#it could be a lot of stuff. a jellyfish. a rock??

[heartfullofleeches]

Moonlight Waves

Yan Alien Human Guy Person + Jellyfish Hybrid Reader 

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: None, pure fluff

“If you put some thought into it…The ocean and space have a lot in common.” 

Vast, boundless frontiers- Depths and reach never to be fully unveiled to the eyes of man. All imposing surfaces blanketing both heaven and earth. Two opposing bodies that on nights just like this might align, conjoined by midnight and the luminous orb mirrored upon them both. The full moon was a blessed companion for those who found themselves alone on eves similar to this- Solace and guidance found in her radiance. 

“Whelp- Guess it's time to throw myself.”

Wiser folk have said desperate times call for desperate measures- While there were lesser extremes he could have gone to, this seemed like the quickest solution to their predicament. Twenty-four years on this planet and they had still yet to conquer the strenuous feat that was learning how to swim. His mothers were gentle in their upbringing- Apparently too gentle as they never pressured their child into braving the horrors of the swimming pool. On one hand, the biggest factor to their child's fear may have been the fact that it was their neighbor’s pool - and it'd be quite difficult to explain the eerie glow to their toddler's tears and the stains they left on clothing. 

They were fine with it early on, but as he grew - Alien realized how much he was missing out on being unable to swim. Most humans know how to swim by their age anyway which would give less credit to his claims of an earth born and raised member of the population….Which they were regardless of whether or not they knew how to swim.

Alien squares his shoulders, testing the binds of  numerous weights anchoring various parts of their body. Unsatisfied with the distribution, he plucks a stone from the moist sand surrounding his legs - unfastening the velcro of their right breast pocket and adding it to the collection. A horde of trinkets ranging from shells to stones to a couple marbles crowded each pocket from the vest they wore down to the swimming trunks they purchased for the occasion. So what if his body was more buoyant than the average human being- requiring additional weight to avoid floating off into the endless sea. Alien had always been a scrawny person-

“That should be enough- Wait…Is that?” 

Srounging for more space to stuff the final stone, a gentle glow envelopes their fingertips following a faint- snap! Alien pushes the rocks and shells aside, wrestling the shining band from beneath them with minimal effort. 

*Jackpot! I thought I used all of these already. With this baby on, I'm definitely ready for this. Wish me luck up here!”

Alien gazes up at the moon as they slip the glow-stick bracelet onto their arm. It's the last thing they see as their legs carry the rest of them towards the end of the cliff. Had it not been a full moon or the sky so clear- tonight may have gone different for them. They could've swallowed their pride, and went to bed with intentions to sign up for the nearest swim class come morning. Realistically, Alien knew he'd never go through with that plan, but it was nice in theory. Safer too-

Head lost in the cloudless sky, Alien yelps as the ground is swept from beneath them - their screams swiftly snuffed by gallons of water as they're dragged into a plummet off the cliff's edge. Their body connects with the sea, pockets of air bubbling to the surface from the force at which they collide. The oxygen escaping him would have been alarming - had they any need for it. Whether they could hold their breath or their biology simply skipped the stage where their lungs depended on air was a secret they'd take to the grave. 

Sinking fast, Alien realizes what some might call a flaw in their ingenious plan. 

Perhaps, just maybe, they potentially added too much weight for them to claw their way back to the surface.

…

Ah well. 

Since they're already down here, there's no harm in exploring. Hard to see much beyond the gleam of their jewelry dangling freely around their wrist, but they dig the vibe of it all - drifting weightlessly without aim or reason. The deeper they dove, the brighter the natural fluorescence of their skeleton bled through their skin. Alien had heard of a condition that made people's skin slightly yellow before. Surely the green glow of their bones had to be in the same family. The shine widens their range of sight. By now, it was hard to decipher which way they were facing. The moon had long since faded from view….

Oh, wait. There it is..

….

Is it?

Stranging their eyes through the blackened depths of the ocean, Alien can clearly make something out miles away from them - shrouded by a halo of light. It almost mimics their guideless descent - floating off course before gradually aligning itself in a mostly linear ascent towards them. That alone was enough evidence whatever they were looking at was not the moon. The fluctuation of its surface and the four, almost crescent shaped markings atop only served as further proof. Inch by inch, as the space between them grew narrow, Alien could make out more of its features. Flowing tendrils, a pair of arms floating freely at its sides, a face adorned with a dopey smile. 

Face to face, the near angelic like figure raises one of its hands - waving its fingers at the unfamiliar face within its territory. Alien’s eyes tighten from the phosphorescence of the creature's skin. Ignoring the sting, Alien lifts his own hand, mirroring the entity’s motions. The corners of its smile peak higher upon its face, head following the dim glow of their bracelet. The lightly draws focus to the stones bulging from his pockets. The creature's grin falters into tight lipped confusion.

“Hey…Hey!” 

Alien struggles to make a sound as its hands paw at the straps of their pockets. Successfully tearing the sleeve open, the creature yanks out every rock, every shell- It pauses briefly to marvel at the eye of the marbles in Alien's pocket before shoving them beneath the cap of their head as they continue. Depleting their vest of its contents was all it took to send Alien on their upwards rise towards the surface. The angel waves again before swimming its way to the top, gliding gracefully as a true angel would through the sky. It grabs onto Alien's wrist, tugging him along with them as he apparently took too long for their liking.

Alien could only watch on in awe as the darkness peeled away - moonlight adding on to the ethereal, otherworldly glimmer that was this being and its flesh. Could this be Alien's first encounter with an extraterrestrial? There was no possible way a creature of this radiance was from earth. They just couldn't be-

The creature releases their hold on Alien's wrist as they breach air. Alien finds himself searching for their touch, and another item he appeared to be missing. The angel, the only term Alien found fit for them, wandered towards the shore without him- back facing the sand as they spun a glowing band around their finger. Alien channels the knowledge of every training video they viewed before their trip as they doggy paddle in the general direction of the shore. Thankfully, there was still enough weight in their shorts to keep them perfectly balanced between drifting off and going under. 

The energy is depleted from their very soul by the time they reach their destination. The angel sits with its lower half still bathed by the oncoming tide, rolling a marble through the crystalized sand. It throws its arm into the air as Alien appears.

The angel waves. Alien, running on fumes and the strange heartache that would come from not reciprocating their kind gesture- waves back.

The angel helps Alien sit upright, returning the marbles they had borrowed back into the land dweller’s pocket from which they can. Alien fishes out of the marble they saw the angel toy with and gives it back to them.

“Keep that one… So-  you got a name?” 

The angel’s mouth falls open in a “O” of both surprise and honor at the present. They brush the sand smooth before rolling the marble through it once more. Inspecting their craft, Alien can make out letters the further along the angel continues.

“Y/n? That's your name?”

You clap your hands in praise, sound and ferocity increased by the wetness of your palms. Cute. 

“You, uh, come here often?”

The point of your finger towards the water states the obvious fact that you live here. A murmur akin to laughter slips past your lips at that one. 

“You got me there… The sea’s pretty big, though. What I'm asking is can I see you again?”

You tap a finger to your chin in thought, head dipping towards the bracelet now hanging from your own wrist. You point to it, hope and wonder present in your grin. 

“You like the bracelet? You can keep that too. I can bring you more if that's what you're asking.”

Clapping again, you latch onto Alien's side - merging your fingers with theirs as you hold them both to the sky. Moonlight pours through your skin and theirs, transparency muddled by the existence of their bones. Your head falls to their chest- a whisper so quiet they almost missed it. 

“Like me…” 

They're glad that they didn't. 

[vinsm0ke-niji]

VINSMOKE SIBLING HEADCANONS

Because I am insane and they’re plaguing my mind against my will.

I am not including Sanji in this one because he deserves a post of his own! I am also not going to write for Judge because he doesn’t deserve that kind of attention.

Enjoy!

══════════════════

♯┆REIJU:

- Pop girlie and proud of it ❤️ I-dle and Lady Gaga are high on her list. Also enjoys the occasional classical piece.

- Speaking of classical, she knows how to play the piano.

- Lesbian for sure…

- Definitely enjoys reading historical fiction and political dramas.

- Wine snob… or well- wine nerd?

- Somewhat related to the wine thing but also not really: she really likes champagne, thinks it tastes so good.

- Keeps some old stuff from Sanji hidden in her room :(

- Also cries when she is in private and everyone else is asleep. It doesn’t happen a lot but it does happen.

- In a modern setting she has the potential to run a fairly successful YouTube channel. Either something skin care related or those fast and aggressive ASMR joke videos.

- She smells like roses or some other kind of floral perfume… perhaps lavender?

- Her favorite animals are butterflies, octopi and cats, she has a soft spot for sphynx cats.

• ───────────────── •

♯┆ICHIJI:

- Either gay or bisexual with a preference for men and he is fairly open about it.

- Tends to drop comments and react out loud whenever he is reading something in private. He is also a secret romance novel reader.

- Loves silence

- Listens to rock, industrial and classical music and is also definitely a theater kid. He won’t stop talking about his favorite classical pieces. I can see him listening to ACDC, And One, KMFDM and the entire soundtrack of Phantom of the Opera…

- He likes red pandas, eagles and jellyfish!

- Smells either like a fruit basket or like expensive cologne (black leather, oakmoss & citrus wood specifically).

- While strawberries are his favorite food he HATES the overly sweet artificial strawberry flavor.

- Chess player. And also sudoku. And crosswords.

- He wears socks to bed 💔

- He can recite Judge’s lectures word-for-word, even if he doesn’t want to.

• ───────────────── •

♯┆NIJI:

- His eyesight is terrible or it would be terrible if it weren’t for Germa tech and the enhancements.

- Bisexual with no real preference — he for sure is in denial about his sexuality though.

- Has ADHD for sure… it just makes sense.

- Nu-metal enthusiast. His favorite band in a modern setting would be Limp Bizkit — favorite songs from said band being Break Stuff, Re-Arrange and Boiler.

- Is obsessed with overly sugary and/or caffeinated drinks. Always has at least one cup of coffee for breakfast… or two… or three-

- Flirts to deflect any real feelings. Why say “Thank you sooo much for helping me!” when you could also go “Heh… you’re cute.” Terrible at expressing affection, equally terrible at handling kindness.

- A gamer, especially when it comes to rhythm games.

- Thought what it would be like to run away but he wouldn’t know what to do without the others.

- He sometimes punches things not out of rage but because of overstimulation.

- Occasionally has that resentment towards Ichiji for how composed and perfect he (almost) always is.

- Has a top secret soft spot for cooking but never admits it to anyone because of Sanji. He will take that fact about himself to the grave.

- Favorite animals are the harbor seal and sharks of any kind (projecting).

