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bluebeezle · 1 year

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AI Art

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As a technical artist who's spent much of his career automating away as much of the hassle in the animation pipeline as I can for the artists I work with, I have mixed feelings about AI. I thought I should weigh in, since I feel a lot of the criticisms launched at Corridor have been unfair. They're excited about a new technology and sharing a proof of concept. I'm excited with them. Sure, they’re overselling and maybe naïve about its application. But AI is a powerful and exciting tool. It's an amazing human achievement in its own right.

That being said, using AI art for profit, in its current state, and in the context of our current economic system, isn't morally defensible. Artists' work is being used without their consent to actively hurt them. The argument that AI just does what humans do, mixing and combining influences, just much faster and more expansively, is a fair one. But in an economic system where property dictates survival, a line has to be drawn between one property and the next, and making sure there's a human in there seems like a better line than most. If we don't, there's nothing stopping people from stealing anything they want from everyone else just by laundering it through AI. If we lived in a culture of open source, as Corridor ostensibly endorses, this wouldn't even be a debate. It’d be an exciting new option and tool. Imagine, if we all had a common cause and people's survival didn't depend on employment. Imagine being able to create a tool we could all contribute to that was so powerful that it was the sum of all our talents and skills rolled into one. Like a fuckin infinitely deployable artistic/[place-skill-here] DBZ spirit bomb. So clearly, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the technology. It's only an issue because of the economic system it finds itself in.

The other problem I side against AI art on is the danger of the homogenization of art. I think that alone ensures the importance of manual artists in a future living with AI.

Just as an aside, though, I'd like to point out that I don't see why artists are special in this regard. Programmers, journalists - EVERYONE's work is being scraped. And while I'm not as plugged into social media as others, so I may just not be aware, I'm not hearing battle cries on their behalf. AI is clearly incompatible with our current economic system, but its potential is too much of a boon to humanity to pass up. I say we make the changes we need to accommodate both the people our systems serve and the technologies that would greatly improve our lives. UBI, please. We’ve needed to address systemic problems for some time. Maybe the fallout from AI affecting so many industries will finally force some action. Until then, this version of AI art is not acceptable.

Part of me wants this tech. It needs to allow more control and allow for variable levels of automation, depending on how much the user wants to control it, but it could be a powerful tool. I wonder how many stories were never told because a writer didn't have the time, resources, or skillset to execute on a personal project. Some people are more interested in telling an anime story than they are learning how to draw. I’ve definitely had ideas that work better in one medium or another. Fortunately, I have enough skill in the mediums those ideas work in that I can just do it. Some people don’t, and don’t share the passion to learn that process. The over-the-top nature of the Corridor short is clearly directly inspired by anime. They’ve done live action anime videos in the past. But anime is the medium the story and the style they’re telling it in works best in. I don't see what's so wrong with wanting to create a technology that allows people to execute on ideas instantly. If there's technology to help them do that, whether or not they develop the skill themselves is their decision to make. It's not for us to tell people what part of the process they should be interested in. I'm still going to keep drawing even though there are tools that will create better and faster results, because I enjoy it and it's mine. But I'm not entitled to being paid for my art, just like I'm not entitled to being paid for my code, when AI can do that better and faster, too. I don't hold it against people who are more interested in the results than the journey. Their priorities are their own business.

And as the auteur rises and costs to produce full animations decreases, we won’t be relegated to seeing a select few animations that play it safe because of all the money involved. We’ll get all kinds of weird and wacky stuff. Everyone can contribute a verse.

I don't buy the lazy, work-averse critique. First, it's irrelevant. Second, you can tell hobbyists with a feature length personal passion project there’s no reason they can’t animate it by hand themselves, but even after they develop the skill, they have decades of work ahead of them unless they can afford an animation team. Third, that's what technology is about. Making difficult things easier. Is Arc System Works cheating by creating 3D animations that look 2D, while not having to draw every frame from every possible angle they want the camera to be able to be placed? Am I cheating by using masks on layers while I'm crosshatching? Am I lazy for using a car to get to get groceries instead of walking? I'm making a game. I can program and animate. Am I lazy if I use AI to generate sound effects, if I'm not interested in learning how to do that well? I can only assume the aversion to this shortcut stems from fear rationalized with a puritanical fetishization of hard work for its own sake. If we could educate the next generation Matrix style, teaching them kung fu in seconds, would that be immoral? In a capitalist society, John Henry can complain all he wants about how much harder he had to work, and how lazy people are for using machines. But it seems to me plenty of us have been happy to reap the benefits of automation and the steel driving machines that best him. I agree we lose something by not driving the steel ourselves. But it's an aesthetic argument, not a moral one.

I don't think any of us are entitled to a career that will never become obsolete. I joined the 2D animation industry knowing 3D was kicking its ass because I love it. I don’t just love the product; I love the process. Otherwise I’d get into cel shading in 3D. I knew the risks when I made the decision to pursue 2D, and I'll keep doing it well after it's viable as a career. If I can still afford a Cintiq.

AI is not removing humanity from art. I like art being personal. Even if what I put out is absolute garbage, it's mine. I did it, and it's my contribution. AI can never touch that. AI taking my job wouldn't stop me from pouring my heart out on a page (or a screen, as it were). It wouldn't stop Powerhouse employees from being able to animate Castlevania at home. This whole argument is about money and prestige, and being able to do what we love in exchange for it, and I don't see it as any loftier than that. AI doesn't stop anyone from creating art in their own time. Tie your identity to your own, unfettered, personal work. It'll make it less fragile. Less pretense. More real.

If people were really concerned with personal voices in art, they wouldn't be flocking to fanart, franchises, and memberberries.

AI art is morally problematic because of the scraping, but none of the other critiques aimed at Corridor are morality arguments. The “tech bro” shit is really exhausting. Apparently being a fan of science and technology is a bad thing now, and you can just add the word “bro” to things to paint people as fratboy assholes and win arguments rather than engaging in the discussion.

Calling the rotoscoping ugly is a level of petty I’d expect from social media, I suppose. If you’re mad about the scraping, complain about that. But denying that, as basically a glorified filter, this is a vast improvement above any other filters by comparing it to hand drawn animation just screams butthurt. Of course it’s worse than hand drawn animation. When a five year old shows you their drawing that is better than the one they did yesterday, you don’t spit on it because it’s not as good as Glen Keane’s work. You can be angry at AI’s methods and recognize its progress at the same time. If you can't, your argument has a shelf life. AI art is the worst it will ever be right now. None of the aesthetic/technical criticisms will hold water as the technology gets better.

Anyone arguing that Corridor isn't "democratizing" animation because you can animate at home for free isn't being honest about scale. Yes, I can animate at home for free. But unless I'm willing to devote decades of workhours to it, we're not talking about anything feature length. If each state only had one voting booth, yes, technically, I could still be represented. But making voting booths more accessible would be an act of democratization.

Obviously, I can't say Corridor made no money off the video (who knows how much ad revenue from YouTube, subscription traffic they attracted, or shirts they sold), or that the art they scraped (VHD for their local model, and countless others for the model in general) didn't have anything to do with the success of the video (albiet as an indirect draw), but I can't imagine it's too much more than the effort they put into pioneering the technology merits. And honestly, if selling fanart is stealing ideas and creating art, I don’t see how creating ideas and stealing art on this small scale, and for this little compensation, is so much more egregious.

It's also a shame Corridor missed out on an opportunity. They mentioned that people should use original content to feed into the AI.... and then proceeded not to do that. To make their point, they could and should have used someone in-house or contracted an artist to create the training images. Even better, they could even have the artist copy the style of Vampire Hunter D, just as a cheeky nod to the nuances of the debate.

I've seen Niko defend this, saying that they didn't know how much art they'd need, what kind of art they'd need, etc. I still don't see how that prevented them from seeing that it worked with their Vampire Hunter D test privately and then moving forward training on original art for their public release. I think this is more about them being too excited about a technology to give any moral qualms much credence. Or they saw the purpose they were using it for as innocuous. A proof of concept. Or maybe they just see it as an inevitability. Which, in all honesty, it probably is. Or maybe they don't see it as a moral problem at all. And that's fine. It's a discussion. Demonizing them seems incredibly unnecessary. In the end, they don't have a say over what way the Getty Images case goes, anyways.

As always, I’m open to civil and intelligent opposing views. I have no stake in holding this view; very clearly, I have a stake in holding the opposite view, as both of my professions are in AI’s crosshairs. If there’s something I’m missing, I’d be glad to hear it.

#corridor #ai art #Youtube

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level20mallow · 1 year

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note that you should just keep this one in the inbox, before you make a laughable response. but maybe you should reflect on why you feel the need to throw around your traumas every time you think an argument isn’t going your way. like did you expect the world to stop and coddle you. did you expect them all to gasp and nod. now that it isn’t working, do you feel small? scared? cornered and angry? does pretending every person who disagrees with you is some abusive monster make you feel like a safer victim? mwahahaha

We all should probably have a talk about users like this.

This was a response I received from an individual when I told them that stealing a child's artwork, putting it in an AI and getting views (and therefore making money) off of it was wrong.

People absolutely are becoming lazy, entitled, selfish, and hostile moreso than in recent history and I'm starting to think there's a lot of truth to the notion that it's because of the existence of technology like AIs like ChatGPT and the various art ones. People just don't use technology responsibly anymore and it's because they're not being checked by the people around them.

Individual creativity is so important and people like this think that technology like this has always been around, is normal, and more importantly means they can exploit it to make themselves rich without putting in any work or creating anything meaningful on their own. And when you challenge their behavior, they try to suppress you through intimidation, personal attacks and bullying like what happened here.

They think that they have a right to fame and fortune normally reserved to people who cultivate their talents instead of cultivating any of their own, because they believe deep down inside they don't have any and that they shouldn't miss out just because they couldn't scribble a circle onto paper to save their lives instead of, you know, learning how and building the motor skills themselves. Or just accepting that not everyone can be like Rembrandt or Van Gogh and to try doing something else they're more suited for.

People like that are really morally bankrupt and, as you can see from the way they react when called out, pretty vile.

I won't post the name of the individual who wrote that, I already dealt with the problem, but it's the principle of the thing.

I've used those art AIs myself and even now I am starting to find their existence pretty reprehensible given this is how people will treat them and use them.

I feel really sad having to say that, because the newer AIs coming out could do a lot of good, like preserving the voices, appearances and art styles of the dead for example, but people would rather just use them to exploit and abuse others for profit instead. Including children. And get mad when they're told they can't do that

AI needs to be limited to mundane tasks so people can focus on creating all of the art and music themselves so shit like this doesn't happen.

#i'm starting to realize how terrible ais are becoming #also this is how people are thinking and acting #trashy people are trashy #i think florida man started a tumblr account #what is wrong with humanity #humans are insane #humans are garbage

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stories-lost-in-trance · 2 years

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In her blood // Bucky Barnes

Part II: New alliance

Lowtown, Madripoor has become brighter with light than ever. New clubs, more buyers and new kinds of drugs have brought new clientele from all around the world. With a wide spread saying that you can have the best or the worst time of your life there, many adrenaline junkies and troublemakers made their way into the streets. Everyone was looking for a new fix, new deal, new story to tell. An opportunity. These new personalities became a light and colourful layer on top of the old, dark and dangerous regulars. You could witness a murder on one street corner and a young people trying to make a break into art industry on the other. If you listened to the ones who were engraved into Lowtown for generations- the voices were divided. Some would say that new blood brought enough business and talent for them to start taking Hightown piece by piece into their possession. Others claimed that their town has been taken by the weak scum that does not understand the history and business. Nor the etiquette.

It might be, indeed, hard to accept, but Lowtown had still had a set of rules, unwritten but binding and respected by most. If you wanted to make a serious business- you had to obey. Know how to talk, how to bargain and understand the complicated dynamics between gangs and kingpins of the streets. Many young entrepreneurs got lost and never found after disrespecting certain big names. Although some, like Alie, found their own way to buy themselves into the graces of just the right people.

Alie was a handsome man, in his own way. Where one could say he was lacking, Alie would compensate with charm and confidence. With his chest always up and smile always on, he was stealing hearts of the ladies and customers who came to bargain. His golden brown skin was covered in black ink from his hands up to his neck. Blond hair with black roots curled up nonchalantly due to heavy dampness of the climat. Alie was a smart man, came to Lowtown with little and within a few years became one of the most known art thieves in the city. All the fences knew- if you have a customer wanting something that nobody can get- go to Alie. His skill and fair amount of luck brought him enough money to buy one of the clubs, redo it and reopen it as a new hotspot in town. And if there was anything Alie loved more than stealing, it was being the soul of the party.

"Alie!" a low and crispy voice shot through the corridor. A tall and stout man has opened his arms and smiled with excitement of someone who's about to do a good deal. "My man, I was just looking for you!"

"I don't doubt that for a second." Alie hugged the man and gave him a stern pat on the back. "How's my favourite smuggler doing today?" He opened the door to his office and let his guest in.

"Amazing. Amazing. I am going to make your day amazing too." He threw himself onto a chair in front of a massive, mahogany desk. His massive hand evened out his long, grey beard and landed in the pocket of a leather vest. "I am here with an opportunity of your life," he said confidently.

Alie smiled widely as he sat in his wooden armchair. He has been offered an opportunity of his lifetime at least once a week. It rarely was, obviously. Alie had very specific goals and he knew what he wanted. Rarely straying away from his path. He did, indeed, loved risk but only when odds were in his favour. He waved at his guest, signalling him to go on.

The smuggler pulled out a small vial of blue liquid and placed it on the desk. Then he sat back with so much confidence, as if he just became a king of Hightown. Alie pulled up his massive chair and leaned over the desk, placing his face within an inch of the vial. He looked at it curiously before grabbing it with two fingers and bringing it close to his eye. He shuffled it in his hands a bit, looked at the liquid from every side and placed it back. With his elbows on the desk and hands folded together he smiled at the smuggler. And said nothing.

The smuggler fidgeted in his chair impatiently and leaned over towards Alie.

"This is the new big thing, my man. And you are the first I am offering it to."

"But what the hell is that, Sadid?" Alie laughed and sat back. "For all I know you're bringing me blue vodka and that I have enough down at the bar."

"No, no, no, no!" Sadid smiled and grabbed the vial. "This is one of a kind, a form of art. One and only."

"For god's sake, Sadid," Allie huffed.

"Tell me, Alie," Sadid stood up and started circling the office, "have you ever heard of the Winter Soldier?"

"Obviously." The thief shrugged. "He was here not long ago, wasn't he? Demolished one of the pubs and got Selby Killed."

