Sorry this is up late - had a doctors appt with the surgeon so far its all good news... *knocks on wood *
Nearly mindless now with horror, the child fled again, stumbling down the stairs. In the entry hall, her father had been pinned to the wall with long metal stakes that passed through every major joint of his limbs, his open mouth, his eye sockets. His ribs had been cut free of the sternum and pulled through the flesh of his chest.
The thing which had done all of this turned away from its handiwork to stare at the girl-child with glowing amber eyes. Blood drenched its razored fingers, clotted in its pale hair, was splashed over too-smooth porcelain skin, soaked into the dull black bodysuit it wore. Its voice was the cold, dry, precise speech of a soulless thing, a monster in the shape of a human.
Why,Hello little girl, I'm your Aunt Noctis, I'm a Cassion, want to play a game? Let's play hide and seek,won't that be fun? You go hide and maybe you won't join your Mommy, Brother and Daddy today. Now be a good little girl, don't scream and go run and hide. I'll look for you later when I finish this.
I love the extended pinkie. It's like the kid interrupted her at teatime.
"Oh, hi there. Just hang on while I finish committing this horrific murder, and I'll be with you momentarily."
On another note, I can see the family resemblance here; kidlet Aurelia has pretty much the same hair & similar facial structure as her dad. Maybe she has the same eyes, but who can tell at this point?
It's not a horrific murder, just some artful corpse arrangement. Some people get squeamish. Noctis is obviously the victim here. That girl's interrupting her work and seeing her piece before it is finished.
The only thing that surprised me was the butterfly thing. Given that they have slaves, gladiators, public executions, and Noctis's complaints[1]; brutality is only to be expected.
[1] Noctis didn't complain about the violence of the "lessons". She didn't like their current quantity.
Okaaaay no WONDER this girl hates androids X"D-- I mean really their main experience with them in Nova Roma is CASSIANS and well.. >__>
But I'm wondering who ordered this...cuz I don't think Noctis just felt like doin' some murder art one day. She uh...really went above and beyond the call of duty here :'D
Oh, and pinky up-- she is a classy woman...android :'D XDD
As I read it HeSerpenty, Kali ordered the family's deaths. The Cassians had apparently uncovered information of treason against Imperator Valerius. The Cassians moved to eliminate threats against a good and just ruler.
Furthermore, it reads like they were planning treason precisely because he was a good ruler and therefor seemed weak, not because he was a problem in some form. So they were killed, and their bodies used to dispel the Nice Guy image. They had this coming.
This is really creeping me out, but I can't look away! If I was going to compare it to anything, this is like looking at the portrait "Scream".
Once again, Argylefox, you've blown me away with this. As much as I love Cent's art, I don't think that a CGI version of this story could do any better of a job than you have done here. Bravo!!!
However, "good" he was, he was still a dictator who ruled with terror and extrajudicial killings. For all we know, they may have been democracy activists. We don't know what their goals were - just that it included opposing Decimus's father.
From one perspective, the specific nature of their treason is irrelevant to the moral evaluation of the actions of the secret police of Prince Valerius. From another perspective, it can be argued that the specific nature of their guilt may render Noctis' actions justified or unjustified. I suppose it depends on how principled or pragmatic you are.
We don't know if Valerius knew of, let alone APPROVED of, Noctis' mission HiFranc. From what we've seen of him, he was better than the system. He might have been trying to reform the system, for all we know.
It's possible that Aurelia's's family might have been too powerful to take to trial. If allowed to incite the crowd it could have been extremely messy.
Actually it was mentioned in Atta that Aurelia's family was highly placed in the Roma government and was more than likely " untouchable " by normal means.
I know that look... My cat Sam has it when he is doing something he knows I wouldn't approve of. "Oh Hello, never mind me, just ... working over here." All the way down to the yellow eyes there. ;)
On a related note: Been re-reading from the beginning. Seeing again Dolly's encounter with the guy at the bar (Breaker?), it occurs to me there's a perfect song for this: "Teach Me to Be Bad" - Thea Gilmore. :D
I just have to say that this has become my favourite webcomic. :) I am on my third re-read still noticing little details in the renders and in the storyline. Little foreshadowings and ironic comments.
... far worse is that it has inspired me to the level of starting to work with Daz Studio again. (I assume this is what you are using or am I barking up the wrong tree?) Any chance of a tutorial? The sheer skill that goes into this is dazling me. And as I said, it inspires me enough that I am at the least going to render up a few choice moments from our RPG campaigns.
Good Luck, I've babbled with DAZ for about 4 years, managed to get Victoria 3 to kick a soccer ball once but could not do it again, never can get the outfits to work have given it up with the idea that it is much smarter than I am, and I use to build computers for a hobby.
Kudos
Don't think I'll ask Noctis to decorate my house.
She makes some killer halloween decorations !
Bottom link to Top Web doesn't work top one does.
thy touch is death beautiful Noctis
"Oh, hi there. Just hang on while I finish committing this horrific murder, and I'll be with you momentarily."
On another note, I can see the family resemblance here; kidlet Aurelia has pretty much the same hair & similar facial structure as her dad. Maybe she has the same eyes, but who can tell at this point?
The dead stare, portrays her curiosity as to who this is, who just came in.
[1] Noctis didn't complain about the violence of the "lessons". She didn't like their current quantity.
But I'm wondering who ordered this...cuz I don't think Noctis just felt like doin' some murder art one day. She uh...really went above and beyond the call of duty here :'D
Oh, and pinky up-- she is a classy woman...android :'D XDD
Once again, Argylefox, you've blown me away with this. As much as I love Cent's art, I don't think that a CGI version of this story could do any better of a job than you have done here. Bravo!!!
P.S. I can't wait to see the last page!
"Noctis? What's a nice girl like you doing with a joint like this?" ^_^
It's possible that Aurelia's's family might have been too powerful to take to trial. If allowed to incite the crowd it could have been extremely messy.
There's a certain very stark beauty to this.
On a related note: Been re-reading from the beginning. Seeing again Dolly's encounter with the guy at the bar (Breaker?), it occurs to me there's a perfect song for this: "Teach Me to Be Bad" - Thea Gilmore. :D
I just have to say that this has become my favourite webcomic. :) I am on my third re-read still noticing little details in the renders and in the storyline. Little foreshadowings and ironic comments.
... far worse is that it has inspired me to the level of starting to work with Daz Studio again. (I assume this is what you are using or am I barking up the wrong tree?) Any chance of a tutorial? The sheer skill that goes into this is dazling me. And as I said, it inspires me enough that I am at the least going to render up a few choice moments from our RPG campaigns.
There's a LOT of those. :D
And well, I finaly managed to get far enough on Daz Studio to start building my own props. A wheelchair so far.