confessions of a (teenage) mafia boss

... obvious post is obvious.

( お誕生日おめでとう! )

I shall not pretend, this post started out as "Let me share this Fascinating Reborn Band AU Outline" and then mutated into the Band AU post. I welcome ALL other links which I do not have!

lacewood has put up an AU Meme here. Please go forth and enjoy her delightfully cracktastic Reborn Band!AU, more here. If you liked it, please tell her so!

My favourite part, besides the premise that Tsuna must prove himself worthy to take over the Vongola by leading the world's most successful #1 Boyband, is the part where Tsuna accidentally saves instrument-destroying!Gokudera from a falling piano.

So analyse and I were talking about AU!Reborn band artwork, and she mentioned munashii_sonzai's MONOLOGO, in her words, 'the band-as-they-would-be-by-animation-studio'. In addition to the lovely splash art, there is also a trailer for the band!au. Reborn. Let me sing.

... analyse I must confess, when I said band!au official art, I actually meant:

( THIS ~ ♫ )
While we're on the band!AUs, check out:

♫ nostrum_ago's band!AU. Where Tsuna fronts a band named S.K.Y., and meets Irie Shouichi, the vocalist of the Millefiore label band Delphinium. There is a lovely snippet over here which follows after the main story, in which Irie and Tsuna have coffee. And the Byakuran turns up.

♫ firetrees It starts with a virgin, rated R. The author describes it as "Mukuro and Hibari + Vongola", but I would describe it as "Mukuro/Hibari, and Yamamoto/Gokudera". It's just what I got from reading the fic.

♫ Also I cannot in good conscience leave this one out: half_sleeping's Exposure, an idol!AU featuring photographer!Xanxus and idol!Tsuna.

( Quick Altor Doujinshi Order Query Update )

WELCOME NEW FRIENDS
dual_avi, mmmketchup and xnoriko_sakumax
FROM THE 「GOKU❤TSUNA FRIENDING MEME」!

One day I will tell you the Extremely Sad and Tragic Tale of how every single Reborn fan I know IRL is either a YamaGoku fan or indifferent To GokuTsuna, but it is not important now because I want to say HOW HAPPY I AM TO MEET YOU.

I actually had a VERY APPROPRIATE IMAGE which I wanted to leave outside the LJ-cut to express the true and INTRUSIVE nature of my joy; however, I understand that this is generally seen as a Very Naughty thing to do, especially if you are viewing your LJ in confines that do not involve the absence of people looking over your shoulder or walking by or generally Paying Attention at Inappropriate Moments.

Don't worry. It's worksafe.

( I AM THIIIIIIS HAPPY TO SEE YOU )

Also you have all collectively inspired me to FINISH PLAYING the Gokudera/Tsuna path on Altor.

SO THIS LAST GOKUTSUNA PLAYTHROUGH IS DEDICATED TO YOU GUYS!

warning: Screencaps, spoilers, game-player comments, unwarranted laughing, etc.

Following on from the last game log here (for reference, my master altor FAQ post is here).

And always: please feel free to kick me for translation gaffes , etc.

( FINAL GAME LOG, END-GAME AND TRANSLATION FOR THE ALTOR GOKUDERA/TSUNA PATH )
( CHIBI GOKUDERA T______T )
( Hayato's Song )
( ... TENTH'S THE FEELING IN MY LIFE, HE'S THE INSPIRATION )

I LOVED THIS PART SO MUCH. So you play as Tsuna, right, and then Gokudera WANTS TO WRITE YOU A SONG. HE ASKS YOU TO NAME IT.

( GUESS WHAT YOUR CHOICES ARE )

Option #2 is pretty standard (and booooooriiiiing)

So my logic was, "No matter what Tsuna chooses, Gokudera will love it and love him. I CAN CHOOSE WHATEVER I WANT."

SO OF COURSE I CHOSE OPTION #3: STALKER BOMB.

( THEN TSUNA CALLED ME A SADIST, ilu tsunayoshi. )
( OOPS SORRY TENTH I SEEM TO HAVE ACCIDENTALLY FALLEN ON TOP OF YOU )

( but the true ending is sad! )

THEN THE EXTRAS.

