1.20.15
on January 27, 2023
at 3:00 am
meanwhile, in the OTHER abstract-background dream sequence with way too many glowing spirals
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
meanwhile, in the OTHER abstract-background dream sequence with way too many glowing spirals
OH MY GOD IT’S THE THING FROM THE SKETCH!!!!!!
Which sketch?
Under the sketches tab there’s a drawing of a Life looking lady holding a stick figure <- Alinua
Omg I didn’t even realize that was Life!! But you’re right!!!
That’s Life, as in the primordial that battled the Void Dragon and makes up 1/6th of the world.
I know lol, i also read the comic
Revelations are fun to discover eh? (smile)
Aurora Question #30: Looking at the images in Sketches, what are your theories on them? Can be as many or as little theories as you want.
Personally, I’m really interested in the Vessel sketch, because the idea that Voidy gets a vessel other than Erin to use terrifies me
not to crush your theory but I’m guessing the “Vessel sketch” that you’re referring to is either a freshly-possessed Erin, stumbling out of the Storm, or the Champion, who also has those black scleras/whites of eyes. I don’t see why it’s not possible, especially if Void can randomly possess dragons anyway, but I don’t think he could possess another person unless they bear that truename tattoo/rune like Erin now does. also, I don’t think he’d risk losing Erin when he’s so close to being free
My question based on the sketches is why is Falst fireproof? He’s sturdy, sure, but fireproof??
Maybe he’s not. Just stubborn!
surviving having a literal fire sat on his face through pure stubbornness does seem like a pretty Falst thing to do
ah yes, falst is fireproof out of spite
Falst being fireproof out of spite is EXTREMELY on brand for Falst
He’s part squirrel, and squirrels are fireproof?
(old El Goonish Shive joke)
Headcanon accepted.
-Another EGS fan
I can’t wait to meet the Rock-looking people, but the ‘big buff water mage in a dress with tattoos like Erin’ really takes the cake for me.
Maybe that water mage is Al? I have absolutely nothing to base this off of, it’s just a guess, but it would be neat if I’m right. We haven’t seen much of water magic yet, so having a potential major character capable of using just water magic would be a good way to show us a lot of its uses and limitations. (Also, am I the only one who thinks that, without color, that mage looks kind of like the way Red draws herself?)
I’m pretty sure that’s just an early draft of Shrike. The dress is very similar to the first one we see her in and I’ve always thought those were rocks, not water
no way, they’re so different! plus, I’m pretty sure it’s water magic because it looks just like how Lady Ilia described the Collector way back in 1-7-6 when she used Life-Water magic to freeze/shatter a water spirit. plus, Shrike never performed any stone magic on that scale
(sorry if this comes off as aggressive, I’m just very keen in debates)
I am 99% sure that buff lady with the arm tattoos is Erin’s mother, besides the tattoos they resemble each other and she has fancy clothes
I want to know who the lady flexing with Tess is. Based on knowledge from trope talk videos and tumblr, I think she’s the seventh party member and I’m dying to know for sure.
I love the bat person/cloudchild and I want them to be an established character. I also want to see the dorky chicken at least once. As to theories, I support the theory that the stone mage is possibly the seventh group member, and I’m excited to meet her. And I believe the parent/child duo (the parent has a circlet) are either royals/governor/etc or an emissary for a city god that we’ll come across later.
I think the person flexing next to tess in that one sketch is the last party member
if you open the third image down in a new tab, you can see that the name of the image file is dragon-732×1024.jpeg, which is why i fully believe that VD is F L U F F Y.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: do you have any idea how useful dreams are?? these babies are gonna be plot relevant FOREVER
Image source: dreams
Hm, her shoulder mark is gone
yeah because life is currently separated from her
!
Completely missed it.
Huh.
I believe that’s because Alinua does not see the chimeric plague/Life as part of her self image and where she is mentally she is feeling unprotected and vulnerable. I want to see what happens next!
Fascinating, thank you for pointing it out. Also, it must suck being naked in dreams
I would bring a different view if you don’t mind. As babies we are unconcerned (and unaware?) of our bodies until we become self aware and worry about our self image and vulnerability. Later as we age we become more comfortable with our own skin and worry less about how others see us (some people to extremes that make me uncomfortable).
All of this.
Thank you for mentioning, I missed that.
Ohhh, this is great. We’re confronting those who forced destinies upon us I see. Also, the vibe of this scene (sitting bare and alone on the body of a vast primordial under an endless sky) is so different than what we have seen so far, and I LOVE it.
Oh hello, Life Mum.
Also, the implication is these dreams have been happening for awhile? Interesting
Getting real Honky Ponky Lovecraft vibes from that copious amount of eyes and I am HERE for it
who knew staying up until 3am not doing engineering homework would come in handy, now I get the aurora page super early!
So she did get a dream sequence after all
Of a void where her being looks rather small
hey all the dream sequences this chapter
Alinua: Are you ever going to let me have normal dreams again?
