MI stuff- Braid
Added 2015-08-05 08:39:40 +0000 UTCFirst off... I'm gonna start posting bonus story/ dev stuff for both comics here and there... If you don't like receiving email notifications for these, click on Edit Account, then click X where applicable to mute them~
Dr. Young-Jin Braid is a Korean-American programmer working on the LEVi project with Dr. Fisher. Despite being at Devotion for several years, Braid is the only character that doesn't show up in the comic at any point. She was transferred by the company they work both for, Ascension Drive, to continue on the same project in a different location following Mike's firing. I based her off of one of my current roommates who IN REAL LIFE programs ISS robots for NASA (scream) (we have an completely awkward relationship where every time I talk to her in the kitchen or whatever I start normally, then devolve into rabid fangirling, haha). Anyway, in addition to stealing roomie's job for Braid, I stole a similar first name for her too, lol. So much of making characters is just stealing disparate shit and mashing it together (pro tip: call it "inspiration" or "homage").
Mike and Braid actually got along ~famously~ both on Earth and Mars, which is strange because Mike is notoriously hard to work with. This was mostly because Braid is very blunt and data oriented. Mike has a complete disinterest in social cues/ emotional nuances (not autism spectrum btw, he just doesn't care), so no-frills communication works really well for them. Also because Braid is hot and dtf. After years of professional distance they finally got around to boning for a few months, but then some shit happened and next you thing you know you're fired and fallen down some unlikely Mars cave.
Comments
Maaan I love the side characters they're so interesting on their own, some bebop stuff here~ hope we get to know about the rest of the crew soon!
garocamarillo
2015-08-05 22:46:34 +0000 UTCYes, that makes sense. I wanted to give a feeling of "something career-ending happened" but I don't think the people on base were acting somber enough for an actual human death. I wanted to give the feeling that it is kind of awkward around there and nobody really wants to talk it out, since he'll be leaving soon anyway.
Der-shing Helmer
2015-08-05 22:40:28 +0000 UTCWhen we didn't know that LEVi is a robot yet there was a "somebody [who wasn't introduced] died" vibe that lingered a bit... There is an atmosphere of "things are revealed slowly page by page" in the beginning of Ch.1 and "we don't know what's up yet", but some readers get head-canon conclusions and it can be an example. Although, I was surprised that noone talks much about A Death, but i dismissed it because that was probably a touchy subject. Also, in my mind it was one of the reasons behind Mike's, hm, idea of lowering his life expectancy. Dunno, the more I think about it, the more I understand that it would've show at various points, if she was indeed dead because of Mike. Dunno, she wasn't mentioned outside of past tense, i think...
Duke BG
2015-08-05 21:53:46 +0000 UTCHaha yeah it is a bit of a strange name. Then again I have people asking me if "Der-shing" is a fake/ pen-name all the time too so...
Der-shing Helmer
2015-08-05 21:28:41 +0000 UTCYeah, I have that as a note to fix XD A bit too vague. He was meant to sound terse because he was getting sent home and she got to stay, but I guess it sounded more like she died or something.
Der-shing Helmer
2015-08-05 21:25:12 +0000 UTCi thought her dead v_v
Duke BG
2015-08-05 21:12:29 +0000 UTCwell, it's complicated, haha. I'm probably going to post one of the irrelevant side comics I draw sometimes here at some point, that will probably be more entertaining to read.
Der-shing Helmer
2015-08-05 18:26:49 +0000 UTCThe momentary smile on that face need to happen more often, poor guy. So if we can ask background-won't-be-covered-in-the-comic-because-probably-not-THAT-relevant questions, Mike mentioned he's not straight but obviously had a semirecent het friends with benefits relationship. So... is he bi, taking it where he can get it (fair option in space), or is this part of 'some shit happened'? If... that makes sense.
Abyss
2015-08-05 18:01:41 +0000 UTCHah, in one of the bonuses he calls her "Young-Jin" and I thought it was a regional variant of "young'un", not her given name. Shows what I know!
Verteiron
2015-08-05 17:17:02 +0000 UTC
