#i included it because the other side is all rust but this side is probably pretty close to what it looked like when it was made

[antarcticajoy]

I've been getting paid to walk around 150 year old buildings we BALLIN

featuring this pretty hinge off a door I've been working on

[kromato]

Hey what's up it's me with a special interest in weapons and I wanted to share my thoughts about Nikto's machete (no that's not an innuendo for once)

Had a bit of a solo-mandela effect going on because for the longest time I thought it had a modified 'billhook'-like feature on the back of it for whatever reason (but smaller than what would be considered a traditional billhook, more like a hoof pick blade).

I kind of enjoy still HCing that it does have it because a) it looks kind of cool and b) a terrifying thought to think this man whips this giant intimidating blade out, flips it deftly in his hand to the hook side, just to sink it into flesh and yank people back in when they try to run. Also it allows me to think about a scenario where, resident karambit knife enthusiast Sebastian Krueger, can teach proper blade hooking techniques to our beloved plural man. Anyway back to the knife - It's like a cross between a coup coup and a bola? But has a cool flare like a Tapanga for his newer mwiii model. Also like a vintage Senegalese french machete, which were known for their high quality (might technically be the same thing as the coup coup, just with the locale specified I think, both entrenchment machetes). That curve also kind of reminds me of parangs but it's not particularly drop-pointed.

I HC Nikto as a very brutally pragmatic but particular man, so it doesn't feel too far off to think that he went out of his way to acquire something niche like that. Some kind of custom-made machete that fits his needs just right. The length of it, as well as the curved, ergonomic grip makes me think he's gotten it to do some serious chopping, so it's also probably heavy and weighted forward to make that easier when swinging. I don't see him as a flashy fighter personally, and though maybe it was a stylistic choice for the game devs/artists, I think it's a neat feature that speaks to his character. I do think it's made of hefty steel; weight is important in chopping knives, and though steel rusts, it's sturdy compared to a lot of other metals. Not to mention - I feel like oiling and caring for his weapons, machete included, would be a ritual source of peace for his sometimes loud and chaotic mind. Grounding when he can feel the weight and texture where his nerves aren't completely damaged, smell the oil, have tangible proof that it's reality when he sees the maintained blade even after he becomes unmoored.

Now this is just me WAY reading too much into it, but it gives me a little giggle - The hole at the end of the handle is for a wrist lanyard, so you can loop a piece of paracord rope to secure it around your hand. It's an important safety feature just in case the machete goes flying out of your hand while chopping, lest it hit people in your vicinity (accidentally...?). In his 19 model, he doesn't have the paracord rope attached; Nikto says "Fuck your safety" but also huge ego of "I would never accidentally fling my knife!!"

Could also be because it gets caught on stuff if it dangles off his hip though - he's got one on his newer model where he wears the blade on his shoulder, which looks like a place where it's less likely to snag on things. Could also be because he's been increasingly featured in larger factions, so he works with more people and was asked to have one on hand maybe?? I don't know. In either case the knot in the middle of the rope makes it too small for his wrist which could also be read as a passive-aggressive "Here's the fucking safety rope it's on there ALRIGHT" and yet he's also made it nonfunctional for its intended purpose lmao Okay that's all byeeee

[rustbeltjessie]

I haven’t made a pinned post in a while, but since it’s my birthday month and I’m struggling right now, I figured it’s a good time to make one.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m Jessie Lynn McMains, aka Rust Belt Jessie. I’m a writer (poetry and prose), artist, zine-maker, spoken word performer, occasional musician, small press publisher, and general jack of several creative trades. I’m queer—bi/mspec and nonbinary (I use they/them, she/her, and he/him pronouns). I’m disabled and neurodivergent, and the parent of two kiddos. Politically? Well, I consider myself an anarchist at heart, but I still vote in every election. I think everyone should be able to have enough food, and a safe place to live, and yeah, even a few ‘unnecessary,’ fun things, just by virtue of being alive. As for the rest of my beliefs, you can probably garner a general idea if you peruse my blog even a little.

Now, onto the nitty-gritty. We had about ten days between when our last month’s food money ran out and when this month’s came in. It has been refilled as of today, so I don’t have to worry about that for the moment, but because of that gap, I had to spend money I’d set aside for other stuff on food. I paid our rent and energy bill for the month, but I’m a couple months overdue on our Internet bill, and I don’t want to risk that getting shut off. And then, well, it’s December. I’m trying to buy my kids some Christmas presents, and it’s not just my birthday month—my youngest kiddo’s birthday is four days before Christmas. Because of all this, I’m also way behind on writing stuff. I owe my zine subscribers a new issue (I didn’t send anything at all in November), and I’m trying to finish up some pieces to record for my new spoken word EP, but I’ve had to focus on day job and side-hustle stuff that’s more immediately lucrative, so I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to finishing these projects.

If you’d like to throw some $$ my way so I can get some gifts for my kiddos, keep my Internet on, get back to my writing, and maybe have a less-stressful birthday month than I did last year, I have V*nmo (JessieLynnMcMains) and P*yp*l (coeur.de.fantome [at] gmail[dot]com).

But hey, hey, I’m not just asking for something for nothing! I have a lot of stuff available on Ko-fi (rustbeltjessie), including print books and zines, ebooks and zines, and pins, and you can also hire me as an editor or commission a custom mini-collage. And almost everything is sliding scale/pay-what-you-can, some with a minimum price, others starting at $0.

And that zine subscription? It’s still not too late to get in on it, even though the year is almost over. If you sign up now, you’ll receive all previous issues, along with this month’s when it’s finished, and the final two will be mailed out in January.

Or perhaps you’d like to buy or commission something I don’t officially have for sale. Maybe you’d like to buy one of my existing pieces of art? Or commission a custom pin, designed by me, based on the band/film/fandom/whatever of your choice? Or commission a custom postcard poem/art piece, on the subject of your choice? Or have me write you a custom mini-zine, on the subject of your choice? I can do all those things! DM me, and we’ll work something out!

Oh, and I mentioned above that I was working on a new spoken word EP? Go check out my full-length spoken word album, Self-Portrait With Ghosts and Trains, which was released by Hello America Stereo Cassette in July 2021. You can find it at helloamerica.bandcamp.com. (I do get royalties from that release periodically, but it’s not as immediate as if you purchase something directly from me.)

All that said, I know times are tough for most people right now, so please don’t feel obligated to purchase anything or otherwise send money my way. And, as always, even just a few dollars helps, as does reblogging/boosting this post. 🖤

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for stealing jewelry and a few other items from my hoarder aunt?

This was a few years ago now, I wanna say maybe 2018? My dad has two sisters, Z and K. K is married to a hoarder and has some hoarding tendencies herself so their house and particularly their garage is a mess. Not biohazard levels of mess but for sure just dusty, dirty, and stuffed with with ancient unusable garbage. K and her husband don’t have any kids, they’re both in their mid-70’s and both are in pretty poor health, so Z flew down from Florida and asked my father and I to come help clean. We agreed and came down for a day.

I have a weird relationship with my aunts. K took care of their mother until she died, and until she died my father would be at his sister’s beck and call. He would frequently abandon his own family to go help K and his mother. I don’t blame him for this, he wanted to help his sick mother, but I do blame K for using him as free labor. He built the house K is hoarding in, destroying his body in the process. Now that I’m an adult I don’t really speak to either aunt, like I had no contact with Z since Z’s second wedding in 2013. K is much closer location-wise but I don’t speak to her either because she’s just kind of off putting. The last time I spent time with her we went shopping and she kept telling me stories of her miscarriage and how annoying her husband is and pointing to someone and loudly asking “you think that’s a man or a woman?” Like I understand we are family but K and Z are as close to strangers as family can get to me. This doesn’t even cover my mom’s opinion of them and their treatment of her. Both Z and K have a history of manipulation, deception, and are both very vindictive and ignorant. She hates them both to the point of paranoia. My sister and I have a similarly low opinion of them both, but we both are more tolerable, myself especially.

