#Tucana

[chibinotan]

Triple Merger

[isabellafoster13]

Chapter Sixteen: A New Addition to the Group

Lucy walked through Podsolnukh, Loke's key in her hand. She looked around at her surroundings every few minutes and listened for any sound that indicated a breaking and entering. 

Just before she, Freed, and Rufus parted their ways to search for the dark mages who were robbing houses every night, Lucy taught her two partners how to channel their magic into a golden key and launch celestial fireworks into the night sky, alerting the other two of the location of the dark mages they were looking for. When they parted, Rufus took Cancer's key and Freed took Libra's key. 

Lucy focused her attention on the group of mages who she was on the lookout for, trying to not let her mind wander to the three mages who she was indirectly combatting, especially Nyx. She tried to not remember how she could feel his dark eyes bore into the back of her head. She tried to not remember how he spoke, sounding as though he truly didn't believe in the mission he and his two partners were on. She tried to not think about how the young man seemed to haunt her memories. It was his memory that chased away what little sleep she used to be able to get. 

The celestial wizard looked down at Loke's key, contemplating summoning him for a distraction. She raised his key, just about to summon him, when she heard the sound of wood breaking and a woman screaming. Lucy whipped around to see a woman being held to the ground by a large, dark figure, and three other dark figures walking into a house, the door seeming to have been broken. 

Lucy raised the golden key into the air and made a circle with it, causing golden fireworks to burst in the sky. Rufus and Freed should be there in mere minutes. She then called out, "Open! Gate of the Lion: Loke!" She then broke into a run as Loke appeared beside her and ran alongside her. She then requiped Taurus' key into her hand and placed the key's blade to her chest, calling, "Star Dress: Taurus Form!" She was then instantly clothed in a different outfit. She paid no mind to the numerous scars that covered her body, her mind too focused on stopping the dark mages, saving the screaming woman, and taking the keys that one of these mages had. 

Lucy and Loke came to a stop before the mages who had just exited the house with an assortment of household items in their arms, shouting at them, "your nights of robbing these innocent people are over!" 

One of the mages who was holding an expensive-looking lamp sat the object down and stalked toward the celestial wizard and celestial spirit, sneering, "and who's going to stop us? A kitty and a bimbo?" Lucy observed that the dark mage was a small woman, seeming to be only slightly bigger than Levy. She had green hair that was styled in a choppy pixie cut and her figureless body was covered in revealing clothing that was similar in style to the clothes that Sorano used to wear. The only difference was that there were no angelic feathers and her outfit’s color was black instead of white. 

Lucy took a step back, forcing away the reminder of Sorano. She then bit back, "we're not alone!" 

The woman crossed her arms over her chest, saying with a tone that was tinged with sarcasm, "really?" 

Before Lucy or Loke could say anything in response, a masculine voice spoke, "really." In a flash, Freed, the one who had spoken, and Rufus were standing beside Lucy and Loke, ready for a fight. 

The man who was holding down the innocent woman released her and walked toward the mages who were threatening them. He waved his fellow dark mage off before he spoke, "I guess we have some pesky bugs to crush." He then made a gesture with his hand, resulting in the woman and one of the men attacking Freed as the two other men attacked Rufus. 

Seperated from her partners, Lucy looked to Loke, ensuring that he was ready to fight. When she got a nod of affirmation, she looked back to the man, who she assumed was the leader and celestial wizard who had the keys she was after, and she launched herself forward with Loke, the pair aiming to punch the man together. However, the large man with dusty brown hair swiftly pulled a silver key out of his pocket and summoned, "Open! Gate of the Tucan: Tucana!" 

In a flash of silver light, a short, young woman stood in front of her wizard, she reacted quickly, calling out, "Orange Fire!" 

Before either could react, Lucy and Loke where enveloped with orange flames. The fire gave off a stench so horrible that the pair stopped in their tracks and began to gag and hack, unable to move past the smell. Once the fire faded and Lucy and Loke were just about recovered enough to continue their attack, they heard Tucana call out, "Rainbow Fire!" 

Loke shouted, "Princess!" He then gave Lucy a hard push, causing her to roll along the ground, further pushed by the explosion that Tucana's second attack caused. Lucy came to a stop when she rolled into the the exterior wall of a house. She groaned in pain as she pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the blood that beaded from the several cuts on the exposed parts of her body, as well as the blood that seeped through her gloves from her fingernail-less fingers.

Seeing that Loke had returned to the Celestial Spirit World, she clenched her teeth, knowing that her close friend had been heavily injured. Anger swelled within her as she took her whip into her hand and bounded forward. As the sounds of Rufus' and Freed's fights filled her ears, she called out, "Earth Wave!" and struck the ground with her whip, causing it to break below Tucana and the dark mage, sending them flying high into the sky with pained screams before they crashed back down onto the broken ground. 

Lucy stood several yards away from them, waiting to see if they were going to attack her again. As she watched, the man hit Tucana upside her head after they both staggered to their feet. He scowled at the celestial spirit, "you useless spirit! You were supposed to kill her!" 

