Siblings

Too worried to think straight, aren’t we, Kasper? Let’s see how much of a lethal combo those two can be~ I’ve added Laura to the cast too, if you are curious about her blood type or whatever.

Last week was crazy in so many ways! Did you see the comment section under last page? Madness. I’ve also received two fanfictions, reached 8th position on topwebcomics and hopefully got a bunch of new readers! Special thanks to everyone who voted, this really means a lot. You are all awesome people (づ￣ ³￣)づ I will change vote incentive soon too, in case you are already bored of the last sketch haha…

And did you notice I’ve added a Fanart section? If you feel like drawing/writing something for me I’ll welcome it with open arms. Just send it to ni.replaycomic [at] gmail.com~ I’ll be waiting!

In last few days I’ve received two fanfictions from Refugnic, they are super fun to read so check them out if you have 3 minutes to spare.

 Faust

23rd of July 2015 – Hello diary. Today is a big day for me. I’ve managed to convince the board of directors, that the old CEO can no longer be tolerated. That wasn’t too difficult, actually… [Keep reading]

Short story by Refugnic

 Replay

Under a crimson sky, three people stood in the middle of a desert, whose sands had been dyed a red hue from all the blood and destruction they came to cover up…[Keep reading]

Short story by Refugnic

48 comments on “Siblings”

    • Refugnic Reply

      Well, you’ve gotta give him some credit for being gutsy. I mean, how many people would go away from the ‘safe’ group in order to look for anyone? But then again, groups tend to attract predators…especially if they have nothing to fear from said group.

      • JW Reply

        Hey, we’ve seen what happens to people with guts in this series. It ends up on the windscreen of a car.

        • Refugnic Reply

          There’s one big difference to that poor windshield guy…this one has a name and even an entry on the cast page!
          That gives him a plot shield! 😀

          • JW

            I think if we repeat the plot armor trope often enough, at some point NotImportant may break down and kill a cast member.

            And I bet it’ll be Kasper.

            Plot Armor!
            Plot Armor!
            Plot Armor!
            Plot Armor!
            Plot Armor!

            … what?

            Ah, just kidding Kasper, I don’t want you dead … yet.

          • xthorgoldx

            That’s the danger in becoming a Mauve Shirt: while you do get a bit of increased survivability from having a name and extra screentime, you also run a greater chance of being killed because you’re a more well fleshed-out character. Because you’re not a nameless peon in the background, your death has more weight to it, but at the same time because you’re not a full cast member yet your death wouldn’t disrupt the story all that much; as a result, you can be killed off without requiring as much narrative investment as is killing a main character.

            Background character -> Red Shirt
            Side character -> Mauve shirt
            Main character

        • Refugnic Reply

          Don’t you go joking about that, I’ve killed loved cast members before in my stories, it’s surprisingly easy when you put your mind to it.

          That said, you’re right, Kasper is the most likely to bite it from what we know so far. As soon as Laura is concerned, he quickly forgets all about caution, safety and even common sense making him a very, very viable candidate of meeting a very, very unfortunate end…but then again, you know how it is…luck favors the brave. And he’s so brave, it’s bordering stupid 😀

          Though I do wonder…why is he even carrying a rifle? I mean, we’ve already established that they can’t be hurt by bullets, so why carry the extra weight of a rifle?
          Probably a ‘fake sense of safety’ thing and maybe the shots at least serve to distract the demons long enough for others to get away.

          Yeah, that sounds reasonable enough.

          • NotImportant

            It’s obviously to kill people hitting on Laura, duh.

          • JW

            And even aside from shooting the people hitting on his little sister, as any big brother would, it’s not a given that all large predatory animals have been eaten by the demons. Guns would protects against those.

          • Refugnic

            Yeah, yeah, I get it. Heh…I guess Gary should consider himself lucky, if that’s the way Kasper treats the suitors of his little sister…:P

            Good point about the animals though. If not to eliminate a threat, it would probably also serve well to procure food.

  2. Refugnic Reply

    Well, you certainly can’t deny THAT kinship. 😀

    Though to be perfectly honest when I first saw her, I was immediately reminded of Ku (female form, obviously) from ‘Wagaya no Oinari-sama’…but then again, I’m terrible with faces, so it’s probably just the hair 🙂

    And 50 comments is quite a number, I’ll give you that. Though I’m sure we can beat that easily. Am I right, people?! *Waits for the cheers*…okay, maybe not. 😛

    Just checked the vote incentive…I do wonder if this somehow relates to the lineart you mentioned about 8 hours ago…:D
    Looking good to say the least. 🙂

    Oh and thanks for the mention, I really appreciate it. 😉

    That said, there’s ample more where that came from, I could probably write an entire book at this point if I wanted, though I think I’ll wait for a few more information before dishing out the next one. Don’t want to spoil you too much after all and the others should get their chance to stand in the limelight too.

