. Erin lays silently against the wall of his shrinking bubble of air, the water in the bottom now up to his waist. Cold sweat drips down his face from the strain of keeping the fire transmutation going, damp hair plastered against his face. His half-lidded eyes reflect yellow in the orangey light of his transmutation as he stares blankly into the ice.
. Then his eyes widen as a red light from above appears, growing stronger as fire burns through the ice.
. āWā¦ā Erin starts, struggling to push himself up through the cold and lethargy. ā…waā WAIT!ā he shouts, flinging an arm up frantically. Dainix jolts to a stop, barely a foot from breaking through into his frozen bubble.
. āIām g-glad to see you, butāā he starts, teeth chattering with the cold, āIf you melt through before I get the bubble back, Iāll l-lose the air. Just g-give me a minute.ā
. “I thought it had gotten quiet up there,” the Void Dragon remarks as Erin turns away from Dainix, activating his Water tattoo.
. āShut it,ā Erin mutters. āAs you can see, Dainix has succeeded and your machinations wonāt be required tonight.ā
“You think so?” The Dragon rumbles, amused. Erin pauses, frowning as it continues, “You must not know much about dragons.”
…hi š I think once school starts I’ll have an easier time doing this, since I’ll have a consistent schedule. but we’ll see I guess.
Good thing Dainix came back right then – I have a feeling the Dragon would have come out soon if Erin was left alone to his thoughts.
I have the Dragonology book lol, it’s literally right behind me on my bookshelf
Hmm. I don’t like Erin’s look in that last panel. Is it just a reaction to V.D.’s words, or did he hear/see something from behind? I’m guessing Calian will come back, maybe with the other sea dragon (I forget their name)
As a kid, I used to love a library book called ‘How to Raise And Keep a Dragon’ – 2005. Haven’t thought about it in years. The art was lovely. Thanks for reminding me(:
Ohhhhh- I kept wondering, because in the OS-Pod episode, Oops all Aurora they kept talking about the keming and was thinking, WHAT DOES THAT MEANNNN.
So thank you for that.
Ominous Walter comment is ominous, but Erin’s little smile in the bottom-left panel is adorable. Also, I can see this is the page Wolf was “helping” with from Tumblr XD
Murky ice and murkier sight
Awake in light
Crucible glows
Hole through ice grows
In worry, Erin yells out āWAIT!ā
Not a sec late
And Dainix stalls
To avoid walls
Iām glad to see you, but must cast
Orb of air fast
No void tonight
Still dragons fight
Inspired by a 12 line poetic form called a minute today. I couldnāt get the meter and the acrostic at the same time but did my best to match the syllables count and a rhyme scheme going.
A very ominous last line for this page especially since there are dragons on both sides harrying our protagonists.
Thanks! I use rhymes zone and similar sites a lot whenever I get stuck. Forcing myself to stick with the acrostic form has been challenging but I found that the constraints have also helped me be more creative. It’s also quite fun when I can find a form that works for the line count. I also try to read a loud my poems before I post them to try to make sure there’s at least a little flow to them.
I think what has helped most though is just using the page as a prompt for regular practice after being inspired by both Red and all the other poets who have come on this site before me.
Erin: Ugh, you like to play with your food and you’re pretty hard to miss; I just had this conversation with Aryss, and they got a Tess in the back for their troubles. Void Dragon: … What in an Aryss?
Stopping on command and listening? Dainix is a lot more mentally capable in Crucible form than he gives himself credit for; the difference between intentional and unintentional transformations I suppose. I don’t know when or how he’ll absorb the fireseed, but if this trend continues, it won’t be to compensate for a lack of control.
(sigh) Calian is going to try and finish the job quickly, aren’t they? I mean I can’t blame them, with the spectre of an angry Stefan over their head; killing the magus, or at least some of his allies, would go a fair way to softening any potential punishment. At the very least they’re going to give the glacier one last breath attack before they leave.
I got a used copy of that hit book, Dragonology, at Half-Price Books for my high school English classroom, lo, many a year ago. Several students liked it.
awwwwww he mentioned he’s glad to see him. that’s actually very sweet of him to mention!
I wonder if VD is going to try and corrupt Calian like they did Tynan. sidenote: when The Twins created dragons, did they intentionally take inspiration from VD/LD, or were they being “manipulated” like when they created the Elder Races?
I’m beginning to worry that once Alinua encounters the Paladins, whether it’s here or somewhere down the line, she’s going to go full Odysseus on them.
“MY MERCY HAS LONG SINCE DROWNED. IT DIED TO BRING ME HOME. AND AS LONG AS YOU’RE AROUND, MY FAMILY’S FATE IS LEFT UNKNOWN!”
hate to admit it but I do enjoy bedraggled erin. He loses a lot of the stuck up pomp when he’s dying and desperate, and it genuinely is a good look on him. I feel like I’m peeking farther down his character arc into a time where he’s loosened up a bit.
