#I'm pretty sure it's in the public domain | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tymime · 26 days

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Public Domain cartoon characters from the Golden Age of Animation (and beyond)

Revised and expanded version of this post: https://tymime.tumblr.com/post/648495121557585920/instead-of-whining-about-mickey-mouse-not-falling

While Mickey entering the public domain is exciting and all, I do think a lot of people are overlooking the many other animated characters that are available to use in their creative works. This list isn't entirely exhaustive, but it does highlight some of the most interesting and/or appealing characters, as well as ones that have the potential to be so.

Koko the Clown

One of the oldest cartoon stars from the Fleischer studio, almost all of Koko's silent-era cartoons are PD, and have been for quite some time. A handful of his appearances alongside Betty Boop are also PD.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald's PD status has been greatly overshadowed by his fellow Disney star Mickey, but I believe that he deserves more recognition. All of the shorts produced by the Disney studio are PD as of this year, and let's face it, those are the only ones most people care about. Pegleg Pete's bear design is also PD.

Keep in mind that the blue shorts that Oswald wears in Epic Mickey and elsewhere are likely copyrighted, so I recommend steering clear of that.

I'm also not entirely sure you can use the name "Ortensia" for his cat girlfriend, since that name first appeared in Epic Mickey also. She was called "Kitty" back in the day, among other things.

All of Van Beuren Studio's cartoons

The Van Beuren Studio was active during the rubberhose era, and their cartoons, especially the earlier ones, are like a cruder, possibly even more bizarre cousin to Fleischer and Disney. They went bust in the late 1930s, and no one renewed the copyright later on, so the entirety of their output is PD.

Their most notable characters include Tom and Jerry, a pair of average Joes who always get into strange adventures. They shouldn't be confused with MGM's Tom and Jerry, and in fact they were called Dick and Larry when their shorts were rereleased for the home-movie market in the 1940s.

Also notable is Waffles and Don, who are basically just animal versions of Tom and Jerry. You might consider these two as a better alternative, just to avoid confusion.

There's also Cubby Bear, a pretty blatant Mickey Mouse clone, but unique enough that I don't think anybody’s going to confuse the two nowadays.

In the previous post, I mentioned a rumor that Disney threatened legal action over the character, but I can't find the source for that now. I may have been thinking of Milton Mouse, who was so extremely similar to Mickey that they actually did sue the studo for copyright infringement. So maybe don't try selling any Milton merchandise...

Finally, there's Molly Moo-Cow, who appeared in several Rainbow Parade cartoons in the mid-to-late 1930s. Molly is arguably not the most interesting character, but I have a fondness for her since we grew up with one of her shorts on a VHS tape.

Toby the Pup

Another very obscure character, about half of his cartoons are lost media. The little that does survive is hard to find online, but I think his design has appeal.

Dr. XXX

Disney's The Mad Doctor was never renewed for reasons unknown, though some speculate that the studio thought that the cartoon was too scary and decided to let it go. Fortunately for us, that means that this iconic character is now in the people's hands.

Goopy Geer

Goopy appeared in the three Merrie Melodies cartoons alongside his unnamed girlfriend. Despite his name and appearance being similar to Disney's Goofy, he actually made his debut about a month before (Goofy was named Dippy Dawg at the time anyway, so it was undoubtedly a coincidence).

Claude Hopper

Claude appeared in a single Looney Tunes cartoon in 1943 called Hop and Go, alongside a pair of Scottish rabbits who antagonize him. The cartoon ends with a very unfortunate depiction of Tokyo being blown up (World War II was still going on at the time), so it's no surprise that Warner Bros. decided not to renew this one. Despite that, he has a very appealing design (imo), so I think he has potential. (Also, he's voiced by Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy!)

Private Snafu and Mr. Hook

Snafu and Hook were created for the US government, so according to the law are automatically public domain. The shorts were made to be shown to members of the US army and navy respectively, in order to teach them valuable lessons for fighting in WWII, but are nevertheless hilarious cartoons- animated by the Looney Tunes team with scripts by Ted Geisel- aka Dr. Seuss!

The Dover Boys

Also of note are the ComiColor cartoons from the Iwerks studio, Rainbow Parade from Van Beuren, and most of the Color Classics by Fleischer. These don't have any especially memorable characters in them, but I thought I ought to mention them.

Yes, Tom, Dick and Larry, Dora Standpipe and the villainous Dan Backslide are all public domain. A bunch of YouTube Poops were created after this fact was discovered by the internet a few years ago.

How Warner Bros. could ever let this one get away I'll never know. Their loss is our gain, I suppose.

Caveats and other concerns

Krazy Kat

Felix the Cat

All of the strips up to 1928 are definitely fair game. According to the Public Domain Superheroes wiki however, the entirety of the strip's run is PD. I'm not sure if it that's true, but the Fantagraphics collections don't credit any newspaper syndicate, so it seems likely. (Apparently the copyright status of newspaper comics are a whole can of worms on its own...)

At any rate, the strip's cast was pretty well set in stone by 1928, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. A large number of animated shorts starring Krazy are also PD, but those were pretty much in name only.

Flip the Frog

Felix was pretty much the first cartoon superstar, and almost all of his Golden Age appearances are PD now. Keep in mind that this does not include elements from the 1950s cartoon like his magic bag, or from The Twisted Tales of Felix, as amazing as that series is.

The character's name and appeance are still trademarked by NBC Universal however, so you might be able to use him in a minor role, but not much else.

I'm uncertain about this one. According to most sources Flip is PD, but according to the Thunderbean Blu-ray collection he's copyrighted by the Film Preservation Archives, whatever that means. Additionally, Flip himself is supposedly trademarked by Leslie Iwerks, Ub Iwerks’ granddaughter, though no one seems to be able to confirm that. I don't know how the trademark hasn't lapsed yet, considering that Flip hasn't appeared on any official merchandise or anything in decades.

Bosko and Honey

I believe there's nothing stopping anyone from using Bosko's classic design (later appearances at MGM and in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted), but the character himself is a bit problematic, considering that it's all but stated outright that he's a blackface caricature. Use with caution.

Foxy and Roxy

Noveltoons

Like Goopy Geer, Foxy appeared in three Merrie Melodies cartoons. Roxy's name originates from an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures however, so keep that in mind. Though I'm not sure what else you would call her (or if Warner Bros. would even care). Supposedly her original name was "Fluffy", but I can't find a source for this.

Like Bosko and Honey, later appearances in Tiny Toons are still copyrighted.

Noveltoons was a series produced by Famous Studios, the successor to the Fleischer studio. The characters include Baby Huey, Herman the mouse, Blackie the sheep, Little Audrey, and of course, Casper the Friendly Ghost. Only a small handful of the shorts are PD though, and Casper is trademarked, so one's options are limited.

Ginger Nutt (and rest of the Animaland cast)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

This one I'm not entirely sure about either, but Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus has long been a staple of grey-market tapes and DVDs, so I'm just going to assume all of the Animaland cartoons are also PD. Considering that the series wasn't very sucessful, and is very obscure nowadays, it seems pretty likely.

If anyone has any insight on this, let me know.

Calvin and the Colonel

Now here's an interesting case. An all-time classic Christmas special, and yet large parts of it are PD because they accidentally put the wrong date on the copyright notice. Instead of the Roman numerals MCMLXIV (1964), it reads MCLXIV (1164), and according to the law at the time, that meant that the film immediately went into public domain.

Of course, Rudolph himself is still copyrighted, and will be until 2035 when the original book falls into the public domain. Even then he's likely to still be trademarked. Not to mention the songs featured in the '64 film will be copyrighted for a long time afterward.

Still, this means that anyone is free to use all the other characters, including Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, King Moonracer, Clarice, and all the Misfit Toys. It's a wonder no one seems to have taken advantage of this. And of course Santa and his reindeer have been PD for ages, especially Santa since he comes from folklore- and you can't copyright folklore.

This cartoon is based on and stars a lot of the same voice cast as the old-time radio show Amos and Andy, which, while not overtly racist, featured white actors pretending to be black. The cartoon obviously has animals instead, but still, tread carefully. Someone is bound to point out the characters' history.

Hoppity Hooper

Another one I'm not sure about. The Public Domain Superheroes wiki has characters from this show among its articles, but I wasn't able to confirm if it really was PD. It was created by Jay Ward, the same studio who made Rocky & Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle, but was also a huge flop for some reason, so that may be the reason why they let the copyright expire. Again, I'm not sure, but no one seems to care that the entire series is on YouTube, so who knows?

...Well, there you have it. Lots of obscure and forgotten toons waiting to be rediscovered and reused! If anyone has any more info or corrections, leave me a comment. I'd love some clarification on some of these.

