"A story for boys, girls, and everyone in-between..."
A slice-of-life Dramedy webcomic created by JocelynCDIn public, Rain appears to be your average teenage girl. She enjoys shopping and dressing pretty and whatnot, but the fact is that she’s hardly average. Some would debate she’s even a girl! In truth, Rain is a male-to-female transsexual.The irony is in that growing up, she appeared to be a completely average little boy. No one would have ever guessed that the poor child was dealing with something like this inside. Those days were rough on her. Having to “pretend” to be a boy throughout her childhood was painful for her and led to many days where seemingly nothing went wrong ended in tears.At age 13, circumstance lands Rain in the custody of her Aunt Fara, whom she finally revealed her secret to. Rather than see Rain suffer, her aunt decided to allow her to dress like a girl around the house if it would make her feel better. And it did… for a while, anyway. As time went by, Fara noticed Rain had become a bit of an antisocial hermit for the sake of being able to dress up more frequently. Already shy to begin with, this probably wasn’t a step in the right direction.Fara came up with an interesting (but ballsy) plan to remedy this, but keep Rain happy. It took a long time and a lot of work, but she saved up enough money to move the two of them to a new town where nobody would know them. They acquired a fully female wardrobe for Rain, and she was enrolled in a high school AS a girl. It would be potentially dangerous for Rain if she were ever caught, but her nature made her seek perfection in her presentation before going out into the world… Well, her voice could use some work anyway...Rain updates are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It can be read here, or here, or on Jocelyn's DeviantART gallery.
This webcomic contains examples of:
Animesque: Has all the different anime tropes and references, but is not drawn by a Japanese person.
Ascended Fanon: Page 191 is titled "RuIn", after the fandom's most popular contraction for shipping Rain and Rudy. Notably, the page depicts an romantic embrace between the aforementioned characters.
Gavin: Wow! We got all the way to level 12 together!
Ryan: I wonder how many there are.
Present day.
Gavin: Wow! We just got piss-pounded on the first level!
Rain:Out of how many again?
And as of the end of Chapter 10, we have Fabio Cart. You know what, let's just start a list of all future Bland Name Products.
GeekStation 3
Z-Box 180
There's also fake anime names, like "Kill Book", "Dragoncube A", and "Hardsteel Physicist".
As a lampshade of the entire concept, one Rain Delay has Rain reciting an Overly Long List of all the video games she has. Rudy at the end asks, "Did you just make some of those up?"
Bonus Material: Jocelyn is interspersing bonus omake strips between her regular chapters under the title "Rain Delay".
The entire Halloween party loses its color when [1] Rudy, in a drunken stupor, kisses Rain.
Coming Out Story: Rain's coming out as a woman is detailed within a bonus chapter of the "Rain: Volume 1" physical collection.
Corner of Woe: Not in a corner, but on page 336, Maria mopes by Puddle for one whole panel after blundering.
Cure Your Gays: According to Rudy's flashback, this was the reasoning his parents used for sending him and Maria to a catholic school after Rudy came out to them. Considering how they reacted, it's no wonder Maria has kept silent about her own sexual preferences.
Additionally, in chapter 7, it is revealed that everyone thinks Rudy's homosexuality has been cured, after he kisses Rain.
Fictional Media: "Black Wings, Kaminari", "Halloween Princess Pandora", and "Mad Giga-Kaizer X" are all fictional manga and anime that Rain and her friends have collected.
Flashback: There is one in the prologue, and another when Rudy is explaining why Maria is in the closet.
Foreshadowing: The prologue, for one. The appearance of Aiken is also foreshadowed by Fara's conversation with Kellen. Also, some of the Halloween costumes are hinted at before they are revealed.
The Generic Guy: Rand M. Guy (AKA Randy) is the least characterized of the ensemble cast, and as of yet the only recurring character who has had no dialogue. He appeared in chapters 1 (where he gets stared down by Maria) and 6 (where Rain and Gavin both spit their drinks on him). His normalness is lampshaded not only by his name, but from Word Of God and Bonus Material. (No one cares that he is bisexual).
Gender Reveal: In-universe, with Rain coming clean about her secret to the core cast at the end of Chapter One.
Gilligan Cut: The page after Rudy crashes into Rain, and sees Rain's "junk" under her skirt:
Rain (thinking): And even if he did, he probably wouldn't even believe what he saw, right? Yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't tell anyone...
