Haunted 1-13
**NINA FACTS**
- Nina Chu’s name is written 朱妮娜.
- Nina went to business school in Windenburg.
- Nina doesn’t want to be here right now. She’d rather sleep in.
- She went through 10 masturbation jokes and “The Magical Fruit” before naming the café this.
- Nina would name her 500 kids Nina 1, Nina 2, Nina 3, all the way to Nina 501. She’d skip Nina 263 to throw people off.
- Nina sends a portion of the café’s profits back to her family and tells her mom that her nasi lemak is the top-selling item. They both know she’s being facetious. Really, the top-selling item is coffee.
- Her favorite candy is “Red Hots but only the outside part.”
- Nina’s favorite Disney movie would be Lilo and Stitch, but it’s not out yet in this, the year 1999.
- Nina loves bachata music.
- Nina recently broke up with her boyfriend, and if you ask her why, she’ll tell you that it’s because he didn’t like bachata music.
- In the same vein, Nina has never once given a straightforward answer to a personal question.
**NETA FACTS**
- Neta’s middle name is Rosalie.
- Neta carries around a soldering iron. It’s off right now.
- I had to take a break from drawing because Neta is too adorable.
- She gets a chance to be awesome, but right now she’s more concerned with figuring out how the f this job works.
- Just go ahead and guess her favorite color.
- Unlike Nina, she is taking questions, and will tell you more about herself later.
Xiyuan’s scarf is a character!! Maybe his Chelsea boot(s) should also be a character.
I love how organic this page feels. Remember when we used to go to coffee shops? That was nice. Chu’s Brews looks like the type of place that stocks the BEST baked goods; it’s the croissant in the logo and the earth tones that’s doing it for me. I want a croissant now. Thanks.
Looking forward to seeing what ‘Yuan’s caffeine choice is! Hopefully he won’t have to wait long. (He’s looking a little impatient in the last panel.)
YUAN’S BOOTS ARE ABSOLUTELY A CHARACTER.
But, man, I was doing such a great job of keeping healthy during the pandemic until I found a place that will ship great vegan croissants. It’s not great for the environment either. Send help…
I’ll open the floor to guesses for Yuan’s coffee order. To narrow it down, he’s lactose intolerant.
I got serious coffee-shop nostalgia reading this and fell in love with coffee all over again, even though I’m currently drinking delicious coffee. It’s cold, though, since I made it two hours ago.
Xiyuan will order green tea, right? The Scarf wants pain au chocolat.
I was going to ask how a scarf would eat pain au chocolat, but then I realized it’d just scarf it down.
Amg its literally “zhu ni na” 🤣❤
Nasi lemak in a coffee shop and a fan of bachata music??? Oh my ** 🙊 i cant help but think you’re going for the mashed up influences and ‘shooking’ food culture people cant seem to wrap their heads around here, glee! I know like 1% of Ni Na but heck I think this is as close to love at first sight I can get. Aw man. Now I really miss home 😭
Please tell Nina to open a branch in Strangerville. Totally lousy business move bt at least its remote enough that even covid dont patron here so Whaddayaknow.
Yes!! I wrote her last name as Chu to suggest it’s Hokkien, which you may have already picked up on from the mention of nasi lemak. It does change the transliteration of Nina but whatever, we can say Nina is her Simlish name as well.
Of course—Nina lives in San Myshuno, what’s stopping her from putting her mom’s recipes on the menu of the café she owns or jamming to the bodega music? Also, in the vein of Nina giving joke answers to personal questions, either Chu’s does lunch and there’s a kitchen back there somewhere or Nina was being facetious about putting her mom’s nasi lemak recipe on the menu at all. We may never find out—unless we put enough peer pressure on Xiyuan to order it.
(If you’re thinking to yourself, “wow, there’s an incredibly stupid first-semester-Chinese pun that you can make with the name Nina as it’s pronounced in English,” give Yuan a couple pages. And then you can point it out to everyone, haha.)
(I feel the same way about Nina, and want to formally apologize to everyone here for making her straight. SORRY)
Haha. People can say its stupid all they want but if it made them laugh then mission accomplished. The english version didnt come to mind first though. I thought of Canto and Mandarin ‘puns’ first and was laughing at those. 😆
Order it Xi Yuan! Make Nina sweat! Or y’know, she’d flip it all in your face but idc. 😆
Ah ok! Ive always known 朱 as zhu because for the life of me I can’t read hokkien (i trieeeed) so defaulted back to the universal one. 😃
Hahahaha, I can’t read Hokkien either, dawg. I’m 1000 characters away from being literate, my Mandarin is total shit, and my exposure to other dialects is “oh hey it’s [ex]’s native language,” and you’d best believe my exes only taught me swear words. I had to look up the pronunciation.