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papermonkeyism · 7 months

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Hey, question!

Anyone remember when the DnD license debacle happened earlier this year, and WotC ended up releasing tons of their content in creative commons or such?

I'm pretty sure owlbear was included in that, but for the life of me I can't remember what kind of deal it was exactly. Are owlbears now public domain, or Creative Commons or what exactly is their current license situation.

Could I, in theory, use owlbears in a thing and maybe, potentially print it and sell or something?

Thanks!

#shut up paper #I got an idea at the sauna today #But I need to know if I can go nuts with it BEFORE digging up my sketchbook to have fun

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irradiatedsnakes · 2 months

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i'm of the opinion that one of the largest ethical issues with generative visual ai is the whole. using training data without permission thing and i'm generally not opposed if a model is trained on public domain or artwork obtained with permission. anyways i'd be pretty curious to see what a style model trained on my own stuff would end up looking like? especially since my mostly-sketchy stuff is a very far cry from what the vast majority of generated stuff looks like. i'm not sure of the feasibility of that but since i do write my own id's i do already have a big body of work with associated descriptions. i don't have any technical knowledge, though, for this sort of thing so unlikely to ever happen. but i think it would be interested to be able to generate vague weirdness that is in some way reminiscent of my own work

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bonzos-number-1-fan · 17 days

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TMAGP 11 Thoughts: Anchors Aweigh

We're finally back. Not much to say up top except it was a long wait.

Spoilers for episode 11, and light spoilers for TMA season 5, below the cut.

A very strong cold open to welcome us back. Celia doesn't just wake up in a strange location, she's got no memory of getting there, it's not her first time doing it, and she's looking for a character we've not yet been introduced to. Honestly there are a load of things this could be. If she's TMA's Celia it could be after effects of her time in the domain that stole her name. Or it's not after effects but the same effects now being re-triggered if she's in a universe with the same entity that did it. Or it's a side-effect of crossing between universes. Or the way she crossed between universes isn't how Anya Villette did it and she's actually occupying TMP's Lynne Hammond's body but not entirely suppressing Lynne in the process. Or Lynne has taken on Celia's memories and Celia never truly left TMA's universe at all. Lots of ways I can see that playing out.

The first office section is a bit of a recap of last episode with some banter more than it is anything substantive. However, Alice does think she's being followed which is probably something that'll come up later. I think the obvious thing to jump at here is that it's [Error]. It's not the first time we've seen someone dig through the Institute's soggy ruins only to come away with some paranoia though. It doesn't seem to be hitting her quite as hard as RedCanary but it certainly mirrors their reaction. Either way I think this could easily be a RedHerring and [Error] has nothing to do with it and it's just TMI magic.

For a small thing during that interaction there is another "lie detector" audio distortion. I'm not sure I've been mentioning all of these in these posts but when Alice says "Hm? Nah, it’s nothing." there is a distortion afterwards. Likely because such distortions signify lies. This exactly a new observation but I can't remember if I'm making an effort to note when they happen.

So for the first case back it's a pretty chill one all in all. Some spooky happenings where nothing major really happens but does contain a good bit of world building.

So for some general musings in order. First off Alison Leshi's email address is G.Leshi instead of A.Leshi. It's not likely important as there isn't a Leshi in CHDB (see masterdoc link below), so it's probably nothing. Could just be some subtle trans rep but I figure it could somehow come up later and so is worth a mention.l

Next up we've got our second mention of ink5oul. The "big snake tattoo" on their arm is pretty clearly the same as the "gorgeous floral serpent design" Daria mentions in episode 2. Daria also explains that ink5oul is a popular influencer and like most of those they try and throw that weight around here. They're a very big deal online don't you know. Something that I think is interesting, but maybe not intended, is that ink5oul's Instagram account is flagged with the alchemic symbol for salt and this case is deeply tied to the sea. That account might not be official but it's a nice connection if it is.

There are a couple of name drops that will likely prove pretty important. Oscar Jarrett is likely a character we'll meet later and as of right now the name is all we have. Sutherland Macdonald, on the other hand, is a very real person and given how TMA likes to use historic characters I have a feeling they'll be quite important. Macdonald was Britain's first professional tattoo artist. Insofar as he had a public business in which he tattooed people as his work. He was exceptionally talented, very popular, and highly sought-after. More than that though of his documented works serpent-motifs, both snakes and dragons, are very common. Given ink5oul's own, well, ink I'm pretty sure that's not a coincidence. Sutherland Macdonald could very well be another figure like Smirke. A real historic person with embellished and occult history for the show. Oscar Jarrett could be a protégé or rival of Sutherland, and tattoos might end up being the new Leitners.

There isn't much to dig in to beyond that but I will say I really enjoyed this episode. Excited to see where this all goes.

Back in the office we've got Gwen trauma, Celia trauma, and Lena being Lena. Which is all great stuff. Bonzo is likely hunting Klaus given that conversation too. That's the only figure Gwen has any real knowledge of and Lena obviously has some unresolved business there. The transcript sheds some additional light on the interactions here too as both times external is mentioned it's capitalised. Which does seem to imply it's an official position at the OIAR rather than something euphemistic. Mr. Bonzo getting more detail here is also great. It's another reinforcement that whatever he now is very much isn't how he started. "Green custard" getting a shout out is also very welcome. That's not so much a Mr. Blobby thing but people getting slimed was a big fixture of that era of children's TV in Britain.

Sam finally looking to cross reference these things is great to hear as well. I crave more data. Speaking of data, now it's time for the nerd shit.

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Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet

DPHW Theory: 5246 is pretty unremarkable and so I don't think I've got much to explain there. 4 is a little lower than I was expecting but not off by so much that I think something is wrong.

CAT# Theory: CAT23 sure is a category. I was hoping to have something solid by the time the break was over. There are enough outliers in every theory I've seen to pretty confidently think no one is on the right track with this or some people are but the data we have is faulty. Which to be fair we know is the case. It's just about which parts of the data should we be ignoring.

R# Theory: C fits in perfectly with my theory. Not much to say on that one.

Header talk: Tattoo (corpse) -/- compulsion is mostly interesting because of how it creates problems with Daria's case. If Tattoo is a section that would strongly imply that Daria's case should have been Tattoo rather than Transformation. But that one did also show up on Klaus which implies that it's correct. Just a weird section in general. The subsection is about the sort of mess you'd expect at this point. The crosslink is also just a crosslink.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #klaus = kl4-u5

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sexyleon · 5 months

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I felt that post of yours about the Dracula fandom and the way it talks about adaptations tbh, like, I'm someone who was very involved in DD last year and I've written critique myself about Dracula adaptations bc I love comparative analysis and really thinking about the choices adaptations make, for good or for ill, but from my personal experience, a lot of fandom commentary on adaptations isn't really thoughtful analysis, and don't get me wrong, I'm a hater sometimes too and enjoying venting, but I noticed that this year, there were so many posts that started out as thoughtful commentary on the book, then launched into bitching about the evils of adaptations out of nowhere, and people can write what they want, but it got tiring after awhile to be in a fandom with so much angry energy, not to mention the divergence in canon vs fanon that was much starker this year that made me feel like I had read a different book.

Also, every time I see people point at re: Dracula to be like, see, it's so easy to do a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the novel, why can't other adaptations do it?, it's like, it's an audiobook, a movie can't be that long, even a television mini-series would have to make cuts. And I might dislike a lot of choices adaptations make, but creatives absolutely have the right to take a public domain work and put their own spin on things beyond book accuracy as the number one goal - and like, do we truly want a 100% accurate adaptation when the novel is still ultimately a xenophobic reverse invasion story? Like, I would hope modern directors would seriously grapple with those aspects of the original story instead of reproducing Victorian bigotry unquestioned.

Hi, thank you for your response! I'm glad that my post resonated with a few people!

I definitely also felt a shift in energy with this season of Dracula Daily, and I'm pretty sure it is a direct result of the phenomena that is Re: Dracula. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE supporter of RE: Dracula, and I found it to be absolutely delightful specifically because it was a 1:1 adaptation of the book, but I also think that it has skewed the way people engage with all the other adaptations of Dracula. You are so right when you say that Re: Dracula's media as audiobook is what allowed it to be so authentic. Even if it was a long-form series, there would have to be creative liberties taken to account for visualising certain aspects of the text. I am 100% sure someone would be able to do it, but it would undoubtedly be a labour of love and expense.