• ───────────────── •

♯┆YONJI:

- Queer in some way, he just doesn’t really care about labels.

- He would like Papa Roach and the RHCP a lot but generally he says he listens to anything.

- Chess player for sure, similar to Ichiji. Don’t let these guys find out about 5D Chess with Multiverse Timetravel. He’s not the best at chess though.

- Similarly he also enjoys poker and doesn’t mind the occasional gambling session.

- He has a god-awful sense of fashion 💔

- Taught himself to play the harmonica and has played the kazoo before.

- He tells himself that he doesn’t care about being loved but he does want it.

- Reads a lot about conspiracy theories. He doesn’t believe any of them but he finds them funny and/or fascinating nonetheless.

- His favorite animal would be frogs, particularly the Darwin’s frog. He thinks their little noses are funny. Also likes komodo dragons and corgis.

- He smells like leather and motor oil 🔥 ‼️

══════════════════

Thank you for reading these, this was nothing serious, just some silly stuff I thought of 💔 Perhaps I will write more for them in the future and uh- feel free to send asks or requests or something.

I will try to write more… and draw. Depending on how much time I have with university and work.

- NIJI

[stargazer-sims]

The Outside World

Caroline: Ooh look! Can we swim in that lake?

Natsuki: You’re kinda obsessed with swimming, aren’t you?

Caroline: Kinda, yeah.

Natsuki: People do swim there, but I don’t. My parents never let me swim anywhere except in a pool because it’s too dangerous.

Caroline: Why is it dangerous? Are there poisonous fish or something? There were places in Sulani I wasn’t allowed to swim because of jellyfish.

Natsuki: No poisonous fish. It’s just… there might be sticks or loose rocks or something we could trip over.

Caroline: Seriously? If your parents are worried about that, were you even allowed to play outside when you were a kid?

Natsuki: I played in the courtyard, but… honestly, I didn’t go outside much ‘cause, you know… sunburn.

Caroline: That’s what sunscreen is for. I think I would’ve gone crazy if I wasn’t allowed to play outside. I practically lived outside when I was a kid.

Natsuki: Your parents weren’t worried?

Caroline: I think they probably were, but no more than most normal parents. I was able to do mostly everything my friends were doing.

Natsuki: Are you implying my parents aren’t normal?

Caroline: I don’t know your parents, do I? I can’t say if they’re normal or not, but I don’t think it’s normal to keep a little boy inside all the time, even if he is more sensitive to the sun than most people.

Natsuki: I know I missed out on a lot.

Caroline: it’s never too late to catch up.

Natsuki: But, what if something happens?

Caroline: That’s what life’s about, Natsuki. It’s a whole lot of stuff happening. You can’t just sit around worrying about whether some of that stuff is gonna be bad or not. If you do that, you’ll never really live. Know what I mean?

Natsuki: I guess that makes sense.

Caroline: Of course it does. Now, let’s go check out that lake!

[bethanythebogwitch]

Last week on Wet Beast Wednesday I covered some of the biggest animals ever so this week I'm going to do a complete 180 and talk about the smallest animals in this series so far. Not so small as to be micro-animals (I'm sure I'll get to tardigrades eventually) but pretty small. Meet the hydra, a genus of freshwater cnidarians that can be found in temperate and tropical water worldwide. There's a lot of neat stuff about these tiny critters. Such as the fact that they're immortal, but we'll get to that in good time.

(image id: several hydras attached to a rock. Each hydra is a long, anrrow tube that branches at the top into 4 or more thin tentacles. They are milky-white in color. Source: Jan Hamrsky)

Hydras are visually similar to tiny anemones, but they're more closely related to siphonophores and jellyfish. Their bodies are pretty simple, consisting of a tubular body. On one end of the body is the basal disc, a simple foot that adheres to substrate. On the other end of the tube is the mouth, which leads into the gut. Ringing the mouth are tentacles that are covered in stinging cells. The gut is pretty simple and like other cnidarians, it doesn't go all the way through. That's right, when a hydra poops it comes out the same way it went in. A typical hydra consists of 50,000 to 100,000 cells and I hope for their sake that none of them are used for taste. Hydras are diploblastic, consisting of two layers of cells. For comparison, all vertebrates are triploblasts, with three cell layers. The hydra's layers are the epidermis on the outside and the gastrodermis making up the gut. Separating the layers is a gelatinous matrix called the mesoglea that functions as a hydrostatic skeleton. Hydras can contract their bodies and will do so if disturbed. When fully extended, they reach no longer than 10 mm (0.4 in). Hydras are in the cnidarian subphylum medusozoa. Other animals in this subphylum go through two stages of their lifecycle, a polyp that attaches to some substrate and a free-swimming medusa. In most, the polyp is a larval stage that will metamorphose into a medusa during maturation. Hydras instead stay as polyps their entire life. This could be a form of neoteny, the retention of juvenile traits into adulthood. Like other cnidarians, hydras are radially symmetrical. What is most impressive about hydras are their regenerative abilities.

(image id: a drawn diagram of a cross-section of a hydra with labeled anatomical features. source)

Hydras are masters of regeneration. It is this trait that earned them their name, a reference to the hydra of Greek mythology, who would grow two new heads whenever one was severed. Chop a hydra in half and each will grow into a new hydra. Chop a hydra into many pieces and you will get many hydras. Their regeneration is so impressive that if you chop one up into many cells and put them next to each other, the cells will reassemble themselves back into the original hydra. Similarly, hydras primarily reproduce asexually through budding, where one hydra will grow a new hydra out of its body. The daughter hydra will eventually split off from the parent and go on to live independently (unlike certain people I knew in high school). The daughter hydra is a genetic clone of the parent. A hydra living in good conditions can make a new clone every few days. In some species, sexual reproduction is also possible and usually only done when conditions are poor. Depending on the species, individuals can be either hermaphrodites or dioecious (either male or female). Gametes are released into the water to fertilize. Imagine if you wanted to make a baby and to do so you took a handfull of sperm or eggs and threw them all over the place, hoping that someone else also did the same thing in the right time and place. Broadcast spawning is weird.

(image ID: photos of a hydra in the process of regeneration. The hydra is green. It is cut in half, creating a head and foot end. Additional photos taken over time show each end growing into a new hydra. source)

(image id: a pale white hydra growing a bud. the bud emerges from below the head and appears as a small tube. The head of the tube is branched into 5 small nubs that will grow into tentacles. )

Hydras are predators that feed on insect larvae, tiny invertebrates, and small enough fish larvae. They use their basal discs to attach to a hard surface like a rock or branch and extend their tentacles into the water. When something brushes against the tentacle, it triggers the stinging cells. These stinging cells are called nematocysts. Each nematocyst can release what is essentially a tiny harpoon that injects neurotoxin into the target. Nematocysts fire so fast that the harpoon can experience up to 40,000 Gs of pressure. Because nematocysts are tiny, an animal that touches a tentacle will be injected with venom from many of them, getting poisoned even more as they thrash about and get tangled up. The tentacle will then transfer the prey to the mouth. Hydras can swallow pretty large prey, expanding and contracting to fit the prey animal into them. It's kind of like a snake swallowing an egg bigger than its head. While typically sessile, hydras can move around. They can slither around on their basal discs, but when they need to move fast, they summersault. When summersaulting, a hydra will reach down and grab the ground with its tentacles. It then detaches the disc and moves it to a new position. This repeats until the hydra finds itself in a good spot. A speedy hydra can move a food few inches in a day. Hydras can also secrete gas bubbles from their basal discs to float around, upside-down, in the water. A hydra will usually only move from its spot in response to pressure such as predation, competition, or lack of food.

(video: a video of a hydra capturing and eating a mosquito larva. It starts with the mosquito touching a tentacle, which adheres to and stings it. Once the larva is dead, the hydra pulls it in and gradually engulfs it. Despite the larva being larger than the hydra, the hydra can stretch its body to fully swallow the mosquito)

So about that immortality thing. Yeah, it's not just that hydras can regenerate from just about anything, they also don't age. They're kind of like Tolkien's elves in that while they won't die on their own, they can be killed. No undying lands for hydras though. As far as we know. It has been found that hydra stem cells can infinitely renew the body, preventing the effects of aging. This means that a hydra living in a place with no threats could theoretically just keep going forever. They can still die due to predation, disease, starvation, poor environment, and all the other usual suspects. We actually know the gene sequence responsible for this. I tried to read up on it, but genetics is way over my head and it literally game me a headache trying to read. Along with their longevity, hydras also have an incredible ability to repair damage to their DNA. This is important as damage or mutations in DNA accumulate with age. This is why cancer is primarily a disease of old age. As damage accumulates past the body's ability to repair it, eventually a mutation that causes cancer will come along. The longer you live, the more time this mutation has to occur. The hydra's ability to repair its DNA keeps them from all inevitably getting cancer. Naturally, scientists are hugely interested in hydra regeneration, DNA repair, and immunity to aging. If we could figure out how these things work and apply them to humans it would be huge. Expanded, perhaps even indefinite life spans with reduced effects of aging are obvious, but there are other applications. Better DNA repair could vastly reduce the chances of getting cancer or other genetic conditions while regeneration could potentially allow people to regrow limbs or organs. This is obviously still in the realm of speculation, but it's exciting to think about. In conclusion, all hail our immortal overlords, the hydras.

(image id: a hydra growing on the shell of a dead snail. The hydra is a pale yellow color and contracted, causing its midsection to bulge out. A bud is growing from one side of it. Source: Jan Hamrsky)

[desceros]

for Dredge Au, I thought of this like.. moments before i was about to drift off and legit SHOT UPRIGHT IN BED. What if each of the four turtle brothers were connected to each of the four big landmarks in each corner of the map? here's my thoughts, feel free to shuffle around the brothers

-Leo, Stellar Basin.(Feel like it makes sense considering how at night, stellar basin’s full of bioluminescent coral, jellyfish, etc. Leo could fit right in, esp how in canon his eye marks n stuff glow!!!! I can already see the art of a glowy aberration leo flitting amidst the coral/LH)

-Donnie, Gale Cliffs.( I Don’t have TOO much of a reason, other than that one person who did a fanart of Lavi had her holding a Decaying blackmouth, which is an aberration of a fish found near there. Plus, it just fits, for some reason.)

-Mikey, Twisted Strand. (I feel like maybe he’d be connected to the glowing mushrooms that decorate that area? Since he’s got his li’l spots. Deffo either was friends with the mind lurkers or was like ‘GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY!!!!’ the entire time. No in-between.)

-Raph, Devil’s Spine (Not really that many reasons, but maybe his scales could resemble magma, or He lives off the heat there. Plus all the jagged cliffs/rocks kind of match his spiky design, maybe if someone did fanart they could lean into it.)

