistic facial structure, attention to detail, and even how you texture them gives the characters an almost, tactile(?) feeling I don't know how else to describe. Looking over bits and pieces of the comic, it fits really well.

I always want to err more towards the animal side on anthros, but you do it exquisitely without cutting down on accuracy, while still managing to capture such expression. It's awesome!

No need to sneak. Doesn't matter if a thread is old if the art is new to you. I especially enjoy comments like these on older posts.

Its a fun challenge to keep their faces as natural as possible but yet still get emotion across without relying on eyebrows. :)

I guess it makes sense it fits my comic being I'm doing the stories that I feel work within my own abilities and tastes.

Again, thank you.