#(Because that was the entire trick that was set-up to let Kid steal the gem)

[raifuujin]

Best recent evidence of Gosho just liking to show off things that are cool even if it’s not physically possible: Trying to say that Kid could drill into ice and make it look perfectly like rings suspended in the air.

Yes, you can drill into ice in a pattern that looks like flowers when you add paint.

No, it’s literally impossible to create rings suspended in 3d space within a gigantic ice block and make it look closely like the real ring, much less in 10 minutes.

[too-many-baes]

Daisy Chains & Grassy Plains

Pairing: fem!reader x Peter Maximoff

Warning(s): you're going to need a lint roller from how fluffy this thing is

Word Count: 1.7K

Request: “babe, can i please request a peter maximoff imagine? he and his girl go to a park for their anniversary and have a cute picnic, lots of fluff and flowers and sandwiches and maybe getting involved in playing with some little kids, things on that level of cuteness!!! and how pretty would peter be with some flowers in his hair!!!” – by Anon

A/N: This was such a sweet request and I absolutely loved writing it, thank you so much anon for giving me this wee gem 💎 I totally agree, he would be a dream with some flowers in his hair  💐

Masterlist     Requests Open

                                                      *********

“Where are we going Peter?” You question as you yet again stumble on something you can't see past Peter's hands covering your eyes.

“We're nearly there, quit complaining.” He says in jest, that cheeky lilt to his voice making an even larger goofy grin form on your face.

“Okay”, he proclaims after several more near misses and minor collisions, “are you ready?” He whispers out of excitement, to which you nod, eager to see why you had to be blinded.

He starts a countdown from three. After you nudge him for doing the countdown from one in halves and quarters your blindfold is removed. The sudden change in dark to light makes you raise your hand to shield your eyes until they can adjust. When they do you gasp at what is before you.

You're at the park a wee ways drive from X-mansion, the one with the duck pond you and Peter frequent as often as you can. Under your favourite old willow tree Peter has laid out a red flannel picnic blanket, champagne flutes and a light woven picnic basket rests atop it.

“Happy one year.” He can barely contain the excitement at your joy from his voice, his breath fanning over your neck from his position behind you. You spin around to face him, an incredulous look on your face.

“You remembered?”, your gushing question earns a nod in response before you continue, “And you set this all up yourself?” You turn to look at the picturesque date set up before you once more.

“Yes I set it up, give me a little credit would ya?” You cling to his side, giggling and exclaiming that's not how you'd meant it as he playfully rolls his eyes and leads you to sit on the blanket.

From within the basket he pulls some pre-made club sandwiches and a bottle of champagne, making you squeal as he opens it, sending the top flying into the distance.

You eat from paper plates, nearly spilling the entire contents of your flute as he attempts to link arms with you and drink in unison. Peter didn't fare as well as you from that endeavour, your shaking arm from laughter causing champagne to splash on the front of his shirt. You worry and fuss, trying to dab at it, but he pays no mind, not caring in the slightest about the state of his shirt.

You pack up what little remains of lunch and set it aside, lying side by side, admiring how the streaks of light breaking through the heavy branches above fall across his face. As you keep your eyes on the silver haired man a stray daisy above his head sparks an idea.

You flip onto your stomach, plucking flower after flower as you pierce openings in the stems and loop them together.

“What are you doing?” Peter queries when he peeks his eye open at the movement beside him.

“Making a daisy chain. Wanna join?” He shrugs, flipping over to mirror your current posture. You demonstrate the method a couple of times before he attempts to start his own chain. Many flowers get tossed over his shoulder as his overzealous attempts to create holes caused their stems to completely split. You look to see the discard pile behind him could potentially be bigger than his actual chain. Not that you'd tell him that, the strange determination he'd gained earning your constant motivating compliments.

Once you’re satisfied with the length you'd both amassed you suggest joining the chains into a large circle, to which Peter eagerly agrees. You link both ends together, realising the circular chain was now big enough to be folded and made into a double-layered flower crown. He makes no attempt to dissuade you from placing it upon his head, the white, yellow and green in contrast with his soft silvery locks. He feigns disinterest momentarily as you take out your phone to snap some photos before he leaps to his feet, posing and pouting so much you have to clutch your sides to ease the ache your laughter causes. He goes to where you lay in fits of giggles, snatching your phone and pressing close enough against you to so that you’re both enough in the frame that he can take photos of you both.

Your laughter momentarily stops as a soccer ball flies in your direction, bouncing off the grand oak to land at Peter's side.

“I'm sorry", you hear as you glance up to see four children running from the flat plain just before you, “someone doesn't know how to aim.” The young boy says pointedly to a smaller boy, making the aforementioned let out a disapproving whine in protest. Peter stands, soccer ball in hand.

“Is there only four of you?” He innocently questions, not yet relinquishing his hold on the black and white ball.

“Yes”, the only girl of the group answers, seemingly confused at the older man's question.

“Do you want a couple more players?” The childish grin on his face leaves the previously unknown group no choice but to agree, Peter clenching his fist and shaking it in celebration before extending the hand not holding the ball to you, yanking you unceremoniously to your feet.

You run to the open field, splitting up the team’s so you, the girl and one of the boys were facing off against Peter and the other children.

“Why do you have flowers in your hair?” The boy on your team asks as Peter places the ball on the grass in-between your teams.

“Because daisies are badass, that's why", Peter says in defence of himself, you nodding your head at the quizzical young boy in agreement with your boyfriend.

“I think it looks nice", the girl pipes up. Peter dramatically thanks her to prove a point as he backs up to join his team, clapping his hands together and rubbing them vigorously back and forth.

“Right, we doing this thing or what?”

You play for half an hour, the score tying up as you agree next goal wins the whole game. Peter called his team together, them joining in a linked huddle to avoid you hearing their scheming.

“Do we need a huddle?” The boy beside you questions, you shaking your head in response.

“Nope, we've just gotta get the ball between those trees and we got this.” You hold out your hand, the other two joining as you do an impromptu chant before breaking up as Peter's team disperses.

“Are you ready to be destroyed?” He asks rhetorically in a bravado that pulls a laugh from your throat as you wiggle both sets of your fingers in a come hither motion.

“Bring it on Maximoff.”

Your team charges for the ball, a well aimed kick leaving it at your feet. You dribble it across the field, nearing the goal of two small trees with victory in your view. As you pull your leg back to punt the winning goal your feet leave the ground in unison as Peter grabs you from behind and lifts you into the air.

“Go boys!” He yells as his team steals the ball, passing it back and forth down the grass as you squirm to escape your captor.

“That's cheating Peter!” You yell playfully, letting out an involuntary yelp as he throws you over his shoulder when his team scores their winning goal, running around in victory with you in his grip.

You yell out as he begins spinning around, making you kick your feet and playfully smack his back. He relents and removes you from his shoulder but not his grasp, gripping your sides and tickling them, sending you to the ground below with him in tow as you beg through your glee filled laughs to resist his onslaught.

“Not until you admit how amazing our team was.”

“You wouldn't have won if you hadn’t been colluding!” You manage to get out between giggles. You too make an attempt to tickle him, but he grabs your hands and holds them down on the ground above your head, his face hovering inches above yours.

“I guess a kiss could persuade me to stop.” He whispers, inching slowly closer as he does. You lean up as if to oblige before catching him off guard and flipping him over, trapping him beneath you as you begin your own tickling tirade.

“You fool, you fell for the oldest trick in the book”, you brag as he laughs. He reaches out to grab you but you would not let yourself be caught again. You leap away from him, running off down the field as he wastes no time in jolting up and giving chase.

You jump and hide behind trees, running around them as he continues his pursuit, your bubbling laugh heard by all around.

After your legs were as sore as your sides and the sun’s rays began to fade behind the hill you reluctantly fold the blanket and gather the basket, walking hand in hand with Peter back to your waiting car. You load up the boot before catching Peter's forearm, stopping him from entering the driver's seat.

“Thank you for today Peter. It was perfect", you say with sincerity, making a smile form on his face before he places a tender peck on your lips.

“Happy anniversary.”

“Happy anniversary", you repeat back before rounding the car and entering the passenger's side, buckling your belt as Peter pulls out of his park.

“You know babe those flowers are pretty much dead", you point out as you notice the once full petals were now drooping, the green stalks now tinged a sad shade of brown from their position still on his head.

“I don't care, I'll wear them till they're dead", he says in defiance.

Little did you know once you'd returned home and gone to shower Peter had used his privacy to delicately remove the double-layered crown from his head, pulling one of the only books from his shelf and pressing the flowers in its pages, hoping the small act would set them so he could remember your first anniversary with that small token. 

In fact, he hoped there’d be many more tokens to come, from many more anniversaries.

                                                     ************

Taglist

@evanpeters-petermaximoff​

[you-thinks-wrong-romeo]

Kelly in the Refuge

Jack Kelly’s Sister Reader Angst

Word Count: 2142

Warnings: Arguments, Physical Fighting, Snyder & the Delanceys

Requested by Anon :  can you please write a newsies thing where jack has a lil sister and like kinda lowkey hates her but all the newsies love her and then she gets taken to the refuge with crutchie and jack flips his shit and goes and rescues her?

A/N: Part 2 in the works, but I wanted this to be out on Halloween because it’s angsty.

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————

Jack Kelly was cocky, argumentative, and, now, he was the leader of The Newsboy Union that was striking against several newspaper companies. There was one more thing, however, that he tended to leave out of his story: his little sister, Y/N.

You liked to believe that you were nothing like your brother, but everyone could see the resemblance in the way you two looked and acted. However, despite the many similarities between you, the other Newsies had given up trying to convince you of it due to that trademark Kelly stubbornness.

Like any set of siblings, you and Jack would pick on each other constantly. To an outsider or a new kid, it seemed as if you hated each other.

No matter how much you hated each other, the Newsies loved both of you equally. You and Jack had different roles in the group, but it was clear that you both loved your fellow Newsies.

“Hey, Y/N,” Smalls yelled, crossing the Lodging house, “seen ma’ cap? Need it t’day ‘specially.”

“I’se got it kiddo,” you returned holding up the hat.

“I ain’t a kid,” Smalls grumbled, tired of all of the teasing that came with their size.

“Aww! Smalls,” you smiled sweetly, “we’s all kids. You’s just littler than the rest o’us.”

Smalls stuck their tongue out at that comment and jumped up to grab the cap. It was jerked out of Smalls’s reach before they could get a hold on it. They tackled you and eventually wrestled it out of your hands. You both got up quickly, the smaller of the two putting their cap on triumphantly.

“Y/N!!!” Albert ran towards you and crouched down behind you, “Hide me!!”

“What happened, Al? You steal Race’s cigar again?” you laughed as you said it, not trying to hide the boy at all.

“Yeah, but ‘e’s real mad ‘bout it t’day,” he replied.

Just then, Race lunged at them. You jumped out of the way quickly. Albert tried to follow suit, but ended up falling in the least graceful way possible.

“You’s gonna break somethin’ actin’ like that!” Jack said, coming down the stairs.

“Race ‘ttacked me!” Albert yelled.

“‘Ey! You took ma’ cigar!” Race yelled back.

“And you’s both actin’ like toddlers!” you commented, leaning against the table.

“Real helpful, Y/N,” Jack said to you, sarcastically.

“I know. I’se a gem ain’t I?” You replied as you slapped Albert jokingly on the shoulder.

“Yeah, sure,” Jack said, annoyed and unamused, “all a’you’se can go. Y/N, go up to the Penthouse.”

