Taking chances

No one doubted that she will try to start a conversation, right? Next week we’ll see how it goes! Ada is currently busy, comforting some random people in the background, so Sofia – this is your big moment! Don’t ruin it! ლ(o◡oლ)

And if you are not tired of her, please check the vote incentive as it has been updated with a small preview of the incoming pages. I am still behind with drawing and a bit worried if I can avoid a hiatus with the exam coming up soon and that trip to Japan… Oh well, we’ll see. For now I’ll try to be optimistic – I’ve managed to submit the thesis and scheduled the exam to April 15th so it seems I’m going to fly to Tokyo with a master degree, just like I wanted! If I pass the exam, that is~

I have to tell you what is the most annoying thing about making a comic. That moment when you really need to go to sleep but you can’t stop making up dialogues in your head and after two hours of struggle you realize you will be able to draw your ideas after…. maybe 5 years ಠ_ಠ Why am I even thinking about those scenes now, why?! Arghhh…

39 comments on “Taking chances”

  1. Adriano Reply

    I know that feel…

    Also, good luck for your exam! Much love <3

    Yeah Sofia, don't ruin it. I bet Robert was her boss back in the days!

    • SirTrojan Reply

      Based on the vote incentive i’d say it’s more likely that he was a classmate/co-student of her.
      The background and her outfit looks more like an auditorium at a university, than her workplace!

  2. Anonymous K Reply

    We understand if you have to go on Hiatus for exams. You have your own life and exams are important.

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thanks for the understanding 🙂 Safe for now, though, at least for 4 more pages.

      • Dæmon Reply

        Yeah, I agree with the user here. If you need to, life shouel take priority. Then again, I’m not one to talk, since I’m struggling with my own career. But, on the other hand, it should teach me something. I’ve heard that “A true teacher never misses an opportunity to learn,” so if you want to be able to pass on your skills to the next generation, you should think of this as a learning experience, not a struggle with some essay. Of course, I think I forgot the rest of that saying, so I don’t really know if I got the message right. Whoops!

        Anyway, I think most of us trust your judgement, and if you need a short hiatus, then take it. We won’t leave, or most of us won’t, but even if we do leave, we’ll probably come back one day and perhaps think, “Wow, in all the time I’ve been gone, it’s really changed. I mean, a lot hasn’t, but then again, so much has.” Or at least that’s how I look at things after a while away from them.

        Of course, I kind of wish I could go to Japan still, too. I mean, the cherry blossoms sound pretty cool, and plus, all the historical artifacts all around me would be AMAZING to see. Still, if you feel a hiatus is necessary then take it. I don’t think anyone e who really cares about the comic would want the creator to miss such an opportunity, particularly if it’s as important as this degree is to you.

        • NotImportant Reply

          I don’t plan to take a break unless I really have no time for drawing haha, so only if life won’t let me. Thanks for the understanding, you guys are awesome (^∀^ )♡

  3. Doom Reply

    Love panel 1’s Sofia. So pretty!
    Panel 2 is also entertaining with Robert’s underwear paranoia. Would amuse me if it turns out that he was right to fear underwear theft.

  4. Refugnic Reply

    Why in the world is he giving away their underwear in the first place? I mean okay, they need to get cleaned and stuff, but with that hint regarding Ada’s underwear, it’s like he’s using her underwear as ‘bribe’ or something. Is there something I’m missing here?
    And won’t Ada be kinda pissed that Robert just gives away her most personal clothes like that?

    Furthermore, ‘Mr. Robert’? I understand that Sofia and Robert haven’t met in a long time and I also know that you didn’t really think up surnames for them and I understand that Sofia is trying to be polite, but, in my opinion, calling him ‘Mr. Robert’ is wrong.

    If I was in her shoes, I’d go about it with ‘Um – excuse me? Robert? Robert from…’ – wherever they met.
    Really ‘Mr.’ is supposed to be used in conjunction with the surname. I mean, Sofia would know his surname, right? After all she’s known him before.
    It’s not like she’s only just met him for the first time and ‘Robert’ is the only name she knows for him, right?

