Comic Page for February 2nd, 2017

[MuonNeutrino]

Sketch version

Alt-text: The Seneschal

Rose is back! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
*painfully high-pitched noises trail off into the distance*

Edit - The Redoubtable Rose (twitter preview):

Spoiler!

[Ddraig]

"I'd heard you'd died. What a shame." Well Rose doesn't pull any punches, does she

[Aquaninja101]

This is chill, very unexpected, but very much welcomed. But didn't Trace hate Keidran when he went crazy, isn't it weird for him to have one as a Senechal in his manor?

[SomeBody]

They don't call it 'crazy' because you're being consistent, I suppose.

It keeps striking me how good Tom's gotten at landscapes and scenery. I mean, I like his people and all that but off the top of my head I don't think I can name another webcomic that can match his backgrounds.

[BadFoMo]

As I mentioned in the stream (and as Tom may have agreed with me), I'm getting a strong Rosalind Lutece vibe from the way Roselyn is dressed. Am I the only one or does anyone else get that?


Also, we have a new banner.

Twokinds 2017 Header!

That butterfly is of some significance, isn't it?

[yaytime]

right first, what dose rose mean if they can move hear she would be surprised? dose she know magic or marshal arts, maybe magic imprisons her to the house?
second i wounder if raine or euchre are going to see her, i would rely like to see how she would react to euchre.
finally dose Natani remember her?

[SomeBody]

I wouldn't say Lutece, more like librarian? Interesting difference from pretty much anybody we've seen up to this point, though.

I hadn't even noticed the change in the header, very cool. Kind of crowded! Like Keith's shirt design. We need slightly higher res to get the coffee cup's opinion on the situation though.

[Kyrit]

Reni? Did you turn all the lights on? If not, there's definitely been someone living there. I doubt anyone made it to the estate before them just to turn all the lights on for their arrival. There's also that small cottage near the estate with the door light on, so perhaps Trace did have people taking care of the place. A bit of a farfetched theory would be to see the return of Rose, if she's still alive. She was friends with Saria, so it's possible that Saria had Trace offer her a job around the estate. In TDM, Rose knew of Saria's interested in Trace (at the time they were not yet even dating) and referred to Saria as "Mistress" and also stated "a servant joining a carriage alone with a human is..." implying that she might have worked for Saria's family. Not as a slave mind you, as Saria didn't like owning slaves. Rose was already starting to go grey in the hair during TDM though, so it's possible she's already passed on by now.

Excuse me for a moment while I pause to say.....

CALLED IT.

That aside, she's definitely looking aged now and the life seems to have left her eyes (probably when she heard news of Saria's death)

[TinyVoices]

She looks almost school headmistress like, with her bun and clothing. Very beautiful elderly wolf, though.


And we'll finally get to see inside this mansion of Trace's.

[jacobc62]

I do believe we are now starting to come back full circle with characters introduced either in flashbacks or side comics.....


Either that, or it's a small world after all.

[steelabjur]

right first, what dose rose mean if they can move hear she would be surprised? dose she know magic or marshal arts, maybe magic imprisons her to the house?
second i wounder if raine or euchre are going to see her, i would rely like to see how she would react to euchre.
finally dose Natani remember her?

I'm guessing Crazy-Evil Trace probably bound her to the mansion, perhaps as a counter or way to control Euchre?

[MuonNeutrino]

Ok, anyway, topic creation post aside (and if anyone thinks I was going to let anybody else make the topic for this strip, I have just one thing to say - MINE! *grabby hands*), this strip gives me *so many things* I want to talk about. And if you know me, you'll probably be unsurprised to hear that almost all of them have to do with Rose.

(As an aside, an lot of this is going to reference TDM, since that was the last time we saw Rose. My apologies to anyone who hasn't read it and therefore is having trouble following along.)

First, I (obviously) like this version of Rose a lot. I loved her as 'mischevious, impulsive cousin Rose' the moment I laid eyes on her, as 'innocent almost-victim Rose' she broke my heart, and she thoroughly charmed me as 'mature, teasing, Saria's-best-friend Rose' in TDM, but 'tough-old-biddy-let's-see-you-mess-with-ME Rose' is utterly and completely adorable. (And I just *love* her namesake hair-pin.) No earth-shattering insights here, just wanted to get that out of the way.

Anyway, holy smokes I didn't expect to see Rose again. Partly because, beloved though she may be, she's only been a minor character so far, but mostly because she's gotta be *really* old by now. Given that Raine is 18, this flashback took place at least 19 years before the current comic time. Rose and Euchre both look nearly adult in it, which if you compare to Natani's roughly similar appearance in TDM (when he was 7) suggests that they both can't be younger than 6-7 or so. And that makes Rose 25-26. And yet, while she's obviously old, she doesn't appear frail or ready to keel over, even though Tom has said that a keidran making it to 25 is like a human living to more than 100. So, how'd she do it? She may just have unusually long-lived genes, but it seems suspicious to me that her cousin Euchre is the only keidran that we know to have somehow extended his lifespan (from Tom, during a stream). Is Rose somehow sharing in her cousin's magic in some way?

On a related topic, Rose apparently was around Trace during his 'evil grand templar' years, a time period during which Euchre was also closely associated with Trace. Does this mean that Rose may have met Euchre again? And if so, how might *that* particular reunion have gone? "Oh, hey, Cuz. Sorry about almost getting you killed that one time, I totally didn't mean it, even though I literally left you standing on the gallows. Really sorry about that! So, we good now?" *Somehow* I don't think a simple 'sorry' would have cut it! Anyone want to take bets on how much of his fur was missing afterwards?

