#the trouble with shooting stars

[feroluce]

Lucid Dreamer (1/2)

part 2

Gepard notices that it's been. Quiet lately. Like weirdly quiet. TOO quiet. He hasn't seen Sampo Koski in almost a week, which is about the longest he's ever been absent. And he is NOT worried. He's not! So what if they've been getting along more lately! So what if Gepard sometimes looks for him in his favorite hiding places! So what if he's been dreaming about blue hair and green eyes! It's nothing!!

But they're….strange, these dreams. Gepard doesn't usually remember what he's dreamt. It's out of his mind seconds within waking up. But these stick with him, they won't leave him be, they feel different somehow.

He dreams of Sampo bringing food to the frontlines and eating breakfast in his tent with him. Sampo always sneaks him extras. He dreams of chasing Sampo through the alleyways, Sampo sometimes letting himself be caught, Gepard sometimes catching him, and trying to ignore how it feels more like a game now more than anything else. He even dreams that Sampo tags along with him on one of his few civilian days. Sampo runs errands with him, prattles about inane bullshit while Gepard picks out groceries for the week, drags Gepard into some bakery he's never been to but he thinks Serval mentioned once.

And sometimes, it feels so close to reality, that Gepard half expects to see Sampo, shamelessly swaggering into the frontlines with all the guards' breakfast like his wanted poster wasn't only recently taken off the walls of Belobog. He's disappointed when it's always someone else instead. He tells himself his disappointment is ridiculous and if Sampo wants to go prowl around the Snow Plains or wherever he is, then fine. It's not any of his business.

…But it IS his job to investigate any unusual criminal activity relating to the frontlines. And the frontlines are Sampo's usual haunting grounds, and this is unusual activity, and Sampo IS technically a criminal, so it is absolutely part of his duty to look into this - is what Gepard tells himself the entire tram ride down into the Underground.

Natasha tells him he's gone, and Gepard has to steel himself. He knew Sampo made enemies wherever he went, there are a lot of people who would love his head on a platter, but he didn't think-

Natasha corrects him that she means literally gone. As in off-planet. Sampo always leaves her a note before he goes anywhere, so she knows not to expect any supply runs from him. He should be back in exactly two weeks. Thank the Preservation.

Gepard goes back home. He waits.

The uneasiness doesn't leave him.

"Where did you go?" Sampo stops dead in the middle of some story about Seele, and how you'd think someone with as blunt a mouth as her wouldn't have so much trouble asking a woman out, even if that woman IS the Supreme Guardian, and stares at him. He nearly fumbles his cigarette.

"Ahaha, what do you mean, I'm right here?" Sampo smiles at him the same way he always does. Gepard has no idea why he asked. It just popped out. He can never tell when Sampo is lying, anyway.

"I don't know. I feel like I haven't seen you in a long time." Gepard idly mouths at his own cigarette. He almost never smokes, but he wants to ration their stocks of Blizzard Immunity, and it helps with the cold. It's seemed colder lately, for some reason.

Gepard flicks his lighter once, twice, sighs at the third time because a metal prosthetic and thick gloves make the damn things so difficult. Sampo reaches over and wordlessly kisses the end of his cigarette to Gepard's, lighting it. "Thank you."

Nothing happens for almost a full 30 seconds. Something churns behind Gepard's ribcage. Because Sampo never leaves a "thank you" hanging. This is the part where he gives his spiel about how helpful and kind he is and Gepard either brings up how long his rap sheet was before Bronya helped clear his name, or just stares deadpan because seeing Sampo squirm is weirdly satisfying.

"…I'll be back in one more week."

Gepard jolts awake in his cot, mouth dry and eyes bleary.

The hell.

The next dream he has, Sampo looks tired. Sometimes he seems normal. Sometimes he says strange things, like how he wishes he'd gone to some restaurant in Belobog. Ate his favorite food more recently. Brought something with him. Gepard asks why he can't do that now. Where would he bring something? Sampo only shrugs. His rebuttals have less energy.

Gepard doesn't know if he wants to dream more, or less.

He ticks down the days on his calendar. Natasha hasn't told him any different. She promised she would if she got any kind of message. Sampo returns tomorrow, from whatever vacation or seedy business dealings he's been off having. He is not excited about it. He is not looking forward to it. He's not!!

Gepard falls asleep late that night, unable to settle. He dreams again.

