#whts

ODE TO THE ESTRANGED - CHAPTER 1

Cover by @lavenderbirchtrees

Yes

The main piece I worked on for my good friend @niko-jpeg is this Sonic 06 fanart! Buuuttt

Hey! As you probably already know, since you follow my blog, my personal project 'What's Happened To Soho' (or simply WHTS) has taken up my life. It is brainrot.

I want to update those of you interested on how the project is going so far, as I hope to invest people more in it, it is my magnum opus.

I have 3 or 4 issues planned, each one linked together, using a comic format. All of these are linked, containing different characters from gothic literature and adapting to modern life after being presumably resurrected by Nyarlathotep. I am weary to reveal the full plot, as I want it to be a suprise, something unexpected. I would love to do a bit of character reveal along the way, letting people speculate, if the project gets big enough of course, heh.

So far, I have finished planning all the parts for Issue 1 and have very nearly reached writing the epilogue. It is going very well, although I might delay starting to sketch out panels until post-june, as I have my gcses to worry about. WHTS has been a bit of an escape for me from exams and all.

Hopefully, if all goes to plan, see you all in the near future ;)

(P.s. we have a logo in the works, next time I post something about WHTS, hopefully that will appear ^^)

(P.p.s. here's the link for an overview of WHTS if you're curious)

See you soon,

I’m glad to hear it!

We’re planning on releasing it as a comic series (still not sure who’s doing the art for it though) and we’ve already planned up until Chapter 2! Sadly, no script written yet.

But pretty much, every mad scientist and classic monster you can think of is going to show up, at least once. (I’m talking Herbert West, Dracula, The Time Traveler, Werewolves, Eldritch Abominations, etc)

I’m still doing personal research on stuff, because there are some books I haven’t read through yet. But slowly, but surely, we’re getting to a point where we can share more about characters without spoiling too much about the whole story.

...This is awkward. Hi guys! You may have ntoiced the date and realized that uh. 2025 is like. Over. I come bearing good news and bad news. I'll start with the bad:

The release is getting delayed to 2026. I know, that's like, two years after the first fic was published, but listen. Ode to the Estranged is 26 chapters long. And though these chapters are shorter (3k-5k on average), that's a lot of fuckin chapters! Writing 26 chapters takes a lot more time than writing 4. It requires a lot more thought in pacing, plot, and other garbage. This year has sucked absolute balls for my personal life, and I have been getting sick on and off constantly. I'm back at it again with another possible kidney infection, which is just. So great.

Now, the good news: THIS PROJECT IS NOT CANCELLED! We are over halfway to the finish line, and I am fighting for my life with it! My beta readers and I have worked hard, and hopefully, it will be done in the first half of 2026. I'm hoping, anyway, considering I am moving across the country at the halfway point lol. Which brings me to a question for the five WHTS fans left; how would you like to have the chapters released?

There are pros and cons to both options, and originally I was going to go with the on a schedule option, but I figured I'd open up the floor to you guys. I can't promise I'll do it, but I'd like to hear your opinions first. This project has been a labour of love for almost two years, and I'd like to wrap it up sooner rather than later lol, and I think maybe posting chapter by chapter may help with that. But! Let me hear your thoughts.

(🎤) Is Edward Hyde good at singing? Hm, good question!

The answer is, he is quite good. This man has the vocals, surprisingly, as well as the emotional wreckage needed to sing (that last part being optional).

And what does he sing on karaoke nights?

Lucy

(🍩) She loves chocolate candied plums.

(👁) Lucy is of Romani background, therefore they are a lovely emerald colour- or used to be. Paired with long, wispy lashes, this is quite an eye-catching feature. At the time of her death, due to the prior contraction of vampirism, Lucy became an undead vampire.

(Fictional illness rambling time, feel free to skip if you don't care about the context) The undead are much more "cold" than the average living vampire. They become empty vessels, absorbing blood as well as the organs of their victims as they now burn blood, similar to Galen's theorem. Their teeth change to become long, thing and sharp to bite into victims. Blood is the only thing left, therefore the only internal organs they have are the brain and the heart, connected by many newly formed arteries and veins to pass this blood around and through the heart. This has an effect on the pigmentation of the body, as the chemicals (pigments, melanin specifically) are drastically changed or cut off/reduced. Living vampires develop less drastic changes, their teeth grow slightly sharper, less of them do too. They lose less pigments as well. Their pupils form a red border and become blurred. Additionally, the skin of these vampires becomes more pale, however the changes are not as drastic. It is still very much alive, yet they require more iron and cannot fathom garlic.

This causes her eyes to become a dark shade of crimson, paired with the fact that her eyes become quite dull, almost matt due to her being undead. This is not at all a pleasant sight, it is quite unnerving. Naturally, it is the first thing you notice about Lucy and other vampires.

Hyde

(🍩) Hyde loves anything that Justine bakes. Most of all, however, he loves her brandy cake.

(👁) Ah, good choice. If you were to simply analyse Hyde's eyes without much detail, you would say that they were a pale baby blue, yet unnaturally similar to those of a cat...