Zules gets Tamara to read Exvulnerum

[Zules]

Yay, here’s the backstory we were promised! It’s a shame Dolores didn’t demonstrate some of her operatic abilities back there. I wonder what Joe was back then!

Yeah, no. I refuse to accept that that’s the Joe I’ve come to know. It seems as though Evey is trying harder than I am to refuse it and I honestly cannot blame him having been introduced to an up close and personal example of a lunatic. And what does Dzuna mean “that’s how Exvulnerum made its way into their lives”? Did one of the two have a literally cursed secret admirer lurking in the shadows or does the curse just get jealous every once in a while and seek the happiest, most successful person around?

And which one was the Penn Visla monument again? Hmm…

Ah, thank you for refreshing my memory at my convenience! Joe was quite the romantic back then, huh? Well, I guess some things never change…

And we’re reintroduced to the Dzuna we first came to know and perhaps the only real Dzuna we will ever know. Sigh. Does she have a backstory? Did something make her the way she is? Is there a curse guardian hub where a bunch of sarcastic deimons float around and hurl insults at each other all in good fun over a couple of the deimon version of beers? I know I’ve been saying this a lot lately but I can’t stop thinking it, what does she want (him) to do and why?!

Evey is finally, pardon my slang, woke after having been asleep for a long time.

That last panel though… Just the two of them standing/floating facing each other in a limbo of silence; truly seeing each other for the first time. Mixed feelings, so many mixed feelings.

Okay, alright. I suppose I’m going to have to pretend to share Evey’s concern for Amber and not secretly, selfishly want to see them together again soon. That’s definitely something I can do, yes. But hey, here’s to Evey making rational decisions again! I guess everyone is back to who they were in the beginning but with more experience so yay!

What does Dzuna want, what does Dzuna want, what does Dzuna want?! Why does she want it, why does she want it, why does she want it?! Why is she so desperate for him to seek Amber and give her the wonderful gift of an eternally painful curse?! What is she going to get out of it?! I need to know!

Ooo, who’s this badass girl we have here? Please tell me she’s going to be a feature very soon!

Dzuna has seen it all but I know that deep down, Evey takes her by surprise sometimes.

…Had that been her good side we have been seeing all along? I thought Evey was in the fire earlier but it turns out he’s just about to start feeling the heat! And out of everything he has said and done to her, she’s most angry about him realizing that he doesn’t need to pass the curse onto someone else?! She definitely has something to get out of it and I’m not going to sleep peacefully until I know exactly what that is.

End of chapter already?! I was so immersed in this one that I thought I was only a few pages in. Grr. You definitely should add more long-haired characters, particularly that one woman you just teased us with a few pages ago! We need to know who she is and what exactly she did to be remembered by Dzuna in the moment she was most angry with Evey!

I’m definitely looking forward to what the next chapter entails!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Zules]

This is the most mysterious and ambiguous chapter cover page for Exvulnerum I have seen so far; I wonder what is to come? Are things going to get dark? Wait, let me rephase that. Are things going to get even darker than they already were?

Admittedly, it has been a while since I read Chapter 11 and I just flipped back a few pages to see where we were and in retrospect, that was a very stupid question to ask. My bad. But hey, I think the brother-in-lawshow of a year 2020 has been so far has desensitized me to dark surprises so bring it on (as much as I know I’m going to regret saying this a few pages in)!

Haven’t they done enough for you, Dzuna?! And haven’t you done enough TO them?!

As entertaining as I want this to be, I’m not quite sure Amber or the rest of the world is ready to have one crazy go on a wild manhunt for a teenage girl with too much zeal for her own good in order to enact revenge on another crazy.

… Okay, I may stand corrected. Emphasis on the “may”.

A fancy dress and a particular person’s lighter, sofa cushion and single earring? This is either a demon summoning or an extremely specific f****h…

I feel like I should be understanding what’s going on here but I’m not for some reason? There’s a lighter, a building and an evil plan in motion but where does the cushion and earring come into play? My best assumption is that Dzuna’s spidey senses tell her that Evey is somewhere in the vicinity and will feel the pain of a building full of humans being roasted to a crisp but is she really that evil?! And what’s up with the cushion and earring combo?!

I wouldn’t put a lot of things past Joe but as an ex King of Pain who wore the crown for a very long time, why would he want an innocent Evey to have to go through that?!

Evey really got out of the frying pan and into the fire, didn’t he?

Well, I suppose I have my question answered but jeez, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sloppy Joes were named after this guy right here.

Joe, Joe, Joe… If you can hear that, that’s the sound of the wind whipping as I shake my head and I have a feeling you’re going to get used to hearing that.

How is Dzuna able to burn a building full of innocents alive so that another living innocent has to bear all of their collective pain and then just fly away like Mary Poppins? Gee.

Aaaannnddd in 3… 2… 1… *cue excruciatingly, agonizingly, tormenting unbearable pain*.

Get out of there, get out of there the fast you can! The longer you stay, the more they/you are going to suffocate and perish in the fires of Dzuna’s wrath! Gosh, I didn’t think I could dislike a comic character to the point where hating them isn’t worth the effort but here I am being proven wrong once again.

Please tell me this town has an above-average fire department!

Evey, get yourself out of there! Firefighters, police, deimons with some good left in them, other undiscovered semi or fully supernatural beings, whoever you are, get all the others out of there! Do all those children have to suffocate to death just for a petty, unhinged deimon to prove a point?!