So we arrive and we clean, Z and I working together to throw away a bunch of shit and my father worked on installing a new dishwasher. I stumble upon this gorgeous hanging lamp that looks like a large full moon. I text my mom about it and she flips. “That’s mine,” she says, “your father and I found that on the side of the road one night when we were first married.” So I load it into my dads car because it’s so pretty and it belongs to my parents. “Hey, you better ask if you can take that” Z says and I flat out tell her that it belongs to my mom. She shrugs and we continue to work. I find another really cool set of hanging lamps and a solid wooden lamp base carved to look like a gazelle that probably belonged to K’s husband’s parents and I took those too, with no input from Z.

These items weren’t lovingly packed and carefully stored away. They were sitting in plastic bins stuffed with dozens of boxes disintegrated plastic gloves and tools that were more rust than anything else. Towards the end of the day we discover some jewelry boxes and I take those inside to go through with K. A lot of it was junky costume jewelry but there’s some incredible pieces including a pair of 14k gold hoops that look like rams heads, a cool brass ring with an enameled signet with the Sagittarius archer, and a huge silver heart pendant. I carefully set aside the items that I would like to take home and K didn’t say anything, either because she didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Finally when we got home I showed my mom all of the cool stuff I found and she kind of scolded me, saying I should have asked to take this stuff and I brushed it off by joking that this was payment for my cleaning services. She was very happy that I rescued her moon lamp though.

I’m wearing that chunky silver heart pendant today and am thinking about it again. K doesn’t have any children so the only people who would ever inherit this junk would be either myself or Z’s kids, but Z’s daughter is no contact with Z and Z’s son lives on the other side of the country. We own the property that K lives on, pay for the taxes on it and pay for the maintenance on it all without charging K anything, so even when she and her husband die my family is going to have to clean it anyway and I can assure you I would be the only person who would actually want to sift through the garbage to find cool stuff. I feel like I saved this stuff from the landfill. I wear the jewelry I took, we have that really cool gazelle lamp displayed in our living room, and my sister said she was going to use the hanging lamps I brought home for when she has her own home. But of course I technically stole all of it and for sure will not be giving it back, even if she noticed it’s missing. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[everydayyoulovemeless]

Hello, friend. I really love all your works you post on Tumblr. How do you think Courier and his/her companions from Fallout: New Vegas would interact with Sole Survivor and his/her companions from Fallout 4?

FNV Companions Interacting With Fo4 Companions

➼ Word Count » 0.9k ➼ Warnings » None ➼ A/N » This is such a fun concept! I lost count after a while so I hope I included the pairings you were looking for!

Arcade finds Curie's synth body incredibly fascinating and the two will sit and question each other for the longest time.

Boone reminds MacCready of the toy soldier Lucy gave him and either can’t stop talking to him or avoids him entirely out of guilt.

Lily realizes how much more different she is compared to Strong, but it doesn’t stop her from listening to him ramble about Shakespeare or treat him any differently from her other grandchildren. She loves him and they hit it off quite well.

Raul and Nick are both grandpas who’ve got memories from before the war, so, unsurprisingly, they hit it off quite well. They’ll talk about their lives before the bombs and how it all compares to their current ones.

Cait and Cass hit it off almost immediately and leave the initial group to go drinking. The two of them will open up and talk about anything and everything.

Veronica ends up hanging around Danse as often as she can since they both stand for the same cause. It ends up just being Veronica rambling about how much fun she's had traveling with her group and Danse just awkwardly nodding and saying he hates his.

Codsworth will go and clean the rust off of ED-E. They'll end up forming a brother-like relationship since Codsworth can understand his beeping and ED-E likes how doting and friendly he is.

Dogmeat ends up being really scared of Rex because he won't stop chasing him around.

X6-88 thought Arcade talked too much and decided to just ignore all his questions about the Institute.

Deacon immediately disguises himself as Boone the second he notices that they look alike. Boone hates it but he can't seem to get the spy off his trail.

Old Longfellow and Lily argued like an old married couple, with Lily wanting him to quit his drinking habits and Old Longfellow saying she's "crazier than the people in the fog".

Hancock thinks Raul is great and will offer him a place in Goodneighbor. He might even end up referring to him as "Uncle Raul" if they stay together long enough.

Cass assumed Preston was NCR and he got incredibly flustered when she started hitting on him.

Piper and Veronica become best friends when they find out they both like scavenging and being everywhere except where they're supposed to be.

ED-E freaks MacCready out since it reminds him of the Enclave Eyebots in the Capital Wasteland. He'll try his best to avoid him, but the bot seemed to really like the comics he carried with him in his bag.

Old Longfellow loves Rex and gladly takes him to go hunt mole rats.

Hancock REALLY likes flirting with Arcade and does it whenever he sees the opportunity.

At first, Boone and Cait didn't seem to like each other, but then they started talking about how much they both despised slavers and suddenly became an incredibly reliable duo when it came to killing legionaries and raiders.

Lily and Codsworth really enjoy each other's company and will sit together in patio chairs and drink lemonade or something.

Try as he might, Raul doesn't fall for any of Deacon's lies and, instead, just laughs it right off.

Dogmeat really likes Cass and will follow her around until she finally relents and gives him her hat. (which won't be for a long while)

Gage thinks that Veronica's annoying and will either avoid her or will try and get her sold into the legion.

ED-E and Curie end up getting along really well due to their general innocence and curiosity.

Danse will probably end up washing off the legion marking on Rex's side and replacing it with either a Brotherhood or Minutemen logo (depending on where he's at in the story). He doesn't think it'd be right to just leave the markings of a society built off the backs of slaves and wants him to represent something better.

Veronica reminds Nick a lot of Piper, so he'll sit and listen to her ramble on about everything she wants to see, and he'll gladly do his best to keep her out of trouble.

Piper is constantly hitting Raul with questions because she's desperate to learn more about what Mexico is or how the world was before the bombs. She finds his story so interesting and will do anything to get more information out of him.

At some point, Preston will go up to Boone and start a conversation with him, saying that he really appreciates everything the NCR has done to help out on the west side. They could both talk about their respective factions for hours and they do.

Arcade teaches Strong all he knows about Macbeth and literature in general, and in turn, Strong shows Arcade how to stomp someone till they pop.

Lily will keep telling X6-88 to take his jacket off since it's "too hot out here to be in all that!" He'll eventually relent and will be handed a sweet little shirt completely out of character for him that she had stashed in her purse prior.

Gage and Cass get into a bar fight. It could honestly be for anything, their thoughts on slavery, how they treat strangers, their sense of family. These two just can't get along.

[marichild]

👀 50 + dazai-ango (hi this kavi <3 gestures at the pairing and goes well obviously)

HII KAVI !! ngl I giggled a bit when I saw what the 50th song was on my list but I managed to come up with something by picking a specific bit, and also somehow merging Vibes lol. (here's the spotify wrapped fic ask game for anyone who's curious :3)

whoopsie that got a bit long

#50: Dazai Osamu, Sakaguchi Ango, & Voices of the Chord by Sawano Hiroyuki

Hunger for the sleep I know will never come

Crowded is the space but don't have anyone

I could read the bible to drown out the hum

Avoid the voices of the chord

Ango finds him when he’s sleepless, sometimes. He’ll come out into the balcony and stand beside Dazai, making no comment of his precarious perch on the railing, legs swinging over the abyss.

“You’re disturbing the neighbors,” Ango says this time, at the rhythmic thump of Dazai’s heels smacking against the metal bars.

“Boo-hoo,” Dazai replies. Ango is most likely aware that Dazai would probably stop if anyone else asked. “Go away, Ango.”

“You’re in my apartment,” Ango deadpans, and Dazai scowls. He’s not allowed to talk like they’re back in Bar Lupin and nothing is wrong. He does have a point, still.

“Why are you awake,” he asks instead of starting another argument he knows Ango won’t engage in. Venting his anger and misery is less satisfying when the other person just takes it. “It’s three A.M.”

Ango doesn’t say anything for a bit, so Dazai leans to a side, grins with false cheer, “nightmares plaguing you, Ango?”

He doesn’t expect for Ango to sigh and say, “far more than the average person, I’d expect.”

He draws back. Doesn’t know what else to say, because acknowledging that Ango has nightmares and can’t sleep and won’t turn Dazai away because he still cares about Dazai is a level of humanizing him that Dazai refuses to accept.

