Smells Like Self Love by Ripley LaCross
on 10/22/2024 at 12:02 am- Comic »
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Hey gang! Ripley here with the important message that body odor is a normal fact of life! Everyone has their own unique, natural smell, and odds are someone finds it extremely sexy!
This month’s comic marks an entire year of drawing comics for Oh Joy, meaning we’ve officially unlocked “Ripley’s Backstory.” Smell ya’ again next time!
Matt’s added note!
**New Patreon!**
Nose what’s up? OUR NEW PATREON MODEL! Breathe it in: Last month Patreon updated us to a MONTHLY subscription model. Supporting us, our artists and this project has never been easier. Please consider popping over and giving us a coffee each month; it directly keeps us hiring and makign comics like todays. Be the breath of fresh air we need, and enjoy the scent-sational comics, you’ll get each and every week.
(OJST’s founder Erika Moen also has her own monthly Patron if you’d want to support her efforts tin making a badass mental health book!)
↓ Comic Transcript
Smells Like Self-Love by Ripley LaCross on https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/smells-like-self-love-ripley-lacross
Ripley (who uses he/him pronouns), the author is a nonbinary person with glasses, shaggy black hair with a smattering of facial hairs.
Eivor (who uses any/they pronouns) is a short and chubby white person with buzzed hair and a tattoo on their right forearm. They're wearing a cropped t-shirt and shorts, and are Ripley's boyfriend.
The comic is drawn in a cartoon-y style with a palette of white, black, grays, and lime green.
PAGE 1
Ripley and Eivor stand on a covered porch with plants growing from hanging baskets and a big bush growing at eye-level from the backyard. Ripley holds a condiment squeezey bottle in their hands.
"All done for the day?" Eivor asks.
"I think so." Replies Ripley, surveying the yard from their vantage point on the deck. "There's no saving the pumpkin patch, but the beans are going absolutely wild. I guess we could freeze a bunch for winter, and-"
Eivor leans in to give Ripley's shoulder-area a big ol' happy SNIIIIIIFF.
"..." Ripley looks at Eivor in stunned surprise.
"...Sorry!" Eivor blurts out, head still close to Ripley's shoulder. "Does that... bother you?"
"No, it's just..." Ripley looks away in embarrassment as they tug at their shirt collar. "I'm still getting used to it."
"That I like how you smell?" Asks Eivor, looking worried.
"Yeah. Especially that you seek me out when I'm grimy." He replies.
"I can't help it," Eivor says, throwing their arms around Ripley for a squeeze. "You just smell so good!"
PAGE 2
"That's just it!" Reflects Ripley with anxiety at their memories. We see a much younger Ripley hunched over in their student chair, scribbling away at the notebook resting on the built-in desk-top. A faceless mob of students surrounds them, mocking them, and someone even chucks a bar of soap at their head. "I got bullied relentlessly as a kid for being 'stinky.' It can be hard to accept someone might enjoy how I smell."
Narration: The anxiety followed me for years, even after I cleaned up.
Still flashing back in their memories, a slightly older Ripley is canoodling with a shaggy-haired suitor who flirtatiously shares something with Ripley that we cannot hear.
Narration: If anyone even suggested I had a smell...
Flashback Ripley is lost in a fog, looking blank and emotionally closed off as hand (presumably the companion from the last image) rests on their shoulder, trying to gently deter Ripley from leaving.
Narration: ...I'd just shut down entirely. It made relationships difficult.
"I'm so sorry." Eivor's words cut through Ripley's memory. "I'd have never known. What changed?"
PAGE 3
Back on the porch, Ripley and Eivor sit in the hodgepodge lounge on the deck that consists of a wonky wooden table and mismatched easy chairs.
"turning thirty helped, I think." Explains Ripley. "Something about the big three-oh made me care less about what other people thought about me. Everybody has a smell, it's normal. But what's interesting is my smell changed on HRT. I smelled different."
In a new flashback, an early-in-transition Ripley walks down a street with a scrolling scent fog accompanying them.
Narration: It was new and exciting.
Ripley takes a subtle sniff of their collar while walking.
Narration: And I dunno...
With little hearts emanating from them, Ripley stands up straighter with pride and a goofy smile as they continue their walk.
Narration: ...Kind of sexy.
"So you agree." Eivor's comment cuts in once again to Ripley's memory.
"What?" Asks Ripley, now back in the present with Eivor on the deck.
"You think you smell good." Eivor says with a teasing grin, pointing a faux-accusatory finger at Ripley.
"...Yeah." Ripley concedes with a little surprise. "I guess I do."
PAGE 4
Narration: Before the testosterone, however, there was long-distance backpacking.
We now join Ripley alone in the mountainous wilderness, just him, his backpack, his walking sticks, and elegant, rolling plumes of his scent wafting off of him.
Narration: My body is the only thing that carries me across rivers and over mountains... how could I hate the byproduct of such badassery? My smell infuses everything I carry. Permeating not just my clothes, but everything that keeps me happy, healthy and safe. My odor became something to earn by surviving another adventure. Something to celebrate."
Back on the porch, Eivor chimes in affectionately, "Something for me to celebrate when you get home, too."
PAGE 5
"And it means so much that something inherent about me- something I used to hate- makes you so happy." Replies Ripley, looking touched.
"It's like the purest form of 'just be yourself!'" Laughs Eivor, who then falls into their own kind of fantasy as they visualize beautifully curling scent wafts, soap bubbles floating and bursting, and lots of little stars and hearts. "Like little bubbles of happiness popping into warm embers from my nose to my brain. It makes my gay little heart swell up with love and puppies."