Rudy (to Maria and Gavin): Hey, guys! You'll never guess what I saw!
Hand Behind Head: Seems a favored trope of the author as it's everywhere.
If It's You, It's Okay: How Rudy eventually becomes attracted to Rain, despite being predominantly homosexual otherwise. Some of the comic's characters however, have expressed skepticism as to whether or not their romantic relationship will survive Rain's plan to fully transition one day.
Rain: I wish I could say I was surprised to see my aunt getting drunk and making out with a stranger...
At the end of Chapter 6, a drunk and cross-dressing Rudy kisses Rain, complicating their relationship.
Lampshade Hanging: In Girls, one of the characters, Holly, gave this jewel. Note that she prolably stepped outside to wait until her ears stopped ringing:
Holly: Umm... Where's our teacher during all of this?
Mama Bear: Aunt Fara. Full stop. (In spite of not being anyone's actual biological parent.) Anyone who threatens the welfare of her loved ones is met with varying levels of violence, ranging from a stern lecture to assault via student homework. This even extends to protecting her family from other family, as Rain's elder brother Aiken learns the hard way...
New Transfer Student: The story kicks off with Rain's first day after transferring to a new school.
Old Flame Fizzle: When Rain and Gavin hang out again, they feel it's not the same as when they were kids, and Gavin thought Rain was Ryan. Somewhat subverted, as Rain and Gavin still remain friends, and Gavin has a crush on Rain.
Painting the Medium: Rain's "girl voice" is represented by slanted text. This especially stands out when she slips into her male voice.
Parental Substitute: Rain's snarky aunt Fara took Rain in when Rain was 13, after "circumstances" separated Rain from her parents.
In chapter 6, it is revealed that Rain's mother, Liriel, is deceased after suffering from a fatal illness. Later, in chapter 13, we learn that Rain's father, Marcus, apparently abandoned his family and disappeared after his wife became ill. His current status and whereabouts are unknown.
Sinister Minister: Father Quenton, the school principal, is established as this in his opening panel. (Ok, he is probably the lower-grade "high-school" version of evil incarnate, but he probably still qualifies.) Also established to have a Bald of Evil.
Sure, Why Not?: After a friend of the author thinks up the name Jerky McJerkface for Gavin, the author decided to make it canon.
Stupid Sexy Flanders: Rain in a gym uniform invokes this reaction from Maria...and a good section of the audience.
May not count, actually, considering Rain is of Maria's preferred gender...
Gavin gets images of this nature quite often when he's around Rain.
Transsexual: Should be pretty obvious by now. While Rain is an mtf transsexual, the character of Ky(or Kylie) also falls under this category, as he is genderfluid.
As does Aiken's fiancee Jessie evidently.
Understatement: There is a brief Flashback that shows Rudy coming out, with his dad calling the operator for a young priest and an old priest, and his mom crying badly. The page title? Slight Overeaction.
Unwanted Harem: It seems that every kid in the school with a compatible sexual orientation gets a crush on Rain. The attention is very much unwanted, for fear that someone will find out her secret.
In public, Rain appears to be your average teenage girl. She enjoys shopping and dressing pretty and whatnot, but the fact is that she’s hardly average. Some would debate she’s even a girl! In truth, Rain is a male-to-female transsexual.The irony is in that growing up, she appeared to be a completely average little boy. No one would have ever guessed that the poor child was dealing with something like this inside. Those days were rough on her. Having to “pretend” to be a boy throughout her childhood was painful for her and led to many days where seemingly nothing went wrong ended in tears.At age 13, circumstance lands Rain in the custody of her Aunt Fara, whom she finally revealed her secret to. Rather than see Rain suffer, her aunt decided to allow her to dress like a girl around the house if it would make her feel better. And it did… for a while, anyway. As time went by, Fara noticed Rain had become a bit of an antisocial hermit for the sake of being able to dress up more frequently. Already shy to begin with, this probably wasn’t a step in the right direction.Fara came up with an interesting (but ballsy) plan to remedy this, but keep Rain happy. It took a long time and a lot of work, but she saved up enough money to move the two of them to a new town where nobody would know them. They acquired a fully female wardrobe for Rain, and she was enrolled in a high school AS a girl. It would be potentially dangerous for Rain if she were ever caught, but her nature made her seek perfection in her presentation before going out into the world… Well, her voice could use some work anyway...Rain updates are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It can be read here
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