Tucana rubbed the back of her head as she responded meekly, "I'm sorry, Master Ki. I'll do better." 

Lucy clenched her fists, seething at the man's, Ki's, treatment of his spirit. She raised her whip for another attack, however, was cut off before she could begin by Tucana calling out, "Red Fire!"

Lucy was then engulfed by red fire. As the red flames lapped at her exposed skin, the blonde cried out in pain, every lick of the flame feeling as though she was really being burned with fire. She collapsed to her hands and knees, her eyes screwed shut as her burning anguish continued. 

Once the fire had extinguished itself, Lucy was left gasping in pain. The sounds of fighting around her were muffled in her ears, overridden by the searing pain that had taken over her body. Her body tembled as she was enveloped by a golden light that signaled her unwillingly changing her clothing back to the modest shirt and jeans that she was been wearing earlier. She was forced to wait for the killing blow. However, it never came. Instead, she was just barely able to hear a man calmly say, "Spiral Palm." She could hear the ensuing attack, a strong wind that sounded as though it was forming a tornado and the pained screams of her opponents. 

Before she knew it, she was taken into a pair of arms and carried away from the battling. Coming back to her senses as the pain began to dull, she pushed against the hard chest of the man who had her, muttering orders for him to put her down. She finally was set down on the hard ground inside of an alleyway. She looked across from her, ready to kick, when she found that the man who was sitting on the opposite side of the alleyway was Midnight. The man was sitting with his legs criss-crossed and he stared at Lucy, an expression on his face that she couldn't identify, mainly because he was sitting in the shadowed side of the alleyway. 

Lucy stammered, confused as to how and why he was there, "um...w-what are you doing here?" 

Midnight answered, "I came to help you. Thought that extra help wouldn't hurt." He gave a shrug of his bare shoulders. He then gently tossed something to Lucy as he continued, "I grabbed these too."

Lucy looked at the objects that had made a metalic clattering sound as Midnight tossed them to her, finding that three keys were laying neatly in front of her. She gave Midnight an appreciative smile, ignoring the feeling of shame at having needed to be saved that appeared within her. She then picked them up as she stood. She listened to the outside of the alleyway, noting that she couldn't hear any fighting. Knowing that Freed and Rufus were victorious and likely looking for her, she decided to quickly contract her new spirits. 

She looked at the first key, seeing that it was silver in color and had a dragonfly-shaped blade while the bow had a dark blue, unidentifiable, winged bug on a silver background. Knowing which spirit this was, she pointed the blade away from her and spoke, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Fly: Musca!" 

A flash of silver light signalled the arrival of the new celestial spirit. Lucy found, sitting on the ground lazily, was a young man, perhaps seventeen in physical age, who appeared to be dressed in a fly costume. The young man was picking his teeth with a toothpick. Quickly noticing Lucy, he flicked the toothpick away and hopped to his feet. Lucy took in his appearence. He was dressed in a dark green full-body suit with a dark grey belly. On the back of the full-body suit were costumed fly-like wings. On top of his head, nestled into his choppy, short, black hair, were fake fly-like eyes and antenna, all seeming to be attached to a handband. Despite the fly costume, he was attractive, possessing a cute baby face, similar to Natsu. Plastered across his face was a white, toothy grin. 

Lucy smiled at him politely and spoke, "Hi! I'm Lucy. I was wondering if you'd like to make a contract with me?" 

Musca answered with a voice that was high pitched and slightly raspy, "I would love to!" 

With that, Lucy went on, "great! What days can I summon you?" 

"Any day you want!" 

"And what can you do?" 

Musca jammed his thumb at himself as he answered proudly, "I can do some espionage by turning into a fly!" 

Lucy blinked a few times before she asked curiously, "really?" 

Musca nodded several times before he exclaimed, "watch!" and became engulfed by grey clouds. When the clouds faded, a fly flew toward Lucy and landed on her nose. The celestial wizard couldn't help but chuckle. She thanked Musca and dismissed him, watching cross-eyed as the celestial spirit, in his fly form, disappeared with a silver flash. 

Lucy requiped the new key to join her other keys before she looked down at the next one, finding that the blade was rainbow colored and shaped like a tucan's beak. The silver bow was shaped like a bird in flight. The blonde took a few moments to prepare herself for facing the celestial spirit who she had just briefly fought. 

She pointed the key outward and summoned, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Tucan: Tucana!"

In an instant, a young woman stood before Lucy. The celestial spirit was small, being the same size and, possessing the same figure, as Levy. She was wearing a strapless dress that had a black bodice with a sweetheart neckline. The knee-length circle skirt of her dress was colored by beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow that faded into each other down the length of the skirt. Finishing the outfit were black, fingerless gloves that reached just below her elbows, black stockings, and light blue flat shoes. Her waist-length black hair was angled in a way that mirrored the beak of an actual tucan. The tip of her hair was white, reminding Lucy of Midnight's two-toned hair. Tucana had a young face, making Lucy think that she was a child rather than a woman. The celestial spirit's eyes were large and black, but had blue circling her irises. 

