#artificialinterference

So, future comic stuff. (This is probably not going to make headway until Kara and I get far, far into Soul-Bound, but I’m still super excited!!)

AXIS is a comic that takes place in the far future. Humans have expanded past the Milky Way and pushed boundaries to find more places to branch their growing empire. It may look beautiful with towering spires and space stations the size of planets, sparkling metal and flashing lights, but just because the human society has expanded, does not mean it’s free from the corruption inside it’s walls. 

The majority of the comic revolves around a Bounty Hunter-- Ravaxis. He’s got millions of enemies, and few allies, but he finds a friend and companion in the least expected place; his own ship. Helios is added as an upgrade, an AI that can keep the Hunter’s home maintained and provide much needed insight to keeping the human alive, but perhaps there’s more to him than just being extra parts. With Ravaxis and Helios running from more than just other Hunters, but a large megacorp looking to take back stolen tech, they’ll learn that there’s more to each other than being on the run together.

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Meet Helios! He’s Ravaxis’ AI companion, tasked with running all processes on The Axis. Artificial Intelligence's have long been banned by the Military for their unpredictable nature, but there’s more to that well kept secret than danger. Helios is a newly made AI, roughly aged to be about two years in run-time. He has no idea who made him or what his purpose was before Ravaxis bought him as an upgrade for The Axis.

Originally, he didn’t have a face, or an appearance beside the red screens and text that would appear when he spoke, but as The Axis continued to be upgraded, he began to evolve along with it, choosing a face to man the ship. Who knows? Perhaps it will become useful as the story progresses.

As with all of my art, I have some guidelines:

Please do NOT tag as KIN, SELF, ETC.

Please do NOT copy, trace, crop, repost, etc.

Please do NOT use this for icons without asking me first.

Please do not remove my captions!

Talk to people working punishing hours and a pattern emerges. It is not that they do not want connection. It is that connection, as we usually arrange it, demands a kind of availability they no longer have. Dinners get cancelled, texts go unanswered for days, and the social muscle slowly atrophies. Into this very modern problem steps a very modern solution, and SweetDream is among the most refined examples of it.

The platform at sweetdream.ai is built for exactly the person whose time arrives in unpredictable scraps. An AI companion does not mind that you surface at midnight or vanish for two days. You shape the character entirely, from looks and voice to temperament and quirks, then pick up wherever you left off, because the chat genuinely remembers where that was. For some, a voice message between meetings is enough. For others, a late phone call that sounds human carries the day home.

Wide blue eyes stared up to the bigger man, head slightly tilted to the side. He wasn’t often around other people beside Aso and Kyoko, and his father of course, if he was at home from work that means, but that guy certainly looked different than them. More... flashy. 

But still he felt somehow familiar. 

“The only way to put a stop this is to stop me. So, if you’re really tired of running these circles then do something about it.” He said it so casually, almost as if death wouldn’t be the outcome. “Everyone is counting on you after all…” His self included, Playmaker just hadn’t realized it yet… 

It wasn’t the reaction he had wanted to get and for a short moment it was clearly visible on his face, before Playmaker got a hold of his expression again.  But while it totally wasn’t what he wanted to hear, it totally was what he had expected. Ai had already made clear that he was set on the path he had chosen. And yet Playmaker wasn’t really ready to accept it just like that. They had been partners. Even if he never really had showed it like that he came to enjoy the others presence around and had missed it greatly after Ai had vanished a few weeks ago. That he would return as enemy.... it still hurt. 

And of course everyone was counting on him. They always did and Playmaker still was tired of all the responsibility he never had asked for in the first place. 

“There still has to be another way.” he replied again, voice stubborn. He was rather well aware of the fact that not all of his allies would be okay with this but still... he wouldn’t give up on his friend as easy as that. 

