Cover:
Title: Folktale, Forecast, Foretold
A single panel, showing a distant view of a small square in a European-looking city. There is a cafe with outdoor tables, and various people sitting at them. The bare trees show that it's winter.
Subtitle: A friends at the table fancomic by eve, for glenatron
1.
In this and every page, there are three rectangular panels, equal in size and shape, stacked vertically. The effect is intended to evoke a film, as is the choice of navy brushes for the lines and colours.
Panel 1: A man sits at a table, reading a newspaper. The shot is behind his shoulder, so we can't see his face.
Panel 2: A close up of his cup of half-drunk espresso and an untouched florentine biscuit.
Panel 3: A woman's hand in a trenchcoat reaches out to pull back the unoccupied chair. The man's newspaper is visible in the corner. From offscreen, the woman's voice says: Hi Riah!!
2.
Panel 1:
A shot of Riah Connadine. He does not look up from his paper. Only his hat is visible above it.
Riah: Ms. Red. What are you doing here?
--
Panel 2:
Mustard sits down. She's a very beautiful fat woman wearing a nicely tailored coat, gloves, an elegant turtleneck and a beret. She has curly dark hair and dark lipstick. Currently the only indication of her android augmentations are a series of strange panels under her eyes.
Mustard: Why, looking for you, of course. I just recently got a shipment of some of my old things from... Well from the last job, put it like that. And wouldn't you know it, some bits of yours were in there. So I thought, gosh, I should drop these off the next time I'm passing through the system.
--
Panel 3:
Riah closes his paper, and we see a little more of his face, though not his eyes. On the back of his paper we see the weather forecast, with little clouds with snowflakes falling from them printed on it.
Riah: You needn't have. I'm not sentimental.
3.
Panel 1:
Mustard starts pulling off her gloves.
Mustard: Well, I will admit, I was curious to get your perspective.
I'm sure you'll forgive me, but I had a teeny peek through the files. just professional curiosity, nothing more.
---
Panel 2: A close up of Mustard's face. Her eyes are bright and clear, and her mouth is smiling. She looks almost perfectly sincere, and very beautiful.
Mustard: I couldn't help wondering about some of the information you marked as important.
---
Panel 3:
A mirrored close-up of Riah. He's an older man with a long thin face and a long, thin nose, on which perch big square glasses. He's wearing a hat, a white scarf and a dark wool trenchcoat. His expression is dry, but there's a hint of a smile on his lips.
Riah: It's been a while since I played teacher, Ms Red, but perhaps I can indulge you.
This is my #secretsamol2024 comic for @glenatron.bsky.social It was a true pleaure to make, a chance to indulge in my love of villains and make something that felt like a mix of film noir and george smiley novels.