"Yes, but do you know about how he became who he is?" Sadid put on his mysterious voice.

"Sadid, I swear to myself. To the shore. "

"Fine." Smuggler put his hand on Alie's arm and placed the vial in front of him again. "This will give you all the powers, all the strength and instincts of a super soldier. For a few hours at least. No side effects, only a good ass kick."

Alie looked at the man and the vial surprised but cautious. Sadid, now sitting back in the chair, smiled even wider. Not long ago the last bit of the serum was destroyed. The word spread everywhere, everyone knew that. There was no documentation left, no data and no samples. And the only crazy scientist who was involved in this was shot in the head.

"That's not really possible though, is it, Sadid." Alie regained control of himself. "Isn't it one of these fancy shots that just makes you pumped up?"

"No!" Sadid laughed. "I'm talking about all of it. Healing, resistance to toxins, reflexes and... slowed ageing. This is basically everything good, nothing bad. And it's right in front of you."

"What about," Alie pointed at his head, "the mental state?"

"No problem, clear head. Won't affect your thinking."

Absolutely not, thought Alie. He read and heard enough to know that nothing good comes out of this serum except for Steve Rogers. And this dude is dead.

***

It's been months since Sadid's visit to Alie's office. Maeve was sitting on the desk with her legs crossed. Long, brown braid was laying on her back, almost touching the mahogany surface. They were closing in on one of the workers closing in The Factory. He could, possibly, lead them straight to the supplier of the new, hot thing. From the supplier they should swifty move to the creator and from there... take them all down.

The feeling of anxious anticipation was hanging over her, coming closer and closer. Alie was watching her carefully, she knew that, but she couldn't shake herself off that day, couldn't wait any longer. It was the day they were supposed to meet with a new source. They have never been closer, but they kept their hope in check because the source was an absolute mystery to them. There was not much communication exchanged except for a few scribbled notes on the back of a napkin. No name, no voice and no face. A meeting was scheduled at midnight, in the back alley of the French Cassino. Plenty of shady characters but fairly quiet, far from sober ears.

She was waiting for Alie to finish his business on the phone. He seemed so relaxed, laughing loudly and flirting his way through the sale. Stolen Van Gogh was hanging on the wall. His tattooed arms were dancing in the air, gesticulating to no one, but himself. Graceful as always, she appreciated for a second, before he finally finished the call.

"Shall we get to the serious business now, madam?" He smiled widely and grabbed his shiny, purple coat.

"Hardly inconspicuous fashion choice," she commented with judging grimace.

"If anyone saw me dressed down, they would know I am up to something."

"You are always up to something."

"Stop growling at me, my love." His disarming grim melted her a little, but the anxious cloud chased it all away. No matter how much he tried, she could not relax.

The atmosphere of anticipation was abruptly disturbed by a groan and a loud bang just behind the office doors. The guns were drawn and a silent plan made with barely few telling glances. Maeve quickly positioned herself behind the door with her desert eagle up in the air, almost touching her cheek. Cold steel of the gun reflected Alie's colourful outfit. His hand was tightly holding his favourite, gold plated colt and aiming straight at the door.

Sam walked in slowly, stepping only one foot fully in the office. One of his eyes appeared from behind the door.

"Wow." His empty hand went up in the air. "No need for the gun."

"Judging by the noise accompanying you at arrival, I'd argue." Alie smiled widely and tilted his head. "I would strongly suggest you to not move too quickly now, otherwise my friend is going to lay you to rest through my very, very expensive door." He gestured at Sam to come inside the office with a slight tilt of his colt.

Slowly, Sam moved into the room, turning his eyes and seeing Maeve pointing straight at his head. They both, very quietly moved in until there was no door between them.

"Damn," Alie invited Sam to sit down with an elegant wave of his hand, "Captain America in my modest office. Should I offer you something to drink or knock you out and run?"

Maeve pushed on Sam's head with her gun, prompting him to take a seat.

"I wouldn't push your luck." She heard a lazy, raspy voice just behind her and a metal muzzle touched her head before she managed to react. Her left wrist got grabbed with an unnatural strength when she tried to reach for another gun that was fixed to her belt.

It became apparent that they have reached an impasse. The only way out seemed to be diplomacy which was not Maeve's strong suit at all. She waited for Alie's turn. If anyone can get us out of this, it's him. The thief took a long, deep breath and lowered his gun as a sign of goodwill. He took off his garish coat and hung it over the armchair before sitting down comfortably. Although her left wrist was still being crushed, Maeve's right hand kept steadily pointing at the target, waiting for a plan to be formed. Grip on her wrist kept tightening, and with every second her heartbeat kept getting stronger. Slowly but steadily her senses got elevated to the next level, slowing her surroundings down and speeding up her reflexes. She could hear the man behind her, his breathing- composed, heartbeat- steady. She could smell him, clothes from the night before, at least. Both of them were too busy to go home and rest, she thought. Someone's been on a deadline. She felt his piercing eyes drilling through her head, body being ready to attack. Tense. Like a soldier. Slight shiver went down her back and arms and she shook it off quickly, confused. With Captain America in front of her, she knew the person behind was not an ordinary killer. Must have been highly trained, prepared and fast. Good enough to sneak up on her. She wondered if she was losing her touch for a moment, not often being caught off guard this way.

Alie's smile didn't return for a while and when it did, it was much more calculated. If one person shoots, everyone shoots, he thought.

"Let's lay our arms and relax a bit." He looked at Maeve but she didn't react. As long as she was being held at a gunpoint, she was not lowering her gun either.

Sam turned his head slightly.

"Let's."

Grip on her wrist loosed up until it was gone, but a gun was still pushing on her head. She didn't move.

"Damn, Maeve. Let the man go," Alie threw at her with slight annoyance.

"You're not the one with a gun to your head, Alie. Tell your bodyguard to go first." She nudged Sam's head.

"My man has trust issues."

"Sounds like his problem, not mine."

"Sounds like you're stalling," said the man behind her, annoyed.

"Sounds like you're being a baby," she snapped back at him.

"God dammit, Bucky," Sam raised his voice, "just let her go so we can move on from this."

Pressure on her head disappeared and she heard a gun being unracked further away. She relaxed and dropped the hammer of her gun as well. Sam finally turned his head fully and looked at her. He was tense, just like everyone else but she could sense something else from him. Determination. Desperation? He was there for a specific reason, there was something he wanted. And badly. He nodded at her and a pleasant, polite smile wandered on his face. Bucky walked slowly around, not letting her out of sight until he remembered where he'd heard her voice before. Their eyes met and they both, at the same time pointed their fingers at each other in confusion. Maeve's eyes wandered to his metal arm and something in her mind finally clicked.

It's been two years since the quiet night in the motel. He looked at her, standing right in front of him, baffled. For years it's been coming back to him, the feeling of longing. Longing back to that room, that fleeting peace and comfort. He tried to recall it a few times but it seemed unachievable. Impossible to recreate. With every try he grew more desperate to rest his mind like he did that night. To feel left out from the world for a few hours, but not alone like he did in Wakanda. Accompanied in quietness of the mind. For a long time he hoped that crossing all the names from his book of amends would bring him that peace, but it was not there. Not the same. It always had a different flavour, weird aftertaste of unidentified yearning.

"Look who's dragged his ass in the wrong place again." Maeve put her gun back in the holster with a smile. Still being on high alert but she allowed her body to relax a little bit.

"Are you creating chaos everywhere you go?" Bucky asked with a frown but a smile was creeping onto his face.

"Look, my friends," Alie bowed down lightly, relieved that they could use Maeve's familiarity with his guests to disarm the situation, "we are delighted to have guests but unfortunately we have a very important business to attend to. How about we meet tomorrow and talk about whatever it is that you would want to talk about?" He grabbed his flashy, purple coat again.

"That won't be necessary," Sam assured him. "The business you were supposed to take care of is currently in our possession. That's why we are here instead."

Maeve straightened up. Her mind and body started to tense up again. How on earth, these two just barged into Madripoor and found her informer? It took her weeks to get in touch with anyone from The Factory and if anyone was working this angle at the same time, she would, surely, know about it.

"I don't think I understand." The thief looked quickly at Maeve, making sure she was still composed.

"The guy," Sam confirmed. "We got him an hour ago."

"You took my informer." Maeve made a step towards Sam a little bit faster than she should. Her hand wandered close to the gun. Like on command, Bucky's gun was loaded again and ready.

"Hey, hey. Technically we got him before he became your informer."

She tilted her head and moved her body weight on one leg. Hand was getting slowly closer and closer to the gun. Blood started to boil inside her veins.

"You really don't want to stand between me and him."

"I already am."

"No, right now your one foot is in the door. I am asking you to move it before I rip your whole leg off and shove it up your..."

"Ok, ok. We got it. Your informer." Sam made a move and stood right in front of her. "We did not realise it was a big deal. How about we talk to him together?" He opened his arms with a smile. "We get you to him, have a talk and then we can deal with the drug problem."

"No. Hand him over. Now." Her hand was now resting on the handle of her gun. Ready to pull it out any time.

Sam looked at her hand and felt annoyingly close to death again. No matter how sure he was that Bucky would be the first to shoot and have his back, he wanted to avoid it at all cost. He knew he had nothing except for the informer now. And he refused to talk to them, he only wanted Maeve and Alie. His only way of dealing with this was to get them to work with him.

"I have been on this for over two years," she continued, "you don't even know what you are after, and you're telling me to take a backseat?"

"We are not telling you to take a backseat," Sam answered her seriously. "We want you to let us help you."

"Right now you are not bringing anything to the table, though," she pointed out. "You came here, without any notice, and announced that my informer, whom I was trying to recruit for weeks, is now being held hostage by you? And you say you didn't know it was a big deal? So you clearly have no idea what is going on. You think you can just fly in here, mister man-bird, and take what I have worked for? How are you going to help me? By having him," she pointed at Bucky, "stare down half the Lowtown? The only thing I need from you is what you have taken from me. I suggest you both take yourself back to whatever heroic land you came from and try to help people who need your help."

Sam clicked his tongue and shook his head. She was not easy to convince, but stubborn and hard to work with. Just like the staring machine, he thought. He realised that he should have prepared himself better for this conversation. This one was on him, but he has seen, first hand, what are the effects of the drug and he would not allow it to spread any further.

"Look," he started calmly, "I realise maybe I should have played it out differently and I'm sorry, but it already happened. I am willing to fix it now, before it gets out of control. I am not here to fight you both. I want to offer you anything you might need, it might not be a lot but if I know anything about this case, it's that it's much bigger than just the two of you chasing bad drugs off the streets. You might need man power and we both have skills and want what you want."

"Yeah?" Allie tilted his head. "And what's that?"

"Save lives." Bucky threw at him seriously with his arms crossed. "We saw what this drug does to people."

" Wow, how heroic," Maeve huffed loudly with disapproval and looked at Alie.

"Can we have a moment, gentlemen," he said and smiled politely again at Sam.

"I am not letting them take over, Alie. No way," she whispered angrily when they got close enough to have a private conversation.

"I am not asking you to. But, just think about it for a moment," he put his arm around her, "Captain America on our team can help. His guy is obviously useful in throwing people through walls and, don't take me wrong, you can obviously do that too, but he doesn't run out of juice. We both know who that is and what he's capable of. We have better chances with them on our side, you know that." He shook her slightly, forcing their eyes to meet. His eyebrows were raised high in anticipation.

She threw her head up with a sigh and nodded slightly. Alie patted her on the back and turned back to his guests. He opened a cupboard under his desk and pulled out a bottle of a glowing, red liquid with four glasses.

"Gentleman," he announced with his singing voice while opening the bottle, "looks like we have an agreement! Let us have a drink to celebrate."

A little bit of mysterious alcohol was poured into the glasses. Alie grabbed two of them and approached his guests graciously, passing the drinks. Sam and Bucky looked at the bright liquid distrustfully and then at each other when Alie finally grabbed his own glass and raised it in the air.

"To the new alliance!" Him and the girl downed the drinks at once, followed with hesitation by their visitors.

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friendlystarfruit · 2 years

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thoughts on the Ai art debate?

hmmmm I honestly think ai art is really funny but I understand it can get really cool.

I understand why artists might feel threatened, artists felt threatened by photography when if was invented but ai art often uses art from others without their permission ( this is a potential lawsuit )

arguably isn't ai just referencing somebody's art to create something new ? That includes all types of art photography , painting, charcoal , digital just maybe not sculpture (well maybe not yet ) I would have thought so but digital assets used in creating a program need to be bought or made right?

I am a little new to the debate but I have kinda have a few questions I wanna answer before I can have a position on the debate

What is acceptable forms of referencing? What makes an image somebody's property and what is acceptable to take from it?

I can think of a case Ai art is incredablly useful and welcomed by artists , motion image capture has ai translate movement of something without the artist having to draw by hand (red dead 2 used motion image of horses) now does it matter that ai did the base art , no would it matter if somebody used the ai art ? Not if they bought it or set up the motion capture themselves.

Photography, motion capture , virtual brushes and digitally made models are all fine if they are bought , gifted or made by whoever uses them.

Now ai art that you filter an artists whole portfolio and the ai can now draw in their style? hmmmmmmmm that is where things get grey.

I don't think pose and style theft is a thing although if somebody is heavy referencing something they don't own they need to bring their own life to it, this is where being an artist good at realistically imitating a photograph or real life but unable to change an image more than recoloring kinda blows and although they have great talent they have to gather or get permission for every reference they use . I remember seeing this dude get in trouble for heavy referencing this mana drawing , he showed a video of him drawing it *look I drew it myself* but that wasn't the issue , the issue wasnt *what skills do you have* it was *what images do you own?*

If you rob a bank with great skill you dont get a pat on the back because somebody else stole with less skill so that is where we get to ai I don't think there is an issue with people who cant draw using ai to make beautiful art as long as the are upfront about the ais role if asked *how did they make it or where did they get it*

That is the Kantian take om image ownership there is also the consequential take.

How will ai art effect real people? There was a case of an artist that died and somebody programed their lifes work into it to make more art like it, and well it was kinda assholey cus they even asked the family to give art for their project.

If a person drew art in the dead persons style but made a new image and used the dead artists work would that have the same effect emotionally on the family? Is this just the way it effects somebody ( which how something effects other people is still a legitimate concern )

Is this a case where skill does matters? well no if you have amazing skill developing ai but copy paste images you dont own into the ai they become digital assets right? Whereas if you have assets in your brain nobody can nag at you for that, no more than if your mirror reflects a tv you dont own.