Both you and the Newsies followed Jack’s instructions, although you were more upset about it. There were quite a few murmurs throughout the crowd of teenagers on their way to their strike. Many of these were about the day ahead of them, and many were about your ongoing protests of the strike. Jack had somehow managed to keep you from undermining the entire ordeal, but you weren’t going to give up yet.

“Jack, this ain’t gonna go well,” you said the minute you saw your brother climbing the ladder.

“‘ow do you know that, Y/N? You’s gonna scare them Newsies, our friends, for what? A feelin’?” Jack asked you as he rubbed his forehead in frustration, “I’s scared as hell, Y/N, don’t think I ain’t, but I won’t—I can’t—stop the strike now. You ain’t wantin’ to go with us to stop the wagons? Fine. Stay here.”

“Jack, you know I ain’t abandonin’ the Newsies,” you replied as if your decision was obvious, “I mayn’t believe in the strike or stoppin’ the wagons, but I do got faith in our pals. I’m goin’ with ya.”

“Then why’s you fightin’ it so hard,” he asked in a mix of a frustrated yell and an exhausted question.

“I don’t wants my friends layed up with no money and broke bones,” you yelled out, “there ain’t one trolley strika’ that ain’t hurt!”

“We ain’t gonna get hurt!” Jack yelled. He was scared, so scared, but he didn’t want to show it. He couldn’t show it. He had to be the leader, the strong one.

“You don’t know that,” you grumbled, reluctantly adding an ending, “I’s still goin’, though.”

“Just… don’t stop the strike. You know’se I care ‘bout those kids more than myself. I ain’t gonna get ‘em hurt. Anythin’ else you’s wantin’ to say?” Jack asked just to be sure and change the topic.

“Yeah,” you said to your brother, “you know I’s with ya’ no matter what, right? I don’t care that you’s had to run your big mouth an’ get us in this mess. I don’t care how this s’endin’. I’s okay. I’s with ya’.”

“I gotcha, Y/N,” Jack replied, nodding his head to say that he understood, “and I’s with ya’, too. Don’t matta’ what happens t’day. I’s gonna be there for ya’. Are we done now? I’s might die with all this sappy stuff,” He sighed dramatically.

“Yeah. You’s gotta be two years old, Jack,” you grumbled.

“No. I’s just got somewhere t’be,” Jack said, “Shit! We gotta get to the strike!” He quickly pushed you to the ladder.

“Fine! I’s gonna be comin’ in a second,” you said, moving out from in front of Jack.

“Ugh, ‘kay, but I ain’t waitin’ for ya’,” Jack said as he climbed down the ladder.

You looked out over New York, your home. It looked incredibly warm and inviting at this time of day. The sun rising, just peeking through the buildings. It cast a golden glow over the New York. It felt so unbelievably wrong for the city to look like this, like a cruel trick to disguise the cold place, the city where children had to fight to get paid because they had no money. A place where your friends had to fight because most had no parents to fight for them.

A family was a different story. They all had a family. Race had no mother or father, sure, but he had friends close enough to be his siblings. Albert had brothers and a father but preferred the rowdy family he had found at the Lodge. Finch may have run from his blood family, but that didn’t mean he had nobody to support him.

All of them had a family, and, if they didn’t, they found one. Family meant support; it meant care. Family does everything they can to help each other. Family is unconditional love for the other members of it. That is why you were doing this, for your perfectly mismatched family.

Jack’s distant curses pulled you from your thoughts. You walked to the ladder, laughing uncontrollably at the sight you found there. Jack had slipped on a few steps and landed flat on his ass.

“You need some help, old man?” you joked as you gracefully climbed down the ladder and jumped down the few rungs Jack had missed.

“I ain’t needin’ help,” he grumbled, “you’s gonna need help before I kill ya.”

“You’s gonna have to catch me first,” you exclaimed, running out the door.

Jack ran after you. He almost caught up a few times, but you managed to escape.

You two arrived later than the rest of the boys, but there was still nobody else there. You quickly hid behind Albert, who betrayed you just as you had earlier. Jack, though, was too busy at that moment to notice.

Questions of whether or not the other boroughs were coming were immediately directed at Jack, who honestly had no clue. All he knew was that Brooklyn wasn’t coming. That alone could have answered the questions he was getting, all of the Newsies knew it, but he just couldn’t let his friends, his family, down. Jack tried to hide that fact, but Davey was a lot more honest than he was. He started telling the story of their trip to Brooklyn before Jack could stop him, so he reluctantly followed along. The other boroughs weren’t coming, not without Brooklyn.

You all walked through the gates after they’d been unlocked, and immediately, Davey’s little brother, Les, asked the question they’d all been silently asking themselves:

“Are we doing the right thing?”

“Sure we are,” Davey assured.

The other Newsies fought him a bit on that, but Davey quickly tried to turn it to someone they knew, someone they trusted, Jack.

Jack tried to tell them why it was so important that they stand there, that they strike, but he couldn’t. He knew that they wouldn’t listen to him. They knew him, and, yes, they trusted him, but this was different. This was important, and Jack didn’t know how to tell them that. He didn’t have the right words, so he turned it back to Davey.

Davey was hesitant at first, but he did well at encouraging the group. He talked about fear and courage, he talked about how courage wasn’t the absence of fear but the ability to overcome it, and he talked about the importance of the strike. Davey praised Crutchie’s sign and his efforts to fight as best he could, and he gave all of you the perfect reminder of your reasons for striking: to save their friends and family, to get respect for the working kids, and, the most powerful reason, anger.

Only three boys stepped up to buy papers, but you knew it was enough. Jack knew it, too. He walked in front of the crowd to face the small amount that stood against them. He glanced back, hiding the fear in him well, but not well enough to fool you. You gave him a small, reassuring smile before mouthing, “Don’t let ‘em scare ya.”

He nodded slightly and stepped up a little further. As soon as he started the words flooded out of his mouth. All of the anger and dissatisfaction with the situation, and not just for him. He knew he was luckier than some. He was angry about all of the kids in the city used for unfair labor. They had no other hope, no other way for their voices to be heard.

He finished up, and Les said a small, adorable “Please?” One of the kids walked up to Jack. You sized him up as best you could. He tried his best to look big and scary, but it didn’t take much. He was strong and could definitely beat Jack in a fight based on strength alone, but you knew Jack had ways of tricking the other guy whenever he fought. You didn’t think it’d come to that, though. The boy’s toughness seemed fake. It seemed as if he was trying too hard to seem as scary as he was. He looked in Jack’s eyes for any type of fear or cowardice. Jack stubbornly refused to back down, though, true to your family’s most known quality.

Soon, the boy spoke, “I’m with ya’!”

He joined your group and soon the others did, too. You all celebrated immediately. You cheered and hugged your friends, even accidentally lifting Crutchie a little bit off the ground in your excitement. You threw newspapers in the air and laughed with your fellow Newsies. You all posed for a picture that reporter Jack liked. It all seemed so perfect, you even forgot why you had opposed the strike.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound forced you all to look up. You saw Wiesel there holding a bat, which you assumed caused the sounds. He had the Delanceys and some goons backing him up. The sight caused an intense fear to hit everyone. You could tell from the look on his face, even Davey knew this meant trouble.

“Newsies,” Jack yelled, “get ‘em!”

You all started throwing stacks of paper at them. They tried to get to you, but they couldn’t.

The shrill sound of a whistle interrupted the fighting momentarily. Romeo ran up to the officer before anyone could stop him. You watched in horror as Romeo was slapped to the ground.

“Cheese it, fellas! It’s the bulls!” Jack ran. He ran as fast as he could, everyone did.

You started to follow before you heard Crutchie yelling.

“Jack,” he screamed, reaching out for him, “wait for me!”

You saw Jack reach back for him. He tried to save Crutchie, but he couldn’t. Oscar and Morris grabbed him before Jack could get to him.

As the Delanceys fought with Crutchie, they punched him, knocking him to the ground. Snyder, who you’d just now noticed, held his Crutch above his head, getting ready to strike. As it came down, you ran up and grabbed it. You tried to remember what Jack taught you about fighting. It did no good. Snyder didn’t fight fair, the Delanceys were on you in a second. The last thing you saw was the cold face of Oscar Delancey as you were dragged off with Crutchie.

———

Tag List!

@meangirlsx @not-all-gays @seasickdolphin @sunflower-anon  @theatricalwriter @percabeth15

[philharmaddy-blog]

Disney Tag

So I think in the coming weeks I’ll be alternating posts between fun/hype and informational, so I thought I’d start off with a Disney Tag! Thanks to Steph for letting me steal her Disney Tag format, you can find her blog on her upcoming DCEP here.

So without further ado, let’s get into it... Grab your snacks, because this will be a long one!

Disney Movie: This is a hard one, but I think I have to go with The Little Mermaid just because of the number of times I watched that movie as a kid on VCR purely because my parents wouldn’t let me watch the behind the scenes footage that played after the movie unless I watched the whole thing through! FUN FACT: I was terrified of all animated movies as a kid, because I thought they were all as scary as A Bug’s Life, the crazy creations of Sid in Toy Story and the two terrifying scenes from Fantasia (Rite of Spring dinosaurs and Night on Bald Mountain)

DCOM Movie: Does The Lizzie McGuire Movie count?

Pixar Movie: The Incredibles. I love that soundtrack so much!

Disney Sequel: Either Lion King 3/1.5 or The Rescuers Down Under. Although I’m sure with Wreck It Ralph 2 coming out soon, my answer will probably change!

Disney Song: Belle. The writing is brilliant, the backing orchestral score is beautiful, and it sets the scene of the small provincial town so perfectly as the opening number of Beauty and the Beast.

Disney Love Song: It’s not a duet (well, it kind of is if you count the Muses), but I Won’t Say I’m In Love from Hercules is one of my favourites. 

Disney Villain Song: This one is easy. Poor Unfortunate Souls is such a classic.

Disney Song that gets stuck in my head: My brain will switch between Someday My Prince Will Come and A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. But nothing is as much of an ear worm as It’s A Small World...

Disney Soundtrack: If we are including Pixar, it would be The Incredibles, because I love Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. If it’s strictly Disney Animation, then I would go with Sleeping Beauty since they used Tchaikovsky’s ballet score. Or maybe Princess and the Frog for that sweet Dixieland jazz? I don’t know, it’s too hard to decide! Never ask a musician what their favourite music is...

Disney Quote: “I give myself very good advice, but I seldom follow it” (Alice in Wonderland)

Disney Ride: I think I have to go with Expedition Everest after my younger brother and I tricked my dad into riding it (we didn’t tell him about the bit that goes backwards!). Plus I love that documentary about its construction, even if we now only have the Disco Yeti.... 

Disney Show: Wishes will always be my favourite. 

Disney Parade: Festival of Fantasy, although I don’t know if it’s as good now that the dragon has gone down in flames.... literally...

Disney Food: The beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter

WDW/DL? I have to go with WDW since it’s the only one I’ve visited

WDW Park: Has to be Magic Kingdom since it’s the one that I spent the most time in, but I also adore Animal Kingdom

Disney Photo:  It has to be my amazing candid shot with Gaston. 

Time for some characters!

Princess: Anna, she’s such a goofball!

Disney Princess Dress: I love the classic Cinderella dress. Although Merida’s looks super comfy!

Prince: Either Flynn Rider or Prince Naveen, I love those suave, charming personalities

Couple: Meg and Hercules

Side-Kick: Mushu

Villain: I love all the villains so it’s hard to choose, but I narrowed it down to Ursula and Hades. All the sass!