( in which Gokudera insults the artist, gives you a password, and is painfully OBVIOUS. )

(Altor: Gokudera Path update, for the temple flashback to return to timeline)

( highlights of this Altor Gokudera Path playthrough )

( Game Recap/Translation for the Gokudera/Tsuna path, with pictures )

first posted: 1 May 2008
( how to download Altor )

altor screencaps

➡ altor screencaps (mediafire, 25.4 MB)
credit for some screencaps here, rest taken by me during (sporadic) gameplay.

( personal favourites )

English-Chinese Translation/Guide to Playing Altor
This is a guide for making the choices you're given in the game.

The first choice is the most important. Because it's not obvious that when you make it, but
( the first choice has you choose between Gokudera and Mukuro. )

( the Gokudera Path )

( the Mukuro Path )

Comments/suggestions/requests for clarification/kicks in the @$$ for mistakes always welcome.

Letter to Myself:

Dear Me,

Let there be no next time in which you spend your time from 12.15am to 1.15am staring at the same document that you are supposed to be proofreading, and making progress at a grand rate of two pages per hour, and then finally realising at 1.15am that you were too tired to work any more. Your time will be better spent sleeping. Or playing Altor.

Yours sincerely,
Yourself.

On a different note, the Altor opening (youtube). I've always wanted to translate the opening, by the Flash version goes by so fast I barely have an impression of the words before the the movie's ended! Now I can finally slow it down!

Altor update if I manage to leave the office at some point this week (and not collapse instantly at home).

This quote says a lot about what I think about writing stupid!characters:

"I said I liked being half-educated; you were so much more surprised at everything when you were ignorant." - Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals (from here)

There is am absolutely fascinating Daily Telegraph article here on why the best children's books are never forgotten. And it said, "I learned nothing about hawks, but much about snobbery, about the obsessive need some people have to control, about the insanity of loneliness, about the pain of feeling that you're too good for your fate." I didn't agree with everything the article said, but I enjoyed it.

I read Durrell's books as a child, and what I think I always loved innately about them was about how they were really about the wonders of being alive in a beautiful world full of wonder.

I'll always have more respect for people like Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough than people like Steve Irwin (no offense intended).

There is no first world and third world. There is only one world, for all of us to live and delight in.

first posted: 13 April 2008
Updated: 26 May 2008

The official Altor site (please restore working html ♥) is finally up AGAIN! (After the 2304203403403 million first-to-download fans crashed it within the first few days) THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!

( altor fanwork )

( altor screencaps )

( altor English translations )

( game + gameplay hints )

Showed Altor to aingeal_isilme today, and I FINALLY got what the Giotto and Mukuro Mist Ring chaos. HAHAHA. The game is much easier to understand the second time around, probably due to first-round brainbreak.

Some of the starting Chinese you need to understand Altor. Ahahahahahahaha. Whoops, sorry. My Chinese expertise arises from passing far too many Chinese exams, and some of them badly. I would be more grateful for having taken up advanced Chinese (why the hell they don't have advanced English, I don't understand, I would have aced it), except six years is still not long enough for me to forget that torture.

back to altor

Starts up where I last left off, so I've left the overlap in so it makes sense.

( extensive long-ass Gokudera/Tsuna altor update, plus screencaps )

seki_yumizu, feel free to kick my ass and correct me ;) (Sometimes I need it, yeah? XD)

Altor (and this AU Gokudera-Tsuna fic) makes me think that this song is perfect for Gokudera/Tsuna:

Jesse McCartney,Because You Live

Staring out at the rain with a heavy heart
It's the end of the world in my mind
Then your voice pulls me back like a wake up call
I've been looking for the answer
Somewhere
I couldn't see that it was right there
But now I know what I didn't know

Because you live and breathe
Because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help
Because you live
My world has twice as many stars in the sky

It's alright, I survived, I'm alive again
'Cause of you, made it through every storm

Because you live there's a reason why
I carry on when I lose the fight
I want to give what you've given me always

Because you live, I live

Also, in the grand tradition of everybody and their right-hand man outing themselves on the KHR kink meme, this Xanxus/Squalo fic is pretty good. I generally associate pollinia with 8059 fic, so I'm happy to see her writing other pairings, because I'm fond of her writing style. *grin* I can't help thinking that whenever I wander around in any fandom I'm always unconsciously making a list of people who are in the "I Want You On My Team" category. (i.e. I'd love you to be in my fandom and write fic and draw and be AWESOME).