Lucy quickly took notice that the young spirit was trembling, seeming to be fearful of how her new wizard would treat her. The celestial wizard was reminded of Aries, and she felt fresh anger rise from within her at the thought of that man treating Tucana the same way that Karen treated Aries. She stepped forward, a kind and comforting smile on her face, as she raised her hands in an attempt to calm the celestial spirit. She spoke with a soothing tone, "it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." 

Tucana took a step away, fear filling her eyes. She asked hesitantly, "r-really?" 

Lucy nodded, cooing, "I promise. You're safe with me." Thinking that maybe it would help if she introduced herself, she did just that, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia." 

She watched as Tucana's fearful expression was taken over by what resembled a mixture of awe and surprise. The celestial spirit whispered, just loud enough for Lucy to hear, "you're Princess Lucy?" 

Lucy's smile dropped and she stared at the spirit in confusion. Princess Lucy? When did she get that title? She questioned, "what did you call me?" 

Tucana relaxed a little, answering, "Princess Lucy. That's what many of your spirits call you. They love to brag about being contracted to you, even Capricorn, Cancer, Aries, and Virgo like to brag on occasion." 

Lucy blinked a few times, not knowing what to make of that information. Quickly deciding to brush it away, she put a smile back on her face and responded, "would you like to make a contract with me?" 

Tucana's eyes widened even more and an adorably large smile stretched across her cute face. She nodded her head furiously. Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable sight. She then said, "I just need to know when I can summon you and what magic you use." 

Tucana answered happily, "you can summon me on any day! And I use Rainbow Fire!" 

Lucy opened her arms, allowing the celestial spirit to hug her, which she clearly wanted to do. Tucana murmured, "thank you, Princess." 

Lucy muttered her response, "welcome to my family, Tucana." With that Tucana disappeared back to the Celestial Spirit World. 

Lucy requiped Tucana's key to join the others and then looked down at the thrid and last key. She observed that the blade was shaped like an arrow and on the square bow was the silhouette of an archer with the string of his bow pulled back, ready to shoot an arrow. Knowing which spirit this had to be, Lucy got into her summoning stance and called out, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Hunter: Orion!" The silver key glowed before quickly fading to reveal...

Nothing.

Lucy stared at the place where her new spirit should have been standing, confusion clear on her face. Midnight spoke up from where he sat, "isn't this the part where a spirit shows up and fauns over you?" 

The celestial wizard shot a glare at the now chuckling man, stating to him, "they don't faun over me." She then looked down at the key in her hands, muttering, "where is Orion? He should have appeared." 

She shook her head as she turned to Midnight, telling him, "I'm sure Freed and Rufus are looking for me by now. Let's go find them and get to our hotel, then I can figure out what's going on." 

Lucy watched as Midnight nodded and stood up before she walked out of the alleyway to look for Freed and Rufus, hearing the footsteps of the former dark mage follow behind her. 

[silvereyedowl]

[source]

Young Star Cluster NGC 346

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA

[dibrush]

Constellation Brushes for Procreate

A set of brushes for constellations. This set includes 88 brushes (including zodiac signs). Thanks to this set, your work will become more atmospheric. 

You can also watch a video where I show these brushes in action📹

Full (88 brushes) - *click*

Full (in etsy store) - *click*

Free (15 brushes) - *click*

Constellations that are in this set of brushes: Lacerta, Traingulum Australe, Crux, Piscis Austrinus, Corona Australis, Hydrus, Eridanus, Scutum, Crater, Horologium, Circinus, Cepheus, Centaurus, Chamaeleon, Phoenix, Tucana, Triangulum, Taurus, Telescopium, Sagittarius, Sagitta, Mensa, Sculptor, Scorpius, Reticulum, Sextans, Corona Borealis, Lynx, Pisces, Caelum, Cancer, Apus, Fornax, Perseus, Pegasus, Vela, Pavo, Orion, Aquila, Octans, Aries, Norma, Antlia, Musca, Microscopium, Canis Minor, Leo Minor, Equuleus , Ursa Minor, Vulpecula, Lyra, Volans, Leo, Cygnus, Puppis, Pyxis, Capricornus, Cetus, Carina, Cassiopeia, Indus, Dorado, Serpens, Ophiuchus, Lepus, Grus, Camelopardalis, Pictor, Ara, Monoceros, Draco, Delphinus, Virgo, Ganes Venatici, Golumba, Hydra, Hercules, Corvus, Coma Berenices, Bootes, Lupus, Auriga, Aquarius, Libra, Canis Major, Ursa Major, Gemini, Andromeda, Star.

[cosmonautroger]

Tucana Constellation

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE INFANCY OF STARS.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Infant NGC 602, a young, bright open cluster of infant stars located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. It is embedded in a nebula known as N90.

- Object Name: NGC 602, N90

- Object Description: Cluster within Star-Forming Region in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

- Constellation: Tucana.

- Distance: Approximately 196,000 light-years (61 kiloparsecs).

- Dimensions: This image is roughy 3 arcminute (180 light-years or 55 parsecs) wide.

Source: www.flickr.com/photos/lumase/3063774826.