    Just my 2 cents here. 🙂

    Also, that caption is just plain Gold. 😀 Nicely done. 🙂

    • NotImportant Reply

      Oh you will see just from where she ‘knows him’, hopefully it will be easier to understand. Let her be a little weird, she isn’t too good with people haha. Merge ‘I want to be polite’ and ‘I only know his first name’ and you get ‘Mr. Robert’. I am leaving it as it is for now, at least until the end of this scene.
      And about the bag and whole underwear thing – they just don’t want to carry their stuff around the camp and that soldier was told to take it away to their new tent. Robert is simply being paranoid. That hint about Ada’s underwear is a payback for the previous page, where she told him to stop with the stupid ideas (well, not directly, but still).
      And thanks! Let me know if you still think that something needs fixing. It feels like I am rushing through those pages lately, not enough time to think things through…

      • Doom Reply

        Personally, I’m in favor of leaving the “Mister Robert?” line as-is. It effectively demonstrates that Sofia is nervous and not very comfortable with talking to people.

      • JW Reply

        From the vote incentive I’d hazard to guess Sophia knows him from college and he was teaching or something.

        I think I’ve actually made that mistake once, of referring to one of my professors as Mr. [FirstName]. But in conversation about him, rather than to his face.
        It’s because among students we usually referred to teachers by first name, but I tended to be a bit more formal/polite when speaking to teachers. So one day in conversation with a teacher I carelessly combined formality with first name and got a weird look as my reward.

    • antrik Reply

      Actually, I think “Mr. ” is an established way to refer to work colleagues in Poland? At least that’s what my mom claims… Can’t say I have personal experience 🙂

      • NotImportant Reply

        Actually, it’s just a polite way to address someone you don’t know. At work, you’d probably only use it towards your superiors.

  5. Zenanii Reply

    Happy trip to Japan! And don’t worry, we’ll still be here even if you have to miss a couple of pages ^_^ (well, at least I will be >_>). But seriously, as someone who spends way to much time reading webcomics, I’ve learnt that the good ones can aquire a scary (borderline stalkerish) following. Blip suddenly stopped updating without much information fromthe author and people kept posting in the comment section for years, even as the domain was expiring. I think Pawn is still reciving frequent comments and site visist, just to name two examples. So don’t go stressing yourself out over a few update 😉 (but please, if you respect your viewers, just keep us updated if you have to skip a few pages or go on hiatus until further notice :P)

    As someone with way too much fantasy for my own good I can somewhat relate xD . I have all these ideas and stories in my head, but the notion of putting it on paper or, god forbid, actually trying to draw any of it, yeah no I really can’t be arsed xD (The fact that I know jack about drawing might be part of it).

    About todays page:

    Hm, “Mister Robert” is a very formal way to adress someone, so they can’t have known each other very well. Worst case scenario (for Spophia) would be Robert just going “Who are you?”. Someone suggested Robert being her former boss, but I think it’s more likely to be a (former) teacher-student relationship. Might be because I’ve watched to mutch anime, or I’m jumping to conclusions because NI herself is studying, but it just makes more sense in my head.

    • NotImportant Reply

      For now I will just enjoy your wild guesses in silence haha, you will find out what their relationship is in a few pages anyway 😀
      And about updates – I don’t want to disappoint anyone! I am not exactly good at building fanbase and getting readers so Replay’s success (I can call getting this many readers a success, right?) is a mystery to me, good fortune, luck, miracle, I really don’t want to break it haha. But I can’t imagine leaving you hanging without any notice, if I do – that means I died a sudden death or went into a coma ಠ_ಠ And thanks, this will be an awesome trip for sure~!

      • Zenanii Reply

        ” is a mystery to me, good fortune, luck, miracle, I really don’t want to break it haha. ”

        Has it never occured to you that it might just be becuase you’re pretty good at drawing/storytelling? 😛

  6. Wojszach Reply

    Little bit of reflection…this scientist shooted out deamon head with shotgun,deamon won’t renegerate but he cannou use his jaw… low caliber bullets doesn’t work…hm… what about grenades,granade launchers and anything what is tearing weapon? Little bit of logic,this is military,they should have minimal number of such things.

    • NotImportant Reply

      You can’t exactly start throwing grenades if you are surrounded by civilian’s tents. Other than this – yes, explosives work best.

      • Wojszach Reply

        But 1 thing is certain, in other parts of the world when they realize slmall guns doesn’t work,they will be using bigger and bigger until it’ll works,so we can exopect big battles with tanks,jets,napalm,alrylery shells, mortar fire,and HE shells from tanks

        • Zenanii Reply

          This seems more like a refuge camp, I doubt they have access to that kind of equipment. Heck, I doubt they even have access to people who know how to handle that kind of equipment.

