Chapter 1, Episode 3

Transcript: Chapter 1, Episode 3

Blaze is in upward facing dog pose, his hair pulled back in a messy bun. He’s shirtless, and he wears purple leggings cropped at the calves. He narrates, “I start every morning with yoga and meditation. This is the only time I have entirely to myself, and it’s vital.”

He moves on to warrior pose A and continues narrating. “As a medium, I need to offer my mind as a place of calm for wandering spirits.”

Now in standing forward bend, displaying his flexibility, he narrates, “When my body, mind, and spirit are aligned, I know I can take on anything that comes my way.”

There’s a “click,” and the room goes dark.

Without breaking his position, Blaze glances up with one eye as the light returns with a click.

With another click, the room goes dark again.

In rapid succession, accompanied by a repeating click, the room goes light, then dark, then light again over and over.

Finally, still in standing forward bend, Blaze yells, “Electricity isn’t free, David.”

Across the room, a startled blue ghost in colonial garb stands with one finger on the light switch.

With a mild frown, he backs away from the switch and says, “Sorry.”

The scene cuts to white.

Later, Blaze sits at the dining table with Evie. He’s now dressed, wearing a low-cut tunic shirt with laces down the front. The shirt sleeves are cinched near the elbows, ending in tattered fragments with burned edges. He wears two necklaces, and a pair of gloves now cover his tattooed hands. In the seat beside him, Evie holds a clipboard. Blaze narrates, “After I wash up, I have tea and breakfast with Evie, and she tells me the day’s schedule. When Evie died, she came back in spirit to work as my assistant. I don’t know why she decided to punish herself like that.”

The view shifts to a wide shot of Blaze’s living room area. Blaze narrates, “This was her old apartment. That’s why she can come back even if I don’t light a candle for her.” Sun shines from floor-to-ceiling windows, the gauzy curtains pulled back and knotted to reveal a balcony beyond. An Oriental rug lies on the floor beside the windows, with various cushions atop it for lounging. The furniture style is eclectic, with a seating area of antique chairs and a small table to the left. Above it is a mirror on the wall surrounded by six ornaments in the shapes of the moon’s phases and a sun-shaped ornament above. Beside it, a string of beads hangs on the wall, and a potted plant sits nearby. Abstract celestial art hangs on the walls.

At the dining table, Blaze holds a cup of tea and asks Evie, “So, who’s my morning appointment?” Evie, holding her clipboard, replies, “Vern.”

Blaze raises his gloved palm to his face and groans, “Oof.” Evie replies, “See? You picked the wrong night for a ghost ‘party.’” Blaze says, “I sure did…”

Evie looks at Blaze with a serious expression. “Will you be able to handle him without assistance?” she asks. Blaze props his chin on his folded hands and replies, “I’m gonna have to.”

He pictures Vern, a dark-red, smoky ghost with a bushy beard, a lumberjack shirt, and a large, brawny build. Blaze says, “Vern’s energy drives all the other spirits away. Even your energy gets choked out when he’s around.”

Blaze leans back in his chair, suddenly looking carefree as he puts his hands behind his head. “But I’ll be fine,” he continues. “You know I always am.”

Evie, looking concerned, takes a silent sip of her tea.

Cut to white.

A logo appears: Into the Smoke. Intothesmokecomic.com

Text reads: This episode is brought to you by my awesome patrons! An image shows a collection of signatures in various colors, sizes, and handwriting styles, alongside Otto the cat with a roughly sketched pointy hat.. After the signatures, more text reads: plus additional anonymous supporters! patreon.com/bob_artist.

A cropped panel shows a high-rise building. Text reads: Additional deleted panels of this episode are available at patreon.com/bob_artist

Creator Comment

Hey all! I want to thank everyone for making the launch so awesome! From here till the end of chapter 1, we’ll have a new episode every other Wednesday.

Also, yoga is great! Do yoga. It’s probably the only thing Blaze does that I recommend you do too.

And now, the latest ITS news…

Into the Smoke Extras

Lots of exciting stuff! First, this episode has an extended version on Patreon. I cut some expository panels from this episode to improve the pacing, but patrons pledging $5 or more can read the episode with the panels included. They share a bit of info about Blaze’s home life situation. You also get to see Blaze’s apartment building (which took me forever to build, haha). We’ll get that info in the canon comic in chapter 2 now.

Second, Blaze’s extended character profile went up on Patreon! And he’s already getting roasted by readers (as he should). Little preview:

A cropped preview of a character profile sheet. Blaze is an androgynous person with shoulder-length red hair parted in the middle. He wears a loose beige shirt and several necklaces. Title: Blaze Laurent. Intothesmokecomic.com. Pronouns: I guess he/him, but it really doesn't matter. Age: 24 (25 in a month!) Sign: Sagittarius Place of Residence: Chicago, West Loop

Text reads, Most Embarrassing Moment: The day I was fired from my barista job after forgetting to add milk to a latte, forgetting to add tea leaves to a Darjeeling, and forgetting to add espresso to a ristretto. (I know. Neutral face emoticon)

No thoughts in his head, just optimism and adrenaline. 🙂

Top Webcomics

Yeah, it’s old school, but I have a good chunk of old school webcomic readers, so this one’s for you. You can now vote for Into the Smoke on Top Webcomics! You can vote once per day per internet connection (yes, that’s allowed). When you vote, you’ll see a fun little minicomic featuring Blaze and Alastor!

ITS on Itch.io

Into the Smoke is now on itch.io! You can download the first three episodes as a pay-what-you-want vertical-scroll PDF, and we’ll have a new download every 3 episodes. Oh, and you should follow me on itch! I have a free visual novel there, and I’ll be posting more stuff in the future!

Comics I Recommend

With every new episode of chapter 1, I’m gonna shout out a creator and a comic that I recommend and think you’d enjoy.

My very first shout-out goes to Keeping Time, by Kody Okamoto!

A banner for the webcomic, KEEPING TIME. Beneath the comic's logo is a full-color illustration of two characters playing electric guitars against a backdrop of out-of-focus stage lights. The character on the left has short, blond hair, his wood-grain Ibanez tilting towards the viewer. The character on the right has dark hair and leans into a microphone as he sings, away from the viewer, his back and the back of his Fender guitar visible.

In the mid-2000s, Daniel returns to his hometown for the first time since his twin sister, Alex, died. Resigned to living his life in the colorless grief he’s accustomed to, he is unprepared for his estranged friend and former bandmate, Denver, to burst back into his life. Denver convinces Daniel to rejoin the band, and the act of creating music together brings them closer than they’ve ever been. Just as their band seems headed for brighter future, Denver and Daniel realize falling in love in the scar that Alex left behind might prove to be their undoing.

Keeping Time launched in April, but there’s already a ton of pages posted. So you get the perfect balance of getting to jump in early while also having a good chunk to read. And it’s just really good. Hooked me right away and the art is gorgeous. So go check it out!

~Bob

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