#Lice performance

[musicandvoice]

Forward Motion Band - Latin Edition

Forward Motion Band – Latin EditionForward Motion Band – Latin Edition is a dynamic and high-energy musical ensemble that brings the vibrant rhythms and passionate melodies of Latin music to life. Known for their electrifying performances and seamless fusion of traditional and contemporary Latin sounds, the band delivers an unforgettable experience that keeps audiences dancing all night long.With a repertoire that spans salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia, and Latin rock,

Forward Motion Band – Latin Edition masterfully blends classic hits with fresh, modern arrangements. Their talented musicians bring years of experience and a deep love for Latin music, creating a powerful synergy that resonates with fans of all generations.

Whether performing at festivals, private events, or high-profile venues, Forward Motion Band – Latin Edition guarantees an exciting and authentic Latin music experience. Their passion for music and commitment to excellence set them apart, making them one of the most sought-after Latin bands in the scene today.

Stay connected and follow Forward Motion Band – Latin Edition as they continue to spread the joy and energy of Latin music, one performance at a time!

[fuckingrecipes]

Wait, which animals raise livestock?

Several species of ants will 'herd' aphids around (a type of plant lice)- even picking them up and putting them back with the group if they wander off. The ants will attack anything that approaches their aphid herds, defending them. The aphids produce a sugary excretion called honeydew, which the ants harvest and eat.

Some ants will even 'milk' the aphids, stroking the aphids with their antennae, to stimulate them to release honeydew. Some aphids have become 'domesticated' by the ants, and depend entirely on their caretaker ants to milk them.

When the host plant is depleted of resources and dies, the ants will pick up their herd of aphids and carry them to a new plant to feed on - a new 'pasture' if you will.

Some ants continue to care for aphids overwinter, when otherwise they'd die. The ants carry aphid eggs into their own nests, and will even go out of their way to destroy the eggs of aphid-predators, like ladybugs.

--

Microhylids – or narrow-mouthed frogs - have an interesting symbiosis with Tarantulas.

While the spiders could very easily kill and eat the much-tinier frogs, and DO normally prey on small frogs, young spiders instead will use their mouthparts to pick up the microhylid frogs, bring them back to their burrow, and release them unharmed.

The frog benefits from hanging out in/around the burrow of the tarantula, because the tarantula can scare away or eat predators that normally prey on tiny frogs, like snakes, geckos, and mantids. The tarantula gets a babysitter.

Microhylid frogs specialize in eating ants, and ants are one of the major predators of spider eggs. By eating ants, the frogs protect the spider's eggs. The frogs can also lay their eggs in the burrow, and won't be eaten by the spider.

So it's less 'livestock' and more like a housepet - a dog or a cat. You stop coyotes/eagles from hurting your little dog/cat, and in return the dog/cat keeps rats away from your baby.

--

Damselfish grow algae on rocks and corals. They defend these gardens ferociously, and will attack anything that comes too close - even humans. They spend much of their time weeding the gardens, removing unwanted algaes that might overtake their crop.

The species of algae that they cultivate is weak and and sensitive to growing conditions, and can easily be overgrazed by other herbivores. That particular algae tends to grow poorly in areas where damselfish aren't around to protect and farm it.

Damselfish will ALSO actively protect Mysidium integrum (little shrimp-like crustacians) in their reef farms, despite eating other similarly sized invertebrates. The mysids are filter feeders, who feed on zooplankton and free-floating algae, and their waste fertilizes the algae farms. Many types of zooplankton can feed on the algae crop, and the mysids prevent that.

While Mysids can be found around the world, the only place you'll find swarms of Musidium integrum is on the algae farms that Damselfish cultivate.

Damselfish treat the little mysids like some homesteaders treat ducks. Ducks eat snails and other insect pests on our crops, and their poop fertilizes the land. The ducks can be eaten, but aren't often, since they're more useful for their services than their meat.

--

There are SEVERAL species of insect and animal which actively farm. They perform fungiculture and horticulture: deliberately growing and harvesting fungus and plants at a large-scale to feed their population.

Leaf-cutter ants and Termites both chew up plant material and then seed it with a specific type of fungus. The fungus grows, and the termites/ants harvest the mushroom as a food source.

Ambrosia beetles burrow into decaying trees, hollow out little farming rooms, and introduce a specific fungii (the ambrosia fungi), which both adults and larval beetles feed on.

Marsh Periwinkles (a type of snail) cultivates fungus on cordgrass. They wound the plant with their scraping tongue, then defecate into the wound so their preferred fungus will infect it and grow there. They let the fungus grow in the wound a bit, and come back later to eat.

[shankss-magnificent-ass]

Imagine becoming the beast pirate's espionage chief

Kaido: I know you don't trust him, but I can't and won't act against him while he's still useful to me.

You: I'm glad you said that, I've used most of my free time in the last month to gather proof. [hands Kaido an appropriate-sized folder] I found that Mister Bennington of Foodvalten did not exist until six years ago.

Kaido: [pulls out a pair of delicate reading glasses, puts them on, and thumbs through the folder]

You: His real name is Frank Jenkins, and he's sixty-eight. He was born in the Appaloosa archipelago, where he started his life of crime at six, swindling tourists. By age fourteen, he moved on to robbery, arson, and petty theft. However, by age twenty, Frank found his lifelong modiis operandi, scam, fraud, and grand theft. Frank posed as a rich entrepreneur and stole large amounts of money from a mining operation before disappearing. He did similar scams on Alabasta, Cactus Island, Jaya, Water 7, and Applenine Island.

Kaido: [closes the folder and hands it off to King] ... you are quite thorough, you even included Marine and local police reports from over forty years ago. How did you get a hold of these without leaving the island?

You: CP-0 and Dofflamingo

Kaido: I figured, but how did you get them to give these to you?

You: I called in favors with Dofflamingo, and performed a few sexual favors with CP-0.

King: Is that why I walked in on you jerking off one of those masked freaks?

You: yeah, and you calling them masked freaks is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Also, you don't have any room to judge me, Maria has told me all about your little trysts with her.

King: She's too much of a gossip, as are you, and I don't care about gossip.

You: so you don't want to know which of the tobiroppo brought pubic lice into the crew, and where they got it?

Kaido: Tell me who is the culprit, right this minute.

You: hmm, I dunno, what's in it for me?

Kaido: I won't kill you where you stand.

You: That threat only works on people who like living.

King: How about a promotion to espionage chief, your own quarters and bathroom here and on any of the ships, and a raise?

You: deal, it was Who's-Who, he got it fucking one of Big Mom's kids.

Kaido: I'll kill him! Those little bastards have been gnawing on my balls for weeks. [vigorously scratches his crotch]

You: And that's why I don't fuck my crewmates unless I benefit from it because y'all are nasty.

List of Up-and-coming works || Master list || Twitter| Kofi || Patreon

[serpentface]

An elowey woman yawning dramatically, thus conveniently exposing interesting dental features.

Unlike most lemuroids, elowey have very large cuspid teeth, which are longer on average in females. This is rooted in the social dominance structures and territoriality of their ancestors, with large cuspids being an effective agonistic display feature.

Like many lemuroids, the bottom six teeth are flattened and narrowed into a specialized tooth comb that assist in grooming. Elowey also possess a sublingua (effectively a hardened second tongue)that is used primarily to clean the tooth comb. The tooth comb is reduced (but not vestigial) in elowey compared to their ancestors, as dexterous hands (and specialized tools) are far more useful and effective in grooming. 

Forms of social grooming are ubiquitous to elowey cultures. Cleaning and caring for ones’ fur is an involved process in of itself, (and fleas and lice are an unfortunate fact of life for most people in this setting, furred, feathered, or otherwise) so assisting a compatriot in upkeep is only polite and respectful.

The exact traditions vary tremendously, but to make a very broad generalization- Between polite acquaintances and allies (or when performed on high ranking members of society by lower ranking members), it is accomplished with tools (there are a great variety of brushes and combs made for this purpose). Grooming with the hands, or especially the tooth comb, is far more intimate and reserved for only close relations.

This commonality is because elowey in close relations will mark each others’ manes with their wrist scent glands (this is nearly ubiquitous in all elowey cultures, as deeply rooted social behavior). Grooming with the hands may have the same result, and grooming with the tooth comb results in mane to mane scent transfer, so it is rarely deemed appropriate in relations where scent would not otherwise be directly exchanged.

[kedreeva]

Bug is still pretty nervous around Indie, and Indie hasn't actually interacted with peachicks previously, as all of his other homes remove eggs to raise chicks in brooders. So even though he's about 15 years old now, he's having to learn what babies are and how to act around them. I often see him sleeping on the far side of the pen from where the moms are XD

But, he seems to be doing good with the babies so far. Here, he's bidding for attention from Bug. While head shaking is performed in a variety of situations from courting (bowing their head all the way to the ground) to aggression (accompanied by threat sounds), a midway head shake with closed eyes like this is a simple offer of trust and friendship (and maybe a little "come pick bugs off me" since in the wild they would be likely to pick up lice/fleas/ticks and other parasites, and they will groom them off each other's faces. How romantic). She's a little too young to get it, but it's sweet he tried.

[newhistorybooks]

The book considers how the evolution of hygiene produced a society where people washed often, changed their clothes every day, lived without lice and scabies, and performed their natural functions indoors. It reflects on developments in industrial plumbing, public education, government investment, the invention of new products to keep bodies and homes clean, and a parallel makeover in the expectations, sensibilities, and practices about what is 'proper' and what is disgusting.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West chapter 71

I love Guanyin but she has got to keep better track of her pets.

Welcome back to this week's chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest. This week we have a Queen to rescue, so let's get into it shall we?

Since Wukong failed to escape with the bells last time, the palace is now on high alert looking for him. As a fly Wukong makes his way back to the queen, who is currently under the impression that her rescue attempt was a complete failure and is in tears over it. After Wukong is able to convince her that he is indeed alive and currently a fly, he tells her he is going to need to try and lure the demon one more time, this time with feeling.

Wukong, probably inspired by the king constantly trying to get him drunk, suggests that the Queen try and do the same to the demon, while he transforms as her favorite servant to wait for the right opportunity to take the bells. So the Queen calls in her servant, named Spring Grace, and Wukong puts her to sleep with his sleep insect spell, before taking her appearance and going to wait with the other servants. Meanwhile, the Queen goes and fetches Jupiter's Rival, and asks for him to retire with her for the night, and also calls for some wine to help ease his wariness.

The Queen lays on the charm, while Wukong has the other servants entertain them with song and dance, while he serves them wine. After a while, the Queen feels it's safe to broach the topic of the bells again and asks if they were damaged. The Demon says they are just fine and he has them tied around his waist again. Now that Wukong knows where the bells are, he decides to divest the demon of them by changing some of his hairs into flea's and lice.

The Demon is horrified by his own apparent lack of hygiene in front of the girl he likes. The Queen however is very polite, and suggests he strips so they can get rid of all the bugs, which the demon agrees to. During the chaos, Wukong is able to offer that the Demon hand the bells to him, which the Demon does without really thinking it through. Once he has the bells, Wukong hides them on his person before making a copy and handing that set back to the demon. The Demon is also gracious enough to hand them back to the Queen for safe keeping despite what happened last time. After that the party winds down and everyone retires for the night.

Meanwhile with a little unlocking magic, Wukong is able to leave the demon strong hold through the front door.... only to immediately turn around and start banging on the door, demanding the Queen's return. When the demon finally gets tired of all the racket he's making and goes out to fight him, Wukong introduces himself as Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven the wrecked havoc in heaven five hundred years ago. The Demon asks if he's so important, why he's acting as an errand boy for the Scarlet-Purple Kingdom. Wukong is offended at the idea of being anyone's servant, and the two begin to fight.

The two fight for long enough for Jupiter's Rival to realize he's outmatched like this, calls for a 'breakfast break' so he can go retrieve the bells. Wukong is well aware of his intentions but let's him go anyways. The Demon goes to receive the bells from the Queen, who hands them over fearfully, under the impression that they are the real deal. Bells now in hand, the Demon once again goes to confront Sun Wukong, only for Wukong to show him that he has three identical bells himself. Monkey suggests that they must have been made at the same time, and that he has the female set while the Demon has the male.

So they have a little bell shaking contest, and Wukong graciously allows the Demon to go first. Of course the Demon shakes the bells, but to no avail, and the Demon comes to the conclusion that they must be having performance anxiety in front of their girlfriend. I wonder if the night he's had so far, had any influence on that idea. Either way, it's Monkey's turn, and I guess girls just do it better, because his bells actually work exactly as advertised. However before Wukong can use the power of the bells to wipe out the demon, who should arrive but Guanyin? Odd, usually he is the one that has to go fetch her when they run into trouble.

Turns out it's no coincidence that she's here though, since this demon happens to be another one of her missing pets! Unlike the goldfish catastrophe however, this pet didn't come down just to eat children and cause problems. Jupiter's Rival's true identity is that of the Golden-Haired Wolf that Guanyin likes to ride on sometimes, and actually came her for some 'not quite sanctioned, but not not sanctioned vigilante justice.

See back when the King of the Scarlet-Purple Kingdom was still just the prince, he was an avid hunter and shot two rather important birds, who were the children of the Great King Peacock. For this crime they decided to sentence him to three years of pining, Guanyin was with her wolf when this sentence was passed down, so later on when the wolf escaped, he decided to come down here and handle the sentence personally.