He's alone. There are tons of people everywhere, the frontlines are always crowded. But he's alone. They all pass right by him as though he were a ghost. Gepard starts to walk before he realizes his feet are even moving.

He checks the trashcans in the dead end alley. He checks the supply crates that someone always stacks too high because they don't feel like finding more space for them. He pauses to check the soldiers that march past him, watching their footprints in the snow.

He finally finds Sampo on the rooftop along the northernmost wall, the one that looks out over the plains, towards Everwinter Hill, towards where the Stellaron had once been kept. With a full moon and an entire land of white snow, Gepard can almost see clear out to the horizon.

"Found you." Sampo stiffens, and Gepard is almost prepared for him to sprint off the roof. He doesn't. But he doesn't relax either. Gepard sits down next to him and stares out at the wastelands.

"…I fucked up." It wasn't what Gepard had been expecting. Sampo never 'fucks up,' Sampo just gets into incidents that are entirely, supposedly, not his fault and that he just happens to always be within the vicinity of.

"What did you do now?" It must be really bad if Sampo is coming to the Silvermanes for protection.

Instead, Sampo ignores his question completely. "See out over there? Right on the other side of that mountain. There's a safe house that way. It's hidden under a lot of snow and dead trees, but it's there. And in that safe house is a box full of letters. I need you to deliver those letters for me."

Gepard's brow furrows. It's a weird favor to ask. Sampo would never tell anyone where his hidden safehouses were. It defeated the whole purpose of a hidden safe house.

Something is wrong, something is really really wrong.

Gepard turns back to look at him again and startles, all of his questions dying in his throat, because the entire left side of Sampo's head is suddenly matted down, dark and sticky, his skin is dyed red red red-

"In three more months, there's gonna be something big happening." Gepard grabs Sampo's hand and it feels slick and warm against his palm. "I won't be here. So I need you to do my end of things for me." Gepard tries to keep hold, but something is fading, something is slowing, the sun is coming up but the colors are all wrong, everything feels like encroaching fog, Sampo's hand slides right through his. "I was gonna come back with my mask to finish setting the stage, but…" Gepard makes a frantic grab for Sampo's wrist, the air twists, he comes back empty-handed. "They have you. And you're the Iron Wall of Belobog. So it'll be ok."

Gepard finally manages to find his grip, snatches the front of Sampo's dark wet jacket and yanks him forward to hold onto him, and this close up, he can see it better, his colors are bleaching out, leaking outside the lines as if Sampo will become part of the background, as if he's fading into the strange fog that's been closing in on them. His fingers are already starting to feel empty again.

"Wake up."

Gepard jolts awake, uncurls his hands from where they're fisted in the blanket, scrubs the dampness off his face. Breathes. Breathes. Breathes. Today is supposed to be the day.

He throws on his civilian clothes, and he goes down to the shipyard the IPC had built. He finds a spot where he can see every person that returns to Belobog, and he waits.

And he waits and he waits and he waits.

No one he recognizes appears.

[egginfroggin]

*yeets this and runs*

My hand regrets my decision to try for more realistic wings, frankly

Transcriptions:

Mabel Pines - Steller's Jay

Dipper Pines - Blue Jay

fledglings

can't quite fly yet

wing's aren't adult-sized yet

Dipper often forgets to preen

Mabel likes to put glitter in her wings (and Dipper's, when possible)

Dipper collects his primaries to make quill pens

Mabel collects their feathers for crafting

Yeah so I'm just gonna drop this here and uhhhhh run, thanks for checking this, and I hope you have a good day

(program: krita; time taken: about 1 hr 45 minutes)

[r0semultiverse]

Should have posted this sooner but Netflix leaked the date of The Amazing Digital Circus episode 4 back in October

Back when episode 3 had just launched on Netflix like a whole minute before the Youtube premier (since it had a count down), Netflix showed this on the mobile app.

A placeholder image for Episode 4 of Pomni in front of the digital turkey from episode 1 and text that says "Coming in December."

I screenshotted it because surely there's no way this was true given the spacing between release dates of the last 2 episodes (two & three) and sent it to my partners and a server I'm in dismissing it as just Netflix being Netflix and putting out misinformation as streaming services are known to do quite often. Seeing as Netflix just acquired the rights to have it also shown on their platform, it was even more likely it was just total misinformation as GLITCH hasn't been that transparent with us before about this series and there was no word on episode 4 in any official capacity.