Anyways, That's my anonymous word vomit, feel free to toss this ask, I just wanted to share some of my weird midnight lightbulb moments about your AU (I'm devouring it like a man(/gn) deprived btw)

hi hi hi!!! i LOVE that this is haunting you the way it's haunting us 💜 sidebar, "that one person" is gbao3 and is as responsible for the au as i am! all things are better when gb gets involved Confirmed [chin hands]

that's a really cute idea!! the fics haven't really dipped into proper lore yet, but gb and i did come down on the turtles being originally from the stellar basin. for those who haven't played the game, it's a pretty archipelago that has fish that glow at night and is famous for being where you can see an aurora. sooo pretty!! and dangerous. giant kraken in the middle of the ocean dangerous. also it's where a lot of the super deep-water fish are, and we liked leaning into the spookier designs there for the turtles!

BUT!! i do like the idea that they each enjoy different parts of the map! except for donnie, who largely chases fisherman-chan around the map, i suspect leo would have a particular liking for the devil's spine. it's nice and warm, and the buildings are fun to lounge on, and best of all, there aren't any people. well. except that one merchant that comes around from time to time. hm. he should probably do something about that before she gets any ideas about setting up shop permanently.

meanwhile, i think raph would enjoy hanging out around the basin since he really hates being alone and splinter lives in the ruined resort.

as for mikey, i see him spending a lot of time with raph to keep him company... but he also loves going off to hang around People. while donnie is obsessed with One Person (fisherman-chan) and leo distrusts all humans... well. except maybe this one (merchant-chan), mikey is like Wow!! People!! Sparkle Emoji. i could definitely see him getting fished up in nets All The Time, then swimming back home to tell raph about it and getting all huffy when raph gives him a lecture about safety. so i'd probably tie mikey more to the marrows and gale basin, since he likes to go see People.

[coffinkissez]

TELL EM ABIUT YOUR OCS

HIHIHIHIHIHIHI THANK UOU FOR ASKING ASTER :DDDDDDDD

ok SO the one who’s been on my mind recently is my twst oc named emerald :D

who tumblr has not met yet I don’t believe?? ANYWAYS he’s

based on Morgana from the little mermaid 2

but is also mildly based off of Vanessa from the first movie and the fact that Ursula is based off of a drag queen.

his name is emerald bc octavinelle all have color names technically and i already had an oc named Verde. So! Emerald :D

he uses Em as a nickname

as far as I’m aware Morgana is younger than Ursula? But Emerald doesn’t feel younger than Azul to me? Idk they might be the same age and emerald was just the one born after.

who knows??

Anyways! he’s apart of the pop music club and is a fan of rock music

he also has his own little group based on Morganas side kicks that perform in the mostro lounge

in my mind hed be the lead singer of both but I’ve played around with him playing the keyboard or whatever other random ass instrument the pop music club could need.

and he does drag often! just for funzies idk he’s cis but prefers to dress gnc bc it’s fun for him bc he enjoys it and idk I love gnc men love myself

BI ICON ‼️‼️‼️

HIS HAIRCUT IS CALLED A JELLYFISH/OCTOPUS CUT!!!!!!

he’d probably be in the film studies club if the pop music club didn’t exist

But he’s really not the best actor

Hes a octavinelle student so yeah he’s good at all that shady stuff but you hand him a script and he’s stumbling and fumbling with his words

much prefers musical performances and this is mildly a call back to how the little mermaid prequel is about music

Has Big Plans that Might lead to an overblot I haven’t thought about it that much I just know it happens so he can serve in OB form

he and azul are siblings obvs

their relationship is kinda strained? idk emerald kinda resents azul after being compared to him and feeling less competent to azul

but he still loves azul and all

idk they bicker a lot

is always getting scolded for not wearing his uniform properly but it’s not like he’s serving tables so

he is always serving tho ☝️☝️

he used to have a childhood crush on Floyd but that might’ve just been bc I was in my Floyd era at the time

IDK THANKS FOR LISTENING TO MY YAPPING

[deltaengineering]

Spring Anime 2024: A Wizard is never late

Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku (Train to the End of the World)

If you want a reason for why this post is woefully late, it’s this show: since we’re going in ascending order of quality here, it must come first, yet I have a hard time saying anything about it. I suppose I can start with the most obvious problem: I will probably watch your original anime, but I do that to get away from light novel levels of insufferable dialogue. Yet this one definitely goes with the NisioisiN school of writing, which is to say, talk a lot first, then figure out a point at your convenience. This definitely doesn’t endear the show to me and makes it mildly annoying right from the start, but it could still be salvageable - but then Shuumatsu Train just turns out to be not particularly good at any of its selling points. For a weird show it’s not weird enough. For a comedy it’s not funny enough. For a character drama the characters are too superficial. For a profound allegory, it's much too vague. And even though the parts are hardly stellar, the result somehow still ends up as less than the sum of them. It‘s not a total write-off since at least there is some ambition here, but I really can’t say that being more meaningful than not at all is enough of a payoff for something that is mostly just basic attempts at wacky humor presented in an annoying fashion. 4/10

Yuru Camp S3

So, speaking of ambition. My last contact with Yuru Camp was me getting very mad at S2‘s incessant products and services shilling. Admittedly S3 turns this down to an acceptable level, but that only makes the deeper issue more apparent: Yuru Camp is and has always been astonishingly vapid, and three seasons and a movie in all the vibes in the world can no longer make up for it. I won’t even complain that the show is no longer about camping in any meaningful capacity (since I never cared and at least the local-tourism-and-food lane we‘re in now doesn’t require purchase of specialized gear), but godammit if personality-free blobs looking at small footbridges for three episodes didn’t kill my enthusiasm for any of this mush. It‘s still broadly inoffensive, but at this point I feel like I’ve thoroughly exhausted anything this show is ever willing to offer. And Yama no Susume shows that you can have all the theoretical positives of a Yuru Camp with compelling enough characters, so there’s really no excuse. 5/10

Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai (Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night)

I don’t know where this recent trend of cute but reasonably serious girl band anime came from (I would like to think MyGO, but more likely it‘s Bocchi the Rock + the most blatantly obvious and viable way to improve on Bocchi). But here is Jellyfish and uh… it certainly makes an attempt. The first impression is very positive, since Doga Kobo provides pleasant visuals (per usual), but it quickly becomes apparent that it’s the writing that is really holding this one back. It’s not even bad ideas or a lack of ideas, since the concepts this show wants to tackle are generally quite good. But pretty much every execution on those plot ideas is botched in some way, be it by resolving them in a stupidly simple way (impostor syndrome? just do your best!) or by just having a character read out their character arc really dramatically. A bunch of plot points don't even make sense when you look at them in context of the ostensibly real world this show takes place in, and the ending is a massive nothingburger. It's all stuff that's barely passable when something like Love Live does it, but in something that aims higher it seems like a first draft at best and more likely just extremely amateurish. One can only wonder if you gave such a concept to a seasoned veteran like Jukki Hanada... 6/10

Tonari no Youkai-san

Tonari no Youkai-san started out as a rather simple show that I really liked: a mostly but not exclusively lighthearted depiction of a world where Youkai are real and the weird situations that can create, with likeable characters carrying it along. But then it became apparent that what it really wants to do is back-to-back KEY-style sadpiano scenarios. While those aren't bad in moderate amounts, the fact that every scenario now had to be about some heartbreaking backstory no matter what quickly became rather tiring. And then, if it wasn't apparent enough that this show was writing itself into the weeds, it capped the season off with a completely bizarre sci-fi multiverse action arc where everyone dies (very sad!) but then comes back alive because power of friendship beats entropy or something. Well, at least I prefer laughing at this nonsense to being annoyed at contrived tearjerkers, I suppose. I wouldn't call it quality though. 6/10

Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon)

When the Dungeon Meshi started, I just didn't get it. The hyperbole around this show (mostly coming from manga fans, I think) was clearly not befitting a very mediocre gimmick anime where even the gimmick had been done better elsewhere multiple times. I do have to admit that as it went on, I could start to see where people were coming from: Once the cooking dies down a bit, the characters start to develop a bit and it finds its pace, Dungeon Meshi's "default mode" is an entertaining adventure anime with some nice characters, decent humor and engaging action. So far so good. However, I'll still call the show merely above average because it's in its default mode less often than you'd think. Every time I started to like something, Dungeon Meshi immediately had to head off in some random other direction that I don't care for: The cooking I did not care for in the beginning becomes vestigial but never stops taking up airtime nonetheless. The nerdy exposition about dungeon mechanics should not merit more than a footnote in a splatbook, but never stops taking up a lot of airtime nonetheless (it's also a painful reminder of the "worldbuilding over narrative" nonsense that I hate, but Dungeon Meshi isn't the worst offender here so I'll let it slide). The show expects me to care about other, far less interesting parties after I just barely mustered up enough enthusiasm to see Chilchuck as more than a spare Marcille when Marcille can't play the tsukkomi herself. Falin turns into a tragic zombie chicken. They adopt an annoying cat. It goes on and on and I'm not thrilled. I will admit though that I will likely still watch the sequel, mostly because Trigger really does a fantastic job with this adaptation on all levels, which at the very least manages to keep it watchable even in the doldrums. I just wish the source material was more consistent. 6/10

Kaiju No. 8

Every season there's some random anime that isn't particularly great, but still competent enough to merit a watch. It's usually some light comedy like Torture Princess, but every once in a while it's something else. This season it's Isekai QC, but in spring it was something even less likely: Kaiju #8, a Jump-brand premium shounen. Yeah, that's a surprise. It just doesn't do anything particularly wrong, apart from the genre staples that it must do wrong: The pacing is bad, but just regular bad. The tone is all over the place, but just regular all over the place. The protagonist isn't as good as he first seems, but not as bad as he could be either. It starts out as "less miserable Attack on Titan where people shoot at huge monsters with guns at shounen powerlevel efficiency", which is extremely awkward, but eventually it settles into a more standard "hit bad guy with sick special attacks" groove, which isn't exactly exciting but at least clearly something the show wants to be. In short, nothing special but the bullshit does not exceed the maximum level I will tolerate as the price of entry to epic dudes epically fighting in an epic fashion. There always is a point with these where you have to ruthlessly cut your losses, but it did not reach it in its first season when the average genremate reaches it within the first episode. That's... something. 6/10

Nijiyon S2

I wasn't even going to write about this because what is there to say about Nijiyon, except that Nijiyon is that rare mini spinoff that actually gets better and starts to outshine the main show at points. Half the time. The other half is still very basic and very arbitrary 4koma hijinks, but an improvement is an improvement. 6/10