[ab-horror]

went full circle with arcane by applying it to my ocs and now im Extra Unwell(tm) about that ending

[expedicaocommusica]

Godhound faz turnê pelo Nordeste em Setembro

Godhound faz turnê pelo Nordeste em Setembro Godhound faz turnê pelo Nordeste em Setembro. Banda potiguar de stoner rock visita cinco cidades para promover seu disco de estreia intitulado “Refueled”. Godhound toca na Rádio Tucana.     Originalmente formada em Natal/RN em 2010, e hoje radicada em Mossoró/RN, a Godhound é concisa em sua exploração artístico-musical: viabilizar o clássico pela…

[calorionsstarchive]

47 Tucanae (NGC 104)

[chibinotan]

Infrared Cluster

[isabellafoster13]

Chapter Twenty-One: Even or Odd

WARNING: PANIC ATTACK AND GAMBLING!

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

Lucy walked along with Freed, Rufus, and Midnight, searching for a sign that proudly proclaimed Celestial Spirit Gate Keys as a prize. They made their way through a wide, dimly lit hallway. It had a line of doors on each side. The hallway had many other people, but not to the point that it was crowded, the small group had plenty of room to move around. Nevertheless, the four stuck close together, all watching the possible wizards surrounding them as they also looked at the signs on the doors. 

Lucy tried to keep her eyes from lingering too long on the people around them. She felt as though she was being watched and it made her uncomfortable. She stepped closer to her friends and crossed her arms over her chest. She jumped a little when she felt an arm wrap around her. Looking up to see who the arm belonged to, she found that Rufus was smiling down at her, his eyes behind his red and gold mask were soft and gave Lucy a strange sense of comfort. 

She unconsciously leaned against him, allowing him to wrap his arm around her body more. She felt warmth radiating off of him. For some reason, she felt comforted and safe, something that she didn't expect to feel anytime soon. She then heard Rufus whisper to her after he dipped his head toward her ear, "are you alright?" 

Lucy could only shrug. She was uncomfortable, tired, and the uneasy feeling she had earlier still hasn't eased even a little. What was the reason behind that feeling? Why did she feel like something bad was going to happen? Was she being paranoid like Rufus had suggested? Should she listen to her gut? She wasn't sure. Her eyes scanned the crowd around them, searching for Terra, Lust, and Nyx. She hoped that they weren't here. Fear rose from within her gut at the thought that those three were here. 

She gulped, her mouth dry for some reason. Very quickly, her skin became hot, suddenly, she was burning. Not like when she's outside under the summer sun, but instead, like there was a fire underneath her skin, burning from inside of her. Her breathing became slightly faster and a little shallow. She gently pushed Rufus away, his body heat becoming too much for her to bare. 

She stopped walking to calm herself. Her breathing steadily became faster and shallower, her mouth was dry, every part of her body was burning hot, her heartbeat was racing, and she felt dizzy.

"Lucy?" 

She wasn't able to recognize who had spoken, but she knew that Freed, Rufus, and Midnight were now watching her. She kept her eyes on the stone floor, unable to look at her friends. A feeling of nausea and fear settled upon her as she stumbled backward, quickly ending up on her ass. As her breathing became audibly quick, she brought her hands up to cover her face, noticing that they were trembling. She placed her hands over her face and brought her knees up to her chest. Her heartbeat was pounding against her chest, the sound filling her eyes to the point that she couldn't hear any other sounds. 

After what felt to her like several minutes, she felt a small hand gently grab her wrist and press something cold and metallic into her palm. She jumped at the sudden cold feeling. The owner of the small hand that held her wrist gently forced her fingers closed around the cold object. Lucy's hand began to hurt dully. Her heartbeat calmed just enough to hear a man's voice speak to her in a whisper, "Princess, breath in through your nose for four seconds." 

Lucy curled further into herself, refusing to make an attempt at the order. The voice repeated, a bit more forcefully this time, "Princess, breath in through your nose for four seconds." 

She finally attempt to do so, managing to suck in a breath through her nose. The voice counted to four as she breathed in before continuing, "hold it for seven seconds." He counted to seven as Lucy held her breath. "Good, Princess," the owner of the masculine voice gently rested a hand on her back, "now breath out through your mouth for eight seconds." Lucy obeyed as the voice counted. 

This process repeated, Lucy breathing in through her nose for a count of four, holding it for a count of seven, and breathing out through her mouth for a count of eight, the voice directing her as she went. The other person, the one who had small hands, continued to hold her wrist with one hand and keep her hand closed around the cold object. 

When her heartbeat had neared its normal pace and her breathing became more controllable. The fire that seemed to be underneath her skin lessened gradually until it was barely noticeable. She moved her legs away from her chest and looked at the people who were with her. She first saw that Loke was kneeling next to her, a kind smile on his face and his hand still on her back. Turning her gaze to the other person who was sitting by her, she found that Tucana was holding her hand closed and smiling at her as well. The female celestial spirit asked, "how are you feeling, Princess?" 