I think the biggest thing that got lost in translation in my post is that I was speaking specifically on the rhetoric of "bad adaptation = bad media." I don't even like to use the term "bad adaptation" because it feels inaccurate and gives the connotation of being holistically terrible; "failed adaptation" or "inauthentic adaptation" seems more apt when discussing how close an adaptation relates to the source material. I think it is unfair for any adaptation to be written off solely on the fact that it does not strictly adhere to the original text. This can be in way of narrative, characterization, theme, etc. I don't think it's fair to say "x adaptation is bad because it ignores x from the text" because that fundamentally dismisses all the other attributes that contribute to whether or not a piece of media is subjectively good (because honestly that's all it is-- subjectivity). Media, especially film and stage, has so many dynamic and moving parts. There are so many attributes that contribute to the success of any one given thing, especially adaptations (which can claim the title with even the loosest references to the source material). I feel like the black and white thinking when it comes to this doesn't really allow for a dialogue to exist between people who enjoy Dracula adaptations for what they are and, forgive me for saying this, book purists.

Understandably, there is criticism against some adaptations that have claimed to follow the source text closely, but very distinctly did not (Ahum, Cappola). However, I think it does everyone a disservice to deny the impact of a lot of these (mostly) films. Someone in the reblogs of my original post did a good breakdown of the origins of the Dracula genre itself, and I think it goes to show that the story of Dracula has a life of its own outside of the pages of Bram Stoker's book.

The most annoying thing about the responses to my initial post was the refusal to believe that anyone was making these comparisons. I really would not have gone out on a limb to rant about this if I hadn't been consistently seeing vent posts in the main tag with mostly negative responses to a lot of different adaptations of Dracula based on the authenticity of them to the text. I admit I was frustrated when I wrote it, but it really was meant to just address the black and white thinking re: failed adaptations making bad media. This is not to say that criticism of adaptations isn't valid, but I think there should be more nuance to this conversation and that's what I wasn't seeing. It's not fun to dive into the broad Dracula tag and find post after post shitting on your favourite media because it isn't like the book.

Sorry this was a bit long! I am just really passionate about Dracula okay!! And I really really really like all the shitty little shows and movies and plays and comics and all other media that comes out of his name (because YES, a lot of adaptations really make vampire synonymous with Dracula and ROLL WITH IT). Vampires are really neat and the Dracula genre of film has been a huge influence on horror media. I think there is a lot to be said when analysing adaptations, but none of it can come from blanket statements against them.

@spider-xan

#dracula #dracula daily #plz no sexyleon #honestly i lived through the hobbit movies and the book puritism that came out of that and i think it has influenced my opinion on this alo #again because there were some that didnt get it: i am speaking specifically on black and white thinking regarding this #if you don't like cappola's film because of all the shit that happened behind the scenes or because of the narrative itself outside of it's #relation to the original text??? i'm not talking about you

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snek-panini · 1 month

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I participated in Renegade Bindery's Binderary challenge this past February, and since it ended about two weeks ago it's probably time for me to start posting photos of the finished books, yeah? I made eleven books this year, many of which were multi-volume sets, and I'm going to start with the one that I had the most trouble with, Jane Austen's Persuasion. This project was nothing but trouble, and honestly every time I look at it I see nothing but its flaws. The cover is Allure book cloth from Hollander's (wisteria color; I bought it for another project last year and had a lot left over) with gold metallic HTV for the title and graphics. The last project I did with these materials was a dream; the cloth took HTV like a champ, better than any other project I'd done, and yet this time with the same roll of cloth and type/brand of HTV I couldn't get it to stick. You can see two spots where it's gone on crooked in the above photo, and below the cut you can see additional problems with the spine:

Yikes. It is peeling. I read the book once and it is peeling. I've never had this problem before; it won't always stick at first, but once I get it to stick it stays that way. Not this time.

Top view, with the endbands I sewed that have their cores visible. Again, not a problem I've had before but was a recurring theme this binderary; several of my Binderary books have it. Also platinum silk moire endpapers that were really hard to photograph and have both a wrinkle and a glue stain. It's my first time working with silk moire and I'm not sure I'm a fan, but three of the other books I made also have it and I didn't have nearly so may issues with them. So I think this book may have just been cursed. It's not pictured but the ribbon bookmark developed some kind of mysterious dark smudge in the middle somewhere between me gluing it in and me taking these photos. I do not know how this happened. The gilding went well though. That I can say.

Couple of images of the typeset. I had to print the title page twice because it came out streaky the first time. I actually really like the typeset, which is what makes the rest of the issues with this bind so frustrating. It's pretty! I did well on that part! I wanted the exterior to be just as pretty and I'm upset that it's not!

Fun fact: Persuasion was actually my least favorite Austen when I first read it. But I was in my early twenties then, and I thought it would be fun to bind myself a pretty copy since I didn't own one, and reread it and maybe have different feelings about it now I'm on the other side of thirty. And I did reread it after binding, and I do like it better, and I'm sad that the exterior parts didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Half the reason I bind public domain stuff is so I can show off my skills to IRL people who aren't in fandom, and not have to explain what fanfiction is or why it has so many dicks in it, and there were so many issues here that I don't even want to do that.

The good news is that this was the low point of binderary and most of the other books gave me results I like better. I'm still doing titles for a lot of them, so we'll see how fast I can get them done and photographed, but I've definitely got more books in store in the near future.

#bookbinding #snek makes books #it feels weird not to tag a fandom but i don't want to put this in the main book tags #i realize it sounds like i hate what i've done here #i don't hate it i'm just frustrated with myself #and i learned stuff which is an important part of the process #but dangit #the public domain bind from last year came out better than this

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davidmariottecomics · 4 months

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It's Weird Being Between Two Jobs

Hi there and happy new year!

Title kinda says it all in this week's blog, but the strangeness of this time in my life is really settling in.

Just because of how things worked out with leaving IDW and starting the new job, I ended up with a little under a month of free time. And the first week and some change of that was the end of the year holiday season. But the past week has been me sort of watching from the outside as people started going back to work. I did finish up some additional new hire paperwork, but that took maybe an hour total and I'm still over a week from starting the new gig. It's an odd space to be in. I'm not working for anyone--I'm not getting a paycheck (and am currently sort of living this month off of my last IDW paycheck plus paid out time-off)--but I'm also not so far removed from a gig as to be strictly freelance.

And to be totally honest, I don't know that I really like it. I am not great at having free time. I like the idea of free time. I like the idea of having time to write for myself or relax with my hobbies. But I am not great at the latter and the former betrays the fact that even with my free time, I'm often trying to switch into work mode. Heck, at the end of the day, my starting this blog and crossposting it as a newsletter/Tumblr/Patreon is all influenced by my not being good at not at least trying to be productive with my free time.

If you're also someone who has been working from home and especially if you've been working from home freelance, I'm sure you know all the complications of the domestic and recreational life against your job and probably are familiar with how helpful routine and scheduling is with all that. Right now, I'm freeform. I don't want to just use my old habits--the advantage of time off is specifically that I can break a 9-5 M-F format--but I feel like I don't have enough time to start building new routines. So, it's been a challenging couple of weeks. I have not done nearly as much as I think I'd like to have at this point, but I also keep needing to remind myself that I have done a number of things that were on my to-do list and that it's okay to have time off for myself.

As such, instead of a really specific blog on something of late, let me share a couple quick bits that've been on my mind.

The Anti-EGOT I recently finished a big relisten of season 2 of Dungeons & Daddies and in the intro to the show of one episode, Anthony Burch introduced the idea of an Anti-EGOT. I think he retroactively changed it in a later episode, but the general idea was to be a writer in four of the least respected mediums and not win an award for any of it. I believe, in the initial mention, the idea was the four mediums of choice would be video games, comic books, podcasts, and pornography (with wrestling being retroactively either added or replacing one of these, but I don't think I'm much of one to write for wrestling). Honestly, that kinda sounds like a dream to me. As I was listening to this stuff in the run-up to the new year, there was a part of me thinking "is going for the Anti-EGOT my resolution"? And I ultimately decided, no. I don't think that's a good resolution, but it is sort of my stretch goal for the year. If I can write in all those fields, get paid for it, and not win any awards (or, y'know... do) in my lifetime, I'll be pretty stoked.

What my actual goal for the year would be is I want to try to release 6 comics. Different lengths and varieties. I'm not currently anticipating having that be like a single mini-series or whatever, but I want to try to do more in comics with what I am producing. And if I can maybe branch out into one of those other areas this year, even if it doesn't have a release for another year or more, I'd be cool with that too.

