Issue 20, Page 22
there
is always
a price
Transcript
1: Rhoda stares upwards at the tree, teeth grit.
2: She shuts her eyes, relaxing, giving in, crying a final tear.
3: Split into layers of skin, muscle, veins, bone, and a glowing, spindly white figure within, thin roots and vines of Tazim’s influence sneak between every layer, integrating with her bones and her veins, consuming her from within.
Hot damn someone brushed up on their anatomy!
I see you got TWO phalanxes \ phalanges per Thumb and Three for the other Four fingers! Woo!
Radius, Ulna, Humerus… and then everything else is XD
I see 7 hand carpals? unless the 8th is tiny \ i aint noticing it. ** NEVERMIND I SEE THAT TINY ASS PISIFORM
WOOOOOO!
(in xray school atm… 2 year program “woo”)
Your excitement about this has made me appreciate this image that much more!
So you’re saying that the anthro pangolin turns out to be *fully* human as a skeleton … *except* for skull and tail (and lower jaw, I reckon)? 😉
Hardly any ribs, no leg bones present, ‘tail bone’ is coccyx for us but it’d be hard to depict in this front to back view anywho. so besides those, the anthro pangolin’s skull n jaw. is mostly kinda somewhat human indeed maybe!
Bound unto eternity… the price must always be paid.
I feel this was always his goal with her, from the very beginning. I was always interested where that arc would conclude and it has not dissapointed
I have a nagging suspicion that the white tendril stuff or whatever it’s called is the nervous system
Probably her soul, which is about to be nommed, and/or used as fuel.
Time to see if that price was inflated or deflated …
No more Rhonda, I guess…
That’s incredible artwork, Rebecca.
My eyes! Don’t look into the light!!!
1. White stuff is probably, definitely, maybe Rhoda’s “soul”.
2. Noticed a few thinking maybe she won’t be around after this. Personally, I don’t think this is the case. Of course there is a “price to pay”, and it is vague. However, the noodle dragon was kind of giving me the vibe that they plan to use her later.
Don’t get me wrong, her soul is DEFINITELY being used by them now, and it probably won’t be the only time something like this will occur. The sideaffects, knowing the world of this story, could be horrible. She might have a change to who she is, physically or mentally. She may be unable to tell others what she knows about… All of this, seeing as her body is like a puppet now. Heck, she might not be able to control when and/or where she goes in the astral world anymore.
I don’t think she’s leaving the story though. Not yet.
I’m just guessing, but-
when this blue monster says- Julia went where mortals aren’t allowed to go, maybe he meant the planet or planet-like thing, where Julia met the flying robot.
Maybe the blue monster, + the other Cthulhu-type monsters, are the only ones allowed to go on that planet.
Guess that would depend on the definition of Cthulhu-type monsters. Unless if Julia was hallucinating them, there were living things on the planet, just not Earth-life. Of course, the shape-stealer and lock pickers could both easily be seen as “animals”, from their behavior.
Never know though!
A thought I was having about the planet she went to though: Earlier, I brought up the idea of the sun being the source of the radiation everybody apparently needs to remain individuals. That the reason the martians are so similar to Earth-citizens, is because they are “similar”, the radiation just lessoned, leaving Earth being the main planet in an invisible “goldilocks zone”.
The reason I bring this up to you, is because of the planet Julia was on. Wasn’t there a gas giant while she was there? If so, what if the star there makes a similar/the same radiation, but the planet tends to “block it out” at times, whether from casting its shadow over the planet, or through its magnetic field.
Just a thought.
Cause it could explain while Julia came back only partially infected. A lessoning of radiation, but not a place completely without it, not like what Sedjet faced.
Yeah, that might be true. Cool. 🙂
Now I just HAVE TO stick around, + see how the Sovereign story ends, for Rhoda + Julia. 😀
Oh man, just read back, through little bits of the story. Came up with something really stupid. I’m so sorry everyone! Just… The past few events made me think of this, from the noodle dragon, to the subterranean geckos, to the moon portal sucking everyone in, to what’s happened to Sedjet, to Julia seeming so “okay” with everything that happens around her in her mind/dream world.
Also, points to anybody that gets this!!!
####
*Catchy music intro*
-RHODA: “Hey Julia, where’s that movie you were watching the other day?”
-JULIA: “Naomi Rider 2?”
-RHODA: “Yeah.”
-JULIA: “Pretty sure it fell in the hole.”
-RHODA: “What hol-? OH MY GOD!”
*She notices a gaping hole in the floor, a few black tentacles twitching deep within every so often… Oh, a few eyes are peaking out too.*
-RHODAH: “What is that???”
-JULIA: “It’s a hole.”
-RHODA: “Yeah I can see that, what’s it doing there?”
-JULIA: “Well, I woke up this morning.”
*Takes a sip of some drink*
-JULIA: “…. And there was a hole.”
-RHODA: “What are you doing about it?”
-JULIA: “Weeell, tried putting a rug over it…. Yeah, fell in the hole.”
-RHODAH: “Shouldn’t we call security, the government or something???”
-JULIA: “Oh yeah, I called security, some of the lab guys too.”
-RHODAH: “Oh, where are they?”
-JULIA: “In the hole.”
-RHODAH: “…”
*She pauses and glances around the lab.
-RHODAH: “… Where is Sedjet?”
*Julia looks confused by the question for a moment, reaching to scratch at an itch on her arm.*
-RHODAH: “Julia, where’s Sedjet???”
-JULIA: “Oh, he’s at work!”
-RHODAH: “Good… Where’s he work again?”
-JULIA: “In the hole.”
-RHODAH: “Gods! How deep even is this thing???”
*Sees Julia drinking some more. Grumbling, she snatches the drink away and tosses it into the depths. Pausing, the canine looks down into the dark… No sound of it hitting anything.*
-JULIA: “… That was my favorite mug… Now it’s in the hole.”
-RHODAH: “Julia, do you even know what THIS is??? I-I mean for all we know, it could be an interdimensional gate, or, or a doorway to hell, or…”
*She pauses and looks around, from throughout the room, then at the hole, not spotting her.
-RHODAH: “… Julia? Julia??? JULIA?!?!”
-JULIA: “Hey what’s up, I got a snack. I’m so friggin HUNGRY.”
-RHODAH: “Julia, will you PLEASE take this serious-?”
*She is cut off as some gecko-like reptile crawls out of the depths, snarling and slashing at them, sending her into a screaming panic. Meanwhile, Julia casually tosses bits of chocolate into its mouth, until it lets out a pained gurgle and falls back in.*
-RHODAH: “WHAT WAS THAT???”
-JULIA: “Hole person.”
-RHODAH: “Where did it come from???”
-JULIAH: “…”
-RHODAH: “…. R-Right, the hole, yeah…. J-… Why are you being so calm about this???”
-JULIA: “I’m more worried about the tree demon.”
-RHODAH: “What tree demon?”
*A series of blue textured, serpentine beings, with antlers covered in flowers, slither in. Letting out a series of animal sounds, they suddenly wrap around Rhodah, pulling her out of the room with a cry of surprise.
-JULIA: “That one…”
*The canine rummaged through her things for a moment, before pulling out a movie box, depicting some archeologist-type explorer.
-JULIA: “Oh, here it is!”
*Drops it in the hole.*
-JULIA: “OH SHI-!”
“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.”
-Yoda
Aaaaand there goes her soul!
If you’ve listened to the audiobooks of the October Daye novels (Rosemary and Rue is the first one), then the Luidaeg’s voice actress is who i hear the Serpent as. “There’s always A PRICE.” was what did it for me, and now I can’t unhear it.