The Fallout (now with fic!)
Added 2021-05-06 18:13:44 +0000 UTCEdit: The fic by musegnome is up! You can read it here! The first section is nsfw just as a warning, and the second (marked the proposal) is what inspired this piece!
A bit harsh, but I think Mansa is entitled to a little anger. This directly precedes "Whatever I did I'm Sorry".
Someone (let me know if it's okay to use your name!) wrote me an amazing fic that checks in on Mansa a day, a week, a month, and a year after Song leaves. It is SO SAD and SO WELL DONE, and it got me thinking about their first emotional conversation after Song returns!
Comments
Oh God I need a fic for this and like kissing and making up! I read the linked one and oh my God my heart!!!! Ugh
TheeeDJSiren
2021-05-16 08:06:35 +0000 UTCI finally managed to sit and read it and oh my heart! But so well written. For extra sadness, read while listening to Wherever You Are by Barry Coffing ft. Vonda Shepherd.
Natasha Cooper
2021-05-09 11:50:01 +0000 UTCI hope they will be able to move past this (I keep coming back to read this one) ... *sniffles* Oh wait, I forgot about the drawing of them with their daughter Melody. Never mind ... just ... don't torture us for TOO long. :)
Vala
2021-05-09 10:28:47 +0000 UTCAgree with this! I sincerely hope that you have the inclination to make this into a full, published book, and then I will happily purchase it - I’m already gushing about your boys and your world building to my spouse at every opportunity!
Denise Grogan
2021-05-08 03:31:40 +0000 UTCI love that detail too!!
AJ
2021-05-08 01:15:17 +0000 UTCOh sorry you're right! I got confused😅
Marta
2021-05-07 19:48:03 +0000 UTCAgreed, emotions are running high on this one but it’s clear they’d never be able to give up on each other which is one of the reasons why we love them after all.
Nicola Coxon
2021-05-07 13:25:47 +0000 UTCListen I’m so protective of BOTH of them, but I connect to Song very deeply and peeking back in to see some of the comments was a gut punch.
Ash S.
2021-05-07 12:03:56 +0000 UTCOuch my heart
Goat Matron
2021-05-07 11:57:31 +0000 UTCOkay hi I'm really very very invested in these two and I love them please and if you ever publish any books with them I will buy everything. And then buy it again to give to people.
Ashfae
2021-05-07 11:46:13 +0000 UTCHas Song ever seen Mansa this emotional/overwrought? Has anyone? He controls his feelings so much, it makes this hit all the harder... If you're ever taking requests I'd love to see the moment when they first see each other again after those four years. Just that moment.
Ashfae
2021-05-07 11:44:47 +0000 UTCThis
Whiteley Foster
2021-05-07 11:44:39 +0000 UTCAbsolutely jsutified and oh god I already read the fic and I'm still wounded. Whiteley, please for the love of everything say you'll write the comic where they meet again and get back together, I'm desperate!!
Ashfae
2021-05-07 11:35:20 +0000 UTCI have to be honest, it’s more than a little upsetting to see some folks vilifying Song. Should he have at least left a note? Yes, absolutely. But it’s not like he left for four years just for shits and giggles- he left because he wanted to make something of himself so he could be “worthy” of being Mansa’s spouse. Which he already WAS, Mansa loved him exactly as he was, but- reminder!- there was a terribly cruel voice in his head telling him that Mansa needed to “find someone respectable” and “someone he [wouldn’t] be embarrassed by” and that “the other officials will destroy him” and THREATENING THAT SOMETHING BAD WOULD HAPPEN IF MANSA FOUND OUT “WHAT HE IS”. Song going off to “make something of himself” with the intention to come back was literally the best case scenario, with the state he was in. He could have come to far worse conclusions with much more permanent repercussions. As someone who has spent the past year with someone else’s toxic voice in my head (not LITERALLY, I wasn’t hearing actual voices) telling me awful “truths” about myself that were impossible for either myself or others (namely my therapist) to break through with logic and could only be dealt with with the passing of time, all that self-doubt and self-loathing is so unbelievably overwhelming. There was no conversation with Mansa that would have broken through that. I mean, of course this is fiction and Whiteley can write whatever she pleases and could have “fixed it” immediately, but the reality of that kind of situation is there was no clean, happy solution where they talked it out and things were okay. If it wasn’t Song leaving now, it would have been guilt and internal conflict for Song for who knows how long (and might’ve still resulted in him leaving) or possibly him lashing out at Mansa or assuming the worst if Mansa came home late or was acting “off” (in Song’s traumatized mind). PTSD as a result of past emotional abuse (and, as we saw with Patch Job, physical abuse as well) is intense as hell and working through it is no picnic. Yes, the two of them will have a lot to talk about and work through because of this, but saying that what Song did was “unforgivable” or “selfish” and that Mansa would have been justified in slamming the door in his face and never speaking to him again? Fuck that.