Wukong is fine with that story and all and is willing to spare the demon's life, but still thinks he should be punished and asks Guanyin if he can smack him around a little more for all the trouble he caused. Unfortunately for him, Guanyin says no, and takes the wolf and bells back to heaven with her, despite Wukong's best attempts to keep the bells.

Now all that's left is to reunite the happy couple- one problem though, the Queen is still wearing the 'Pain Cloak' so Wukong can't just fly her back. So instead he weaves together some grass into a dragon and has her climb onto it and he flies that back. Why can't he use that method on Tripitaka to make the journey shorter again?

Anyways they arrive back at the palace in record time, unfortunately their beautiful reunion turns a bit sour when the King tries to take hand and falls to the ground in agony. Which I guess Zhang Ziyang, the god who gave her the garment in the first place takes as his cue to take it back now that she doesn't need it anymore. Once he takes back his coat and is on his way, the King and Queen are able to reunite for real this time. After Wukong has finished regaling them the tale of this arc, it is time for the pilgrims to continue one their Journey to the West.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, Invisibility, Wind Immunity, Medicine Making, putting out fire from a distance with a glass of wine and weaving a straw dragon Demon Kill Count: 712 + Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1039 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 7 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Disorderly Conduct, Joyriding and unauthorized practice of medicine Cry Count: 11 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra, Meditation, and Being Heaven's Specialist Little Guy Cry Count: 35 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 63 Paralyzed by fear: 6 Bandit Problems: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 11 Falling Off Horses: 11

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, Sword Dancing and Magic Pee Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 4 Kidnapped by demons: 3

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement, CPR and Shoveling Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 15 + Unknown number of minions Kidnapped by Demons: 7 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 4 Cry Count: 2 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Theft, Forcible entry, Disrupting a Funeral, Violating Tree Law and Arson

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater, Cloud soaring, and fetching water from a well. Demon Kill Count: 1 + Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 5 Human Kill Count: 1 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Arson

[keeksandgigz]

lavender syrup (part one of lessons in alchemy)

barista!eddie munson x fem!barista!reader AU

summary: Eddie is the owner of the most popular cafe in his small town, "The Mad Alchemist," you are the owner of the rival cafe "Daily Drug". You obviously hate each other, but when a pipe bursts into your cafe that might take months to repair, your contractor assigns you and your coworkers to work with Eddie in order to keep your job, just until "Daily Drug" is ready to run again. Is tolerating him really that big of a feat?

cw: 4k words, swearing, modern setting, allusions to smut but nothing explicit (yet), Eddie calls reader a bitch a couple times and he's such a condescending asshole but in a hot way, i feel like the sexual tension needs its own tw, Steve is also in this <3

a/n: pls like and reblog and feedback is always so very much appreciated!! my requests are always open if u wanna chat <3

divider by @benkeibear

Eddie Munson wasn’t the type to want much from life. He was content in his little town, managing the coffee shop that kept it alive. From the early morning crew of truckers, farmers, nurses and cops to the 9 am rushes of the corporate job workers from one town over to the yoga moms, the high schoolers after the ring of the last bell. Eddie Munson did not have any big plans for his life. The little coffee shop made him enough money that he was able to take care of his uncle, now retired, and live by himself in a small apartment with his roommate, Steve. 

He got an associate’s degree in business, and after that he opened “The Mad Alchemist Cafe,” a DnD themed rustic coffee shop filled with beakers, lights and plants. The exposed brick the “interior designer” (it really was just a friend who had a good eye) begged him to paint over was instead littered with posters of announcements. He would host poetry slams, band performances, most importantly DnD campaigns he'd have to close down the cafe for in the evenings. For a few years he had also been hosting Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners for those who didn’t have a family to go home to for the holidays. 

He hired his roommate and closest friend, Steve to be the baker. Straight out of cooking school, Steve Harrington took care of the sweet and savory. The thousand- layer croissants that would melt once slightly placed on the tip of the tongue. Airy, buttery pastry that made Eddie's customers sigh with every bite, as they lingered on the wooden bar, conversing with the baristas. The lunch hour crew, asking for meatball sandwiches and messy pasta bowls. He’d make turkeys for the dinners at the cafe, during the holiday season, along with insurmountable potato dishes and stuffing. 

Eddie's life was littered with small sprinkles of joy. Everyone knew him as the kid from the cafe, with his long hair, sticking out of the messy bun he would wear to work. It started off as a joke in middle school, when Eddie's hair was buzzed due to a lice epidemic. Steve had miserably beat him at the arcade. He had grown fond of the long hair though, and added to the mystique of his coffee shop. It was also metal as fuck.

He felt like he was the main accessory to his lovely brick building; there would not have been  “The Mad Alchemist Cafe” without Eddie Munson, something that both staff and customers knew. The cafe would also not have been the cafe without the three years long rivalry with the only other cafe on their side of town, “Daily Drug” that opened a year after Eddie’s. The brand new establishment that started taking customers from him, claiming that their chai lattes and breakfast sandwiches were to die for.

Eddie had not interacted much with you, the owner of the cafe. Your bossy, stuck up and overall terrible attitude were a house trade mark there. He had been in the cafe though, and understood why “Daily Drug” was such an incredible contender to his establishment. The ambiance was different, like a Pinterest board had come to life. The pink and blue tile that decorated the walls as well as the ironic bitchy posters that ranged from a snarky “What are you looking at?” to a direct and curt “don’t be an asshole” decorated the walls. 

It was nothing like the cafe Eddie had imagined, the colorful palette contrasting with the caricaturistic mean and sarcastic ways of the staff, whose bitterness might have actually improved the taste of their coffee, as their lavender lattes tasted way sweeter, the syrup not overpowering the taste of the coffee, perfectly blended with the best milk for the beverage, which he found was almond.

You could have easily spat in his cup, but you serve him with feigned kindness as you make sure to make him hear a soundly “UGH could he be any more annoying?” to a blonde haired coworker, whose name he finds out later is Colette. Colette erupts in laughter as she serves his lavender latte with an egg and sausage burrito with a side of aggressive side eye. You had definitely spat in his drink. 

A fifteen- minute car ride later, Eddie enters his cafe begrudged by his inability to master a lavender latte. The taste of his in- house lavender syrup is too artificial, while “Daily Drug”’s try as he might is a flavor that he had never encountered.

The lavender provides a sweet flavor to the drink that pairs perfectly with the bitter coffee and the creamy taste of the almond milk without the artificial aftertaste. He beelines to the back of the building, to the room he called his lab, setting down his bag on a stool next to him as he takes a bored bite out of the egg and sausage burrito. Hm. Steve's is better. 

He jots down some notes in his journal. Try lemon for lavender syrup. Fennel seed in the sausage. Paprika maybe? Definitely garlic. He should have listened to his uncle and he should have gone to cooking school before he had opened the restaurant. He knew that he had the talent for it, Steve had even asked him to apply together, but he felt like it was not his true calling. 

“Your true calling is bossing everyone around, Ed” said his uncle with a laugh, one of the many sleepless nights he had spent mulling over the cafe during its early days. A knock startles him from his reverie. It's Steve. 

“Hey, didn’t see you come in. Are you still stressing over that lavender syrup thing?” he leans on the doorframe, half smiling at Eddie. He came in too early. Him and Steve were kind of the same in that regard, once haunted by an idea, they would not rest until it was executed. 

“What was it this morning? Strawberry frosting on matcha rolls?” says Eddie taking another bite out of his stale burrito.

"Nah, it's for the Halloween special, I'm trying to figure out the menu. We need to remember to add more nutmeg to the pumpkin spice syrup this year" Steve says, crossing his arms.

"Shit, yeah, I almost forgot. Also, this" Eddie shakes his burrito towards his friend "does not compare to yours by, like, miles. The sausage is too dry and the egg too cooked" Steve shrugs and fixes his glasses with a smug smile.

"Knew it." Eddie laughs at that, then proceeds to scribble in his leather bound notebook. Then the phone rings.

"Hey Steve, do you mind getting that?" Eddie says, not moving his head from the notebook.

"You got it boss" Steve heads towards the phone in Eddie's office.

"'Mad Alchemist Cafe' Steve speaking...Mhm...yeah, Eddie's in...oh shit" at that, Eddie turns his head.

"What is it, what's wrong Steve?" his tone alarmed as he paces towards the phone.

"Yeah no he's here you can talk to him, Jim" Steve passes the phone, making a face, the corners of his mouth pulled as if he were in trouble. "It's Jim" his contractor. Fuck.

Eddie presses the phone to his ear "Hey Jim, what's up?" his tone tense and cautious.

"Hey, kid, I don't know how to tell you this, but a pipe burst at 'Daily Drug'" Jim sounds scared, but Eddie is still struggling to figure out what that had to do with him, other than the fact that he would finally get back his traitorous customers who had gone to the dark side when “Daily Drug” opened.

"Yeah, ok, and that's my problem because?" he's annoyed at the ominous way Jim called at 8 in the morning concerned for his rival cafe's burst pipes.

"Are you sitting down, kid?" Ed rolls his eyes, he's getting seriously pissed off at this whole mystery thing his contractor's getting at.

"Yeah, Jim. Fuck sake just spit it out"

"Alright, alright no need to get aggressive" Jim takes a deep breath in "In order for the girls at 'Daily Drug' to keep their jobs you need to hire them, at least until the shop is up and running again." Oh shit indeed. Jim trails off, waiting for a reaction.

"How long Jim?" Eddie's fuming.

"It could take up to six months, really, the pipe fucked up the whole kitchen so they need to redo the back and stuff, hell it might take a year knowing how slow these fuckers operate" Jim exhales, he's probably shaking. Eddie did not make his contempt for “Daily Drug” unknown.

“Jesus Christ Jim you can’t do this to me. You know how much that- that bitch hates me. Everytime I go there I'm pretty sure she spits in my coffee. I'm actually convinced they all do, Jim" he's spiraling.

"C'mon kid, don't be stupid. That would violate an incredibly long amount of regulations and they would need to close down if it were true. Which I don't think it is" Jim sounds like he's finding this amusing now.

"This is not funny. And- and then what? The owner just comes in here and she starts actin' like she owns the place? We start sharing responsibilities? That's real cute, Jim, y'know that? Incredibly cute." Only then Eddie had notices how hard he had been gripping the phone. And the armrest of his chair.

"Eddie, you're throwing a tantrum. The owner doesn't hate you, they're hired under the agency and I just pulled some strings because I know you and these girls- these girls have families to support and I didn't want to scatter them all across town. I know they will be in good hands, they're not your employees, Eddie. Get it in that thick skull or I'm closing your shit down" Fuck. He's backed up into a corner.

"Alright. When do they start?" He grabs a pen and a piece of paper and scribbles Daily Drug start dates.

"Okay, so we have eight employees. Four of them are going across town, I have that cafe there. The rest are going to you- Virginia, Colette, Chrissy and the owner are all going to your cafe. They start tomorrow at 9 am. Better brush up on those training books, kid." Jim snickers.

"You're hilarious, Jim y'know that?" he quickly jots down the names and the time, stopping at your name for a second, before putting an angry face next to it.

"Aw, come on, kid. Maybe it might be a great way for you all to bond and put this stupid rivalry behind"

"Yeah- yeah no, and then we're gonna ride on the rainbow towards a pot of gold and do a little jig. Of course, Jim. I am healed already. Listen, I'll call you tomorrow after everything- if that bitch doesn't put a knife at my throat, speaking of, I should hide them" he seethes.

"Don't stress Ed. You'll be okay, what matters is that-" Jim never gets to finish that sentence, blocked by the violent slam of Eddie's phone back into its socket.

"FUCKING SHIT" he yells, kicking the bottom of his desk.

"I take it wasn't good news?" Steve leans on the threshold of Eddie's office.

"Steve- God I want to punch something. The owner of 'Daily Drug' in here. She's gonna kill me. Hide the knives"

"If I didn't know you like the back of my hand I'd say you're a little scared of her, Ed."

"Have you seen her? She's terrifying. So mean. I'd be turned on if she wasn't my archenemy" and he does have eyes, he thinks you're attractive. He's fantasized about putting you in your place, sometimes. About shutting your mouth up, see how witty you were after he'd make you go dumb from a few rounds.

He shakes his head. He has to stop.

"Well, maybe you can be nice to her so we can steal her lavender syrup recipe" Steve suggests. And as morally wrong as that sounds, you've spit in his drink before, so what's a bit of foul play compared to an FDA violation?

"Steven you might be onto something, but for now let's just worry about surviving tomorrow- God I know it's gonna be awful" Eddie says. As he said that, one of his employees, Jeff, comes knocking at his office.

"Eddie, the owner of the other cafe is here, she's asking for you." Eddie's eyes widen. The fuck is she doing here?

"The fuck- Okay thank you, Jeff. Send her back here." He dismisses his barista and Steve follows him back into the kitchen.

There is no hiding you're angry. Starting a job at a place where you knew everyone hated you seemed a bit of a cunt move from Jim, and there you are. Heading towards Eddie Munson's office, walking like you own the damn place.

"You look a little too sure of yourself for someone who lost their cafe, sweetheart. What is it, hm? What are you doing here?"

His condescending tone only stokes your anger more.

"I just came here to see the place, see if I have to dumb myself down. Maybe you guys don't know what cortados are" Feigned pity in your face.

"If you've come here to be a bitch you can go right home. One call to Jim and I can end this arrangement as quickly as it started, let's not get like that, m'kay?" his smile is devilish and god it's so hard to not find him attractive even when you want to rip him to shreds for threatening you.

"I didn't come here to bitch. I wanted to pick up our aprons? You guys have cute aprons. At least you have good taste in something" you scoff, and he shoots you a look. Fucking brat.

