"Can't you come back inside where it's safe? Can't you leave that thing out there? I miss you."
"I Love You, Little One, More Than Anything"note is a short, one-shot webcomic by Tumblr user toastyglow, posted in 2023.
A bunny tells its child how much they love them. When the child bunny exposes its heart and asks if their parent loves that part of them too, the parent bunny transforms into a savage wolf and tears the heart from their chest, claiming that it's not really part of their child and that they'll be happier without it. The child bunny gathers the pieces of their heart and runs away to a beautiful rainbow landscape, but their parent chooses to remain in the darkness and begs them to come back.
It can be read here
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This comic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: The parent bunny refuses to accept their child as they are, and literally tears out the heart that represents their real self, claiming they'd be happier without it.
- Ambiguous Gender: The genders of both bunnies are unspecified.
- Bittersweet Ending: The child bunny has found a place where they can be themselves and is starting to heal from the trauma of what their parent did to them. However, their parent is still in contact with them, guilt-tripping them to come back and be "normal" again.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The child bunny and its parent represent, respectively, an LGBT child (or more broadly, any child with some sort of "difference" that may not be accepted by society) and their parent who wants to force them to be "normal." The parent bunny tearing out the child bunny's heart can be viewed as the equivalent of forcing an LGBT child to hide who they are, or trying to change their sexuality through methods like conversion therapy.
- Hard Truth Aesop: If your loved one is trying to force you to change something about yourself, it's possible that they will never accept you as you are. The only thing you can do is separate yourself from them, build your own life, and find a way to heal.
- Heart Symbol: The child bunny has a pink heart on its chest that represents its true self. They want their parent to love every part of them, including the heart, but their parent hates it.
- It's All About Me: When their child runs away after being rejected, the parent bunny can only complain that it's hard for them, and that they shouldn't have to learn about who their child is.Parent bunny: I miss you. I miss my kid.
Background text: I MISS WHO YOU PRETENDED TO BE TO PLEASE ME. - Mature Animal Story: This comic is a story with cute bunnies that is also a metaphor for an LGBT child being rejected by their parent and having to distance themselves from them for their own safety and/or mental health.
- Metaphoric Metamorphosis: The previously loving parent bunny turns into a wolf to represent them becoming abusive in response to their child trying to come out of the closet.
- Minimalist Cast: The only two characters are the child bunny and the parent bunny.
- Nameless Narrative: Neither of the characters in the comic are given a name. This page refers to them as "parent bunny" and "child bunny" for the sake of convenience.
- Never My Fault: Even after literally tearing their child's heart out, the parent bunny can't fathom why their child wouldn't want to talk to them anymore.
- No Ending: The story ends with the parent bunny guilt-tripping their child about moving far away from them, but it is not revealed whether the child bunny resolves their relationship with their parent, or stops talking to them entirely.
- Predators Are Mean: An abusive, homophobic parent is represented by a snarling wolf that would rather rip their child's heart out of their chest than accept them the way they are.
- The Promised Land: The child bunny runs away from its abusive parent and to a beautiful place with a shining sun, a flowing river, and a pastoral green meadow.
- Rainbow Speak: Any dialogue referring to the child bunny's heart is highlighted in pink text.
- Text revealing the parent's true feelings are portrayed in violent red.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- After having its heart torn out by its parent, the child bunny runs away from the darkness and into a beautiful landscape in rainbow colors that looks like the Pride flag.
- Initially, the child bunny is a white outline against a pure black background, with only their heart being colored pink. After they run away to the colorful landscape, their entire body turns pink; i.e. they no longer have to hide their true self and can openly be who they are.
- Savage Wolves: When the child bunny asks their parent if they love every part of them, including their heart, the parent bunny transforms into a large, frightening wolf and tears out the heart of the child bunny.
- Slashed Throat: The parent bunny turns into a wolf and grievously wounds its child, leaving them with a bloody gash on their throat and lying next to their broken heart.
