Comic for June 14th, 2017: Life's Strange Roads

[CrRAR]

Obviously Flora, Rose just did some impromptu house cleaning to clear all the...objectionable material. (On that note, you prooobably don't wanna be checking that hall closet ooover there.) '>.>

P.S. Panel 3 reminded me of another time Flora was enjoying a view. Triggered a bit of Nostalgia for me here. haha. Good stuff.

[InTheLionsDen]

Panel 3 does show a nice view at that window.

[Nova]

Mh. Trace's shirt is not torn. Did Kathrin fix it or is that just a small error?

[Shar]

You know, i am hopeing this leads to trace being totally open about him and flora... I really want to see her at some point call herself "Flora Legacy" and shock everyone.


Also is that a picture of Darth Legacy over the fireplace sitting on a throne of blood? Cause that's what popped into my head with the black robes and red velvet background lol.

[ZeroJinKui]

gotta say, flora does look nice in trace's old shirt.

is he groping her in that last panel?

just looks like that from how close he is, in addition to her reaction.

trace is a horny bugger, isn't he?

[MuonNeutrino]

Ah, this page makes its appearance. I always kinda wondered if Tom ever did stuff out of order, I guess he must not do it very often. When I first saw that last panel on stream sans-dialogue I was half-wondering if Trace had poked her or grabbed her butt or something to get her to make that face, but I guess not.

I still wonder a bit about this whole mansion/duke of edinmire thing. Given what we know of how he came to the academy, etc, it's obvious he wasn't duke before his transformation. So, how did he become duke? Is it a title that comes with being grand templar? Did he bump off the previous duke/duchess and take their spot, and if so, how did he get away with it? (I mean, he took over the templar, but at least until recently the human empire was still governed by a king.) Is it a title that he somehow convinced the king/etc to *create* for him? And if so, under which noble's authority did edinmire fall previously, and how annoyed were they at having it taken from them?

I wonder all this because some of the dialogue gives the impression that the mansion may have been constructed specifically for Trace - yet, if 'duke of edinmire' was a pre-existing title, there should already have existed an estate. Did Trace just decide that whatever existing estate or mansion wasn't grand enough for his tastes? Or is it actually older after all?

Mh. Trace's shirt is not torn. Did Kathrin fix it or is that just a small error?

In the third panel you can just see a little line on the shirt poking out from behind the ends of her hair - I think that's meant to represent a tear that's been stitched up. She was musing about asking Kat to fix it, so looks like that did happen sometime between then and now.

[IHeartMaeve]

Ah, this page makes its appearance. I always kinda wondered if Tom ever did stuff out of order, I guess he must not do it very often.

Actually, there was a whole chapter that occurred between two pages of the next chapter: The 10th Anniversary Chapter, Reflections, which started on Page 765, but took place between Pages 815 and 816. In short, Tom has done it in the past, but it seems he may only do it if it's really planned out.

[Delta-v]

"...our estate..." Is that an official proposal?

[MuonNeutrino]

Ah, this page makes its appearance. I always kinda wondered if Tom ever did stuff out of order, I guess he must not do it very often.

Actually, there was a whole chapter that occurred between two pages of the next chapter: The 10th Anniversary Chapter, Reflections, which started on Page 765, but took place between Pages 815 and 816. In short, Tom has done it in the past, but it seems he may only do it if it's really planned out.

Yeah, I know about the anniversary chapter, I wasn't talking about pages being out of order *chronologically* though, sorry for being unclear. I was actually wondering about Tom *drawing* pages out of order - this page was drawn on a stream multiple weeks ago, before several other pages that have appeared since then, but Tom decided not to post it until now. I was just idly wondering how often he draws a page and then keeps it in reserve like that - not often, I'd guess.

[BadFoMo]

I like the blurred reflection effect in panel three.


Anyway, while clothing is recently being talked about, anyone thinking that Trace will take his gloves off to go to bed/see how bad the black magic mark has gotten since the last time he used black magic (and see it in higher detail)?