Steamboat Willie Last year, you may've read my four part explainer about copyright! One thing that is repeatedly touched on there is the public domain and what all that means. Obviously, this year, Steamboat Willie and two other Mickey Mouse shorts entered the public domain. And it's been really interesting to watch that play out a little. It seemed like--and I know it's only been a week--most everyone got it out of their systems within the first 2-3 days of the year. A lot of that probably goes to Steamboat Willie and those early shorts not actually being all that interesting (fun, but very story-light). A lot of it goes to so much of what people would want to do with "Steamboat Willie" is either already legal because it falls under parody, is not actually meant to be sellable in any way, or was knocked out in a day. A lot of it too probably goes to how unclear what counts as public domain remains. For a character like Mickey, people have been pointing out are you using elements that were added after 1928 or treading on issues of trademark that are not copyright and are not as available. I am very curious to watch how this continues to play out this year (if it does), how things develop next year, and in the next couple of years, watch how things fall in preparation for about a decade from now when more of the early Disney catalog will be public domain (including Snow White) and other major companies start having some of their big hits become PD (like, say, Superman).

I'm also kinda bummed to have not seen any immediate announcements/releases of new comic versions of Lady Chatterly's Lover like there were of The Great Gatsby or anything. That's the other really interesting/wild thing about this year--to me, it seems like the majority of the fuss was around the Mouse and the things that've remained popular in part due to the mouse, Peter Pan and Tigger. I have not seen nearly enough talk about One Million Cats or any of the film or music.

Post-Twitter

The other day, Diana Sousa was asking on Bluesky (and Twitter, I guess), if Twitter is still the major non-convention way that comics editors discover new talent. And I responded as someone who is NO LONGER ON TWITTER but who is still needing to have discoverability of comics artists. I said, part of it is I am on other socials. I see new folks on Bluesky or Instagram or whatever. I also keep an eye on various databases--you don't have to be on Twitter to have access to #VisibleWomen or the Cartoonist Cooperative database or Cartoonists of Color or the Queer Cartoonist Database or the Disabled Cartoonist Database or any of these many sorts of resources. Something I didn't mention there, but will mention here is when you've got a company email address, you've often got agents of various sorts emailing you about talent, internal talent databases and/or recruiter-type folks, sharing info with other editors (and, y'know, I've in the past shared talent who I didn't have a gig for with editor friends at other companies because I thought they'd be a good fit).

As I've mentioned before, the lack of access to talent was why I did wait so long to delete my Twitter (and also wanting to make sure I had ways of keeping up with world events and following non-comics people). But, genuinely, I am not stressing over continuing to find new people now that I've been without it for a little bit and know I've got a system. Check Yourself for Midjourney Training Hey, speaking of my explainer on copyright and the lengths of time therein I talk about how "AI" is a tool of theft and companies trying to avoid paying artists for the use of their copyrighted works, the lawsuit against Midjourney's resulted in a list of names of "artists" they've scraped. Now, I only put "artists" in quotes because the list was made by incompetent tech bros and/or their clueless lawyers, and so there are a number of writers listed who do not particularly do art but where you can extrapolate that the artists they work with were scraped as well as companies, systems, game platforms, etc. While I understand that of course lawsuits are expensive, I do know a number of artists have been reaching out to the lawfirm of the existing suit and seeking to join the case as plaintiffs. If you're a visual artist, probably worth the time to double-check and, if you can, do something about it.

Okay, I think that's it for this week! See ya next time!

What I enjoyed this week: Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Spy x Family (Manga), How to Read Nancy (Book), Hitman 2 (Video Game), Pokemon Conceirge (Cartoon), Ted Lasso (TV show, finally started season 3), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Movie--can you tell I'm in a D&D mood?), The Floor (TV show), my new discord (friends can ask for access!), sending out some feeler emails for new projects and getting to do at least a little bit of writing for myself.

New Releases this week (1/3/2024): Sonic the Hedgehog #68 (Editor)

Announcements: The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza and at least 500 people have shown their proof of donation. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists.

You can also give more directly. Things are obviously still very bad in Gaza as we've hit 3 full months of them being under siege. Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including plenty of women and children. Israel has killed more journalists than any single conflict in my lifetime. They are attacking not just Gaza and the West Bank, but other neighboring countries. I hope the Internatioal Court of Justice can help bring this to an end, but in the meantime, the US has significant influence over the situation (between internatioal political power and the weapons and money we're sending as both a nation and that are being sent my many corporations in the US). You can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives to demand a ceasefire or to protest their inaction so far or to throw eggs at the president for participating in and encouraging a genocide. You should keep aware of actions, demonstrations, protests, and celebrations in your community too. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. I don't tend to be a big TikTok fan, but it has proven to be one of the most reliable resources for firsthand accounts of what's happening on the ground.

Meanwhile, Becca's got their first show of the year next weekend, 1/13 at Alesmith for a mini-con with BizBaz! Come pick up some new for 2024 stuff! Also, they've still got a little room in their schedule for this year, so get them for your comic project before it's too late!

Finally, calling out my Patreon again as well as my webstore (final stock on basically everything there except Jimmy Squarefoot), my Kofi, and my eBay account as I am between paychecks for a while and those are other ways you can support me!

Pic of the Week: We went to one of our favorite local restaurants, Rakitori in Hillcrest. They had a spicy cheesy tonkatsu ramen and I'm not a food picture guy usually, but I did quite like this photo and I'm actually very fortunate we ate there at the tail end of 2023, otherwise I'd have already eaten the best meal of 2024.

#comics #midjourney lawsuit #steamboat willie #public domain explained #anti-egot #food pics

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enlightenedrobot · 4 months

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Concerning the Mouse

Disclaimer. This is a blog post. It's not an essay or legal advice or any of that. It's mostly a collection of thoughts. If you want something a little more well researched, might I suggest this post here. Anyways, let's talk about this lovable rat right here.

As of January 1st, 2024, Mickey Mouse, as depicted in Steamboat Willie, The Galloping Goncho, and Plane Crazy is in the public domain. Personally, I've been looking forward to this, and I've kinda taken it as a personal challenge to figure out how exactly I can reinterpret the mouse for my own projects. And I actually think I got it. But before that... let's talk about this.

I don't think the image above is safe.

It's true, Steamboat Willie is in the public domain, but Mickey Mouse is still protected by trademark law, and those frames and that get up specifically are still very much protected.

I can't be too sure about this, because both Infestation 88 (The Videogame) and Mickey's Mouse Trap (The Horror Movie) seem to use variations of this specific design, but like... those ears are probably still protected, as are those pants. This version of Mickey also lacks his iconic white gloves, but contrary to what other people might say, I don't think "old cartoon wearing white gloves" is something uniquely trademarkable to the Disney corporation.

So if you wanna play it safe, it might be a good idea to use other elements provided by these cartoons as the base for your own interpretation of the character.

This is the version of Mickey Mouse as depicted in the title card of Steamboat Willie, and like, there's a bit more to work with here. His pants have stripes not seen in other incarnations of the character, and he also has a pretty distinct hat and cane.

More notably, his eyes are actually very different from Modern Mickey. They're huge, and the pie eyes that everybody associates with this era of animation are actually pupils. Not the eyes by themself.

What's funny is that there's a definite resemblances between these eyes and those of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was apparently based on Mickey Mouse, so I'm not super surprised.

Those eyes in the title screen actually seem to be a holdover from Plane Crazy, where Mickey Mouse continues to have huge eyes. From that same cartoon, We also have Mickey Mouse deliberately messing up his hair to resemble the pilot Charles Lindbergh.

And like... it's cute. It's a look.

One thing I also keep seeing on social media is that Mickey Mouse has to be Black and White and he's not allowed to speak, because both Mickey's voice and his iconic red pants wouldn't be used until much later.

But like... you're allowed to build on these designs. Just because you can't color his shorts red doesn't mean you can't use color period. And using a different voice for the mouse is a very good way to differentiate your incarnation of the character from Disney's. This isn't legal advice, but I do believe you could get away with giving him a different colored outfit and, say, a deep souther accent ala Foghorn Leghorn.

Anyways, with all this in mind, allow me to introduce my own take on the character, Micheal Elias Mouse Jr. (Mike E. Mouse for short)

He's a former childstar, the son of the original Mickey Mouse, and an intellectual property lawyer with a dubious degree.

I intentionally made him rattier to make him more distinct, but don't let the smell of beef and cheese scare you off. This mouse might of been hit by hard times, but he still has a big heart, and deep down he's still the mouse we all know and love.

From a design standpoint, I tried my best to make the character recognizably mickey life while also changing up the original silhouette. Neither of the ears are perfect circles and one of them has a pretty significant bite taken out of it. The ratty hair and hat also help.

His gloves are yellow, inspired by various promotional materials for the original Steamboat Willie where Mickey dawns yellow gloves instead of the usual white. Further, I changed up the design of his shorts just because pushing the design that much further would help make this version of the character distinct from the Disney version.

