#top of the Tetris board (:

[daisyachain]

fake fires

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mino

Debut: Tetris

Tetris is all about blocks! You know that! Did you know that those blocks are called Tetriminos? Maybe you did! Geometrically, they are tetrominoes, shapes formed from four squares connected at the edges. "Tetrimino" is the official spelling of the ones used in Tetris specifically, which is a little confusing, but it's ok. Don't worry about it unless you are making your own game about tetrominoes! If you do that, be careful.

But what about the little blocks that make up the Tetrimino? These are geometrically called monominoes, but in Tetris, they are simply Minos! Humble little things. The game is named after Four, so what place does a measly One have?

If you ask me, they have all the place, because they are all over the place! There are no Tetriminos without Minos. Together, Minos are powerful, some of the most iconic and recognizable shape clusters in the world! Even in the form of a plush, The Tetris Company almost ALWAYS ensures that the individual Minos are visible. It is a part of the Tetriminos' designs at this point! The only exception I can think of is in situations unable to use their distinct colors, where other design factors are used to distinguish each. In this case, all but the I Tetrimino have their Minos visible, while I is just a solid color. Come on now, I. The most universally beloved Tetrimino, and you can't show some appreciation for the little guys who made you who you are? Sheesh!

While yes, Minos are a bit overlooked, they do indeed get the spotlight every once in a while! In game modes with items, you can expect that there will be one that turns all of your pieces into Minos, allowing you to instantly fill in gaps wherever you like. They are not particularly powerful, only able to clear one line at a time, but they ARE very convenient and easy to use!

Tetris Friends, my dearly beloved and departed Tetris Friends, uses Minos as the base for most of its avatars! I have already talked about these specifically, but I just want to point out these VERY default ones, each a piece of one of the classic Tetriminos, based on color... until the end, where we get what appears to be a Domesticated Mammal Mino! What are the implications of this? Have members of an intelligent species selectively bred the most docile of Minos together? Do Minos reproduce? Am I way off the mark, and is this Mino actually made of cookies and cream ice cream?

Finally, the reason I've been thinking of Minos in the first place! Here is a photo of the Tetris board game, with a single gray square in the Matrix. That's right! A Mino! In my opinion, this game is the most special Minos have ever felt. In this version, Tetriminos are dropped straight down into columns in the Matrix, and so they aren't as maneuverable as virtual ones. They can't be rotated while falling, and can't be slid into place to fill in any little notches.

This is where Minos come in! They are a sort of compensation for the lack of extra control, and can be placed to fill in extra space before dropping a Tetrimino. This is especially useful if you start with a Z or S block, since in this game, dropping one on a flat surface would leave a space no matter what! With a Mino, you can make a nice little ledge for your block to land neatly on.

This game's use of Minos really stood out to me! They're a major gameplay mechanic, they are explicitly named in the instruction manual, and, most importantly, they get their own PIECES. Physical, officially licensed, single Mino objects! They even get their very own color! A humble gray, not flashy like the rest, but distinct among all the others, and practical. A gray not to indicate a lack of interesting qualities, but instead, great potential!

There is no "official art" for Mino, so I just made the post's top image by editing some official Tetrimino art. Also, I have distinct memory of SOME official Tetris game, possibly Tetris Friends, referring to them as Tetrimonos. Does anyone else remember this? Please tell me if you do!

With that, we have reached the end of this post. But this is not the end of my fascination with Minos. In a way, it's only the beginning. In my Mino research, I have discovered some truly incredible things. Look forward to reading about them next week in Minos post part 2!

[icancdramahanfu]

Maomao's skirt

Since I have decided to torture myself and do a cosplay in just over a month, I figured I would start with the easier part - the skirt.

In my intro post, I mentioned that her skirt isn't Ming accurate being vaguely mamian-like but not really. For this I played with two main ideas, using one of my other skirt patterns that has pleats and would be mamian-like or go for the circle skirt.

The fabric I selected was around 2 1/3 yards - less than I'd like but it was the entire remaining bolt and the color was perfect - don't trust my indoor lighting here. With the limited amount of fabric I had to do a little tetris to decide what pattern pieces to use. I washed and dried the fabric before ironing it.

My first and preferred pattern was this one:

Simplicity #2710 - 1949

I have already made this skirt, it has thick pleats and falls nicely. I figured it might be a good selection and I'd get that extra Ming style with lazy pleating.

Circle skirt

Less complicated since all I had to do was determine my waist, put it as the circumference and make a 1/4 circle pattern with my pre-marked cutting board. The bolt was 46" from selvage to selvage meaning if I kept one strip I had more than enough for a waistband. I am currently assuming a 4" wide waistband and went with 42" for the skirt length.

Unfortunately for my original plan, the vintage Simplicity pattern was too wide with the pleating. I'd need 3 1/2 yards of fabric and my current pattern pieces were set for a length of around 36" as well to the hem.

