#If someone (BESIDES KARI) tells me that I should make this an actual animation

[st4r-lvck1i]

merry crisis, I made smth stupid

[shreddedparchment]

Man and Wife Pt.01

The Perv

Pairing: Bucky x Reader          Word Count: 4,841

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, small injuries, language, stranger sex

A/N: This fic is written for Kari’s Sebastian Stan Challenge. This might continue past this initial piece. I’m not sure yet. It works well on it’s own but I’m kinda eager to explore this. If you like it, leave me a comment! Or not. Either way is cool. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work!

What is the most awkward way that you can meet someone?

Somewhere on that very long list must be the way you met James Buchanan Barnes.

You’d been eager to get out of the house. This summer had been one of the hottest summers in the last hundred years. With heat indexes reaching about a hundred and ten degrees.

New York isn’t the hottest state and hadn’t seen a record-breaking heat since the 30s. That had been in the city.

Here upstate, it was even less likely. What the hell is happening?

Seeking a reprieve from the intense heat that made your skin glisten and sticky with salty sweat, you and four friends had jumped into your baby blue 1964 Volkswagen van and headed for the newly opened Ocean Dome—a three story water park sealed within a large climate-controlled bubble.

“Damn, Y/N, when are you going to fix the stupid AC?” A short girl with short wavy blonde hair asks with irritation.

She’s got her right foot resting on your dash and she kicks it hard with that foot in frustration.

“Hey!” You yell. “Leave my baby alone! She’s trying.”

You reach out and gently caress the faded and cracked faux wood dashboard.

“I’m sorry, baby, I’ll stick jelly beans up her nose when she’s sleeping.” You promise.

The blonde scoffs, laughing at your protectiveness with your unrestored vintage. She turns her gaze towards the back, the other three girls, all with varying styles and lengths of dark hair, are laughing loudly as they gossip.

“Did we need to bring all of them?” The blonde asks you.

“Case, we need to start at least trying to get to know our neighbors.”

“Why?” Casey settles into the passenger’s seat, relaxing more. “They’re sorority brats living off daddy’s money.”

“They’re not in a sorority.” You say with a laugh though a house full of fifteen girls is weird outside of that context.

“There’s like a football team of them in that house.” Casey argues with a laugh in her voice.

You glance into the rearview mirror as the girl sitting in the row furthest back stands up and pulls her shorts down pressing her ass to the back window to flash the car behind you.

You almost want to tell her to stop but you don’t want to seem like a square. They’re not paying any attention to you or Casey and don’t hear you talking about them.

“Look at them.” Casey complains. “They’re like wild animals.”

She shifts in her seat to turn to look at them better, tugging at her seatbelt.

“Hey! Are you going to wipe your butt oils off that window? Get your nasty ass off the glass.”

The girls just laugh harder as the third pulls her shorts back up and settles back down into her seat looking rightfully chastised.

“Sorry, Y/N.” The girl says.

“It’s okay…” You try to remember her name but she’s already talking to her friends and paying you no mind.

“I hope they drown.” Casey gripes.

“Case!” You laugh, the seriousness on Casey’s face drawing the amusement out of you like no one else can.

The water park is packed. Really packed.

“Maybe we should have come on a week day?” You wonder and are suddenly shoved forward as the three brunettes you’d brought hurry past you and disappear into the crowd.

“Ugh, good riddance.” Casey grumbles. “This place is new. And it’s summer. I doubt it’s going to get any less packed for a while. Besides, now’s the time to come while everything is still working.

“Yeah.” You agree and let your eyes rove over the first floor.

It’s the largest out of the three levels with a pair of large wave pools at the center. One actually creates large waves where people can surf and seems rather dangerous. You’re definitely avoiding that one. The second with the much smaller waves, is full of families with kids and young teens in neon yellow, pink, purple, and green tubes. They float casually, lazily as they enjoy the cooler temperatures of the water.

To the right are four long lines that flow up towards the third floor where two large yellow and orange slides weave down back towards the bottom floor into a smaller but deeper pool than the wave pools. There are also green and blue slides that flow onto the second floor into what you can see is another pool on the other side of a tall modern steel and plexiglass banister.

You can see people in bright bathing suits weaving around the second-floor pool towards small stalls where one can buy drinks and snacks.

Here on the first floor, the back wall is taken up by a large tropical themed restaurant, tube and board rental stations, the largest set of bathrooms in the park, and the lockers.

To the left of the two wave pools is a large expanse of space at the center of which is a large splash bad with a huge red and white beach ball, hollowed out with small kiddie slides flowing down from several sides.

Two fake palm trees spew water up into the air where it falls on toddlers and small kids as they giggle and splash. All around this kiddie section are hundreds of lounge chairs and umbrellas with small tables attached. As you scan the area, you can see that there’s hardly an empty seat.

Finally, around the outer walls of the first floor and going through the center space between the wave pools, is a winding Lazy River with bumper to bumper tubes and people milling about in the easy flowing turquoise water.

This one ride’s water is different in color from the sterile and chlorinated water of the other attractions. The large sign of its entrance advertises with large brightly colored words sticking out of the top right corner, ‘True Caribbean Waters’. Which really just means it’s a saltwater river.

You’re not unaware of how almost everyone in the Lazy River is paired off. This is where couples go to lounge and be together, guys pushing their girls on tubes. There are a few families sprinkled throughout, fathers pushing kids or mothers with babies, but the majority are cuddling couples.

“Where are all the other rides?” Casey wonders, exploring the space with her green eyes, just like you.

“Second floor?” You offer.

“What do you wanna do?” She asks.

“Let’s go find a locker.” You adjust the bag on your shoulder. Towels and extra clothes packed in.