"Yeah- um" Eddie stands up from his desk and reaches for a box in the corner of his office "I'll give you two each. Try to keep 'em clean, I don't like dirty aprons. I've seen how messy you guys are at the cafe, that won't fly here 'kay? We really value cleanliness and order here"

"How clean can a cafe run by a man really be, huh? that's probably why your lights are so dim" he wants to kill you, but also pin you against the wall and shove his tongue down your throat so you can stop talking.

"You've had a long morning, sweetheart. Why don't you go home and sleep it off? I'm afraid you're letting off all this negative energy here and we don't want that. Not here" his tone's more stern rather than joking "I'll see ya bright an' early tomorrow morning at nine. Please don't come late, yeah?" he winks at you, cueing you to leave.

As you cross the threshold of the cafe you cannot possibly fathom what was it that left you so flustered and with an insatiable hunger between your thighs.

You pick up your coworker Colette on the way to work the morning after, presenting her with a bagel and all your rage directed towards Eddie. 

“No, Col, you don’t understand. He threatened to call Jim for a little remark. You know how insane that is? He’s gonna use whatever sick power he thinks he has over me to make me stay in line. Nope, no sir not with me” you say, turning into the parking lot of the cafe. 

“This Eddie guy really is an asshole, huh?” Colette remarks, getting out of the car. 

“You have no idea, it’s like he thinks he’s the shit or something just because the whole town loves him” 

“Everyone does love me, sweetheart. Good morning ladies, I’d recommend getting in, you have five minutes.” Eddie's right behind you, closing the trunk of his van, wearing one of his dumb satanic shirts. It's black, arms covered by a ratty black leather jacket. His hair is down and a messenger bag littered with button pins is slung over his shoulder, resting on his hip. All it takes is one snide remark and then he's gone inside the shop. 

You don't realize you're staring until Colette pinches the back of your arm, you reach for the affected area. “Babes, not him. Literally anyone but him, you have literally spent the whole car ride talking about how much of an asshole he is” 

“I have eyes, Col. He’s hot, and as much as I’d love to sleep with him, my hatred for this asshole is a bit too strong. I’d probably punch him mid- act anyway” you snicker and follow Eddie inside the store. Virginia and Chrissy are already inside, you shoot them a comforting look and a light touch to Virginia’s arm, who seriously lookes like she's about to cry.

“You okay, Gin?” you ask, lightly elbowing her arm. 

“No, I- I’m okay. Just nervous, also a bit scared. The boss seems mean” she trembles. She's only seventeen, after all. She's been working since she had been able to, if not before. Taking babysitting jobs until she turned fifteen, then just started taking customer service jobs, until she stumbled inside “Daily Drug,” with the extensive resume she had, she had been easy to hire. 

“He’s an asshole, but don’t let him intimidate you. He can’t do anything without Jim’s approval, just remember that, hun” you squeeze her arm as Eddie enters, having shed his jacket, putting his hair up, and tying the purple apron around his waist. A small, golden tag says his name on the right side of his chest. 

“Good morning, ladies. My name is Eddie, the owner of this fine establishment” he bows, smirking. “The crew at “Mad Alchemist” is deeply sorry about what happened at your cafe. We will do everything in our power to make you guys feel welcome for your short stay here” at the mention of “short” his eyes dart at you. You’re not the only one who hopes this bullshit will be short, dickhead.

You step forward, putting your best polite face on. “Thanks, Eddie. We’re extremely grateful for the opportunity to keep working, and we hope to learn from our time here” you say through gritted teeth. Even being that nice to him feels like nails on a chalkboard on your brain. “These are my baristas- Virginia, Chrissy, and Colette, my baker” you point at each of your girls. 

“Oh Colette, you’re gonna want to meet with Steve, then- He’s my baker and pastry chef. I’m sure you both have a lot of things to talk about, and a lot of work to do since our Halloween special will be dropping in a week from today” a taut smile appears on his lips. 

The guy in the back with the gorgeous head of hair and round glasses whom you assume is Steve waves his hand and Colette shoots you an assuring look before she runs to him, disappearing in the back, where you assume the pastry shop is. 

No one to run to now.

"Perfect, shall we begin?" Eddie's voice feels muffled in your ears as he assigns each one of his baristas to one of yours for training. The cafe has just passed its early morning peak time, meaning that in a couple hours you will have a lunch rush. Everything feels like it's moving too fast.

The noises around you become clear again when Eddie grazes the bare skin of your arm. You shiver. Unbeknownst to you, his hand flexes at his side.

"Scared, sweetheart? You look like you've seen a ghost..." his mouth is moving, but you can't understand anything of whatever he's saying. You're unconsciously rubbing the area Eddie had touched, his fingers warm yet rough, from all the times he's had to wash his hands throughout the day.

You haven't noticed until now how thick his fingers are. Suddenly, the feeling of a phantom limb reaching out, wrapping a hand around your throat, gently feeling its way down your neck, your shoulders, your clavicle, down your stomach and into-

"You wanna follow me to my office or what? I have a couple questions for you" Eddie breaks you out of your sick reverie, leaving you a bit flushed in the face, afraid to look at him in the eye.

"Yeah-uh sorry. Lead the way" you say, and suddenly the floor becomes very interesting to look at.

Quickly, everyone gets to work. The girls being taught the house drinks by the guys at the bar, whilst you follow Eddie in his office. 

“I just need to know if there’s any schedule preferences from the girls, just in case there’s any conflict. I was thinking, since the Halloween special will be dropping, one of these days you might need to sit in here with me and I’ll give you a proper training of what that entails. Y’know tastings and such.” His demeanor has switched from snarky to utterly professional, for which you thank whatever entity in the sky, allowing you a break from his abrasive behavior. 

He sits down at his desk and pulls out a notepad and a pen. He looks at you with waiting eyes.

“Yeah, um, Virginia has school during the week and can’t work until after three and she can only work four hours on weekdays, three days a week and usually a full shift during the weekend. Chrissy and Colette can work whenever, but please don’t schedule Col at the early hours of the mornings, she actually cannot function. She’s more useful to you awake” you let out a breathy laugh, remembering Colette putting salt instead of sugar in a batch of banana bread muffins. 

In the meantime, Eddie scribbles on his notepad. You feel uneasy in a room with him without the loud tensions of an argument looming, the blood booming in your ears. 

“And you?” he raises an eyebrow, lifting his face from the notepad. 

“Oh, I’ll just come in whenever you need me. I really don’t mind, I just need a good amount of hours. I um- I have my dad to take at the hospital on Saturday mornings, but I can come after” you say, your face tinging a bright red. 

 He scribbles that down, embarrassment visible on your face as the tension in the room becomes suffocating. 

“Alright, I’ll have those schedules ready by the end of the day. I need you to come in tomorrow through Wednesday. Opening shift Monday and Tuesday, you’ll close with me and Chrissy on Wednesday. Sounds good?” he keeps writing down in his notepad, you nod. He tuts “I need words, I can’t see you nodding or shaking your head if I’m writing, can I?” 

“Y-yeah, that sounds good. Sorry” You feel even more embarrassed, the tops of your ears tinging red. 

“Don’t apologize. Just do better next time” Eddie thrums a ringed hand on the edge of his desk. He's never seen you this docile and it puts him off. He was hoping for some snide remark, but you're looking around nervously, playing with the laces of your apron, which he finds enhances the curves and features of your body. Wondering what you’d look like in nothing but that apron, all the exposed skin of your back, shoulders and– 

“Are we done here?” there she is. The snarky question makes him jump, thanking the desk for covering the lower half of his body. 

“Yeah, I can go train you now, just gimme a sec, I’ll meet you outside” I need to get rid of that boner is what he means, but you don't budge. 

“Fuck no, you’re not training me. Gimme someone else” you remark, crossing your arms. 

“God there I thought you weren’t gonna be a bitch today.” He exhales. “How many people do you see in the staff, huh? It's Steve, Gareth, Jeff and I. Not much of a merry group. You either let me train you or the door is that way.” you can tell he’s had enough of you, which only stokes your fire even more.

“Literally anyone but you. You can train Virginia, I’m sure you have a bit of heart to not be a dick to a literal child. Not that she even needs training, she has more knowledge and better work ethics than you assholes” you spit, and you’re sure Eddie wants to kill you. 

“I don’t tolerate this kind of language in my store. I’m sure that’s what attracted all my customers to your store, but you can shut that filthy mouth in here. Now, you’re gonna go out and wait for me to train you, understood?” he's seething. 

“Or what? You can’t do shit Eddie. I’m not your little employee, you can’t fucking threaten me” you're winded, this argument is stupid and you want to punch him. 

“Alright” Eddie stands up abruptly and stalks towards you. “train yourself then.”

His tone is calm and collected, which makes you tremble. He's close. Really close.

“I wanna watch you crash and burn and struggle to make a dragon’s breath latte. You don’t want me to train you? Fine. Perfect. The less time I have to spend away from your bitch mouth the better my day will be. Recipe cards are on the counter. Have fun” he taps his hand on your shoulder and gives you a pulled smile, then walks back to his desk. 

He's fucking brutal.

[y2klostandfound]

Yoshinaga Takumi (Game Design Director and Scenario Writer), Moro Mayumi (Designer and Modeling Team Leader) and Yumiko Miyabe (Art Director) Interview about Space Channel 5 on 4Gamer.net (11/11/2022)

Translation in English:

An interview to celebrate the second anniversary of the "Space Channel 5 Uki Uki Music Festival Online". The two designers look back on the secret behind the birth of Ulala and the Morolians.

Writer: Tetsuya Inamoto / Photographer: Yusuke Masuda

Two years have passed since the online event "Space Channel 5 Uki Uki Music Festival Online" was held on November 13, 2020. The event was held to commemorate the "20th anniversary" of the musical action game "Space Channel 5"

(hereinafter referred to as SC5), which was released for the Dreamcast in 1999 , and the release of "Space Channel 5 VR Aratakata☆Dancing Show (Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash)" (PC / PlayStation 4 / Meta Quest , hereinafter referred to as SC5 VR) in February 2020. However, due to the spread of COVID-19, the original plan was changed to an online live performance without an audience. It has been decided that the live goods that were scheduled to be sold before and after the event will finally be sold online from this fall.

I am prepared for comments like "Now?" and "I forgot!", but this is a rare opportunity to deliver an article related to SC5. So, following the developer talk to commemorate the "almost 20th anniversary" delivered by 4Gamer in 2020, I offered to interview the design development team of the game who were not involved in the talk, and they kindly accepted. I immediately gathered two people.

Appearing this time will be Yumiko Miyabe, the art director for SC5, and Moro Mayumi , the designer. Miyabe, the "mother of Ulala," and Moro, the "mother of the Morolians," are in charge of not only the characters, but also the world view and background construction. They have kept many of the art pieces they worked on during development, and this time they looked at them and talked about those times. Also, Takumi Yoshinaga of Sega, who was the chief planner at the beginning of development and also participated as an advisor in SC5 VR, joined us to supplement the topics related to the development.

Takumi Yoshinaga (left)

Game design director and scenario writer for Space Channel 5. He is the father of SC5, having launched the project with director Takashi Yuda and been mainly responsible for game design. He is still with Sega and is involved in the development of the Puyo Puyo series, as well as working as a story and game design advisor for Space Channel 5 VR: Arakata☆Dancing Show (Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash), developed and released by Grounding.

Moro Mayumi (center)

Designer and modeling team leader for Space Channel 5. As a designer who joined the company at the same time as Miyabe, she was involved in the development of Sega Saturn titles, and worked with Miyabe in the Digital Media Production Department before joining the 9th Research and Development Department, where she was one of the first to design the enemy characters, the Morolians. She is also in charge of CG modeling production as the modeling chief. She was appointed art director for Space Channel 5 Part 2.

Yumiko Miraye (right), currently working in the Communications Promotion Division of the General Affairs Department of Sega Sammy Holdings, is involved in planning important company events

. She was the art director of "Space Channel 5." As a designer, she worked primarily on movies for Sega Saturn titles, and after working in the Digital Media Production Department, she joined the 9th Research and Development Department, where she was responsible for designing the main character Ulala, as well as other characters and stages. She later served as director for "Space Channel 5 Part 2." Currently, alongside her work as an artist, she produces and sells soft vinyl figures of Ulala and the Morolians under the brand name "Space Sofubi Dan," officially licensed by Sega.

Two designers who joined the company at the same time participated in "Space Channel 5," which required a female sense.

4Gamer:

　Thank you for joining us today. I previously heard that when you gathered the development team at 4Gamer, Miyabe-san and Moro-san joined the Digital Media Production Department around 1997.

Yumiko Miyabe (hereinafter, Miyabe-san):

　At that time, we were part of Sega's First CS Research and Development Department. At that time, Sega had a lot of hardcore male fans, but a project was launched in which a female character would be the main character, and in order to appeal to a wider audience, I was asked to be a staff member who could be involved in the development from a female perspective.

　Yuda-san (Yuda Takashi, SC5 Director) asked me for advice because he thought that I have a more general player-like sense than he does and that I'm also knowledgeable about fashionable things. However, at that time, I was in my 20s and had just joined the company for the third year, so I thought it might be a burden to be in charge of the design alone, and I nominated Moro-san, who was a designer at the same time as me, to join us.

Mayumi Moro (hereinafter, Moro):

　Although we were on separate teams, the home console development departments were on the same floor, and there were no walls between us, so we all got along well. I also remember when Miyabe-chan approached me. "Yuda-san told me he had a plan for me, and I replied, 'I'll do it if you're with me, Moro-san,' and he was like, 'What do you think?'" (laughs).

