Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 10
Blaze holds the teacup in one hand, laying his other hand over the top. Light emanates from his palm, and the tattoo on the back of his hand glows. As wisps of energy flow from his hand, he sighs and thinks to himself, “Shame I have to calm him, though. They’re so hot when they get smoky…”
As he lifts his hand to reveal a glowing aqua-colored liquid in the teacup, he thinks, “Ugh, focus, Blaze! You have a job to do!”
In the moonlit bedroom, Blaze cradles the smoky ghost’s head and brings tea teacup toward his face. Fiery orange cracks are faintly visible across the ghost’s torso.
Blaze hold’s the ghost’s chin up and tips the glowing tea into his mouth.
The ghost clutches his face and rolls to the side, dramatically groaning, “Urgghhhh, Arrrgghhh.”
The ghost removes his gloved hands from his face, revealing the face of the attractive man from the grocery store. Smoke still wafts from around his body, and his eyes are obscured by sooty shadows, but he looks human again. Looking stunned, he loudly says, “What the fuck…”
Bracing himself against the floor, he looks up and says, more quietly, “Who the fuck…?”
Blaze stares down at him with a sultry smirk, his shirt open past his ribs, and he toys with the ends of his long red hair. The ghost says, “You’re kidding me. Tofu guy.”
Blaze leans in with a coy smile and says, “If you wanted to get in bed with me so bad, you could’ve just asked at the grocery store.”
The ghost stares up at him incredulously, pausing for a moment.
A view of the moonlit bedroom is shown. The ghost lies propped on the floor at the foot of the bed, with Blaze kneeling in front of him. The ghost asks, “Do all mediums flirt with their spirits?” Blaze replies, “You can tell I’m a medium?” The ghost answers, “You have to be. How else would I be talking to you?”
Blaze brushes the hair away from his face and asks intently, “Then you know you’re dead?”
The ghost’s gaze shifts away and, with a scowl, he replies, “Yeah. And I’m pissed about it.”
Angrily holding up a fist, the ghost snarls, “I’m gonna find the guy who killed me. But first… ugh…”
He clutches his chest, where more fiery cracks are visible. He cries out, “Ahhhh, what did you do to me? That hurt worse than the cross through the chest.”
Blaze holds up a hand. As an orange glow emanates from his palm, he says, “It’s spiritual fire. I don’t like to use it, but you gave me no choice.”
He squeezes his eyes shut, looking weary as he continues, “It drains my life energy. I feel half-dead myself.”
He opens his eyes and glances up at the ghost in challenge. Then he says, “But I’ll do it again if I need to.”
The ghost leans in close to Blaze, tilting his head and smiling as they meet eyes flirtatiously. He pauses, then says, “You think you’re stronger than me.” Blaze smiles back confidently and says, “Yeah. I do. I was holding back.”
The ghost lowers his eyebrows and takes a sip of his tea. After another pause, he says, “I was holding back too.”
Holding up the teacup, the ghost asks Blaze, “What is this?” Blaze, kneeling on the floor beside him, says, “My special sage tea blend. It calms spirits when they get smoky. You like it?” The ghost replies, “Tastes like soot.” Blaze asks, “So yes, then?” and the ghost lets out a humored “pfft.”
The ghost silently stares at Blaze for a moment.
Raising his eyebrows as if in concession, the ghost asks, “Got any more of it?”
A logo appears: Into the Smoke. Intothesmokecomic.com
An image shows nine ghost hands converging to pet Otto, a content fat black cat. Each hand has several names written on it. Text reads: Special Thanks to my Patrons. Pledge on Patreon at patreon.com/bob_artist. The words “Pledge on Patreon” are crossed out and replaced with the words, “Pet Otto.” An additional URL reads intothesmokecomic.com.
He’s awake!
Y’all, it’s May 28. The day before May 29. You know what that means? It’s time for…
Into the Smoke turns 1 year old TOMORROW! But we’re starting the celebration today!
I’m so happy I got to spend the last year with all of you! It’s meant the world to me that people are interested in this little story, and I’m super grateful for all the support you’ve given me. When I launched Into the Smoke, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to carry it through, but you’ve made me so much more confident that I’ll be able to keep running with this whole indie webcomics thing. 😀
Big thanks to everyone who’s read, or commented, or shared, or messaged, or pledged, or bought, or roasted Blaze for being the idiot orange cat he is. 😆 I’m looking forward to another year!
For ITS’s 1-year anniversary, I set up a collaborative canvas on Magma! I’m inviting all of you to drop in and leave a message or a doodle or whatever you want. There’s also a text tool if you don’t have a tablet pen and just want to type a message. The canvas will stay open through the next ITS update, and I’ll share the finished canvas the update after that. I’ll also be in and out trying to finish my sketch, which you can see in the works if you visit the canvas:
Write, Type, or Draw on Into the Smoke’s Anniversary Mural!
Want to leave a message for an ITS character? Want to leave a message for me? Want your OC to leave a message on your behalf? Want to draw an ITS character? Want to write a haiku mercilessly roasting an ITS character? The possibilities are endless! 😄 But I’d really love to see whatever you come up with!
You’ll need a free Magma account to add to the mural. I’ve had one for almost a year now and love it! If you really don’t want to make an account, you can email me a jpg (bob @ bob-artist.com) and I’ll add your submission to the canvas on your behalf! However you decide to join in, it’d mean a lot to me!
At long last, you can pick up Into the Smoke’s Patreon version on itch.io!
Get Into the Smoke Chapter 1: Extended Edition on itch.io!
Patrons: here’s your reminder to add your name to the ITS credits (and pet Otto) if you haven’t already! The credits sheet will update again with episode 11! If you already added your name any time during chapter 2, you don’t need to do it again. Add your name to the ITS credits here!
I don’t usually mention Webtoon because I like when people read on the main site. 😆 But earlier this month, they were kind enough to name Into the Smoke as a staff pick, and we ended up hitting 3000 subs there! So, thank you to Webtoon staff! If you already use Webtoon, subscribe to Into the Smoke! (And while you’re there, throw it a 10-star rating! It got review-bombed the first time it was featured in Up & Coming, along with 3 of the other 4 comics that were featured that week, interestingly…) It’s another handy way to keep up with the comic.
Last few days to vote and see the cute Blaze/Otto sketch! Timing’s gonna be tough again in June, so if you remember to vote on June 1, that’d be awesome! Vote for Into the Smoke on Top Webcomics here!
New Episodes Every Other Wednesday