You find the lockers by the bathrooms close to the large splash pad and countless lounge chairs. You and Casey manage to get two of them close to each other and after slipping your belongings into the small square space, you make sure to slip your waterproof wrist band on which is loaded with all of your spending money specifically set aside for today.

“So, what now? You want to-? Case?” You look around, searching over the heads you can look over and tiptoeing to get a glance around the taller people. “Casey? Casey?”

However, Casey is nowhere in sight. “Well, shit.”

“Wow chit!” A blonde toddler exclaims as he passes you with his mother.

The mother scowls at you.

“Sorry.” You offer, clenching your teeth. Oops.

Maybe Casey went to one of the wave pools?

Feeling self-conscious of the one-piece suit you’re in—a cute powder pink suit that is much sexier than you’ve ever considered wearing that leaves your back exposed, held together with thick straps that tie at a bow between your shoulder blades—you wander over to the center of the two large pools and quickly scan the bodies drifting up and down with the push of the waves.

No Casey.

A quick walk by the lines by the waterslides tell you that Casey is not a thrill seeker.

You check the bathrooms, the restaurant, the snack stands, and then wander along the splash pad, weaving through the countless chairs.

“Casey?” You call out every now and then, but she never responds.

Yes, coming here had been your idea. Yes, you are enjoying the cooler temperature and the smell of the chlorine. Yes, the water looks inviting, but you hadn’t wanted to be here alone.

You find yourself standing in front of the large arched sign of the Lazy River and sigh. Well, you’re here to cool off, right? Might as well cool off.

You toss your hair over your right shoulder and carefully descend the steps into the surprisingly cold water. You’re very aware of your nipples straining hard against your suit. You release the bar of the stairs and cross your arms across your chest but continue to walk into the water with a gasp.

The cool water takes your breath away, but you keep walking, following the flow of the river. Because it’s the weekend, the park is open late. You and Casey had carefully planned when you’d come to the park to try and avoid the crowds that would surely gather. It had already been late afternoon when you arrived. Now, after an hour of searching, you can see the sun beginning its descent through the large dome of the park, inching closer and closer to the horizon.

It paints the sky burning orange and rose petal pink, the tippy top of the sky fading into a dark plum with the first sparkles of the night’s stars peeking out.

Because it’s getting later, the Lazy River is less crowded now with families and older couples leaving, making space so that you can walk through the water slowly and without bumping into people.

A girl with bright red hair sits in a tube, her bottom disappearing through the center with her long legs gently scratching your arm as she and her boyfriend? Husband? As they pass, without paying you any mind, she leans her head back and the guy she’s with kisses her lips upside down.

You look away, aching with jealousy. You haven’t been kissed in so long!

You reach up and massage your lips as you walk along the artificial floor, the easy flow of the river pushing you gently forward so that you have to fight your progress. It makes your feet slip and slide along the floor.

After about twenty minutes, it starts to hurt. You should have grabbed a tube. By now the dome is lit by artificial light but here in the river, there are dim lights to give the area a soft glow with most of the bright lights reserved for the splash pad and the wave pools. The slides are closed which begin to drive away the more frenzied teens.

The sun is set and the last of the orange sunset fades into darkness.

“Woah, woah! Hey! WOAH!”

Two loud splashes sound around you and you begin to scream but you’re pulled underwater by the weight of a body and another splash.

You gurgle, fighting against the rush of choking water rushing into your throat. You can feel strong hands on your hips, and you’re suddenly pulled upwards out of the brine.

As your head breaks the surface, you gasp in a lungful of air and then begin to cough, wiping at your face to clear it of water.

Those strong hands, one oddly cooler than the other through your suit, are still on your hips.

You force your eyes open, straining against the blur of the water and the curtain of your wet hair as you try and see who it is that’s still holding you.

“Hey, I’m so, so sorry. My friends are assholes. Are you alright?” There’s a slight slur to his words, almost as if he’s drunk maybe? Or tipsy at the very least. His voice is deep though. Sexy if you weren’t so annoyed with having almost been murdered.

The cool hand pushes your hair back and you see a flash of silver as he does it. You’re almost able to process what it is you’re looking at but before you can there’s an outraged gasp.

“We’re what?!”

You feel the body in front of you move towards you forcefully as if he was roughly pushed and he slips. You don’t.

As he tumbles towards you, his face slides down and nestles itself directly into your chest, his angular chin pulling down on the V-cut neckline of your suit exposing more inner side-boob than you like.

Your body rages with an embarrassed fever. You can feel the heat start at your tummy and spread up into your chest, your neck, and your ears. Your heart beings to pound and this guy, whoever the hell he is, has his lips and nose pressed into the soft flesh of your breasts that he must be able to feel your heartbeat.

“Oh my God!” You gasp, reaching down to shove his shoulders away from you.

As he straightens up, you can see the blur of inebriation in his eyes. You have no time to see anything else. “Wow. Breasts are awesome.”

Your hand shoots out of its own accord and you slap him hard across the face then move around him and scurry away.

“Ow.” He says from somewhere behind you while his buddies, whoever they are laugh loudly. “Hey wait!”

You leave them behind quickly, your arms wrapped around your chest as you push yourself faster against the floor. It takes you a few minutes to find an exit and you hurry up the stairs. Dripping wet, you search for the set of stairs that lead up to the second floor and hurry up still searching the less dense crowd for Casey.

Once you reach the second level landing you pass the Bumper Boats and the Flow Rider and the pool where the less intense slides empty into. There are a few picnic tables with a people eating from the snack stalls or simply lounging around enjoying the atmosphere.

