Page 62 of Keeping Time

Panel 1: Denver's voice continues from the last page, saying, "I'll never forgive myself if I don't try."

Panel 2: Back at the piano bar, Daniel is on stage, still in his light sweater, rolled up to his elbows, sitting at the grand piano. With a conspiratorial grin, he calls out, "Alright folks. We have a request here for Nickelback…"

Panel 2: Denver has arrived at the piano bar and glances around the crowded, noisy room. Elena, lit by the warm lights above the bar, is smiling at customers sitting on barstools. At the far end of the room, still at the piano, Daniel continues, "So my question to you all is: are we drunk enough for that yet?" At one table, a group of guys throw their hands in the air and cheer.

Panel 3: Denver pulls up to the side of the bar, where Elena is now at the cash register, facing away from him. Denver calls, "Hey, excuse me. Do you have a minute?"

Panel 4: Elena doesn't bother turning around to see who she's speaking to, instead choosing to focus on manually typing in a credit card number. With an unamused expression, she answers, "Before you ask for my number, you should know I’m a big ol’ trans lesbian."

Denver smiles sheepishly as he replies, "Duly noted. I wouldn’t have thought myself in your league anyway."

Panel 5: This finally gets Elena to turn around. Over her shoulder, she smirks with a raised eyebrow and says, "Heh. Good answer. You've got that minute."
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Page 62

oh my god I was so excited to post today's page because I've been looking forward to ELENA vs. DENVER for so long, I forgot to write a post entry for it. check back in this space in like, 5 minutes (it's currently 9:13am PT lmao)

Actually, you know, that pretty much sums it up. The character interaction I was most excited to write and draw was this one, between these giant personalities. I love Elena and Denver so much. Anyway, a little additional commentary from Bluesky:

A Bluesky post from November 26, 2024 at 9:12 AM by user Kody Okamoto. I chose 'vs' very intentionally. Denver may not know he's in a 'versus' situation, but he will soon because Elena can't help that she has 'final boss' energy in her day to day interactions