Circle it is!

Made my pattern pieces, two so that I could see how to fit them. The fabric has a decent thickness and I didn't want to fold it over and cut, opting to instead chalk out each piece individually on the fabric.

And yes, that is wrapping paper as usual with the square grids on the backside. I love this type of wrapping paper so handy! I cut out my fabric and took it to the sewing machine.

Next, I went ahead and did a zigzag stitch along all the edges except for the selvage. This fabric was showing how it would fray immediately. I washed it in the machine and this is what the edges looked like after drying.

Somehow, I messed up on the waist portion of the skirt panels and I had to take them down by 2". Not sure how I messed that up since I had the radius calculated. I tested this by holding them up to my body and realizing it was off.

Recall, that I have a very limited amount of this fabric, fearing something odd, I went ahead and sewed the front pieces together selvage to selvage and then the back ones. When I held them up to my waist they were still slightly off. I put in the right side seam and made sure all my seams were pressed. Something about my top of the panel pattern is off by a smidge and I need to put in about 3" of a spacer. I decided to put it down for the day and I'll figure out how to put that piece in, since the hips are okay?

It will also allow for me to decide if I want to be lazy and put in a side zipper. I'll go back and put a pocket in the right seam for sure. The next day - I went ahead and made a triangle to wedge into the gap area before putting in the zipper. I held the skirt up to my waist and measured it with my measuring tape. I zigzag stitched it and put it in the spot.

I also pressed the seam well. Then I decided to put in an invisible zipper in the spot for a side zip. I had to unpick the seam a bit to fit the zipper in further and get it up around my hips. Whoops.

Due to adding in the wedge the zipper is at a bit of an angle as shown here. I estimated the zipper coming up higher on the waistband so, I but in a hook and eye on the top to pull it together.

It turned out fine, I'm so limited by the fabric I have to work with. I still have enough to put in pockets on the right side. However, with the skirt cranked out in less than 24 hours, I have it now hanging to even out the hem. It hangs the right way so I'll take it.

Always remember to let your garment hang before hemming. I'm likely going to put some bias tape on the bottom, since this fabric is very prone to fray and then fold that up as opposed to a double folded hem. It is in place and will hang out in the closet for a day or two!

That's all for now! I'll start working on the aoqun this week as a modified pattern from my previous ones.

[ahiijny]

What’s your favorite Tetris game?

hard to pick one favourite, so I'll list a bunch!

tetr.io is free browser game and has very good ranked matchmaking (based off of glicko-2)

jstris also a free browser game, has a lot of good singleplayer modes and casual live rooms

tetris effect has excellent vibes and music and kirbtrises, and also a NES tetris vs mode

puyo puyo tetris has lots of fun characters and a story mode and ally and rafisol

tetris 99 fun and casual and lots of different skins/osts

tetra legends is also free browser game, neat music, and a NES tetris mode too (retro -> console)

a few other fun facts!

the creator of tetr.io, osk, created the game when he was 19

osk's username is derived from osaka, from azumanga daioh

there's a really cute vocaloid style jstris cup song created by lozofan

greentea, a top tetris player who placed top 4 in the 2018 classic tetris world championship, was later scouted and became lead multiplayer game designer for tetris effect

kirby703 was the first person to achieve a 21-line zone in tetris effect, which was unexpected by the game devs because the game board is only 20 lines tall. in honour of this, the devs renamed the in-game text for a 21-line zone to "kirbtris"

[thessalian]

Thess vs Next Fest 2024

Well, once again I have put a variety of things on hold to examine the offerings available in the Steam Next Fest this year. These days, checking out the indie offerings is more important than ever for me, at least if I want to play new games. So many of the AAA companies are going into the action RPG space, and I have a very hard time playing those for accessibility reasons. So if I want new games, most of the time I'm relying on the indie companies who are happy to ... you know, not chase The Next Big Thing.

This year, though, I'm going to avoid talking about the ones I couldn't get my head around and just stick with the ones I liked, especially the ones that went almost immediately to the top of my wish list.

Once Human: This one's going to be a MMO, looks like. A lot of PVE, some PVP (someone was asking about that in the group chat but I'll be giving that a swift NOPE). The set-up is ... take The Secret World but if the Filth was winning, toss in some elements of Control, and then add survival and crafting elements. This? This makes it my jam and I MUST HAVE IT YES.

Tavern Talk: This one's just cute. You're basically an innkeeper - you make drinks for adventurers and manage the quest board, collecting rumours and hints and putting them together to form coherent quests to send those adventurers out to deal with. That's another must-have from me. I could do with some cute.

Simple Trains: This is one of those Zen ones. You basically set up little rail lines for trains to use, buying new cars and station upgrades as you go, until passenger traffic outweighs what you can cope with. As long as you get a certain number of passengers through, you progress to the next level. I could do with a bit more Zen, so I WANT IT.

