2.4.23
on April 9, 2025
at 3:00 am
yea a lot of plot-relevant lore was implied last chapter and it’s about time someone started putting pieces together so you should really get on that
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
yea a lot of plot-relevant lore was implied last chapter and it’s about time someone started putting pieces together so you should really get on that
My fucking god that tiny little smile of Tess at the end
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: oh right! I’m the smart guy!
Image source: expectations
tumblr text: tensions running high in the Talking Out Your Feelings cave
Bluesky text: many thoughts… head full…
. “Great,” Tess says, turning and starting to walk away from Erin. “If the pity-party makes you feel better, keep it up. You’ll have plenty of time while you sleep off that overchannel.”
. “Time…
. “I could’ve been patient when we were all safe in Argist,” Erin says, starting to sit up. “Now I don’t have the right to indulge in patience. I got us into this mess, and I have to–”
. “Have to WHAT?” Tess whips back to face him. “WHAT, Erin?!” she shouts. “You’ve blown out your soul channels and broken your seals! You can’t cast! You can barely move! You can’t do ANYTHING!” Erin watches her shocked, eyes wide. Tess sits down on the ground, knees to her chest, facing away from him.
. “I never thought we’d end up like this again,” she says softly.
. “The similarities aren’t lost on me,” Erin says, staring at the ceiling again. “You know, the overchannel actually feels very similar to the headaches I used to–”
. “Nobody forces me to do anything anymore,” Tess interrupts. “Don’t force me to hold you back.”
. “I’m sorry I said that,” Erin says, closing his eyes. “You were never what was holding me back. And there is something I can do. I can think.” He opens his eyes again. “That bedridden little boy you cared for was far from powerless. He figured out how to turn himself into me.” He looks at Tess, a small smile appearing on both of their faces. “Let’s see if I can live up to his expectations.”
Ooh, Lore, very interesting…
This does feel like a transition point, although there could be another page before it. I think Alinua Side Arc will be what appears next, because it feels a little soon to go back to Kendal&Falst, and like idk going too long without finding out about Alinua feels weird
Aww. Runnasib moments give me life. So, guess we’ll see what zany scheme Erin comes up with in a few weeks.
I sense a scene change coming Friday. Place your bets folks. Are we cutting back to the Volcano Heist, Alinua, or something else entirely?
I agree that this is a good scene change moment. I think it could go either way, but I also believe that we might get to the Alinua solo quest right now.
Imma make a bold statement and say we’re not gonna see Alinua for the rest of the chapter.
I’m inclined to agree, there’s too much dramatic tension to be mined by keeping her fate a mystery for Red to casually cut to her.
I think there’s a decent chance we see her right now, but if not her situation would be a great stinger to start the next chapter on. If she isn’t the next scene change then I bet we won’t see her till then.
We’ll cut to a single page of Tarren wondering if the ship is destroyed yet or not.
Hoping for Alinua, but expecting Volcano Heist.
I’ll place my bet on the Volcano Heist. We haven’t seen Rakhn yet. Plus, Kendal’s earlier reassurance to Falst read to me like it was also a prod to the audience to trust that she’ll make it back to the squad… eventually… and to be patient in the meantime.
‘I can think.’
*Insert dramatic music*
Aaaah I love them so much <3 Tess, you marvel. Lookit that big sis energy! Look at the sibling straight-talk! The accidental hurtfulness, the "I know you way too well"!
Ruunaser siblings <3
And the panels are all gorgeous, each and every one of them. So much storytelling in the facial expressions, body language…
What comment, exactly, is Erin apologizing for? Asking because I have social shortcomings.
episode 2.2.31 when he said that she was holding him back.
Every panel so gorgeous. Every word just hits so hard. That last panel made me cry, dammit!
Erin used to have headaches when he was younger; now, all grown up, he’s a headache to everyone else.
While Erin thinks staying in Argist would have been safer, there’s a good chance they’d have also encountered unforeseen problems. Who’s to say Tam wouldn’t have still found them and engaged in a fight? Given how long they would have been staying, Shrike and her boys could have caught up, or even the Collector. A Collector siege of Argist would have been terrible.
