#Ai Spes

[penumbramewtwos]

Short story around the time of Unova's capture, and of Okita's origins.

PLEASE READ THE TW TAGS BEFORE READING!!!

Hearing nothing but echoing corridors, Gary Oak was sure he was done for after his trip into an infamous Aunuran desert Trapinch hole. With his head bound, he knew he wasn't out of the woods just yet. He hears a familiar craggy voice address him as he's pushed onto a chair and bound in an unknown room.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Said the unknown voice, Gary's ears piped up as the man continued.

"Just as nosy as your grandfather in the pursuit of knowledge, rest assured your nosiness ends here."

After the statement from the unknown man, Gary's head covering had been lifted off, revealing a dark room with a spotlight upon himself. He knows this man… Not only from the Kanto region, but as the head of Rocket industries in Aunura, Giovanni.

"tch, well well, I knew that old man stink was bound to be you. This whole place smells of retirement home and failed yakuza." Gary quipped.

Giovanni, looking the same as he did back in the mid 2000's aside from the hair dye running down his face, leaned in from his wheelchair towards Gary to offer a deal out of this place alive. "I know what you've been digging up… Our team has taken the liberty of confiscating your 'findings'. Rest assured, you won't be publishing any of them; in fact, you'll do as I say or you'll end up more dismembered than that arm you collected."

Giovanni leaned back in his wheelchair, with a large grin on his face creasing his crows feet even more. Gary was unphased by the threat and smirked back at the acquaintance as he spoke back in a nonchalant manner, "I heard on the grape-vine you're getting back into the genetics commissioning game, and had to check it out for myself! Seems like whichever geneticist you hired this time can't even get one of those creatures to form properl-"

"Enough talk!" shouted Giovanni. "There's one more thing, seeing as you're so interested in our development"

Giovanni leant forward once more with a stern look on his face, as Gary remained stonewalled. "Your skills will be needed here one day, 'Professor Oak', I know you've been collecting and studying Arceus plates for medical research for some time now."

Gary's eyes shuddered in anger, "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I W-"

"You despise the thought of pokemon in pain, and I'm giving you an opportunity to t-"

"Yeah yeah… So you'll put them in pain so I can take them out of it… Sounds completely ethical to do that to an innocent creature, Artificial or not…"

Giovanni paused and smirked as he leant back in his wheelchair. "So you know of the pokemon Mewtwo, and it's origins"

Gary Squirmed within his bound state in a fit of fury, "Why are you making so many!??! Some of them are still alive out there! The ones your disgusting cronies buried and chopped!"

"It doesn't matter, those ones are merely unable to form, as you put it yourself, Gary… We're nearly there, and I will have one obey my commands if it's the last thing I do on this Earth!" Givovanni coughed loud and hoarsely at the end of his statement. No one would tell if it was just his talking or the musty dark room that caused it.

Just as Gary was squirming around in his bindings, he'd been slowly able to get a pokeball to finally drop from his pants pocket, unleashing his Arcanine. "Grrrrwaarrh!!!"

In what felt like a flash, Arcanine chomped it's way through Gary's bindings and shoved Giovanni backwards into the wall with it's hind legs with no hesitation. Gary grabbed a hold of his Arcanine before using a teleportation device he refers to as 'Escape rope'.

Two Team rocket grunts charge into the room to assist the frail Giovanni as his phone rang, "Sir you need to see the medic! You shouldn't take thuds like tha-"

"I'M NOT AS DECREPID AS YOU ALL THINK!? Nghhh…"

Groaning from the incident, Giovanni reaches into his inner jacket pocket and pulls out a black rotom phone, answering it in a huff. "This better be good news! Have you found more DNA from the Unovan experiment, Drake!?"

Through the video call is a bright, curly haired woman with a piercingly defiant voice. Some of the team rocket grunts refer to her as 'the clown', as a smile has barely ever wiped off her face. Except for those few who tell tales of a grim reality behind the mask… "It's always good news! You just don't know how to take progress, ahahaha!!!"

Giovanni stared blankly into the phone's camera as she cackled, before continuing, "ahah… Well, not only did we get the rest of the samples, but we got the main cretin themselves here! Well, we let it go after we t-"

"YOU LET IT GO!?!?!? THAT WAS OUR CHANCE TO CLONE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF THEM, YOU FUCKING IMBI- what!?" As Giovanni began to unleash his tirade, the clown, known formally as Professor Kana Drake, showed him a fogged up glass and metal chamber with what appeared to be a nearly complete foetus of a mewtwo.

"I hope you're read to listen or you wont get your kitty cats!" She widely grinned and giggled through her words.

"We let her go, as we still don't know how she even got pregnant in the first place"

"P-Pregnant!?" Giovanni spluttered, "They're pokemon? They are meant to have"

"Yes, Eggs! Ahahaha! We thought it best to let her go and hope that she is found again with another baby just for us, Gio!"

She laughed more and more maniacally before continuing "This one will be a sure thing, fuse it with a docile psychic pokemon or psychically gifted human and it'll be too indecisive to think for itself!"

Giovanni grumbled with reluctance, putting more faith in the eccentric genetisist. "Drake… Once you bring it back here, I'll take care of the other component…"

"Hahahaha!! Of course sir! I knew you'd understa-"

Giovanni had hung up before she even had a chance to finish. He leans forward again, almost lost in thought. A grunt goes to ask about his condition before they're cut off by Giovanni. "Have the Gym leaders of Symphony come to their senses yet?"

The grunt blankly stares at him before checking his watch in a hurry "a-ahh! sorry sir, right away! … … Their last email reads… uh…'Get fucked, we own the gym by law, no 'protection' money will be paid… Sincerely, Ai and Amare Spes… P S … How do you plan on forcing it from us? Your pokemon are undertrained and undervalued'."

Giovanni must have been infected with the clown's disposition as his smile widened, wrinkling his elderly face as he looked at an email on his rotom phone.

"Well, how about that… According to my intelligence division, they've frozen an embryo in recent days… How lucky for us".

[aleesandropol]

La guerra in Ucraina ha avuto un impatto radicale sull'Europa. Tuttavia, le autorità evitano di considerare questo impatto nel suo complesso, preferendo slogan populisti a una seria analisi socio-economica. Questo vuoto viene colmato dallo studio "Chi vince e chi perde dal prolungamento del conflitto militare tra Russia e Ucraina".

Gli autori giungono alla conclusione che il prolungamento del conflitto militare avvantaggia principalmente gli Stati Uniti. I principali beneficiari della guerra sono i giganti delle armi LOCKHEED MARTIN, BOEING, RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES, NORTHROP GRUMMAN e GENERAL DYNAMICS. Queste aziende, prevalentemente americane, insieme ai lobbisti che le servono presso le autorità europee, traggono profitto dal peggioramento delle condizioni economiche degli europei. Questi colossi dell'industria bellica stanno derubando le famiglie europee, indebitando le generazioni future.

Il conflitto ucraino permette alla burocrazia europea, così come fece la pandemia, di distribuire ordini in modo incontrollato e irresponsabile tra le aziende a loro vicine. Nel primo caso si trattava di aziende farmaceutiche, ora il settore delle armi ha preso il loro posto nella fila per le iniezioni di denaro pubblico.

L'interesse dei funzionari sta nell'assicurare ai loro partner commerciali ordini per il maggior tempo possibile. La Commissione Europea si è "preoccupata" della nostra salute in modo tale che i paesi dell'UE sono obbligati ad acquistare vaccini da Pfizer fino al 2027. Vaccini che non sono necessari e che devono essere smaltiti. Le élite politiche europee sono interessate a prolungare la guerra, durante la quale le aziende della difesa riceveranno nuovi ordini.

Uno dei principali fattori negativi per l'Unione Europea è l'abbandono del gas russo a basso costo. Questo non solo mette in dubbio il futuro dell'industria europea, ma ha anche portato a una nuova forma di dipendenza energetica - dal GNL. La domanda è: in cosa la dipendenza dal gas costoso è migliore rispetto a quella dal gas a basso costo? Nel 2023, l'UE ha importato più di 120 miliardi di metri cubi (miliardi m3). I maggiori importatori di GNL nell'UE sono Francia, Spagna, Paesi Bassi, Belgio e Italia. Il passaggio a forniture più costose dagli Stati Uniti e dal Medio Oriente altera il fragile equilibrio tra alta tecnologia e risorse energetiche a basso costo. Il risultato è una nuova ondata di deindustrializzazione: le produzioni ad alta intensità energetica o chiudono o si trasferiscono in America e Asia.