Polyoshapes: More Zen, because Zen is my deal most of the time. This one's a little Tetris-esque, sort of, but less frenetic - you get a border and a collection of Tetris-block shapes, and you have to fit the latter into the former with no overlap. It's one of the ones I'm keeping as a demo until the game officially comes out, just because it's got replayability even in demo form.

So To Speak: This one's neat because it's a language-learning game. I did a fair bit on Duolingo until Duolingo went way more competitive than I wanted it to be. Apparently I remember enough to go through the demo reasonably well, so that's nice, but I still want to learn more and this game seems a fun way to do it, so... Yeah, it goes on the list.

Neko Odyssey: More Zen, and this one's just cute. Basically you run around getting pictures of cats for your social media. The demo's really basic, but it's the kind of basic where I can see what the other mechanics will be in the full game - buying treats and toys to lure cats down from places you can't photograph them, stuff like that. Another one I'm looking forward to.

Urban Jungle: Plant-keeping sim. Can't really say "gardening sim" because you don't really garden. What you do is pick up plants and look at their care notes, then arrange your room to keep them healthy, which gives you more points for more plants, etc. Another fun little Zen game when it arrives.

Haunted House Renovator: Think House Flipper with a Ghostbusters vibe, sort of. You inherit this big haunted house and you not only have to fix it up, but also placate or vacate the ghosts and gremlins and everything living in the place. There's even a "play nice with the ghosts vs be mean to the ghosts" sort of set-up. This one still needs work, because the demo controls are a little janky, but the premise is interesting and its release date is still TBA, but that just gives me confidence that it'll get the work it needs.

Blue Prince: I struggle to properly describe this one. Another "you inherit this house but..." game, but with an entirely different premise. You build the house layout as you go, day by day, and you have to arrange your build in such a way as to get to a secret room at the very back of the grid. There's a lot of trickiness about it, and I think they need to dial the difficulty back a little bit, but it's another TBA release date so I figure they're probably getting enough input to tone that shit down. Either way, it's cool. That's the kind of "beating your head against the mechanics" I don't mind so much. Well, at least it doesn't cause me physical pain...

Projected Dreams: Physics puzzle sort of game. You have a projector and have to arrange objects to fit a certain silhouette.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: This isn't so much from the Next Fest as a recommendation from @fauxfire76 but I did the demo for Little Hope anyway. First thing I thought was, "This looks like Until Dawn", and then saw that yeah, their developer Supermassive is the same developer that made Until Dawn, which just goes to show that I'm getting pretty savvy about developers (that or Supermassive is just making the same basic game over and over again). I honestly thought about adding Until Dawn to the wishlist (it's getting a PC release soon) but then I saw that I'd have to sign on to the PSN to play it and realised I probably didn't want to play a game that went Like That about the wendigo anyway, so I'll stick with the ones that ... aren't that.

Tiny Glade: Little Zen sandbox builder. It's cute and I love it.

I've got a few more demos to go through, and will dig around for more before Monday, but that's the ones I've played so far that didn't immediately get thrown down a hole. Yes, I still need to finish Forbidden West, and I will, but Next Fest doesn't come around that often and I like to take advantage of it.

[ask-icancraft-it]

Piano Man

(( Another ‘Little Moment’ to add to the collection! I enjoy writing Felix playing the piano when I can. But unfortunately for the handyman, his talent can be a blessing, and a curse. ))

_______________________

It was common that when Skrillex wasn’t DJing at certain Niceland parties, Felix would hop on the piano from time to time. The handyman would often take song requests as well, which this evening earned him popularity with none other than Vanellope and the Sugar Rush racers. Crowding around the small stand piano, they were throwing songs left and right.

Various themes from Mario filled the room, along with Tetris, Pac-Man, and many other catchy tunes from games throughout the arcade. But when the handyman played the song from Sugar Rush for the third time in a row, Tamora felt the need to intervene.

Excusing herself from her conversation with Peach and Daisy, she navigated the crowded penthouse to the piano’s designated corner. From a distance, she could already tell the poor man was frazzled, absolutely swimming in children. Vanellope sat with him on the bench as a row of racers lounged on the top board, which left the rest crowding at the sides.

Ralph stopped by for a quick exchange, but was of no help. The wrecker dealt with those kids far more often than any other adult, and in fact, appeared to take joy that someone else was getting overwhelmed for once. Still, Tamora made sure to shoot the large man a dirty look for leaving her husband stranded on the battlefield.

Closing in on her target, the racers were shouting their next round of requests as Felix silently prayed for release. His eyes met Tamora’s, her presence only making his desperation grow.

“HELP…ME…” He mouthed as she marched forward.

Coming to a stop behind the bench, the sergeant took an authoritative stance.

