something masquerading as a postscript

That’s it. That’s the end.

Now, I could say the point of the story is this: Did Joce seek the established wrongdoer or an uncertain escape? And to be clear, this was never meant to have a decisive, gift-wrapped ending.

Screenshot of a document, reading as follows: […]lines get fuzzy. Also, I don’t actually think I want J+[redacted] to meet; maybe it’s a “Lady and the Tiger” thing, where the end is something of a cliffhanger/copout hinging on the question: Does Joce go in? Or, hm, I forget the original story but I think it was more “what’s behind the curtain.” So when/if Joce opens the door, what does she find?
Above: Snippet from my initial brainstorming notes; transcription in the alt text.

But if the point of the story wasn’t to bring a narrative to a clean close, then what was it?

For me, a few things. Primarily, an excuse to mess around (as if that’s an activity that necessitates an excuse). I thought it might be a good experiment with medium, something between prose/script and image-only comicking, with image captions visible throughout. In this regard I think it was pretty successful, and I’m strongly considering using it to convey, y’know, The Main Canonical Story.

It has also been an inadvertent exercise in Actually Finishing Something, satisfaction with the end product be damned.

Image: Plaintext note documenting the days I’ve worked on this thing, starting in October, going through November and December, and finally concluding on January 10.

I first conceived the story in mid-September, thinking it’d be fun to have weekly installments through October. A handful of prose-based false starts later, actual page construction (and mixed-media drafting) began past the first week of October, and then the first update (splash, index, parts viii+vii) actually went live in mid-November. At that point I had enough “backlog” to update again a week later (vi+v), and then I was S.O.Bl. (Shit Outta Backlog), came back in December with the tortured spirals of iv (written fully in advance, only needed minor tweaks) and v (A Struggle™). I write this nearly two weeks into January.

So, uh, not all according to keikaku (means “plan”). But it is done. Which is pretty new for me, far as storytelling that exceeds its initial scope* and self-imposed deadlines is concerned. (*To think I was originally only gonna have 1–2 pages per part, L.O.L.) Don’t mind me patting myself on the back a bit, here.

that panel where Sequitur blabs Kay Lin’s ears off, zoomed in on them
Image: the truck is actually a metaphor for the author’s ego, including the part where it swerves offroad into “this is going to get way more complicated than anyone anticipated really fast” town right off the bat. #genius

Anyway. Self-absorption aside. What’s been in this for you?

Man, hell if I know. Insert flippant-sounding(-but-fueled-by-genuine-sentiment) handwave about how what readers take away from a story isn’t necessarily what the author intends, so it’s presumptuous of me to assume you’re getting anything out of this.

But you’re still reading, which has gotta count for something. So here’s a few bonus factoids, from me to you, as a gift and thanks for being here:

  • What good is an officially-penned offshoot if it’s not gratuitously teasing at canon?
  • That said, some of this is just because changing the entire setting and context and everything tends to change how characters behave. Particularly the vampires, because, well, vampires.
  • If we took a glimpse into what reshaped the characters you’ve seen here, a cast list might look something like this: Starring…
    • Joce as herself, combining “default” and pre-story phases;
    • Kay Lin as herself, with an unhealthy sprinkling of endgame;
    • Addison as herself, but in a more constantly-distressing situation than canon tends to put her in;
    • Caleb as himself, but if he was locked in a tower for several thousand years;
    • Gary as Gary;
    • “The accountant” as “the hunter,” with some impulse control shaved off and a newfound interest in the supernatural;
    • Sequitur as themself, with a bit less self-preservation (but the bar isn’t high);
    • “White Rabbit”(’s fully-human version) as the driver (first to die), with relevance severely nuked because to have a larger hand in the plot would have hinted at too much; and
    • the nameless enigma as the beckoning vampire as the same is the one and only, but now with more violence.

Make of all that what you will~!

Image: A lineup of the characters as initially redesigned. This can also be seen, along with more “concept art” (including deleted/alternate panels) and AU-related doodles, in roundups from the end of 2022.

…Of course, if you’re not interested in this crew’s canon at all, it’s likely none of this is particularly rewarding.

That said, before you go: can I offer you a colorscript (for canon! for real! even though it’s already a little outdated!!) in this decidedly-not-vampiric time?

Thanks for reading~ :>