#the spacesuits didn't help

[brightyearning]

I had the weirdest dream. I was in the airlock entryway to a spaceship and I was coming back from deep space with my crew. except to get in, you needed the right key. a few of us try to open it up but we can't quite get it because we're shivering, it's so cold. and the doorway becomes this washing machine that's like gushing water in these weird little spurts. and I can't see it but I just know that once I get the door leading inside open, it'll malfunction. it's something about the space door still being open + all this gushing water + the cold. and I get the door open finally and am immediately sucked into this time void, but it looks silver and feels like rushing water and then I woke up.

but the weirdest thing about that is that when I woke up and checked my phone, it said it was 2:12am January 29th. I had to restart it to get it to be normal 😶

[03jyh23]

༘⋆mon's 500 followers special.ᐟ.ᐟ 500-word prompt roulette⟢

🏠┆home in your arms

song mingi x gn! reader

│synopsis: the one where mingi missed you

│genre: fluff

│trigger warnings: none!

│roulette prompt 6 + mingi + galactic

You put the key into the lock, making sure you're quiet enough not to wake Mingi up—your flight was delayed and you landed in the middle of the night. You were about to turn the key when the door suddenly opened. Mingi stood there, his hair disheveled. You smiled at him and wanted to say hi, but before you could open your mouth, Mingi pulled you into his chest, his arms wrapping around you. He breathes in your scent, and you can't help but smile against his chest.

"I missed you," he whispers, arms tightening around you. "Don't go away for that long again."

You laugh. "Baby, it was only three days," you say as you gently pull away to peck his lips, but he only pulls you back in, burying his face in your neck.

"Three days too long," he mumbles against your skin, and you can't help but melt into his warmth.

He hums contentedly, swaying you both gently from side to side in the doorway. The cool night air wraps around you both, but you can barely feel it with how warm he keeps you. His fingers trace patterns on your back, and you can tell he won’t let go even for a moment.

"Will you at least let me close the door?" you ask yet your arms tighten around his waist.

Mingi chuckles, "Fine, but only if you promise not to leave my arms for the rest of the night." You smile and nod against him, letting him shuffle backward just enough for you to kick the door closed behind you.

You lock eyes as you stand on your tiptoes to peck his lips. He smiles into it and pulls you closer to kiss you, slowly, lovingly.

"I missed you too, love," you say, pressing another soft kiss to his lips. His eyes are filled with so much love and adoration that it makes your heart skip a beat.

Mingi pulls back slightly, a pout forming on his lips. "You better have missed me just as much," he teases, his eyes twinkling. "I might be devastated if you tell me you didn't think about me every single second you were away."

You giggle, reaching up to cup his cheek. "Every single second? Even when I was sleeping?"

"Especially when you were sleeping," he says with mock seriousness. "I expect detailed reports of all your dreams about me."

You laugh, playing along. "Well, there was this one dream where you were a galactic cowboy, riding through the stars on a glowing space horse..."

Mingi's eyes light up with amusement. "A galactic cowboy? Do tell more."

You can't help but giggle at his eager expression. "You were wearing this ridiculous sparkly spacesuit with cowboy boots and a hat that had little twinkling stars all over it."

He bursts into laughter, the sound warm and rich. "Sounds like quite the fashion statement. Maybe I should try that look sometime."

"Please don't," you say through your giggles, burying your face in his chest. He kisses the top of your head, and you both stay like that for a while.

"Come on," he whispers, tugging you gently toward the bedroom. "Let's get you to bed. You must be exhausted from your flight." You nod sleepily, finally feeling the tiredness settling in now that you're home. As you both curl up under the covers, his arms still wrapped protectively around you, you know that no matter where you go, coming back to him will always feel like coming home.

♡│if you enjoy my writing please consider supporting me by tagging and reblogging│

♡│please join my 500 followers special!│

[mind-intheclouds342]

Do it for them - Co-captain reader x Curly

Previous - Part 11 - Next

Anya: "Are you sure you want him to accompany you?"

You watched Daisuke, who was excitedly putting on his spacesuit with Swansea's help. 

"It's a walk of less than 20 meters, I'll be by his side, I want to give the child the experience." 

You smiled at her, putting on your helmet, ready to enter the departure lounge with the boy. 

You all had finally arrived. 

Upon opening the hatch, the ship was connected to the Pony Express station, having to take a short walk to enter it.

"Daisuke, can you hear me? Don't stay away from me."

Daisuke: "I hear you loud and clear, captain... Woah... This is amazing..."

He murmured with his eyes reflecting the stars of the universe and walking behind you. 

You entered the access code you had, and the doors slowly opened, allowing them to enter. 

After passing the gravity adjustment zone, you took off your suits for a moment to have greater mobility and comfort to call for rescue. 

Daisuke: "Huh, they also have thousands of posters with Polly here."

"Don't stay too far from me, okay? Here we are fine, but this place is huge, I don't want you to get lost or break anything." 

You indicated the way to the control room so you could communicate with Pony Express. 

A candy vending machine had caught Daisuke's attention, who smiled and headed over to get some treats. 

You get inside the room once you found it, looking for the signal that communicated with the station on Earth. 

"Co-Captain (Y/n) of the Tulpar speaking, can anyone hear me?" 

You spoke into the radio, hoping for a response from the other side, which you got.

"Co-captain, did you had any trouble?"

You almost cried when you heard the voice on the other end, but you kept your composure to respond. 

"The Tulpar crashed into an asteroid, we have no way to pilot the ship ourselves, the autopilot directed us here after we were diverted by the impact. Captain Curly has been very badly injured after the crash. We await rescue at station 27-4-33. We have a crew member removed for violating the Pony Express behavior rules." 

You sighed with a smile as you said that. 

"We received the information about the crash, the cockpit technology alerted us, and a bad practice was made, you caused the crash yourselves." 

"...We need a rescue at station 27-4-33"

You repeated it, ignoring what he said, as it didn't seem relevant to you at that moment. 

"They will be deducted for all the damages caused to the ship, their salaries will be revoked."

"Do whatever you want with that money! We need you to send a rescue, damn it!"

You were already getting frustrated with the monotonous voice on the other end. 

"A rescue ship will be sent to you, it will arrive at the station in about three months, along with a specialized sector for the person who needs to be reprimanded, hold on there. Is the load still intact?"

You were ready to insult them again, but you chose to keep your comments to yourself.

"...No, the cargo has been opened, two boxes have been emptied..."

"That will also be deducted from your crew. Later, we will clarify the individuals responsible for each incident to deduct from the appropriate person. Thank you for your honesty and patience, Co-Captain (Y/n)"

You ended the transmission, not wanting to hear anything more of what he had to say to you, you couldn't believe he cared more about the material damage than the crew. 

"Now... All that's left is to wait..."

You moved side to side in the swivel chair, looking at the ceiling, thinking about what was going to happen next. 

Your thoughts were interrupted when you heard a loud bang coming from the hallway. 

You immediately got up from your seat and ran towards the noise, to find Daisuke with his arm stuck in the vending machine. 

"...Daisuke..."

Daisuke: "It didn't give me my toffees!... Can you help me?"

He smiled at you somewhat embarrassed as he said that, you furrowed your brow for a moment and then laughed a little.

"There's no other option but to amputate your arm."

You found his terrified face amusing at your words, but soon you calmed him down to slowly help him pull his arm out of that machine. 

Daisuke: "My toffees..."

You looked at the machine, the candy he had selected was stuck, you took a few steps to move away from there.

Daisuke thought they were going back to the ship, until he saw you running towards the machine and you gave it a good kick, breaking the glass that protected the candy. 

"Grab as many as you can, we can take them in the suitcase to the ship."

You pointed to a suitcase that was used to carry things from the station to the ship in space.

"I'll look for medicine and bandages, Curly needs a change... I hope their wounds haven't gotten infected... We have been reusing his bandages...

You shook your head, wanting to rid yourself of the bad thoughts, ready to go get the medicine, while Daisuke was happy eating the treat he had chosen.

[mskenway97]

Well here I have another drabble in mind focusing a little on how Ih got there:

You couldn't complain about how you lived but on days when Orion and D 16 weren't around and you'd stare out the window you'd think about how you got there.

You were a scientist helping in maintenance, you had always been fascinated by space travel. You had put a lot of effort, days and nights studying for see more... Earth was not in its best situation due to pollution and destruction of land. They were desperate to find a solution before it became unsustainable.

To see what was beyond was your dream, to see the innovations but of course no one had ever gone further than a trip to Saturn and finding a compatible world was also complicated. There were ways to survive thanks to the new spacesuits that were like a second skin, batteries that would take years to break down. You specialized in those designs and configurations.

Until one day you approached one of the ships they were working with, they said it was able to go farther than expected...

