#Shiny Smily Story

[wil-is-done]

Shiny Smily Story - Chapter 3: High-Spec Troubleshooting

Summary: Tokino Sora, after spending her first few months in hololive as the agency’s sole talent, will finally be joined by new recruits to her group, and she is determined to welcome her juniors with a bright smile and open arms, whoever they might be.

(…and the monkey’s paw closes a finger.)

Word Count: 3.061

-

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost. 

Like management predicted, Roboco attracted a lot of attention. 

A-chan never saw so many people trickle into a stream’s waiting room, and by the time her debut stream started, the viewers were over three thousand strong. In one day, she gained twenty thousand subscribers. By the end of the week, eighty thousand - nearly catching up to Sora’s subscriber count. It’s a little scary, watching the numbers rise so quickly. Makes her worry if they can stay on top of things with this kind of growth.

Roboco seems ready for it, at least. She barely batted an eye, and went through with her plans, day by day. That was the key to making her growth stick. The cute robot girl with uncannily humanlike appearance and behavior might be a great hook, but the content she focuses on makes her more than just a passing curiosity. Gaming is a huge market all over the world, especially the shooters that Roboco mostly plays. And she’s damn good at it, from what A-chan could understand. Inhuman at it, her chat would claim. Makes sense, considering. 

All that attention rippled over to Sora, too. Everyone wanted to know who’s the girl that gets to call the world’s most sophisticated robot her junior. Not all of the attention is necessarily good. Management expected this too. They appointed A-chan as Sora’s chat moderator, and opened part-time listings for more. A-chan offered to moderate for Roboco too, at least until someone else gets hired, but she declined. Said something about how she ‘excelled at multitasking’. 

Maybe A-chan could take some lessons from Roboco about that. It’ll certainly help with calculating the agency’s earnings and dealing with Sora at the same time.

“Isn’t the point of recruiting more members is so we can work together?” she asks, from her perch on the bed.

It’s a familiar arrangement. Friday nights at Sora’s place, after dinner, before they put a movie on. A-chan’s excuse is always so Sora won’t get lonely, but honestly it’s mostly because her own place is too depressing to stay in for a whole weekend. Sora’s on her bed, cuddling Ankimo, keeping herself busy with her phone while she waits for A-chan, by the foot of the bed typing away on her laptop, to wrap up the week’s workload. It’s quiet, it’s cozy, it’s the perfect environment to unwind and just. Exist.

A-chan hums, but doesn’t look up from her laptop. “Not the point, but I guess I get where you’re coming from.”

“So it makes sense to do more collabs, right?” 

“You’ve done plenty of collabs with her,” A-chan easily counters. It’s not the first time this conversation has happened. 

“In the studio. Those always feel so…” A-chan pauses her typing, waits for Sora to finish, but the word never comes. Instead, Sora sighs. “I want to do something a bit more casual. Personal. You know what I mean, right?”

A-chan does. The girl puts her heart on her sleeves. You don’t have to be friends with her since grade school to know that. It never stops bumming her out whenever she has to drag Sora down to earth. “Sora, the content that she’s making doesn’t really mesh well with your image.” 

“I play games too, you know. On my off time,” Sora harrumphs, and A-chan’s tempted to look, because she can tell Sora’s pouting, and Sora’s pouting face is really cute. 

“Horror games.” A-chan yawns, groans, stretches her back and neck to get rid of the growing crick. The snap she hears makes her cringe. “Which also doesn’t track with your image.” 

The bed shifts behind her, and she feels soft fingers caressing her neck and start massaging her gently, immediately getting to all the sweet spots the only way someone deeply familiar with A-chan’s body, someone who’s done this hundreds of time could. A-chan hums appreciatively, and relaxes under Sora’s hands. 

“What if… horror game collab?” Sora sounds so earnest and A-chan feels a little bad for letting a scoff slip out, especially when Sora’s pampering her. “What? It could be funny!”

A-chan smirks sheepishly. “Sorry, sorry, but… Roboco’s a robot, Sora. She’s not going to get scared by some fakey horror game.”

“How come you get scared if you know it’s all fakey?”

“Because I’m a flimsy human? With all the weakness that that entails.” A-chan shakes her head. “I don’t know why I’m humoring this. I just said horror games don’t fit your brand.”

The gentle strokes that Sora’s leaving are suddenly interrupted by a sharp jab. A-chan grimaces and pulls away, yelping, “Ow, ow, ow, hey, come on. What are you, thirteen?”

Sora huffs, her fingers leaving A-chan completely. A-chan keeps her focus on her laptop, biting down on her lip. It’ll be pretty rude to ask for more after that. The bed shakes - A-chan imagines Sora’s dramatically flopped belly-first onto it. It’s quiet for a minute, two minutes, three, and A-chan’s almost fooled into thinking that Sora’s decided to give up the matter. Then there’s some shuffling, and she hears Sora’s voice close to her left ear. 

“A-chaaaaan.”

A-chan is immediately familiar with that tone. Sora’s decided to act petulant, and say her name and grate on her nerves over and over again until A-chan indulges her. Rolling her eyes, A-chan turns to look, and that’s her biggest mistake. 

The puppy eyes. Goddamn, the puppy eyes.

A-chan recoils, hands flying up to cover her suddenly red hot face, eyes staring daggers into the carpet. Even without looking, she can still feel Sora’s puppy eyes on her, feel the pressure bearing down on her. It’s like if someone dropped a mountain on her shoulders. 

“Sora, you have never played a shooter in your life,” A-chan mumbles into her hand, when her cheeks feel less on fire. 

“I can learn!” Sora insists. Begs. “Pleeeeease?” 

Ah, hell.

If Sora’s puppy eyes destroyed her guard, then Sora’s begging tone is the killing blow. 

“Fine, fine.” A-chan clears her throat. Heaves deep breaths to calm her heart back to normal. She sits up a little straighter. “You ask Roboco, I’ll tell management.”

Sora cheers. Hands wrap around A-chan from behind, and suddenly she’s enveloped by the scent of tulips and the hint of vanilla from Sora’s shampoo. When Sora pulls away, A-chan forces herself to not linger on it, turns her attention back to her laptop, and curses under her breath when she realizes she lost track of her calculations.

-

“Hello-robo! High performance robot, Roboco here! Everyone, how’re you doing? Hope you all are doing peachy. There’re a lot of you here today, huh? Thank you for showing up!” 

Sora listens to Roboco’s intro, waits for Roboco to give her cue, the joy blooming in her chest mixing with a bit of awe. It’s only been a little over a month since her debut, and she’s already a natural at this. Sora’s own debut jitters lasted much longer. She can’t help but wonder - is it because of Roboco’s natural composure, or is there some advantage from being a robot that she’s not aware of?

“Now, in case you missed the thumbnail, or the title, or the description, we have a very special guest joining us today! She really needs no introduction, so without further ado…” 

Sora takes her cue and doesn’t miss a beat. “Everyone! How are you doing? I’m Tokino Sora!” 

“It’s Sora-senpai, everyone! Sora-senpai actually came by to play with us!” Roboco’s practically hopping up and down in her seat, and would probably have pulled Sora in for a hug had they be in the same room. 

Sora can’t hold back an amused chuckle, seeing her junior act so giddy through the camera. “Roboco, please. You sound like a toddler.”

“I am! Technically.”