He bites back a crazed giggle and snarl and turns away. Breathes in and out. He wants to know what Ango’s dreams are like. He refuses to think about it—

“I think,” he blurts out, “I’m forgetting what Odasaku looks like.”

Silence. Absolute, still. And then, “I wouldn’t blame you. Time is a fickle thing. So are memories.”

Including my memories of when you left us to die, Dazai nearly snaps back, but he’s better at self-control than that. But Ango is right, is the thing.

What are memories but a bare collection of sights and sounds? What are memories but a series of events that blur out the details as the clock ticks on, ceaseless?

Memories are fickle—Dazai knows this. He can scarcely remember what truly happened, even with his capacity for large amounts of information. He remembers the utter horror, the sobs that had torn at his throat before he shoved them down, Oda’s blood staining his hands and bandages, tacky and rust-brown-red. He remembers how warm the blood had been, before it had grown so cold.

And he remembers how much he’s hated Ango since. Always that. Every other thought leads back to Oda, to Ango. Because he’d loved them, he thinks. He’d loved them like he’d never loved anyone else before in his short, bleak life.

He sees tomatoes on sale and Atsushi’s complete lack of hesitance to eat them because he’s just happy to have food, and he thinks of Ango’s stupid fucking tomato juice. He steals Kunikida’s glasses to piss him off and he remembers the time he’d stolen Ango’s glasses when he was seventeen and broken them and remained unrepentant because Ango and his irate scolding was really too funny and endearing for him to feel bad.

So—where does that leave him, leave him and Ango, in the aftermath of a hundred and more bad decisions and a hundred and more ways Ango keeps redeeming himself and proving that—

“I don’t remember what he looks like fully, either,” Ango admits.

Dazai thinks of falling over the edge. He thinks it’d give Ango more nightmares.

(Does he want to?)

bonus lyrics:

All the roads inside my head loop back to you

I've done many things I'd thought I'd never do

It's you that I can feel

But I keep my hands

Upon the wheel

I turn the page to drown you out

You are the only thing that I still care about

If I can heal the conflict that's within

I'll know the war has reached its bitter end

[calypsolemon]

for wyv au;

whos ur favorite character to include that isnt the Main Duo ?

are there any parallels/similarities to other au's of urs? (namely transgender au)

which seasons have the greatest impact on this au?

if ur willing to share, whats the best scene you have mapped out in your head? (doesnt have to be a major spoiler. it could be something like siren jay popping a balloon for shits and giggles)

whats ur favorite aspect of the toxic dependency that notjaya have for one another?

does siren jay smell like fish ? does nya smell like fish from all the fishing ? does that smell draw sirenjay to nya ?

why doesnt siren jay just consume nya, is he stupid ? (that last ones a joke, but i am curious on if the more emotional she is, the better she tastes or not.)

does siren jay ever develop any actual feelings for nya...

thats all chat !

favorite character to include that isnt the Main Duo?

That's hard because I really love all of them, and many I am still in the process of figuring out, so there may be dimensions to characters I add later that makes me like them more. Right now I think it's Lloyd because I think he is the shining beacon in the dark mist that is this au. And also because I have a Lloyd bias.

are there any parallels/similarities to other au's of urs? (namely transgender au)

I think characters having conflicting reactions to life problems and intense relationship drama brewing because of it is a common thread through many of my au's. I think it also has the most notable similarities to Splinter-Hearted back when that was an au, especially the idea of Kai and Nya's sibling relationship breaking down in reaction to loss.

You didn't ask, but I think the main difference this au has to my others is the subtlety with which I'm portraying the more magical/supernatural aspects of the story, and the tone, which is probably the most Adult I've ever approached a silly spinning ninjas au by.

which seasons have the greatest impact on this au?

guess it's kinda obvious, but Seabound and DR s2. Skybound as well as it's sort of foundational to why those other seasons even work. And obviously I'm sprinkling in a bit of Possession for flavor (don't expect Morro to make a miraculous return here tho, its just the vibes)

Fun fact is actually that Nya's locket is designed to look like a compass in the front, to mirror the compass which held Delara's photo in Skybound.

if ur willing to share, whats the best scene you have mapped out in your head?

There's a point in the story where everyone piles into a car for a drive. Everything goes very wrong from there <3

whats ur favorite aspect of the toxic dependency that notjaya have for one another?

I like how simultaneously very alien and very human it is. The thought patterns of the siren are impossible to comprehend for a human as the thought patterns of a creature from the ocean's abyss, and yet at its core, its drawn to Nya's side by a universal instinct - a gnawing hunger which screams to survive. I think the grief that drives Nya's actions is just as indiscernible, and just as primal.

does siren jay smell like fish ? does nya smell like fish from all the fishing ? does that smell draw sirenjay to nya ?

Imagine everything in this au smells like fish and seaweed and brine and rust all the time. Everyone in Stiix is pretty noseblind to it.

why doesnt siren jay just consume nya, is he stupid ? (that last ones a joke, but i am curious on if the more emotional she is, the better she tastes or not.)

It's not about emotionally fattening her up for the slaughter or anything like that. Sirens are not really stronger than humans physically, their only real weapons are their voices and appearance. It's just that they rarely encounter anyone as capable of resistance for no discernible reason as Nya is. The siren has no choice but to continue to play her little game until it can break down her defenses, or risk death if she ever leaves the city of Stiix.

does siren jay ever develop any actual feelings for nya...

He tells her he loves her, once. Interpret that as you will.

[toskarin]

while I'm on a STGposting kick, here's some lesser-known Hellsinker. soundtrack trivia that I couldn't justify putting in their own posts, pulled partially from old blog entries and also just the game itself (dude trust me)

stuff below the break is written without trying to avoid spoilers, because otherwise it'd mostly just be a huge block of censored text

see below list for bonus notes on certain points

in at least one instance, hiranyon (the name TONNOR was using at the time) played with the idea of having the boss themes start in mono and then explode outwards into stereo after the boss entered the stage. in the end, he opted for the music to make use of hard L/R panning instead, to represent the boss entering through the centre

Segment 1L Boss (F. Rex Cavalier) was titled Keep your dignity, and if that phrase being the title didn't give it away, hiranyon outright confirmed the foreshadowing to be intentional in a blog post talking about writing the song

Segment 4 Boss (Rusted Dragon) was titled Fade away. apostate with an added explanation of the intentional ambiguity in the title, with the apostate (the translation he gives is 背信者) being decided by the outcome of the battle

there was an old track called shrine.ogg which notably didn't sound even a little bit like a stage theme, especially not a stage theme like Shrine of Farewell. the pre-release song which has the most in common with the Shrine theme proper is actually titled boss3.ogg. if you think about the Shrine in the context of being a boss (which makes a weird amount of sense, it just doesn't register as one because it's kind of free-floating), I guess it could come third?

people used to theorise about Aozora/Aoxola, the final boss from Radio Zonde, being Lost Property 771. I don't really believe this is true, but it's worth pointing out that Aozora/Aoxola's hidden phase theme is incredibly similar to Shrine of Farewell, to the point where I wouldn't blame someone for thinking the Shrine theme is a direct arrangement. I'm actually still kind of suspicious, myself

speaking of Radio Zonde callbacks that imply... something? the string section in Fade Away. apostate appears to be an arrange of Opaque Heart from Radio Zonde

there are cat sounds in a startling number of songs. the earlier in the game the song is, the more distorted the cats will be, but they're still almost omnipresent. the most obvious are in the second to last phase of the GARLAND theme where there's a constant choir of cats singing the melody, but you can also hear them in Segment 4 and 5 (both sides, stage and boss theme) if you listen carefully. hiranyon likes to bury them in sections with lots of other instruments

there are, generally speaking, two kinds of cat sounds that I've noticed pop up in the soundtrack. I'm going to call them the "cat piano" and the "meow pad" because hiranyon uses both of them pretty extensively, and it's really obvious what he's doing because he uses them most in songs directly associated with Lost Property 771

most people know this by now and I almost wasn't going to include it, but it feels weird to have a list of Hellsinker soundtrack trivia without mentioning that Past Rising Again (reprised as PAST RISINGS AGAIN) is an arrangement of the boss theme for early bosses in Radio Zonde. it's a distorted version of that theme because you're fighting a duo boss that's meant to resemble the old players, now having been distorted into prayers

the cat screaming in The Great Majority isn't a sound effect playing from one of the enemies. it's actually baked into the song. this probably isn't trivia to anyone who got into the game through the soundtrack, but I felt insane when I listened to the soundtrack and realised this

