#The panel reading structure honestly changes from right-left to left-right between chapters and I only realised when I was going through

[meeblo]

I'm now realizing that while I've had it as my tumblr banner and said my blog had spoilers for it in my bio, I don't think I've ever actually posted anything about TBWF. Figured I'd make a post about it to recommend it to those who've never heard of it.

The Boy Who Fell (https://www.boywhofell.com/comic/ch00p00) is a longrunning webcomic by @boggmann, otherwise known as starfleetrambo (or SFR, or suffer). The comic started I believe as early as 2009 or 2010, before migrating to a different website in 2015.

Here is the synopsis as the website itself gives it:

The Boy Who Fell revolves around an innocent, softhearted and almost-spineless boy named Ren who suddenly finds himself in Hell after accidentally falling off a school rooftop. He is then forced to partake in a tournament full of powerful and vicious beings in order to attain his only way of going home: an all-powerful wish from the ruler of Hell himself. As the story progresses, lines between allies and enemies are blurred, dark pasts are revealed, political issues come to light and all the while, Ren slowly realizes that in order to survive this journey, he might have to give up the very things that make him human.

Don't let the tournament structure mentioned in the blurb give you the wrong expectations: the series is highly character focused and very tightly plotted. The series is neither power fantasy nor focused on power scaling, and it doesn't have filler fights. Every fight shown is shown for a reason and matters for the characters involved; unimportant fights are left off screen or breezed through quickly to devote more time to the character conflicts that really drive the series.

If I had to pick one thing that I think is the series' greatest strength, it's the characters and their arcs. Characters are complex and multilayered, with fascinating development as they progress in some areas while backsliding in others. This lends a multidirectionality to every character's growth as different aspects of them are changing for better or for worse at a given time due to various influences. Characters will attempt to influence each other positively, helping greatly in some regards but unknowingly reinforcing their own harmful biases in the other character. Characters may appear helpful and benevolent while toying with or corrupting someone to their own ends or simply for amusement. Seeing the cast, especially Ren, get both noticeably better and noticeably worse in various ways lends a richness to the story that makes every interaction gripping to read.

The story is quite good at slowly building up to reveals and recontextualizing prior events. As mentioned above, characters have biases and the things Ren learns are filtered through those biases. Seeing things through a new lens when those biases are confronted, made clear, or shaken off is fascinating. While the early sections of the comic are less complex than later on as the author gets much more skilled at, they are fascinating to reread due to the amount of things clearly planned out and set up from very early on. Characters who are vitally important 50 chapters later will be foreshadowed from the first handful of chapters of the series, or just straight up appear if you know where to look. Characters read entirely differently when you know what they were saying honestly and what was deception, or when you know the backstory that drives them to act how they do.

The series is initially black and white, with an art style that makes a distinctive heavy use of screentone. Later on, the series transitions to full color in chapter 29. The art gets very good as the series goes on, with some very well set up page structures and paneling that is easy to read while also being dynamic and enhancing the tone of each scene. The series reads right to left by the way.

The series also has a few spinoffs of varying lengths, such as Springtime of Yuuth, an AU where Ren never got dragged off the roof that has a romance focus mixed with working through more down to earth problems in Ren's life, Watchtower and Mapmaker, following a young demon boy who lives in a tower in the desert, Falltime of Ren, a sort of crossover with SoY in which the Ren from the main series gets to spend a brief emotional time in the world of SoY before returning to hell again, The Forest, a prequel chapter exploring some of the backstory of two major characters introduced later in the story (this one costs $5 but it's 200% worth it), Yuu vs the Cosmic Unknown, which is a short goofy Scott Pilgrim parody with eldritch exes rather than evil exes, and Spirit Bathhouse, the NSFW one.

The series and its spinoffs are currently on an indefinite hiatus while the author works on getting her PhD, but the series is absolutely worth reading (and rereading and rereading again) while it's ongoing. Leave positive comments and wish the author well on their PhD if you enjoy the series!

I'm generally bad at judging these sorts of things but I guess trigger warnings for blood at some points? Rarely there's gore. TW for manipulation and gaslighting. Is that a thing people need trigger warnings for? I'm not sure.

Here's the link to the first page again. I'd avoid looking ahead in the archive, some chapter covers are spoilers. Likewise, just going to boywhofell.com without anything else in the link takes you to the latest page, so watch out for that.

[stillness-in-green]

When MVA/MLA Arc gets animated, what will you be looking forward to the most? What (canon-compliant) additions and/or changed do you want or think Bones should make, if any?

There’s--a lot.  Does that surprise anyone?  There’s a lot.

o  I have been foaming at the mouth for voice actor announcements for almost a year now, particularly for Trumpet, Geten and RD.           Trumpet’s superpower is literally his voice!  I mean, nothing about that statement requires that voice be particularly entrancing, but it certainly seems like it should be, right??             Geten is a boku-type in the manga, but that was literally the only hint foreshadowing his pretty boy face through 21 solid chapters of Pure Feral Gremlin.  Everyone was shocked by Geten’s face reveal!  How do you maintain that surprise value with an actual voice actor in the mix?  Do you not even try?  Do you play up the disparity--in which direction?  I can’t wait to see what they do.           And Re-Destro!  Re-Destro requires so much range!  From his peppy, silly businessman persona, to the urbane commander, from the overeager yes-man to the raving zealot--who on earth do you get to believably cover all that ground?  I can’t even begin to guess, but I am living in anticipation of that article going up on ANN or the official Twitter sources.

o  I’m also much looking forward to getting official coloring on Trumpet and Geten.  Skeptic seems pretty straightforward--black, black, more black--and RD and Curious, we have color art for, but I wonder if Trumpet will also be all black clothes, to go with that dignified politician image of his, or if he’ll get some color to pep him up a little.  What color are those tinted shades of his?  His eyes?  The wicked-cool Sevens Loud?           I assume Geten is all wintery shades, but it’ll be great to confirm which ones.  I mean, we all assume he’s white-haired to better annoy Dabi with family parallels, but what if he turns out to be platinum blond?  And are his eyes blue?  Gray?  White?  What color is that awful parka?           Also, Re-Destro’s stress powers.  Having been writing them as black since at least August--Rorschach test blots are generally black, after all, and they’re the clear inspiration--I would much like it if the anime would have my back on this.  They made Destro’s mask a dark cinnamon brown, though, so I’m prepared to be unpleasantly surprised in this matter.

o  Predictable MLA adaptational choices aside, I’m also eager/anxious about how they’ll handle Spinner’s narration.  What I really hope is that they actually straight-up hand him ALL the narration duties--not just the stuff he dictates directly in the manga, but also e.g. the name and quirk explanation material that Present Mic normally gets, or the previews that are always handled by Deku.           The opening and closing sequences are another big structural thing, of course--based on the flashed snippets of Hawks and Endeavor in both our current and the previous OP, I’m expecting we’ll see at least a bit of something referencing the upcoming internship arc (which I expect to close out the season), but I hope the villains just walk away with the closing entirely.  I want my slice of life villainy ED, dangit.