Roboco laughs, and Sora does too, haltingly, trying not to think about that too hard. The chat scrolls by in a flash, though Sora catches a few interesting, varying comments - many expressing surprise at her playing a shooter game, some squealing over how cute Roboco and her look together, a few are even saying they don’t know who Sora is. Those catch her off guard. She really is treading into the unknown here. 

“So today, together with Sora-senpai, we’ll be playing Splatoon 2!” Roboco glances at the camera. “Senpai, have you played this game before?”

“Sure have.” Sora exaggerates a smug shrug. 

“Oh? Really?” Roboco blinks.

“The practice rounds we did before this counts, right?” Sora sticks a cheeky tongue out. 

Roboco snickers in realization. She rolls her eyes, more to herself than anyone, for letting herself walk into that one. “Right, right.”

The chat loves that too. The waves of ‘wwwwwww’ and ‘lol’ start rolling in. Sora breathes a sigh of relief and tries to pass it off as a light chuckle. A joke never fails to make a good cover to hide her nervousness. And she really is. She’s watched plenty of Roboco’s streams. She’s seen her skills and, even with her limited knowledge, understands the miles-wide gap with her own’s. The few practice rounds they had together didn’t inspire much confidence in her either.  

“Okay, okay. Full disclosure, I have never played this game before. I’m probably going to die a lot if Roboco’s not here helping me,” Sora admits, because there’s only so long you can keep a cover up. With a bashful smile, she adds, “I guess that makes you the senpai this time around.” 

“Oof. Oh my. Don’t think I’m ready to be a senpai just yet.” Roboco’s voice wavers, her smile more of a cringe. It’s surprising how much the prospect fazes her, but she bounces back quickly. “Not to worry then, senpai. I’ll gladly carry you all the way through. Any threat against you shall be swiftly eliminated.” 

Roboco’s eyes flash a striking red for a split second. Sora laughs haltingly again, because she appreciates the sentiment, but how Roboco expresses it could use some work. 

“So!” Roboco leans forward in her chair. “Shall we begin?”

“Well. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Roboco pumps a fist. “Then let’s start!” 

“After you.”

“No, I already- senpai, you have to press start to-”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

-

Nobody is surprised when Sora’s inkling burst into a shower of pink paint not ten seconds into the match. Nobody is surprised when this happens thirty more times until the match ends. Nobody is surprised when this continues for every match for the next hour. 

And yet, Sora never loses, because Roboco is just that good. She’ll clear out the enemy team in seconds, leaving their team free to cover the map in their colors. She’ll swoop in like a hero and protect Sora whenever she’s in trouble. Really, the only times Sora dies is when the enemy team wises up and swarms Roboco, and Sora gets killed in the crossfire. Sora keeps on laughing through each death, and showers Roboco with thanks every time she gets saved. Roboco visibly preens under the praise, all grins and blushing cheeks, so at least she’s enjoying herself. 

The chat scrolls by in the corner of her eye, darker and colder than it’s ever been, and Sora tries not to glance to her left any more than she has to. She understands - it must be a bit annoying to watch someone play a game you like badly and die over and over again, so she can tolerate some complaining, but then there’s accusations of her taking advantage of Roboco and how Roboco’s better off without her and- the nastiest ones quickly gets bonked out of existence by A-chan. Thankfully. 

“That was fun! Right? Senpai?”

“Uh, yeah!” Sora forces a smile and a chuckle. Sheepishly scratching the back of her head, she sighs. “It’s just- goodness, I’m… so much worse at this than I thought.” 

“Aw, senpai, don’t beat yourself up over it,” Roboco coos easily, and wow, she really is the senpai today. “You’re new to this game, and to shooting games in general. It’s unfair to expect you to match my skill in such a short amount of time. Not to mention, literally impossible. Humans just aren’t built like that.”

Sora makes an agreeing noise. Helps with the cold needles prickling her back, at least, telling herself that. “One of the perks of being a robot, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Roboco says, too quickly, voice too flat. “It… really depends on the robot’s intended function.” Her eyes wander to the right, to something off camera. Something Sora can’t see. “So I suppose what I was intended for… must require me to have excellent marksmanship.”

There’s a lull, a deafening silence, where Sora struggles to respond, and Roboco doesn’t continue. Her eyes are growing distant, unfocused, like she’s someplace else. Like she’s lost in her thoughts. Can robots even get lost in their thoughts?

Something electric zips up Sora’s spine when she remembers they are still live.

“Um. Roboco?”

She blinks. Her pupils rapidly readjust. Her posture goes very stiff. “Yes, I’m present,” she states, her voice stilted, hollow, robotic, then she relaxes, and it’s as if nothing happened. “Sorry ‘bout that. The old noggin’ likes to wander off on its own sometimes.” She makes a silly face and bops herself on the head. Sora’s smile doesn’t fall, but it comes dang close. 

“It’s fine. This ditzy side of you is pretty cute too,” she quips, hoping for a bullseye. 

Roboco preens again, hands covering her flushing cheeks. “You are such a flatterer, senpai,” she giggles. “Well, much as I’d love to hear you praise me more, I know you have other stuff to do after this, so. Unfortunately, this is where we part for now. Everyone, say thank you to Sora-senpai coming here!”

“Thanks for having me! This was so much fun, we should do it again sometime.” Sora adds a laugh, just in case. The line leaves her lips so rehearsed, maybe no one - not Roboco, not A-chan, not her viewers - can see through it. 

They take turns saying their farewells and thanking the viewers for dropping by. They put their end screens up, cut their mic and camera from the stream feed, and start the ending countdown. Sora falls back against her chair with a long sigh, letting her eyes flutter to a close. Usually, she’ll watch the chat say their goodbyes, and maybe scroll up to see if there are any interesting comments she missed. This one time, she’ll wait until A-chan’s scrubbed the chat clean. 

“Thank you for staying strong until the end, senpai,” Roboco suddenly says.

Sora cracks an eye open, sees Roboco’s grateful smile, and breathing is a little easier now. She opens her mouth, but doesn’t get to speak, because someone else is entering the call. 

“Had fun?” A-chan looks normal, talks like she normally does, so why does she come across as so dang smug? 

Sora sits up and puffs up her cheeks. “Yes, actually. It was a lot of fun playing with my junior.”

“Yeah, I had fun too,” A-chan slides a finger under her glasses to rub her eyes, left, then right, “hunting down all the trolls in your chat.”

Sora deflates. There she goes, being selfish again. 

It’s dead silent in the call, until, “Sorry,” A-chan quietly says. “That’s not your fault.”

“The audience for this genre can get rather… heated,” Roboco adds. 

“It’s fine,” Sora starts, then realizes her voice is hoarser than she thought. She clears her throat. “I get it now. I’ll stick to studio collabs from now on.” 

Sora stares down hard at her keyboard, as if she’ll pierce through to her desk with her eyes. A-chan sighs, and the silence from Roboco is deafening. It’s so stupid and childish. She’s already hovering over the ‘end call’ button.

“Senpai, A-chan, if I may?”     

Sora looks up, and sees Roboco with a raised finger. A-chan quirks an eyebrow, but motions for her to continue. 

“I believe we didn’t play the right game.”

Sora makes a surprised noise, A-chan simply puts a hand on her chin. Roboco focuses on Sora - it’s a mystery how she does it through a camera - and her eyes turn very soft. 