By the time you find the third-floor stairs, your right foot is hurting badly. You look down and see a small red stain on the step you just placed your foot.

“Damn it.” You keep going but avoid walking on the ball of your foot, which makes you limp as you try not to put too much pressure on it.

On the third level you find a pool bar. This must be where the adults hangout. Even now there are more people lounging here than there are on the second level. Every submerged stool by the light blue tiled bar is taken. The straw, tropical styled roof that in the daytime must provide much needed shade from the burning midday sun, doesn’t seem as popular to the other people who look up at the sky through the thick glass dome.

It’s littered with stars. The inky black is beautiful, but your foot hurts and you don’t see Casey.

You limp towards a distant corner, away from the people in the pool bar, past the faux stone archway that leads into what looks like a dimly lit cave with multicolored lights from which drifts music.

You head towards the area where the dome connects into the floor, several lounge seats angled towards the glass. They’re empty so you sit down, turning your back on the hustle and bustle of the park.

You pull your leg up, staring at the peeled skin on the ball of your foot. It’s not bad, just hurts because you’ve been ignoring it. Maybe you should have stopped by the first aid office and asked for some band-aids? And maybe bought some sandals in the gift shop?

“Hey.” You know that voice!

You turn and jump to your feet, wincing as you step on your scrape.

“Woah. Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” It’s the guy from earlier. And enough time has passed that it doesn’t seem like he’s tipsy anymore.

Now that you’re not speeding away from him, you let yourself see him clearly. He’s big. Bigger than he felt in the Lazy River. He’s at least six feet tall, or close to it. His shoulders are wide, his chest is bare sculpted perfection, and his stomach is cut in deep rivers of glistening muscle. He’s wearing dark gray swim trunks with a large red stripe running down along the sides that sit low on his hips exposing the top of the V of his pelvis.

He sees where your eyes roam and he pulls his shorts up higher and quickly undoes the string holding them up and ties them on more tightly.

Your neck burns again, this time because you’d been caught admiring his physique. It’s kind of hard not to. Of course, this admiration quickly adjusts to curiosity as you eye his left metallic arm. Now that you see it more clearly, it’s dark, not silver like you’d thought. It’s almost black with small flecks of gold throughout.

Once again, he follows your gaze and quickly pulls his arm behind his back.

“Is this what it felt like for you with my head shoved between your boobs?” The man asks, feeling exposed.

“Yes.” You admit. Serves him right.

Finally, you look up at his face and your heart nearly shatters. He’s…he’s just so-His eyes are so blue, and his brow furrowed but they sparkle with amusement and embarrassment?

His chin is covered in scruff. He’s older. How much older? His dark hair is pulled back into a low bun. A recent decision as you distinctly remember the tickle of hair between your breasts when he’d found himself there.

“Sorry.” He says and takes a step towards you.

You take a step back and wince as you step on your right.

“Hey, really, I’m-I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to apologize for what happened before. I meant it when I said that my friends are assholes. People think Steve is some goody two-shoes but he’s really, really not.

“Steve?” You look at his arm again and you feel your like you’ve missed a step as you connect the dots.

“You’re Bucky Barnes?” You ask, curious but surprised.

“You know who I am?” He asks, smiling beautifully.

You can’t find your voice, so you nod.

You know this man from history, from the news. This man is famous in a not so good way but also a very good way. He’s a hero although most people see the Winter Soldier. You see both.

He blushes scarlet and reaches to pull his hair loose. He scratches the back of his head and blows a rush of air out through a nervous pucker of his lips.

“Look, I’m sorry about what I said before. I’m not-I don’t-It’s not like I’m some type of-”

“Pervert?” You offer, relaxing and quirking a brow.

He chuckles nervous and glances back towards the pool bar. No one is paying attention to the two of you.

“Yeah.” He admits. “I’m not that.”

Shame. For a moment—maybe you’ve been single too long? You kind of wish he’d throw himself at you but why would he? He’s hot and gorgeous. You’re…you.

Limping back to your seat you sit down and listen as Bucky moves to stand beside you.

“Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing. I just scraped up my foot walking in that stupid Lazy River. I should have brought swim shoes.” You lament.

Bucky’s cool metal hand suddenly lands on your shoulder and you look up at him.

“Can I see?” You chew your lip and after a second of consideration, you nod.

Bucky moves around to squat down before you, pulling a large waterproof strip of gauze of the like you’ve never seen from his pocket. He also pulls a soft square of gauze and an alcohol wipe.

Okay, how long had he been watching you because there is no way that he just goes around carrying medical supplies in his pockets.

His right hand very slowly takes hold of your ankle, his hot fingers tickling your skin as he pulls your heel up to rest on his right knee.

Your breath hitches as his skin makes contact with yours and you feel a sudden churn of heat in your belly. It sends flutters through you.

Yeah, you’ve definitely been single too long.

“This is gonna hurt.” He warns you but you still hiss at the sudden sting of the alcohol.

He looks up at you apologetically, scrunching up his eyebrows with your reaction.

“Sorry.”

You lose yourself in him as you watch him care for your scrape. Why does it feel so good to be taken care of?

“You’re staring at me.” He says with a smile.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Why are you staring at me?” He wonders, his eyes flitting up towards you then back to your foot.

“You’re really hot.” You admit, so lost in him that you can’t help but just give it to him straight.

His cheeks burn red again, and his ears flush adorably too, but he laughs as he finishes wrapping up your foot. His eyes twinkling.

“I think this is the first time someone has told me I’m hot, just like that.”

“You asked.” You argue.

“I did.” He says, carefully putting your foot down as he meets your eyes. The subtle curve of his lips and the way he still hasn’t released your ankle sends a shiver down your spine. “You’re not angry at me anymore?”