There is another thing that is important to mention does Ai art reference properly ? if it copy pastes one photo and recolors it a little that could be an issue.

So my current take on the debate of Ai art is, I don't think Ai real replace the need for real people making art but it could effect some commission artists , bad ai design could be a new way to steal art

I feel like there is a simple solution though just like with motion capture set up your own studio actors and props , for ai art employ artists to draw for the ai art to create something , copy pasting art from dead people is kinda shitty even if the ai creates something new remember a stolen image is used in its programing and that is a copyright issue

This whole topic would make an interesting paper on the philosophy of image ownership......I bet there are few written already worth reading if this interests you anon (=

#debate #ask #anon #ask anon #asks

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers Part 3: Storkules in Duckburg! aka THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES TERRIBLE BUT WELL MEANING ROOMATE OUT OF MYTH

Hello all you happy people! And welcome and welcome back to Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers, my look at the season 2 arcs of Ducktales! This arc was paid for by WeirdKev27 and I truly enjoy his support. if you want to know how to commission your own reviews or to get a guarnateed review of me of your choice from me a month, stick around to the end. I realized that shoving all my plugs in up top may be driving people away and while I DO make them because I want to make a living off this, i’ts not fair to those of you who simply can’t afford to buy a lot of extra shit like myself to keep shoving it in your face.

Previously on the Louie Inc Arc, Louie, after believing he had no skills and it was a matter of when not if he ws going to die, found his talent: seeing all the angles and thus being Sharper than the Sharpies. With newfound confidence and a chip on his shoulder from Scrooge saying he could one day be a bigger success than Scrooge himself, founding Louie Inc as a result. But what is Louie Inc? Does he actually have a plan or a bunch of buzzwords. And what does STORKULES, MANLY GAY OUT OF MYTH have to do with any of this? Join me under the cut to find out.

We open with Louie giving Scrooge his sales pitch that is essentially...

Naturally Scrooge buys none of it. I mean he’s somewhere in his hundreds, he’s probably seen about 80 thousand pitches that amount to “I have no plan but give me money anyway”. There’s a reason there’s a Butch Hartman shaped crater on the lawn from where he threw his ass out.

Scrooge does mentor the lad, or at least attempt to pointing out he needs an actual product or service (Louie rejects the idea of a lemonade stand as too easy), or as he puts it “Find a problem and create a solution”.

While the basic PRINCIPAL isn’t bad, find something people want or need and provide it, phrasing it that way sounds like “find a problem people are having and exploit the shit out of that problem for fun and profit.” Granted that IS a guiding principal of business, it’s just not something an uncle should be teaching his kids. They should be teaching them about the anime and cartoons they grew up with as I do with my niece and nibling.

He does show him a valid example of this in action in the form of Donald. Turns out Donald has found a good way to make money while he looks for a job, can relate: since Duckburg is facing a housing shortage, likely because several square blocks probably get destroyed by Scrooge’s Adventures, Glomgold’s Schemes, Superhero Battles, whatever creation went horribly wrong for Gyro, etc at least once a week. So he’s taken it upon himself to offer up the spare room to whoever can rent it.. and to steal Scrooge’s chandelier which even when caught he still takes anyway. Scrooge.. you called the guy a god-damn moocher in the season premiere, despite the fact he lives there soley because YOU offered and because he’s you know, being responsible and staying by his boys so they have their father figure around. So yeah I feel he’s doing this partly out of spite as is the McDuck way. I mean if your going to call him a freeloader just for being a responsible parent, then he’s going to take it up a damn notch.

Scrooge proceeds to laugh off Louie wanting a million dollars and gives him a dime instead because of course he was. Seriously Louie there are two other billionaires in town who are FAR dumber and far more easily swindled. Just go get star up capital from them. Hell with Glomgold all you’d have to do is tell him it’d upset scrooge and he’d literally throw money at you. Or give you a shark full of money. He needs the shark back though. He’s family.

Meanwhile Donald prepares for his new tenant and finds.. THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES! Who to his mounting horror as he realizes it, IS the new tenant. And who throws him into the sun. Cue credits.

So after Donald somehow survives being thrown into the sun, Storkules explains why he’s here: Zeus responded to his son playing the lute a lot like any rational reasonable

No of course he responded to the “crime” of “playing his instrument a lot” with sending a swarm of harpies on the town then blaming Storkules for it and casting him out. What’s most shocking is not the action, this is honestly him staying the course of being a fucking disgrace, but that Zeus somehow ISN’T the biggest asshole i’ve dealt with this week. No that honor is reserved as always for this bitch:

Keep in mind she manages to be this obnoxious in only TWO scenes. Also keep in mind I had to put up with Julie for a MUCH larger chunk of the previous two volumes I covered before volume 5 yesterday for my Scott Pilgrim Retrospective and she is ALWAYS like this and you now feel my pain.

This does create a problem though: Zeus casts Storkules out until he’s a responsible adult.. and thus paints Storkules as the bad guy... in a situation where the only other person in the story sent a swarm of HARPIES down at him for simply playing his music too loud. It just dosen’t work as a catalyst: Storkules objectively did nothing wrong. The only person he annoyed was a person who clearly dosen’t love, respect or like his son in any way shape or form anyway and essentially assaulted him and a bunch of innocent people via harpie and then cast him out. Zeus is an abusive asshole and i’ts weird the narrative sides with HIM and not our well meaning doofus. Zeus being an asshole with harpies is not a bad catalyst for the episode, and the harpies being unleashed is used well.. it’s just not a good catalyst for THIS story to try and portray an abuser as in the right. And make no mistake Zeus is a domestic abuser: he had his son mind controlled to try and MURDER innocent people, something Storkules begged him not to do, sent a swarm of creatures after him for the crime of playing his music too loud and in his next episode manipulatives Storkules sad emotional state for personal gain. Why would you try and paint THIS jackass as in the right?

Speaking of painting this jackass in the right sadly.. this episode does not do my boy donald justice. In most episodes he’s pretty nuanced and i’ts fair enough he’d be frustrated by Storkules as a roomate. Storkules has little sense of personal space, breaks his stove thinking theirs hydra in it, makes a mess of the kitchen making them a meal, and in general clearly dosen’t know how to live with a roomate much less in modern society. He has valid concerns and the episode COULD have used it that way.. but he’s also horribly impatient with Storkules. He refuses to get the guy just hasn’t had to live in a modern society and dosen’t know HOW to function in it and instead of helping him just gets mad again and again and gets really pissed when it’s clear Storkules dosen’t have a job and didn’t consider paying rent. He’s not WRONG to want him to pay Rent, despite what ironically the musical Rent would try and have you believe, but he dosen’t have any patience with the guy. And stork isn’t nearly coming on as strong as he normally does. The worst he does is cook the guy lunch and bring his donald fan art with him. Which we don’t see but I am assuming is mostly naked. What i’m saying is for once that while still bombastic, Storkules isn’t trying to force a relationship/friendship on him and simply wants to learn t be an adult from his best friend.. and Donald isn’t bothering teaching him.

Asking for rent or for him not to destroy the stove is fine, but not explaining WHY he needs either of those things or why he needs boundaries, he makes a roomate list, isn’t helping the guy. And this would be fine... but the episode dosen’t call Donald out on it for no real reason. It feels like it’s setting up for a “you should learn to wokrk with someone instead of just screaming at them aseop” that never comes and like with Zeus takes his side because shutup. I’d also LIKE to say this is the only time the writers reduced one of the cast to a caracture of themselves.. but I can’t. Several episodes in season 3 forgot Louie’s character development and another episode in season 2, The Duck Knight Returns!, somehow reduced both Scrooge and Dewey to parodies of themselves with Scrooge SOMEHOW, despite Della as stubborn as she is being in his care and by his side for decades and Movies bein ga huge business, not having seen a movie since the 1920′s and not knowing how they work and Dewey being reduced to just hyperactive moron. It isn’t as common as other shows like say Regular Show, The Loud House or, for the exact reason I lost intrest, Rick and Morty, but I still expect better, especially since they went into this season KNOWING Donald would be gone for half of it and this would likely be one of his only spotlight episodes.

Back at the good part of the plot, Louie is having a company meeting aka already treating Huey and Webby like his employees. Webby of course is glad to sign on, if little help in actually coming up with a product while Huey just wants to nope out. And if your wondering why Dewey isn’t involved Louie outright says he’d make a bad employee and while Dewey rises from his bed to object.. he stops halfway to opening his mouth and concludes he has a point. Best gag of the episode. Louie being louie easily cons Huey into staying by making Webby his charts officer.

So the three have a corporate retreat at Funso’s... granted they don’t have a product but Louie figures this might help. Huey.. still wants out of this and suggest since they already spent what they had on ski ball “Company over?”. It’s clear that Huey just sees this as another one of Louie’s short sighted schemes... and while he’s not ENITRELY wrong, Louie has genuine ambition.. he just has no earthly idea what he’s doing and is shooting way too high.. but for understandable reasons. 1) He’s 11 at this point. 11 year olds aren’t great at business strategy or reinging it in. 2) he wants to live up to what Scrooge said to prove he can be successful and really be worth something like his mom was.

But sometimes fate throws you one and the harpies bust in. And while Louie wants to do nothing and hope they go away Huey and Webby spring into action.. as does Storkules, who had to leave but warns donald there’s Orzo in the slowcooker and to not open it “LEST THE PASTA FAIL TO ABSORB THE BROTH!” Which is just.... Chris’ best line dleivery the episode. He says it like he’s saying the title of an old Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comic, i’ts wonderful.

So our heroes defeat them and Louie steps in to charge for the service and quickly comes up with a company idea and name “Harp-B-Gone” (A Subsidary of Louie Inc). Louie hires Storkules on the spot. Storkules proudly tells Donald he has a job the next day and goes off to it. What follows is our heroes hilarously shooting a commerical with Storkules playing a baby to promote themselves so they can help who needs it. They just need to find out what they want.. and thanks to the JWG and the harpies stealing it find out they go after people’s most treasured posessions Cue Ghostbusters-Style Montage

And this isn’t just me saying thing. The Rewriting History Entry (Which as a series weirdly stops around mid-season 2 and I don’t get why frank hasn’t gone back and finished it since) states they specifically based this whole operation on ghostbusters and the entire sequence of our heroes cleanin up the town reminds me of it. The highlight of it is a glomgold cameo where he’s kidnapped.. and refuses to pay so Louie just lets him go. And were this an innocent person who couldn’t afford it, i’d call him a monster.. but it’s glomgold. he brought this on himself.. and also sues himself for it. Wonder if he won.

So with their stars rising, our heroes get booked on the hottest show in town: Dewey Dew-Night! I had honestly forgotten there was a Dewey Dew-Night segment in there, and delighted I get to talk about this recurring bit. It’s one of the shows funniest runners and just perfectly FITS Dewey: of course the most egotistical and energetic of the kids would not only want to be a late hnight host but make up his own show. I also love the slow evolution of it: it started as something everyone clearly knew about but he stlill tried to keep hidden, slowly escalated to him allowing the rest of his siblings (Webby very much included) and the giant man who stalks his uncle in, and by later this season he’s putting the show online in the web shorts and gladly shooting it into space, with Season 3 having him spend the first half of let’s get dangerous making a documentary that includes an episode of the show featuring Darkwing. It’s a small thing sure, but it’s the little things like this that make the show special.

The show does reveal a problem though as it turns out they’ve GOT all the harpies and while Storkules merely wanted to help, Louie points out they need more to keep a buisness going and naturally never bothered to ask Storkules just how many there were. They need SOME plan to get going. Webby submits a legitamte and great idea, training the harpies as she’s been trying to do in the background of the episode and aside from a hole in the floor they are starting to listen. But Huey is an ass about it and not only shoots it down saying let’s keep the dangerous creatures contained, even though A) he has no idea WHERE they’ve been kept so he can’t verify it’s safe, and since i’ts Donald’s Closet no no it’s not. and B)There’s no where he knows of to keep them. He isn’t aware of the other bin till next season. and C) it’s not ehtical to keep creatures locked up forever epsecially since while the harpies are dangerous they arent’ MALEVOLENT and are clearly acting on instinct. oh and for D) at least she has a plan to keep the company going instead of just wanting to end this and cash out.

Which Huey tries to.. but naturally Louie spent all their money on...

So their broke.. and Storkules has no rent money and feels like a failure despite having done NOTHING wrong. We do get a clever little nod to Disney’s hercules though “I”m not a hero, i’m a zero”. Webby rightfully glares at Louie who decides to fix it... by sneaking into Donald’s house that night to free the harpies.

Though to the shows credit it’s a VERY bad idea, and Storkules coming in mid attempt and congradulating Louie when he lies about checking the door gets the kid to come clean. And it’s a nice character moment: He could still go through with it.. but it’s clear he realizes just HOW low he was about to sink to save his own skin and that as much as Storkules WANTS a paycheck and deserves one, it’s not worth hurting people to get it. Louie tries to justify after this.. but can’t.

Unforutnately Donald took a lot of stupid pills this episode, yells about his no pets rule and frees them instead of you know, THINKING for five minutes.

So yeah NATURALLY Donald is an angry shit about it , refusing to actually TALK to Storkules about this or maybe admit this is partly HIS OWN FAULT. Yes their both at fault, Storkules shoudln’t of shoved a bunch of harpies in a closet. That’s a classic blunder. But Donald still opened it and isn’t called out on taking zero responsibility. Huey sees the fracas and just takes down their days without an accident placard, good stuff and he and webby arrive to help. Donald fights with Storkules and Storkules worries about loosing his friend.. lead to them going after the thing he values most aka donlad and hyjacking the house boat, though the kids manage to get aboard.

As Storkules saves Donald, Louie realizes the most precious thing he has is his merch and willingly gives it, and his buisness up to save everyone. It’s good character stuff and shows that despite his problems with greed, Louie IS a good kid and will do the right thing. It’s what seperates him from the Rouges Gallery the family faces: He has FLEXIBLE morals but he has morals when it comes down to it. So everyone tosses the stoff to help direct the hapries and make it home tying them up. Donald has a heart to heart with Storkules and agrees to help him find another place, but still considers him a friend and they hug. Awww. One intresting thing I DID find out from rewriting history is they originally fully intended to have Storkules STAY on the houseboat. He was going to be a permenant member of the household, at least as far as Season 2 was concenred and plans were made for several episodes down the road: the whole bit with him in “The Golden Spear” was simply because he lived there, he was going to be the one Della met in the houseboat, obliviously guilting her about what she’d missed, and he was going to set off the kids subplot in “Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?”