Bartender: Glass of God

Why did they make a second Bartender anime in 2024? I can't answer this conclusively but I will say that if Suntory didn't pay for at least half of this production, they got something for free. With that out of the way, the most interesting thing I can say about Bartender is how it compares to Gin & Sonic '06. The old one was certainly ambitious, but in a rather obvious way: Treating the Bartender mystique as somthing close to supernatural and presenting it in a very abstract and stagey way. This is great when it works, but just as often merely comes off as extremely pretentious. The new one... just doesn't do any of that. It's a very straightforward, simple story with actual characters and stuff. It's workable enough with some stronger and some weaker episodes, and even though it does not even attempt to reach the highs of the old one, it doesn't sniff its own farts and does its best to avoid the old man machismo stank that faintly polluted the first adaptation. So I will actually call it better in some ways, maybe even on average, but it still can't compete with a show that had a better reason to exist than to get you excited for Yamazaki whiskey. 6/10

Euphonium S3

I've had my ups and downs with Yoof, and I will say that while some nags remain, I am satisfied with how it managed to (hopefully) wrap up. In fact, S3 might be the best the show has ever been. We were never going to get the cartoonish and quite frankly more entertaining presentation of S1 back, but for what it's worth, S3 takes the overcooked presentation and histrionic character writing of S2 and brings them down to a palatable level, and that makes it at least worth thinking about. Another big point in its favor is that it's now finally truly the Kumiko show, and not just the Kumiko stumbles into other people's drama show. Cast additions like Kanade and Mayu are prety great as well so yeah, I had a good time. Really my biggest complaint is that S3 might actually be a little too good at character drama, because at one point it seemed it was on the verge of starting to question a few of its core assumptions. I never expected it to have doubts over whether letting your school club control your entire existence is in fact a good thing, but ideas like Reina actually being as insane as she comes across and that Taki actually being as terrible as a teacher as he comes across seemed extremely promising. But nah, of course Kumiko just had to be honest with herself, that solved all the problems and then the show just coasted to the most predictable ending imaginable. Euphonium always seemed like it could be way better with a bit more risk-taking, but this was a particularly disappointing moment for the show to be itself. Anyway, if you just expect Euphoinum you're getting the good Euphonium here. 7/10

Girls Band Cry

So, about that "Hanada writing Jellyfish" quip I made earlier? What if that actually happened, in the same season no less? Yeah, these two shows are shockingly similar but unlike Jellyfsh, Girls Band Cry does things right... for the most part. You need to get used to the somewhat janky CG animation, but you're getting some great expressiveness in the deal so that's no problem. You'll also have to put up with Hanada's trademark yuribaiting, a pretty weak ending (as if these two shows didn't already copy each other's homework enough) and music that is much too obvously coming from the Vocaloid camp for my liking. Apart from that, GBC is very good. Not quite as good as MyGO (which has even better character dynamics and I still can't get past how shockingly high its quality is for a franchise anime), but it's really close. So close in fact that I don't even feel like pointing out in detail why GBC is good, because it really is MyGO again: Very flawed yet likeable girls try to get their mental in order while swinging between goofy and depressed and occasionally making music. It's not complicated, but when the character writing delivers (i.e., by seasoned pros like Yuniko Ayana or Jukki Hanada), it just works. If this is a trend now, I'll gladly take it. 8/10

[jorban-ederble]

Might as well make a post for anyone who sees this

(CW: brief mentions of mental health conditions and concerns. Like, really brief. Nothing bad, I’m just nervous)

Hello, my name is Armani/Layne, I’m just… some thude from western Washington. Plan on starting a band, getting into music, that kinda biz; though for starters I’m looking to become an HVAC tech so I can get myself some money. Pays pretty well, actually!

I’m a self-described “manthing”, given I’m kinda having an identity crisis lately? May change this later or update if anyone’s interested, but I’m masculine of some sort, currently labeling as non-binary though I have considered agender, libramasculine, and demiboy. I’m asexual panromantic which is kinda neat though I do struggle to fully accept myself as an ace person. Fun times!

Anxiety runs in my family and DEFINITELY carried down to my ass, I’ve got depression of some type (can’t tell if it’s seasonal or what, though), deal with intrusive thoughts and am passively suicidal. My friends say I’m probably autistic as well as ADHD, though this has not been diagnosed (and probably won’t be for a few years), but I do show quite a few signs of both.

Of course, as my bio says, I’m super into hockey. My current banner is my own photo! Hockey’s kinda become a special interest of mine, and it’s actually really helped me through a lot of really tough times in my life, from loss to some really bad mental health problems. I’ve often thought, “there’s another game tomorrow” or “I’ve got next season to look forward to”, and it’s helped often.

My other interests (some are special) are, of course: music, rocks, animals, cars, that kinda deal. BUT I’m also really into fallout, and that’s why you’ll see me repost fallout stuff. I could go on about how much I love that series, but I can also go on about various artists and the history of sound recording, or I could go on about salmon and how much I love those little freaks (they’re one of my favorite animals!), or like… some dumb stuff I know about hockey. Did you know that “double teamed” is a real term used by announcers??? Well now you do. It means to block or guard an opponent with two players at once.

I’m into all sorts of music, from Tom Waits and Nick Cave, to Alice In Chains/Mad Season and Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots, and then like… David Bowie and Vashti Bunyan and Connie Converse and Death Grips and Radiohead, then like… even weird, out-there wild ones like Derek Bailey and Anthony Braxton and shit. Weirdo free jazz kinda shit. Then I’m also into Pink Floyd and kinda getting into Led Zeppelin and The Doors, but I’m also really into Depeche Mode and Duran Duran and Naked Eyes and Kajagoogoo, then on top of THOSE guys, like… Johnny Cash, Colter Wall, Patsy Cline, etc. I’ve grown up around a whole ton of different music and my parents never let me shy away from discovering what sort of music I do or don’t like, and I do like quite a lot of shit… I actually have nearly my whole liked playlist on Spotify and would happily post a link if anyone would be interested in seeing it. I’ve got something for everyone in it.

(Oh yeah plus I make mashups and they SUCK so bad but it’s lowkey fun to see what works and what doesn’t and why…)

(OOOOH SHIT FORGOT I ALSO WRITE THINGS SO I DUNNO, MAYBE I’LL POST SOME FICS FROM TIME TO TIME???)

Oh yeah and, music aside, my OTHER favorite animals (currently) are jellyfish as well as salamanders, though I’m more partial to giant salamanders! Hellbenders are endemic to the US, is one of the state animals of Pennsylvania, and one of their nicknames (one of my absolute favorite ones, too) is lasagna lizard!

Also, my birthday is October 9th, making me a libra. That’s pretty cool

Thank you for reading, that was a lot, I know. I just… I dunno, want my mutuals to get to know me a little more and let random passerby’s know what this is about and who runs this blog I guess, that way if they have interest here, then… well, this is the stuff I’ll post about most likely, if I ever post- I dunno if I will. I may post my art more often, or something I do on guitar or whatever shitty mashup I’ve made recently in audacity or whatever. Or I’ll just… share music, I guess. I dunno. We’ll see!

Now go enjoy the rest of your day or night!! Or else!!!

—————— banner pic + hockey talk, ignore if you’d like! ——————

(My banner if I ever change it, ID: Jordan Eberle getting awarded his silver stick with his family, GM Ron Francis, and Kraken owner Sam Holloway, pregame, March 14th, 2024, Kraken V Capitals at Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA.)

(Again, my own photo! Was a beautiful ceremony, loved being there even if the game resulted in a loss. Was really cool to see Alex Ovechkin, too, but also TJ Oshie! TJ is from Everett, so… I was personally more interested in seeing him that night, haha. He was actually nearing his own 1000th that night, he was at like… his 995th or something that night? Kinda neat!)

[un-local]

4, 13, 14

Hi Chaos >:3

4. three songs that you know thanks to your parents

Redshift riders by Joe Satriani

My dad listened to this guy growing up. This is another song I think I heard a lot on his MP3 player. Still incredible.

It's in my Top 15 songs I'd show to the Phantom of the Opera.

(You could show it to him, but only once...)

Johnny Tarr by Gaelic Storm

...No idea on this one. I have literally no idea how my dad found these guys. He played it in the car a fair few times when I was real young. I remember thinking it was funny and loved it. 

The lyrics are pretty funny: "nine in the mornin', on a cold and rainy night..." Also, the vocalist sounds like he's having the time of his life.

This song's kinda become an inspiration for my BG3 Bardgirl character XD

Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand

My dad played this song on Guitar Hero. I remember loving it SO MUCH. When I was a little kid, I would watch him play the game and pretend it was a concert XD

13. three songs you want at your funeral

Oh, hell if I know. Uh.....

Jellyfish Sunrise by Daikaiju

No commentary on this one. It's 10 minutes of beautiful instrumental. And look at that album art. Gorgeous. Stunning.

Yeah, I would be okay if my final act on this earth was inflicting it on people en masse.

Ghost Host by Buckethead

You can find pieces of my soul in quite a few Buckethead songs, honestly. I can only hope this song plays in the end credits of my life.

Everything Is Going To Be Okay by Mick Gordon

Listen to this song and tell me it doesn't make you feel like everything will turn out alright eventually. It's that delicate seed of hope and respite blooming in your chest, mapped perfectly into sound. A gentle reassurance that even if things won't be easy, they'll be okay.

(All things are okay in the end; if things aren't okay, it's not the end.)

Idk, I guess I want to comfort people and reassure them, even at my own hypothetical funeral, lol. Let's uh... let's not read into this any further.

Stop looking at SWRD. Why are you looking at SWRD? There's nothing to see there XD

14. three songs you want at your wedding 

Hmmm.... I have even less of an idea about this one XD

Devil Church by Ghost

In an ideal world, I’d be able to walk down the aisle to this. Or maybe an orchestral arrangement of it, idk lol. Phthalo green dress. High neckline, some real edwardian lookin' shit. I think I could rock it. (<- insane; never been to a wedding.)

Citron Vendor by Masayoshi Takanaka

For uh...background stuffs? Shrug. I've never been to a wedding, but should the need arise for background music... this is the best in the game. It's so relaxing, so laid back. To me.

Uhm. As for stuff that people can dance to...

Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega

What can I say? Total banger.

Thanks for the ask, Chaos!

Send me a number!