“Alright, that’s enough ‘Piano Man.’ He's needed elsewhere,” she barked, plucking Felix from the bench and placing him behind her. “Go terrorize someone else.”

With a mixture of whines and grumpy pouts, the children left the piano, migrating elsewhere.

“Thank you,” the handyman mumbled, resting his head on Tamora’s thigh. “You saved what’s left of my sanity.”

“Glad some of it managed to stay intact. Drinks with Peach and Daisy?”

“Please.”

[transmorolians]

puyo puyo tetris 3! with new amazing modes such as:

Endless Skill Battle: Skill Battle, but you endlessly fight against randomised teams!

Swap+Fusion: Swap, except you now have three boards—Puyo Puyo, Tetris, and Fusion!

Puyo Puyo Fever and Tetris Fever: Fever mode, but with Tetris!

Hell: thought Skill Battle, Fusion, Swap, or Party were confusing? this mode takes the cake! combines the rules of Swap+Fusion, Fever, Skill Battle, and Party. have fun trying not to top your board!

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

do you have any video games you’d recommend to people? looking for something new to try

Yeah, sure, I can go into detail on that later, but here are some of the basic categories

Platformers

Exploration

Story-driven

Open-world

Multiplayer

FPS

Fighting games (although these don't get included in platformer tags for some reason)

First-person shooters

Card/board-based gaming

Roleplaying games

My top 10 for the "platformer" tag would be below (with explanation of the ratings as before):

Super Mario Bros. 3

Tetris (gamecube)

Pilotwings 64

Yoshi's Story

Earthworm Jim 3

Contra 4

Metroid Fusion/Prime

Ginger Snaps

Donkey Kong Country

Rayman Origins

This is a really subjective set and I wouldn't expect it to be very informative for new gamers -- there are lots of good platformers out there, and the list is a lot more oriented toward games I loved when I was a little kid than games I actually like now.

Exploration games are also a good area -- games like Myst, Riven, The Last Express, the first two Cave Story games, etc. -- with some platforming aspects, and some narrative aspects. They're very narrative-focused and focused on the exploration/exploration of a world; they're not really the same thing as platformers, except in that there's "platforming" involved.

If you're looking for something more action-oriented in this category, then you might enjoy Spec Ops: The Line. That game was a big deal for people when it came out and it's also very narrative-focused, but the story is a lot more on the side, with a lot of focus on the mechanics/gunplay of the game. I'd highly recommend it if you're up for something a bit edgier -- it's very difficult, so you have to be comfortable with a little challenge. But it's also, like, one of the most challenging games ever made.

A lot of these games -- especially the platformers, although a lot of the others I've mentioned are not "just" platformers -- are kind of like the opposite of RPGs in that the narrative and mechanics are more focused on, and are more directly influenced by, the mechanics of the game. (This is a theme I'll talk about more in the platformer section. I'm not gonna say much about it now because it's going to be a long post.) For instance, in Metroid Fusion/Prime, there's the idea of exploring the universe and the planets within it, and then there's the idea of trying to progress through the game through the mechanics of the game. I find the former kind of abstract and difficult, while the latter is quite mechanical.

In the category of "fighting games," I think the biggest name is Street Fighter IV. Other fighting game classics I'd recommend include Soul Calibur 3, Tekken 3, and Tekken 6, with Tekken in particular also being narrative-focused to some extent.

One other thing here is that the fighting games are all multiplayer, and many people like to play multiplayer games like this for the social side, while playing them alone for the gameplay/story. So I would recommend those games if you can see yourself liking multiplayer for the gameplay side of things, but not for the story.

For a game to go from "platformer" to "card/board" gaming, you just need to switch from the perspective to being an NPC and letting a computer handle all the movement. There are some games which have a very simple storyline, and then in the gameplay, they do this sort of "cutscene" feature where they move some buttons around to let the player jump, etc. In these games the "narrative" just means the visual aspect, as opposed to something like a storyboard or script. These games tend to have a very simplistic mechanics, often very puzzle-like in their structure. They can sometimes resemble a puzzle, as in some of the puzzle-focused games I mentioned earlier (Cave Story and Super Puzzle Fighter are often compared).

In games which are like this, there's a very obvious distinction between the mechanics and the story, in that the player can't really do anything with the story to make it happen -- it's all up to the game mechanics, and you have to do them just right. There is no "script" to "narrate" the game. Games of this type tend to be puzzle games or word-guessing games, with the mechanics being more involved than in card-based games.

But there are other kinds of card/board games which still make use of the "script," but in addition to the mechanical stuff (and still involving a "narrative" as a part of the presentation) use other elements -- the script has to include things like rules, the kinds of cards you draw, which ones you can use, etc. These games are all-around pretty easy to get into, and they're more like movies or TV shows than games that involve a lot of complicated mechanics (even if there are lots of mechanics, I guess). It's like if you could watch movies on your TV -- in that the story itself is more important than the mechanics involved, and there's only one way for the story to go, and yet you still have a lot of freedom in how you do the mechanics. This freedom is partly because the mechanics are so simple that they are not as important to the overall "narrative" as the story, and thus the mechanics can be used to fit the narrative.