This ended up not happneing for logistical reasons: Frank, and I swear this was the term he used, felt they already had the perfect Himbo in Launchpad and it was just too much HImbo energy for the two to coexist without one taking the others screen time or neither getting a lot.

The next reason was having a god around simply broke the story: He cited the gilded man from “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” as a specific example. There were just too many hoops to jump to have him not break any story he should be around for. Finally with Della being added to the cast soon there simply wasn’t room in the main cast. Della brought it up to 9, Storkules would make it 10, and as i’ve gone on about the show already had trouble ballancing it’s cast, something Frank admitted to. Adding him would both be too big a stiatus quo change and be one on top of the massive one of Della joining the cast. So he was dropped back to recurring and only showed up one more time. And while it was the right call I am dismayed he didn’t show up for the whatever happened to donald duck subplot and it does feel very weird he never adresses Donald being gone despite, at least for season 2, apparently living in Duckburg. Otherwise though as funny as this wouldv’e been.. yeah it was the right call.

Scrooge returns... having been absent all episode because otherwise it wouldn’t work and easily saw Louie loosing it all coming.. but gives him a can of lemonade for his troubles and comforts the boy. The heart of htis arc and what makes it work at it’s best.. is these two. Scrooge GENUINELY wants to help Louie see his potetial successor in buisness: oh sure adventure wise he’s throughly covered.. but Webby, Dewey and Della all are more focused on the addventure part and that’s where their passion and talent lies, Huey’s better at science and given his close frinedship with fenton and how much that part of things seems to truly inspire him, i’ts what he was born for, and Donald just wants a regualar life and can’t manage his own life much less a company.

Louie is the only one in his family whose the right fit to inhereit that part of his legacy and I feel that’s why he takes a special intrest in him and webby over the other two: While he loves all of them and will clearly again leave a piece of his fortune and empire to all of them, Webby is the most like him, as we later find out not coincidentally in the slightest, when it comes to adventuring and curosity and a love of exploration. But Louie is the most like him in other ways; He’s cynical, money driven and passionate. Scrooge simply wants him to be as good a person and buisnessperson as he can be and is trying to push him in the right direction. And does so here by pointing out that failure isn’t a huge problem..it happens, comes with the terriotiry and as we’ve seen with life and times, even with portions of it clearly not happening in this universe, he failed a LOT to get here. What matters is that he tries and tries to do it the right way.

Scrooge also sympathizes as he was buying a lemonade company in cape suzette, giving Louie the can as a present... but laments there’s no cheap effective way to deliver the lemons. Louie notices the harpies going after the can after he throws it and Webby controlling them with it and muses that theyd idn’t think about what THEY wanted.. nad rightfully gets punched across the lawn by Webby, whose had to spend an entire episode having her surrogate brothers talk down to her and ignore her valid ideas. She dosen’t even open her eyes she just bops him one.

So we end with Scrooge having enlisted the hapries, Louie trying to take credit again and both realizing they might just steal the lemons instead of work for them. Ha ha ha their going to get so sued.

Final Thoughts: This one was mediocre. It has some good points, Louies arc continues to fascenate me, Huey’s done with this shit attitude is hilarous, and Storkules is at his best in this episode: his crush on Donald is toned down from this..

To this

To the point I could see shipping them off this one if Storkules episode didn’t have him do eveyrthing short of .. well see above. So it’s not WITHOUT merit: I love me a ghost busters style plot, there are great jokes and Chris Dimatopolis is a gem as always. Glad he’s getting work after this show on Invincible and hope he gets to play Darkwing again some day. But the Donald stuff and the fairly predictable plot drag this one down. I’ts fairly obvious they’ll run out of harpies, Louie will have spent the money and they’ll somehow get free. It’s not a terrible episode but it’s it’s sandwiched story wise between two straight up classics on both sides: the previous two episodes were even better than I remembered and the next two are incredibly good: Whateve Happened to Della Duck?! is one of their finest hours and The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck, while not making my best of list for the series as a whole is still one of my favorites for the season. It’s just disapointing this one wasn’t nearly as good as I remmebered and it’s understandable why I forgot almost all of it, unlike the previous two episodes. Thankfully as I said better’s over the horizon.

NEXT TIME ON OF MOONS, MILLIONARES AND MOTHERS: I’m taking a break for a week. One of two weeklong breaks for the arc, the other being the first week of July where i’m on vacation anyway (Though i’ll be doing the episode I would’ve done for that week the week before to keep the pace up, so no worries),

As for why, it’s my utmost honor to announce GOOF WEEK! Goof Week is a weeklong celebration of Goofy’s birthday. The idea came about because as I do for the big three, I intended to just do a shorts special. But Kev , the guy who made this very review possible, suggested doing the two part Goof Troop pilot. And since kev pays for a house of mouth episode a month anyway and thaks to you lovely people I hit my patreon stretch goal to review the goofy movie, I figured “why not make a week out of it. Hence Goof week. So next week we’ll have a review of the two part pilot for Goof Troop, the special Sports Goof, the House of Mouse episode Super Goof, your regularly schedule shorts spectacular, with The Goofy Movie for the grand finale! yaaahoooooieeee!

When we come back i’ll be shuffling episodes around slightly so I can do the Della comics from the Ducktales Tie-In Comic before her debut and in time for Donald’s own theme week in June, i’ll be saving “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?” for the week after Donald Week. Instead next we get a fun wild west adventure as Scrooge tells a story of his outlaw days, his tension with goldie and his encounter with a certain robber baron as John D Rockerduck FINALLY makes his screen debut. Yee-Haw!

If you liked this review, subscribe and follow for more and consider joining my patroen, patreon.com/popculturebuffet. I have exclusive reviews, my most recent duck based one being an obscure carl barks story about wigs and the boys attempting to murder a guy with a blow gun, and your contribution helps me reach my goals and thus gets everyone, patreon or not, a bunch of neat new reviews. If you get me to 20 dollars a month, i’m currently at 15, EVERYONE will get a monthly darkwing duck reviews, reviews of the two remaning ducktales 87 mini series including the origin of GIZMOOOODDUUUUUCCCKKKK, and a review of the Danny Phantom movie The Ultimate Enemy. And with the month running out NOW’S the time to join. YOu’ll also get to pick one of the shorts for my Donald Duck birthday specail next month, so if you want to join in NOWS the time. But wether you can or you can’t, thank you for reading, i’ts been a pleasure.

#ducktales #louie duck #storkules in duckburg #dorkules #donald duck #storkules #scrooge mcduck #webby vanderquack #huey duck #flintheart glomgold #dewey duck #funzos #disney #disney+#disney plus #disney xd #harpies

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necros-writing-stuff · 3 years

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oooooooooohh nooo thats so cute :(((( what u said abt young eden is so true omgg. they r also def the type of kid that brings stray cats n dogs 2 their home. so evrytime the orphanage carataker hears a meowing or barking inside they r like "gdi eden not AGAIN!!" but it wouldnt stop them lol. they r the type that r immune to scolding. after finishing wth being scolded theyll go back 2 do exactly what they r told not 2 do. oh n also they enjoy rough playing. so on top of being covered in dirt or mud, theyll always have bruises n scratches from getting into fights or just from falling or running around. also they have a habit of like, suddenly disappearing (maybe 2 the forest which makes them hard 2 track).

and lol ye i saw it, it made me go hmmm, a true missed opportunity. eden wouldnt let the chance pass. im manifesting a future update where we could give them oral spiderman style 🙏

a bit off topic but i was wondering if u have any ideas or hcs about eden n baileys relationship/friendship?? idk. eden being slightly aggressive n mad at u after they rescue(???) u from bailey when u miss ur payment kinda throw me off ngl. bc they dont act that way when they rescue you from remys farm or the asylum. like, wtf is going on??? idk. its a bit of head scratcher for me.

Ooooo boy Eden and Bailey's past is something I often think about.

Under a cut for sheer length

Okay so I think they are about the same age (late 20s to early 40s) and that they grew up in the orphanage together.

I think Eden was there since very young/birth, but Bailey came later.

Eden not having sole primary care takers fucked up their socialising skills and they felt more comfortable on their own (read:fear of abandonment).

Bailey I think came from a really abusive impoverished home, and thats what made them obsessed with money. They have a weird vendetta against their birth parents to be 'better' than them.

Eden had a stray dog they cared for, but one day when they were running through the forest, a wolf got at it. Hence their 'non of these would survive in the wild' line at the pet store, and their obvious interest in puppy play.

After that, Eden started to shut off even more, being aggressive with the other kids, until Bailey started hanging out with them.

Bailey was angry to be in an orphanage and could see that Eden obviously wasn't happy, so they sort of gravitated towards each other.

Bailey was also the only other kid that didn't cry when Eden hit them.

They're the only two people that know each other's birthdays, besides anyone who looks at their very real legal documents.

As they hit puberty and start growing, they get competitive. Both are rather controlling, so they make a ton of bets against each other. One of them being who can lose their virginity the fastest.

Eden is rather blunt at asking, scaring a lot of the potential partners off, while Bailey is smoother about it and of course wins the bet.

Some fellow orphans start going missing, making everyone uneasy.

This is also when they start noticing the rampant sexual assualt in town, travelling as two most of the time so they can fight people off easier, if needs be.

Terrible at school. Eden was great at English, decent at history, but good luck making them show up half of the time. Eden had a talent for art, however, particularly carvings.

Bailey was there to socialise and steal lunch money, but they had okay grades.

If this is set in England, they would have gone to a secondary school with a sixth form. This means ages 11-18 as students, and I hc that when they were in year 7 (1st year of secondary) Leighton was in sixth form (years 12 and 13). They did not get along for the brief time they would meet in the halls.

I also think Eden would have dropped out in year 11, at age 16, and probably had an apprenticeship with a woodworking company (explains making the coat rack and love seat).

Bailey starts getting into more and more criminal activities, dragging Eden into them too, until a local crime boss notices them. The boss takes Bailey under their wing, thinking Eden won't be right for the job.

Instead they ask Eden to get a job at the police station and help them get further footholds there, that's how Eden has all of those collars (inspired by that one anon), and possibly their rifle. Alternatively, Eden leaves for the military and comes back later.

It works, and they end up covering a lot of their tracks. It's probably around this point that Landry does a few smaller jobs around the place and starts hearing about the Boss' new protégé.

They both have money now, for the first time in there lives, and this is when their differences start to show.

Bailey wants more and more, where as Eden wants to be comfortable.

Bailey fits into the mobster life fairly easily, but instead of the drugs that a lot of the others peddle, Bailey specialises in extortion and blackmail.

They slowly end up getting quite a few powerful figures under their control, and when the boss dies and Bailey ends up in charge of the money? They buy the orphanage.

I think Bailey might have cared for the orphans at one point, in their own ways, but their greed got the better of them.

Working under the mob and the corrupt police has Eden start to hate and fear the town. The only place they felt safer was the forest - which was full of deadly animals. But Eden could protect themselves now.

Being tall and muscular means that Eden is often sent to intimidate or even physically hurt people, often times getting hurt as well. Not to mention when arresting people, some are rather adverse to going to jail and take stabs at them.

If I go with Eden joining the military, they come home hoping to have a familiar setting calm their nerves, but it doesn't. Working for Bailey to earn money also doesn't help, one job having them break into the police station and setting fire to their files (that's another way Eden could find the collars, think of their old dog, and take them in nostalgia).

Eden cracks when they're asked to kill someone off, only to realise its a kid. That's too far.

They go to Bailey and tell them they're done. They need an out, they're fucking miserable, barely sleeping, constantly anxious, and Bailey tries to convince them to stay at first, before realising that they could lose their best friend once and for all if they force them to stay.

So they start planning together what Eden should do, and eventually come up with the cabin. Bailey has Quinn/their predecessor in their pocket by this point, so some cash and threats have some builders help make it, including running water.

When in town, Eden supplies Bailey with animal furs for custom coats. Bailey gets Eden new books, cans of food, more bullets. And if you miss your payment, Bailey eventually gifts Eden with a spouse.

Eden gets angry if they 'rescue' you from Bailey cause its a reminder of the past they try to avoid, and they take it out on you. Of the fear they had as a young orphan of disappearing, something Bailey is now enforcing on more orphans. They take it out on you because violence has always been a way they've coped.

Occasionally, maybe on one of those birthdays, they sit at the lake and drink some whiskey together. They don't talk about their feelings, they're both too stunted for that. But it's comforting knowing each other is still alive and well.

#degrees of lewdity eden #degrees of lewdity bailey #degrees of lewdity #spill your guts #anonymous

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serene-victory-77 · 3 years

Text

The Rodent Whisperer Of Ketterdam

This is my piece for the Grishaverse Mini Bang of 2021, thank you to @grishaversebigbang for hosting this event! @offrostandflames

My wonderful Materialki/Artists amazing and lovely pieces:

Frisslimbim’s Art and Instagram and Offrostandflames’ Art and Instagram

Summary: Kaz Brekker is known throughout the Barrel for his various schemes and skills. But there's one particular talent no one in his life is privy to, and it's going to help him get 30 million kruge. Crack Fic, Short And Sweet!

Fic:

Kaz walked away from the meeting with Jan Van Eck, his mind racing.

He’d accepted the deal, accepted 30 million kruge for breaking into the Ice Court and stealing a scientist with a drug that could change the world.

But Kaz wasn’t an idiot. It was too risky for humans, and only his best people could maybe do it. He didn’t like his chances.

There was no way he was gonna risk human error.

He hesitated. There was another option, but did he really want to instead use them?

Kaz thought about it for a long while as he made his way to the Slat. They were brave, they were many, and their relationship ran deep.

If he was being honest, they probably were his best, despite Jesper and Inej’s skill.

And humans…. Humans wouldn’t ever be able to succeed, he figured.

He knew what he had to do. He knew who he could trust.

Kaz closed the door behind him as Inej left the room. He looked around.

“Calling a meeting,” he said, tapping his cane thrice on the floor.

There was a rustle within the walls, the pitter patter of dozens upon dozens of feet. They came out of the walls, climbed through a cracked open window, found their place among the rafters and on top of his desk.

They were Kaz’s army, grown since he was nine and now an unknown force in his arsenal.

The Great Order Of Mice and The Virtuous Rat Society.

They named themselves.

He waited a little bit longer for them to all get settled.

“Thank you for your fast arrival,” he said, grabbing some cheese and crackers, as well as some bowls of water, setting them on a platter on the floor. “I have a big job for you all,”

The rodents chittered between themselves before looking up at him curiously.

He hesitated. “It involves leaving Ketterdam for a colder climate. It’s very dangerous. You might need the entire colony,”

The rodents stopped nibbling to stare at him. One of the bigger rats squeaked in confusion.