o  Another thing I’m eager/anxious about would be Kotarou, and the Shimura flashback generally.  There’s a brittle edge of to Kotarou that I really love, and I hope he manages to keep it in the anime, despite the anime being generally not so great at moments that I would describe as “delicate.”  For example, I’d like it if he doesn’t get a super deep voice, and if they could manage to keep his pretty face, and capture how deeply bitter and tired he looks in the scene where he’s reading the letter Nana left him.           Also, I hope they keep the little montage bits and, crucially, the changes of clothes the family goes through.  We see Tenko in no less than five, possibly as many as seven, different T-shirts through the course of that flashback.  It seems like a small thing, but it’s one of the factors that makes me skeptical that AFO gave Tenko Decay, when so many days clearly go by between the opening with the man at the door and the tragic end.  It’d be nice not to see too much resurgence on that just because the anime can’t be bothered to come up with more than one outfit for the Shimuras.

I have enough issues with the anime’s usual adaptation choices that I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high on the actual content of the episodes.  The staff is diverting too much of its major talent to the movies (BAH) these days for me to expect the whole season to look all that great, and it’s never been particularly creative or daring outside of its climactic sakuga-heavy fight scenes anyway.  I’ve also long had a bone to pick with its scoring decisions, and am already eyeballing the climax of the RD/Shigaraki fight and imagining the minor-keyed terrifying dirge I fear the anime will play there, at the moment that Re-Destro (and, shortly afterward, Spinner) are supposed to be experiencing something akin to religious awakenings.           There’s also the issue of the violence and gore--judging by how the anime handled the scene where Shigaraki and Compress maim Overhaul, I have some severe reservations about how much blood they’ll be allowed to get away with, particularly in the scene where the League brutally decimates that CRC group and, of course, Shigaraki’s backstory.  I’m looking at MVA to serve as a preview for how all the same issues will be addressed in the War Arc.

That bit of pessimism aside, as to what I’m hoping they’ll add or change?  Well, off the top of my head.....

o  I would love to get a full episode devoted to the time the League spends fighting Machia.  Not that first tussle, but the six grueling weeks in the mountains.  There’s so much you could add there for character building and atmosphere that Hori didn’t so much as montage through.  Where was their food coming from?  How’d they pick out places to pitch camp?  How much access to news from outside did they have, and how frequently?  What were the circumstances in which Gigantomachia “told them himself” about his great sense of smell??  Stuff like that!             I don’t think we’re at all likely to get this--honestly, the series of late has had enough of a problem with trimming bits and pieces that I’m as worried about what they might cut as I am hyped about things they might add--but the one thing that gives me some hope is the training camp arc.  Specifically, the moment 1-A first gets to the Pussycats’ forest, they get jumped by earth golems, a fight that the manga off-panels entirely, but the anime spends a modest amount of time on, giving the kids a little bit of time to show off their moves and such.  I’d love to get something equivalent for the League.

o  On a similar note, I wouldn’t turn it down if they fleshed out some of those running street fights a bit.  One obvious thing comes to mind: there’s a weird jump in the manga between Skeptic and a horde of his golems being all but on top of Twice at the beginning of 233 and then that fight just--doesn’t happen.  There’s no mention of it at all.  I think the suggestion is that either Machia’s appearance or the tower going down interrupted it--Skeptic breaks off from his fight the same way Geten and Trumpet do theirs, shifting focus to protecting Re-Destro--but it’d be nice to see the anime touch on it.

o  It’d be nice to get a bit of expansion on the nature of the bullying Spinner endured.  We’re told he was, but was it limited to verbal?  Did he get beaten up a lot?  Was there an online element?  Deku’s our only other reference point for “bullied kid,” and whatever one might think about the story’s development of Bakugou’s mentality, it’s been made clear in retrospect that there was a lot more too that than just the matter of Deku’s quirklessness.  I’d love to know how Spinner’s bullying looked in comparison (not least because of some of the theories about Spinner and Deku needing to come to some kind of accord to free Shigaraki from AFO).

o  Make the Villa (both here and during the War Arc) look more realistic.  By which I mean, I know Horikoshi is capable of drawing interesting and lived-in interior spaces--he has an entire chapter dedicated to it in the 1-A dorm room contest, after all--but he normally doesn’t bother much with it.  At UA, it’s not too distracting, because we know good and well that that whole building is probably maintained by Cementoss anyway.  Ditto places like Tartarus (intentionally, dehumanizingly barren) or the League’s post-Kamino hideouts (abandoned homes and industrial spaces).  But the Villa?            For heaven’s sake, it’s called a mountain villa.  It has a clear reception desk on the ground floor; it’s obviously some sort of high-end hotel, if not an outright resort or rentable retreat lodge.  Speaking as someone who’s worked in one, places like that don’t look as fuckin’ bare as the rooms we see there always seem to.  For fanfic purposes, I’m happy to go on telling myself that e.g. the pool and the bar and the restaurant(s) and the gym are in the building Cementoss doesn’t tear in half, but it’d be nice if the anime could class the whole place up a little, maybe put some real furniture and decor in the rooms that are in use.  (Yes, I know this is a ridiculous nitpick.)

o  This is less a change and more a correction, but for fuck’s sake, BONES, give us white-haired Shigaraki.  The climax of Deika is a solid time for it, given that it’s obvious in the manga that Shigaraki’s hair gets paler in Deika--you can see it in the way Horikoshi inks it (which is to say, the way he stops inking it)!  I think if we ever get white-haired Shigaraki in the anime, a somewhat better time as far as narrative justification goes would be when Shigaraki gets out of the tube in the War Arc; you could easily justify it as a side-effect of the surgery.  Still, I’d rather see it here.  I want white-haired Shigaraki, gleaming and brilliant through the scattering ash in that crater, a veritable angel of sacred destruction.           Honestly, more than anything, the crater sequence is the one I hope I love.  It’s probably my favorite single moment in the entire manga, as Shigaraki wins over Re-Destro, Spinner and Gigantomachia in the same moment, and finally comes into his own.  If they can at least nail that, I’ll consider myself pretty satisfied.

[earl-of-221b]

驱魔录

Qu Mo Lu － Part 2 of Translations, 2016 chapters, chapters 15-19

Treacherous Sea.

Chapter 15

Follow bubbles right to left.

(Lanterns blinking on boats out at sea.)

Girl: “Grandad, the rain’s gotten heavier again. Are we still able out to sea tomorrow?”

Grandad: “No, no going out on these waves. A typhoon is coming. Let’s clear up and go.”

Girl: “Grandad, on that rock ledge — I think there’s someone there.”