Your curiosity got the better of you and you entered the ship, you were surprised by the lack of security. You didn't dare to touch anything out of the ordinary until you saw that the surroundings were closing and an alarm sounded and then everything went black.

By then you were already on their planet. You were still looking for explanations as to what happened when you fainted, were they looking for you? You asked yourself a lot of questions: was it a mistake, was it planned?

But you had to access the ship's computer which was fried but maybe you could reroute the power. Your thoughts were interrupted for a sound.

You heard the door to see D16 had arrived first, he didn't seem to be very happy. You moved from the table. You jumped and move your arms and hands , you caught his attention. His optics focused on you as he placed the servo on the table. You knew what it meant, so you went upstairs as you snuggled into his chest.

When he had days like this he liked to have you near his spark he wouldn't admit it but he liked to have you close as your hands gently touched him.

Your mind while I was between you had to know what happened and if someone was looking for you. But...

Did you want to get out of here? Leave them? Thinking about it only hurt your heart but you wished you could talk to them, know what they were doing outside.

You felt divided... They had kept you safe but you had to know what happened.

Your thoughts were interrupted as he nuzzled you. making you purr a little, embarrassing you on the other hand D16 I thought that sound you made was adorable.

You relaxed and let those thoughts drift away. Only one remained that they might not like your action.

You need to get back to your ship.

[your-local-grubdog]

Wait actually can we talk about Leaflings real fast. Because. What the actual fuck.

Also sorry if I curse a lot more here than usual but like 90% of my genuine reactions to this topic is "what the FUCK" so uhh get used to it I guess.

Huge thanks to @saihahas for helping me with some image transcripts as well.

Major story spoilers below you have been warned. Ok let's go.

So you're able to just rise from the dead in pikmin 4. No, seriously. You can do that.

At the end of Olimar's side story we get this scene and associated line:

[Image transcript: White text on a black screen that says "But at that very moment, my life support system failed" END TRANSCRIPT]

Like. He died. His life support system failed. He DIED. And moments later, he was revived as a leafling. He died and came back from the dead. Like, what the fuck????

It even fixed up his injuries he got prior to becoming a leafling. Just a full on revival.

Image transcript (one leads into the other naturally)

Collin: By the by, Olimar, is there anything you remember from right before or after you became a leafling? Any additional details?

Olimar: Not particularly. It didn't feel bad or anything like that. In fact, it was quite revitalizing.

Olimar: My chronically stiff shoulders and all the injuries I'd sustained during my explorations healed immediately.

Yonny: Hmm... Perhaps leafification has highly restorative effects...

Yonny: This is definitely something worth looking into, eheheh. END OF TRANSCRIPT.

Now we don't know if everyone who was a leafling had to die before hand, though there is a common thread that they were at least unconscious... And had just escaped deadly situations... I think Olimar found them moments before they died and, not knowing any other way to save them, leafed them as well. Something they bear no ill will towards him for - in fact, they're thankful for him.

Image transcript:

Jin: When I was leafified, I could not stop thinking about the art of Dandori. It was like an endless meditation.

Jin: A leafling appeared in front of me after the ship crashed and I had used up all of my flagging energy.

Jin: My intuition told me they were not a bad person. I also felt as though they were determined to achieve something

Jin: I am afraid I do not recall much of what happened after that, as I lost consciousness. END TRANSCRIPT.

Image transcript:

Corgwin: I was attacked by a creature, and right before I lost consciousness, I saw something overhead. It was a leafling

Corgwin: They had such sad eyes, but there was more going on in there. Their eyes were full of determination.

Corgwin: I have to believe there is a reason why they do what they do. Turning castaways into leaflings, I mean.

Corgwin: Your time is limited, so think it through! END TRANSCRIPT.

Image transcript:

Bernard: You need anything else?

Bernard: Even when Olimar was leafed out, he was still trying to RESCUE folks!

Bernard: And there I was with my head focused on nothing but Dandori stuff. HOO, he's one tough cookie!

Bernard: You need anything else? END TRANSCRIPT.

Ok Bernard's conversation doesn't add to the "he found them in deadly situations" point but it DOES show that all of his "victims" think highly of him for the fact that he had saved them and others. (Also, side note, Olimar had sad eyes... Poor bastard thought he was never going home to his wife and kids, was visibly depressed over this, and STILL was trying to save people. Olimar is like, genuinely such a good fucking person God damn.)

Now being a leafling is undead and comes with its own slew of problems. Namely, the fact Dandori takes over your brain (probably the pikmin survival instinct) and the fact you can no longer leave PNF-404. It's not even an air thing, it's not being on the planet that causes sickness, so not even spacesuits can fix it.

But then you're able to cure yourself of being a leafling. And just. Go back? To your normal life?????? Like nothing ever happened. You died and came back. What the fuck.

And to make that point worse. One of the key ingredients is Glow Sap. Which is produced by the Luminknolls. The only other thing the Luminknolls make is uh. Glow pikmin. Which.

“Although they've been named Glow Pikmin, it's not entirely clear whether or not this species is actually a type of Pikmin. These creatures possess the same fundamental behaviors of Pikmin, like carrying things, propagating, and fighting. They also share special characteristics, such as the leaf atop their head. Yet they do not spawn from an Onion but a Lumiknoll, and they are only active at night or underground. During the day, they revert into seeds and enter a resting state. What's even more surprising is that they exhibit no signs of life. When a Glow Pikmin "dies," if that word can even be used, it does not expire in the typical sense. Instead, it just becomes a form of light-or perhaps a photon-and returns to the Lumiknoll. Putting aside my "scientist" hat for a moment...it seems to me that this creature or entity may not be a living organism at all but some manner of spiritual substance.”

[Image Transcript: a screenshot of the Piklopedia showing the very end of the above quote. END TRANSCRIPT]

And just as some icing on the cake:

[Image transcript: Louie's piklopedia notes on the glow pikmin. All it says is "Doesn't smell alive." END TRANSCRIPT]

Cool they're fucking ghosts. Sorry I can't be convinced otherwise, they're clearly some sort of supernatural entity at MINIMUM. I just think spirit is most likely. They don't have to be the spirits of dead pikmin... Although... You can convert a Glow Pikmin into normal pikmin via a candy pop bud. I've done it before, I have no video of it but you can go and try it yourself if you'd like. And if they are spirits of pikmin then that means that we can also bring pikmin back from the dead. What the FUCK.

Anyways. I got side tracked sorry. My point was the Luminkolls make two things: Glow Sap and Glow Pikmin, which have similar names and similar appearances and. Are we using ghost juice to cure leaflings???? Which is used to reverse all negatives of being leafed. Which can be used to bring the dead back to life.

I don't know how to end this. I really really don't know how to end this. I just need someone else to scream about this with because it's so. It's so fucking WEIRD like what the hell. It's not enough that they may be humans, noooo, there's also undead creatures (excluding the mushroom guys those freaks have an explanation at the very least). This game is weird as hell but tbh I love it.

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 70

First / Previous / Next

Fen awoke to Ma standing over her, smiling with her eyes. "Fenchurch, you really know how to get into a mess, you know that right?"

Fen sat up. Here, she didn't hurt. "What can I say Ma? I'm tired of being told what to do, and am doing things that I want to do."

She nodded once and put her hand out to help her up. "Good. You're learning." Fen stood up and looked around. It was the same old place it always was, but they were alone in the forest. "It'll be hard though."

"hmm?" Fen wasn't listening.

"Doing things that you want to do. It's hard. It's easier to just listen to everyone else and do what they say."

Fen chuckled. "That's hard too Ma. No matter what I pick, it's hard."

"Yes," Ma agreed. "That's life."

Fen came back, pain still there, disorientation still there, but now she was also floating in space. Her suit was helpfully flashing all kinds of warnings about being adrift in space but she was able to dismiss them. The beacons on her head and shoulders flashed to alert any potential rescuers that she was out here, but scans from the - admittedly - low power radar on the suit indicated she was alone.

Except she wasn't.

Where once there was just her expeditionary force and the white hole was now a... nebula.

It was beautiful.

No, more than that, it was stunning. Rainbow colors, swirling, dancing around her, visible in every direction. She was awash in a sea of color. But why? Was it the nanites?

As she floating in space, Fen stared at once location while time passed. She was sure that the nebula was very slowly moving. With a gasp that turned into a coughing fit, she realized what she was seeing.

It was a war.

The Nanites and Han'iel's nanites had consumed the entirety of the expeditionary force as raw material, and were now around her in the tens of trillions, fighting. The concentration of machines was so dense that she could see them.

Fen thought to herself, well okay Fenchurch. You came back here and you're making your own decisions now. So now what? Fen thought about the implant. It would make a dent in the volume of nanites here, and might be the tipping point to end the battle, but was she ready to do that? No. Not yet at least. Besides, if she did that now the virus in her body would never spread. She had to get closer.