“I understand your intent, senpai. It is extremely thoughtful of you to choose a shooter game, and I appreciate that. However, in the end, you weren’t enjoying   yourself as much as you could, and your audience didn’t enjoy that either.” Roboco clasps her hands together, her eyes lighting up, literally and figuratively. “For our next collaboration, I can attempt to find a game that would better suit us both. That is, if you’d like me too?”

“Y-yes! Please do! Let’s have another go at it!” Sora’s voice raises a pitch, nearly jumping out her chair, until she remembers. “U-um, I mean. A-chan?”

A-chan heaves a breath and rubs the back of her neck. “Well. If I tell the other staff they get another day where they can work from home, it’s not like they’re gonna say no,” she admits. “And if Roboco’s up for it…”

Roboco smiles from ear to ear. Sora can barely hold back a squeal. A-chan rolls her eyes, but the slight twinge at the corner of her lips is unmistakable.   

“Just run the game you want through me first, yeah?”

Roboco nods. “Understood, A-chan.”

It’s childish, but Sora’s already making plans in her head. She can’t wait! Second time has to be the charm!

…right?

-

Three guesses what the game could be. Hint: starts with an M, ends with a T. 

So obviously I had to exaggerate the public’s reaction to Roboco’s debut. I imagine it’s easy to see hololive taking way the fuck off even earlier if all the lore stuff is canon. I lowballed Sora’s sub count way too much in the first chapter anyway. She’s already cleared 100k by the time Roboco debuted.

[sherlockggrian]

we talk a lot about desert duo character development, but I wanna talk about shiny duo for a second because I think it’s fucking INCREDIBLE

(disclaimer, a lot of this is made up lore and headcanons lol)

Pearl and Gem were always pretty close, even though I think? they met in season 8? They’ve always been a duo but Gem was generally the more energetic, smily and over excited one. I think Pearl’s been more reserved even in her ridiculous moments, whereas Gem tended to wear her heart on her sleeve and have a very straightforward, “lets fix it” approach to things. I do think Pearl was the one that fell in love with Gem first, but sort of pushed it away, while Gem was very forward with her attention and did love and cling to Pearl a lot. The life games, especially Double Life, affected Pearl a lot and I think she sort of pulled away from Gem for a bit. Pearl was the killer at this point and Gem was sort of still playing the character of wanting to make everything better, being nice and bubbly and not understanding what Pearl was feeling.

But Gem being in Secret Life really took them to the next level in my opinion. They were close all throughout season 9 obviously, but I see Gem being in the life series as her own choice - she loved Pearl and so desperately wanted to help her and the others and to understand them. Gem at this point is a lot more of a fighter and a little crazier than she used to be, and Secret Life just feeds that and preys on it. At the same time, she trusts Pearl. She wants to be her friend. Pearl knows how the games end, and that there’s no avoiding the ending and no avoiding death. They leave Secret Life with Pearl feeling relieved that she didn’t at least have to kill Gem herself, and Gem feeling bitter and angry that Pearl betrayed her.

And their relationship after Secret Life really gets me tbh. Gem has visibly gone for a darker, more serious vibe to her base and clothing, leaving behind the usual, sunny cottage-corey theme. Pearl is finally trying to heal herself, but has based a little ways away from Impulse and Gem and her older friends. Gem trains for the next life series, she’s determined and she’s angry and Pearl is rejecting it. In a way their characters kind of flipped, from Pearl being the furious killer one to Gem being it. They fight like crazy and they still love each other. They are absolutely my favourite duo at the moment and I cannot wait to see what happens further with them and how their story turns out. Again I’ve made most of this up but it’s based off of canon events so I don’t really care. Goodnight

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 25/07/2024

The End of HHGregg

Season 6 Featured on: Transmission Archive ~ The SiIvaGunner All-Star Nuclear Winter Festival Collection

Ripped by The Green Spy, CaptainComedy Visuals by Galacksy

(Note: MP3 embed is trimmed at the beginning as to allow it to be posted within Tumblr's file size limits)

I'm sure some of you were worried about where this week's post had gone. Worry not - I was simply biding my time for the day to arrive. Indeed, we have reached the 25th of July, a Thursday for some, and a national holiday for others. For today, we celebrate, grieve and toast to our dearly beloved, HHGregg. Today, it is Christmas in July, and time to at last cover The End of HHGregg.

For being one of my all-time favorite SiIvaGunner channel memes, I'm shocked at myself in how restrained I've been in covering rips using HHGregg's infamous red-tag-sale commercial. Sure, I spilled my soul out for the joke back with Nostalgic Blood of the Gregg ~ Old Source, and Everything Circus remains an all-time classic, yet there's still so much more to cover. In terms of jokes on the SiIvaGunner channel, I feel like HHGregg is one of the most developed ones, one with a legacy cherished by so many people on the team and off - and even a bit of a story to it that's been captured in full glory with today's rip.

Like sure, there's the obvious quirk that makes HHGregg stand out more than many other channel memes - the guy has an outright day-of-the-year holiday dedicated to him. As the infamous Christmas in July ad was what propelled HHGregg's moderately-annoying mascot into becoming a YTPMV star, July 25th on SiIvaGunner has become a sort of understated annual event for fans like myself, much in the same way that April 30th was with It's Gonna Be Me and guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​?. Yet, of course, there's an underlying sort of sadness to HHGregg rips in particular due to the brand its attached to: the company that the ad's many YTPMVs are riffing on filed for bankrupcy in 2017, midway through Season 2 of SiIvaGunner. The store still exists now, bought by a parental company and turned all-digital, but the franchise as it was once known is all gone, with it's ill-fated mascot going down with it.

Of course, we don't really need to feel much remorse for the fall of an electronics boutique - but given the SiIvaGunner channel's way of personifying and giving life to in-jokes and gags the world over, it informs rips using HHGregg in a pretty different way. HHGregg rips on the channel had their biggest stride during the very same year that the chain went bankrupt, as if to suggest that the mascot was desperate to prove his own worth on the one place that still remembered him fondly. In the years since, we got sporadic shots of the guy here and there - and in my eyes, it at one point felt as if it all culminated with the rip エイチエイチグレッグ ホワイトハウスでチョー大変!, a fully-featured edit of Neon Genesis Evangelion's iconic A Cruel Angel's Thesis opening now starring HHGregg himself.

Yet, of course, as I've harped on about with rips like Shiny Smily TALE, Violet Snow Memories and Our Sweet Parsley, one of the most rewarding parts of following the SiIvaGunner channel lies in how the team never seems to forget about any of its zillions of uploads. No matter how much time passes, rippers love one another, the ideas they come up with, and the potential to build further on one another's ideas - it is a core part of YTP and YTPMV culture that's remained strong on SiIvaGunner since its very inception. The A Cruel Angel's Thesis rip above, by excellent rippers Ashley and GramBam36 of The Legend of Cage: Staff Roll fame, was a joyous celebration - a year later, as Season 6's sombre mood results in the Nuclear Winter Festival rolling around, a trio of rippers sees the perfect opportunity to finally put HHGregg to some form of rest. The meme's far from dead today, of course (check the channel right now) - yet, at last, with The End of HHGregg, it felt as if the funny paper roll man was finally ready to accept his fate.