The Way of All Flesh, being the finale, reprises the game in reverse order. as an aside, all of Hellsinker is synced to the soundtrack (and hiranyon prides himself on this), but it really stands out here more than anywhere else. there's one especially notable bit where the screen flickers, displaying the text "Wherever did you put?" before

-

[1] hiranyon: 盛り上がる前のトコ　公開当初の時点では。音が中央に寄る（圧迫感）→ステレオに戻る（開放感）という　絵に同期した仕掛けを意図したものでしたが。後期のものは音を限界まで横に広げ中央を空けて、ちょうど画面上では音の逃げた跡の。真中手前にボスが迫る、という演出構造にしたつもりでした。

[2] hiranyon: 満身創痍になりながらもそれを気にかけず進む者・それに相対する敵。強くありたいが周囲に押し流されそうな危うさや　そうなりきれずともそうあろうとする姿

[3] hiranyon: そう言われている時点では、その場に居るどちらがapostate（背信者）かは不確定です。恐らくどちらかが膝を折った時、それは決まるのでしょう。

[4] shrine.ogg is REALLY short, almost like it was only expected to loop for a single input screen. this seems to imply that the Shrine of Farewell might have gotten its name from originally being something at the end of a run or stage, like the results screen theme in Radio Zonde, but afaik there's no actual information on this at all and I just like to draw conjecture.

[5] hiranyon being someone who likes motifs and also someone who has specific flourishes that he keeps unconsciously using when writing melodies makes it really hard to say anything like this for sure. he actually complained about his tendency to over-write organ sections in his blog post about about rewriting Fade away. apostate lol

[8] the first instance of the cat piano I can think of occurs in Segment 2b, although it's heavily filtered so you almost have to know what it sounds like in the final boss to pick it out here. the first instance of the meow pad, however, is in the first menu theme

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Here's an interesting idea:

SMG4 Shattered Timelines: Reflected Generations A Mira-centric side story happening parallel to the Shattered Timelines AU's main plot that's heavily based on Shadow Generations. It wouldn't actually interact with the main plot in any way, so no need to factor it into events (unless any of the characters mentioned was going to be part of said events, in which case I can probably shuffle some things around. or scrap it if said involved characters include mira and/or worm)

Basically, thanks to the Abyss's time breaking bullshit several major events are in a state of flux, including both Worm's death in the Legacy Arc and his defeat at the hands of the First Four. He's fully aware of what's going on and capable of manipulating the fractures to a degree, and decides to use this as an opportunity to come back more powerful than he was even at his prime. Problem is, he needs someone with a significant amount of his code who isn't in temporal flux to act as a vessel, since otherwise his soul won't have any code to attach to when reality reasserts itself. And rather poetically, only a certain supersonic traitor fits the bill. He just needs to give her a push in the right direction using the other half of her code...

So Mira's now being forced to confront both sides of her origin story while running through areas from all over the AU timeline and beyond to restore them. And in the process she ends up meeting the time-displaced Chip (Sonic Unleashed Chip, not Admin Chip), Glitch and Red Doomguy, and getting assistance from Amy, Eggman and Larryboy.

Her version of the Radical Highway hijacking sections are Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed (It probably should've been Apotos but an idyllic Greek seaside village with rolling green hills and windmills don't exactly fit the Vibe like a rusted, smog-choked cross between a factory, an amusement park and a medieval torture dungeon does), the two acts of each area are Day and Night stages Because Werehog Good, and she's collecting the Chaos Emeralds as well as new Malware Commands that let her actually tap into her virus side.

It's also a bit longer than Shadow Generations, with 5 bosses besides Worm; Rejection Waluigi, Cat Cursor (the alt timeline evil version in post-reveal form), Spicy Meme Generator 4000 (he's also aware of the timeline thing but doesn't get a chance to do anything with it), Showtime (her mind is actually from the present and she is EXTREMELY happy to not be a Prinny...and then she gets defeated and is transformed back into her Prinny form because of course), and a very different version of Mira from a completely separate universe (you know that one Danny Phantom RP that I sometimes mention certain ocs originated from? yeah Mira's from there too. She was completely different though, had nothing to do with Sonic and was instead a crazy evil AI accidentally created by MERF (from Fairly Oddparents) who was going to Frankenstein herself a cyborg body out of alien tech and freeze-dried Pixie organs and become a really fucked up Magical Girl).

Also, Worm's realized that by holing himself up in Eggmanland he has access to all the Dark Gaia energy it's mining, so that's gonna be a problem.

Ough!!! Nothing to say tbh, I love this a lot. And it doesn't interfere with anything so it's all good!!

[steelthroat]

*Bust through the wall like the Cool-aid man* Did somebody say worldbuilding?

Cybertronian architecture has always been an interest of mine and sadly we never really get a proper look at its cities aside from ‘futuristic looking towers’ and the shapes are cool! But it’s also kinda boring. Unfortunately I severely lack knowledge in the field of architecture and have been using canon and fanon to create a general ~vibe~ but I do have some consistent ones.

Vos: Towers have holes to maximize airflow. No sharp edges and small over the top decorations like in Russian artistry. It might seem like a weird combo but I swear it Seekers = Russia just makes sense

Praxis: Asian inspired in almost all aspects but architecture, follows Korea philosophy of architecture mostly. Their buildings would flow a natural floor plan meant to balance out “energies” (I swear this is based of a real Asian philosophy but I cannot for the life of me remember what it’s call). You could probably get close with calling them Green urbanization because they include their singing crystals in everything 

Nyon: I don’t have any particular culture but it’s definitely super cramped together with tons of back alley and steep stairs. Scrap metal sheets protects against the acid rain and most roads are bumpy cobblestone, alt modes don’t see a lot of action here unless you’re a beast former. Bonus is cool parkour! I wanna say it’s like the Underground from Arcane but less sketchy people

Smaller noteworthy details include:

-Tarn having long strips of road with essential shops (Midwest mining towns)

-Polyhex has geometric engravings on the side of buildings. It’s also connected to water/liquid transportation somehow, canals, the Rust Sea, whatever it’s got ports and liquid.

-Helix, Antihelix, or any city with -Helix has roundabouts and a grid pattern

-The more “touristy” areas of Kaon Gladiator pits look Roman but the local places where regular people live are all American/New England Post-Industrial

I could go into so much detail about this stuff and my understanding is that the basics of design are pretty similar across cybertron where meeting the purpose and necessary accessibility requirements are top priority. However, Layout plans will vary depending on the majority frame class and style will be more distinct the more disconnected from Iacon they are (I’m using Iacon as the trend setting “ground zero” so to speak).

This message is all that I needed as I woke up, screw morning coffee, I don't even like coffee!!!

*smooch*

I super duper like these ideas!!! I was reading and googling the whole time ahahdhfh

Yes it is a little bit boring that every Cybertronian city is down "the same way" and especially after the idw continuity where the lore is thick and we learn that the culture varies from city to city I can't believe that there are the same architectural styles... like we have varying styles from region to region (Italy) and we're all humans, imagine a place where some people drive, some people fly and some other do weird things ahahdh.

Another thing that interests me is the artistic expression of the inhabitants of those cities, an Iaconian (Iaconi? Iaconist? Ia-whatever???) would never create the same kind of art as a Kaonian (Kaonite? Kaoni????) artist.

It's like when there where romanticism and neoclassicism at the same time and varying from where the artist came from they would lean more towards one instead of the other (this is an oversimplification but I hope I'mmaking myself clear)

Also the message behind the art:

Iacon is so fkn neoclassical in my head it's unbelievable, so attached to the past "the golden age" the "true art" amd the idealistic beauty

Kaon could NEVER embrace those ideals, Tarn and Nyon and Rodion neither.

So just like the art would drastically change, the architecture would follow the lead... also because different frame types and some cities like Vod tend to have a majority of its inhabitant with a specific frame/alt-mode

If I may headcannon even more I'd say that the richer parts of the cities resemble Iacon because of its hegemony.