If I'm not already protected by the public domain, I'm also protected by the fact that this character is obviously a parody. Middle aged dilf Mickey is not something Disney would never make, and the story I have in mind for him is more or less critical of the Disney corporation while still celebrating the artistry of the original cartoons and animation on the whole.

Anyways, Mickey Mouse entering the public domain is a big win for creatives everywhere, especially for fans of the original character. My interpretation isn't the only valid take on the character out there and I'm excited to see where everyone else goes now that the rat is free use.

#Mickey Mouse #Steamboat Willie #Public Domain #Plane Crazy #Mickey's Mouse Trap #Infestation 88 #Art #Fair Use #Creativity #Mickey #Cartoons #Animation

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damn-stark · 1 year

Text

Part 4 The offer

Part 4 of The Lion and The Dragon

A/N- ;) enjoy, I liked writing this part

Pairing- Aemond Targaryen x Lannister!fem-reader

Warning- Angst! language, forced marriage, slow burn, mentions of injuries and blood, VIOLENCE, grimy men.

Episode- takes place before 1x08

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

“You know what I’m thinking that this may not be a great idea,” Nyra murmurs and gets closer to you the more you continue to walk down the Street of Steel.

You scoff and brush off your friend. “Do not worry, Nyra nothing will happen, we will be quick.” You come to a stop in front of a steel shop to look at the armor on display.

Nyra clings onto your arm and keeps a lookout as you gaze around. “You should’ve brought Ser Erwin,” she hisses. “Or your uncle. Or Prince Aemond!”

You roll your eyes and move deeper into the shop. “I told you hundreds of times already he didn’t want to come, so I came myself. They won’t even notice that we’re gone…at least he won’t. Besides, ser Erwin and my uncle would have told on us. No fun in that.”

“No fun in getting kidnapped or assulated,” she remarks.

You sigh and pat her arm and walk further inside, catching the attention of the owner this time.

“What are you ladies browsing for? Something for your husbands?”

You huff and stop by an eye catching shiny thin silver sword. “Not quite,” you retort. “More for a warrior.”

“Warrior?” Nyra mutters to herself.

The owner comes close but keeps his distance. “Have you got measurements? What are you in for? I got long swords, short swords, and daggers. Even nice pretty ones for the ladies if that’s what you are into.”

You tilt your head and hum. “How much would it cost to get a golden lion pommel?”

The man shifts his feet and puts his hand on his hip. “Gold?”

“Hm.”

“How much do you have?”

You sigh. “I am not looking to get swindled, sir, so please be honest or I am happy to move along.”

The man lets out a deep breath and falls at your side to look at the same sword you’re fixated on. “It all depends on the size and design. Is this for you?” He tries to glance at your face but you make sure to tilt your head away. “I am the best shop on the Street of Steel, so it won’t come cheap.”

“Really?” You scoff and smirk. “That is what every shop has told me. What differs you from them?”

“First quality, this is the finest metal you will see in all of Westeros,” he tries to sell his material, but you’re not interested anymore. “I don’t collect my silver from just any mountain top, I collect…”

You tune him out and slowly begin to turn away to head out without a thing. “Right,” you cut him off. “Well what a lovely sword you have, I will return if I cannot find another.”

The man chases you out to keep trying to sway you. “You will not find any better than mine!”

You wave. “Good day sir!” You guide Nyra further down the street and this time she tries to pull back.

“No, we are far enough we are drifting to unknown streets—”

“Would the lovely ladies want to see their future?” An old woman offers and actually sparks your attention.

Yet Nyra pulls you away. “She will just steal our money. My mother said all the real witches don’t work in such public domains.”

You look over and see her smile smugly before she goes serious again when you turn to a more ominous street.

“Stop, let's turn back, you have got your weapons, some very pretty silks and dresses, we need to head back.” She urges in fear.

You stop and turn to face her and grab her hands. “Nyra, this is just a shortcut to the Street of Flour.” You offer her a gentle smile and squeeze her hands. “I want to get your strawberry pastries for accompanying me today. That is it and we can leave.”

Nyra licks her lips and averts her gaze to think about your suggestion for a moment. “You do not even know your way through the castle halls,” she snips. “But,” she sighs. “Fine. But if we get caught, I'm blaming you. You are the one who will get fed to the dragon.”

You grin and let go of her to turn and continue down the ominous street. “Why is it that you always think I will get fed to the Prince’s dragon?” You remark.

Nyra gasps. “Because he owns a beast, and I have heard that the last woman he bed he fed to his dragon. That’s why he did not take a wife until you came along.”

You giggle and shake your head. “That is absurd. Who said such a thing?”

Nyra goes quiet and smiles mischievously. “I heard from a bird or two.” She shrugs.

You look at her quite confused for a second since she was not really one to keep the sources of her gossip a secret, but you’re quick to brush off your curisoty the futher you walk down the street and see too many curious eyes and malicious smiles.

Meanwhile, Aemond from the castle wasn’t easy to brush off your attitude after he turned down your offer to go to the markets. He hardly knew you to suspect if you would actually leave without permission or not, but he just needed to make sure considering you had already obviously lied to him.

Yet when he finally reached the outside of your room, the Golden Knight was standing at his post outside your door. When the Knight saw Aemond approach he stood up straight by the door and didn’t say a thing, he let Aemond knock.

However, there was no response so he knocked again. And once again there was silence from your side.

“Where is my wife Ser?” Aemond asks and only partially acknowledges the Knight.

Ser Erwin keeps his eyes ahead and answers all he knows. “The Lady’s handmaiden entered early in the morning, neither have left since, my Prince.”

Aemond hums and knocks a third time but doesn’t announce himself, he just waits for a second before he opens the door and walks in himself.

When he walks in though he instantly takes notice of your neatly done bed. There’s no smell of lavender, roses and apple essence like when you were usually inside your room. There weren't any breakfast plates, or a chatty handmaiden. Your room was empty.

“Knight!” Aemond calls, and the Knight quickly rushes in. “Where is she?” Aemond demands to know and swiftly turns on his heels to face the Knight with fury. “Where is my wife?!”

Ser Erwin glances around the room and just looks confused. “I swear I do not know my prince, the Lady has not walked out of her room.”

Aemond glares at the Knight and begins to approach him. “There is only one door in this bloody room, either you stop lying for her, or I will cut out your tongue.”

Ser Erwin clenches his jaw and holds the Prince's gaze. “I swear to the gods I do not know where the Lady went. She must have gone out the window.”

Aemond sighs deeply and turns to storm towards your balcony, but doesn’t notice anything by the walls, or any rope. Not like he needed to know now, he’d get the information out of you, as of now all he cared about was finding you. And he had an idea where you had gone.

“Come,” he orders the Knight as he turns to stride out of the room. “We are going to find my missing wife.”

——

“See,” you nudge Nyra as you walk out of the bakery. “We’re all done, we’re going home now.”

Nyra clenches her jaw and huffs out of her nose. “We still have to make it to the castle.” She keeps her eyes peeled and doesn’t stray too far from your side.

You sigh and try to make her feel more comfortable on your walk back to the castle. “I thought you’d be happy about this adventure given that my dear husband might catch me and have to scold me. Meaning we’ll be close.”

Nyra shakes her head. “Nope, you thought wrong because it’s my career on the line. And you as well.”

“Don’t worry about your career,” you assure her. “If anything happens I will blame myself. And besides he can’t fire you, nor can anyone else, you’re my handmaiden, the decision falls to me. You’re my responsibility.”

Nyra grabs your arm as you both turn into a more ominous street and counters you. “Except if the Prince or the Queen think I am a bad influence on you. And let's not forget your uncle too!”

You shake your head and ignore the people catcalling you both. “My uncle may carry the Lannister name but he will not force you home, not if I have anything to say about it. And,” you smirk. “I’ve always been his favorite, I’m his sweet spot.”

“Not like he has much of a choice.” Nyra retorts sassily. “Between you and the five nightmares back home.”

You exhale deeply and come up with another response to try and comfort her worries, but then some one creeping from behind interrupts you.

“The respectful courtesy after a compliment is a thank you.”

Nyra claws her nails into your skin, but you just pat her hand and walk faster to try and get out of the street quicker.

“Where are you two beauties off to in such a hurry? The lad was just trying to be nice.” Someone new adds in a menacing tone.

Regardless of how they sound, or the fact that they keep following you, you continue to ignore them and keep walking.

“Please stay, we will show you a great time,” a third man says.

You draw in a deep breath, and clench your jaw as you sigh. You’re about to turn to a more public and louder street but then one of the three men grab your hand and pull you back, causing Nyra’s grip to slip off you.

“I said stay,” the first man says and bores his deep brown eyes in your face.

You scoff and yank your hand away from his grip and snap back. “You will not want to touch me again, sir.”