“And?” The AI questioned then stopped to cast Soulburner a glance over his shoulder. “Is that surprising? You and I are enemies now, you said yourself that I’d gone too far. So it wouldn’t make much sense for me to stick around… Ah, or were you simply expressing concern over what I’ve been doing in my absence? If that’s the case you shouldn’t trouble yourself with worrying about the possibilities too much because you’ll be finding out very soon.”

It was right that he had said that a while ago, but just because the other one had gone to far... had crossed a line... it didn’t meant he had accepted that they were enemies. He knew they were. But still... for Yusaku’s sake he had hoped for things to find a better end than this. 

“I...” he started in the end, before shaking his head a rapidly, his hands turning to fists. “Doesn’t this matter to you at all? I see that you’re hurt.  I might not be able to understand your pain or your grieve but I understand why you feel like that. But is this really enough for you to throw away the last friend that actually was on your side?!”

He clearly was talking about Playmaker here, no doubt left but still... Soulburner just couldn’t understand how Ai could do something like that to their common friend. Betraying him or Kusanagi or even Revolver was one thing, but Playmaker? Yusaku ? 

“You’ve only come to that conclusion because you’re human and you’re incapable of accurately thinking of the situation from a more logical stand point like myself.” He boasted, secretly questioning the purpose School was meant to serve to humans when they seemed dense no matter what. He almost felt sorry for them as a species in that regard.

    ❝Okaaay . . .❞ taking another look at the youngin, it didn’t seem obvious to Jamie that the person he spoke to was of not human origin. Or maybe just someone who though alienating themselves from other people via weird methods made them quirky.     ❝Do you have a better explanation why everything went to shit?❞

| ❖ |   Never in a million years did Playmaker ever imagine that he would be genuinely fighting against a friend.  Kusanagi, while a temporary foe, was an expected one where they had made a promise that reigned true in the end.  But Ai?  This was not planned.  The mere sight of his former partner standing oppose to him, both individuals flying around the network on their D-Boards, made the normally stoic duelist’s heart heavy.           But it wasn’t as if Playmaker was truly blind to the reason why Ai was acting in this manner.  Even though all the humans who fell during the war against the Lightning and his companions were revived, the five Ignis were unfortunately not.  Ai had disappeared into the network after the final defeat of Bohman, and it didn’t take much guesswork to know that the Dark Ignis was grieving over the loss of his friends.  Yet Playmaker was still bewildered as to why Ai was attacking other humans.  Was he really following Lightning’s goal, even though that goal was what lead to the other Ignis’s deaths?

        At the current moment, they were at a standstill -- literally.  With the spell card that locked down both of their battle phases and a Link monster who clearly was meant to reflect Flame, there wasn’t much Playmaker could do to break out of this stall deck.  But perhaps. . .

        With his mind made up, he disabled the communication setting on his duel disk that allowed for him to speak to other duelists and Akira, and in turn, they couldn’t hear him either.  No, this conversation was going to be private.

:// ghosts & bullshit / OPEN

    A loud gasp escaped her lips – she really didn’t mean to be so dramatic, but this sort of talk from the young robot was uncalled for. ❝What has Ai been teaching you all this time?!❞ she wasn’t actually mad at Roboppi, the youngin was just repeating whatever they heard, and for that Blue Maiden was ready to kick a certain A.I’s ass.

“oh?”

Ai cocked his head to the side in amusement at Revolver’s riddle. “I never took you as such a poet, I guess you really are full of surprises, hm? Either way, that’s quite the diagnosis. Care to tell me what truth I’m playing hide and seek with?”

Whether the other one was actually aware of it or not, Ai played a big role in how and why his view about the Ignis had changed over the last few months. There was no doubt anymore and maybe that was why him actually choosing this path had also hurt him as well, even though Revolver was ready to deny this till his death. 

And yet, the truth was still standing there. Unchangeable, no matter how much both of them might had hoped for it to change. 

“Tell me Ignis, how many times did you assert you’re not humanities enemy? And yet we’re standing here. We both know your existence alone is the threat. So why are you acting like this now?”