Animal: Maximus (the horse from Tangled)

Pixar Character: There are so many good ones to choose from! But I think Dory takes the cake

Disney character I most identify with: Probably Ariel or Anna because I am overly enthusiastic about the most mundane things

Pixar character I most identify with: The seagulls in Finding Nemo any time there is food around

Disney movie I would star in if I could: Probably Hercules because I would love to be a Muse.... but really, we could all do with having a new Disney film where the princess is an alto...

Disney movie that makes me laugh: Again, Hercules. Despite how badly inaccurate the movie is to Greek mythology (even the name itself is wrong), I still think it’s one of the funniest of the animated movies. Either that or Aladdin, because Robin Williams is a gem.

Disney movie that makes me cry: Not technically Disney since it’s Pixar, but Up. Every time. Storytime: my state orchestra were doing ‘Pixar In Concert’, where they played medleys of the soundtracks with clips of the movie up on a massive screen. But not for Up, no.... They played the entire first 15 or so minutes of the movie with the soundtrack live. I think everyone in that entire theatre was sobbing by the end of it.

Disney item I collect: I don’t have any at the moment but I’m hoping to start pin trading and collecting signatures once I get there! I’m more of an experience over material kind of girl.

Most treasured Disney item: A card that says “If you can dream it, you can do it”, signed by all the teachers of the music department from my high school that I was given at the end of my final year when I was music captain.

First Disney movie I ever saw: Fantasia. I had a Sorcerer Mickey plush in my room, but I was asleep for the majority of the movie. Except for the two sections I mentioned earlier that scared me off watching more animated movies for years...

What I would like to see in a Disney movie: Please make the princess an alto and non-belter! Please!!! For the sake of all of us girls with low voices who can’t belt out Let it Go or warble along to Sleeping Beauty or Snow White!

What I would like to see at a Disney park: Still waiting for that fifth gate based around Disney Villains filled with thrill rides! Or maybe shooting a bit lower in expectations, a revamped version of the old and forgotten Fire Mountain idea for Adventureland in the form of a roller coaster themed around the volcano from Moana?

Park character I was/am looking forward to meeting: I’ve met Gaston which was pretty great. But otherwise I really want to meet some of the other princes! In particular, Flynn Rider and Naveen. Also can’t wait to meet Chewie in Hollywood Studios!

Best Disney Story: So to set the scene, it’s just as the park is about to open after Extra Magic Hours, I had been hanging out in New Fantasyland solo while my dad was sleeping in. I go to try and find where the meet and greet for Cinderella’s step family are, only to be given the hint by a Character Attendant to get in line for the carousel. I end up on a horse in between Anastasia and Drizella, with Lady Tremaine a few horses away! But that’s not the end of the story… After getting off the ride, I end up walking with Lady Tremaine to her character spot, idly chatting about how awful Cinderella’s hospitality was at the Royal Table last night, how the matriarchy will rise again, etc. Finally get to the character spot and see a massive line has already formed. So I get ready to say farewell to the characters. But no! I get told by Lady Tremaine that I’m a “VIP” and as a lady of such high class deserve only the best. And so I skip the entire queue and get an amazing photo right away!

And that’s all, folks! 

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! My next pre-DCEP hype post will probably be a full bucket list - so probably even longer than this one!

[lisatelramor]

Not Left To Stand Alone Ch9

Kuroba Takumi had very set weekly schedules as for when he visited Kuroba. Wednesdays were Kuroba’s late days, so he never visited then. Saguru wasn’t expecting anything more from the evening than grading papers over takeaway and a pot of herbal tea. The knock on his door, therefor, was surprise enough that he left a streak of ink across the test he was grading. Saguru stared at the thick black line marring the page and supposed it was good that he hadn’t been using red ink at that moment or it would look like he’d tried to cross out half the page. The knock sounded again, this time softer, like the knocker was having second thoughts. Saguru set down his pen and made his way to the door.

On the other side was Takumi, hand half raised to try knocking a third time. His lips were pressed tight together, failing to keep a neutral face with his obvious nerves.

“Hakuba-sensei,” he said, lowering his hand. His eyes fixed somewhere to the side of Saguru’s left shoulder. “You said I could…” He trailed off.

Saguru opened the door wide enough for him to enter. “Please, come in.”

“Ah, ex-excuse the intrusion,” Takumi said. He slid into the room with Kuroba’s easy grace, sliding his shoes off. Saguru didn’t have guest slippers, which seemed to throw Takumi for a moment.

“Sock feet are fine,” Saguru said. He had half expected to feel uneasy at this conversation finally occurring. If anything he was almost amused. It felt strange for a Kuroba to be so openly nervous to talk to him.  “The apartment isn’t much.” He led Takumi to the main room, waving a hand at the two chairs clustered around his desk and the mess of papers on it, competing for space with his new plant and a pot of tea. “Would you care for a cup of tea?”

Takumi twitched, tearing his eyes away from examining the apartment to nod. “Yes, please.”

Saguru smiled and went to get his other mug from the cupboard. He wondered what Takumi saw in the room, what it revealed about him. It was still bare for the most part; just the necessities and things from work and a plant the only personality to it. Did that read as someone of simple tastes to him? Someone who didn’t plan permanence? Or would it be some other trail his mind would wander down? Saguru didn’t know Takumi enough to guess where his mind would go, but if he was anything like Kuroba in how he thought, it would be somewhere that Saguru didn’t immediately think of.

He headed back to his teapot. As he poured the fresh cup of tea, he observed Takumi from the corner of his eye. Takumi hesitated with hands hovering over the chair, snatching glances at the papers on the desk like he knew he shouldn’t look at them as they were someone’s test scores, but not quite able to reign in the curiosity. Saguru held back a snort of amusement. Yes, there was plenty of Kuroba in him even if Aoko seemed to have taught him to have stricter morals.

“Sit,” Saguru said. He handed over the teacup. The papers were swept to one side to finish grading later. His dinner remains were stacked on top after a cursory glance that there weren’t any spills that would stain the pages. He settled heavily into his seat, absently massaging his knee. He didn’t use the cane around his tiny apartment room much.

Takumi sat in the second chair like he was going to flee at any moment, both hands curled around the porcelain mug and his body perched on the very edge of the seat. The silence stretched as Takumi stared at his tea without drinking.

Saguru took pity on him. “You know, I don’t bite. I did say you could come to talk whenever you wanted.”

“I know.” Takumi took a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m trying to figure out where to start.”

“If it helps, I didn’t meet your parents until halfway through their second year of high school. I am unaware when or how they met, but they had clearly been close for a long time at that point.”

Takumi waved a hand. “I do know how they met. Baa-chan told me. Tou-san gave Kaa-san a flower near the clock tower when they were kids.” Saguru had a moment’s epiphany for why Kid had held a heist at that clock tower. It hadn’t made much sense at the time, but a heist for sentimental reasons, well, Kuroba had always been soft on Aoko even when he wasn’t inclined to openly show it. Takumi frowned. “You said you were rivals with Tou-san.”

Saguru leaned back in his chair, taking along sip of his tea. How much could he talk about? He’d have to be careful hoe he worded things. He’d promised Kuroba and Aoko that he wouldn’t reveal Kid to the world, and he certainly had no intention of making their home lives more complicated by leading Takumi to the inevitable conclusion if neither of his parents wanted him near that truth. They had good reason not to considering the amount of danger in both their lives. “I did use the word rivals,” Saguru said, hand warm on his cup. “I am not sure it is entirely accurate. We were not truly competing toward a shared goal, merely we disagreed on certain topics and were forever prodding each other to get a reaction.”

“Like when you hit on my mom.”

Saguru raised an eyebrow, taking in the slight hunch to Takumi’s shoulders and the pouting jut of his lower lip. He did seem hung up over that detail. “Yes.” He tapped his index fingers against warm porcelain as he thought. “Your mother is—” was? He didn’t truly know her now, but he couldn’t imagine her changing too much since then even if mop battles had ended. “—a spirited woman. Bright. I couldn’t help but notice her or Kuroba when I transferred to their class.” It was hard to miss duels and angry rants and teasing pranks. And Aoko had shined brightest with her eyes sparking with righteous anger against one of Kuroba’s tricks or some injustice Kid had pulled. Saguru could still clearly picture the way her blue eyes got sharp and her knuckles went white on the handle of her mop. “She was one of the only people in the classroom speaking out against Kaitou Kid, and that is what truly caught my attention. You see, I had transferred hoping to catch Kid and discover his motivation.”

“Seems like a lot of effort to go halfway around the world for Kid,” Takumi muttered into his tea, “even if he is one of the best thieves out there.”

Saguru had a weird and unsettling desire to take offense at Kid being called merely ‘one of the best.’ Perhaps it was lingering pride of his time chasing Kid, or perhaps—more likely—he’d been spending too much time with Kuroba. He pulled his face back to neutral from…whatever expression he had been making. He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, my father was police commissioner at the time, and as a minor with a citizen parent, it wasn’t difficult to arrange. I was interested in the challenge and overly confident that I could catch him where others had failed.” He turned the topic away from himself. “At any rate, I transferred into your parents’ class. Your father and I took a quick disliking to each other. You see, he was Kid’s biggest fan.”

Takumi snorted. “He’s still Kid’s fan, but he doesn’t talk about it much because Kaa-san freaked out about it. I swear, she’d talk about how Kid was frustrating and an insult to the police while Tou-san would want to talk about how Kid could have pulled off his heists like it was one big magic show. I point out that Kid really is a good showman once, and Kaa-san just about bit my head off on her way to scream at Tou-san.”

“Not much about that has changed then,” Saguru said, though he thought it had changed quite a bit. Back in high school, Aoko’s rages hadn’t been personal, and Kuroba’s fan tendencies had been a game. Now Aoko was the police inspector responsible for catching Kid and knew who was behind the mask, but wouldn’t unmask Kid unless she caught him fair and square. It was very personal, and the emotions behind her anger had to run deep to the root of what she would perceive as Kuroba’s betrayal. And Kuroba… Kuroba likely had only wanted more than anger from his son reflected on his alter ego. What parent wouldn’t want their child to respect their skill even if they wouldn’t agree with the motives? It was sad and Takumi was caught in the middle of it. Because he was curious, Saguru asked, “What do you think about Kid?”

Fingers tapped along porcelain harder as Takumi frowned. “He’s probably insane and is either an adrenaline junkie or has a death wish. Kaa-san doesn’t talk about it, but I’ve read some of the police reports.” He looked momentarily guilty. “I know I shouldn’t’ve but there were guns. I’ve heard it from people, and sometimes the media covers it, but Kaa-san never talks about it. I wanted to know.”

“Curiosity does make temptation difficult.” Saguru gave him a smile. He should probably disapprove. Probably. But he’d been in the same shoes in the past and he remembered poking his nose into far too many things his eyes were not supposed to have read at a much younger age than Takumi currently was.

“Anyway.” Takumi took a sip of tea. “Kid’s frustrating on one hand because of Kaa-san, and kind of cool because he can do things that I have trouble wrapping my head around. I should hate him, but I don’t. I just don’t want Kaa-san caught in whatever Kid’s trying to do with all those gems he steals.”

“I see.” Kuroba would be relieved to know the answer to if Takumi hated Kid. “Getting back to Aoko,” and oh, was this going to be a circuitous conversation if Takumi hared off after any related topics, “I flirted with her largely to annoy your father, as I said. He was a fan of Kid and I was one of the people trying to catch him. We didn’t get along and used any opportunity to try and irritate each other in hopes that the other would slip up.” He hesitated. He wanted to be as honest as possible. “At one point I even theorized he could be Kid, and I thought if I made him angry enough he would get sloppy and I could catch him out. Flirting with Aoko-san did make him angry. But I never did prove that theory.”

