Transcript: Chapter 2, Episode 7
A view out of Blaze’s bedroom window shows the Sears Tower and Chicago skyline at night. On the glass, partially obscuring the view, are the dark, dripping prints of two clawed hands.
The view zooms out to show Blaze asleep in his bed beside the ominously stained window.
An aerial view shows Blaze under the covers. A pair of hand-shaped imprints press into the quilt as they approach Blaze’s sleeping form.
A hand imprint presses into the covers next to Blaze’s back, and two knee-shaped imprints surround his thighs.
A hand imprint grasps the spare pillow next to Blaze.
The pillow is lifted into the air.
The pillow floats above Blaze’s head.
Blaze’s face is shown as he groggily rolls over and begins to open his eyes.
Blaze notices the pillow, and his eyes go wide with shock.
The pillow slams down over Blaze’s face. He thrashes and grabs at the pillow while letting out a muffled scream.
Blaze continues to thrash and yell as he tries to pry the pillow off his head.
Blaze grunts and grits his teeth with exertion as he finally pushes the pillow away from his face.
A view shows the smoky ghost from the church scowling as he pushes down on the pillow. From off-page, Blaze cries, “You!”
Blaze stares up at the ghost, stunned. He asks, “How are you so smoky again so soon??”
The ghost scowls down at him as disjointed, indecipherable haunted whispers emanate from him. Barely legible within the echo are the words, “kill everyone.” Blaze thinks to himself, “Damn, he’s far gone…”
Blaze wrestles the pillow out of the ghost’s grip and tries to toss it aside. As the ghost holds his wrist and fights back, he yells, “S-stop! You’re safe here!”
Blaze sits up from the mattress, the ghost towering over him and gripping his arm. Blaze says, “I’m not here to harm you!”
Blaze leans close to the ghost and yells, “BE AT PEACE!” His life’s breath shoots out of his mouth and into the ghost’s, illuminating his mouth with a pale white glow.
The ghost’s eyes pin, and his mouth glows white. Blaze stares at him with shock.
With another glowing puff at the ghost’s face, Blaze says, “oops.”
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.
A tightly cropped panel shows Blaze’s bare torso and hips under the covers. Text reads: An uncensored version of this episode is available on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/bob_artist
Oops.
I hope you’ve all been having a good April! I was in a frantic overwork stage up until this Sunday, when I finally got to take a couple days off and see some cool performances in Chicago and go on a 3-hour walk at the Morton Arboretum and see DEER. But now it’s back to frantic work, haha.
So, fun fact: Blaze canonically sleeps naked. That’s just how this semi-feral creature has always lived. And that’s how I wrote this scene in the script. But then as I was thumbnailing it out, I was like “oh. Ohhhhhh. Oh yeah I really can’t have him be naked and flailing through this entire scene… I won’t be able to post it anywhere. And he’s QUITE naked. and QUITE flailing.”
So yeah, I had to have him not be naked.
Uh, unless you’re on Patreon.
Bonus Tier ($5) patrons and higher, check out my latest Patreon posts for the Naked Edition of this episode! Just beware, he really, really is quite naked, aside from a few strategic action lines for “modesty.” (Oh, and there will also be a naked edition of episode 8 since it’s the same scene.)
Wow, it really is a big week for nsfw, isn’t it? You may have already seen the preview if you get the Monthly Roundup newsletter (which also posts to ITS’s blog), but just after the last episode went live, I put up April’s Bonus Tier extra on Patreon, and it’s a spicy Blaze/Alastor minicomic that I happen to just really love. Little preview panel:
If you know, you know.
Anyway, go check out the minicomic if you can! And don’t forget to check out the latest Monthly Roundup if you want a rundown of everything I released in the past month!
Into the Smoke’s itch.io listing has been updated to include a PDF download of chapter 2, episodes 1-6! As always, partial-chapter downloads are pay-what-you-want. You can grab the latest PDF here!
Today is the last day of Inksgiving on Tapas! There’s only a few hours left of the event. Inksgiving is an annual celebration where you can support creators (technically, you can do that part year round), and if certain site-wide goals are met, Tapas gives you back a percentage of what you gave creators. And creators can set goals to release bonuses if certain milestones are met. I have goals for both Into the Smoke and Demon of the Underground, and several have been met!
If you’re already a Tapas user and have spare Ink lying around, or if you want to help me meet some goals, I welcome any Ink donations! You can donate via Into the Smoke or Demon of the Underground on Tapas. (All ink goes toward both sets of goals.)
Same Blaze/Alastor sketch is still up! We’re killing it this month, but next month’s going to be tougher because of the date my new episode goes live. So if you happen to stop by on May 1, don’t forget to drop ITS a vote! Or join the Discord, where I’ll announce when May’s incentive goes live. (And many thanks to Sam and bronakopdin for their super helpful vote reminders!)
Vote for Into the Smoke on Top Webcomics!
Also, webcomic recs will return as soon as possible! I’ve been working down to the wire the past few episodes (oh, and taxes. Did I mention taxes??), so I haven’t had time. But I definitely plan to recommend more comics soon!
New Episodes Every Other Wednesday