Stranger, standing on rock: “This water splashing upon my body, I feel none of it. But then why is it that it feels so familiar?”

Girl and Grandad: “Young man, don’t do it, don’t do anything stupid! Hey, you, hurry and get down, it’s so dangerous!”

—

Girl: “Hahah, so you weren’t trying to end your life, phew. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Grandad: “Judging on your smooth skin and unmarked body, you must be from of a family with money. A young master, right?” *Cough, cough.*

“Yingzi, go find some clean clothes for him to change into.”

(Yingzi is the name of the girl.)

(As the stranger changes into new clothes, he shows a glimpse of his intricately tattooed back. A lotus flower is in the middle.)

—

Chapter 16

(A cult-like gathering. Note: keep in mind that any magical/religious terms used in this comic has no relation to christianity. The word ‘priestess’ here is used to denote someone who has contact with the sea gods.)

Priestess: “In this unwell world the gods are angry; us mortals are suffering! I have received word from Tongling Sea-God, his highness, just now. If we want peace and mercy there is only one way, there is no other choice. You should discuss about it amongst yourselves.”

Civilian: “Priestess, even the sky has forsaken us this year. This time the typhoon will stop us from being able to go out to see for many days!”

Head Fisherman: “Are you saying we have to sacrifice again? It’s not as if we have limitless fifteen-to-sixteen years old girls in this village.”

Multiple Civilians: “Yeah, Old Head.”

“But Head, You — your Yingzi, isn’t she at that age now? If you can’t we’ll…”

“Yeah, yeah…”

(The Head Fisherman is the grandad of Yingzi.)

Head Fisherman, middle bubble: “No! Yingzi’s parents are all gone. In this family, I’ve only got this one niece left.”

Multiple Different Civilians: “Head Fisherman, you can’t be so selfish like that! This is for the sake of our entire village.”

“Yes, it’s a great responsibility.”

“You have to do it for the lives of everybody. It’s for the best.”

—

(In the house.)

Yingzi: “Achoo!”

Stranger: “Ying…”

(At fish.) “Oh.”

Yingzi: “Ok la. You don’t have to stare at me like that, with that silly look. Last fish on the plate, you eat it.”

(Bowl and chopsticks fall and break.)

(Yingzi holds out her hand to the stranger as she’s taken away.)

—

Stranger: “I’ve never understood. Being a mere puppet to be used like me, what’s the point of living at all?”

“Maybe the meaning of my life is to do battle and kill enemies. But then what’s the meaning of fighting?”

“I remember now. The meaning of having to fight is to protect the people that I want to protect.”

“It was like that in the past…it will be like that in the future.”

(Yingzi is tied as a human sacrifice to a post.)

Stranger: “Yingzi…”

“Don’t be afraid. I will protect you. Just like before — like the people of Chen Tang Guan.”

(Chen Tang Guan is the ‘stranger’s’ hometown, a great city. The golden bracelet he wears on his wrist enlarges into the Universe Ring 乾坤圈.)

—

Chapter 17

This chapter is left to right.

Priestess: “Are you…you’re really the Marshal of the Central Alter, great god…”

“Th…Third Prince, Nezha.”

(Nezha breaks the bonds, freeing Yingzi.)

Civilians: “The Great God has descended! Help us!”

“Great God, please save us!”

(Nezha looks down on them with disdain.)

Civilians: “AH….”

“Save me please!”

Yingzi: “No…no.”

Yingzi, clutching onto Nezha: “Help them. I’m begging you, please help them!”

“They were forced to do this.”

Nezha: “You mortal humans’ weakness and smallness is not an excuse to do evil.”

“No…”

(He summons the Fire-tipped Spear 火尖槍)

“Humans are just like this…”

“Gods. Humans. Demons. They all have their own code and ways to follow. If you do something wrong, then you have to pay the price.”

“Demons are so…”

(Nezha takes down the sea monster with his spear in a flash of gold.)

“And Gods and deities are so…”

(Nezha’s silhouette.)

“Now that I’ve shown my true form, I’ve got nowhere left to hide.”

(Gold lightning crashes from heaven.)

“Anyhow, I’ve committed many sins. Doesn’t matter if I add one more to the lot.”

(The golden pagoda, recognisable as Nezha’s father’s prison. It is used especially to subdue Nezha. The pagoda falls to imprison him.)

“At least I could protect those that I felt like protecting.”

(Nezha, holding hands with Yingzi.)

“At least I truly lived my life as my own for once…”

“The fish you cooked was really delicious…if there was…”

“...a next time…”

“.……”

End.

Author Notes: Third Prince’s story was supposed to end here. But then everybody seemed to be so glum~~~~

Translator Notes: I heavily suspect that because the author gave Sun Wukong that awesome big billowy red cape (like the movie) he couldn’t give Nezha his Red Armillary Sash 浑天绫 because it’ll look too similar hahahahahahahahhahaa!

—

(More Translator notes, can skip: The story of Nezha is pretty well known and readers would be able to guess his identity from the hints given in the first chapters.

(An important part of Nezha mythology is the ‘Havoc in the Eastern Sea.’ The people of Chan Tang Guan begged the Eastern Dragon King for rain and depending on the version, the King either snatches children to eat or the people put out human sacrifices, etc. After one of Nezha’s friends were taken, he goes to upheave the sea kingdom and cause trouble for the King. Nezha gets into a fight with the King’s third son. Nezha is, like, 7 years old when he murders the King’s third son, prompting a huge siege over Chen Tang Guan by the King and his dragon brothers in revenge. They create devastating tsunamis, typhoons and floods.)

(Nezha’s father Li Jing thinks that Nezha has shamed the family and doomed Chen Tang Guan. To save his people, and in the ultimate show of filial piety, young Nezha takes his father’s sword and commits suicide. Li Jing burns down Nezha’s temple that was created after his death, saying that he’d been nothing but trouble for the family.)

(Nezha is then bought back to life by his teacher, Taiyi Zhenren, from the roots and essence of a lotus flower. He becomes a deity after rebirth, becoming the ‘Third Lotus Prince.’ Li Jing and Nezha then have a terrible relationship and have many fights. Because Nezha was more powerful than Li Jin, the gods give him a magical golden pagoda than can grow and shrink — created to subdue Nezha.)

(Nezha is always depicted as a young child with two hair buns, but in this comic he looks much older. The images of Nezha in the rain on the sea, as well as the tattoos of the lotus on his back, evoke his past.)

—

Chapter 18

(The title page shows Nezha’s Universe Ring and a lotus.)

(People are praying in a temple.)

(Yingzi has been praying to/for Nezha.) (Read left to right, up down.)

“Excuse me, Madam.”

Young Jiang Liu’er: “Please, Madam, stop just a for a moment.”

Yingzi: “What’s the matter, Young Master?”

Young Jiang Liu’er: “Forgive my forwardness…”

Yingzi: “This…”

Young Jiang Liu’er: “The bracelet you wear on your wrist, may I ask where it comes from?”