“Angry?” You ask, slightly dazed.

“You slapped me.” He explains.

Oh, shit! You had indeed slapped him.

“You said breasts were awesome after having your face shoved between mine.” He raises his eyebrows, indicating he’s still waiting for an answer. “No. I’m not angry anymore.”

“Good.” He smiles. “Come with me.”

He pulls you to your feet and slowly leads you towards the arched entrance of that fake stone cave. The water is at about four feet here too then slowly gets deeper the further he leads you through it.

The cave suddenly opens into a small lagoon.

“Wow, this is pretty.” You sigh as you look at the too blue water and the carefully crafted ambience, soft ferns and vines decorating fake stones and hanging from the ceiling. You can’t really touch the floor anymore and Bucky is moving forward through the water still holding your hand as you cross into the pink, yellow, and purple lit cove.

On the other side of the cove is a textured vinyl flooring, painted beige to look like the shore of a sandy beach. You can hear deep bass bumping and techno music drifting in from another open archway that winds into a hallway.

“What’s that way?” You wonder as your feet find the sloping curve of the floor.

“A club. The water park people wanted to get their money’s worth, so they opened a club for us adults to drink and party. I should actually be in there. That party’s being thrown by a friend of mine.”

“Really? What friend? Steve Rogers?”

“No. Tony Stark.”

Woah! Tony fucking Stark!

“Is that where we’re going?” You wonder just as Bucky pulls you completely out of the water, but he suddenly twirls you around so that you face him. His hands find your hips and he backs you up quickly until you’re pressed into a small depression in the wall where you’re both hidden from view.

With your mouth slightly open and your eyes searching, you let your heart rage in its beat, rivaling the base of the distant music.

You can feel his fingers adjusting their grip on your hips, sending tantalizing tickles down your legs.

“I’m gonna kiss you, now. Is that okay?” Bucky asks, whispering warmly as he leans towards you.

You nod.

“You gotta tell me it’s okay, baby-doll. I’m not gonna kiss you and then have you slap me again.”

“I want you to kiss me, Bucky. Kiss me.” You beg, mint and pineapple on his breath. Maybe he ate one of those snow cones earlier?

His lips twitch into a smile before he rushes down to kiss you. His lips move softly, warm and tender, massaging your lips into submission.

As his tongue passes through the small opening you left for him, you groan and wrap your left arm around him. You place it on the center of his bare back, stroking the hard muscles eagerly.

Bucky’s metal hand wraps around the back of your head, holding you in place as he explores your depths while his right hand grazes the top of your bottom as he wraps it around you and pulls you up against his chest.

He kisses you until you have to pull away to breathe. It almost hurts your lungs as the oxygen rushes in.

“Oh, God.” You gasp, your body humming as Bucky merely shifts to press wet kisses to your neck.

He suckles on the skin against the hammering beat of your pulse.

Suddenly he wraps his hand down beneath your bottom and lifts you up. Your legs wrap around his waist, moving with instinct as he pushes you harder against the wall.

“Bucky…” You plead, and he rushes back up to meet your lips. “Mmmmm.”

You never do this. Meeting some guy and kissing him? Though, it’s not like you don’t know Bucky. You know of him. You’ve seen him save people. You’ve studied his past in school. You know where he comes from and you know where he’s been.

Bucky breaks the kiss again and pulls back enough to look into your eyes. He thrusts towards you, your quivering gasp ripping through you both.

“Tell me you want me.” Bucky begs, almost as if he needs to hear it.

“Bucky…”

“Tell me, baby-doll. Tell me you want me.”

“I want you, Bucky, please. I want you inside me.” You’re almost shocked to hear yourself say it because this is definitely not something you would do.

You’ve never slept with anyone you’ve just met, ever!

His cheeks burn and his eyes explode into darkness as he lunges forward, thrusting up into you again through his shorts. Just two small strips of clothing, that’s all that’s keeping you two apart.

“Tell me you want me again.” He orders.

“Bucky please…I want you.” You whimper, bucking against his hips and the hard rod barely contained behind his trunks.

Bucky is gasping for breath as he pulls his shorts down a bit at the front, just enough to spring him forward. He hooks his finger into the small fabric of your suit and pulls it aside before he deftly thrusts into you.

It’s quick and intense. It has to be with where you are. Out here where anyone might see you.

You shut your eyes, leaning down to bite hard into the skin of his shoulder. He grunts into your ear and you can feel his hard pelvis smack against you as he shoves himself into you in frantic and needy. It’s rough and volcanic with small but powerful and very quick thrusts.

You bounce against the wall, against his chest, your chest squished against his. When his groans come with every thrust, you know that he’s close. The sound of him making such lewd noises sends you over the edge.

You moan against his shoulder as the coil in your body snaps and you’re sent into ecstasy, biting harder and harder with every wave of euphoria until you taste the warm copper flavor of blood.

With one final thrust he freezes and explodes within you in thick flooding warmth.

Your body falls into numbness and you loosen your jaw, turning your head to rest your left cheek there on his shoulder.

Bucky’s left hand comes back behind your head and he strokes your hair slowly, caressing you with fondness.

“What’s your name?” He asks, and you’re shocked to realize you just slept with a man without first telling him your name.

You have all the power here. You could walk away, and he’d never know who you were.

But after today…after what just happened? How could you not see him again?

“Y/N…” You whisper, stroking the center of his back slowly as he continues to support your weight with your legs wrapped around him, still fully buried within you. “Y/N y/l/n.”

He nods.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?” He mumbles, kissing your neck softly.

You chuckle and let your breathing slow, but you know he’s not serious.