    Alright guys and girls, the bar is set, now try to cross it! 😀

  3. Micah Reply

    Super huge congrats on getting to 8th!!! That’s amazing, I knew you were a special comic since I first found you in November. Keep up the good work!

    Sofia Is totally adorable! So CUTE! And her “weapon of choice” made me laugh.

    Out of curiosity, how close are Refugnic’s fan fics to what you have as a back story? They’re pretty decent as far as fan fics go, but the story hasn’t progressed enough to know how close it is to cannon.

    Thanks again!

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thanks! 😀 And about fanfics – those are purely his inventions, I didn’t give him any hints. And I don’t want to say if he is right or wrong with his guesses, you will need to wait and see hehehe…

      • Refugnic Reply

        I beg your pardon for abusing the comment section for this, but I’ve tried to note you on dA and I’ve tried writing you an E-Mail, neither of which you responded to.

        I assume that you are simply busy and didn’t find the time to respond to any sort of correspondence (or my mail landed in your spam folder, which is well possible with spam filters these days and you didn’t check dA) or you’re simply getting swamped or whatever…either way, in commemoration of Laura’s official introduction (and really just because I felt like it), I prepared another one for your fanart section (it’s still way too empty in there for my taste).

        You (and everyone else) may find it at http://fav.me/d92zvmj.

        Thanks for reading and once again, I’m sorry for abusing the comment section for this. 🙂

        • NotImportant Reply

          Haha yeah, you landed in Spam and I didn’t notice, sorry! And I don’t check dA too often those days, that’s true.
          I am starting to get afraid that soon you will produce more content that I have in the comic so far xD Thanks for another story, right on it!

          • Refugnic

            That’s quite alright, don’t worry. I kinda figured that it had to be something like that, seeing how enthusiastic you had been about my stories (and fanart in general)…though if you hadn’t responded to the comment here, I might have started to worry just a wee bit. 😉

            Regarding your fear, I believe that is unfounded (at least in regards to the comic itself, if we were to compare my entire collection of works to yours, it might be a different story).

            A little math to back me up here. 😛
            So far, you’ve published 51 pages of the comic here. You said, it takes you about 8 hours to make one page (which is a reasonable time).
            On the other hand, I take from 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on how well I’m doing and how many people disturb me :P) for one of these shorties.

            That means, in order to make up for the magnitude in time alone, I’d have to write 4 stories to even just match one page in terms of time.

            On the contrary, if you wanted to compare ‘stuff that happens’ (which would be unfair, because you can only pack so many things happening in one page), my stories clearly win, but that really doesn’t compare even in the slightest.

            As a final comparison number, even if you take the number of entries, I’d still have to write 47 more short stories to catch up with your pages…which I technically could do, one story based on every page shouldn’t be a problem, but that’d take a wee bit of time. Just a wee bit. 😛

            So yeah, don’t worry about me pulling past you.

            First: This is not a contest
            Second: Even if it was, you’ve still got a substantial lead. 😛

          • NotImportant

            haha such analysis based on my silly joke 😀 Deviantart is in maintenance mode so I’ve just replied to your email~ I will add your story to the Fanart section a bit later today. Thank you as always! ♥ I will need to send you flowers if this goes on! (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ

          • Refugnic

            Killing the joke by over-analyzing since 1984. That’s me, alright. 😛

            Really? Last I checked it had left maintenance mode for a while now…ah well, just gotta go and check mails then. 🙂

            Thanks, I appreciate the effort. 🙂

            Ahaha, better not. My wife might have a slight problem with other women sending me flowers 😀

            Really, they’re just my form of appreciation, so some appreciation from your side is far more than enough. (And of course the comic pages, we must not forget the comic pages! :))

    • Refugnic Reply

      Shoot, NI beat me to answering it. Yeah, I’m completely running on my own juice and whatever information I have I take from the comic just like everyone else.
      I have no clue how close my ideas and theories are to canon. We’ll see when the time comes I guess, for the time being they’re just my way to show my appreciation for the comic. 🙂

      Oh and thanks, I’m trying. 🙂
      If you have any suggestions on how I could do better, feel free to drop me a comment over at dA or under the piece. I’m always glad about some constructive criticism.