I love Erin. I love how he uses pretentious language either thoughtlessly when engrossed or to transfer power to himself when vulnerable. And I love it when he does not do that
Good to know Erin is doing pretty good.
I am still waiting on Alinua.
Also how did you figure out a good name for your story’s. I need one.
-Signed The Vessel Of A Glowing God
(aka The Princess)
Come up with as many names as you can think of. Silly ones, ominous ones, boring ones, a characterās name, the name of a side characterās cat, cool lines, one word, three words, something poetic, something with a cool acronym. Maybe try to think up three potential names a day. Or 5.
Or take a single random word, call it a placeholder, and then never change it.
At the end of the day, the name of your story is a word used to refer to it. Imagine if Aurora was called Kendal. It would be a little discontinuous with the story obviously encompassing a more vast premise then Kendal, but weād all come read the comic just the same.
Donāt stress too much, since itās only one thing. But no harm in throwing stuff at the wall, maybe thinking about theme, and what the characters resonate most strongly with etc.
Panel 3 is orange, panel 2 is gold. There is a clear difference in shading as well, the orange highlight in panel 3 looks like how Erin’s magic reflects through his eyes: a bright, ‘sharp’ smudge along the iris. The gold highlight in panel 2shades more smoothly into his iris, almost like Void is edging into control
“Now I see fire inside the mountain
I see fire burnin’ through ice
And I see fire hollowin’ souls
I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you remember me”
Somehow, I thought of this song from Erin’s point of view.
Day two of me not understanding Redās immaculate visual storytelling,
Is Erin encased in a bubble a few inches thick of ice, or is he in a giant ice cube with a little pocket of air in it? Because a page or two back, water broke through the ice and started rushing in, but if he was inside a huge ice cube that wouldnāt be a problem?
If someone could help with this I would appreciate it.
I think it came from either the ice breaking under the ocean of water pressure, and it wasnāt water so much as small ice chunks as the crack spread, or the icy breath Cailan did had froze inconsistently so there was already water in the ice
Well in 2.8.2, there are definitely chunks of ice, from either the ice breaking or a crack spreading, but water also started rushing in from the crack. After the bubble cracked there was noticeably *more* water in the bubble.
But also, in the first panel of this page, you can see right under Erinās feet is a little channel of water coming up from the ice. So maybe thatās where the crack came from?
Folks, since everyone is talking dragon books, I just want to plug my own favorite, from an earlier generation: The Flight Of Dragons, by Peter Dickinson, illustrated by Wayne Anderson. It’s speculative evolution and it will have you struggling not to believe that dragons were once real.
chilling in my iceberg
#myiceberg
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: bedraggled erin fans this one’s for you
Image source: machinations
Is there any other kind of Erin?
Tumblr text: this should be fine, no need for third act
Bluesky text: justā¦ā¦. chillin’?
The bedraggled Erin fans are continually grateful
I didnāt know I was a bedraggled Erin fan until now, and I AM grateful.
. Erin lays silently against the wall of his shrinking bubble of air, the water in the bottom now up to his waist. Cold sweat drips down his face from the strain of keeping the fire transmutation going, damp hair plastered against his face. His half-lidded eyes reflect yellow in the orangey light of his transmutation as he stares blankly into the ice.
. Then his eyes widen as a red light from above appears, growing stronger as fire burns through the ice.
. āWā¦ā Erin starts, struggling to push himself up through the cold and lethargy. ā…waā WAIT!ā he shouts, flinging an arm up frantically. Dainix jolts to a stop, barely a foot from breaking through into his frozen bubble.
. āIām g-glad to see you, butāā he starts, teeth chattering with the cold, āIf you melt through before I get the bubble back, Iāll l-lose the air. Just g-give me a minute.ā
. “I thought it had gotten quiet up there,” the Void Dragon remarks as Erin turns away from Dainix, activating his Water tattoo.
. āShut it,ā Erin mutters. āAs you can see, Dainix has succeeded and your machinations wonāt be required tonight.ā
“You think so?” The Dragon rumbles, amused. Erin pauses, frowning as it continues, “You must not know much about dragons.”
…hi š I think once school starts I’ll have an easier time doing this, since I’ll have a consistent schedule. but we’ll see I guess.
Good thing Dainix came back right then – I have a feeling the Dragon would have come out soon if Erin was left alone to his thoughts.
I have the Dragonology book lol, it’s literally right behind me on my bookshelf
Hmm. I don’t like Erin’s look in that last panel. Is it just a reaction to V.D.’s words, or did he hear/see something from behind? I’m guessing Calian will come back, maybe with the other sea dragon (I forget their name)
Uh-oh, is Calian coming back to make sure he’s dead?