The End of HHGregg, silly of a concept as it may be, executes that concept to a degree I don't think anyone was expecting. Second only to A Cruel Angel's Thesis, Komm, süsser Tod is an iconic piece that serves as the ending theme to the original NGE anime, one tied to feelings of bittersweet-ness, finality - at once able to reference one of the most classic HHGregg rips on SiIva, acknowledging HHGregg's bankruptcy, whilst tying itself directly to the ongoing Nuclear Winter Festival of Season 6. And that's not even getting into the rip itself!

The YTPMV work done here to sentence-mix and pitch-shift HH's various vocals to fit the melody of Komm, süsser Tod is, for lack of a better way to put it, downright remarkable. Despite a seemingly limited pool of voice lines to work with and a rigid framework of a melody, the guy only ever "sings" in complete sentences, with pitch shifting that manages to sound shockingly natural, still as gratingly chipper as HH tends to sound but still seeped in that vibe of bittersweet-ness that I discussed before. It goes through every beat and phase of Komm, süsser Tod without ever having the vocal samples sound forced, including the deeply inspired use of a layered, choir-like HH performance on several segments. Althewhile never forgetting the classic HH lines, the red-tag sales, the HD-TV and Whirlpool appliances, and of course, the Christmas in July. The cherry on top of it all is the intro to the song, before the main melody truly kicks in, as this little interlude sneakily includes a guitar now playing Deck the Halls just as featured in the most infamous Christmas in July ad - a sombre reminder of where it all began.

That aforementioned vibe is, of course, emphasized greatly by Galacksy's incredible illustration for the rip, the literal End of Evangelion depicted as being the fall of HHGregg as a whole, in absolutely spectacular fashion. Like with i love(d) you and so so many other rips, it's so often these seemingly small touches that end up elevating rips to all-time classics for me, and it's a trait that The End of HHGregg's audio also eventually contributes to, in a way I truly don't wish to spoil for you all. Nevertheless, the key takeaway here is one that's evident right upon first listen: This is a DAMN impressive YTPMV effort that at once celebrates and mourns one of the YTPMV world's most cherished sources, yet pulling it off as if it were effortless. In celebration of YTPMV, of SiIvaGunner, of one of the channel's most immaculate of somewhat-too-hidden gems from Season 5, and of the very state of memes coming to an end - The End of HHGregg is everything one could ask for.

Godspeed, you rolled-up brochure cretin. And happy Christmas in July to you.

[modark]

"We will create our world" - Armando Watson, Shiny Smily Ska Story

Sketch of Armando Watson from Amelia Watson's 2023 Birthday Mini-Live Concert

From January 2023

[werezmastarbucks]

dreams: youtube

how many followers do you think he got?

word count: 999

warnings: none

music: can't pin me down by marina

kai parker x reader

dreams masterlist

You hit play, and the face of the weird... influencer? appears on screen. You have this vague idea that you were going to watch something else. But your 'watch later' playlist now consists of three hundred videos, and the electronic noise of non-stop brainless entertainment makes you dizzy and zombie-like. You have a strong urge to log off, close the laptop and look out the window, but this guy's face glues you to the screen. For some reason seeing him in this format in 4K feels insidious, like he's a danger not only to you but also to others. Whoever watches. Like he's somehow connected to snuff... your brain, decomposing from all of the internet commotion, tired with endless sounds and buzzwords, feels physically tired. You rub your face. He is just like the others, has a Youtube channel where he babbles away about his business which nobody asked for. Another attention seeker, full of himself in the idea that people will stick and reflect on his miserable life.

He looks like a pop corn American movie embodied. White shiny teeth, glistening eyes, tiny dimples on his cheeks. A shirt you're sure you saw in Crop recently. Everything a teenage girl needs. Apalled, you contemplate how many of his followers actually have a crush on him just because he represents their Youtube dream. Neat, smily, white guy who gives you an idea that the world exists in a shiny rectangle.

You're immersed in your thoughts until your ear catches something off - that meaning, something actually interesting. His voice buzzes with excitement.

"The last time I told you about hell. But you asked me about, like, whether I have normal - real - stories. Well, I do, and I can even tell you about some of my art. Actually, I do it all the time. You know, I write songs in my dreams all the time", he fidgets in his place like a kid. He can't sit straight and is constantly moving his torso, his hands, as of hypnotizing you. He looks like he watches himself on the screen with one eye, and acts very well, actually. Not the most typical narcissistic type, but the well hidden one. He sure admires himself, but looks cool doing it. You start questioning yourself whether fifteen minutes of this bullshit will make you crush on him just a little.

"Yeah, and it's always something, you know... like I would call it cosmic confusion. So you know how there's cosmic horror? That, but confusion. I get these very soft, ambient melodies, which I don't like very much by the way, but my girlfriend does".

Gasp. Followers lost. You never say you have a partner if you have that kind of smile that holds your whole channel together.

"And the lyrics are like puzzles that I can't seem to gather together. It's been going on for years. What if I'm dreaming a whole discography that's a mysterious code at the same time? And of course when I wake up I completely forget, like, ninety percet of that. Only remnants, but they qickly escape my head. But!" he yells out, making you jump a little, "recently I got this huge idea... I started recording myself on my phone so that if I ever meet a very cool musician, I can play it to them, and they will write the music for me, and I'll... anyway, listen to this".

He takes out his phone and reaches the microphone. The space of the audibe field is filled with his sleepy voice, singing some gibberish, missing every possible note as if on purpose. You instinctively switch off, drowning in memories. Actually, that happened to you too. You dreamt of a black room with a yellow chair in the middle that played music. It was... surprisingly like... what's his name... you look at the name of the channel again - CovenMaster - Jesus - said. Cosmic confusion, like you're lost, but you're not scared because the dimension you got stuck in is too eerie for human brain.

And the only line that was in this song that you remembered to this day was,

When's the boy coming back?

You look back at him, and now he doesn't seem Disney foolish. He looks straight at you from your screen, listening to the end of his ugly song.

"There", he says quietly, "now you know I'm a genius. You can't match me". There's a flicker of well-masked humor in this, like you're supposed to be in on the joke.

"And most importantly, you can't pin me down. I go up every time, don't I?"

Against all reason, you nod, like somebody is standing behind you and has a hand on your head.

"The dark abyss of oblivion, the hell, nothing can hold me for long".

There's silence.

"And?" you ask out loud.

"Oh, it's another one, the other song I didn't record. Jeez, I should really head to SoundCloud", he mumbles. In a second his face lights up, and everything is the same again.

"Anyway, today I wanted to tell you about how I invented a new type of slime! I heard kids were crazy about it!"

You sigh and reach out to close your laptop. Not just click away from the page, but close it completely, to not see any flat screen.

"Wait! Okay, okay", he snaps suddenly. You freeze in front of him.

"Don't go just now, I gotta tell you something", CovenMaster has his palm outstretched and looks straight at you.

You keep silent, he does, too, for a couple of seconds. The shivers run down your shoulders and arms.

"This video is sponsored by Cheetos", he smiles widely, like a prankster. You groan and slap your laptop closed, with such force that you feel sorry immediately, fearing for the screen.

You get up and go to your window to look out the street. A typical nice neighborhood in Ohio, who wouldn't want to live here? The houses around are so familiar, the cars of neighbors roll patiently down the road. Muffled music playing somewhere a house away.

Everything is perfect, and you're glad. But the question still remains,

When's the boy coming back?