“Yes, I know, that’s a lot of you, and you guys aren’t used to being outside Ketterdam. But the reward is 30 million kruge ,”

The entire assembly went silent before wild squeaking ensued.

Kaz held up a hand. “Quiet, please, don’t alarm the Dregs,”

They calmed down again but all stood on their hind legs, nibbling their food while staring at him with wide eyes.

“I will tell you what it entails, and we can decide your reward if you agree. We’ll need to do some extra training to handle the colder weather, but that will wait a bit,”

They nodded, and Kaz settled down to explain what he could.

The briefing lasted two hours, and then the next night he had to go and break Helvar out of prison for more details to give to the army. They seemed to be in general good spirits about the entire thing, despite Kaz’s warning of danger and ice.

When he came back with all of the information he had gathered, including several small copied versions of the maps and diagrams Wylan had drawn, the real training began.

“No, the keys are going to be more complex than anything you see in the Barrel,” Kaz shook his head and laid out several old complicated door knobs and keyholes. “Show me how you’d open this,”

The rat squeaked determinedly and set to work.

“Even if you’re stealing from them, you can’t go around being sloppy,” Kaz frowned, straightening the bowties of a group of mice. The mice wore black ribbons, the rats gray, and The Council Of Rodents red. “I do not dress sloppy, and you shall not either. You are representing all Ketterdam rodents with this mission,”

They nodded seriously and let him adjust their ribbons.

“Make sure to take baths!” Kaz called after them once they were done. “You do not spread viral infections to other countries, alright!?”

Affirmative squeaks.

“It’s going to be cold, but your feet are grabby so we can’t cover them. You’re already used to Ketterdam cold, but this is different entirely,” Kaz warned them. “I tried finding some ice for you to practice on, and I’ve got...” he put several boxes atop his desk, “You guys some coats. There should be enough for all of you and are in different sizes, everyone in single file,”

The Council Of Rodents was following Kaz around town as they decided what treats he would be buying them with his share of the money.

He watched with hidden pride as the mice distracted the bakery shopkeeper and a group came from the left flank to pry open display cases and steal bread.

“They’ve come so far,” he whispered to one of the older rats that was standing on a ledge near Kaz’s head. It nodded in agreement.

A customer tried to bat away one of the rats with her purse, and a group of them jumped on her face in revenge.

“So far,” he nodded, pleased.

At the end of the week, in the hours before the sun had even risen over the sea’s horizon, Kaz stood at Fifth Harbor.

“Is everyone here?” he asked, looking over the crowd of rodents.

Two tardy mice ran from behind a shop and squeaked in apology.

“Alright, then. That ship over there is manned by someone who works for me. He has been instructed to leave you all alone and not bring a cat on board the ship. I’ve set aside barrels of cider, water, seeds, fruits, cheese, and crackers for you in the hold of the ship, so do not steal from the humans,”

One of the rats snickered and Kaz sighed. “Yes, I know I usually tell you to steal from the humans, but work with me here,”

They nodded.

“Does everyone have their maps?”

The rodents rummaged through their tiny leather pouches and waved their small maps at him.

“Weapons?”

Needles flew up into the air.

“No one is missing their coat?”

No negative squeak.

Kaz nodded. “Well, then, everyone. The ship departs in forty minutes. The journey will take a few weeks, and you’ll have to wait a while once you arrive. Do you remember what day you have to go to the Ice Court?”

Chitters confirmed they did.

Kaz took a deep breath. “Then, off to the boat with you. I trust I’ll be seeing you in two month’s time. No mourners,”

They squeaked back their best rendition of “No funerals,”, taking their individual time to pat his shoe in affirmance, and scrambled towards the boat.

Kaz stood and watched the boat until it departed.

As an extra safety measure, he ended up sending some guard crows to travel with the ship. Just being careful.

The great part about not sending humans to do your job is that people have a lot harder time figuring out which boat you’re going on, so Kaz had fun getting rid of the Black Tips that had failed to do any damage, as his army was already far out at sea.

Kaz had been training the rodents for a long time. He’d long since taken in stride that for some reason, not only could they understand him, but they could actually communicate back, and they were his secret weapon in everyday life. If things were too risky or complicated for Inej, he sent them to find out people’s secrets and bring back the information he used to control people like Geels.

He didn’t typically do big jobs with them though, they were too valuable to put in danger like that, but they were the only ones he could trust to really get the job done.

Still, despite his confidence in their abilities, he worried.

The next few weeks there were only about a couple dozen rodents from both the Order and Society, the ones that were either too young or too elderly to handle the trip, but they could still do work around Ketterdam, and news of what Jan Van Eck planned to do infuriated Kaz.

He wasn’t gonna not give his army their rewards, so while he waited for them to come back, he went about ruining lives.

Kaz found himself spending a lot of time with Wylan, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, and Inej the following weeks, one part because they were working on tearing down Wylan’s father, and one part because he had nothing else to do. The mouse and rats that were still there had taken to also watching Kaz’s companions.

He found a red fabric scrap and handed it to one of the mice, and later on, they came up to him, showing off the now rather dress-like piece.

“Who are you supposed to be, Nina?” he asked.

Affirmative squeak.

Kaz rolled his eyes and the mouse flicked their tail at him in contempt.

“Actually, you kind of have it down,” he noted, and the mouse sniffed haughtily before clambering away.

“Where’d you get that?” Kaz asked a rat playing with some gambling chips. “Better not be from the Crow Club,”

The rat showed him the Dime Lion insignia on the chips.

“Oh, you can always steal from them. But why the gambling chips?”

The rat twirled and did a little motion with its hands.

“Jesper? Really?”

He found a large, rather grumpy rat watching the Nina Mouse one day. He didn’t even have to wonder who that one was taking inspiration from, and instead handed Matthias Rat a piece of ice.

A small mouse had taken to stealing matches and trying to light small fires.

“You are not a demo expert,” Kaz told the mouse. “I don’t care how many hours you’ve spent watching the Merchling,”

The mouse squeaked sadly and Kaz frowned.

“Fine, you can mess with the matches, but have Jesper Rat watch over you,”

Wylan Mouse seemed to sigh but went with Jesper Rat anyway.

One of the smallest mice had taken to riding on Kaz’s shoulder whenever Kaz was walking the streets at night. At first, he’d wondered why, knowing he didn’t need to be watched over, but then he found that that mouse had been collecting needles, sharp metal bits, and even a small human-sized knife, and Inej Mouse was established.

A little longer than two months later, he stood on Fifth Harbor once more, the Five of Rodents waiting alongside him. A crow had arrived two days ago, with a note from the rodents that they were on their way, but complications had occurred.

He worried about numbers lost, or maybe that some of them had been imprisoned, but that wasn’t the result.

They came from the ship's hold like an ocean, carrying a small boy through pure willpower.

Kaz raised his eyebrows. “Welcome home, everyone. That doesn’t look like an old scientist to me,”

A group of them came forward, clambering over each other to explain what had happened.

“One at a time,” Kaz scolded, looking them over. It seemed that their numbers were almost intact. Clearly, some had been lost, but all in all, the casualties were minimal. He was relieved.

They explained what had happened, and Kaz sighed. Well, the old man was dead, but at least they had the son.

“Kuwei, was it?” he told the Shu boy. “Don’t speak to anyone about them,”

The boy just nodded nervously, looking more confused than anyone Kaz had ever seen.

A mouse piped up and Kaz turned incredulously. “You did what to Pekka Rollins?”

There was a gleeful chitter and Kaz smirked. “This is why I trust you guys,”

One of them asked about the reward.

“Yeah, I know,” Kaz told them. “Things got a little bit messy with Jan Van Eck, but now he’s in jail, and you guys have your own house fully stocked with food,”

A triumphant orchestra of squeaks filled the early Ketterdam morning, and Kaz grinned as the army ran onto the streets of the Barrel, pitter-pattering away.

#grishaverse big bang #grishaverse mini bang #GVMB2021 #Kaz Brekker #Six of Crows #Crack fic #mice #rats #rodents #heists #it's cute I promise #Fic with art #Six of Crows art #six of crows fic #kaz brekker fic #my crows

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augustmoon259 · 3 years

Text

Sort the Court Royal Advisor x King/Queen Reader

You were the only child of the previous queen of the kingdom. As the sole heir to the throne, you had a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders. Your kingdom was a peaceful one. The world that you inhabited is one full of magic, monsters, and recently, great scientific advancements.

You remember the day when everything changed, the day you lost your mother and the day you were crowned the new ruler. It was a day like any other. The guards had reported recent sightings of something unidentifiable flying in the air. It was expected to be a dragon.

Dragons were rare, and few in number. When they were discovered, they usually kept to themselves. A dragon that strayed this close to human civilization was worrying.

Since the reports were unclear, and the likelihood of it actually being a dragon was low, these concerns were dismissed. It was a mistake. The dragon came in the night, breathing fire and killing dozens of your people, and among them, your mother. Brave knights, accompanied by skilled wizards and witches, fended off the dragon, but were unable to kill it.

You decided to relocate your capital to another city, one that would be easier to defend and fortify. Your citizens followed you. You searched for the best blacksmith in the land, one that could forge a weapon of epic proportions to kill the dragon. Finally, you found him.

The dragon had not attacked again since that day, so you had time in between growing your city to further development on the prospective “Dragonblade”. The blacksmith worked with witches, wizards, and knights to find the materials for such a blade.

After a few months, the sword was complete. It needed a proper wielder, and you had just the person in mind. You bestowed the quest to kill the dragon on your most loyal and daring knight. With him was his apprentice, a common thief girl.

That girl was trouble. She had been known to steal from anyone: the rich, the poor, and then some. She had finally been caught when she had tried scaling the gate to the high class housing district.

The people loved the knight, but were wary of his apprentice. You too shared in their reluctance, but still, you saw them off the same.

Anxiously, you and your citizens waited for them to return. For if they did not, even with such a legendary weapon, then hope was lost. It was with spectacular celebration and happiness that the news of their homecoming brought.

The dragon had been slain, and you could rest just a little bit easier knowing that. Surprisingly, the thief girl had managed to hold her own fairly well. You supposed she would one day be a worthy knight after all.

(Nothing would change her love for money, as she had tried to make off with half the dragon hoard, were it not for the intervention of the knight).

With the threat of the dragon subdued, you were freely able to expand and strengthen your kingdom. Your kingdom now had an even stronger military, a thriving economy, and a great investment in the arts.

Nowhere else was this more prominent than in the capital of your kingdom. It was where the headquarters of the Council of Science resided, the residence of one Madame Abeille (co-owner of the renowned Abeille’s Sweets), and where the most talented musicians and performers gathered.

Your citizens were what made your kingdom special. Whether they be plant people, aliens, undead skeletons, sentient slimes, or (formerly) cursed chests.

The dragon had been by and large the most difficult problem to deal with. However, you had other problems to resolve. Whether they be issues like an infected granary stock, or a ban on pineapples.

That’s where your royal advisor came in. A while after dealing with the dragon, she had come to your kingdom. She came from a town in another kingdom east to yours. She had come highly recommended, as an expert in political and diplomatic affairs. She had been the best candidate for your royal advisor, and you were glad she was. You could not imagine anyone else in that position.

Over the years, you two had grown closer together. You found yourself admiring not only her skills in government, but outside. You noticed the little things, like her love for animals. She’d feed the stray cats, and she was fond of one particular orange tabby. She had named him Boots. You liked Boots, so you let him stay in the castle. You’d scratch his belly and feed him fish when you had the time.

Eventually, your kingdom gained admission into the esteemed Council of Crowns. It had not been easy, as along the way, you had to search for a notorious resident of the Comfy Kingdom: Yarno. You uncovered a conspiracy in which another citizen, Button Boy, had pretended to be the royal advisor of King Pin in order to catch Yarno.

Upon joining the Council of Crowns, you had noticed that your royal advisor had seemed sadder. Yes, while it was true that you had more work dealing with the matters of other kingdoms, you always made sure to make time for your royal advisor.

She and you had become friends, not just colleagues. When you spent time with her, you’d catch yourself admiring her golden blonde hair that always seemed to shine in your eyes. You liked the sound of her laughter, the way she smiled, and her enthusiasm.

So could it be that these feelings you had for her, extended beyond friendship? Could it be...love? You were afraid to find out, and you were afraid to ask. You’d daydream and wonder about the possibilities. You knew that it’d be incredibly awkward if she didn’t return your feelings.

Still, that desire to know tortured you. It was impossible not to think of her, when you saw her everyday. Which is why, on a particular day, you decided to end your doubts once and for all. There was no going back. Even if she didn’t accept, even if you ended up with a broken heart.

You brought her to one of your favorite places in the city, a hill. On that hill was a pure white tree, with the bluest of leaves. A wandering wizard had left it as a gift to you before he left.

Then you told her everything: how much you valued her presence in your life, how you admired her, how you loved her. To your delight, she returned your feelings.

You two went on several dates together, as a couple. You were extremely happy to tell anyone and everyone that you had a wonderful girlfriend. More time passed, and then you two decided to get engaged. A while after that, you got married and the two of you lived happily ever after….

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olruggioofthetorch · 3 years

Note

sorry you know me I like to ask a million questions so here it goes- Tinsel:5,18,20,27,31,39,40 / Nila:13,28/Roman:11,6,7/Benji:4,19/Saoirse: 20,25,27 /Fionn: 6,7,10,33/ Scone:21,23 - sorry can’t remember the other siblings off the top of my head and these are the major ones anyway right haha? and this is a lot of questions anyway soooo

Ooo we're getting into the selkies tonight

Tinsel

5. What was their childhood fear?

Being alone or left behind. It was definitely a threat when they were a kid like "if you aren't on the caravan before we leave at noon, we're leaving you behind". I don't think their parents would have actually left them behind when they were small but it was enough of a threat that they and their siblings listened for the most part. Its not so much a childhood fear as it is a regular adult fear now.

18. If they could live or visit anywhere, where would they go?

Tinsel really likes where they live but they do have dreams about living on a sunny coast with their partners when they all settle down. Idk if there's anywhere specific they want to visit? They just go where the adventure leads them. I think they would like to visit somewhere to meet up with their family, tho.

20. What did they dream of "growing up" to be?

Oh man, Tinsel wanted to be an A List celebrity actor. They wanted to be lead role in blockbusters. It was a big goal for them but they were sure they could do it.

