1100 Forgotten.

by

For the record, in honor of Amber Stone’s help with Dawn’s messed up Japanese tic, I let her give Dawn her surname.

I was interrupted the very moment I sat down to write the next story bit, so it may be shorter than I wanted, but I’m getting some out to you none the less. I hope you enjoy it.

After a few lurid moments of cuddling Julius started waggling his arms around in an attempt to shake her off, which caused a fit of giggling little else. As casually as he could Julius half dragged Twig to another pillar and leaned on it nonchalantly. In spite of the horrors they had just faced the rest of the party all grinned at the spectacle.

“So…” He began in as cool a tone as he could muster. “This is Twig. An associate of mine.”

“What kind of a name is Twig?” Wheezed Regalius.

“Mine, elf!” Twig spat back, moving behind Julius to look at Regalius.

“It’s a nickname I gave her.” Said Julius. “She… doesn’t care for her real name, and I won’t risk harm to my person by uttering it here.”

“How can someone that young shadowphase?” Regalius asked. “I’ve been studying it for years and I can barely go across a room. It’s insanely difficult.”

Julius considered this for a moment. “I don’t know actually.” He finally replied. “I can only go a little way myself, but after I showed Twig she just seemed to… get it.”

Regalius gaped. “You can do it too?”

“Yeah, not well. Not well… but I can do it a little” He replied. “Once or twice a day tops, and not very far. Twig can go… Well, I’m not exactly sure what her upper limit is. Miles for sure, and more than once a day for minutes at a time.” Twig beamed around at the group, basking in the clearly displayed awe.

“That’s amazing…” Niona gasped. “Why didn’t you bring her with you from the start?”

“Well,” Julius replied. “I hate to put her in danger, or wear her out with a bunch of questing. She’s kind of my weapon of last resort.”

“Who’s that one?” Twig asked quietly, pointing at Niona.

“Ah, sorry, yeah. That’s Niona, she’s a scholar. That’s Regalius, he’s a tone mage… and that’s… Alina Redgrave.” Julius said, pointing to each one in turn. At the revalation of Alina’s name Twig’s eyes almost tore her face in half trying to widen wider than they’d ever been before. Before Alina could even speak Twig had crossed the distance between them and was all but groveling at her feet.

Twig couldn’t seem to form words and she was nearly crying, but she managed to scrabble around in a little pouch and produce a bright stone, like the one Julius summoned her with, and press it shakily into Alina’s palm.

With that she sprinted back to Julius and buried her face in his chest again. He seemed almost as surprised as Alina.

“Uh… Twig says, should you ever need help, just speak clearly at the stone.” Julius instructed. “If it’s in her power to help she’ll defend your life to her last breath… Mistress.”

71 Comments

Having Followers on the internet is JUST like having people Who’d line up in a small town for a book signing.

… Fair Dues though, Dawn seems to have a handle on this “Fantasy” thing.

I think some, (preferably other then her seething ex), needs to breakdown the internet to her. :)

Poor girl.

Though, as much as Thomas is enjoying mocking her, she will always have her sh-er, stuff together enough to JUST WRITE A BOOK AND GET IT PUBLISHED, an amazing feat Thomas can not yet claim.

Ug. This is made all the more painful to watch, as she still hasn’t realized how much her ex loathes her and wants to make her miserable. She’s treating him like an old chum she can horse around with, and he’s trying to destroy her self confidence and undermine her achivement.

Also, who the heck published her? They don’t seem to have given her any pointers.

I’m not too surprised by that. My one professor published a successful book, and his publishing company had no idea how to market the book to the online crowd.

It was self-published. She paid for it to be printed out of pocket, apparently, which is a possible reason why she hasn’t got a clue about marketing. You’ve got to go to book fairs, contact your local newspaper, see about getting onto local radio, make friends with other writers so they plug your work, and throw freebies out for kindle and e-readers so people know the quality of your work. That’s on top of maintaining a personal website, Twitter, Facebook Jotify, GoodReads, etc. And only once you’ve managed to shift a good supply of physical copies do you even THINK about doing a book signing. Even then, it should be at a writing convention so the pull of other more well known writers drags people in your direction.

It’s annoying when newbie writers think that just because they wrote a book that the world will beat their door down. Making your name is waaay tougher than the actual writing part.

Thank you for enlightening me, Big J. :)

That was informative on multiple levels.

Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Where’d she hit him?

I think that was just his big startle reaction. Looks like she hit the table, to me, even though it’s not visible in the panel.

Aaaaand, after looking at the panel again and again, I guess I’m wrong. I don’t know where she hit him, but I guess it wasn’t really in the table.

Only 2,000 watchers?? There are people on the internet who have tens of millions of followers whose name would not ‘ring any bells’ of recognition for the average punter on the street.

Write monkey…is there such a site?

YES it exists.

http://writemonkey.com/

I wonder if the name refers to the idea that if enough monkeys type long enough, they might accidently write a line of Shakespeare.

