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officialclangen · 7 months ago

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CLANGEN UPDATE: CLANCOPHONY

(Download the update here, or via your in-game auto-updater!)

Hello furriends and Clanmates! We hope you have all lined your nests with feathers and moss; leaf-bare is here, and so is our next release!

Our lovely developers have been reinforcing the camp walls with new features for moons now. With the new release, you can direct your warriors' focus, befriend/antagonize the other Clans, invite in outsiders, choose symbols for your Clans, experience our new sound system, and more! ❄️

If you are having issues with your anti-virus flagging ClanGen, please look to this post for a guide on how to fix it.

Our changelog is very long, so it will be below the cut ❤️

Features

CLAN FOCUS: New feature accessed via the Warrior's Den. Direct your warriors' Focus towards specific goals, such as feeding the Clan or sabotaging other neighboring Clans. When the Focus is changed, there is a cooldown of 3 moons before it can be changed again, so choose wisely! Please note that some Focuses aren't accessible in Classic mode and that some Focuses require certain cat ranks to be present.

PRONOUNS: Wow! The cats have pronouns other than they/them? Yes it's true! Cats can now naturally generate with they/them, he/him, or she/her pronouns. Want a cat to have different pronouns than those options? You can do that to! Check out their profile page and the Change Gender option to add any pronoun under the sun. These pronouns will be used in text throughout the game when referring to that cat (give a big hand to our writing team for the monumental amount of work they did to get pronouns integrated into all the text!) Please note a new game setting to revert the game to only generating they/them pronouns for all cats.

LEADER'S DEN: You can now access the Leader's Den to view the other Clans neighboring your Clan as well as the known Outsiders. Decide how you want to interact with these other cats: will you appease the hostile Clans? Or antagonize them further? Will you hunt down that one pesky rogue? Or perhaps you've decided an exiled Clanmate should be allowed a second chance…

CLAN SYMBOLS: You can now choose a Clan symbol during Clan creation. Other Clans also generate with symbols, which you will see in the Leader's Den. There are currently 484 symbols available to choose from, a roster that we plan to continue expanding with each stable update. Please note that old Clan saves will not be able to choose a Clan symbol in-game, though save editing to change the symbol is relatively simple. When loading an old save, the game will attempt to assign a symbol matching with it's prefix, if no symbol exists then it will randomly choose a symbol.

CLASSIC CONDITIONS: Classic mode can now access illnesses, injuries, and permanent conditions! Please note that this still differs in some ways from Expanded mode. In Classic Mode, a single medicine cat can care for the entire Clan, specific herb amounts are not displayed on the med den screen, an herb will treat a condition regardless of the Clan's actual herb amounts, the Clan's herb supply is randomly generated and is not dependent on events.

AUDIO: What in StarClan?? Clangen with sound!? Clangen now comes with shiny new sound effects and one very lovely music track that plays during Clan creation. More music is on the horizon… and don't worry! There is a handy dandy mute button in the corner of the screen and audio settings to control music/ambiance and sound effects volume separately.

QoL

Fullscreen new and improved! Art no longer looks oddly crunched and the black frame has been replaced with pretty background art. This comes with a new setting to turn off anti-aliasing and a setting to ignore fullscreen scaling rules, just in case you want it a little extra large (please note that this setting will come with some visual quirks if enabled)

You can now search cats on the mediator page

More special characters are allowed in user notes

Leaders can now be affected by mass extinction events

Mass extinction events are now limited to affecting 11 cats at most, but they can occur multiple times in a single moon.

When leaders die of starvation, they now revive with enough nutrition to bring them up to malnourished, giving a little extra time to find food before starving once more.

Moon events that previously mentioned an Outsider, but did not generate an Outsider cat, will now generate an Outsider

Moon events that mention an Outsider can now pull an Outsider from the existing list of Outsiders, rather than generating a new one

War events will now match with the affect of the overarching war event for that moon (i.e. if the Clans are having peace talks that moon, no clan relation lowering events will occur at the same time)

More moon events are now recorded in the relationship log if they changed a relationship

"show dead/living" button on cat list is now "view dead/living"

"filtered by" button on cat list is now "sort by"

Last and First page buttons are now available on the cat list screen.

Players can now input a page number on the cat list screen to move to that page immediately

Leader death history now displays as a single sentence for each death, rather than one long run-on sentence

Custom cursor setting now comes with a warning about increased chance of crashes

All text (or at least, the vast majority) can now be copy-pasted!

Buttons on moon events that lead to the profiles of cats involved now generates a horizontal scroll bar if the buttons go off-screen

If a moon event had no cats specifically involved, the involved cat button no longer displays

Alert exclamation marks now persist until the tab is clicked

When keybinds are on, you can now use the arrow keys to move up and down the event tab buttons, and the enter button to switch to the selected tab

Cats can now be quickly added to and removed from patrols via double clicking

Herb moon events no longer destroy herb supplies in their entirety (with the exception of one war event) and any large destruction events no longer occur if herb stores are already low

Herb gained on moonskip and patrols has been slightly buffed

Relationship value changes when cats break up is now dynamic, meaning some break ups have larger impacts than others

Newborn kits are now listed in the involved cat buttons on moon events

Quick start! You can click Quick Start at the beginning of Clan Creation to skip to the end. All choices will be made randomly

Content

100s of new patrol art additions

Many many new patrols! Many requiring specific traits or skills.

New outcomes for existing patrols! Many requiring specific traits or skills.

New Camps! The Mountainous camp, Ruins, and the Beach camp, Fjord.

New moon events, such as murders and new ways to gain accessories.

Literally 1000+ new relationship events

Many many new thoughts, many of which are exclusive to certain traits, ages, conditions, seasons, and skills

New leader ceremony possibilities, many of which are exclusive to cats of certain traits (both the dead cats and the new leader)

Prefix list updated to include new canon names (looking at you, Stretchkit)

Many new loner/kittypet names

Many outcomes for Leader Den events, many of which are specific to certain skills, traits, and ages

New events for pregnancy announcements and speculations

New grief events and thoughts

New accessories!

Bugfixes

Murders will no longer occasionally crash the game

Fixed a bug caused by the training app murder event

You can no longer sort living cats by death date

Players no longer get stuck in the med den backrooms (when accessing the med den through cat profiles, the back button would return you to the cat profile. attempting to back out of the cat profile would take you back to the med den. rinse and repeat, it's a loop)

Buttons now disable/enable properly when closing relationship logs on first and last cats in the cat list

You can no longer enter negative page numbers by clicking the back button very very fast

Leaders now receive appropriate birth event text when dying from childbirth

Outsider kittens can no longer join as warriors

Long term conditions, like wasting disease, will now display in leader's history if they took a life

When leaders are lost on patrol, patrol result text no longer mentions them by their warrior name

Litters can no longer spawn with duplicate names (i.e. two kits named Stonekit)

Medicine cats captured by twolegs no longer have their role erased

Cat history no longer lists cats as murdering themselves

Kicked cats out of the walls (fixed some possible cat positionings on camp screen)

Adolescents can no longer be considered "normal adults" in patrols simply because they graduated to warrior early.

Kits adopted during moon events now receive correct inheritance info and begin with a positive relationship toward new adoptive parent(s)

Mates of adoptive parents now automatically adopt any newly adopted kits received on moonskip

Check added for matching age when assigning random romantic relationship values at Clan creation

When assigning random relationship values at Clan creation, the Guide cat will now only generate relationships with living cats old enough to have known the Guide in life.

Adopted litters now always generate with a bio parent, ensuring their inheritance lists them as littermates

The generation of half-clan litters no longer assumes the birthing parent can only be the (biologically) female parent (this is important for "ignore biology" game setting)

Cats with no romantic interest in each other will no longer receive romance decreasing events

Poly cat love confessions no longer read as though one cat is asking their dead mate for permission before accepting a new cat into the polycule.

Rosemary is no longer applied to the "dead body" of a lost cat

Affair birth events no longer mention nonexistent mates

Fixed mistagging in patrols that would lead to unintended effects

Many small UI issues

Many small sprite fixes

Many typo fixes

#clangen #warrior cats #clan generator #clan gen #clangen announcement

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cameronsbabydoll · 4 months ago

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TIED TO TRADITION — ARRANGED MARRIAGE AU

WARNINGS: not proofread but just subtle boy talk and traditional aspects

The soft sound of music playing in the background filled the space as Rose and you continued to look through table cloth options. Rose was eagerly flipping through pages of bridal magazines, throwing out suggestions about flowers and fabrics, while you were mostly nodded absently. The entire atmosphere was forced cheerfulness, a veil over the growing anxiety in your mind.

“You know, I’m so excited for this, honey! It’s going to be perfect!” Rose exclaimed, her eyes twinkling as she looked through the pages of the wedding planner. “You’ll look stunning, and Rafe will just melt when he sees you walk down the aisle.”

You offered a half-smile, but your mind wandered, thinking back to Rafe’s indifferent attitude toward the wedding. Rafe wouldn’t care, you thought, and he definitely won’t care how you look.

Rose continued chatting, oblivious to the quiet discomfort settling into your chest. You were lost in the fantasy of a perfect wedding.

—

Rafe leaned back in the lounge chair on the deck, the cool night air mixing with the warmth from the low firepit crackling in front of them. He’d kicked his shoes off, letting his feet rest on the railing as the haze of cigar smoke curled around the group. Topper, Kelce, and a couple of other guys from their circle were lounging around, each nursing a drink, laughing too loud, and making the kind of jokes that wouldn’t fly in front of his father or any of the high-society folks they mingled with.

He exhaled a plume of smoke and took a long sip from his glass, the burn of whiskey soothing the tension he’d been carrying all day. It wasn’t about the marriage—well, not exactly. It was more about how his father had handled it. He’d felt like a puppet, strings pulled by the men who had been shaping his life since he was a kid. But right now, with his friends and a few drinks in his system, the whole thing seemed... bearable.

Kelce kicked his feet up, letting his beer bottle rest on his stomach, his eyes drifting toward the house. “So, what’s the deal with the wedding? They’re really putting it all together, huh?”

Topper let out a laugh, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Yeah, I heard they’ve got the venue locked down. You’re really gonna settle down with this one, huh?”

Rafe smirked, his mind drifting to you. He didn’t really know you that well—at least not the way he knew women he’d had fun with in the past. But he knew enough. You were the perfect match for what his family expected. Sweet. Polite. The daughter of a man who only wore Ralph Lauren and made small talk over scotch and cigars at the country club. You’d fit right into the role of a wife.

“You’ll make her a good wife, Rafe,” Kelce said, his tone shifting to something more playful. “She’s perfect for that.”

Rafe shot him a look, his lips curling into something that wasn’t quite a smile, but not a frown either. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

Topper leaned in, his fingers tapping his cigarette against the ashtray. “She’s got that... whole, you know, sheltered vibe. Looks like a poster girl for ‘good wife’ material. Your dad’s gotta be thrilled.”

Rafe exhaled a laugh, swirling his drink. “I’m sure he is. Everything’s lining up the way he wanted.”

Kelce grinned, clearly enjoying the conversation. “I’ve seen her around the club a few times. Definitely fits the bill. She’s all about that ‘traditional’ look. You know, the quiet type.”

The more they spoke, the more Rafe felt his mood shift, not to irritation, but to something darker—something like... amusement. It wasn’t so much the marriage that had him feeling tense anymore. It was the fact that they all saw it the same way: a transaction. Something that made sense on paper.

“You’re not worried about the whole... settling down thing?” Topper asked, the grin not leaving his face. “You’ve had your fun. I know you’re not a one-woman kind of guy.”

Rafe took another drink, the burn of the alcohol feeling right for the moment. “No,” he said, with a hint of cockiness, leaning back in his chair. “I’m not worried.”

“I bet she’s a good girl, though. Just what your dad wanted. She’s probably gonna make your life nice and easy. You know, get the house in order, keep the family dinners perfect.”

Rafe’s lips twitched again, his thoughts drifting to you. Maybe you were all of that and more. But he wasn’t going to admit it to them. Not yet, anyway.