Miyabe:

　I remember what Yuda said when he called out to me. "I'll put your name in the credits" (laughs). I'd had my name in the credits before, but I thought it was a great honor to have my name listed as a "character designer".

4Gamer:

　That's a killer line (laughs). By the way, what titles had you two been involved in up until then?

Miyabe:

　When we joined the company in 1994, it was the year the Sega Saturn was launched, and when I first joined the company, I was involved in the production of the opening movie for "NiGHTS".

Moro:

　I was originally part of the "Victory Goal" team. Next, I worked on "Let's Make a J-League Pro Soccer Club!" I was in charge of field design for "AZEL (AZEL Panzer Dragoon RPG)" and also helped with "Sakura Wars".

4Gamer:

　And then Yuda invited me three years later in 1997.

Miyabe:

　As far as I remember, I think there were 11 people in total, including me and Moro-san. Just as we were starting to feel like we were going to do something new with this group, we were transferred to another department.

4Gamer:

　I was transferred to the Digital Media Production Department.

Moro:

　That was a strange event. I had to transfer departments to be involved in the development of SC5.

Takumi Yoshinaga (hereinafter, Yoshinaga):

　SC5 could not be made on CS due to line restrictions, so we, the development team, were entrusted to the Digital Media Production Department led by Makino (Yoshifumi Makino). This department has been working on video-based titles since the Sega Saturn era, and since Yuda and Makino were good friends, the transfer of the development team went smoothly.

4Gamer:

　As for your job, was it "general" design?

Moro:

　Yes, I was really happy when they asked me to do not only character design but also concept art. I originally joined a game company because I wanted to do character design, but I had not been able to do character design until then. At that time, Yuda said, "I want to leave the general design to female staff," and I was like, "What a wonderful offer, Miyabe-chan, thank you for bringing me such a wonderful job!" (laughs).

Miyabe:

　You're welcome (laughs).

Based on the "retro-future" concept proposed by Director Yuda, the designers created the world of SC5.

Moro:

　In order to work in design, I had to be transferred to another department, so I was a little hesitant about that, but I didn't think I'd get a chance like this again, and it seemed interesting to do something new, so in the end I said, "I'll go."

4Gamer:

　Miyabe-san, you were entrusted with the important role of art director, but did you feel any pressure?

Miyabe-san:

　Yuda-san had made the concept of SC5 clear, so I was able to proceed without any hesitation except at the beginning. I was instructed to think in the so-called "retro-future" direction, for example, for televisions, instead of remote controls, they should have evolved dial-type channels, and for cooking utensils, instead of microwaves, they should have frying pans flying in the air, like the future that people in the past would imagine. Always taking care of that led to a design that is "like SC5". As

　for the background design, we all came up with a specific direction, referring to the Art Deco style of New York in the 1900s, and we proceeded without deviating from that. I realized how much easier it is when the foundation is solid, and by not deviating from that, I was able to design it well when the sequel came out later.

4Gamer:

　What was the process for constructing the worldview from the design stage?

Moro:

　First, we designed the "Spaceport" stage at the beginning of the game, and then used this as a basis for the rest of the design.

Miyabe:

　It was a very extravagant way of making it, including actually making a model of the rocket for the spaceport. I remember looking at the rocket model and talking about curved surfaces like, "This R is good, but this R is not good." Through such exchanges, we continued to work on it until Yuda was satisfied.

4Gamer:

　Was it easy to design the game because the concept was solid?

Miyabe:

　No, that's not the case. It took months to complete the spaceport for the first stage, and one day I was called in and scolded, "You're the art director! Why haven't you done it yet?" I remember that

　Yuda was going on a business trip to the United States for a week, and he made me promise to finish it by the time he came back, so I, Moro, and Okazaki (Ken Okazaki, SC5 designer) were all blue in the face, and we made a schedule for the three of us, minute by minute, and somehow we managed to complete it.

Moro:

　At the beginning, we made it down to the smallest details. I made the outside of the spaceport, and Miyabe designed the interior. This was my first time designing a field like this, and it was a concept art that was completed after many revisions, so it's a memorable piece.

Miyabe:

　I don't think you'd spend this much time on game development these days. We even made things that didn't appear in the video.

Moro:

　The background of SC5 Part 1 was a movie, so we drew three-dimensional drawings and cross-sections and sent them to a CG production company. We were desperate to convey it as faithfully as possible. (Showing a picture of a file) This is an example of an instruction manual, and it specified not only the color, but also the material of the walls and the degree of reflection.

4Gamer:

　So it was an analog method of showing the drawings you made and making the CG.

Moro:

　Yes. Even after the CG was completed, we had to go back and forth with the CG company and say, "This is wrong, so please fix it." It was a very difficult process, but it was worth it in the end because we were able to get a satisfactory result.

Yoshinaga:

　Strictly speaking, the designer gave the drawings to the CG company and had them model it, and then we received the simplified model, attached the camera here, and had them render it again in earnest. It was a very inefficient way of making things, which is hard to imagine now. I think it was the first time that both Miyabe and Moro had done this job, so I imagine it must have been difficult.

Miyabe:

　It was tough (laughs). But it showed us how high Yuda-san's goals were. Even though we had been told "this is not right" every time we drew it, we were able to put it into the best possible form in the last week, which was a huge event for us.

4Gamer:

　When was that?

Miyabe:

　It was when I was still at Otorii. The team next to me was making "Jet Set Radio", and I remember struggling to see it from the side.

　After the spaceport was built and the design was coming together to a certain extent, Mizuguchi-san (Mizuguchi Tetsuya, SC5 producer) joined us, and the number of people increased and the scale of the project grew, and it became easier to talk about various things from that point on.

4Gamer:

　So that was the timing when Mizuguchi-san joined us.

Miyabe:

　Mizuguchi-san is amazing. I once accompanied him to a presentation to the president, and at that time Mizuguchi-san did not bring any materials. He had such presentation skills and political power that he was able to explain everything verbally and convince him. Thanks to him, the development after that became much easier.

4Gamer:

　Mizuguchi's joining was a big turning point for SC5.

Miyabe:

　Yes, that was true. Whenever there was a concert that we wanted to use as a reference for production, he would immediately say, "Go see it," and the environment changed completely.

Moro:

　He was very tolerant of the input of his staff. The reason why the department was moved to Shibuya was because "if we're in Shibuya, we can catch the current trends, so if we're making cutting-edge games, we should move there" (laughs). From plays to concerts to exhibitions, he let us go to anything that could be used as a reference for game development as part of our work.

Miyabe:

　Like opera. I also remember going to Sabu-chan's play.

Moro:

　I went! I think it was Kitajima Saburo's "Matsuri." He said it had all the entertainment for the masses, so we had to make sure to see it.

Yoshinaga:

　It was a very easygoing time, so we would go to a late-night movie, go back to the office, work, and go home in the morning, or go shopping on our days off and stop by the office on our way home. Work and private life were not really separated, and the company felt like another room.

Moro:

　We decorated the basement floor with potted plants, and when someone's birthday came, we all bought presents and celebrated. It wasn't the atmosphere of a game development environment.

Yoshinaga:

　I wore a Morolian costume and went out to Shibuya. It wasn't a promotion or anything, just for fun.

Miyabe:

　When I went to Center Street at night wearing a costume, I got harassed by a gang and barely made it back home (laughs). Anyway, Yoshinaga and I were always stuck in development, so we did that kind of diversion (laughs).

4Gamer:

　It's not because it was a long time ago, but because it was a department led by Mizuguchi.

The design of the main character, Ulala, was extremely difficult. The shocking fact that she didn't have a face until just before the end of development

Miyabe:

　I think so. It wouldn't have been allowed at Otorii (laughs).

4Gamer:

　How did you proceed with the character designs? I read in articles from back then that Ulala was difficult...

Miyabe:

　That's right. The Morolians were actually easy to create, already completed by the time they were at the Great Torii, but the main character just never made it...

Moro:

　There was a design competition for the main character. Miyabe and I had drawn candidates that we put up on the wall, and the staff voted for them. My design was pretty basic, but Miyabe's design was superior from the get-go, and I thought "I've lost" just by looking at it.

Miyabe:

　I don't remember... The first thing Yuda told me about the main character was, "Make him a character that can be recognized just by his silhouette, like Astro Boy." At that time, I decided on this hairstyle, which (showing an illustration) is an arrangement of the hairstyle of women in 1960s science fiction movies, with the top of the head high and the ends curled, with the ends divided into two. At the time, there were no words for "two tails" or "pigtails," so I explained it as "two ponytails tied high on the head."

4Gamer:

　At this point, it seems like Ulala's atmosphere was pretty solidified...

Miyabe:

　We had a good feeling about the hairstyle from this stage. It was a hairstyle that we hadn't seen much on game characters, and it met Yuda-san's conditions.

　But it was a long journey from here to the Ulala you know today. We didn't decide on the face until the very end...

4Gamer:

　The face? The illustration doesn't give the impression that she's drastically different...

Miyabe:

　The body model was already complete, but the face was missing. It was already too late to make the illustrations, so I drew the CG textures myself and attached them to the model to check. Even after moving from Otorii to Shibuya, the face was not complete, and in the end, Okazaki even got angry and said, "Miyabe-san, please stop messing around."

4Gamer:

　What was the turning point from there to completion?

Miyabe:

　I still think about what the trigger was, but there was no decisive moment. It was more than half a year of adjusting the drawings, shapes, and positions of the facial features little by little, and the optimal solution is what I can only say is that Ulala's face is what it is now.

Moro:

　When I was completing Ulala's face, I was researching makeup. I watched her struggle with making detailed adjustments, such as the thickness of her eyebrows, the color of her eyeshadow, and the thickness of her lips.

Miyabe:

　I was so desperate that I don't remember much (laughs). Anyway, I kept making it until it was good, and when I intuitively felt that "this is cute," I immediately added bones and motions, and there was a moment when it just clicked. To be honest, I don't know what the key points were that led to that point. When I was making it, I really thought that a miracle would happen.

4Gamer:

　So that miracle happened.

Miyabe:

　It may have been a miracle. Anyway, everyone around me was scolding me, and they were waiting... I was making it while thinking that it would never be finished...

4Gamer:

　What was the reaction of the staff to the completed Ulala?

Miyabe:

　I think it was good, but I don't remember much about it either (laughs).

4Gamer:

　(laughs). What about Yoshinaga-san?

Yoshinaga-san:

　I left the design, including the characters, to Yuda-san and the other designers, so I wasn't too worried myself, and when it was completed, I just said something simple like "I see" (laughs). I knew that they were worried, but I was in a state where I didn't have time to think about it. The game design work itself can be done without a face.

Moro:

　In the end, I think it was just Miyabe's insistence. No one could see the goal, it was just "Miyabe is satisfied".

4Gamer:

　It's wonderful to have an environment where you can work so thoroughly.

Yoshinaga:

Miyabe:

　That was really thanks to everyone around you. It was also helpful that programmer Nakanishi (Nakanishi Jin) created a tool called "Super Jin-kun" (laughs) at an early stage, which allows you to easily test play SC5 on the program.

It's a tool that allows you to play the game without SC5 footage, control the tempo of the music, and manage input with an Excel file. Because of that, the game itself could be separated from the design, and development could proceed while Miyabe was struggling.

Moro:

　Our design work was also progressing.

4Gamer:

　Moro, what other things did you design besides the Morolians?

Moro:

　I was also the leader of the modeling team. Miyabe-chan was designing ordinary characters in parallel, and the team modeled them one after another.

Miyabe:

　But Moro created things like "Space Granny."

Moro:

　That's right (laughs). And for me, Space Michael was probably the biggest job!

4Gamer:

　Did you design Michael, Moro-san?

Moro:

　I used my privilege as the modeling team leader to design him (laughs).

4Gamer:

　Were you unsure about Michael's outfit? The outfit in the PV at the time was quite different in impression, wasn't it?

Moro:

　We had a lot of discussions with everyone in the development team about what kind of atmosphere we wanted to create. In the end, we decided on that all-silver outfit that respected the PV.

4Gamer:

　By the way, who was in charge of the main characters other than Ulala?

Miyabe:

　Ulala and Pudding were me. And Jaguar's face.

4Gamer:

　Are the face and body in charge of different people?

Miyabe:

　As for Jaguar, Okazaki designed the body, and I designed the face. Okazaki said, "I can't make a face."

4Gamer:

　There was also a concept drawing for Fuse, who doesn't appear on screen.

Miyabe:

　I wonder if that was me? I don't remember it well, but when I revealed it on the official Twitter a while ago, I was surprised to see that fan art was already being made.

　(After discovering a CG of Ulala's face among the files) This is the finished version of Ulala.

4Gamer:

　Oh, it's Ulala!

Miyabe:

　Actually, there's a secret to the texture on this face. I just pasted a single drawing I made. As a result, the left and right sides are asymmetrical, and the shape of the eyes is slightly different, but that makes it look more human.

　This is a behind-the-scenes story, but when we were making "Space Channel 5 VR," Okamine-san (Mineko Okamura, SC5 assistant producer, SC5 VR director) told me, "Ulala just can't look cute," so I actually advised her that her face isn't symmetrical.

4Gamer:

　That's an unexpected technique. From an amateur's point of view, I feel like a symmetrical face would be more well-balanced...

Miyabe:

　I didn't intend it that way, and it's just a matter of hindsight, but I think that the analog-like, or human-like, feel led to the creation of an attractive 3D character's face.