Probably.
That, or he’s coming back with friends. Not sure.
Walter unable to conceive of a kitten dragon being told “Get your ass back here, we’re leaving!”
Hello it is I bedraggled Erin fan thank you Red for the bedraggled Erin meal
As a kid, I used to love a library book called ‘How to Raise And Keep a Dragon’ – 2005. Haven’t thought about it in years. The art was lovely. Thanks for reminding me(:
awww
I think I actually own the same book! That and dragonology.
Same. I also had a bunch of the other āologyā books, but Dragonology stood out as one of my favorites because, you know, itās about DRAGONS.
Isn’t that the one that HTTYD is (loosely) based on?
More inspired to be fair, but yes!
Not the Dragonology reference. That book rewired my brain when I was a preschooler
Hmm, I think that “Hose the air” should be “lose the air”
It is lose. It’s stuttering. two l’s with a hyphen between them definitely looks a lot like H.
I think it’s “l-lose” with a stutter and Red had a keming problem
What is keming???
Keming is the playful tern for space between two letters
so good keming would be clear and easy to understand
this is a case of bad keming for some
Ohhhhh- I kept wondering, because in the OS-Pod episode, Oops all Aurora they kept talking about the keming and was thinking, WHAT DOES THAT MEANNNN.
So thank you for that.
Ominous Walter comment is ominous, but Erin’s little smile in the bottom-left panel is adorable. Also, I can see this is the page Wolf was “helping” with from Tumblr XD
Murky ice and murkier sight
Awake in light
Crucible glows
Hole through ice grows
In worry, Erin yells out āWAIT!ā
Not a sec late
And Dainix stalls
To avoid walls
Iām glad to see you, but must cast
Orb of air fast
No void tonight
Still dragons fight
Inspired by a 12 line poetic form called a minute today. I couldnāt get the meter and the acrostic at the same time but did my best to match the syllables count and a rhyme scheme going.
A very ominous last line for this page especially since there are dragons on both sides harrying our protagonists.
That’s really good… (part of me is like, TEACH ME)
Thanks! I use rhymes zone and similar sites a lot whenever I get stuck. Forcing myself to stick with the acrostic form has been challenging but I found that the constraints have also helped me be more creative. It’s also quite fun when I can find a form that works for the line count. I also try to read a loud my poems before I post them to try to make sure there’s at least a little flow to them.
I think what has helped most though is just using the page as a prompt for regular practice after being inspired by both Red and all the other poets who have come on this site before me.
Erin: Ugh, you like to play with your food and you’re pretty hard to miss; I just had this conversation with Aryss, and they got a Tess in the back for their troubles.
Void Dragon: … What in an Aryss?
Stopping on command and listening? Dainix is a lot more mentally capable in Crucible form than he gives himself credit for; the difference between intentional and unintentional transformations I suppose. I don’t know when or how he’ll absorb the fireseed, but if this trend continues, it won’t be to compensate for a lack of control.
(sigh) Calian is going to try and finish the job quickly, aren’t they? I mean I can’t blame them, with the spectre of an angry Stefan over their head; killing the magus, or at least some of his allies, would go a fair way to softening any potential punishment. At the very least they’re going to give the glacier one last breath attack before they leave.
Funny, that’s remarkably what Erin looked like after finals at the Asuran mage academy….
Really?
Yes, really. He couldn’t participate in graduation unless he got a haircut.
That’s hilarious
I imagine, Erin: “Not my princly locks!”
I got a used copy of that hit book, Dragonology, at Half-Price Books for my high school English classroom, lo, many a year ago. Several students liked it.
awwwwww he mentioned he’s glad to see him. that’s actually very sweet of him to mention!
I wonder if VD is going to try and corrupt Calian like they did Tynan. sidenote: when The Twins created dragons, did they intentionally take inspiration from VD/LD, or were they being “manipulated” like when they created the Elder Races?
I’m beginning to worry that once Alinua encounters the Paladins, whether it’s here or somewhere down the line, she’s going to go full Odysseus on them.
“MY MERCY HAS LONG SINCE DROWNED. IT DIED TO BRING ME HOME. AND AS LONG AS YOU’RE AROUND, MY FAMILY’S FATE IS LEFT UNKNOWN!”
I think so once she figures out they kidnapped Kendal. I can picture her zooming across the ocean floor ready to absolutely shmak some paladins.
I wonder, if Stefan used his mind-reading powers on Alinua, would he also get bombarded by Life’s mind too?
The Collector lost a lot of herself witnessing the moment of Life’s reawakening, so there’s some tenuous precedent. Would be fun to see.