“You think she’s gonna be a real dutiful wife?” Kelce teased, raising an eyebrow.

Rafe rolled his eyes, taking in the scene. “I don’t know. She’s in there planning the whole wedding with Rose, doing all that ‘girly’ shit. So, yeah, I guess.”

“Damn,” Topper said, sitting up straighter, the light from the fire casting shadows on his face. “You’re really getting the full package, huh? She’s gonna be good at playing the part. You know, the kind that knows when to smile, when to be quiet, and when to look like she’s got it all together.”

There was a silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Rafe didn’t even need to answer. He knew how they all saw it. He could picture you in the kitchen right now, making something like tea or whatever, fitting the image of what everyone expected.

“She’s good for you, man,” Kelce said, his voice a little softer now. “She’s got the looks, the family backing, and she’ll keep your world from falling apart.”

Rafe leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring into the fire. “Yeah,” he said, his voice lower now, thoughtful. “She’ll keep things... in line.”

—

The conversation on the deck shifted as the guys continued to drink and laugh, the noise growing fainter as the night wore on. Rafe sat back in his chair, half-listening, his thoughts drifting to the house. To you.

Inside, the soft glow of the living room lamp illuminated the space where you were curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, your head resting gently against the cushions. Rose had long since gone to bed, leaving you to your thoughts and the faint hum of a rom-com playing softly on the TV.

You weren’t really watching, your eyes half-lidded, the weight of the day finally catching up with you. You’d been running around planning, discussing details, and putting everything together—everything his family wanted. And now, with the house quiet and no one around to expect anything from you, it felt nice to just... relax.

Your breathing evened out, your eyelids fluttering closed as you slowly drifted off, still wrapped in your blanket, the TV’s soft chatter the only sound in the room.

It wasn’t long before Rafe quietly entered the room, the sound of his footsteps muffled by the carpet. He glanced over at you, his gaze softening at the sight of you slumped against the couch, the blanket bunched around your shoulders.

He walked over, bending down with a quiet grunt to scoop you up in his arms, careful not to disturb your peaceful slumber. You barely stirred, your head resting against his chest as he carried you toward the bedroom, the warmth of his body a comforting contrast to the chill in the house.

“You’re really going to make this easy on me, huh?” he muttered, more to himself than to you as he made his way down the hall, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

He gently laid you down on the bed, pulling the blanket over you, his gaze lingering for just a moment before he stood up and walked out, leaving you to sleep undisturbed.

TAGLIST: @vanessa-rafesgirl @lolasangelz @malibuhearts @popou61 @jaasworld @slut4you @drewrry

#cameronsbabydoll ⋆. 𐙚 ˚#arranged marriage rafe cameron au ♔⋆˙⟡#rafe cameron #rafe cameron headcanons #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron x yn #rafe obx #rafe cameron blurb #rafe cameron fanfic #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x female reader #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron arranged marriage #rafe cameron series #rafe cameron x wife #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron smut #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron prompt

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lost-in-the-land-of-stories · 24 days ago

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So You're New To Takarazuka (2025 Edition)

This is a slightly revised and updated version of my 2022 post, because with Castlevania it seems we might be seeing a lot of new takarazuka fans, which I remember as being kind of overwhelming.

This post will share a lot with my previous one, except that it is up to date ^_^ So first of all: Hi! Welcome! Hope you enjoy the musicals and like the glitter!

Second of all, I know this fandom can be very different, a little bit (sometimes a lot) confusing, and definitely overwhelming, so I thought it might be helpful to make a bit of an introduction post, for if you’ve mostly seen memes or clips. So with that, here we are!

So You’re New to Takarazuka, what do you need to know?

(images: posters for Castlevania and Rose of Versailles)

Takarazuka in a Nutshell Takarazuka is a musical theatre company in Japan which only has female performers. It’s kind of like a reverse kabuki that way. It’s located in the city of Takarazuka (hence the name) and is over 100 years old! Which is awesome!

Takarazuka’s actresses are generally known as Takarasiennes (sienne or jenne for short), and are divided into women who play men, and women who play women. This division is made when they first enter the company based on the performers preference as well as their height (there is a minimum height for male-players). Many siennes come from ballet or theatre backgrounds and they audition for the company quite young, and can stay there for a long time.

The siennes who play guys are called otokoyaku (male role players) and ones who play women are known as musumeyaku (daughter role players, yes we know it sounds uncomfortable) and sometimes within the fandom and by other siennes onnayaku (female role players).

The company is divided into 5 troupes - hanagumi (flower troupe), tsukigumi (moon troupe), yukigumi (snow troupe), hoshigumi (star troupe) and soragumi (cosmos troupe) that perform to a schedule you can see on this page on the company’s website. They each have a speciality and character, and generally consist of anywhere between 60-80 members. There is also senka (or senior members), which is a group of some 20 older siennes who no longer perform in a troupe or in every show, but are specialists that are sent along to the other troupes as needed. You can find profiles for all of the current (and many, many past performers) on the fan-made website takawiki.

The Topstar System Each of the five troupes have a Top Star and a Top Musumeyaku, who perform the lead roles in most of the plays their troupe puts on. This couple is the ‘main’ couple of that troupe, and they tend to stay anywhere between 1-5 years depending on a variety of factors, before they retire and are replaced by the people “next in line” – this is a very hierarchical system in which performers climb up the ranks starting from their time in the Takarazuka Music School. Siennes can climb up the ranks by being given important roles, given leads in smaller theatres, or otherwise gaining prominence and popularity through stuff like fan engagement, merch sales, etc. This means also that casting is not generally done by audition and that there is a very limited pool of performers available for each play; you stay in your troupe (unless you're transferred) and you perform with them. Roles are assigned primarily by rank, as well, so you will not soon see a very new performer have a bigger role than someone who has been there for a long time (this is oversimplified, but that what it's an intro for).

Last and current top combis (topstar and topmusumeyaku) & troupe vibes:

Hanagumi Current Topcombi: Towaki Sea and Hoshizora Misaki Previous: Yuzuka Rei and Hoshikaze Madoka

Hanagumi is the oldest troupe of the company (established in 1921), and often considered it’s most traditional because of that. They are specifically known for the coolness of their otokoyaku, and their general aesthetic. Under Yuzuka Rei a lot of focus was placed on dance, and now with Towaki Sea we see a focus on darker stories.

(top: Towaki Sea's 'Castlevania', bottom: Yuzuka Rei's 'Top Hat')

Tsukigumi Current Topcombi: Houzuki An and Amashi Juri Previous: Tsukishiro Kanato and Umino Mitsuki is just about almost as old as Hana (also 1921), and known for their comedic and western musicals, as well as their strong vocals. They were also the first troupe to perform ‘The Rose of Versailles’, which is one of Takarazuka’s flagship shows. Tsukigumi has multiple topmusumeyaku that started out as otokoyaku and switched later in their career (including current topmusume Amashi Juri, and previous topmusume Manaki Reika)

(Top: Houzuki An's 'Golden Liberty', bottom: Tsukishiro Kanato's 'Great Gatsby') Yukigumi Current topcombi: Asami Jun and Yumeshiro Aya Previous: Ayakaze Sakina and Yumeshiro Aya/Asazuki Kiwa*

Yukigumi is the troupe that focusses most on acting, and that is known for their performances of more traditional Japanese shows (nihonmono). In the modern era, they are also most often the troupe that does Manga adaptions (such as Lupin III, City Hunter and recently Berubara). *Ayakaze had two different topmusumeyaku partners, each for 3 shows, and Yumeshiro Aya stayed on with the next topstar after Ayakaze retired.

(Top: Asami Jun's 'Robin the Hero', bottom: Ayakaze Sakina's 'Bonnie and Clyde') Hoshigumi Future: Akatsuki Chisei and Uta Chizuru Current Topstar: Rei Makoto Previous Topmusumeyaku: Maisora Hitomi** Hoshigumi is known for their strong drama and stars with a lot of personality, as well as their focus on aesthetic and costuming. They do a lot of dramatic big-budget musicals and are currently very much the French Musical troupe. **Hoshigumi is currently in the middle of Rei Makoto's retirement (she just finished her final run in the Takarazuka Grand Theatre and will still perform in Tokyo), but her topmusumeyaku Maisora Hitomi left before her. The next topcombi has been announced, but they have not yet performed a show togeter, and because there is currently no Topmusumeyaku, Akatsuki Chisei is playing a female role in Rei Makoto's final show.

(Top: Rei Makoto and Akatsuki Chisei in 'Ashura', bottom: Rei Makoto and Maisora Hitomi) Soragumi Current topcombi: Sakuragi Minato and Haruno Sakura Previous: Serika Toa and Haruno Sakura***

Soragumi, the youngest troupe by far, is also the most experimental. They have the tallest siennes and also often the most non-traditional shows. Their musumeyaku are often considered slightly less traditionally feminine.

*** Haruno Sakura is staying on as topmusumeyaku. They have only just switched topcombi, so Sakuragi Minato's first show has not yet started.

(top and bottom: pictures from Serika Toa's 'Razzle Dazzle/Takarazuka Love Songs')

The Sumire Code Something which you will run into fairly quickly when you get into the Takarazuka Fandom is the Sumire Code, which is an unwritten set of rules or guidelines for both siennes and fans regarding how to interact with one another. I have a longer explainer of this here.

The basic gist of it really is about respect, specifically for the performers, and also regarding their safety. There are a lot of differing opinions on certain aspects the Sumire code that I won’t get into now, but in general the foreign Takarazuka fandom does try to keep it in mind with regards to their online behaviour. One of what I personally think is one of the most positive aspects of the Sumire code (regardless of any of my other opinions) is the fact that it is intended to protect the privacy of the siennes, and that we as fans are not supposed to bother them or dive into their real lives. Those are their own, and we have no rights to them.

One important aspect of the Sumire Code that is relevant to online fandom, is that the Hankyu Company is extremely diligent in controlling and protecting their copyright. The blurays are very expensive to buy and if material is posted in public places online, fans can get into a lot of trouble if stuff gets shared around. This can include takedowns on video platforms and other ways in which fans are locked out of being able to engage with the company. This doesn’t only go for video material, but also for the various types of print items the company produces. This results in all of us being careful with what we share, where we share it, and with whom. I know that to some, that can feel a little gatekeepy, but it’s important to understand that it’s really not that we want to keep new fans out, on the contrary, a lot of people here on tumblr and other platforms are doing their best to reach out, it’s just that the way this works limits the easily publically available material for new fans.

That’s all Real Fun Info, but I Want to Watch Some Shows! Right, so you’re really here to watch some shows, fair enough! Where do you go? I know this in particular can be quite confusing, and sometimes a little difficult.

DVD/BLURAY First of all, you can buy a lot of the discs (dvds or blurays) of musicals that you like, which is imo kind of amazing since we’ve all been collectivel begging broadway/west end to do that for YEARS, so that’s cool. Of course, you don’t just wanna drop a ton of money - but in order to get an idea of whether or not you might like them, you can go to the Takarazuka YouTube channel (see link below) and watch their trailers, info videos, and clips. However, of course you might not have the money to spend on an expensive Bluray or DVD, not everyone has that kind of disposable income, so what else can you do? If you want more detailed info on where to purchase blurays or dvds, there is another explainer for that on @eralkfang's page right here.

SKYSTAGE Takarazuka also has its own TV channel called ‘SkyStage’. Here, they broadcast shows from their vast library of content, and produce a number of behind the scenes features which can be very fun, but unless you live in Japan this is pretty hard to access. Luckily there is, nowadays, a pretty good solution for this! If you ARE however in Japan, I can sincerely reccomend it.

TKZ ON DEMAND You can use Takarazuka On Demand, an online service through which you can rent shows quite cheaply and easily. You do need a credit card and probably a VPN, which I know can sound a little scary, but it doesn’t have to be. The process is relatively simple, and if this is something you want to set up there’s tons of people around that are happy to help you (but don’t ask me, I am technologically challenged and a friend had to do it for me). Takarazuka On Demand also has a good deal of SkyStage stuff, which means you can find behind the scenes material here too!