[pixelatedq]

Here's my concept for a suika game 2

This is generally how the board would look. Now obviously there's a couple changes to how it looks so let's go over that!

Holding from Tetris and other similar puzzle games! This is something I really think the original is lacking, and if you don't like the idea of it this will be discussed in a later part about settings :)

The progression wheel now doubles as a power gauge. This would charge from getting combos and would allow you to press in on the left stick to throw your next fruit with a much greater force. This would solve a huge issue I have with the game which is having to drop several fruits to try and get another fruit into a more favorable position. It would be balanced by the fact that you would have to charge it up over time so you can't just spam it.

Multi-merge! Basically, when you drop a fruit on top of two matching fruits (3 in total) they all combine. Instead of the left or right strawberry merging into a grape, they all combine and act as 4 strawberries, skipping straight to the tangerine. This could be really useful if you were trying to go for two watermelons or for speed runs, and just make for some sick plays.

A five second countdown to prevent this from happening! While yes it's really fucking funny, being able to save a run when it's at the top outweighs the funny, it would just feel so cool and you'd look so cool when playing, around cool.

Added game modes could be:

Suika Classic to preserve how the original game plays, but with updated settings.

Online VS mode where when your opponent gets a combo the floor of the box rises, and you can bring it back down by getting combos yourself. I've seen how other Suika clones handle trash pieces and don't think it would suit the game as much as removing vertical space from your board.

And maybe a mode with pre-disgned levels with the goal of getting a pineapple or 3k points, just some kinda arbitrary mission mode to give the game a rounded feeling.

Finally, the last two changes I would make is adding actual settings and themes. Please let me turn the music down sometimes, and let me have a dark mode.

[k00297602]

Disrupt Project- Tetris

(16/11/23)

I looked towards video games for a new inspiration to incorporate into my concepts of childhood coping mechanisms to avoid disruption. The main source that got me through my early teen years definitely was games such as Tetris and Minecraft, simplistic, block-shaped games which both feature amazing soundtracks.

I decided to research Tetris first, a puzzle game built on lining shapes up and destroying them before you reach the top of the screen, based of the board game pentominoes. I didn’t realise until I went digging that the game actually had a very complex political history, between the West, Soviet Russian and Japan, while not focusing on childhood coping mechanisms, this bit of history reminded me of the theme of disruption.

The most engaging aspect of Tetris to me, is the instantly recognisable soundtrack. An 8-bit style tune typical of the time, titled Type A, a remake made by Hirokazu Tanaka, of the Russian folk song, Korobeiniki in 1989. The track has ingrained itself into the minds of millions who have played the game and pop culture itself.

Korobeiniki

Type A

[ravenyenn19]

MODERN SIX OF CROWS HEAD CANNON THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR BUT I THINK ABOUT ALL THE TIME:

The Crows ABSOLUTELY have board game nights.

All of them have different favorites, of course.

Jesper is all about the party games, the ones that make them all laugh and choke on their drinks with startled giggles.

Wylan loves the old school classics. Believe it or not, he’s beaten Kaz at monopoly. (This time, Kaz didn’t cheat. Inej made sure of it as she sat literally in his lap the entire time. Kaz wouldn’t have, anyways. He’d wanted to prove a point- that Wylan could and SHOULD believe he is the best at it, even if Nina or Jesper have to whisper the card’s text to him occasionally when he doesn’t immediately recognize the pictures.)

Nina loves the aesthetic games- anything beautiful and strategic. Azul, or even blockas! (She’s also dangerously good at Tetris style games, for whatever reason. They all know she’s the Queen when the shapes come out.)

Matthias is a wild card, but he loves the cooperative games most of all. He hasn’t really admitted it in so many words, but he prefers to work as a team rather than being competitive. He thinks they’re all strong in different ways, and they always win.

Inej 100% adores anything involving mysteries. Escape room board games are where she shines, and with Kaz always right on par, they get competitive as the others drink and laugh and just hope they all win.

Kaz is the strategist, through and through. Anything complicated and “big”. He adores risk, down to basic chess. He also loves games where he can outsmart his compatriots in other ways- such as playing Jack the Ripper in “White Chapel” whilst the crows play detectives, hunting him down on a massive board that looks like Victorian era London.

They also have poker night. Kaz is the resident dealer, but they’ve all noticed that Inej can shuffle nearly as well due to the late nights she’s spent sitting cross legged on Kaz’s bed, learning from him as they share quiet laughter and the occasional smiling kiss.

At all of these game nights, they somehow all end up with seats pulled close to the table and closer to one person than any other.

