dee Juusan
Two childhood friends—Black, an emotional fashion designer with selective amnesia, and White, a rational writer who’s been absent for two years—reunite to confront their traumatic pasts and navigate the fragile space between heart and mind as they struggle to preserve their friendship on the brink of adulthood.
Style: Right to Left
Genre: Slice of Life, Psychology, Drama
Themes: Friendship, Amnesia, Growing Up, Self-harm, Child Abuse, Death, Coming of Age, Family.
You know. I’ve been rereading these sections again and again, trying to figure out how I can express what I’m understanding from it, how I’m interpreting it, how you portray it all visually and verbally so beautifully… and then I was reading through some of my own writing from a few months ago and found these two small section in the same story:
“So, he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. Nothing destructive. He’d have to be constructive. Build. Build around the rubble and remains, build a new facade and paint smile-curved lips and smile-creased eyes. He could do that much. He could always do that much. (No, he couldn’t. Not always. Never always. Hide away in crevices. Hide away in innocent people’s homes. Gain love and care, undeserved, but they won’t ever know, but they will, one day. That’s okay. Facades can crumble, but they can be rebuilt once again. Brick by brick.) ”
“The sun was warm against his face, warm against his shirt, and it felt like cheating, felt like a warm embrace. The wind was strong up here, hot, nearly scalding, and he liked it. This, too, was a comfort. Maybe he shouldn’t be allowing himself to sit in it, but then, why not? There had been no clawing or writhing inside since he’d gotten himself up, so perhaps they were appeased for now. There was sand beneath his palm, because of course there was, coarse and granular, and it felt like home. He breathed in the dry, dusty hot air, and that was also home to him. ”
Something about it…. it’s not 100% the same sentiment, but if it helps me communicate to you how all of this makes me feel… I love how you write White and Black, I love when you dive into their psyche, White especially, and I do relate to both of them in different ways, but the way you capture each of them is so unique. The emotions you draw in their eyes alone capture hundreds of words in one glance. I love how White has built himself so he could be hurt the least, but by doing so it became so easy to lose sight of what it means to fully exist with others. The vulnerability of it is too much, and yet he has someone there in Black who is (im-)patiently waiting for him and trying to see him as the person that he is, despite him hiding it. It’s so complex and beautiful, and I love the imagery you use, I love the way you commandeer the supporting characters to subtly guide the characters forward to realizations that they need to make apart from each other. I could go on for hours, but… ultimately, I truly love and appreciate all the work you do for this story and these characters, and thank you for sharing them with us.