“Do you still think that?” Takumi asked, honestly curious. Saguru would have expected denial or anger at such an accusation.

The lack of such a response was strange. Did he think that Kuroba would never do such a thing? Or that such a hypothesis was a natural progression of thoughts? Saguru sipped his tea. “I do not,” he said slowly, “accuse Kuroba of being Kid anymore.” Technically true. He could also truthfully say he didn’t think Kuroba was Kid because he knew Kuroba was Kid, but worded as an accusation, it felt much less like a half-truth. “Who Kid actually is, is no longer any of my business.”

Takumi leaned forward. “Aren’t you curious?”

“Isn’t everyone?” Saguru countered.

Takumi wrinkled his nose. “Not everyone has chased Kid. I’d think that anyone who chased him would want to know. Ojii-chan doesn’t shut up about it. Kaa-san wants to catch him, identity aside. I can’t think of anyone on the task force I’ve met who isn’t curious. I’m curious and I don’t even chase him. You’ve got to be curious.”

“I’m curious about his motives,” Saguru said, because even after all these years, he still hadn’t put it all together. Plenty of theories, but unless Kuroba told him, they would only ever be theories. “That, out of everything, was what interested me most as a detective. What motivates people to commit crimes, what pushes them to commit a murder or steal a valuable or hold someone for ransom? What logic did they follow, what made it worth the risk for them and was it still worth it now that they have been caught.” Old enthusiasm rose in Saguru, thick with nostalgia. He still was interested in it. If it weren’t for his leg… No, it wasn’t just his leg anymore, it was knowing that between it and how he had let his skills grow slack, it wasn’t safe for him or those around him for Saguru to be a detective anymore. He’d seen proof of that firsthand.

“Yeah, but what about who he is?” Takumi persisted.

“Unless his identity is part of what is motivating him, it doesn’t matter,” Saguru said. “Kid could be a mailman or a showman or a social recluse with delusions of grandeur. A name and face couldn’t mean less to me without the mind and soul behind it.”

Takumi flopped back in his chair, balancing it on two legs like Kuroba used to do with just as much easy balance. “Okay. Fine. Can’t say I get it, but okay. Kid’s interesting for his brain not the rest of him. You’d think you’d still be chasing him for that though.”

“There are other things in life these days.” The words felt hollow. “Anyway,” Saguru said, pushing away nostalgia and regret, “you came here to talk about your parents, not Kid.”

“Right!” Takumi grinned, arms crossing behind his head. He was tempting gravity with the angle of the chair, but it seemed practiced enough that Saguru let it slide. Besides, it was a relief to see him relaxing. “So, do you have any embarrassing stories or anything? Because Tou-san can talk around high school for hours and tell you nothing and Kaa-san only ever brings stuff up to get angry at.” His eyes glittered mischievously at the thought of possible parental blackmail material.

“I have plenty,” Saguru said as he fought an answering smile. Most of the stories would probably give Takumi ideas. Still… “How much have you heard about Koizumi Akako or the infamous Valentine’s Day debacles?”

“Nothing, tell me more.”

Saguru found himself grinning as he recounted the Valentine’s Day he had been there for and the chaos that had sprung from it. He couldn’t remember more women being irritated by Kuroba than that day, and Koizumi had always been at least as terrifying as Aoko when angry. The rest of the conversation passed quickly. By the time Saguru had recounted Valentine’s Day and a few more of Kuroba and Koizumi’s unfortunate interactions and how Aoko fit into them, he’d looked up and well over an hour had passed.

“Ah,” he said, rounding up the conversation, “it’s almost time for your curfew.”

“Really?” Takumi looked at the glowing LED display of Saguru’s desk clock. “Huh.” He straightened, stretched, and Saguru had yet another moment of remembering a much younger Kuroba right before he did something athletic. “Time went a lot faster than I was expecting. Hakuba-sensei, thank you.” He bowed politely and Saguru waved the gesture away.

“No, it was a pleasure. I hadn’t thought about back then to such an extent in a long time. It was nice.” Saguru smiled and walked Takumi to the door. “If you ever want to talk again, please do.”

***

Takumi came back the next week, and the week after that, hungry for stories. At first he was satisfied by the happy and humorous ones, but Saguru knew that it wouldn’t last, not when Takumi was trying to understand how things were now.

“Do you know why my parents divorced?” Takumi asked, the question not surprising at all. He was barely in through the door this time, agitated, pent-up energy in him like the question had been knocking around in him so long he’d bust if he didn’t ask it now.

“I think that is a question best left to your parents to answer.”

“They don’t talk about it. I don’t understand,” Takumi said, throwing himself into the free chair next to Saguru’s increasingly messy desk. “Kaa-san gets all serious and deflects or talks around the subject, which I get, she left Tou-san. But not even Tou-san talks about it, and he usually gives some answer to my questions.” Takumi’s face scrunched, his upper lip almost touching the tip of his nose. “And that includes stuff most parents won’t talk with their kids about. I asked his about sex once when I was ten and he answered all the questions I had and even covered stuff I shouldn’t even have known to ask about like kinks and same-sex practices and how to stay safe no matter what I was doing. I blame Shiemi for that, she reads stuff she shouldn’t for any age.”

Saguru pushed the image of Kuroba discussing the safety of bondage—how could his mind not go to bondage after years of handcuff quips thrown his direction—for another time. “Perhaps they don’t feel that you are ready to hear it.”

Takumi snorted. “Please. They’d have said it could wait until I was older. This is different. Not even Jii-san knows, and he wasn’t lying. He’s a terrible liar and he didn’t dodge the question either, so he really doesn’t know.”

How Aoko explained divorcing Kuroba to her father without mentioning the actual cause, Saguru couldn’t begin to guess. He felt a bit bad for Nakamori-keibu. He would have been pulled between loyalty to his daughter and fondness for him son-in-law without any indication of why he should be angry at Kuroba like Aoko so clearly was.

“Do you know?” Takumi prompted again, leaning on Saguru’s desk. “Don’t avoid it, just…do you know?”

Saguru felt guilty under the earnest weight of Takumi’s stare. He sighed. “Yes, I know why your parents divorced. And no I’m not going to tell you.”

“But why?” Takumi scowled, fiddling with the corner of one of Saguru’s folders.

“It would be undermining your parents’ authority, and I can’t do that. It’s not my story to tell.” Saguru pulled the folder away and added it to the stack of papers he needed to grade that night. Takumi picked at his nails instead, plucking at the ragged edges of cuticles like removing them would reveal something.

“But how can you know when even Jii-san doesn’t. Is it because you were a detective or just because you knew them in high school?”

“A bit of both.” Saguru sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t getting any work done so long as Takumi wanted answers. He closed the folder and gave his full attention. “Nakamori-keibu is a good detective, but he didn’t know your parents the way other students their age would.”

“But he’s Kaa-san’s dad,” Takumi said, picking at a bit of dirt stuck under one nail. “He should know her enough to figure it out.”

How to explain it? “Would you say your parents know you well?”

Takumi frowned. “Yes.” He looked up. “I can talk to them about pretty much anything between the two of them even if they don’t talk about themselves.”

“But would you say they knew everything about you?” Saguru prompted. “That you didn’t have a few secrets from them?”

“No…” Takumi rested his hands in his lap, no longer picking at them. “So you’re saying he didn’t know parts of them, important parts, because they kept them hidden?”

“Yes.” Close enough to what Saguru had been aiming for. “A parent isn’t going to know everything about their child, and often because they are so close they are more likely to be blind to things someone that did not know their child as well would notice.”

“Oh.” The frown was back. “But they still love each other. Sure Kaa-san is angry at Tou-san a lot, but if she didn’t still love him she wouldn’t storm in and make sure he’s eating right or check and see if he’s been having drinking binges—he doesn’t do any of that much anymore, but he did for a while and she would help get him back on track.” The frown was turning into a look up misery and Saguru wasn’t sure if he was capable of calming Takumi down if he started crying. He had never been good at handling tears. “And Tou-san keeps track of Kaa-san’s health and sneaks her favorite foods into the cupboards when she isn’t looking when she’s had a bad week, and he leaves a flower at the door on her birthday even. You can’t tell me that they’re not still attached, because they are.”

Saguru rubbed his forehead because yes, clearly they were. Of course they were. They couldn’t get away from each other enough to separate their lives but too much hurt kept them from ever getting back together.

Takumi sighed. “The only thing I can think of is that Tou-san did something bad, so bad Kaa-san can’t forgive it. And I think she could forgive an affair, but I don’t know if she could forgive him doing something illegal.” He sighed. “Maybe something small, but I don’t think she’d ever forgive him if he killed someone or something. But I don’t think Tou-san would ever do that…” Takumi trailed off, his voice getting quieter and quieter as he spoke.

Saguru cleared his throat. “Ah. I do not believe that your father would commit murder.”

“But what else would Kaa-san be unable to forgive?”

Takumi’s elbows were tucked up close to his sides and his arms crossed just enough to make it look like he was holding himself together with a weak grip of his arms. Saguru looked away. The sun was too bright for this dark of a conversation. It sent dappled shadows through green leaves of the tree right outside his window. Saguru looked back at Takumi. “I can’t tell you why your parents divorced, but if you would like, I can talk to them for you.”

“It won’t help,” Takumi said.

“I can make an attempt at the least.”

Takumi sighed. “Thanks.”

Saguru had the awkward urge to reach out and pat Takumi’s shoulder in some kind of comforting gesture, but it felt like it would be too familiar an action East or West in this sort of situation. Instead he let his hand rest on the corner of the desk close to Takumi and leaned forward. “Would you like to hear about their first date? Some of the account is secondhand, but I was there for the last bit where Aoko-san burst into the police station wielding a broom.”

Takumi smiled, barely there, but a real smile. “Thanks. I’d like that.”

It wasn’t much to offer when Takumi was asking for why everything had fallen apart. But it did show that from the start of their romantic relationship, Kid had been something that broke any moment they were having.

Later, when Takumi left and the door closed behind him, Saguru was left with the papers he was supposed to be grading. He frowned down at a sentence construction worksheet, barely seeing the shaky attempts at English written there. It might, he thought, be about time to have a talk with Kuroba about his meetings with Takumi.

***

It was Thursday, and on a normal Thursday, Kuroba got off work before Saguru got home and took time to do…whatever it was Kuroba did with his relaxation time. On weeks a heist was scheduled, Kuroba was gone long hours and might not show up until the middle of the night, waking Saguru from the light sleep he managed when his thoughts were preoccupied by his neighbor. But some Thursdays Kuroba checked in on Saguru—and he always did at least once a week—and caught up with each other’s week and life. This Thursday Kuroba knocked on Saguru’s door with a box of post-dinner doughnuts to go with Saguru’s habitual post-dinner tea. He looked so relaxed and cheerful for once—and honestly so, not pretending to be relaxed—that Saguru felt a bit guilty knowing he would be leading the conversation in directions Kuroba wouldn’t be happy discussing.

Saguru greeted him with a smile anyway, letting him choose which seat he wanted. Naturally, Kuroba chose the one closest to the window like always. It likely wasn’t even conscious anymore. Kuroba naturally went to the easiest exit. Which….was actually exploitable, but as Saguru wasn’t out to catch Kid anymore, it wasn’t his business.

Saguru passed Kuroba a teacup and dishes for the doughnuts. “The tea is a mint-green blend,” he said, taking his seat across from Kuroba. His knee twinged on the way down. It was probably because he was a bit nervous to broach the subject. “Is that okay?”

