Dressed To Kill (Comics)

Troublesome Trio: Dressed To Kill is an ongoing fluffy-rom-com-psychological thriller-action-summer comedy comic series by Colkinom. The events have yet to align with any particular Colkiverse and thus are currently in Colkiverse F (or possibly C). It charts the events of the Miss Iraz Beauty Pageant 2015 and the adventures of the Troublesome Trio and some friends (And enemies!) as Epic Eye-Scar Guy and Cassandra Cobra fight for the prize.
While the story focuses mostly on the pageant, it also chronicles the established romance of Bill and Tybalt, and the romantic struggles of Vera and Cassandra. It also gives insight into the pasts and lives of some characters, such as Vera's parents' deaths and Epic Eye Scar Guy's parents, and it suggests Tybalt Cobra being in an unfortunate past relationship.
== Characters ==
* Bill Large
* Tybalt Cobra
* Epic Eye Scar Guy
* Cassandra Cobra
* Vera Mona
* Claire Blair
* 'Eleka Reike'
* That Mysterious Shadowy Figure
* Percy Porkins
* Theta N Lucky (Mentioned)
* Rupert (Cameo)
* Hunter Sheepleigh (Cameo)
* Naomi Rogers
* Jonah Gordonson
* Zahrah Karim (Waitress/Manager of the Almashhad Alttali)
* Spike Qasab
== Plot ==
Bill Large and Tybalt Cobra arive in Iraz for the Miss Iraz Pageant, which Epic Eye Scar Guy is competing in. They vow to support their friend, but soon discover that Cassandra Cobra is also competing, with the intention of using the prize money to fund a project. Cassandra expresses the intention to kill or maim her way to victory and get the prize money through dirty tactics.
Not long after, numerous contestants are hospitalised due to poisoned shrimp (Bill eats the shrimp, and later Vera eats the thrown-out leftovers, and both are fine, due to having cast-iron stomachs). Bill and Tybalt are left with a situation - if EESG wins, Cassandra will want to kill him; if Cassandra wins, EESG will be crushed, and they can't contact the UNWD, due to being criminals. As a solution, Bill calls Vera Mona to keep Cassandra occupied, much to Tybalt's chagrin - he fears for his sister's heart, as he percieves Vera to be the sleazy, womanising type.
The first round - the Catwalk - seems to go incredibly well. EESG wows the judges, but Cassie plans to shoot through the heel of his shoe in order to make him fall. She is distracted by Vera, however. To demonstrate her skills and intentions, Cassie instead shoots through a sandbag's rope, causing it to fall upon Theta N. Lucky, wounding or killing them.
In the next round, the talent round, Cassie throws knives (a family thing), before EESG sings a song. Cassie prepares to throw a knife at him from backstage, but is again distracted by Vera. After a brief flirt, Vera distracts Cassie with the words 'Look, an electron microscope', to which she runs off. Tybalt then confronts Vera, telling her not to get too friendly, to which Vera replies that she knows Cassie is out of her league.
Soon, Bill and Tybalt are in their hotel room, in which they are forced to share a bed due to a booking error. Meanwhile, Cassie prepares to head out to attack EESG, but Vera arrives and apparently convinces her to watch Algorithm 2050 with her. Bill and Tybalt talk about Tybalt's fear of Vera hurting Cassie, implying that Tybalt has previously been in an abusive relationship. In Cassy's room, Vera reveals her somewhat innocent feelings for Cassie, only for Cassie to turn out to be a holo-dolly - the real Cassie is out to get EESG.
EESG is out on the balcony, talking to his parents on the phone. Vera is hanging from his balcony with popcorn, and they talk briefly about their parents. Vera realises that Cassy is about to snipe EESG in the forehead, and beckons him down to get some popcorn. The mirror behind him is shot and shatters. EESG goes to bed, and Cassy and Vera depart.
Bill flusteredly awakens next to Tybalt. This is gay. They go to breakfast, where Tybalt briefly tries out a breakfast pill, which doesn't seem to work. Vera is seen stealing food from their table via hook, then crawls through the vents to Cassy's room, where Cassie is in her swimsuit. This is also gay. They banter briefly, and it's apparent that Cassie does not take Vera's affection seriously, which wounds Vera.
