Zoonbats
  • Home
  • World
  • Cast
  • About
  • News
  • Support

Archives

Wayne in the Northern lands

« Wayne in the Northern lands‹ Wayne in the Northern landsWayne and Myra FineChasing the robot ›Young Wayne at Grady Orchard »

Page 131

zx_132

And so, all is revealed. Espresso is the culprit once again. Fortuitously, the ample straightaways along the Echalona Cliffs just south of Zhiana provided enough tarmac for Murray to keep the hammer down and brew up a phenomenal eight shots of merkur, a personal record for which he takes no small measure of pride. Yet with each such success, ambition comes a-callin’… suggesting that perhaps he has not yet reached the apex of his multitasking barristabilities.

Wayne, for his part, reacts with understandable apprehension about the absence of Murray’s hands on the ten-and-two, but soon finds road weariness has sapped his ability to maintain a righteous indignation.

Shout out and much obliged to my 3-year-old, who created the name Echalona. *proud papa*

Page 132

zx_133

Is there a thin line between wisdom and madness? Or is it more like a… a cheesecloth of sorts, which allows the curds of wisdom to… err… I don’t even know what I’m typing about here. But I continue to type, undaunted. Maybe I’m getting some kind of contact high from Murray’s caffeine-fueled exultation. One wonders what Wayne will do. Will he chance to take a sip from the dragon’s jewel-encrusted chalice? Perhaps. Or perhaps the next page will be a small picture of Wayne’s face in the corner, surrounded by a massive text balloon lecture on his views on the virtues of temperance.

Merkur – prescription caffeine hyperconcentrate in the form of a viscous silver gel, typically brewed and served as espresso. See page 17 for a bit of background on this illicit substance.

Kuranai – the proper name of the alligator-like humans, of whom Wayne is one.

AAAAAAHHAAAAA!!! – expression of unfettered, utterly carefree exultation by one at the apex of a major caffeine bender.

Page 133

zx_134

Wayne carefully considers the opportunity to try merkur espresso hyperconcentrate in light of the apparent effect it has on Murray. The life of one bigrig helmsman, laid bare for all to see in stark black and white. The grotty details of a life enmeshed in diesel fumes and the fleeting crema of a brew so potent that it somehow makes sense to indulge in a bit of hat brim licking. Say what you will, you won’t find this sort of action in any other published work – maybe for the best.

Page 134

zx_135

Taoruon, like the toasts of many cultures, is a wish for health and happiness. Perhaps realizing that Wayne might have felt slighted that Murray left his seat while Wayne was telling his story, Murray hastens to note, in his own dubiously folksy way, that he heard it all even while he was pulling the espresso shots.

I realized years ago that many people from other parts of the country have this expectation that I, as a Southerner, should constantly be speaking in these folksy ways, coming up with witty metaphorical turns of phrases. A co-worker once demanded that I come up with some kind of ‘Southern’ way to describe how hot a day it was. It’s not really something that I practice in my way of reflecting on things and phrasing them, but there definitely are people who devote a good amount of time and effort to just this sort of culturally-specific idiom-making. (Then a whole bunch of other people repeat it until it becomes stale.) Some take it to almost a saccharine extreme and go the route of pun contest contenders or country-pop music songwriters. Me, my thought processes are so abstracted and they’re translated to language so slowly, things I think are funny are generally regarded as non sequiturs. My wit’s ’bout as quick as a melting quart of molasses ice cream. See? I can’t really do it. Murray can though.

Page 135

zx_136

Alas, the fate of “Thirsty Coin” revealed. More about Bloom and her novel in the chapter following this one. An homage to Ricardo, Toast, and Doe’s plan to bumrush their insufferable boss Stu. And lastly, Wayne’s outlook on his prospects as a musician – a bit more cultural background about that next week.

