1.17.37
on July 25, 2022
at 3:00 am
sometimes you just gotta grab your evil teammate like a misbehaving kitten
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
sometimes you just gotta grab your evil teammate like a misbehaving kitten
Oooohhh, plot twist just in time for the new chapteeeeeer!
Where’s Kendal been this entire time?
As someone who acts like a cat 60% of the time at home, I can say that this kind of thing has definitely happened before
Also, aahhh! This is so cool! And exiting!
Is this the “I know your in there somewhere” fight???!!!?!!!!
Kendal makes the save
Shielding Erin from attack
Dainix hesitates
The floof is strong with this page.
Kendal being the most paragon paragon – voidy is gonna be so confused
*Kendal grabs possessed Erin like a kitten*
Void Dragon: “Hope this doesn’t awaken anything in me!”
(I’m sorry Red, I had to!)
Forced back to the body of the dragon, suddenly
Kendal grabs him and pulls him free.
He stands firm before the rippling fire,
“Dainix. Can you hear me?”
A bit delayed by laughing at “sometimes you just gotta grab your evil teammate like a misbehaving kitten”. That really got me.
He may be evil incarnate but he’s evil incarnate currently occupying Kendal’s buddy
Kendal: ”I know you’re in there somewhere!
Both of you!” Their lives he now seeks to spare.
Saving him will be more humiliating and than any physical damage could ever be inflicted upon the dragon.
Kendal is the dashing hero, saving one, maybe two, beautiful damsels from fearsome beasts.
Wow, V.D. sure is stunned. At Kendal grabbing and defending him so nonchalantly, or how he managed to halt a being that was, in his words, “mindless with fury” with only his presence and a few words?
Not only did Dainix stop mid-attack but you can see his eyes wide in the final panel; looking back on Dainix’s philosophy of using emotions as tools in a fight, I dispute how “mindless” his fury has been in this fight.
I get the feeling V.D. has determined that his best chance of survival is doing nothing and saying nothing; just let Kendal talk Dainix down. Fingers crossed Alinua is healed up now too and “convinces” Voidy to bring Erin back.
“Misbehaving kitten”. Oh, Voidy. I hope you like your new nickname. Because that is going to be your new nickname <3
Hello again, Kendal, looking cool I see, adding "professional kittygrabber" to your roster, nice, nice!
I like every page with fire-Dainix. I have no words for how curious I am about the whole Caliban/Tahraim/Dainix/Ignans/demons/EVERYTHING thing. I love this comic to bits.
I love that his first two instincts are ‘protect’ and ‘communicate’.
Dragons are misbehaving cats.
CHANGE MY MIND
Alt text: Studio audience cheers
Unstoppable force (dainix’s trans guy swag) meets immovable object (Kendal, the ace ace)
I’m curious to see how exactly is this going to work with voidy. Are they going to say: Stop possessing our friend or we’ll kill him? Cause I don’t voidy not calling at least Kendal’s bluff if they try.
Hell yeah!! the boy is back!!!
The rain is starting again
Also yeah, absolutely reminds me of the many times i’ve had to pull my cat out from out of some obscure place they managed to get stuck in, cat’s will really shift gears from ‘i’m in charge here’ to ‘pwetty pwease can you let me in i’m cold’ real fast
“Children, stop fighting.”
Goodness Void Dragon in the first panel looks so shocked when he’s grabbed.
The void was too stunned to speak.
Would anyone who knows more about sword fighting than me care to explain why Kendal is holding his sword like that? To me it seems really impractical (although also very cool looking).
The fact that Dainix isn’t currently trying to murder Kendal makes me believe that at least some portion of him can hear him.
This is such a a cool page I can’t wait for the next chapter!
@Privpi
Oh no Tynan don’t you dare
GOSH the way his face goes “wope” and he just. Sits There. Walter CANNOT HANDLE the idea that someone could (or would) just grab him like that and its RIDICULOUSLY funny.
And ooh, yes, the rain is starting again. That’s probably… not a good sign? Or now that Tynan’s released control, the water wind and lightning has to go somewhere..
