#i might as well get everything i've done so far converted for tumblr

[starbudspresents]

Re.Gray 005 - The Black Order

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♦ 133

sfx: pata pata pata [flap flap flap]

Allen: haa... Allen: haa... Allen: Why... would they build it... up here...

sfx: yoji yoji yoji [grip pull grip] sfx: gashiko! [scraping grip on top of cliff] sfx: hyuoooooooooo [wind whistling down cliff behind him, emphasizing how high up he is]

5th Night - The Black Order

♦ 134

Allen: Exorcist headquarters... Allen: The Black Order.

5th Night - The Black Order

♦ 135

sfx: hyuuuuu [woooo, wind whistling spookily]

Allen: ...I presume? Allen: I was warned, but it really does have quite the ambiance... Allen: Timcanpy, this is the place, right?

sfx: go go go go [dun dun dun]

sfx: patata [flap]

sfx: goku [gulp] Allen: Well, let's go knock.

Order golem: ji—— [bzzzz]

Reever?: Hang on, who's that kid!?

♦ 136

Komui: Oh, dear, an outsider at the gates~~? Komui: Why didn't they fall off!?

Reever: Director, hey.1 Reever: I'm not so sure he's an outsider.

Lenalee: Here, come look.2 Lenalee: He has Marshal Cross' golem with him.3

Komui: !

Allen: Pardon me? Halloooo? Allen: Allen Walker, here on Father Cross Marian's introduction?4 Allen: I'm here for an audience with the Order's leader.

♦ 137

sfx: zawa zawa [murmur, mutter]

Komui: An acquaintance of the Marshal's! Komui: So he is alive.

Reever: kachi [putting the headset in his ear] Reever: He says he's here by "introduction". Ring any bells, Director?

Komui: ...... sfx: zu— [slurp] Komui: Not a one.

Allen: Um?

Reever: The Gatekeeper's going to have a look at you. Stand still.

Allen: Huh?

Gatekeeper: ......

Allen: ...... Allen: Pleasure.

sfx: GUO [BULGE]

Allen: EEK

♦ 138

Gatekeeper: X-ray examination!5 Gatekeeper: Classifying: HUMAN or AKUMA? sfx: piko [spotlights click on]

Allen: Whoa—

sfx: bu bu bu [bzzt bzzt, picture glitching]

Allen: ?

Gatekeeper: !? Won't focus—? sfx: piko piko [light beams clicking like camera] Gatekeeper: Is it a bug? sfx: bo [picture clears momentarily] Gatekeeper: !! sfx: bu ["DISQUALIFIED" buzzer sound]

♦ 139

Gatekeeper: Yooouu're OUTTA HERE

sfx: buh [Komui spittake]

Allen, side: eeek

♦ 140

Allen: Wha—!?

Gatekeeper: HE'S BUGGED Gatekeeper: There's a cursed pentacle on his forehead!! He's out, out!!6 sfx: gyahhhh [bawling] Gatekeeper: The pentacle is the mark of the Akuma!! Gatekeeper: He's with them— Gatekeeper: With the Millennium Earl, probably!!!

Allen: WH—?

Staff: WHAAA!?

Gatekeeper: Spy incursion! Spy incursion!

Reever: Quick, which Exorcists are here right—7

65: Unnecessary.

♦ 141

Lenalee: Kanda's already there.

sfx: pih [a beep, but I'm not sure where it's coming from]

sfx: ZA [fwoosh, falling at high speed]

Allen: !?

♦ 142

No dialogue on this page, just Kanda glaring down at Allen from atop the gate; a fateful meeting.

♦ 143

sfx: gira [blade glinting]

Kanda: Pretty gutsy, showing up here alone....

Allen, side: Bloodthirst!?8

sfx: ba-tsu [leaping off the building]

Allen: W— Allen: Wait a moment!!

sfx: zoku [blade slicing through air]

Allen: !! sfx: gua [arm transforming]

♦ 144

sfx: DON [impact]

Allen: WH—

Kanda: !

