#baronyofthesilverwolf

So the intrepid adventurers split off on their own ways, to have encounters in the future!
(scene)

After the last class of the day, Thistle is free to wander. Gwen is off to Lacrosse practice, and Art is no where to be seen, but as she walks down the hall away from Math, she does see Brett - and Flynn - in conversation. She might approach them both, or wait to see if either splits off?

She drifts towards the pair, ostensibly looking at her phone for plausible deniability as she listens.

"No, I have to go to that bullshit counseling tonight." Brett is complaining.
Flynn shrugs, "Tell them you're sick. Cough a few times, and they'll think you have the 'Rona and won't LET you go. C'mon, I wanted to show you this cool site I found..."

Lean against a locker, tap the phone.

Brett looks thoughtful. "Yeah, Chuck is easy to fool. Then you can come over as soon as they're gone."

Frown.

"Hey, Flynn? You got a second?"

They both look up, startled, and Brett takes a quick double-step back away from Flynn. "What?!"

Hand up, palm out. "Calm the fuck down. If you're doing some weed deal, I don't give a shit."

Flynn looks startled, then he masks it with a smooth look. "You buying?"

The coast is clear, they're in a bit of a deserted cul de sac.

"Nah. Listen - can we talk later? Gwen's... she's on this thing about sticking it to Blaine."

Flynn eyes Trina for a long moment, then gives Brett a bit of an upnod, "Catch you at your place, later. Business."

Brett mutters something, but heads off.

"I'm busy later. But... I'm listening." A little cautious, but then mention of sticking it to Blaine definitely caught his attention. "What makes Chuck's giant girlfriend give a shit about the art kids?"

She shrugs. "Hero complex."

"Huh. Well, what's she going to do? Burn down his workshop? Lots of paint in there."

He's sarcastic/joking... probably.

"Nah. You know that art show? Like anyone can avoid the (*&&^ing posters..."

A scowl. "Yeah." He kicks at something on the floor, but it turns out it was just a smudge so there's nothing to go skittering away.

"You gotta have ART to be in an art show. So fuck me, right?"

"Well, that's the thing."

"Like - didn't you have those avatars you designed?"

"The video game guys with the katanas and shit?"

"Yeah, but that's not ART, the computer did the work." A sneer.

She rolls her eyes. "Bullshit."

"And you know it."

"Did... did you know that there are some guys out there our age selling their digital art as NFTs? This one guy, he made literally millions... bought off his parent's house and loans..." He says, not making eye contact, as though expecting her to just dismiss it.

She nods. "Heard about it - crypto and all that?"

"But, like - Blaine's a boomer. He doesn't know what an avatar is. Or how much work it takes to build a digital model."

"I bet he can't even use microsoft paint."

"Heh. He thinks the machine just... does the work, like I say, "Okay Alexa, produce me a 3-D model in Blender that works with the Unreal Engine and can be rendered in 1080P, and BOOM, it spits it out..."

"Right?"

"I wonder if you ever did any process vids?"

"Like for tik tok..."

"A few... I like, uh, doing the filters."

"What's this have to do with Blaine the Pain again?"

"Well, the video might be cool to show.. and, like.. that, showing all the work, with The Drain's quote framed saying "The Computer Does All The Work"

"Or, like one of Karen's prints with 'just copying' when it clearly isn't."

"Sure, I could put up a tablet, if they allow interactive work... or print out the renderings, showing the steps..." He looks interested, despite himself. When he lets the 'cool kid' cold sneer off his face, he almost looks normal. Still has those dumbass frosted tips, though.

"A tablet would be cool - have it animated. See it how it's meant to be seen, yeah?"

"Could submit under mixed media..." Looks like he HAD read the posters, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Yeah, you could. I'm.. I'm gonna put in some stuff, too. With the quotes. If everyone does it, like... what are they gonna do? Pity we can't boost that trash can."

"Y'know... I never said shit, but." He glances away. "It pissed me off when he chunked that monster-thing you were making, last semester. It was like, for flowers, but with teeth around it making it a mouth? I though it looked kinda bad ass, I mean it's bullshit when he threw away my renders, but I can always print more out. Yours was like, if he had deleted the original files."

"We can boost the bin if you want, see if any of the shit in there is still good? The studio gets locked, but it's a shit lock. I learned to pick from playing Skyrim, and this guy who does tiktoks, he calls 'em Pick-toks..."

"Ha.."

"Gwen helped me save some shit from the bin... not everything, but some of it. Part of why I'm helping Dudley Do-Right on her quest."

"...is it racist to call a native chick after a Mountie?"

"She did?" He looks surprised. "That's kinda cool. Like, not used to jocks giving a shit about art kids. I noticed she has Nerd-boy following her around like a duckling these days."

She rolls her eyes. "Chill on Arty. We all got our own shit we deal with, yeah?"

"No, yeah. I guess. It's smart of him, actually. See, Brett gets away with shit a lot because he has an older bro. No one can pick shit with B without Chuck shaking them down for it. Far- " He catches himself "...Arty ain't got an older bro so he found someone tough to hang with."

"Exactly. And I think he's finally growing. Late bloomer. Just... whatever, he's making sure I pass Trig."