Editing this after having written the initial post: Apparently it was also supposedly leaked on the Netflix website too with a more specific date given.

Cut to yesterday when we got this image of seemingly promotional material for the next episode from GLITCH. I was shocked, it's coming soon then? Maybe this is just to tide us over for a few months, the Netflix leak was probably not even a leak. (This is the best quality I got, I don't have a twitter and I'm sure the instagram image compression is as bad as the Youtube community post.)

Ah yes, this man is super charitable with his 57 cents. 😂 (inb4 North America public service job moments with the two gunmen NPCs on the loose.)

AND THEN TODAY THE TRAILER DROPPED TELLING US THAT EPISODE 4 WILL DROP ON DECEMBER 13TH! I am shocked, I am in awe, and fuck Netflix for leaking the general date (even if it's just the month) that the next episode would come out as that wasn't official information that we were probably supposed to know. Also here's a banner showing something new going on with Gangle.

Having said that though I enjoy little leaks like this personally, whether it was coincidental and misinformation on the streaming service's part or not. CHECK THE NETFLIX PAGE AND APP RIGHT AS EPISODE 4 DROPS OR WITHIN THOSE 24-48 HOURS I GUESS! MAYBE THEY'LL DO IT AGAIN! 🤯 Netflix just can't stop leaking things I guess, from entire shows to release dates of shows.

Another edit: Apparently Gangle's VA said somewhere in this live stream that it was coming out in December, but I haven't watched all of it; so, I can't confirm if that's true.

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 4

Rivers in the Desert from Persona 5

vs.

Trouble Shooting Star from Yakuza 0

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Rivers in the Desert:

This isn't a boss theme. This is YOUR theme. This song plays at a point in the game where your team has lost everything and are ready to take it back. You aren't scared of Shido, Shido's scared of YOU. You hold the power now. You stole the song from the boss. It isn't their fight anymore, it's yours.

Trouble Shooting Star:

The guitar goes crazy in this one

[sampos-catgirl]

Starlit Dream

Starscream has suffered from nightmares for a very, very long time. One night, he dreams.

divider by @/thecutestgrotto

Megatron haunted him even when they were lightyears apart. The memory of his wrath plagued his recharge cycles every night, bent and broken and left to bleed out until he awoke the next morning.

They got better as time went on. They never stopped, but they happened with less frequency and were far less painful. After three years and a curious new addition to the crew of the Nemesis, it almost seemed as though they had stopped entirely.

The nightmares came back worse than ever the night after his master's return, the pain of fresh injuries turning to spilled energon and ripped wings. Megatron turned and stalked back to the front of the bridge, leaving Starscream struggling to hold himself up on his servos. Knock Out and Breakdown shook their heads and left. Soundwave did not spare him a glance. The Vehicons avoided his gaze.

Something small pressed against his arm. A gentle warmth spread through his frame. The pain faded away.

He awoke to a gentle rumbling and was nearly startled to find the tiny organic resting beside his helm. Upon awakening, she bid him good morning and quietly gave him some space.

The nightmares continued through Megatron's coma and afterward. Some nights were worse than others. Some mornings Kittay would be there beside him when he woke, others she remained in her makeshift berth on the table beside him.

He asked her about it once. Apparently, when the nightmares were at their worst, he would toss and turn fitfully and awaken her. She found that her presence calmed him.

She did it for herself, then, so she would not lose sleep.

Because no one ever did anything for him.

~♡~

Something changed after they left and moved into the remains of the Harbinger. Though the nightmares continued, they were... different now. Megatron would find them. Find her. And he would take her, and Starscream would not be strong enough to stop him.

Strangely, it hurt more than any beating.

That was one reason he entrusted her to the Autobots. The nightmares had instilled a fierce paranoia in him. If Megatron found Starscream, he would find only him. Kittay would be hidden away in the Autobot base, the location of which was unknown to either of them.

And because life is cruel to him in particular, the nightmares worsened.

Megatron's back was turned to him. He studied something in his claws. His helm turned ever so slightly in his direction.

"Ah, there you are, dear Starscream."

Something red dripped to the floor.

"Come for your precious pet, have you?"

He slowly turned to face him.

"You should have kept it on its leash."