♦ 145

sfx: bi [wince] Allen: Ouch? Allen: ! Allen: !? Allen: My anti-Akuma weapon is wounded!? Allen: Akuma bullets don't even dent it, but one slash of that sword...!? Allen: Wait, is his sword perhaps—

Kanda: ... Kanda: Hey, you. What's with the arm?

Allen: ...It's an anti-Akuma weapon. Allen: I'm an Exorcist.

♦ 146

Kanda: What? sfx: girah [scowl] Kanda: Gatekeeper!!

sfx: biku [flinch] Gatekeeper: B-b-but— Gatekeeper: He wouldn't come into focus, what was I supposed to do!? What if he'd been an Akuma!?

Allen: I am a human being! Allen: A little cursed, I'll grant, but a proper human being nevertheless!

sfx: don [thump]

On chin: the "Gate" of "Gatekeeper" written in English, not kanji

Gatekeeper: Uggghh, don't touch me, you clod!! sfx: gyaa, gyaa [Gatekeeper caterwauling]

Kanda: Hmph... Well, whatever.

♦ 147

sfx: za [sword humming through air as Kanda takes his stance] Kanda: A look at your insides should clear things up.

Allen: He's initializing his anti-Akuma weapon!!

Kanda: My Mugen will rip you apart.9

Allen: A sword-type anti-Akuma weapon!!

♦ 148

sfx: don [Kanda charges]

Allen: Wait, for the love of God wait! Allen: I swear I'm not an enemy! Allen: You should have a letter of introduction from my master, Cross!!

sfx: pita [last-second halt] Kanda: Letter of introduction...? Kanda: From the marshal...?

Allen: J-Just so... Allen: Terrifying! Allen: Addressed to someone named "Komui"?

♦ 149

Komui: You there! sfx: bishi [dramatic fingerpoint]

Mohawk: Y-Yessir?

Komui: Search my desk!

Mohawk: Search... that?

Lenalee: Komui....

Staff: Director....

Komui: I'll help too!

sfx: hero [floppy] Mohawk: Found it!! Here it is!! Mohawk: A letter from Marshal Cross!

♦ 150

Komui: Read it!

Mohawk: "Komui: I'm about to send you a kid named Allen. He's all yours. Cross"

Komui: Right then! You heard the man. Komui: Foreman Reever, call Kanda off!10 Komui, side: I need more coffee.

Reever: Tidy your desk once in a while!! Reever: Kanda, stand down!

sfx: piko piko [flip flop]

Komui: Lenalee, Komui: give me a hand getting ready, will you? Komui: Been a while since our last recruit.

♦ 151

Gatekeeper: O— Gatekeeper: Open sesame~~~? sfx: ngogogogo [doors groaning open]

Komui: Recruited by Cross, hm...? This ought to be interesting. ♫

♦ 152

KOMUI LEE Chinese | 29 years old Height: 193cm (6'4) Weight: 79kg (174lbs) Birthday: June 13th Gemini, blood type AB A scientific prodigy brimming with curiosity... it would seem. At this point in history, people tended to call scientists "magicians" or "alchemists". By that measure, all the golems and odd gadgets at the Order were created by Science Division "magicians". I do wonder why Komui turned out so weird... I actually based his character on my manager, Yoshida-shi11, but perhaps I should keep that little tidbit to myself.

♦♥♦

FOOTNOTES

Title: 室長 shitsuchou is a pretty flexible civilian title that applies to someone who is managing or coordinating a section or division within a larger organization. In this case, Komui is the division director of the Science Division, which runs Exorcist HQ, but the Order itself is a larger organization and contains other sections presumably led by other people. [ ♠ ]