Ugh, but how? The suit had maneuvering jets, but they weren't meant to be used for millions of kilometers. She could link again and get closer, but then that would be it. She'd be stuck. She queried the suit. 'Power options?'

INTERNAL BATTERIES 80%. USEFUL LIFE AT CURRENT POWER OUTPUT - 100 SOL STANDARD DAYS.

Well. At least she's starve to death before she froze to death. She tried again. 'Are the batteries sufficient to operate the wormhole link backpack?'

QUERYING... NEGATIVE. SUIT BATTERIES WOULD BE DEPLETED.

'Recharging options?'

CONNECT TO POWER ON SHIP OR STATION.

Ugh, it didn't have like, solar panels or anything? Fen had no idea about suit design, but she felt like something like that as a last resort would have been useful. 'Radio?'

LOCAL AREA ONLY. NO SIGNALS IN RANGE CURRENTLY.

Dammit. It turned out that an emergency rescue spacesuit wasn't just a teeny spaceship after all.

While Fen was working through her options and arguing with her suit, the nebula slowly came closer to her. She noticed as the color outside her face shield changed, and she looked up and gasped. What she had thought was a slow wheeling progression of the nebula was actually the nanites moving at tremendous speed. They had traversed the distance to her in less than two hours. Before she realized what was happening, the swirl of color surrounded her suit. Red warnings flashed in her vision SUIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. SUIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. Her suit was being eaten for material.

"Oh fuck." She said aloud, "now you've done it."

Ah, Empress. You are alive after all. The voice was practically liquid in its smugness.

"I could say the same thing about you. How goes the war with Han'iel's creation?"

We persevere, Fen. We were built well.

"Oh goody. You can talk to me as well." Fen sighed. "Well, as it appears that I am being consumed for raw materials in your battle, you had better say your pieces before I'm gone entirely."

Gone? You're not going anywhere. You forget we can manipulate matter on any scale.

Don't worry Fen. Once these nanites are destroyed, we will take good care of you. Han'iel's nanites spoke to her with a K'laxi accent. Almost but not quite sounding like Han'iel himself.

Take care of you? They can't even tak-- Her original nanites started to argue again but stopped sudddenly. What did you do?

"Whatever do you mean?" Fen said innocently, while grinning wickedly. It was going to work.

You have introduced a... pathogen. How?

"Don't worry about how, worry about your own damn survival now. I don't even care that I'm out in space alone because I got you. Neither of you will be able to come up with a counter in time."

We shall see about that.

Both of the nanites pulled out of her mind quickly, without taking care to be gentle. Through the blinding headache they left, Fen was laughing. It worked! It really worked! Her idea worked! "See Ma? I did it! I beat them. Not Gord, not the Empire, ME!" She shouted.

Before her eyes, the nebula changed. Rather than a dancing, swirling rainbow colored cloud, it was slowly - but surely - turning gray. The virus was taking over the nanites, using them to make more, and then disassembling what was left.

Fen floated, between the black and the gray, and watched them die.

****

"They think we have Fen!" Chloe shouted, as Gord took control of the ship's operation to dodge the attacks.

"Well, we kinda did." Gord said, trying to keep his voice reasonable as he concentrated.

"We - you - saved her life!"

"Yes. but they don't know that, Chloe. We never told them. I was going to, but then there was the nanite thing, and we had to put her in hibernation, and then the virus... I dropped the ball." Gord did the virtual equivalent of a shrug. "They don't usually shoot first and ask questions later though."

"They don't? Gord, are we talking about the same humans?"

"Okay okay, sometimes they do. Open a channel, I'll explain it."

"They closed communication." Chloe scanned the logs. "Looks like they opened all frequencies and asked for an explanation... and someone told them to kick rocks."

"Who?"

Chloe shook her head. "Don't know. They were far away, probably out near Jupiter or further. They were on at least a couple minute delay."

"Dammit!" Gord swore and went over to the comm set. He set the power output to full and opened all the channels. As he did so, he moved some relays and rerouted power from the reactor. As environmental powered down, his array powered up. Across Sol, everyone's comm array was overcome with static. Media players, comm arrays, and even some larger metallic structures all obeyed his command. For now, Gord was the Loudest thing in Sol. "Attention Humanity. We do not have Empress Fenchurch. We did, but she left on her own. If you stop shooting and take an Ancestors damned BREATHER, we can discuss this." Gord cut the connection and put the power back where it was. Times like this he was annoyed that he couldn't snap a physical toggle closed. It was much more satisfying.

****

"Empress?!" The weapons officer looked over at Penny.

Penny was trying very hard to hide her expression, but she didn't have Fen's experience. Her eyes were giving it away, Zhe noticed. She was frightened out of her mind. "S-Stand down. Weapons to idle."

As the weapons powered down, and the ship got off of its battle footing, one of the younger officers eye's went wide. "Empress... you should see this," and gestured. She and Zhe looked down at their pads.

And stared at the stardrive of Home.

Before Home was the... well, home of the AIs, it was a colony ship. Nearly a third the size of High Mars Hyacinth, it was designed to streak through interstellar space, bringing thirty thousand humans in hibernation and enough supplies to start up at least three cities. Six were launched, three made it, one blew up just outside of Sol, and two were lost. This was one of them. In order to thrust up to 50% of C, the colony ships had positively titanic star drives. Large enough to swallow a Starjumper, their exhaust would streak behind for hundreds of kilometers when under full thrust.

And one was pointed directly at them.

They hadn't planned on running, they had planned on lighting their stardrive, Zhe realized with a shudder. Her fur puffed out in fear. She knew the value of the human's old drives as a weapon. She looked over at Penny; she hadn't figured it out. Zhe flicked her ears in irritation. Leave it to humans to forget about their own weapons.

"Penn-Empress." Zhe said gently. "They pointed their stardrive at us. They were going to fire it."

"And run away? They have a wormhole generator, why run away with their old stardrive?"

"We-el, yes, they would start moving." Zhe said carefully, "but more importantly the drive exhaust would have reduced us to our constituent atoms."

"Oh" Penny said, and then her eyes widened when she parsed what Zhe said. "Oh."

"Yes," Zhe nodded. "On the Heap we're taught to never go behind a human ship. We were never going to win this engagement."

Penny's shoulders slumped. "They don't have Fen and we were nearly destroyed." She looked at Zhe and mouthed "What do I do?"

"Empress?" Zhe said, in a normal tone of voice. "I recommend we open a channel to Gord's ship and take him up on his offer to talk. We can learn what they know, and maybe work together to find out what happened to Fen. After all-" She flicked her ears as she spoke "-if the AI faction supports you, then your claim to the throne is that much more valid."

Penny's eyes shone. She was holding back tears. "Yes, that is an excellent suggestion. Comms, reach out to Gord's ship and let the know we wish to talk." She looked again at Zhe, blinked her tears away and whispered, "Thank you."

Zhe's face was impassive, but her tail swished behind her.

[sojournerstales]

WF1999: Something Nice For The Kid

Hello, here is a small drabble about my Drifter doing something nice for my Operator.

You ever have a thought or idea get stuck in your teeth? There's something I'd been chewing on for a while, I thought about it while standing on dust-blasted rock receiving marching orders from the Lotus, and then again prompted by something Salem - Eleanor - said to me over the KIM.

I am sat cross-legged in the living quarters of the Orbiter.

It's strange to be back here. I feel just as out of place now as I did before, only I think I look the part too. In space without the spacesuit, just skinny jeans and a stretched, loose-threaded tank-top.

Ordis hovers over my shoulder, "Energy conversion is functioning within expected parameters. Your --BUSTED OLD JUNK-- antique collection should receive power now."

Which roughly translates to the Kinemantic At Home Game System and Game Monitor combo should actually work now, hooked up to a power cell and adaptor that I'm sure Amir would love to get his hands on.

The screen lights the room up. My face in pale glory, a shadow cast for myself and Ordis across the wall.

"Oh no!" Ordis declares, "This image quality will not do, and the evacuation order has been given. I do not think we will have time to fix this." He hovers close, fixated on the logo slowly bouncing between each of the four corners on-screen.

"Nah," I tell him, "That's what it's meant to look like."

"I see. I will adjust further expectations to align with this information."

"Just go tell the kid I'm here, will ya?" Just in case she didn't spot my own craft on the way.

Ordis complies. It gives me half a minute to get everything else in order. Plug the console's controllers in. Shove the boxes into one corner. Empty the bag of everything else I brought with me. I wait then for the familiar hiss of the doors behind me.

"One of these days I might shoot that thing out of the sky," My own voice, minus an untold amount of years as a storybook survivalist. The kid. The younger version of myself. Dressed like she belongs - transference suit sleek and pink-accented. Her name, like mine, is Sloane. "Grineer landing craft hovering outside my Orbiter."