27. Have they achieved any of their childhood dreams? Are they still trying? Have those dreams changed?

They've gotten some of their childhood dreams! They moved to Holly Bay and made tons of friends. They got to act in live theater. They were almost in a movie! They got some notoriety from adventuring and were on TV for it. They got to kiss their childhood crush. They didn't quite make it to the A List after getting blacklisted but they're def still trying.

In regards to how they changed: I don't think they changed too much but they did see how hard it was to achieve them. Plus, they started dreaming about having a family when they were with Bast so that's definitely something they want now.

31. Who are they when they aren't with the party?

When they're not with the party, Tinsel is way less open about themself. They're a master of either talking around a question or lying by omission and they use it when they don't feel comfortable sharing. Pre-adventure, they didn't really even tell their closest friends the entire truth about their backstory (which is honestly buckwild and hard to believe anyway) or their relationship with Bast or really anything about their love/sex life.

I think it's bc they don't think Kira and Zona will judge them.

39. If someone could tell them anything about the future they asked, would they want to know? Would they ask?

I think they have actually, they asked if they were going to get married. I don't think they would want to ask something super serious because they aren't going to listen to a no.

40. What sets them free?

A good support system. Tinsel's very talented and driven but they need the power of friendship to keep them from burning out.

Nila

13. How do they like to spend afternoons free?

Nila likes to paint. She dipped her toe into art forgery for a little bit but decided it was more fun to steal the real thing and do her own work on the side. She has one of those cute little travel watercolors she uses to paint landscapes when she gets some time alone. Absolutely no one knows she has this hobby.

28. If they could change their class(es), would they? To what?

I dont think she'd change her class from rogue but she would def take some wizard skills.

Roman

11. What were their teenage years like?

He was a horrible teenage boy, mostly bc he wanted attention. He started off with red hair but occasionally made it redder when he got teased about it. He activated the Cain instinct in a lot of his siblings but I think Tinsel tried to kicked his ass the most purely due to how close their ages are. He shot them with an arrow by accident once and never lived it down.

His mom taught him archery at around 14-15 and he got very good at it to try and impress her. He left home around 18/19, picked up some odd jobs/repaired archery equipment professionally for a few years until Nila called him up like "hey bro miss you let's do this heist together".

6. Did they grow up with siblings? What were those relationships like?

Yes lmao my boy has 9 siblings. I sort of talked about this in the last question but yeah he liked to stir the pot for attention. Even though they tried to kick his ass, his siblings still love him. Him and Saoirse always got along really well and I'm p sure she stopped him from actually getting murdered as a kid lol. He really doesn't have a bad relationship with any of them, though, besides still owing Scone a bunch of money. Rome's a lot of fun and he's the kind of guy who will give or share anything with you. He is just A Lot.

7. How were their relationships with their parents/guardians growing up?

He def knew he wasn't the favorite child lol. I think once Knox realized why his kid was acting up, he made sure to spend some extra time with him every once and a while. And once he showed promise in archery, his relationship with Fulki got better too. I think he has an okay relationship with his parents right now but he definitely would never live with them again.

Benji

4. Who was their childhood hero?

Their dad! They're very similar people and he looks up to him a lot.

19. How does the high noon sun make them feel?

Sleepy... It's too darn hot. He's 100% not interested in going out at high noon so he's either taking a nap or hanging out somewhere shady with Folsom.

Saoirse

20. What did they dream of "growing up" to be?

I don't know if Saoirse had one specific dream. What she did know is that she didn't want to get married and she didn't want to have kids. I think she went through a bunch of phases on what she wanted to be when she grew up until she landed on being a wizard. When that stuck, she just leaned hard into it.

25. What is their comfort item/habit?

She's definitely one of those "make a hot beverage when I'm stressed" kind of people. She's also a stress baker... Which used to be a "make potions and light stuff on fire" habit but she realized she gets muffins if she bakes instead.

She also has a bunch of stuffed animals in her room, purely because she's an adult wizard and no one can tell her not to have stuffies.

27. Have they achieved any of their childhood dreams? Are they still trying? Have those dreams changed?

Oh, she totally achieved the wizard thing and now she's a real Howl Pendragon figure. She got bored being by herself so she applied to get some apprentices, but due to a clerical error, she wound up with a couple of brothers (Max and Arseny) who were way too young to be apprentices. She's basically raising them as her kids (they call her mama and the Townes all consider them grandkids/nephews lol) but Saoirse insists they're still her apprentices in public.

Fionn

6. Did they grow up with siblings? What were those relationships like?

Fionn was the golden oldest brother! He and Saoirse were basically 3rd/4th parents so the rest of the siblings came to love/respect him. He was really good at keeping the peace. Dude would have made a fantastic diplomat. The siblings especially liked when he told them stories about life before their family left the Muirs or stories about knights/heroes. It was a rough day when he disappeared and the siblings that remember him really miss him.

7. How were their relationships with their parents/guardians growing up?

Very strained. Like, he was def the favorite child, but Fionn really had some childhood trauma from The Fall that they couldn't help him with bc they also had it. He sort of resents that he got put into the auxiliary parent role on top of it. I think ultimately they expected way too much out of him so it was only natural he'd disappear and be feral.

10. When did their childhood end?

I don't think it was a definite ending, more of a gradual thing around his early teens when he realized he had a lot of responsibilities.

Scone

21. How did they become an adventurer?

Scone's best friend Latte (a Yuke who's good with magic) sent her a letter that suggested they'd make a good caravanning team. She was itching to leave the family caravan (she was tired of bailing her siblings out and knew that adventuring was good money) so she agreed!

23. What is their role in the party? Not just their class on a meta level, but among the individuals who make up the party?

Imagine a buff accountant and you have Scone lol.

Like Tinsel, Scone is the tank in combat. However, unlike Tinsel, Scone is weirdly responsible. She makes sure all the supplies are stocked and in order, makes sure everyone takes care of themselves and she keeps track of their earnings. She can be outgoing but she prefers to let her team do the social leg work.

#This is a big one omg but I loved it #Thank u Marlo #Gwen asks #Tinsel T Townes #Nila Townes #Roman Townes #Benji Townes #Saoirse Townes #Fionn Townes

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mrpenguinpants · 3 years

Text

Alright, I finally read Reincarnation no Kaben

AFTER MONTHS (it’s probably been a month? My mind doesn’t keep track of the days) I FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO RNK. Ty to Okita anon for the recommendation (*￣3￣)╭💕💕💕 I absolutely loved it.

After this I’ll start on the other recommendation you gave me. I kept a bit of a log of my reading journey under the read more tag.

Major spoilers for literally everything in RNK up to ch 53 “Withdrawal”.

Oh, and I’ll finish answering all my leftover asks and I SHOULD have a fic done by tomorrow. I was so ready to write and then I got up. Now I’m back to bed.

I’m just gonna write this as a log since I read super super slow and I’m only on ch 7 at the start of writing this but I’m really liking it already. Though to be fair. I love everything okita anon recommends haha. I remember you saying you were simping over Kouu and I haven’t gotten to the part where he appears but I wanted to quickly google what he looked like to prepare myself and I see this:

Well. That’s reassuring.

I was actually kinda surprised by how many western figures were in the manga since I know there are only like 7? Around 7 western figures that pop up in any anime/manga but seeing people like Albert Fish was kinda surprising but I really liked it. Also, at the end of certain chapters they write little bio’s on them so you get to know more about them was such a nice touch. I also love that the tradition of making males -> females still stays strong even outside the fate universe hehe.

---

Literally, the next chapter I see him. AHHHHHHHHH. Well maybe not him but his eyeballs.

This guy lowkey reminds me of the MC’s brother but it’s 99% because he has the same long ponytail. I wouldn’t be surprised if the brother was apart of the the Greats. Honestly, Ein reminds me of those really hard headed girls that are actually really kind on the inside but aren’t good at expressing themselves (maybe because that’s pretty much her character). I also like that Ein doesn’t like males but she’s hiding behind this guy. At least, I’m..99% sure this is Ein.

I FUCKING KNEW IT. AS SOON AS I SAW HE GOT A THEIF TALENT I COULD FEEL THE SOLO LEVELING VIBES IN ME. HE CAN STEAL TALENTS I FUCKING KNEW IT!!! I’m surprised that Neumann didn’t say anything and Haito seems to be aware of it.

Edit: Ah okay, I understand a bit now but it almost seems like Haito is the only one aware of Toya’s second talent.

Edit 2: Okay, as much as I love power hungry MC’s I’m really glad they didn’t make Toya into that. I am such a softie for sympathetic and kind MC’s like these even though it’s been done so many times. I’m really glad this didn’t feel like a rehash. I mean, some points some of the stuff Toya says it does but it’s fine, I don’t mind that. I actually gave a crap about him since I usually prefer the side characters (I UNDERSTAND ANON, I CARE ABOUT KOUU SO MUCH AHHHHH) but HAITO?? AHHHHH.

---

I like that Izo always has the same hat in every adaptation he’s in lol. Istg, cats are always op. Schrodinger seems so strong and the parallel universes are my absolute shit. Sometimes I think, in one universe I did this and in this universe I’m not. Would I rather stay in this universe or be in the one where I am actually productive. Usually I pick the productive universe and actually work but sometimes I’m a bit of a slacker haha. I think this is my approach to a lot of things in life. But I digress, I don’t wanna get too deep into my life.

I can sorta sympathize with the sinners. At least the ripper guy to say the least. I love love love unhinged characters that just want to basically destroy the world or at least have fun. But then you find out- wait they are actually sympathetic oh no. That’s how I felt about Djoser in “im the great priest imhotep” (please...i beg...someone read this...I’m so starved).

As much as character development and rooting for the hero is cool and all, I just want to simp for the crazy “let’s burn the world to the ground” kinda character. I’m also so glad Toya doesn’t automatically become evil and try and steal everyone’s talents because he does seem like a good person and I really don’t see him suddenly switching fields so when he saved (I don’t remember names I’m sorry), the undead solider it was really nice. Proves that he still has his humanity and isn’t strictly relying on the branch of sin.

It makes sense that he wants to steal talents since he never had one (and it was kinda out of left field when he killed Vlad and we just never addressed that ever again haha) but to see him actually consider his actions and if he actually want’s to steal his teammates talents feels right to me. Poor guy doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends so this is the first time he’s ever seemed to have companionship, aside from Haito, so I really hope he doesn’t attempt to steal their talents. I think I’m thinking of the slime? That time I got reincarnated as a slime manga/anime. Where he’s the pokemon catcher of skills. I thought that was where it was going.

But I do kinda like how selfish Haito and Toya’s talent stealing relationship is (I mean, later it develops but my first draft of writing this I wasn’t there yet). I’m not sure if selfish or like self-gratitude/pride is the right word but it’s kind of a breath of fresh air. Rather than Haito trying to contain or “help” Toya’s inferiority she’s actually encouraging it and using her own talent for her own...acknowledgement? Er, yeah let’s go with that.

---

This. This interaction. I love this. Like, genuinely love this. We need more of this. Two people from opposite sides finding some common ground and their fight to the death is less about morals or whose on whose side but for themselves. I love that. This is actually some wholesome stuff.

Edit: AHHHHH CATCH MY UGLY CRYING IN THE BACK BECAUSE ALL THE “SINNERS” ARE ACTUALLY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. IM DEAD. YOU’VE KILLED ME.

---

I KNEW IT! YOU CAN NEVER TRUST THESE KIND OF PEOPLE!! I’m going to slap the whiteboard on this but if I see any “goofy” character I’m immediately sus of them.

As much as I hate that Hitler is getting drawn as a small child I really like this. I know the whole, oh I killed your friends but I’m letting you go because you express humanity but I’m gonna finish my death with a sympathetic line, can be annoying to people but idk I really liked this.

Honestly this and the undead soldiers death hit me hard ngl. This manga might not have my favourite art style during some points compared to like main stream manga but it has some really beautiful scenes.

BOOM CALLED IT, though it’s pretty obvious lol.

THE PONY TAIL NEVER LIES AND HES DA VINCI IT MAKES SENSE NOW

He looks so cute lol. I like that Seiya has the talent of being talented in everything while Toya has the talent to steal other talents. Seiya can probably only cap his power by his own physical/mental abilities with Toya can pull a solo leveling and go further beyond. Thinking of it like jack of trades vs master of none type deals. Though, I might be thinking too hard on this. I like that this man is actually humble but I really wish there was a tiny bit more to him since we only get this one interaction/backstory but the manga isn’t completed yet. I really hope we get to know about Seiya more;; like how he became da vinci or etc.

Everytime I see Neumann I look at that comic sans type and it kills me on the inside. But I love that her eyes are 01 just, mwah perfection. These little details that aren’t that big but it’s soooo nice. I also ahem, unhinged character heart be still. It’s really nice reading manga in bursts because you can see the art progression and damn does she look good.

tiny fang appreciation post.

ngl i’M HARD SIMPING FOR THIS MAN. It’s the pony tail, I have such a thing for guys with long hair (and this is why genshin broke me) but man the art really picked up here.

I didn’t get into it but OKITA ANON I GET IT. KOUU??? AHHHH. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE??? As much as his whole “war” was a bit questionable in the beginning and tbh I still don’t really get it I like that he knows he’s not the same as the other Greats but still tries to help the other “sinners” in a way only he knows. That’s why Seiya was so important;; I get that he wanted them to have a fun death and to be understood but idk, the whole war idea and having them kill each other (especially the Hitler fights because I understand the others since they reached some kind of acknowledgement) but nonetheless, what a great guy.

Nightingale gives me mad masaki vibes from chainsawman. I hate them and I can’t wait for you to fail, but the inner part of my is cheering for you because unhinged characters are my shit. I feel really bad for Neumann, I had suspicions she wasn’t actually like that since it’s sooo out of left field but I’m really glad the manga seems to know what it’s doing. I really wish we got more Kouu interactions with everyone tho.

NOW THIS. THIS IS SOME WHOLESOME STUFF. I WANT THIS. I REALLY WANT SPIN-OFF OF REALLY SAD ANIME/MANGA/STORIES WHERE ALL THE DEAD PEOPLE HANG OUT. That’s how I’m feeling about JJK and the scroll segments or BSD WAN that just came out. IT’S SO WHOLESOME TO SEE EVERYONE NOT TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER.

UGLY SOBBING IN THE CLUBBB AND KOUU AND CHARLOTTE AHHHH. I hate how this is phrased but the respect I have for Hitler?? YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD THAT IS TO TYPE?? Kitazuka is cool tho, I really like him. Some god given talent. I’m hard simping over him but I really hope we get to know more about him later.

Getting smug mona vibes, I love this.