I may have to check out Writemonkey, I have some short stories I would like a bit of critiquing on. Though I’m not so sure how good the site is, but come on… with a name like WriteMonkey it’s just gotta be good right? :p

Snagged off the website:

Writemonkey is a Windows zenware* writing application with an extremely stripped down user interface, leaving you alone with your thoughts and your words. It is light, fast and free. With an array of innovative tools under the hood and full Markdown* support, it helps you write better.

That being said, I don’t think they will be able to help with your critiquing. My recommendation is to start a blog and ask people to read it for starters. :)

I was trying to be objective as I learn more about Dawn… But its really getting more difficult. She’s one of those online writers… “Oh, I have 1000 watchers, I must be a household name! And all of them live close to me or would travel multiple miles if I was to show up somewhere!” Meh. Too much.

I’ve been reading BF for quite some time now, but I’ve never taken the time to comment. I just read through the archive again, and I have to say, it’s given me even greater appreciation for the comic than before. The character development, interactions, the dynamic between everyone. It’s all wonderful. Thank you.

You are welcome. I’m glad you can read it more than once without getting sick of it. XD Thanks for reading it at all. I appreciate it.

Hey Crave, is your gate open? I’ve tried to visit a couple of times but it still says there are no towns available to visit.

Sorry if I’m being a pest.

Its open. Everything should be fine now.

My game keeps dropping, and freezing… never had that happen before.

My net signal is really bad. Did you get everything you needed?

Aaaand there’s the physical violence. Not cool, Constancebrooke Willowhollanddawn. Not cool.

She just smacked him on the bum. And he’s been nothing but a grade A arse the whole time, so it’s appropriate.

No it isn’t. Violence isn’t an appropriate response to words, ever. And it’s not just a smack on the bum. Next panel, he’s holding his knee. It did hurt him. Even if it hadn’t, someone who hits another person when they’re mad isn’t a person we should be defending.

Also, it’s interesting that Thomas really hasn’t been that much more of an arse to her than to anyone else, and yet she’s the first person to actually hit him.

He’s not freaking out of her, so I’ll have to remain skeptical about how hard she ‘struck’ him until future comics prove otherwise.

I just don’t see this as ‘violence,’ and the accusation of it being so seems grossly disproportionate to the reality.

Instead it just looks like the type of horsing around good friends do, except it’s a pinch sad here as she doesn’t seem to have any clue how much her ex loathes her.

Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I forgot the universal cosmic law that says that if someone doesn’t immediately drop everything else and react to their pain and only their pain, it clearly doesn’t hurt that much. Never mind the fact that he yells out, almost certainly in pain, in the first panel. Nor the fact that his face is still red and he’s holding his leg in the second. And, of course, the fact that he’s now clearly pissed off when he was being smug and annoying in the previous strip means absolutely nothing and cannot possibly be connected to the fact that he was just hit and is in pain.

I have yet to be hit by a girl and experience any real pain. Surprise, sometimes, but not pain.

On the other side of the coin, I don’t go around pushing people’s buttons. Well, not usually on purpose. I don’t feel pain when hit, but I also stop being mouthy at that point.

I appreciate your pain threshold philosophy as a standard, but as a member of the “gentler” sex, I’d like to respectfully say that no woman should ever hit. Not another man, not another woman, not a child. For me, it’s the principle of the thing, not the amount of damage I can do. Violence can be a soul killer of the self, regardless of how much pain is inflicted. Also, not ever hitting fits in with my egalitarian viewpoint of the sexes, wherein since it’s wrong for men to hit women, it’s equally wrong for women to hit men.

Have been hit by girls. it often did hurt, especially when one would twist my fingers back till they touched the back of my hand (high schooler when I was in junior high-and little at that-and I probably deserved it) and I’m not double jointed. Still find it hard to be offended when a female hits a male. Would be upset if he responded in kind.

Well, that’s physical violence. If he wants to, or if somebody else (like Mike) saw that, the next page could just be her being gently tossed out the door and them taking down the sign.

But she doesn’t strike me as the type to think of consequences. Or even think about other people except how they relate to her–Thomas is her “friend” (she thinks), so she doesn’t treat him as a person who has to be professional at his workplace.

“Well, that’s physical violence.”

Pffftt…!

Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!

I think everyone is looking too deeply for a reason to hate her, or otherwise confirm/condone Thomas’ rage-hate/rudeness to her.

She slapped the arse on the arse ’cause he was being an arse.

He dosn’t even care in the next panel.

“He dosn’t even care in the next panel.”

Really? I’d call holding the knee where she hit him an indication that he cares a bit. Y’know, because it hurts.

True, but I was referring to what he is saying. While he holds his knee, he’s clearly focused on defending his part in advertising her signing.

If he was really hurting, he’d be chewing her out, calling to police for defense against his threatening attacker, or otherwise neutralizing/retreating for the threat.

I’m just not seeing this as anything but her busting on him for being a dork. We’ll see how the next comic treats this.

Okay, sorry. That’s TECHNICALLY physical violence, which means that they COULD toss her out if they wanted to, and since pretty much nobody likes her and she isn’t actually bringing any business in, that’s a definite possibility.

It’s not that I’m trying to find a reason to hate her (I don’t need a reason to hate her), it’s that she just gave them an excuse.