Life-Mom: No, because you are my cutie pie, I am lonely and I love hanging out with my baby!
Alinua (resigned): …
Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abSpWSrPZrk
“also what do you want “normal dreams” for anyway? wouldn’t you want to talk to me instead of flying, or going to school without any clothes on? I mean, you don’t have any clothes on right now either but… at least I’m not judgemental”
Did anyone else notice that Alinua doesn’t have rune “tattoo” in her dreams?
This is the first time in the comic that we’ve seen more of Life than her eyes, her arm, or or the obscured-by-glowiness portion of her face around her eyes. It’s not much, but I’ll take it, and I’m excited for a more complete look at her (no, not like that, get your mind out of the gutter). In fact, without the glowiness obscuring her features somewhat, she looks a lot less divine and a lot more alien here, I love it.
Dreaming, Alinua lies upon a leaf,
Bright green with spiralling veins.
She asks the vast eyes, “Are you every going to let me
Have normal dreams again?”
I’m back, baby!
Long time no see! Good to have you back.
Thanks! Glad to be appreciated
He dreams in blue, she dreams in green. What color does Erin dream in? Taking all bets right here!
No need to bet; we already know he dreams in black and white, as shown in 1-13-26 and 1-13-27.
yeah and from 1-15-1, we can deduce that Falst dreams in: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
For Erin im guessing purple
(Later Alinua talking about her dreams to Kendal)
Kendal: Wait, why were you naked?
Alinua: It’s a godly dream sequence Kendal; you don’t have clothes in those kinds of dreams.
Kendal: I’ve always had clothes talking to Vash.
Alinua: … what?
Kendal: Yeah, every time. Even the citizens of Vash have clothes, and they’re straight up dead.
Alinua: … THAT LYING TEN-EYED MOTHERF**KER!
This is a beautiful panel, the starry cloudless skies, Life styled in a far more defined way than we’ve ever seen before, and Alinua herself looks gorgeous, especially her hair. I’m willing to bet her nudity has a meaning to it or else Red wouldn’t have included it, tasteful nudity though it is. All of herself is bare in the face of Life? Implying how deep her connection is with nature? Showing her Life connection is more etherial or transcendent than Vash’s is with Kendal?
Alinua seems to imply she’s been having dreams like this for a while; we know of the one in Hilltop but this one seems very different from that. She’s addressing Life almost casually and, as @ImuyanMangoCat mentioned, her life rune birthmark is gone while it was there in the Hilltop dream. Very interesting.
Prediction for next week: None. I have no idea what may happen, and I love it.
ikr, kendal gets clothes, but alinua doesn’t? make it make sense, Red, MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
but yeah it’s probably because Vash and Life are just very different gods. Vash is a city god, therefore his spirits resemble some form of ‘civilisation’ and cultural identity. on the other hand, it’s not like Life is wearing or has ever worn clothes. and why would she? why would any primordial? I can’t imagine her being uncomfortable with nudity, especially since she’s the primal spirit of animals and reproduction, etc. she’s more idk, Creation Of Adam/Garden Of Eden (pre-apple) vibes than Vash and Kendal are
(This is too long,you dont have to read it, long story short I fully agree)
Well, Vash’s clothes were part of his incarnation, so probably a bit attached to Kendal’s soul stracture without having to be part of him. His original shirt was destroyed on his first encounter with the void dragon (I think Red said that Erin gave him one of his own after that but I’m not sure), so it makes sense that he’d be clothed but shirtless in his dream.
HOWEVER, 1) Kendal doesn’t have his boots in the dream, even though they are part of the original incarnation and he’s wearing them (check page 1.19.14)
And 2) In ch11 Kendal went to sleep without his boots or shirt, yet he had them on when Vash pulled his soul out (his original shirt had already been destroyed, contradicting my first explanation)
Tldr; details often don’t hold up, but the vibe and the setting of the scene feels more important.
the semi-foetal position that Alinua is in and the tone of her dialogue makes me think the nudity may be symbolic of a parent-child analogy in the relationship between her and Life
Hm well i can think of some canon-esque musings for this. The ‘Alinua’s connection to life is more transcendant’ thing makes sense to me because Kendal might be in Vash’s body but his soul has been implied as seperate, right? I think with the citizens of Vash, if they now only exist as remnants in Vash’s soul then the way they dressed according to personality may be one of the aesthetic things retained because theyre not fully ‘with us’ anymore. All living beings use Life’s magic though, so Life isnt just connected to Alinua she’s part of her body.
This is of course justification for what i assume was mainly an aesthetic choice though, something that differentiates them.
It’s because if Kendal didn’t have his on while dreaming, nobody would be able to focus on the actual dream
Wait this dialogue seems familiar.