“Madam, please don’t misunderstand. It’s just that your bracelet is much like something that an old friend of mine has. It reminded me of them, so I asked.…”

Yingzi: “Young Master. This bracelet is also my good friend’s. Once he comes back, I’ll like to return it to him…”

Young Jiang Liu’er: “No matter. It was this monk that misjudged. Sorry for the trouble. Sanzai (‘there is good’).”

“Farewell.”

(Young Jiang Liu’er’s eyes glow fiery gold.)

Young Jiang Liu’er: “Looks like our dear friend is the same person ay…”

“Just that this one parting ended up being five hundred years…”

—

Chapter 19

(Sun Wukong in armour with his feather crown, perched on a rock looking up at Heaven’s gate.)

(Clear skies and boats peacefully out at sea.)

Head fisherman/ Grandad: “Yingzi, recently you’ve been running to that temple non-stop…”

“The bloke is a heavenly deity, are you still thinking he’s going to come back?”

Yingzi: “Alright, Grandad, stop talking about it…”

(Yingzi looks out, seagulls fluttering away above, seeing something.)

Yingzi: “Is that…”

Yingzi, after something descended onto her boat lightning fast: “Why is it…you, Young…Young Monk?”

Sun Wukong, in the form of young Jiang Liu’er: “Madam, we meet again.”

“This one here is that old friend of mine I was talking about. But right now I have some errands to run. I’ve got to leave some trouble in your hands…”

Yingzi: “Ah…okay…”

—

(Eyes open.)

Yingzi: “You’re awake.”

Nezha: “Yingzi…”

“How could this…”

Yingzi: “Don’t move. I’ll tell you, it all went like this….”

(She tells him what happened.)

Nezha: “…A monk…”

Yingzi: “Before he left he told me to give you this…”

(She holds out the pagoda, the only thing that can imprison Nezha.)

“He said he was borrowing it from someone. And that ‘you can give it back when you feel like giving it back.’”

Nezha: “….”

Yingzi: “That friend of yours — is he a really strong god…? How did you guys meet?”

Nezha: “He…is very powerful. But he’s not really a god or deity. Us two fought a match back in the day, five hundred years ago.”

In Heaven -

Li Jing, Nezha’s Father: “Oh Jade Emperor! That demon monkey stole my seven-jewelled pagoda!”

“And…and beat me up in the process, you must—”

Jade Emperor: “What! That demon monkey came up here?! Where is he now?”

Li Jing: “After he hurt me…he…he just left.”

Jade Emperor: “Oh, so it’s like that…Then that’s good. That’s good.”

End.

Author notes: So I drew a sequel. Got to put some stress on Sir Li Jing and the Emperor la.

Translator notes, can skip: (Tbh I can’t read what the extra bit is, sorry. It’s congratulating someone on something.) Five hundred years ago when Sun Wukong was wrecking havoc in heaven, Nezha was a marshal sent down with the army to apprehend him. In the book, Nezha fought Sun Wukong one-on-one and lost.

In the 1999 journey to the west tv show and 05 lotus lantern they added an incredible addition where Nezha and Sun Wukong fight but they bond over each other’s skills and their mutual making-fun of the Eastern Dragon King, whom they both dislike. Sun Wukong invites Nezha back to his mountain to enjoy a hearty meal and they stop mid-fight to do just that. Then Nezha waves goodbye and runs back to Li Jing and the army at the end of the day after the hang-out, looking fake-disheveled, pretending to have suffered a defeat. They tell no one of this and no one ever knows. (I really really like this addition hehehee.)

[bloodys44]

Silence and Cigarette Smoke

Original story and bonus content found here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/1/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

(Also I’m so sorry the last chapter posted all jumbled together like that. And also that I’m to garbage to fix it)  The issue with chapter 7 not being viewable though ff.net also seems to be resolved so feel free to read some more if you enjoy. :)

Warning//Gore

Chapter 4: The Post Birthday Bloodbath

788

The dull thundering of a train traveling over laid track had always sounded soothing to Lucy. Whether it was a version of simple white noise or one of few comforting memories from her days of running, she could never tell. Something about the rhythmic sway of the train car, mixing with the light hum of the metal hovering. She would argue that she never slept better, besides maybe sleeping near Natsu during the cold winter months. A perk she had come to favor about him over the years. And yet, the rattling of their train compartment lacked its usual lulling charm, her mind wired yet not focused on anything in particular. The dark of the sky had crept up slowly, tearing apart the wicked blue that it had previously embodied. Stella wasn't overly far away, a neighbouring continent overthrown by the Fiore army. Majority of the land was underdeveloped, a cluttered mess of forest and mountains. A singular city near the center was all that resided on the vast land, thus keeping the name of the continent itself. Their train wasn't due to reach the platform until the early hours of the morning, and Lucy couldn't help but let an annoyed sigh escape at the thought. There were at least four more hours of traveling remaining, and time seemed to be passing at half it's regular speed. Not to mention the fact that her companions were sleeping soundly, letting the night slip away without a worry.

They had lucked out with a train equipped well for travel, small, but personal compartments lining down each side of the train's cars. The compartment's themselves were nothing extravagant, simple cloth-covered benches mirroring one another. The sliding door creaking obnoxiously when it was opened. If anything, it's most astounding feature was the lingering smell of old shoes and musty wood.

Lucy glanced over to her pink-haired partner, smirking with slight pity for the boy. Natsu had never served well with travel, a rather astonishing relationship with motion sickness. Even in his sleeping state, she could tell he was miserable, clutching the edges of his stomach with purpose. Porlyusica, the guilds head medical attendant had explained it stemmed from his dragon-slaying abilities. Supposedly his senses were so over heightened, the motion of vehicles rattled his own sense of balance. Still, it didn't make it any less enjoyable to tease said boy about it. Currently, he was seated with his shoulder blades pressed heavily into the cushioned backrest, leaning his head against the chilled window pane. A frame of light fog splaying from where his skin connected, the contrast in temperatures causing the reaction. Natsu was always warm, his average body temperature running much higher than that of a regular human. Though when he slept, it usually spiked much higher, his concentration lacking, barely keeping his own skin under control. He had never voiced it to Lucy, but she knew it was a draining task for him, his wild emotions always causing it to fluctuate. When he got overly flustered or rageful he became damn near scalding. Lucy never really minded it, especially in situations like this, his natural body heat making for a cozy effect. She was curled up on the opposite side of the bench, her back resting against the wall connected to the sliding door. With a muffled groan she moved to remove her freezing toes from the constraints of her boots, deciding to take advantage of the living heater across her. Tucking her feet under his left thigh carefully, she relished in the heat before his sudden jolt startled her. Almost instantly the warmth retracted, simmering under his pores. A slight pout overtaking her lips while she stared at his wide, yet sleep-filled eyes. Of course, he would wake up from the sudden change in atmosphere, the boy always on edge while away from the guild.

