ToxinFox

"I appreciate the offer, Libra, and I might even take you up on it," Nikeiva replied. "I should check up on any old friends first, and see if they're still in the area, and still fighting the cape-and-mask fight, though, you know? I know some of them have bowed out of the hero life, but some of them might not have, and I owe it to them to check in on them first." She sipped at her glass, making an awkward, cringing expression. "I'd like to claim I've been too busy getting moved in and back to the fight to do that... but truth is I've been too chicken."

Nikeiva chuckled. "Giant tigers. Not known for being wishy-washy, that's for sure." She indulged in a long sip of her refill, then sighed. "Yeah, you're both right. I miss my old team -- part of the reason I left is that they had just disbanded, and I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. I should find a new team. Having people to mutually watch each other's backs, and prop up each other's sanity, is worth its weight in gold. I hope you both have that-- or find it soon." She stared at the cherry in her glass, her thoughts far away for a moment, and then smiled lopsidedly. "...and if I go solo much longer, Crey is going to catch up to me again. That... didn't go so well for me the first time. Backup might make the difference between whether that's my misfortune... or Crey's." After a prolonged moment of staring at the cherry in her glass, Nikeiva's brows furrowed in confusion, and then she looked up at Paul. "Oh. Does your bar have power dampers? I just realized I can't levitate the cherry out of my drink."

Realized I had NO good, recent, simple full-body costume shots of Nyx. I had to remedy that. Next page is in progress. In the meantime, have a bit of character art instead.

Right now!

YAAAAAAY! Oh god, that character portrait is SO OLD... *hides under desk*

"A refill? Twist my arm, sure." Nikeiva also relinquished her empty glass. "S'been nice talking to people. I'm kind of a loner most of the time, especially since returning to Paragon, but... it gets to a person eventually, you know?" Leaning back in her chair a bit, and peering around the bar, she wondered vaguely if Paul had a dart board in his establishment.

Hey folks! Nyx here. It's so cool to actually recognize names... (Okay, *technically* I spent most of my time on Pinnacle because Virtue was always full, but I was familiar with a bunch of the Virtue crowd.)

And because it's quarantine and I have nothing better to be doing, time to start working on the next page! Btw, if folks ever want to see non-comic page art, old art, or unrelated-to-CoH art, let me know. I've got... a lot. https://www.deviantart.com/pointy-eared-fiend ...A lot.

There are so many things I could say about this page, from 'I love how the colors came out' to 'I adore these doofy Skulls', to 'sharp-eyed readers who are very familiar with Nyx will not only know why she laughed at the phrase 'two minds', but also notice she's missing part of her gear at the moment'. But mostly I'm just really happy with how it turned out! 😄

I've got two more panels to color, and then I have to scan, piece it together in Photoshop, color-correct, and add text, but I *should* have it up later tonight. Might be pretty late, though, especially for East Coasters/non-Americans. I am *loving* the way the colors are coming out, though, and dear god did I miss her costume. Even WITH drawing all of that black leather.

Listening to the exchange and sipping the last of her drink, Nikeiva shrugged, swirling the ice at the bottom of the glass idly. "Some people come back from the dark side. Some don't." After a pause, she added, "I have a friend who used to be a Hellion, but he got out, cleaned up his life, and now he's helping other people get out. I should... really go see how he's doing. Haven't seen him since I left. But yeah... Lord Recluse... seems like a long shot for redemption."

I feel your pain re: only active person in your SG! A friend of mine started an SG (Nova Star), which I joined because yay, friends! She even had a kinda cool base. And then she stopped playing, and made me the SG leader. And... I'm the only one who plays regularly. Good thing I'm good at soloing.

"Speaking of things to deal with," said Nikeiva, watching the other two for a moment, "Since I've been gone a while, I was wondering: Anything new I should be aware of? New villain groups on the scene? Current crises to watch out for?"

If there's a canon reason, I don't know it. My personal theory is that it's kind of like the bright colors some poisonous animals have-- it's a warning to anything looking at them and thinking of tangling with them: "Hey. I'm dangerous. Mess with me at your own risk." Hero, villain, or random Joe on the street can reasonably assume that the outlandishly dressed person wearing spandex and a cape probably has superpowers, and that might make that person a potential ally, adversary/problem/not a good target for a purse-snatching, or a potential rescuer/safe person to turn to for help, respectively. I mean, think about it. Would those Skulls still have tried to shake Nyx down for money if she'd answered the door wearing THAT? They're dumb, but they're not that dumb. Although that makes one wonder: is it considered at best unwise and at worst deceptive and dangerous for *normal civilians* to wear superhero outfits for fun? Like, is cosplay a terrible, awful, dangerous idea in Paragon? What if you're coming home from a convention or a costume party and a villain picks a fight with you because beating up a hero will give him street cred? You're a normal shlub, you don't have a medi-porter, to say nothing of superpowers... So many questions...

Costume! Costume! Costume!!

Working on the next page already, and I'm looking forward to it (and the next few) because we finally get to see some cape and mask action!

"Warning duly noted. I'm sorry that happened, but at least you did get things cleared. I guess the damage was done, though. I hope Paragon treats you better." She swirled the ice in her glass, then smirked. "I hope both our lives improve."

Pizza! (I tried something new with the word bubbles, and while the small top ones look a little wonky, the bottom, larger ones look pretty good, actually!)

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Nikeiva asked. "I'm guessing it has something to do with why you're in Paragon and not still in Belfast..."

"I'll toast to that. This is so much better than the dive bar that used to be near my place." Nikeiva raised her glass in salute to Paul and his establishment. "And anything is better than Dark Astoria..." She followed this statement with a shudder and another deep sip of her drink.

"Yes it does. Never a dull moment here. Can't even go to the laundromat without having to stop some half-wit wannabe super-villain trying to steal everyone's quarters." Nikeiva picked the cherry from her drink and ate it, then asked Libra, "What are you working on right now? I'm dealing with a gang of Skulls dealing drugs on the literal doorstep of my apartment building, but it shouldn't take me long to clean that up."

Gosh, I don't even have a copy of that art anymore! I probably owe you an updated version, by now. XD My art has...... changed since the early days.

Yeah, if I can figure out how to do that and make it look good, that might be the best course of action. Thanks!

Playing with doing my text bubbles digitally. Thoughts? (Background is an old screenshot, character is marker art as usual.)

Oh my god, names I actually recognize! *waves at SK and One Hit Wonder* Edit: Hi, it's Nyx!