DBZ abridged, if i remember correctly
It’s a take on some dialogue from Dragon Ball Z Abridged, episode 28.
to the replies, when you dream, do you have on exactly what you’re wearing? Ive had a dream where I’m carrying a battleaxe. Divine dream though they may both be, Kendall and Alinua are both in *dream sequences*. Nothing *needs* to make sense, and the fact that they’re doing so is nice, but not a requirement.
Besides, nudity is a very common nightmare-aspect to have in a dream, and I’m onboard with the guess that it’s being used as a subtle way to give whatever character develoment’s going to happen, a bigger hit. Alinua clearly feels scared, stressed or vulnerable- possibly all three- and if it’s reflecting in dreams, this is clearly going to come up eventually.
There once was a primordial green
Who seemed to be really keen
On making her sleep
With weirdness replete–
“I just want a normal dream!”
I just want to point out a slight change in the art style. Life seems a little more… real, for lack of a batter word? Like the eyes are actually giant eyeballs, rather than just being sort of superimposed on Alinua’s vision. I guess that makes sense, but still interesting.
I like the idea that Life hasn’t said anything and is just. Staring. While Alinua gets progressively more bored with it
Yup…yup… many eyed faces are still creepy
*Hollow Knight and Subnautica stare ominously*
An interesting thing about the first panel is that Alinua’s in the same position as when she’d nearly explode in the early couple chapters. I don’t think it means anything; I just think it’s a cool callback.
this page is just so weird though…
IS ALINUA SITTING ON A HAND
this is way more coherent than a normal dream.
“Can I at least get clothes next time?”
I must say, Life-Mom doesn’t seem very pleased… Or maybe I can’t tell the expressions of partially-obscured faces with like a dozen eyes that’s the other option.
I’m sorry, I’ve kept this ship to myself so far, but I just have to say: last panel ended with that spirit asking Kendall what he wanted to do with his life, and then… Smash cut to Alinua.
I’m just say’n
LOVE how these eyes look! All 3 of Alinua’s different eyes so far have been very good!
I’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR DESTINY’S EXTENDED WARRANTY
TY for this gem, I laughed out loud
oh man, this is brilliant. underappreciated comment.
There once was a pony who ate some bolognese. The people killed her and ate. One said, “gabagool”, and danced like a fool. The others joined in with delight.
WOAHHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHDKJFSHFKLJAD OH M YGOOOD
OKAY Alinua is literally exactly what I would look if I was a purple elf. We have the same hair right down to the little curl on our forehead and exactly the same body proportions.
Also I really like plants.
Actually her hair is slightly longer BUT STILL
TL;DR: You’re the only one I dream about now, but it’s not romantic!
Woh, how’d I get caught up so fast?
I wanta say this took me a week? Would have been sooner but I’ve been going through a bunch.
Love how Life drains most of the colour out of the scene, as if she is the most real thing present and everything else is colourless by comparison
Ｉ ＫＮＯＷ ＴＨＩＳ ＩＳ Ａ ＢＡＤ ＴＩＭＥ ＢＵＴ ＣＡＮ Ｉ ＴＡＬＫ ＡＢＯＵＴ ＹＯＵＲ ＣＨＯＩＣＥ ＯＦ F R I E N D S ? Y O U A R E L I T E R A L L Y H A N G I N G O U T W I T H T H E V O I D D R A G O N .
I’d say that someone should really teach primordial creator gods about the notion of privacy and boundaries, but we all know they’d treat that like the government treats reforms: with disgust and ignorance and moving on like they always have.
well phrased, seems accurate to me.
The “government” is just made up of people.
People inherently hate change and how it makes them feel, a neural sensation I describe it like a shirt that’s too tight.
Peoples baseline is to move on like they always have. Sounds like a defense mechanism that thrived because it leads to reproduction success, like banding into larger and larger groups.
It’s like we are in a Mobius strip and the larger the group the more individuals have? or fixate on paranoid ideation? it loops back to some old timey bullshit, and like systemwide shutdown, dampening, downregulation of emotions.
In some ways a strength; but also a weakness, a limit on growth and development?
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
i caught up.
p a i n i n i t ‘ s m o s t r a w f o r m
I bingeread this thing in 2 days and now im super invested and now I am dying waiting for the next pages
OMG I am loving these dream sequences!
TASTEFUL NUDITY BABY! Oh, yeah!
I know Red will never show anything lewd, and I am hyped to see the creative ways she hides things. Putting Alinua and Life in an open space devoid of obstructions beyond their own bodies makes this feel like Red’s selected hardmode.
We had better get more than up-close head-shots and shots of their backs. I’m expecting creative use of text bubbles and limb positioning.
I like that too! (art-wise). I also like Red’s story aesthetically and philosophically. That is art-wise and thought-wise. (wave politely and respectfully to non native English speakers with a smile!)
What do you mean Alinua? It’s totally normal to have that dream where an immensely powerful being strips you naked and takes you to the void of space. We’ve all had that one, am I right guys? …Guys?
I’m so gay for this scene
Dang it looks like she’s lying on salad