@Privpi Ohh! Good catch! Tynan must be getting himself back in working order while V.D. is distracted.
Now, will he continue fighting with the dragon form, go back to his humanoid incarnation, or de-incarnate entirely?
I have so much appreciation for the lines in Red’s composition of panel 3. The swirling and encompassing arc that is Dainix, juxtaposed with the exaggerated and sharply geometric rigidity of Kendal’s stance, with this confused ball of Misbehaving Kitten/Erin kinda dangling off the far end of it… just *chef’s kiss* beautiful.
Also, that rain… Tynan wasn’t actually dead, was he? Did anyone check? Are we going to add a *fourth* side to this kaiju fight, and a further complication to the two simultaneous “I know you’re in there somewhere” fights? The plot thickens. >:D
@Sriracha: If I had to guess, I’d probably say he’s holding it like that so that he’s in a position where he’d be able to block most potential strikes, while also indicating that he isn’t planning to fight (since the stabby part is pointed towards the ground.
Also, hmm Kendal interfering wasn’t something I expected. I wonder what Voidy will do now: use this opportunity to book it? use this opportunity to try to possess Tynan? or do something completely different that I’m not expecting (ex attack the rest of the group for some reason, finish off Tynan before leaving)?
“I get it, he’s an asshole. But he’s OUR asshole”
So that’s twice now that Kendal has saved Erin and The Void Dragon by showing up unexpectedly from behind. Insert “I’d have ten cents” joke here.
Sriracha:
The impracticality is the point. Kendal doesn’t consider this situation to be a fight, so the business end of his blade is pointed away from everyone.
I just noticed: you can still see burn wounds on Kendal’s left arm from when he conjured starfire earlier.
Evil Tree:
I think the smartest move for Tynan would be to disincarnate and just get out of there, but we all know that Tynan cares more about ego and drama than about tactics. He’s probably going to disincarnate and try to smite Erin from above while The Void Dragon is utterly confused by Kendal and utterly terrified by Dainix.
TL;DR: leave the big bad alone, he’s possessing an ally.
OOO! Wonderful work Red! I see lots of humor, a good rhyme (thanks Couplet!) poetry, Q&A and wonderful comments and insights in the comments! I wonder if any ‘I know your in there’ talks will happen. See the last two panels for a sample start. We could see one, two, or none. (If Dainix answers in the first and goes back to “human” it doesn’t meet the trope). (see Red’s Trope Talk series title ‘I know your in there’ (Redundant for emPHAsis purposes, Apologizes to those who already knew about it).
OH great do we have ANOTHER possessed teammate we have to talk down?! (I know that this isn’t really possession but it certainly isn’t Dainey in his right mind)
I had a feeling either Tess or Kendal would swoop in to be all heroic. It is very satisfying to see Walter so flustered by it, too. I gotta say, Dainix looks kind of cute in his fire form with his big wide eye. Like, he was pretty before, but now he’s both terrifying and adorable and I want to pet him on the head, except my hand would burn off.
Evil Dragon = Upset Cat
Giving two protagonists super-powered evil sides and then making them fight is one of the smartest things this comic has done yet and I will be stealing the idea for dnd games
“Blink once for yes and twice for – uh, I mean…flare up in the general vicinity of your head once for yes and twice for no?”
@storylineobsessed He’s been knocked out from jumping off a crashing Tyan.
@Sriracha It’s either what other people have said, a guard stance, or I thought he was trying it identify himself with it. He does that sometimes and this situation calls for checking your teammates sanity.
To ManticoreWings:
Could be both–though given we’re not entirely sure how “there” Dainix is right now, and the circumstances in which he previously saw the sword in association with Kendal, this still could very well backfire horribly (no pun intended).
That being said, definitely excited for the next page, because there are several ways that the next few seconds could play out, and I’m not entirely sure which I’d like to see more. Though it would be pretty neat to get a panel from Dainix’s current POV …
Question of the Day:
You are currently (willing or otherwise) a citizen of Zuurith. Having borne witness to some or all of what has transpired since the original gladiatorial match, what’s your reaction to the current events?