[hanasaku-shijin]

A Faumei drabble, too long for twitter, too short for my AO3 compilation fic of them, so it’s just right for tumblr:

---------

The evening finds the CouncilRyS building fairly quiet for a change. 

At the late hour, only Bae and Sana are streaming from the comforts of their own rooms. It can be assumed that all others would be fast-asleep, preparing for their own upcoming streams and events. 

But such isn’t quite the case. 

At the ground level, from the large, cozy space of the communal lounge and TV area, a faint, warm light emits. Fauna sits on the couch, a white nightgown and a pink plush blanket keeping her warm, along with Clover and Snail curled up together at one hip. Her unoccupied side is just a tiny bit cold, but it’s nothing major enough to distract or discomfort her. A cup of warm herbal tea is set on the small table beside her, which she occasionally pauses to sip at. 

She works by the glow of the lamplight on her newest hobby - an attempt at crocheting scarves for each one of her gen-mates. With her own mint-green scarf as the trial, she’s already made her mistakes and figured out the best techniques to use for her friends’ crafts. 

Presently, she moves her hands slowly, yet confidently through winding the dark pinks and purples of what will eventually be IRyS’s gift. After having streamed late into the previous night, she had slept most of the morning today, and thus has plenty of energy for this evening to work on her personal projects. 

Too comfortable to stretch for her phone on the just-out-of-reach coffee table in front of her, and even more unwilling to disturb her cat companions, Fauna had abandoned the thought of playing real music hours ago, and instead has opted to hum gentle tunes to herself. She weaves her way through IRyS’s scarf, pausing when her hands get tired either to take a sip of her tea, poke Snail’s head, or run her fingers down Clover’s back. 

In the few pauses in between whatever songs come to her mind, the distant chirps of night crickets can be heard from outside, along with the more subtle noises of the building’s ventilation ticking and whirring, and a few rolling purrs or airy snores. 

A quaint hour of evening, all her own. 

Fauna indulges in it as much as she can, savoring every tiny piece of it, from the leafy scent of her tea to the soft materials at her fingertips. 

She’d hummed her way through about half of Shiny Smily Story when a different noise adds to the soundtrack she’d gotten so used to for the past few hours. A creak of a stair, and then the padding of slippers over hardwood floors. 

Fauna lifts her head, a few strands of hair falling down around her face from where they’d gotten curled around her horns from leaning forward over her craft. When she looks to the bottom of the staircase, her eyes widen just a little.

“Mumei?”

Standing at the base of the stairs, dressed in her own lavender nightgown, Mumei rubs her eyes with one hand. The other hand is at her side, fingers curled into the wing of an owl plush-mallow that had made the journey with her.

“Fauna…?” Her voice is cracked and raspy - in a cute way rather than a concerning one. “I can’t sleep…”

Fauna smiles, though she still can’t help a small twinge of concern from running through her chest. 

But before she can even ask or start to be too worried, Mumei lets out an adorable yawn, content and childish, and right away Fauna knows there’s nothing painful or stressful behind her friend’s sleepless night. Perhaps just the want for some company. And that’s something Fauna will happily provide. 

With a chuckle, she inclines her head.

“Come join me, Mumei.”

Clearly relieved that her presence hadn’t intruded on Fauna’s activities, Mumei smiles back and slowly shuffles her way over to the couch. Fauna moves some of the blankets and crochet materials to create space for her. 

Mumei sleepily plops herself down on Fauna’s side opposite the cats and immediately cuddles up against her. Resting her head on Fauna’s shoulder, she clings to her owl plushie with one hand while lightly gripping Fauna’s nightgown with the other. 

Tilting her head sideways, Fauna brushes her cheek against the top of Mumei’s head, where the feathers lightly tickle her skin.

“Is everything all right?” Just to be certain, she asks.

Mumei yawns again, and it’s much more happy-sounding than the previous one had been.

“Yeah… ‘m just sleepy…”

Fauna adjusts the plush blanket over Mumei’s back and shoulders, cocooning the two of them together underneath.

“Would you like some tea?”

But the only response is silence and soft breathing. Mumei had more or less fallen asleep the second she’d made contact with Fauna, feeling safe and content enough with simply being by her side. Fauna chuckles to herself and presses a soft kiss into Mumei’s hair, sending her silent wishes to sleep well.

With another companion now curled up fast-asleep at her side, Fauna continues humming her way through IRyS’s scarf, now perfectly snug on both sides. 

A peaceful evening to say the very least, quietly productive and positively warm.

[madocactus]

I MADE A TEENY TINY “SHINY SMILY STORY” COVER!!!

Click here to watch it on:

YouTube

TikTok

Reddit

[peysk]

No one can tell the difference between shiny smily story and kirameki rider. or the OP from the first season of love live. ok i dindt mean that. lovelive is different

[vash3r]

today's music: Shiny Smily Story (OST Version)

[waterinthefirewhy]

(Transcript under the cut.)

Gura: Wings, thank you! WingsCV: Announcement: Shark is now shark wife. Gura: Shark wife??? Gura: あたし？ Gura: [Singing Shiny Smily Story while vacuuming] Gura: 草 Shark wife… WingsCV: Our proposals have worked. Good job shrimps, we got 'em. Gura: Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa wait wait wait wait wait wait, wait… Gura: But that goes against… Gura: That goes against the handbook! Gura: You remember the idol handbook? Gura: I had it with me here… Gura: Oh yes— Gura: Remember last time I brought out the idol handbook? Gura: We haven't brought it out in a while, but— Gura: Uuuhhhhh, what page is it… Gura: It's like chapter— Ah, oh god, paper cut! Gura: Wait… yeah. Gura: Section B, chapter thirty-five, page two hundred and three [slaps book] in the idol handbook. Gura: "Shark shark." That's all it says. Gura: I don't know what it means. Gura: It just said shark shark, period! Gura: That's all it says, I don't know! I didn't write it. Gura: It was just— It was just given to me. Gura: Shark is shark. Gura: SNIFFA SNIFFA! Gura: Shut up. 草

[kaivetieno]

*Zombie Screaming*

YOU ARE LISTENING TO

*Charge Rifle Noise*

102.3

*Sword Schwinging*

KUREIJI OLLIE FM

*Trumpet Noise*

WHERE WE PLAY NOTHING BUT WANGY WANGY, AND MORE WANGY WANGY, AND MORE WANGY WANGY, AND MORE WANGY WANGY, AND LOTS OF WANGY WANGY

*Loba Shop Opening noise*

THIS IS NOT YOUR MOM AND POP'S STATION

*Shiny Smily Story - Ollie Cover starts playing*

[wil-is-done]

Shiny Smily Story - Chapter 2: High-Spec Robot

Summary: Tokino Sora, after spending her first few months in hololive as the agency’s sole talent, will finally be joined by new recruits to her group, and she is determined to welcome her juniors with a bright smile and open arms, whoever they might be.

(…and the monkey’s paw closes a finger.)

Word Count: 3.521

-

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost.

Today’s the day.

And it starts with A-chan sending her a text early in the morning, telling her that she’ll be running a little late, that Sora should wait for her in the parking lot, and that she absolutely should not enter the building without A-chan. Capitalized, boldened, italized, and underlined. 

Sora stares at the message numbly for a full minute, before the gears in her head starts to turn again. She rapidly thumbs a reply, demanding A-chan explain what the heck her message is supposed to mean. Five minutes later, not even so much as a read.

