Multifandom fic recs, 12/7 (DC Comics, Pet Shop of Horrors, Murderbot, Moon Knight)

Dec7
  • Pet Shop of Horrors | D/Leon | G | Blind
    I think about the oddest things, like your fingers gently touching the tea cups every time I feed you.
    series:pet shop of horrors,fic:one-shot,pairing:d_leon
  • The Murderbot Diaries | gunship | G | securityunit.patch326.732.98.program
    Company Gunship POV on the part of Exit Strategy immediately following the killware attack. AU where Murderbot accidentally left some files in the gunship hardware. This will turn out either very well or very poorly, depending on who you ask.
    genfic,fic:one-shot,series:murderbot diaries,trope:outsider.pov
  • Moon Knight | Marc/Steven | M | All this time I was just waiting for you
    “Was… was that your first kiss?”

    Steven sprays the bathroom mirror and wipes it with a piece of news print, and stops humming what might be a pop song but sounds so terribly mangled Marc can’t actually tell. “What?”

    “With Layla. Back at Ammit’s tomb. Was that the first time you’d ever kissed anyone?”
    series:moon knight,fic:chaptered,kink:bdsm,pairing:marc_steven,kink:weird.sex

Advertisement

Monday works roundup, 12/5 (Moon Knight, MCU, comics)

Dec5

Leif & Thorn
Crack in the Shield (sketch | Leif | worksafe)
Imp-Tastic (sketch | Hermosa/Dex | worksafe)
Leif It Snow (sketch | Leif | worksafe)

But I’m A Cat Person
Miranda Lights (wallpaper | Miranda, Poe | worksafe)

Moon Knight
Moon Knight studies 26 – Natural Fanfare (art | Moon Knight, Marc/Layla, nature spirit | worksafe)
moon-silvered, lunatic, cratered chapter 9 (fic | Jake/Steven/Marc, Duchamp, Steven/Marc/Layla | M)
The Right Amount Of Whelmed (fic | Layla/Steven, Layla/Marc | M)
I Identify as a Problem (comic | Steven, Jake, Marc | G)
Penmanship in Pink (comic | Steven, Jake, Marc | G)

Moon Knight/Marvel Cinematic Universe
Cover of Knight, chapter 23 (fic | Steven, Marc, Jake, Dane, Sprite | T)

This Week in But I’m A Cat Person:
Annotated bonus strips from the 2014 Christmas break.

This Week in Leif & Thorn:
The Woman in Black, going back to the future soon, continues her Farewell Tour of present-day characters.

Multifandom fic recs (Sailor Moon, Madoka Magica, magical girls, Death Note, Murderbot Diaries + crossovers, Moon Knight)

Nov23
  • Sailor Moon, Madoka Magica, Cardcaptor Sakura, Utena, Rayearth, Locked Tomb, and more | ensemble | T | Magical Girls Support Group
    “I’m Sailor Moon, these are Sailor Smart Ass, Sailor Slut, Sailor Grouchy and Sailor Domestic,” the blonde in the sailor suit noted.

    “Moon! I am never letting you do the introductions again!” the Sailor Grouchy aka Sailor Mars growled.

    “At least I got to be Sailor Domestic,” Jupiter sighed.
    series:sailor moon,series:puella magi madoka magica,series:marvel comics,series:mahou shoujo lyrical nanoha,series:cardcaptor sakura,series:demon girl next door,series:oh my goddess,series:magic knight rayearth,series:locked tomb,fic:chaptered,crossover,genfic

  • The Murderbot Diaries | Murderbot, Amena, Mensah, Three | G | If This Story Had A Title Then I Forgot
    Murderbot is at a party.

    This is not a normal state of affairs for SecUnits. Neither is the comfy clothes or the sitting or the way the humans keep smiling in its general direction. The smiling, it suspects, will stop, if/when they realise their SecUnit has suffered some sort of catastrophic glitch and has no idea where it is or the specifics of its current assignment.

    So it’s not going to let them find out.
    trope:amnesia,series:murderbot diaries,trope:hurt-comfort,fic:chaptered,genfic

  • Moon Knight | Layla/Steven/Marc/Jake | T | Business Casual
    Ms. El-Faouly’s smile is a sharp tug of her reddened lips. “Close the door behind you, darling.”
    Steven weakly closes the door.
    “Lock it.”
    series:moon knight,trope:polyamory,kink:bdsm,fic:one-shot,pairing:marc_steven_jake_layla
  • Moon Knight | Marc/Steven/Jake, Khonshu | M | Your love’s behind the moon
    When they pulled back Marc pressed their foreheads together, he resisted the urge to move the few inches it would take to kiss his brother on those plush, peach lips of his and settled for rubbing noses.

