April 18th, 2017
And as always you can vote for an extra doodle! this one is just a quick clarification.
Vote Incentive for This Comic.
Ahhhh gosh, thank you so much!! *u*
æmber's all for that but i'm not sure jonan would be quite as enthusiastic....
posted at 1:34am on April 19th, 2017
Aember's cube thingy blocks magic too right? I guess that means that Xira can't read her mind.
posted at 12:31am on April 20th, 2017
Oh no, Sev is making dating jokes... (has anyone shipped Jonan/Xira before this. Does anyone ship this now. Is this more problematic than Jonan/Tareth. Will I ever make a comment that isn't my shipping goggles clouding over everything I'm sorry I'm like this.)
posted at 12:10am on April 18th, 2017
I wish I could edit to put in about fifty quotation marks around "problematic" dangit.
posted at 12:16am on April 18th, 2017
I been silently shipping Sev and Jonan since Jonan tenderly removed the bolt from Sev's arm at the church.
posted at 3:42am on April 18th, 2017
I can get behind this.
posted at 12:25pm on April 18th, 2017
KIRI NEVER APOLOGISE
(jonan/xira might be a little bit of a harder sell than Jonan/tareth b/c AT LEAST THEYVE SHOWN BEGRUDGING INTEREST IN EACH OTHERS WELLBEING but man im not about to keep a determined shipper from their ship)
posted at 1:29am on April 19th, 2017
WELL I MEAN Xira's first act of helpfulness WAS basically saving Jonan/ensuring he isn't recognised and thrown out of town, and Jonan DID choose not to rip off Xira's turban until the party wasn't in public anymore, and these are both base levels of 'interested in others' wellbeing' although Jonan's motivation is probably self-serving and I STILL DUNNO ABOUT XIRA, MAN..........mumble mumble.
posted at 3:17am on April 19th, 2017
Wild fan theory time: what if Xira is a huge secret fan of Jonan and is totally jealous of Aember, bc he liked Jonan before it was cool?
posted at 12:36am on April 21st, 2017
Yay! My vote moved this comic up from 36 to 35. I love how they can have a good laugh, even in the worst of times. Can't wait to see what happens next.
posted at 12:46am on April 18th, 2017
Even in the worst of times, a good laugh at Jonan's expense! :D
(also omg excellent!! thank u all for your votes every week!)
posted at 1:30am on April 19th, 2017
Does the title of the sign language page in Jonan's book read "Tarri's Language"? It doesn't look like it just says "Sign Language" but maybe Jonan's handwriting is just That Bad.
posted at 1:22am on April 18th, 2017
Close, it's "Tareth's Language!"
posted at 1:31am on April 19th, 2017
Woo, Jonan is learning sign language! And re: vote incentive, darn it Xira, don't lie to us, we're outside the fourth wall!
posted at 3:08am on April 18th, 2017
WELL he's trying his...hand at the letters at least; BABY STEPS!!
posted at 1:31am on April 19th, 2017
Groaaannn... Bad pun is bad. :-P
posted at 10:47am on April 19th, 2017
Oh Xira, don't think we're stupid, we know you're in cahoots with some mysterious third entity. Ò.o
Also, this page is so heartwarming. Seeing Tarri voice what I've been thinking for so long, seeing Jonan be surprisingly NOT as freaked out as I would be at the suggestion, more just vehemently averse to it, and seeing Jonan secretly practise 'Tareth's Language' when he thinks everyone is asleep. There goes my heart. XD
posted at 6:00am on April 18th, 2017
I confess to getting a vibe here of "I'd better learn this before they get any further into the idea" but am charmed nonetheless.
posted at 10:08am on April 18th, 2017
I love how the last panel is layed out so that we can juuuuust see Aember, wide awake and watching. Her whole "doesn't eat/sleep/other normal bodily functions" thing is going to provide for some interesting dynamics for the party.
posted at 6:59am on April 18th, 2017
Okay, so apparently obnoxiously nice kid reading your mind is the final push you need to finally start learning obnoxious girl's hand-talk. At least now you will be able to tell obnoxiously loud dude to SHUT UP!