Sora puts her phone face down and huffs. First, there’s the endless line of paperwork to read over and sign. Then came the tedious background checks, where the questions range from the normal to the ridiculous, like whether she had a criminal record or even her parents’ political leanings. Then there’s the days where she couldn’t use the studio at all because a group of strange men had to ‘secure the area’, whatever that’s supposed to mean. And now, these last few days, A-chan is never around, and has been basically impossible to contact. She always considered herself a patient person, but frankly, she’s reaching her limit.

And yet. None of that is enough to kill the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Not today. She’s going to meet her new junior for the first time, after all. 

Sora deletes her first message. Gotcha, she sends instead, before letting the phone flop down to her bed and skipping her way to the bathroom.

-

Breakfast tasted great, the sky was a clear, stark blue, and the train was empty, as if the world is giving Sora compensation for all the strange things she dealt with these past two weeks. She’s only a stranger shooting her a passing compliment away from dancing all the way from the station to the office. It’s really only the possibility of more strange shenanigans waiting for her when she gets there that stops her. 

The building looks the same as ever. Five stories tall, uniformly white like the others in the block. The parking lot is mostly vacant, save for a pair of grey sedans. The temptation to sneak a peek inside is there, of course, but Tokino Sora always keeps her promises, so she stands and waits in the parking lot, like A-chan said to. 

Her eyes are glued to the front door, waiting for A-chan to emerge, so she jumps a little when a hand suddenly taps her shoulder from behind. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t wait long, did you?” a familiar voice asks, worn, and slightly out of breath.

Sora turns on her heels with a cheeky retort at the ready, but what she sees scatters the words to the wind.

“Oh, goodness! A-chan, did you sleep at all?”

A-chan blinks slowly, rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. Sora hasn’t seen them adorned with so many dark bags under it since cram school. “Eh. You know. Got in an hour or two.” 

“That is… not nearly enough.” Sora places a hand on A-chan’s shoulder, and feels more bone than meat under her fingers. “You really should lie down.”

A-chan smiles with no joy behind it. “Nope! No need, Sora. I’m good, I’m happy, life is wonderful.” 

“Um. Okay.” Sora steps back, but doesn’t quite let go of her shoulder. If A-chan takes a step and stumbles, she’s ready. She glances haltingly at the building’s entrance. “S-should we go in then?”

“Uh huh, yep. Just- just three more things to sign. Three? Four. Four more things to sign.” A-chan paws for her pack in a daze for a few tries, but eventually succeeds, and pulls out a black binder and a pen. “Already read it for you. They’re all on the up and up.” 

Sora swore this morning she’ll throw a fit if she sees one more scrap of paperwork, but seeing A-chan in this state, she swallows all her complaints and signs them all without a word. 

A-chan doesn’t stumble or anything - her step is surprisingly stable - but Sora never lets go from her shoulder, just in case. “Can you tell me anything yet about our new talent?” she asks, once they’re inside the building. 

A-chan stares ahead for a long second, expression unreadable, and just when Sora thought she won’t open her mouth, she does. “Her name is Roboco.”

And that’s it. Her lips close again. But that’s already more than what she got in weeks. The name does strike Sora as an odd one, though. An alias, perhaps?

The elevator dings, the door opens, and the butterflies in her stomach takes flight in a frenzy as she steps inside. Just a few more seconds, and she’ll be able to meet her junior in the flesh! Her day is only set to soar even higher from that point. 

“Hey. Before we go in.” A-chan’s voice rings in the silence of the elevator, heavy, and indescribably different than the A-chan that Sora knows. It’s scary, and not in the way that she likes. “This world is a lot weirder than you know.” 

Before Sora can cope with the sudden pit opening in her stomach sucking in all the butterflies, the elevator opens, and she hears unfamiliar voices coming from down the hallway. A-chan perks up from her dead-eyed gaze, and rushes out. Sora follows, lagging slightly behind, newfound dread slowing her down. 

 The office is buzzing with activity unlike anything she’s seen before, with people darting to and fro like the place is on fire. A couple are staff members she’s familiar with, but most are strange people in dark suits that she’s never met before. And in the midst of the chaos, stands a girl not terribly shorter than Sora, with a short mop of brown-red hair framing her face and a loose-fitting grey camo jacket hugging her form. She’s fidgeting in place, expression locked in a frown, distracted by all the people rushing around her that she doesn’t notice A-chan and Sora enter the room. 

Sora sucks in a breath, and smiles wide enough for her cheeks to feel it, dread dissipating to nearly nothing. This has to be her - Roboco. Sora steps forward, past a bewildered A-chan, ready with a greeting, but the girl must have caught Sora approaching from the corner of her eye, because she turns and beats her to it. 

“Sorry, have you seen my arm?”

Sora pauses, the first syllable of a hello hanging from her lips, and makes a noise and tilts her head. Then she notices that the left sleeve of Roboco’s jacket is empty.

She makes a different kind of noise, and remembers a bit embarrassingly late not to stare. “N-no, afraid not,” she sputters a beat later.

Roboco huffs, distraught eyes darting about again. “Knew I shouldn’t have removed it in an unknown environment. I take my eyes off it for one second and now everything’s a mess. I’m just the worst.”  

Sora blinks, recomposes herself while Roboco isn’t looking. Her first meeting with her junior, and the first thing she does is stare. It’s like her manners are thrown out the window. “I can help look, if you want,” she offers, smiling again. 

“You would? Oh, thank you so much.” Roboco’s worried frown leaves for a second, and it warms Sora’s heart. This is how a senpai should act. Willing to help her junior with anything, even something like finding her prosthe-

“Last I saw, it crawled under that table, but it can be anywhere at this point.”

Yet another different noise - this one makes her sound like she’s choking. “C-crawl…?”

Roboco nods - and there’s an odd, faint whirring noise every time she moves - oblivious to how Sora freezes. “It’s programmed to seek safe shelter if it ever gets separated from me. That’s why I asked the staff to check under desks or behind drawers. It shouldn’t have that many places to hide here but, ugh, it can move so fast, I swear.” 

A hand wrapping around Sora’s bicep breaks the ice rooting her in place. A-chan steps a little closer, tugging her arm, subtly pointing at the backroom with her eyes. Sora doesn’t need much more prompting. 

“Hey, we’re… going to check the pantry for your… arm.”

Roboco is peeking behind a bookshelf, and doesn’t look back when she calls out, “Be careful, the automated defense system is active. If you spot it, don’t make any moves that can be considered threatening.”  

Oh, goodness.

When the pantry door closes behind them, Sora turns to face A-chan, a million ways to start rushing through her head, but what ends up coming out is something blank, flat, and simple.

“A-chan.”

A-chan stiffly shrugs. “Uh. Yeah. She’s a robot.”

“A… okay.” Sora nods just as stiff, not unlike a robot. That explains the name, at least. There’s just one problem. “I’m not terribly plugged in to tech stuff, but last I checked, robots have never looked like… that.”

“Y-yeah. Exactly. That’ll turn some heads, right?” A-chan tries to crack a grin, but it’s not fooling anyone. 

“Turn whose heads? The government’s?” 

Sora’s not entirely serious with her outburst, so it’s extremely alarming when A-chan responds with, “A, uh, few heads will probably be the government’s, yes. But that’s what all the paperwork is for. Make sure they recognize her as her own person, with free will and all that fun stuff. All they can do is look, never touch.” 