Why not make laws about architecture excusing them with something like "this kind of building is dangerous to xyz" or "it reminds of x traumatic age"?

Lol Cybertonians have fought for AGES and if we take a look at the Restoration age where they changed even the interior design to destroy anything that reminded people of Napoleon... I'd say that this could work for Cybertron too. Who doesn't love a little bit of historical revisionism -_-

Why not make hostile architecture against specific frame types and castes?? If someone tells me that there's a fictional discriminatory and dystopic society I WANT TO FEEL IT.

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book V: Where There's Smoke: Ch03: Reunion

Japheth sat in the Ion's cargo bay. Around Him was Arcee, Sirenia, Arcelia, and Roxana on His side, with Pyra Magna, Jumpstream, Dust Up, Skyburst, Stormclash, and Rust Dust standing on the other.

Japheth nervously looked around the cargo bay, "Isn't there anywhere more... private... we could do this?"

"You're the one that wanted all of the Humans." Jumpstream uttered.

"I'm, what?.." Japheth asked.

"You did, Jack." Arcee said to Him.

"I... I did?.."

"To be fair, the Rust Maidens weren't your concubines, yet." Arcee simply uttered. "The loft isn't big enough for them."

"Well?.." Rust Dust asked.

"I didn't want Jack to be cuddling up against fembots he just met." Arcee stated, "That's not, I mean..." she said, as most of them seemed worried, "Your oaths are still valid, and I'll make sure that Jack fulfills them, but He needs a bit of time."

"You'll?.." Japheth asked. Arcee placed her hand on his arm.

"Time." she said to him. "And as for this place being open..."

"Everyone here knows about us." Dust Up stated.

"Including your mother." Roxana added.

"Mom?" a nervous Japheth asked.

"Luckily for you, she's stuck on the bridge." Arcee added.

"She's what?" Japheth asked.

"You're hoping to turn her." Stormclash said.

"Into your captain." Skyburst added.

"I'm..." Japheth asked, and trailed off, the look on his face showing his approval. He then looked around at all of the women, "So... the butterfly isn't one of them?"

"Dragonfly." Arcee stated.

"Griffinfly." Sirenia corrected.

"What's that?" Arcee asked.

"Extinct species of phenomenal size." Arcelia stated.

"So, she's not, right?" He nervously asked.

"She's not." Arcee said warmly.

"So, it's just, um?.." Japheth asked, and started counting, "Ten... just... just ten..."

"He sounds worried." Roxana stated.

"Is ten big?" Pyra Magna asked, "I'm honestly asking, because..."

"Ten is well above average." Sirenia stated, "But far, far from the highest."

"Like, how much?" Dust Up asked.

"Thousands?" Sirenia asked.

Japheth let out a terrible sigh.

"Easy." Arcee said warmly, "Let's tell you about what happened."

"Get comfy." Rust Dust said, "We're here in for a long haul." Japheth looked back at the couches, and turned towards them. He then paused, to ponder the existence of Cybertronian couches.

* * *

"And... that's when you joined?" Japheth asked, looking at Roxana. She just beamed at Him.

"She's a cheerleader." Arcee stated. Japheth looked at Roxana, and almost got lost in her smile, before looking back to Arcee.

"That's it?" Japheth asked.

"Siren is because you need someone to look after, Arcelia because she's a walking database, and Roxana brings everyone together."

Japheth smiled at them before looking at the Rust Maidens.

"And... them?" Japheth asked.

"I thought you'd want to fuck a Combiner." Arcee simply uttered, "Well, you did. I should have known how much you'd all get attached. Jack Darby was never one to pump and dump."

"And?.." Japheth asked, looking at the Rust Maidens, whom all shyly looked away.

"They already revered you." Arcee said.

"In our defence." Skyburst said to him.

"You are even more amazing than we thought." Stormclash added.

"It happened in the same room." Arcelia stated.

"So, I don't just have a harem, but a battle harem?" Japheth asked.

"We are battle sisters." Jumpstream stated.

"Were, before we became Torchbearers." Pyra Magna added.

"What's that?" Japheth asked.

"Something we gave up before even meeting you." Pyra Magna stated, "I honestly don't know how to say this, so I guess straight is the best answer." She paused for a moment to gather her strength, "We are happier and more content than we have ever been in our entire history."

"If you haven't noticed." Stormclash stated.

"We are a bit adventurous." Skyburst added.

"And you hate plans." Jumpsteam stated.

"I - WHAT?!" Japheth asked.

"She's exagerating." Arcee stated.

"Your plans are more about collapsing probability bubbles." Arcelia added.

"They are, uh, what?" Japheth asked.

"You honestly don't know how amazing you are." Arcee stated.

"I apparently don't." Japheth stated.

"So?.." Jumpsteam asked.

"Some place more isolated?" Pyra Magna asked.

"The house in New Kalis." Arcee uttered.

"Makes sense..." Pyra Magna nervously stated.

"Besides, maybe he should spend some time getting to know you." Arcee stated. She then stood up, "In pairs, of course, Arcelia and Roxana, Pyra Magna and Rust Dust, Jumpstream and Dust Up, Stormclash and Skyburst.

"Why do we have to wait?" Jumpstream asked.

"We are fine with." Skyburst stated.

"Hovering." Stormclash added, and the two developed a brilliant smile.

* * *

Japheth and Arcee sat on the bed, with Arcelia and Roxana sitting cross-legged in front of them. Sirenia sat leaning against a wall behind them. "You remember Arcelia, right?" Arcee asked.

"Of course." Japheth eagerly said.

"And you remember flirting with her?" she asked, and Japheth nervously looked away. "Jack." she admonished him. "I'm the one that set you up. We're alone, in our room." Japheth nervously looked at Arcelia and her new colours, "Look at me." Japheth looked over, and saw a loving, supporting look in reply. He then looked at Arcelia. She and Roxana were giving him a nervous look. "They are just a little worried that you are abandoning them."

"Not abandoning!" Japheth quickly stated, "Just... trying... to remember them." he nervously added. "Look, I mean, this is just... alright, Humans... just don't... have 10 wives."

"Historically..." Arcelia tried to say.

"I don't care about historically, it's... It's me." He uttered.

"We know." Arcee gently said, "I had to slowly work you into it."

"Why?" Japheth harshly asked her.

"Because I love you." Arcee lovingly replied.

"That - just - makes no sense." Japheth voiced.

"Does it have to?" Arcee lovingly asked him, and he just sighed, "It made you happier. It made you more powerful As your wife, I don't have a problem with it. I was the one who pushed it."

"And, if I don't want to?.." Japheth asked. Arcelia and Roxana look nervous and fearful. Sirenia stood up, walked over, and sat down beside Arcee, silent during the whole journey.

"That's not the way memory works." Sirenia said. Another round of silence, "Emotions are stored differently from knowledge." Another silence. "Now, look at Ciel and Roxy, and tell us how you feel."

Japheth looked at Arcelia and Roxy. He pushed his nervousness to the side and immediately felt warmth looking at them. He nervously looked over at Arcee.

"Trust your feelings." Arcee said. Japheth looked back. She slowly stood up, walked over, kneeled down, and pulled them in for a powerful hug.

* * *

Pyra Magna and Rust Dust sat down across from the bed.

"Let's make this simple." Rust Dust quickly said, "I'm Rust Dust, and this is Pyra Magna. We're adventure archeologists."

"With more emphasis on the adventure part." Pyra Magna stated. "Until, well, we met you, we've never really felt at home."

"Why... me?.." Japheth asked.

"Because you never tell us your plans." Pyra Magna firmly stated.

"I?.. I what?.." Japheth asked.

"You never tell us your plan." Rust Dust quickly stated.

Japheth look at Sirenia, and brought His hand up to His forehead. He then looked back to the Rust Maidens. "She said something about... probability..."

"You gather information, and wait until you know before making a move." Arcee stated.

"That sounds more reasonable." Japheth uttered.

"That makes it sound boring." Rust Dust dismissed.

"That makes it sound responsible." Pyra Magna added, "Which is exactly what we need."

Rust Dust quickly sat upright. "Actually, yes. A big daddy to take care of us."

