0157 — Mit Razzle-berry! (Patreon)

The shuttle pulls around the corner and alongside the front steps of the merrily-lit little bistro that has been rented out for the night. It is the eve of Achewood's fourth calendar year on Patreon and the gang is frisky, ready to celebrate the grind of their hard work. Late nights below the kliegs, daybreaks racing the light, and the same-old, same-old of Lyle's side hustle as the craft services man (hint: every day is Spaghetti Friday) have filled them not just with a sense of purpose, but the entitlement to some deviled eggs and steam-letting.

There's Ray, pulling a Classic with a thin white turtleneck under a red v-neck sweater. ("Cashmere on cashmere, my Yuletide doggies.") Pat helped Philippe with his bow tie on the drive over — his knot effortlessly meeting the uncompromising standards of Cornelius, which made the little otter extra-proud. Téodor, who spent a week on smoothies just so he could lay into the spiral-cut ham like a Mongol warlord, promised himself nothing harder than champagne until he had a base down. And beneath his tight, thrifted Joe Strummer garb of thrashed-and-stenciled rags, Roast Beef wears a profoundly expensive pair of forest green Christian Louboutin velvet loafers which were slightly too big for Ray. Molly seized the occasion to take her fringed cognac suede skirt out of the vacu-shrink bag and pair it with a billowy cream blouse, a mustard vest embroidered with daffodils and whitethorn, and some buttersoft leather clogs she felt she could stand in for a few hours.

The robots would be late. Nice Pete was out of town, citing a "backlog at work." Spongebath and Emeril were in the sweaty part of the flu, and Little Nephew had not been informed of the gathering. Lyle had been asleep behind the couch, but a slip of paper with the address had been left on his chest.

Happy holidays, all!

B-Roll Strip

And don't forget — the b-roll / "making-of" version of this strip posts two hours later in Tiers 2 & 3. Upgrade for a month for this and over 400 other upper-tier pieces!

I Solved The Holiday Shopping Problem

If you're having a hard time holiday shopping like I am, digital gifts are more of a thing now. Gift a subscription to the Patreon to a friend or loved one! It's dead easy: choose how many months you want to give, then get a link you can share with them. It won't auto-renew. This is an even better gift now that the archive is binge-able! (see below)

Read All Strips At Once

In case you missed it, I set up a Collection here in the Achewood Patreon called Read All Strips At Once. You can go in there and click straight through the archive, just like we used to in the old days, when the politicians' hair was brown and the burgers were turkey.