  4. vszve Reply

    Loving the comic so far, but the lack of contractions is a bit odd. I feel like the dialogue would flow better if you swapped out ” there is ” for ” there’s “, especially since it’s a tense situation without much time for picking words carefully. It might seem somewhat incorrect mashing the words together, but that’s how (most) people talk.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thanks for pointing it out! I could argue that this is the way she talks but… it wasn’t really intentional.

  5. JW Reply

    Personally, I’m not that interested in Laura’s blood type, but I think that demon might be. Maybe not the type, per se.

    • Refugnic Reply

      Really? Personally I thought he would be more interested in getting under her skin…quite figuratively so.

      Which begs the question, why are the demons running around killing people? Do they need to eat? If so, if people manage to hide from them long enough, do they starve? Or is it simply because they have fun doing so? I wonder…

      • JW Reply

        It’s a bit of a conundrum. I mean, if they just ate little girls, I could understand, because

        What are little girls made of?
        Sugar and spice and all things nice,
        That’s what little girls are made of.

        So, delicious, right?

        • Refugnic Reply

          Now this once more begs the question, if that’s what little girls are made of, then what are the other people made of?
          Besides, one cannot thrive on sugar and spice alone.

          A healthy diet consists of a number of things after all, like carbs and vitamins and all that stuff.

          And seeing how its almost impossible to kill them, they must have one hell of a diet, which makes their skin mostly impenetrable. Hats off for their food advisor. 😀

          • JW

            I don’t know about adults, but there is another part to the nursery rhyme:

            What are little boys made of?
            Snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails
            That’s what little boys are made of

            So, not as appetizing.

            I suppose you’re right, that given their physique they must have been on a healthy diet. But maybe that’s exactly why they want a snack now. Maybe they’ve been living in some kind of hellish health-food dimension for thousands of years with nothing to eat but tofu and nuts and berries and vegetables etc. That’d be enough to drive any creature insane, and bite into the first meaty snack to crosses your path.

        • Refugnic Reply

          Meh, they’re probably French. After all French people love dining on Snails and Frogs, so French demons probably get their mouth all watery when looking at little boys.

          And regarding the adults…basically the same as when they’re children with a few seasonings like irony, sarcasm…oh and a hefty helping of crap that life gave them in the meantime.

          …yup, definitely French demons we have here.

          Just gotta love those stereotypes, eh? 😀

          • JW

            so French demons probably get their mouth all watery when looking at little boys.

            That sounds so very, very wrong 😛

            Just gotta love those stereotypes, eh? 😀

            Yeah. I must admit the thought had occurred to me, but I don’t know what other nationalities lurk here.

        • Refugnic Reply

          The fun thing about stereotypes is: You can apply it to everyone without actually offending everyone.

          For example I’m German. The stereotype says, the Germans are a really studious people and perfectionists per definition. They have no personal ambitions and are more like bees/ants than actual people.

          Tell me if I’m wrong about any of these things, if your people say something else about Germans.

          Personally I hate studying theory. And if needs be, 5 may be an even number for me. I dream of being someone important enough to be remembered by the next generation and maybe the one after that and even though I like helping, I don’t drop everything I’m doing to help someone else. In fact I can be pretty egoistic.

          So you see, parts apply, but others don’t.

          Same with the French (or anyone, really). According to stereotype the French people love the life and the love itself. As a result, they are lazy and self-centered, almost to the point of being narcissistic, with nobody other than a fellow Frenchman ever being able to do them justice.

          Now I’ll bet that there are some French people who find themselves in these stereotypes, for example (supposedly) Napoleon Bonaparte or the likes. However just as there are French people, there are also German’s who fit the bill, or English people, or Polish people or people in general.

          The important thing is, that you yourself decide to be offended by a stereotype. Everyone is an individual and these stereotypes are most often based on trends people have observed in the past. They hold some truth, but are usually badly exaggerated and based on the worst examples they could find at the time.

          Long story short, if you feel offended by a stereotype, then it’s likely because you know it’s true and you feel uncomfortable about it. And if you don’t like that truth, then it’s your job to change it instead of expecting everyone else to not say it.

          But I think you knew all of that already. 😉

          Regarding the watery maw…yeah well, on second thought that does sound pretty wrong. At least their idea of ‘interaction with kids’ at least doesn’t have any hidden agenda but is a simple ‘tear them apart and use their bones as toothpicks’…or something.