Ash S.
2021-05-07 11:35:14 +0000 UTC4 years I think! I believe Song was in school/training
Gabriel Wolfe
2021-05-07 08:17:45 +0000 UTCSongs wrist is so small and fragile in Mansas big hands, and his ears are so expressive. I imagine he will need to work hard to earn the trust back. Darling Mansa has hurt so much. You can feel the pain pouring from him.
NGK
2021-05-07 07:20:41 +0000 UTCI'm sorry but I have to side with Mansa this time, he has every right to be mad and hurt after Song left for ten years (jesus christ😭) without a word. It still hurts to see them like this tho💔
Marta
2021-05-07 06:34:11 +0000 UTCThe fic is amazing!
Kat Holtz
2021-05-07 05:05:24 +0000 UTCHarsh??? No. Nope. Not even close. After what Song did to him, that's more than justified. Pretty damn unforgivable IMO. He just disappeared leaving Mansa with absolutely no idea what happened. Cruel. Selfish. Mansa would have been justified in slamming a door in his face and never speaking to him again. You don't do that to someone you claim to love for 10 fucking years. You just don't.
Stacey Hopwood
2021-05-07 02:22:29 +0000 UTCExactly what mama said! This one comes right before
Whiteley Foster
2021-05-07 01:25:57 +0000 UTCI’m getting very invested in these two 💞
Veronica Guzzardi
2021-05-07 00:40:00 +0000 UTCI feel like this comes before whatever I did I'm sorry. Because you can see the tears starting to form but they haven't fallen yet. Mansa collapsing and clinging the song seems like the next piece. However I feel like the peace after that would be song tucking him into bed nicely while stroking his hair.
Mama Move
2021-05-07 00:09:00 +0000 UTCHaving been that friend whose supported someone going through a "rough" patch, part of me wants to tell Mansa to stay away from Song - he ditched you without a word after 10 years together - but Mansa is still wearing the ring (after 4 years!) so I'd actually be encouraging him to speak with Song, to work something out or help put it behind him. (Talk to him but please with some ground rules/expectations/boundaries.)
catididnt
2021-05-06 23:18:45 +0000 UTCOoh the fic is good! I gotta say I look forward to Mansong content more and more!
Sara Eaton
2021-05-06 22:15:44 +0000 UTCSo cool, thanks for posting the fic link! I love the expressions and the desperate clutching here, so many strong emotions 💚
litlgreenleaf
2021-05-06 20:42:42 +0000 UTCLove this and so looking forward to reading this story 😍
NGK
2021-05-06 20:42:30 +0000 UTCOH IT’S SO NICE TO SEE IT ALL LAID OUT LIKE THIS. Also, Whiteley, if you need/would like any help keeping the doc updated as you share stuff here, I’d love to help!!
Ash S.
2021-05-06 20:17:42 +0000 UTCDid you mean that this comes before/precedes “Whatever I Did I’m Sorry”? Or that it comes after? Just wondering because when I saw the art I assumed this moment came first, but then I read the description. Like everyone else, mansong and especially “Whatever I Did I’m Sorry” live rent free in my head. I love them sm 😭
Snafu
2021-05-06 20:02:02 +0000 UTCPLEASE tell me that fic is on Ao3!! I really want to read it!! No one has the power to hurt us more than the people we love. Some months ago (around the time Song was leaving Mansa, oddly enough) my best friend started ghosting me, and at the time I didn’t know why. Her silence shook my world to its foundations, so this amazing image and “Whatever I Did I’m Sorry” had more weight than it would have before.
AJ
2021-05-06 19:55:58 +0000 UTCHe doesn’t look mad though. He looks about to cry.