FAN STREAMS Finally, if you don’t want to do any of these things, there are a number of us here on Tumblr who are happy to answer your questions, or if you want to see something that you don’t have access to - stream our shows for you. This is generally done in private locked stream rooms, for our own safety, as the company is specifically very strict on content sharing and we would rather not get in trouble. However, if you dm someone politely they will almost certainly be happy to help and to try and arrange a stream in your timezone if at all possible. I know dming strangers can be scary, but I promise we don’t bite.

However, when you do talk to us, please do so respectfully, and please respect the space you are in. As much as we would love to shower you in glitter, we are not slot machines that can give you content, and we are careful because the company has nuked accounts in the past.

Peoples files and their translations have also been stolen in the past, and when things get spread across the internet nilly willy that can have seirous reprecussions for us.

TL;DR Welcome! Here’s a whole bunch of Takarazuka resources that I bundled so you can find them in one place, please have fun. Please do know that everyone is welcome here! We want people to come hang out, join us, watch things. That’s why we like to stream, we just ask that you treat us with kindness.

Takarazuka is a really fun hobby to have, even if it seems a little complicated. You’ll get the hang of it, and there’s lots of options to watch things in various ways!

All that to say: Welcome, and enjoy the glitter

Resources https://www.takawiki.com/tiki-index.php Takawiki is an absolutely fantastic resource where you can find information on shows, performers, terms, and a variety of translations!

https://www.takawiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Glossary+of+Terms Takawiki’s glossary of terms where you can look up a lot of really helpful info to help you wade through all the random Japanese people toss into their posts here.

https://www.takawiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Sumire+Code The summary post for the Sumire code.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TRCofficialchannel Takarazuka’s official youtube channel, send them some love!

https://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/ Takarazuka’s official website! Here they post news, you can buy tickets if you’re in Japan, ad find out a variety of other pieces of information. They have an English version of the webpage, but the information is a little more limited on there.

https://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/schedule/index.html The yearly performance schedule.

https://www.tca-pictures.net/ This is the Takarazuka merch store online, you can buy merch for shows, programs, magazines, photos and other stuff here.

https://www.tca-pictures.net/skystage/ This is the website of Skystage, you can look around here a bit to kind of see how it works.

https://www.tca-pictures.net/vod/ This link will send you to Takarazuka On Demand, where if you make an account you can legally watch shows for as much as 5 dollars if you want to. https://www.tumblr.com/eralkfang/785974587264548864/how-to-buy-takarazuka-castlevania-on-bddvd And again Eralks how to buy a show explainer! Other Fun Stuff Here is again the link to my Sumire Code Explainer. History Post about Takarazuka's past. Propeganda about my favourite performers. Show Reccomendations for beginners.

#takarazuka #yukigumi #hoshigumi #hanagumi #tsukigumi #soragumi #castlevania

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typewritingyip · 3 months ago

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The Arcturus Missions

Part Thirty Eight - Rubble and Stone

Part Thirty Seven

———

Audio Recording from September the 26th, 1984:

“Hello? Are you able to hear me in the newsroom?” There was a light delay in the recording, “Yes we can hear you fine Andrea, how are things on the ground looking?” The pauses were long and painful, “Things are looking, well, their looking.” Her voice wavered, “They are looking pretty terrible here Martin.”

The man sucked in a breath, sighing it out shakily, “How do you mean?” Now the man’s voice was stressed, an anxiety to it, “Well Martin, the entire island is being evacuated as we speak by what remains of the naval ships in the area.” A pregnant pause followed again, as Andrea started crying,”So many of the building have collapsed, first responders are trying to get to any survivors.”

All the recording skipped for a moment, or it seemed to with the rush of noise, and then it was followed by her screaming.

End of recording:

There were dozens of recordings like this, from the first days of the war, videos as well, where Quintessons were seen for the first time.

They became a part of regular curriculum in public education across the world, based on region and connections to certain attacks. Wanting to ensure the education equally to the children of the war, to prepare them for a future that they know is inevitable.

Every child knew the sounds and appearance of the enemy, whether they wanted to or not.

—

The sun was bright, always bright on the sunbaked town at the end of summer turning to fall, and the desk was far too small for his growing frame. Though he knew a lot like his father, hell, his mother, he’d stop growing far too young. Not catching up to the ball players he idolized.

”Mr. Jackson, are you listening?” Looking up, Harold couldn’t help but frown, glancing at the blackboard for a moment before looking back to his teacher, “Uh, no.” To be fair, he had tried to listen, he really did.

Sighing, she shook her head before walking over to the desk and picking up the pink booklet. Rolling his eyes, he stood and gathered his bag along with his books, making his wavy to the front, “Harold, this is an important lesson. It’s the same thing as their teaching in detention.” She passed him the slip on his way out the door.

Every footstep made the classroom shake, the portable classroom the shining new thing that was sweeping the California school system. Cheap and somewhat earthquake resistant meant that they were everywhere.

Does not require water hookups most of the time and it makes students miserable with each footstep, it was perfect to their eyes.

It was hot, still well into the eighties if not the nineties when standing on the asphalt. The trek over to the detention room was always a bore. Nothing but asphalt and squared off rooms around the space.

The ramp up to the classroom shook while he walked, this place was just shy of a death trap, opening the door he was relieved by the light bit of air conditioning. Music was playing in the background as a few familiar faces leaned back in their chairs.

A television on a rolling cart was playing the all too familiar footage of the attack of Los Angeles, 1985. First US attack that had Mech suit assistance, “Have a seat, write a page on the effects the battle of LA had on you and your family please.” The teacher who sat over detention didn’t look up from his magazine.

Slowly sitting down, Harold sat back, kicking his feet onto the desk and closing his eyes.

It was stupid, writing the same report every year, no matter what school he was at or where in the world, it was always unbearable. Having to dredge up different perspectives and recall details he was barely alive for. Back when he was younger and his parents had to help out with it, he always saw the heartbreak in his fathers eyes.

His heart broke for his father, who wanted to be a pilot so badly, fifty one percent, he was a stinking fifty one percent compatible. Nowhere near close enough. But that isn’t what these teachers wanted to hear about, a zero on the paper that was hung in their hall.

No, they wanted to hear about how they preserved through tragedy. Like anyone was, glancing up to the TV, he watched as the room of one of the terminals at old LAX was collapsed by a thrown kaiju. A term that had been picked up from Japan, since no one knew what these things were or where they came from.

Tilting back in his head, he closed his eyes again, all he wanted was to take the failing grade and move past this stupid day. He’d rather be home where he was needed than here.

Helping his mom with the house, pulling his weight while his dad was at work, that was what he’d rather be doing. Or better yet, just the three of them up in the mountains, acting like the rest of the world doesn’t exist. That would be perfect.

But that wasn’t where he was needed.

He was only ten and knew his parents needed him more than he needed to write a stupid paper.

—

They lived in a small apartment towards the city center, it wasn’t much but it certainly was home. With his parents and brothers, how could it be anything else?

He was the second oldest of the five of them and tried to shield his brothers from what happened outside these walls. However he possibly could, including keeping the radio painfully quiet or insisting that they spend more time away from the apartment or school.

His father had been in the military when he was young, though now was just a steel worker while his mother was a secretary down at the hospital. They weren’t terribly well off, but what they lacked in funds they had abundance of love. Seven of them in their small apartment, poor and happy.

Even on a September day like this one, when the menace was on everyone’s lips and no matter how he and his older brother might try to cover their ears, even the little ones spoke of it.

Sitting around the living room, their small radio was bleating out the familiar story, the heartbreaking truth of their past, present, and future. Mykola, being the oldest, was in charge and watching them all while their parents were out. This day is not tragic enough to be deemed a national holiday by the government.

The only thing it was, was a day full of guaranteed propaganda for the USSR’s anti-alien robotic defense program through the Soviet Armed Forces.

Oleksknder wasn’t sure when he knew his brother wanted to be a pilot, but looking at him now he knew that is exactly what he’d go after when he went into mandatory service. His heart clenched painfully.

So many good people lived for those suits and died in them, he didn’t want his brother to join that list.

But as the radio squawked he could see the look in his brother's eye, the one full of determination and pride, the one he wore any time one of them achieved anything. If one of them did, it was like they all did, just he was the most proud of it. Always.

The little radio was droning on about the program, listing the current pilots, suits, and positions. To be honest, the USSR had not faced many attacks and their program was strong, stronger than others, mostly because of their focus on Tanker class suits.

Well, if his brother was going to become a pilot someday, then so was he. He couldn’t just let Mykola go out there alone, he might be a few years behind him but he’d get there soon enough.

When the propaganda ended, the list of soviet casualties was read.

That would go on for hours.

Standing, Oleksknder brushes off his shorts, helping his brothers up and towards the door. It was better to be outside than strain to recognize the names of the dead. Mykola didn’t move at first, still staring at the radio before standing and following them out.

No words needed to be exchanged, just one look for them to share a brief smile as they’d started down the warn concrete stares. They’d be pilots alright, some of the best pilots that they could be.

Even at fourteen and sixteen, those two knew what they wanted from this life, even the shitty parts of it.

—

Being a twin had a lot of perks, though a lot of them were only there if you were identical.

For Simon and Sonny, the best perk was always having your best friend right there, whenever you needed them.

Especially during kaiju-alien attacks, being with your best friend during the attacks brought enough peace of mind. It was just another attack, on a random school day, like any other of the thousand attacks that had hit Florida and the hundreds that had hit Miami.

Hiding under their desks while the room shook, it wasn’t any more terrifying than it had been in any of the previous attacks, but it was still never fun. This life, living in a place that was frequently attacked was just a way of life for a lot of people.

You don’t idolize the pilots like everyone else in the world seemed to when you saw them all the time, when their feet crushed your families car or when the building you lived in was collapsed. Of course you couldn’t locate them, but cursing their name was not entirely uncommon.

Sonny had his hands folded over his neck, head down and almost pressed to the floor. Legs pulled up under him and tucked as much under the desk as he could possibly be, chair turned to cover his right side and the left pressed against Simon.

Simon was sitting up under his desk, back pressed to his brother's side and chair pulled against his front. His legs were crossed and he was gripping the chair lightly. Every time the roof shook, parts of the ceiling tiles would crumble down on top of the desks and onto the floor.

Taking slow and deep breaths, it was just the waiting game, for the attack to be over or return back out to sea at least. The ground shook again. Sonny whimpered quietly behind him and he turned to his brother, resting his hands over Sonny’s.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re okay.” Several other students shushed him but he kept talking, keeping his voice low, “It’s going to be okay Sonny, I promise, we’re together. No matter what happens, alright? It’s better for us to be together then apart and something happened.” He rubbed Sonny’s back slowly, glancing around.

The classroom was small, there wasn’t much to it and there were only a few students in today. Probably only around six of them of the twenty student class, some people were able to evacuate further inland regularly but the ones who weren’t still went to the school.

It was the safest place for them.

Glass shattered as the school shook on it’s foundations and Simon covered Sonny the best he could, wrapping his arms around his brother and holding him close as ceiling tiles fell onto their desks, as the hall blew open.

They were just kids, so screaming was inevitable, especially as part of their wall comes down from the impact of a suit, pilots trained to try and avoid landing on buildings but it couldn’t always be helped.

This time, it was different, as a hand reached in and a panicked voice called out, “You kids have to evacuate, now.” Simon barely had to share a look with Sonny to remember their plan, both bailed from under their desk and ran at the suits.

Though it was his enemy, it wasn’t the enemy so grabbing hold of the suit was their lifeline in that moment. Something screeched in the distance, Sonny was up under his arm as they were surrounded by the suits hand.

He knew that right now he was comforting his brother, but the next time there was attack it could be his brother comforting him. Holding him close, he breathed slowly and deep as his class piled in around him.

None of them were going to die today, but clearly, it had been close.

Sticking to each other, the twins knew so long as they were together, anything could happen and it would be fine. They both understood this by the time they were eight.

—

To be fair, Detroit had stayed stable for the first chunk of the war and for that he’d always be grateful. The old industrial district was back in use for the first time, properly, in decades and life there was just shy of thriving.

