Pea - Special (chapter 13)

I had promised two specials at the end of chapter 13 so... here's the first one (it will be uploaded in the back of chapter 13, while the second special will have its own upload and you will get to read it all in one go).

English:













Italiano:

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 13 END

What do you know, the calendar expired while I was zzzzing in bed.
Anyways, usual drill, click on the title if you want to enjoy it on Smack Jeeves.
This is the end of chapter 13... tomorrow there will be a surprise :D

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Chapter 13 C - Curiosities

Apparently Cassandra has sensitive ears... and also has a soft spot for Wes' voice. So imagine how she likes to hear her full name pronounced with that funny accent of his (that in shallalah's language is considered to be sexy)... whispered in her hear.
It's like the hyenas in The Lion King... ooooh, say it again! Mufasa!

Discipline on board... it's the quartermaster's duty.
Cat should take care of the situation and divide Wes and Foxy... fighting over a woman.
But Wes is also the First Mate and can be disciplined by Kane alone. We know though that Wes can override Kane's order if he thinks they might put everybody's health at risk.

It's complicated. Hence there's a moment of silence during which Wes realizes he picked a fight instead of using his higher status.

Can you guess what movie am I referring to for the creation of this scene? It's one of my favorite animated film and caffeine has a certain effect on the protagonist. My favorite scene ever! In our case potatoes trigger a very strong reaction in poor Josh and he totally flips.

And so what's wrong with Josh? Kane tries to explain in his own words what his brother's condition is. He cannot even figure out if it's an illness or not he simply thinks his brother is strange.

Still he was able to figure out loopholes in his brother weirdness and he managed to "program" him... or train him - as he states - in order to make him self sufficient and safe.

He spent his whole life doing so... which brings us back to Callimaco's conversation with Pea, when he states that Josh can be pretty dangerous if not handled in a certain way and that Kane knew how to while he was so presumptuous to know he could have done the same not considering the outcome of his reckless choice (resulting in the accident that made him limp).

We haven't seen anything yet.

Callista is another underestimated creature.
She went around "dream this and dream that"... but apparently she was trying to hit the target without being pushy.

So she was not sure it was a dream, she thought it was a dream and acted accordingly but it led her nowhere.
A direct question popped, when she felt Cat was very well disposed to conversation, helped her achieve her goal. So she knew.

A black florin. It was introduced in the first chapter of the story, when the former Balthasar talks to the King of Pirates, Gilbert Sullivan. That scene takes place after Kane's ship had sailed away so Kane does not know who sent him the florin. He assumes it comes from his father.
So now we know that a lot of people, including his father, want him dead and this must have something to do with the "diatribe" Callimaco was talking about.

So... a lot of people asked me if the black florin was like the black spot. Somehow... The black spot was invented by R.L. Stevenson for Treasure Island... it was a piece of paper that was blackened on one side and carried the sentence on the other side. It's a very clever narrative device and I needed something like that.

But it needed it to fit my time period and location...

Why a black florin? We know from chapter 2 that the currency used is the scudi and also some paper money had started circulating in Europe.

A florin is a very ancient coin and it could be white or black (moneta bianca and moneta nera). The first ones were made of silver, the second ones had copper and silver in it and had a lesser value.
That's why I picked it: a black florin is a useless coin and it's sent to show how useless the person who receives it is.. therefore the community wants to dispose of him. It's a death sentence.

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 13 C

I know the timing is a bit off this week...
I hope you enjoy the release and remember to come back tomorrow for the curiosities :D
Remember that you can click on the title of the post to visit Smack Jeeves instead.

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Chapter 13 B - Curiosities

So the only curiosity we have this time around is about grappa and the truth about the soup is finally revealed: it was super alcoholic.

As usual I link to Wikipedia but PLEASE do not rely on it as your only source, research the things properly (in books would be better :D)

Grappa, can be easily googled, it's an Italian type of distilled beverage, we usually sip at the end of a meal, as a digestive or take in small shots.

Sometimes you can cook with it but the alcohol would evaporate in the process... unless you simmer.


Yes, do not go and read the silly and superficial and not so well researched answers you get from the internet... people type fast and don't think before hand, give immediate responses and opinion without stopping to think (switch the brain on, people!!! XDD).
The web makes us all passive aggressive nowadays and also creates new form of bullism... but they talk from theory and not from personal experience.

If you simmer, instead of bringing your soup/fondue to boiling, you don't get rid of all the alcohol.
So if people tells you: you got drunk on soup/fondue, are you an idiot?
They are being ignorant and/or never tried the real deal.

You can get drunk or super tipsy from something cooked the proper way. Fondue should never reach a boiling state, it should only simmer and depending on how much alcohol you put in there, if you have a heavy hand, you can get your guests drunk.

I got very tipsy on fondue once, it was cooked with grappa and white wine. Fact is the fondue was cooked properly, which means the cheese was melted and left simmering and alcohol stayed right where it was supposed to be. It was very very good and I love cheese so I kept on eating and eating.
I only felt just the bitter flavor, like an after taste but it did not bother me... the alcohol would kick in later, when I realized that I was already sitting on the floor. It was hilarious!