Moro:

　Even though it's a single image, it's just the texture, so the eyelashes and mouth are made with different polygons and move, but the angle of the eyelashes is different on the left and right, and Miyabe-chan's attention to detail is also in that area.

Miyabe:

　It's all the product of chance, so it's scary to imagine what would have happened if that chance hadn't happened.

4Gamer:

　Did you compromise somewhere or give up?

Miyabe:

　That may be so. I'm really glad it was completed.

4Gamer:

　It was completed on May 30th, which is Ulala's birthday.

Miyabe:

　It was May 30th, 1999. I think it was the middle of the night, but I woke up Mizuguchi-san, who was taking a nap (laughs), and showed it to the remaining members and said, "Wow, that's good!" I was so happy that I printed it out and put it up all over the office (laughs). I remember that when Yuda-san came in the morning, he saw it, shook my hand and said, "Congratulations!" and I was really relieved.

4Gamer:

　That's a great story, but I'm sure the game was released at the end of 1999!?

Yoshinaga:

　That's incredible. The other day I was sorting through some old emails, and I found an email I'd sent to Mizuguchi reporting the master-up, which was dated November 20, 1999. The game was released on December 16, so it was a really incredible schedule.

4Gamer:

　Even back then, when there were only physical media, were you able to release it on schedule with the master-up at that time?

Yoshinaga:

　I think it was because software was produced in-house at that time (laughs). Maybe we benefited from that.

4Gamer:

　By the way, do you have any stories about the design of the Morolians?

Moro:

　When the design was almost at the very beginning, everyone was calling it "Moro alien" as a temporary name (because Moro made it). Later, when we had a meeting to decide on a name again, we were like, "Why not Morolian?" "Isn't it Morolian?" "Isn't Morolian good?" and it was decided as it was, and we were like, "All right!" (laughs).

　Following that same vein, I also designed boss characters, such as "Coco Tapioca" and "Morolina," as variations on the Morolians, and I drew them with their movements in mind.

4Gamer:

　Moro's design drawings and the game screen are almost the same.

Moro:

　As I put my hands to work, the image spreads and it's completed, so it was always fun and I don't remember having much trouble.

Miyabe:

　He's a genius. After the Morolian was completed, I was able to leave the design to Moro with confidence. I felt that he had a great sense. I once again thought that I was glad that I had him involved in the design.

4Gamer:

　How did you feel after the release?

Miyabe:

To be honest , I was just relieved when it was completed.

Moro:

　There was an atmosphere of having done it.

4Gamer:

　As media, we are most impressed by the promotion after the release...

Moro:

　That's right. They did some really fun promotions, like taking over Shibuya and playing SC5 on the big screen at Q Front. I was really happy that they were overflowing with the desire to have as many players as possible play such a fun game.

Miyabe:

　I think that Okamine's promotion planning skills were really amazing. It was a good way to incorporate the culture of Shibuya. It's hard to imagine that the Asahi Shimbun would publish an extra edition.

"Space Channel 5 Part 2": The position has changed. The hardships of being in a higher position are compounded.

Yoshinaga:

　Manga artists, musicians, and people who are now considered influencers have told us that SC5 is really fun, and it was very refreshing to see reactions from a different direction than the game industry.

4Gamer:

　Let's talk about "Space Channel 5 Part 2". Miyabe-san was the director and Moro-san was the art director for Part 2, but did the development structure change significantly?

Moro-san:

　Part 2 was full polygon, the development staff became larger, and the number of designers increased. However, it was difficult to convey the world view and concept that Yuda-san built in the previous work to the new members.

4Gamer:

　There were many things that were not written down, but were grasped by everyone's senses.

Moro-san:

　Yes. I thought that the SC5 series would continue in the future, so I decided not to do much design work myself, and to leave it to young people who can design to train them. I explained the design concept, but it was difficult to come up with a design that I was satisfied with. That's true, because the purpose was to train them, and most of the designers were inexperienced.

　However, we held design study sessions together, and after a few months, they gradually understood, and I was happy to see them create something good. Pine was also designed by Rie Miyauchi, one of the members, and the final stage also came up with ideas from members of the design team, and we were able to improve the quality of the final stage by saying things like, "Everyone is the best!"

Miyabe:

　Part 2's Purge was designed by Moro, right?

Moro:

　Yes. Purge's face is not as detailed as Miyabe's, but I spent a lot of time making it cool. The robot of the dancing troupe was also designed by me, and since it is a new character with the same position as the Morolian from the previous work, I created many variations so that it would not lose to the Morolian. It took a lot of time to decide which one to use, and I feel like I was told, "Moro, please stop messing around" (laughs).

4Gamer:

　I heard that Miyabe-san was appointed as director, so he was no longer involved in design?

Miyabe-san:

　Although I was a director, I felt that I was able to do my job with a lot of help from Yoshinaga-san. Mizuguchi-san also told me that it was better for a director not to do any work at all, but I didn't understand that, and I was worried that when I reported the progress, I would say that I hadn't done anything, so I started to take on design work myself. I designed Ulala's costume for Part 2.

4Gamer:

　Did you have any difficulties?

Miyabe-san:

　There was pressure that comes with a sequel. Mizuguchi-san, Yoshinaga-san, and I would get together every day and discuss the concept of Part 2 and how to come up with ideas, like "What does the tagline for the movie sequel say?"

Yoshinaga-san:

　That was also thanks to the environment at the time, because we all worked together at the company until late at night every day, and we had many opportunities to talk on a daily basis. Also, before Part 2, I think we went to see a musical in America.

Moro-san:

　We went to New York to see "STOMP". Mizuguchi-san suggested that we "broaden our horizons." I remember going to toy stores on Broadway with Yoshinaga-san and using the things I saw there as references. I was also very impressed when I went to E3 during the previous game, and SC5 was the only game I was able to go overseas for work.

4Gamer:

　So the influence of the environment that Mizuguchi-san created was reflected in the work in Part 2 as well?

Yoshinaga:

　I think that was the case. We had more staff, and we were able to make the game from a state where everything was already decided from the beginning. In the previous game, we had to reluctantly cut one stage due to schedule constraints, so for Part 2, we reflected on that and firmly decided the specifications and delivery date. It's only natural (laughs).

4Gamer:

　(laughs). There was a scene that was scrapped in the previous game.

Yoshinaga:

　I think it was between the third and fourth stages. It was a scene where a robot climbs a large building and fights.

4Gamer:

　Didn't you revive that scene in Part 2?

Moro:

　We didn't use it in Part 2. We weren't conscious of reusing it, and there was no point in forcing it in...

4Gamer:

　At the time of Part 2, the decision had already been made to withdraw from the Dreamcast, and it was also released on the PlayStation 2.

Moro:

　It was difficult to make it on the PS2. Compared to the Dreamcast, the texture capacity was smaller, so we struggled with how to make it look the same as the Dreamcast version with as few textures as possible.

4Gamer:

　Moro-san, your involvement in development has also changed significantly between your role as a designer in the previous game and your role as art director in Part 2.

Moro:

　That's right. In the previous game, I was drawing under the art director Miyabe-chan, but this time I was in Miyabe-chan's position and had to manage more than 20 designers as a middle manager.

　At first, I asked Miyabe-chan how I should make decisions as an art director, but then he told me something like, "You have to make the decisions yourself," and I reflected that it was true.

Miyabe:

　Moro-san has been a member of the development team since the beginning. We can communicate with each other, so all I can say is, "Do your best."

4Gamer:

　Thanks to all that hard work, the user response after the release was good, wasn't it?

Miyabe:

　Actually, when Part 2 was released, I had to leave my job due to various circumstances. While I was on the Azusa Express heading to my hometown of Nagano, Yoshinaga-san called me on my cell phone and said, "You've been inducted into the Platinum Hall of Fame! Not Gold (for the previous game), but Platinum!" in the review in Famitsu magazine, and I cried. It was impressive that Yoshinaga-san, who is usually calm, called me excitedly.

4Gamer:

　That's a good story! Although Part 2 is an older hardware, it has been ported to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and is still available.

Yoshinaga:

　Part 2 was well-received, so there were various developments. There were plans for a mobile phone app and typing software.

Fan support leads to the next step. The result is "Space Channel 5 VR Aratakata☆Dancing Show (Space Channel 5 Kinda Funky News Flash)."

4Gamer:

　As a Sega character, Ulala in a white costume has become established.

4Gamer:

　Time has passed since the release of SC5 Part 2, and Miyabe-san has become a freelance artist, and Moro-san has now been transferred to Sega Sammy Holdings, where he is working in a job unrelated to design. What were your thoughts when you found out that a new game, SC5 VR, would be released in 2020, the 20th year since the release of the game?

Miyabe:

　I thought that the worldview of SC5 would never go out of style, and the game system was complete, so I always thought that a new work on that line would come out at any time.

Moro:

　I thought, "Yoshinaga-san has finally made a new VR work!" I remember that when the anime "Sega Hard Girls" was aired, the director showed me the VR of SC5, and I thought that it had come true.

Yoshinaga:

　That's a bit of a jump in the story (laughs). When we were making the Sega Hard Girls anime, the director made a CG model of the SC5 field to be used in the main story, and at the launch party he showed us a demonstration of it in VR video.

4Gamer:

　Did that lead to the later KDDI VR demo or SC5 VR?

Yoshinaga:

　No, that's a completely different story. The projects after KDDI were led by Grounding (laughs).

4Gamer:

　Miyabe-san, you were in charge of designing new characters for SC5 VR. How was it?

Miyabe:

　As for the design, I received a personal request from Director Hotta (Noboru Hotta, SC5 VR Director). At first, he asked me to draw a single illustration of a character that would be the player's avatar, not for the main game, but for an event, so he asked me to draw a relatively light illustration. After I sent that, the modeled 3DCG was completed relatively quickly. I was a bit taken aback because I had expected the work process to be like the beginning of SC5's development, where the illustration would be made and then the level of completion would be improved.

　After that, he was able to appear in the main game of SC5 VR in a more polished form, so the scope of his activities was wider than initially expected.

Yoshinaga:

　I think the speed of completion was also due to the fact that it was for an event. It's completely different from the relaxed way of making things in the past.

　However, there were voices on the site saying "as expected" about the completion of the requested characters.

4Gamer:

　So the characters created for the event ended up appearing in SC5 VR as they were.

Miyabe:

　Yes. The player characters appear as twins of the player avatars in SC5 VR. There is also a new character, the space pirate "Jaguars", who was created relatively slowly under Hotta's supervision. Hotta is a very logical person when it comes to game development, and he was originally a designer, so he gave specific instructions such as "I want you to show a little more skin" for this character, which made it very easy for me as a designer.

4Gamer:

　Who designed Betsumoro?

Miyabe:

　I think Betsumoro was designed by Hotta. The Morolians were already a completed design, so I was surprised that they turned out to be such a great design. Even if it's a sequel, I realized that the world will expand if we leave it to new staff, not just the same development staff.

Yoshinaga:

　In SC5 VR, the Morolians speak and sing in human language for the first time, so I wanted their appearance to be clearly different, so I went for a monotone direction that wasn't colorful, and I thought white would be good, and it glowed faintly, and it became a color scheme unique to VR.

4Gamer:

　I was surprised that it was a new thing without any sense of incongruity.

　Now, while you have time, I'd like to ask you to say a word about the goods that will be on sale this time...

Miyabe:

　(Looking at the acrylic stand) I think the lemon yellow Ulala costume is amazing. This color was Yoshinaga-san's choice, wasn't it?

Moro:

　The way goods are made has changed since SC5. We made a lot of things back then, but now there are more familiar and usable things, and the content has diversified.

Miyabe:

　I think it's wonderful that fans cherish game goods, as they associate them with their memories of the work. I make figurines because I have such strong feelings about them.

Yoshinaga:

　How does it feel to license out a character you designed and make it?

Miyabe:

　There aren't many people who make figurines independently with this kind of contract. I sell them at events, and people who know Ulala come to buy them, and some are surprised to hear that I'm a designer, so I think I'm doing something complicated (laughs). Fortunately, Yoshinaga-san not only acted as a liaison, but also gave me advice on how to make and sell the figures, so I'd like to continue making things that everyone will be happy with, while relying on Yoshinaga-san when I'm in trouble (laughs).

The official "Ulala" soft vinyl figure is currently on sale at the "Space★Sofubidan" website, a toy manufacturer run by Miyabe. The prototype was created by character designer Ryo Taniguchi, who also created "Miraitowa" and "Someity."

4Gamer:

　It's been a long time, but I'd like to ask you two to say a few words to the fans who love the game and what Space Channel 5 means to them.

Miyabe:

　In my case, I'm like a relative in my current position. I'd be very happy to see their activities from afar, and I'll rush over if something happens. If there's anything I can help you with in the future, I'd be happy if you'd call out to me.

　I can only say "thank you" to the fans. I'm one of the fans now that I've left Sega, and I'd like to continue to work with fellow fans to promote SC5. I might be able to deliver the voices of the fans to Yoshinaga and Moro... so let's talk if we have the opportunity.

Moro:

　This is the first time I've done everything from concept art to character design, and it's a title that I have a lot of attachment to. When I see these goods, as someone who made the goods at the time, I would like to make them again, and if I can help, I would like to be called, just like Miyabe-chan.

　There are still many people who have been fans of SC5 since Part 1, and I'm overwhelmed that there are now two generations of people who love it. I'm very happy that it has been loved for so long. I think that the support of the fans will lead to the next step, just like SC5 VR, so I hope you will spread the word about the fun and cuteness of SC5 on social media. I sometimes see it and give it a "like" (laughs).