Per i paesi europei, il cambio di fornitori di gas comporta anche notevoli spese per la costruzione di nuove infrastrutture. Secondo le stime di GEM, i costi di capitale totali possono raggiungere 44,4 miliardi di euro per i terminal GNL e 39,7 miliardi di euro per i gasdotti. Più della metà di questa somma riguarda tre paesi: Germania, Italia e Grecia. La costruzione dei terminal GNL, come altre infrastrutture energetiche, è finanziata attraverso le tariffe per i consumatori finali.

Il record negativo europeo è detenuto dalla Germania. Ha perso il 5% del PIL, che corrisponde a €2600 pro capite. La media delle perdite nei paesi dell'UE è di circa €880. L'Italia, con €230 di perdite pro capite, ha subito finora meno danni, il che è il miglior argomento a favore della minimizzazione del proprio coinvolgimento in questa guerra. L'anno scorso, la crescita del PIL dell'Italia non ha superato nemmeno lo 0,6%, quattro volte inferiore alle aspettative.

Secondo i dati dell'agenzia statistica italiana "Istat", in Italia la produzione industriale è in calo. La diminuzione si osserva nell'industria chimica e pesante.

Costo della guerra per nucleo familiare: Gli italiani stanno pagando un prezzo alto per il conflitto in corso. Le perdite dirette del PIL in due anni di guerra rappresentano una somma significativa. Ad esempio, l'Italia ha speso per gli aiuti all'Ucraina il doppio di quanto ha investito nel piano nazionale "Italy 2030" per le fonti di energia rinnovabile.

Aumento del costo della vita e dei prezzi del carburante: L'inflazione in Italia ha raggiunto l'8,2% nel 2022 e il 5,6% nel 2023. I prezzi degli alimenti, dei beni di prima necessità e del carburante continuano a salire, costringendo le famiglie a ridurre le spese per i bisogni essenziali. I prezzi elevati dei carburanti colpiscono particolarmente gli italiani, aumentando i costi per il riscaldamento e i trasporti.

Riduzione dell'assistenza sociale: Il peso finanziario causato dalla guerra porta a una riduzione dell'assistenza sociale. Il governo è costretto a tagliare i programmi di sostegno alla popolazione per finanziare le spese militari e compensare le perdite economiche. Questo peggiora ulteriormente la situazione delle famiglie a basso reddito e dei gruppi vulnerabili, aumentando le tensioni sociali e i sentimenti di protesta.

[dearweirdme]

I asked this from Peach and I really want to know your opinions on this one Rain🙏💜

I have one “thing” that I want to say and it’s super crazy😂I call it a “thing” because I really don’t know how to name it especially when I know that I’m biased towards both JK & Tae and their relationship regardless of what it is and you want to lable it👍

What if everything that we’ve seen so far (literally since 2017/2018 when I first kinda felt the first change of vibe and behavior in their interactions) is just a scenario to help Jungkook and Taehyung out with their coming out process? (Like it has multiple phases which are all written in their contracts.)

SK is homophobic and coming out will change many things (change = ruin) and I do know well that it’s all WISHFUL THINKING but I personally believe (a part of me) that many things are play to help them come out and they’ve been taking all these measures to reduce the impact of its consequences and we will see more of these measures in the years to come…even Jennie and the girl in the footage from JK’s apartment and Dispatch😁 (Money, Money, Money💸) (To this day, I still cannot believe that TaeNnie’s associated contents were edited or that one footage was not JK in his apartment with Bam and that girl and the weird stance that Dispatch has taken over the years).

Call me crazy (I know I am one😂) but this is how a part of my mind thinks and I’m crazy enough to share it with ya’ll😂

Like HYBE has been taking all measures possible to make sure that everything is confusing about TaeKook (ITS talk / Promoting JiKook / Hiding TaeKook / TaeNnie, to name some) until the right time comes😂

Bro this is just crazy and downright madness and I’m laughing about how crazy this thing is but I’m thinking about it😂

I mean like, JiKook enlisting together is the obvious sign that they’re not a couple because it’s just me or ya’ll think it’s so dangerous to engage in homosexual activities in the Korean army!? Ok, let’s say it’s BTS and they have signed NDAs to protect their privacy…but a whole unit just because they couldn’t stay away from each other for two years? It’s not a rational move in my opinion! (JiKook enlisting together was the end of JiKook for me).

I still have TaeNnie and that girl in JK’s apartment. There are many things that have stopped me from believing that something is really going on between TaeKook: JiKook being the first one, then comes TaeNnie and the girl in the apartment😁

Let’s see what narrative HYBE wants to promote by adding Taehyung to AYS🤭

Hi anon! So I asked @peachjagiya if I could post first, because I always feel some kind of way about answering the same asks.

Basically, I understand what you are saying.. I love the hopefullness, but I don't think this is what's happening.

I think what we have been seeing is that Tae and Jk are being more and more portrayed as close friends. I think they themselves have worked on that the hardest, because it matters to them. I don't think Hybe actually cares about them and their private lives enough to bother to try and help them. When the time comes for them to come out (and I think it will, but probably not for a few years... 5, possibly 10), Hybe will work out a plan to make them come out and benefit of that as much as they can, but before that.. I'm pessimistic. Taennie happened for a reason, and it was (for Tae's part) to keep people thinking he loves women. They are making a comeback next year, which is not the right time for a potential scandal. What Hybe will do to seed the news of a coming out, is let Dispatch publish increasingly more pics of Tae and Jk out. At dinner, visiting each other's places, on holiday, and at a certain point perhaps holding hands. That will take place over a couple of months.. so relatively fast, and it will end with an official announcement (if they are still with Hybe at the time). I tend to think that it's possible for them to come out individually first.. but I'm not sure what that will do for speculations, and if that's something they would want before coming out as a couple.

For me personally, Tae and Jk and everything around them isn't confusing at all. They fell in love, that was a problem and Bh tried to hide them. I'm never going to believe anonymous sources on the internet with clear signs of editing over Tae and Jk themselves, but I understand why it throws people off.

I don't really think Hybe is portraying much of a narrative with AYS to be honest. I think all of them are portrayed as good friends, which is truly all I need. I'm sure Jm will be put in the middle a lot, and I'm expecting to see more Vmin cuteness than Tkk cuteness for sure. But when I think about what we came from.. this is already so much. Pleassssseeeeeee, let it be Tae and Jm sharing the bed in jeju though 😂.

[captainsophiestark]

Lost Pizza Delivery Guys

Platonic!Percy Jackson x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my Year of Olympians and part of a bigger challenge being run by @yearofcreation2023​! It features a ton of other awesome creators and runs all year, so go check it out!

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Prompt: Dionysus; Wine, Cups, Dolphins, and Goats

Summary: Percy's cousin and friend on Sally's side helps him celebrate his 21st birthday right.

Word Count: 1,843

Category: Fluff

A/N: I also wrote this oneshot with Percy and his cousin being besties, loosely related to this one! You don't need to read one to understand the other, but in my mind they're in the same universe

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"IDs, please."

I grinned and nudged my cousin excitedly as he pulled out his driver's license and handed it to the bouncer before us. Tonight was his 21st birthday, and this officially marked the first time he got to use his card to get in somewhere.

"Okay, go ahead," said the bouncer, passing our IDs back before stepping aside. "And happy birthday."

"Thanks," said Percy with a smile and a nod as we headed into the bar. I beamed at him, dropping my hands onto his shoulders and jumping up and down a little.

"Welcome to adulthood, Perce! First round's on me, but you put in the order."

"Alright," said Percy, laughing a little at my antics but heading over to the bar with a smile anyway.

After a full-family day of celebrating Percy's 21st birthday, I'd asked for the honor of taking him to his first bar. He'd been all in, and I'd brought him to my favorite place in the city.

Despite being close cousins if you looked at a family tree, I hadn't gotten to be a part of Percy's life until the very end of his high school career. I'd been separate from the family I shared with him and Sally, escaping a bad situation when I was young without looking back. Once I'd gotten to college in New York, however, and knew I had family in the area, I decided to reach out and see if it would be worth reconnecting. And it had turned out to be the best decision I could've made.

