A little late, but still great, it's Slightly Damned blog time!
Page 21:
We cut to an image of a Jakkai, while someone (the speaker is unspecified) recognized it as someone named Ramirez. Whoever it is puzzled to find Ramirez there. The image fades, with the person in question yelling out after him. (Ramirez doesn't sound like a female name to me...)
It's then revealed the person was Rhea, and she was dreaming. She comments that it's still nighttime...
SUDDENLY DAYTIME
Rhea screams about her eyes burning while Buwaro, who is used to the thing, greets her. He then wanders off, asking Thadius (yes, the rock) if he's actually that ugly. Uh...
I think the joke was supposed to be Buwaro thinking Rhea seeing him was what made her eyes burn (another indicator of his stupidity), but it kind of fell flat.
Page 22:
This strip is odd, and very different from the previous strips. So, to avoid confusion, let's do it panel by panel, shall we?
Panel 1: Rhea being zapped by lightning at the edge of a cliff.
Panel 2: Rhea falling into quicksand while a human calls out (too late) for her to watch out.
Panel 3: A piano falls on Rhea and crushes her.
Panel 4: Rhea drowns in the ocean while a very confused sea horse watches.
Panel 5: Rhea is apparently eaten by a dinosaur, which oddly looks more like one of the plant-eating variety.
Panel 6: Rhea is...eating spaghetti. Someone is telling her that all those carbs can't be good for her, but she denies this.
The final panel cuts back to the Ring of the Slightly Damned, with Rhea telling Buwaro that, no, she didn't die any of those ways.
Quick question: if Buwaro really is that stupid, how does he know what carbs are?
Page 23:
We cut to Rhea being even more bored than before (yes, apparently such things are possible).
In frustration, she kicks a rock into the Styx. Because injuries are funny, the rock hits someone, surprising Rhea. She then calls Buwaro over, pointing out the person (or thing) in the river.
The guy pops up to say hi...
OH MY LORD HALF HIS FACE IS MISSING!
...at least, that's the reaction Buwaro has, jumping into Rhea's arms. (Keep in mind Buwaro is twice the size of Rhea at least.)
Page 24:
Rhea is more annoyed than physically strained, telling Buwaro to get off her while she's still holding him off the ground.
Remind me never to make a Jakkai angry.
Rhea apologizes (gasp) about the rock. The half-faced man introduces himself as Seymour Sinclair, the famous traveling professional daredevil. It's a shame I won't get to go all "GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER" with that, since he then admits he died in his "flaming wagon of doom" act.
With Rhea clearly rubbing off on him, Buwaro then asks if that is why Seymour is so ugly. Seymour grudgingly admits that yes, those were the injuries he sustained in his "flaming wagon of doom" act.
I personally think he got off lightly.
Seymour then makes an interesting observation about Rhea. Since she apparently has no visible injuries, that must mean she died of an illness. Hmmmm...
Page 25:
Rhea, looking somewhat awkward, claims that is exactly it, and Seymour is very smart for figuring this out.
Luckily for Rhea (and unluckily for us), Seymour changes the subject, claiming he recognizes Buwaro.
He says that some years ago he saw a demon that looked like Buwaro playing catch with a rock...and getting beaned by it. Rhea snidely points out that had to be Buwaro.
Rhea then picks up on the years bit, and asks how old Seymour actually is.
Seymor then laughs creepily, then launches into a monologue. For funny, I'll quote the whole thing:
"I died decades ago... Ever since I was put in this ring I've been trying to escape across the Styx. I believe I can make it to HEAVEN!"
Right...
Buwaro mentions hating swimming, while Rhea points out the existence of Purgatory, which apparently is between here and there or something. Seymour just says (in so many words) that it's just another step to getting there.
So can he get there? And even if he could, would they even take in a man whose face is half missing? Or would they return him to drop more tantalizing hints about Rhea's backstory? Stay tuned.
