Author notes

198 - Disequilibrium

El Cid

on Oct. 28, 2017

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope my choice of using colored text in lieu of speech balloons wasn't too confusing here. In case it isn't clear, the aquamarine text is Nascha and the blue is Osprey. Why did I do the dialogue this way? Well, for one, I thought it looked cool. But also, because this conversation is all taking place in Nascha's head, the speech isn't coming 'from' anywhere in particular; it's just sort of emanating.

Osprey's dialogue was super difficult to write on this page. It's hard to strike the right tone and balance with a character like hers. She is a monster, that much is clear. But it's almost pointless to consider her cruel, since she (or it, or they) has no concept of cruelty. She feels no more empathy toward living creatures than you or I might feel for a pair of socks. She sees no wrong in committing acts of mass murder because as far as she's concerned, all she's doing is rearranging matter into a more manageable state.

Also, I'm not sure how clear it is in that last panel, but it's supposed to show that the sniper (Scorpion Eater One) very nearly sticks herself on one of the dead stingerbots' syringes while she's crawling about. (Note to new readers: Getting stung by those things is very bad for your health)

There are just five pages remaining in this chapter, and I'm currently putting the last of them together. It'll be a happy ending. Nascha realizes the wrong of her ways, and becomes a social worker, and everybody lives happily ever after. Or it may be nothing like that at all.