"Sorry," He mumbled sheepishly, "Did I get too hot again? I didn't mea-"

"No, it's alright, I was just warming my toes." She cooed, interrupting his typical nervous ramblings. "Sorry I woke you."

"S'all right, wasn't sleeping that good anyway." He shifted in his seat, stretching his strong arms wide with a rough yawn before facing her again. His eyes trailed over the compartment quickly, stopping briefly on all the exit points. The door, the window, and the emergency exit placed snuggly between the roofs panels. His shoulders taking on their practiced tense state as he strained his hearing. Lucy could barely hold back the amused smirk that danced over her face when she saw his nose twitch. Her lips only pulling back wider as he continued his practiced motions, checking the surrounding area for any danger. The nose on that boy could beat that of trained hound any day.

"What, afraid the black wizard might get ya?" She teased, wiggling her fingers at him for emphasis.

Natsu only sighed embarrassingly, scratching at the side oh his throat. Subconsciously acting on his traditional nervous habit."Sorry, Stella always-"

"-Makes you nervous," She finished easily. "I know." She slid her feet deeper under his leg, adjusting until she felt comfortable again. His on edge behavior wasn't unusual when they traveled through Stella, always becoming an anxious mess that intensified greatly the closer they got. He never delved into details about it, always stomping her curiosity with a simple defense. Just a bad feeling. She could practically feel her eyes rolling, hearing his voice clearly pronounce the words in her head.

"Honestly, it makes me nervous too," Lisanna added on a whisper, sluggishly pushing herself up from her resting position. Delicate fingers brushing the sleep from her electric eyes. "After all, its where Zeref was born."

Zeref. The great black wizard. A mage trailed only by the stench of death, or so the legends say. Though he hadn't been sighted in years, his very name still struck fear into the hearts of mages and non-magic users alike. A young boy with the tongue of the devil. His very words a magic vice on your mind. He controlled what he wanted, and that was that. "They say he's immortal." The white-haired woman started again. "A blade couldn't pierce his heart."

Now Lucy's eyes really did roll in their sockets. "Please, your only going to rile him up more." She gestured over to Natsu who served her a practiced annoyed frown. "He'll be on edge until we hit Magnolia again."

Lissana giggled slightly, turning her attention to him. "Don't worry, nobody's seen him in years, it's nothing to stress over."

"Doesn't mean he's gone." He bounced back. "Regardless, there's enough to worry about in Stella with or without him." Lissana's brow arched, curiosity plain as she questioned the statement. "Stella's crawling with royal knights, it's the second base from the border of Bosco."

"I thought there was a ceasefire?" She pressed, to which Natsu scoffed.

"They won't stop until they find Mavis's grave."

"What do they want with the holy goddess?"

"Mavis was the first grand witch," Lucy interjected. "It's rumored her grave carry's the secret to eradicating all enchantments."

Lissana hummed in understanding. "So basically mages should be avoiding this area?" She laughed weekly, crossing her arms with lazy movements. "What a perfect place for us."

"If we keep our hoods up we should be fine," Lucy stated pointedly. "Stella's train station is the major rest point between Seven, Bosco, Iceberg and Joya, there's lots of travelers with new faces. Makes it pretty easy to blend in. Besides, nothing remotely bad has ever happened to us while traveling there. It'll be good to keep our wits about us, but Natsu's major anxiety is a little overkill."

"I just have-"

"A bad feeling?" She finished for him again, rather cheekily. "I know." She nudged him with the top of her foot at his exaggerated eye-roll. "I have no doubts we'll make it back just fine. Lissana peeled her legs from the front of the bench, pulling them upwards to rest her chin on her knee.

"Aren't you from Stella, Natsu?" The man grunted slightly, stiffening and sending the woman a warning look before granting a structured nod.

"Did you ever see him as a child? The black wizard I mean. I think he would have been a few years older, but still a child back then."

"No." His response blunt and harsh, pushed over his teeth. Lucy quirked a brow, scanning over Natsu intently. He crossed his arms at her curiosity, a blank statement that he wasn't planning on explaining the situation further. Lissana sighed, placing a hand under her delicate chin.

"Stella is where Gildarts found Natsu as a child." She explained to the blonde. "He grew up there."

"Come on Lissana." He hissed back. His arms twitching as they stretched over his chest.

"How come you never told me that?" Lucy pressed, fixated on the man's jittery movements. "I thought you didn't remember your childhood?"

"I remember bits and pieces." He slumped backward obnoxiously, deciding that he was definitely stuck in this conversation now. "I just never thought it was important."

"You know where I grew up." She defended shortly.

"Geeze," he scoffed at the blonde playfully. "Like that was a hard one, Princess of Fiore."

The blonde found herself pulling a pout. She wasn't trying to be rude, only holding genuine curiosity about her best friend's life before her. "Well, maybe we could stop at your childhood home before we leave? It would be nice to see where you grew up." Her face warming as she beamed at the boy.

"It doesn't exist anymore." The words forced roughly from his tongue. "I burned it down." She didn't miss the slight twitch of his shoulders, or the way his voice threatened to crack. He puffed out a never mind before claiming he was getting some air, the trains rattling my stomach. A blunt end to their conversation. He was up in a single movement, pushing through the door and ignoring the wine of the sliding mechanics as it slammed back to its original closed resting state.

"Don't take it personally, Natsu's very protective of himself." Lissana tried, (as if Lucy didn't already know that) hopping over to sit next to the blonde. "I shouldn't have brought it up, I only know because I was there the day he arrived. I thought maybe he would have told you, finally opened up to somebody."

"Why would he open up to me? You've known him much longer."

Lissana huffed playfully, tossing her hair with a flick of her wrist. "Even I can see the way he looks at you, all doe-eyed and bashful. It's hard not to notice really."

"Natsu is anything but bashful." Lucy scoffed, giggling slightly. "Though I'm sure I could say the same for you."

"That's sweet of you to say," The fair-haired maiden flushed, "But I have my theories." Lucy stilled for a moment. Was she making a joke? Natsu had never pushed the boundaries that they had established over the years of their friendship, unlike he pushed for the fair-haired woman. Maybe it was because her feelings were so blatant, easy to play off of. Not to mention the comfort fo the family dynamic he shared with her siblings. It's not like she could find any reason she wouldn't want to notice casual pining in her direction, especially from somebody like him, any girl could dream of being so lucky. It was just that it didn't happen like that, and she didn't see any change for the future.

"You're ridiculous." She decided as a response, to which Lissana chuckled fondly. The rest of the trip remained rather silent, even after the dragon slayers return.