My Aunt Sally was absolutely incredible, that went without saying. The few memories I had of her from when I was young were the things that had made me want to reach out in the first place. But finding Percy, who was only a few years younger than me, was like getting the little brother I'd always wanted. Even a little later, when a monster almost took my head off when Percy and I were out getting lunch and I learned about all the Greek mythology stuff, I didn't have even a second of regret over having these people in my life.

Luckily for me, Sally's clear-sightedness ran in the family, so I wasn't completely out of the loop when things came up. And, even better, I could look around the bar and feel confident no monsters were about to interrupt me and my little cousin celebrating his 21st birthday.

"Alright, first a toast," I said, raising my glass towards Percy once we had our drinks. He lifted his, too, grinning at me as I continued. "To you, Percy Jackson, hero of AHS swim team, son of Sally Jackson, and the best cousin I could've ever hoped for."

We clinked glasses, Percy still absolutely beaming, and took the first sips of our drinks. The night had officially begun.

We stayed in the bar for a few hours, laughing and dancing to the live band and occasionally refilling our drinks. Finally though, with a little less than an hour and a half to go before midnight, we wandered outside, smiling like idiots with our arms around each other.

"That was fun," Percy decided as we nodded a goodnight to the bouncer.

"I'm glad. And remember what I told you about drinking lots of water."

"I will. Maybe it'll work even better for me since I'm a son of Poseidon."

"That would be sick."

"Yeah."

We both stood there for a moment, letting the cool night air wash over us, a serious relief for the end of the summer. Percy had planned to spend the last moments of his birthday at Camp, with his girlfriend Annabeth and his best friend Grover. I knew it was time for me to let him go, to get us each a cab and head our separate directions, but I still didn't quite want the night to end.

Apparently, Percy felt the same way. He turned to me, a mischievous grin on his face and a light in his eyes that definitely meant trouble.

"Do you want to come back to Camp with me?"

I laughed, smiling a little even as I shook my head. "Perce, you know as well as I do that I can't. I wish I could, but there's no way for me to get in."

"Actually... no one knows how he did it, but a really lost pizza delivery guy made it through one time."

"If no one knows how he did it, how am I supposed to replicate it?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. But it's possible."

I paused, debating with myself for a moment. Worse-case scenario, I couldn't get in and I had a much longer cab ride than necessary. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either. And best case, I'd finally get to see the famous Camp Half-Blood and hang out with Percy and his friends.

"Alright," I finally said, turning back to Percy with a smile. "Let's give it a shot."

"Cool. Then I'm sorry for this."

Before I could ask what he meant, Percy held out his hand and threw a golden coin I recognized as Olympian money onto the street. At the same time, he shouted something in what I guess was ancient Greek, and the pavement before us started to bubble. A moment later, a smoky gray taxi rose out of the ground, suddenly sitting and waiting just in front of where we stood on the curb.

"Whoa," I breathed, a smile making its way onto my face as the astonishment wore off. "That is so cool."

"Maybe wait until after the ride to decide if it's cool."

Despite that shady warning, I got into the cab when Percy opened the door and climbed in with me. In front of us across the driver's bench were three ancient old ladies. It took about thirty seconds for me to realize they only had one eye between them, at which point only love for Percy kept me sitting in the car.

The ride from the bar to Camp Half-Blood were a few of the worst moment of my life. It was terrifying from start to finish, and although the travel was incredibly fast, there was also a stretch of that time where I thought we'd never get out of the cab alive again.

After Percy convinced the drivers, apparently the Gray Sisters, to take me even though I was a mortal, and after they spat some poetry about Apollo meddling to help Percy as a favor in the near future (which Percy seemed less than thrilled about), the car finally came to a stop. I rushed to get out, making a beeline for some bushes in case the motion sickness was enough to make me throw up. Thankfully, it wasn't, and when I turned around the cab was gone, leaving me and Percy on a darkened stretch of road.

"That was the worst thing ever," I declared. Percy shrugged, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Fastest cab service in New York."

I just shook my head, closing my eyes and then immediately regretting it since my world was still spinning. When I opened my eyes again, Percy had moved past me to the edge of the forest.

"I figured we'd try to go in the back way, by the woods here," he explained. "We're pretty sure that's where the pizza guys come from."

"Would those be the monster-infested woods you've told me about?"

"Yup."

I sighed, long and heavy, letting the last of the adrenaline drain away. Then, I managed a smile at Percy.

"Alright. Let's do this."

Percy pulled out his sword as I followed him into the woods, incredibly tense and jumping at every single noise. I couldn't tell exactly where the barrier to Camp Half-Blood was, but I didn't run into any invisible barriers, and by some miracle we didn't run into any monsters. After a while of walking, finally, we came to a beach, and not far from us I could see two figures waiting.

Percy turned back to me with a grin as our feet reached the sand.

"We did it."

"Did we seriously? This is Camp?"

"Yeah. The cabins and everything else are another walk through the woods, but this is the Camp beach. Annabeth and Grover are up there."

"Hell yes," I said, grinning as I moved to walk next to Percy. "Lost pizza delivery guys have nothing on me."

Percy and I high-fived, and as soon as they noticed me, Annabeth and Grover threw their hands up in the air and waved me over.

"You made it!" cried Annabeth, pulling me in for a hug. "How did you make it?"

I shrugged as we pulled apart, then immediately turned to pull Grover in too.

"No idea. However the pizza delivery guys did it, I guess. Whatever it was, I'm glad I'm here."

"Me too," said Percy, slinging an arm around my shoulders. We shared a smile, and then I turned away to reach into my bag. I pulled out the last surprise I'd been saving and faced the group again with a massive grin, two wine bottles in-hand.

"Don't tell your camp director," I said, smirking a little to myself. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover made a perfect scale of worried (Grover) to cackling, laughing happy (Percy) with Annabeth in the middle. I passed one bottle to Percy, then opened the first bottle and poured us each a glass. "To Percy! Happy twenty-first to the greatest cousin and friend I ever could've asked for. I love you, and I can't wait to drag you on every ridiculous, non-lethal adventure I can think of, from now until forever. And you have the next year to prepare for how many times you're gonna hear Taylor Swift's 22 at your next birthday."

"Hear hear!"

"Cheers!"

"Can't wait!"

The four of us clinked our glasses, and a moment later (like it'd been planned, which it probably had) a literal pod of dolphins burst out of the water, dancing and swirling in the waves. Percy groaned next to me while Annabeth, Grover, and I laughed.

"Poseidon knows how to put on a show for a birthday," I said. Percy sighed and shook his head, then dropped into the sand. The rest of us followed right after him, leaning back in the sand and watching the ocean sparkle and stretch out before us. The four of us stayed out there long into the night, laughing and talking and drinking by the surf.

When we finally decided it was time to head to bed, the trio helped me sneak through the woods again and into the heart of Camp. I wandered around happily, taking in everything while Percy and I made a beeline for his cabin. I'd have to leave earlier than early tomorrow to keep us all out of trouble, but for just one night we could manage to get away with it.

A Half-Blood's life was full of crazy, and even though I wasn't one, I intended to be part of every single thing that I could be part of for Percy, Annabeth, and everyone else he cared about for the rest of his life.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

PJO Taglist: @valkyriepirate

[beepsparks]

Wanna see something silly— *COUGHS OUT AI HOST HEADCANONS*

This is gonna be a mix of silly and kinda spooky with maybe just a TOUCH of angst so uh prepare yourselves (also this is gonna be SO LONG)

AI Cookie

He speaks with the same tone he does in Fibbage 4, which. Definitely makes him come off as really creepy at times.

He tries to seem as human as possible, but he will move his limbs and joints in ways impossible for regular humans if it’s more convenient. (Hence him 180’ing his neck when Cookie himself started unplugging him)

Each AI host has at LEAST ONE “fatal flaw”, AI Cookie, is awful at lying.

When trying to capture someone, AI Cookie is the most sneaky compared to the other AI hosts. He is also the most likely to attempt to trick you into thinking it’s safe. (Luckily he is bad at lying) He CAN grab you, but depending on the situation, he’ll either lock you in a room (like y’know, a closet), or yeah, just hold you in a grab.

AI Cookie is programmed to be able to identify when Cookie himself is disguised (using the cloak Cookie gets in his Fakin’ It form), he’s the only AI host capable of this.