I officially declared my hatred for Dzuna.

If I were Evey, chaining myself within a box that’s six feet underground on soil that isn’t walked upon by civilization would probably sound like a paid vacation right now compared to this recurring living nightmare. Poor Evey, somebody save him because he won’t save himself at the price he has to pay for salvation! Urgh, why didn’t the pretentious Monopoly Man at the beginning open the box instead of Mr. Kendrickson?! Evey could have happily lived the rest of his life around quacks and cluckers!

Why can’t Evey scream? I’m sure the cacophony of sounds coming from the burning building would drown it out and eliminate the possibility of whatever he’s fearing will happen… Why is he still there?! I’m wondering, would killing himself temporarily deem him immune to the pain that surrounds him in the time that it would take for him to recover? Could he just repeatedly kill himself until the situation is as under control as it can be? Go out on your own terms, Evey, and not on Dzuna’s! Joe, please have an altruistic epiphany and put this kid out of his misery one way or the other; you ARE the one who put him in it after all!

(Ooo, hate that Evey is glitching but love the glitch effect/artwork going on here!)

… Are these people seriously sleeping through the heat and noise of, and I cannot stress this enough, a whole building inhabited by people with very real vocal cords on fire just across the street but not one guy trying his best to suppress his screaming in their building?! I’d assume a town like this would have a local crackhead raging down the streets at 3 in the morning causing a hoo-ha. They shouldn’t even be trying to sleep in this situation, hel-lo! Did the residents of the next town over rob you of your humanity?

I’m starting to get anxious; the darkness has almost always been saved for the last few pages of the chapter and we’ve been generously blessed with the dark pit of evil that is the lovechild of Dzuna and her rage. I’d qualify for a Darwin Award if I optimistically hope that things are going to get better, wouldn’t I?

“Hello, yes, I’ve only scraped the wood out of a few floorboards and stained them with my own blood; nothing a drop of hydrogen peroxide and a few dozen dollars in repairs can’t fix! Er, this isn’t going to be covered by my deposit by any chance, is it? By the way, would you happen to know which room the gentleman with selective sleep sensitivity is residing in? I just want to talk.”

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Zules]

Noooooooooooooooooo! I wasn’t mentally, emotionally or spiritually prepared for Evey in that last panel! I demand a refund of my memory back to when I was fangirling over Evember happenings! (I’m thinking “How could this get any worse?” but I’m afraid to say it out loud in case it is taken as a challenge (yet I said it out loud anyway because my own logic defies me)).

How broken must one be to call upon the one who was responsible for the breaking in his time of dire need?

Oh my, he doesn’t know that she was the mastermind behind it all, does he?! Oh, this is about to get so very real!

If I thought I wasn’t ready for the wave of emotions earlier then consider me swept offshore by this tsunami wave now! Talk to us, Evey. We are right here, we have always been right here! You are not alone!

Evey is just taking a shower, right? There’s nothing we should be worried about, right? It isn’t as though there is anything he could do to himself anytime soon, is there?

It’s just a shower…

Alright, I know there is a lot going on in this page which deserves priority but the architecture of this bathroom is just deeply unsettling to me. Whoever is responsible for the toilet, you had one job!!!

Now that I’ve got that (slightly) out of the way, what is happening here?! How did the mirror crack, the curtain tear and the floor have an Evey with a strategically placed towel over him sprawled across it in the blink of an eye?

You didn’t do anything wrong, baby. Your father just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you just happened to inherit his misfortunes. Damn that Monopoly Man!

When is this going to end?! Why does every page keep getting worse and worse for Evey which in turn gets worse and worse for all of us out here witnessing his comedy turned tragedy life as it progresses further on the catastrophe scale scene by scene?!

Why are Evey’s emotions so real…?

Evey knows that there is one and only one way for it to end. Never would I have ever thought that after climbing the mountain of struggles the way he did in order to avoid solving his problems the one way that he could that he would reach a point where he would finally surrender.

Damn you, Dzuna. I don’t know if this is going to play out for better or for worse but whichever direction this winding road leads Evey to, damn you.

Phew, I thought the misery would never end! What a chapter and what a ride we buckled ourselves in for!

You know what, I’m going to choose not to be entertained by Dzuna’s typically charming ways until she redeems herself, if that’s even a possibility. Hmmph! And yes, there were 101 other ways of bringing Evey to the senses you wanted to bring him to which don’t necessarily involve a lighter (seriously, what was up with the cushion and earring?!) and a few dozen deaths! Can Dzuna be put in time-out until she knows how to behave as courteous a deimon as she can be again?!

Begone evil one!

It’s a relief to see one of our good ol’ chapter cover pages make a glorious return! And look at that, the title even has the word “relief” in it! Speaking of so much relief, it is certainly a relief to see that Amber will be making a comeback in this chapter; Exvulnerum (the comic, not the curse!) has been starved of her for far too long!

That quote sounded all too familiar and so I flipped the pages back just to be certain and sure enough, there it was! The endless torture of a curse which compels you to feel the pain of everyone around you, disables you from dying and only enables you to be rid of it by passing it to the one you love most vs The endless torture of multiple pages of math homework? I call it a tie.

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Avidro]

"I don't deserve this endless torture...!"
"Billy, just shut up and eat your vegetables. At least you don't have Exvulnerum."