Meeting with the client went well, no arguments or concerns from the traveling wizard trio. The client himself was nothing out of the ordinary, a common man whose mother had been a successful wizard. Though he possessed no enchantment of his own, he held the secret of magic secure. The man owned a gracious amount of property in the city, majority of the population's homes falling on his land. Expressing his concerns for the people he bid the group luck as they headed to find the feverish bandit group that had been terrorizing them. Natsu didn't remove his face-concealing cloak, let alone speak during the whole exchange which only left the blonde wondering if he recognized the man from his childhood years. Unlikely as it was, she couldn't shake the suspicion; her friend's body language balancing on peculiar.

The bandit group, Twilight Oger (or so they called it.) had taken up residence in the city's abandoned mine. Converting the tunnels into a makeshift base. The group had established a rather daunting reputation with the city of Stella, the citizens growing too weary to attempt to run them out on their own. The royal guard batting an unusually blind eye. The rumor of their supposed sex trafficking didn't sit well with Lucy either. "We should set up a plan," Lissana suggested lightly. Her voice a much-needed contrast to the silence they had been walking in.

"Walk through the front doors and knock some heads."

Lucy shook her head playfully at the brash fire-breather, shoving his shoulder slightly. "I think we should split up," The peppy white-haired woman continued. "It would be easier to sneak around, a stealthy approach might be best considering we don't know how spread out in the tunnels they are."

"Also easier for one of us to get caught off guard. Aren't these thugs notorious for trapping woman?"

"You aren't traveling with common woman Natsu." The fair-haired woman retorted back. "Don't be so degrading, we can handle ourselves just fine." The peaceful smile she sported did little to sweeten her harsh words. Though Lucy found herself nodding slowly in agreement. "Plus it'll allow me to try out my new spell without you two getting in the way." She winked cheekily.

"I dunno," the dragon slayer mumbled, scratching at his throat in practiced fashion. "I really think we should stick together, I have a bad feeling about this place." Lucy could practically taste the anxiety of his words as they dripped over his chin. They should probably listen, Natsu's suspicions usually turned out to be right. But his overly annoying constant worrying from the city made it hard to distinguish his keen senses from his blind panic. Nothing ever happened to them in Stella. A nieve approach yes, but also a chance to prove herself to the man that always seems to protect her.

"I think it should be alright," the blonde finally interjected. "The tunnels should echo enough to hear one another if we call for help." Natsu simply shook his head muttering an annoyed Whatever under his breath. She felt kind of bad, gaining up on the man. This was supposed to be his birthday mission after all. But in all honestly, Lucy found herself surprisingly excited, an opportunity to show her teammate how far she'd advanced. A fully-fledged Fairy Tail member that could handle her own.

The group traveled to their destination at a quick pace. The air filled with Lissana's constant enamored pestering towards a certain Salamander. Lucy more distracted by the winding paths of the city's streets, decorated sporadically with aged trees and vegetation. She thought it was rather sweet, how well her two teammates were getting along. Even with Lissana's words on the way over. It was nice to see Natsu's pleased expression towards the woman. A long-time childhood friend and admirer. Though their newest member still bristled her, Lucy made a silent promise to invite her out with them more. It was nice to travel alongside another female, and if it made Natsu happy, then she was sure she could live with it.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they arrived, the night sky pouring out for its time to play. The stars blessing Lucy's soul, her magic vibrating deliciously under her skin. Her power almost doubling in the light of the night. The moon's shift was her favorite time to cast. As they stepped through the taped off mine entrance she could practically feel her excitement begin to bubble over. Traditionally she held a rather level head during missions, keeping her partner's explosive personality in check. Yet she found herself letting go, ready to show off her own power.

"I really think we should push through together," Natsu mumbled under his breath. The words so foreign on the rambunctious man's tongue; always ready to run ahead of the group in search of action, yet never far enough away that he couldn't protect those closest to him. It wasn't a secret that he was much stronger than his usual travel partner Lucy, but she didn't want him to feel obligated in protecting her when he already does so much.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Lissana bubbled, already skipping off towards one of the winding shafts. Lucy's lips pulling into a smile as she began following her lead towards another turn-off.

"Lucy." Her name pronounced like rocks on cement, jaded and sharp. She spun on her heel carefully, her smile falling at the dragon slayer's serious tone.

"I can take care of myself Natsu." She mused. "You don't need to hold my hand all the time."

A low grumble resounded in the boy's throat as he ran his rough fingers through spiked locks nervously. "Geeze Luce, I know I don't." She raised her eyebrow at his cautious tone. "It's just.. last time you were on your own I found you beaten half to death in the middle of the forest."

All mocking aside, Lucy felt her temper skyrocket. Of course, he didn't think she was capable. "I'm not a fragile little princess anymore. That was years ago." She spat, anger boiling over. "You don't need to save me all the time."

"I know, I know... I just want you to be careful. Sometimes you have trouble keeping your magic under control during the night."

"Like you're one to talk, you burn everything around you the second your emotions get out of wack." Internally she knew her anger was getting the better of her, words falling from her jaw faster then her mind could process. He was just worried about her, as a caring teammate should be. The pained expression he was now wearing only verified that fact. Mindlessly her fingers began fidgeting at her belt. Her lungs pushing her spitfire attitude out with a breathy exhale. "I'm sorry Natsu, that was uncalled for. I shouldn't have said that. I'm just excited is all. I'll be careful, I promise." Natsu's deep onyx gaze burned into her for a moment before he nodded, although reluctant, it was an agreement none the less. She reached out, squeezing his wrist confidently before turning back to face her chosen path. "You be careful too! Mira will surly cut off my head if I bring you home needing more stitches."

The forgotten shafts were confusing, to say the least. The floorplan coming across as sporadic and unplanned. There was little that argued what a great hideout it made, trapping its victims in a maze until they were prayed upon by vicious ogres. The lack of security flowing down the halls only proving that their targets felt the same way. Lucy had only run into two men along the way, their skills lacking, making it an easy victory for the blonde. The lack of scream's echoing offered that her teammates were fairing the same. Even with their earlier agreement that stealth was the best option, Natsu had never been the quiet/silent type. Especially when fired up in a battle. Either the mine shafts didn't share sound as good as Lucy had estimated, or he hadn't run into anyone just yet.

The must that surrounded her intensified greatly as she progressed, the smell practically suffocating her. Senses dampened by its nature. The only sound around her was the clack of boots connecting to the rocky earth, and the creaky hinge of the lantern strung to her hip. The ground becoming less and less traveled. It was peculiar really, with the placement of the mine so central to town. One would think at least a few curious teenagers would have come to poke around before rumors had sprouted about Twilight ogres appearance. And yet her footprint's were the only evidence of human life.