Honourific: 兄さん niisan "elder brother". Honestly, this is the one thing I hesitated longest over when deciding to leave out honourifics: what to make Lenalee call her brother. I tried just using "brother" at first, but it didn't work with the rest of the translation style, so I moved to "Komui", which also bothered me (though slightly less). I have seven siblings myself, so I thought about what we do, and realized that in English, we generally only call people by name or title if we're trying to get their attention or specify who we're speaking to. Therefore, my current compromise: a) In direct conversation when it's clear who she's addressing, don't call him anything. b) If she is trying to get his attention, specify, or give him heck, use his name (again, as a sibling normally would). c) In third-person conversation, refer to him as "my brother" so that their relationship remains clear. I know it still reads a bit funny for all of us who have previously read more direct and literal translations, but please bear with it. [ ♠ ]

Title: 元帥 gensui. Most versions translate this term as "general". I suspect that's because most previous translators were working in the US, where that is the highest attainable military rank. The more direct translation of the word, however, is "marshal", and in the European countries where this story is largely set, that is the highest rank (often specified as "field marshal", as in "one who marshals troops in the field"). [ ♠ ]

Title: 神父 shinpu "(Catholic) priest, reverend father, minister, padre". As Exorcists all double as Catholic clergypersons, it would make sense for higher-ranking members to be called "Father" or "Sister" so-and-so. [ ♠ ]

Yes, literally x-ray vision. The Gatekeeper is such a great example of the Order's magiscience, which is obviously far ahead of the rest of the world; Allen hitchhiked and walked his way across Eurasia to get there because there are no major railroads yet, but the Order has projected screens and radiography. [ ♠ ]

Yeah, that "pentacle" (which also showed up on the cover of 003, but I forgot to mention it then) is actually the sigil of Baphomet in the western Esoteric tradition, and both the sigil and western Esotericism will come up again. The linked wiki is quite long, and there are a lot of potential meanings one could infer. I don't feel prepared to guess what Hoshino was specifically after with this one just yet. [ ♠ ]

Term: 城内 jounai "within castle walls" (HQ is often referred to as "the castle"). Reever's asking which Exorcists are currently present at HQ to respond to the situation. Relevant to the name of the next chapter. [ ♠ ]

English doesn't really have a perfect corollary to 殺気 sakki, "murder-feeling", a very shounen-manga term that refers to directed homicidal intent and operates in much the same way as one might "feel" eyes on the back of their neck. Allen feels Kanda's intent to kill him and is appropriately alarmed. [ ♠ ]

六幻 mugen "six" + "illusion(s)". Invented compound. There are other possible translations of "gen", such as "phantom", "vision", or "apparition", or even "rare mythical treasure", but I agree with other translators that "illusion" makes the most sense in context. [ ♠ ]

Title: 班長 hanchou "foreman", "squad/group/team leader". While Komui is the head of the whole division and responsible for all manner of non-science things, Reever — his direct subordinate and right-hand man — manages the scientists in their actual day-to-day work. The difference between "general manager" and "operations manager", basically. [ ♠ ]

Also known as "Y-shi". A name to remember. [ ♠ ]

[benevolentgodloki]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

○  NAME:  Pirate

○  PRONOUNS: She/her.

○   PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: tumblr IMs for introductions to discuss threads or chat to established role-play partners, Discord for a select few I gel with or especially if you're part of a server I'm in/a group thread is being written (I get overwhelmed with notifications so I can't have too many people in separate places). Asks for everything else!

○    NAME OF MUSE(S): Loki

○    EXPERIENCE/HOW LONG (MONTHS/YEARS?): Idk like 22 years or something? I've been on tumblr for 10 years.

○    PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: MSN, Skype, Discord, RolePages, Vulpine Imperium, Fantasmic, tumblr

○   BEST EXPERIENCE: Meeting my best friends through fanfic and role-play

○    RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: Vague posts/call-outs/drama, persistent negativity, repeatedly dropping threads or refreshing entire blogs and moving before we can develop a relationship, splicing dialogue/writing it retrospectively in posts, openly complaining about something without being considerate to who might be reading it, jealousy, being fandom police, Pirate whining hypocritically about all this

○    FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT: A decent mix of all tbh. Over exposure to fluff or smut can get dull for Loki. Too much angst hurts him. I like hurt/comfort. Also, my 'smut' is not the same kind of smut that word tends to make you think of. I'm not really one for mechanically jamming two muses together anyway. My 'smut' can be quite plot heavy so it's more erotica-ish? If you don't like smut usually but you're curious, you can try it out with me (if Loki's interested) and see if you like how it goes. I've converted more than one person who didn't like usual smut to start with :P Absolutely no judgement on people who just like to get right on in there, it's more jarring for me without build-up and exposition. Sometimes I'm even happier to fade to black if we've done a lot of the same old thing.

