Note: click the images to see them up close— descriptions below are my original, additional commentary from each trivia-page’s posting.
Original posting: August 7th, 2021

Though more on this will come into the story later, for now, I offer this little “sneak peek” trivia, for those of you who may have noticed a few distinctions already.”

Though MUCH more will come into the story later, for now, I offer this little “sneak peek” background info as a treat for those in the know that want to be.”
Original posting: September 4th, 2021

**Hey all, this is a friendly reminder that regularly scheduled Torus Link updates are taking a break until October 30th, 2021, when Chapter 6 will continue. In the meantime, check back every Saturday for some very special content in my absence: GTKYs (“Get-to-know-you”s) of Hazel and Miguel, and close-up snapshots of some of the locations in the Low District of Society. Along with descriptions! ***
This week, we start with page 1 of Hazel’s GTKY: the GTKYs themselves being my previously private art-journal mini-series devoting 4 pages of a closer look at each of the main TL cast! THAT I AM NOW SHARING WITH YOU ALL! (Without revealing spoilers, of course. )
This is a look at what precisely Hazel’s aura would look like, if seen through Azalea’s eyes at this time.
(Also, just fyi: I alluded to these GTKYs of mine a little earlier in my newsletter/blog, in case you missed it!)

**Hey all, this is a friendly reminder that regularly scheduled Torus Link updates are taking a break until October 30th, 2021, when Chapter 6 will continue. In the meantime, check back every Saturday for some very special content in my absence: GTKYs (“Get-to-know-you”s) of Hazel and Miguel, and close-up snapshots of some of the locations in the Low District of Society. Along with descriptions! ***
This week’s Low District snapshot (straight from my sketchbook!) features the alley in which Kaito falls through the portal at the end of Chapter 5B.
Though empty during off-hours, the alley is bustling with laundry workers during the day. Most recently, the laundry service proprietors have taken stock of their wood supply, as last they checked, one of the loose boards they left outside of the boiler room somehow became broken overnight.
Original posting: September 11th, 2021

Fun (extra) facts!
-The similar blue-and-yellow shirt I found at a charity shop was sleeveless. I eventually realized that yellow-and-blue are in fact, NOT my colors, but not until after wearing the shirt for a bit just the same.
-For years, I have dreamed of seeing that sequence animated to the song “There’s a Fire” by OK Go. If someone’s ever willing to make it, I will be elated, as will (I imagine) both OK Go and the creators of the Bob-omb.
-“Suasage Mania,” i.e. the place where Hazel went ahead and got the sausage roll we see her nomming on, is first spotted in Chapter 3A… and has a reason behind its curious misspelling of “sausage.” Said reason has not yet been revealed.
-The song “WAVE” is a jam that I definitely bopped my head to in the studio, back in the day.
Original posting: September 18th, 2021

Like Hazel here, at the beginning of my time at ECA, I had the opportunity to join undergraduate live-sketching classes and sketch live nude models if I wanted to. My fellow illustration students and I were also given a few ‘drawing technique’ mini-assignments, such as rendering a still life with digital software and drawing a landscape twice: first in color, and then black and white. (FYI: Hazel likes her black and white version of the Meadows better; I prefer my colored one.)
Also like Hazel, I equally had to spend a LOT of time thinking about what the subject of my personal thesis would be, alongside these other projects. I was focused on illustrating PERCEPTION, as different people’s perceptions of the same thing greatly intrigued me. Down the line in my studies, I tried to gear this towards food: for example, my concept based on how I thought the ‘lasagne’ I’d gotten at a local UK grocery store was NOTHING like the ‘lasagna’ I’d buy and eat back home in the States. (It just wasn’t to my taste, at the end of the day.)
While Hazel is equally just as focused on the concept of PERCEPTION herself, here, she realizes early on that she can’t really translate that by making her thesis be about food puns.

Original posting: September 25th, 2021
Original posting: October 2nd, 2021

-Fun fact #1: We’ll learn who Benita and Toby each are in just a bit.
-Fun fact #2: Sanji and Miguel’s venture to buy art supplies while exploring Edinburgh can be seen here!
Original posting: October 9th, 2021
Original posting: October 16th, 2021

What I CAN say at this time: Miguel himself does not meet most of his flatmates in greater depth, and indeed barely knows the first names of two of them.

Original posting: October 23rd, 2021
Original posting: January 22nd, 2022
Original posting: July 16th, 2022
Original Posting: October 8th, 2022

For more info, see this month’s newsletter— and for now, enjoy this first in-depth look: the nachos Hazel has acquired in lieu of her well-missed corn tortillas.

For more info, see this month’s newsletter— and for now, enjoy this first in-depth look at some of the friends Kaito has apparently made…
Original Posting: October 22nd, 2022

For more info, see this newsletter— and for now, enjoy the next in-depth installment: Hazel’s printer, and some of her older drawings.

For more info, see this newsletter— and for now, enjoy this next in-depth look: some ways in which Kaito is using his elemental abilities at this time.
Original Posting: November 5th, 2022

For more info, see this newsletter— and for now, enjoy the next in-depth installment: her laptop, and a grocery bag of Hazel’s that we have indeed seen before.

For more info, see this newsletter— and for now, enjoy this next in-depth look at what precisely Kaito has written.
***Alas, he doesn’t exactly have the securest of places at this time to carefully store his work and materials away… so his parchment has accidentally gained a large crease down the middle. Here, as such, is a direct transcription:
“One day, there was a giant bolt of lightning, but no rain. The seasons had not yet changed… the sun was still its bright, clear red against a cloudless, clear sky. And yet, unmistakably, with a loud crack, lightning had opened right in the middle of the air, without a moment’s notice. Strange as this was, it had passed completely unseen. Except, someone did see.
He gaped, for the lightning had not only struck just centimetres away from his face… it stayed there… curiously suspended, and widening. Wider… and wider. Perhaps, if he had had the space to think, he might have thought himself mad. But he walked up to the lightning in the middle of the air, on the cloudless rain-free day, closer and closer.
In it… INSIDE the lightning… (he couldn’t believe he was seeing this…) he saw someone… but she didn’t see him…
[truncated]
…was all he could do to simply long for…
[truncated]
… her to turn around, but before…
[truncated]
voice could reach her, the…
[truncated]
lightning disappeared, him… [truncated]”
Original Posting: November 19th, 2022

November 19th, 2022—->SPECIAL NOTE!!!!! As a Super Reminder, this is the last Insight (Number 4) of some of Hazel’s items currently “on display” in her room on this day, part of the **8-week GTKY project in progression right now. (For more info, see this newsletter.)

November 19th, 2022—->SPECIAL NOTE!!!!! As a Super Reminder, this is the last installment of Kaito’s GTKY sketch-special giving a sneak peek of what he’s up to, as Azalea is finding her footing in these new grounds— part of the **8-week GTKY project in progression right now. (For more info, see this newsletter.)