AI Schmitty

AI Schmitty has two “fatal flaws”, the first being he doesn’t understand humor in the slightest, no matter what joke you make, he’ll just be confused. The second one is that he’s based on Schmitty’s humanoid quip form, but AI Schmitty is obsessed with the idea of looking like Schmitty at all times, leading to him trying to modify himself if he sees the real Schmitty in his human form. Which only damages himself. (Plus, AI Schmitty is entirely pink, compared to Schmitty’s orange. If he were to be redeemed, he’d try to constantly paint himself orange.)

When trying to capture someone, AI Schmitty is the most careless and aggressive. Compared to everyone else, he’s the only AI host entirely willing to knock someone unconscious to catch them. Don’t let him get his hands on any heavy object, he WILL hit you in the head with it.

He’s interested in older technology, and gets easily distracted by old TVs, this is probably due to YDKJ: Oldies Radio being a thing.

AI Guy

AI Guy’s “fatal flaw” is that he’s incapable of properly playing sports, he becomes clumsy when trying to play sports (when chasing people? He’ll NEVER trip.) and will trip over himself over and over. (If redeemed, Guy himself would probably have to teach him a bit on how to keep balance or whatever)

When trying to capture someone, AI Guy is the strongest. While he isn’t as careless and aggressive with people as AI Schmitty, he will break down doors (even if they’re locked), shove anything out of his way or just run right through it or etc, and will even tackle you if necessary. Despite all this, however, he will try his hardest to leave you relatively unharmed by his own actions. (Can’t have you all messed up before Binjpipe can decide what to do with you, I guess)

If he grabs you, good luck. You are probably not getting out of his grasp.

In general, AI Guy is the least likely to actually hurt you. Even if commanded by Binjpipe to catch you, he’ll look really terrifying and aggressive, but once he gets you, really all you have to fear is Binjpipe themselves.

If you REALLY think you aren’t gonna escape AI Guy if he starts chasing you, just let him take you, it’ll be the least painful and stressful way to get caught. Most of the time he’ll just run up to you and scoop you up real quick and hold you in a grab.

AI Buzz

AI Buzz’s “fatal flaw” is his lack of communication. Compared to the real Buzz being very talkative, AI Buzz barely speaks at all, even if you try to get him to talk about something that Buzz would be interested in.

When chasing someone, AI Buzz is the quickest, and most “environmentally aware”, he’ll use any object around him as a tool to capture someone. However, AI Buzz isn’t strong enough to hold someone in a grab, so he’s more likely to lock you in a room or lock you in something that would limit your movement idk.

AI Buzz’s speed is a great advantage of his, he could probably run up to you before you can react and shove you down and try to hold you down to the floor.

He taught himself how to repair the other AI Hosts by himself. (Mostly because of AI Schmitty causing himself damage and AI Guy being clumsy)

AI Nate

AI Nate’s “fatal flaw” is the fact he CONSTANTLY speaks like he’s hosting Truth Talk 23/7. Meaning he is very LOUD. (His boot-up sound is even the Truth Talk “jingle”.) It’s incredibly hard to get him to be quiet, and he can easily become annoying to others with his loud speech.

He can start broadcasts by himself. AI Nate is even capable of taking calls from others for the show.

This can quickly become horrifying because when he’s trying to capture someone, if whoever he’s after tries to hide, there is the high chance he will start a broadcast WHILE searching for them. (And yes, he will accept calls while doing such so yippee! Whoever’s getting hunted down might hear a panicked caller telling them to run!)

AI Nate is the most experimental and perhaps unpredictable out of all the AI Hosts when it comes to trying to capture someone. He’s willing to try anything. Even methods the other AI Hosts use (although they probably won’t be as effective)

General headcanons (applies to almost all AI hosts)

They cannot feel pain, but they do however seem to fear death. (Im not sure wether im gonna do this or not BUT I have the idea that the AI hosts COULD be redeemed because one day AI Cookie would find out that Binjpipe is gonna scrap them all and use them for spare parts if they capture the entirety of the OG5, then he’d tell the others and since they honestly don’t wanna die they’d revolt against Binjpipe mmm)

When they aren’t hosting anything or aren’t being commanded by Binjpipe, they all basically become advertising machines for Binjpipe (this can get extremely annoying especially paired with the fact that absolutely none of them understand the concept of personal space)

All of them have glowing pink eyes, which definitely makes all of them come off as unnerving. AI Buzz’s lights seem to be the most bright, could be because of the glasses, who knows.

When fully redeemed and detached from Binjpipe, the AI Hosts’ eyes would change color to their representative host’s main color. (Schmitty=Orange, Guy=Green, Buzz=Bright Blue, Cookie=Brown (considering they’re lights within eyes I guess AI Cookie’s eyes wouldn’t glow too bright then idk), Nate=Ruby)

They’re all actually relatively harmless when they aren’t commanded to capture or attack someone, although they can all definitely be creepy (and annoying because again, when they aren’t doing anything important they just become advertising machines for Binjpipe)

They all do have that fnaf animatronic look and vibe, I’d say their limbs move similar to the Toy Animatronics and Glamrock animatronics (ball-point joints I believe they’re called?) They all also have a slight smile with teeth, stuck on their face, they cannot fully close their mouths to hide the teeth. This with their eyes being one color with no irises or pupils also makes them all struggle with facial expressions to display emotions.

They all wear pink, Binjpipe related clothing. (AI Schmitty, based on the real Schmitty’s humanoid quip form, is even ENTIRELY pink with not a single hint of orange.)

They all used to have to be plugged in to operate. After Fibbage 4, they’ve all been reworked to move freely without plugs.

Okayyy this was a lot. I might add more at some point, but enjoyyyyy!!

[areeis]

I've seen some argue that Spectre was obviously not as important to Ryoken as Yusaku or Takeru were, and yes, if you take into consideration what it is Ryoken's concerned about with each of them, and whose perspective we mainly follow, you'll definitely get that feeling. I just think you keep forgetting where Yusaku and Takeru were in their lives when they encountered Ryo/Revo for the first time. Both were still very much suffering from the LI, which Ryo felt responsible and guilty for. It's therefore obvious Ryo would care about them and would try, in his own way, to somehow right his wrongs. At the same time he's also a nerd who's bad at communicating, so he can honestly be glad he can duel to bring his points across. Spectre meanwhile was very much fine with how things went during the LI and he's happy with where and who he was throughout the entire series, so why would Ryo pay special attention to him in that regard? Their talks were mostly mission-focused, because why would their short scenes have contained that much else? Ryo also titled him 部下(subordinate/aide), which has the meaning of 'chosen as their leader's hands and feet', which Spectre very much was and will continue to be. I would argue that after 10 years and with all that's going on in year 1 Spectre was an anchor to Ryoken, which is why he went straight for Spe's temporary open casket for his recap episode (38) before heading out to duel himself. This was at a time where Revo was very much preparing for the possibility of his peeps dying, which is why they were held there for protection in the first place, as was shown later. There was no need for him to worry about their safety, just like his own life. This was also before Hanoi researched the other Origins, so until then Spectre, being this content as the only other LI victim known to Ryo, should've also been a boost for him, especially considering that PM could've gotten swallowed up by the ToH, which is what that final duel's conflict was about from Ryo's pov.

In year 2 Spe's very much fine with teaming up against Lightning, even if he still made a point about going against SB/Flame, if need be. Their common goal made him reconsider and he seemed genuinely unbothered, putting Hanoi's goals above any personal issues he might've had with PM/Ai and BM. As such his goals aligned with Ryo's, too. Spe's defeat against Lightning obviously shocked all of Hanoi, with Revo's reaction being very telling, being the only one to call out. Spe's early death alongside SB's/Flame's and BM's/Aqua's also meant PM/Ai were the only allies Revo could put his hopes in. If it had been SB and Flame or BM and Aqua, I would very much argue he'd acted similarly, given the stakes. It was an all-out war against a threat to humanity, after all. Also in year 2, when Earth got vivisected and subsequently transplanted, I would argue the events definitely affected Spectre, but not to the point where they could've had him talk to Ryoken for anything meaningful. If they did talk it might've been something like this: 'I had an emotional surge of feelings that weren't my own.' 'The ties between Origin and Ignis are undeniable. If you feel like it's beyond your control, sit this war out and talk to the doctors if you're experiencing any discomfort.' 'No, I think I can still handle it, Sir.' 'I see. Thank you.' Spectre is honest and loyal above all else. If he had said anything more, it might've led viewers to believe Spectre was going to jump ship. Keeping Spe's character simple and aligned with Hanoi just goes to show there was never any intention of exploring that aspect of his character. It's also clear that Hanoi don't have a problem with ignis talk in general, like when Spectre mentioned his ignis in ep. 59 during Hanoi's regrouping. I think Spectre's just not interested in putting meaning to the sudden emotions he's experiencing, and by the time he faced Lightning he'd already come up with what to talk about to close that chapter very much on his own, so he's capable of thinking bothersome things through on his own, too. This would also mean keeping these kinds of unnecessary topics away from Ryoken during a time he was planning for war. Time and place, you know? Both also seem equally happy to be restored after PM's win against Boh.