Kaz’s hand is often found on Inej’s leg, absently rubbing as he strategizes. Matthias always has a hand clasped in Nina’s, even when it’s most likely inconvenient (he hates it when she pouts, she always gets him to cave). Jesper’s long arm is most certainly draped over the back of Wylan’s chair, easy positioning to lean in and peck his lover’s flushing red cheek whenever he deems it time.

Nina, Jesper & Inej always end up a little tipsy on wine. (Kaz, Matthias & Wylan never complain. It only means they receive more giggles and affection.) For Inej, this is little moments when she picks up Kaz’s hand and lays her lips to his knuckles. For Nina, this is full on kisses in the middle of a game on Matthias’ lips. For Jesper, this is tugging Wylan closer into the crook of his arm, nearly to his lap, and kisses to the top of Wylan’s curly red hair.

They love game night. They have them at least twice a month if not more.

(I’m a manager for a board game/coffee company, so like… I thought about it. 😅)

[reubyocs]

A man who looks like he drove his car through a bad fashion factory is wandering around, poking around in every place there is possible to be poked around in, even behind objects that couldn't possibly hide a person, although a person is exactly what he is looking for.

He has long brunet hair tied back in a ponytail that reaches all the way to his bottom. A couple of loose strands hang about, framing a face of light skin inlaid with a concerned pair of mismatched eyes. One is brown; the other green.

His wardrobe is just as mismatched, for her adorns a black and white polka dot shirt, a black and white plaid vest, a black and white pair of striped pants, and one black shoe alongside one white shoe. One might easily confuse him with a walking kaleidoscope.

This walking kaleidoscope seems to have no sense of just how out-of-place he looks, how out of his depth, how bizarre. Certainly no sense of any potential danger that may be lurking about. As earlier stated, he is searching for someone, and it's a search he is so heavily invested in he isn't paying too much mind to how strange he must appear.

"Stanley! Stanley? Staannnnllleeyyyy!" he calls, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling out in every direction. He's quite upset, for he is most worried about Stanley. Days ago the man walked through a door labeled "EXTRA new content" and hasn't been seen or heard from since. Arthur has been beside himself with fear for the man, and that fear is reflected in his expression now.

He turns around and sees a stranger nearby. Rushing over to them, he says, "My good fellow, I am searching for a man named Stanley. Might you have seen him? He is about my height, black hair, black eyes, black glasses, looks kind of like your average office nerd. Please tell me you've seen him."

@the-haunted-office

Theres some random guy out there yelling for his friend. A man stands there, ignoring these calls as he continues to fiddle on his phone. He's kacketless this time, as the warmer weather makes it hard to wear his cool shearling jacket. His sleeves are rolled, his top button is undone down to the middle of his chest- and he's wearing a pair of gold aviator sunglasses. Around his neck, is his government issued IAA badge that he chooses to wear almost all the time.

At this moment, Agent 38 is dealing with some very, very, very important top priority government business That important top priorirty government business being his current Tetris game. He's determined to beat his mentors high score, and knows he'll manage to do it one day.

Of course, the guy who is calling for his friend chooses to approach him while he's in the middle of his Tetris groove. He can sense the urgency in his question and locks his phone so he can focus fully on the situation.

"Stanley huh?" The dark haired agent mumbles as he turns to look at Arthur. Immediately, he is overwhelmed by all the conflicting patterns and lack of colour. It's taking his eyes a moment to register what exactly he's looking at- but gives up trying to understand.

"Don't think I've ever heard the name thrown around in board meetings. Definitely seen a lot of office nerds around here though." He laughs momentarily, before turning back to seriousness. "You report it to LSPD? They've got a missing persons list that might help you out."

[brittanagirlcrush]

New York Lights

New York Lights

Brittany

Brittany sighs as she wakes up with a shiver. When she had fallen asleep, Santana was lying next to her but she's not there now. She'd thought they'd gotten over that particular hurdle. Santana had agreed to share the bed with her in New York but the sheets were cold so it's not like she just got up to use the bathroom.

Raising up on her elbows, Brittany squints through the gloom trying to see where Santana landed. She can hear the soft snuffles and snores of the other girls; can see Zizes sprawled on the other bed; Rachel, Tina, and Mercedes looking like a Tetris board on the floor; Quinn curled up in a chair. Just beyond Quinn, tucked into a corner between the chair and the wall, there's a light and the faint sound of a pen scratching against paper. Brittany moves her head slightly and sees Santana. She's furiously scribbling and scratching out and scribbling some more. Her forehead scrunches as she reads whatever it is she's written. She nods; satisfied with what she's read.