(please)

[mi6015samringwood]

progress so far

at this point in time i only have three more shots to start work on. and for those shots i only have five more animals i need to animate, those being...

the great flying gulper eel

the arboreal bobbit worm and jellyfish

the salamander shark

the giant rock toad

and the axolotl capuchins

the issue is that time is running out and my film is already longer than the initial animatic. because of this i need to cut some stuff. while discussing this with Hugo he said that the downwards shot i was working on already had enough content even without the bobbit worm, flying gulper eel and the salamander shark. so i decided to look at this critically and evaluate what needed to be in the animation for it to function as a narrative . the gulper eel was nearly complete anyways, but the bobbit worm still had a lot of work to be done and wasn't vital to the narrative. i would have to make a tough decision.

i cut it.

good night sweet child, you can eat that jellyfish in our dreams.

as for the salamander shark. on the one hand it was the main focus of the next scene; that being a shot where the salamander shark swims above the forest floor before it fades to black and moves to the tangles shot. on the other hand this would not only require a looping swimming animation, similar to the eel, but also a taking off and landing animation. the swimming animation for the eel alone was taking a lot of time and effort, and this one hadn't been stared. this lead me to rethinking weather i could cut out this shot form the animation entirely. apart from the salamander shark the only thing i intended to show in the shot was more tree and skeletons of things that have fallen. i have already had enough of drawing the same type of tree and the skeletons i could add to the bottom of the downwards shot. for these reasons i chose to cut the shot and the shark. with these adjustments made the rest of the animation could play out unchanged and my issues would be gone. as i am a bit burnt out on this shot i am going to move onto the new next shot.

[greendragonette]

Ark Survival Evolved No Engrams Run, part 5

Days 9-10

Welcomed dawn with a no-monke-owned anxiety. Found one mega trashy, tamed it, and of course that's when more spawned around. All trash, still monke. Mated first female with a male, went for a supply crate, then a berry run for a future kid, and returned home to find sad remains of triplets. Tamed a second female, she and male have pretty colors, can't wait to move base and breed them.

Zyzio barely reached adulthood, took him for a murderous spin in the neighbourhood to prepare him for scorpy run. He runs almost as quick as my sprint, has fantastic stam, and leveled him HP and good chomp. Grabbed first monke, Izyda (Isis, might as keep naming them after gods), two stacks of rotting meat and went north.

All was peaceful before I reached Taming Eldorado, aka Jaws Outcrop. Suckers fought like drunkards for a last vodka. No scorpies. Killed everything in sight, picked some crystal for future use, and made rounds. Just before evening turned into nigth found and managed to tame (with difficulties of a noob) The Lowest Level(TM) scorpie female. Named her Trash. Figured it's a start and got her some kills to boost health. Spent the night on a verge of Jaw's beach, far from any more dangerous spawns. Slept on Zyzio, just in case.

Morning saw me knocking out a slightly better scorpie female. Barely better, so named Trash+. Pulmonos finally started spawning in numbers, found the highests and led to my camp. Killed better one by accident when they accosted anky, but couldn't tame two at the same time anyway, and a male survived. Success. Got ambushed in camp by an average minus female, and a sarco visited at the same time. Zyzio took care of it easily while scorpies had a 2v1. Trash fainted just before I could join. Did some questionable maneuvers before the newcomer got knocked out. After that tried to pull a better female, but it got perma-fixated on an argy, and the rest was trash.

Had enough, went back and took the overgrown shrimps with me. Went for a green drop on sands of the south-faced bay, spotted a sarco. Made a drive-by to see level. Highest level female. Escaped and left her alone for now, hope to find later when I have a good bred and tried pulmono.

For some reason, while tamed female is significantly lower level than male, she's almost as good in stam, and has better melee. Odd.

Left scorpies well-fed on an islet west of bay, my favourite base spot. It's far from everything, but it's flat, has bushes, trees, stone, water, there's an oil rock just off the coast, and the worst spawns are raptor and jellyfish. I'd rather head out for an adventure than find it knocking at my door and destroying the place, thank you very much.

With last light and on last legs reached the base. Despite my fears, all dinos are alive and still have some food. Did a quick stock, and I have so much chitin it's not funny anymore. I'd love to repair my chitin chestpiece, but need both smithy and forge for it, and sucks to be me when I can't even grind all this stuff into cementing paste, for of course it has no blueprint anymore. Seriously, I could've more than afforded to trade for the effin' maewing now.

Good loot-wise, I got lots of bows and arrows, a whooping ten tranq arrows, great deer saddle (I want try one for spelunking) and blueprints for a sickle and ghillie boots.

I'm moving base in the morning; will probably need to cull moschopses, but diplos are more than enough to carry my baggage and still zoom around.

There's trash bronto female near red obelisk; first thing after I get my dinos to new base, I'm knocking her out, and by the time I'll get a cooking pot I should have kibble for the sarco.

[candiphoenixesartblog]

Theory on Splatoon 4’s New Story Plot and possible implications:

I know Splatoon 4 could be a LONG ways off, but, the hints and lore we’ve gotten with Splatoon 3’s story mode has gotten me to think about something: If Splatoon 3 ends the Inklings v Octarians story arc, what’s next?

After looking over a lot of the elements, it’s kinda obvious the next story arc for the 4th-6th games could likely be involving Lil’ Judd’s villain arc (a Clone Wars of sorts, if you will).

In a way, we got a slight spoiler for this as far back as the Chaos v Order Splatfest (the Splatfest in a way was not only hinting at the story plot and cityscape for the next game, but who the next villain would be when this current arc ended (chaos resulted in Lil’ Judd stepping in as a new villain, where as order would have resulted in Tartar likely making a comeback in some form to become the new villain).

However, we ended up getting further hints to Lil’ Judd’s plots as a result (in the Sunken Scrolls, we get a good picture of his plans since he seems to be experimenting with cloning other citizens (more particularly the rather mysterious “Marigold”), he’s grabbing skin, blood and fur samples from other citizens and Judd, and in the Tableturf battles we have “clone” versions of the Jellyfish players). However, we also likely have the inclination that he has/had some involvement with Grizzco Industries (and likely gained access to Grizz’ notes for his experiments utilizing the Golden Eggs as a result to his ties).

Splatoon 4 could likely see us, not only seeing the results of Lil’ Judd’s cloning experiments, but likely the unfortunate side effects of said experiments (including failed clones). While the Squidbeak Splatoon won’t be the main protagonists, per say, we could see a similar group taking the reins in this scenario (likely along the lines of an SCP type group), with the new Agents being recruited on to help not only bring down Lil’ Judd’s scheme to over run the world with copies of citizens and our protagonists, but rescue and recruit the failed clones and usurp Lil’ Judd’s plot of leading Judd to his demise.

With this new arc, I do see the likelihood of stuff like “Salmonlings” or “Inktolings” being plausible (since they could be the result of failed cloning experimentation on Lil’ Judd’s part), but even more we could see more well defined lore and rather weird story plots to boot.

I, unfortunately, also see Splatoon 3 being the last game to take place in the Splatoon universe’s Japan (given we’ve gotten hints to other world regions as well in game), with Splatoon 4 introducing us to a new region and a new sub-region for the hero mode.

It’s likely before we get a Splatoon 4, we could get a spin-off title as well (with the massive amounts of band lore we’ve gotten translated, the spin-off could likely be a rhythm game or something akin to Rock Band that has world exploration elements as well).

But, again, this is a theory of sorts.

[umbrellascribbles]

Hey, OP, I love you and I need to join you in the trash can--what's Patrick's cutie mark (if he has one)? Why is Squidward's a microphone instead of a clarinet (or is he practicing against his mark?) And where did Sandy move from?

OMG thank u for asking!!<33

I’m actually drawin’ some more stuff for them so it is kinda turning into a whole au (WHOOPS...) & I’m working on little details like this as I go,...but 4 now..

I think Patrick’s cutiemark is some of the cute bikini bottom flower clouds!! Cuz he’s a laze-around watch-the-sky-go-by kinda dude🌸

Squidward’s cutiemark is a clarinet it’s just not super clear, I was trying to draw how I remembered his clarinet looking in the cartoon but I didn’t look up a reference rip (but the idea of him going against his cutiemark also seems very in character👀)

Sandy moved from Appleloosa I think, but I still don’t know where in equestria she and the rest currently live honestly!! Probably a cute little pony town by the beach still called Bikini Bottom :] not on any maps, but there’s a great burger joint if you can find the place.

[saucy-mesothelioma]

Ranking Outer Wilds Planets (And Some Other Stuff)

This was bound to happen one way or another because I absolutely adore Outer Wilds, so might as well do it now. Spoilers (obviously) for both Outer Wilds and the DLC Echoes of the Eye.

Ash Twin Pros: •The Warp Towers have pretty cool designs Cons: •It took me so damn long to figure out the fucking warp pads •The fucking sand •Not really fun to be on because it's just so stressful to try to be at the right place at the right time and then just missing it by the bare minimum Total: 2/10

Ember Twin Pros: •Had the most fun quantum puzzle in my opinion •Chert's Existential Crisis™️ Cons: •Sunless City was a pain in the ass to explore because of the goddamn sand •Just overall pretty boring Total: 4/10 Timber Hearth Pros: •One of the most beautiful planets by far; my family and I go to the Smoky Mountains a lot, and I was reminded of that place the minute I explored the village •The caves with the rocks that look like stars when you turn out your lights I could literally spend an entire loop there with Timber Hearth's theme playing in the background •Geysers are fun to play with Cons: •Took me way too long to realize there was actually stuff there to explore Total: 8/10 The Attlerock Pros: •My boi Ekser who can do no wrong ever • Like most people, I went there first and it was a wonderful opener to everything the game has to offer Cons: •Not a lot to do there, but it is just a moon Total: 6/10 Brittle Hollow Pros: •So damn beautiful that it's my second favorite planet design •Coolest Nomai ruins; I spent a loop or two just admiring how damn cool everything looked, especially the Hanging City •Gravity crystals were loads of fun even though they gave me a headache •By far the most fun planet to explore Cons: •Didn't understand how to get to the Southern Observatory and spent like 5 loops trying to figure it out via attempting to wedge my ship between the ice •Jumped off of the Black Hole Forge around 3 times because I didn't realize that I was upside down •Had no clue how to get to the Tower of Quantum Knowledge until I got stuck at the white hole with almost no oxygen and found it at the last minute •I hate that black hole with a passion it's caused me so much pain I hate it I hate it I hate it Total: 9/10 (I love it but I'm just an idiot) Giant's Deep Pros: •Hands down my favorite planet design I love it so much •I could listen to the Giant's Deep theme for hours on end •Not gonna lie, I love watching the islands getting catapulted into space •Jellyfish be vibin •Watching the supernova through the cloudy atmosphere is honestly so cool to me Cons: •Too little to explore there in my opinion, but understandable since it's a water planet •The gravity is such a huge pain in the ass Total: 10/10 Dark Bramble Pros: •I actually like the theme for it a lot •Feldspar's camp is the coolest •That Nomai grave got to me dude •Scary but still more fun than the Hourglass Twins to me, that being said- Cons: •I DON'T FUCK WITH THOSE ANGLERFISH FUCK THAT SHIT SO HARD I HATE THEM MORE THAN THE BLACK HOLE AND THAT'S SAYING A LOT

Total: 5/10 The Interloper Pros: •The reveal that the Interloper was where the ghost matter came from and was the reason all of the Nomai died really hit me in the feels; I had to take a moment Cons: •I know it's basically a comet, but it was pretty boring Total: 3/10 Quantum Moon Pros: •Best girl Solanum •I love all of the various designs for the moon •The theme is nice Cons: •Still not a lot to explore there, but it's understandable Total: 3/10

The Stranger (Based purely on looks to be fair since it's half of the DLC) Pros: •Holy shit I love the atmosphere of it so much those cypress-looking trees, everything •The architecture is fucking GORGEOUS •The reels. Beautiful. Enough said. •I could spend the rest of my life on the Stranger I love it so much •Dare I say it, I kinda like the DLC ost more than the original; still love them both to death, though Cons: •Honestly expected there to be more shit under the water? Not sure why but I did Total: 10/10

The Stranger's Dream World Pros: •Again, everything the DLC gave us is visually stunning I'm in love with the design •Owlks are pure baby those little hoots are so cute Cons: •Owlks are also fuckin scary Jesus Christ •The alarm bells give me so much stress even when I know how they work •Took me the longest time out to bypass the "death glitch" to open the Vault, but as stated before, I'm also very stupid Total: 10/10

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (8)

(Thank you all so much for your love and support during this fic! I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter and be sure to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries!)

