fantasy is when currency is referred to as "gold" and sci fi is when currency is referred to as "credits"
I regret to inform you that doing drugs is no longer cool.
it’s kinda funny how if you are wealthy you can publicly do illegal drugs but we have tons of people incarcerated in hell prisons for getting caught with like a g
Me listening to my tunes. My songs
Greeting scrunge
Title: Different
Total: 10 pages
Read the entire full comic under the cut!
Client sketch vs. final illustration
When someone commissions me, I absolutely love getting a rough sketch/doodle of their concept—it makes the first steps of an illustration (composition/posing) so much easier.
I'll never ever judge a client for a messy sketch!! (And also, no pressure to send something like this if you'd like the artist to take the creative reins on your piece.)
If I were an evil emperor in a fantasy world, I would have a an enormous aviary full of exotic birds that are exceptionally well cared for. They would be from a distant enough land that there would be very few people in my kingdom that knew much about them, they would be a friendly but not overly territorial species, and moderately intelligent. Like puffins. They would not, crucially, be able to imitate sounds and 'speak', but they would be very trainable and curious. Occasionally importing new birds for my aviary would be the Big Frivolous Indulgence that my political enemies make fun of.
I will also have a sorceror in my employ. When a hero or a renegade or a political rival is in a situation where I can safely kill them, they will instead be turned into a bird and added to my aviary. I would not brag about this; it would be a complete secret, known only to me and my sorceror. In situations where I capture multiple people working together, only one would go in the aviary;the others can be imprisoned or killed or whatever. If they escape and I reacquire them later, another one can go in the aviary. The point here is that nobody going in the aviary can safely assume that another bird in there is their teammate.
Because I would be trickling real birds in there, too. And I would train some of them to do 'intelligent' things like tap out prime numbers or scratch shapes into the dirt with their beaks. I would train some of them to pick at the locks and bars as if they were trying to escape. I would not train them all the same way, or train many of them at all.
Sometimes, a new bird goes into the aviary -- fellow revolutionary? Or just a bird? Is it trying to communicate to you that it's human, or just being friendly and imitating you because that's what smart friendly birds do? People would develop opinions and theories over time. They'd amass in a group of the smartest ones, pretty sure that they're closest four or five friends are humans, are using their invented little language of wing-flaps and trills with a human mind behind it... but can they ever really be sure?
Most people, when going into the aviary, would assume that all of the birds are captured enemies. So why are some of them hard to have ongoing communication with, to learn about, to plan with? Are these the natural communication barriers of someone in a bird body, or does being a bird make them stupider over time? Will that happen to them also?
Sometimes, if I capture a pair, I'll imprison them separately, then turn one into a bird and put them in the aviary at the same time as a real bird that's trained to have a couple of their partner's mannerisms.
When I interact with the birds, even in private, I won't secretly mock them or make clever veiled references to their past or act at all like I remember that they were once human. They are my birds, that I imported at great expense. And I've brought a treat for them; some fresh fruit, and another friend to share it with! A new bird!
Or is it?
A year or so after a prisoner who I put in there has baby birds with the bird I put in with him and trained a few the mannerisms of his princess companion into, I'll pull said princess out of the cells, put her in a pretty dress, and take her to see my birds before sending her home to her parents as part of a ransom deal. The visit will be brief enough that he cannot possibly communicate his identity to her (she has no idea that I turn some of my enemies into birds, nobody does). And then she'll go home and he'll never see her again. Did he imagine it? It's been a few years, and his bird wife is right there, dancing just like the princess she surely used to be...
turns out it was cause they were just straight up eating the poisoned food out of rat traps which has a blue dye in it and had just developed a near total immunity another W for the glorious hog
repatriating the artifacts in the british museum except i give them to whichever country has historically been the greatest enemy of the country of origin. there's not enough hate in the world
Robbing the British Museum and then just giving everything back to the British is crazy
“never kill yourself” is such a funny phrase to me that i think it’s accidently started working. its like an affrimation. say ‘never kill yourself’ enough times as a joke and maybe you won’t try to kill yourself over minor inconviences anymore
I like the combination of it with the Litany Against Fear
"You must not kill yourself. Killing yourself is the yourself killer."
"Just fucking transition already" in all its forms is necessary counterculture to the endless fucking eggslop that litters the trans internet. "When you wish you were a—" No. You are one. Transition about it. Quit romanticising the closet.
An addendum for those who cannot safely transition now: you're fine, you can make sure you're in a good position beforehand. Love to you all.
Working on getting to a situation where you can safely socially/medically transition counts as part of transition tbh
This includes finding community with other trans people, online or offline, and learning what your options are from others who've been in the same situation as you. Find mutual aid groups operating close to you, find out what your options are for accessing transition care, learn what you can do about your specific situation.
There's help to be found. You don't have to be alone in the closet.