Santana tears the top sheet off and begins copying from the first page to the second. Her movements are precise and methodical; like she's trying to disguise her handwriting. Once she's done she tears that sheet off, folds it, and tucks it into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie. She tears off two more sheets and sets one next to her then proceeds to shred both the original copy of whatever she's written and the other, blank, page. She puts all the carefully and thoroughly shredded paper onto the full, blank, page and then carefully crumples it up. She puts the crumpled ball of shredded paper into her pocket and stands up. Brittany closes her eyes to slits and watches as Santana grabs a key card and exits the room.

XOXOXOXOXO

Santana

Santana had awoken with a bunch of words in her head and couldn't fall back to sleep. They taunted her; they just wouldn't leave her alone. She had slipped carefully out of the bed she had agreed to share with Brittany, found a pencil and a notepad, and slipped into a dark corner where the light from her flashlight app wouldn't bother anyone.

In less than half-an-hour she'd gotten all the words out of her head and onto the page. Ten minutes after that she had them organized into some semblance of coherent thought. It was good. She knew it was. She carefully re-wrote it all in block letters on a fresh page then destroyed the evidence of the original. The evidence went into her pocket along with the re-write.

Quietly, she stood up and grabbed a key card, sparing a quick glance at Brittany who was still peacefully sleeping. She nodded; with a little luck, Brittany would never know she'd left.

She walked out the door and down the hall toward Mr. Schue's room. As she passed by the vending area she tossed the crumpled evidence ball into the trash there and continued on her way. She hesitated; could she trust Mr. Schue? Sighing, she realized she didn't have much of a choice so she knocked.

“Santana? Is everything okay?” Mr. Schue's face was a study in concern.

“Yeah. Um...fine. Here,” she thrust the paper at him, eyes glued to the floor, and rushing her words. “If you decide to use this I don't want anyone to know I wrote it. I just...I marked a couple of things...the parts I want me and Britt to sing, please.”

Mr. Schue unfolded the page. “Santana, this is really good. Are you sure you don't want anyone to know?”

Panic flooded through her and she snapped her eyes up to his face. “NO! I mean...please, Mr. Schue...”

Mr. Schue's eyes softened. “Okay, Santana, if that's what you want. This is really good and I think we've found our group number.” He smiled at her.

A shy smiled graced her lips. “Thanks, Mr. Schue. I figure Britt and Mike can put together some simple choreography. I mean, since we don't have much time.”

Mr. Schue nodded. “Go on back to bed; tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Santana nodded and turned around, heading back to her own room. She could feel Mr. Schue watching her so she turned and waved as she unlocked her door and went back in. She took a deep breath. Well, it was done. She swallowed hard and suddenly felt nauseated. 'Oh, God, what did I do? What if everyone knows? What if they figure it out?' She took several deep breaths, went into the bathroom, and got a drink of water. 'It's fine. It'll be okay. No one is gonna figure it out.' Even if they do, they won't say anything. She's Santana freakin' Lopez; nobody wants to feel the sting of her tongue.

Calmer, she went back into the bedroom and looked at the bed she was sharing with Brittany. She couldn't believe she'd agreed to that; and she was worried a song would tip them off? She shook her head at her own folly and quietly slipped back into the bed, careful to not wake Brittany. Brittany rolled over in her sleep and wrapped an arm around Santana's waist, pulling her close. Santana froze for a moment, panicked, then took a deep breath and relaxed into Brittany's arms. Sleep claimed her almost immediately.

XOXOXOXOXO

Brittany

Twenty minutes later, Santana slipped back in the room. She heard Santana go into the bathroom; heard the water run. Then Santana came back into the room and carefully slipped back into their bed. Brittany smiled in the dark; they had made progress. She rolled over (pretending she was asleep, of course) and put an arm around Santana's waist, pulling the smaller girl closer to her. She was rewarded when Santana stiffened for a moment then relaxed into the embrace with a sigh. It wasn't long before both girls were sound asleep.

XOXOXOXOX

The plane ride was too quiet; Brittany couldn't say anything to Santana then but they were sitting together and Brittany grabbed Santana's hand under the blanket, giving it a squeeze. Santana looked at her and smiled softly, squeezing back and lying her head on Brittany's shoulder.

Once they reached Columbus and transferred to a bus that would take them back to Lima, Brittany dragged Santana toward the back so they could be a little apart from the rest of the New Directions. It was late, everyone was tired and irritable, and Brittany wanted to talk to Santana. The bus was louder than the plane so she was sure they wouldn't be overheard.

“The song was beautiful, San,” she whispered softly, “did you mean it?”

Santana smiled softly because of course Brittany knew. She laid her head on Brittany's shoulder and whispered, “every word, Britt, every word.”

Brittany smiled and rested her head against Santana's. Baby steps. She could wait.

[bearlythere]

i watched the tetris movie last night, and HOLY MOLY, did not not expect it to turn out the way it did.

for a movie about video game licensing rights, i initially thought it would be more of a round table discussion, board room meeting setting, yet i didn't expect it to involve the kgb and spies. the little bit of historical references - gorbachev's character, and the communist soviet union were done in a way where it's not over the top.

of course, realising that the whole story was tied together through brotherhood and trust made appreciate the tetris game even more.

rating: 10/10. couldn't dispute it more

[thinkingnot]

top five games?? (video, board, card, other, whatever!!)

