Here's the cover for the Legends & Lattes graphic novel adaptation that my friend Shanti and I have been making over the last year! I'm super excited that this was just announced by the publishers, and should be available to cozy up with this fall. :)
Process below - it was really fun to collaborate with another cartoonist and pass the work back and forth. Our process for the comic pages was pretty similar.
I really enjoyed rereading this series recently with my gf. It's so cute and wholesome, and really good coffee propaganda actually. Also! The audiobook is so fun! I love that the author got to do all the voices 🥰
sometimes a family is you, your artistic succubus girlfriend, a hob who isn’t always there but makes sure he’s there when he needs to be, your quite rat-kin chef, the bard who’s reinventing music, the old lady across the street, a cryptic old man (who can see the future?), a loitering college student, your old adventuring buddies, the dire-cat that goes where it wants when it wants, and the leader of the mob.
Notes: Has anyone else read through Legends & Lattes? I just finished this book and have finally found something that satisfies the cozy, sapphic fantasy vibes I'm craving and can never seem to actually get. Also, representation of uncertain, dorky female main leads my love ❤️I have a few lined up for them because I hate having to wait for this next book to come out smh
Summary: Viv decides to incorporate the tradition of jack-o-lanterns into the cafe for the fall season.
The lantern stared back at Tandri, smooth and vulnerable. She frowned, twisting it from side to side. “I don’t know. It seems kind of barbaric as a practice.”
“We eat pumpkins all the time.” The voice came from the kitchen where Viv hummed cheerfully, pulling out knives and cutting boards. She did so with a practiced ease, a small thrill rushing through her at how familiar it felt to be moving around a kitchen now. “That involves cutting them, dissecting their guts, stealing their seeds… this is hardly any different.”
“Yes, but we don’t display our work for the whole town to see.” Tandri wrinkled her nose with distaste. “What will people think if they see these massacred vegetables in our windows?”
“That the café has a much more festive environment!”
Viv had returned from the kitchen, holding the knives in her hand. They fit comfortably in her palm, like an old friend coming to see her. She was doing her best to be okay with that feeling, embracing it and letting it go. There was no use denying her past. It was only important that she kept her mind firmly rooted in the present.
The idea for jack-o’-lanterns had come to her when she was grabbing supplies for Thimble a few towns over. She had noticed the carved pumpkins sitting on nearly every windowsill and welcome mat. She’d inquired the shopkeeper about it as she picked up her nutmeg. Little tradition of the locals, he said gruffly, ringing her up. The veil’s thin this time of year, so we all carve something scary to spook them off—or feel more at home, depending on how you look at it. But most folks nowadays just do it to show off their artistry.
Viv had never heard of such a tradition before but found herself intrigued by it. Of course, the thinning of the veil was widely known about, but she’d never thought to try to interact with them like that. Most people thought of it as a kind of superstition anyway. Viv would scoff along with the others but always left offerings anyway just in case. Tandri had been skeptical but willing to go along if Viv was backing it up; the orc hadn’t steered her wrong before.
A few minutes later, they both had their pumpkins hollowed out and stood hip to hip staring at the blank canvases.
“We could do something for the shop,” Tandri suggested, glancing over at their hand painted sign. “The logo or name or something. Help to promote business to all these spirits.”
Tandri was a firm disbeliever. Viv gave her a look. “We’re not advertising to the dead. Besides, it wouldn’t be like they have any money to shop with anyway.” Secretly though, Viv had been thinking the same thing. Perhaps it wouldn’t be to sell to the dead, but they could leave a few downtown to get their names out to more people. “I feel strangely nervous. Once I cut into it, there’s no going back. I’ll have to commit to the process.”
“We could sketch it out on the pumpkin first.”
“But then there’d just be paint all over it even if we did decide to cut it differently.”
Tandri bit her lip, musing. When she turned to Viv at last, there was a sparkle in her eyes. “Roll up your sleeve.”
Viv wrinkled her nose. “What? Why?”
“Just do it. We can sketch out some designs on each other first. I would use paper, but it seems an unnecessary expense for something so trivial.”
Viv wouldn’t have classified what they were doing as trivial, but she assented anyway, handing over her arm.