"Leave Potato alone. I like her." I push up to my feet and approach and I don't quite hug her. I stop halfway and just awkwardly reach out and squeeze her shoulder. "You been good?"

"Asking if I've behaved?" She gives my hand and then me a look.

"No. I'm asking if you're good. In the head. And stuff."

Sloane wrinkles her nose. I can't help but intuit what she's thinking. I'm the one making this awkward and she is going to step past that by asking, "What's all this stuff?"

"Presents." The stuff is much easier to talk about. I throw an arm out to gesture at the assembled, aforementioned stuff. The monitor, the console, a neatly folded stack of clothes, packets of various candies.

"For me?" She sounds suspicious of it.

"Yuh-huh." I return to not-quite my original place, leaving room for Sloane to sit nearby. She can take the living quarter's booth couch, on I'm the floor. "Just sit down and enjoy it, I'm being nice."

That look again. Sustained as she joins me. Narrowed when she looks at the screen.

"You deserve nice, okay? What'd Lotus have you blowing up today?"

"Espionage, actually. Hit a Corpus Supercruiser. A lead on Solar--"

"Yeah, anyways, this is food with no nutritional value and... Canned drink that's actively bad for you." I slide over the half-height table Gumi-Bytes and Nu! Cola.

"... Great."

"Trust me, you'll love 'em."

Sloane seems dubious and I don't blame her. Cetus treats don't skew sweet and Ordis is not exactly an artist with food synthesis.

"So what's with the screen? It broken?"

"No, that's how it's meant to look," I say - exasperated - for the second time today. "It's for games. You put a disc in and play 'em with this thing. I was gonna bring one way bigger, but Amir told me that this one is way more convenient. You don't have to give them quarters. Money."

"Okay. Cool." A pause, she remembers her manners in about the same time it takes for me to do the same, "Thanks. So what about the clothes?"

"Quincy and Eleanor. I thought you'd get a kick out of these..." A jeans and jacket combo, it looks like something the Vent Kids would wear only with less greebles. "From Quincy. Then from Eleanor..."

Sloane holds up one of the tops. It's shiny with soft buttons and smooth fabric. "Ceremonial wear?"

"What?" I laugh, "No, dingus. Pyjamas."

"What's pyjamas?"

"Oh my- Right, yeah. You sleep in them. Sleep-sleep. They're comfy."

"You know, I'm not the weird one here." She gets all defensive on me (I think it's a good sign she's hugging the pyjamas to her chest when she does), "You jumped from one messed up loop to another and neither are like the real world."

"Oh, come on. So I teased. I know you like this stuff anyway, stop fighting it."

"You don't just know that! We're not identical." Voice raised.

"We're the same person!" Mine matches.

"We DIVERGED!" And Sloane turns whingy and leans towards me and is pulling a face while she does it. So I put my palm over her head and shove her away.

She shoves me back.

I raise an eyebrow.

We both think - would we have been like this with a sibling? We never found out. We're a pair of only-children figuring out how this works now that we are not alone.

And we know that one of us has done a very nice thing.

And one of us doesn't always know how to accept very nice things.

We look at each other, both lit by the drifting logo on the clunky monitor before us. After a few more seconds I break the silence, "Aoi put together a mixtape for you." I slide over a CD in a paper envelope.

"That's a disk."

"Yeah, I said that too. She said they still call them mixtapes, apparently mix-CDs never stuck."

"Neat."

"Thought so. I think you'll like it... But you'll have to tell me what you think."

[smalltimidbean]

tell us about key lime please! They're so silly :D

(Although probably gonna break some of said paragraphs into bullet points so it's not too daunting jkfdgkjs)

First part is backstory stuff!;

Key Lime Pie - usually just shortened to Key - was clone number #04963, and is predominantly insect DNA, such as dragonflies, ants and beetles (haven't decided specifics yet)

They managed to escaped containment when all clones were being moved from an off-site lab to one in the Tower - thanks to their small size, they were able to sneak past any security and make their way into some vents

Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - they fell down said vents and ended up on the third floor of the Tower - specifically what is known to us as the level 'Deep-Dish 9'

From the scientists' perspective, no one noticed Key was gone until they were moving clones into their rooms, and since most of the clones were unfortunately seen as expendable, no one looked for them and Key was quickly presumed dead, and thus a failure

But Key was alive - although a little shaken up by the fall and suddenly in a new and unfamiliar place - but they were a brave little guy!!!

They explored around for a while, and they found an unused spaceship, along with a spacesuit

Unbeknownst to them, these were intended for Peppino, but upon seeing a portrait of Peppino in previously mentioned spacesuit, by previously mentioned spaceship (where did this portrait come from? idk), Key had convinced themselves that the image was of them and these were their space things

Key had also changed their form to more resemble the portrait - mainly losing the chef's hat and tank top

Key donned the spacesuit - and despite the size/number of arms discrepancy between themselves and Peppino, the suit fit them just fine (bc it's super advanced or something)

However the ship was not in the best condition, and could not fly, but it was fitted with some accommodations - like a little kitchen and bedroom - so Key decided to make the ship's current location their base of operations until it was fixed up enough to fly

There was... A lot of trial and error as Key figured out how all the technology worked, but Key was probably one of the more intelligent clones, so it didn't take terribly long for them to understand it

They would frequently leave their ship to explore and look for supplies and parts - often 'borrowing' from the Olive Aliens or dismantling the larger, crashed ships and salvaging the things they needed

Key has also snagged an Olive Trooper's blaster as a means of defending themselves - although they have never actually used it as a weapon yet. Luckily for them, they haven't come across many threats and most run away when faced with a blaster (or Key just runs away first)

Key lived like this for a while, and they did eventually manage to get their ship working enough to fly, occasionally exploring the other planets that were nearby

They were on one of these explorations when Peppino went through the level, so they did not see him nor were they aware of his mission

Key had returned just in time for the Crumbling of the Tower, not sure what was happening, but they attempted to make an escape, just as all the other beings were doing

Unfortunately, Key's ship was hit by falling debris, and crashed, also knocking Key unconscious in the process

By the time Key woke up, the Tower was completely destroyed, and the ship was part of the debris

However to Key, they thought that they'd just crash-landed on a new planet, completely unaware that they were just simply outside the Tower

And now, Key is currently working on fixing up their spaceship (again) to try and get home - also completely unaware that there is no 'home' to return to...

This part is character things!;

As mentioned, Key is very smart - when they were in the lab, they'd frequently ace any tests given to them, and had great potential to the scientists - although, it was also this intelligence that helped them escape in the first place

They can figure out new technology fairly quickly - albeit with a lot of trial and error - and they enjoy taking things part and putting them back together, just to see how it works

While they are very curious, and love to explore, Key is incredibly anxious around other living beings, and usually avoids any interaction if they can help it

They are mostly mute, and cannot speak any human language - if they do need to communicate, they 'talk' via chirping (akin to a cricket)

They are pretty non-expressive in the face, but their antennae usually gives away to how they are feeling - ie curled is neutral, crooked is distressed, completely curled up and pressed to the sides of their head is overwhelmed, twitching slightly is happy etc

Along with the pair on their head, Key's 'moustache' are also antennae - these are all extremely sensitive and can be used to smell, hear or touch things

Key has a hardened shell on their back (known as an elytra), which can open up to reveal a set of dragonfly-like wings (how do wings longer than the elytra fit in there? idk, clone bullshit kjdfgk)

While they can fly with these wings, Key rarely does so, usually only hovering to reach something high or to give themselves a boost while jumping - they also tend to flare their wings out when surprised, frightened, or performing a threat display as a means to appear larger than they are

Speaking of threat displays, while Key also rarely uses theirs, they tend to split their face open while performing one

Despite being a 'flight' over 'fight' being, Key has a lot of abilities that they could use in a fight, if they so wanted to, thanks to their various DNAs - they have very large teeth, a fairly potent venom which can cause burning hot hives and itchiness, and although they have a very small stature, they are incredibly strong, able to lift roughly 50 times their own weight

But as implied, they do not like to fight, and prefer to keep others at a distance with the help of their blaster - any attacks are made in self-defence

Also as implied, unlike most clones' 'clothing', Key's spacesuit is not part of them and can be removed - not that they like to take it off

They also rarely remove their helmet as of currently, believing that the planet's air could be poisonous to them (which isn't wrong but y'know), and they will only remove it while in their ship

The large pocket on the front of Key's suit works similarly to a clone's pouch - as in it is a small hammerspace - but Key's can be opened from the inside, allowing them to interact with outside objects from the safety of their suit (i.e. they put something in the pocket from the outside, close it and then open the pocket from the inside)

They mostly use this pocket (and the other pockets on their suit) to carry parts and their blaster, they have recently started collecting other things, such as lost jewellery, coins and shiny rocks

They also have an interest in the local flora, frequently taking flowers back to drink the nectar in them - this may or may not have caused the sudden boom of new plants growing around the remains of the Tower, as Key is both planting them and pollinating them, albeit unintentionally

Much like flowers, Key very much enjoys the rain, finding it very soothing, and they will either sit out in it with their suit on, or have a nap to the sounds while in their ship - however, they don't like to get wet, mostly bc of the unpleasant sensation on their skin, and they cannot fly if their wings get wet

While there usually is rain when it happens, Key is terrified of thunder and gets overwhelmed to the point of a panic attack during thunderstorms - they usually hide in their room when one happens, but they'll find anywhere they can if they are away from their ship

Key has yet to experience other weather phenomenon such as snow, but they are confused and somewhat unsettled about hail (hard rain? how?)