Variations on this theme could be heard among families throughout Cresnov for untold generations... (fanon disclaimer)

 

[Oegyein]

Haha, "relief". This is arguably worse ;u;

 

[Zules]

Oh Amber, how we have missed your classic Amberleigh shenanigans! On an irrelevant side note, I’ve been torturing myself (pronounced: restricting carbs) with this diet and that last panel was a strange motivation for me to keep going.

… And the last panel in this is also strangely motivating because I now know that even the fantabulous Amberleigh isn’t a size zero either! Yay for representation! And nay for I totally saw this coming and for some reason feel like this is a routine and that the school is eventually going to turn a blind eye to their most whimsical student relieving them of herself.

And, as expected, I do not stand corrected about Amber’s standard shenanigans because that is one thing you can absolutely never be wrong about! I can’t even decide who looks more done on this page…

I thought my parents hated me when they christened me with my name but now I realise that my problems are but a tiny drop of water in the ocean that is bad parenting. And I wasn’t expecting to see West so soon! And what has the last chapter done to me that I actually got excited at the sight of West?!

Girlfriend? Excuse me? I take back what I said earlier, your parents named you appropriately.

Damn, a snack room sounds so good right now. Yes, I’m still on that dieting thing and everyone knows that you’re not on a diet unless you tell everyone that you’re on a diet so deal with me for as long as I have to deal with these extra 5 kilos.

And Weston getting angry and defensive at the sound of Amber being called his girlfriend?! Is there a chapter that I missed somewhere?

Amber actually waiting 45 minutes to have a conversation with West? She must be miserable in there!

Ah, I remember when algebra was the worst of my problems. Now they’ve graduated from alphabets and put hieroglyphics in equations instead.

Amber actually wishing West were there with here?! She must be miserable in there AND I definitely missed a chapter somewhere!

Ah, well you’re not wrong about being the worst kind of person sometimes, West!

… This guy believed in cooties just as long as he believed in Santa Claus, didn’t he? And I can’t wait until West gets introduced to the world of sexualities! I’d pay to see how that would turn out!

Teenage boys really are the same no matter where in this world or in the interwebs they exist, huh? This gave me painful flashbacks to 6th and 7th grade and suddenly I’m not feeling so blue about graduating to having a ‘2’ precede my age anymore.

Do it for the clout! Because the daughter of a chief minister will definitely settle for being the relief pitcher’s warm-up for a bunch of boys who still hold 18th century views on the sexes. Okay, I clearly don’t know the first thing about baseball but I hope you can sense my chagrin nonetheless. Hmmph! You show them, Amber!

Ooo, I’m sensing a new addition for character/plot development! Let’s just hope that he doesn’t overtake Lupe on the list of Top 10 Anime Betrayals!

Also, why does this remind me of the sleep-deprived kid in Meet the Robinsons?

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Drakilax]

*internal screaming*
*external screaming*
*ethereal screaming*

 

[Zules]

Ah, Amber looks adorable in her uniform! And now we realise the true intention behind her plan to join the baseball team only for it to be foiled once again! I wonder where Evey’s at? I hope he’s doing okay! And our Cygnus here seems to be busy with his hands, I wonder what he’s scribbling away at?

Yep, Cygnus definitely fits the profile of an overachiever (it’s totally not the fact that he’s the only one on the team who wears glasses). Is he just trying to overachieve in his lessons in between his baseball rounds (again, I don’t know how it works) because I was hoping he was an artist or a poet? Ah well, I’ll give him credit since we haven’t been informed of his purpose at this point in the story just yet!

If only you knew how much he misses you, kiddo. And wow, I never thought Evey would look comparatively happier beside another guy! Cygnus has a promising vibe to him though, I hope he sticks around!

Now here’s a guy who couldn’t give any less of a *redacted*. Seems as though Amber seems to fatefully manoeuvre towards such guys and she seems just about prepared to deliver a speech this time around!

There comes her speech and there it goes again. Cygnus, you truly are an enigma and I think Amber shares that opinion.

I’ve seen a fair share of Amber’s sparkly eyes lighting up but this time feels different for some reason… Cygnus, you might have gotten yourself a new friend who you may or may not want. And boy does he remind me a lot of how I was when I was his age (however old he is) until I realised I would never be able to be immature and stupid and have it explained away by hormone-fuelled rebellion ever again and decided to take advantage of that fact. Ahem, where was I? Oh yes, yay for Cygnus (I keep typing “Cyprus” for some reason)!

Cygnus (there I went with the Cyprus again, gah!) either doesn’t talk to the other girls at this school or they prove his point right by simply preening themselves for potential suitors because it is difficult to believe that a guy like him is at the bottom of the high school food chain. Ah well, more for Amber!

… Is Amber … falling for him? Did I eat a brownie that wasn’t meant for me or is this really happening?! I am feeling SO many things right now and conflicted is right at the top of the list!

But hey, if worse comes to worst (and by that, I mean Amber falling in love with Cygnus), and if what I think is going to happen will happen then Cygnus would be an eligible candidate for Exvulnerum (and pass it onto his books) and Evember can live happily ever after!

I predict the transformation of a love triangle into a love rhombus! And if Amber stays in algebra class, she’ll know just how to solve it!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[EstherTb]

Haha my reaction was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Zules]

Woah, have we ever witnessed an interaction between Amber and Gina? I don’t seem to recall any. But I do seem to recall one between Gina and a certain somebody else; I hope that subject doesn’t weave its way into this conversation! Especially since Amber’s brother was somehow added into the equation; I can’t think of anything more awkward and for someone who has lived the life I have, that’s saying something! On a side note, I’m loving how Amber is looking up to Gina, I’m sensing a sister dynamic here!