More like “It died to bring Kendal home” lol
And yeah, I’d guess that Stefan would just get a full blast of Eldritch Life if he tried to read Alinua’s mind (or the Collector’s)
I don’t think the Collector actually has a connection to Life anymore. See: her entire reason for being, which has not been updated
*intensely* A-LI-NU-A
āYouāve filled my heart with hate.ā
Thank you for the epic ref, best thing out there (canāt wait for the Iliad!!)
hate to admit it but I do enjoy bedraggled erin. He loses a lot of the stuck up pomp when he’s dying and desperate, and it genuinely is a good look on him. I feel like I’m peeking farther down his character arc into a time where he’s loosened up a bit.
S-tier angsty Erin page i’m losing my mind
I love Erin. I love how he uses pretentious language either thoughtlessly when engrossed or to transfer power to himself when vulnerable. And I love it when he does not do that
Bit surprised Dainix had the wherewithal to come back or listen to Erin’s warning. I assumed he’d inconveniently revert after the fight was over.
Good to know Erin is doing pretty good.
I am still waiting on Alinua.
Also how did you figure out a good name for your story’s. I need one.
-Signed The Vessel Of A Glowing God
(aka The Princess)
What’s the story about?
Come up with as many names as you can think of. Silly ones, ominous ones, boring ones, a characterās name, the name of a side characterās cat, cool lines, one word, three words, something poetic, something with a cool acronym. Maybe try to think up three potential names a day. Or 5.
Or take a single random word, call it a placeholder, and then never change it.
At the end of the day, the name of your story is a word used to refer to it. Imagine if Aurora was called Kendal. It would be a little discontinuous with the story obviously encompassing a more vast premise then Kendal, but weād all come read the comic just the same.
Donāt stress too much, since itās only one thing. But no harm in throwing stuff at the wall, maybe thinking about theme, and what the characters resonate most strongly with etc.
Once a man came up to a famous author at a party. He said he was writing a novel but struggling to come up with a name.
The famous author asked, “Does your story have any drums?”
“No,” the man said.
“Any trumpets?”
“None.”
“Then call it ‘No Drums, No Trumpets.'”
*tips hat*
I really don’t like this. Void Dragon is being sooo ominous
I have a bad feeling about this.
Said every character ever before a plot plunge
Did anyone notice that in Panel 2, Erin’s eyes were slightly gold? That’s not good
Yeah, I wondered about that, but apparently it’s just Dainix’s reflection?
Erinās eye shine always reflect the color of whatever magic heās using at the time. He had a fire spell up, so the shine is orange.
Panel 3 is orange, panel 2 is gold. There is a clear difference in shading as well, the orange highlight in panel 3 looks like how Erin’s magic reflects through his eyes: a bright, ‘sharp’ smudge along the iris. The gold highlight in panel 2shades more smoothly into his iris, almost like Void is edging into control
It makes me wonder of thatās his eyes changing color from the magic he casts, or Red highlighting his eyes because his arms are literally glowing.
That dragon will come back wont it
“On second thought, it is a lot easier if I follow the only fire underwater to the Elemental Magus.” – Cailan, probably
Ahh bedragged Erin. Gotta love it.
DRAGONOLOGY REFERENCE
i get the feeling that that Alt text includes Red
DRAGONOLOGY BOOK MENTIONED. GOSH, revolutionary book.
Also, I hate to say it, but I really don’t know what Calian would even do here rn? Guess we’ll have to see.
Interesting to see Dainix seems to be largely in control.
“Now I see fire inside the mountain
I see fire burnin’ through ice
And I see fire hollowin’ souls
I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you remember me”
Somehow, I thought of this song from Erin’s point of view.
Day two of me not understanding Redās immaculate visual storytelling,
Is Erin encased in a bubble a few inches thick of ice, or is he in a giant ice cube with a little pocket of air in it? Because a page or two back, water broke through the ice and started rushing in, but if he was inside a huge ice cube that wouldnāt be a problem?
If someone could help with this I would appreciate it.
Huh yeah where did that water come from? Because I think heās definitely in a giant iceberg, maybe there was a crack all the way through it?
I think it came from either the ice breaking under the ocean of water pressure, and it wasnāt water so much as small ice chunks as the crack spread, or the icy breath Cailan did had froze inconsistently so there was already water in the ice
Well in 2.8.2, there are definitely chunks of ice, from either the ice breaking or a crack spreading, but water also started rushing in from the crack. After the bubble cracked there was noticeably *more* water in the bubble.
But also, in the first panel of this page, you can see right under Erinās feet is a little channel of water coming up from the ice. So maybe thatās where the crack came from?
Folks, since everyone is talking dragon books, I just want to plug my own favorite, from an earlier generation: The Flight Of Dragons, by Peter Dickinson, illustrated by Wayne Anderson. It’s speculative evolution and it will have you struggling not to believe that dragons were once real.
“Uh oh why do I hear boss music?” -Erin probably