“I mean it.” He assures you. “Will you marry me?”

“What?” You pull back slowly, searching his eyes for the joke but all you see is warm sincerity.

“I want you. And I know it’s weird because we just barely met but I wanna keep you.”

“Bucky you don’t even know me.” You shake your head, confused.

“Marry me, baby-doll.”

“Bucky…”

“Marry me?”

“Buck-”

“Be my wife.” He whispers, leaning in to rub his lips against your own softly, a feather tease of skin on skin.

God, you can still taste that pineapple!

“Yes.” You relent and he smiles then kisses you hard.

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[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Digimon Adventure tri.: “Coexistence”

Alright, I kept telling myself I was going to give a day to let my thoughts on “Symbiosis”/”Coexistence” (I'll go with Coexistence generally just to clarify) sink in, but I cannot get my mind to shift on anything else so let's just get to it. If I miss anything, I’ll make an additional thoughts post or something, but I feel like I’ve covered everything here for the most part. So, how did this go as we’re nearing the end of Digimon Adventure tri?

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

Let me lay this down straight: “Coexistence” isn't absolute garbage and is not the worst thing I've ever seen. I still think other series like Digimon Frontier are far worse than tri as a whole so far, but... “Coexistence” pretty much puts a lot of tri's flaws all in one big package.

The "padding" of this movie wasn't so unbearable that I wanted to shut the thing off, but I can certainly say that for 3/4ths of the movie, I was so bored. Not ready to die bored, but questioning "When the hell does all of the material this movie kept pressing so hard before release supposed to show up? Where's Kari's development? Where's Ophanimon Falldown Mode? Any answers to all of the plot threads you've left open? Are the Digimon going to regain their memories? The 02 cast? Anything?" There were cute moments here and there, but I felt that the payoff wasn't good enough to sit through so much of this. This isn't to say that the payoff wasn't good at all--I'll get to that towards the end. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Other than the music anyway; that was as good as always.

The animation, while mostly okay, had some weird moments. I know it's happened throughout tri, but the size inconsistencies of the Digimon were especially obvious in “Coexistence”. Maybe I just never noticed it until now, but there were so many moments where I was thinking things like "Agumon isn't that small," or "Why did Patamon suddenly shrink from one frame to the next?" Also, there were a good number of stills used here for some reason. Why? I have no idea, but it looked bad. There was also this one shot of Piyomon flying that was really choppy, yet Patamon's flying animations looked as fluid as usual just a few seconds later. Are they trying to save all their budget for the last movie? Come on guys, this isn't “The Scuffle of Legends” for crying out loud. The animation was at least good where it was supposed to be, especially towards the end (the scene where the ground was falling apart were super quick and fluid? I'm not sure if it was just me, but it stuck out to me as looking really well-animated and flowing compared to the rest of the film).

There's sadly not much fighting to talk about animation-wise either. It looks good when it happens--I personally thought watching Alphamon and Jesmon duke it out was awesome. The Digimon from the DigiDestined, other than Tai and Matt who manage to bring together Omegamon, sadly don't get to do much. But hey, the animators learned to put all of the Digivolution animations together in one shot instead of making us watch ten minutes of Digivolution animations! I mean, I love watching them and all, but sometimes you have to cut to the chase, and this was one of those cases. I just found it funny that the one Ultimate Digivolution we hadn't seen, WereGarurumon, gets boxed. But I was sad to see MetalGarurumon's boxed. I mean, his pose and everything looked awesome so I would have really liked to see it in full! Hopefully, we'll get to see it in full in the next film. I mean, come on! I demand to see my metal puppy with some shiny awesome Digivolution animation! Omegamon also got a... sort of Digivolution animation, but it still looked neat! I just wish it was even flashier since, you know, this is a Mega/Ultra level Jogress Digivolution. It deserves to be insanely flashy!

I know I've been saying "towards the end" a lot in these thoughts so far, but...  that’s because, sadly, you don’t really need to watch the first three episodes except for like, some exposition about Meicoomon. You know what the rest is? Meiko wondering and whining and mulling over what to do with Meicoomon. Over. And over. And over. If you weren't tired of it the last couple of movies, you will be absolutely sick of it by the end of “Coexistence”. I cannot stress how I tried so hard to give Meiko a chance. I tried to look at things from a sympathetic viewpoint. So many times, I was ready to just give up on her character, but I came into this movie thinking, "Okay, I'm going to try one more time. This might be where Meiko gets interesting. Maybe after all of this 'development', it will actually pay off into something really great."

That didn't happen. We got the same kind of thing with Meiko as we did with the rest of tri. The self-doubt, the crying, the blush stickers, the "Why was I chosen!?" subplot which was already done so much better with Joe, the pity party, attempting to take responsibility for things only to rinse and repeat everything I just mentioned--anything you have seen of Meiko in the last four movies of tri, you will see here (except maybe blatant fanservice) but it is done for three full episodes. It was tiring, it was frustrating, and I just wanted to see the movie focus on something besides Meiko for five minutes. I mean, we get some nice bits with the DigiDestined like them reaching out to their parents as they're unable to go home--but of course, most of these are silent and the one that gets the most attention is Meiko's.

I hate to go on and on and on about Meiko as much as I am, as I understand some people like her. However, I wouldn't be going on as much about Meiko as I am if tri wasn't focusing on her so much in the first place. My biggest issue with all of this focus on Meiko is that these attempts to "develop" her and make her more likable are far too little, too late. These are things that we should have been seeing in “Determination” and “Confession” for us to understand and connect with Meiko as a character. Instead, they wasted time with her being unrealistically socially awkward and fanservice-y, and then being outright whiny and insufferable in “Confession”. And the writers expect us, more than half-way into this series, to truly invest in her and care. This might have been doable at this point if it was in small increments with balance with the rest of the DigiDestined rather than focusing so hard on her because the writers realized they were running out of time, but that's not what they did.