The swimsuit contest begins. EESG gives Percy Porkins a pep talk, then bloodies his nose for cutting in line. Cassie tries to poison EESG, but is stopped by Vera, armed with a peashooter. What begins as banter turns into a small argument, as Vera shows a dislike of being treated as inferior by Cassie, that she's a sleazebag 'with standards', demanding better treatment but knowing she won't get it. She storms out, and Cassie chooses her over the round, forfeiting so she can run outside to catch Vera, only to see her wordlessly disappear in a cloud of smoke, Samson the hornet on her arm.
Cassie and Tybalt discuss this. Cassie grapples with her emotions, realising her feelings for Vera too late. After a brief basement shenanigan, Tybalt meets Bill, who reminds him that they're to be having dinner with EESG and Cassie before the final round. The meeting is tense, with Cassy interrupting EESG and scoffing at his food choices. Cassie convinces the waitress to talk about wine for a long time, to put EESG off, before revealing that she's not even into wine.
After eating, Tybalt becomes sick as the breakfast pill from earlier finally kicks in. Bill goes to console him in the bathroom, but as the two are absent, Cassie and EESG break into a fight, hurling chairs and foul language. Cassie attempts to attack EESG with a fork, but the fork is knocked from her hand by Vera's peashooter, as Vera disappears into the crowd. The waitress then sweeps both Cassie and EESG and demands they leave, revealing herself to actually be the Almashhad Alttali's manager, not simply a waitress. Cassie and EESG are kicked out.
During the Q&A round, Cassie develops a remote controlled bee to distract EESG, subconsciously missing Vera and resenting her treatment of her. She attempts to distract EESG, but his flailing to hit the bee translates as 'passion' to Eleka Reike. When Cassie is called upon, she reacts with shock. Bizarrely, her shock is explained via a cutaway gag in which Rhiannon H, the artist, is reading Dressed to Kill like a storybook to Bryn H and Cai D, two other colkinom creators. 
Cassie has not prepared for this round, and is asked a question about relationships, and as she stumbles through her answer she becomes paranoid that Claire Blair is judging her for her hypocrisy, as she cites 'honesty' and 'communication' as crucial for a relationship while she used neither in her friendship with Vera. She ends up fighting Claire and has to be restrained, while Percy Porkins is chased off by two Inexplicablum members. She apparently makes it through, as That Mysterious Shadowy Figure claims that there are only 'like, two' contestants left anyway, and as she and EESG return to their rooms, she internally admits that he is the better contestant, but she won't let him win.
Later, Bill and Tybalt go to wish Cassie luck before the final round, only to find her room empty. They find proof that she plans to maim or kill EESG in order to secure her victory, and they give chase. However, they cannot get past the bouncer due to not being press or contestants, and their disguises fail as they do not have ID. However, the bouncer soon becomes distracted when the restaurant owner arrives, allowing Bill and Tybalt to sneak in. They chase Cassie, who tries to slow them down, but they remain undeterred, cornering her at a balcony above the stage.
They give Cassie the option to surrender, but instead she tips herself backwards and in a fit of acrobatics, she grabs one of her throwing knives from earlier (still embedded in the wall) and gains balance on a metal beam. Accepting her challenge, Bill climbs into the maze of suspended beams above the stage for a final attempt to talk her down, and Tybalt runs off, presumably to fetch aid.
== Trivia ==
* The comic marks the first full story with art entirely by someone other than Colkinom's creator!
* It has the first canon appearance of Vera Mona, who is due to appear in Snail Boy comics in the near future.
* It is also the only appearance so far of Percy Porkins...
* And the first appearance (albeit a cameo) of Hunter Sheepleigh, as one of the Inexplicablum members who chases Percy away!
* Rupert Basil Basingstoke can be seen in the background of page 96, and later is seen in more detail. This is his first appearance outside of Colkiverse B.
** His dialogue, as he discusses an 'experiment', likely refers to Komodo's Gehren Island experiment, and how in this timeline he refused to participate, or rejected Komodo.
* The restaurant - the Almashhad Alttali - translates to the 'Following Scene'.
* During the storybook scene, the bottom two panels show the book's title as 'Drill to Kill' and 'Dressed to Cressed'.
* The kiss between the manager and bouncer (Zahrah and Spike) was the first explicit kiss in Colkinom comics.
== Homoerotic Subtext ==
It's pretty much entirely that. Which is fine.
Category:Comics
Category:IRL
Category:Rhiannon H works