AJ Hello, everybody. This one is going to be a little weird. My laptop broke in June and I also didn't feel well, so I couldn't draw digitally for nearly a month. We had this conversation sometime mid-June, I announced Q&A months ago, but I'm publishing it only in July. Listen, give me a star, I'm trying hard despite.. well, everything.
AJ Also, there's a lot of text, but I won't apologize. There's going to be so much more text from now on. Anyway, roll the tape.
AJ today we're going to do a little Questions and Answers episode. Let's go. Here's our first question.
AJ wow, that was way back in March. What even is time this year.
Travis March feels like it's been five years ago.
AJ I know right?
AJ anyway. I stole the format from Homestuck. Yeah. That's why it reminds everybody of Homestuck. I remember reading it in 2012 and thinking: "Huh, this is a really cool way to tell a story". I already had an idea about my own story, so it was never going to be a fan troll adventure or some shit.
AJ it took me awhile to set up the website, figure out how to pace the story, how to make gifs, etc. I think now, 6 years after I actually started doing it, I'm so much better at this. But I also added something HS never had (at least in web version): footnotes. Who did I steal that idea from? Terry Pratchett.
AJ I also once saw a japanese comics website (forgot the name) where stories were told through messenger-styled chats. I thought it was a cool idea, at some point I even tried to style dreamDB's dialogues that way visually. But in the end, I realised that it doesn't fit dreamDB well since it's _a book_, so the dialogue happening here is more like a play, and it's not necessarily happening in a chat room, or in a messenger - it may be recorded, it may have been irl, this isn't some kind of interdimensional messenger log like in HS.
AJ ok, next two questions are from Crisis:
AJ exhausting. It takes two to three hours to draw a relatively complicated page with animations. Currently I'm trying to make at least 10 for an episode, so it takes a few days. And then people read it in 2 minutes and don't even bother to slap a read receipt aka "like" on it. Apparently all 300+ can be binged in about 10 minutes. It took me at least two years to make them.
AJ listen, at least say "nice" in the comments if you've read. I've no idea how many people actually read this sometimes. The silence on your end can be so deafening. Fuck.
AJ anyway, I digress. But I actually really, really, really love drawing both dreamDB and other comics. I love making animations. Even if it takes a lot of time.
AJ there's no end in sight. Although I feel like a major story arc has ended in january this year, and another seems to be coming to a close about now, in May-June. So I'd say there was a point in doing all this for the past couple of years. I've still got to show and tell you all of that, but I have a feeling there is an end to it as a big story. Maybe I'll start telling a backstory after that.
AJ ok, next
AJ what's it like in blue?
AJ oi. What's it like in Blue?
Travis huh? Oh, is that the one you said would be for me?
AJ I think you could answer this one, yeah.
Travis Hmm, I don't know... I mean, I haven't been the sandman for how long? I haven't been engineering the Blue for years. It also depends on what kind of blue we're talking about.
AJ You tell me, you seem to be the expert on types of Blue, you know.
Travis hey, listen, things changed over the years. I can only say what it _was_ like. When the internet wasn't everywhere. It was just people dreaming. Lots of dream bubbles.
AJ which we didn't steal from homestuck by the way, because we knew nothing about it back then.
Travis that's true. But there were lots of bubbles on the hills, and the river would carry those that were waking up back into the real world. And then we found History and realized that some bubbles were being carried by the wind towards the Golden City, and that would add more memory interaction to a dream.
Travis but now that the internet is everywhere.. People can dream without going to sleep. You're awake but still technically more in your brain than in the real world, still sleeping. Shit, you can even visit nightmares without going to sleep now. Just log onto twitter.
Travis we need to do something about that one.
AJ oh for sure.
Travis yeah, and then you put Hell right here in the middle of everything
AJ spoilers
Travis ok, but anyway, it has added more consciousness to the whole region. So now we use the overhead as a..
AJ SPOILERS
Travis well, shit. What do can I say then?..
Travis The Dreaming, or as you called it Blue, has always had the lowest physical component. It also doesn't respect the rules of linear time. So, I guess, anything that takes you out of the real world and bends the passage of time is still a dream. It's just that you can do that without sleeping now. like, when you play a video game.
AJ [slightly unwell] uh, nice. You've explained it.
Travis oh shit, are you ok?
AJ eh. You know.
Travis let me continue then, this can't be too hard.
Travis wait… is that it?
AJ yep.
Travis wHAT? Only four questions?
AJ yyep.
Travis what the fuck?
AJ to be fair, it's kind of hard to come up with a question sometimes.
Travis excuse me?
AJ and not that many people have read until the moment when I announced the q&a.
Travis EXCUSE ME??! It's been THREE MONTHS.
AJ listen, people drop the series all the time. It's not just this series, it's any series out there. Even I haven't read through the majority of the titles I'm following.
Travis but.. What about the comments on the first episode.. Everyone is like "wow, this is the coolest shit I've ever seen". And then they don't even read it?
AJ [shrug]
Travis I'm..
AJ and then there are others who keep telling me that they need to catch up on the story, and apparently never do.
Travis so, ironically, we're not in the Dreaming with this thing? How the fuck are we supposed to get it out of the Green if no one is helping?
AJ it's not no one.
AJ they're there. Sometimes more of them, sometimes fewer. I'm never sure how many.
AJ but also
AJ you. You're here. Thank you for sticking with the comic until this moment. I hope that you enjoyed it.
AJ we're going on a summer vacation. I need to take care of my health, both physical and mental. You know, the world is crazy right now. I might find some energy to do an update in the summer, but I'm definitely not going to stick to a schedule.
AJ meanwhile, you can tell your friends about the story. And don't forget to leave read receipts and comments. They help me not feel so useless, and help others find the story.
Travis but
AJ NO BUTS. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A QUICK ONE. LOOK AT YOU DERAILING THE WHOLE THING AGAIN.
Travis WAIT A MINUTE! DERAILING THE WHOLE THING? THIS WAS THE POINT, WASN'T IT? I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO HELP, BUT IT WAS ALL FOR MORE "CONTENT"??
AJ AH HERE COMES ~POINTLESS DRAMA~
AJ alright, see you later, byee!
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I'm sorry but if it's not painfully obvious yet, both are very capable of starting pointless drama.

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