There were things they could have done to make her more likable and human throughout this series. There was the potential of her father being an abusive asshole father to at least explain how shy and scared and shut-in she was, except he... wasn't really that terrible. He was just a workaholic who asked Meiko to let Meicoomon be experimented on, and... that was about it. Suddenly he started caring about her in this film like he woke up one morning and said "Oh shit, I'm a bad father." It was more like a parody of the asshole dad than an actual use of the trope, with little execution applied. There's also this tick Meiko has of having a Tottori accent, which was only used a record time of once in “Determination” to show she had this quirk and for the cast to giggle about. Suddenly, after a phone call with her father and crying about Meicoomon again, Meiko starts speaking with this accent, likely forgetting her habit of speaking so formally around everyone. This is honestly a minor thing, but it did give more flavor to her character and had she grown more comfortable to use it more often around the DigiDestined cast, I would find her character to be more believable. She just shifts around from being uptight and formal to suddenly open and willing to cry her whole heart out to them. There's no gradual development. What was also weird to me is that, with all of flashbacks Meiko had, we don't really hear her using this accent she supposedly has in her childhood (at least as far as I could tell?), so yeah... we also have inconsistency issues! Yay!

I also simply cannot bring myself to like Meicoomon either. I get it, I'm supposed to sympathize for this poor Digimon who was basically born as an outcast and technically did nothing wrong. But... She barely has a personality other than "Mei! Mei! Mei!" and how am I supposed to care about a Digimon who serves as nothing more than a plot device and flipflops from being a cutesy kitty to a devastating killing machine? This was something Digital Monster X-Evolution did infinitely better with Dorumon. Now, we do at least finally get an explanation as to why Meicoomon freaks out so much without Meiko and why she's so uncontrollable in the first place. And... it's one of the dumbest asspulls this series has had.

Meicoomon was basically born from a fragment of Apocalymon's data. I've seen some people point out some things foreshadowing this, but they're super filmsy to me and nowhere near convincing enough for me to really follow as something the writers really thought through. It feels like some lazy excuse the writers came up with to try to connect Meiko and Meicoomon back to the original Adventure series in some way, when really it just makes their whole existence feel all the more hamfisted. I've tried to avoid the "blatant self-insert Mary Sue OC" label with Meiko as much as I could with how overused it's been applied to her by so many people who watch tri, but if anything made her fall under this label, it would be this. She has a Digimon formed from a fragment of the original Big Bad's data? Seriously? Let that sink in. Did that really sound like a good idea on paper to someone? If that's not enough, this is literally recycling the plot of Ryo and Monodramon from the Tamer games on the Wonderswan, where Monodramon Jogress Digivolved with the Big Bad Millenniummon and ultimately became his partner after being reborn, which led to the Ryo we know with his berserk Cyberdramon from Digimon Tamers. Hell, Battle of Adventurers did the whole "leftover fragment of Apocalymon" thing a lot better. It's just shameful how lazy this whole thing is put together when the writers have been building up the plot for, what, five movies over the course of three years? I guess this also explains how Meicoomon was the special snowflake who wasn't affected by the Reboot at all, but... whatever. I barely even care at this point. Meicoomon and Meiko are special snowflakes and that's just how the writers are going to treat them.

What makes this special treatment of Meiko all the more frustrating is when you look at the DigiDestined constantly comforting her and acting like she's been with them for years, saying things like "We're with you because we're all DigiDestined!" and were even willing to depart from their own moral compasses (referring to Tai's willingness to kill Meicoomon as Meiko wishes when he just said in the previous episode that he didn't want to kill a friend) when... they're completely ignoring the Adventure 02 cast. I get it, some people are tired about people questioning where they are, but when the writers have been waving teases at the audience like showing them being "killed off" in the beginning, Gennai taking on the Digimon Kaiser disguise, Kari and T.K. being concerned for their whereabouts a record one time and bringing back the freaking Dark Ocean (because, you know, that went so well in Adventure 02!), you have to question the cast's lack of concern. Adventure 02 has not been de-canonized, or these little things wouldn't exist. So I hate how the Adventure cast is constantly catering towards Meiko's needs when they've maybe known her for a couple of months at best, but don't even show a wink of concern for the Adventure 02 cast who they have probably known for years (I imagine they kept some contact over time) and both T.K. and Kari went through a whole series of adventures with them. It really does make it feel like the cast are written in a sort of bad self-insert fanfic whenever Meiko has any sort of presence as if the world revolves around her.

Once again, I get that a lot of my problems surround Meiko and Meicoomon, but the problem with this movie is how freaking heavily it focuses on them. A lot of this movie before the last episode is simple padding like the cast trying to get back to the real world, telling ghost stories and having other cutesy moments. I didn't hate all of these, but when we're getting so close to the end... I want this time being spent on the writers finally tying up loose ends. There's one movie left, and yet here they are continuing to add even more questions to the plot and not enough answers and then otherwise wasting time with things that do not answer these issues. I am not against filler--I was fine with most of “Determination”'s because it was the beginning of the series, things were still rolling in, and there were still increments of development happening here and there (Mimi's narcissism and Joe's questioning of his identity as a DigiDestined). But this late in the series, it's time to cut that down and focus on ending the story. Instead, “Coexistence” does a whole lot of nothing with terrible pacing issues, retreading on things we already know/are tired of hearing about, and just adding more instead of answering more. The writers have dug themselves in a big hole and bit off more than they could chew, and it is the most apparent in this movie.

