Imp (Blue) and Celina (Red)
Set in a world where magic is a commonality and a number of magical creatures can be found, Celina uses her abilities as a witch to help eliminate various infestations or monsters terrorizing the towns she travels through. For an assistant of sorts, she created an imp. Imps are looked down upon by witches and non-magic humans for their association with demons and because they are not believed to have souls. They are considered so below everyone, that it is common practice not to even give them names. Celina's imp must deal with the hardships of an unfair world as he and Celina travel the land in search of work.
Imp contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents:
- Although Celina's imp technically doesn't have biological parents, Celina is a very abusive guardian, both physically and verbally.
- Celina and Dolores' parents were equally abusive to their own imps.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Celina's imp frequently loses limbs, either in combat or as a result of Celina's abuse or his own Self-Harm. However, he usually grows them back within a day due to his fast healing.
- After Celina's imp breaks free from her orders and attacks her, she ends up losing her left hand. She replaces it with a Hook Hand from then on.
- Anger Born of Worry: Whenever Celina's imp is involuntarily separated from her for an extended period of time, she is often more furious and abusive than usual when they reunite.
- The Anti-God: Zota. He rules over all things that are occult, and new witches are required to meet him for their training. Celina's imp meets him several times during his dreams.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Although Celina's imp usually tries to keep an affable facade, prolonged suffering at the hands of Celina or other strangers can cause him to snap, lashing out at people with profanity or violence.
- Dolores. She is initially presented as a kind woman, and one of the few people willing to treat imps humanely. However, her journal entries reveal that she treated her sister Celina quite horribly, including mocking her for being lesbian.
- Book Dumb: Celina's imp struggles to read, write, and do basic math.
- Burn the Witch!: Celina's house is burned down after the townsfolk are told that witches are devil worshipers.
- Circus Episode: Celina's imp ends up joining a circus act to help raise money when Celina is bedridden. It doesn't end well.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Humans and witches are red and imps are blue. Besides that, Celina seems to be associated with lime green, as it is her eye color and the color of her magic, whereas her imp's magic is cyan. In some of his nightmares where's he's doing evil, Celina's imp is red and eyes are lime green, like Celina's.
- Daywalking Vampire: Isabell, which she ascribes to a mutation acquired from the vampire that turned her. It means she needs a lot more blood, though.
- Demonic Possession: Ironically, Celina's imp, a demon, is possessed by an evil spirit, who causes him to violently attack multiple residents of a city.
- Elemental Powers: Celina's go-to magic spell is green fire, matching her explosive and angry personality. When he begins magic, her imp seems to favor ice, making them a Fire/Ice Duo.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Imps, witches, and other occult or supernatural beings are generally hatefully regarded by the common folk.
- Fantastic Drug: The most notable is pixie blood. It is a smoked substance that is astronomically stronger than tobacco, causing intense euphoria and often hallucinations. Celina's imp enjoys taking it whenever he can get some.
- Fantastic Racism: Imps and other magic creatures in the comic are treated as less than their witches and considered demons. Witches are also poorly regarded by humans.
- Fictional Currency: The world of the comic uses a currency called Silver.
- Fictionary: The world of the comic has a second native language called Sodsamoidi. Celina's imp seems to be quite fluent in it.
- Flies Equals Evil: In the aptly-titled chapter "Swarm of Flies," Celina's imp's Sleep Deprivation causes him to hallucinate a swarm of flies following him wherever he goes. The flies grow more numerous as time goes on, to the point that he remarks about them out loud to everyone else's confusion.
- Functional Addict: Celina appears to be addicted to alcohol.
- Geometric Magic: Witches and demons cast spells by drawing pentagrams.
- Healing Factor: Imps can heal very quickly, regrowing limbs and eyes in less than a day. Blood loss also doesn't seem to bother them.
- Hit Me, Dammit!: Celina's imp often begs Celina to beat him or even kill him, either to repent for his mistakes or to end his suffering. She often refuses and grows even more angry.
- Holy Burns Evil: Celina's imp says that holy things, such as Holy Water and symbols, hurt demons.
- Humans Are Bastards: In most cases, the humans are portrayed as self-righteous and violent towards witches and non-humans at worst and apathetic at best, though there are a some exceptions.
- I Just Want to Be Free: Zigzagged. Celina's imp hates her and wants nothing more than to be free, but he knows he cannot survive without her protection.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: After enduring Celina's abuse and constant hate from random strangers, Celina's imp simply wants to be able to say that someone truly loves him.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Celina's imp, although he identifies as a "he," is referred to as "it" by Celina and many others.
- I'm Not Hungry: Zigzagged. Imps can go for weeks without eating, and Celina's imp often refuses food given to him. However, he is willing to accept food if he is particularly hungry, or grateful for the offer. It also appears that imps heal faster when they are starving.