“Why?” The second man taunts you. “Are we not pretty enough?” He steps closer to Nyra and licks his lips as he smirks.

You step towards her and grab her wrist to pull her behind you. “If you know what is best for you, you will go on about your day.” You narrow your gaze and slowly begin to hide your other hand behind you to begin reaching for a dagger Nyra was pulling out of one of the bags she carries.

“Says who?” The third man laughs. “You? Oh I am shaking in fear.” He scoffs. “Come on now I said let’s have a good time and that’s what we will do.” He lunges towards you to try and take you by force, but you already have your dagger in hand and swing, managing to gash him across his dirty face and causing him to stop and stumble back.

“You fucking cunt!” The man curses as he grabs onto his bleeding face.

You smirk at him and in that moment, to try and catch you off guard, a fourth man jumps out from a closed door and grabs Nyra, but you quickly drop your bags and pull your second hidden dagger hidden within your bracelet and throw it at his hand, causing his grip on Nyra to falter, and letting you use a second dragger to storm over to him and stab his eye.

When he lets go to cry out and reach for his eye, Nyra slips away and steps back as the other three try to surround you.

“Funny thing about men,” you begin to taunt them cockily as you pull out your last dagger and slowly turn to face them. “They never can get their own heads out of their ass to think women are far more capable than they are.” Your smirk deepens as you notice the look of burning anger in their faces as you spoke.

Without a word, the second man screams and charges at you with his long sword, but you are quick to catch what way his swing is going and parry the other way, catching the first man try to startle you, but you quickly raise your daggers and cross them to block the man’s attack.

He gasps. “What the—”

You snicker. “Don’t cream your pants now,” you banter and use your leg to kick him back, and slide under his arm to then grab the side of his face and slam his head into the wall so he can fall unconscious.

“You’ll pay for that!” The second man yells at you before he tries to swing at you again. This time you only block his move before pushing him back and swinging your dagger up to stab his chin. Yet he grabs your wrist and quickly spins you around to press your back against him, and press the edge of his sword against your throat.

“Now that’s a good girl,” he whispers in your ear, blowing in hot and rancid breath against your face.

You clench your jaw and draw in a deep breath you let unfurl out of your nose.

“You’ll be coming with me now,” he continues and suddenly presses the blade closer to your throat, actually managing to cut a bit of your skin. “Come any closer now girl,” he says and turns you both around to face Nyra holding a bloody dagger. “And I will kill her here now.”

Nyra drops the dagger and puts her hands out. “Please,” she pretends to beg. “Please.” She sheds a few tears and begins to kneel. “Take me instead, do not take my Lady.”

The man tilts his head and snickers as he falls for her trick, unknowingly letting his grip on his sword and on you falter. You catch it however and throw your head back, managing to hit his nose and causing him to yell out and let you go.

You then proceed to snatch his own sword and threaten him with it, catching the third man standing idly by still grabbing his face.

“Yield,” you warn the second man. “Or I’ll end your life with your own sword.”

The man lifts his head proudly and doesn’t stand down. “You won’t dare, woman. I am not afriad of you, you weak cunt.” He smirks.

You narrow your eyes on him and snicker. “Don’t worry I won’t take offense, you expect me to act on rage right? I’ve been taught better than to give into a man’s weeping ego.” You twist your hand and the sword. “Yield man.”

The man scowls but he doesn’t give up, instead he stays quiet and just simply gives his answer that way.

“Fine,” you exhale. “I suppose it’s your end.” You pretend to go for his throat but instead you stab the sword into his crotch just so you know he won’t die.

“YOU!” He bellows and falls on his knees as he writhes in pain. “Y—YOU BITCH.”

You raise your head and glare at the third man, but he quickly gets on his knees and just raises his hands so you wouldn't do the same to him.

“You have about let’s say,” you taunt and sheath your daggers. “Maybe ten or five minutes to get that little guy stitched back up.” You walk over to Nyra to make sure she’s okay first. “Then again I doubt it will lift ever again.” You peer back and see him glare at you.

“Are you okay?” You ask Nyra as you face her.

Nyra nods and musters a relieved smile, she parts his lips to speak, but she then catches something behind you and freezes as her eyes widen as if she's just seen a ghost.

“What?” You ask and turn around. That’s when you see Aemond, and Ser Erwin at his side.

Neither man says a thing, Aemond just looks at the man holding onto his bleeding crotch, the other running away, the one unconscious, and the last one lying limp on the ground behind Nyra. A faint and quick smirk does tug on his lips, but he doesn’t let that show when he meets your gaze. No, he looks enraged and even more terrifying.

Yet you don’t fall to your knees or cry, you pick up your things as you hold his gaze and slowly smirk at him with confidence before turning and grabbing Nyra to continue walking home. Now albeit Aemond and Ser Erwin followed.

And surprisingly enough the way to the castle was silent. Sure Ser Erwin wouldn’t say a thing, but Aemond, you defied him, you expect some sort of argument. Instead he stays quiet, he doesn't let his gaze drift to you, he just follows Nyra and you home.

It was making you uneasy.

“If you have something you want to say,” you blurt as you make it in the Red Keep without fuss. “Say it.”

Nyra glances at you nervously, but doesn’t say anything over the way you were abrupt with your comment.

Aemond doesn’t bother to look at you, he just responds dryly. “Not here. You wouldn’t want to cause a scene would you?”

You swallow and clench your jaw, falling silent once again after that, but this time feeling a knot in your stomach as you begin to anticipate the conversation he was willing to save for later.

It was so bad that with each step you took towards your chambers, the worse you felt, to the point it felt like you were going to throw up.

Luckily it didn't happen, but once you did reach your door, Aemond set himself in front of it to block your way in. He looked at Nyra and then at Ser Erwin behind you.

“Ser take the handmaiden to get checked for any wounds.”

You keep your eyes on Aemond and sigh, but you feel Ser Erwin hesitate as did Nyra.

“It’s okay,” you assure them both. “Go.”

Nyra slips her arm away from yours and puts down a bag to curtsy at Aemond before leaving with Ser Erwin, leaving you alone with Aemond now.

“I hope,” he begins to say without animosity as he reaches down for the bags Nyra had set down. “You enjoyed your time at the markets.” He opens the door and lets you walk in first before he follows and closes the door behind him.

“I quite did,” you answer slowly since you anticipate what he wanted to say. “It was nice exploring the streets of Kings Landing. It’s a lot different than home.”

Aemond hums and walks over to the table you walk to and sets the things down at the same time you do. He continues to stay quiet and just watches you. He follows your figure as you walk to a mirror and finally speaks on the matter you’ve been waiting to hear.

“Tell me did you choose to ignore my demand, or is it that you simply forgot?”

You damp a cloth in the bowl of water to begin wiping off the blood that spilled from the thin gash on your throat. “I choose to ignore it,” you admit and feel as if your heart is going to jump out of your chest.

Aemond hums and nods slowly. “Right,” he says under his breath. “In doing so you got assaulted by delinquents, got hurt and got your handmaiden in danger.”

You shrug and brush him off. “I had it under control.”

Aemond scoffs and begins to get annoyed by your attitude. “Is that why you’re cleaning yet another wound?” He says with more frustration. “Because you had it under control?”

You nod and still continue to stay nonchalant, even if in the inside you were completely freaking out. “Yes. I did.”

Aemond huffs out in anger and snaps back at you. “I gave you one simple order. Stay inside! And you completely disobeyed my command!”

Now though, you grow angry too. “<I am not your prisoner!>” You counter in high Valyrian as you throw your cloth down and turn to face him. “<I may be your wife but I am not a prisoner for you to treat me as such!>”

Aemond’s anger falters at the sound of your High Valyrian, and can’t help but stand in disbelief as he looks at you between anger and surprise.

Yet he doesn’t express such feelings, he continues in his anger instead. This time he argues back in High Valyrian as well.

“<I may have to start treating you as one.>”

You blink rapidly and can’t find what to stay as you get caught off guard by his response. Aemond notices and begins to approach you with this menacing and narrowed glare.

“<Do it,” you spat. “I dare you. But just know I will find a way to defy you.” You swallow thickly and stand your ground as he stops inches away from you. “Again and again.>”

Aemond lips curl to a deep set smirk and rebuttals. “Who do you think you are? You are my wife, mine! You will listen to me whether you like it or not.”

You raise your head and lean in closer, causing him to look down at your lips before he holds your gaze.

“Or what?” You spat.

Aemond scoffs and begins to smirk. “You think you’re so mighty you can’t even have a fight without getting hurt. You’re weak.”

“Am I?” You say smugly. “Those four men I just took down don’t think so. Nor does any other man I’ve beat in tourneys.”