Japheth nearly spat up, or at least would if He could of. "D-daddy?"

"Well, you do spank us?" Rust Dust asked.

"I... what?" Japheth asked.

"Jack..." Arcee said from beside Him, and He was immediately embarassed.

"Needless to say," Sirenia chimed in, "others have come to enjoy it as well."

Japheth hid His head in His hands.

[wordsandrobots]

The Wishing on Space Hardware playlist (story edition) v1.0

Hmm. A touch premature, perhaps, but while my grand finale plans include a stupidly ambitious attempt to compose a playlist of songs fitted to each character I’m using as a point of view (30+!), I have collected enough IBO-feeling songs to do that for fics in the series too. Well, I did after committing to the bit and hunting down ones to fit the stragglers. We are 18 posted out of 20, so there’s a possibility I’ll revise this later. But hey! For the moment, I’m quite happy with how this came out. And if you like mixes of British folk, indie rock, Country-adjacent stuff, and Leonard Cohen, maybe you will be as well. (Special achievement: it’s not wall-to-wall Thea Gilmore songs.)

For those of you just tuning in, my post-canon Iron-Blooded Orphans series Wishing on Space Hardware can be found at Ao3 via all good web browsers (probably the bad ones too). Full spoilers for both seasons of the anime come as standard.

Arc #1: Moving on or standing still

A Handful of Rusted Petals – Embers [Skinny Lister]

Long is the distance, hard is the mile / That drags me away from our innocent smile / Where wild is the welcome, the company right / Far from the rattle and roar of the fight

I like Skinny Lister a lot and thought this fit the bittersweet themes of these vignettes rather well.

The Grandmaster – The Game [The Levellers]

The clock ticked past the final hour / Which of the men had lost? and what was the cost? / The glasses now were empty and gone / To wash away the shame, and take away the pain

While not 100% on the money, this song seems to capture the feel of the Elion vs McGillis conflict, from Elion’s side at least.

To Catch a Falling Star – Get Better [Frank Turner]

So try and get better and don't ever accept less / Take a plain black marker and write this on your chest / Draw a line underneath all of this unhappiness / Come on now, let's fix this mess / We could get better because we're not dead yet

Gender flip the lyrics and this is basically Yamagi and Shino in this fic to a T.

Fragments of You/Pieces of Me – Injuries [Skinny Lister]

On the advice of my heart I flew / Into the burning sun / And for the life of me I can’t / Find me a way to return

Because sometimes life is at once fundamentally difficult and nevertheless glorious.

Arc #2: Monsters out of the past

Let Sleeping Angels Lie – Call You Friend [Oysterband]

So many times we’ve disagreed / Don’t count the cost there’s a greater need / We sit and watch each other bleed / That’s why I call you friend

Eugene and Shino’s relationship in a nutshell.

Between Family – The Power of Unity [Masaru Yokoyama]

(With full apologies to Mr Yokoyama. I tried to come up with an actual song but using this track is much funnier. Plus, you know. Smut. I don’t tend to spend much time putting lyrics to that.)

I can picture the polyamorous numpties to this far, far too well.

The Ares Affair – Everybody Knows [Leonard Cohen]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded / Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed / Everybody knows the war is over / Everybody knows the good guys lost

The point where WoSH swerves hard from ‘fix-it’ to ‘consequences of fixing it’.

The Haunting of Takaki Uno – Don’t Dim Your Light For Anyone [Thea Gilmore]

The world is fierce, it's hard as nails / When you do good but goodness fails / You crawl the road that others run / Don't dim your light for anyone

I find Takaki tricky to write because his voice isn’t quite as distinct as Yamagi or Ride, but I know exactly what I want to capture through him.

Arc #3: The pressure of ghosts

Frozen Sunlight – Apparition #12 [Thea Gilmore]

And I smelled the ghosts of the ashes and the orchids / I've got promises tattooed to the insides of my eyelids / And I'll be watching when the Richter reaches ten / I bled by these weapons, babe, and now I'm one of them

Two Thea Gilmore songs in a row, I know, but they have very different tones and this is on point for my interpretation of Azee.

Of Obsessions and Erotemes – A Good Song Never Dies [Saint Motel]

There was a moment, a hole opened in the sky / A chance to join their pantheon / For all the times they never heard your battle cry / Now even angels sing along

I only encountered this song recently but I can see Iverson to it, so now it’s their villain theme.

Revolution for Beginners and Polyamory for Dumbasses – Modern Way [The Kaiser Chiefs]

Hold on to the basics / But we can't change all our tactics / There's no point sitting / Going crazy on your own

Had originally penciled in ‘Truth Is’ by the Levellers for this, but I think ‘Modern Way’ is more applicable to the whole.

Under a Crescent Moon – Son of the Left Hand [Duke Special]

In dying light my shadow calls / I watch his fingers stalk the walls / And now in hollow down I stumble on / The rubble of my babylon

Goes harder than perhaps the tone of the fic strictly requires, but honestly? I think that’s probably earned by the situation.

Arc #4: Schemes and daydreams

Eugene Sevenstark and the Hesperus Treasure – Plans [Devil and the Deep Blue Sea]

And I should find / A better way to spend my time / Than spinning grand designs / Every day with you

The story dealing with coincidence and anticlimax felt like it needed something soothing as a soundtrack.

Hope Against Hope – All This And Heaven Too [Florence + The Machine]

And I would give all this and heaven too / I would give it all if only for a moment / That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see / 'Cause I've been scrawling it forever, but it never makes sense to me at all

I listened to this a lot while writing the next story in the series, but it fits Kudelia too well not to use here.

Love, Death and Cannoli – Fire and Water [The Wandering Hearts]

All love's like fire and water / I ask myself, "Should I bother?" / When you look at me with those big brown eyes / And I know what I'll do / I've tried but it's impossible / Can't keep myself away from you

The Yamagi/Shino song as far as I’m concerned.

Fata Morgana – Belgrade [Battle Tapes]

We pretend in the darkness / We pretend the night won’t steal our youth / Singing me the sweet songs of seduction / Let me be the fool, fool, fool / Who will live and die for you

There are many ways to be seduced and become a fool for others. Also I needed a banging tune for what is, broadly, a long action sequence of a fic.

Arc #5: The end of the world

We Three Kings – Bullet [Saint Motel]

You don't stop a bullet that you set into motion / You don't stop a fire when you light an explosion / So then, why would we fight it? Already ignited / Counting down, down, down, down

This story is inevitable. Or if it isn’t, the major events are underway long before our protagonists arrive. And then there’s that one-in-a-million shot...

History of a Catastrophe – Who By Fire? [Leonard Cohen, live version]

And who by brave assent, who by accident / Who in solitude, who in this mirror / Who by his lady's command, who by his own hand / Who in mortal chains, who in power / And who shall I say is calling?

More Leonard Cohen, with this particularly beautiful version of the song, for an exploration of how terrible systems warp people’s lives.

Ragnarök in G Minor – Battlegrounds [Coco and the Butterfields]

Hey, hey, what do you say when you fall down / Hey, hey, go away from battlegrounds / And I, I feel like I'm living just to stop you winning / So carry on, carry on, carry on ‘til I'm gone

It’s that third line in the chorus. That’s the fic. (Or it will be once I’ve written this monster; the document passed 1MB a couple of weeks back, ye gods.)

A Day in the Light – Something for the Pain [She Drew the Gun]

Walls for the wind / Shelter from the rain / Something for the hunger / And something for the pain

This will be the coda to the series. And I feel this song works well for the history of IBO’s setting. A summing up, if you will.