EsmeGlass
2021-05-06 19:55:01 +0000 UTCOooohhhhh THIS is the piece I've been waiting to see!! "Whatever I Did, I'm Sorry" hurt so much and lived in my head rent free so I started to imagine Mansa's following reaction, relieved and yet disappointed/angry and maybe feeling a little betrayed. And this is better than anything I could have pictured. Much love to you and your art ❤
yorick
2021-05-06 19:31:12 +0000 UTCOh, he so deserves to be angry! I look forward to finding out how Song manages to convince him to forgive him.
AJ Constantine
2021-05-06 19:27:38 +0000 UTCMansa is definately within his rights to have an emotional outbreak. He just proposed to the one he loves only to find him gone the next day. It must have hurt so much when he realized that Song wasn't coming back and I can't even begin to imagine what thoughts must have gone through his head. I'm still not over this
NorNor
2021-05-06 19:14:59 +0000 UTCSong holding the ring...
Tarek Giver of Cookies
2021-05-06 19:06:18 +0000 UTCNow some quick bullet points: They met at a bar, got into a large fight, and then made up a few days later when Mansa came to apologize. A week later patch job happens! They start dating and are together for a year at the time of The Courtesan. They are together for about nine years and then The Proposal comic takes place! Song is gone for four years and then comes back, which is the start of the actual story! (Everything I just mentioned is backstory for the main story. It’s so much. I’m sorry 😅)
Whiteley Foster
2021-05-06 18:52:16 +0000 UTCOh Good! I'm not the only one. And I'm trying to look up older posts but patreon is pretty terrible to navigate.
The Manxome Foe
2021-05-06 18:49:47 +0000 UTCThere are three different types of people: Infernals or devils - they can use some magic but these days the only thing they use it for is hexing items like cosmetics or small items (ie: getting an infatuation potion, or maybe securing a lock) Hexes also have a sort of addictive quality, that makes them sort of like a drug to humans. Humans: No magic, but they pretty much run the show. And because many of them have fallen prey to addiction caused inadvertently by the infernals, they are not fond of devils. Celestial scholars: Humans who study infernal magic. They can’t use magic but because they are extremely educated in something fairly exclusive they are sought after as partners by members of the upperclass. They’re also sort of cult like and infernals no not care for them. So! As a teen Song became a courtesan/entertainer for wealthy and powerful people. He only worked doing this for about a year before he got a job as a hex runner. As a teen Mansa joined the army and after leaving he started studying criminal justice. At first he was studying to be an enforcer but that changed to study to be a judge.
Whiteley Foster
2021-05-06 18:48:10 +0000 UTChe did break Mansa’s heart and Mansa doesn’t seem the type to lose his temper unless he really cares. Song just left in the night and he really hurt Mansa, he may have been struggling with self doubt but Mansa had no way to know that.
Pears
2021-05-06 18:39:49 +0000 UTCSong touch the ring 😭😭😭 Mansa loosing it 😭😭😭
Lyubi
2021-05-06 18:39:04 +0000 UTCI really should make a word doc of established information! But let me just run down what I’ve shared so far and if you have additional questions you can ask!
Whiteley Foster
2021-05-06 18:33:01 +0000 UTCMansa is 100% justified, since you can clearly see his anger comes from such a deep hurt!!! His eyes might be angry, but he's still welling up from what he must have thought through all these years!! And the way he's holding Song's wrist, just tells how he still care greatly!! And I think Song's confusion only shows how uncharacteristic is for Mansa to get THAT angry!!
Giada
2021-05-06 18:32:15 +0000 UTC*raises hand* Hi. Im new. I'm also really confused about timelines. What is happening when? Is there someplace I can read the Mansong comics in chronological order? Is there a backstory post that explains things prior to the first posting? I'm trying to navigate but I'm super lost please help because I feel like I would love this if I knew what was going on 😭😭
Lowtown Liz
2021-05-06 18:29:56 +0000 UTCPlease I want to know the fic! In addition, Mansa is right to be angry. He has feelings too.
egmon73
2021-05-06 18:28:31 +0000 UTC*CRIES*
Vala
2021-05-06 18:28:14 +0000 UTCI too would love to read that fic if the author decides to publish. I know I will cry but it will be worth it. UPDATE I cried! I’m a mess 😭😭😭 Oh Mansa 🥺 💔 poor baby! The only comfort is knowing they sort it out but he’s totally justified. Hope once we have more that there’ll be a happy fic to follow ☺️
Nicola Coxon
2021-05-06 18:27:56 +0000 UTCSeeing the usually very calm Mansa act out like this has to be a huge shock for Song! But there's so much hurt here - he's near tears even through his anger. This is going to be a hell of a conversation. But Mansa deserves to be heard, poor thing.