Key has also yet to see another clone at this time, nor have they seen the real Peppino despite living nearby

This part is just fun facts about their creation!;

As previously mentioned, Key is based on another OC of mine called Kyp, who also believes themselves to be from another planet and has several bug-like features. But unlike Key, Kyp is just a baby and was adopted by a couple, and has a weird cat

Kyp is also from the same world that Satoshi (Linguine's OG form) is from! While they have never interacted in that world, they might in this one, hehe

Key's spacesuit and the idea it was meant for Peppino is based on Deep-Dish 9's title card, where Peppino is wearing a white suit with red gloves/accents

Similarly, the idea that the spaceship was also intended for Peppino is from the scrapped mechanic that Peppino would deliver (a) pizza, presumably while in one like the title card (but that's just personal speculation) - so Key taking the suit and ship is why Peppino doesn't do that in this AU hkjgdjkl

Originally, Key was going to believe themselves to be an Olive Alien, but I thought that was too farfetched and came up with them seeing a picture of Peppino instead

As with most clones, Key is a giant metaphor for the 'tism, can you tell dgkljsghk

And I think that's all I got for now! So if you read all that, then thank you jkfgkfg

[askthechronoverse]

Last Chapter •||• END

After her last stray manipulations of the plate, the next conscious memory Kit had was watching the planet of Syspocalypstar disappear through the window of a 80's style spaceship. She could barely register the voice that spoke to her.

“Aren't you sure WyldStyle said you could come up here?” The voice came from the pilot, a blue suited spaceman with a cracked helmet.

“I have to see my dad, Uncle Benny,” was the only reply she gave the driver. She was alone on the ship. A pink ribombee poked a sleepy head from Kit’s hood. It flew groggily to Kit’s shoulder, where she gave it a pat on the head. Her father's phone vibrated consistently from inside her bag but she ignored it. She didn't need to read the texts begging her to head back to Morph's Landing and Syspocalypstar right now.

The ship landed and Benny wished her luck, letting her know to call him when she wanted to go home. She ran toward an imposing, impossibly large building surrounded by a barbed wire fence guarded by sharks wearing lasers. She ran past an old blue police call box, stopping for a brief moment to look at it. She didn't linger long and moved past it, stopping only to tap on the window of the guard post. A creature with a shark head looked down at her.

“Name?” He grumbled, shoving a cruller in his mouth.

“Catherine Doris Brickowski. I'm here to see Prisoner PS3252022.” She spoke with confidence, head held high to see the guard.

“Yeah, you're approved. Go through.” He pushed a button and the gate opened sluggishly. By now, the ribombee was hidden in her hood again. She looked around the yard that led to the main entrance, seeing a bronze statue of a man in the Unitron spacesuit with a short military cut and sunglasses. He was clean shaven and had a stoic look on his face. Kit glanced at the base of the statue and saw it was to commemorate Blaise Starhawk. She rolled her eyes as she walked past, moving through the door to the lobby, where she was met by a woman, a white rabbit with glasses and a messy tuft of chocolate brown hair.

“Catherine?! You know I have to tell your father you're here, right?” She held a clipboard in her hand as well as a book on Syspocalypstarian law. She sounded tired, though that was plain to see on her face and in her stance.

“I'm here to see Dad, Doctor Bunny.” She played with the strap of her hoodie. “Am I able to?”

“There is a lull in courtroom proceedings, so I don't see why not. Come on.” She took Kit’s hand and led her through the halls to a white room. The buzzing of the iridescent lights was the most prominent thing she could hear as Doctor Bunny showed her to a chair that overlooked a window into another room. The chair in that room was empty, some time after Bunny had excused herself to get a guard, a draconic kid walked in and sat in the chair next to her. He turned his head to her and she looked at the spot her dad would soon occupy.

“Catherine.” Apocalypse looked ahead.

“How's your mom?” The tone in her voice sounded borderline sarcastic, but not enough so for her to not seem a little sincere.

“Fine. Master Doom rebuilt after the reset.” He put his hood over his head. “She doesn't remember much of anything and especially not how the fight ended. That's for the best. She doesn't need to remember.”

“Why do you remember?”

“I remember because of my father. It's a unique trait, to be able to remember fluctuations in the dimensions.” He wrapped his cloak around him. “I'm honestly shocked you remember anything.”

“My dad gave me a present a long time ago. It helps me remember.” Kit and Apocalypse kept staring straight ahead.

Bad Cop led RJ into the room, but on the opposite side of the barrier. He leaned against the door frame. RJ glanced down at the chains that looked like they may connect to the floor, then at Bad Cop. The other man shrugged and glanced at his watch before focusing on talking to Apocalypse from behind another barrier.

Like Doctor Bunny, RJ looked tired. His normally long and untamable hair was cut short and he was clean shaven, making the dark spots under his eyes far more prominent. He wore a jumpsuit in an unflattering neon blue, his prisoner number stamped onto it in Systarian. His hands were cuffed, but in a position where he could place them on the table in front of him. He looked at his daughter, concerned.

“Please tell me you came with Lucy.” He spoke softly, far softer than she ever heard him speak.

“I've… I had to see you.” Kit continued to play with her hoodie straps. “I have a lot to tell you and I know we don't have a lot of time.”

“Kitten, you know you can tell me anything. Or ask me anything. Even if anything I say can be held against me right now.” He smiled weakly. Kit broke down and started crying. This caused RJ to put a hand on the glass. “Hey, hey now! It's OK! It'll be OK! I know things are scary right now, but I'm still gonna be here for ya! I'm still your dad!”

“I've been all of the multiverse and all I wanted was to make sure you were okay.” Kit said between sobs. “I don't want to lose you!”

“You won't. I promise you, you won't.” RJ’s eyebrows furrowed. He wanted to hold his child, but looked pained that he couldn't. “Catherine. Look at me.” She looked up at her dad with a tearstained face. “I don't know what happened to you in the last 24 hours, but I think you've been so strong this whole time.” Kit opened her mouth to speak. “Yes, even when you yelled at me. I couldn't be prouder of you than I am right now.” RJ’s eyes teared up as well. “You always make me proud.”

“Really?”

“Of course! Raisin’ you was one of the best things that has ever happened in my life, just slightly above marryin’ your father.” RJ’s weak smile became a little brighter. Bad Cop looked out the window on the door on their side, then gestured to his wristwatch. “Gotta go, kiddo. Time’s up.”

“Please, give me five more minutes! I-!” Bad Cop opened his mouth to speak as well, but RJ cut them both off.

“You'll see me again. I'll never be too far away. Love you, Kitten. Be good.”

Kit nodded as RJ was led from the room. She couldn't help but notice that Bad Cop was holding a letter behind his back. RJ waved to his daughter and Kit replied by pressing her hands to the glass. As he left, Richard rushed into the room with Doctor Bunny.

“Catherine! What are you doing here? I thought your father left you with your aunt on Syspocalypstar!” Instead of showing signs he was angry, he pulled Kit into a warm embrace. Kit could feel he had been crying recently, his breath weak and light.

“Don't get mad at my Uncle Benny. I told him I had permission.” Kit gave her father as much of a bear hug as she could. “I was so scared I wasn't going to see Dad… or you again. I needed to see him again. It… it feels like it's been months since I saw him… and you. “

“I know things have been scary. It's been just as scary for me as they have been for you, I'm sure. But your father and I were worried when Lucy said you weren't at her house.” He held her tighter as he spoke.

“I'm sorry.” She wasn't entirely sure if she was apologizing for hopping on a ship without permission or for the whole adventure she had just completed.

“You'll want to go back to Syspocalypstar as soon as possible.” The girl's stomach growled loudly. “However, if you meet me in the commissary, I'll make sure that you are fed before the trip home. I may be stuck here for a while, but I'm going to make sure you are fed.”

“Okay, Papa. I'll be there in a sec. I'm sorry again for worrying you.” Richard nodded and walked away with Doctor Bunny, seemingly leaving Kit alone.