CRUNCH-

Starscream shot up, the image of Kittay's broken corpse enough to leave him heaving, fighting to keep what little energon was left in his tanks.

He wanted to call them. He wanted to call them so badly, just to ask if she was okay, if she was alive.

~♡~

He only did so weeks later, after that treacherous Airachnid sicced her Insecticon on him and left him needing repairs. He watched as the Wrecker and the medic emerged from the ground bridge, the situation already painfully familiar.

He did not expect a third figure to come flying through the bridge to wrap her arms around his neck. Relief flooded his system, though he hoped it did not show on his frame or in his voice as he greeted her.

Ratchet barked that she was supposed to stay in the base. Kittay turned to face him and responded that she just couldn't pass up an opportunity to see Starscream again. She pressed her head against his cheek and tightened her hold around his neck as she spoke.

He felt that familiar warmth in his spark again; he knew now what it was. He wanted her to stay with him, he wanted to hold her and keep her and never let anyone else have her. But he knew she was safer with the Autobots and it hurt.

Ratchet finished his repairs and the ground bridge opened to allow them to return. Kittay kept her eyes on Starscream as he slowly stood and prepared to leave for the Harbinger.

Her Phantom Claws shot out and wrapped tightly around his wrist as she dragged him through the ground bridge and into the Autobot base, deaf to the complaints of Ratchet and Bulkhead.

Though Kittay used her Phantom Body to make herself Cybertronian height, it didn't do much for the ensuing argument. She stood tall between Starscream and the Autobots as they argued over him.

"He left me with you because he thought I would be safer! He did it to protect me! Shouldn't that be proof enough that he's changed? You've all known Starscream longer than I have, so tell me: would he have done something like that before?"

Optimus Prime, ever the bleeding spark, stood as the voice of reason (and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the young scout Bumblebee seemed willing to give him a chance as well). He saw something in Kittay's expression that Starscream couldn't at the moment and decided that he would be allowed to stay. He would be watched, of course, but he could stay.

Optimus ordered that the human children be taken home; out of concern for their safety, of course, but perhaps it was also so that Arcee and Bulkhead could not continue with their complaints.

One of the children - Miko, his processor supplied - seemed rather disappointed, over what exactly Starscream wasn't sure. She told Kittay to keep her updated and shot an exaggerated wink as she climbed into Bulkhead's alt mode.

~♡~

He asked her why.

They stood in the spare room the Autobots had given him. He idly wondered if it used to be Cliffjumper's, but decided the Autobots wouldn't have given it to him if it was.

Kittay said it was obvious. It wasn't, so Starscream asked again.

"Because I care about you, Starscream. I didn't want to leave you out in the wilderness to starve, and I didn't want you to end up going back to Megatron to serve as his punching bag again. I... I don't want to see you hurt."

It almost seemed as if she was going to say something else. Perhaps she was.

She was lying, surely. No one cares about him. No one's cared about him in a very long time.

But her hands are so soft and warm against his cold metal, and her eyes are sparkling as she looks up at him - Starscream realizes with a start that she's always looked at him that way.

No, she doesn't care about him. "Care" is not a strong enough word to describe this.

He finds that her lips are soft, too.

~♡~

Kittay sits across from him at a table. She's talking to someone; Starscream can't quite make out the words.

She laughs as the blurry purple figure next to her says something funny. Someone else adds a comment that makes her laugh even harder; Starscream realizes someone blue is sitting next to him.

... Purple? Blue?

Their blurry images begin to sharpen. They look just like him. Of course they do; Skywarp and Thundercracker were his brothers, after all.

Another voice joins the conversation, belonging to someone big and white.

Skyfire.

There they are, all the people who have ever cared about him, sitting around and probably sharing embarrassing stories about him with the way Kittay is hunched over the table with tears in her eyes.

When she finally manages to calm her laughter, her eyes meet his.

Starscream wakes slowly. Neither a dreamless sleep nor a nightmare. It was... odd, but not unpleasant. Welcome, in fact. He couldn't remember the last time he had a dream.

(Ratchet would later comment that Kittay hadn't slept on the couch that night. In Miko's absence, Bumblebee took it upon himself to tease Kittay, even though she couldn't understand him.)