          • Wojszach

            but soldiers with sharp ammo,every soldier have minimum 1 granade

          • NotImportant

            As it was said in the comic – most of them are civilians in uniforms, pretending to be soldiers.

          • Lukkai

            Besides, even in an actual army, grenades are not really standard issue. It’s not something you’re constantly running around with as a soldier.

  7. Lukkai Reply

    Well good luck with your exam. And do not worry. We would definitely understand a short hiatus.

    Which airport are you flying to, by the way? Narita or Haneda? My brother and me aimed for the latter when we flew over last autumn. It’s just so much closer to the city proper.
    And you might want to pay a visit to the T.Y. Harbor on Tennozu Isle. It’s not on the cheap side for restaurants in Tokyo, but it’s worth a visit. Especially if you like beer. And Tokyo Tower is definitely a place to go to as well. And the crepes from the stand right next to the main entrance are quite good too.

    • NotImportant Reply

      It will be my… third? No, fourth visit to Tokyo so I already have my favorite places, lots of them, in fact. I am not sure if I visited the Tennozu Isle, never stayed there for long, that’s for sure. I’m not a beer person but thanks for the recommendation!
      This time I’ll be flying to Haneda but I usually don’t pay much attention to the airport, more to the hours of departure hah.
      And damn, autumn is so beautiful in Japan, shame I won’t see it this year. Did you enjoy your stay?

      • Lukkai Reply

        Oh yeah, it was very enjoyable. And we had good weather to boot! The whole two weeks we were staying (one week in Tokyo, one in Kyoto), except for the day of departure. But that one hardly counts, since all we did while still in Japan on that day was get up in the airport hotel at Kansai International Airport, traverse over into the airport proper, check in and board the plane. All of it without ever leaving roofed space except for the short tramway ride to the right gates.

        And sounds as if you were the one to suggest me places for my next visit! 😀

        I’m currently trying to remember all the places we went to for dinner while in Tokyo. I’ve got five of them down, currently.

        • NotImportant Reply

          If any of them were good and reachable+usable by people who don’t know Japanese – let me know haha. My Japanese is still on a toddler level so we mostly went to family restaurants and bars, since that was the easiest. I guess I didn’t care much about the food…
          If you haven’t visited Kamakura during your trip I recommend it! Also mountains near Tokyo, Mt. Mitake has a lovely old village near the summit and awesome temple with sealed demons. Definitely worth visiting~! Mountains are beautiful during the autumn. I am a poor photographer but still: http://ni-japan.tumblr.com/post/72584152654/temple-at-takao-mountain-japan This is from Mt. Takao which I visited while I was in Tokyo during the autumn.

          • Lukkai
          • NotImportant

            Haha thanks! Something new to try! I probably ate at the same place near Nakano Broadway, at least there is a high chance haha. And I was wondering about Hakone, never went though. Was yours a one day trip? Long travel by train always made be choose something closer.

          • NotImportant

            That restaurant near Ginzaicchome looks really expensive! Or it wasn’t so bad?

          • Lukkai

            Hakone can definitely be done as a one day trip from Tokyo out. We took the Shinkansen to Odawara and the Hakone-Tozan railway up to Hakone-Yumoto. (There’s also a Romancecar directly going there from Shinjuku.) Then the bus to the Hakone Checkpoint. Visited that and the small museum. Then walked the old stretch of the Tōkaidō back to the cruise ships running from Moto Hakone to Togendai. Since the ropeway across Owakudani was closed, we had to take a replacement bus from there to the top of Hakone Tozan Cable Car. Went down that one to Gōra and took the Hakone-Tozan railway back down to Yumoto and Odawara. Worked out well as a one day trip for us.

            As for that restaurant: I think it was the second most expensive we visited in Tokyo after the T.Y. Harbour. But still affordable enough and the food was accordingly good.

          • NotImportant

            Thanks for the detailed information! 😀 Added Hakone to my to-go list for the trip! Shame that Owakudani is still off limits but I’m sure it’s still worth visiting.

  8. antrik Reply

    It would have been fun if Sofia tried to pull the stumbling trick… Though I guess at this point she was just happy to see someone she knows, not trying to get physical…

    Also, I wonder whether Robert would have actually managed to catch her? Ada keeps calling him clumsy — though to be honest, I don’t think we have actually seen any evidence of that… In fact he pulled off some pretty impressive stunts IMHO.

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