AHHH IVE NEVER FELT THIS UPSET OVER AN APPLEEEE. I’M ACTUALLY UPSET. IF HE DIES IM ACTUALLY GOING TO CRY MY HEART OUT.

THE FAMOUS SLAP

I’M SORRY WHA- SLENDERMAN?

Oh..wow. Okay, be still my heart. When I first saw her I thought she was really pretty but now I’m absolutely smitten. God damn, can I please have some more crumbs on these characters before they die;;

AHHH SAME GIRL FUCKING SAME????? I adore these small panels and translator notes. It’s a real breather after the sad 3am hours talk these characters go through.

Yagyuu. Jesus christ. WHY ARE ALL THE DEATH SCENES IN THIS MANGA ACTUALLY SO PRETTY AND STABS ME IN THE HEART??? that’s it. goodbye. im fucking out. im actually so upset rn. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?

---

In conclusion, and I should probably re-read what the characters say and not go off on memory because I’m about to get really deep. I really like how they phrased why they wanted to stop the branch of sin. That there are people just like Toya and Haito who, if they never found the branch of sin, could still probably lead respectable and okay lives. That there was a “them” in another universe that didn’t go down that road and that they want to be in the same universe as “them”. I know this sounds really confusing if you haven’t read the manga but going back to what I said about the parallel universe stuff.

There was a universe where Toya and Haito didn’t rely on the branch of sin, that even without their talents from becoming a returner, they could still live a happy life given their own personalities and attitudes. It was kinda moving since in the beginning, Toya wanted a talent so badly and now that he has one. He’s realizing that wait, I don’t need a past life talent in order to live. Honestly, I hard relate to that because I totally agree with him. If you have a talent you can probably live a very happy and comfortable life that other factors wouldn’t matter if you just have that incredible talent. Thinking of it as a painter or artist, if you had actual god-given talent you wouldn’t need to worry about other factors since people would naturally seek that talent. So you end up comparing yourself to others and setting that limit on yourself.

But that’s okay, it’s completely natural and I’m not saying it’s horrible if you do this. Fuck, I do this all the time. I’m not saying the manga is changing my life but it’s kind of refreshing that it get’s talked about since other adaptations of this just make the character super OP. I understand wanting to have that incredible talent, fuck who doesn’t? but you don’t need it in order to live earnestly in the bigger picture sense. Not everything you do has to be productive and honestly, learning to be okay with having fun is nice. Just being okay with who you are right now, even if it isn’t perfect in your eyes, you still have time to build upon yourself and your own talents but doing it for yourself.

But I probably missed the point and I’m going way to deep haha. But I really enjoyed reading this and thank you once again to okita anon for the recommendation^^ I always love everything you send me and I’ll start reading the next one. If anyone else has any recommendations let me know!

#WOW WHAT A FUCKING TRAIN RIDE #AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #ALRIGHT TIME TO GO CRY MY HEART OUT #JESUS THIS ACTUALLY SO BEAUTIFUL???#PLEAE PLEASE PLEASE READ IT #IK THE BEGINNING MIGHT SEEM A BIT WEIRD WITH SO MUCH INFORMATION THROWN AT YOU BUT DO IT #IT GETS SOOOO GOOD LATER #ITS GETTING SO GOOD RN BUT I NEED TO WAIT FOR UPDATES #OKITA ANON YOU ARE SUCH AN MVP FUCK I LOVE IT #BUT YOURE ALSO KILLING ME #super duper fucking i love you i actually love you mwha #okita anon #lovely anon #anon ask #reincarnation no kaben

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godzillaslayer101 · 4 years

Text

A Faustian Bargain

Faust I

The Peterhelm Theatre was quaint. That was the best word for it. There were around a hundred seats in the theater, some clearly meant for the enjoyment of nobility or high-ranking parents given the fine leather the chairs were fashioned with. The stage itself wasn't even that large, only able to hold up to twenty people.

It was never meant to hold the collective student body of Chernobog, and it couldn't. It hadn't stopped Mephisto from squeezing as many people as he could for his first presentation, and it hadn't prevented him from doing it for the second time. Luckily his friend hadn't asked for any oil, but Faust was unable to relax. A sentiment shared with every other student sitting in the seats and the Reunion members standing guard at the doors and on the second floor.

A floodlight turned on and a single person was revealed on the stage.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming once again." Mephisto started, smiling as his green eyes raked across the room. He put his palm on his chest. "As a lover of democracy, it brings warmth to my heart that you all were able to so quickly elect a representative to bring your interests to me."

Because you threatened to flay them alive if they didn't, Mephisto. Faust thought but kept his silence from where he was hidden to Mephisto's left. His men had reported multiple incidents where the meeting room had nearly come to blows only for one of Mephisto's Possessed to pass by. It's thundering footsteps and pained howls enough to cow the children into submission.

Faust was taken from his thoughts as Mephisto snapped his fingers. "Ursine ladies and gentlemen, give it up for your Student Council, President Natalya Andreyevna Rostova."

Another stage light was turned on, revealing what had to be a seventeen-year-old Ursus Girl. She was dressed in a White Peterheim School uniform; she bowed to the student body. The only sign of fear was her trembling fingers.

"I said, clap!" Mephisto shouted, saccharine voice becoming venomous.

Thunderous applause broke out as each student tried to outdo the other. Faust still kept an eye on the students whose clapping was more restrained. The ones who could think were always the most dangerous.

Natalya, to her credit, kept her fake smile and bowed. The clapping came to a sudden halt as Mephisto thumped the stage with his staff and inclined his head towards the new Student President.

"Everyone, thank you for electing me as your student council president. I know these are trying times." She began with one of the biggest understatements Faust had ever heard. "But it is my belief that the Ursus student spirit is resilient and through cooperation with the Reunion Movement that we will come out of this...whirlwind of events stronger than ever. However, to do so any troubles you feel with our new teachers must be brought to me." She finished bowing once again and ceding the floor back to Eno.

Mephisto bobbed his head twice towards the poor girl, clearly pleased at her mediocre acting skills, and took back control. "Thank you for your kind words, Ms. Rostova." He began to inspect his fingernails, displaying the black veins on his hands to the whole student body. "However, there is a problem."

Natalya's smile was frozen in place, and Faust could feel the tension in the room rocket back up. He raised his crossbow up just in case.

"You don't have any cabinet members."

What?

Mephisto shrugged, "It's important to elect a leader, but no one man or woman is an island, but given recent events, I understand and forgive your mistake. In fact, To ease your burden a little. I've already chosen most of your cabinet. Come on out, girls."

Faust watched as four girls walked from the back of the stage to the front. He'd assumed Mephisto wanted to make examples of them, but clearly, he had been mistaken. Two of them had been roughed up while the blue-haired one and yellow-haired one were practically curling in on themselves at the situation they had found themselves in.

"I'd like to introduce your new Student Body General Zima and Student Body Lieutenant Leto," Mephisto said. He gestured to a brown-haired girl with red highlights in her hair and a girl wearing a uniform with yellow highlights. The Former glared at Mephisto, both her eyes bruised, and Faust resigned himself to killing her. The latter waved with her one good hand, the other kept in a makeshift cast.

Mephisto began to walk around the four girls. "These two already have quite the reputation and will be dedicated to ensuring Ms. Rostova's instructions will keep order. In fact, they'll be in charge of the fight clubs which I've heard are all the rage these days. And I do so hope they do a good job. Because if they don't, my big friends will have to take matters into their own hands, and while I'm sure they'll try their Originium ridden hearts out, they aren't the most delicate."

The whole student body couldn't nod fast enough.

Mephisto came to a stop behind the yellow-haired girl. She practically leapt out of her skin when Mephisto's hand landed on her shoulder. "Well, don't be shy. I'd like the new Student Council Head Chef to introduce herself."

"Hello everybody" The girl meekly began.

"Louder," Mephisto ordered.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lada. I'm a long time member of the Ursus Youth Scout, and I'm going to be in charge of making sure everybody remains well-fed here," The girl shouted, with the fakest cheerful voice. Everybody saw her trembling.

"I'm sure you'll give it your all." Mephisto's piercing green eyes flicked to his side, and Faust flashed a signal to his men.

Two bodies with bags over their heads fell from the ceiling before snapping taut as the ropes around their necks caused them to swing from side to side.

Faust heard a few boys and girls panic, but the sounds of Crossbows being cocked and the growls of Possessed made them quiet down quickly. Faust's nose flared as he picked up the smell of urine. It was the newly appointed head chef.

Mephisto's smile was all teeth as he began to speak. "These two cooks were a disgrace to your school and tried to steal food from you. Since it was their first offense, they had the pleasure of dying quickly. Any other repeat offenders won't have such a luxury. And I'm sure little Lada over here is going to try her best to ensure you all stay fed.

"I will, I promise, I promise." The girl screamed tears in her eyes.

"Good" Mephisto muttered, rolling his eyes before he moved over to the last girl in line. She was the youngest and had a hair full of blue hair. She clutched a large book to her chest. Faust's traitorous eyes briefly replaced her with a young, innocent boy with kind green eyes, and he shook his head to banish the illusion.

"Now young Anna has a vital job. In fact, I've hadn't even told her what it is."

She was insurance. Zima had frozen in place, the murderous rage in her eyes being replaced by fear as soon as Mephisto walked over to the blue haired girl.

Mephisto leaned forward like he was eager to share a secret. "She's going to be my personal assistant. School administration is such a hard job, and my talents make me more medically inclined." He turned to the newly appointed student council. "Ms. Rostova, you stay up here. All you other good girls can take your seats at the front."

Once they were seated, he clapped his hands, the sound breaking the sudden quiet that had fallen over the room. "I know that this student council is unorthodox, but it's simply a fact we live in unorthodox times."

Most of the positions were clearly made up, and Reunion was ransacking the city. Yes, Mephisto, that does count as unorthodox. Faust thought but once again kept to himself.

The theatre shook as two Possessed brought forward a chalkboard of all things. It was covered with sections of time "It might surprise you to know this, but one of our dear leaders in Reunion cares deeply about the educational welfare of the Ursus student body."

Patriot definitely hadn't had this in mind when Mephisto had gotten control of making sure the students were isolated. Faust was sure of that, but it could be worse. He glanced at just the two dead bodies still swinging from the rafters. So much worse.

Mephisto gestured with his staff against the chalkboard. "I'll leave it to Ms. Rostova to elaborate."

"Everyone, there will be three meals a day. All students will be scheduled into blocks that they will stay with. Lessons in Math, Arts, and Science will still be taught by the remaining faculty. However, a large portion of the day will be dedicated to physical exercise taught by Mr. Faust."

They what? Fausts couldn't stop his mouth from falling open. The girl was looking around the room, her confusion minimal to his. What was Mephisto doing?

Mephisto sighed before walking over to where Faust was hidden under the illusion and clapped him on the shoulder.

"You'll have to forgive my friend. He's very shy." His best friend said smiling warmly at Faust.

Faust dropped the illusion. He lowered his chin so that his face was hidden by his black sweater and raised his crossbow slightly. His friend elbowed his side, and Faust glared at him before sighing. "I will ensure all of you will be in the best physical shape possible."

"Wonderful, Mr. Faust; I'm thankful we are in your care," Rostova said. And Faust resisted the urge to spit at her blatant flattery.

Mephisto took the praise in stride, rewarding the girl with a smile that lacked his usual malice. "Yes, Faust is...Faust is my best friend. I would have died many times over if it weren't for his wisdom and protection. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that he's the most important in the world to me...Other than big sis Talulah of course." He tacked on shocking Faust.

"And it's because of that, that if I hear one word of any of you skipping his classes. I'll skip stripping you of your meals and go straight for flaying you alive or making you my Possessed."

Mephisto's green eyes landed on Rostova, whose skin was almost as pale as her hair. "Am I clear?"

"Yes, Dean Mephisto."

"Ha," Mephisto barked in laughter. "I'll leave it to the council to inform the rest of the student body of our policies going forward. Faust and I are going to set up your new lesson plans."

He turned on his heel and left. Faust hands flew through signals that ordered his men to keep him updated on the theatre situation and followed his friend out of the room.

They walked through the schools winding hallways passing by classrooms packed with students before arriving at an office. The placard read "Nurse's office" his friend held open the door for Faust to enter, locked the door behind him, shut the blinds, hopped on the bed, and patted a spot for Faust to sit by him.

The second Faust joined Mephisto, the white-haired Ancient sagged onto Faust's shoulder. He froze at the sudden contact. Mephisto had always been fond of doing this when they were younger, but ever since their discussion about Talulah, these moments had become fewer and fewer.

"Go ahead, ask your questions."

"How am I supposed to teach a bunch of kids?"

"Just teach them what the Flag Waver taught us."

Faust stared at his friend. "You want me to teach a bunch of children, guerilla tactics." Faust was proud of the way he kept his tone neutral. It was a bad idea- no a terrible idea, but Mephisto hadn't been this open or restrained in weeks. In fact?

"What happened, Eno" Sasha asked his best friend.

Eno stiffened, "What do you mean?"

"You're hardly sleeping, and when you do, you wake up screaming. And...I didn't think this was how you were going to run this lockdown."

"You thought I was going to burn their food and leave them to fend for themselves. Let them experience an ounce of our childhood."

Fausts silence was answer enough.

"It's tempting," Eno admitted. "But we need the students."

Faust ran his fingers through Eno's hair. "Why?"

"Sasha, Talulah's different." Faust froze. The words were so quiet, but they thundered in Fausts' ears all the same. "I'm a monster and a coward. But I think I'm ready to choose."

Sasha continued to stare down at Eno, unwilling to even breathe. Was he dreaming? Was this happening?

Eno looked up at Sasha, and Sasha couldn't even breathe at the fear within those eyes.

"Sasha, would you leave Reunion with me?"

It was treasonous, stupid, and a thousand visions flashed through Sasha's mind of them dying horribly.

But...But they had promised each other to suffer through life at each other's side, and for the first time in a long while, it didn't hurt to follow that promise.