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again, but once again, nothing. She placed her hand over her mouth and coughed, her throat dry. Loke announced, "I'll be right back." He then disappeared with a flash of golden light. He returned after only a few seconds and handed Lucy a bottle of cold water. The blonde accepted it and downed the water after unscrewing the bottlecap. She ended up drinking the entire bottle and sighed before she gave Loke an appreciative smile as he took the empty bottle from her. 

Lucy then looked at Tucana and, after a few seconds of slight hesitation, she muttered, "I'm alright now, Tucana, thank you." 

Tucana's smile widened, her eyes shining with pride in herself for being able to help. Lucy thanked both of her spirits before the pair disappeared back to their realm. Lucy sighed from her place on the floor, her mind still trying to process what had happened. 

A hand rested on her shoulder, drawing her attention, and Freed questioned with worry clear in his voice and on his face, "are you alright? You scared us." 

Lucy looked away from him, feeling ashamed of herself for letting her friends see her like that, as well as for scaring them. She responded softly, "I'm sorry." 

Rufus asked from where he stood on her other side, "for what?" 

Lucy heaved a sigh, "for what you just saw." 

Midnight was the next to speak, "we don't have time for this. We need to move on." 

Freed scolded him, "don't you realize what just happened? Lucy doesn't need to feel overwhelmed and rushed right now!" 

Lucy pushed his hand off of her shoulder and stood up, saying, "no, Midnight is right. We need to find all of the keys here as soon as possible." 

She pushed past Midnight, ignoring the sounds of Freed and Rufus urging her to stop. She kept her eyes on the doors that she passed, forcing herself to not think about the feeling of being watched that began to weigh on her and the uneasy feeling that was still nestled into her gut. 

She eventually caught sight of a sign that had the words she was searching for etched into it. With a small smile appearing on her face, she raced toward the door and looked at the sign, reading it. 

'Two Celestial Spirit Gate Keys up for gamble!'

Feeling a rush of relief, she grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and pushed the door open, stepping inside to find the room empty, save for a man sitting at a desk in a swivel chair. There were also two couches on opposite sides of a coffee table. She walked toward the man, hearing her three partners walk in behind her and close the door. The man smiled at the group, greeting them, "welcome to my den! You're here to gamble, I presume." 

Lucy nodded, her brow furrowed in determination. She didn't care that she's never gambled before, nor did she care what the game was, she was determined to win the keys. She watched as the man stood up and walked around the desk, observing that he had long, brown hair that was pulled into a high ponytail, brown eyes, pale skin, and was dressed in a burgundy suit jacket with a white dress shirt and black pants. 

The man spoke again, sitting on one of the couches that were on opposite sides of a coffee table. He gestured toward the other couch as he spoke again, "whoever is gambling against me, please sit." 

Lucy instantly moved around the couch and plopped down. She wasn't going to let Freed, Rufus, or Midnight get an opportunity to take the challenge for her, or any of the other challenges that are to follow. This was her mission and she was going to do as much of the work as she can. Her three companions were merely there to assist her whenever she permitted it. 

The man spoke again, "I'm Bub. May I know your name?" 

"Lucy." She said it with a tone that told him she wasn't interested in unnecessary pleasantries. 

Bub chuckled as he stood up and walked toward the desk and opened a drawer, certainly looking for the game that he wanted to play. After several moments of thoughtful humming to himself and of Lucy getting irritated at how long this was taking, Bub reached into an open, wooden box before he walked back over. He sat down again and held up a purple cup and a white die, allowing Lucy to see the items. 

He then spoke, "let's play a simple game of Even or Odd. I will toss this die into this cup. You have to guess if the number that it lands on is even or odd. Do you accept?" 

Lucy stared at him. It was stupid to ask her if she accepted the challenge. There was no way that she would turn away. She remembered what Midnight had said earlier, that the den owners here will cheat and didn't want to pay what they were offering as a prize. She responded seriously, "I have two requests before we begin." 

Bub raised an eyebrow, asking, "which are?" 

Lucy raised a single finger as she answered, "you let me see the keys that you are offering. I want to be sure that they are real." She then raised a second finger as she continued, "you let me analyze the die. I want to be sure that it's not loaded." 

Bub chuckled and tossed her the die before he reached into a pocket and slid the keys toward her. Lucy first looked at the die in her hands. She didn't feel it weighed down on any of its sides. She didn't know of any statistics that showed one side was more likely to turn up than the other sides. She gave a silent sigh, not very happy with the fact that she will need to rely on sheer luck. 

She tossed the die back to Bub as she instructed the three men who stood behind her, "keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't try to switch the die." 

She then turned her attention to the keys. She picked up one, observing that the silver key's blade was shaped like a sword while on the circular bow was Medusa's head, looking quite fearsome, as if she was threatening an opponent. 

Lucy was able to quickly tell that it was real. She sat the key back down and picked up the other silver key, observing that the blade was shaped like a standard key, but the bow was shaped like a pegasus in mid-flight. 

She sat the second key down and pushed the two keys toward Bub, saying, "they're real." 

Bub smirked, "you're an expert?" 

"Yes. Now, let's get to the game." 

"Alright, alright." 