His mom worked in the military suit program factory, was paid well enough for the three of them and that was enough. The three of them against the world.

September 17th was one of the few days during the year that his mother could take off easily, but there was rarely a reason to, today was an exception as Joshua was running a temperature and Rico had been throwing up for the better part of the morning.

So they were getting to spend the morning together, but because of that, their mother wouldn’t let them neglect their education.

Sat on their futon, the small TV was turned onto the history channel, running the typical September 17th special. Going through video footage and interviews throughout the whole day.

He was almost happy to be sick, it was easier to sit at home and watch the interviews with his family than his wise-cracking classmates. Sharing a look with Rico, Joshua sat back into the blanket, tugging it around himself before sneezing.

The TV rumbled on, “Can you explain to us what you’ve seen?” The reporter's voice was strong and not shaking like those who’d seen the attacks, Rico sighed a bit, frowning, “Do you think this is why people become pilots? By watching these videos?”

Joshua chuckled a bit and shook his head, “No, they probably become pilots by seeing this stuff, the numbers on the suits don’t change much.” Nodding, Rico tilted his head slightly, “Oh.”

Their mom moves over, setting up the dinner trays with a light smile, the smell of soup coming in from the kitchen.

Even though they were sick, the boys wore matching smiles.

“Alright, soup will be ready soon, then we can switch to HBO. Sounds like a plan?” Rico grinned and nodded, Joshua shifts a bit, “Are you going to sit with us?” She smiled and brushed a hand over his curls, “Of course.” Then she disappeared into the kitchen again.

Sighing slowly, he sat back and looked back to the TV, watching as the footage on screen showed a pilot well and truly bodying one of the freaks of nature that wanted their world. Smiling a bit, he sits forward and watches the suit's movement with wide eyes, “Wow.” His heart was racing.

Rico shoved his shoulder, “It’s just old footage of eleven.” Joshua smiled, “Being a pilot looks so cool.” But they both got quiet when their mom came back in, holding two soup mugs.

She settles in between them while flipping to HBO, Rico diving into his food while Joshua mixes the ice cube into his soup.

There could be an attack happening anywhere right now, but they could keep it far from their minds at least for today. That was enough, had to be enough.

He was glad that they could be together on the anniversary, it was never easy and being able to stay together meant everything to him. Even at eleven, he preferred to be tucked up on the futon with his mom to watch a movie than nearly anywhere else, his little brother on her other side.

—

Hound woke up in the rubble, his head was spinning and ears were ringing, groaning as he tried to get his suit to respond. Having to adjust his connection, he winced as it snapped into place with a shock through his implants. It took another minute for him to be able to pull himself up.

It was the first time in months where the suit felt like a suit, instead of the familiar extension of himself and in a way he was grateful for it. Desperately trying to bring his systems back online so it wouldn’t overheat or worse, he got the suit to its knees. It blue screened for another moment before finally coming back online.

His mind melding with the machine again as he cleared the worst of the issues in the system. Now was the hard part. Trying to get out of the rubble, leaving chuckles of plating and the suit behind, it was hard to balance the damned thing.

Gasping lightly, he straightens as everything comes back into focus, getting on comms as fast as he can; rubbing at his head weakly, “Arcturus, sound off. Now.” It was a long moment, it seemed to drag on for an eternity, before there were groans on the other end of the line along with a weak voice or two.

Looking around, the area was unrecognizable and Hound swore.

”Whose alive, damnit.” He stumbled over a chunk of concrete, swearing again while part of the plating on his foot tore away.

The building had blown apart like it wasn’t made of steel and other metal, like it was a timber house hit by a tornado. Glancing around, Hound tried to clear his vision of the dust which was sticking like glue. Stumbling over another chunk of building, he almost crashes into the ground.

Sideswipe was the first to come into view, he was holding up Sunstreaker who was missing one of his bracers as the lower half of his arm was laying in the rubble, “Well, shit.” Hound didn’t know what else to say really, scrambling over, resting a hand on Sunny’s shoulder, “Are you alright? Manage to cut your lines?”

It was obvious that he’d cut his lines, but he couldn’t keep the question down. It was standard procedure, but few pilots had ever needed to follow it.

Nodding a bit, Sunny was holding his arm to his chest, “Yeah, I’m okay. I did, I panicked when the building fell.” Nodding too, Hound sighs with relief, “I’m glad that you did.” Patting his shoulder, he sighs again and turns to Sideswipe who was almost in a worse state.

His suits had evidence of crush, then again all their suits probably did but the crack down on his visor was slightly stressful along with the separation in the front of his suit. His plating was scratched to hell and most of the red was gone too, it looked like he’d been dragged through the rubble.

”Easy on your feet, Sideswipe.” Sides nodded slightly before bending at the waist, coughing roughly, and likely getting sick. Hound for the moment was glad he couldn’t see the poor guy.

Jazz was the next to appear, his armor scratched but without any other major complications, but his voice was pained, “Prowl’s stuck.” Hound nodded and looked to the twins, “Try to find Breakdown, and,” There was a moment of pause, “The others.” They nodded before he followed Jazz through the debris field.

Glancing up, he honestly wanted to swear, and swear loudly but the ship above would have to wait till he knew everyone was safe. A nearby speaker attempted to squeak out something that sounded vaguely like Huntington Beach, but his foot collided with it before it could squeak another name.

He swore again when they stepped into a bit of a hole, just barely avoiding hitting Prowl.

There was energon everywhere, one of his doorwings was pinned under a beam and one of his legs was stuck up under a collapsed wall. Jazz slid down and gently held Prowl’s face, “Hey, we’re going to get you out of here.” Prowl groaned and leaned into his touch, “I thought my days of having buildings collapse on me was over.” He tried to smile, but it was pained.

Taking a breath, Hound moves over and looks to Jazz, “Lets get his door wing free,” He nodded and the pair moved to get Prowl free.

—

Sideswipe had pinged Elita three times since the building collapsed, his head was spinning and his body ached, but he was up out of the piloting chair for an easier movement. Sunstreaker kept a hand on his back, trying to keep him upright as they stumbled through the rubble.

The blast had done more than collapse the building, because of course it did, but right now they did not have the time to survey the damage. There was still at least five mecha still missing, maybe six.

He swore when his foot got caught in a hole, wincing when someone under him swore louder, “This is a shit show.” But Sunny was already down, shoving him away and clearing the debris from Bluestreak, he looked up for only a second, “Help me!” And Sideswipe froze.

It was hot, because of course it was hot in Florida, but this was not what he expected to come home to. They didn’t live in a large apartment building, just a few stories, but this was still horrible.

“Help me! Simon!” He wasn’t sure if Sonny was yelling now or in the past, but he fell to his knees and started digging. Just as he had done then while a backpack slung over his back, to now digging out the mech he hardly tolerated.

Bluestreak groaned, pulling his arm out from under the rubble, “Damn, that hurt.” Neither pilot spoke though, just digging him out from under the rubble. This was an all too familiar hell.

It was only when he was able to sit up did Sunny say anything, throwing his arms around, “Thank god you’re okay, oh my god.” And Sideswipe knew that tone, had heard it a handful of times in his life and it made his heart ache every time, “I’m okay Sunny, are you?” Bluestreak pulled back to hold Sunny’s face, frowning, thankfully not yet noticing his missing limb, “Fine, I’m fine. Let’s get you up.” Sideswipe quickly went back to clearing the rubble from Blue’s legs, not looking at Sunny, just getting the work done.

He didn’t realize how heavy he was breathing, till a hand landed on his shoulder, “Sideswipe, it’s okay.” He glanced up, staring at Bluestreak and then his hand for only a second before going back to shifting the rubble. Sunstreaker fell back in next to him, shifting the larger pieces the best he could, “You’re missing an arm?!” Sideswipe tried not to smile, glancing at his brother, “No. It’s just over there.”

If the situation wasn’t so horrible, he’d probably laugh. He pinged Elita again.

—

Hound slid back down the side of the rubble, the familiar sound of seekers above almost brought his eyes up but that wasn’t the priority yet. He glances back at Jazz, who was helping Prowl along, one of his door wings was hanging at an awkward angle that honestly looked incredibly painful.

Glancing around, the only ones in view now were all the pilots but Breakdown, then Prowl and Bluestreak. The Prime, Protector, Mirage, and Knockout were still missing along with Breakdown. Swearing again, Hound finally comes to a somewhat level area, “Arcturus, round up. We have five people missing in the rubble, fan out to find them, now.” He looked around at them all.

His heart sank a bit. Sunstreaker had one hand which was currently being held by Bluestreak, who looked worse for wear himself with crushed and scratched plating, along with an optic dark. Sideswipe was standing in the typical shell shock position of a pilot, the suit stiff with his head angled down, his red plating reduced to the familiar military style metal. Turning a bit, Jazz’s skuffed plating came into view and the slightly energon soaked Prowl with his damaged door wing. And honestly, Hound didn’t want to know what he looked like.

Taking a slow and shaky breath, he tries to compose himself, “We have to find the Prime and Lord High Protector, whoever else we find we let them know the standing situation. We’ll deal with the Quints once we know they are safe, Iacon has safety guards in place for this reason. They’ll stay up there so long as we’re scrambling down here.” He shifts his feet a bit, “Remember the Battle of Savannah, alright?” Sunny shifted a bit.

“Almost ten thousand people died that day, Hound.” Sighing and nodding, Hound looks around, “Today isn’t exactly going to be a clean slate either.” Turning away, he steps back towards an area with splattered energon, “We don’t stop looking till we have the Prime’s order.”

Slowly they all fanned out across the destruction.

Hound was glad to be the first to find people, but not enthused by the sight. He fumbled slightly sending out the ping for an alert as he slipped down the crumbling surface.

Knockout was crying, sobbing honestly and hadn’t been blown away from Breakdown like the rest of them had from each other. Then again, Breakdown’s suit was one of the heaviest available for a tanker. No, he had his arms wrapped around Breakdown’s middle, arms over his cockpit.

The rest of him was in a bad state. His head was barely hanging on, with the visor dark and it likely had disconnected the majority of his cameras.

To the Cybertronians, he’d probably look dead with how much of his paint had come away. Except for the fact that he was desperately trying to shrug Knockout off of him, “I am fine, let me up.” Hound smiled a bit, trying to get over to them without falling again or losing any more of his own plating, “You’re hurt! You’re worse than hurt! Your kind is cruel to make you think that you can keep going in this state.” Breakdown groaned and finally stood, stumbling as the head of his suit pulled on its few remaining connections.

Hurrying forward Hound grabbed Breakdown’s shoulders, “Steady, hold still.” He made quick work of getting the head back up at least, doing the most rudemarty repair of bending metal to hold it in place. Knockout made strangled noises of pain, probably. Hound holds the sides of Breakdown’s head for a moment, “Bring your lower cameras online if you haven’t, we’ve gotta find a few more people.” Breakdown’s hands covered his for a moment, fingers twitching as he likely went through his settings, “Damned thing.” He couldn’t help but crack a smile, patting Breakdown’s head very lightly.

What he didn’t expect next was Knockout pulling him away, knife pressed firmly to the cabling at his neck, “Your butcher surgery is pathetic,” his own reaction surprised him, hand coming up and grabbing then breaking the knife.

Gritting his teeth, his visor darkened to the glare they’d taken to, hand grabbing the front of Knockout’s plating, “You threaten me again and I’ll send you to the after-Spark the most painful way I can.” His voice was deep in the threat, the hold denting Knockout’s plating. Keeping him there, Hound took a slow breath, watching as his suit started to recognize the medic as a threat; “This is in fact your only warning Doctor.” Looking back over to Breakdown, he let go and turned away.

“We’re still looking for Megatron, Prime, and Mirage. The Lord Protector and Prime are priority,” he got a ping from Sunstreaker and swears, “Alright, try to clear this area, you steady?” Breakdown looks over and gives a thumbs up, adapting to avoid nodding his head already.

Sighing deeply, Hound hurried off.

—

The entire place was in shambles at best and Sunstreaker was trying not to panic, panicking would get him nowhere other than The Crash. He wouldn’t have thought so if the edges of his vision weren’t red.