It was strangely relaxing to have the succubus draw on her, the cool tip of the paintbrush soothing her skin and leaving goosebumps in her wake. Tandri had become completely absorbed in her task. She didn’t look up once as she worked, except to search for a new spot on her arm to try a fresh design. Viv watched her work in calm fascination. Though Viv could appreciate the arts, she had no real talent for it herself and fully expected her pumpkin to reflect as much. Tandri was different. She was a skilled artist, and she took to Viv’s arm with a careful strategy as she employed different brush strokes and styles. When she finally pulled away, Viv almost wished she would have kept going. It was nice to have that precise attention on her, even if it wasn’t technically on her.
A few of the designs did include their logo or name, but most of them were scenes of forestry or fearsome creatures that made even Viv shiver. One of them depicted Viv herself, and the orc blushed as she saw how artfully the other had depicted her. Though she hoped Tandri didn’t actually pick it; it would be awfully vain to have a design of herself outside of their building.
Viv exhaled in resignation as Tandri handed over her arm and rested it on Viv’s lap. “I just want you to know that my work won’t be nearly as masterful as yours. You might want to keep your arm covered for a while after I’m finished.”
Tandri smiled gently, squeezing her shoulder. “You think too little of yourself. I would love to have your art displayed throughout town.”
Viv smiled grimly. The reassurance felt nice, but they both knew her confidence was faked.
As it turned out, however, her lack of art skills might not be their biggest hurdle. The moment Viv’s paintbrush touched down on Tandri’s forearm and began to move, the succubus gasped and quickly drew her fist up to her mouth, stifling a giggle. It was a breathy, tinkling sound that Viv could have listened to forever. In this case, though, it wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d been expecting. Viv frowned, pausing. “I know I’m bad, but there’s no need to laugh at me.”
Tandri shook her head, flushing lightly. “No, no, it’s not you. The paintbrush just tickles, is all.”
“Really?”
Viv stared down at the paintbrush in bemusement. She hadn’t found the experience ticklish at all. In fact, it had largely been a pleasant experience. That said, it was cute to think that Tandri was so ticklish that all it took was a paintbrush on her arm of all places to bring her to laughter. That would have to be explored.
“I’ll try to be careful,” Viv lied. “Just relax and it’ll be over soon.”
Viv was not careful. She quickly forgot all their original purposes in drawing the designs and instead spent her time exploring where Tandri was most ticklish. Her forearm was only moderate, but when she got to her inner elbow, the succubus’s tail whipped about in consternation as she bit her lip, concentrating with a determination that was really rather amusing.
“Is it really that bad?” Viv teased, wiggling the paintbrush again to watch her girlfriend jump. “I’m going rather softly.”
“That’s the p-problem,” Tandri gritted out. She was failing to hide her smile, which bloomed gracefully across her features. Her arm trembled from the effort of holding it still and not bending to protect the spot. “Are yohou almost done there?”
Viv thought about it. “I don’t know. Might need some more shading in this little crook here.”
“No—Vihihiv!”
If Tandri had bothered to look down, she would have noticed how all these ‘designs’ were gradually becoming brown blobs as Viv brushed over the same spots again and again just to make her giggle. Though Viv had been in a sweater, Tandri had shrugged off her jacket to reveal a tank top underneath with infinitely more spots to explore. Though the arm was clearly ticklish, Tandri remained fairly self-controlled—tail not included in this description, of course. But when Viv swept her brush up the length of her shoulder and started moving toward her neck, Tandri jerked away with a squeak.
“Hey,” Viv complained, trying to pull her back. “I wasn’t finished. And I think that’s gonna be the final design!”
“Viv!” Tandri tried to be stern, but she looked far too giddy and nervous for that. “You cannot put a paintbrush there, I’ll die!”
“Just thirty seconds,” Viv promised, longing for more but trying to keep herself in check. “That’s all I need! Then I’ll be fully done, I swear.”
Tandri did not look entirely convinced but huffed and swept her hair to one side to give access. The moment Viv went back to painting, Tandri burst into laughter, kicking her legs and gripping her chair tightly to keep from falling off. Her whole neck was slightly cringed down in a manner that would have been inconvenient if Viv was actually painting but was fine for her purposes. She even experimented with sweeping her brush under Tandri’s ears; each time, Tandri’s tail whipped against the ground and smashed her head against her shoulder so quickly that Viv stopped for fear of her hurting herself.
True to her word, Viv stopped after thirty seconds, reluctantly. Tandri was still giggling slightly, resisting the urge to rub her neck for fear of messing up the paint. “Did you get what you need?”
Viv stared at the mess of paint strokes on her neck, not resembling a design at all, and of Tandri’s helpless laughter and adorable smile. She smiled herself, nodding.