Ch.1 / Ch.7 / Ch.9

Chapter 8: Lost and Found

Lost. 

Felix was utterly and hopelessly lost.

He stalked the aquarium aisles, looking this way and that for the rest of the group. How did this even happen? Allegra had had an iron grip on his wrist. He was certain of that. Yet somehow, he runs into one person- one person! -and just like that, everyone’s gone! 

Felix tisked, annoyance quickly rising in his mind as he turned down another aisle. Briefly separating wouldn’t have been that bad. In fact, he welcomed the moment of silence at first. Aside from the occasional person who bumped into him, no one was yanking on his wrist or dragging him along. The problem arose, however, in the realization that he’d been aimlessly searching for them for thirty minutes now. After losing sight of them for a second! Did they truly walk that fast or did they leave him on purpose? It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. 

His hands clenched into fists, and a scowl tugged at the corner of his lips. He was this close to climbing on top of heads- 

A light giggle caught his attention, faint but there, coming from the southern side of the room.

Felix whirled around, his eyes darting through the crowd. He recognized that laugh, but where was she?

His gaze landed on a pair of pigtails a moment later, and he nearly sighed with relief. Even with the dimmed lights of the aquarium, he could make out Marinette’s small figure standing in front of a smaller aquarium not far from him. He didn’t see anyone else with her, though. Where were the others? Did she get lost too or were the other people blocking them?

Felix moved forward to approach her. With the trio or not, he’d finally found someone from the group. That was his main concern. Besides, she didn’t seem worried about being alone, unless cooing at the glass and laughing was a sign of nervousness. (which, for her, it wasn’t.)

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself.” He commented as he stopped next to her.

Marinette jumped, as usual, and let out a squeak of surprise.

“Oh, Felix!” She gasped. “We were looking for you earlier.”

Felix hummed, glancing down at the octopus that was crawling along the rocks in front of them. “Yes, it would seem that ‘keeping up with the group’ wasn’t as easy as Allegra had claimed.”

A nervous chuckle tumbled from her lips, and she tucked a strand of hair behind her as she said, “Yeah.. we thought about texting you, but Claude said that you would catch up eventually.”

Felix scoffed. He should have known that Claude would be the one to prolong his suffering. Looking around for the brunette once more, he noticed that they were indeed alone. (Save for the large crowd swarming around them, that is.)

“How did you get separated?” He asked, merely curious. The group’s left him several times, but he doubted they would abandon Marinette so easily. Something else must have happened. 

“Well, I was originally trying to look for you,” she explained, “but then I ended up getting distracted..”

She snorted. “I swear I stopped to look at one turtle, and by the time I turned around, everyone was gone.”

Felix offered a nod. He knew all too well how that went.

“At least we found each other.” He pointed out. 

Marinette smiled up at him. “Yeah! And I found this adorable octopus!”

The way she said ‘adorable’ was similar to the babying tone of someone who was speaking to a dog, and she turned to the tank to wiggle her finger at the creature. Felix thought it to be somewhat.. endearing. 

“.. Did you know that an octopus has three hearts?” He asked, strangely wanting to encourage her enthusiasm. Normally, when Claude would start rambling or bouncing around about different subjects, it would annoy Felix. With Marinette, though, that.. simply didn’t happen. Perhaps it was because she was quieter about it?

Marinette gasped, her sparkling eyes shifting back to him. “Wait, are you serious?”

Felix nodded. “They also contain blue blood.”

Her jaw dropped open. “No way! How do you know that?”

“I’ve read a few encyclopedias.” He admitted with a half-shrug. “They’re a lot more interesting than people give them credit for.”

“That’s so cool!” Marinette nearly squealed. “Tell me another one.”

Felix stared at her for a moment. That might be the first time someone’s ever willingly asked for him to recite facts without a sarcastic tone. He didn’t think he would be this pleased about it.

“Well..” He began, mentally sifting through the pages of books that he’s read. “Their limbs are actually called ‘arms’, not ‘tentacles’. The term ‘tentacles’ is reserved for squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus.”

“What?” Marinette blanched. “No! My whole life is a lie!”

Felix smirked at her dramatic groan. It had been surprising for himself when he first read it too. 

“Tell me another one.” She said after rubbing her hands over her face.

Felix let out a small laugh. “Are you sure? You didn’t seem to like that last one.”

Marinette waved off the comment. “Yeah, yeah. I can take it. Tell me another one.”

“Alright, another fact..” Felix muttered, his gaze flicking upwards in thought. “Ah.  Each arm has a mind of its own. Some two-thirds of the octopus’ neurons reside in its arms, which allow the arms to react to stimuli and function at a fairly high level on their own. This fact applies even when one of the limbs is severed from the body.”

Marinette scrunched up her nose at the image of a severed, octopus limb still twisting about. 

“How do you remember all of this stuff?”

Felix clicked his tongue. “I think the information is interesting, and I enjoy being knowledgeable. So I make it a point to remember everything that I can while reading.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.. Do you know facts about other animals here?”

Felix tilted his head back and forth, trying to recall the animals he’d passed while searching for the group. “Most likely. As I said before, I’ve read a handful of encyclopedias, along with a book or two on Marine Biology.”

She lit up with a grin at the reply and reached down to grab his wrist. “Great! That means you can come tell me more facts!”

Felix was pulled forward, and a part of him held his breath, waiting for the indignation and disgust to set in from being grabbed. It always happened. Allegra, Claude, and occasionally Allan would jerk him around, and resentment would kick in without fail. Of course, the irritation towards Marinette certainly wouldn’t last, since she’d simply gotten excited, but it would undoubtedly come. So he waited..

..And waited..

..And nothing came.

Felix looked down at her hand, which was still firmly on his wrist, and frowned. She was dragging him through the crowd, yet he felt.. nothing. It wasn’t necessarily good, but it wasn’t bad either. He was just.. normal. 

How odd.

“Which animal should we go to next?” Marinette inquired, eagerly looking around. “I’ve already seen the jellyfish, the octopus, and some of the bigger tanks with the multiple types of fish.. Maybe we can see the big tank again so you can tell the na-”

He didn’t look up at her until her ramble abruptly cut off. She was staring down at his wrist too, her eyes wide with surprise. She must not have thought about what she was doing when she grabbed him.

“O-Oh!” As soon as she registered what she’d done, Marinette ripped her hand away from him. “I-I’m so sorry! I- uhm -I was just so excited, a-and.. I’ll try not to grab you again.”

“No, it’s..” Felix rubbed the part of his wrist that Marinette had grabbed, almost not believing the next words he was about to say. “It’s fine. We should probably be holding onto each other anyway, unless we want to get separated again.”

“Oh..” Marinette said, sounding a bit dazed. “Oh yeah.. Um.. How do you want me to..”

She held her hand out towards him again, and Felix hesitated. If they were to hold onto each other, holding hands would be the obvious option, but that was out of the question on account of the strange feeling that twisted inside him at the thought of doing such a thing. The next option would be holding onto his sleeve, or grabbing his wrist again. Would that be peculiar for her, though? He’s unsure as to why it would be peculiar, but it felt peculiar. 

Before he could decide what to do, Marinette tentatively took hold of his bag strap.

“I-Is this okay?” She asked, searching his face for discomfort or disagreement.

Felix blinked. That was actually..

“This is perfect.” He said, grabbing the part of the bag strap that was just above her hand.

A relieved smile passed her lips. “Good. Let’s keep walking then. I wanna learn as many facts as possible before we leave.”

The two set off, weaving around people and going from tank to tank. At each new animal they passed, Marinette would request a series of facts, and Felix would oblige when he could. Then, when he couldn’t recall any facts, they would look up a few for the sake of fun. He had a decent time doing it, as he got to learn some new things about the animals and himself. For example, the electric discharge of an eel can be stronger than five hundred volts, sea turtles apparently think jellyfish are delicious, and when Felix’s hand finally slid onto Marinette’s on the bag strap, he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he didn’t even notice that his hand was on hers until she jumped ahead to look at the shark tank.

“Wow..” Marinette breathed, staring at the enormous whale shark that was gliding through the water in front of them. “Look at how big it is..”

Although slightly distracted by the fact that they’d been touching and he hadn’t noticed, Felix joined her at the tank and watched the shark as well. With its large body and narrow tale, its movements were slow and graceful, and seeing it brought a soothing sense of calm to him. 

He glanced down at Marinette, curious how she might react to the gigantic creature. 

Despite buzzing about while looking at the other animals, she stood entirely still as she stared upwards through the glass. One of her hands was delicately placed on the tank, and her lips were parted with awe. She appeared to be mesmerized by the sight. 

The mix of water and the lights above brought a bright, blue glow to the room, and it reflected on her perfectly. Accenting her round cheeks and wide eyes, bringing out the deep blue color of her hair that was often hidden.. the illumination made her seem utterly.. ethereal. 

Felix sucked in a small breath, shocked by the swirl of warmth and enchantment that swelled within him. Why was he feeling this way? He didn’t recall experiencing it before. Was it something about the aquarium? Or was it something about Marinette? Why would she make such a difference, though?

“I know you enjoy her company.”