So I must hate this movie then, right? Actually, no. Even though I think three of the four episodes are tough to sit through, with only cute moments to salvage them, the fourth episode was good and finally gave me what I was hoping for in this movie.

Because it's a minor thing, yes, Himekawa had some of her insanity breakdown. Not as much as I wanted, but I still ate up the nonsense she was saying and... she got a gun out of nowhere? What? When? How? I don't know, but it's hilarious. I swear, she's ready to kill someone who speaks a word to her. What's even weirder is that the guns she has changes between scenes. One moment, she as a BFG or some sort of grenade launcher, the next she had a handgun. What, did she find some Weapon Shop in a village somewhere? I have no idea where she's going or what she's going to do since she ended up in the Dark Ocean, but I hope if she shows up, she's just off the walls laughing like a maniac bonkers when we see her next. Insane Himekawa is the best Himekawa.

We also get a little bit of the OG!DigiDestined, like a shot with Nishijima's partner Bearmon. Dawwwwww!

But the best parts are when this movie finally decides to get to the focus I was personally waiting for in this movie--Kari Kamiya. While unfortunately it got nowhere near as much focus as I wanted (because apparently a certain other character really needed it more for some reason...), what we got was damn good. I love that Kari, with all of the times she's been possessed by Homeostasis, finally stood up to a fucking deity of worlds. She wasn't taking any of that shit, and she stood up for it. And I love that if tri has done anything, it's given Kari far more character than Adventure or Adventure 02 ever did. While she isn't forceful or rude, she does not take shit when people spew things she can't possibly bring herself to agree with. She has a firm ground, and she's willing to stand on it. Much like the scene where she talked some sense into Joe in "Determination", it was damn good to see.

And then there was her breakdown. Man, what a breakdown. While we all know Tai isn't really dead (if the Adventure 02 epilogue doesn't count to you, he's on the freaking poster of the next tri movie--he's not dead guys), there was no better way to break her. We've seen that Tai and Kari are close like in some bits of the Dark Masters arc in the original Digimon Adventure, so what else could they take from her but what's most important to her? And the way she just breaks is incredible to watch. Dead silence. Disbelief. Broken sentences. She is in such despair of Tai being gone that she just wants the rest of the world gone. While I wish Gatomon had been a little more involved, with the Dark Digivolution just sort of... happening, it was still a damn good lead-up. But man, is it a terrifying one.

While my personal favorite Dark Digivolution moments still go to Takato and Guilmon and Marcus and his Agumon, Gatomon to Ophanimon Falldown Mode and then Jogress Digivolving with Raguelmon to... whatever terrifying Evangelion experiment they combined into, was just horrifying, down to the body horror. It gives the whole "Coexistence" title double meaning (along with the whole coexistence of the Real and Digital Worlds), and just... seriously, look at that thing! If that's not a destroyer of worlds, I don't know what is! And it's basically a living embodiment of Kari's will and feelings after seeing her dear brother "die" before her eyes. Even after this whole thing happens, she's just a living shell just sitting there. You can really see just how broken she is after that.

While I still want to see more of Kari breaking, like how she'll deal with this whole situation and cope with her brother's "death" until he returns, it was still just good to see her develop in some way. And I will say, yeah, the cliffhanger is pretty dirty when the whole movie felt like a set-up for the last one while still doing a lot of nothing until the end. "Confession"'s cliffhanger, while absolutely painful, still felt more genuine than "Coexistence"'s just being there for the sake of set-up. And I think part of the reason it's so frustrating is because that... again, this movie didn't do a lot, so leaving it at that just when it was starting to finally get moving is aggravating.

This is still easily the weakest entry in the Digimon Adventure tri series though. And while it was frustrating at many moments, I would still call it... okay. I think it could have been even worse. The last episode did make it worth a watch, but the rest did make me want to bash my head into a wall at times. At this point, there's no way tri will be able to possibly tie all of its loose ends in a satisfying way. Hell, we may never even get an answer for things like the Digimon's memories or the Adventure 02 cast (though I certainly hope we do). But there is some good set-up here... So if we can at least get some answers, some awesome fights, and good character development and interaction, I am going to look forward to seeing Our Future, though with some optimistic skepticism. Here's hoping, to what little tri has left and how much going against it... that it pleasantly surprises us somehow.

[kristinchieko]

20 Month Post

Dear Karis,

Soon you will be 20 months old! (Even though this post is dated for June 4th, I actually composed it on May 20-something.)

I started to record your words back in March. Here are your first 100 words! (not exactly in this order)

1. ball

2. up

3. baba (bottle)

4. juice

5. blueberry

6. apple

7. cookie/Cookie (for Cookie Monster)

8. bubble

9. up above (star)

10. mama

11. dada

12. nene (sleep)

13. airplane

14. Elmo

15. bird/Bird (for Big Bird)

16. Oscar (the Grouch)

17. Abby (also from Sesame Street)

18. flower

19. rice

20. ka-boo (peek-a-boo)

21. panda

22. down

23. shoes

24. outside

25. owl

26. spoon

27. PB (peanut butter)

28. Uncle

29. Auntie

30. keys

31. bunny

32. Grandma

33. cake

34. heart

35. arm

36. zoo

37. car

38. phone

39. clock

40. Stitch

41. duck

42. bee

43. spin

44. milk

45. Aquaphor

46. knee

47. monkey

48. baby

49. please

50. hi/bye

51. fork

52. bow

53. cat

54. all done/all gone

55. dirty

56. bless you (after someone sneezes)