I guess we’ll see how this pans out. A lot of this has been left to Thomas’ digression by his boss, so it’s his call on how to treat her.

This will be a big test of character for him. Possibly the biggest we’ve seen yet.

He dosn’t even care in the next panel.

Well, Thomas’ face is all red in the first and second panels, if that’s any indication.

Re: Fiction Story

I’m guessing that Twig was one of the many people saved by Alina Redgrave’s valiant defense? Not personally, or she would have recognized her, but the kind of thing that you’re grateful for nonetheless.

I like the rocks-as-radios idea. What kind of enchantment do they use, and does it go directly to Twig, or to a corresponding rock in her possession?

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Karma gonna take a big bite outta somebody’s behind. XD

I’m trying to feel sorry for her, but frankly, the poor, early-teen-otaku use of “Japanese” just makes me cringe. If she would use phrases that one couldn’t get by simply watching ANY anime that’s ever come out, I’d be less irritated… alas I will just sit back and watch her expected crash and burn with a smile, for I am a cynical bastard.

Hurr hurr hurr. A handful of folks on an obscure site I personally have never heard of… you may as well include your pweacious facebook friends while your at it. =3=
Saying you have a “lot of fans” in that case is like saying your friends with someone just for saying “hey” to a stranger as you pass on the street.
I’ve seen and gotten to know some people over the internet… but there are only an absolute FEW I’d consider genuine “friends”, let alone “fans” of *my* work, and I’ve only considered them such because tho I’ve NEVER actually MET any of them, I’ve known them for 10-13 years over the internet, I’ve called them, chatted with them, and gotten to KNOW them.

I know that “friends” and “fans” are considerably different, but something about that last line dredge up one of my deepest hatreds of the internet: the way “friend” is tossed around nowadays. I’ve had a youtube account for a long time now, and I’ve had TONS of RANDOM PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW send me messages stating that they have now “friended” me or “subscribed” to me or whatever have you, regardless of it is YouTube, Kongregate, or Facebook (tho I do not actually own a facebook, you get my point). Why? Why are they friending me. I don’t know them, they don’t even know me! They haven’t even made an attempt to contact me and chat about anything. Why friend me?! It absolutely baffles me!! So I do what only makes sense, I ignore the friend request.

…And after that… I just got a sudden wave of intense “old” come over me. Should a 23 year old in the “technology age” feel like this about the internet? Maybe someone from the other side of my arguement could comment on it, maybe illuminate the goings on.

Oh! So caught up in my irrate ravings, forgot to say:

Congrats, Crave, on your eleventy-ought page! A cool 1100 pages down!

Hehehe. Don’t feel too bad about having thoughts, emotions, or experiences on the Internet. The “old” thing is really what I’m commenting on, though.

My experiences with video games are bad enough. Seriously, I relate more and more to Cranky Kong every year. I am making efforts to “outgrow” video games for bigger and better things right now, but I still spent a major portion of my childhood and young adulthood playing video games.

Internet for me is still kind of a novelty. I’ve had this connection for almost a year after not having an Internet connection to call my own for about three years. Still, I started doing Internet stuff in 1997. I paid for my own dial-up access while living in my parent’s house. Back then, the trout was actually cool! I went to Marine Corps boot camp in January of 1998. I finally got through all of my initial training, and I went to my first school. They had computers you could rent internet time on. (Wasn’t a proper Internet cafe.)

I got on one, jumped on mIRC, like usual. I found a chat room, and there was a lull in the conversation. So, I used the trout on someone, and I just about got gutted! Apparently, in the time I went to boot camp and MCT, the trout had become this loathsome thing that you should never use, and apparently should never have been included as a feature.

So, yeah. That’s my “old man” Internet story for the day.

Physical violence is ALWAYS the answer. Brilliant.

I have to wonder what Thomas hates so much about this woman when he seems to be the king of sarcasm in this situation. I’m almost wondering if he’s projecting negativity onto her.

What does “dinger!” mean? And what does her Japanese words mean?

Bakayaro is the next step beyond just a plain old idiot (baka) in terms of intensity. Not quite to Samuel L. Jackson levels yet.

Dame yo is an informal way of saying Bad.

I’ll assume his “dinger” meant that she hit him hard enough to leave a mark.

Dinger is a nonsense catchphrase used by Abraham Lincoln in the animated masterpiece Clone High, although the word has various other slang meanings. It’s generally use as a generic exclamation of pain.

Ugh. All these people defending Dawn. He was teasing her. And despite the fact that there was some malice behind it, anyone who knows Thomas would not be able to see much difference between that and the way he talks to people he actually considers friends. She hit him. It’s one thing to playfully smack an old friend for teasing you, but she clearly caused him pain, and he’s not her friend. He’s her ex. They’ve been separated for years and they’ve probably not talked in almost as long. Her actions indicate she sees nothing wrong with how she’s behaving towards him. Thomas’s reactions clearly indicate that their breakup was not a particularly pleasant one, so why on earth would she think it’s acceptable to act like this, hit him, and blame him for stuff he clearly isn’t at fault for?

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