His mother’s words hit him like a truck as they resurfaced in his mind. Enjoying her company.. Was that what this was? He didn’t think something like that would be ‘warm’ or ‘enchanting’, but he supposed he’s never fully enjoyed someone’s presence before to know. Claude and the others- even his parents on rare occasions -would annoy or pester or drain his energy. Marinette, somehow, never did that. Maybe it was because she always listened to him, or because she would offer a smile or clothes or croissants- whatever he might need without ever asking for anything in return. She was selfless and didn’t demand his attention like everyone else, and that, Felix realized, made all the difference. 

“Know any facts about this one?” Marinette said, shaking him from his thoughts.

“Hm?” Felix dragged his eyes back to the whale shark. “Oh, yes. If I remember correctly, they-”

“There you are!”

Claude’s declaration barely registered in Felix’s mind before he was suddenly tackled by the brunette. 

“We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Felix scowled as he wrestled Claude off of him. There’s the feeling of revulsion that he remembered so well. 

“Oh, and you found Marinette!” Allegra chimed in with a smile. 

Marinette pulled a sheepish expression. “Sorry for walking off.. I got distracted.”

Allan waved off the remark as he joined them. “Don’t sweat it. This trip was meant to be fun. As long as you had a good time, everything’s fine.”

Marinette smiled. “Thanks. I had a great time.”

“Aw~.” Claude jokingly sang. “That’s good to hear. What about you, Felix? Did you have a good time?”

Felix rolled his eyes at the babying tone, but a chuckle brought his gaze back to Marinette. She was shaking her head at Claude, her eyes bright with amusement and her smile warm.