○    PLOTS OR MEMES: Light plot or memes. I don't like heavy plotting unless we've been discussing something specific and got excited. I like to pants my way through threads usually until we spark something up. I don't reblog memes often but established partners can check my /memes tag and send things in and if I want to turn it into a thread I will!

○    LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: Short to medium. I'm very succinct with what I write and I don't always do a lot of introspection because Loki's a trickster so getting in his head sometimes reveals too much to a partner. I've also read too much Pratchett so I get to the point quite fast, except when Loki's waffling the hell on. Sometimes I do get 'hooked on a feeling' or there's a lot to say and the replies get longer. With partners I'm not always a fan of long posts unless there's a good reason for it e.g. Smaugie does lots of awesome exposition and world-building and character stuff. Some peeps however are fleshing things out a lot or they end up godmodding so it's very difficult for me to explain what my character was doing or to further the plot without my brain crying.

○    BEST TIME TO WRITE: Late morning to early eve

○    ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): I find lying incredibly uncomfortable unless I'm acting, so no XD I am also not a magical frost giant god with a religious following. I am however bisexual, pagan, and wish I could physically flip my biological sex and appearance at a whim. I don't like to take hard opinions on anything so I'm very middle-ground trickstery, but I'm also obsessed with order and schedules due to my (likely) autism. I'm also far more clever than I am wise, though I think I'm gradually exchanging Intelligence points for Wisdom as I get older. God I hope so.

TAGGED BY: @paragonrising :D

TAGGING: Anyone who hasn't done this before or wants to do it again!

[djmarinizelarecs]

bookbinding, guerrilla publishing, and learning new things this year

Dear Friend,

The year 2022 will be a road of progress, I keep telling myself that. It will probably be another round of self-doubt and questioning as well. (When did it ever stop, anyway?)

During these times, I try to combat my anxiety attacks by learning something new. Say, a recipe. Or, a cleaning technique. I fold clothes in a different manner, discover a combination of spices, broil the pork ribs for 20 minutes, flipping it halfway through to get those crispy edges. Distracting myself like this instead of wallowing in self-despair and insecurity is somewhat therapeutic. Healing, even. Sometimes I still slip back into my depression (I can barely tell if it's clinical or just the winter blues), but my husband keeps telling me that he's proud of what I've achieved so far. I guess that's enough of a consolation for now.

Lately, I have taken to bookbinding. There's this group of guerrilla bookbinders on Tumblr who manually print and bind pages and pages of fanfics. I wanted to try it out for myself. My in-laws have given me a gift card for Christmas so I can buy myself the necessary supplies; I was close to crying when the book cloth, endpapers, and other materials finally arrived.

Case binding is a very intricate process, especially since everything is done solely by me, from writing to typesetting to printing and sewing the book signatures into a text block, and finally, to converting it into a hardbound. One single mistake--a paper jam, one off-measurement, even too much glue--can ruin the entire process. But it does keep me focused, and it does teach me to do better next time.

I made a ton of mistakes in crafting my first hardbound. The edges were wrong, my stitching was terrible, and my hands kept trembling when it was time to glue the endpapers to the text block. (It's a good thing I decided to bind my own stories for a first; I spared myself of the embarrassment.)

This will probably be my personal hobby for 2022 as a means of self-learning, another journey of creating art and sharing it to the world. I hope you find something similar to that as well. Who knows, it might help you heal in some way, too.

Take care,

R.K.