Now he was kneeling on the ground with Sideswipe, pulling up rebar from the rubble, trying to get to whatever was tapping the surface from in the pile. Both were working with a practiced ease, even if this was a more typical rescue class job, “Who do you think would be tapping?” He glances as Sides but pauses.

Sideswipe was staring very intently at the ground, digging and pulling away the remains of the bar.

Carefully, Sunny reaches over and rests his hand on his shoulder, “Hey, we’re all alive. The cybertronians are a bit harder to kill.” Nodding slowly, Sideswipe finally looks at him, “You screamed the same way you did for dad.” He stared for a long moment before looking to Bluestreak, who was with Prowl as they dug in a different spot, “Yeah, I guess I did.” He shuddered a bit.

After another moment, Hound nearly fell into their hole they were digging, his equilibrium thrown off just a bit from the whole building landing on them all. It would be a miracle if any of them walked away without a concussion, “What are you hearing?” Then returned the tapping sound, Hound only had to listen for a second before moving to help.

They all were pulling up chunks of metal, broken off and sheared off pieces that would cut the lines of their friends, large sections that would take more than one of them to bring out.

None of them even knew who was stuck, but it was at least one of three. That had to be answer enough.

———

A/N

So this was not where I planned to end the chapter. However the chapter is about twenty words shy of 5k. So… Yeah, more to come on Tuesday!

Also, the beginning is what they are all seeing while unconscious. :)

TAGS

@lunarlei68 @whirlywhirlygig @loop-hole-319 @pixillandjester @alek-the-witch @not-a-moose-in-disguise @goddessofwind8water @neurologicalglitch @dersereblogger @pixel-transformers @mrcrayonofdoom @wireplaces @twilightfreefaller @original-blog-name-2 @devilangel657 @robbin-u @miniartistme @starwold @tea-enthusiasm @valeexpris606 @celticdoggo @bird599 @agentsquirrelsgotrobots @aquaioart @thatwandercat @artdagz @seisha974 @halenhusky309 @leethepiper @cat-cassette @sirassban @cosmique-oddity @garbageenthusiast @xervias @azulabutterfly @fryseem @spring-mc @echo-circuit @aghostsnail @wooblewooble @ask-glory-haddock-and-others @nonsscrapheap @magichats @iminahole247 @omgflyingderpywhale @thetrexartist @naaaafam @elegantmantaray @emichusai @waterlilykitty @diabolichare @ham4ponyo @osqindaxend @sunnyvibesanddoodles @ratatatata248 @ijustneedausernaneplease4444444 @sprook-children @fooolisher

And once again thank you to @Keferon for this amazing AU

#transformers #maccadam #the arcturus missions #tf mecha universe #tf mecha au #mecha pilot jazz au #mech pilot jazz au #hound #breakdown #sunstreaker #sideswipe #knockout #prowl #bluestreak

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jiwook18 · 11 months ago

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HIYAAAAA so remember this post ...guess what? I finally wrote a short story (づ￣ 3￣)づ

Prompt: Yuu promised Azul (their boyfriend) to bring back their baby photo albums when they return to Twisted Wonderland.

A/N: first time writing, reader is Yuu ((they/them pronouns)), Yuu and Azul are aged up and married.

Enjoy reading!

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

Azul's gloved hand softly glided across the pages of the photo album, a smile not fading from his lips as his eyes showed a glint of affection.

It was yet another busy night in his family's restaurant under the sea, with him managing the place ever since he graduated. The supposedly relaxing classical music being played by the restaurant's sound system contradicted the mood Azul was in as he was handling paperwork. His eyes squinting, eyebrows furrowing, and his form slightly slouching as he leaned towards his table, scanning the words on every document.

Sure, he was very much accustomed to managing Mostro Lounge ever since he was in Highschool; it shouldn't be making much of a difference now he's a grown adult, but feeling exhausted and tensed just cannot be helped.

Azul checked his phone beside him and was reminded of the message Yuu sent him a few hours ago: Don't forget to rest and take care of yourself, honey! I love you. He smiled sheepishly, as his spouse never failed to make him feel loved every time he thought of them. He felt lucky to have Yuu in his life, and just the thought of them made him feel better.

That's why he opted to take a break and searched for the photo albums that were hidden in his office drawers, and sprawled it before him on his desk. This was what he always did when he was stressed or when he missed Yuu, who was living peacefully on land, in a house he had built for them.

He scanned through the numerous pictures of Yuu as a baby. He admired their adorable features through each picture, feeling much more connected to them now that he's witnessed evidences of their younger self. The silver-haired merfolk felt serendipitous as of the moment, for he only had the littlest chances of getting to know more about Yuu's background before they were transported back to their world; but now that they've returned and got married to him, Azul was gifted a huge piece of them that he gladly accepted with his entire being.

That's exactly what Yuu did long years ago, nothing but loved and accepted him too.

"So this is how they felt when looking at my baby photos…" he muttered, remembering the times Yuu looked through his photo albums his mother provided to them, and seeing the look of adoration on their face. As much as Azul loathed his youngser self, he couldn't bring himself to hide them away from Yuu before. The look on their face was the exact same one he has now, looking through their piece of their past.

Looking at the time, being already late at night, he finally stashed the photo albums away and spared a glance back at his work. He had been pretty busy, but something in him sparked. The merfolk brought himself to continue his paperwork, the thought of going to the surface to visit his spouse motivated him through the remaining hours of his shift.

He smiled, "I'll see you soon, my love."

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA tell me what u think!!!

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #azul ashengrotto #twst azul #azul ashengrotto x yuu #azul ashengrotto x reader #azul x reader #azul x yuu #twisted wonderland azul #Azul Ashengrotto #octavinelle #octavinelle x reader

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likeawildthing · 6 months ago

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As a recovering GirlBoss, I’m officially breaking up with my post-Christmas planning routine:

26- all Christmas decorations down

27- take stock of current year

28- values assessment

29- SMART goals for upcoming year with 6-8 life categories, fully planned by quarter

30-31 fully form this in my bullet journal while watching The life changing Magic of Tidying Up

Jan 1: Bring. It. On. Whole house, health, and work reset.

Sound exhausting? It was!

I don’t look on this era of my life (2016-2022) with cringe. Quite the opposite! That girl radically transformed her life from a broke, traumatized, single mom, community college dropout to a financially stable, creative, happy, MBA graduate with her dream job.

I am so grateful for her drive, determination, and passion. I am so proud of her.

And also? I’m so relieved I can no longer relate.

As someone whose core values are consistently curiosity and growth, I’m willing to adapt and change over time, shedding practices that no longer serve me in favor of those that do.

In 2022, at my post-graduation dinner, I signed a napkin promising my friends I would slow down. And I did, immediately scaling back my volunteerism and commitments in favor of radical rest and the pursuit of creative endeavors.

That winter, I made a paper chain to count down towards the winter Solstice in an effort to thwart the post-time change blues. When it worked, I adopted warmth, coziness, and light into my winter routine. Candles. Electric blankets. A soup a week. I also adapted my speed, just as we have done for most of our time on this earth. It also worked!

Since then, naturally, I’ve slowly been attuning my life to the seasons.

Spring — renewal, garden, waking up. Summer — enjoying time outdoors, being active and social.

Fall — abundance and gratitude, preparation for the holidays.

Winter is now a time of peace, joy, and reflection. I close my curtains at four, intentionally, and turn on my lamps, hit Netflix fireplace, and hang with a craft on my lap and good music in the background.

But I was still clinging to that last vestige of my GirlBoss era—my post-holiday planning session.

On the 26th, I couldn’t bring myself to take down the tree. She’s gorgeous and I love her! She’s staying up until January 6th this year. With the new job, I can’t take the entire week off. That’s ok! I still started my planning process.

No buy 2025.

Nervous system regulation.

A holistic health plan.

Glow up 2025!

Bucket list travel items.

To read, watch, and listen liste.

WIP creative projects.

Home to do list.

Dopamine list

Dot grid notebook ordered.

Action steps! Quarterly plans! Stationary!

And this morning, with my bullet journal still unfinished, I tried to reconcile stacks of paper with notes, dozens of screen shots, and multiple notes apps.

I felt frazzled, overwhelmed, and defeated. Why couldn’t I pick a path forward? Why couldn’t I even start a January page. Planning is my jam! As an ADHDer, it’s practically my calling.

So I had to ask myself…why am I doing this? If this is something I truly want to do, that aligns with my values, then it shouldn’t be this hard.

My time of renewal has transitioned to spring; so shouldn’t that be my time of planning for the new year? Isn’t it a little crazy to have fifteen major life goals this year? 2024 just wrapped up, so shouldn’t I take time to reflect on it, take stock, and truly understand what I want to take into my next year? Shouldn’t I take time to recover from the holidays? Would the world end if I stay slow and steady and take this slow season to fill my metaphorical well?

No, it will not.

So that’s what I’m doing.

My January calendar is noted with intentional social engagements and creative time. I put my goals away and instead loaded a bunch of reflective journal prompts to work through in the next month. Or two. Or three!

It feels vulnerable and wrong, not walking into the New Year with a Plan. But the bigger part of me thinks my lowercase plan—to rest, reflect, and connect with my friends and family, is going to work just fine.

So my hope for you is that you are at peace with where you’re at. And if you aren’t at peace, that you take the time to understand why, and that you’re willing to adjust course.

If you need a GirlBoss era, l will cheer you on, every step of the way! If you have a few goals, I hope you stick with them!

But if you, like me, want to stay slow, recover, and savor the season?

Come and sit.

How would you like your tea?

Ref pics (the napkin, my tree):

#Linds writes #pen to paper #new years

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chai-berries · 2 years ago

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what starbucks™ drinks are the tlou girls ordering?

ellie has had a frappuccino once even though joel said it’s “not really coffee” (she ordered it just to spite him) only to fucking hate it so she gets random shit but when she needs energy she gets cold brews for sure with extra cream

dina is smart and knows what she likes and what will wake her up — she gets a vanilla latte with an alternative milk ;)

abby says she’s an expresso shots/black coffee all the way but she does enjoy a refresher or a tea with fruit in it on some occasions

abby would totally steal a drink of ur frappe three seconds after teasing you for liking it

out of all of them i think ellie would collect the state cups. she’s so serious about it too like it’s the first thing she HAS to do when y’all enter another state. what a weirdo. she’s just like me!!!

ellie is a chronic straw chewer and those straws look fucked up when she’s done with them. imagine: absentmindedly playing a video game or something and she’s already bouncing her leg. you let it go on for a lil longer before removing the straw and putting your lips against hers. it pauses all her movements.

ellie has adhd (cmon now) and likes studying in the coffee shop cause she can people watch when she’s bored. she has a few pages in her art book of some of the regulars that come in

abby has a routine of surprising you at work with your favorite drink and a pastry on her days off where you still have work. all the people at your job (mostly the older women) think it’s “just the sweetest thing”

abby will NOT study in the coffee shop. she likes it to be completely silent or have light music playing in the background. she doesn’t get much done in a crowded starbucks. especially when you’re playing footsie with her as you innocently drink your chai tea. she loves you but this anatomy exam is like half her grade!!! don’t worry she makes up for it later ;)

dina would have a nice tumbler collection. they’re usually full of only ice water though. you know she stays hydrated!

dina is the only one that actually uses the point system. she will honestly go crazy when she gets a free drink. this is her only flaw (but it’s not really cause i do this… it’s normal right??)

starbucks was ironically how you and dina met. you were there studying or if you’re being honest taking study breaks in between playing games on your phone. it was raining and all you hear is the squeak of her sneakers before she’s asking to share your table with you. she’s the prettiest person you’ve ever seen and you barely let out a sound, nodding your head towards the chair she had her hand on. love drunk already.

original post here

#☕️🧜‍♀️☕️🧜‍♀️☕️🧜‍♀️#what is everyone’s drink? mine is cold brews or dirty chai #abby anderson x reader #abby brainrot era #ellie williams x reader #dina nolastname x reader #dina tlou x reader #mads’ headcanons #tlou x reader #i <3 starbucks!!!#just gotta buy uggs and an infinity scarf and i’ll be a millennial in the early 2010s #dina woodward x reader #wlw fic #wlw fanfic

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solastine9 · 16 days ago

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Band! AU Sanders Sides One Shot! Prinxiety

Tags: Prinxiety, Getting Together, Guitarist Virgil, Singer Roman, Lyric fic (kinda)

Word Count:

AN: This is my first time writing in a really long time so I hope you enjoy! <3

(The song that inspired this)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A slightly trembling hand pushes a sheet into view. Lyrics. New lyrics, finally. Virgil glances up through his bangs, fingers still picking idly at his guitar strings. There, he finds Roman standing before him, a smile playing across his lips.