Continuing on, *why* was Rose associated with Trace when he was at his most virulently anti-keidran? There's a plausible path from where we last saw her to here, given that TDM implies she was a servant of Saria's family, that she was obviously also a very good friend of Saria's, and that Saria married Trace shortly afterwards. But why would Trace keep her on, and why would she stay? Thinking on this, I'm minded of this older strip. Even at his worst, Trace spared Laura for no other reason than she reminded him of Saria. Was Rose another reminder of his life with Saria to him? And we saw in TDM that Rose seemed to have some familiarity with Trace even before he and Saria were formally courting, and if Rose *was* a servant for them after they were married she would have presumably come to know him even better. Did she stay out of loyalty to the good man he once was?

And on that note, Rose is going to be one of the few characters we've met who knew Trace *before* he turned evil. On a simple level, she's in a much better position than most to recognize Trace's current attitude and personality for what it is - his true, pre-insanity self. Will she? And if she *does*, what then? Will they talk about it? She'd be only the second person who could relate things about his pre-insanity self to Trace, and she'd almost certainly have a different perspective on them than Nora. And I could see Trace being interested in what she'd have to say if he realizes how close to Saria she was. After all, Trace wants to learn more about who he was. And call me sentimental, but I think Rose herself would be happy to see what Trace has become. (Cue heartwarming "Saria would be proud of you" line.)

Also of interest, Trace isn't the *only* one of the party who Rose might know. Remember, Rose crossed paths with Natani during TDM, and it was the sort of meeting that one would be unlikely to forget. Will Rose remember Natani? And almost as interestingly, will Natani remember Rose? And again, if they do, will they talk about it? Rose obviously takes no guff from anyone in her old age, so I bet that could be an interesting conversation!

Finally, during the stream Tom briefly showed a colored sketch version of the bottom left panel with Rose. However, intriguingly enough, next to her was a second sketch drawing of a *human* version of Rose in the same setting. (Looking equally imposing, too. ) Does this mean that Rose somehow shares her cousin's shapeshifting ability, as well? Interesting tangentially-related point - Rose is Raine's first cousin once removed. If group B does show up here at some point as is commonly assumed, those two might have something to say to one another as well, especially if Rose might be in a position to offer Raine some insight into her ability.

Anyway, aside from all of my Rose-related walls-o-text (and oh, but I am thoroughly enjoying this), I just wanted to make a couple other notes. First, I like the contrast between Reed's 'GRR A WOLF!' and Trace's 'Huh, who's that?'. It really reinforces just how different his attitudes are now, how much he's changed. And second, I really like how Tom's kept the 'painting' style for the mansion exterior even now that we're seeing it close up. It ought to look odd next to the regular outlined character art, but somehow it fits very well. And totally apart from my incoherent joy over the prospect of more Rose, I'm looking forward to these upcoming strips just because I bet the inside of the mansion is going to have some *glorious* backgrounds.

Reni? Did you turn all the lights on? If not, there's definitely been someone living there. I doubt anyone made it to the estate before them just to turn all the lights on for their arrival. There's also that small cottage near the estate with the door light on, so perhaps Trace did have people taking care of the place. A bit of a farfetched theory would be to see the return of Rose, if she's still alive. She was friends with Saria, so it's possible that Saria had Trace offer her a job around the estate. In TDM, Rose knew of Saria's interested in Trace (at the time they were not yet even dating) and referred to Saria as "Mistress" and also stated "a servant joining a carriage alone with a human is..." implying that she might have worked for Saria's family. Not as a slave mind you, as Saria didn't like owning slaves. Rose was already starting to go grey in the hair during TDM though, so it's possible she's already passed on by now.

Excuse me for a moment while I pause to say.....

CALLED IT.

That aside, she's definitely looking aged now and the life seems to have left her eyes (probably when she heard news of Saria's death)

I was going to go back and look for whoever said this, thanks for saving me the trouble. And yup, you did call it, though I'd also find it plausible if Tom just decided to use your idea. Either way, he obviously knows how much of a fan favorite she is.

I don't know if I'd necessarily call it 'the life left her eyes', though. Certainly she would have been crushed at Saria's death, but she doesn't seem like the sort of person to let grief conquer her; she's too strong for that. I personally just put it down to 'old Rose is old'; after all, she's got the glasses, which likely implies age-induced eye problems.

[Foxx Trotter]

Rose had to adjust her dialect, I see, to a more professional tone. Some old habits are hard to break. Quite a detailed scene.

[Meribah]

Whoa. Didn't expect to see Rose here, but I'm glad to see her. I'd be interested in knowing how she managed to live so long, though. Maybe Tom could retcon the longevity of Keidrans, perhaps? As for her not being taken in the wolf keidran "dragnet," I'm guessing the town guards would be too scared to take ANYTHING from Trace's home, considering how powerful he is and all. I wouldn't be surprised if he had magic protections around the place to prevent such happenings.

[SpottedKitty]

I'm guessing Crazy-Evil Trace probably bound her to the mansion, perhaps as a counter or way to control Euchre?

Sounds plausible as the sort of thing he'd do... but do we know if Trace ever found out Euchre's secret, and hence the relationship between him and Rose?

Anyone else think it's incredibly cute that Rose's glasses cord doesn't go round her neck, it clips to her ears?

And add me to the list of people convinced Rose couldn't still be alive. We know she's about the same age as Euchre, and that he's older than a Keidran ought to be. <headscratch>