    • Refugnic Reply

      7th by 30 votes…that’s a very, very slim margin…but quality shall prevail! (I think I tried TMI once, but didn’t like it.)

      • JW Reply

        The difference is 65 now, so the lead seems to be growing! (Current count: 6977)
        Maybe I should run through all the servers on my VPN connection. Wouldn’t be enough to get to #6, though.

        • Refugnic Reply

          Hmm…you know, if the current surge continues, this just might be able to take 6th by the end of the month. It’ll be close, but it might work.

  8. Refugnic Reply

    Hey there. I just wanted to congratulate you on cracking the 8k mark on the TWC votes. I don’t quite see you taking 6th (which would require over 300 more votes by tomorrow morning), but 7th with over 8000 votes in one month is an achievement to be proud of. Heck, being in the top 10 is an achievement to be proud of.

    And who knows, maybe next month you can make 5th place. The sky’s the limit after all. 🙂

    Keep up the good work. I’ll try to help any way I can and I’m sure others will do that too. Their own way. 😉

    • NotImportant Reply

      Haha thanks a bunch 😀 I hope you awesome lot will continue to support Replay next month too. July was crazy, crazy indeed~!

      • Refugnic Reply

        I’m sure we will. At the very least I will. 😉
        Haha, I think that was only the beginning. Before long you will probably disable the comment section so you won’t get flooded with messages 😀 (Though personally I’ll be sad when that happens, mingling with the rest of the audience (and of course you) really is half the fun ;)).

        Anyway, I have an idea on how to (maybe) increase participation. I don’t know if it works and I don’t know if it’s any good at all, but there’s no harm in suggesting it I guess.

        Anyway, here goes:
        1. Milestones – Define participation milestones (for example reach 8000 votes or reach rank 7) and give out small rewards for them, like an extra artwork or even an extra update to celebrate the milestone. This will give your audience an incentive to vote more, further increasing your exposure and eventually allowing for more ambitious milestones.
        2. Fanart lottery – Now, I happen to know that you love getting fanart. And I mean, who wouldn’t. But how to get people to rise from their lazy butts and get creative?
        The lottery might be a good solution. Meaning, from all the fanart you’re getting in a specified period (for example a month), you’re picking one randomly (or the one you like best) and give that person a reward. For fanfics (like the ones I’m writing) an illustration works great, for pictures, a short story to go with that would work well. And, to show my personal support, I’m volunteering for that job. Yes, you’ve read right, if the lottery falls to a picture, I’m volunteering to write a (short) story for it, unless of course you want to. The reason for this tandem is quite simple…if it’s a picture, it will likely fall short in comparison to any sort of illustration you might make from it (imagine two people painting the same motive…that’s discouraging instead of encouraging if you ask me) This should entice your fans to actually get involved more than ‘just’ in the comment section.

        Mind you, these suggestions involve you spending (a lot) more time on drawing, maybe more than you are willing to handle with all that life you’ve most certainly got going on (which is partially the reason why I’m offering to help out in the ‘story as a reward’ section), so whatever you choose to do, you should set the reward intervals reasonably. I think doing it on a monthly base should only increase your workload lightly and still leave you enough time to deal with the regular updates and whatever else life throws at you.

        And if you should decide to go for the lottery, I’m calling dibs on the July illustration for fanart (I’m the only one who submitted, I’ve got the right and the nerve! :D). And I think the story you should make it for should be ‘Faust’. ;P

        On a side note, I’ve been trying to come up with a background story for Sofia, but unlike all the other characters so far, my mental cinema is coming up pretty blank…it’s like she has no noteworthy profile to work with at all, other than that she looks way to well dressed to walk around in an apocalyptic world.
        Ah well, comes time I guess. And it’s not like there’s a rush to get there, am I right? 😉

        Alright, that’s all I wanted to say. Have a good evening. 🙂

        • NotImportant Reply

          Those are not bad ideas at all. I will need to think about it, my life it really crazy right now and I am struggling with the workload but I might want to do something like that once I am less busy. Maybe after Replay’s first birthday (which is coming soon!)..?

          And your offer about writing stories for drawings is very generous but since comic is very fresh and only I know the characters it would be pretty much impossible for you to write a story that pictures them correctly (= the way I want them to be). But on the other hand if I am to write those stories I would have to accept that those things are canon and somehow pull off impossible situations just because I picked a certain drawing. Or pick a drawing to which I can actually make a fitting story without destroying my characters. I don’t like any of those options and I hope you get my point.