Bub held up the cup and die again, pausing in that position for a few moments. He then swiftly tossed the die into the cup and slammed the cup down onto the table, the opening pressed against the wooden table tightly. Bub fixed his brown eyes on Lucy's own, saying, "so, did the die land on an even number or an odd number?" 

Lucy stared at the cup, racking her mind for a number. It was a six-sided die. That meant she had a three out of six chance to get it right. A fifty/fifty chance. She bit her lip and balled her fists on top of her knees. She didn't know what to say. What if she got it wrong? Could she ask for another game? She couldn't lose these keys. She felt panic rise from within her gut. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she felt an urge to run and hide from any prying eyes. 

She jumped slightly when she felt a cold touch against the back of her neck. It jolted her back to reality. She blinked the tears away and raised her eyes to meet Bub's. She had no strategy to rely on. She had no visible evidence pointing toward the number that the die had landed on. She had to guess and pray that she got it right. She suppressed a growl when she noticed the smug look on Bub's face. He was clearly enjoying her near breakdown. 

Lucy took a deep breath before she spat out, "it's even!" 

Bub's smirk grew and he lifted the cup. 

Lucy's eyes instantly looked at the die. 

Four. The number that it landed on was four. An even number. 

Lucy felt a wave of relief crash down onto her and she heaved a sigh that reflected this. She had gotten it right. 

Bub clapped his hands once and announced, "congratulations! Take the keys!" He pushed the two keys toward Lucy, who snatched them up before anybody could blink. Lucy stood up and nodded to Bub before she walked toward the door, intending to make her way to their quarters and make her new contracts. 

Lucy glanced at her three friends, who sat on the furniture in their assigned quarters. She set one of her new keys on the coffee table and sighed before she turned around, facing the door, and pointed the blade of her new key away from her. She summoned, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Hero: Perseus!" 

The sound of a large bell sounded and a bright, silver light shined, quickly fading to reveal the new celestial spirit. Standing before the blonde woman was a tall and muscular man, probably the same height as Bixlow. He had olive-tanned skin, black hair that was short and curly, and sharp, dark brown eyes. He was dressed in a white tunic, and winged sandals on his feet. In one hand was a harpe, a sword with a sickle protrusion. Resting on his back was what looked like a silver, polished shield. Resting on his hip, tied around his waist, was a brown sack that held something heavy. Finishing off the look was a clean, metal helmet, resting on top of his head. 

Lucy smiled, greeting him, "hello, I'm Lucy. I was wondering if you would like to make a contract with me?" 

Perseus sheathed his sword behind his back before he stepped toward Lucy and kneeled in front of her. Lucy watched in surprise and confusion as the spirit took her hand into his and kissed the back of it, speaking, "I've heard much about you, Princess. I would be honored to serve you." Lucy noticed that he sounded oddly similar to Laxus.

She felt her cheeks heat up at the knight-like action. She responded, "um...th-that's great." 

When Perseus released her hand and stood up, she continued, "what days can I summon you?" 

Perseus gave her a small smile and answered, "any day that you need me." 

"What can you do?" 

The celestial spirit pulled out his harpe from where it was sheathed behind his back. He answered, "I don't use any kind of magic skillfully. I use this harpe to fight. The sword on my back can deflect any magical attack, no matter how strong. The helmet atop my head gives me the ability to become invisible. This sack you see contains the head of the Medusa, and with it, I can turn any person into a permanent stone statue. Finally, the winged sandals on my feet allow me to fly." 

Lucy nodded, silently marveling at his cool abilities. Remembering the other key, she turned around to pick it up, holding it for Perseus to see as she asked, "Pegasus belongs to you, right?" 

Perseus' smile widened and he nodded, answering, "yes, Princess. He is my steed." 

Freed spoke from one of the two chairs that were on either side of the coffee table, "excuse me, I apologize for interrupting, but why do you need a flying horse if you can fly on your own?" 

Perseus answered, "do not apologize, friend. The answer is that my sandals allow me to fly with the speed of a peregrine falcon, however, they are incredibly fragile. I require Pegasus for flight, in the event that my sandals break during battle. I also do my best fighting when I have him fighting with me." 

Freed nodded and leaned back in his chair, satisfied with the answer. Lucy turned back to her new spirit and pointed her second silver key at the spot next to him. She announced, "I connect to the World of Celestial Spirits! Heed my call and pass through the gate! Open! Gate of the Winged Horse: Pegasus!" 

In an instant, a large horse, with white feathered wings sprouting from his back appeared. When the silver light faded completely, Pegasus folded his wings at his sides. The winged horse was a beautiful, pure white color, his mane and tail a sparkling gold color, and his eyes were an ocean blue color. Perseus rubbed his hand up and down the spirit's neck, greeting his beloved steed, "it is nice having the same wizard again, indeed?" 

Pegasus neighed and rubbed his head against Perseus' chest. Lucy smiled at the sight, feeling happy to see two friends united under a new celestial wizard again. She asked, "what days can I summon Pegasus? And what can he do?" 

Perseus answered, "you can summon him anytime you wish. He can provide a method of transportation and is quite skilled in Wind Magic." 