:D
By the way, Jonan, we know you wanted to do this in secret, but Aember is totally watching.
posted at 10:09am on April 18th, 2017
Re: vote incentive - Xira, you charming, lying bastard! :D
posted at 10:11am on April 18th, 2017
I'm getting the impression that he's BEEN learning... just on his own terms. Or is that just me? He seems like the kind of guy who would obstinately refuse any idea that he didn't come up with and just happen to come up with the same idea as everyone else.
posted at 2:29pm on April 18th, 2017
While I won't quibble the personality analysis, I will point out that Tareth just taught them the alphabet like, a couple hours ago (you can actually catch him taking notes) -- so he hasn't really had a chance to study until now. (WEBCOMIC TIME IS A DOOZY, can you believe this whole comic has encompassed like.... a week of time,,,)
posted at 1:32am on April 19th, 2017
Okay, fair point. Admittedly he couldnt have been studying while running around with aberrant Sev...
But I stand by my "personality analysis" :D
posted at 12:40am on April 21st, 2017
Oh, Lord, I love Tarri! She is the best! She wins at sarcasm.
posted at 10:27am on April 18th, 2017
GETTIN A LIL SASSY THERE TARETH
posted at 1:33am on April 19th, 2017
Gotta agree with all the earlier comments - this is such a sweet page! I particularly like the way they are all relating to one another in a more-or-less friendly way (yes, I get that it's definitely "less friendly" for Jonan, but a friendly Jonan would be kinda disturbing anyway). The gentle teasing and joking, plus the "alright, we're definitely not doing anything that's gonna make people uncomfortable" stuff - it's just such a great, relaxing vibe after the past few tense pages. Makes me feel like even with all the weirdness, they make a really good travel group!:)
(Also, I have to admit that if I could somehow magically become a runewriter and choose what kind I wanted to be, I would probably pick "witch" even with the nasty feelings others have for them - it just seems very useful. Not that being able to turn into a giant dragon or raise undead isn't useful in some situations, but those, thankfully, aren't the sort of situations that I run into on a day-to-day basis!)
posted at 11:17am on April 18th, 2017
I feel like witchcraft is an ability I might think I would want, but would find incredibly stressful in practice. Having the option to mentally nudge someone, or check what they're thinking when I'm worried I've said something wrong, etc etc etc would be such a huge temptation.
If I could somehow pick, I'd pick shapeshifting (disguise) personally.... it wouldn't necessarily be useful in my day to day life, but it would be a lot of fun to be able to just look however I wanted!!
posted at 2:09am on April 20th, 2017
I haven't been commenting on the past couple of pages because TOO MANY EYES IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES. But that seems to have subsided now.
I am happy that Xira's secret is finally out in the open.
Thanks to the commentators for pointing out that Jonan is studying sign language. I didn't take a close look at the book he was holding and so was starting to get worried that he was up to something nefarious - what with waiting until everyone else was asleep to study the book.
posted at 12:00pm on April 18th, 2017
The voice at the end of chapter 3! That'll be the mental link, and Xira can't do it with this group because then they'd hear the person Xira's linked to as well!
I deeply hope it's not Iavin, but I acknowledge that's very much a possibility.
posted at 11:42am on April 19th, 2017
Though he might not've been so quick to bring it up in this page if it was an ability he didn't want to draw attention to!
posted at 2:10am on April 20th, 2017
Oh, side note, but I really don't remember if we ever got an answer for this?
Could Xira, theoretically, learn Handsign really fast by lifting it out of someone else's head? And could he use his mind magic on himself? Like, could a witch erase their own memories if they had the urge?
posted at 9:11pm on April 19th, 2017
Oh boy!
(1) Straight up transferring a memory from one mind to another isn't something we've seen in the comic so far, so we don't know. That would theoretically be within the purview of mindreading??? though probably complicated.
(2) Recall that the Elemental in chapter 3 quickly remembered Jonan more and more as her memory got jogged, because Xira didn't have time to hide loose ends -- he referred to the job as "sloppy." Now ponder how hard it'd be to do a more thorough job when you forget what you were doing half-way through!
I can't say it's impossible, but it wouldn't be as simple as pointing the spell at yourself.
posted at 2:15am on April 20th, 2017
Comment by Dktr
HI... Long-time reader, first-time commenter lmao. I swear I meant to do this before now.
Anyway I love this comic and I love all the little details and I love Tareth best and I'm so glad Jonan is the jerk with a heart of gold bc I love him. Look at him practicing the sign language!! Jonan you're a champ!!
And I see Aember watching. I wonder if they'll practice together.
posted at 12:09am on April 18th, 2017