- It's All My Fault:
- Celina's imp almost always believes this. He tends to frantically apologize for even the smallest things, and he blames himself for everything in his self-deprecating thoughts that occur later in the story.
- After her imp breaks free from her control, Celina finally begins to admit that she is responsible for destroying her imp as a person.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: After running away in chapter 18, Celina's imp sings a nursery rhyme she had taught him. As he kills multiple forest animals, gains a taste for blood, and leaves a Trail of Blood behind him, all while wearing a hysterical smile.The cuckoo is a pretty bird! She sings as she flies! She brings us good tidings, and tells us no lies! She sucks little birds' eggs to make her voice clear, so she may sing of love when summer is near!
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Partway through the story, Celina's imp loses his shoes, and never ends up acquiring a new pair. When questioned about it, he states he is too poor to afford new ones.
- Lovable Jock: Rune. He frequently uses profanity, and unlike most imps, he is muscular, strong, and willing to stand up for himself. However, he is also extremely protective of his witch's son, Casper. This is because he was ordered to protect Casper after his witch died. He also quickly makes friends with Celina's imp and does his best to understand his struggles.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Imps are required to obey all orders given to them by their witches, without question. This contract can apparently be broken by a higher being, like Zota.
- Nightmare Sequence: When Celina's imp's dreams are shown, they are always nightmares. Most of them involve him being abused or acting in a sadistic manner.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: No matter how much he tries to make things right, Celina's imp almost always ends up getting into trouble. Even the people for whom he strictly performs good deeds rarely appreciate his help, since he is a demon.
- No Need for Names: Common practice for all imps. The titular imp is identified as "Celina's imp."
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Celina's imp is given a few nicknames. Isabell decides to name him "Sebastian" and only refers to him as that thereafter. In a later chapter, after joining a circus act, his co-workers give him the stage name "Malacora" and address him as that. Rune calls him "bunny."
- Pet the Dog: Celina is cruel and abusive toward her imp most of the time, but sometimes she ends up consoling him when he is severely hurt.
- Redemption Quest: Celina's imp runs away in chapter 18 in hopes of somehow repenting for murdering Beatrice.
- Salem Is Witch Country: The story begins in a town called New Salem. Celina mentions that witches have always been poorly regarded within its walls.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Celina's imp finds a red scarf early on, and ends up wearing it for the entire story. He initially uses it to hide the bite marks he got from Isabell.
- Self-Deprecation: Celina's imp does this to himself on a regular basis. It grows substantially worse later in the story, when monstrous thought bubbles are shown constricting him as he thinks horribly self-abusive thoughts.
- Self-Harm:
- Celina's imp often bites himself in his sleep to try and drive off his negative thoughts.
- Celina is revealed to have hurt herself several times as a result of Dolores' bullying.
- The Silent Bob: Daisy. She is the quietest member of the circus troupe, usually only responding with a nod or a blank stare. Which makes her violent outburst to protect Celina's imp all the more surprising.
- Sleep Deprivation: Celina's imp is forced to work vigorously to make enough money when Celina is bedridden with the plague and they are staying at an inn. This results in him going without sleep for days, causing him to hallucinate and lose most social function. Thankfully, he is finally allowed to get some rest at the end of the chapter, after a particularly horrible day.
- Stutter Stop: Celina's imp stutters whenever he's nervous or scared, but is able to speak perfectly normally when calm. When this happens, the word bubbles themselves tend to get shaky as well.
- Taken for Granite: Most members of Celina's family are cursed with a Deadly Gaze that turns people to stone. Celina herself did not inherit the curse.
- This ability ultimately led to Eleanor's accidental death at the hands of Dolores.
- Team Pet: Mortice, the golem that Celina's imp adopts in chapter 12. Their presence tends to add more lighthearted moments to the comic to help even out the darker scenes, and they often act as a voice of reason.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Celina and her imp give multiple of these to each other throughout the story. The most decisive occurs before Celina's imp asks Zota to release her from Celina's control.
- Three Wishes: Zota, feeling sympathy for Celina's imp, grants him three favors. However, he can only use them to change his own fate, and not the fates of any mortals.
- He uses his first favor to disobey Celina's order not to use magic.
- He uses his second favor to break free from Celina's orders entirely.
- Third-Person Person: Mortice speaks about themself and other people in the third person, not using personal pronouns for anyone.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Celina's imp can shapeshift into a cat. Other imps have their own forms, such as Rune, who can shapeshift into a crow.
- Wham Episode:
- Dolores' journal. It reveals the full details of her tragic backstory, including how she lost her beloved imp Eleanor. It also reveals she's not entirely the kind person she was made out to be.
- Chapter 19 and 20. Celina's imp uses his second favor from Zota to permanently break free of Celina's orders. This finally puts them on level with each other, and Celina is unsure how to deal with her lack of control over him.
- You No Take Candle: Mortice speaks in this manner, though their grammar slowly improves throughout the story.