Lucy nodded before she reached out her hand. Pegasus stepped toward her and sniffed her hand. He soon walked closer to her and rubbed his head against her, causing Lucy to laugh and pet him. 

Lucy then welcomed her two new spirits into her family and said goodbye before Perseus and Pegasus returned to the Celestial Spirit World. She turned around to look at the men behind her and asked, "should we go look for other keys or stay here for the night?" She stole a glance at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was well into the night. 

Midnight stood up, answering, "it's up to you, I guess." 

Lucy nodded. She wasn't excited about going back out there, but she also knew that she had to collect the rest of the keys as quickly as possible. She decided, "let's try one more den, if we can find one." 

The three men nodded and followed her out of the room, walking down the wide hallway to look for another den that was offering Celestial Spirit Gate Keys. 

[apod]

2024 October 25

Globular Star Cluster NGC 6752 Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco, Aygen Erkaslan

Explanation: Some 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo, the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter. Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core, are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars, stars which appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core. This sharp color composite also features the cluster's ancient red giant stars in yellowish hues. (Note: The bright, spiky blue star about 8 o'clock from the cluster center is a foreground star along the line-of-sight to NGC 6752)

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241025.html

[eliaskew]

Hello! I understand that naming characters can be difficult, I also understand that when we create AU's in which a character is trans or hiding and need to create a deadname/fake name it can be a struggle. HOWEVER-

When it comes to naming Black OC's or giving characters like Sirius and Regulus genderbent/deadnames I will not take any excuses for things like "Siriana" and "Regina". That is about the only family in canon who already HAS a naming convention, and yes, I realise not all of them follow it. However most DO.

So! For your perusal, I have taken the liberty of spending two weeks of my life scrolling Wikipedia to find a list of constellations, star names and star nicknames that could be used instead! Please use them I beg of you.

As a helpful guide, any names already used in canon are starred. Any names that MIGHT be used in canon (it's been ages since I've read the actual books, forgive me if I've missed any) are double starred.

And without further ado I present...

Skew's list of perfectly acceptable Star Names from a-z:

- Andromeda *

- Antlia

- Apus

- Aquila/ Aquilae

- Ara

- Aries

- Auriga

- Alpheratz

- Almach

- Altager

- Agena

- Ancha

- Altair/ Alnair

- Ari

- Alanac

- Arcturus *

- Asellus

- Alazal

- Asterion

- Adhara

- Armus

- Avior

- Argo

- Achird

- Agena 

- Asteroth/ Ashtaroth

- Amansinaya

- Acrux

- Athebyne

- Altais

- Alsafi

- Achernar

- Azha

- Alhena 

- Alphard *

- Ashlesha

- Algol

- Ascella

- Antares

- Apollyon

- Alya

- Alasia

- Alycone

- Atlas

- Asterope

- Atria

- Alcor

- Aniara

- Alula

- Alsephina

- Arcalis

- Borealis

- Betelgeuse

- Bellatrix *

- Bosona

- Caelum

- Carina

- Cassiopeia **

- Centaurus

- Cepheus

- Cetus

- Circinus

- Columba

- Corvus

- Cygnus *

- Capella

- Celaeno

- Caroli

- Chara

- Castra

- Canopus

- Castula

- Collum

- Calvera

- Cursa

- Castor

- Cadens

- Chason

- Ceginus 

- Cymbae

- Chechia

- Cynosura

- Delphinius

- Draco *

- Dolones

- Diphda

- Denebola

- Eridanus

- Elgomaisa

- Eltanin

- Ebla

- Electra

- Errakis

- Fornax

- Fortunae

- Felixvarela

- Franz (yes, legitimately)

- Felis

- Formosa

- Gemini

- Gliese

- Gomeisa

- Gemma (again, yes, legitimately)

- Gnosia

- Geminga

- Gorgonea/ Gorgona

- Gildun

- Hercules

- Hydrus

- Hydra/ Hydria

- Hydor

- Haedus

- Hunor

- Helvetios

- Hyades

- Hyadum

- Hoggar

- Horna

- Izar

- Isis

- Innes

- Itonda

- Irena

- Indus

- Illyrian

- Juza

- Karaka

- Kastra

- Kitalpha

- Kursa

- Koeia

- Kornephoros

- Lacerta

- Leo

- Lepus

- Libra

- Lynx (totally legit. A constellation, in fact)

- Lyra

- Lucida

- Lanceator

- Lancea

- Leonis

- Lucitania

- Mirach

- Mensa

- Monoceros

- Musca

- Mira

- Macondo

- Manus

- Meres

- Meridiana

- Moldoveanu

- Musica

- Moriah

- Mebsuta

- Meissa

- Morava

- Miram

- Media

- Merope (yup, Voldemort's mum had a more Black name than Narcissa)

- Maia

- Norma

- Nembus

- Nova

- Nervia 

- Nicolaus

- Naledi 

- Nosaxa

- Nash

- Natasha (still Legit)

