Original Commentary
That's the thing, is that Kimberly really could step away from the computer if she wanted to. Personally, sometimes I feel compelled to watch things increment, from auctions to defragmenting hard drives. Yes, I know it's painfully boring and non-interactive, but I want to "make sure it goes". Or what have you. So my characters do it too - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Brisbane and Kimberly have a problem. And it's nice that Kimberly took Brisbane out for a fancy dinner and a movie, but that doesn't necessarily solve things. Structural adjustment is needed here.

I kinda wish there was some other, unrelated conflict that I had brought Jake and Jane in for. Something that centered around them. They feel peripheral to the actual issue at hand here. We'd go on to use them better in the future, but I'm not fond of this.

In the unused script pile, I found this, which kinda explains things.

Brisbane: Why did we ask him?
Robert: Well, with his personal experience, I felt....
Robert: Um...
Brisbane: You don't know many people, do you?

Kinda wish we had included that. - Terrence

Original Commentary

Coffee solves everybody's problems. Funny how, in an arc called "Guy Talk", Jane seems to be getting an awful lot of screen time. - Terrence

Modern Commentary
So Jane's thing was going to be The Secret Language of Coffee.

It was based on the secret language of flowers; one could send one's intended a red rose to symbolize love or an apple blossom, which indicated that you wished them good fortune. Or a yellow rose to denote friendship or a striped carnation for rejection.

These meanings are not tied to anything inherent in the flowers. Some of it is ancient tradition. Some of it is just a modern* invention, so you could communicate in a secret way that only the two of you knew. Except, y'know, they sold books explaining how all this worked so this wasn't really a secret secret.

So Jane is broadcasting these signals into the world that nobody else really understands. But perhaps one day it will catch on. I don't think Brisbane got more out of this than "it's a nice gesture to bring someone a drink".- Terrence

*: Not modern now. This is mostly Victorian stuff, but it was modern back then.

Original Commentary

The story arc "Guy Talk" is mostly being written by Terrence, except for this comic. Long story short, Terrence was running a little late with the script for the comic, so he told me to go ahead with this one (which I came up before going to bed last night). A lot of my ideas end up coming to me right before going to sleep. -_- - Isabel

Modern Commentary
And this is the one that actually moves things forward and justifies us being here.

Robert and Jane have a whole history and we're going to get into that, but later on. At this point, I don't think we'd figured it out beyond "they have a history". - Terrence

Original Commentary

And I bet you were wondering what kind of woman trouble Robert had, that he'd go to Brisbane for... - Terrence

Modern Commentary
Is Jake meant to be another version of Todd from Spare Parts? No. They're different types of antisocial grumps who keep getting dragged into situations where they have to interact with people.- Terrence

Original Commentary

The original version of this comic was more serious and dealt with Brisbane thinking about his relationship with Kimberly. But it works this way, pretty much. Going to have to do that serious comic later on. - Terrence

Modern Commentary
So, if we had it all do to over again I would've wanted to show Kimberly's side of this. Show what she's doing and how she's interacting with the various customers. Show how she's used to always being in sales mode. Show how Brisbane and others impose on her so she has to set boundaries so people don't equate "working from home" with "not really working", but she takes it too far.

Also, dig the portraiy of Ms Taylor in her younger days.- Terrence

Original Commentary

It's amazing how many of Brisbane's plans end up this way, isn't it?

Mind you, Jane suggested getting cappucino. If Brisbane got her that instead of regular coffee, well, the strip would've had a different ending. Maybe. - Terrence

Modern Commentary
The coffee isn't from Nuggets. Brisbane got it on the way home from work. Probably a coffeeshop between his bus stop and the apartment.

He did not understand the secret language of coffee. Kimberly doesn't either. Nobody but Jane does. Signals into a void. But at least Kimberly gets coffee out of this. - Terrence