Also, was I the only one looking at the Globe in panel one and flipping to the map repeatedly? Speaking of the globe, is that another yet to be seen landmass I spy to the left of what I'm guessing is the mainland?

Insert attempts to cause trouble by building hype for new Side Comic (which those few insignificant little pixels must be hinting towards) which most likely does not exist, here.


P.S. Insert my usual request for the original version here.

[AndreRhineDavis]

Trace has a globe.
Confirmation: Mekkan is round.
(Or at least, is believed to be by the humans)

[NiWo21k]

Hey Trace can make a joke and not only bruting and thinking about other things - or is this payback for some of the things Flora did to him

I have to admit i like panel 3 alot (no not because of the obvious), but even if its a cliche - its done right. The way Flora talks just feels very "natural" in this case.

And about the rugs, Flora why do you think you are not allowed in some other parts of the house

[Darekun]

I still wonder a bit about this whole mansion/duke of edinmire thing. Given what we know of how he came to the academy, etc, it's obvious he wasn't duke before his transformation. So, how did he become duke? Is it a title that comes with being grand templar? Did he bump off the previous duke/duchess and take their spot, and if so, how did he get away with it? (I mean, he took over the templar, but at least until recently the human empire was still governed by a king.) Is it a title that he somehow convinced the king/etc to *create* for him? And if so, under which noble's authority did edinmire fall previously, and how annoyed were they at having it taken from them?

Given that it's a whole duchy, it's unlikely to have been cut out of the demesne of a higher noble.

I would imagine that the general bumping-off trend would only be accepted if at least tacitly approved by the Crown. It seems likely that, at least early on, Trace's Templars were allied to the Crown, and much of the bumping-off was justified as disposing of traitors and the like. In that case, a general campaign of rooting out "traitors" in the area, culminating in the disposal of the Duke/Duchess, might have led to Trace being given the title — officially in thanks, unofficially also to avoid a power vacuum.

"...our estate..." Is that an official proposal?

I take it to be an unofficial proposal

Trace has a globe.
Confirmation: Mekkan is round.
(Or at least, is believed to be by the humans)

Well, they sail, so they'd be in a position to know

Strip 849(22 of Feb of 2015), among others, show that at least some parts of Mekkan are round in at least some directions. (Distant objects don't disappear behind a "flat" horizon unless that part has positive curvature.)

[Lightice]

I still wonder a bit about this whole mansion/duke of edinmire thing. Given what we know of how he came to the academy, etc, it's obvious he wasn't duke before his transformation. So, how did he become duke? Is it a title that comes with being grand templar? Did he bump off the previous duke/duchess and take their spot, and if so, how did he get away with it? (I mean, he took over the templar, but at least until recently the human empire was still governed by a king.) Is it a title that he somehow convinced the king/etc to *create* for him? And if so, under which noble's authority did edinmire fall previously, and how annoyed were they at having it taken from them?

Noble titles and estates are usually granted as gifts for extraordinary services to the crown -- mind you, in certain times and places that "service" could have been a big pile of cash into the royal coffers. If there was a Duke of Edinmire previously, they could have died without leaving an heir, either naturally or with "assistance", but it could also have been a piece of crown lands granted specifically to Trace. I would be inclined towards the latter option, since Duke is a very grandiose title for the relatively small fiefdom that Edinmire appears to be. It could simply be a courtesy title to put Trace on the same level with the high nobility he has to deal with as the Grand Templar, and Edinmire just the bit of land that the holder of a noble title has to have. A bit like the Count of Monte Cristo, whose land was just a rocky, deserted island that he bought so that he could legitimately call himself a Count.

[Meribah]

Another beautiful page! I love how much detail the artist puts into the pages. I never see everything at first glance. Someone is always mentioning something I didn't see, so I have to go back and look again. I'm also enjoying the cute banter between the couples. It comes across as very natural.