“Tourneys?” Aemond scoffs. “Tourneys are only filled with pampered Knights with no real battle experience. And you are nothing more but a spoiled girl pampered by her old Knight.”

You clench your jaw and continue to hold his gaze. “If you think me so weak then teach me. Are you not such a great swordsman, huh? Unless..” you lick your lips and slowly smirk at him. “You’re nothing but a pampered Prince yourself.”

Aemond slightly tilts his head and presses his lips together as he keeps the corner of his lips turned to a sly smirk.

However, he just smirks, he doesn’t say anything in that regard. He hums and steps back before he points to your cut. “You might want to take care of that before it gets infected, or my mother sees later at dinner.” His eyes linger on you a bit longer before he turns and just walks out with nothing said.

He just leaves you with your heart racing, your jaw slightly ajar, and your body ablaze.

——

There was too much left unspoken with Aemond. He left too abruptly, left you thinking too much about him.

It’s not something you liked.

You didn’t enjoy thinking about how close he was when he was angry. How his blue eye pierced into your very soul, or how his smirk made you feel like you wanted nothing more to wipe it off by kissing him.

It was tortoure thinking about him, knowing that he was as menacing as people said, yet not the monster people murmured solely for his appearance and mysterious persona. Then again there is still so much you need to know about him.

“All done,” Nyra tells you and steps to the side, causing you to look up and take a better look at the red and black dress that had recently been made to go more with the Targaryen house colors now that you were married to one of them.

“You look very sexy in black,” Nyra compliments you smugly.

You raise your head and straighten out the single gold Lion pendant that holds elegant and soft low cut black material over your chest. “There’s hardly any gold,” you point out, and carefully feel the soft black long sleeves that felt like soft dragon scales under your fingertips.

Nyra lets out a deep sigh and walks back to you to grab your shoulders and give them a gentle squeeze. “You’re a Targaryen now. You may still have your fathers name, but you’re a Targaryen.”

You drop your gaze and huff. “Still I don’t quite understand why these colors. I mean I like them, but have you not noticed that Aemond and his family wear a lot of green? They all wear different shades, but it’s green nonetheless.”

Nyra leaves your side and adds something to your comment. “Except for Princess Helaena. I haven’t seen her wear green. And your husband wears a lot of black.”

You laugh softly and turn to walk to your vanity and put on your golden rings. “It suits him well with his brooding nature.”

Nyra snickers and nods. “That is right.”

You smile and pick up your lion head ring to put it on with pride. Yet as you see Nyra walk over to help you with your jewelry you frown and change the subject. “Are you sure you’re okay after today's events?”

Nyra meets your gaze and offers you a soft smile as she nods. “I am. I didn’t get hurt at all thanks to you,” she assures you in the Meereenese accent she’s tried hard to hide over the years. “I was just surprised, that's all.”

You sigh with relief and hear a knock rap on your door that makes Nyra rush to it and leave you to talk louder. “And you doubted my skill!”

Nyra scoffs as she opens the door, revealing a single servant girl who stays outside the door.

“I’ve been sent to tell you that dinner will be shortly.” The servant announces.

You offer the servant a gentle smile and nod comprehension. “Thank you…uh…what’s your name, love?”

The servant looks up quite confused, but says her name nonetheless. “Alyssa, my Lady.”

“Thank you, Alyssa. I’ll be there,” you let her know.

Alyssa offers you a genuine smile and bows her head before turning and scurrying off.

Nyra shifts around and faces you with an exaggerated frown. “It’s too bad I cannot go with you to dinner.” She whines.

You smirk at her and don’t wait to begin walking to the door to head out. “Oh I will remember every bit of it just for you my dear.”

When you reach the door Nyra clings onto your arm and walks out with you, letting Ser Erwin close the door. “Oh please do, I want to know everything that was said. I want to know it all even if all there was was awkward silence.”

You turn your head and assure her with a nod.

Nyra sighs and pulls away as you cross the hallway intersection. “Do enjoy yourself my dear, and smile.”

You feign a grin and bow your head. “I will!” You wave at her as she begins to walk backwards to a different hall. “See you later.”

Nyra waves, and when she’s no longer in view your smile slowly begins to fall and your nerves begin to rise.

At least it was noticeable until Ser Erwin began to distract you as he began to walk at your side to address you. “I hope you’re well, my lady? After what happened today I mean.”

You glance over at him and scoff softly before nodding and speaking. “I’m good, I just got a scratch, but that’s nothing compared to how those men were left.”

The corner of Ser Erwin’s lips lift slightly before he picks at your comment. “Was it you that took those men down?”

You hesitate knowing how most men feel over women holding swords, but nod in agreement nonetheless. “Yes, I did.”

His smile falters but he looks at you with slight shock. “That’s…I’ve never met a highborn Lady who wields a weapon.”

You chuckle and nod slowly. “We are a rare finding, but you mustn’t tell. It stays between just you, me and the known party, alright?”

Without hesitation Ser Erwin nods. “Of course,” he assures you with a slight smirk. “But if I may add one last thing. I was quite impressed. Three men down all by yourself, and one so frightened he ran away.”

You meet his gaze and feel your face begin to burn before you smile shyly. “Thank you, Ser.” You swallow thickly and pay attention to the stairs you begin to climb down. “I do hope,” you add in a more serious tone, “that my husband wasn’t too harsh when he found out I wasn’t in my chambers.”

Ser Erwin sighs. “It’s quite alright, the Prince wasn’t as upset with me as I anticipated.”

“Good,” you say as you reach the bottom of the stairs and finally head to the intended hall. “I would have hated to have lost such a good and nice protector.”

Ser Erwin smiles softly and gets quite bold. “And I would have hated having the dishonor to leave your side.”

You blink in disbelief and feel your breath catch in your throat.

It’s just…it was unexpected. His response.

“Uh, thank you,” you say softly and hide your smile as you reach the doors of the hall. Ser Erwin lets his eyes linger on you before the doors are opened, ending up having to leave him behind now to walk in the hall where the Queen, and Helaena already waited.

“Queen. Princess.” You curtsy.

“Please,” Queen Alicent interjects as you stand up straight and walk to your seat. “You don’t need to curtsy everytime you see me now. We’re familiars, it’s quite alright.”

A servant pulls your chair back, letting you slide on your seat, and get pushed in whilst you respond. “Sorry, it’s instinct for me to do so. It will take a while to get used to.”

The Queen offers you a gentle smile. “I understand more than you know. This all must be different. I mean the change.”

You nod in agreement and feel relieved that she understands. “Yes, it quite is. I mean it’s not so drastic but…” you pause as the door opens and Prince Aegon and Prince Aemond walk in.

All eyes shift to them, but Aegon notices the silence. “Please, my Lady, continue with what you were saying. Let our presence not stop you.”

You nod stiffly and shift your eyes to Aemond as he walks to this seat across from you.

“…life here at the Red Keep is different compared to my life at Casterly Rock,” you finish saying.

Queen Alicent keeps her smile offered to you and seems to want to add something, but Aegon interjects first. “Is it?” He asks as he gets wine served. “How so?”

You glance over at him and answer a bit quieter. “It’s louder. The Red Keep is a lot busier. Everywhere I go there’s people. Home was a bit quieter even with all my siblings. And it’s bigger here, I’ve gotten lost more times than I like to admit.” You grab your cup of wine and shift your eyes down.

“And…” you continue in a quieter voice. “It’s lonelier it seems.”

At the sound of your comment the Queen swallows thickly and lets her eyes linger on you until Aegon interrupts in the same cocky tone. “Well I do hope it gets easier. And perhaps my dear brother helps ease your estrangement.”

Aemond ignores his brother but just briefly glances at you as you place your cup down, and then focuses on his mother as she speaks whilst dinner gets served.

“Let us share a prayer.”

Everyone goes quiet and she gives a short and sweet prayer before continuing with what was going on.

“Returning to our previous conversation, I imagine it will take time, Aegon. It’s not quite easy forgetting a home you have lived in your whole life. You have lived here your whole life, she has not.”

You smile softly at the Queen, and she notices your gesture, but also notices the cut on your throat and grows visibly concerned. “Are you alright? What happened to your neck, dear?” She asks.

You quickly look at Aemond, and he looks at you to share a knowing look. You half expect him to blurt the truth since he knows, but he stays quiet and lets you answer.

“Oh, I took a nap earlier today and slept with a necklace on, and it cut my skin.” You lie without giving anything away.

Helaena looks over at you with a pitiful frown and interjects. “You must be more careful.”

You grab your fork and look at her to share a sweet smile. “I should, yet I can’t seem to learn my lesson.”

At the sound of your comment Aemond scoffs, but doesn’t raise any suspicion, he just earns a quick glance from you before Helaena continues.

