Don’t forget that Varia has that thick Bostonian accent. It’s just that she’s not saying anything particularly afflicted by it on this page. I suppose I could have had her say “Can I ahr um, help you?” she doesn’t talk like JFK.

It’s weird, panel 1’s POV shot seems really gratuitous, and it kind of is, but only if you’re a guy, right? Any woman can look down and get an eyeful of… well, woman. (Ignoring Xochitl’s uncommon level of fitness obviously. Very few people have that line running down the middle, much less all the ripply bits to either side.) I don’t know, maybe it still is gratuitous, just because it’s a mundane vista to half the population doesn’t make it non salacious.

I remember when Trespasser came out, (the ambitious but janky Jurassic Park game) the HUD was minimal, and the healthbar was a tattoo you had to check by looking down. And it caught a bit of flack for that. But I think that was mostly male reviewers (the game came out nearly 20 years ago) being offended for women? I dunno. At the time I was like “heh heh boobs” but now I’m just like, that’s what half the population sees if they look down. (If they’re wearing an appropriate top. Or not wearing an appropriate top.) I’d be jealous, but obviously were I so equipped, as I said earlier, the vista would be considerably more mundane.

See, now I’m curious how many readers did a boob check while reading this. I imagine women have to do that a few times during the day anyway to make sure their bra isn’t popping out or the right number of buttons are still fastened. Still, I bet money a few male readers did it too. I did it while I was writing this.

Oh and this page it totally gratuitous, who are we kidding? I felt like drawing sweaty boobs and abs and I did.

BTW also going on in panel 1, Sydney is a surprisingly good swimmer, but not that good. She’s holding the flight orb and dolphining. Probably making squeaky chirps and being a general nuisance.

Edit: Changed Varia’s dialog in panel 3 to she doesn’t sound like she has a skin condition or something.

If you want to read Xochitl’s book, you just might be able to in the double res version which will be posted over at Patreon. (Or just google dirty romance novel excerpts) $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.