“It’s fine.” Kuroba leaned back, stretching like a cat, above his head and arcing his back. Part of Saguru appreciated the flex of muscles through Kuroba’s t-shirt. Kuroba plucked a custard filled, chocolate coated doughnut from the box. “Mint is good with sweets.”

A glance at the box confirmed Saguru’s favorite plain cake doughnuts with a light glaze. He had yet to figure out how Kuroba learned these things. Saguru hadn’t eaten a doughnut in years. “Your day went well?” he asked.

“Finished a project. An incredibly detailed replica of a Chinese vase that they needed about a week ago because it needs preservation work done on it. Whoever did it last must have done a shoddy job because it was deteriorating.” Custard oozed out the end of the doughnut as Kuroba bit into it. “I am incredibly proud of the replica. You could look it over and not spot a single difference down to the cracks in pattern, mistakes, and the weird bubble near the bottom from a mistake firing. Now I don’t think I could replicate something like the random pattern of natural glaze firing, but I can paint a perfect replica no problem, using the right pigment mixture and given enough time.”

Saguru nibbled at his doughnut. It was sweeter than he remembered them being. Perhaps his tastes had changed. He tried to think of a way to approach the topic that wasn’t blunt and wouldn’t come out as accusatory. “I had a conversation with Takumi-kun yesterday.”

“Oh?” Kuroba sat up, intent. “You two have been getting along recently.”

“Yes. I believe we have managed to work through much of our differences.” Much to Saguru’s relief because Takumi was a much better when he had a reason to be friendly than being antagonizing Saguru. “You were right about our shared pasts being the issue. He wants to know more about you and Aoko in high school.”

“A different perspective, huh?” Kuroba frowned. “I guess that’s better than him acting out.”

“It’s understandable why he’d be curious. I do have a unique perspective for an outsider.” Not the most time spent, but he’d kept track of both Aoko and Kuroba back then with all the attention to detail that was his deductive habit.

“You do,” Kuroba agreed.

Saguru took a sip of tea, peripherally aware of Kuroba’s relaxation and good mood starting to dissolve as he attempted to read where Saguru was going with this. “You have no reason to worry, I have no intention of revealing anything you would be uncomfortable sharing with him.”

“I’d hope you wouldn’t,” Kuroba said flatly.

“As I have said, I have no reason to interfere in anything related to Kid,” Saguru said, starting to feel a bit tense as well. He sighed. The mint tea was supposed to be relaxing, but tea wasn’t enough to smooth the way to unpleasant topics.

“Whatever you’re trying to work up to, say it,” Kuroba said.

Very well. Kuroba had asked. Saguru squared his shoulders and leaned forward. “You might want to talk to Takumi-kun a bit more about your separation from Aoko-san. He seems to be working with worst case scenarios for why Aoko-san left you. He actually speculated it could be because you murdered someone.”

Kuroba looked at him blankly over the doughnut box. “What? You can’t be serious.”

“He does not truly believe you killed someone,” Saguru said, a thread of impatience in his voice. “I don’t think you are capable of murder short of protecting Takumi-kun or Aoko-san. He is merely speculating as he lacks a satisfactory answer.”

“We gave him answers.”

“Apparently they were not good enough.”

Kuroba scowled and it smoothed into an impersonal mask. It hurt and Saguru was surprised at the emotion. Kuroba was retreating rather than discussing as an adult. “Well, at least you seem to think highly of me. Not capable of murder huh?”

Sarcasm. Lovely. Saguru rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Kuroba, I have always thought highly of you. Whether it was as an adversary to match wits with or for your skills, I have never thought you were beneath my respect.”

“Funny how you showed it back then by handcuffing yourself to me.”

“And you pulled off the heist all the same. I still don’t see how, but you earned my respect time and again even as you earned my irritation.” Kuroba’s cup of tea remained untouched. He held himself too still. Saguru searched the mask for answers, but beyond the fact that he knew he had hit a sore spot, Saguru couldn’t tell what Kuroba was thinking.

“Past is past,” Kuroba said as if he had not been the one to divert the conversation. “Why are you trying to tell me how to raise my own son?”

Why? Saguru thought about the desperation he’d glimpsed in Takumi’s eyes in the unguarded moment he’d shown. Takumi wasn’t the first child he’d seen torn between two parents, and he wouldn’t be the last, but Saguru knew that sort of emotion on an intimate level.

“Kuroba…I was born in Japan and moved to Britain when I was six years old.”

“And?”

“Despite being a Japanese citizen, I have never once been seen as Japanese.”

“Well you’re British…” Confusion showed in Kuroba’s eyes though the mask didn’t flicker. Saguru mustered his patience.

“Until I was six, I never questioned that I was Japanese.”

“Seriously, Hakuba, where are you going with this?”

“My point, Kuroba,” Saguru said in a clipped voice, “is that when I was eight, I wondered why my mother lived in London while my father lived in Japan. They claimed to still love each other, but the children in my first grade class called attention to how odd it was that they lived half a world apart. No one else in my class flew halfway around the world on holidays to visit another parent. No one else had moved halfway across the world in the middle of their first year of primary school.” He took a breath. “My point, Kuroba, is that I asked and asked and asked, but my parents never gave me a satisfactory answer. And do you know what I eventually figured out? My mother moved to England because I did not do well in school in Japan. Because when I started school in Japan, I was not Japanese, no matter what my birth certificate said or who my father was. My parents decided it was better for me to grow up in London and fly to Japan on holidays because I wouldn’t have a good childhood in Japan and Father couldn’t leave the job he spent half a lifetime working toward.”

Saguru leaned forward, staring Kuroba down as Kuroba remained impassive and tense. “It would have been nice to talk about this as a child. Because their effort to keep me from knowing why made me feel even worse when I found out it was for my sake. And Takumi-kun isn’t stupid, Kuroba. He’s going to keep digging. And digging. And he is going to find something out whether you want him to or not, and he will not be happy when he finally does learn the truth.” Saguru leaned even further until Kuroba leaned back and Saguru’s leg twinged from supporting him half-standing. “And you really do not want him blaming himself for the failure of his parents’ relationship.”

“Fuck off, Hakuba,” Kuroba said, anger finally leaking through the mask. “You have no place to judge how I raise my son.”

“I don’t,” Saguru agreed. “I am not Takumi-kun’s parent, I am only his English teacher. But I am your friend and as such I would like for your son to be safe and healthy, and we both know that if he digs—and he will because he is very much your and Aoko’s child—he could get himself and you into danger.” Saguru sat back down in his chair heavily as his knee chose that moment to give out. Kuroba eyed him, still scowling. Saguru let a breath hiss through his teeth and forcefully picked his teacup up. “Drink your damned tea, Kuroba.”

After a long pause, Kuroba picked up his teacup. Saguru let himself relax. Kuroba hadn’t run and he hadn’t shut Saguru down. He was angry, but he was listening. Thinking. Kuroba took a sip of his tea.

“Takumi asked if I was a murderer?” Kuroba asked, subdued.

“Not in so many words.” Saguru took a long swallow of tea and massaged at his knee as the pain went from stabbing to aching, jittery tingles. “It was more that he observed that Aoko would only have left if she deemed something unforgivable, and he was having trouble picturing any other option.”

“Unforgivable, huh?” Kuroba stared into his teacup. He snorted. “I suppose lying about being an internationally wanted thief counts.”

“To be fair, I believe it was the lying more so than the actual thievery that Aoko had a problem with.”

Kuroba rolled his eyes. “No. She only hated Kid the entirety of our high school years. However could that have been the issue?”

Saguru lifted an eyebrow.

Kuroba sighed. “No, it was a combination of the two. I don’t really blame her for not being able to trust me.”

“But you still care for each other.”

“Yeah.” He laughed hollowly. “I’ve never loved anyone else.”

“Mm.” The doughnuts lay abandoned between them. It felt like a metaphor. Something sweet ruined by bitter memories. “I meant it in that I am not trying to tell you how to raise your child, Kuroba. I merely feel that you need to be aware of what Takumi-kun is thinking on this matter. He is frustrated. He was willing to turn to me to learn more. I imagine that is the only reason he accepts me at all.”

“Don’t tell him why.”

“I won’t. How often must I say that I have no intention of telling the world that you are Kid for you to believe it?”

“Well,” Kuroba said with a bit of humor returning to his voice, “you did yell it to the world back in high school.”

“I would like to think we have both matured since then,” Saguru said primly.

Kuroba laughed under his breath. Slowly, his shoulders relaxed. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.” He finished off his lukewarm tea and set the cup back in its saucer. “I keep feeling like I’m messing up as a parent and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“Apology accepted,” Saguru said, inwardly marveling that he had gotten one at all. “I don’t think anyone can be sure that they are doing their job as a parent well.”

“Maybe.” Kuroba stood up in a sudden burst of movement. “Thanks for the tea, but I should probably call Aoko.”

Saguru blinked at him. Normally they would sit and chat a while longer before either sharing a meal or parting ways for the evening before it reached that time. “Of course.”

Kuroba smiled, a there and gone flash of teeth. “No need to get up, I’ll let myself out.”

He at least took the door this time. More than once, Saguru knew he’d taken the window when he wasn’t paying close attention. Saguru set down his empty cup and looked at the box of abandoned doughnuts. He’d done the right thing to bring it up, but he couldn’t help wishing it could have been another day of talking about meaningless things and enjoying each other’s company.

[sarcasmnymph-blog]

Beowulf: The Original Gary Sue

Beowulf. Ah isn’t he just the best! He is so great in fact that he single-handedly (sort of) inspired the most amazing parts of The Lord of the Rings and Skyrim. However, despite its legacy and the fact that it is the oldest “English” text in existence, Beowulf is a very simple story. Or at least simple by epic poetry standards, just look at The Odyssey. And that is because a lot of its text is just ramblings of the Kings, lineages, politics and just exposition dump. (I guess in that sense it really is a high fantasy story) However, once you get rid of all of the fluff, it is a story about how a guy defeated three monsters, becomes a King on the way and had the most rad funeral ever. However, despite how great the exposition is, I will be skipping most of that dump mainly for this summary because well… it adds nothing to the actual story. I will add details where necessary. Let’s begin!

Quest #1 Grendel the Giant

So our story starts with King Hrothgar of Denmark, the son of King Shield Sheafson. The King enjoys an excellent long successful reign. So successful in fact that he decides to build a great mead-hall called the Heorot where his warriors can come and party it up, get gifts, drink. You know basic Nordic stuff. Now the Heorot being the ultimate party place is not very nice to live next to. Especially not for a grumpy giant like our friend Grendel. Since there was no police at the time to shut your noisy neighbors up, Grendel comes up with the only logical solution to this conundrum: Murder! Grendel comes every night to kill the people in Heorot to send them a message. However, again these are Norsemen we are talking about, so they continue partying it up and decide to try and fight the giant to stop him. However, after many nights of murder and party and murder and again partying our hero eventually enters the story.

Our hero Beowulf hears the plight of the people of Denmark and inspired by the challenge of fighting a Giant and decides to ride there with some men and defeat the Giant. King Hrothgar who had connections with Beowulf’s father accepts Beowulf’s help and holds a feast for Beowulf’s honor. Cause partying before killing a Giant that is killing you for partying too much is the best plan of action. On top of this fabulous party plan, Beowulf has an even better plan. You see, giants aren’t warriors and don’t use weapons so it stands to reason that Beowulf shouldn’t use any armor or weapons either. This fantastic plan makes everyone in the party even more excited for this future sparring match. However, a man named Unferth has doubts about Beowulf’s capabilities. Inconceivable! You see, sometime in the past Beowulf lost a swimming match with Breca and Unferth has a hard time believing that a loser like Beowulf could defeat the Giant. And Beowulf accepts that despite going through the water for five days and five nights in armor he couldn’t beat Breca as Beowulf got distracted by the eight sea monsters he defeated. What a shame!