Well, there’s one thing they have in common; annoyance at Weaselly Weston! Oh Gina, I sincerely hope you come through on this one because Amber is in a very fragile state right now and so am I because I don’t know what I want to happen anymore!

Uh oh, I’m willing to bet one of my kidneys that West is eavesdropping on this conversation and will definitely do his best to maintain his reputation of being an obstruction to relationships he’s not a member of.

… Well, it is safe to report that Gina did not come through and I am hoping there is no sister dynamic here because I don’t think Amber will fare too well with the advice this woman is dispensing. Does superficiality run in the Stacker family? I was hoping someone would be an exception!

Alright, there’s some useful advice and reassurance, I’ll give Gina some credit for that.

Right, dates are for teenage girls and running away on a cross country escapade with a perfect stranger is for little girls. Makes just the right amount of sense to me.

As precious as Amber is right now and as much as she takes me to happier memories of my childhood where I crushed on the very same 6th and 7th grade boys I now have painful memories of (however that works), I can’t help but imagine if she was this excited about Evey and if she ever will be again *sad noises*. Maybe I’ll just have to convince myself that she only likes Cygnus as much as she does because he reminds her so much of Evey *happy noises*.

I didn’t know she was going to ask him out so soon; I was going to offer to eat my hat if he said anything but “no” and now I’ve missed out on a potential wager. Sigh.

… Well that took an unexpected turn.

I can choose to feel a lot of things but I’m going to choose to feel thankful that Cygnus decided to save Amber her time and energy by showing her his true colours this early in the relationship (and I’m hoping there isn’t going to be a relationship after this). Thank you, Cygnus, you may now excuse yourself from this comic.

Um, honey? Your seeming indifference to the state of disgrace YOU’RE in and the fact that you believe you’re in a superior position to be looking down upon another who is just trying her best to live her life on her own terms is beyond off-putting. Gee, how much for a stray baseball to hit him in the head hard enough to cause enough damage to fail a semester because I’m willing to pay the price to hear this little Cygnus sing his swan song!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Zules]

Urgh, how does one character singlehandedly manage to be such a turbulent roller coaster ride?! One minute I agree with anything and everything he says and the next minute I would pay cash for him to stop saying things. Grr, as if crushes weren’t inconvenient enough!

For a moment there, I forgot that Amber’s family was influential enough for her shenanigans to be published in the tabloids or whatever media it is people of this town use. But that does not justify Cygnus’ reasoning and if anything, worsens it! After that whole feminism-themed speech in the beginning, he’s going to choose the man who was impacted the least by Amber’s decisions to be crowned the victim of this situation without even trying to understand why it came about in the first place.

You have high standards for yourself, Cygnus, but I don’t know if it’s going to take you places.

That guy thinks he’s everything he’s not, Amber dear, and one of those things is too good for you! You don’t need no man whose name doesn’t start with an E and ends with a Y and has two letters in between!

Alright, alright, alright. I’m not saying that what Cygnus said is true and I’m not saying it isn’t either but perhaps it is what Amber needed to hear at some point in her life if she has never had it explained to her before? This is the material character development stems from and as much as I dislike Cygnus’ delivery, Amber could use his content to better herself in either direction whether it be by defying his superficial impression and expectations of her or by channelling his pointers to a path of her own.

But Amber, you are NOT stupid. You can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree.

Amber, dear Amber. One of the things that makes you special is that you don’t use the clout that you have; your personality and your last name are two disconnected circles on a Venn diagram, you don’t need to identify yourself by your wealth and status because you are unapologetically who you are. And if only you knew why Evey didn’t want to see you again, you’d never doubt yourself ever again. Somebody, anybody! Give Amber the explanations she deserves!

I wonder if Amber would have fared better in a girls-only school? These guys act like they haven’t been within three feet of a girl who they’re not related to, jeez.

Yes, please kick Cygnus out of the team, please don’t let him get his credit for baseball and please don’t let him walk out of this school believing he’s the best of the best (but in the case that this does happen, I want to see the outside world beating him up to a pulp).

Amber is usually way too easy to read for her own good but for the first time, I genuinely can’t tell what she’s thinking and doing (or about to do). This is going to get verrryyy interesting, isn’t it?

This certainly did get verrryyy interesting but nowhere near the way I thought it was going to! Props to Amber though, I’m proud of her for doing what I was hoping she would and using what Cygnus said to better herself! Now there’s a girl who is building her own clout! You go girl! I’m all for you!

And I am definitely looking forward to seeing where this whole pitching thing is going to go.

Did Zules just incorporate the math lady meme in this comic? I love you; I really do.

And did Cygnus just indirectly admit that he wasn’t just bad but also the worst at something? And that too, worse than Amberleigh Istobal? Interesting things, very interesting things!

This is either going to go horribly wrong or horribly wrong, isn’t it? And as someone who wears very high prescription lenses (thanks for the lucky gene pool, mom and dad), I have a very bad feeling about her wearing his glasses on the pitch. I’m just going to hope that this is one of my pessimistic mornings and that everything is going to go perfectly well, la da dee da!

… This is supposed to be the finest, most prestigious learning institute in the region and these are supposed to be the products representing its quality? I fear for this generation.