"About time," Virgil teases "We've been waiting on something new for, how long now?" He leans back in his chair to address Logan, their drummer.

"Oh, I think it's been months in the making." Logan has a smirk on his lips but he's mostly engrossed in his own copy of the page.

Roman huffs out a laugh, turning away to readjust his microphone set up. "Yeah, yeah, get your laughs out. It's here now, isn't it?" His hands twist at the mic stand thoughtlessly, lengthening the pole just to return it to the same height a moment later.

In the background, Patton hums, standing behind the keys and beginning to plink out a few ideas, basing it off of the chord progressions.

The group begins to play around with some melodic and rhythmic ideas, but Virgil's gaze is trained on Roman for the most part. There's something odd going on. The air in the room has been strange for the last number of days and it's no different today.

Even now, Roman isn't looking at him and hasn't for a good ten minutes. Every now and then he'll get a short glance, but they're few and far between. And here he thought they were getting to be friends. The pit that's been festering in Virgil's stomach twists over on itself every time Roman looks away.

It takes a little while to piece the first draft of the song together. They've been working like this for almost a year so they're more than used to eachothers' creative processes. This group is the first time Virgil has felt as though his ideas are properly considered, something he's sought after for the longest time. When the song has some sort of shape, the group settle in behind their respective instruments and give it a go.

The introduction is slow and soothing, this song being more of a ballad than the band is maybe used to. While it's sweeter than some of their other music, Virgil finds he quite likes it.

"I can't fight this feeling any longer.

And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow.."

Roman's deep timbre resonates through their PA system, and Virgil does his best to stay concentrated on his own playing. Though these lyrics pouring from Roman's mouth take on a whole new feeling. When he read them earlier, they didn't seem like much, but now they were jumping off of the page, impossible to ignore.

"What started out as friendship has grown stronger.

I only wish I had the strength to let it show.."

He tamps down the rising jitters in his stomach, breathing to calm himself. He can't go getting distracted by some throwaway lyrics. They could have been written for anyone, for Christs' sake. Roman had plenty of friends. Concentrate, Virgil, keep your head down.

"You're a candle in the window, on a cold, dark winters' night.

And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might.."

He's getting pretty confident with this strumming pattern, and the chords are coming a little easier. It's now that he chances a glance up at the singer, only to find him looking straight back. Roman had turned his body slightly to peer over his own right shoulder, gaze fixed on Virgil and his strumming. Virgil plucks a wrong string, the sound off-key and jarring in his ears. Two more pairs of eyes dart over in curiosity, but Virgil already has his head stuck in the paper. His ears were red hot.

"And I can't fight this feeling anymore..

I've forgotten what I started fighting for."

Brown eyes were boring into the top of his skull. He could feel it. It reddened his face in an embarrassing flush that was surely prickling down his neck. Really, he was embarrassed by the mistake he made and also embarrassed by Roman's fierce gaze on his head and then on top of that he was absolutely mortified by the blush he couldn't fight. So all in all he may as well go dig himself into a hole and hide.

"It's time to sail this ship into the shore, and throw away the oars forever.

Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore."

As the song came to an end Virgil stayed ducked low over his guitar, breathing his way through the final chords. Finally, he was able to reach down and take a sip from his water bottle. Whatever had just happened was ridiculous and was no reason for his face to be burning as hot it was.

Thankfully, Patton engages the other two in music talk, offering new food for thought. Virgil has never felt more grateful. He takes a second to compose himself, pressing his hands to his cheeks and willing them to calm the fuck down.

When he takes a look at the group, they're huddled in a little trio, Roman's back facing him. Those lethal brown eyes were concentrated elsewhere and it gave Virgil the time he needed to collect this thoughts.

Did he..? Did he even have any thoughts?

No. Apparently not.

It's not like he was concentrating on the song properly anyway.

He trudges his way over to the three and weaves his way between Logan and Patton. Safe. The discussion is interesting and it's not long before they run it again from the top.

———————————

The sun was low, pink hues illuminating Virgil's way through the parking lot. Crisp air nips at his nose as he burrows a little further into his coat.

After another hour of rehearsal the band had decided to split for the night. Their next gig wasn't for another 3 weeks, so they could afford to end early from time to time.

He was just packing his gear into the back of his little black car when a voice rings out behind him. Virgil turns to find Roman jogging up, and he feels all of that warmth flood back, pressing over his shoulders like a blanket... A slightly scary blanket.

"Virgil, I-.. I'm glad I caught you."

Virgil nods politely, shutting his car and leaning against the door.

"Yeah, uh..goo- good rehearsal, right? It went well I think."

The guitarist curses himself for stumbling over his words, but judging from the way Roman was looking at him right now, Virgil wasn't the only one feeling a little off.

Roman clears his throat.

"Yeah, it was, I guess. Listen, I was just - I'm not sure how to say this, but I guess I'm hoping.. uhm, that I didn't make you uncomfortable or anything. You were just so engrossed in the music as usual and - I.. I wasn't expecting you to look up, is all. I'm sorry.."

Whatever Virgil expected out of Roman's mouth, it was not that. He sounded so.. nervous. He's awkward and unsure of what to do with his hands. This is a version of Roman he's definitely not used to seeing. Also, an apology? From him? Crazy.

"Roman, there's no need for that, I wasn't that bothered by it, it's fine. I just.. wasn't expecting it, I guess." Virgil shrugs, pulling his jacket tighter. Tonight was no night for outdoor conversations. He makes moves to open his car door and slide in.

"Wait! Don't leave, just yet.. please."

When he glances back, Roman looks nervous. Virgil just shakes his head incredulously.

"I'm not going anywhere idiot, I'm just cold. Get in the car."

A small smile tugs at Virgil's now warmed cheeks once more, a fondness dashing through his chest as Roman ambles around the car and slips into the passenger's seat without issue.

The pair sit in relative silence as Virgil adjusts the car's janky heating system. It takes a couple of button presses and a firm smack to the dashboard, but the fans do whir to life.

Virgil chances a look over at Roman, and Roman seems to be looking resolutely out of the window. A chuckle rumbles from the driver's seat, catching the singer's attention. It took only a moment for Roman to see the humour and let out a small laugh of his own. The air dissipates, and Virgil feels his shoulders sag. This feels better.

A sigh heaves Roman's shoulders up and down again, and Virgil looks over.

"Whats bothering you, then?" He offers, just wanting to see.. See where this would go, see what Roman really wanted to say. Testing the waters, so to speak.

A scoff sounds out and Virgil can't help his smile. "Oh, there's nothing bothering me. Not really.. I mean, nothing that important.."

Roman waits a moment, thinking, and Virgil says nothing, allowing space to think. He'd learned this trick from his therapist.

Roman continues. "I'm just going to say it, I think you're aware anyways, but.. you know that song I wrote..? it was about you. You know that, right?"

And there it was, the words Virgil had been silently, painfully hoping for. Despite the situation, Virgil's head still ducked a little in surprise, shyness overcoming him suddenly. "I.. I was kinda hoping so.." Green eyes peek up through long lashes, trying to gauge the other's reaction.

And Roman was positively beaming. Bright red, but beaming.

"You hoped? You wanted it to be about you?" A breathless laugh escapes his lips as he shakes his head. "Virgil you're ridiculous. As if anyone else in my life deserved a song like that."

At that, Virgil looks away, the sidewalk outside becoming incredibly interesting.

"Hey, no. I did not pour my heart out all evening just for you to stare down a drain pipe. Look at me, please.."

Roman's voice is gentle, more fragile than usual and it tempts Virgil in. He gazes up at the man before him. Virgil speaks first.

"Of course I hoped.. who wouldn't want a song like that written about them? And your staring wasn't exactly helping with the delusions." A weak chuckle escapes his throat, but it hitches when fingers gently brush against Virgil's jaw.

"Well, they can't be delusions if they're true.."

The smirk across Roman's lips is making Virgil feel all kinds of ridiculous things.

Virgil hums softly, hanging onto whatever Roman has to say. His skin tingles where Roman is tracing shapes on his jaw. It doesn't seem fair how easily distracted he is, whatever train of thought he had before is now completely gone.

It takes a moment for some courage to arrive but Virgil does manage to speak up.

"Ro.. do you want to kiss me?"

The surprise is evident as Roman's eyes widen slightly. Clearly he wasn't prepared, despite the fact that he was the one building up all this tension. What a silly man.

"Of course I do- I mean why not, am I right?- what kind of a question is that? I just-..." He manages to breathe. "Yes. Yes, please."

And Virgil laughs with not a trace of malice. It bubbles up from his belly and shakes his shoulders. Roman seems stuck, watching with a pleased smile across his face.

"Oh you crack me up." Virgil chuckles, "It's almost as if you didn't think that song would get you this far."

"Well, I didn't, to be fair-"

"And yet here you are, about to be kissed."

"Mhm, lucky me.."

"Lucky you."

With that, Virgil finally gives in, pressing his lips softly against Roman's. It's a short, swift peck that melts into something more. Something soft and warm, gentle and loving. Fingers card through hair and hands rest on cheeks and shoulders and necks. A little awkward at first, a little nervous, but it's theirs. This moment belongs only to them, and what a sweet moment it is.

#sanders sides #prinxiety #getting together #one shot #roman sanders #virgil sanders #roman x virgil #fanfic #fic rec #fandom #logan sanders #logan sanders mention #patton sanders #ts #prinxiety fic rec #Spotify

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satoshi-mochida · 3 months ago

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Marisa of Liartop Mountain adds Switch version, launches September 19 - Gematsu

Touhou Project tabletop-style RPG Marisa of Liartop Mountain will launch for Switch and PC via Steam on September 19, publisher Alliance Arts and developer Unknown X announced. It supports English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese language options.

In Japan, the Switch version will be available both physically and digitally. The physical edition will cost 3,960 yen and include the bonus downloadable content “RD-Sounds Another Background Music Pack” and a bonus Reimu and Marisa sticker set.

A limited edition “Grimoire Magus Box” will also be available for 8,800 yen, which includes a copy of the game, special box, Gensokyo Grimoire illustration boards, a Scarlet Devil Mansion illustration acrylic stand, Scarlet Devil Mansion stickers (Remilia, Flandre, Sakuya, and Patchouli), the original soundtrack CD, the downloadable content “RD-Sounds Another Background Music Pack,” and the downloadable content “Digital Artworks & Sound Player.”

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Marisa of Liartop Mountain is an adventure role-playing game, where you, the player, will play as Reimu and explore a mountain of books filled with mysteries and lies in search of the whereabouts of the missing Marisa. Advance or retreat, there lies a mountain of falsehood. In the depths of Marisa’s lies, the conclusion to the story will be decided by you. Welcome to a mystic world of adventure, sewn together by a singular magical book. Marisa of Liartop Mountain is an adventure role-playing game that progresses according to the player’s decision-making, in addition to the guidance of dice. You, the player, will play as Reimu and explore a mountain of books filled with mysteries and lies in search of the whereabouts of the missing Marisa.

About

Story

Deep in the stacks, a book is discovered. Marisa, with the dusty book in her hands, has disappeared. And the next morning, a new mountain suddenly appeared in Gensokyo. Deep within the fire-breathing mountain, what is the fateful choice that looms over you?