“Orion Starfall.” Apocalypse said after the adults were out of eyesight, startling Kit.

“Who's that?” Kit said after taking a calming breath.

“It's me. That's the name the guards gave me.” He hopped off of the chair and walked over to Kit. “I see why you wanted to save him.”

“What did you see?” She didn't look at Orion, focusing only on where her father once was. Orion offered his hand to help her down from the chair. He looked where Kit continued to look.

“Love. You love him. Even without you saying that, and you did a whole lot, I could tell. And he loves you too. That's obvious to anyone who's talked to him. You and your other father are the only things that are on his mind. I used to think it was kind of annoying.” His shoulders fell.

“Love isn't selfish.” Kit said after a period of silence. “That's what my father told me. I don't know why I didn't remember that… or why I didn't tell you that when you kept calling me selfish.”

“You're talking like that’s something I'm familiar with.” Orion shrugged. “I'm going to go. Hopefully, you make good on your offer to show me what it's like to be a kid without a purpose. I want to see what that feels like.”

“That sounds good. I guess let my daddy know if he has to stay any longer. He'll let me know.” Kit shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket.

“I can show you where the commissary is… or even the cafeteria. That's not too much farther. Come on. I'm pretty sure if you decide to go to the cafeteria you'll see both of your parents there, since it's dinner time for the prisoners.” Kit nodded as she let Orion lead her out of the visitors room. She doubted they were going to be fast friends, but it was nice to, for once, not be fighting the guy.

Orion led her outside, where a familiar blonde man stood just outside of the doorway. He wore a white spacesuit with red accents, gloves and boots that had a collar that was conical and covered his neck. The draconic boy rolled his eyes and leaned against the doorframe, gesturing with his glowing purple eyes from Kit to the man. She ran to him and gave him a hug.

“Ken! What are you doing here?” She asked as she pulled away, the necklace he gave her glinting in the low light.

“The Doctor is letting me stick with her while I find myself. We're not staying long, but she wanted me to give you something.” He knelt down for a moment, putting something on her bag. “Keep the necklace, too. So you have something to remember me by.” She gave him another hug and smiled.

“Thanks, Ken. Good luck with your search. I could never forget you.” She giggled as the man turned to sprint for the police box that she saw at the entrance.

“Come on. We don't have time to stay here.” Orion began to walk away. As she followed, Kit looked down at her bag and grinned. Ken had added new patches to her bag. One looked like a stamp that depicted a sunset on a beach, another was the silhouette side view of a Pikachu. The last one was of a sun peeking over a mountain that looked like it was designed in the 80's. The Ribombee in her hood snored softly as she walked into another nondescript building. Kit's hand found its way to the horseshoe pendant and wrapped around it.

Maybe she could wait to tell her parents about her adventures. She could have her secrets too, after all.

[fullmoonfireball]

what is UPgamers i only JUST realized that the Pikmin 3 Secret File cutscenes use a different translation than the versions used in Pikmin 3 Deluxe for Olimar's Assignment

and all that because i wanted to grab a screenshot of Olimar mentioning the IT department in the Twilight River cutscene to be like "imagine working in IT for Hocotate Freight", only to make the discovery that line is remake-exclusive . so for future reference, here's a line-by-line comparison for both versions ig. dialogue below will be formatted like this:

AREA

"Wii U" // "Nintendo Switch"

GARDEN OF HOPE

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, Captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is the third time that I've set foot on this planet." // "I've been on this planet twice before already." (note: it's strange that they didn't fix this repeated mistake- this would actually be the fourth time, given that Pikmin 2 has two trips. i guess the miscounting is probably also in the japanese version(s), then.)

"Our company, Hocotate Freight, is up to its eyeballs in debt - courtesy of our beloved president." // "Hocotate Freight is drowning in debt. I'm not saying it's our company president's fault...because this is an official log."

"We've come here in search of treasure to help us repay that debt." // "We're here in search of treasure to pay off that debt."

[Louie cutaway]

"Needless to say, the local wildlife isn't exactly rolling out the red carpet for us…" // "But I know from experience that the local wildlife won't make this job easy."

TROPICAL WILDS

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"While searching this area, we stumbled across a key of some sort." // "I made an interesting find in this area: some sort of key-like object."

"I wonder if it unlocks a treasure chest?" // "I should hold on to it in case I find a treasure chest."

"Or could it be the key to..." // "Unless it's the key to something else?"

[Louie cutaway]

"…We'd better keep our wits about us." // "I'd better keep my eyes open."

"The crabs here are peckish, and we're on the menu." // "I wouldn't want to get between the crabs of this planet and their prey."

TWILIGHT RIVER

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"My explorations have taken me far and wide." // "I've travelled far and wide across this planet during my several trips here."

"Somewhere along the way, a number of my notes and memos went missing." // "But I'm only noticing now that several of my notes and log entries have gone missing."

"There must be some sort of bug in my file management software." // "It must be a leak with my file-management routines. I think I heard someone in IT talking about that once."

"Once we get back to Hocotate, I'll try to convince the president to invest in an upgrade…" // "Once I'm back on Hocotate, I'll try to convince the president we need an upgrade."

[Louie cutaway]

"Maybe he can upgrade Louie while he's at it." // "Maybe I can get an upgrade to my partner while I'm at it."

DISTANT TUNDRA

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"Unfortunately, I'm absolutely freezing, even with my spacesuit on." // "Unfortunately, even my advanced suit can't quite keep out the cold."

"It's doing a terrible job of keeping out the cold." // "I'm not surprised Hocotate Freight cut costs when it came to insulation. Brr!"

"It wouldn't surprise me if the president had plucked our spacesuits out of some budget mail-order catalogue." // "It wouldn't surprise me if everyone got the same standard-issue suit, no matter what kind of assignment they were on."

"Hocotate Freight's new venture has been an utter failure, and our earnings have suffered as a result." // "The company's new venture went down in flames, and it's dragged our yearly earnings down with it."

"Now it looks like we're cutting corners even on basic equipment like spacesuits." // "We don't have the money for decent space suits now. This one isn't even custom fitted."

[Louie cutaway]

"Shocking, to say the least." // "Without any insulation, I wouldn't want to put this suit up against any nasty shocks, either."

"I really should've held on to that Anti-Electrifier…" // "I really should've hung on to that Anti-Electrifier..."

FORMIDABLE OAK

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to the planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"While surveying this area, I came across something gold and shiny." // "Our survey has revealed a massive golden object in this region."

"It's got to be worth a fortune!" // "It'll be worth a fortune to the company!"

"My perpetually mute colleague Louie actually spoke up against coming here, for some reason…" // "My taciturn partner, Louie, didn't want to come here for reasons he refused to explain."

"Speaking of which… I haven't seen him around lately." // "Where did he get to, anyway? Well, it doesn't matter."

"Where's he disappeared to?" // "I'll just get this treasure myself and then it's back to Hocotate."

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . spacesuits

For reasons that may or may not be related to fanfic, I decided to do a quick survey of the difference spacesuits -- or 'normal suits', in Gundam parlance -- that appear throughout Iron-Blooded Orphans. There's not really much to conclude from this, but it snagged me a set of reference screenshots that I think worth collating for your viewing pleasure.

The most commonly used normal suit first appears during the battle between Tekkadan and the Turbines, where Atra helps Kudelia out with putting one on, in a scene that provides some gratuitous shots of the girls changing. It's not especially tasteless, in the grand scheme of things, but it's one of those genre trappings that didn't really need to be there. Still, it provides a good demonstration of how the suits fit together, where the zippers and fastenings are, and so on. Plus the hilarious visual of the helmets being repurposed as potato buckets.

This normal suit is clearly a standard type, that turns up in multiple civilian and non-official military settings. Most immediately, we see that the Turbines use it, the orange swapped for a fetching maroon.

Generally speaking, the colour-blocking is the only thing to change between uses. Here are a couple more shots showing the Tekkadan and Turbines versions, including a close-up on the boots.

Beyond these two types, the most usual variant is a black and grey version that appears in various scenarios, including in the flashbacks to Akihiro's family, the Dort colonies, and the archaeologists in Urdr Hunt.

Curiously, Katya also wears this towards the end of Urdr Hunt -- where she must have been given it by Gjallarhorn. So can we take the black, grey and white to be a sort of universal default?

Other colour variants are worn by young!Amida and by Range (under his poncho) in Urdr Hunt, and by the various groups of mercenaries and space-pirates in Season 2.

Speaking of pirates, the ones who attacked Akihiro's family have added a jetpack for easy manoeuvring in zero-g. It's notable that this isn't something we see more generally: Mikazuki has to rely on a hand-held thruster in the Dorts. This, however, harkens back more to the original Gundam series in terms of moving around in space.

