Sketch of the Day

[Thallium]

Breakroom Banter, in colour
Why waste CGI for a dragon?

Sort of makes you wonder how they fit Lady Nora on set at all really.

I like the tasteful selection of pictures stuck to the whiteboard. Also I hereby petition a slice-of-life spin off comic set in this alternate reality where everyone's personalities are completely the opposite of how they appear in the comic.

[Technic[Bot]]

Honestly with how much they charge for GCI these days hiring a dragon actress was cheaper (?)

I like to thing that if Twokinds is a movie/show then it is a "Artistic Reinterpretation" of an historical event/myth by Tom Productions™.

[Schrodinger]

Honestly with how much they charge for GCI these days hiring a dragon actress was cheaper (?)

I like to thing that if Twokinds is a movie/show then it is a "Artistic Reinterpretation" of an historical event/myth by Tom Productions™.

The dragon is actually a trained animal.

[NuclearBird]

A Basitin Christmas Story, in colour

The old general seems to be having fun.

[Hayate]

This is the cutest thing I've seen all day xD, great use of a Nora Card!

[Dadrobit]

A Basitin Christmas Story, in colour

The old general seems to be having fun.

Ayyyyy, big thanks to amenon for the sponsorship!

[tony1695]

Kid Keith and Puptani
That's gonna be a heartbreaking conversation

[ClockworkPanda]

Oh my gosh, the "stab stab ur dead" is so adorable!!
Puptani might just be my new favorite character. Imagine how the continuation of this story could have went if it was canon

[tony1695]

Freefall Swap
Doesn't this mean Natani gets stuck with all the "obey orders" and "do not kill humans" stuff?

[TheMouse]

Freefall Swap
Doesn't this mean Natani gets stuck with all the "obey orders" and "do not kill humans" stuff?

Inconvenient for an assassin.

[NuclearBird]

Freefall Swap
Doesn't this mean Natani gets stuck with all the "obey orders" and "do not kill humans" stuff?

Wasn't it explicitly stated somewhere that it explicitly was Asimov's Laws that were implanted in Florence's brain and not some poorly worded substitute?

[MuonNeutrino]

No, pretty much the opposite. The spaceship is a 3 law design IIRC, but the bowman's architecture bots and wolves simply have safeguards preventing them from considering harm to humans and requiring them to obey direct orders (from authorized humans). IMO, asimov's laws are far too literal-minded and limited to work well in practice, as evidenced by the half of his stories that explore ways in which the laws go off the rails in some way.

Poor Florence; she isn't gonna like a lot of this. Obviously, she has to deal with Natani's... attributes , which is not something she normally has to consider. But on top of that, she's always been written as a very non-sexualized character, but now she has to deal with Natani's hormones too. Bowman's wolves only go into heat once every 10 years, and seem to have little or no sex drive outside of that. Now she's going to have to deal on a regular basis with feelings and emotions she's previously only experienced for a few weeks almost a decade previous, plus hypercharged versions of those twice a year that are probably more than she's *ever* experienced. This new body is also going hamper her interactions with humans some; the larger size would make her *more* intimidating to humans, which she'd hate, and she wouldn't like people drooling over the obvious female 'attributes' either. And, of course, the lifespan swap kinda screws up her plans for her life, not to mention that she intended to have children some day and now wouldn't be able to (if she was the only keidran in her universe).

Natani, meanwhile, gets a body that not only doesn't have those annoying chest accouterments, but also doesn't serve up annoying 'feminine' attractions or torture him twice a year. The smaller body is kinda a negative for his profession, sure, but there's no indication that it couldn't trained up to at least be as strong proportionally, and there are offsetting benefits like stealth (not to mention being a better size for cuddling with Keith ).

Of course, there might be some other ways to look at it, too. Given how Florence has been somewhat uncertain about her budding relationship with Winston, she might actually appreciate having a more human 'compatible' body some of the time, as counter as it might be to most of the rest of the comic's tone. Depending on exactly how it worked out, if she's not a Bowman's wolf anymore it might also be possible to get her recognized as a fully sapient being with rights and self-ownership instead of being considered an AI and property. Meanwhile, Natani might actually miss some of the thoughts and feelings of his old body considering his ongoing changes in attitude and feelings towards Keith, and of course he'd still not like becoming less physically strong, especially if he lost his magical ability as well (see below).

And, of course, there's the question of how the various 'intangibles' would (or wouldn't) transfer, given that the two comic universes have very different rules for such things. Do the safeguards transfer? By Twokinds' rules they're part of Florence's mind and so should transfer, but by Freefall's rules they're part of Florence's *brain* and so should stay with her body. If Florence is out from under her safeguards that'd be both a plus and a minus for her in some ways; she doesn't *like* having such intrusive safeguards, but it also reassures humans in their dealings with her and her species. Meanwhile, Natani having to deal with the safeguards would be.... weird. Obviously he'd hate them; his mind is screwed up enough without hard-wired compulsions added in, not to mention how *incredibly* bad having 'must obey human orders' and 'cannot consider harming humans' hardwired into your brain would be in the Twokinds universe - it'd be like a slave collar that could never be removed. Of course, even in Freefall Florence has been partially able to wiggle around them, so it might be possible for them to be further mitigated or even removed in the Twokinds world given the existence of magic. And what about Natani and Zen's link? Like the safeguards, by Freefall's rules it probably should stay with the body, but by Twokinds' rules it'd transfer. I have *no* idea how Florence would deal with the link, but it'd certainly be extremely weird for her at the least; meanwhile, Natani may not need the link anymore but still wouldn't like to lose it. And then finally, what about Natani's ability to do magic? Again, like the previous two, by Freefall's rules it would stay with the body, but by Twokinds' it'd transfer. Florence, being a very scientifically minded person, would likely be perturbed by it initially, but would likely find it very interesting in the long run, while of course Natani would be quite put off to lose that ability.

If we postulate that each character remains in their own universe, one could argue that each character's end of the trade ought to be governed by their own universe's rules. Amusingly enough, that'd lead to both characters getting the better end of the deal - by Natani's universe's rules he should keep his ability to use magic but not get Florence's safeguards, while by Florence's universe's rules she should gain Natani's magical ability but *not* keep her safeguards. This would also suggest that Florence should get the link, but there's no Zen in her universe, so normally that wouldn't matter. If the three were to meet in some kind of third-party universe location (like, say, a cross time cafe ), though, you could imagine that Florence could get roped into the link along with Natani and Zen, which would REALLY be odd. I almost want to see that scene in the mindscape, now - it'd certainly be an weird one!

[SpottedKitty]

No, pretty much the opposite. The spaceship is a 3 law design IIRC, but the bowman's architecture bots and wolves simply have safeguards preventing them from considering harm to humans and requiring them to obey direct orders (from authorized humans). IMO, asimov's laws are far too literal-minded and limited to work well in practice, as evidenced by the half of his stories that explore ways in which the laws go off the rails in some way.

I think I remember a scene from when Florence is just beginning to figure out something weird's going on; she asks a series of robots on the street a surreal question, and the one that doesn't give a surreal answer is one of the few three-laws robots on the planet (all the others are Bowman AIs). It's also the only one she's met that doesn't go "DOGGY!!!" on seeing her.

[tony1695]

Snooping Security, because no-one has posted this yet.

Special Coffee, likely made with whatever psychedelic mushrooms were on hand.

[Lordadmiral Drake]

Special Coffee, likely made with whatever psychedelic mushrooms were on hand.

Just don't let Maddie anywhere near that stuff