1. Solitaire

2. Drop the Number: Merge Game <- it’s a mobile app where you got these blocks of numbers 2,4,8,16,32,64 generated randomly and then you combine two identical blocks values, the longer time you last and the bigger the number you made means more score!! its like tetris but with numbers

3. Go Fish!

4. Pressure Wash Simulator

5. Minecraft

[catboyklug]

Let's fight an epic battle!

Summary: Remy meets an otherworldly catboy...

Characters: Remy Ratatong (they/he), Ar Tate (made by @autisticartate)

notes: yay

"...Eh?"

"YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! Let's Tetris, right here, right now!"

"...Sir, I'm trying to w-work..."

For most of the denizens of the small village known as Primp, this would be a regular occurrence - for one Remy Ratatong, however, this was completely out of the ordinary.

A fairly tall man with what appeared to be cat ears stood over Remy, trying and mostly failing to appear intimidating.

Key word "mostly".

"If you could just get out of the way, I need to get back to the supply closet...?" He suggested quietly.

"And why should I?!" The strange man demanded, "I've been utterly dying to compete with someone, and you're the most eligible person I've found yet, so... battle me!"

...This guy talks like Schezo, but even more dramatic.

"Sir, please, itll only take a sec," Remy said, "A-after, I'll battle with you.."

"My name is Ar, not SIR!" The now identified "Ar" yelled angrily, "How about you battle me first, then you get to search your so-called 'supply closet'?"

"My 'so-called'..." Remy said in pure disbelief, "...Okay. If it'll make you leave me al-alone."

"Glad you've finally seen sense! Now, to battle!" Ar exclaimed, "Tetris..."

"Puyo-puyoo~" Remy responded lazily, beginning the battle.

And thus, the epic battle of two pro players began!

...Well, not quite epic.

Similarly to Remy's very first Puyo battle, he hardly tried to do much at all, just keeping the puyos from stacking too close to the top as he got several five- and six-chains.

Ar, on the other hand...

"Ack! Owch!"

"This must be the end for me..."

"You're hopeless! You're pathe-"

"ACK-"

After several minutes of this "Ar" desperately attempting to survive Remy's attacks, the overly kind Ratatong decided to tone it down a notch.

But even with Remy not completing any chains except for the odd one-chain to keep him in the game, his opponent wasn't faring well at all.

About twelve minutes into the battle, Remy checked Ar's board, deciding to simply watch him play.

Ar wasn't doing any hard drops. He wasn't even pushing his pieces to go down faster.

Most impressively of all, it appeared that Ar wasn't holding a single piece.

"Are you going easy on me?" Remy asked, curious. This guy didn't seem like the type to do such a thing, but...

"Going easy- I'm putting all I have into this battle!" Ar retorted.

"Ah, well, you aren't harddropping, or doing any t-spins, or anything special at all, so I just thought-"

"WELL you thought wrong! I simply use...alternative tactics in my battles!"

"Alternative... B-but, do you even know how to harddrop at all? It's a really important, uhm, technique." Remy said, now feeling incredibly awkward.

Ar scoffed. "'Hard drops' mean nothing to me! My techniques are clearly far beyond your level if you think that simply being 'fast' and 'efficient' is what it takes to be good at Tetris!"

"But..."

Suddenly, the two heard a noise neither of them were expecting - the noise of too many Puyos causing Remy's board to break.

"O-oh, well..." Remy said, falling to the ground in his signature 'loser pose'.

"I won?" Ar said, clearly in shock before shaking his head and recomposing himself, "OF COURSE I won! I'm the greatest Tetris player in the multiverse! Nobody can stand in my way!"

"R-right, okay, now that that's over with... I really need to get back to work," Remy sighed, "My boss won't fire me, but I don't want to leave everyone to do my work..."

Remy began the short walk to the supply closet... and Ar followed him.

"You're the first person I've battled in quite some time. Clearly, this means we were meant to be together!" He announced.

"...'Scuse me?" Remy said blankly.

"You heard me! Your sudden presence must be a good omen... Obviously you shall be the one to bring me to my goal!"

"If your goal's also the supply closet, then sure, otherwise I can't help you." Remy said, then began completely ignoring Ar.

"My goal is far beyond that - it's to the stars! The SS Tetra... I must find it, battle Tee, and reclaim my rightful place as Tetris King!" Ar began ranting, "Of course, you shall be assisting me, as you're clearly almost as powerful as I am! Now, my plan is this..."

And so he continued, all throughout Remy's time at work, until Remy went home and locked Ar out in the rain like the sopping wet flea-covered stray cat he was.

the end