“You must accompany me for a walk in the garden tomorrow.” She smiles with enthusiasm.

You grin at her and nod. “Of course,” you assure her. “I was planning to go already. You read my mind.”

Helaena giggles and then lets everyone, including you, eat the dinner served with only the sound of the musician's melody to fill the room. And only stares to be passed as Aemond kept stealing glances at you when you weren’t looking; stares of curiosity and interest after today's events and your quarrel. It’s like he couldn’t get enough of you, he felt magnetized, and only Alicent noticed her son's interest.

“Tell me, Lady Lannister,” Aegon speaks up after a while of silence. “Is it true you know how to speak High Valyrian?”

You set your fork down and nod as you look over at him. “Yes, I do. I’m still learning anyway.” You smile faintly as your interest over how he knows gets piqued; has Aemond told him already?

“How is it you know?” You ask.

Aegon raises his cup and shrugs. “A bird or two told me.”

You hum and look back at your food before the Queen proceeds to chime in. “Why is it that you’re learning?”

“Uh, well, one, I enjoy learning new things, languages especially. More so after getting told that I can’t. Two,” you smile shyly. “When I learned I was going to marry Prince Aemond, I made it my job to learn.” You avoid Aemond’s stare even as you feel him looking at you.

“That’s very sweet,” Helaena says sweetly. “Don’t you think so, Aemond?”

Said man just hums as his brother stifles his laugh.

“Who’s teaching you?” Helaena asks out of curiosity.

You smile at your plate. “My handmaiden,” you answer. “She’s from Meereen.”

“Is that so?” The Queen probes.

You meet her gaze and nod. “Yes. Her family was one of few from there that spoke High Valyrian.”

“That’s quite impressive,” Aegon interjects with a sly smile. “I may just have to meet this handmaiden of yours.”

The Queen sighs and you just feign a smile.

“And,” Aegon continues. “Just so you know, whenever you wish to learn more, you can always come to me, sweet goodsister.”

Your eyes slightly widen in surprise and you fall speechless since you can’t find a way to decline his offer.

Thankfully Aemond interrupts before you have to say something. “Now how is it that she’ll learn from someone who hardly knows how to speak it himself?”

You smirk at his response and wait for Aegon to counter.

“Well I do know some, so I still can be of some help.” He smirks at his brother and then raises his cup at you.

You raise yours back and add a snarky comment back. “<We can teach other then, goodbrother.>” You smirk.

Aegon sets his cup down with a frown, making you think he’d be upset, but he chuckles instead out of genuine amusement and leaves it at that.

Actually not much else is said after, dinner ends soon thereafter and you have nothing else to do but return to your room with just Ser Erwin following behind you.

Aemond doesn’t bother to speak to you, nor does he have even the nobility to walk you to your room. You’re alone until you reach your room, and even if Nyra welcomes you back, she doesn’t ask about dinner, she just quickly prepares your bath before she leaves your room in a hurry.

You know her, you know she hasn’t made many friends or if any at all, so that can’t be an excuse. It was something else, or one person.

Hm.

Interesting that she hasn’t told you about a thing, she’s always quick to share news that is hers and that isn’t...

Unless it’s someone she shouldn’t be seeing.

You sigh deeply and sink deeper in the water to think more profoundly and avoid thinking about Aemond and what he’s been stirring in you.

“What are you hiding?” You ask yourself and close your eyes to rest them.

However, only seconds later after a second of peace, the door suddenly flies open and someone barges in completely startling you. When you peek back you notice Aemond in front of the door looking somewhat baffled.

“Oh,” you breathe out in relief. “By the gods it’s just you.” You sink back in the water and feel your heart still pounding at the thought of having him see you nude; even if has already, just twice.

“Pardon,” he says after he clears his throat and shuts the door. “I didn’t know you were in the bath.”

You hum and reach over your cup of wine. “Doesn’t matter,” you dismiss him. “I thought you were someone else if I'm honest.”

You hear Aemond swallow thickly before he takes a step further inside. “Really?” He scoffs. “Perhaps a Golden Knight?”

You chuckle and shake your head as you sip from the cup. “No,” you correct him. “More so a dark haired, sharp tongued friend. She left in quite a hurry tonight, I thought she had returned. Nevertheless, you’re here so may you pass me the small golden flask behind me?”

There’s a bit of hesitation before you hear approaching footsteps, and then see the flask from the corner of your eye.

When you reach back for it, the moment you take it in your hand Aemond makes sure to quickly pull back as if he’s frightened. It makes you feel a bit smug that you can cause such a reaction, but also quite confused that you did cause him to behave in such a manner.

“So,” you begin to probe as you make more bubbles in your bath, creating a stronger scent of lavender and a sweetness that begins to entrance Aemond. “Do you need something or are you just here for a visit? Because if so I’d appreciate it if I could see you.”

Once again there’s a bit of silence before he pulls a chair to the front of your bath so you can finally be face to face, noticing he still looked quite taken back.

“So,” you continue to press, this time with a more cocky smile as you play with your bubbles.

“Do I need a reason to visit you, wife?” He retorts.

You scoff softly. “Considering since we’ve been married you have never bothered to visit me, yes. Is that so wild for me to assume?”

Aemond lowers his gaze and hums.

You proceed to lift your leg to cross it over the other, making sure he saw the entire time.

“I hope you enjoyed dinner,” he interjects, making your cockiness falter.

You slowly avert your gaze and nod softly. “Yes, I did. Your mother was very lovely,” you admit. “If I am honest, she quite scared me before.” You smile softly.

Aemond scoffs as if it’s the most absurd thing. “My mother?”

You nod. “Yes, she’s a very intimidating woman, but now,” you say and slowly lift your eyes to meet his gaze. “Now that I have talked to her, she’s very sweet.”

Aemond stays quiet but the corner his lips slightly tug upward. Just slightly.

The silence lingers, and it’s not awkward and uncomfortable, but there is tension neither of you can seem to shake, or know how to break.

Yet it’s a silence that lets you finally study his scar; how deep it is against his flesh, how long it is on his pale face. He’s averting your gaze so he doesn’t notice your stolen glance, or how tempted you looked to feel it under the tip of your fingers.

Honestly it’s a scar that suits him and his persona. Some men have scars and it’s quite ugly, but his, it’s as if he was meant to have it. It looked good on him.

And his eye, he had such a pretty blue eye. Still you had to wonder why he was here….

Nevertheless, the bath was getting cold.

“Aemond,” you call, and he quickly looks up without a fault. “Could you help me with my towel?”

Aemond’s eye lingers on your gaze for a second before he gets out of his seat and grabs your towel off the chair beside the bath.

As you slowly begin to stand up he keeps his eye averted, but he’s so compelled by you, by the water dripping off your body, that he can’t help but look at you as you begin to climb out of the tub. And before you can swing your other leg out, he stretches his hand out and offers it to you.

It’s quite surprising, but you quickly take it and feel your breath catch in your throat, and your heart flutter as you feel the warm and soft flesh of his hand. Albeit he then carefully wraps the towel around your shoulders and lets you wrap it around your body all by yourself. Making sure to stay close to you the entire time.

“I am sorry for the way I acted earlier today,” Aemond interjects, making your eyes quickly shift over to him. “I could have handled myself better.”

Oh. That’s…Hm.

He’s just making you feel a whole lot more….well…a lot. He’s making you feel a lot of feelings.

“Well,” you clear your throat and walk to your vanity. “I…am sorry too. I was too harsh.” You sit down and pick up a small flask of oil and slowly meet his gaze as he turns to watch you. “Still….I don’t appreciate being treated like a prisoner.”

Aemond nods. “I understand.”

You smile softly and nod slowly. “Good,” you mumble and begin to apply the oil on your arms.

“And,” he continues and holds your gaze as he clasps his hands behind him. “Maybe…you would find pleasure in joining me in a training session tomorrow.” He offers.

Your smile widens but you’re in disbelief, afraid this is a joke to get back at you for the way you yelled at him earlier. “Are…are you serious?” You ask.

Aemond nods. “I don’t jester.”

You scoff. “Obviously—” you pause and grin. “I would really love it.”

The corner of his lips twitch to a smile. “Good…I will come by to walk there together.”

You beam at him and nod. “Okay, thank you.”

Aemond nods and turns to begin heading out, but you quickly stop him. “Aemond.”

Said man stops to look back and wait.

“Would you like to spend the night?” You ask and stop what you’re doing to completely focus on him. “It’s been some time since we have been together.” You suggest.

Aemond smirks faintly and nods.

Tagged: @winter-soldier-101 @whateverooooooo @xcharlottemikaelsonx @blue-serendipity

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