[phyc0durus]

Splatoon 4 Ideas (very rough)

Splatoon 4’s could be set in Octarion society, and the hero mode/single player campaign could be another rouge-like/rouge-lite where it’s octarion military training, and the paid DLC could be about the trade agreement the Octarions and Salmonids have (or just the generalized contact between Octarions and Salmonids). this DLC would also be a completely new type of genre as well like Side Order idk what it’d be (as i don’t know genres whatsoever) but Splatoon seems to be experimenting with genres other than multiplayer-shooter. the player character would still be canonically fem (as all the others have been) because octoling military seems to be fully female (from Marina’s Dev Diary pieces you get after completing Octo Shot), but, like the other single player campaigns, you can be a masc character. idk how the multiplayer part of Splatoon would fit in this scenario (or how inklings would…) but i still think it’d be a cool idea. Maybe like the original Splatoon 1, but, like, the opposite (no playable inklings in this scenario, only octolings)

OR

Agent 4 still hasn’t been in a fucking single player campaign since their debut in Splatoon 2 and im sad. yes, they got a mention in Side Order, yes, Parallel Canon seems to be modeled off Agent 4 (if you have Splatoon 2 data), BUT THEY ARENT ACTUALLY IN THE GAME THEMSELVES! so, what about they re-debut in Splatoon 4! who cares about the multiplayer part of Splatoon as i can’t be bothered to think about it, but what about the story of Splatoon 4? i feel we need to continue whatever Li’l Judd has going on with that newly acquired headpiece after finishing Splatoon 3’s campaign, plus, because Octavio seems to be.. a good guy now? and because octoling are merging with inkling society i feel like octarions shouldn’t be the big bad anymore. Splatoon 3’s campaign does mention octarions in a bad way/talks bad about them, which, when your playing as an octoling.. doesn’t feel right, plus with Marina in Side Order trying to help more octolings adjust and merge with inkling society, octolings and octarions as the bad guys just isn’t exactly.. right.. anymore. but, you know who’s an odd grey area in Splatoons universe? Salmonids! yes, Splatoon 3’s campaign has your character work alongside “Little Buddy”, a salmonid, but look at the new Salmon Run stage 😭 it’s quite literally a colosseum, it has paintings of inklings being “killed” by Cohozuna, it has spectators, it has a cage with food in it (probably the reward for winning), it has rusted shackles (my personal theory is that it’s for captured inklings [octolings too?]), plus we got King Salmonids, PLUS BIG RUN! in the sunken scrolls it’s said that these Big Runs can flatten and overwhelm entire towns (if i remember correctly)! what we experience in Big Runs is nowhere near what Salmonids are actually capable of! what better single player campaign to include Agent 4 in other than a Salmonid based one? Salmon Run debuted in Splatoon 2 and we got a bit more of information about Salmonids from Splatoon 3.. surely this is building to something bigger, yeah? plus the single player could be another rouge-like/rouge-lite, but bigger! but longer! Splatoon seems to be experimenting with other genres other than shooter and that IS COOL!!

[magic-in-onyx]

Await hold on!! What if...

Fakir kidnapping Mytho and holding him captive, with him being of Drosselmeyer's bloodline, was what caused the Story to not move? (As intentional or subconscious as it could have been on Fakir's side.)

Because Drosselmeyer's goal with it was to trap the characters in a perpetually reoccurring cycle of Despair, right? And Fakir shattering Mytho's heart and keeping it shattered (and letting the Sword of Lohengrin rust, only to later reforge it IN HIS OWN BLOOD which is of Drosselmeyer's own line) stopped the Story, because the point of the Story was to endlessly repeat the cycle of "everyone loves the Prince - their feelings wake the Raven - the conflicts free the Raven - the Prince fights the Raven - the Prince loses his heart". (The shard that is soaked in Raven blood is Love for more reasons than one, because Love takes on many forms, and is easily tainted, as Edel has said.) By suspending Mytho in nonfeeling darkness, Fakir effectively stops the cycle of Despair.

Enter Duck, whom Drosselmeyer personally seeks out and engages by giving her the Shard of the Prince's Hope - a both real and false hope which is to both force the Story to move, make the characters blindly believe they can succeed, but also deepen the Despair the characters would feel during the climax as Hope is unavoidably betrayed. Drosselmeyer gaslights Duck and makes her temporarily forget her origin, causing her to better adapt to the Story, which probably in some way also influences the memories of other characters, including Fakir, as the Cogs begin to turn.

This would mean that Fakir, over the course of the series, and likely more instinctively than not, stops, resumes, rewinds, breaks and resumes again, and finally completely reconstructs the Story's original narrative, in that order.

Note that he meets Siegfried just around the time he causes his parents' death as well, albeit after the fact, so around the time he stops writing (actively, that we know of).

For there to be creation, destruction must occur first. Chances of failure, of re-establishing the cycle of Despair are grand, so no wonder Fakir is so wary of Tutu, and so reluctant to agree with her mission, and believe in their success. Once he does, Duck's own Hope and Faith light the way, and not the borrowed Hope, which is also a product of Drosselmeyer's writing just as much as the Prince himself.

Fakir likewise renames Siegfried to Mytho when he 'claims' him from Drosselmeyer, and personally shatters his heart and traps him in protective limbo.

Fakir also damages the Sword of Lohengrin twice, once before the beginning of the series, (inadvertently or not,) and the second time when he breaks it while enabling Tutu to win the Shard of Love from Kreahe. (Not to mention he also inspires her dance confession, because he is the one to tell her not to speak the words of love and disappear.) A sword that is meant to belong to the Knight from the Story, but is in the end wielded by Mytho. (So is Mytho/Siegfried a knight as much as he is a Prince?) The Sword's two halves transform into two swans (a motif also on its hilt) that end up pulling the flying carriage at the end of the series. The Sword is only ever reforged in blood once, it being Fakir's (bathed in the blood of the Prince's enemy, god, captor, friend, and protector). Mytho reconstructs the two broken halves by summoning the swans to face the Raven. It is also partially wielded by Rue, who slays the Raven together with Mytho.

I'm not sure how I want to end this post, but I had to out these drabbles in writing.

Also how come, while even Fakir's and Autor's memories were altered, and complacency encouraged by the Story's influence, Charon appears to have forgotten nothing at all points in time?? If even Drosselmeyer's own Heir is made to forget his origin, and his puppet of destruction (Tutu) as well? (Autor logic-ed his way to the right conclusions.) The only other people who seem to be immune to the Story's hypnosis are the Bookmen.

Was Charon secretly a Bookman who deffected from the Order to raise the Heir to Drosselmeyer in hopes of winning against Drosselmeyer once and for all? So that this poor child would neither die as a result of Drosselmeyer's sadism, nor suffer from either his ability or the Bookmen's prosecution? So that he would be the savior of the new age?

I must be reading too much into the meta... (^^')

[memes-saved-me]

genuinely curious about your kosmemophobia because I haven’t heard of it before! would you mind sharing more about it? (if you’re not comfortable please feel free to delete this ask!)

Hey! No worries its not common lol and I didn't know it had a name until a few years ago. This is 100% going to be a mess btw

Since I can remember I have been disgusted by jewellery and other sort of metal objects. I never have and probably never will wear metallic jewellery because it makes me feel physically sick sometimes. Other things include keys, coins and even certain designs of cutlery make me uncomfortable or sick and there isn't a reason why lol.

I've kind of learned to tune out other people's jewellery. Rings and simple stuff doesn't bother me but thin chains or complicated designs (such as the ring bracelet Robin wears) I hate with a passion. Piercing are alright if they're just studs or like plastic.

A particular thing I hate is when people put jewellery in their mouths. Instant gag reflex activated haha. I big reason why I pretend Billy's pendant doesn't exist in my work lmao.

A very weird side affect is I lose pretty much all attraction to people if they're wearing metallic jewellery but regain it when they're not. Weird.

There isn't really a cut and dry set of examples because its kind of random. I'll happily touch rusted metal but hate touching a necklace. I don't mind old shaped keys but new slim ones I hold using my sleeve. Oh and I've developed a hate for the smell of metal on my hands but I like the iron taste of metal so that's confusing. I have to wash my hands if they smell like coins at work or I use hand sanitiser right after handing over change.

I can and do touch this sort of stuff but absolutely hate doing it. I've kind of just learned to live with it because touching stuff is avoidable and if not I use my sleeves or tissues to hand things over or use them.

Seeing it is just more of a disgust but touching it is a physical sick feeling sometimes or discomfort.

This is so all over the place but please feel free to ask any questions because I don't mind talking about it at all. I've never met anyone with the same issue so I like talking about it😁

[sydtaxerror]

HOLOctober day 3: Purgatory

Day 3 of doing a hololive writing challenge for October using a custom prompt list. This ones a pretty light-hearted Silent Hill 2 parody starring Bae and Irys. No real gore or content warnings. I wish I could change my clocks and then wasurebeam myself because my ADHD-addled brain refuses to start writing until its convinced we just barely have enough time to get it done before we pass out. Whats worse is so far its been right.