Ripley looks a little insecure as they ask, "Even if I miss a T-dose and my 'old' smell fades in?"
"It's still you, isn't it?" Asks Eivor.
"It's the most me I can be." Ripley says, standing and leaning in to kiss Eivor's forehead. "...But I still need a shower."
"Leave me your shirt? Pleeeeease?" Playfully begs Eivor.
"Haha!" Ripley laugh, halfway through pulling off their shirt right there on the porch for a gleeful Eivor who reaches out to retrieve his shirt. "Sure, perv."
Transcribed by Erika Moen on October 21, 2024
Ripley (who uses he/him pronouns), the author is a nonbinary person with glasses, shaggy black hair with a smattering of facial hairs.
Eivor (who uses any/they pronouns) is a short and chubby white person with buzzed hair and a tattoo on their right forearm. They're wearing a cropped t-shirt and shorts, and are Ripley's boyfriend.
The comic is drawn in a cartoon-y style with a palette of white, black, grays, and lime green.
PAGE 1
Ripley and Eivor stand on a covered porch with plants growing from hanging baskets and a big bush growing at eye-level from the backyard. Ripley holds a condiment squeezey bottle in their hands.
"All done for the day?" Eivor asks.
"I think so." Replies Ripley, surveying the yard from their vantage point on the deck. "There's no saving the pumpkin patch, but the beans are going absolutely wild. I guess we could freeze a bunch for winter, and-"
Eivor leans in to give Ripley's shoulder-area a big ol' happy SNIIIIIIFF.
"..." Ripley looks at Eivor in stunned surprise.
"...Sorry!" Eivor blurts out, head still close to Ripley's shoulder. "Does that... bother you?"
"No, it's just..." Ripley looks away in embarrassment as they tug at their shirt collar. "I'm still getting used to it."
"That I like how you smell?" Asks Eivor, looking worried.
"Yeah. Especially that you seek me out when I'm grimy." He replies.
"I can't help it," Eivor says, throwing their arms around Ripley for a squeeze. "You just smell so good!"
PAGE 2
"That's just it!" Reflects Ripley with anxiety at their memories. We see a much younger Ripley hunched over in their student chair, scribbling away at the notebook resting on the built-in desk-top. A faceless mob of students surrounds them, mocking them, and someone even chucks a bar of soap at their head. "I got bullied relentlessly as a kid for being 'stinky.' It can be hard to accept someone might enjoy how I smell."
Narration: The anxiety followed me for years, even after I cleaned up.
Still flashing back in their memories, a slightly older Ripley is canoodling with a shaggy-haired suitor who flirtatiously shares something with Ripley that we cannot hear.
Narration: If anyone even suggested I had a smell...
Flashback Ripley is lost in a fog, looking blank and emotionally closed off as hand (presumably the companion from the last image) rests on their shoulder, trying to gently deter Ripley from leaving.
Narration: ...I'd just shut down entirely. It made relationships difficult.
"I'm so sorry." Eivor's words cut through Ripley's memory. "I'd have never known. What changed?"
PAGE 3
Back on the porch, Ripley and Eivor sit in the hodgepodge lounge on the deck that consists of a wonky wooden table and mismatched easy chairs.
"turning thirty helped, I think." Explains Ripley. "Something about the big three-oh made me care less about what other people thought about me. Everybody has a smell, it's normal. But what's interesting is my smell changed on HRT. I smelled different."
In a new flashback, an early-in-transition Ripley walks down a street with a scrolling scent fog accompanying them.
Narration: It was new and exciting.
Ripley takes a subtle sniff of their collar while walking.
Narration: And I dunno...
With little hearts emanating from them, Ripley stands up straighter with pride and a goofy smile as they continue their walk.
Narration: ...Kind of sexy.
"So you agree." Eivor's comment cuts in once again to Ripley's memory.
"What?" Asks Ripley, now back in the present with Eivor on the deck.
"You think you smell good." Eivor says with a teasing grin, pointing a faux-accusatory finger at Ripley.
"...Yeah." Ripley concedes with a little surprise. "I guess I do."
PAGE 4
Narration: Before the testosterone, however, there was long-distance backpacking.
We now join Ripley alone in the mountainous wilderness, just him, his backpack, his walking sticks, and elegant, rolling plumes of his scent wafting off of him.
Narration: My body is the only thing that carries me across rivers and over mountains... how could I hate the byproduct of such badassery? My smell infuses everything I carry. Permeating not just my clothes, but everything that keeps me happy, healthy and safe. My odor became something to earn by surviving another adventure. Something to celebrate."
Back on the porch, Eivor chimes in affectionately, "Something for me to celebrate when you get home, too."
PAGE 5
"And it means so much that something inherent about me- something I used to hate- makes you so happy." Replies Ripley, looking touched.
"It's like the purest form of 'just be yourself!'" Laughs Eivor, who then falls into their own kind of fantasy as they visualize beautifully curling scent wafts, soap bubbles floating and bursting, and lots of little stars and hearts. "Like little bubbles of happiness popping into warm embers from my nose to my brain. It makes my gay little heart swell up with love and puppies."
Ripley looks a little insecure as they ask, "Even if I miss a T-dose and my 'old' smell fades in?"
"It's still you, isn't it?" Asks Eivor.
"It's the most me I can be." Ripley says, standing and leaning in to kiss Eivor's forehead. "...But I still need a shower."
"Leave me your shirt? Pleeeeease?" Playfully begs Eivor.
"Haha!" Ripley laugh, halfway through pulling off their shirt right there on the porch for a gleeful Eivor who reaches out to retrieve his shirt. "Sure, perv."
Transcribed by Erika Moen on October 21, 2024