Leaving suddenly made them face perils they weren’t prepared for, but a long stay in Argist may not have been much better.
Tess’s face in panel 6 is painful, even with most of it obscured. Siblings yelling at one another, seeing them in a such sorry state physically and mentally, the powerlessness … it’s a terrible situation I know. I feel so sorry for Tess.
But that moment at the end, Erin apologising for what he said, regaining some confidence in himself, and setting out to do better, that got her to smile. Proof this isn’t going to be the same as it was when they were kids.
I’d love for a few pages of Erin ruminating on the lore drops from last page, with Tess adding some details, providing commentary, and maybe some dry wit. However, the ending to this page feels perfect for a scene transition, but to where?
Cut to Volcano Heist or Purple Elf? VOTE NOW ON YOUR PHONES!
meh tam would have taken longer and in argist they would probably have argist’s help and tam probably wouldnt want to fight in a area full of civilians
however the collector and shrike would probably have found them and that would be a problem far bigger than tam
Collector Siege of Argist I’d assume will happen anyway. He plans to hold some kind of convention of gods there about how to deal with her. If she hears of it, she’ll assume at least one god there, probably Argist, knows where Kendal is or at least had him coming through their domain. She’ll want to talk to all of them and make them help her find him.
These two make me feral
Same
Same
Aww these guys are adorable
And the last panel, with Tess’s small grin? <3
I can’t wait for him to figure out what’s going on and make me feel like an idiot for missing things
Same
Tess; So that child was only helpless when he wasn’t making the situation worse. Guess some things stuck to adulthood
The body language is delicious
Just discovered this over the weekend, and I binged the whole thing. How do y’all cope with the glacial plot? No shade intended to Red- it’s a beautiful comic with a lot of care put in, and the slow plot is part of why I love it, but weeks or months for a single scene? How do I handle it after being spoiled by the backlog? I’m not usually a fan of webcomics, and the other ones I do like lean more toward self-contained episodes.
i had a similar experience after binging the entire thing over a matter of days a couple months ago and the upload schedule definitely took some getting used to lol. it definitely helps for me to be able to talk about it online or even just looking at other ppl’s fan content, ik there’s a fair amount of ppl who post about it on tumblr and there’s a fan-run discord server that i am not in but i’ve seen a lot of ppl talking about discussions over there. honestly now that i’m more used to it i actually really like it, it gives me something to look forward to a couple times a week no matter what else i have going on irl and the drawn-out pacing gives me more time to reread my favorite chapters and process everything that’s going on in the story 😀
I binged the whole thing in about two weeks (I take a lot longer on comics than I do on written books) and I had to get used to the upload schedule too. I have a habit of trying to refrain things into a more positive light, so the monday-wednesday-friday gives me little milestones to help me through the week. And, like @icedandcubed said, the one-day downtime between pages allows things to settle and allows you to think about things that are going on in the comic and draw your own conclusions before anything actually happens. Also you can interact with other comic fans in chat down here, on tumblr, and in the discord. From what I’ve experienced, pretty much everyone is happy to talk about the comic and even real life stuff. (Reading chat gives me life, everyone on here is either super insightful or super funny)
I’ve also had the same problem, but I’ve gotten used to it by now, so hopefully you will too! I find it starts to feel more like something to look forward to rather than torturous waiting. I’ve been reading it for nearly a year now, and its really fun!
I’ve been reading for a year, and, yeah, it took some getting used to. But as the others have said, there’s a lot to talk about with each page! There are a ton of tiny details I didn’t notice on my first read- but the time between pages has allowed me to see how well put together it is
I’ve been lurking on the chat for *checks watch* 4 years now. It helped get me through university, travel abroad, and find a job. It has become part of my routine. The one page Mon/Wed/Fri is actually really useful because it gets me out of bed and excited, but since it’s only one page it can’t distract me from the rest of my day for too long.