57. horse

58. mouth

59. eyes/eyeballs

60. nose

61. ears

62. Maggie

63. broccoli

64. house

65. money

66. hot

67. jacket

68. cereal/cheerios

69. egg

70. farm

71. wipes

72. elephant

73. hippo

74. turtle

75. buckle/unbuckle

76. button

77. comb

78. napkin

79. foot/feet

80. prune

81. block

82. yo-yo

83. bracelet

84. belly

85. bear

86. pig

87. socks

88. snack

89. fan

90. blanket

91. kiss

92. hug

93. car seat

94. high chair

95. cold

96. pink

97. blue

98. yellow

99. lion

100. shark

101. stairs

102. shake

103. fork

104. soap

105. cow

106. face

107. paw

108. bib

109. booger

110. bug

111. itchy

112. Pisses (Paris)

113. Kisses (Karis)

I recorded past your first 100 since some of these were names and some I haven’t heard for myself (others told me you said them), so I wasn’t sure if those should count. 

You also know a lot of animal sounds: moo, quack quack, baa, ooh-ooh-ah-ah, neigh, rarrr! And you try to snort like a pig but it’s basically you just pushing air out of your nose.

And you’re starting to string words together! Dada work/Mama work/Grandma work. Grandma house. Baby cry. Where’s Elmo. It’s a money. It’s a fart. Dada fart. Grandma fart. (All the most important things, obviously.)

It’s amazing how quickly you’re learning! I was able to record your words in order maybe up to #14. And then all of a sudden you’re bringing me objects and telling me their names, or we’re walking by something and you stop and point and tell me what it is! 

And you do the funniest, coolest things. You love giving people the fist to “pound it.” You change your dance moves according to the music (from swaying to stomping to head banging). You pick diapers up off the floor and throw them away (not that we leave a lot of diapers laying around... but if we don't throw it away immediately, you’re on it!) You like to turn around in your highchair at restaurants and sit it in backwards so you’re facing the tables beside us, and no one around you can eat because they’re all just oohing and aahing and giggling at you as you smile and make faces and wave. You yell “Bye yo!” (bye y’all?) at people if they walk away without paying attention. You’ve put your snack bag on over your shoulder and called “bye yo” to me as you walked toward the front door. You put your little Hello Kitty purse on when it’s time to go and bring our shoes to us (Mama shoes. Dada shoes.) Auntie Alyss said she saw you bow your head, make some soft muttering noises, then say, “Amen” before eating!

You’ve gotten very comfortable at Daycare now! Judy says you’re not a huge fan of sharing. Well, that’s not exactly true -- you like people sharing with you! I guess it just doesn’t seem like sharing when you’re the only one taking toys and food away from the other kids. I’m sure you’d be cool with it if they did the same to you, though. And who made Judy the boss of what sharing looks like anyway?

I think you’re pretty smart. Most of the time when you’re throwing a fit or getting whiny because you want something, I just say, “Say please,” and you’ll stop mid head-throw, tears streaming down your face, and say, “Please.” And then you’ll wait patiently while I get whatever it is you were asking for. 

You’re also compassionate. You’ve given hugs and kisses when we’ve told you we were sick or hurting. And if we pretend-cry because you have something you won’t give us, you lower your head and look up at us with those big, round eyes of yours... and sometimes give in.

That’s another thing -- you’re pretty determined. Maybe strong-willed is more accurate? That’s nothing new, though -- they were saying that the day you were born. Our “fights” have mostly been over clothes and shoes so far. See these pictures? 

These are just a few of the times when you’ve insisted on dressing/accessorizing your way. (I don’t know what it is with those orange pants and the Christmas light pants... you always want to wear them. And these blue Crocs Auntie Danes gave you that Kyrie grew out of. One thing they all have in common -- they don’t match anything!)

There was one time where you did okay, though: 

(You chose the vest and when I told you it was time to go, you made sure to grab a bag that matched your outfit! It may just have been luck that day, though, sorry to say. You insisted on dragging that bag around for a while after that.)

Your new most-requested song is “ABC, ABC” -- when Elmo sings the alphabet with India Arie. Sometimes you’ll still ask for “Cece” (Cecilia and the Satellite). And Andrew McMahon’s other songs still seem to do the trick in keeping you calm at times... but your fave is definitely anything where Elmo’s high-pitched voice makes a cameo. 

Here are some of our favorite pics of you from the past few months:

Easter at Panda Inn

Scooter ride with Kyrie (riding in cars with boys already!)

Petting a snake at Mason’s party... the only girl who wasn’t afraid!

Cabrillo Aquarium with Aunt B

Swimming!

Being your little fab self

Again with the Fab

And again.

Peek-a-boo! (this was a selfie)

A day at the Zoo!

“Surprise Face!”

BUBBLES! 

Outsmarting your stroller in your lady bug dress (one of your favs).

And some of my favorite moments with you...

Our mornings together! Snuggling in bed, you sitting on the kitchen counter while I make breakfast, watching you feed yourself with a spoon (you always ask for a “poon” now and are getting really good at using it!), you sitting on the bathroom counter, brushing your teeth while I brush mine, then watching me get ready and trying to copy me with Q-tips and chapstick and eyeliner.

I love the soft way you look at me when we’re sharing a pillow, and when you voluntarily give me kisses and hugs! And how you make a little whimpering noise when I pick you up after being away, and you’re happy to see me.

And just today, you, Daddy, and I were all lying on the bed together, trying to get you to go to sleep -- you looked at Daddy like you were going to kiss him... then you pulled out your hand, squeezed his nose, and said, “beep beep!”

Well it’s getting past midnight now, so I should go to sleep. I love you, my sweet Karis. You bring so much joy everywhere you go!

Love, 

Mom