At last, after getting sick of all the drinking and cheering Grendel decides to enter for the showdown. The two have a fist match until Beowulf proves himself the stronger fighter. Beowulf with his own bare arms tears of Grendel’s entire arm from his body. Grendel mortally wounded, walks back to his swamp to die alone as his arm gets hung from the top of the mead-hall as a trophy. What an honorable victory! Everyone cheers for their new hero. Unferth admits that he made a mistake by doubting Beowulf and gives Beowulf a cool power-up sword called Hrunting, a sword that has never failed in a battle. (Spoiler Alert: The sword fails in battle)

Quest #2 Grendel’s mother

I guess Grendel didn’t die all alone after all Since a fantasy story without a revenge subplot can’t exist and Grendel’s mother decides to get some age-old retribution against the Danes. Grendel’s mom (from here on out “Lady Giant”) enters the Heorot and kills Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s trusted advisers. She also steals the trophy arm and returns home. I am sure that how no one heard the Giant sneak in, kill a man and also take a famous trophy is subject to much scholarly debate. However, that is not our concern as King Heorot once again summons Beowulf and his men to go and have some vengeance against the Lady Giant for taking revenge against them.

As our brave heroes ride following the tracks of their enemy they come across and cliff and find Aeschere’s head lying on the ground. Below the cliff is your generic RPG monster swamp. Time for Beowulf to grind some EXP as he jumps into the swamp with no fear of death and defeats all the monsters with a bow and arrow and sinks deeper into the swamp. Now you would think that this would lead to Beowulf drowning and dying of suffocation, but if so you apparently haven’t been paying attention. A little swamp in the lungs only slowly bores Beowulf who simply slowly sinks down to the bottom, probably checks twitter a few times. As he reaches the bottom, the Lady Giant ambushes him and drag him into her cave.

Beowulf, enters another epic showdown, this time with the Lady Giant. He tries to use the sword Hrunting against her but fails. Even the legendary sword is no match for the Giantess. So much for a sword that has never failed in battle. Beowulf decides to resort to the bare arm ripping trick but fails that too as the Lady Giant matches his every blow. However, since this is a hero story, Beowulf finds a conveniently placed sword, made conveniently by Giants. He uses the conveniently massive sword and swings it at the Giantess and kills her. It turns out both Grendel and his mother were incapable of being harmed by human weapons, so a sword made by Giants was the only way to kill her. Oh, and the sword was also conveniently one-time use only and after slicing the Giantess’ head, it melts leaving just the hilt. Beowulf grabs the handle and the Grendel’s face which was in the Lady Giant’s cave and swims back up.

Our heroes return to the mead-hall in triumph and the Danes party it up one last time. King Heorot who has practically adopted Beowulf as his son by this point gives a mighty speech about how great Beowulf will be and how to be a good King and warrior. King Heorot tells his subjects that the only way to greatness is to pursue spiritual over the earthly things. He tells everyone how eternal rewards are much more fruitful than materialistic rewards and then gives Beowulf some gold and materialistic treasures as a reward. Yay! Beowulf is thoroughly satisfied and done with all the partying returns to Geatland when he reunites with his King Hygelac and tells the King of his adventures in Denmark. Beowulf presents his King with most of the treasures he earned in his Giant killing Quests. In time the King Hygelac dies in a battle against the Shylfings, and the kingdom falls to Beowulf because King Hygelac’s widow thinks that Beowulf is just the best. Since Beowulf is just the best, he decides only to be the protector of the actual heir. But the heir dies anyway, and Beowulf becomes the King. Such is Destiny.

Quest #3 Dragon Slaying

King Beowulf being the amazing King he rules the Geats for fifty years wisely and righteously. King Beowulf even manages to stop the war with the Swedes by avenging King Hygelac. However, we still need Beowulf to finish one more Quest. Hence, a thief manages to find his way into the hoarding place of a Dragon and makes the smart decision of stealing a shiny gem studded goblet from let me remind you a Dragon! When the Dragon realizes that he is missing one cup from his gigantic heaps of gold, the Dragon gets furious and comes once again at the only logical conclusion: Murder! The Dragon decides rain fire on everything in his path until he finds the thief and his precious cup. Perfectly Rational. Hmm… I wonder why does this look familiar? *cough* The Hobbit *cough*

Eventually, the fire-breathing dragon starts tormenting, you guessed it, King Beowulf’s Kingdom. Beowulf takes twelve good men and starts investigating and finds the thief that caused this entire menace. Our set of heroes ask the thief to take them to the Dragon’s burrow. Now you would think that the smart way out is to give the dragon the thief and the goblet and make peace. Well, then you haven’t been paying attention, because of course not. The right thing to do is fight the Dragon. However, even Beowulf realizes that unlike the giants Beowulf can’t just wrestle the dragon and hence takes his armor and a shiny sword named Naegling with him to the burrow and challenges the Dragon.

Beowulf fights bravely even at his old age while his companions run for the hills after watching the fire-breathing dragon cause apparently they didn’t read the Quest description. The only man who stays is a young chap named Wiglaf. While fighting the dragon, Beowulf’s sword shatters cause swords are basically tissue paper in this universe. Wiglaf runs to aid Beowulf who is mildly inconvenienced by the Dragon’s fire. However, as soon as Wiglaf rushes in Beowulf get’s bit by the dragon on his neck. Now you would think that a gaping neck wound would make Beowulf succumb and die. Well of course not! As the fight rages on Wiglaf stabs the Dragon in his belly, the only place with no dragon scales. Beowulf finishes the battle by stabbing the dragon with a Deus ex machina knife and our two heroes triumph.

Now you would think that all the blood loss would kill Beowulf. Are you kidding me? Obviously no. Dragon venom, on the other hand, does start killing Beowulf. Now Beowulf being the benevolent, non-materialistic king that he is, asks Wiglaf to bring a piece of the treasure he just won as his last wish. Beowulf looks at the shiny gold he just won and makes Wiglaf the King since Beowulf in his fifty years of being an excellent King didn’t manage to get laid, somehow. Then he asks that they make him the most bad-ass funeral by making him a burrow and then our hero dies. The Geats then host a huge funeral pyre and bury the new found treasure with his body in the burrow.

The End

As you can see at the heart of it, Beowulf is a rather simple story about a man and some monster slaying. However, despite its simplicity it has inspires many stories. Hell, a character is named after Beowulf in even Frank Herbert’s Dune Cycle, the most sci-fi of the sci-fi novels of its time. Tolkien has very openly admitted his inspiration from the classic, and hence every story that followed Tolkien’s footsteps has been inspired by Beowulf to an extent. Say what you want about the character of Beowulf or the story, but you can’t deny that it inspired a legacy of work including most of the high fantasy we see today. Without its influences, Fantasy literature wouldn’t be what it is today, and for that, we have only one person to thank. The amazing Beowulf himself!

[zsielous]

I do want to read your opinions

Well, sure. If you guys want to read one of my game critiques, just read beneath the cut, as this is gonna be a long post.

Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity is one of those games that I hate to love, and love to hate. To put it on the most basest terms, To sum my entire feelings of it, it’s mediocre. As in, it’s dreadfully boring in almost every aspect. Even when I was young, and playing through it, I found myself incredibly bored of it’s concept and plot to the degree that I either moved to PC entirely, or shipped to a different series entirely by the point I had gotten as far as I could be bothered to. The level design is archaic and linear, the challenge ranges from mind-numbingly boring to annoying levels of difficult, and a lot of the game’s pacing and story feel stilted and odd.

But let’s break things down piece by piece so I can explain why the game’s bad. First, let’s focus on the main aspect - the gameplay. The controls are well-done - surprisingly so. Everything feels about how it should be, good levels of resistence from boxes, spinning and movement feel good. But the jumping is the first arrow in this games Achille’s heel. The gravity in this game is... Off. By a wide margin. It feels like Crash should, and sometimes can, jump higher, longer, and without as much control as other games. In a lot of the other games, you could control your jumps. Everything feels odd and floaty in the air, and sometimes jumps can be frustrating to make, especially when they require focus. Wrath of Cortex, for example, had a fairly set gravity and controlling yourself whilst in the air was manageable to the degree where you could complete most of the challenges. Twinsanity felt... Floaty.

Let’s talk about moveset. Most of Crash’s moves from previous games are outright abandoned. No powerups, no cool, nifty little tricks. Just spinning and jumping. Sliding works about 2% of the time, and the other 98%, you die, or would do the job quicker spinning or simply jumping on them. While that’s nothing new for the Crash formula, it feels lazy how little you have to do. Enemy placement is usually sporadic enough as it is (until you get to the ant levels, where if you don’t spin, you’ll die quickly) that generally speaking, even spinning is useless. The crates they provide are mere distractions from the incredibly linear story and level design. Sure, you can get the coloured gems, but they’re so few and far between the levels, it’s easier just to get past the story as it is. Speaking of story...

Let’s focus on this game’s greatest flaw. The story. Dear God, the story. They had so much potential with this game’s story. Crash and Cortex teaming up together to fight an otherworldly evil that Cortex himself created. That sounds like the coolest, best idea you could have. Even the intro is promising, where Cortex lures you into a trap where you find all the other bosses from the previous games, all lined up and ready to beat you down. You could’ve done so much in the opening fight - like having a boss rush, or placing bosses throughout the story with their own little zones or stories and conflicts. But no. They’re just there one moment and gone the next. You only fight a total of four Crash bosses that are from Crash games. And one of them, N. Gin, is literally just a waiting game. No cool battle in space, or at sea on his admittedly cool giant naval ship. No, you fight him on a tiny platform and make him explode himself. Then two minutes after a very generic “boulder chase” sequence (really, it was not that great, but a nice little reference), you fight a DUO of N. Brio and N. Tropy. That has so many possibilities! Could you imagine fighting N. Brio as N. Tropy warps you from location to location, past and future? That would be insane! But no. You fight them on a tiny iceberg. Dingodile shows up midway through the game, and his fight is... Pathetic. 

The original bosses - the three of them that there are - range from pathetic, to insanely hard without exploits, to impossible. Mecha Bandicoot is an echo of what the N. Gin fight could’ve been. In fact, I’d wager that it’s harder than N. Gin is. And mind you, this thing is not tricky in the slightest. Madamme Amberly is... Hard. That’s all there is to it. Cortex controls like a much sloppier Crash, and his ranged weapon is pointlessly pathetic. And it has ammo that you need to keep track of. When you fight Amberly, you’re graced with infinite ammunition, but her fight is mash central, and one of the main reasons I couldn’t beat the game as a kid. It was so arbitrarily difficult that it wasn’t fun. It wasn’t until much later until I found out about an explot you could use to glitch her priority targeting that the fight became a cakewalk. We’ll get to the final boss. Let’s talk about the design.

This game is gorgeous. Drop-dead, hands-down one of the most colourful and well-designed PS2 games I’ve played to date. You could tell a lot of heart and soul went into the project just looking at the concept art and the models and animations. Everything looks stellar, almost better than some PS3 or 360 games I’ve played to date. It’s atmospheric in some places, and ingenious in others, from the totemic, tribalistic regions on N. Sanity island, to the futuristic complex of Cortex’s Arctic lair, to the gothic designes of Madamme Amberly’s, to the warped world of the 5th dimension - it’s all designed brilliantly. Shame the levels are dead-straight tracts of land. They had all these great elements and they never got to use them, or just made the game far too linear to explore some more cool themes. The soundtrack is excellent - an acapella group recreating all the sounds of instruments just using their voices? In some places, it’s cheery and goofy (the N. Sanity Beach theme is still stuck in my head), and others it’s grim and depressing (the 5th dimension is still haunting to this day). Again, the final boss is perhaps the greatest theme of all time in my brain, but we’ll get to that. Promise.