Poor Xiyuan, having to be written by an author who is going to miss so many pun opportunities. I’m going with the show-some-ankle strategy of occasionally having hidden puns or visual references that hint at him having deeper knowledge than, you know, me, and it does say a lot about him as a person that he’s more eloquent than most native speakers in his SECOND FREAKING LANGUAGE.
(Marginally related, he’s dressing as a female Peking opera singer for Halloween/Harvestfest/whatever, and it made me think of the historical challenge you have on hiatus. How did you find all that great CC?! All I got were high-fantasy robes that don’t really fit the classical opera look, but they’re so cuckoobanana-crazypants extra I might have him keep them.)
Don’t feel obligated, but I’m always open to suggestions!
1000 characters away from being literate is pretty good tbh. 😛 I know what you mean I’m just teasing.
Aren’t all writers kinda doing that? Unless you’re writing an autobiography there’s some element of research or say fake it til you make it. 😆
I think these creators Fengdudu
and ZouYou
are what you’re looking for (hopefully these links work). I have that dress too! Lol Yuan looks he got coerced into the dress by smoking bubbles. 😂
OHHH MY GOSH!!! These are perfect and gorgeous! You are a treasure <3
This is going to save loads in bubble solution to bribe Yuan with. LOL.
Yeah, good point about the faking it! But I also feel like writing a character who has more exposure to a real-world culture than the author does—especially one readers might have been teased about or othered for—can get cringey, so I want to be honest that some readers may know a TON more about the cultures represented here than I do. I’m being careful not to condescendingly explain stuff, and am sneaking in references to let people know this is for rather than about them but… feel free to yell at me if I mess up. Hahaha.
I would guess her favorite color is purple, and she’s terrifically adorable, though not as adorable as The Scarf.
Gasp!! How’d you know it was purple??
I am so freaking delighted! Work has been bleeping bonkers and I’m finally get a chance to sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy my simlits!
Excuse me, shout out to Penny Pizzazz who looks fucking chef’s kiss in this comic. I always immediately change her hair in game but you managed to make that head scarf look chic, not ridiculous. BLESS.
I am living for Nina. I would appreciate all 500 of her kids, including number 263. Even though my dear Yuan only had a short cameo, it was worth it for a peek into the lives of Nina and Neta who I am obsessed with and how the hell do you only give me a little taste and make them feel like fully formed characters?
Okay I am going immediately to read the short story…
Enjoy your break!! Yeah, I appreciate Penny’s pre- and post-Important-Haircut BBD looks, but am stuck with the defaults.
So the problem with Nina and Neta is that even though it’s been one week and I love drawing them as much as Yuan, he has to leave the café and then they won’t be there anymore 🙁 NOOO. But there will be a point where a full quarter of Haunted will be N&N. Later, a grad student doing their thesis on AI-collaborative serial novels will end up here and psychoanalyze my decision to start this guy’s baristas’ story arcs before his love interest’s story arc, and what it probably means about the author’s substance consumption habits.
Even later than that, a grad student will examine how its even possible to write a story without barista arc
I’m woefully behind, but here to rectify that. Also, now I’m craving croissants. And a strong coffee. But mainly croissants. I just love how the c in the title is a croissant. Maybe I’m just hungry 😆
Neta’s expressions are so adorable! And Nina seems like such a badass, even though we barely know anything about her. But she just exudes this energy of someone that’s living life on their own terms and I love it. This cafe better become Yuan’s regular. I’d love to come back.
You get that vibe? Good—that’s exactly the energy Nina deserves.
And I do apologize for any baking cravings the sign may have caused.
you had me at “masturbation jokes.” lol wtf. I’m so lame I can’t think of anything perverted with coffee shops. I like the magical fruit though… cuz coffee bean and beans, the more you eat the more you toot.
Hahaha “we can swear on the job.” Well fuck me and call me Sally! I like Boss Lady Nina.
I must be more tired that I initially thought, b/c Yuan was practically hiding in the panels like Where’s Waldo… I feel like I SHOULD have noticed him sooner, but I was paying too much attention to Nina and Neta. I love how the background characters kinda just fade into the background. Faceless, sometimes just completely void of details and are outlines. Yuan stands out with his his impatient tilt. What is the hold up! lol
Ooh, ooh. I bet if I say the word ‘flick’ it’ll all click for you.
Either I was REALLY out of it, or I’m so conditioned by patriarchal society, that I didn’t even THINK female masturbation >.<
While Chu’s Brews is classy and cute, think of ALL the exciting drink-names that could be concocted at The Bean Flick…. like “The Squirter,” or the “I Like it a Latte,” or the “O.P.Peaberry” ….
O.P.Peaberry is very out of left field—I love it.
Hahaha. The PERKS of being a coffee snob :-p Thanks, I must admit, I was proud of that one.
I’m distracted from my appreciation of wind, scarf, and Chelsea boots by PENNY being drawn so perfectly. Like, damn.
Also N&N are the best and I need you to get back to drawing so we can have more of them both. Deal?