Traditional. Pencil. 53 minutes.
Sophia Alder, better known simply as "Aunt Sophie", has gotten some mentions and appearances in both the comic and novelization of BTBF. She is the younger sister of Grace Adler, Jonah's mother. She plays some role in shaping Jonah's character and the story. Her "boyfriend" is briefly mentioned in Chapter 1 of the Novel. Although I've had some idea what he would probably look like and a sense of his general character, and he does play a small role in some of the critical chapters, I hadn't actually even a single proper sketch of what he should look like. In fact, he didn't even have an official name, that was, until yesterday.
I spent a lot of time drawing and erasing this one! I couldn't even quite figure out what species to make him, though I've mostly thought he would be an opossum. I went through a number of ideas for species: Badger, ferret, weasel, rat, but in the end I ended up creating an opossum that feels close to what I was going for. Another detail I had a hard time deciding on was his name. When I needed a name for my writing I started using Robbie, and was thinking of going with Robert or Roberto, but I didn't quite settle on this. Some other names considered, Bert, Bertie, Ronnie, Rodney, Rodrick, Bron, Bromst, Abram, and finally settling on Bram.
This is the first time I am introducing Bram. We'll get to see him in the next few chapters.
So what's the story?
Thus far in the Novel, Aunt Sophie and her boyfriend haven't been properly introduced.
When Jonah's biological father abandons Grace and their son Jonah, they are no longer able to support themselves. They end up, out of desperation, moving in with Sophie, Grace's younger sister, into their small cramped, and somewhat dingy apartment. Likely Grace has caused something of a rift with her parents by having pursued Vich against their recommendations, as they knew he was a disreputable character. It seems Sophie has followed somewhat in her older sisters bad example by running off with another bad boy type ... or has she? Bram is a rebel for sure, and seems to dress like a punk rocker, but maybe appearances are deceiving?
Perhaps Grace had no one else to turn to, other than her own sister who seems to have traveled a similar path.
Although the apartment is small, it has some benefits for Jonah. Sophie acts like a younger mother to Jonah, providing guidance, specifically religious guidance, beyond what his mother provided. She regularly goes to mass, reads the bible, and in general is more devout than her sister. She is a "good catholic girl", someone who is generally sweet and rather innocent in a lot of ways. She teaches Jonah about Yah-Hasha and how he sees suffering and answers prayers, ideas that convince him that Yah-Hasha is the only one that can help him find a true friend. She also teaches him about the differences of boys and girls, finally helping make the concept clear to him. Sophie acts also as a kind of "big sister" to Jonah. In this picture she may only be 16. Although the details are up for revision, currently I'm thinking she was born in 1964 and is only 12 years older than Jonah.
Jonah would naturally be a bit mistrustful of Bram, and older males in general, after the abuse from his father, but I see Bram eventually becoming a potential "cool older brother" figure for Jonah, providing at least some of the paternal support that he needed and missed out on. Bram however is probably too aloof to fully take on the role, preferring to stick to being responsible for himself and Sophie and nothing else.
Bram is probably a few years older than Sophie. Nothing is written in stone, but I imagine he is probably in his early twenties (20-25?), which means he is somewhat like an adult and able to support Sophie. This age difference is likely a reason for her parents disapproval of any relationship, regardless of other factors, though his appearance would be a concern too. He likely has a well off family that are willing to make things easy for him. Despite appearances, he's intelligent and has talent. He probably likes playing guitar, and may have aspirations.
It's likely through Bram's family that they have money to buy Jonah a sailor suit and take him on the family boat for a small fishing trip, an event that is instrumental in forming Jonah's new identity as someone who braves the waters.
It's Aunt Sophie and "Uncle Bram" who bring Jonah to the very Bible Camp where he is fated to meet Jonathan for the first time. It's very likely Sophie herself that encourages Jonah to believe in the signs that Yah-Hasha is doing things in his life by bringing Jonathan into it.
So Sophie and even Bram would have played an important role in Jonah's early life. Whether they play as major a role later on is less certain. Eventually Grace does move out to move in with her second husband Martin Gardner, a wealthy furvadian business owner who lives in "The Valley" (a non-descript non-existant, sub-urban town surrounded by mountains that is the setting for most of my stories). However, Sophie likely continues to be an important person in Jonah's life.
How good of a guy is Bram really? What role might he play in Jonah's story? We'll just have to see.
I wanted to finally sketch Sophie's boyfriend, and start working out his character, because this is important background for the coming chapters of Book I of the BTBF novel.
Stay Tuned,
Zivrshka
Keywords
male/female
94,796,
young
66,255,
couple
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chipmunk
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punk
4,346,
boyfriend
1,363,
girlfriend
1,115,
sophie
475,
oppossum
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catholic
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bram
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sophia chipmunk
3
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Published:
1 year, 3 months ago
23 Sep 2023 06:51 CEST
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