Groaning loudly, Lucy spun, heading back towards the entrance. Agitated that her luck pulled her towards one of the unused routes. Expectedly her group had already rounded up majority of their targets while she wandered around uselessly. Placing her palm to her forehead she let out an embarrassed huff. All her big talk was for nothing, the harsh tone she had used against her friend making her mood plummet even farther. All she could do now was pick up her pace and hope she could make herself helpful with tying up loose ends. Lucy always hated when jobs turned out this way, especially when Natsu insisted she collected her portion of the reward despite her actual effort. Not that it mattered today, this mission was supposed to be for Natsu after all. And truthfully after Lissana had decided to join them she had done nothing to make the trip enjoyable for her pink-haired friend. Silently she promised to the empty halls that she would apologize to him when they finished their job.

When Lucy rounded the corner back to the entrance she was debating which tunnel to follow. Pacing back and forth in front of Natsu's entrance before resolving that his nose probably led him exactly where he wanted to go. With quick steps she bounded down the winding hall's, trying her best to stay along the path of the firebreathers signature sandal footprints.

A scream that caused her blood to run cold echoed around her with striking prominence. Lissana's sweet tone coming across shrill and ragged. There wasn't a moment to process before Lucy's legs propelled her forward. The sound of angelic sobs guiding her path. Any and all excitement she had previously been consumed with smothered like a candle without oxygen. The shaft began to blossom with light as she rounded each corner, the weight barring planks becoming more and more re-enforced. If that wasn't already enough clues she was approaching the center of the base, the newly constructed grand entrance that appeared before her did.

Acting quickly, Lucy pressed herself against the corner of the doorframe, analyzing the situation before charging headstrong into the commotion. Obviously, the treacherous group had put some work in. The cavern dugout to be much larger than anything man-made underground should be. Large metal lanterns decorating the ceiling with patterned placement. Casting enough light to see, but not enough to dismiss the eerie atmosphere. Small beds, makeshift furniture and gang members coating the outer walls while the center remained bare. Except of course for the probable main event of their evening.

A rugged-looking man stood center a wooden stage-like platform. Greasy hair curling over knarled shoulders. Even in the dim light, Lucy couldn't miss the disgusting gleam of the man's golden teeth. Oh so typical of a rich bandit. But what really caught her off guard was the squirming woman entrapped by his rugged arms, top strewn aside leaving her covered only in lacy white undergarments. His chapped lips smirking into her cheek while he pinned her against his bare chest. His one hand prying dirty fingers into her supple mouth while the other pressed a rusty blade to her exposed stomach. Though not enough pressure to break skin, it was just enough to make Lucy's mouth run dry.

"Let her go." Natsu's enraged voice scrapped over every surface, demanding attention from all living things. Lucy cast her eyeline off to the side, finally noting her partner's presence. His clothes looked slightly battle-torn, but overall he looked un-worrisome. His expression was firm, lips drawn into a tight line while his eyes trained on the enemy standing before him. Even from her placement on the other side of the cavern, Lucy could feel the scorching waves roll off of him. A terrifying might in the face of adversity.

"What are you going to do about it fire boy?" The man's shrill voice causing Lucy to shiver. "Even if you get rid of us, more will come. Those royal soldiers are very eager customers. And there's plenty of women to go around here." Natsu lunged forward, feet indenting the ground with sheer pressure. The man howled playfully, cackling like a madman as he sidestepped out of harm's way. Lissana squeaking at the sudden movement." Natsu spun quickly, fang-like teeth bared while he coiled his muscles, ready for his next pounce. "Make a move like that again and I might have to carve up your little girlfriend early!' The blade against her stomach pressed deeper, causing Lissana to jolt, a high pitched screech crawling between the man's fingers. A sloppy line of red spilling from her torso down the hilt of the blade. Natsu looked frozen, his eyes never daring to stray from the glint of metal. Mind fighting with his anger to consider the safest course of action.

Shit shit shit. This was definitely not how Lucy had expected to reunite with her teammates. Instantly her fingers shot into the confines of her purse, searching desperately for the lone piece of white chalk she always carried. Mind racing dangerously through her memorized incantations. Though her magic wasn't necessarily designed for hand to hand combat like Natsu's, she held a natural talent for spellcasting. Confident that she was capable of at least making a big enough distraction for Natsu to proceed, she started scratching the lines of a practiced magic circle. The white of the chalk easily visible over the dark rock beneath her. Her frantic hand movements made the lines far less legible then she preferred, but it would do for now. The blonde dropped her weight to the floor, careful in her attempt to stay silent as she crossed her legs. Delicate palms slapping against the earth over her created circle. Her eyelids slamming shut in concentration while her lips parted for the whisper of incantation. Almost instantly the very ground beneath them shook with purpose, guiding cracks up the walls and spewing rocks from the ceiling. She didn't worry about frightening her teammates, she knew Natsu could smell her, even with his focus concentrated elsewhere. Hopefully, they could get this situated and escape to safety before she brought heaven's wrath down atop their heads. The spell itself was no easy feat, calling upon the gods light to alter the earth. Lucy only capable of casting it under the light of the moon. No doubt it would bring attention from the townsfolk their way, but at this moment the blonde thought it was the best course of action. She could feel the shudder under her legs as the shafts hidden deeper under the earth collapsed, the roaring sound of rockfall scattering through the cavern.

Natsu's strong tone carried over easily as he sneered cheekily, "Now you really fucked up. Gone and made the angel mad." Even in deep concentration, Lucy felt a smile drum at her lips.

"I already knew there was three of you. We thieves hear of all magic activity in Stella. She's no threat, pesky fairies lack the resolve to drop the ground over the heads of their 'comrades'."

"Bet." The dragon slayer's singular cocky reply sang like a choir to Lucy, pushing her magic to expand outwards. A sickening crack bestowed over them, one of the main support beams snapping under pressure. The scared cries of ogres screaming far louder. The blond's brow furrowed slightly as she felt her very skin vibrate, her magic fluctuating drastically. "You're okay Lucy." Natsu's voice rang true, obviously taking notice in her power surge. Yes, she was O.K. She wouldn't falter so easily when her friend's lives were on the line. She just had to keep the main cavern intact a little longer, enough time for them to escape. She was strong, and she could do it.

The man continued to cackle hysterically, bouncing his weight between his feet. "Bad move fire boy." He taunted. All Lucy could hear was Lissana's blood curtailing wail and Natsu's panicked shouts when she realized they had lost. Her lashes fluttered open, eyes rolling uncomfortably as her vision was obstructed by blinding light. She couldn't stop. She was losing control, just as her partner had foreseen. Her own magic blinding her sight.

"Lucy!" Natsu's worried screech reached from the main cavern. "Cut the fuse!" A pit burned its way into the depths of her stomach, fear of how this situation was going to end if she couldn't regain control. All she had wanted to do was help, and now the situation was only going to get worse. Splinters of support beams rained furiously over her, enraged with being disturbed after so many silent years. She felt her body shake with the earth's pure ferocity. "Please, Lucy!" He tried again, his voice swirling with Lissana's wild screams. She still couldn't stop. She was going to kill them all.