4Gamer:

　It's the kind of game where it wouldn't be surprising if something new suddenly happened with SC5. I look forward to your continued success. Thank you very much.

[darkacua]

Weird headcanons of the guys that are just hanging around in my head:

Yuu

They can be very good on instruments, but they sound like a dying animal begging for God's mercy when they sing. Sadly for our freshman group, they love to go to karaoke.

They can't ride skates. You won't find someone with worse balance than them.

There is an eternal discussion about whether he is a girl disguised as a boy or just a very effeminate boy. Ruggie has a lot of money attached to Yuu being a boy and constantly begs him to tell him that's the truth.

Grimm

He is allergic to peaches, they discovered it when they put him on a diet for having gained 4 kilos in a week. Use this as an excuse for not eating healthy.

Somehow, he's good at origami. He surprises many with his paper cranes.

Riddle

He wears braces, hardly anyone notices them because he rarely smiles in front of someone he doesn't consider his friend.

He likes to make collages with papers that are no longer of use to him or someone else. Her favorite is one of a rose that she made from history notes for a subject that was taken out of the syllabus.

Trey

Can't weave even if his life depends on it. He tried, thought it would be cute to make some place mats to put his baked goods on, but failed miserably.

He tends to hum a lot when he's baking. Has a specific tune for each dessert he makes.

Cater

He usually wakes up on the opposite side from which he falls asleep. He moves and kicks so much that it's impossible to share a bed with him without getting hurt.

Hates talking to his sisters on the phone because they always end up complaining about their exes.

Ace

He has the palate of a 5-year-old. If there are no burgers and fries or nuggets on the menu, he simply won't eat anything.

Can't whistle. He would say yes, but if you ask him for a demo he will fake an urgency and run off.

Deuce

He called Professor Trein dad on one occasion. Trein didn't say anything for a good 5 minutes and poor Deuce wanted to jump out of the window in embarrassment.

It is the teachers' favorite. He's not the smartest, but he's one of the few students who really tries to pay attention in class.

He cried like a baby the first night at NRC over the fact that he left his mother home alone. He didn't calm down until I called him around 3 in the morning.

Leona

He has slammed himself into a glass door at least 2 times for being more asleep than awake while skipping class.

Although he does not like vegetables or greens, he is a keen lover of fruits in any type of presentation. He almost bites Ruggie when he tried to steal his mango milkshake.

Ruggie

Have had lice more times than he can remember. You know he got them again when he completely shaves his head.

The first time he ate at NRC he cried. He cried because for the first time in a long time he wasn't hungry after eating and because it was unfair that his grandmother couldn't enjoy that privilege.

Jack

Didn't believe Ace about Riddle's rages until he saw them for the first time. Now he fears him as much as he respects him.

Firmly believes that if he doesn't exercise for a day, all his performance will go down the drain. He tried to go to training once with a bent ankle.

Azul

It's a mama's boy. They talk to each other every day and even have video calls scheduled on the weekends for her mother to give him business advice, sometimes his stepfather participates.

He had a lot of trouble adjusting to the surface air. Occasionally he still has trouble breathing, especially in places with a lot of dust or dirt in the air.

Jade

Has costumes of all kinds in his closet, from the most common to the most extravagant and bizarre one can imagine. He has used each of them on at least one occasion and won't tell anyone why or where.

He likes to talk to Silver about the mushrooms that can be found in the forest, he treasures one that was given to him by one of Silver's rabbit friends.

Floyd

It is lightweight. One drink of alcohol and he's dead to the world.

He joined all the clubs (excluding Jade and Malleus) for at least a week. He got bored with everyone and is only in Basketball because he was given the ultimatum that he will no longer be allowed to join anyone else if he gets out of it.

Kalim

All of his siblings are from different mothers and many of them do not officially consider themselves to be members of the Al-Asim family. He completely ignores this and treats all of them the same.

On one occasion a business associate of his father called one of his sisters a whore and Kalim almost beat the man to death. It was the first and last time anyone saw him get into a physical altercation with such intensity. He has also thrown out many party guests for such comments towards his siblings and their respective mothers.

His hair color is the cause of Marie Antoinette syndrome.

Jamil

Because of him there is a massive fumigation in Scarabia once every two months.

Secretly hates Vil's food so much that he gave him a recipe book along with a set of spices.

He has a large scar on the palm of his hand from an assassination attempt.

Vil

He sets aside a couple of hours a week for his “stress deportation” session, taking pictures of the people who have pissed him off that week and throwing darts at them.

Vil indeed knows his mother. He met her at the age of 15 and she tried to emotionally blackmail Vil for money, his father placed a restraining order after that day towards the woman.

Rook

He loves his family more than anyone can imagine. Once one of his younger brothers came back pretty beaten up by a bully and Rook went to said bully's house to "talk" to him. The boy and his family moved within a week.

Will go out with anyone who asks him to, his motto is that anyone can be the ideal. Whether the relationship lasts more than a week is another story.

His family nicknamed him “Macaron le glouton” because more than once he was caught eating the cookies and cakes they had stored in the middle of the night.

Epel

He has a recurring dream in which he is on a raft along with a zebra, an astronaut, and a ballet dancer. He always wakes up scared and without understanding the dream.

He firmly believes that it shouldn't look bad to hit an old man, if you make fun of him he'll punch you in the house he doesn't care how old you are.

Idia

Tried to crash some women-only event for some kind of collectible figurine. He was discovered instantly and kicked out.

He's totally gone on a personal hunger strike because some anime/manga doesn't have the ending he wants. Ortho always ends up breaking down the door to force him to eat.

Once a girl he met online confessed to him and asked him to be her boyfriend. He instantly blocked it because he thought it was a scam.

Ortho

He has at least three certificates and trophies as a winner of cosplay contests. They are contests that he did not sign up for and he was not wearing a cosplay.

Once tried to eat something out of curiosity as to what the act of chewing and swallowing would be like. It took 4 days to get all the food residue out of his system and gears.

Malleus

Its body is covered in dark green scales, almost reaching black. They don't sting or anything, but sometimes they get caught in his clothes and it's hard to get them off without hurting him.

It has eaten 3 cell phones. This was a method of revenge against Lilia.

Lilia

He often has a nightmare in which Silver's biological family shows up to take him away, leaving him completely alone in his cabin. He always ends up sneaking into his son's room to calm his nerves when he wakes up from this nightmare.

More than once he has bumped into random women who end up slapping him even if he doesn't talk to them. Whenever this happens, he reminds the Diasomnia group that they should end their love affairs correctly and not make careless promises about getting married.

Silver

Another guy who wears braces. Sebek's father put them on because his mouth looked like a shark's with how crowded his teeth were. He always receives a star sticker on his visits for being a very calm patient.

He has calluses on his hands from his practice with the sword.

He has so little interaction with women that prior to joining NRC his only female acquaintances were Mrs. Zigbolt and Sebek's sister. So at the first event where girls showed up at school he just didn't know how to interact with any of them.

Sebek

As a baby he had a wooden stick which he bit when his teeth barely came out. He has it in storage and still uses it when he is stressed.

His appetite isn't hereditary or something fairies have, he's just a glutton and has a fast metabolism.

His horse threw him many times because he scared him with his screams.

He'll never admit it but Riddle terrifies him when he has a fit of rage. This fear only increased when the latter had to be electrocuted TWICE in order to kidnap him in chapter 6.

Español bajo el corte

Headcanons extraños de los chicos que solo estan por ahi dando vueltas en mi cabeza:

Yuu

Puede ser muy bueno con los instrumentos, pero suena como un animal moribundo rogando por la misericordia de Dios cuando canta. Tristemente para nuestro grupo de primer año, le encanta ir al karaoke.

No pueden andar en patines. No encontrarás a alguien con peor equilibrio que ellos.

Hay una discusión eterna sobre si el una chica disfrazada de chico o solo un chico muy afeminado. Ruggie tiene mucho dinero puesto en que Yuu es un chico y le ruega constantemente que diga que esa es la verdad.

Grimm

Es alérgico a los duraznos, lo descubrieron cuando lo pusieron a dieta por haber subido 4 kilos en una semana. Usa esto como excusa para no comer saludable.

De alguna forma, es bueno con el origami. Sorprende a muchos con sus grullas de papel.

Riddle

Usa frenos, casi nadie los nota porque rara vez sonríe frente a alguien que no considere su amigo.

Le gusta hacer collages con papeles que ya no son de ayuda para él o para alguien más. Su favorito es uno de una rosa que hizo con los apuntes de historia de un tema que fue sacado del plan de estudios.

Trey

No puede tejer aunque su vida dependa de ello. Lo intentó, pensó que sería lindo hacer unos manteles en los que poner sus productos horneados, falló miserablemente.

Suele tararear mucho cuando está horneando. Tiene una melodía específica para cada postre que hace.

Cater

Suele despertar del lado contrario al que se duerme. Se mueve y patalea tanto que es imposible compartir una cama con él sin salir herido.

Detesta hablar con sus hermanas por teléfono porque siempre terminan quejándose de sus ex parejas.

Ace

Tiene el paladar de un niño de 5 años. Si en el menú no hay hamburguesas con papas o nuggets el simplemente no comerá nada.

No puede silbar. Él diría que sí, pero si le pides una demostración fingirá una urgencia y saldrá corriendo.

Deuce

Llamó al profesor Trein papá en una ocasión. Trein no dijo nada por unos  buenos 5 minutos y el pobre de Deuce quería saltar de la ventana por la vergüenza.

Es el favorito de los profesores. No es el más listo, pero es uno de los pocos alumnos que realmente intentan prestar atención a las clases.

Lloro como un bebe la primera noche en NRC por el hecho de que dejó a su madre sola en casa. No se calmó hasta que le marcó alrededor de las 3 de la mañana.

Leona

Se ha estampado al menos 2 veces con una puerta de cristal por estar más dormido que despierto mientras se saltaba las clases.

Si bien no le gustan los vegetales o verduras, es un amante vivido de las frutas en cualquier tipo de presentación. Casi muerde a Ruggie cuando este intentó robarse su batido de mango.

Ruggie

Ha tenido piojos más veces de las que puede recordar. Sabes que volvió a tenerlos cuando se rapa por completo la cabeza.

La primera vez que comió en NRC lloró. Lloro porque por primera vez en mucho tiempo no se quedó con hambre después de comer y por lo injusto que era que su abuela no pudiera disfrutar de ese privilegio. 

Jack

No le creía a Ace acerca de los ataques de ira de Riddle hasta que los vio por primera vez. Ahora le teme tanto como lo respeta.

Cree firmemente que si no hace ejercicio un día todo su rendimiento se irá al caño. Intento ir a entrenar una vez con un tobillo doblado.

Azul

Es un niño de mamá. Se hablan todos los días e incluso tienen videollamadas programadas los fines de semana para que su madre le de consejos de negocios, a veces su padrastro participa.

Tuvo muchos problemas para adaptarse al aire de la superficie. De vez en cuando aún tiene problemas para respirar, sobre todo en lugares con mucho polvo o tierra en el aire.

Jade

Tiene disfraces de todo tipo en su armario, desde los más comunes hasta los más extravagantes y extraños que uno se pueda imaginar. Ha usado cada uno de ellos en al menos una ocasión y no le dirá a nadie porque o en donde.

Le gusta hablar con Silver sobre los hongos que se pueden encontrar en el bosque, atesora uno que le dio uno de los conejos amigos de Silver

Floyd

Es de peso ligero. Un trago de alcohol y está muerto para el mundo.

Se unió a todos los clubes (excluyendo los de Jade y Malleus) por lo menos una semana. Se aburrió de todos y solo está en el de Basquetbol porque le dieron el ultimatum de que ya no se le permitirá unirse a ningún otro si se salía de este.

Kalim

Todos sus hermanos son de diferentes madres y muchos de ellos no se consideran oficialmente como miembros de la familia Al-Asim. Él ignora por completo esto y los trata a todos por igual.

En una ocasión un socio de negocios de su padre llamó a una de sus hermanas puta y Kalim casi mata al hombre a golpes. Fue la primera y última vez que alguien lo vio entrar en un altercado físico con tanta intensidad. También ha echado a muchas invitadas de reuniones por ese tipo de comentarios hacia sus hermanos y sus respectivas madres.

Su color de cabello es causa del síndrome de Maria Antonieta.

Jamil

Por él hay una fumigación masiva en Scarabia una vez cada dos meses.

Odio secretamente tanto la comida de Vil que le regaló un libro de recetas junto con un conjunto de especias.

Tiene una gran cicatriz en la palma de la mano de un intento de asesinato.

Vil

Tiene apartado un par de horas a la semana para su sesión de “expulsión de estrés”, toma fotografías de las personas que lo han hecho enojar esa semana y les lanza dardos. 

Vil de hecho si conoce a su madre. La conoció a los 15 años y está trató de chantajear emocionalmente a Vil por dinero, su padre puso una orden restrictiva después de ese día hacia la mujer.

Rook

Ama a su familia más de lo que alguien se pueda imaginar. Una vez uno de sus hermanos menores regresó bastante golpeado por un matón y Rook fue hasta la casa de dicho matón para “hablar” con él. El chico y su familia se mudaron a la semana.

Saldrá con cualquier persona que se lo pida, su lema es que cualquier persona puede ser la ideal. Que la relación dure más de una semana es otra historia.