    “You want to go find him don’t you? Jake I mean.”

    Steven looked at him, baffled, “well, yeah… don’t you?”
    series:moon knight,fic:chaptered,pairing:marc_steven_jake,trope:incest,trope:polyamory

  • Moon Knight | Marc/Steven | T | a case of mistaken identity
    “Oh my– they thought I was you, didn’t they?” Steven asks, things clicking together all at once.

    It’s ridiculous, but it makes sense. This man looks like the kind of person to be kidnapped and interrogated. The way he frowns even harder confirms it.
    series:moon knight,pairing:marc_steven,fic:chaptered,trope:hurt-comfort

  • Moon Knight | Jake, Marc, Steven, Layla | T | Water Under The Bridge
    Jake runs through the streets of Giza, probably tripping more than one innocent passerby in a blind panic. He doesn’t stop until he sees water and it hits him: it must be the Nile. Turning around, he sees the silhouette of the pyramids now small on the horizon, far enough for him to be alone. If Marc and Steven followed him, they’d would’ve caught him by now – or he’s lost them.

    But… what now.
    series:moon knight,genfic,trope:hurt-comfort,fic:one-shot

  • Moon Knight | Marc/Jake/Steven | M | Three Steps to Completion
    And no. Steven does not believe it’s a biology thing.

    It can’t be blamed on Osiris’ gift that granted them separate bodies – identical in their appearance but not so much in their secondary gender. An omega and two alphas – who cares? That cannot be the source of their woes, they’re better than that for goodness’ sake!
    series:moon knight,trope:hurt-comfort,pairing:marc_steven_jake,kink:omegaverse,fic:chaptered,trope:polyamory

  • Moon Knight | Marc/Steven, Marc/Steven/Jake | M | Waiting Room
    “—He didn’t do anything nefarious,” Steven interrupted, shutting his eyes and waving a hand. He couldn’t listen to Marc’s self-blame, any of the shoulds and musts he put on himself. Opening his eyes, he looked back at Marc and shook his head at the skeptical stare he received. “Honest. He was just… walking along and watching. Smiling. You know, like we were doing?”
    series:moon knight,pairing:marc_steven,pairing:marc_steven_jake,fic:chaptered

Works roundup, 11/21 (Moon Knight, MCU, Leif & Thorn)

Nov21

Leif & Thorn
Seven Delicious Years (art | Leif/Thorn, Kale, WiB | worksafe)
Touch in the light (art | Leif/Thorn | worksafe)
Warmest part of waking up (art | Leif/Thorn | NSFW-ish)
Three Hands (wallpaper | Leif/Thorn/Kale | worksafe)
The Traveler (art | Future Thorn | worksafe)
Casual genderflip (art | Leif/Thorn | worksafe)

Moon Knight
Moon Knight studies 23 – Fear of Falling (art | Moon Knight | worksafe)
Moon Knight studies 22 – Hand Stuff (art | Moon Knight | worksafe)
Moon Knight studies 24 – Scramble and fall (art | Moon Knight | worksafe)
Moon Knight studies 25 – Workout Fanfare (art | Moon Knight | worksafe)
moon-silvered, lunatic, cratered chapter 7-8 (fic | Jake/Steven/Marc, Jake/Jen, Duchamp, Steven/Marc/Layla | M)
Headmate cuddles in blue (art | Jake/Steven/Marc | worksafe)
Objectively Incredibly Funny (fic | Donna, Steven(/Layla/Marc) | G)
Avatar of Mothers and Children (comic | Steven/Layla, Taweret | G)

Moon Knight/Marvel Cinematic Universe
Cover of Knight, chapters 21-22 (fic | Steven, Marc, Jake/Jen, Bucky, Duchamp | T)

This Week in But I’m A Cat Person:
Annotated version of the scene where Bianca and Sparrow finally ask Patrick the right questions about his past.

This Week in Leif & Thorn:
The Woman in Black starts putting her time-travel-mission affairs in order. Cute, funny, adorable order.

The robots make some cool art, but human artists, please give yourselves more credit

Nov20

A couple weeks ago, DeviantArt announced a new AI art tie-in setup, including a “My Art Is/Is Not Authorized For Use In AI Datasets” option that you could toggle for all your art.

It’s not clear this will do much, since there’s no way to force non-DA art-scraping bots to respect your setting. But the basic framing of “this is an issue that artists deserve to have a say in” is good! Having a major art-hosting website stand behind that framing is valuable!