Glad Erin is back to being his usual self!
Last 3 panels feel like a wake-up call to me and have started breaking me out of a mini depressive funk. Thanks
Glad you’re on the mend!
Sibs… siblings…
“You’ve blown out your soul channels”
So you’re telling me that channeling magic too much is the same as when I blow out my chops in band?
Aurora Question #45: What are your Age Headcanons in Aurora?
Well, most of them are young adults. I’d say Erin is the youngest, Tess is definitely the oldest, with Dainix right behind her, and Falst/Alinua are roughly the same age, with Alinua being slightly older. Kendal doesn’t count because he’s got Vash’s memories and experience from however many years he was around, but he would be in between Alinua and Falst. The oldest I’d put Tess is 24, and Erin would sit around 19-20. Slot Falst/Kendal/Alinua around 21-22 and Dainix at 23.
The main group has canon ages so to answer another way:
Tam is 19, Theia is 19-20, Shrike is 23-25 (Trusk is mid 30s). Erins other sibling is probably younger. Alinuas sister is maybe 10-12.
Vash and Zuurith are around the same age, about 8- 900 years. Argist is older than both of them. So is Tahraim, but not by much. Caliban on the other hand has existed in various forms for millennia. Asera manifested recently, maybe 200 years ago.
Alinua has a sister? Who?
She’s been mentioned on Tumblr before.
https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/search/alinua%20sister
Thank you! 😀
Where can I find the canon ages? I’ve been looking for em lol
theyre all on the wiki (except dainix cuz red’s not confirmed that yet)
Wait when did we find out Erin has another sibling? Is that who we think Al is?
Found out on Tumblr.
https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/702595837729128449/would-erin-fall-for-the-sharks-are-smooth-thing
The gang’s ages were confirmed by Red in various tumblr posts, the rest here is speculation.
When Alinua ran away from her adoptive family she left behind a baby sister: https://www.tumblr.com/comicaurora/722139708860301312/silly-little-tidbit-about-alinua-perchance
https://www.tumblr.com/comicaurora/722140939687165952/how-old-was-alinuas-sister-when-ali-left-her
Red’s joked that Erin has “siblings”, plural: https://www.tumblr.com/comicaurora/702595837729128449/would-erin-fall-for-the-sharks-are-smooth-thing
Yeah a popular theory is that Al is Erin’s sibling, possibly seen in Erin’s trauma flashback in 1.22.53
every single page with these two being siblings has been giving me life, and man these last few days have been WONDERFUL. Red, thank you.
Geez this sibling dynamic is ylreally well written in only the way someone with a sibling (like Red) can really know.
Also yes Red has a sister named Magenta who’s popped up in the Overly Sarcastic Podcast once and a couple times on Overly Sarcastic Productions (for people who only know Red from Aurora, she co-stars a YouTube channel (Overly Sarcastic Productions) with a guy named blue and they talk about history and mythology and they have an after-show podcast affectionately nicknamed the OSPod).
TL;DR: Self pep-talk.
“Welp, can’t do anything else, may as well plan.”
… erin do you have ADHD or something
It would explain a few things, wouldn’t it?
I love how Erin’s “You were never what was holding me back.” parallels Tess’s “You were never what I was running from.” Though not siblings by blood they have both struggled with major problems in their lives and respect each other’s agency. Erin’s recollection seems to reflect some appreciation of Tess’s presence in Erin’s past. But perhaps I am reading too much into that. It seems that in any case despite their differences they do have deep respect for each other in their bickering.
It’s beautiful, and has some deep Rolling With Difficulty character-roleplay energy!
“Why can’t I move?”
“You’ve been mostly dead all day!”
Frought conversation
There’s a painful history
There was and is, hope
*J.K. Simmons voice* Think, Erin!
Sibling stuff is hard sometimes, huh?
Siblings. 🙁
That 2nd to last panel goes hard
It’s multitasking! Take the time to rest
While figuring out which way forward is best
Lowkey proud of this one