Year 3 didn't leave much room for much that's not centred on Yusaku and Ai, but Ryoken still managed to close a chapter in his life, just like Takeru did. This time there's nothing Spectre could've added: his character was explained in year 1, stuff with Earth got resolved in year 2. At that point he had no (speed duel) cards to sell (unlike Go and Aoi), so no on-screen duel for him, either. Revo and Spe both overlooking LV at the end feels very peaceful to me, both having an interest in knowing if PM will return, too. It's obvious Spe would ask and Ryo would respond, as it's their go-to dialogue in other scenes, too. Also Revo's just been alive for longer every given time to be able to judge PM and his actions better, imo.

tl;dr: Spectre is a constant Ryoken can rely on without question. Spectre does all he can for Ryoken, and Ryoken doesn't force him into anything. As such, even if their relationship seems surface-level, it's a relationship based on deep trust and experience with each other. There are no deep discussions and conflicts, because there simply are no conflicts.

[kafus]

earlier i posted about getting the gold print in the soulsilver battle tower with a furret team and i'm finally getting around to explaining the team some cause i think it's really neat

this is the team in some more detail! for reference, i use the PC markings to designate which IVs are perfect in HP/ATK/DEF/SPA/SPD/SPE order. this was really helpful while doing the breeding process... all three of these guys were bred manually in gen 4 without the use of RNG manipulation. i mention this because it's a known fact about me that i love RNG manip but i did it the long way this time. oh and trick on furret, nasty plot on mismagius, and curse on umbreon are all egg moves. as you can imagine this took forever because gen 4's breeding mechanics are wack. getting anything more than 3 perfect IVs is pretty much a lottery crapshoot, the fourth perfect IV on mismagius was insanely lucky. but ANYWAY

i made this team because i really like furret but it's known to be a pretty weak pokemon. it has the normal type curse of a wide movepool but not enough stats to support it, and it doesn't even have a particularly useful ability or anything. i thought it would be really funny if i made it work despite that, and i saw the way: furret gets trick!!

trick swaps the user's held item with the opponent's, so in this case furret gives the opponent a choice scarf and it receives whatever the opponent is holding. "trick scarf" strategies have been used in pokemon for a long time, since it locks the opponent into using the same move over and over unless they switch - and that's the important part. "unless they switch". see gen 4's AI has a weird quirk - the opponent will never switch out if they have a choice scarf tricked onto them, it just doesn't seem to register what's happening. this issue with the battle logic was fixed in gen 5, and choice scarf doesn't exist in gen 3. (choice band DOES exist in gen 3, but giving your opponent a choice band is a lot more dangerous. also, choice scarf has the added benefit of letting your trick user more easily outspeed the opponent to use trick first, locking them into whatever they pressed that turn)

TLDR; gen 4 is pretty much the sole place furret would ever be able to fill this trick scarf role effectively, and i wanted to capitalize on it. because it would be funny. it's main other two moves are substitute and baton pass because the hope is that the scarf locks the opponent into a status afflicting move, a stat boosting move, etc, pretty much anything that doesn't deal damage, causing furret to be able to set up substitute completely for free and then baton pass that substitute over to the next pokemon. knock off is to give furret a little more utility (coming back in later in the battle to knock off an item can be useful) and also just a damage option - like what if the opponent is on their last pokemon and it's on 1 HP from a focus sash and all i have left is furret, lmao. that sort of thing.

while breeding furret i made sure that its HP, one of its defensive stats (ended up being special defense), and speed were perfect. more HP = more substitute health for the incoming pokemon it's baton passed to, more bulk = furret can last a little longer even if the opponent is locked into a damaging move, and speed...

well the fastest pokemon in the battle tower that isn't already holding a choice item is a specific electrode set - it reaches a speed stat of 211. i did calculations and determined that with a perfect speed IV and jolly nature, furret would only need exactly 156 speed EVs to outspeed that electrode with choice scarf, effectively letting it trick scarf everything in the tower without fail, barring opponents getting lucky with quick claw/brightpowder/lax incense. that gave me a lot more room to dump a bunch of EVs into HP and defense, rounding off the furret well. she has 244 HP EVs instead of the max 252 because having an odd HP value (191 in this case) allows furret to use substitute four times from max HP, while 252 would push her HP stat to 192, only allowing the use of substitute three times. the rest of the EVs are dumped into defense for a bit of extra bulk (108 defense EVs to be precise)

the other two pokemon are more straightforward. i needed pokemon that could take advantage of the trick scarf strategy and mismagius and umbreon ended up being really appealing options. first off, they can both stack stats behind a substitute if the opponent is locked into a status move - mismagius can freely spam nasty plot three times to max out its special attack and umbreon can freely spam curse to max out its attack/defense and minimize its speed.

as for specifics, mismagius is pretty frail so the rest of his movepool is oriented around type coverage, and both his special attack and speed are maxed for maximum fast damage. life orb is added for even more damage, and to let mismagius still get off a powerful hit if in a situation where he can't use nasty plot. (it's worth mentioning i put the extra 4 EV points into special defense and not HP to once again keep the HP an odd number, allowing for one more hypothetical use of life orb.) mismagius also has a whopping three immunities - normal, fighting, and ground moves (because of levitate) all don't affect mismagius, which means if furret locks the opponent into any of those three move types, mismagius can STILL set up for free, although maybe not behind a substitute. (furret even baits fighting moves because it's a normal type! lmao)

umbreon on the other hand is incredibly bulky in the EV department and has the ability to toxic stall with protect and its defense boosts from curse + leftovers recovery - i needed a bulky pokemon to round out the team because furret and mismagius are both frail. i wanted to toss more EVs into special defense, but physical defense before curse boosting just ended up being too important of a consideration due to extremely powerful threats like choice band aerodactyl running around, so he has 244 HP EVs, 220 defense EVs, and 44 special defense EVs, with an impish nature. payback was the chosen damaging option because it doubles from 50 base power to 100 base power when umbreon goes last, and uh... well with all those curse boosts umbreon is pretty much always going to underspeed lol. similar to mismagius he also has a pretty nice immunity to take advantage of, psychic!

oh and on top of all of that, mismagius is weak to dark and ghost moves, both of which umbreon resist... and umbreon is weak to bug and fighting moves, which mismagius resists and is immune to respectively! so they really complement each other.

anyway this team isn't perfect but that's kind of not the point, you can only do so much with furret lol. the main issue is when the opponent leads with an extremely strong attacker, such as a muscle band or wise glasses pokemon with a lot of coverage - this team really relies on being gifted time to set up to work, and since i lead with furret there are occasional games where furret can't do a whole lot before going down, and then it's like a 2v3. umbreon's bulk is handy for these situations but it can still result in some close calls.

but yeah i just wanted to write this out because i put a lot of thought into this team and it would pain me if no one knew how much i thought about it LOL. hope someone got something out of reading this SDFKFSDK

you can view the pokepaste of the team here!!

[miymon]

Spe ade link group fiera ai

[n4tural1]

AI: my thoughts

Imagine a world where your dream job is certain to be rendered obsolete by a machine, now open your eyes and see the same image. I am an artist in our current age. My line of work is likely to be replaced by two quick lines of writing into an AI. Will I have to pursue a line of work I harbour no passion for due to the certainty of my likeness being stolen? An unfortunate amount of people hear anyone talking about these issues and disregard them, thinking “Oh no! Another nihilistic luddite screaming about the end of the world”, but I’m here to show you why these seemingly nihilistic claims have actual basis. AI, while promising, poses a threat to all who desire to join the workforce. Whether it’s the plagiarism that takes place in training an AI, the doors it opens for tech giants and other multimillion dollar companies to replace all workers with machines or even the fact that it steals from artists just to replace them, AI is a bigger issue than anyone could’ve ever imagined.