Again (and I know you’re probably tired of hearing me say this and get the point already), I know nothing about baseball so I don’t know what the appropriate reaction for this page should be but based on how everyone on the scene is reacting, I’m assuming she did a good job and this calls for a celebration of not just scoring but getting away with this whole ridiculous plan! Now, let’s just hope that baseballers don’t celebrate the way basketballers do by hoisting their star player of the game up on their shoulders because they’re bound to notice a thing or two if they do.

And she/they actually got away with it! Yay! Now, Cygnus better deliver his end of the deal or there will be bloodshed!

Oh wow. I don’t want to admit it but if Amber does with much reluctancy then I suppose I can too, Cygnus does look good in their stupid school uniform! I wonder what West would think of all of this? Who am I kidding, who cares?!

I’ve never come across a man who plays hot potato with himself until I met Cygnus and I stand by what I said about him at the very beginning; he’s truly an enigma. And most importantly, he’s a challenge which is exactly what Amber craves. Now this is a relationship I want to sit back, relax and bear witness to.

I’ll admit, Cygnus is smarter than I give him credit for (but definitely not as smart as he gives himself credit for). I don’t think I’ve ever seen Amber allow herself to be… disciplined… by someone else, anyone else. Interesting, very interesting.

Does Cygnus know that he can say what he just said using a lot less words or does he just enjoy carrying the weight of the air of pretention?

Journalism! Please say journalism!

She said journalism!

I’m loving this particular (and I mean this very particular in this very scene) dynamic between Amber and Cygnus and I’m hoping we get to see a lot more of it but I know nothing in this comic is without at least some turbulence!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Drakilax]

"There's NO way to answer these questions incorrectly."
Amber:

 

[Zules]

I blame myself for still being surprised at how Amber has managed to maintain her disguise of being a white-haired, four-eyed individual who is member of a different gender. But I don’t blame myself for being surprised at how Amber and Cygnus have managed to maintain this deal of theirs (I don’t know if I have enough evidence to classify it as a friendship) because damn, how did that happen and how is that still happening?! I’m all for it though!

Woah, does that player have a golden fingernail? Dude’s got style! It seems like Amber is really getting the hang of this whole baseball thing? Yes? No? I don’t want to say that thing I always say again and make y’all tune out of my readlog.

Again, yes? No? What is going on? Somebody help me out here? I tried to Google my questions but 5 minutes in and I still can’t grasp the concept of the sport. At least now I have something to do this weekend!

I don’t need to know anything about baseball (finally!) to know that Amber is going to be the author of her own (and Cygnus’) misfortune. Oh boy.

Uh oh. I just realised, she can’t talk on the field, can she? She’s digging deeper and deeper into the pit of trouble the longer she’s standing out there. Quick, use the excuse that always works without fail because nobody is going to try to keep anyone with explosive diarrhoea anywhere near them and scat (pun intended)!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to witness what happens when you cook following the recipe for disaster!

I was expecting him to not be a snitch but of all the reasons I wasn’t expecting, this didn’t even make the list. Ah well, a dude needs his nail polish and he does have a point, it IS expensive! Three cheers for not being a rat though! Let’s just hope that there aren’t any other animals present on the team.

And damn if this chapter hasn’t taught me about baseball more than anything else!

Is this the beginning of a hardcore origin story? I’m honoured to be one of the selected ones to bear witness to it as it unfolds! We’ve seen Amber at all her potentials but we have never seen her combine them all into one! I can’t wait to see what she makes of herself, I feel like a proud mother hen! Cluck!

(I’m loving the book covers! It’s the subtle humour that makes this story so enjoyable!)

End of the chapter already?! I had a feeling we were nearing the end but I didn’t think we wouldn’t be seeing any Evey featured in it! I suppose we do have to give Amber the sole spotlight after she’s been kept out of it for longer than any of us (or herself) would have liked but I hope he’s doing okay wherever he is and whatever he’s doing!

And New Evey is basically a blue Amber… Why does this only make me ship them even harder?! I need them to share screen time and I need them to share it now!!!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Zules]

Salutations to all of you wonderful earthlings and welcome back to my readlog! If you’re reading this, you have survived the worst that 2020 had yet to offer and I say that calls for a celebration! *pops [insert champagne-equivalent of your preference* I hope that all of you are doing well and staying safe amidst this catastrophic circus (PG version of what I’m really trying to say. Hint: use a thesaurus to decipher the code) that is the world right now and if you find yourself disagreeing, I hope your many tomorrows will be better days!

Now, let’s get to what we are all really here for!

Okay, I know this defeats the purpose of a readlog but sometimes I am genuinely at a loss for words when trying to process what my eyes are seeing. First things first, it has been so long since I have traversed the universe of Exvulnerum that I had completely forgotten about the existence of Cygnus and now I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing because I do recall having very strong, colourful feelings about him that gradually weakened and dimmed as the pages passed. But, I AM a true-blue shipper of Evember and I am NOT loving a Hallmark-esque cover of Amber and Cygnus staring into each other’s deep ocean blue eyes with the word “Closer” hovering menacingly; I demand a U-turn!

Cygnus, on this page, is literally a comic depiction of my brother down to the t that is the half-framed glasses and intellectual superiority complex and I am literally Amber... being Amber. Well, this hit way closer to home than I was ready for and I’m going to need a moment to cope with the vivid flashbacks *shudder*.

… Is Cygnus… okay? The last I heard, the whole ‘rubber band snapping on a wrist’ thing is an alternative to self-harm by cutting so I hope he hasn’t been victimized to that extent! And that’s about the most Amber thing Amber can say but when it comes to this boy, I’m going to have to agree with her!