Su familia lo apodo “Macaron le glouton” porque más de una vez lo atraparon comiéndose las galletas y pasteles que tenían resguardados en medio de la madrugada.

Epel

Tiene un sueño recurrente en el que él está en una balsa junto con una cebra, un astronauta y una bailarina de ballet. Siempre se despierta asustado y sin entender el sueño.

Cree firmemente que no no debería de verse mal golpear a un anciano, si te burlas de él te dará un puñetazo en la casa no le importa tu edad.

Idia

Ha intentado colarse en algún evento solo de mujeres por algún tipo de figurilla coleccionable. Fue descubierto al instante y echado a patadas.

Totalmente se ha puesto en una huelga personal de hambre porque algún anime/manga no tiene el final que él quiere. Ortho siempre termina rompiendo la puerta para obligarlo a comer.

Una vez una chica que conoció online se le confesó y le pidió que fuera su novio. Él la bloqueó al instante porque creyó que era una estafa.

Ortho

Tiene al menos tres certificados y trofeos como ganador de concursos de cosplay. Son concursos a los que no se inscribió y no llevaba un cosplay.

Una vez intento comer algo por la mera curiosidad de como sería el acto de masticar y tragar la comida. Tardaron 4 días en quitar todos los residuos de comida de su sistema y engranajes.

Malleus

Su cuerpo esta cubierto en escamas de un verde oscuro, casi llegando al negro. No le pican ni nada, pero a veces se atoran en la ropa y es difícil de soltarlas sin lastimarlo.

Se ha comido 3 celulares. Esto fue un método de venganza contra Lilia.

Lilia

Suele tener una pesadilla en la que la familia biológica de Silver aparece para llevárselo dejándolo completamente solo en su cabaña. Siempre termina colándose en la habitación de su hijo para calmar sus nervios cuando despierta de esta pesadilla.

Más de una vez se ha topado con mujeres al azar y estas terminan dándole una bofetada incluso si no habla con ellas. Siempre que esto pasa le recuerda al grupo de Disomnia que deben terminar de forma correcta sus relaciones amorosas y no hacer promesas sobre casarse despreocupadamente.

Silver

Otro chico que usa frenos. El padre de Sebek se los puso ya que su boca parecía la de un tiburón con lo encimados que estaban sus dientes. Siempre recibe un sticker de estrella en sus visitas por ser un paciente muy tranquilo.

Tiene callos en las manos por su práctica con la espada.

Tiene tan poco interacción con las mujeres que antes de entrar a NRC sus unicos conocidos del sexo femenino eran la Señora Zigbolt y la hermana de Sebek. Así que en el primer evento en el que se presentaron chicas a la escuela él solo no supo cómo interactuar con ninguna de ellas.

Sebek

De bebe tenía un palo de madera el cual mordía cuando sus dientes apenas salían. Lo tiene guardado y aun lo usa cuando está estresado.

Su apetito no es nada hereditario o algo que las hadas tengas, él solo es glotón y de metabolismo rápido.

Su caballo lo tiró muchas veces porque lo asustó con sus gritos.

No lo admitirá nunca pero Riddle lo aterra cuando tiene un ataque de ira. Este miedo sólo  incrementó cuando este último tuvo que ser electrocutado DOS VECES para poder secuestrarlo en el capítulo 6.

[theramseyloft]

I go you already have my apologies but can you re explain your ideal bird that you are breeding for. From the looks of your loft updates you prefer standard non exaggerated features and minimal muffs and normal length beaks

No worries. ^v^

I've been reworking a few things while we've been stuck on hiatus, so there have been some changes to the plans for the future, and I don't mind going over them.

I am trying to develop a unique breed specifically for therapy work.

As many of my long term followers know: A feral pigeon, found in a parking lot on the brink of starvation, taught himself to alert me for anxiety attacks of crippling severity.

If he could not alert me fast enough to prevent me going catatonic, he knew to go get my husband.

And he worked out a series of behaviors to draw me back out of that state if my husband was not with me.

He later developed an alert specific to blood sugar spikes.

That's far beyond the scope of an Emotional Support Animal!

And I believe that if a pigeon off the literal street was naturally inclined to develop these behaviors, then temperament traits conducive to such service work can be selected for.

I aim to do that by combining highly intelligent Performance breeds like Homers, Rollers, and Tumblers with structurally sound exhibition breeds possessing a demonstrably heritable mellow temperament.

And I want this breed to have a unique look that easily identifies it so that it will be hard for feather merchants to counterfeit. (Yes, that is a thing that happens.)

So, my favorite embellishments in the breeds we are already using are going to be enhanced by a few exhibition breeds who exemplify those traits, and one specifically for color.

To that end, we will be utilizing these performance breeds:

Feral

I can get into whether or not this is a breed in itself in another post. This is going to be a long one as it is.

There are several risks to working with ferals, absolutely.

You can pretty much guarantee that any you may find have lice, one or two species of worms, at least two protozoan parasites, and could potentially have a whole host of other bacterial or viral pathogens with out showing any outward sign.

Anyone who works with ferals as a first responder must be prepared to quarantine them carefully, vaccinate them, and test them to find out what all you will need to treat.

But there are three huge advantages for the Assistance Pigeon Project:

They are the epitome of structural soundness. That slight, agile little body has come to be through surviving generations of environmental pressures from having to travel long distances to find food to having to dodge a wide range of predators like cats and hawks.

There is no better source of intelligence than the descendent of birds that have survived for generations on their wits and luck alone.

And no better source of an excellent immune system than the result of generations living with the host of parasites and pathogens that they are so often loaded down with in the wild. There is a reason you won't see any outward sign that a feral has anything!

Once a feral's parasites and pathogens are cleaned out, they are incredibly sturdy!

Being a domesticated animal, the offspring of ferals in human care tend to focus all the inquisitive brightness that kept their line alive in the wild on bonding and communicating with their care taker.

Racing Homer

The thoroughbred of pigeons.

If you do not count Ferals as a breed, this is the most structurally sound and intelligent of all pure breeds.

Hands down the single most athletic!

They are stockier, more aerodynamic, and far more muscular than the average feral, because they were bred to be able to find their way home from drop points up to and over 500 miles away.

It takes not just fine tuned musculature and metabolism, but an excellent memory and keen intelligence to adapt on the literal fly to the changes in environment and predator populations over such distances.

Because of their exposure in races to hundreds or even thousands of other birds from lofts all across the country, Racers also have the strongest immune system of any purebred.

Birmingham Roller

This is not a breed that flies long distances like Racers or Ferals, but as a performer, it is still required to be structurally sound.

Performances consist of flying in a small flock called a Kit to perform a waterfall effect of staggered rolls where birds backflip 15-20 times in a row in midair, straighten from the roll, and rejoin the kit, one after another.

They are less flighty than Ferals and less independent than Racers, typically working much more closely with their trainer: keeping within sight of the loft and earshot of the person.

This makes them a little more human focused and naturally inclined to be biddable.

Though many traits vary wildly by line, these tend to be very small birds; energetic, jaunty, and playful.

Aside from adding that wonderful temperament, they will help keep the end result small.

Portuguese Tumbler

I waffled on these for quite a while, mostly because of their very small size and absolute breeding overdrive.

But they are excellent parents despite being the second smallest breed of pigeon in the world, and, unlike the Valencian Figurita, generally don't need one of their nestlings fostered.

And that speaks very highly of just how physically fit they are.

There are a few big breeds among the ones selected specifically for temperament, so Ports and Birms should help bring the size down and improve the parenting ability of the blend.

But the real push was just how Exuberantly friendly and playful this gleeful little breed is!

There are two performance breeds I have no hands on experience with yet that I would like to add:

Oriental Roller

This one is a dual purpose:

Once again, a structurally sound bird of moderate build, because it is still flown in competition.

But what interests me is the tail.

This breed is one of the major components of the Mindian (Miniature Indian) Fantail, Bred to Indian Fantails too small to compete with in order to improve the structural soundness and preserve the fan.

And as one of the embellishments I want in this breed is a slight fan, this body type is ideal to help display it comfortably.

Turkish Takla

The Takla is a Roller breed, still flown in competition, and becoming popular in the US for its docile, biddable temperament.

It comes with or without crest or muffs, and I very much like the grouse muffs of this breed.

We'll have to see what the temperament is really like, but the bird is gorgeous, and I expect it will blend well in terms of structure, temperament, and moderate embellishments that are still eye catching.

Breeds selected for temperament:

Show Line Danzig Highflier

This breed is the single best investment I have ever made towards the temperament of my breeding flock!

They are intensely friendly! Every bird I have raised with any amount of Danzig in them has gone on to be a beloved cuddle bug of a pet.

My Husband's ESA, Cotta, is the closest we have gotten so far to the behaviors we want in a bird bred for Service work.

Not only is he my Husband's devoted ESA, he also acts as mine when I need regulation, and even Cheeto's when he struggles with impulse control or obsessive behaviors.

Cotta is so intensely human focused that he has organized Cheeto and another bird who was only with us temporarily to provide me aid during a very severe episode of vertigo.

That temperament has passed so reliable through Satin's family that I would have to be an idiot not to incorporate this breed.

Frillback

A shockingly mellow breed!

And not just because they could only be less aerodynamic if you gave them parachutes..

A great test to rule out learned helplessness being the root of any big or showy breed's apparent mellowness is to cross them with a smaller breed that flies well so the offspring will be more maneuverable than the big or highly embellished parent.

If the offspring that can physically evade you is flighty and nervous by nature, then the "mellow docility" of the parent is just learned helplessness.

But if that more maneuverable offspring is just as docile and tractable as the parent, then you can be pretty well assured that that really is the parent's temperament.

Frillbacks fall so soundly into the "genuinely that sweet tempered" category that it has passed on into multiple generations of my flock.

I won't use this breed much, because the curls are a little much and it's hard to find clean legged birds or lines with only moderate muffs.

But their temperament is so fantastic that it would be remiss of me not to use them at all.

Lucerne

This elegant Swiss breed borders on too mellow for its own good.

There are lines with peeps so quiet that they fail to trigger the parent's feeding response. Paired with another breed, though, even completely oblivious Lucerne will respond correctly once they see their mate feeding.

My first pair, despite hating me with the fury of a thousand suns, were so perfectly tractable that working with them was a breeze.

Some of my most out going individuals are crossed with this breed.

I love their structure and their very moderate Grouse muffs.

They have a shorter beak than I like, but it's long enough to be functional, and the other breeds will keep the beak from getting too short.

Show Type Racing Homer

This is another show breed famed for their docility.

While it isn't as absolutely incredible as the breeds higher on the list, I will be incorporating them for their very simple, elegant structure, and bold, out going curiosity.

Classic Old Frill

This breed is somewhat of an indulgence, I admit.

Of the breeds included for temperament, this is the one most likely to be flighty or skittish.

But I have such a deep and abiding love for what they are: A return to form to the original standard of the Turkish Hunkari from the now beakless Modern and Oriental Frills.

Basically, the avian version of the Retromops (If you love Pugs, you should look this breed up. It's a return to the original standard: a pug with a muzzle, that can breathe normally and regulate its body temperature.)

This breed was my first love, and I want to continue to support the breeders that loved them enough to write preventative measures into the breed standard requiring that their beaks never get so short that they can't feed their peeps unaided.

There is one other breed I want to add for temperament entirely because of the temperament of mixed progeny I have purchased for the breeding program:

American Show Racer

Titan and her Mother, Ibis, take very strongly after their ASR Grandmother/Mother, respectively.

Ibis was so friendly and outgoing on arrival that I was sorely tempted to keep her as a personal pet instead of having her join the breeding flock.

Titan, despite being very defensive when she was little, grew up to be so much like her mother it takes my breath away.

I am curious to see if this breed is really that sweet tempered and it really passes so reliably, or if Ibis and her line inherited their temperament from the Lucerne side.

There are only two breeds added purely for their embellishments:

Old Dutch Capuchin

I love the Danzig's mane, and I think a little touch of ODC will add some luxury to it.

My experience with this breed was not the best temperament wise, but I have read that not to be the norm and hope to have better luck with a different line.

Garden Fantail

This is the most structurally sound of all fantails, able to fully close the fan when not displaying to fly and walk comfortably.

I do not want a full fan in this breed, but Fans seem to be a partial dominant with variable expression, if my two half fantails,

Sher and

Soiree, are any indication.

Not a necessity, by any stretch, but I really like the look of a moderate fan.

Finally, there is a single breed I plan to incorporate for color.

Archangel

There are exactly two traits I want from the Archangel:

The dominant half of its bronzing, which results in a robin like rusty breast in heterozygous form

And the intense sheen of its recessive grease quill.

With luck and patience, I hope for these nine breeds; six for performance, six for temperament, two for embellishments, and one for color...

Add up to a healthy, long lived Therapy breed whose intelligence is not blunted by their laid back mellow docility and whose unique look sacrifices none of their structural integrity.

The breeder cap will remain at ten pair, hatch controlled between evaluation periods.

Babies will be evaluated for six months.

If neither is an improvement over one or both parents, both will be classed as pets and adopted out.

If one is an improvement over which ever parent fits the program the least well, or better yet the ideal blend of their parents beneficial traits, then that one will stay, the parents will retire and go up for adoption as a bonded pair, and the sibling will be made available to the public.

New blood will come in to improve what ever trait is most lacking after each evaluation period.

Offspring we produce may become available at younger than six months once the temperament I want is reliably consistent.

But I expect that to take a fair few generations.