It’s weird how feeling light and feeling faint can feel so similar, and yet so distinctly different. Sora regrets not sitting down first before starting this conversation. Best she can do right now is lean against the cupboard. This feels like a dream, but only because she’s still barely, barely on the fence on labeling this as a nightmare.

“What did we get ourselves into…?” she breathes, too low for A-chan to hear. Next, she steadies herself best she can, and makes sure she’s audible. “H-how did management even find someone like her?”

A-chan starts surprisingly easily, “Well, the story goes, the CEO was out exploring when he got lost in some random wasteland, which also happened to be where Roboco was living at the time. So then the two ran into each other, and he offered her a job.”

Sora waits for two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds for A-chan to continue, only for her expression to contort in horror and disbelief when she realizes that that’s the end of the story. “No. You’re kidding. That’s it?”

“He… didn’t elaborate.” A-chan’s lips twist, unhappy yet resigned all the same. “You can try and ask Roboco about it, if that’s something that she wants to talk about. We can’t force anything out of her. That’s also part of the deal.”

Sora stumbles in place, but her back catches the wall just in time for her legs to give out, so she slides down instead of falling on her butt. She stares into the checkered pattern on the floor, the gears in her brain struggling to turn under the weight of everything it had to endure in the past ten minutes.

“Yeah, that’s par for the course. Took me a while to get used to it, too. Just ride it out, take your time.” A-chan squats down next to her, quietly, patiently waiting.

The gears eventually turn just enough for her to realize something. “Oh gosh, you’ve been dealing with this for weeks.”

A-chan chuckles, which is nice to hear and calms her nerves. “You see now why I didn’t say anything?” she says, with no small amount of amusement. A part of her must be happy to finally share this with Sora. To see Sora’s reaction. “Even if I wasn’t buried in NDAs, I doubt you’ll believe me unless you see it yourself.”

That’s fair. Sora’s still working on the believing part herself. “I’m…” she ends up chuckling too. Really, what else is there to do? “I was so ready for today to surprise me, but this is…”

“Don’t know how else to break it to you, Sora. The second member of hololive - your very first junior - is the most sophisticated robot on the planet,” A-chan smoothly says, voice remarkably even and dry. “Who also happens to be a pretty cute girl.”

Very correctly, succinctly summarized. This all reminds Sora of an old story she read once, from overseas. About the monkey’s paw. She doesn’t remember the details much, but be careful what you wish for, is the point. Maybe this is the trade-off. The price to pay for wishing so hard to have someone share the stage with her.

“Sora, please don’t panic.”

Sora sighs, massaging the bridge of her nose. “I’m not panicking, I’m just-”

“No, no, no, I mean.” A-chan’s voice is tight. On the verge of panicking herself. “Don’t move. And don’t panic.”

When Sora lifts her eyes from the floor, A-chan is leaning away from her, looking ready to jump away like a loaded spring. Sora opens her mouth, but says nothing, as she notices that A-chan isn’t looking at her. She is looking over her shoulder.

Sora slowly, carefully turns her head. Peeking out from under the cupboard behind her, she spots a shadow lying in wait like a predator poised to strike, shaped not unlike an arm.

“I-I’ll go tell Roboco.”

“Yes, please.” 

-

The way Roboco’s face lights up when she is reunited with her arm is very cute, and Sora tries not to stare as she reattaches the limb and does a few experimental stretches with it. A-chan beside her seems to be faring better in taking this in stride, perhaps that’s her experience showing. It’s still a little hard to believe that the girl before her is a robot, but knowing what she knows now, Sora starts to notice some of the less obvious signs, like the faint whirring noises she makes every time she moves, or how her movements are just a touch too stilted to be human, or the way her pupils shrink and dilate exactly like a camera lens.  

Then Roboco freezes. Sora hears a faint whirr, and a rapid series of beeps, before Roboco suddenly snaps to face her, and bows deeply. 

“I am so, so, so sorry! This is absolutely not how I wanted our first meeting to go!” 

“It was no trouble at all. Please, no need to bow like that with me.” Sora smiles. Thankfully, Roboco is quick to follow her words. “Really, when do things ever go the way we want to, right?”

Roboco’s eyes gleam with awe, and at that moment, they are no different than any human’s. “I knew you’re a kind person, Sora-senpai, but this exceeds even my most generous predictions.” 

Strange as it is to put it, Sora still asks, surprised, “You know me?”

“Yes! I have set aside some time to process all of your past broadcasts. Your kindness is among one of the first things I detected,” Roboco explains, smiling, until she blinks, and the smile falls. “O-oh, wait, shoot, I haven’t even introduced myself properly!”

Roboco moves as if to bow again, but there’s a beep, and she straightens herself almost sheepishly. “My name is Roboco! It’s an honor to finally meet you in person, senpai! I hope we can work together well!” Another beep, and she shoots a hand out for a handshake.

Sora spends a split second to brace, but she happily accepts Roboco’s hand. It isn’t cold, like she expected. It’s warm, like a human’s, although the texture is anything but. “Well then, um. I’m Tokino Sora. It’s nice to meet you, Roboco. I hope so too.” The way she moves her hand up and down is strange, awkward, like this is a new experience for her. Sora steps back and taps A-chan’s shoulder. “And this here is A-chan. You’ll be working together plenty with her, too.”

Roboco shifts her gaze towards A-chan. Her pupils shrink and dilate, then she bows again. “It’s nice to meet you too, A-chan.”

“Pleasure.” A-chan nods politely.

“I take it you’re a member of the staff?”

“And more.” Sora’s arm lowers to link around A-chan’s. “She is my best friend, manager, technical support, and partner.”

Roboco tilts her head. “Partner…?” A whirr, and a beep. “Oh!” She averts her gaze. To Sora’s surprise, her cheeks gain a hint of red. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Sora-senpai already has a partner.”

Sora blinks. “Eh?”

“Congratulations, A-chan. Anyone is lucky to be with Sora-senpai.” Roboco smiles, shyly, if a robot can even be shy.

A-chan recoils away from Sora like she’s been electrocuted. “Not-!” She bites down hard, swallowing whatever words that nearly slipped out, face suddenly very red. Coughing, she tugs at the collar of her shirt. “It’s- we’re not that kind of partners.”

Sora looks back and forth between a blushing A-chan and a sheepish Roboco. All she can offer is a confused, “Huh?”

“Anyway! Sora, you have a stream after this. A bit of chatting, a bit of singing, plus announcing Roboco’s debut.” A-chan points stiffly in the direction of the studio. “So I’m just gonna. Go prepare that.”

A-chan’s pace is brisk; she’s out of the room before Sora can get another word in. Two of the men that have been hovering at a respectable distance follow her out. The rest stays put. Silently. It’s a little unnerving.

Sora decides her attention is best spent on Roboco. 

“Nervous?” Sora starts.

Roboco exhales a chuckle. “Absolutely.”

“That’s fine! Everyone does.”

Roboco makes a little noise, like she’s disagreeing.  

“Technically, disabling the function is possible. Just takes a bit of tinkering.” Roboco taps a spot on the back of her neck, shooting Sora a meaningful look. Sora nods along, trying not to look too put off by everything Roboco just implied. “But… I won’t. All that’ll do is take away from the experience.” 