Amber looks a little too happy with her new self-harm souvenir there; is you okay, sis?

And I imagine all Cygnus sees is a mysterious blob of intellectual incompetence whenever he sits across someone he’s tutoring if it’s that hard to distinguish between them!

I try my best to refrain from resorting to mainstream pop culture phrases but this needs to be said- YASS GURL! You show him just how diversely intelligence can manifest itself! Cygnus needs to quite literally step up his game if he wants to keep up with her league!

… I have so many questions but the biggest one is how Nick Cannot Lick received his honorary title? Am I even ready for whatever the answer is? Do I even want to know? Perhaps we should just leave it for the next episode of Top 10 Unsolved Mysteries.

Fingers crossed that we’re going to be seeing Cygnus indulging himself in whimsical rhyming as a teaching and learning strategy; I, for one, would love to sit in on a few lessons!

Well, my prayers were answered a little sooner than I was expecting! As much as I may have disliked Cygnus, I have to give the guy props for successfully doing the whole “adapt teaching style to learning method’ thing because all the digits on my hands and feet are not enough to count the number of teachers I’ve had who couldn’t (looking at you Mr. Moore from 7th Grade).

Um, excuse me but what is this that I am witnessing?! This would be a great time to do that U-turn as kindly requested earlier because I’m not sure I want to ride this journey any further. Where’s my man Evey when you need a roadblock?! I sure hope she’s tugging on that rubber band to snap herself back to reality and remember the man she really loves because the one in front of her ain’t it!

I think that throughout this entire roller coaster of a ride that was Exvulnerum, this is the one page in which I have related so much to a character and it pains me to admit that. The quarantine has only made everything worse; a guy in the grocery story can simply establish eye contact for 0.001 seconds longer than the social norm and I'll be going through everything Amber is to the point of planning our wedding in my head. Oh but what it was like to be so young and so naive that such a thing was worth an immediate addressing and a phone call to your best friend (I’m glad mine gave more solid advice though)! Sometimes I forget just how young our little stars are.

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[Zules]

Why is Gina's advice always like that one amusement park ride that does 180s real fast to the point where you're just dizzy and can't even process what's happening anymore? Amber, I think the first thing you should do is perhaps search for another consultant? This one seems to be slightly defective at times.

Ah, Gina applying the classic rubber band theory (coincidence, I think not!) of push, pull and hopefully eventually snap?

Ah!!! The date that I tried so hard to forget and was almost successful at that until three seconds ago! The dumb hair is a dead giveaway too unless there's a convenient fad of Evey-esque growth on the heads of teenage boys travelling through town! Amber, wherever Gina is, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction because this girl is the type of chaotic neutral that only means trouble!

Atta girl! We all have that one best friend who we love but somehow manages to put two and two together to make five. Also, how complicated is this love pentagon?! I sure as hell wouldn’t want my siblings to ever be involved in mine!

Cygnus acknowledges that his question was stupid and knows Amber well enough to immediately guess her answer? Ten points to Gryffindor for character development but five off for inadvertently stealing another man’s girl!

Also, I feel like Amber’s reason for wanting to study journalism does go beyond wanting to travel though, doesn’t it? Let us not let time erode our memory of how she carefully and methodically deduced that Evey was, in fact, a werewolf.

No Amber, please don’t go where I think you’re going! Graduate and leave the world of amateur sports and everything that was part and parcel of the package including silver-haired narcissists, join the professional leagues if you must, but please don’t say what I think you’re about to say!

No, you do not like him and no, you do not want him to be there with you! Why would you want to endure another four years of that?! And damnit if seeing Amberleigh Istobal being so sweet and shy isn’t melting the part of my heart that has frozen over for Cygnus. No! Reverse! Go back!

Error 404: This page does not exist for me.

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[EstherTb]

Error 404: This page does not exist for me.

Yeah I remember that. haha

 

[Zules]

Phew, what a relief! I extend my sincere apologies to Amber for wishing her rejection and heartbreak but I refuse to be lowered into my grave until Evember materializes on pen and paper (stylus and screen?)!

I do appreciate that Cygnus is respectful enough to tell her that they both lie on very different and very incompatible (agree to disagree but I’m going to wear my sunglasses of bias until Evey shines his light again) wavelengths instead of making an emotionally vulnerable teenager feel as though she’s not good enough. Yes, please do save yourselves from anything heart-related with each other- and oh no, she struck a chord, didn’t she? Welp.

Um, Amber? I don’t think somebody basing your worth and significance in their life on passing a test or academic merit in general is something you would want for yourself. But hey, he somewhat balances the equation with his offer of sacrifice so there’s that. Hmmph.

I don’t remember signing up for all these all-too-real flashbacks of my high school life! And I don’t know if I’m supposed to find it comforting or otherwise that apparently teachers like him are universal, jeez. Time to shine, Amber! Don’t let anybody dim your light, not even yourself!

The first thing that popped into my mind when I looked at this page is that one scene from Spongebob where he scribbles on his essay with great intensity only to form a very elaborately detailed and decorated “The” but I hope Amber has managed to muster more words! Go Amber, I hope you’ve actually done much better than you think you’re doing!

Amber, you have to pass so that you are eligible to enter a college of your choice and get that journalism degree which will allow you to travel the world without any man holding you back and not to win the heart of somebody who needs you to prove your intellectual standing based on a grade! Come on, girl! You got this! For yourself!!!