Susan B.
2021-05-06 18:25:21 +0000 UTCOh poor Mansa! Yes Song handled it terribly and I bet Mansa wants to throttle and hug him at the same time. These idiots need to TALK!
Ineffable Penguin
2021-05-06 18:24:39 +0000 UTCAlso, those ears are apologetic! We mustn’t forget Song’s ears are speaking too!
Nicola Coxon
2021-05-06 18:24:14 +0000 UTCThe tears in Mansa's eyes 😭💔
Atelerix
2021-05-06 18:23:32 +0000 UTC💔😭 Mansa is totally justified. Song should have talked to him and told him that he'd be back, hopefully checked in occasionally if studying to be a Celestial Scholar allowed it.
Atelerix
2021-05-06 18:21:45 +0000 UTCThere definitely should have been a note but then, we wouldn’t have the story that we do. The detail is so perfect. Song’s holding (pulling?) the ring like maybe he wants to get it and put it on? Mansa’s holding him but not roughly (still so much care) and you can see how much he’s welling up 🥺 ❤️ i just wanna hug him so much. Make it a good apology Song!
Nicola Coxon
2021-05-06 18:21:40 +0000 UTCOh I love this! I love getting my heart stomped on I guess? Would love to see more of this conversation!
Sarah Beasley
2021-05-06 18:20:05 +0000 UTCI didn't even notice the necklace until you pointed it out!
Hannah Barnes
2021-05-06 18:19:36 +0000 UTCCrying right now. People who are meant to be together should have to suffer so badly for things to work out. I get the "together through the bad times", but that doesn't necessarily mean there need to BE bad times
the.kitsuneko
2021-05-06 18:18:55 +0000 UTCOh, my heart 😭 Poor darlings. Song’s finger hooked around the necklace is shattering my heart- I can only imagine him asking about it 😭
Ash S.
2021-05-06 18:18:31 +0000 UTCoh dears... I very much understand Mansa in his anger and I also understand Song in his confusion, after all he really thought he was doing what was best, as much as he was capable to really *think* in the moment 😔 they sure have a lot to talk about now 😔 as much as I know this fic would shatter my heart I would really love to read it if the author published it somewhere and will be ok with sharing ❤️
sick_pineapple
2021-05-06 18:18:18 +0000 UTCOh goodness. 😨😢
YamiKakyuu
2021-05-06 18:17:43 +0000 UTC💔😭
rippingoffmyface
2021-05-06 18:17:36 +0000 UTCYes Mansa, tell us how you feel 👏👏👏
Gabriel Wolfe
2021-05-06 18:17:36 +0000 UTC😩😭💔 Hope to see their reconciliation eventually! Love this
Danmarbon
2021-05-06 18:17:02 +0000 UTCYeah no 100% I still can’t believe Song didn’t even leave a note. And I’m sure there’s more story reason as to why Song couldn’t study being Celestial Scholar while like NOT abandoning Mansa but Mansa wouldn’t know that!!!
Glissando365
2021-05-06 18:16:55 +0000 UTCOh no 😭 it’s not just going to go “back to normal” Song
JustMissArt
2021-05-06 18:16:39 +0000 UTCHeartbreaking 💔 But he's back!
Naomi
2021-05-06 18:16:28 +0000 UTC😭😭😭 I know they'll work it out and be happy together, but oh the hurt...the hurt is real and needs to be addressed.
Razaica
2021-05-06 18:16:28 +0000 UTCI want to say poor Song, because his poor face, but Mansa is fully entitled to be really mad at him.
Arctic Rose
2021-05-06 18:16:22 +0000 UTCOooh the fingers on the ring 💔😭 Yes absolutely justified! 💔
Mimsynims
2021-05-06 18:16:05 +0000 UTCSong holding on to the ring, the anger in Mansa’s face, GAH! It’s so great 😭🙌🏼
Melina Barbuto
2021-05-06 18:15:47 +0000 UTCAwwww. Mansa's feelings are valid, and I just feel so bad for both of the?!!
Hannah Barnes
2021-05-06 18:15:07 +0000 UTCOh yeah. Mansa is VERY much justified in his anger. Song has a very big apology he needs to make.
Neil K.
2021-05-06 18:14:57 +0000 UTC💔
SH
2021-05-06 18:14:38 +0000 UTC