…They originally auto-set everything to “authorized”, and didn’t have a bulk way to switch the settings. Meaning that anybody who wanted a blanket opt-out would have to set it one-by-one for everything in their gallery. And if an artist has died, all their work would be marked as up-for-grabs permanently. Oops.

After a hot wave of backlash, DA reversed course. All your art is auto-set to “not authorized” unless you actively say otherwise.

Honestly, this is the stuff that keeps me on DA. How many other websites out there will acknowledge “this decision, which was made by staff/stakeholders/the CEO/venture capitalists, is unpopular with our actual users, therefore we’re changing it”?

Tumblr? No. Facebook or Instagram? Heck no. Twitter? No, even before it got bought out by an egomaniac with unhealthy amounts of money. Patreon? …Okay, Patreon did it once, kudos to them.

Sometimes you’ll get a situation like Kickstarter, which announced their Totally Awesome Hypothetical Future Blockchain Protocol almost a year ago, and hasn’t developed a single thing since. I wouldn’t be surprised if, on the inside, they’ve quietly admitted it’s nonsense and given up on it. But that’s in response to “finding out the hard way over a series of months that they can’t actually wring a profit out of it,” not “listening to users who vigorously told them it was a heap of BS from day one.” And they’re not saying a word about it in public.

But DA has a quiet pattern of listening to users, and, when their big excited announcements don’t go over well, retooling their plans to address user concerns. Which I appreciate. It’s hard to find.

*

Look, here’s how I feel about AI art in general…

Hatsune Miku made her first stage appearance in 2009, and has been a wildly popular singer ever since. Here she is commanding the love and attention of a massive crowd in 2016, in a concert that lasted nearly 2 hours. She’s released chart-topping albums in Japan, and her adoring fanbase is international; she was booked for Coachella in 2020. (Canceled due to COVID, but I bet they’ll get her back.)

And if you explained this to anyone who’s not in the right nerd circles, they would assume Miku is a human.

She’s not! She’s a digital voice-generating program! You enter the text you want her to sing, set the pitches and the timing, and the software outputs a vocal track. Her concert appearances are in the form of a CGI anime girl, with a pre-programmed set of dance moves. She, and the rest of the Vocaloid franchise, are basically Animusic with a massive upgrade in processing power. (Also, thigh-highs.)

Kids who are currently in middle school do not remember a time when “humans pack stadiums to see a holographic robot singer” was a fanciful sci-fi premise. It’s literally just the world they live in.

And you know what we still have? Concerts with live human singers!

Computer-generated music hasn’t replaced human musicians. They have different strengths and abilities. They’re good in different ways. The one doesn’t make the other obsolete. Millions of songs produced with the Vocaloid software, over more than a decade by now, and they still haven’t put all the human singers out of their jobs.

Same deal with AI art.

Some of it is terrible. Some of it is pretty cool. It’s not as precisely controlled as Vocaloids, a lot of it is “turning the algorithm loose and having no idea what’s going to come out,” which is sometimes a drawback and sometimes the fun part.

Look at this robot’s best attempt to paint “Moon Knight drawn by Lisa Frank” and tell me that isn’t fun:

If you want a very specific image, AI art isn’t a great option. If you want to consistently reproduce the same character or setting across multiple images, it’s not great either.

Ursula Vernon — of Digger fame — has been making experimental comics with the MidJourney AI. it works! The reason it works is, she’s not a random non-artistic person who started with “here’s a comic I want to make” and tried to get the robot to produce it. She’s a brilliant comic artist with multiple series and at least one Hugo award under her belt, who put a lot of thought upfront into presenting the robot with “here’s a comic setup that takes advantage of your strengths, and doesn’t stress your weaknesses.”

In that link, for instance, you can see right away how it’s mostly disconnected vignette panels. (It also has human post-production touch-ups, and the art is tied together by human-written narration. More notes on her process at the end of the thread.)

So yeah, it’s gonna be fine. AI art makes cool new things possible, will lead to the creation of a ton of art that never would’ve happened without it, and some of it will even be good and worthwhile. It also won’t replace human artists. It won’t be the best option for every art-related job. Sometimes it’ll be a good-enough option — other times it just flat-out won’t cut it.

Anyone who thinks “just have an AI draw it” will be a magic answer to everything art-related needs to appreciate artists more. (Some of y’all are illustrators, who need to have more confidence in your own skills and potential! Others are just hacks. Probably the same hacks who thought “just put it on a blockchain” was a magic answer to everything finance-related, even.)