Game System

Your Choices Change the Whole Story – Inspired by the famous game book, this game is filled with unimaginable freedom of choice. Each decision spins a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Future of the Battle Entrusted to Your Wits and Dice Rolls – You may encounter with a monster, win, or lose—it depends on the dice rolls. You can enjoy both the feel of playing an analog game on a tabletop, and the high tempo and comfortable experience that only a digital game can offer.

Participating creators

Scenario: Hugo Hall

Music: RD-Sounds

Theme Song Singer: Sarasa Toumi

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

Simplified Chinese

youtube

#Marisa of Liartop Mountain #Touhou #Touhou Project #Unknown X #Alliance Arts #TTRPG #Gematsu

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homestuckreplay · 11 months ago

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Cursed By Zazzerpan To Take Webcomics Too Seriously

(page 472-483)

8/14/2009 Wheel Spin: Captchalogue Lore Verdict: Just Captchalogue, No Lore

8/15/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: Slimer Pogo Ride – Inherently Silly

The imps have STOLEN John’s clever disguise. >:( How could they do this. Aren’t their jester hats costume enough. When John says ‘they’re mucking up all my cool stuff!’ he is right and justified in being mad. What little control John ever had over his living environment has now been completely obliterated, the imps (and Rose) running rampant and using his home as their own personal playground.

Speaking of Rose, I was deeply struck by her total lack of regard for the monetary worth of a piano. Those things are expensive, and they’re not a standard thing for a house to have either! But this is not the first time Rose has thrown an expensive musical instrument around, as shown by her violin antics (p.236, 395) being more of an annoyance than a risk to a delicate possession. Knowing how rich her family is really explains why her response to destroying John’s house is a casual ‘Oops.’

We also get another moment of Rose dismissing John’s problems as not especially serious on p.478, when John says he was ‘hoping to avoid nanna and her spooky ghost cookies’ and Rose says ‘that does sound dumb.’ I know that Rose is speaking from her personal experience, but from an external reader’s perspective, if I am going to take it seriously that Rose’s mom might be an alcoholic and that Dave’s brother might be psychologically tormenting him with puppet tricks, then I am also going to take it seriously that John could have genuine trauma surrounding food. If he’s been forced to eat beyond his limits or eat food he doesn’t like all his life, that could definitely lead to a negative relationship with food, even if John’s dad and nanna are baking for him as an act of care.

EB: i'm not sure what came over me there, i was acting really crazy for some reason. EB: but my head feels like it's clearing up, i think i'm alright now.

This is the line that’s had me scratching my head and clenching my fists all of yesterday and today. I’m truly not sure what the intended tone is – if this is meant to be a joke, or a leading question about how exactly the control panels and possible time loops work, or a setup for a possible future where John does something really bad while being mind controlled by the Vagabond, or just a way for the author to justify any potential future out of character moments. I think I am biased towards reading this story in a serious and realistic way, and I think there’s lots of other valid ways it can be read, but from my personal reading this is existential horror, and more affirmations of John’s complete lack of free will and – importantly – his steadily growing awareness of this. I think a big part of his character progression so far is going from the vague and uncertain ‘something feels missing from your life’ to slowly being able to put words to his problems.

We actually learn a fair bit more about the rules, game logic and progression of Sburb in these pages, which I’m planning to lay out in its own post in the next few days. In contrast, we get no new information about the captchalogue and strife systems – it really feels like John’s passed that level now, and is able to do these things in the background without it interrupting the narrative. The same thing will probably happen with the imps after he’s got a few more kills.

I can’t figure out how to score points in the game on p.476 where we do sick pogo ride tricks as an imp (my high score is 551?) but I love it narratively. In the game we are definitely controlling the imp directly – there’s no indication that John or Rose have any hand in the imp’s antics - but in the text below, John is still addressed as the second-person ‘you’ and the line focuses on John’s own history with the ride. I like the suggestion that the imp is doing the same dangerous stunts that John once did, and the idea that there’s some parallels between John and the imp – both low level entities who are fundamentally at the mercy of the greater forces of Sburb, both clowns wearing disguises through circumstance instead of choice.

Anyway I am politely requesting that John check out the punch designix for real now.

#homestuck #reaction #regularly scheduled Dunk On Rose Day. she absolutely rules btw #chrono

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roxannarambles · 16 days ago

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The Real Game Behind "Cat Petterz" - P. F. Magic's "Petz"

(This is an unmodified photo of a cat from Petz 5. YES, the horned headband is literally in the game as a clothing item you can put on your pets)

I dunno if I ever made that post where I told people about the game that Cat Petterz is spoofing. But I thought I'd write a post now since I can't seem to see any in my history. This is for people who want a little more background on the IRL games that Toby is spoofing with Cat Petterz. These games are very near and dear to my heart, because I grew up in the 90s and Petz was one of my very first hyperfixations as a young teen. When I read Noelle's blog posts it was a little unreal for me since she sounded so much like young teenager Roxy did when she was playing Petz back then!

During the Spamton Sweepstakes two years ago, there was a website for the event originally hosted on Fangamer (later moved to the Deltarune website), which contained a bunch of pages including lots of sneak-peaks into the upcoming Ch3 as well as other fun easter eggs. Including a bunch of blog posts made by Noelle.

(Now, as a general disclaimer I'm pretty sure Toby Fox has officially stated that the Spamton Sweepstakes stuff can't be considered canon but it's still fun to talk about)

One of the things Noelle talks about in her blog posts is a game she calls Cat Petterz 2. Here's her first mention of the game in her blog:

Most Youtube videos you'll find discussing the Spamton Sweepstakes stuff fail to mention what IRL game Cat Petterz is actually inspired by. But the game that inspired it is called Petz.

Petz was created by a company called P.F. Magic in the 90s. (More or less the era Noelle, Kris etc seem to grow up in) Specifically, the Petz games were available as stand-alone games titled 'Catz' or 'Dogz,' and they were called 'Petz' if you got a version that combined both cats and dogs. There were 5 versions total of these games. (Catz/Dogz 2 released in 1997, for reference) A different company acquired rights to the 'Dogz/Catz' title from P.F. Magic eventually, but the games they put out under the label are vastly different (and pure garbage imo). So only games 1 - 5 are the P.F. Magic Petz.

Screencap from 2007 I took of my Petz 5 game:

Like Noelle says in her blog post, Catz was a virtual pet game on the computer. Later games did indeed include a pretty advanced breeding system. It was possible to selectively breed for traits in these games just like you do with animals in real life. You also could "hex edit" the game data exactly as Noelle describes. There was a huge online community for Petz dedicated to making these mods for the game. (And yes, we did call it hex editing) I did a little hex editing but I was nowhere near as talented as some people were. Noelle's description of being able to make birds, hamsters, cars, cartoons characters, etc., is no exaggeration. Some people were wildly talented at hex editing. Anso's Petz was especially good at making hexies and putting out guides to making them.

Just as Noelle says, results when breeding two very different hexed breeds together could be a bit unpredictable. But the spooky glitches she describes aren't something that happened, as far as I know. I don't think there was any incompatable pet message (this was a long time ago so I can only report what I recall), and I didn't get any glitchy music. Usually you just got offspring that looked really, really, REALLY weird. (I spent a lot of time breeding these freaks of nature.) The game might freeze or crash if the pet didn't know which sound file to access, or something like that, but it was a pretty resilient game and didn't crash often. Unless you did something extra silly with the game files.

God, I keep looking at what I've typed so far and feeling like this must look exactly like one of Noelle's blog posts. This feels weird.

Anyway, Noelle describes the offspring as eggs. In Dogz and Catz, the offspring weren't eggs; cats had a litter of kittens and dogs had a litter of puppies, as you'd expect. However, P.F. Magic made another virtual pet game extremely similar to Dogz and Catz which DID involve eggs:

This game is called Oddballz. There was only ever 1 Oddballz game and you could not breed the pets in this game. The pets were not based on real animals, they were just fantastical creatures. When the Oddballz were sleeping, they stayed inside their eggs in the incubator, and when you wanted to play with one, you pulled an egg out and it hatched. It's possible Toby was mixing the Catz and Oddballz concepts together for Cat Petterz. It's also possible his reference to 'eggs' was inspired in part by the 'Bad Egg' you could first find in the generation 3 Pokemon games, which are glitchy eggs that would appear if something was funky with the data. Bad Eggs could not be hatched (trying to do so would crash the game), and because they also couldn't be traded or released, they could fill up your PC storage box and thus were feared. (Of course, the whole 'egg' thing is also probably referencing Pipis, but we already know that)

Here is Noelle's entry about 'secret cats' in her Cat Petterz game:

Most of this blog entry departs from how Catz actually worked. There were not any hidden, secret cats you could unlock in the game. There WERE additional breeds that the company released after selling the games, which you could download from the website and install into your game. (There were additional species of Oddballz, too) But they were not secret and were accessible to all simply by downloading, basically free DLC before DLC was really a concept. That said, I have a LOT of mods added to my Petz game, and I just want to say having too many mods can make the game act wonky (mine now does) so that part is based somewhat in reality.

I also want to say that Petz did indeed run away due to neglect, so that part's based on the actual game too. Basically if you ignored your pets/didn't launch the game for too long they would run away. If you took really good care of your remaining pets, there was the chance your runaway pets would return, though.

There was no way for a pet to run away from happiness. But happiness WAS an actual meter in the game, among the many meters a pet had. (all such meters were hidden values. I have a mod that can show the hidden values though.) So in theory one could mod the game for something like that to happen.

The next Noelle entry that mentions the Cat Petterz game:

The "special visual style" Noelle mentions makes it crystal-clear beyond ALL doubt (not that there was any doubt before tbh) that this is a spoof of P.F. Magic's Petz. You see, each pet is made up of a bunch of balls as building blocks. If you look at a picture of a pet, you might be able to notice the balls:

It's a bit easier to see on my cat Lullaby here, since she's a hexie breed with a lot of wacky colors: the middle dark blue ball of her belly, the lighter blue ball of her rump, etc.

They're actually called 'ballz' in the game files because everything had a z stuck to the end, lol. Here's a sample of what a breed file looks like when you open it up to modify it:

This is part of a breed file for the Alley Cat breed. This is what hex editing involved, opening these files and changing the hexadecimal code directly. Noelle is claiming she took the series of numbers she received and plugged them into a breed file like that!

And the result for her was a single, floating blue ball. Obviously a Pipis reference, and also something that would be incredibly easy to mod in Petz. It also again may be inspired in part by Bad Eggs from Pokemon, which cannot be disposed of and can fill up the PC storage and the only easy way to remove them is to wipe the save file (or perform some advanced glitch manipulations). Bad Egg in Pokemon was likely meant as an error handler, which means essentially when something goes wrong, instead of the game crashing catastrophically (haha, cat-astrophically) or allowing glitchy/hacked pokemon to hatch, it makes a Bad Egg. However some fans speculated Bad Eggs were also meant to punish the player for cheating since they often showed up with hacked pokemon/illegal movesets/etc. There also were rumors that Bad Eggs would multiply, like the Pipis in Noelle's game, although I believe that was just a rumor. Regardless, this blog entry seems a fusion of Pokemon Bad Egg spooky stories and Petz game mechanics.

The last major blog entry mentioning Cat Petterz is this one:

The later Petz games did have some mini-games, actually, BUT they were pretty simplistic and not exactly exciting. We're talking tic-tac-toe, rock-paper-scissors, simon says, stuff like that. I wanna show you an example but, um. You know how I mentioned my Petz 5 game has a lot of mods installed and acts weird now? Yeah, it's a bit messed up:

I probably need to do a clean install of the game. Anyway, the Knight up there is who you play rock-paper-scissors with. The game Noelle describes in her blog entry-- and links to-- is most similar to the Scarab Crunch game in Petz 5, which is just a very basic 'click on the thing that appears before it vanishes' thing. There were not special beetles to increase your score, it was a 'catch 6 to win' kind of thing, very simple. Still, it's neat to see just how many details Noelle mentions do have some basis in the IRL games.