- Octans

- Ophiuchus

- Orion *

- Osiris

- Ogma

- Pavo

- Pegasus

- Phoenix

- Pictor

- Pisces

- Pyxis

- Promethium

- Postrema

- Phoenicia

- Petra

- Princeps 

- Pollux **

- Praecipula

- Polis

- Pipirima 

- Polaris

- Porrima

- Rigil/ Rigel

- Rostrum 

- Rastaban

- Rutilicus

- Regulus *

- Revati

- Rapeto

- Saggita

- Scorpius *  

- Serpens

- Sextans

- Sirius *

- Sarin

- Sargamatha

- Stribor

- Sinistra

- Solaris

- Shaula

- Sterope

- Spica

- Syrma

- Speedy Mic (not one I would recommend but a legitimate star name nonetheless. Also my favourite)

- Taurus

- Tucana

- Titawin

- Tertia

- Tianyi

- Tangra

- Tureis

- Taygeta

- Talitha

- Tania

- Ursa

- Vela

- Virgo

- Volans

- Vulpeca

- Vega 

- Vrischika

- Wezen

- Wurren

- Zibal

- Zosma

- Zavyava

- Zaniah

An important note: not every letter has Star Names. And some have far more than others. Also, this is not all of them. This is a FRACTION of the ones I found so please feel free to look up some more if you hate all of these.

And please. PLEASE use them. If I see another "Regina" I might actually cry.

[skinmechanix]

One of the two Magellanic Cloud plus globular cluster 47 Tucanae aka NGC104 photographed on 30th June 2022 using a 65mm aperature super wide field scope located in Chile, via iTelescope.net

[mrsometimes11]

Replaying DQ9 for the first time in a while, and am at Stornway Castle. I inspected the Guardian Statues and was surprised to see that Stornway has two different Celestarian Guardians named; 'Tucana', on the left, and 'Cygnus', on the right.

I've been playing this game for years, and this is the first time I've really paid attention to the statues, so I'm wondering if a lot of folk have noticed this.

I'm also wondering if it's intentional or an oversight. Stornway is a pretty large town, by DQ9 standards, so it might make sense for it to have two Guardians. Equally, I'm fairly sure that it's the only town to have two, even amongst similarly sized towns like Coffinwell, Bloomingdale and Gleeba, so it is still weird.

Thoughts?

[dq-avenquire]

Celestrian Masterlist

I have some fittingly angelic OC's that I wanted to give a DQIX AU, so I looked through the wiki + double-checked some stuff of my own accord and felt like sharing it here too - this list will be updated as I replay through the game and do things like "counting every single Celestrian found in game" and similar fascinating tasks. This list will likely contain spoilers, as well as the birds each of the constellations the Celestrians are named after are associated with. NON-GUARDIANS: - Apus Major, leader and eldest of the Celestrians. His bird is a bird of paradise :) - Columba, presumably a librarian. Her bird is a dove. Seems to have been familiar with Corvus previously, and is close with Aquila now - Aquila, former Guardian of Angel Falls, twin brother of Pavo, the protagonist's mentor and former apprentice of Corvus. His bird is the eagle. - Pavo, the one who opens and closes the Rapportal and allows the player to use the multiplayer function. The only Celestrian to live in the Protectorate, and (younger) twin sister of Aquila. Her bird is the peacock. GUARDIANS: - You! :) Angel Falls is all yours - Tucana, one of two Guardians of Stornway. Their bird is the toucan! - Cygnus, the other of the two Guardians of Stornway. Their bird is the swan. - Vultur, Guardian of Gleeba. Their bird is, as one might guess, the vulture. - Noctua, Guardian of Swinedimples Academy. Fittingly, their bird is an owl. - Corvus, the sort-of-sort-of-not Guardian of Wormwood Creek. His bird is the crow.

OTHER GUARDIAN STATUES: - Zere - noted to be crumbling and broken. I'd assume this is because the villagers treat the tree at the centre of the village as a guardian instead. - Coffinwell - two statues, actually, but no names - Alltrades Abbey - weirdly, none. There is a statue behind Abbot Jack, but I think that looks more like Celestria, personally. Noting it regardless! - Zere Rocks - has a statue, but given the context of how it was made there's no way to know if it would even have a Guardian to go with it. - Bloomingdale - statue, no name This leaves us with Porth Llaffan (which worships Leviathan over the Celestrians), Slurry Quay, Dourbridge, Batsureg (nomadic, might not have statues because of this) and Upover (which has Greygnarl) without statues, but not necessarily without Guardians. I also made a point of checking Gerzuun (which does have a church, notably, and the bodura grass as a thing to worship) and Brigadoom, but couldn't find any there either. Beyond that, all Celestrians are unnamed (I'll get to how many of those there are later!). That being said, there are actually two major bird related constellations left (that I could find with some very surface level research) that aren't used as names within the game. Namely Grus (crane) and Phoenix (self-explanatory). I like to think that Phoenix would be a good fit for Alltrades Abbey, given the association with rebirth, though I'm still figuring out where I personally would place Grus. (I also think that Phoenix would be a very interesting fit for Brigadoom or Zere, Rocks or otherwise, for similar reasons) That being said, since most of the constellation names for birds are also just their genuses, it's pretty easy to find a number of canon compliant names that will fit right in should you choose to make your own :) happy questing !