Now this page is all too real and all too relatable up to my current life in university where I will spend my time diddling and dawdling at the multiple choice questions until I have only 15 minutes left to write 3 pages on the current economic conditions. Tell them how you want to travel the world but sell it in a way that’ll make them think it’s for their benefit! The best way to prove that you will excel in journalism is by stretching one sentence into five paragraphs! You go, girl!

Is using the precious time that’s remaining to panic about the time you don’t have rather than actually using it to do what you can an inherent trait of a student or are we just bad at this whole learning thing? Well, the girl better start writing anyway; hopefully she’ll get the theoretical equivalent of the math teacher awarding marks for writing down the formula and working.

Ooo! I know you’re probably tired of me parroting my phrases but this is the realest thing in this chapter so far and that’s saying something! But now is not the time to go on a quest for the deeper meaning of life and your purpose within; write. what. you. remember. !!!.

Except journalism isn’t all and only about being a good writer and well, there’s no point of educational institutions everywhere if you’re expected to naturally be good at something without being taught it!

Finally, some writing! I hope she’s not actually just writing the word “write” again and again to demonstrate the versatility of her handwritten fonts!

... I know that many of us have epiphanies during our final exams and decide to go on a completely different career path; I myself have made the decision to give up on economics and work on my pole dancing skills during more finals than I would care to admit but how does one go from a lifelong dream of becoming a journalist to wanting to be a travel guide in 60 seconds flat? But hey, if travelling was her main goal all along then I don’t see why not; at least she has someone she can consult for guidance *wink wink*!

Okay, I genuinely don’t know how the grading system there works but I’m going to assume that she passed and therefore I’m going to do a mental victory lap; yahoo! Let’s just hope she actually did pass and that her whole revelation on wanting to become a tour guide will work out in her favour *fingers crossed*. I feel just as anxious as when I’m logging into the system to find out my own grades, gah!

No!!! I was going to jump to her defence but based on what my eyes are capable of deciphering, I can see why she got what she got. Poor Amber, she looks so defeated. The girl should have known that the exam was just a medium for her to market herself as a potential recruit; you always sell what your target audience wants to buy!

Poor little thing! Cygnus better use this as an opportunity to step up and comfort her even if by his practical means that aren’t all that reassuring; it’s the thought that counts! If he adds to her misery, he’s definitely going to be catching some hands.

Oh how the turn tables... But why? I cannot even decide if I want to believe that Cygnus is being genuine or if there’s some kind of emotional manipulation going on because he still requires her services whilst not having anything to offer in return. Hmm… I wish I could reach out to Amber and tell her that a great number of us do not know who we want to be for most of our lives, let alone at her tender age.

Woah, that’s a lot of “research” that was done there. Cygnus should be applauded for his ability to walk the tightrope that is the fine line between praising and insulting someone; that’s definitely a marketable skill for a politician!

And most importantly... I don’t think I’m going to like where this is going.

I would state the blatantly obvious by asking if Cygnus really hadn’t realised that he was basing all his judgements on mere assumptions but instead I’ll take the high road and commend him for admitting his mistakes. A toast to more character development! Now let’s just hope that his feelings don’t develop as much!

There’s a whole dictionary of words out there that I can use to articulate my thoughts and feelings into wonderfully verbose sentences but I’m just going to use one: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[EstherTb]

well she liked it

 

[Zules]

PLEASE, for the sake of my wellbeing and sanity, tell me that this is all in her head and nobody in the last scene witnessed what we just did?! Tell me that this is going to get worse for Amber and not for us (I’m sorry girl but your alleged sacrifices for the benefits of others don’t end here). I’m still in the first stage of denial and dwell in it for a long time, I will!

If you can hear that, that is the sound of my ear-piercing scream breaking the boundaries of physics and sound travel. I don’t even know what to say so I’ll just scream instead.

Amber, take a few steps backwards, espy the nearest exit out of the corner of your eye, assess the situation and as soon as you see the opportunity, run, run, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction of this nutjob in front of you!!!

From the jurisdiction of one man to another; what more could a girl want?! You, the girl who ran away from home because she was too bored and went frolicking around the country whilst constantly putting herself and a boy she genuinely thought to be a werewolf in the most dangerous situations even beyond the boundaries of my imagination, don’t need this boy to ALLOW you to do anything! RUN!!!

I literally just let out a sigh of relief that I didn’t even realise I was holding in! Well, you do have to appreciate the boy for proudly waving his red flag in the air. He just did Amber a favour by saving her from the nightmare she would have woken up from a little too late!

I’m fairly convinced that Cygnus is some sort of high-functioning sociopath who cannot process social cues like a normal human being. Yes Amber, you need to get out of there immediately before this lunatic starts talking about baby names!

Ooooof Courseeee his last name is Quadratus. Somebody give that announcer a raise! I don’t know why but something about the way this page is set up is giving me a strong feeling that Amber is going to blow their cover in the most epic, Amber-like way she possibly can and for the first time in a long time, I can’t decide whether I want to be right or wrong.

It’s precious little Robin! He needs more screentime, I can never get enough of his lovable adorableness and I don’t think Cygnus would ever want to find out how I would have reacted if Robin was my little brother! This is so endearing, I love seeing Amber play the big sister role!

I want Amber and Robin features as much as I want Zules and Dzuna!!! Look at all that awkward preciousness! I love the two of them so much and gosh, what wouldn’t I do to see the whole troupe- Amber, Evey, Robin and as much as it pains me to say, West’s shenanigans from time to time- go on an adventure together!