Back on this side of the page, I’ve been continuing to work to get the new zine editions of Zoonbats ready to print. It’s been a lot of work, and surprisingly time-consuming. It’s been years since I’ve made zines, and somehow in my memory it never took this long. Of course, in the ol’ days they would be 16 pages or thereabouts… these are about 50 pages each, and there’s three of ’em. I’m trying to do my best and not cut any corners or settle for any aspects that aren’t really good. I’ve added in some supplementary information about the world, the planet and the moons and how their orbits appear in the skies of Shinma. Eventually I’ll add that info to the website, as well. I actually built a 3D model of the planetary system so I could watch the sky and make various observations. Pretty fun! Aside from all that, I’m working on writing the next chapter. At this point I’m not sure if those pages will go live on schedule after the current chapter is done, or if I’ll continue to update the site weekly. What can I say? I’m a slow writer, and I’m feeling pretty ambivalent about the webcomic format and its corollary social media stuff. For one thing, I’m not sure it’s particularly satisfying to read one page of an ongoing story per week. Personally I prefer to hold a book (or zine) in my hands and read a whole chapter at a time. I know it’s anachronistic, but zines are just a lot more fun.

Page 136

zx_137

The training among the Kuranai is intended to develop musicians to the point that they can exceed normal human limitations (hence Wayne’s references to “real music” and “making things happen”). Musical mentorship among the Kuranai is an orthodox system in which each child is assigned a jurai sonsuraiun, who not only teaches them but raises them. If anything happens to the sonsuraiun, it’s interpreted as fate and the child won’t get another one. They’ll also be generally shunned by other trained Kuranai musicians, although it’s still relatively easy to find Kuranai outside the orthodoxy and musicians of other cultures to learn from and play with in various settings.

The Biotech Trade Council is an Ansimh-based consortium formed by the corporations Biotech Superium, Control Science, Betterlife Group, and Genesys, all of whom are involved in developing products and services related to genetic modification. The BTC specifically was formed to craft legislation to facilitate prosperity by identifying and eliminating barriers to optimal trade. Jeez, it feels like I’m writing their press release here! That’s how they would phrase it, anyway. The BTC is also a proud sponsor of the annual Fromage Festival in Eunil that everyone is headed toward. And they’re the driving force behind the embargo that Shinma has been held under for the past two decades. Sponsorship of the Fromage Festival is supposed to make up for that little detail.

Page 137

zx_138

Wayne recalls his reasons for seeking an apprenticeship at a henchberry orchard in Ruma. Part of the cultivation of henchberries involves playing percussive rhythms near them, hence the drumkit Wayne has set up in that center montage panel.

Page 138

zx_139

Wayne recounts his experiences trying to contact a rumored resistance organization that might have information about the whereabouts of Fal and Cedzik, the two people who spirited him away from the Grady Orchard many years ago before it was burned down by Silnai Domestic Security.

Page 139

zx_140

Well, you had to figure it was a pretty big coincidence, right? Turns out someone (Murray’s dispatcher, maybe?) notified him that his old acquaintance Wayne was hitchhiking nearby and instructed him to try and find Wayne and pick him up.

“Shiroun C’Nanzour…!” Murray’s saying a common phrase about a particularly gifted player of a Silnai sport called Ringracing. An equivalent might be something like “swish” when a basketball player hits a buzzer-beating shot from across the court to win a game, or a football player runs a kickoff back for a touchdown on the final play of a game, and the implication is that it was done with ease. In this case, Murray is acknowledging that Wayne has figured out the ruse of a highly unlikely coincidental meeting of the two on the other side of the continent from Haquel.

Page 140

zx_141

To paraphrase Ice-T, askin’ around about underground resistance groups opposed to the government-sanctioned burning of organic farms ain’t easy. Maybe Wayne had to pay his dues by spending the growing season toiling away under the hot Northern Lands sun gratis.

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Pages

  • About
  • Cast
  • News
  • Support
  • World

Archives

Categories

  • No categories

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Pages

  • About
  • Cast
  • News
  • Support
  • World

Archives

Categories

  • No categories

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© 2014 Giles O'Dell