[hyacinthusmemorial]

I felt disquieted today, my work week is kind of disheartening, but I had a thought about delivering prophecies from deities, and I thought about how sometimes Prophets have to perform physical representations of the future that are sometimes painful, and I thought of Apollo within the context of Forgotten Age. I don’t think Gaia is kind to him when she gives him a prophecy, thus I wrote a blurb, not a full fic, but a piece.

Warnings: mild gore

—

A westerly wind blew through his hair, tossing the locks, caressing and pulling his skin, and Apollo shivered, but he refused to deviate from his task. Even as Zephyrus jostled the trees, who clapped their hands as they watched the play beneath them.

It was a neat square cubby he had dug in the earthen dirt, and he could have used some magic, some incantation, but he was made to do it with his hands, to really feel it under his nails as he pushed things away from their resting place. He disturbed the earth, but he had done so from his birth—making an enemy of Gaia, her torture prevalent forever etched upong his mind for all that he had taken from her. He scratched at her soft skin, carved his way into it.

Keep digging, she urged him.

How many? He asked her.

She responded with silence, and so he dug. His fingers coated in ichor as he lost his nails to the stony earth and the roots of grass. Blood on mud, and where was his brother?

Fire, blood, woe. His sightless eyes saw so much more than just carved up earth, he saw her schemes and he saw her will, and she had a dreadful plan for man. Starve them here, melt them there, drought here, magma here, burn the pests away—men were just lice in the hair of Gaia, and she wanted them gone.

Climb in, she said when his body was covered in dirt. Go on Keeper of Delphi, go on, climb in the hole, and look up at my beloved.

He resisted, and she burned his mind.

Climb in! She screamed.

He scrambled across the dirt, and his chiton got sooty with muck as he crawled in the grave she made him dig. He looked up at Uranus, and he saw the great face there asleep.

He cannot save you, Gaia told him.

“I know,” Apollo whispered.

She would not release him, and he lay there for days, bugs crawling over him as she ravaged him with vision after vision, and at last, Hermes found him, green eyes concerned as he looked over the edge of the tomb.

He asked no questions, sliding his fingers under Apollo’s arms and legs. Mud and bugs and worms rained down upon the land from his shivering form.

“Let me take you home,” Hermes pleaded.

“Call a council,” Apollo commanded instead. “Gaia speaks to the gods.”

[vanillablankcanvas]

The Revenge Plan Part 10

The Battle of the Bands!

(my adobe illustrator isn't working right now, will adjust the banner later)

Countdown is on. I'm about 70% done with the final video so should be a few weeks away. Stay tuned. <3

Head Lice

Wasn't even their song! A very popular Funk Troll song that Cider made them do a rock cover of.

Head Lice Performance

Crimp

At first it looks like Crimp is still getting used to her ukelele and hasn't be practicing. The crowd laughs. Floyd tosses her a chord which she plugs into the ukelele without looking.

And she smirks.

Crimp's Performance.

Four The Madlads

Cider wanted to win, he made them play a very, very difficult song. Pray for them.

Four the Madlads Performance

Cabaret

Some were worried that Cab's song choice wouldn't go down well with the Rock Troll crowd but Floyd had absolute faith in him.

Cabaret's Performance.

Molten Hazard

They wanted to do one of their own songs but Cider made them perform one of Floyd's songs to mess with him.

Molten Hazard's Performance.

Kismet

The final act had been delayed as noone could find them...

Still trapped in the recording booth. All attempts at getting the door open and breaking the glass had failed.

They tried calling for help but it was a soundproof booth. No one could hear them!

Boom hadn't stopped shoulder charging the door.

Ablaze tried to calm him down and get him to rest.

Boom - "Floyd never gave up on us! We're not giving up on him!"

Trickee - "Okay, what big plan do you have to get us out then huh?"

Boom looked around, trying to find anything to spark an idea.

He might have one.

He tapped his chin, thinking it through.

Hype - "Okay Boom, you have a look on your face. What's your idea, man?"

Boom looked up at the glass and then back to his friends.

Boom - "We're doing our own Perfect Family Harmony."

Once again thank you @zivazivc and @felsicveins for lending your characters to me <3 <3 <3

(Side Note: Kismet were planning on performing THIS at the Battle)

[theinternetisaweboflies]

Jägermeister

Chapter Three: First Drift/Last Drift

Newt and Hermann had to wait while the doctors qualified to perform neurological imaging were tracked down at the various parties raging across the Shatterdome. 

They waited in the triage area, where the beds were only separated by a curtain. As soon as the medics left, Newt climbed out of his bed and wheeled his IV over to open the curtain.

The medics had already poked, prodded, and x-rayed everything more accessible than their brains. Newt had been diagnosed with a concussion, two cracked ribs, and a sprained wrist. He considered himself pretty darn lucky. He’d walked away with worse injuries after a fistfight with Aleksis Kaidonovsky over whether or not a hot dog was technically a sandwich. 

Newt and Hermann both had subconjunctival hemorrhaging, but Newt also had scratched his cornea. The medics gave him an eyepatch after applying a topical anesthetic directly to his eyeball, which had grossed Hermann out so much that he asked them to close the curtain again. 

Not long after that, they were wheeled off to imaging– and the OR for Newt once they got a good look at his brain– and then to separate rooms.

It was late by the time Newt’s medic turned off the lights and shut the door behind her. His room was surprisingly dark. He had expected at least some ambient light from the monitors he was hooked up to, but all they did was show his rising heart rate. 

Newt had always been a little bit afraid of the dark. When he snuck into Jaeger Refuse Storage to scavenge parts for his DIY PONs, he had taken three flashlights with him. One was actually a headlamp, but he still had to hold another in his mouth just to have a hand free for the Milking Machine. If anyone could use a bioluminescent tongue, it was Newt. 

Now his fear of the dark was compounded with some sort of medical phobia from Mutavore’s memories of being experimented on by his masters. 

Newt's room was silent, except for the insectile clicking and hissing noises in his head. Medical had assured him the noises were just a byproduct of his brain biopsy. Such ASMR-ass sounds should have been Easy Listening to a guy with music taste as eclectic as Newt’s own, but there was something inherently distracting about them, and Newt had a hard enough time focusing on a good day. 

There were moments, ever since his first drift, when Newt felt like he should be much taller. That had always been true, but now he felt like he should be much, much taller. As in, 2,500 tons of awesome or awful. Whatever you wanna’ call it. 

That was no big deal, even if it did give him vertigo. Worse were the moments when Newt felt like he was the one making the hissing and clicking noises. Not just the shifting pressure in his skull, but Newt himself. Corrugated tymbals or abdominal spiracles. Stridulation. Something like that. Entomology had never been one of Newt’s specialties, so his knowledge was mostly limited to kaiju skin lice.

This was worse than the extreme height dysmorphia, because the noises didn’t come from the kaiju. The noises came from their masters- the colonising race that Newt had already begun to refer to in his mind as the Precursors. 

In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), one of the main characters said, “Well, dinosaurs were around for 150 million years, and man has only been around for two million years. Who knows? One day, dinosaurs could make a comeback.” 

At least, according to the subtitles. New hadn’t rewatched it since he met a Mako, found out what “Oji-chan” meant, and devoted himself to learning Japanese for the twelve whole days it took him, because they had three fucking alphabets. It helped that he had basically every kaiju movie memorized by the time he turned nine. Not counting the American Godzilla films, because they were never as good as the Japanese ones. (Not counting the 1998 Godzilla film set in New York, because that one was objectively if unintentionally hilarious. Newt’s favorite part was when Godzilla got pregnant.)

Anyway, Newt now knew that the numbers cited in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) were not entirely accurate. It was more like 65 million years and 300,000 years, respectively. 

The Precursors were around for a lot longer than that . 

One day, they could make a comeback. 

The noises in Newt’s head grew even more pervasive as his heart rate finally fell out of sheer exhaustion and he drifted towards uneasy unconsciousness.

His first and last drift had been like night and day.

Mutavore’s brain had been damaged, so Newt experienced their drift in a series of strobing images. It reminded him of an old film reel with too much dead space between the cells. During more modern movies, the screen was still technically dark for a split second in between each individual frame, so for every hour of film you watched, you were sitting in darkness for twenty minutes. 

You didn’t notice, because your mind was busy filling in the blanks, but the images from Mutavore’s brain were too disjointed to autofill. Instead, the darkness in between turned each one into its own jumpscare: visions of slash and burn colonization, medical experimentation that was closer to reverse vivisection than growing clones in test tubes, row after row of constrained kaiju like some kind of even more fucked up version of The Matrix . 

The soundtrack was even worse. The noises were everywhere, surround sound, as if bugs were burrowing into Newt’s very brain. 

He didn’t understand why the Precursors needed to make noises like that if they communicated via a hive mind. There was just no biological imperative for them to go around sounding like a goddamn Madagascar hissing cockroach. It couldn’t even be an intimidation tactic, since they sent kaiju to do all their heavy life taking.

The entire experience had been equal parts terrifying and metamorphic. It left Newt with shaking hands, a racing heart, and the general feeling that someone else had just claimed squatter’s rights to his brain. 

The second drift was different. Otachi Jr.’s fetal brain may have been undamaged, but it was also underdeveloped, so its connection to the hive mind wasn’t as overpowering as Mutavore’s had been. The flow of information was smoother too, as if Newt’s brain had been terraformed into something kaiju compatible, just like humanity had terraformed Earth for them with ozone depletion and carbon-dioxide pollution.

Sure, the baby had been screaming in the background the whole time, but in Newt’s experience, that was just what babies did. If anything, it drowned out the Precursors’ biologically unimperative noises. 

The difference between the two drifts could have been exclusively due to the variables of the kaiju brains, but Newt’s working hypothesis was that it had all come down to Hermann. 

If Jaegers were built to contend with kaiju, it made some sort of sense that both would require two people to share the neural load, but that had never occurred to Newt, who was notoriously terrible at asking for help. For six doctorates, he had moved his couch between dorm rooms with the help of only a rolling desk chair. The only reason he had made a second squid cap for his PONs unit was redundancy. 

Hermann had been there, anyway, when Newt needed him. He was there now, when Newt woke up screaming, one of his hands finding Newt’s carotid artery, just as it had after that first terrifying and metamorphic drift with Mutavore. 

...

@lastdaysofwar

[ernestelm]

Tuggoffelees Headcanons

Sometimes with different interpretations bc Im actually a cat, a dog and a weasel parading as a human, you would probably see me slowly navigate it out bc I alrdy have several clear stories in my brain. Also I do Quaxo is Misto stuff but I still call him Misto usually, I don't like writing the letter Q.

Misto fell first but Tugger fell harder

Childhood friends Misto thought they were alrdy married, he's a "its you, its always going to be you" because we love our horribly platonic girlies (me, I am girlie😔)

Tugger absolutely just went "wait he's so cool, what the hell" when Misto started his Mr Mistoffelees act. Like he was like already slightly in love but suddenly it overflowed and now he doesn't know what to do

He doesn't even know if what Misto does to him is just banter or flirting (Misto's version flirting are basically trust games where he confirms Tugger does in fact, trust him)

Tugger has zero idea how magic works but is a supportive bf

When Misto researches a new trick and needs someone to show it to or help he finds Tugger first

This has been happening since they were young

Tugger has zero idea what is happening but is always hyping Misto up even when he fails

Misto has slight stage fright so when he's performing, he mostly focuses on Tugger because he knows no matter what Tugger will never be disappointed in him

Tugger doesn't realizes this bc he always sits near Old Deut and thinks Misto is just looking at him

Tugger is absolutely terrified of lice since childhood

So do the other maine coons but Tugger is suuuper dramatic about it

He always runs to Misto all distressed and whines to him and asks him to zap them out

But Tugger is also kind of scared of electric so Misto has to slowly calm him down and hold his hand before doing the lightest shock that is required to kill it

and afterwards he has to console him and helps him clean it out

Tugger's owners are still confused as to why he always runs out after getting lice and always comes back all clean with the happiest trot

Misto is super secure about the relationship

Which is why Tugger is still confused if they are in a relationship or not

he is still waiting for Misto to confirm it ;>

Misto doesn't get it and thinks that Tugger is just shy or smth and thinks that its kinda cute

Misto goes non-verbal during performances

I know I broke this one, but I will try and do better and learn some more hand gestures (and hand signs for Victoria, my version is not deaf just selectively mute, Jemima does her talking(she's super fluent!) they'll probably be doing BSL tho bc London)

He requires more focus, esp in his performance form (with the half moon face! bc I realized I couldn't live without it)

Tugger is usually his assistant and helps him with talking when needed

It adds to the mystery part of the Mr Mistoffelees act ( I want to hopefully show how like how terrifying but alluring he is, he's like an elegant Macavity in my eyes )

Misto is actually super direct

Dude is not vague, the dude knows what he wants

He only "insults" Tugger with facts

He does show affection through words but Tugger always goes (in his head) "WHAT DOES THIS MEAN"

His man is dumb, let him be dumb

[silicacid]

Shelters seeing significant increase in infectious diseases: UN

About 316 people were killed, and another 664 injured, by Israeli bombardments in the 24 hours between the afternoon of December 2 to afternoon of December 3, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Aid trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered from Egypt on December 3, though their number and contents were unclear, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also reports in its latest situation assessment.

According to the latest UNOCHA report:

UN shelters in southern Gaza have seen significant increase in communicable diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections and lice due to overcrowding.

Hospital bed capacity across Gaza is down from 3,500 prior to the hostilities to 1,400, amid a surge in people seeking treatment.

Only one currently functioning hospital in Gaza has the capacity to perform complex surgery or treat critical trauma cases.