Moving on to the second major 'civilian' normal suit, the human debris all wear a slightly simpler, slightly more badly-fitted white version striped in red. We first see this with the Brewers and later with human debris used by the JPT Trust (not shown because it's mainly seen in fairly bloody scenes).

A palette-swap of this is used by 598 and his crew in Urdr Hunt, which I bring up as an excuse to post the bisexual-energy screenshot.

Due to image limits, I won't cover Tekkadan's pilot suit in this post. If you've seen the show, you'll have seen a lot of that, and of Gjallarhorn's equivalent. What I find interesting about the human debris normal suit is that it is clearly more closely related to the general-purpose version than what Shino is wearing here, which is a specialised for an Alaya-Vijnana-user in a military setting.

This of course makes sense given that everything about the human debris is meant to invoke cheapness. Rather than a custom-made battle suit, they just get a standard one-size-fits-nobody get-up with an A-V adaptor stuck on the back. It's a nice visual touch, that also helps emphasise the sense of human debris as little kids forced into situations they shouldn't be in. That being said, the *helmet* is distinctly made for a mobile suit pilot, being something close to what Gjallarhorn soldiers wear.

Tekkadan does use another distinct normal suit variant, with added armour, that shows up for the battle with the Brewers and never again. Or, well, I am not actually sure if this is meant to be a normal suit or more akin to the combat armour we see Gjallarhorn infantry wearing, or if that is a distinction without a difference. Since they are both deployed in space-based operations, we can probably assume they're at least potentially interchangeable with normal suits.

These do notably lack the backpack of the standard normal suit. which I take to be where the life-support gubbins goes. However that goes for the pilot suit as well (it only has the A-V adaptor block; I assume everything else is distributed at the waist and collar) and we see it functioning fine for spacewalks. So I'm grouping this in here as well.

As I said up the top of the post, there's not a whole lot to take away from this, beyond the different ways the same asset is reused throughout the series. It's a neat enough design, although the pilot suits are far more striking. I do like the pirates' jetpack; wish we'd seen more of that (that's actually what I was looking up when I started collecting these).

Overall, I quite like the commonality of design, the sense that someone somewhere is just mass producing these things as a standard piece of kit. That's kind of what you'd need, in a space-faring society, to make these widely available to as many people as possible, just as a matter of basic practicality. Then you'd have different groups that could afford it customising to fit their organisations.

Huh. That must mean the human debris normal suits are also mass produced, if there's a standard-issue version of those.

There we go again with another demonstration of the base-level exploitative awfulness built into this setting.

[Index of other writing]

[regeneratingdegenerate]

@doorinthefloor liked this post and Cordyceps Jones has an opportunity for revenge!

"Look man, I'm breakin' out the spacesuit icons for you, so the least you can do is humor me. I'm a poor little earthling in your weirdo space casino and I know, I know, last time I helped that racoon rob you -- and I had you inside of me -- but I'm here to put some of that green back in your pocket. Do you have pockets? That's not the question, the question is whether or not the success of The Last of Us has done any permanent damage to your rep?"

At least he didn't just do his best Clicker impression. Is that racist? Oh man, is he space racist? Sat at the casino bar with security all around, wearing the exact same get-up he wore when he committed fraud against the owner, it's almost like he's some kind of idiot, or up to something...!

[biscuits-of-bagend]

DnDoc, Space Band #8 - Rogue the Rockstar

Part 1 Part 7

Previous story: DnDoc, Coming Home

Almost forgot to post this because I was watching like five different tennis matches lol. Go Alfie! Go Carlos!

---

The ball. The last person who'd made him perform in some way was the Doctor at the Chuldurs' ball. The whole point had been to attract attention, and Rogue had been a bit preoccupied to worry about it, but there had been a lot of eyes on him as he tried to perform a dance he barely knew. But the audience had utterly melted away. There was only darkness around them as the Doctor followed the dance and Rogue followed the Doctor. How could there have been anything else when they were the only two people in the universe? It was an utterly transcendent experience.

   Surely he could do it again. Yes, he wasn't trying to capture murderous space aliens, so he was a little out of his comfort zone, but the crowd wasn't going to go too hard on him if it was him or nothing. Besides, the greatest band in the universe needed his help. He glanced down at the notebook by George's feet to see what the next song was.

   "Yeah, I know that one," he said.

   "Okay, great," said George. Rogue hadn't realised how nervous George was until he saw the tension now flood out of him.

   "I've got this, I promise," said Rogue.

   A smile grew on George's face, slowly spreading into a grin. "Hell yeah."

   As the song started up, Rogue focused his whole attention on the Doctor. A little on Ruby so as not to be rude, but, for the most part, he held the Doctor's gaze like he was clinging to a rope alongside a wobbly wooden bridge. He imagined that if someone were to cast true sight, or see invisibility or some such, they'd be able to see a sparkling blue and pink bolt of electricity connecting their eyes. It was just like how he'd pictured the sonic connecting their two spaceships.

      Rogue's favourite thing about live music was the feeling of the soundwaves shaking your bones. It was similar, actually, to that feeling of being connected by electricity to the Doctor. Maybe if you could have seen the soundwaves with your eyes, it would look like thousands of forks of lightning flying out from the amplifiers and each fork hooking into one of the audience members. It turned out that when you could actually feel the origins of the sounds just beneath your fingers it was like you were right at the centre of the storm. The crowd screamed, cheered and clapped just as Rogue had done moments ago.

   At one point he caught sight of his rockstar visage on one of the screens set up for people further back in the crowd. His make-up, the battered old t-shirt, his swooping hair, his wristbands. For a moment he felt like he was looking at some sort of broken mirror, like the person looking back at him was someone else entirely. No wonder the crowd were happy - as far as they knew a spare rockstar had appeared. Suddenly their smiles no longer felt like they were going to propel him into space - they weren't even really for him.

   But then he looked to his left at George, who always wore his spacesuit costume on stage. The Earthlings all did. And they had been giving their whole selves to the world since they were kids. Maybe, as long as whatever you did came from the centre of yourself, it didn't matter who people thought they were getting. The Doctor had met a brooding, nineteenth-century nobleman after all, and he still seemed able to see surprisingly far into the depths of Rogue's soul.

   During one of the slow songs, the Doctor held up the sonic screwdriver with the cloud inside it, letting it bask in the swirling energy. Rogue took a moment to look around at the smiles below. Some people cupped their hands around their mouths to sing and cheer, others hugged each other, or danced. There was so much movement, so many bright eyes, so much energy flying out of the speakers - so much life! And here he was, part of it! Whether he recognised himself or not it was him up here doing this.

   Rogue did a high kick with his left leg and whooped into the night air. He remembered lying tired and stiff on the futon, looking forward to running around with the Doctor and Ruby and having adventures. Maybe there hadn't been any octopi this time but, in a small sense, he had saved the day, like a proper member of the team. He watched the Doctor and Ruby absolutely rocking out together as they started playing a faster song again. He smiled, shaking his head, riding the high of the moment like a living C-chord.

   As they played the final song, 'Space Band,' Rogue felt his spirit drifting back down to the ground. It was a soft, slow descent though, nice and easy. Rogue looked down at the Doctor, relaxing into his gaze, letting the song wash over him.

We are the Space Band,

Rocking through the stars,

Lightyears across the universe,

A million miles from Mars

We are the Space Band,

Touring the unknown.

We don't need a star map,

'Cause the music guides us home!

⭐⭐⭐

The band were very happy to let Rogue bring both Ruby and the Doctor through to the after-party, where Neila sat on a couch wrapped up in a blanket with a nice cup of tea. The others played a game of ping-pong to get the energy out of their systems, and had glasses of SECC signature cocktails. They swapped contact details with the band, ones that would function intergalactically, and the band also made Rogue promise to keep playing his music.

   When it was finally time to head back to the TARDIS, the Doctor linked arms with Rogue and Ruby, one on each side, and led them through the streets of the SECC. Ruby headed to bed for the night, leaving Rogue and the Doctor standing in the middle of the parking space, between the TARDIS and Rogue's ship.

   "Ah, um, what do we do now?" said the Doctor.

   Rogue was surprised by his hesitancy, but he supposed in a way this was the end of a date. Who wasn't awkward at the end of a date?

   "Well, I wasn't planning on dressing like a rockstar tomorrow," said Rogue, closing the distance between them. "So if you want to make the most of this…"

   The Doctor pressed up against him and kissed him harder than he had at any point so far. Rogue supposed that meant he wasn't worried about snapping him in two anymore, which was probably a good sign.

   "Come on then, your place," the Doctor mumbled, pushing them both towards Rogue's ship. "You live in a total grungefest, seems fitting."

   Rogue laughed as the Doctor dragged him inside. "The Earthlings aren't exactly grunge."

   "Shut the fuck up," muttered the Doctor, slamming the door.