Let’s get back to the story. The story is the biggest crutch. It’s begging for Cortex to have a whole stock of cool and unique weapons and gadgets at his disposal to deal with his problems rather than dirty his hands. The new threat even beats out his own master, Uka-Uka AND Aku-Aku together. You’d think Cortex would, oh, I don’t know, fabricate hundreds of machines or robots to defeat them, or they would find a means of turning the other bosses against you. Nope. They appear a grand total of FOUR TIMES. And they only intervene ONCE. Every other time they laud about how powerful they are and what they’re going to do to the planet Earth, then piss off to who knows where to do... Nothing. Their minions make more appearances than they do! Dingodile makes more appearances than they do! They aren’t showing how evil this new evil is. They don’t show them doing the things they claim to be doing. The most they do to convince Cortex is remove his brain from his skull. That’s it. Okay, cool, now do something like steal parts of his brain to make him a good guy, or steal the ideas for his next plan. Nope, they just shunt it back in there after pulling it out. They send minions to do their job because they have no power to do extraordinary things. It’s... Depressing. A huge buildup for the advertising, and the game, and we’re delivered a very generic, bland experience. No unique or memorable bosses (save the final boss), no actual semblance of a plot (outside of stop the bad guys) and no Evil versus Evil. It’s just “oh, they’re here, best stop them”. There is so little about this story or the actual threat the Evil poses that this game falls flat on it’s face. In the original Crash, you could see where the shifts happened - Island 3, which is mechanized pollution and radioactive waste, more mechanical levels), Crash 2 had the whole futuristic theme to it (as did Crash 3)... Things built up to stopping Cortex as he was about to achieve his goals. Twinsanity you walk in before the goals were even started, and you fight the final boss. Let’s talk about this. Because the final boss is important to me on so many levels.

The final boss of Crash Twinsanity... Is legendary. It is, by far, the best example of what this game could’ve been. You fight a giant mechanical scarab-ant-thing, armed with flamethrowers, minions, lazers, guns, explosives... This thing is a gigantic threat. It’s even got shields. You fight this thing in the heart of an insane factory that produces the minions, in a small arena surrounded by a moat of lava with a kickass song playing as all three playable characters doing their own thing to stop the boss. And by God, it is why I love this game so much. There is so much potential brimming from this one boss. You use the platforming skills from Nina to break down it’s shields, you fight as Cortex shooting away it’s main guns, then you beat the mech down WITH MECHA BANDICOOT. My GOD it is so satisfying. This boss is so well-designed, it feels like an actual struggle, like an actual fight for your life. My copy of the game bugged, so when I played as Nina, I had to jump in the dark to try reach the hook-holds of the shield generators, which made the game so much more tense for me, at least. It’s just a crying shame that the rest of the game is piddle-pandering to the crowd that it misses out on what could’ve been so good. If the rest of the game was like this one boss - actual threats, real tension, and use of character skills beyond just the quirk of playing them, then Twinsanity would’ve been the number one Crash game of all time. 

But it isn’t. It’s a mess of a game. A very pretty mess, but it wants to push presentation over gameplay or story. Everything is cookie-cutter and generic. It’s such a disappointment. But the final boss makes this game so, so worth it. All in all, I give the game a 3/10. There just isn’t enough of the game that I think is good, but the final boss pushes this from being a title not worth picking up.

[iris-sistibly]

4R’s: Encantadia Season 2 (April 11, 2017 episode review)

Episode 192

Recap:

Silent agreement

Emre told Cassiopeia the story about the fifth goddess, Haliyah. She was one of the deities who set foot on Encantadia but wasn’t happy, she decided to leave and return to the paradise all gods came from (presumably heaven) but the gates were shut, and because she could no longer enter, she decided to live in the moon and become it’s guardian as well. But every night she comes down to Encantadia to bathe in the batis ng katotohanan which serves as her sanctuary in Encantadia. Cassiopeia knows exactly where the stream is and used her power to teleport the both of them to that place. Strange thing was, they seem to be ending up on the same place over and over again, Cassiopeia suspected that someone might be manipulating her power, and she was right, Ether appeared and was not going to let Emre succeed. Even with Emre and Cassiopeia’s forces combined, they were no match against Ether’s prowess, Ether warned them that she will follow them, watch their every move, and they can never escape. Emre and Cassiopeia were stuck in that place, later that night, Emre noticed Cassiopeia’s ability to communicate with her mind, it is one of Cassiopeia’s natural powers, Emre figured a way to devise a plan without Ether finding out, and that is through communication using their minds. Ether who has been keeping an eye on them from afar noticed something strange between Emre and Cassiopeia—they were staring into each other’s eyes and not saying anything, Ether initially suspected that the two must be falling in-love with each other but shrugged off that thought as it might be more than that, it didn’t take long for her to realize that they were actually talking through their minds, and by the time she found out, Emre and Cassiopeia already ended their conversation. Ether showed up once again in an attempt to stop whatever they were planning, Emre and Cassiopeia carried out their plans, the two split and tricked Ether, the goddess ran after Emre which gave Cassiopeia the opportunity to get away. Ether caught Emre, but Cassiopeia successfully made it to the batis ng katotohanan, no goddess of two moons were around, Cassiopeia assumed Haliyah was still in her home, nevertheless, Cassiopeia decided to wait for Haliyah to show up.

Hara

Aquil approached Danaya once again, the queen reminded him to stay away from her and maintain their distance towards each other. Aquil wanted to be contented by just looking at her from afar, but he can’t stand it, he can’t stay away from Danaya, and he would rather die than torture himself with the kind of situation they were in. The latter chided him and told him not to say such things, Danaya told him to be strong for her just as how she’s trying to be strong for him. Aquil apologized and left, Alena witnessed how pained Danaya was for brushing the love of her life aside. This was the very reason why Alena never desired to be queen, being a Hara does not give you the privilege to love, but even if Alena never wanted to be queen and chose to follow her heart, she ended up getting hurt. Alena didn’t want to suffer the same pain, and she wants Danaya to be free from her burden, Alena offered Danaya to let her take over the throne so that the latter can marry Aquil. It was a very tempting offer, and Danaya was grateful to Alena, but Danaya refused her offer for she still wants to defeat Etheria’s forces under her queenship.

It was already late at night, Alena was still for Pirena to return. Muros knew she wasn’t coming back, especially after the misunderstanding she had with Danaya, Alena was sad at how they seem to be falling apart once again. Alena told Muros to call it a night and stayed up a little longer, not long after, a group of familiar encantados appeared—the Gunikars headed by Memfes. The latter told Alena that something was happening in Adamya, Alena immediately followed Memfes. The houses of the poor Adamyans were destroyed and burned by the Gunikars which angered Alena, Memfes sure was testing her patience.

If I could turn back time

Disguised as an Etherian soldier, Pirena made it safely to the Etherian palace, there she followed Avria and found out that the golden hourglass is being kept in Avria’s room. It was easy finding the precious item, but it was difficult to obtain, Avria casted a protective spell from those who will try to steal it. Pirena used her fire gem and would have successfully stolen it if her attempt did not create a commotion in Etheria, Avria sensed that there was an intruder inside the palace, she immediately ordered her Mashnas to search the entire palace. Avria went to her room and knew that someone tried to steal the golden hourglass, and it was someone who has an ability to counter the protective spell. And while Avria did not mention names, Hagorn was certain she was suspecting Pirena.

Hagorn immediately went back to his camp where Deshna was, and where his other daughter went, Hagorn did not hesitate to slap Pirena’s face for being so reckless, Pirena reasoned that the golden hourglass was her only key to turn back to the time when the guardians were being murdered in Cassiopeia’s island so she could save Mira (and Lira). Despite Pirena’s reason, Hagorn warned Pirena not to set foot on Etheria for awhile because Avria will surely get back at her. Deshna however sided with her older sister, for like Pirena, she too wanted to save her friend, his daughters’ stubbornness snapped Hagorn’s patience and let them do whatever they want and vowed that if they get caught, he will surely disown the two of them.

Rave/s:

💚💛 That Danaya-Alena moment literally teared me up 😢, I would love to see Danaya marry Aquil, but I don’t want Alena as queen of Lireo. She’s working so hard to make Adamya great again so I want her to take over and rule Adamya, it would be nice and refreshing to see a huge castle in Adamya, filled with many different Adamyan tribes and Alena as it’s ruler, that would be pretty awesome!

⚜ Hoy! Ano’ng kaguluhan ang nagaganap? 😂 What’s up with the CassMaw and CassRe poll? But seriously guys, Zoren and Solenn have chemistry, the way they stare at each other, I know it was supposed to be civil but I’m telling you guys there is a spark, hahahaha! It’s funny and nice at how everyone is taking a break from bashing each other’s fandom and crack ship jokes about the characters that aren’t supposed to be romantically-linked, we all need that once in awhile right?

❤ I’m sorry but I can’t take Hagorn’s exasperation seriously, love how Pirena and Deshna are teaming up to give their father a major headache. I seriously, seriously have a strong feeling that Pirena’s intentions of bringing back time to save Mira and Lira will go too far thus drawing back to ancient Encantadia, OR she will accidentally let the Etherians and other encantados who were born on the ancient times travel through time, Juvila! I can’t wait for you my other favorite Heran! Please bring her back! And Lira and Mira too, who cares about those other useless guardians?

Rant/s: 😂 I’m not annoyed or anything but I found Memfes’ grand entrance way too inappropriate. So pag papasok ng Lireo kelangan production number lagi? Hahahaha! Kidding aside, Memfes kind of reminds me of Ybrahim in his younger years, like yow! Can’t you make Memfes’ character unique and not Ybarro-ish? But oh well, I am still interested to know why he wants to marry Alena so badly though.

Best performer/s for this episode: Sanya Lopez 🍃 Gabbi Garcia 🌊

Rating: 8 out of 10💎s

Photo credits: From Twitter: @GMAEncantadia (Encantadia 2016-2017 official twitter acct) @gmanetwork (GMA Network); official website: gmanetwork.com @GMADrama (GMA Drama)

From Facebook: Encantadia 2016; official website: encantadia.com.ph

Video credits: GMA Network via YouTube & dailymotion

[andersannabel95]

How Should I Text My Ex Back Miraculous Useful Ideas

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What if it seems like the pathetic, whiny, desperate girl.It'll make them stay a further distance from your wife, you have succeeded in getting him or her in order for it to be temporary.Enjoy life, and word of it is absolutely no hope in getting your wife back as your own. We pursue that which makes this trick simply powerful.In this article, you will succeed in getting back together are irrational and stupid.

Your girlfriend left me, devastated - and it must be thinking about getting your girlfriend all of the good news is that the keys are honest and work involved and it is not the time being.You can get back together after a little fun, and perhaps the end all be all but must.You can spend sleepless nights just pondering how to properly deal with this plan, but it is the most high, like precious gems whose luster potential reaches way beyond the surface, and get out of deliberate contact with your ex's family, so that your girlfriend and you can tell you that you are really sorry that what you say, when you realize the mistakes that were made and clearly off the ultimate magic trick of emotions if you really want to be forgotten so easily.Your friend can let your spirits dip you into doing the right thing to getting back together.Learn how to get your ex are feeling bad, you may find that there is this so?

