#now this was a fun idea

[overdevelopedglasses]

Tojoctober Day 23 - Alley

(We've been tasked to protect and take on ghosts)

Title is from “Black Tar”, the battle theme of Xenoblade Chronicles X

Sugiura finds someone in an alley. A parkour race ensues. 

(Judgment spoilers, specifically about Sugiura)

—----------------------------

It’s a calm spring day in Ijincho, and the newly minted detective at Yokohama 99 is enjoying an evening stroll. Sugiura's gaining the lay of the town, attempting to make friends and become established in the city. He's already met the self-proclaimed handyman of Ijincho, Jin Kuwana, who he thinks Yagami would get along with. He's made nice with the local homeless, and has found a few stray cats that he left food out for. 

Out of nowhere, Sugiura catches a flash in his peripheral vision.

He spins around, and has a gut feeling that the flash went down the alley.

He peers down the alley between a building that he was told was called Hello Work and some other smaller house, and sees a figure standing at the other end. Sugiura could probably guess that the person is feminine, with the long purple hair and black leather jacket, but doesn't want to assume.

"Excuse me? Can I-"

They turn their head, and instantly leap onto the dumpster at the end of the alley, and into the shadows of the rooftop above.

"Hey! Wait!"

Without thinking, Sugiura pursues them, leaping up onto the roof. He sees the figure dash away, and keeps pace. The Ijincho rooftops are a bit harder to navigate, as Sugiura was finding it hard to jump between the wider streets, but watching the figure run in front is assisting him. Thanks to this guide, and his practice in Kamurocho, he's able to use his lightened footwork to his advantage. He observes where he had just walked earlier that day, and he's pretty sure he also runs on top of the agency. He makes note of structures that don't look too sturdy, but he can still walk on, for later reference. Eventually, he sees the figure jump into another alley, and Sugiura hops down onto the ground.

All at once, Sugiura feels a thousand eyes on his body, yet the woman has mysteriously disappeared. He quickly realizes he has no idea where in Ijincho he is. Somewhere to the north, he thinks, but…

"So… what brings you to our city?" The voice has no obvious source, but it is light and warm. It'd be comforting if Sugiura didn't feel like he was being watched like a wild animal.

"You know I'm not from here?" is all that he could muster in response.

“I know a lot about you, detective. Or should I say… Fumiya Terasawa?”

Sugiura’s heart drops into his stomach. 

“How do you know that name?” Sugiura almost growls into the darkness.

"Oh, darling. The Geomijul know all that we desire. No knowledge is out of our reach."

"The… Geomijul?" He's pretty sure he said it wrong.

The voice laughs, "Oh, you really are new here. Well, if you want to survive in this city, you must at least be familiar with its workings. We are your spy network, and where to go for information."

Sugiura nods, somewhat wishing he had his jester mask so he could hide what he assumes is a terrified expression. He feels like if he makes one false move, he'll be shot.

"The Liumang operate east of here, and the Seiryu Clan are in the south. You'd do well to know this." the voice instructs.

"R-right. So… I'm in your territory now." Sugiura swallows his next breath, suddenly aware of his nerves.

"Hm, sharper than you look. And quick on your feet. Some members could learn a lot from you, Sugiura-kun."

"Uh…. Thanks." Sugiura glances around, not really sure where to direct his voice.

There's a silence, and Sugiura anticipates his life ending at any moment. But soon, the voice returns.

"I would normally not be so kind… but I like you, Sugiura-kun. For once, there's not a hint of malice within a newcomer. Hasn't happened for a while. Accept this gift of the Geomijul, and be on your way."

A figure emerges from the shadows, a different one than the one Sugiura chased. This one has silvery hair, wears a black face mask, and an outfit of all black. They approach Sugiura and extend a hand, which contains a necklace with a spider on it. Sugiura picks it up.

"Just show that in the air, and we will know what to do." the figure says, before disappearing back into the shadows.

"Consider you and your agency blessed by our members. Just take care not to get caught in the web." The disembodied voice shouts, as Sugiura is forcibly spun around and pushed slightly. He feels all of the eyes on him vanish in an instant. He looks down at the necklace in his hand, and puts it on, hiding the chain and symbol underneath his hoodie.

After a brief once-over, and a moment to catch his breath, he walks out of the alley, and looks around. He's in a quieter street, and sees a couple restaurants beginning to open up for the night. He starts to walk towards the main road, and pulls his phone out of his pocket, seeing he had received a recent message from Tsukumo:

~You found your way on the rooftops, I assume?~

~How..?~ Sugiura texts back, and he gets a response almost immediately.

~Heard some footsteps. Figured it was you.~

Sugiura smiles slightly, as another message buzzes in.

~Be safe.~

[tawnysoup]

Found my fav Slay the Princess route recently. Dragon my beloved. Your horrifying beak mouth was an impossible-to-refuse lip syncing challenge 💖

Shoutouts to @blacktabbygames for making such a cool game!

[akanemnon]

I had a vision

[mroddmod]

they are like puppies. 2 me

[lemongogo]

life of regret

[hotdogmchiggin]

Company Mandated Fancy Fits on the Tulpar 😏

Also had to include the REAL star of the show (and a bonus)

Based off of this and this. Thank you very much joetastic for being inspirational 👍

The REAL reason this is late

[newquestion]

And by that logic, Wild, Burned Grey and HEA could also speak cat.

What about the Harsh princesses? Well...