“The experience?”

“Of living.” Roboco smiles. An undeniably sincere, genuine, human smile. “I want to live life as authentic as possible. Live life like you do, senpai.” 

That hit Sora, deep, right in the heart. 

What she wants to do next suddenly feels necessary, even though it’s a giant leap into the unknown, even though she is definitely overstepping her capabilities. Sora takes Roboco’s hand in hers, and says, “This is… I’ll be honest and say that today kind of blindsided me. It’s nothing like what I expected, you’re nothing like what I expected. I’m not sure what’ll happen next, or how to get through it, but what I do know, is that I’m your senpai now. That means I’ll do all I can to help you, to live your life however you want it.”

Her heart is at her throat, thundering in her ears, and she briefly wonders if Roboco can sense it somehow. Wonders if Roboco feels the same trepidation. It’s a bold declaration - one that she’s unsure if she can keep, but one that she needs to make nonetheless. If this is the hand that life has dealt her, then she’ll make lemonade out of lemons and happily stand on stage with Roboco. After all, she swore she’ll welcome her junior with her brightest smile and open arms, and Tokino Sora always keeps her promises.

“Senpai…” Roboco’s smile wavers, but in the best way, as her free hand clutches her chest. “You really are too kind. I… I’ll be crying now if I have the function.”

Sora chuckles. “Oh, I doubt I’ll be the only one. A-chan, the other staff members, your future viewers; I’m sure they’ll be happy to help too!” 

“But you really are, senpai.” Roboco’s eyes fall on their clasped hands, and her fingers tighten ever so slightly. “I’m not oblivious. I’m aware I must be quite the irregularity in your life. Despite that, you strive to treat me like how you’d treat anyone. Like I’m… someone normal. No one’s ever treated me like that before.” 

Oh, goodness. Now she’s feeling a little teary-eyed. It feels nice to be appreciated, and seeing Roboco like this, so soft and vulnerable - the urge to pull her into a big bear hug has never been higher.

“I mean, you haven’t even said anything about me not wearing pants!”

Sora blinks. “Hm?”

Then she looks down, and shrieks. 

Roboco giggles.

“Well. That one is understandable.”

-

One of these days I should check if the monkey’s paw story is known in Japan or not.

Anyway. This was fun to do. We all know Sora’s kind to a fault, but if we make all the lore stuff canon, don’t you feel like her worldview is going to get shattered several times over? That’s really fun to explore. It does suck a bit that neither Sora nor A-chan swear. They kinda deserve to.

Also, just wanna add, for this fic I actually went back and watched Sora’s very first video. It’s an experience, I can tell you that. Y’all should check it out if you have the time. It’s got English subtitles and everything.

Next up, Roboco’s streaming career begins.

[samantha-dan564]

今日のmaimai

『Shiny Smily Story』が9月13日で配信終了となるとのことで、これは期限までにS取っておかなきゃということでやってきた。結果ギリギリだけどS取れたのでまあよかった

動画見ると結構ポカミスだらけでちょっとなんだかなあ…GOOD31ってのもどうかと思うし

あとはいくつか新規S。パーフェクトチャレンジはけっこうしくじった（実際MISS9）と思ってたのでS取れたのが意外だった

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 13/04/2024

Locked In The Underground

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume C

Ripped by Jamangar

Whaaat? More Undertale?? Say it ain't so!!

Look, I lamented it a bit over on Logan Paul's Shop, and its something you can even see for yourself by viewing the Undertale tag on the blog archive. In terms of games to have been featured on the blog one way or another, Undertale/Deltarune are leagues ahead of the competition. And I am torn on this, still. Like on the one hand, I want the blog to cast a wide net of rips, to not just cover my personal favorites, but to cover as much of SiIvaGunner's history and growth. But on the other hand...Undertale IS a huge part of that history and growth, it has been since the very beginning, and as I discussed in Your Best Nightmario and Shiny Smily TALE the game's very DNA and themes is just a perfect fit for everything that SiIvaGunner stands for. Well, there's that - and there's how rippers like Jamangar just keep absolutely outdoing themselves with how much leverage they can get from this 9-year old game's soundscape. Its rips like Locked In The Underground that remind me of WHY Undertale rips are so prevalent on here.

If you've been reading for a while or just kept up with SiIvaGunner in general to the degree I have (or are from the team!! hi team!!), you may well recognize Jamangar's name. Much like ShonicTH with Trial of the Heart and many others on the channel, Jamangar has carved out her own very specific niche in terms of what she contributes with. That niche is the same one you'll hear in World Out There and Story of Undertale: There are few SiIvaGunner contributors who have as much expertise in ripping Undertale as Jamangar. Yet all of these three rips feel quite different from one another - Story of Undertale is a magnificent journey throughout just about the entire Undertale campaign with instruments changing along the way, wheras World Out There was an incredibly resonant mashup/melodyswap, a full-on shot of nostalgia on all the senses. Indeed, Locked In The Underground follows their footsteps in quality, yet is excellent in a subtly different way - its just a flat-out banger.

I don't know what it is about Bruno Mars' music that makes it work so incredibly well in mashups. Perhaps I have BotanicSage to thank, with Pokemon GSC Is What I Like and 16BIT Magic both permanently etched into my soul ever since I first heard them - but Locked In The Underground takes on the very same challenge, and in my eyes passes with absolutely flying colors. I mean, it only takes a few seconds for the rip to sell you - as soon as you hear Mars' "oh-yeah-yeahs" followed by Undertale SFX playing to the beat, you KNOW Jamangar's made far more than a mere mashup here. It helps, of course, that CORE is already one of the most stand-out songs in the game, much like Colress' battle theme was to Pokémon Black & White's soundtrack in Light! (Potentialseeker Colress) - its hard NOT to get excited seeing a CORE rip knowing just how distinct of a sound any take on the track will have, due to the pure quality of the track underneath.

So much is done to have Locked In The Underground truly fit together. The melodyswap is fantastic on its own, having CORE's lead instrument play in tune with Mars' vocals yet rising high in volume to the song's chorus, and CORE's synthetic backing paired with the drums of Locked Out Of Heaven create such a unique soundscape to boot. But beyond that, there are tons of little flourishes - small segments where CORE's original melody peeks through in the backing, Undertale sound effects sprinkled in to censor expletives or punctuate key moments of the song...like Semi-Charmed All Star, you get the impression that Jamangar GETS both of the songs used, that she's "studied" how Locked Out Of Heaven works in order to have the mashup work so perfectly.

Really - Locked In The Underground is the kind of rip that just feels like a shoe-in for the blog, as one of the most popular rips made during 2020. Funny enough, beyond the obvious combination of Locked Out Of Heaven and Undertale, you could even read the rip's title itself to be referencing the feeling all of us had during the pandemic - sort of reframing its pleas and shouts, in a way. But then Locked In The Underground also isn't the kind of rip where I'm desperate to know more about its possible lore and inner workings: I know Bruno Mars, I know Undertale, I know Jamangar, and she made one of the season's cleanest bangers by doing what she does best. That's awesome.

[berenixium]

Hololive: "Shiny Smily Story (2022 ver.)" - #Hololive #ホロライ #Anime #Music

https://youtu.be/vQOPE6kHeoU

[mousouchuu-v2]

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Hololive EN 0th Gen. sings Shiny Smily Story (English version)