Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 4
A street light shines down in the darkness. The pole has two street signs. One reads Belmont Av. Lower on the pole is a no-parking sign that reads, “Bus stop. Tow zone.”
Blaze glances apprehensively at Judd and thinks to himself, “This silence is torture. Sooner or later, I’m gonna have to bring up the elephant in the room.”
A close-up shows him biting his lip as he says, “Um… About that lunch I missed…”
With a knowing smile, Judd replies, “I invited you out six times. You missed all six.” Blaze replies, “i’m really sorry. I… lost my phone.” Judd asks, “Six times?” and Blaze replies, “Seven, actually. You know how it is. My mind is usually in another realm.”
Judd asks, “How about lunch this Friday? You’re free in the afternoons, right?” Blaze’s eyes go wide and he blushes, looking stunned.
His eyes shift away. Still blushing, he thinks, “Is it a ‘sin’ to lie to a priest? He knows exactly why I’m avoiding him.”
Judd wears a gentle smile and says, “You can say no. A harsh truth is better than a polite lie.” Blaze nervously brushes the hair out of his face and thinks, “Oh, but I hate being harsh.”
Blaze’s narration continues, “And it’s not that I don’t like Judd. The problem is… kind of the opposite.”
A flashback shows a younger Judd in his early twenties, wearing a short-sleeved black shirt and Roman collar. He holds Blaze’s hand, which has no tattoos, and wraps bandages around it. Blaze’s narration continues, “We go way back. He was the seminarian who saved my life.”
Another flashback shows Blaze and Judd in recent times, arguing. Blaze wears an ornate white alb with purple trim over his black shirt and Roman collar. He angrily points upward, and Blaze looks offended while raising a hand to his chest. Blaze’s narration reads, “But now he’s an exorcist. I hate what he does to ghosts, and he hates what I do with ghosts.”
Blaze’s narration continues, “And after what I did at the Clybourn House… It’s all just so… complicated…” A flashback shows Judd sitting on the ground, stunned, his hands held up and fingers splayed as Blaze lies in his lap and hugs him tightly while trembling. The back of Blaze’s shirt is shredded, revealing scratches across his tattooed back.
In present time, Blaze wraps his arms around himself and lowers his head, looking distraught. His eyebrows furrowed, he says, “It’s just been a long day. Can I think about it?” With a nonchalant smile, Judd replies, “Sure.”
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.
Text reads: Patreon 500-member sale. 40% off bonus tier. Join my $5 tier for $3. Patreon.com/bob_artist. Promo code: 99F34. Illustrations show Blaze and Alastor from Into the Smoke, sharing breath, Pogo yelling excitedly at Samsid from Demon of the Underground, and Merritt and Belmont from Devoted: Merritt’s Story about to kiss while holding weapons to each other’s throats.
Bonus points to the one person on Bluesky who noticed an important detail in episode 3! (We might be seeing more… details… in future episodes!)
*AHEM* Was that a… Clybourn House mention??? Reminder that you can read about exactly what happened between Blaze and Judd in ITS: The Clybourn House! (The overall story is very 18+ so beware!) Right now it’s in early access (and COMPLETE) for Secret Gallery patrons, and in the near future it’ll start posting to all patrons!
As I mentioned before, we hit 500+paid/free Patreon members, so I’m having a sale on my most popular Patreon tier! First month’s $3 instead of $5, and that also gets you access to all pages of my other webcomic! (and a ton of other stuff)
AND if we can get to 250 PAID patrons this month, I’ll do a bonus illustration that patrons get to vote on!
Join my Bonus Tier on Patreon and use promo code 99F34
This past year, we absolutely killed it with free member signups, and I’m hoping we can catch up with paid signups so I can keep both comics running after chapter 2!
A new voting incentive is up on Top Webcomics! In honor of PILF Month, voting gets you a shirtless sketch of Judd. 😄 You can vote here!
We’re having two great months in a row, so I just want to give a big thank-you to everyone! Votes help more people discover the comic. You can vote daily from as many devices as you have access to (this is encouraged on the website, as long as it’s a human voting). And an especially big thanks to Sam and bronakopdin who post vote reminders in the Discord server!
AND if you want to catch all my old Into the Smoke incentive images, I’m now posting them to the Bonus Tier on Patreon! (Yep, the tier that’s on sale.) You can see past incentives here.
With every new episode, I’m shouting out a creator and a comic that I recommend and think you’d enjoy. This time, it’s Solanaceae by DarkChibiShadow!
Sal, a thief, concocts a get rich quick scheme to try and make Battam, a witch, fall in love with him. But upon learning more about his seemingly oblivious target, Sal starts experiencing feelings he’s never had before and must make a decision between money or love.
I first got to chat with DCS last year when we were on that Citrus Con panel together, and they’re just an all-around awesome person with a shared appreciation for comics, VNs, and Canada geese. 😀 And Solanaceae is a really fun comic! One thing I love about it is how the romance and relationship dynamics are very real and grounded within a very fantastical setting. There’s a wide variety of LGBTQ+ characters, both in the comic and in the side stories and visual novels, and on top of that, there’s some interesting lore and worldbuilding woven into the characters’ back stories. And there’s a safe-for-work version available on Tapas. So go check it out!
New Episodes Every Other Wednesday