I wanted to bring in this experience because I always thought it to be funny to get drunk from food... and also people take in alcohol in different ways.

Apparently Callista gets tipsy and passes out.
Cat was probably afraid of not being able to keep a clear mind and went for fresh air.
Lio assaulted Foxy.
The doctor could not take the spiciness and stayed sober and he tried to prevent Cassandra from going back to the evil "Ourssss" monster state.
Josh can take his alcohol - maybe because he is a big guy- so he only felt happier than usual.
Foxy probably got tamer.
Castalia did not have any and she passed out overwhelmed by emotions (which is exactly what happened to Kane in chapter 8).
As for Kane... he got... sort of... "sweet".
Hahahahahah!


Okay, anyways, thank you for waiting so long. The answer to: what was in the mysterious soup? - is finally out: alcohol.
And that's what got everybody acting weird.

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 13B

Hello, here's our batch release for chapter 13 B.
As usual if you click on the title of the post it will bring you to Smack Jeeves exactly at the first page of this batch (that is if you want to read it on Smack Jeeves).
Thank you for all your suggestions and typos corrections... sometimes I don't make it on time for current release so the fix page would be up in the next one.

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Chapter 13 A - Curiosities

It was a barbaric tradition but it was in use, especially in small towns, like my own, almost up until the beginning of the 1900 (in fact the town I live in has also a famous play, in dialect, about this topic: the bridal bed sheet).

Traditionally the family would hang the bed sheet at the balcony, to show the whole world that the bride was pure and wedding was... consummated.



Clearly the concept of privacy was not in place yet. (no matter how much girls disliked the tradition, including Kes.)


There was a similar tradition for Jews as well but, thank God, did not include a balcony.

Rather the bride and groom had to spend seven days in the bridal chamber that the groom had prepared and only after seven days he would show the bed sheet to his friends.


Now we all know how girls lose their virtue, we don't have to go into that, we all know that anatomically girls are all different... some bleed a lot, some don't bleed at all, some bleed for days.
As to how much blood to find on the bed sheet, please consider that natural fibers were not bleached nor treated for colors and therefore the Schmerber level of the fabric is very different. Some are more permeable and a drop of anything would become a lake... and others were not.

Are these details relevant to the progression of the story? Not at all! XD

I'd just say let's not focus on useless details to the point of losing of sight the big picture, which is: the whole thing is a joke, yes, something to laugh about, but it is also a strong symbol that says how much more unconventional this union is becoming.

Cassandra closed her bed. She is tired, sleepy, panicking and it's Cassandra we're talking about. So yes, she closed her bed! XD

I think in the Italian version - I was soooo pooped when I wrote that part - it might have used proper language while in fact I was supposed to write "close" as well.
But a few pages went online wrong this week and I will have to spend the whole day tomorrow to fix the mistakes.

Unfortunately for me I am slowing down a lot. I need my time to draw and I don't have time to do that anymore. So, I am sorry, but from now on I will not be able to answer any question until the curiosity show up and I will refer you more and more to the FAQ page.

Do chameleon make any noise?

Not really... they make a nice humming sound, like a vibration, which is supposedly how they communicate with each other.
They hiss, like all good lizards should, and some of them whistle... which means when they are very upset, at the end of their hissing sound, they make this weird little noise that is called a whistle - although it doesn't really sound like a whistle to me.
To me it sounds like pciu' pciu' at least for the little fella I see in my Region.


So you know... Fickle, just like Castalia, hates being hungry and fsssssk and pciu' in protest.
Any other sound coming from a chameleon has to be monitored as they catch respiratory diseases very easily, if they are not treated the right way.

Lucky for us Fickle is a Sicilian chameleon, does not need the same amount of care an exotic one would. Unlucky for Fickle... we know what his duty on board is and, even though Kane likes him very much, the well being of the pet is directly in proportion with Kane's chance of survival.

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 13A

What a day, today!
First smackjeeves was attacked by a spambot, then blogger didn't work anymore.
Such a headache, on release day too.

But here we go! And as usual click on the title of the post to go and read on Smack Jeeves.

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Chapter 13 cover!

Aliright mates!

We are back! (and with the cover for chapter 13!)

Those of you who use blogger might know already but blogger was in read only mode for more than 24 hours.

In fact I was supposed to post a second post in the afternoon yesterday, I was supposed to post the little shalallah special and stuff but I could not access.

Also, some of the comments posted got deleted or lost. Sorry. I tried to recover the ones I had in cache but many others, that were already posted, were lost and I don't know who and were they posted them. I only got a message that said that: sorry, some of your messages were lost! Sigh.

This is a conspiracy, let me tell you. I don't have internet at home, right now... I have to use the school one and the server is so messed up I cannot use Deviant Art properly.

I also have problems with other hosting sites (as I keep getting logged off while I upload things).

It's a nightmare.
Anyways this is the special I was supposed to post the other day in the afternoon.

Go shallalah, all night long!

God help me, I have to upload this to Deviant Art too! Hahahahahaha - I wanna cryyy - hahahahaha!

The update is coming up next and after that a full special of about 6 pages!