@Aulde
Just as a note, the trop talk you mean is titled Mind Control, afaik there isn’t one specifically about ‘I know you’re in there somewhere fights’.
Literally everyone at this point: I was not ready for today.
@Friday that’s not a bluff Kendal would make. But VD Walter knows from past experience that a conscious, battle-ready Kendal is not to be trifled with.
@TheUnknownGame: Kendal’s burn was actually inflicted by Dainix when they were forced to fight each other in the arena.
@Skye: Well, if I’d been in the arena, I would have lost a lot of faith in Zuurith’s idea of order given how quickly he was stomped and everything.
@Skye the junior archivist is going to have *questions*.
FINALLY a proper “I know you’re in there somewhere right”! This is gonna be great
@Aulde, you’re right, but she does talk about it a lot more in depth in her “power of friendship” trope talk, so it isn’t even one video. It’s just such a good trope?
so there’s no way Walter is going to interfere with Kendal. He’s saving Erin from Dainix, which Walter couldn’t do. But once Dainix is talked down, is Walter going to act up again? He’s gotten revenge on Tynan, so maybe he’ll disappear for now, except the rain’s coming back so maybe Tynan still has some strength…
I don’t think Walter is going away until Tynan is dead or Alinua gets all Life Mum.
Meanwhile, is Zuurith still wallowing with Caliban and Tahraim watching that show and also the light show up on this mountain?
Also, @Red, I’m madly in love with the 2nd and 3rd panels. Such good posing, and composition, especially the juxtaposition of Dainix and VD. Such
swoonyswoopy movement, very pretty!Now if you were any kind of DECENT ancient void dragon, you’d know that now you owe him a life debt. How’s that feel?
Okay but the way the rain is lit by the fire
Skye: run home and gawk out the nearest window, whether or not I can actually see anything, and stand there stunned with the series of events.
@Skye I’m guessing I’d be among the evacuees, so my main focus would be on keeping everyone moving (and getting annoyed at everyone rubbernecking) to stave off anxiety + sensory overload until I’m somewhere safe enough to have a panic attack
Phoenix’s eyes remind me of a puppy
YOOOOOOO MY BOY
It’s made very clear by how he’s holding the sword, he’s trying to not hit Dainix at all. That sword position is useless for most things, but it’s okay at blocking. Two dudes who are good at swords could probably recognize it as an “I don’t want to stab you”
Burn baby burn, disco infer- (record scratch)
(Adele) Hello, it’s me…
@Ardent Objection “That sword position is useless for most things, but it’s okay at blocking.”
[Ahsoka Tano would like to know your location]
@Skye “I’m guessing I’d be among the evacuees, so my main focus would be on keeping everyone moving (and getting annoyed at everyone rubbernecking) to stave off anxiety + sensory overload until I’m somewhere safe enough to have a panic attack.”
To quote roadhouse; “Be Nice”
Be Kind, Karma may be a bitch;
Dear Sir or Ma’am
I posit a WTF about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
We still ain’t post and I been suffering since 2018
Why is it not Traumatic Stress Disorder?
And when the patient is safe, feels safe…
“Free Range” “Patients”
I dunno, I’m hoping some of the other disciplines like microbiology or math show us a foundation that distinguishes between “peer reviewed” and “hot nonsense”
with like a set (X,Y,Z) + time= a wave function
As the wave approaches 0 like with the limit as used like a tool when working with functions
Never “connects”
There may be something in the Sin/Cos trig bullshit?
This manifests like a glitch in 3D space?
error code? Blue screen of death?
and the warping effects can be mapped out?
Medicine could create a shitload of value
Pharma has a lot of technology and data,
Mebbe those nerds could map out a quadrant…
Alright it may end up a cold, lonely outpost;
That still leaves, philosophy, architecture…
I will not close with a joke, Greta rickrolling = hilarious <3
Ari
you gotta love the visual contrast of Kendal’s luscious blonde hair and bright blue eyes against Walter/Erin’s dark hair and black & gold eyes