Cygnus truly does have the power to strike a great many chords with just a single sentence, doesn’t he? Amber is about to serve and it isn’t just going to be a baseball this time!

I don’t know what she’s being reminded of but I’m here for it! I’m all the way here for it! A girl like Amber should know her worth and significance and nobody should make her forget about it for even an ounce of a second! She don’t need no man (unless his name starts with an E, ends with a Y and has two letters in between but even then, I want her to want him and not need him)! I hope he just reminded her of who she is and that that’s all she ever needs to be!

YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT YOU ARE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! Amber has been the most colourful character we have had the pleasure of encountering in this series and I hate when anyone makes her feel inadequate; there’s no ubiquitous scale in existence for us to rank ourselves and our worth as human beings because ‘good enough’ itself is subjective. I’m experiencing a whole rainbow of emotions right now!!! Amber, you can’t see/hear us but we love you!!!

I love how Amber says it as casually as one would mention a hole or a missing button on their shirt! This is exactly what I mean by Amber being Amber and we couldn’t love her any more for it! But seriously though, is she okay?! Is she going to be okay?! Is this going to be the end of Cygnus’ career (and I’m really hoping it is but I don’t see it happening without damaging Amber’s as well so I’ll hold the hope for now)?!

Can everybody else on the team just corner that snitch and slap him hard enough to boost his situational awareness?! I hope Amber has the energy to get out of there before anything we don’t want to happen happens!

Wow, that poor fella there just went through a whole identity crisis! Cygnus? Where are you? Don’t let this poor girl take another metaphorical bullet because you’ve put her through enough to make her fall again.

The boy didn’t even have to wait a full hour after his marriage proposal to give her reasons for a divorce! Classic! Good luck sorting out this spider web of a mess, Coach. It’s only the spiders who have woven it that have the ability to take it down.

Welp, Cygnus just presented Amber with a bouquet of a dozen red flags and HOW does he still not realise what he had said/done wrong?! I would be cringing at myself the moment the last word of that sentence left my mouth and I would resume cringing at precisely 2am every morning when I’m lying in the dark and trying to sleep. Yes, Cygnus has proven himself capable of change and I know that sometimes we relapse to who we once were in the heat of the moment but come on, it’s like he’s not even trying anymore!

... I don’t remember the last time my jaw literally dropped by its own will but now I can update that to a second ago when my eyes were cursed with having to read the garbage disposed by this sociopath. Also, I just want to take a moment to appreciate how Amber said she would rather have her little brother over him; it was a simple yet probably the most effective statement she could have made to express how she truly felt about nutjob without actually expressing any emotion. And Cygnus? It seems like your parents bred nothing but intellect and I can’t think of a life more tragic than one without kindness and compassion.

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >

 

[Zules]

Yes, Roman for the win! PLEASE take turns punching him but with stabs at his intellect because I cannot think of anything that would hurt more for someone as out of touch with reality as he is! Honestly, what even made him this way?! Does he have a tragic family backstory because I would love to hear what his excuse is! I hope we see a cutscene of Amber and Robin visiting him in an institution one day!

This victory lap is so good that even I am basking in all its glory! And I love the wholesomeness of the team!!! This Cygnus is really just an ugly duckling after all.

Damn, that came and went faster than I could even process it. I mean, I’m still a hardcore Evember shipper but hey, one date with Roman could balance things out with that sorry excuse of a date Evey had with Gina and they’d all be even (kinda)! Ah, teenage boys. You can’t live with them but you most certainly can live without them!

... What a suspicious, conveniently placed ladder. I wonder if it was left behind by another rogue soul in his/her escape attempt? Or I wonder if it is an elaborate trap for someone who knows Amber all too well? Hmm… Suspicious. Very, very suspicious.

Amber may have changed many of her ways but her naivety isn’t one of them! What is it that she’s seeing on the other side?! I would usually make a bunch of guesses here but I’m just too impatient to find out so *flip*.

There are so many things I want to talk about here and I don’t know where to start! First things first, Amber should just wear the crown of character development because her voluntarily admitting herself back to school when she had the perfect opportunity to escape is what I would consider to be the greatest example of personal growth in this series as of yet! I remember how she used to take me on a dizzying ride of emotions when she first introduced herself to the storyline but now I only love her more and more with every page that passes!

Secondly, I can also update the last time I audibly gasped to a few seconds ago. That suspicious silhouette in the corner of the room is the exact kind of plot twist we need after this roller coaster of a chapter!!!

Flibbity jibbit, it’s Evember in the flesh again!!! I have not seen the girl genuinely happy since forever; not even in the scenes where she thought she was being endeared by the ugly duckling! But for the first time, I’m... scared? Where is this going to go? Why did he sneak into her room? Why does he have that expression on his face? Is he going to pass Exvulnerum to her?!

I don’t need sleep, I need answers!!!

I was ready for answers but of course, Zules (or should I say Zusle?) has once again bestowed the gift of painful suspense upon us and thus, we shall wait in agony until she decides to bless us with closure again.

Oh my goodness gracious, this is one of the most beautiful manifestations of art my eyes have been blessed with in this comic as of yet (and I’m not talking about the narcissistic main feature herself, of course). The sheer dedication and determination it must have taken to draw those portraits with perspective is exactly what I pray I have the discipline to master one day! Kudos to you, Zules! We hope our appreciation of your work wipes the sweat and tears away!

NEXT READLOG POST: > here >