[accumulated-error]

Night vision is magical. Especially BAD night vision. The one I used for the last few days splits one lense to both of your eyes, so no depth perception. It's also grainy as fuck and good luck seeing further than 50 meters with it. But going out and doing stuff with it is magical. You ever tried to take a dump in the woods at night with no depth perception? Or have you ever seen the night sky under NVGs? It's fucking magical I tell you

[digisland]

Rea Goto, 19

A rising star in the Digi-Colosseum, Rea has no official backing of a sponsor or team like all the others. Often overlooked, her surprising win-loss record has left many baffled. This is due, in part, to the long time she's spent with her Partner Digimon, meaning they fight in sync with little issue.

All the more needed as, in the Digi-Colosseum, battles are fought with Human and Digimon as one. Fused into a single powerful being, it is equal parts an awe-inspiring and dangerous game they all play.

Rea's experience, however, does not begin and end with her face on the big screens around the arena. She's also been sighted countless times out in the streets of the Material and Digital world stopping crimes as best as she can. This often times gets her in direct conflict with the higher-ups of the Digi-Colosseum, as fusing with a Digimon outside is heavily frowned upon and liable to get her banned.

This means little to her, however, as someone with power doesn't have the right to it if they aren't willing to use it. Something her father drilled into her at a young age before he disappeared.

All of this culminating in why she was in the Digi-Colosseum's ranks in the first place: The grand prize. An unfettered wish to be granted. One that she'd had since she was little: knowing where her father is. Something she has to make come true no matter what.

[lone-starlight]

So, uh, D posted a selfie or whatever a bit ago, so I thought I should too.

If I don't look too great, it's because I don't feel great either.

OOC: Here's a lil doodle page

[a-scaly-troublemaker]

This is you hiding after I read chapter 2 of Shooting Stars and call in Milblo and Norberto

YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE THE ANGST IS IN MY BLOOD I AM A LONELY MOTHERFUCKER

[oktaviaslabyrinth]

Trouble Shooting Star // Yakuza 0 (2015)

[charlotte-liddel]

Did you gain some weight, Liddel? ¬‿¬

"Going to slap the forth wall for a second here and let you know something important. Commentary directed at me about another version of me, especially the rare ones that don't share the same name public as me, are highly inaccurate and not appreciated."

"Also intentional jokes about weight directed at women are in the poorest of tastes. It's the sort of shit that leads to women having issues with appearance and weight management when you impose standards on them that not all of them can so easily meet."

"So to answer your joke, no I haven't but you certainly don't want to consider how heavy a star can actually be when she isn't bothering to use her magic to not break your planet by standing near it."

[mafuyuwrites]

Thinking about my childhood but coping with it by slapping silly characters on it and calling it a headcanon

March 7th's room is definitely a 'hangout' room, by that I mean during a family reunion or meeting and someone feels tired they just go to her room like no questions asked just go to March's room

Hook who's teacher had to go for a bit and she's sitting in this other teacher's classroom and she's bored so she decides to play rock paper scissors shoot with someone then gets in trouble

Silver Wolf who's that one cousin who always rants about a game and force you to play with them

I'm still questioning who this might be but ___ who has you sit on the floor if the car is too crowded... leaning on Blade ngl...

Kafka who was originally suppose to be in band and a flute player before switching to orchestra and playing the violin

Caelus / Stelle who would just put their overheating phone on their cheek to check how hot it is

Dan Heng who's never gotten a paper cut before even though he has to handle paper like every single day

Serval who seems like a person to have warm hands but actually has really cold hands

Gepard who's actually a really big Hello Kitty fan and wears a Hello Kitty sleeping mask to bed

Pela who stays up reading books and texts you every time she has a moment

Sampo who (unintentionally) flirt with people he just met because he always flirts (playfully) with his friends

Clara who ends up hugging every single plushie she has when sleeping because she's scared one of them will feel left out

[rivianrudolf]

I do gotta say. It kinda haunts me that I'll never know if my p. grandmother would have accepted me as her grandson or not.

[memecatwings]

KILLER CRUSH

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 2

Trouble Shooting Star from Yakuza 0

vs.

Yodeling in Meadow Hill (Hidden Retreat) from Tekken 6

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Trouble Shooting Star:

The guitar goes crazy in this one

Yodeling in Meadow Hill (Hidden Retreat):

Mind you, this game is about a kid plunging the world into war in order to revive a demon god who granted him and his father the ability to turn into demons, specifically to kill that god.

[wishfulmuses]

new tag dump

ignore this i'm cooking