   Rogue grinned and did as he said. He had a brief stab of remembrance as he brought the Doctor back to the sleeping quarters, where he and his partner had laughed, dozed and kissed the night away. But he pictured his partner watching how his life had unfolded since that day, and knew they'd rather have as much life as possible filling up this ship. He and the Doctor crashed down into his haphazardly made bed, and didn't stop moving until they'd exhausted every last scrap of blue and pink lightning bolt energy that sparked around them.

---

Thanks for reading this story! I'm trying to follow a regular season's pattern so I'm off to the past for the next story :) (again let me know if you have any requests for places the Doctor, Rogue and Ruby could go)

Next story: DnDoc, A Man's a Man

@off-traveling-in-the-stars @casavanse @monster-donut @letsargueacrossthestars (let me know at any point if you no longer wish to be tagged in each post)

[wolfpackmuses]

@monmuses asked: "Jeff has come with good gifts for good friends! dragging a familiar, red sack, he has a gift ready for Rocket, opening the bag with a big box in his mouth. A bow is tied atop the gift, and had a tag written for him from Jeff himself!

"Grrrahh!" He dropped the gift at Rocket's feet, which had a newly folded space outfit inside upon opening it; perfectly fitted to survive the cold atmosphere of space with a system recycling oxygen through the layers - and it kept the raccoon very warm!"

From: Me liking a Christmas Gift Ask from Jeff!

Rocket was not really used to receiving any sorts of gifts this time of year. He hadn't really ever given many to people and the people he had given them to was to the rest of the Guardians. He didn't really understand a lot of the implications that came along with it, even after Quill had tried to explain the custom to him for the millionth time, but... really, Rocket just kind of went along with it to make him happy.

Seemed like everyone else also enjoyed it, so why not play along? This wasn't to say the raccoon wasn't happy when Quill brought out a fancy new blaster for him to use on some poor, unsuspecting person, but Rocket was not the first one to say he liked the entire gift idea. But that might have been because of a lot of his past memories where gifts normally hadn't meant anything good. Lots of them usually ended in shootouts because people wanted the raccoon as a prize or something.

All of this to say: Rocket was not always the biggest fan of Christmas, by any means, but he certainly had come to enjoy it more and more over time thanks to Quill. It had been the small things that helped out with changing his mind in that regard. And seeing Jeff wander into the room with a giant red bag behind him, Rocket didn't know what to expect.

He got up from tinkering with a new blaster he had found and went over to kneel beside Jeff and watched as a present fell from his mouth. Curiosity got the better of the raccoon as he opened it up to see what was inside and was somewhat surprised to see a brand new spacesuit there. One that looked like it had been specifically made for him...

❝Jeff, ya' know ya didn't have to get me anythin' at this time of year,❞ he remarked with a scoff and bit of shocked laughter, ❝But, I, err...❞

He said nothing as he removed it more from the packaging and began to inspect it. From what it seemed, it looked to every well made and would do pretty well for the raccoon on another one of the Guardian's missions in the future. He set it down and looked back to Jeff, giving him a genuine smile. He reached out his paw and began to give some scratches to Jeff's head as a present of his own.

A small one. But a way for Rocket to say thanks.

❝Thank ya' Jeff, I do truly appreciate the present.❞

[leo-crafts-theories]

How the Hermits escaped the Moon

I have very specific thoughts on the ways each hermit got from s8 to s9 and I've never had the chance to put them all together, or even mention most of them... I've categorized them and after each list I'll put some explanations of the more specific/less intuitive situations.

Space Travel (up)

Cub*

Jevin*

Doc and Ren

Beef

Wels

xB and Keralis

False

Cub and Jevin... they tried. They're in another section of this list that I'll explain there. I don't buy the simulation thing, so Doc and Ren just had access to a ship - Renbob still gets to be their pilot, but it's just them. (They stopped over at some place Bob knew to get Ren some proper and disguised cybernetics instead of the haphazard spare-parts job he'd been dealing with all s8.) xB, False, and Wels are basically just following canon, with the note that Keralis doesn't technically need a ship to survive in space and probably got onto xB's ship by clinging to the outside until xB noticed. Beef didn't have a canon exit - but his base for the entire season was an unearthed alien spaceship, so it's only logical that that would be his mode of escape!

Xisuma Rescue

Bdubs (forcibly)

Hypno

TFC

Etho

Zedaph

Anyone who was planetside and didn't canonically Leave, would have had to be rescued by an admin. Hypno helped out, speeding up the evac process and coming up with a way of keeping these hermits safe and in some sort of stasis until a hospitable planet 9 could be found. Bdubs went kicking and screaming, but the others were understandably glad to have the way out.

Dimensional Shift

Gem

Xisuma

Cleo

We don't actually know from canon where Gem went. Despite Wizard Gem supposedly being a different character, the amethyst and timing would make Empires 1 make sense as a destination. Plus, Gem and Pearl flew in from Empires in the first place. Xisuma and Cleo are pretty much just what's seen in canon. Cleo might have gotten some help from the resident Voidling - see the last section.

Void Travel (down)

Boatem. Void travel is similar to space travel, but a little more wormhole-y. And unlike a couple of the spacefarers, Boatem had both spacesuits and a pretty good method of transport in Pearl, whose natural dragon form is just about big enough to carry four friends - two on her back, and two in her claws.

Was off-world at the time

Iskall and Stress had been taking an extended stay in their Vault Hunting world while all this went down. They didn't find out immediately, but as soon as they did, Stress volunteered herself to help bring hermits to safety.

Joe

Joe

Yeah I don't know either. I haven't decided whether to headcanon an Xisuma rescue/some other logical method, or have "fly away from the problem, in atmosphere, on elytra" actually work. The latter option is very Joe, and the cartoon logic is very tempting.

Stress Rescue

Cub

Jevin

Tango

I've talked about Voidling Stress recently; she's by far the best-equipped hermit for space travel. She would have also zipped around to direct Pearl and the various spacecraft in the right direction, but three hermits found themselves adrift in space... Cub. Did you really think a llama would get you anywhere?? So Cub might have dug out his old Vex mask for some magical air assist, but that thing's meant more for high-atmosphere than no atmosphere. It fed him enough air to keep him alive, barely, but barely conscious and without a ship, he wasn't going much of anywhere. (Stress was quite distressed to realize that the llama hadn't made it.) Jevin fared only slightly better. He'd been banking on not actually needing to breathe at all, and on his flying machine doing all the moving, but hadn't factored in the fact that space is COLD. And also he does occasionally need air, he just doesn't always realize it... Stress found him in a frozen torpor, clinging to a slimeblock flying machine that was very slowly trundling off in slightly the wrong direction. And Tango... well. We know what happened to Tango. Ironically, he was the only one of the three who was semi-conscious when Stress found him... until his rescue, he mostly wished he wasn't.

This is going under the cut because I couldn't fit it in the flow of the rest. I've written one fic with all of this in mind - just, instead of listing things directly, it's about the emotional aftermath of a few of the hermits who may have had it worst, and Stress still helping them out even after they've been safely rescued.

[monkeyparasite]

Hello! Again uwu, can I order headcanos for 2d and singer and/s (girlfriend) with 2d wanting to introduce o/s to their parents? Besides Stuart not seeing them for a while, he wanted to surprise them with the news of his new girlfriend uwu

Absolutely adorable!! I love that you are overflowing with ideas, its lovely!

2D was soooo anxious because while despite knowing that his parents would love you!! its still intimidating, y'know? Makes him all antsy n anxious, but then again.. he always gets antsy when he sees his family again, 2D's a working man that lives witg his bandmates!

While he does want it to be a surpise for his parents, it shouldn't be a surpise for you! It might be mean despite the nice intent, like that one time he gave murdoc a can of pecans with a fake snake that shoots out of it, well it was SUPPOSED to be fake, but thats a different story! he wants you to be aware and okay with it first

When making you aware is done, he's still antsy and very very anxious! he has you help him write down what he's going to say on a card, that despite all attempts, he is still dead-set as a way of memorizing his "lines"

Only for him to forget all that he rehearsed, just telling them that with such a bashful look on his look. They accept you both and the fact that you're a couple, ofc!! But more importantly: Why didn't he see them sooner?? Which leads to a whole different situation with twists and turns of wanting to make it a surpise, how he had to reschedule when he wanted to reveal it because Noodle and Murdoc caught the kitchen on fire and how he also caught on fire because he was to close to the oven, so Russel comes to the rescue and puts the fire out while you frantically checked on 2D for any psychical damage, which, he had to let them know, the only thing that got damaged was his super cool spacesuit he had on and the pizza rolls he was gonna eat for lunch with you, and the whole shock of it really did both of you in and also Noodle and Murdoc had to clean up the kitchen which took 3 days, which is why they were so late, because Noodle was supposed to drive you two there but she did a oopises daisy and blew up the oven