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Burn Chapters + Explanation
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 18:53:03 +0000 UTCThis post contains all of the comic pages & includes a written explanation for the story. Enjoy!
Overview: Burn is a comic showcasing hare-brain and Dysbun's importance to eachother. Bun comments that hare has been in need to let off some steam. Hare enthusiastically begins to release purple steam from his mouth. Bun lies down to watch over his friend while his own body shows signs of "melting" around his eye.
During his display, Hare almost immediately begins to overheat, as flames begin to come out from within him, and begin to char his outer body. Dysbun is shocked at how quickly this happened, implying that this is something they have previously done to more desirable outcomes. Dysbun yells out to Hare to stop, only to be met with a feral-like monster, as Hare bites onto Buns arm. being engulfed in flames, Buns body begins to melt like wax. In an act to restrain the other, Bun attempts to pun Hare back, who at that point has grown much larger, and has sprouted a second set of arms. The following panel is black, as time and the confrontation have passed.
Hare and bun jump cut to their living room, both covered in bandages, both with burns, and Dysbun with a bandaged eye and leaking iris. Hare asks what happened, and Bun gives a flippant but ultimately reductive response. Hare, filled with guilt masked by humor asks if it would've been better for them both is bun had simply let Hare burn out and perish, asking if the time he is temporarily gone might be better for Bun.
Bun recounts the interaction. As Hare burns up into ash, period of darkness falls over the solo bunny, and he grows more monstrous, sprouting horns and pitch black eyes that endlessly pour out black ink. Eventually the room is filled and bun sits at the bottom of the lake of despair.
Hare comments that he "always comes back" even after he dies, asking for confirmation of this fact. Bun comments that while true, even when Hare dies and he does return after some time, he is "never the same." The image showing Hare pulling bun from the pitch black sea with a stoic look on his face. The fact that he asked bun if things were so bad implies that Hare is not fully cognizant, acting purely on instinct in this interaction, and does not remember it's severity.
The final pages showcase Buns perspective of the first pages, where Hare was allowed to express his fire affinity just before it overwhelmed him. Following this is them holding hands with a silhouette of two dragons behind them. One pitch black, ink like monster behind bun, and a white fiery one behind Hare.
Explanation: Hare representing ADHD and Dysbun representing tampering that energy means that hare is constantly overwhelmed with passion he needs to utilize correctly otherwise it risks damage to his body. Dysbun's wax like body is symbolic to helping snuff out the flame when necessary. Its reasonable to assume this relationship is solely detrimental to Bun, who puts his safety on the line for the other. But I wanted to stress the duality that they need each other, and while hares episodes have the capacity to be detrimental, they are ultimately unintentional. There are many physical and mental afflictions i real life that parallel this dynamic. They are all very difficult to go through, where the person the inflict feels like a burden to their caretaker. To elevate his concerns, Bun reminds hare that need each other, and while neither are written to be completely functional, they are more so together than apart. Bun would face Hare a thousand times over sooner than have to deal with the solitude and despair that comes from being without him. While this dynamic is codependent, its founded on mutual respect and it is the only way they can currently navigate their respective mental illnesses. This comic is a metaphor for burnout, depression, self sacrifice, and can be interpreted in ways that reflect other mental and physical illnesses.
Both Hare and Bun have suffered injuries that will carry on beyond this comic, representative to the fact that artist burnout can permanently hinder passion, and sometimes the damage may feel irreparable.