“Actually..” He muttered. “I did.” 

~~~~~~

The icy cold of the evening brushed over Marinette as she walked outside, but she smiled anyway. The aquarium had been more amazing than she could have ever predicted, which was saying something considering she’d already expected it to be great. She got to see turtles and whale sharks and octopi and all sorts of animals! On top of that, she got to see all of those animals with Felix, who was able to tell her little facts about them! Although some of the facts were hard to swallow.. like, who calls octopus limbs ‘arms’ instead of ‘tentacles’? That’s crazy!

Marinette chuckled at the memory as she nuzzled her nose into her white scarf for warmth. Yes, some of the facts were definitely mind boggling, but there was no doubt that they were the best part of the trip. 

Well.. She thought, glancing over her shoulder. Maybe not the best part.

The rest of the group was exiting the aquarium behind her, Felix being amongst them. The best part of the day had honestly been when he said that he had a good time. With all the scowling and his getting lost, she’d been kicking herself about inviting him to the aquarium, especially when she knew that crowds weren’t his forte. But then they went on that impromptu tour together, and his hard expressions softened into small smiles and quiet laughs. 

It was the first time she saw him fully relax (in a crowded room, no less!). Just knowing that she’d been a part of that brought her more joy and fulfillment than the whale shark she’d originally wanted to see. 

Of course, now that the tour was over and the group was back together, the hard expressions had returned, and he was currently chewing out Claude for trying to hug him “in the name of warmth”. Marinette couldn’t help giggling at the sight, though. Even as Felix was clutching his coat around himself and shivering, he refused to be touched by anyone. She vaguely wondered if he was against the notion for a specific reason or simply had an aversion to touch. He didn’t seem to mind them touching in the aquarium, though, so there had to be a specific reason then, right?

“I don’t know about you guys,” Allegra spoke up, taking Marinette from her thoughts, “but I had a wonderful time today.”

“Are you kidding?” Claude asked, finally stepping away from Felix with a smile. “Today was awesome! And that mermaid show? Incredible.”

“And completely generic.” Felix added with an eye roll. “They didn’t even bother to make it look as though she were breathing underwater.”

“Well, yeah.” Allegra smirked. “They can’t get real mermaids. Those are too hard to catch.”

“That’s because they don’t exist.” Felix stated flatly. “Which is another reason why they shouldn’t hold that show. It will give people the wrong idea.”

“Hey, mermaids could exist!” Claude- because if anyone were to fight for this, it would be him -insisted. “The ocean is huge, and we haven’t seen it all yet. You have no idea whether mermaids actually exist or not.”

Felix scoffed. “Please. A creature with a human half and a fish half that also lived in the ocean would be scientifically impossible. At the very least, the human side would perish from the low temperatures and prolonged exposure to salt water. The only way it might survive is if the creature simply had a humanoid half rather than a human half, and in that case, the creature wouldn’t look anything like the actor they had inside.”

“Who said anything about science?” Claude argued. “What if it’s magic?”

Marinette had been watching the conversation with an amused smile until the topic of magic came up. She knew it wasn’t a direct mention to her alter ego, but it still caused her stiffen. Thankfully, no one noticed, since they were too busy watching Felix raise a brow.

“That’s preposterous.”

“How come?” Claude retorted. “If we can have Ladybug and Chat Noir running around with their magical weapons and abilities, why can’t we have mermaids?”

Marinette faltered in her steps, but quickly regained balance. Now that was a direct mention of her alter ego. Should she try to change the subject? It definitely felt like it was time to change the subject. 

“Chat Noir and Ladybug gain their powers from the miraculous specifically.” Felix stated. “What you are suggesting is an entire species that is born and raised with the same ‘power’ that doesn’t come from a miraculous. That’s what I’d call grasping at straws.”

“You guys know the show is supposed to be for kids, right?” Allan asked, gaining a snort from Allegra.

Claude placed his hands on his hips. “Yes, but I still think mermaids can exist somewhere.”

“No, they can’t.” Felix remarked.

“You don’t have any proof of that!”

“Neither do you!”

“Okay!” Allegra interjected, stepping between the two boys with a barely contained snicker. “You two kids need to behave or you’ll both be put in time out.”

Marinette laughed despite herself, even as Felix glared at the blonde. 

Allegra ignored the glare, turning back to the group as she asked, “So where do you guys want to eat for supper?”

“We’re eating supper together?” Marinette inquired.

“Only if you want to.” Allegra smiled. “I just figured, since it’s seven o’clock, that our parents have already eaten. So we might as well eat together, right?”

“Yeah!” Claude agreed, the mermaid discussion slipping from his mind before Marinette’s very eyes. “Let’s go to Dairy Queen. I haven’t been there in a while, and an ice cream sounds so good right now.”

“You want to get ice cream?” Felix blanched. “In this weather?”

“Sure.” Claude smiled. “Anytime’s ice cream time for me. Besides, it’s not that cold.”

“Not that cold??” Felix retorted, his eyebrows furrowing in disbelief. 

Marinette chuckled, silently agreeing with Felix. Ice cream was nice when you weren’t already covered in goosebumps due to the cold, but right now, she’d much rather a nice, steaming cup of hot chocolate.

A gasp brought her attention to Allegra, who pointed towards the sky with wide eyes.

“Guys, look!” She grinned. “It’s snowing!”

The group followed her gaze to the Eiffel Tower, which stood bright and tall in the blackness of the night. 

Sure enough, flakes of freshly fallen snow were passing the lights of the city and fluttering to the ground. It started out small, with a bit of snow here and there, but soon, a whole flurry began, quickly covering the sidewalks and roads.

“Aw, yeah!” Claude cheered, sticking out his tongue to catch some of the snowflakes. “Freshly fallen snow, man!”

Marinette giggled and stuck out her tongue as well, feeling a wave of euphoria as the snowflakes began hitting her tongue, nose, forehead and cheeks. It hasn’t snowed since last month, and she’d missed it dearly.

“C’mon, Fehix!” Allan urged, his words coming out in blabs because of his tongue sticking out. “Catch snowfakes wis us”

“Absolutely not.” Felix sharply declined. “Do you know how many pollutants are in the first wave of snow, especially with all of this wind? Sulfate, Nitrate, Formaldehyde, Mercury- you might as well drink a bucket of chemicals!”

Marinette paused, though she left her tongue sticking out. Were there really that many chemicals in snow? She’d known there were some, of course, but it couldn’t really be that dangerous, could it?

“Wow, Felix.” Allegra said with an amused smile. “I didn’t know snow could be so dangerous. Can you lighten up a little, please?”

Felix tisked. “I’m only stating facts.”

“Right, right.” Allegra replied. “You don’t have to stick out your tongue, but at least spare us on the ‘grim’ details, will you? It kind of dampers the whole ‘first snowfall of the year’ deal.”

Felix rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he tilted his head towards the sky and closed his eyes. Marinette imagined he was trying to gather some semblance of calm or composure, if his deep breaths were any indication. What really caught her attention, though, were the snowflakes. Or rather, the way the snowflakes landed on him. They were crisp and frozen, and it created specks of white all across his features as the snow nestled in Felix’s hair and eyelashes. If she had been any less disciplined, she might have been tempted to take a picture of him. (Only to use the snowflake patterns later as a design idea, of course.)

“Alright, let’s head for Dairy Queen!” Claude abruptly declared, breaking the brief silence that had settled amongst them. 

Felix’s eyes cracked open, incidentally meeting Marinette’s at the same time. She averted her gaze, a strange sense of deja vu washing over her. Here she was, staring at him again. How many times was she going to feel weird about staring- or being caught staring -until she remembered not to stare? Granted, it shouldn’t feel weird in the first place. Staring was staring, especially when it was a stare between friends. The most he should say about it is, “what are you looking at?”, and that wasn’t a problem. That was a completely logical response, actually. So why did her stupid brain think it was a problem?

“I call dibs on driving Marinette!” Claude added, wrapping his arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

“What!” Allegra nearly yelled from shock. “You can’t call dibs!”

“Okay, then I call turns!” Claude shot back. “You got to drive her on the way here, so I get to drive her on the way to Dairy Queen.”

“Guys, you know she’s a human being, right?” Allan commented.

Marinette laughed. “It’s alright. I’ll go with Claude to Dairy Queen, and Allegra can drive me home.”

“Aw, she gets to drive you home?” Claude whined.

Allegra, however, pulled a triumphant grin. “Ha-ha! I get a good night snack from Mme Sabine!”

“I’m glad you two only value Marinette for her pastries.” Felix remarked.

Marinette snorted, but Allegra and Claude immediately let out an offended gasp.

“How dare you claim such a thing!” Claude said, now wrapping both arms around Marinette’s shoulders. “Marinette is amazing and wonderful, and I would choose her over pastries a thousand times.”

Allegra hugged Marinette as well. “Yeah, we’re not that shallow. Mme Sabine’s cooking is phenomenal, but Marinette is the one we truly love.”

“I hear that.” Allan chuckled.

The beginnings of a blush curled around Marinette’s cheeks, and she hugged Allegra and Allan back. She knew that she was the one they loved, not the pastries, and that’s why she wouldn’t hesitate to give them all the pastries in the world if they asked.

Tag list:  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything  @magnificentcrapposts  @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth​ @kaithehero​ @itsme1598

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 58 - [NSFW] The truth behind the DIR EN GERY misprint, and a mysterious voice...

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru, with this week's episode of the Freedom of Expression. Joe, Tasai, welcome...Um..

T: Ah!

J: What is it?

T: No way!

K: Its 'Young Jump'

J: Ah, Young Jump.

K: I think you already know about this, but we put an ad on it like this *shows back page*.

J: Oh, looks great!

T: Yeah, it does. Very impactful.

K: Its good, isn't it?

T: Yeah, great impact.

K: There's something a bit odd about it.

J: Haha

T: Huh? Where?

J: Eh? Something odd?

K: Yeah, its a bit strange. There's a bit of a mistake.

J: Is the kanji for Oboro correct?

K: Yeh, and this is right, about the release on the 28th of April.

J: And Wenesday is correct, right?

K: Yeah, and the explosion screening schedule is ok.

T: Yeah, it is.

K: The ticket price info is also all fine.

J: Yep.

K: After that there's only this bottom section.

J:Yeah.

T: DIR EN...

T, J: GERY, haha.

J: Has a new band formed?

K: We screwed up.

J, T: Hahaha

K: Its hard to believe, right?

J: Incredible. I did not expect this..Dir en gery.

T: I thought it was like a trick or something.

J: Oh, to make it go viral or..?

T: Yeah, going with Dir en gery.

J: Kaoru, what was it?

T: We'll find out about it here.

K: It was a total mistake.

J, T: Hahaha

J: Seriously? Eh? Really?

K: Yeah.

T: Does that mean it was done on a hurry, if its a seroius mistake?

K: Yeah, I guess so.

J: Well, Tasai, you work for a newspaper, and I also work for Rolling Stone, so we understand this, but our work is handed in for checking, you know, proof-reading. And they do spot mistakes, but honestly, I have never seen mistake of this size before.

T: Yeh. This is at the level of 'accident'. However, there is a case for saying that we cannot attack this. What I mean by that is that we too make mistakes.

J: Yes, thats true. There is that. Well, this goes for magazines etc too, but if you do proof-reading within the organization, for example, if the writer writes an article, the editor will proof-read it, and they may intend to, but if everyone is really busy with loads of other work, they will run out of time. Then they will get it checked by an external proof-reader. Even then there are sometimes still typos left over.

T: Yeah, there are.

J: There are, right? Human error happens.

T: Yeah, like if I misspell a name or something, I can correct it on the digital version, but on paper it appears on every copy out there.

J: Yeah..

K: But like this?!

J: Yeah, we say this, but we've never seen a typo this bad. Like, I've mistaken small details in names and stuff before.

K: Yeah, like Young Jump becoming Young JumP, right?

J, T: Yeh, haha.

K: Not like this! *points to 'GERY'*

J: Haha, this is...

*Sound of strange voice occurs in background - On screen text: 'What was that voice?! One more time.. (Clip of strange voice re-plays) No-one during the filming heard this. Its a mystery voice'*

J: Tell us what happened?

T: Yeah, lets ask.

K: Um, we had the design made, and the designer made the regular logo and put it down here in this fixed spot, so it looked as if the logo was done, even though there was a mistake in it. At the time, I wasn't looking at the band name, I was looking at the overall design, and ths impact it had. Like this image of Kyo from RokumaykanGIG. My eyes were drawn to the best parts of the design. It wasn't really designed to emphasize the band name. Its designed to showcase this top part, so I, like, didn't see it. Die didn't even see it, and he normally checks these really carefully. Even if we miss something, he normally spots it straight away. 

J: Ah, even Die didn't notice it! ???*1

K: Yeah. We were too busy checking that there were no mistakes in the tour schedule.

J: Yeah.

K: But the information is all correct, so if its just the band name with a mistake, well, maybe its ok.

T: This could become a really rare item in time to come.

J: Yeah, cause there isn't gonna be a misspelling with Dir en grey again after this. That point will be strengthened.

K: Not for a while yeah. A long time ago, we had a single out called 'Filth', and there was a mistake in the title of the song on the cover jacket.

T: Eh? So this is the second time this has happened to you?

K: Well...yeh.

T: Hahaha

K: Well, we occasionally make small mistakes *2, but...

T: This is big.

J: Can I suggest something? Good things come in threes.

K: Ah, terrible.

J: So there will be a third time to come, imagine it, it could be both the title and the band name with a mistake.

T: Hahaha

K: Well, what can I do about it now? If you buy the single 'Filth' even now, its still like that. So filth is spelled f-i-l-h..huh? h-f...um, it's..

T: ..t-h

K: f-i-l-t-h, but the i became f, I mean h. So because there were two h's I realised the mistake. If there really is only one h, it could be that they just made the letters look in that style, but they look the same to me.

T: Ehh? I want to line Filth up next to this magazine.

J: Yeah

J, K: Hahaha

T: Don't you have it here? Filth?

K: We do.

T: Lets put them out together!

K: When I saw this (*Young Jump*) though, well, I thought it was quite rare*3, it could become a talking point. If you take a bad thing in a smooth way, someone will notice, so I thought we could just go with it.

J: Brilliant!

K: And then I posted on Twitter, like 'Ooops'. And that was a photo of the actual magazine, so it really was like 'ooops'.

T: As soon as I saw your Tweet, I was like 'Huh?!' and I went to the convenience store and bought it. haha

J: Well, in that sense it is a rare item

T: Can we decide on the correct reading for this? How would you say it?

K: Ge-ri?

J: Dir en gery (ge-ri).

K: jeri? geri?

J: geri? jeri?

T: gari?

J: Its geri, right? Well, jeri is like..

K: In the basic form its geri, right?

J: Yeah. jeri might have to be 'Gerry' with two r's.  Which is best Dir en jeri or Dir en geri?

T: Should we decide? Even though it doesn't really matter.

J: Yeah

J: Dir en geri sounds like a struggling country rock artist or something, haha. Dir en jeri has jellyfish vibes.

T: The official name: Dir en Gery (jeri). haha.

J: I want you guys to do a joke live show as Dir en gery. You could switch parts, like Kaoru, you could be on drums.

K: Ah, but we did kinda do that once, we changed parts on stage. I just made a load of noise.

J: Ahh, so you could do that as Dir en gery somewhere officially and play one song.

T: Ahh, thats a good idea.

J: Do a cover or something.

T: You could do ???*4

K: Er, no. haha.

J: Haha, this will getting bigger and bigger.

T: But I heard recently at the MeguroRokumaykanGIG screening, Kyo said  that Toshiya used to play guitar a long time ago.

K: He was playing guitar the first time we saw him playing in a band...well, I don't know if he was playing it, or just waving it around a lot.

T: Yeah, Kyo said the stage was going wild.

K: Yeah, he wasn't playing.

J: So, when you guys switched instruments on stage, what did you do Kaoru?

K: Drums.

J: Oh, drums?

K: Thats the one I wanna try out the most.

J: So if you guys played as Dir en gery, Kaoru, you would be..?

T: Drums?

K:...Nah....*imitates playing the castanets*

J: Tambourine? Oh, castanets? So, it doesn't necessarily have to be the same instruments you play at the moment?

K: Yeah. As long as we play as a proper band.

J: Yeah, so Kyo could play the recorder..

T: Someone could hit the ???*5

J: Yeah, yeah. Oh, that would be good.

*The single Filth gets passed over*

K: I'll just get it out.

*K shows cover jacket to J*

J: Oh, here, right?

K: Can you see, there are two h's.

J: Yes. I see.

*K shows it to T*

J: The first h is a typo?

K: Yeah.

T: Its a bit difficult to spot though.

K: We didn't even notice, we thought it was just the design.

J: Yeah. Put them together now.

*K puts magazine and CD together*

J, T: Hahaha

K: By the way, it was the same person who designed both of these.

J, T: Haha

K: When he saw it he was so pained.

T: Its ok, ???*6

J: Ahh, well, it can't be helped though.

*On screen note: Again? (weird voice appears)*

J: Even if there is a spelling mistake, its conveying the atmosphere that is the main thing.

K: Yeah, thats the emphasis.

J: But on the other hand, you could say that as soon as 'Dir' appears, people recognise it as Dir en grey, even with this kind of misspelling. The name is that well know.

T: Hmm, yeh

K: Hm, well, yeh, if you look at it up to here. But for us, its impossible.

J: Well, I guess yeah. It goes for Rolling Stones too. For example, if the last n in Rolling Stones became an m, you wouldn't immediately spot it. If it came up all of a sudden, you would just think 'Ah, the Stones'. It's that kind of name recognition. You could see it in that way. But I didn't know it was the same designer who did it both times.

K: Our boss was pretty mad about it.

J, T: Hahaha

J: Really? I see.

K: He couldn't believe it.

J: Well, yeah. Its also the most important part.

T: Well, yeah, and cause its already in circulation.

J: Yeah. Well, everyone can keep it as a treasure.

K: Where's Kami?

J: Yeah, isn't he here?

Kami: Oh, Im here, I was just listening the whole time. People make mistakes, right?

T: They do.

Kami: This is just a mistake. So its wrong to point blame.

T, J: Yes.

J: Kami, have you made a mistake recently or something?

Kami: Im always making mistakes, and always getting into trouble.

J, T: Haha

Kami: As soon as you've made a mistake, it hurts, right?

T: Yeah, I know that feeling.

Kami: Yeah.

J: Yeah, the person who made the mistake knows it, you don't have to tell them.

T: Yeah, that hurts the most.

Kami: I bet if you made a mistake like this though, you'd get into big trouble.

T, K: Haha

Kami: I think you really would.

T: Well, heh, yeah. But if even Die overlooked this..its like a demon interferred..

J: Yeah, unbelievable.

K: But, anyway, Im taking it in a good way. Well, I mean, it's not good to take just any old thing in a positive way, but....its a bit like those remarks by Mori that we discussed recently.

J: Oh yeah.

K: Like how to move on with it.

J: Yeah, we can learn from that.

K: Yeah.

*Sound cuts out. On screen note: Suddenly, we were unable to record to voices. Was it linked to that sound we heard earlier?*

K: Um, the sound..

J: It seems as if the sound went off.

T: I wonder whether its to do with what we just talked about?

K: What, like, 'Stop this conversation?'

J: Haha, like from ths designer's perspective...'Please stop it!'

T: Haha, yeah, 'Please!'

J: So, what about the Oboro single?

K: So, we're at the last stage, just the mastering, and a little more discussion, and we're about finished. And then the packaging. Well, there's just a little bit longer till the 28th, about another month.

J: Well, Im looking forward to it.

K: Ok, lets finish here for this week. Thank you.

*On screen note: The voice that no-one, including the staff, heard during recording was recorded into the mic data.*

*1,4,5,6 Couldn't catch

*2, 3 Not entirely sure

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