#Arknights #mephisto (arknights)#faust (arknights)#frostnova (arknights)#patriot (arknights)#crownslayer (arknights)#arknights zima #istina (arknights)#rosa (arknights)#gummy (arknights)

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pidgebeifong · 4 years

Text

atla artist au

Aang is a painter. He’s loved painting ever since he was a child and first experimented with finger paints on the walls- which was, in hindsight, maybe not the best idea. He loves the way it detaches him from his worldly concerns. It’s almost like a form of meditation for him- the rest of the universe just falls away whenever he picks up his paintbrush, and all he can see is his canvas and the worlds he will create with a swirl of lemon yellow sun here, a wave of cerulean blue ocean there, a blur of sunset orange clouds at the edges. Everything he owns has been stained with paint in at least three places, which makes dressing for formal events a real pain. Sometimes he’ll deliberately paint his jeans with sunflowers or bees or anything that’s a sunny, bright yellow- his favourite colour- and wear them proudly for days. Katara jokes that she doesn’t even remember what the real colours of his hands look like, because they’re forever stained with paint that’s sunken so deeply into the folds of his skin that it makes it nearly impossible to rub off. People always ask him what his favourite thing to paint is, expecting it to be something like sunsets or mountains, but the truth is his favourite thing to study and paint is his Labrador, Appa, the first thing he ever drew. He started drawing at around five, the same age he adopted Appa, and to this day he can never get the way Appa’s golden fur shines just right under the blinding sunlight. He loves going to nature reserves and parks to study how light affects the leaves and flowers. Sometimes everything will just be too much, and he’ll jam as many paints into his pockets as he can, take a sketchbook, a water bottle and a paintbrush, and get on the bus to a park. He’ll sit quietly for hours, trying to capture moonlight on water or the flapping wings of a hummingbird.

Katara is a writer. She literally can’t remember a time she hasn’t loved to write. She has stacks and stacks of unfinished manuscripts lying around on the floor, tacked up to the walls in her room, and crumpled on the bedsheets. She has easily over a thousand different scenes written for her future novels on the Notes app in her phone, and she has a bad habit of scribbling ideas down on her hands on the rare occasions she doesn’t have her phone on her and there’s no paper in sight. She’s practically nocturnal at this point, because all her best ideas come to her at 3am, when she’s sleep-deprived and half-hallucinating. She always carries at least three pens on her at all times, and gets panicky when she’s forced to remove them whenever she has to dress up for anything formal. She’s really hypocritical whenever she gets on Aang’s case about his hands always being paint-stained, because all her hands are covered in ink, too- half-finished notes and ideas that got left on the cutting board. Katara hates cutting out characters that simply aren’t necessary to the scene and don’t add anything of value to the plot, because they’re her babies damnit and she worked hard on them. One would think that this would make her more sympathetic to her characters, but Aang and Sokka are appalled the first time they’re allowed to read one of her (mostly) finished manuscripts (who is she kidding, she doesn’t have a manuscript that’s even remotely finished for the life of her) and see how much torture and anguish and heartbreak she’s put her characters through. Katara is a huge advocate of making all her characters hit the lowest point they could possibly go, and then instead of making them get back up again, she gives them a shovel and instructions to dig lower. However, she’s a huge sucker for happy endings, and she practically dominates the tag #angst with a happy ending on AO3. She gets around three hours of sleep every night, none of them consecutive, and survives on black coffee and willpower alone. Everyone knows her as an avid reader, but she hasn’t really read an actual book since two years ago, and spends most of her time scrolling through 250k fanfictions at 2am.

Sokka is a photographer. He doesn’t have the skills that Aang has with his paintbrush, or the way Katara can make entire universes come to life with a few words, so for a long time he used to think that he was just going to be the ordinary guy in the group who’d only be known for loving meat to what is frankly an unhealthy degree, and that his only contribution to the team would be a slew of bad jokes and sarcastic remarks. He finds his calling very late in life, but the moment he picks up his first camera at age fourteen, everything just seems to fall perfectly into place. Sokka’s world always moves too fast and changes too quickly, but he can capture moments that will last forever with the click of a button, and he guesses that that’s what he loves about photography- that he can freeze moments in time and always be able to come back to them. Well, as long as he doesn’t lose his camera, but he’s got the photos all backed up on iCloud anyway, so that’s not really an issue. Sometimes, he’ll accompany Aang to nature parks, and Aang will paint the twisting vines of a plant while Sokka captures Aang’s relaxed, happy expression. His favourite photos are the ones he takes of his friends when they’re caught unaware- candid portraits of Suki laughing or Katara ruffling Aang’s hair or Toph trying and failing to hide a grudging smile. He loves old photos, too- loves the aesthetic of black-and-white photos, how they capture a scene that he knows full well happened decades ago but somehow make him feel like he’s living in the same moment. Experimenting with light is one of his favourite things to do- he loves playing with golden hour sunlight or early morning rays, loves hearing the satisfying click of his camera and knowing that he’s got another picture for the album (and his hugely successful Instagram account that has well over 50k followers).

Toph is a sculptor. She was born blind and never really got to experience art the same way the others did, so for a long time she buried her disappointment deep within her and never let jealousy rear its ugly head whenever she heard Katara singing praises about the latest painting Aang had just finished, or the beautiful photograph Sokka had captured of all of them laughing as a group, but then she discovered sculpture. An art she could appreciate from beneath her fingers, an art she could see by running her hands over it and feeling the crevices and curves and edges breathe themselves into life beneath her touch. Despite discovering the term for it late in life, Toph found that she’d actually been sculpting at a very young age. She’d been experimenting with PlayDoh and clay since before she could walk, but she’d never known that there was actually an art form in it that people did professionally until Aang had taken her to a museum and put her hands on a beautiful sculpture of an ancient Greek god. It was one of the only times she’d ever cried in her life, but those had been tears of pure joy- she didn’t want to sound like a sap, but she hadn’t realized that something so beautiful in the world existed until that life-changing moment at the museum. Sure, they’d been chased out by one particularly angry security guard who kept waving his baton around threateningly (‘can’t you two juveniles see that the sign clearly says no touching?!’ ‘actually sir, I’m blind so that would be a hard no’) but it had been worth it. Ever since then, Toph has been addicted to sculpting, feeling things take shape under her capable hands. She’s been told she can replicate faces with an accuracy that’s both astonishing and unnerving, despite not even being able to see (it only took a lot of years and lot of hours spent tracing the lines of Aang’s face) and her work has been proudly displayed on Katara’s bedside table, Sokka’s desks and Aang’s shelves.

Suki is a martial arts instructor who has a degree in badassery. She started her own school at just fifteen years old, and named it the Kyoshi Warrior Academy, in honour of Kyoshi, her late martial arts instructor whom she had a deep respect for. She had black belt status in five different martial arts by the time she turned thirteen, and was a legend for her skill, hard work and talent in the martial arts community. She’s lost quite a few matches, but she’s more than made up for it with every win she’s achieved. The first time she met Sokka, she thought he was trying to steal from her, so she judo-flipped him, pinned him down and tied his wrists together, all of which took a maximum of three seconds. (‘wow, that’s kinky. so are you into that kind of thing?’ ‘shut up, asshole. what do you want from me? my wallet?’ ‘actually, I was going to ask you out on a date, but I mean sure, if you’re offering. I could use a little cash right about now, actually, because I think you just broke all the cards I have in my wallet when you body-slammed me to the ground, along with at least ten of my bones.’) Sokka had severely underestimated Suki’s skill at first, despite their rather unfortunate encounter (during which she actually had broken the bone in his arm, but he’d tried to wave it off and say that he didn’t mind, then subsequently screamed in pain because he’d tried to wave his broken arm), but he knew that he’d have to change his mindset in order to win her over. Eventually, he ended up changing his misogynistic mindset not only to go out with Suki, but because he realized that it was the right thing to do- something Katara was over the moon about. She and Suki have been joined at the hip ever since, and Sokka often jokes whether Suki is only dating him for his sister (‘damn, suki, it’s like you only come over for katara’ ... ‘wait. why aren’t any of you saying anything. katara did you just wink? sUKI DID YOU JUST KISS MY SISTER’S CHEEK-?! oh my god this is the worst betrayal I’ve experienced since toph said that she didn’t need to see my photographs in order to tell that they were ugly’). Jokes aside, Suki adores her boyfriend and his sister, and often teaches them self-defense in her free time. One of her best students is a girl named Ty Lee, who all her friends except Zuko seem to really hate for some reason. However, Ty Lee is a natural at self-defense and she and Suki get along like a house on fire. Katara still refuses point-blank to go to classes whenever Ty Lee is in attendance, but Suki has given up trying to understand why. In conclusion, Suki is one of those movie heroines who can munch a sandwich while apprehending twenty supervillains all twice her size, and still come out victorious.

Zuko is a theatre kid and aspiring actor. (Was anyone surprised by this, really?) His natural melodramatic emo kid personality makes him the perfect role for starring roles in school plays (at least, that’s what Azula always likes to say) and acting to him comes as naturally as breathing. He’s not-so-secretly a Shakespeare nerd and can literally recite Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, two of his favourite plays, word for word. He also loves Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen- and alright, maybe he also harbours a love for High School Musical (he’s never told anyone that, but everyone knows anyway because he made Azula suffer through all five movies with him which eventually led to her becoming so fed-up constantly belting out the lyrics at the top of his lungs that she recorded the audio and sent it to everyone at school, including Mai, whom he couldn’t look in the eyes for a straight two weeks). Before his mother left them, she used to say that Zuko got his acting genes from her, because she used to play the lead role in Love Amongst The Dragons every year in her old high school. Zuko asked Ursa if that meant Azula got her dancing genes from Ozai, and they’d both have a quiet little laugh as they imagined Ozai trying to dance ballet. Although Zuko adores the drama and the poignant atmosphere that comes with performing Shakespeare’s plays, Love Amongst The Dragons holds the top spot for his favourite play by far. He goes to see it every time the ache for his mother is too painful to ignore- even though the new actors, a group called the Ember Island Players, all but butcher it every year- and sometimes, he’ll deceive himself into thinking that his mother’s somewhere in the audience too, watching the play right there with him like they used to do all the time. He once took Azula to see it with him, just like they used to do when their mother was with them, and Azula cried when he told her that the reason he liked it was because it reminded him of their mother. The sight of her crying was so unnerving that Zuko went alone after that. Azula never protested, though, or teased him for liking the play again.

Azula is a dancing prodigy. She specializes in ballet, but she also does contemporary and modern. She tried her hand at tap and jazz, and although she naturally excelled in it, as usual, she decided that it just wasn’t for her. At the age of fourteen, Azula is already a world-renowned dancer and has broken records and made history with how skilled she is at dancing. She moves her body so fluidly that it’s hard to believe she’s even a person and not just a wisp or smoke, delicately floating and twirling and twisting through the air. Azula has a lot of pent-up anger and frustration about having to constantly seem perfect all the time in order to make up for the failure that Zuko is, and she’s found that physical exercise- namely, dance- is the best way to relieve her stress. She also knows a fair bit of martial arts- out of everyone, she and Ty Lee are the only ones who have managed to defeat Suki at hand-to-hand combat. If asked about it, Suki will vehemently deny that such an incident ever happened, which only serves to amuse Azula further. Azula started ballet at age three and advanced much further and quicker than any of her peers, which incited a lot of jealousy and basically ensured that she had virtually no friends in the ballet community, but it wasn’t like she was particularly desperate for companionship in the first place. She’s so famous that she’s a verified account on Instagram with over a million followers- she does some spare modelling work on the side when she can, and her stunning looks combined with her raw talent have made her into one of the most unattainably perfect girls to ever rule Instagram. Somehow, her dancing doesn’t distract her from her grades, because she also has a stellar report card that’s displayed on the wall of her numerous trophies and awards she’s achieved over the years. (Zuko has a half-broken shelf that sports exactly two awards, and one is a certificate of participation.) Azula was born for the spotlight. Whenever she steps onto a stage, the room goes completely, eerily still, as if holding on to her every move. She’s one of the most beautiful dancers to ever perform, and audiences sing praises about her every twirl, her every arch, as if a single pirouette she’s executed is already perfect enough to win her ten awards. She’s mesmerizing on stage, and kind of terrifying in the way that one would find someone too perfect to be terrifying. Her every move is effortless, graceful, as if she’s a weightless feather drifting through the breeze. She’s incredibly captivating and is set to be one of history’s stars.

Mai is a musician/singer. Her parents were extremely traditional and gave her piano and violin lessons for her fifth birthday, but she actually ended up enjoying them a lot. She has a great voice, too, so she started a YouTube channel a while back that features her doing covers and singing her own original songs sometimes. It’s now amassed a few thousand followers. Zuko has an admittedly great voice, too, and sometimes she invites him to her channel and they do these amazing duets. All of their followers ship them together, but Mai always denies that she likes him, despite her cheeks always blushing a bright pink whenever he’s brought up on live-streams. Her parents don’t approve of her channel, which they only found out about because they were being overbearing and went through her phone yet again, and they want her to go to school to study business instead. Mai doesn’t plan on giving up on her YouTube channel anytime soon, though. Before she discovered singing, she was clearly passionless about most everything, but now that she has, it feels like a fire slowly consuming her from the inside out. And she kind of likes it, to be honest. It feels good to be so passionate about something, especially since Zuko likes it just as much as she does. She’ll never admit it, but she knows how to play quite a few My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco songs on the piano (which Zuko absolutely loves her for, because he’s the picture perfect stereotype of an emo boy). Writing and singing songs provides her with some sort of cathartic relief that she can’t really obtain from anywhere else. She’s incredibly musically talented, and was playing grade eight piano material at just eleven years old. She taught herself the guitar and the harp after her parents refused to give her any more lessons for fear that she would become too invested in music (Asian parents, y’all- they provide you with piano lessons but expect you to become a doctor or a lawyer because God forbid you pursue a career in music despite having studied it since you were five) and refuse to pursue a career in business.

Ty Lee is a gymnast. She tried ballet along with Azula, but didn’t like the discipline it took and ran out of patience with all the tedious instructions necessary to follow along with the class, finding that gymnastics was more to her liking. However, she and Azula make an awesome duo whenever they showcase their talents together. Ty Lee’s actually so good that trainees are already speculating that she could achieve a spot on her country’s national gymnastics team. She can do backflips, handstands, cartwheels and splits on a beam one after the other without even needing to catch her breath, and she’s impossibly fit. She loves crop tops- she thinks they show off her figure, which is nearly unattainable for most people. She’s also naturally talented at martial arts, and Suki frequently tells her that she learns faster than Suki can teach. She’s done every form of gymnastics imaginable- rhythmic, acrobatic, artistic- you name it, she’s done it. Originally she only took an interest in it because Azula begged her to join ballet with her, and Ty Lee found that she did like the strenuous physical exertion that ballet entailed, but everything just moved too slowly for her. Ty Lee likes fast-paced action, so gymnastics is the perfect fit for her. Sometimes, Azula will teach her some new ballet moves she learnt in class, and in return, Ty Lee will teach Azula a few gymnastics moves she invented by herself after following the standard textbook forms grew too boring. They once entered a talent show together and blew the crowd away with Azula’s captivating dancing and Ty Lee’s breathtaking gymnastics.

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