Day 3: Purgatory

Bae woke up in a padded cell. Its walls were stained dull with age and rot. She groaned, “Not again. What did I do last night?” Etched above a heavy, rusted iron door, were the words “Thou Shalt Not Be a Borrower.” 

“Okayu-senpai? Is that you? You can’t just kidnap people, senpai! You know I’m good for it!” Bae first tried the door, which was locked, then pounded her fists against it. “How am I supposed to get your diamonds in here!” Frustrated, she looked around the room and noticed something she hadn’t before. A small asterisk-shaped opening in the wall, with the words “take one for the team” written above it. 

“Oh, absolutely not.” She began pounding on the door again. “I won’t do it, senpai. I’ll wait here ‘til I die!” After only a few minutes she got bored and approached the hole again. “Frick it.” She slowly slid her arm in, “eww, why is it warm?” Her fingers contacted something and she withdrew it, peaking through the fingers of her other hand, she was relieved to notice it was just a key. She unlocked the door and entered a long hallway filled with similar doors leading to similar cells. She heard a strange sliding sound coming from the other end of the hallway, a creature emerged from the shadows. It was a large shaft ambulating on two large spheres attached to its base. “A peen!? Mane-chan is that you? Is this an elaborate bonk?” 

Without an answer Bae lifted her hand and dice appeared between each pair of fingers and thumb, she threw all four, “perish!” One die bounced off it harmlessly, another cut through it like a knife through butter leaving it with a perfectly square hole near its base but otherwise unharmed. The third missed entirely, clattering to the floor and promptly becoming a potted plant. Luckily the fourth exploded, obliterating the peen and both sides of the hallway. She looked down the hall and saw multiple peens shuffling around. “Nope.” She leapt out the window, rolling down a long hill. Standing up and straightening her clothes, she found herself in a small, foggy, town. “I don’t think this is Neko Neko island” 

She found herself walking through a park and found a familiar nephilim wearing a very unfamiliar outfit, including a leopard print skirt. She was horizontal on the ground, making strange grunts and motions that resemble the worm but sideways. “I’m glad someone else is here but what on earth are you doing Irys, there’s peens around!” She reached a hand out and the mysterious nephilim took it, responding “who’s Irys? Never heard of her. My name is…” she gave Bae a sultry wink, “Yabairys.” 

Bae narrowed her eyes. “Ok. That's fine. Everything is fine. I don’t care anymore.” She looked back at the nephilim.  “You know that skirts like, way longer than your usual dress right? Much less Yabai?”

“This is my usual outfit, Bae. Who I’ve never met before.” Bae walked past her, refusing to acknowledge the response. A short while later they heard a muffled voice in one of the buildings, a bowling alley. Bae started toward the door, bracing herself emotionally for some fresh new hell, but noticed Yabairys was standing still with her arms crossed. “What are you doing Irys, we need to see who that is. Probably.”

“Its YABAIrys. And you can go in alone, I hate bowling. I’ll wait out here.”

“You hate…we’re not going bowling. We’re just going to see who that is! You’re going to wait out here with the peens because you hate bowling?”

“Yes.”

“Whatever, suit yourself.”

As Bae entered the bowling alley Yabairys yelled, “this is the worst date I’ve ever been on!”

Bae entered the bowling alley and was surprised to find Korone sitting at a table eating a Pizza. As Bae approached her Korone yelled out, “PIZZA TIME,” startling Bae. “Um yeah, I see that Korone-senpai, whatcha doing here? You know there’s peens around right?” 

“I love Pepperoni Pizza.”

Bae tried to switch to Japanese but found that, other than yabai and senpai for some reason, it came out as slightly janky english. 

“I love PEPPERONI PIZZA,” Korone responded.

“Look, hard same, but there’s monsters, Irys has lost her mind, I had to put my arm in a…we gotta get outta here!” 

Suddenly a large buff rat wearing a paper crown crashed through the wall, turning it to rubble.  He was dragging an over-sized diamond pickaxe behind him and started to charge forward. Bae yelled out, “It's a Brat-king!” and tried to reach for Korone’s hand to drag her away, but Korone had already leapt from one of the tables and crossed most of the room. She slid to a stop directly in front of the Brat king, bending her knees slightly before launching into a flying upper-cut with a mighty “Orayo!” The brat king was thrown up through the rough, ending up stuck halfway. He flailed for a while trying to get loose then gave up, limbs hanging limply through the roof. 

“Huh. That seems like it probably saved us a lot of trouble.” Korone, for her part, just sat back down and continued eating her pizza. Bae glanced back and forth between the two a few times before shrugging. “I guess you’ve got it under control. Enjoy your pizza senpai!” As she walked out she heard a quiet voice say, “I am justice.” 

Yabairys scowled as Bae returned to the street. “Finally had enough bowling? I can’t believe you just left me out here.”

“I wasn’t…you wanted to…” Bae closed her eyes in frustration and took a deep breath, “You know what? Yes. I’ve finally had enough bowling. Good to go.”

“Good, because its my turn to pick where we go, and we’re going to the love hotel.” She pointed to the top of the hill where a large hotel had appeared. Bae was pretty sure neither the hill nor the hotel had been in that spot earlier but she refused to comment. “I think that's just a regular hotel.” 

“Not if it was made with love.”

Bae looked at the rundown old hotel. “I don’t think it was. It looks like it was built with cheap lumber…and capitalism. That's like the opposite of love.”

“You just don’t understand romance.” Yabairys began dragging her up the hill.

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the hotel, a diamond pickaxe swung through one of the walls and the Brat king started chasing them. They ran for an open elevator the opposite direction down the opposite hallway but just before they reached it Yabairys tripped. Bae pressed the button for the top floor then spammed the close door button but Yabairys managed to lunge forward just as it closed, freezing the elevator in place. Yabairys was trapped between the doors but unharmed.

“Oh no!” Yabairys squirmed between the doors “I’m stuck step-Bae, help!”

Bae looked down on her, literally and figuratively. “Why are you so calm?” She looked through the gap in the door and saw the Brat king just standing around. He gave her a small wave. Bae screamed, “are you two working together! Is he a shipper!?” 

“What!?! No!”

“Uh-huh, sure.” Bae stepped on Yabairys’ head and used it as a boost to climb to the elevator’s emergency hatch. “I’m out of here.” She scampered through the hatch then hung from the elevator cable long enough to poke her head back through the hatch and announce, “I want a divorce” before climbing the cable to the top floor. She entered a wide, empty room, a single cloaked figure stood leaning on a windowsill at the end of the room. They were faced away from her. Bae crouched, grabbing a lead pipe and slowly moving towards them. “I wish you wouldn’t.” Calli turned and lowered her hood. 

“Calli!?”

“Sup.”

“Is it really you? You’re not all weird?”

“I mean, maybe a little I guess but I think I’m pretty chill, mostly.”

Bae launched at her and gave her a big hug, tears in her eyes. “Its really you, I’m so glad I’m not alone.”

Calli let her cry for a second then patted her on the back, “seems like you’ve been through a lot, need any help?”

“Yes, definitely. But first, what are you doing here. I think we’re in some kind of weird hell.”

“What are you doing here Bae. This isn’t a hell, its a purgatory, they’re like underworld Florida.”

“I think its got something to do with owing Okayu a bunch of diamonds.”

“Huh. Okaaay. Well, you can have some of mine I guess.”

Bae hugged her again. “You’re the best.” 

“Lemme give you a lift home.” Calli held her arm out the window and in a burst of pink flame her scythe appeared in it. She let it drop and it continued to hover, she climbed out the window and sat on it side-saddle. 

“Your scythe can fly!?”

Calli offered her hand, rolling her eyes “All scythes can fly Bae. Ready to go?”

Bae took it and climbed on, “I think so, but I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

Calli leaned forward and the scythe began to accelerate away. “If you forgot it, it wasn’t important.

Hours later a voice is heard, screaming from an elevator shaft: “Step-Bae? Step-Bae!? Step-Baeeeeeee!”