          But I like the general idea and will figure out the rewards eventually. Thanks for the ideas! 🙂

          • Refugnic

            Yeah, I see. And of course I respect that (not like I have any other choice either way :P). Is it now? Jeez, I need to prepare a birthday present. 😀

            I beg your pardon, but where in my suggestion did I say, that the stories had to be ‘canon’?
            Assuming you get a fanart of Adam and Ada making out (people have shipped stranger things), the reward story to that picture would likely conflict with the comic to about 100 % (from what we know, Adam would need to tie up Ada to even get her to stay close to him without clawing and biting him). I’ll say it again, the story as well as the illustration only has to relate to the fanart you’ve got, NOT to the comic itself. They are responses. ‘Thank you”s for the fanarts you’ve got. And while I cannot portray the characters like you would (seeing how nobody knows your characters like you do), my offer still stands. After all, they are just a little thank you. Nothing more, nothing less. 🙂 And, if what you claimed is true, my writing is better than yours 😛

            My point is: Everyone who gets a story/illustration made for what they did has to understand, that whatever you (or I) make, it is not an official part of the comic.

            I’m always glad to help and I’m happy that you’re considering the ideas. 🙂
            Here’s hoping that your life will settle down soon. 😉

  9. Refugnic Reply

    And finally, just to finish up the little roundup here’s a fanfic featuring our little Sofia: http://fav.me/d93qneb

    I probably got her character dead wrong, but somehow I like this interpretation. 🙂

    I hope you’ll enjoy and once again, sorry for spamming the comment section. 😉

    • NotImportant Reply

      You are so impatient! It has little to do with my Sofia haha, but thank you! I love your enthusiasm 😀
      And no need to be sorry about the comment section, worry when the spam filter starts blocking you haha

      • Refugnic Reply

        Hey, it’s not my fault that weeks are so damn long!
        And I think you know yourself how it is when an idea comes by and takes up residence in your thoughts. There’s really only two ways to get rid of these buggers. The first one is to dismiss them (preferably with good reason, otherwise it’ll come right back) or to act on it…guess what I decided to do for this one. 🙂

        Yeah well, if I do something, I tend to do it right. 😉

        Haha, I dread the day that happens, though I do feel that I’m on the best way there, am I not? 😀

        Thanks for reading and please remember…fan fiction is made by fans for fans and of course for you. It doesn’t have to adhere to canon.
        But you want it to be more accurate? Shell out more information! 😛

        On that note, I’m already curious about what tomorrow’s page will be.
        From the looks of it, Laura and Kasper may require a little help right there…and while they are in the same camp, I’m not sure that they met Ada and Robert before…well, now would be a damn good time for the groups to join up.

        Ah well, can’t do anything but wait I guess.

        Oh and 43 comments this week. That’s a very decent yield, wouldn’t you agree?
        Always glad to be of assistance. 😉

        • NotImportant Reply

          Weeks are long?! Blasphemy! They are too damn short! And yes, I know how it’s like to be pestered by ideas, they tend to be especially annoying when I’m trying to get some sleep. Perfect moment for absurd dialogues to pop in my head.
          Sorry if it sounded like a complaint! I didn’t really mean it that way 😀 And maybe that’s for the best that you kind of strayed from her character. If you got her 100% right I would be seriously creeped out. And story is really cute ♥
          And I am silent about the next page, you will have to wait a couple more hours~

          • Refugnic

            The subjective length of any unit of time depends on the current mindset and activity of the one experiencing it.

            A prime example: Waiting. If you’re waiting for something (i.e. for what you’re cooking to finish, for the webcomic to update, for the school hours to pass), time passes ever so slowly. Minutes pass like hours, days pass like years. There’s a joke I could tell here, but I’ll stay my hand. 😉

            As a counter example, when you’re busy with something. Be it working, playing games or hanging with friends…all of a sudden, the days just don’t have enough hours any more. 😀

            Haha, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Though I am blessed with the ability to sleep very quickly, so the ideas rarely pester me during times like these. They usually get triggered by seeing or hearing something and sometimes they appear as completely unrelated until I backtrace my thoughts…that’s usually when I start to smile, wondering how the hell my mind was able to make that connection.

            Haha, that’s true, alright. 🙂
            And don’t worry about me getting scared off. You don’t live the life I did without picking up a thick skin. I’m not easily intimidated or discouraged by words. 🙂

            Thanks, I’m glad you liked it. I had a lot of fun working on it.
            And thanks for promoting it on the FB page, I appreciate it. 🙂

            And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 😛

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