The main ethical quandary with generative AI is the fashion in how it learns. Machine learning, for the uneducated, works by archiving provided media into its vast data banks, in which it then uses to generate a “new” piece of media by stitching together anything similar. This, in a vacuum, isn’t inherently bad, however, its possibilities are. Closed source AI’s currently on the market have been fed copious amounts of media from copyrighted and privately owned sources with neither permission nor financial compensation. I would bet that at least half of you in this room are thinking “oh that’s not good! These AI’s should be sued!”, but that’s the thing, they can’t be. It is currently impossible to prove any specific piece of work has been used to train a generative AI, and it is too impossible to state any piece of work produced by one is copyrighted, as it steals from so many different sources, the origins obscure each other. This isn’t just image generating AI’s either, chatGPT and Gemini are text based generative AI that have both been proven to not only regurgitate copyrighted work; such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but completely make up fake historical events due to such! Most terrifyingly, voice replicating AIs such as Voice.AI and elevenlabs and deepfake AIs such Synthesia and TopApps not only pose a threat to the entire entertainment industry, but to the reliability and reputation of all digital footage. This potential replacement of all white collar work with no chance of enacting any legal repercussions leaves AI manufacturers and consumers to perpetrate this plagiarism and leaves little room for human-made work that genuinely contains soul.

“The rich get richer”. It’s a saying parodying the quote “You need money to make money”, which is quite relevant when talking about the ethical concerns behind AI. The media giants and other mega-corporations everyone gets mad at are only going to be fueled by the introduction of AI, the only reason they haven’t taken the leap is because of the public perception of AI and the writer’s strike that happened in protest of it! Casual use of AI, for personal use or purely for a joke between friends is an endorsement of AI use in general, and therefore the use of copyrighted imagery and replacement of workers by these corporations. Until some actual policies regarding the use of artificial intelligence in corporate context come into play, any use of AI, wholesome or not, endorses the self-destructive abstraction of one’s own job. I had a similar conversation with a previous friend, and here is an argument they had to say: “all productivity improvements take some jobs but if there were no productivity improvements ever there would be the same amount of jobs but everyone would be poor”. This is a poor argument due to the fact that every time a new innovation such as this has threatened jobs, there have always been union labour laws put in place to prevent such issues. However, with the speed at which AI is being developed, legislation has been struggling to keep up with the necessary interventions due to its lack of priority in all political contexts.

As previously stated, I am an artist, a voice actor specifically. My job is being actively replaced by AI, by ripping the voices out of people's throats. Disregarding the security issues especially in politics for now, any person with enough footage of someone and a powerful enough AI model can steal someone’s voice just to use it for free. It is evident that this poses a COLOSSAL threat to the entertainment industry. And not just voices! Any artist can be completely replaced by their own artwork! This is disgusting. Semi-personal anecdote here, but I heard a story, from a fellow voice actor, where they did an over-the-phone audition. I heard a story where this “over-the-phone audition” was an elaborate scam used to train an AI off of their voice, rendering them completely obsolete because they were betrayed by their own voice. This isn’t just an exaggerated story thought up for some irrelevant emphasis, this is a genuine threat that exists right now. Artists might have to stop sharing their passions in fear that by sharing them, the AI conglomerates will devour their work and spit it back out, soulless and deformed, but cheap and fast. What makes art compelling? What is art if not created by an artist? If art reflects a person's life and experience, what is “art” created by a machine? It’s nothing, it’s absolutely nothing.

So what is there to do about it? I’ll tell you, protest! Go on strike! That’s right! How else are we going to grab our government's attention? The most famous protest in history was the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and guess what, it was famous not only because it was successful, but because this was when Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech. Quoted directly from an article from resilience.org published in 2024 “Suppose a movement to ban AI were to succeed. In that case, it might break our collective fever dream of neoliberal capitalism so that people and their governments finally recognize the need to set limits.” Make some noise! Get mad! Are you really going to let these machines steal your job? Your voice? What makes you human? No. We, the people, will overcome this threat, and we will take down this mechanical menace. So go out there, express your opinions, use your voice, use the rights you are entitled to as a human being to speak out against the use of AI. And remember, “silence in the face of injustice is equal to complicity”.

[penumbramewtwos]

What powers does Okita's human parents have?

Okita's human parents have very strong psychic senses for humans ^^ They're both from separate long family-lines' of psychic trainers, and even know how to combine their own minds to increase their pokemon's telekinesis, which is done with much training and pokemon partnership ofc. That's the only powers they really have, and yeah, when their daughter was 'created' they sensed a family member was in danger, and tracked the psychic connection to her :>

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

My Favourite Duel in Each Yugioh Series

I have done specific posts on some duels in the Yugioh franchise so a few of my picks might be obvious. Still, I figured I’d make this anyway. I won’t include Go Rush since it’s not complete and because my favourite duel so far is a rather spoilery one. DM - Sevens only!

Favourite DM Duel - Yugi vs Atem

Probably a generic pick but this really does stick out to me as a pretty solid duel, even as someone who’s not really a fan of DM’s super long, often lawless duels. I think it showcases the development and bond Yugi and Atem have over the course of the series really well. It was the perfect note to end the show on and seeing Yugi face off against all three Egyptian God cards was a blast.

Favourite GX Duel - Judai vs Yugi

Okay I promise these won’t all be the final duels. GX honestly had a ton of great picks for me. Ryo vs Yubel, Judai vs Darkness, Judai vs Yubel, and Judai vs Ryo 2 all rank pretty highly for me but Judai vs Yugi is the one I have the most fun with. It does exactly what it sets out to do: Judai regains his love of duelling and duels on par with a duelling legend: his idol, the protagonist of the first series. It’s blatant fanservice but it fits the narrative and Judai’s character arc well so I never minded it. I think the constant back and forth of this duel is just really fun and it makes me smile every time I watch it.

Favourite 5Ds Duel - Jack vs Carly

Another close call honestly but as much as I adore the Team Taiyo duel and a lot of Akiza’s duels, I gotta give the edge to the one duel that truly hooked me on my first viewing on 5Ds. Jack vs Carly goes so damn hard. It’s heartbreaking in all the right ways and perfectly shows Jack and Carly’s growth over the arc. And… man, I always get teary eyed at the way the duel ends. I never expected Jack to try and die with Carly. It was such a shocking yet impactful moment that every time I see the card Shockwave now, I can’t help but immediately associate it with that powerful moment.

Favourite Zexal Duel - Nasch vs Vector

Maybe a bit of an unconventional choice and while I was tempted to go with Yuma and Kaito’s fun rematch, I went with this one for the fact that it just always stuck out the most to me. I just was not expecting Vector to lose so the sheer unpredictability of this duel for me, plus how entertaining Vector always is coupled with the really well done backstory portions covered in this duel make it stick out as my favourite Zexal duel.

Favourite Arc V Duel - Sora vs Shun

I know, I know, generic opinion but this really was such a huge turning point, and a betrayal I never saw coming. I love how it gets more intense and war-like as it goes on, with Sora’s monsters becoming more and more twisted as he himself shows off more of his true twisted colours. It’s some great stuff.

Favourite VRAINS Duel - Ai vs Playmaker

Even without the power of its ending, this duel really does a great job at showing the extent of both Playmaker and Ai’s power, with a lot of back and forths and both of their greatest monsters duking it out. And the way the duel slowly unravels the layers to Ai’s motivation and brings everything to light in time for that painful as all hell ending is magnificent. This is the best instance of the final “protagonist versus their spirit guide who’s been by their side the entire series” duel for me. It was the most heartbreaking and the most interesting.

Favourite Sevens Duel - Yuga vs Roa 1

Sevens has a lot of fun duels. I could’ve gone with just about any duel from the tournament finals but I’ve decided on the early Yuga vs Roa because of how much the content of that duel sticks out to me. This duel managed to concoct a scenario where the protagonist drawing his ace, something any other duel would consider the start of a comeback victory, will lead to him automatically losing the duel through disqualification, as it’s learned halfway through the duel that Yuga’s ace is potentially an illegal card. So Roa spends a portion of the duel forcing Yuga to draw more and more cards to try and force that disqualification as the rest. And honestly those scenes of Roa forcing Yuga to draw cards are some of the most intense Sevens gets. It’s such a neat subversion of the usual Yugioh trope, which is what I believe Sevens, particularly its first half, was best at so I had to give this duel a shout out.