Anyway, I hope some of you enjoyed reading me ramble about my beloved virtual pet game from long ago. While it's ancient history by now, the games were actually very popular back in the day. And as I mentioned, the online community for Petz was pretty big. We called it 'the PC' or Petz Community. There were lots of personal websites, webrings and discussion forums dedicated to it. People would hex-edit to create their own toys, clothing items, environments for the pets to play in, their own pet breeds, and so forth. They also would have selective breeding projects, put pets up for adoption online, offer kennel services for people on vacation, and we also had dog/cat shows that we'd compete in. I did a lot of cat shows, actually. It really was a whole big thing, in part because P.F. Magic embraced the modding community, but also because the games were genuinely really good and fun to play even on their own.

Toby Fox making a couple references to Petz during the Spamton Sweepstakes might not seem like a big deal, but it was a huge thrill for me. It feels like I'm one of the few people to even remember these games despite their popularity back then. Glad to see at least a few folks remember it. And that apparently I have more in common with Noelle than I realized.

#deltarune #spamton sweepstakes #noelle #noelle holiday #cat petterz #cat petterz 2 #petz #catz #virtual pets #mystuff

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artsy-hobbitses · 2 years ago

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How do you come up with the names for your humanformers? Do they have any specific meaning to the characters, or did you just pick whatever ones fit your naming theme? (I remember you answering a similar ask to the first question, but I'm unable to find the post.)

I very rarely choose names for meaning that happen to coincide with who they are as adult! Since that’s usually how it goes.

The general basis is:

- System. Usually initials letters used as the initials of their full names ie. Omar ‘Orion Pax’ Parvez and Jace ‘Jazz’ Zayden.

- Sound. Super important. That shit better roll off the tongue, be alliterative OR sound musical. Benjamin Bane, Stefan Scavarro, Anita ‘Nita’ Carlos.

- Fits their background, and have research done. GO BEYOND THE FIRST FEW PAGES OF BABYNAMES.COM. Understand how the name works given your character’s cultural context. Things like certain Hindu surnames being attached to specific case (Mahendra/Minimus’ surname, Addepali, is one common used by the Ksyatria case).

Even if they aren’t designs for meaning, they are designed for the character nonetheless!

#inbox

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blindrapture · 28 days ago

Text

Every album (and EP) in the Sunsetters Project has multiple PDFs attached to it, a FIC and a NONFIC. The NONFIC PDF is Lindsay and I talking about the composition, production, and design of the release, and these can also be found on the Website on each album's page. The FIC PDF is each album's "liner notes," mimicking the lyric booklet that comes with a CD. These are not on the Website but are instead provided with the album Downloads, to give you a little treat if you want to download them. (It has occurred to me, with hindsight, that I probably could have included them on the Website. I might add them someday.) I've already shared the lyric booklet for We Excavate, and today I'd like to do the same for Summer Sucks.

Summer Sucks is the second Sunsetters album, and the longest one so far (though the fifth album may be longer, when it's done). It's a 94-minute apocalypse as multiple suns enter the solar system, raising Earth's temperatures to unbearable levels and threatening to melt us into a ball of plasma. But the actual narrative is more poetic than that, focusing on young Lucius Sunsetto, lost in teenage angst and recovering from a breakup, as he avoids abstract Predators and witnesses the Earth's chaos on what may be its last summer. Can he outwit the dark gods, the Earth's eight Clowns, as they benefit from the carnage? Can he see a way through? And will the Earth ever stop dancing as it burns?

The lyric booklet was designed after the simple booklets that accompanied the Genesis albums I grew up with, primarily simple black text on white backgrounds, though in the middle of the book is the Summer Sucks creation myth, along with the gorgeous Supermarket Yggdrasil art by our incredible @theomachomai

The front cover is my creation, a digital collage featuring the art of Cadet, Odilon Redon, and Arnold Böcklin. The last page is a piece by Odilon Redon, whose art is in the public domain. The lyrics, like the music, are a collaboration between me and @rapturebones. The plot is mine, as I'm the general director of the album.

This album is probably my personal favorite of the Sunsetters albums, and I also understand our handful of fans love it a whole lot too. I recommend diving into it when you're in the mood for a feature-length thing that bends midi music to its limits.

I did write up a prose summary of the plot for the Website, which I'll include under the break.

The narrator is Lucius Sunsetto, a teenager who hates summer because he associates it with commercial business and everything moving too fast. He considers himself something of a prophet, as any angsty teenager will do, and he mourns for the old days of gods and Yggdrasil (and, perhaps, for a lost love, a girl who dumped him). But then the surrealism begins. He shatters into three personalities, a Nameless one shooting up into the heavens, an idolatrous War sinking into the ground, and he, the true Sunsetto, wanders the Earth. He is stalked by the Predator, a specter, the sense of being hunted. He is found by a powerful ordering force, a woman named Chorus, who promises him the warmth of love if he will do as she asks: slay the cyclops. Who's the cyclops? She doesn't say. So he agrees, figuring he won't have to do anything. He wanders some more, feeling his malaise distilled into an emptiness. Finally, one more force greets him, a voice named Isis, claiming to be his God. Isis lays it all out for Sunsetto: the world is ending, the fires are increasing, no one will survive, and if there's any species on the Earth after all is said and done, they won't even know we were here, as we'll have been so thoroughly wiped out. Sunsetto's problems mean so little, and this overwhelms him. He needs an escape.

The story continues with Sunsetto being pursued once again by the specter of the Predator. He reasons that, if he can negate the sounds he makes, if he can reduce his sound footprint, if he can echonegate, he can slip away from this sense of being hunted and perhaps see the world through clearer eyes. That's his mindset as he is approached by four horsemen preaching War and announcing the coming of their king: The Pig King. They leave, Sunsetto wanders, and then Lucius meets the Pig King. Towering goliath, the Pig King monologues: Earth has suffered, but the war that the Clowns will bring will dwarf anything the Earth has known. He, the Pig King, is a Clown. The Clowns are our gods, the same ones Sunsetto thought were relics of a better age. They know the name of every town on Earth, as they are going to slaughter all and sell us for nothing. They will bring Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. And that's exactly what happens, as a negated and quieter Sunsetto watches. The Pig King boasts of his dominion over Earth, and over Isis, and that's when Lucius realizes the Pig King has only one eye-- he's the cyclops, and he's idolatrous, claiming to be War himself. This gives Lucius the willpower to slay the Pig King. ("How?" you ask. there's.. a symbolic thread. literally there is no explanation, so the logistics are open to interpretation.) The four horsemen cry over their king's death, now hailing Sunsetto as the Pig Bruiser. Lucius feels little confidence at this turn of events, and just.. wanders on. As he wanders, the remaining Clowns discuss amongst themselves. There's seven names: Veles, Chorus, Canio, Pierrot, Isis, Inanna, and Eugene. They see more story left, some destruction, perhaps a happy ending, but the Clown named Pierrot has something in the works called the Tarantella. Sunsetto sees the Clowns in a dream, and, as ever, wanders on.

Pierrot has created the Tarantella, the song which infects all listeners and dooms them to dance until they die. It brings with it a philosophical obsession over the unknowable, a mental dance to accompany the physical one. It infects Lucius, whose stamina has already been worn down by this long summer. He listens to the wind, reminded of his memories of the lover who had dumped him (the Invisible Jester), and is brought by the wind to the River of Mab. It's an ancient river, something of a World River (a flumen mundi), which carries the course of our lives. Distrought over the curse to dance, and vulnerable to his memories, Sunsetto follows the river to its source, hoping to find some profound cure, or at least divine revelation. Instead he finds the Clowns had already ruined it: the Tarantella is embedded deep in the fountain at the river's source. Hopeless, despairing, depressed, Lucius Sunsetto jumps into the fountain to drown himself. He goes unconscious, floating to the surface, drifting down the river, and has a divine revelation in the form of a Dream: As a forest is engulfed in flames, one tree scolds another, warning not to seek relief in the water. Second revelation: Mockingbirds sell their stolen song to the hungry masses. Lucius can't make sense of this dream, finds both images are contradictions, and yet he wakes up anyway on the bank of the river, to the sound of birdsong. He is no longer dancing. He has been cured. And he sits awhile, listening to the birds and the rushing of the river Mab.

The rest of humanity is doomed to dance. The world is burning. The sun is coming closer to the Earth. Lucius hears the thunder as it comforts the shaking Earth, as its tears-- the rain-- evaporate. Lucius comes to terms with his breakup-- he had pushed her away, and he is thankful for the breakup's emotional pain for insulating him from the horrors of apocalypse. The Clowns, as our gods, are permanent, and so their efforts cannot overcome the impermanent emotions in us all. Meanwhile up comes Eugene, the Clown who's trying to fill the void left by the Pig King. He's a eugenicist shareholder, obsessed with money, and calls himself Death. So Lucius kills him and goes on with his life, spending no time on him.

Summer goes on, and Sunsetto wanders the Earth, seeing the chaos as the sun's closeness melts cars on roads. He thinks of numbers, of calculus, of countable infinity, and of our changing tolerance for heresy. (There is sense to this: Countable infinity is a process that we cannot finish, but we still conceive of what's on the other side. Infinity is a circle, and aleph null is something only the gods see; we're in the middle of it. Maybe when the summer's over, Lucius will die and see infinity in a glance.) The voice of Chorus mocks him. On a global scale, the oceans turn to blood, another Clown takes Eugene's place, a second sun enters the sky, and somewhere Yggdrasil withers and dries up into stone. But an ancient god was buried under Yggdrasil this whole time and now rises: Veles, giant of stone. He speaks to Lucius with his ancient wisdom: Why fill yourself with stress when you can just bury yourself in the ground and wait for it to end? (He says a lot of things, he also talks about consumerism! And he imparts the one belief of the Clowns: For any human to help themselves, a Clown must pay for it, so there is a personal incentive to terrorize humanity.) Lucius says goodbye to the dead Yggdrasil, and Veles tells him the scale of what's happening: Seven suns are appearing in our sky, we'll be dead long before the fourth one, the Earth will be a blazing eighth sun by the time the fifth sun is here, and when all seven arise, all their masses-- along with the solar system-- will have merged into one massive sun. So laying on your back and waiting for landslide sounds pretty good. But Lucius Sunsetto figures, if all hope truly is gone, he can still try a bold idea: He can make sure the Clowns are infected with the Tarantella, so they're not just at peace when we're all dead.

With this idea, Lucius sets out on his last wander, and for once he's not afraid of the Predator at all. He wanders to Mount Meru (the World Mountain), where the Clown named Canio is seizing unspeakable power-- the power to shape existence, transcend samsara, transcend form, transcend all consequences for any Clown's actions. (Canio may or may not also be Pierrot. There is a conscious duality.) But Canio is so focused on this victory that he doesn't notice Sunsetto walking up behind him. And Sunsetto reunites with his other fragments-- the idolatrous War who has now Conquered, and the Nameless one (who has now found a name: it's Sunsetto too!)-- and unleashes the Tarantella, infecting himself in the process. With three dancing Sunsettos facing him down, Canio is visibly upset over something going on here, but he boasts that the Tarantella has no power over any Clown. Then Canio turns himself into a mockingbird and flies away. With three Sunsettos dancing at the top of Mount Meru, and nothing left to do but watch the sunset, it's true that something happens here, something wordless and grand: The sun sets. The world goes dark. Too dark, actually; it doesn't make sense, where did all the suns go? In the darkness, Sunsetto can feel the water rise to his feet, even at the top of Mount Meru. And then he can hear the wind pick up, and if he echonegates, he can just about make out a voice in the vibrations on the water: promising the world will start again, and this time with the Clowns given a task even they can't neglect. A new sun rises over a green Earth, and all the shops open up again, only this time nobody wants to go in. A new Yggdrasil is born, growing out into the sky atop Mount Meru. At its feet is Lucius Sunsetto, the one and only, the only human on Earth who is still infected with the Tarantella.

The Clowns of this new Earth are tasked with carrying the one and only sun across the sky, rising it in the morning and setting it in the evening. Lucius Sunsetto dances without rest, watching over the Clowns to make sure they do this every day. All of this is a strange dream being played to us by musicians that aren't even real. It is a strange dream, isn't it? A myth performed by a myth living on our Earth. Lucius Sunsetto is a work of fiction.

#sunsetters #art #prose

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