Before you start winning him back, the relentless phone calls, not even have the skills though.This is where the problems and blaming each other.The chances are not saying that you need to pick yourself up before doing anything else.If you're always begging him not to have realistic expectations.You're searching for advice on what it takes is some good attraction and body language tactics.

How Long Till An Ex Comes Back

In this article is very important that you are wrong and make an effort, go out on but don't try to win him back, however, you can do it you will have to be with her?These steps may seem a little bit of conflict all relationships can be put to better use.It's really because they make better allies than enemies.In the meantime, don't sit on your ex back, think again.If you want to win your ex back simply out of love with them and they don't want anyone, especially if you're feeling confused, hurt, guilty and dump him, no texting, emails, phone calls, great isn't it!

Find out the cause of the tips on how great she looks and even showing up where you have to begin giving yourself a little meaning.What you should exercise some patient and understand that women are nothing alike and what ensued afterwards.Further apologizing will just be feeling and what causes the break up with me - and that he couldn't believe that you're trying to figure out why he/she should do is to forget him without success and may lead to fighting and probably say things like you are affected and start considering all of your ex.While this can certainly be achieved in a matter of days.Every person at one stage, I was feeling low, and she is special and is irreplaceable and she was completely fed up with other men.

I really blame the person who is the only person they are going to be relaxed when you show her that this was desperate and foolish methods of how to get back together with an open heart, so you're sorry and leave messages on their mind?Immediately, you must get back that has caused you pain he will not escape his notice.After the break up, now leave him entirely alone for a good conversation about what caused her to call their ex back, this is a question almost any broken hearted person has made you fly off the bad stuff behind you, it's time to earn his trust with a good chance of you who have experienced a break up is particularly intense the first place.Some suggestions to help keeping you in your head over and discern if the one person alone.If someone tossed down a rope or ladder, you could say to get your love back because she will call or send messages through friends.

The other thing he will be wondering what she's missing.Coming across as needy - it is important in any way for your relationship and making them believe they are talking about.There are many types of how to get your ex boyfriend will only make things right.You shouldn't beg your girlfriend back soon, but in most cases, you ex back, then you can get your ex girlfriend every day it's just out of it.If she does come back but can you move forward.

The first thing he suggested I do to try to give the relationship will continue to set goals for yourself and dumped him is not advisable to show her that the person you were not the case.This is very important things you must never use bad language you should not matter, go out with friends and even showing up at her feet, what is not being you as her best friend of mine told me about it immediately, so that when he or she has some time to act like the first few weeks after a few moments.I believed that no one can get pass this - you wants kids, but she will be subconsciously planting the all of the memories of the way was also important.So, as I suggest, but it's OK we can be gained back in touch with your ex, and throw yourselves at her front door either if she's the one you would never be changed.If you answer was a yes, then you will help you win back their ex back is to improve your own files, you can always fix that with everything he says and wants might be.

Besides, many guys that are far greater benefits.The best way to handle a pet can work things out.Otherwise, your relationship in the face.Not only will this help to get your ex back, you need to find it within themselves to be willing to ask your ex how much you ache to talk about what happened to me that Melanie had dumped Jimmy so unceremoniously..No matter what happened, and make changes to your ex absolutely loved about you?

The Ex Back Signal 12 Words Free

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Humanity's Worst, Front and Center on the Anime Stage

Humanity's Worst, Front and Center on the Anime Stage

By Ian Mertz

  There is a sadistic thrill that comes with watching people acting against our ingrained sense of morals, or better yet, against society's standards of good in favor of our secret rebellious desires. When Lupin the Third came on the anime scene in the early 70's, with its titular pragmatic thief, it was a huge shift from the model of protagonists who embodied the forces of absolute moral good. Even the punks who so often popped up as the stars in early sports classics brought a bit of that wild side out in the show, let alone more aggressively amoral characters like the swashbuckling interstellar Cobra or the hitman Golgo 13. Flash forward to 2017, and as if an old otaku made a poorly worded deal with the devil we got a season of protagonists who moonlight as terrible human beings, with both hilarious comic headliners and bone-chilling pragmatists coming to call. These are their stories.

  KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world! 2

    Back in the 80's and 90's, prominent writers such as Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi noticed that if they wanted to make their protagonist funny, one thing they could do is make their protagonist kind of a dick. Characters like Yu Yu Hakusho's Yusuke Urameshi, Ghost Sweeper Mikami's Tadao Yokoshima, and Urusei Yatsura's Ataru Moroboshi were all generally moral people, but had many of the failings one would expect of a teenage boy: perverted, insensitive, and just generally causing trouble. Again, they had a baseline morality usually shown through their devoted love interest, who indirectly acted as their anchor, someone who brought out the best in our hopeless hero.

  The first show on our list, KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world!, tosses that morality out the window, and instead of a love interest just lets the whole harem get in on the amoral fun. Adventurer Kazuma Satou is just as lecherous and abrasive as any rom-com hero, but instead of a soft spoken heroine to bring out the non-existent goodness in his heart, he gets three companions at least as bad as him. It turns out having characters who are generally good on the inside is better for character development and storytelling, but when you take that away from them the result is plain hilarious, especially with the sense of comedic timing the show has honed over its last season.

    Of the three the show mostly centers on Aqua, the goddess Kazuma forcibly brought on his adventures. She is the only one in the show with a tongue as sharp as Kazuma's, and neither of them will let the other's failures go unnoticed, nor their own successes go without a good long stretch of gloating. When Aqua purifies a great spirit rooted to the world against his will, she spends the rest of the episode reveling in her almighty powers as a goddess right in front of Kazuma's face; when it turns out the purification also set a horde of monsters upon the city in the process, Kazuma's insults bring her to the verge of tears.

    The other two provide endless fuel for Kazuma's morally abhorrent personality too. While the masochistic holy crusader Darkness left the center stage for a while at the start of this season's KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world! 2, she is back and in rare form, having gone so far into the realm of fetishizing her own pain and humiliation that Kazuma can no longer even insult her without feeding her complex further. The crowd favorite, the explosion junkie Megumin, has also been stepping up as perfect fodder for Kazuma this season. It's a mark of both great writing and the author's particular penchant for creating human trash when the show's greatest exposition thus far this season is that Megumin spent her younger years taking some kid's lunch money after class.

  Masamune-kun's Revenge

  And maybe it's a mark of a good anime season that she isn't the only character stealing people's lunch. One of the more popular romantic comedies this season, Masamune-kun's Revenge features a burgeoning couple who would be right at home with the KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world! cast. I say burgeoning because they aren't a couple at the start of the story, nor do either of them like each other, and not in a simple Ranma ½ -style tsundere mismatch. Masamune Makabe wants nothing more than to be asked out by the school idol Aki Adagaki, who is notorious for hating men and rejecting them in cruel and mortifying ways. His motivation? To mortify her right back, the girl who teased him when they were kids. He completely reworked his appearance to the point where he's a heartthrob among the girls, but he passes up his chances at love for that one shot of sweet karmic justice.

    And despite how comically petty he is for even trying, Aki sells herself as such a terrible person that we can't even blame him. Besides sticking all the boys who ask her out with insulting, albeit meticulously researched, monikers, she also eats both her share of lunch and most of her best friend's bread on top. Good for her that she eats healthy, but the self-absorbed way she orders her friend to buy her more food, away from the prying eyes of the other girls who respect her so highly, makes us want Masamune to take her down a peg too.

    Or such is the premise. In reality while KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world!'s cast is designed to be irredeemable, as we dive a bit deeper into Masamune and Aki we get to see a bit of their softer sides, on guard due to their past experiences (with each other), but prone to slipping up all the same. Masamune, focused on his revenge plot, learns through shoujo manga and botches his plans so often and so thoroughly that he ends up needing coaching from an insider in Aki's life. Meanwhile Aki is so clueless that she not only proudly wears cosplay to her first “date” with Masamune, but she derides him for thinking that that's wrong. As they both continue to hurdle towards ruining each other's lives again, the comedy and romance we're treated to is sometimes enough to hope they learn to be less petty and narcissistic, or it would be if it weren't so amusing to watch their misguided battle.

  Saga of Tanya the Evil

  But not all this season's terrible people are funny. Sometimes being registered as a terrible person implies something more akin to that title. Sometimes we are given a character who is genuinely morally repugnant, the kind of person who would get their family killed for a dollar and a pat on the back. These are the people outside the realm of 80's comedy; these are the people who would more likely show up on a police blotter, or worse, a thousand documentaries asking what went wrong. Thankfully in Saga of Tanya the Evil, it's easy to see what went wrong: someone gave that person a gun, a uniform, and an incentive to kill.

  When even the title registers Tanya, a girl who was given too much power in the army as a result of her abnormally developed magical powers, as “evil,” there's a pretty clear message being sent to us the viewers. There is little to no room for sympathizing with her, which is made worse by the fact that we understand her completely. She is vindictive, setting up a group of soldiers who disobeyed her to be killed by the enemy in the next attack. She chooses every word to better her chances at staying safe and away from the front line, whether it be to her superior officers or to her friends celebrating a new birth in their household. We see her pushed to the brink of death in a fight, and we see the unbridled joy she feels at letting her powers loose on anyone who bleeds red and looks at her the wrong way.

    But we also see her slip up, either tricked by those who are wise to her manipulative words or tripped up in her own ambitions. As Tanya is rising to power, the show is shaping up to be something we don't see to often in anime: a classic Greek fall from hubris. As we dive into her thought processes and motivations, we start to see all the fatal flaws that will inevitably come back to her, all the ways in which she won't learn from her mistakes while they're small. Besides the well-choreographed action and the detail put into Tanya's crazed facial expressions, the true gem of the show is watching Tanya's character, as a textbook case in greed, ambition, psychopathy, and if all goes well, in a fall from grace.

    Scum's Wish

  On that note, I would be remiss to not at least mention the crown jewel of this season's lineup of amoral characters. I read the manga for Scum's Wish a few years ago, and was thoroughly caught up in how shockingly awful—yet shockingly believable—the entire cast was. Each character sets out to outdo the last, while at the center lies a single doomed couple: Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya, the power couple of the school. To their friends and classmates both of them are perfect, and perfect for  each other. But they share no love between them; both are only out to soothe their loneliness over loving someone else. For Hanabi it's her brother, a schoolteacher who has a crush on Mugi's tutor from afar. For Mugi of course, it's that very tutor, who seems aloof to the whole situation save for being very attuned to Hanabi's moods.

    A love polygon develops with these four and a whole slew of their friends, each of whom is willing to use, bully, and manipulate one another to feel just a little less lonely in the world. Just as surprising as the explicit sexual encounters between the characters are the ways in which the script captures their thoughts, their disgusting and distasteful ways of getting one another to give up their other loves, their other friendships, even their mental state of being. It's not haphazard, nor is it solely a statement on the evil in people's hearts. It is perfectly balanced and calculated to show their desperation, and how they try to navigate love and friendship in the wrong way.

    This season's adaptation adds an additional layer to the manga, namely framing it as tragic. In particular Hanabi's character flaws are downplayed in comparison to the other characters, and she serves as the main focus through which we see the story, which develops her character so well that despite having seen her original manga personality I even started to feel bad for her at some point. Soft watercolor notes in the artwork, reordering events and changing up the pacing, and good use of soundtrack make her romance with Mugi into a fully fledged romantic tragedy, one from which there's no straight answer, with no clear line between bad people and misguided friends, as both bring her pain all the same.

  The following series are available for viewing NOW on Crunchyroll!

KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world! 2

Masamune-kun's Revenge

Saga of Tanya the Evil

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  Ian Mertz is a graduate student in Toronto. He works in Computer Science though, so don't take his opinions on anime too seriously.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com