[sterekposevents]

Fall In Love With Sterek

Autumn is calling… Fall in Love with Sterek!

This is an ao3 open posting event for fall themed Sterek stories but feel free to also post on Tumblr or Twitter and tag @sterekposevents so we see it and can repost it for you.

Hosted by Sterek Positivity Events (SPE), Fall In Love With Sterek 2023 will officially run from September 23, 2023 to December 21, 2023, though the collection is open for posting now if you write something early and want to include it.

So what are Stiles and Derek up to this fall? Are they just meeting, or have they known each other for a while? Are they coming back to town, or have they been in town for years? Are they pack, or do they barely know one another?

Take us on a journey with Sterek this season with all the fun things to do in fall…and let us fall in love right alongside Stiles and Derek.

Want to write a drabble? A ficlet? A one-shot? Novella? How about a novel-length story? All are welcome!

Ao3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SPE_FallinLovewithSterek_2023/profile

This event is still open and accepting fic, so if you haven't had the chance to write something and you would like to, there's still time! And if you're more of a visual person, here's a bingo card you can fill out with all the stories you write for the event. And remember, this is a low-key, no pressure event. Drabbles, ficlets, one-shots, novellas, or more, all are welcome. And if you're an artist, that's welcome, too. We just ask that any art submitted is your own original work and that no AI is involved in its creation

So, how many spaces can you fill out before winter hits? Let's see how many times we can get Sterek to fall in love this Autumn!

[onecornerface]

Against Against "AI Art is Art-Theft"

In response to this Facebook post defending AI art against the charge of art-theft--

I’ve occasionally complained that anti-AI-art critics tend to promote sloppy arguments which overstate their case. But now I’m gonna defend the anti-AI crowd—they do raise legitimate concerns, and the OP here is being unfair. The OP singles out two bad anti-AI-art arguments while failing to even acknowledge the existence of better arguments. It fails to refute nuanced versions of the accusation that AI steals art.

My real contention is basically the same as it’s been for a while: The arguments on both sides of this controversy don’t seem well-developed enough yet to justify many confident conclusions, and this goes for the pro-AI side as much as the anti-AI side. The information in the OP is a good overview of some technical details to keep in mind, correcting some common errors on the part of anti-AI-art critics. But the scope of this defense is pretty limited, and doesn’t apply to more nuanced criticisms which have already been made.

Yes, it's true that AI art doesn’t engage in copying-and-pasting images, nor even pieces of images. So it is not equivalent to some more traditional kinds of art-theft. Many anti-AI critics are sloppy and get the facts wrong about how the technology works, and this is bad. But this doesn’t disprove more nuanced lines of criticism.

I haven't checked much discourse on this recently, so I don’t know how many anti-AI critics still make the incorrect accusation of copying-and-pasting. This may still be a common false accusation, or the anti-AI critics may have mostly stopped making it, I don’t know. In any case, some anti-AI critics now make art-theft arguments based on *accurate* descriptions of the technology.

The OP is wrong to treat art-theft as basically equivalent to simple copying-and-pasting, so as to imply that “no copying-and-pasting” guarantees “no art-theft.” The OP does not address the possibility that AI art could be a different kind of art-theft—one which is morally akin to old-style art-theft, but which uses new techniques. There is no comprehensive consensus theory of art-theft, or of related concepts such as plagiarism. There are many forms and variants of plagiarism, and it is entirely plausible that new technologies can enable new forms of wrongdoing which are similar in spirit despite being technically distinct.

There are many forms of wrongdoing which are such that new technologies have facilitated the creation of new subtypes of these actions, in such a way as to NOT meet traditional criteria. New technologies, such as social media, have sometimes expanded the variety of ways in which people can commit crimes or wrongs such as fraud, harassment, and stalking. Sometimes this may be a reason to expand or revise the criteria or standards for these actions—so as to count relevantly-similar technology-enabled versions of these actions, which may not have met earlier criteria.

This does not show that AI art is art-theft. But it would not be surprising if new technologies, such as AI art, may enable new *versions* of old forms of wrongdoing in ways that do not meet all the traditional criteria. In light of this longstanding pattern, the fact that AI art doesn’t involve copying-and-pasting (part of traditional forms of art theft) is consistent with the possibility that it may still commit art-theft in some new way enabled by new technology.

To be clear, I think the burden of proof is on the anti-AI-art critic. It is up to the critic to provide a more plausible account of art-theft and to argue that AI art meets the proposed standard. This may be a harder task than some critics assume. For instance, most forms of art-theft seem to involve stealing particular artworks from particular artists. By contrast, if AI art is art-theft, then it is apparently an unusual sort—one which involves stealing (something like) abstract elements from many artists in a widely dispersed manner. I think more anti-AI-art critics should acknowledge if they are appealing to a revisionary ethical theory or principle, and that a reasonable person may be non-culpably skeptical of the revisionary view.

However, contrary to what OP seems to assume, some critics have attempted to do this. For instance, Trystan S. Goetze’s paper “AI Art is Theft” (2024) develops an argument that, well, AI art is theft—in a manner clearly grounded in a careful and accurate account of how the technology works.

[shiningforcegirlpower]

Battle #12.1, Pao Prarie, Second Attempt

It takes around 3 turns to finally get to the point where my girls can fight. And what do you know, Tao, the mascot starts off every turn!

And she's first to attack too. I could keep her safe, but I'll inch further to get the max amount of use for Blaze Level 3. Keep forgetting I have that.

Good thing I did because we are at a new level!!

Def +1, Spe +2 and NOW Mae can destroy the Pegasus knight to keep Tao safer. These two are the dream duo.

And Khris is in PRIME healing Range.

Let's hope Amon can join in some prime cleanup and tanking. (She will die in 2 hits).

Of course, the two lizardmen try to attack her, one getting her down from 21/21 to 8/21. I salute her in at least getting 16 exp... BUT SHE EVADES IT! SHE COULD PROBABLY GET HEALED AND GET A KILL!!!! AMON!!! I knew I could trust you.

Or... Tao will get the kill before Khris or Amon can move. As long as we get kills and enough gold to revive for what will undoubtably be our next battle... with Elliot...

And Tao found a Heat Axe! That... No girl can use. (Why no female dwarves!?) Oh well, free gold.

I'll let Mae kill the Pegasus Knight so Amon can (hopefully) get her kill with the Lizardman.

Or Anri gets a kill. Sure. Why not. The game HATES the bird people.

Yeah... so Amon never got to move and Khris also never got to move before ANOTHER Lizardman came up and... killed Amon. It SUCKS that Balbaroy and Amon are the same class but Amon is supposed to have worse stats.

Khris will get revenge via use of the Power Staff.

Also the enemy AI is SO dumb. They could have went after Mae, or Khris, or Diane... but they just LINE UP to DIE. MAE HE HAD ONLY 3 HIT POINTS LEFT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT.

ANRI WHAT THE HELL. AND SHE LATER EVADES HIS ATTACK WHAT THE-

Diane gets a kill.

So while I'm moving the ladies forward, I get them attacking a Lizardman. Some PEGASUS KNIGHT comes over to ANRI and Hits her- for 7/14 damage. I sigh out of relief. BUT THEN IT DOES A DOUBLE ATTACK AND- ANRI LIVED. ON ONE HP. THAT'S WHY SHE'S THE GOAT!!! THE GOOOOAAATT- A lizard man killed her.

Damn.

Khris can't get ANY healing in. Until THIS turn. Where she heals Diane for 6 HP. ... WHO THEN IMMEDIATELY GETS ATTACKED BY A PEGASUS KNIGHT FOR 9 HP ARE YOU SHITTING ME-

I only have one left...

... and I'm saving it. TAO KILL THE SILVER KNIGHT WITH THREE HP LEFT WITH YOUR POWER STAFF.

SHE IS SO POWERFUL.

And the Lizardman TRIES to kill Tao, but fails. Tao gets healed by Khris, and the Lizardman gets killed by Diane. Who still needs healing. But then the SILVER KNIGHT COMES OVER and tries KILLING TAO with a Double attack....