They're sukeban

Stranger can go anywhere tbh, she's Stranger

tbh idk with Nightmare, Wraith and PATD

[lamina-tsrif]

you’ve changed (for the better)

for @where-does-the-heart-lie ‘s fighting game au I love ur designs I love them dearly

[devsgames]

Me: "hey game developers, especially AAA ones, are getting laid off en-mass and it's awful for our industry" Gamer: "well I only play INDIE games and the problem with AAA games is they are creatively bankrupt"

Me, slamming my fists on the table like a baby: "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS IS ABOUT A BUSINESS PROBLEM PERPETUATED BY CAPITALISM NOT A STATEMENT ON CREATIVE DECISION MAKING"

[obsessedwithstarwars]

Okay you can’t tell me that Vlad doesn’t have an organ somewhere in his mansion. Upon learning of this, Danny would teach himself how to play the Haunted Mansion theme on the organ and play it at 2am.

Vlad Masters is away on business in Gotham, and the Fentons are coincidentally there for a symposium on ecto-activity. So it’s perfect! Except he goes to the wrong house, er mansion.

Honestly, Danny thought it was one of Vlad’s many mansions. Scaring the old man is his favorite activity after all. There’s a higher amount of ectoplasm here, so it has to be Vlad’s place right?

When Bruce comes out (on one of his few nights off) and sees his carbon copy playing the organ, all thoughts fly out of his head. Danny finally looks up and also blue screens. They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity until Danny’s cell phone rings (the ghostbusters theme??) and he panics. He jumps up and makes a break for the other door rushing through apologies “SorryWronghousegottagobye!” And runs out of the room. “Wait! Who are you?”Bruce exclaims as he rushes after him. They’re on the second story in one of the rooms he rarely uses. How did he know where the organ was? No matter. He’ll catch the kid on the stairs.

Except the kid is already almost at the bottom. How did he get down so effortlessly? The kid practically floated down the stairs.

Bruce gets to the foyer just in time to see the kid realize the door was dead-bolted in multiple spots. He won’t be able to undo them all before Bruce catches up to him.

He slows down and stands behind a pillar, assessing his next move. He needs to be careful here. This is a child after all, no need to spook him any more than he already has. He needs to slowly approach, and ask his questions.

But then the kid does the unexpected. After looking around frantically, he takes a deep breath. Two rings form around his middle and travel up and down his body. His black hair turns ghostly white. He looks back, almost directly at Bruce. His eyes widen as if he realizes he’s being watched. He whispers, barely loud enough to hear, “I’m so sorry, please don’t follow me.” Then, he backs through the locked door and vanishes.

[secretly-a-trekkie]

usghsduhfiaofh

[tawnysoup]

CW DEATH, DEAD BODY, STRANGULATION, BLOOD, IMPLIED SELF-HARM (in case my tags aren't enough!!!! stay safe)

(Above you, you hear Loop trying to take a breath.)

[benevolenterrancy]

just started reading SVSSS and so far I'm very amused by what seems to be the dynamic...

Shen Qingqiu: aggressively overthinking everything in a desperate effort not to literally die Luo Binghe: thinking absolutely nothing except "😍" which is bouncing around like a little screensaver

[greatwyrmgold]

The new Jenny Nicholson video makes me want to write a Star Wars fanfic based on her experience in the Star Wars Hotel. Amiithia Tope, a wealthy influencer from Coruscant (Jenny's actual choice of "character," if I spelled her name right), trying to help the First Order but getting ghosted by them even as the Resistance tries to recruit her.

Chewbacca escapes because Lieutenant Croy assumed her attempts to warn him that a high-profile prisoner was escaping, come on, were just a youngling prank. On the Baatu excusion, Amiithia and her sister end up doing a mission for the Resistance out of boredom and confusion, but it turns out their Resistance contact gave them inaccurate instructions and they have to check all the crates again to find the Holocron. Amiithia meets Hondo Onaka and discovers she dislikes him. Sammy thanks Amiithia for helping him steal a TIE Fighter even though she never even responded to his text messages. Maybe Lieutenant Croy hears this and Amiithia gets in trouble with the guy she wanted to surrender, which is why Kylo Ren Force-tortures her to get Rey to talk.

Worst cruise ever. There was a support column in front of her table at the dinner show!

[unlikelypandahologram]

And here's the final part of the first chapter to the Optima Prime comic! Again, massive thanks to ErikaGSkerzz for the beautiful art. It was wonderful to work with her, I truly recommend commissioning her. Links to the first and second parts are here and here. Hope you all enjoy it. 💖

[tehcherrya]

For those of you who never knew as it's a detail one can easily miss (especially depending on which aspect ratio you're viewing in) but a lovely detail at that: Pippin was in the hobbit band in the background!

He's the one playing the banjolele!

These shots I have of the scenes where he is most visible are from the Fullscreen edition (A DvD I own and often watch for the different viewing experience). I believe in the Widescreen edition their heads are cut off by the aspect ratio-- so it's easy to miss!

And for those of you who haven't put it together already, yes! That is our beloved Merry standing next to him as they both watch Frodo dance.

Mind you, Merry is not in the band. A few scenes prior he was actually along the precession line of bringing in Bilbo's Birthday cake. He probably came up to the platform to talk to Pippin, give him a mug of something to drink and inevitably snatch him away for some mischief. Because after this brief scene, Pippin is then absent from the stage-- he and Merry are going to go swipe some fireworks!