"My fandom" also means "my OTP camp", because being in Reborn isn't always enough if you're writing what I won't read. *evil grin*

customary altor talk

( altor discovery of capslock worthy proportions )

Incidentally, Altor is EVIL. EVIL. Just three hours with the Mukuro path and still uncompleted, mind you, and already taking the Gokudera path BREAKS MY HEART.

BUT GOKUDERA MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER.

( SEE )

( plus random Hibari and other people )

( Giotto and his Mist Guardian )

( Tsuna + Mukuro )

altor log

Because the reaaaaally long Giotto-first Mist Guardian story was completely exhausting my endurance (and breaking my language skills), I went wandering on the 5927 side for a bit. The great thing about Altor is it allows you to save at any time, and you can have... up to 80+ saves. :D ALSO IT ALLOWS YOU TO SKIP DIALOGUE, as I've just discovered today!

How you start on the 5927 path is by refusing to take Mukuro's hand when he offers it to you in the forest. (Goddamn, doing this broke my heart, as I whined to seki_yumizu)

That means Gokudera catches up to you right away (on the Mukuro path, if you'd taken his hand, you get Special Mukuro Time before Gokudera catches up with you).

Gokudera and Mukuro have a subtle catfight over Tsuna.

... real subtle, guys. Gokudera goes I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE DID TO YOU TENTH, all I know is that when I got here YOU WERE ON THE FLOOR.

( more Tenth time )

( more 5927 path update )

oh and lol because I mentioned it to nescienx, ( random apollo justice talk )

Also if you're seki_yumizu you've seen this already, but ( altor translation aaaaaangst, or TRANSLATING GOKUDERA'S EMO IS BREAKING THE LIMITS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE )

reqieum for a dream AMV
new reborn opening - COULD YOU GUYS BE MORE EMO ♥

More for my own reference than anything else: no screencaps today, will upload later (Internet hates me), and I really have to clean up the translations for last night's round because they are all over the place. But for what it's worth:

( not-so short altor update - Mukuro path, going back in time to Giotto the First. )

So there's this Gokudera/Tsuna, Mukuro/Tsuna Reborn doujin game going around called Altor (site here, please restore proper html). The site's down due to the intense popularity, but alternative uploads are here. I believe that there's an "auto" function you can run the game on, and there aren't many choices you have to make. Um. Well, in about one hour plus of gameplay I've only had to make one choice.

You play as Tsuna. The world is out to hit on you. Okay, just Gokudera and Mukuro for the purposes of this game, but still.

It is incredibly pretty, and also in Chinese, a language which I have a long and tortured history with (kind of like Gokudera's relationship with Bianchi, i.e. hated it, was forced to spend long periods of time with it until the hatred became PATHOLOGICAL; but also like Gokudera's relationship with Yamamoto minus the slash, that is, I can be persuaded to make nice for a common purpose).

The game takes place after the Millefiore situation has been resolved. Exceeeept, it hasn't all been resolved. So Reborn tells Tsuna that there's some unfinished business he has to handle. Tsuna predictably wants nothing to do with it.

Warning: Screencaps
Gokudera-Tsuna until the Mukuro/Tsuna starts.
Note: It's a TYL game. So everybody is pretty TYL!version.

( Altor commentary, translation of dubious quality, and screencaps )

( Gokudera's life without Tsuna = HELL )

( oh hello hot TYL!Hayato )

( Yamamoto makes an appearance! )

Oh lol and then this kid runs into Tsuna, and Tsuna asks who the kid is, and Yamamoto says, ( Tsuna and Gokudera's CHILD )

( LOL predictably AMBUSHED BY A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER )

( GOKUDERA REAPPEARS )

( half this entry is Tsuna and Mukuro IN A CHURCH )

I think I've done something wrong, because I haven't seen Gokudera for the past 50 minutes of gameplay, and I've seen nothing but Mukuro. AGH Mukuro ALL I DID WAS take your hand when you offered it! [but damn, whatever it is it's led to is FUN too]