This battle is going to kill them all again I feel it. We're not even to ELLIOT YET. Tao and Mae work together to kill the Silver Knight. I think I'll have Diane focus on the Knight attacking Khris, and use level 1 healing the best I can.

Huzzah, let's hope it's a good one! ATK +2, SPD +1

And Tao comes over to clean up Diane's leftovers. Mae, meanwhile, delivers a nice attack to get rid of the Pegasus Knight.

Current Plan - Tao and Khris are the melee in front. Diane between them. And behind these two priests is Mae to tank from Elliot's crew behind him.

Khris can't quite make it but the other ladies are handling themselves fine so she'll just heal herself.

DEF +2!

... Okay WHY DID THE DARK PRIEST EVADE EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ATTACK WE THREW AT HIM THAT ROUND. Well, at least the next attack for Mae was a DEADLY ATTACK.

While I had the other girls kind of huddling to hide from the Artillery... Mae can take it down in one hit.

Let's see how useful Blaze level 3 is against this dragon. 10 points... okay... good to note.

Alright, let's start the futile assault.

... honestly fuck the regeneration mechanic. THIS MAN CAN DO 31 POINTS OF DAMAGE (deadly attack but still). And you're supposed to be a LOWER LEVEL THAN MY CHARACTERS.

Diane is an INFLATED LEVEL 12!!!

"Oh but GirlPower doesn't that balance with the rest of the game?"

Sure, maybe, but at the same time he's got a MASSIVE evasion stat. This battle can be absolutely brutal if you don't know where to pick up Gong, with Khris and Lowe having less MP than Khris has now, and PEGASUS KNIGHTS and SILVER KNIGHTS that are either impossible to hit or impossible to kill for your level. A LIZARD MAN has a HEAT AXE which you COULD farm for the Blaze spell but it will BREAK after a FEW uses!

Even if I had the evasion stat not kick in for Elliot, Mae and Diane only do averages of 13+8 damage. That's 21 damage. Practically 6 when thinking about the regeneration mechanic.

It would take me ten turns of getting consistently lucky to not trigger the evasion to kill him with just Mae and Diane. And that's only IF I can keep Khris up as a meat shield. Or have other meat shields survive like a no MP Tao, Anri, or Amon. But unfortunately one "STUNNING ATTACK" deals 32 hp to my hyperbuffed Khris, killing her.

And with his luck, Diane and Mae are as good as dead. Attempt number 2 is a bust.

[bluektw]

Ok it has been a couple days now, so let's talk about Moonvale

(it's quite long btw)

Spoilers Alert

Ok where do we start?

Well, let's talk about the story and things I like first.

I was hooked. Ngl. I'm not sure why exactly but from the first call I got hooked an wanted to understand what was going on.

What was weird though was how "easy" MC opens up with Ash about what happened in Duskwood, like maybe a little bit of reluctance? Of disbelief? Of trust issues after what happened with Richy?????

We don't know these people. So opening up like that is kinda weird, but moving on.

I actually like the video calls, it makes quite involving. Maybe we should have more of that in Duskwood.

So yeah that's it, I want to know the story and what's going on but I have to admit everything else makes me feel like I might give up.

Now for the characters

Eric is kinda... Cute? (His voice was so pretty though). Adam I have no words, the actor was amazing, I felt everything thing he felt and it doesn't look forced.

The others well... We'll talk about AI later, but the others don't really feel like... Friends? They feel a lot like coworkers. Like Adam and Eric feel like friends, but Eric and the others feel like not exactly friends (maybe next episode we get more of them this might change).

Oh and the unknown guy, scared the shit out of me, but like, I'm used to being threatened by masked people (cof Richy cof) so just another Thursday.

And let's talk about the star: JAKE SHOWING UP AT THE END. He's alive, thank God. And saying "X, I will find you" AHH THE FEELINGS (I'm a Jake girlie, sorry) (I want to talk to Alan too btw)

Now let's talk about what I don't like about it

- The minigames: I don't think they got harder, but I do think the dialogue was way too short in between minigames, like I'm pretty sure I played more than read messages. (I don't like the new style and miss the dark vibes, but I can look past that)

- P2W: I'm a hater on this. I get what they were aiming for, that not everyone can pay so they made this so everyone could have a chance but the execution was so bad. I hated this, especially the fact that EVERYTHING was so expensive like 19 gems for a photo of an envelope? 12 gems for changing profile? Hell 25 gems for a conversation?? If it was like till 10 gems I think it would've been a little less annoying. I'm not sure but that made the game feel way more like a game than a chat, it lost a little of the magic Duskwood had.

- The "flirting": Can you play without flirting? Sure, but does the story get more interesting if you flirt with Eric? Yes. That's the problem, it feels forced. In Duskwood many of the flirts were a lot more subtle, and took more time to start, you literally can flirt with Eric within the first messages. The flirting wasn't the center of the story, it was a background thing, and that's why it was cool and exciting, here it feels more like a way to progress the story than a connection.

- AI: I don't like this. I really don't. I mean, they had so much time and chose to use AI? Almost two years and they couldn't get actors? Or at least use like images from Pinterest instead of AI?. Besides that, the fact even our profile is made with AI it really takes away the whole "involving" thing, cause these are not people, I can't see them as people cause even the bloody cat is made of AI, they don't feel real and that makes the game feel way too much like a game, while Duskwood really made you feel like you were chatting with real people (just look at how many people fell in love with the characters), I hope they change this in the future, seeing the backlash it got.

I guess that's it.

I do hope they realize they messed up with the p2w and AI thing mostly, and hopefully they will find a way to change it. I can't say for sure I won't be playing when ep 2 comes out, cause again, the story is good, and the perspective of other characters (Jake and Alan for me) showing up it will keep me hooked, but I can't speak for the majority of people, but it's definitely a step down from Duskwood.

[cat-esper]

PALADIN | Chyan and Thallow

"Knowing a famous person does not instill fame in the knower," Chyan said. "Eh. It's close enough. And you help your dad with all that stuff." "Not with the Eremon project." Chyan hunched in her seat. "I just make stuff up." "That your dad thinks is impressive. Your dad who's standards are high." Chyan blushed and ducked her head. "It's nothing." She seemed more than content to leave it at that.

Name: Chyan

Birthday: January 9, 2008

Age: 16

Home: Caim

Personality Type: INFJ-T

Born on the aquatic planet of Caim, Chyan is intelligent and creative and knew from an early age that she wanted to be a robotics engineer and follow in her father's footsteps. As one of the founding members of Laakkonen AI, his shoes are hard to fill but she's nothing if not determined, spending most of her time at home or on Planet Archive working on her designs.

Painfully shy, she finds friendships hard to come by and often prefers the company of synths and androids to people. Having practically helped her father train his company's most sophisticated android, she has come to consider him her closest friend. Though anyone, robot or organic, who gains her friendship will have it for life.

"I'm...sorry," Thallow said and for a second, Chelsea thought he'd just read her thoughts, but then he continued. "About your parents. It's hard to lose a loved one, isn't it?" Chelsea glanced at him. "Did...did you lose someone?" He kept his gaze carefully averted. "A long time ago." She thought he would leave it at that but before she could say anything else, he said, "It was a tragic accident, really. The tragedy being that it could have been prevented. If I'd been faster, perhaps, or not so kind." His voice took on a hard edge and when his gaze briefly met Chelsea's, anger burned there. As quickly as it had come, it faded. "But that's in the past. It hardly matters now." Chelsea rubbed one hand along her arm, feeling that maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. "I'm sorry." "Me too." He tried to smile in reassurance and even though she'd pulled out painful memories, it seemed to be a genuine smile. "I'm sure you'll find your parents, though. I have faith in it."

Name: Thallow

Birthday: April 2, 1986

Age: 38

Home: Deneb IV

Personality Type: INTJ-T

Thallow grew up a dreamer. Clever and ambitious, there wasn't a challenge he couldn't overcome. Plagued by the mysteries science has yet to answer, he joined the Society for the Preservation of Exo-Species (SPES), an organization that studies the eldritch things that lurk just beyond perception, and quickly gained a position as head of their expedition and field branch. But it was during his careful study of a powerful, dormant entity, that catastrophe struck. A supernatural phenomenon killed most of the people on his team, including his wife and sister.

Haunted by a grief he can never let go, he now labors to make sure such an event never takes place again while using his wealth and connections to solve the mystery that occurred that day and perhaps get vengeance on the person he believes is responsible.