Lucy wasn't sure how many agonizingly slow minutes had passed when her vision finally re-focused, disturbingly strong hands clamping around her delicate wrist's and pulling her back to earth. And god, what an unpleasant sight to be greeted with. Two men that reeked of whiskey and sex smirking greedily at her.

"You's a pretty scary witch when you're casting, eyes going all white and shit. Body twitching like an addict." Lucy scrambled back frantically, her spine slamming into the stone arch. The men leaping upon her with a timed pounce, pinning her tightly against the frame. The first man stretching his fingers around her chin. "But yet, your so pretty. I'd have fun breaking a little thing like you." His alcohol glazed tongue searing along her creamy cheek. Lucy screeched vividly in disgust, springing her knee upwards to the man's groin. He recoiled with blunt movements, swinging his arm around to backhand her. The ferocity splitting her skin. "You sly bitch!" He fired another shot to her jaw. "You's makin' enemies with the wrong person." She tried to pry her head away from the man's violent swings, eyes scrambling to take in her surroundings. Small pebbles and dust still gave way from the ceiling, but the ground seemed to have relaxed, her magic cut out at the roots. The tunnel she had originally traveled down lay in ruin, barley leaving enough space for a full-grown adult to crawl back to the light. Thankfully though, the traumatizing screams had stopped, Natsu's much calmer voice the only thing ringing out.

"You okay Lucy?!"

If the blonde hadn't received another painful blow to her lower lip she probably would have snickered. "A little preoccupied at the moment." She grunted, purposely spitting the blood that was pooling around her gums over her assailant's face. She bucked her legs intently, thrashing around like a child until she freed one of her arms. With a sinched brow she slammed her palm over the first man's chest, muttering a simple incantation that caused her hand to pulse. Holy light rained down again, this time pin-pointed above her enemy's lungs and flinging him backward through the semi-demolished doorway and into the main cavern. A short victory smile produced from her mouth before she felt her body tremor. A light, yet firm reminder of how much magic she had just finished exerting, and how fragile it made her body.

Sucking in a deep breath she tried to muster strength from tomorrow, using her free hand to claw into the dirt. Muscles protesting annoyingly while she pulled herself away from the remaining man. "Not so fast witch." His tone twisting the word to sound like a vulgar insult. The hilt of his own blade striking into the round bone of her ankle. A torn wail exhaled from her, reacting to the pain but thanking the heavens that she hadn't heard the crack of her bones splitting. It wasn't much, but it gave the man an opening, tucking his legs in only to spring them out into her back. Shoving her ungracefully through the frame to join the rest of the crowd. Lucy cradled her ribs carefully, attempting to regain the air that man had so rudely ripped away from her. She was only able to catch a glimpse of her dragon slayers unreadable expression before more greedy hands tore her from the ground, dragging her center-stage to join the 'show'.

"Well fire boy, I suppose thanks are in order." The leader mewled again tapping his now drenched blade against a whimpering Lissana's torso. "Bringing me two of the most beautiful woman in Fiore and barely puttin up a fight to keep them." He was taunting now, voice never losing his deranged laughter. "Don't know why to maidens of this caliber are slugging around with someone like you, but I guess I should give you a little credit," Natsu growled darkly, his body growing tenser (If that was even possible), muscles coiling dangerously. The leader followed Lucy with hungry eyes, watching as Lucy was strung up by another man in the same manner as Lissana. The only difference was the blade pushing fearfully hard against the pulse point of her throat, leaving her stomach out of harm's way. Honestly, she wasn't sure which she would prefer more. She watched Natsu's dark anguish filled orbs bounce back and forth between her and Lissana. She tried to capture his attention, pleading with him by expression that everything was going to be alright. That he should focus on the more injured of the two and leave her to her own devices, but his glance never lasted long enough. "I know!" The leader piped up again excitedly. "It seems a little unfair to steal away both your girls after that pathetic display," He toyed, "So, how about I suggest a little game?"

"I ain't playing shit." Natsu responded bluntly.

"Don't be such a downer fire boy, this will be fun."

"Every time I hear that, things don't usually end up being that 'fun'." He spat. relaxing his tight fist momentarily before clenching it again.

The leader only smiley devilishly, continuing his frantic knife tapping over Lissana's stained skin. "I'm going to let you pick one." He decided. "Pick a girl to take home while one rots away under some pompous sex-deprived guard." The look on Natsu's face practically shattered Lucy's heart. One of absolute horror that something like that had even been offered to him. His singular broken reply of sick bastard weighing heavily on the limited oxygen.

"It's okay Natsu," Lucy offered dumbly, wincing when the tip of the blade punctured her skin. Hot thick liquid oozing down her neck, threatening to break her resolve. "Take Lissana out of here, I'll be alright." She tried to produce a weak smile but Natsu's sad cold eyes froze her as he shook his head. She gulped loudly, feeling the blade press deeper with her every word. Her captor obviously not pleased with her speech. "Please." She tried again, but Natsu only shook his head faster.

"No way in hell."

"This is so not the time to be stubborn." She retched, cringing at the sticky feeling coating over her chest. She tried to ask him again but the blade slid uncomfortably under her skin and all she could summon was strangled yelp. Surprisingly, it did nothing to help the exchange.

The dragon slayer's eyes bulged, raising his arm's defensively, voice frantic and lost. "Stop!" He yelled, "Don't hurt them anymore, give me a second to think!" She had never seen the man look so uncomfortable.

Lucy slammed her eyes shut at her holders' increasingly wild movements, jerking the blade against her without a care. "This is ridiculous lover boy," The leader spat over his laughter. "I, out of the goodness of my own heart offer you back one of the women you practically dropped in my lap. And you cant even decide which pussy you'd rather ride? Pathetic!" He hollered, the rest of his goon's joining in. "I'm good and bored now, you sucked all the fun out of this. I don't even need these girls!" At this point, it was hard to distinguish words through his manic howls. "You have three seconds before I just kill them both." Natsu's attention snapped back to him like his mind was finally processing the events that were about to unfold.

The cold-hearted cheering of a slow count sprouted from the other members. Starting at Three and barley pronouncing the O in One before all hell broke loose. The roaring sound of metal clad boots slamming into the earth above, signaling the extremely overdue arrival of the royal army. Bandits screaming and crawling over one another like wild animals in search of escape from a rabid predator. And Natsu's scalding shoulder crashing into her sternum, throwing her away from the wicked man's grasp. She rolled roughly against the dirt, hand shooting to her throat to pressurize the bleeding. She was gulping greedily for air when she heard the stomach flipping joyful voice cry out above the commotion. "Good choice! I think I would have picked her too." Nothing but freezing, blood-curdling cries followed. Lucy felt her limbs stiffen at the sound, her chocolate irises the only responsive part of her body. Taking in her horrific environment with shocking detail. Natsu was only a few steps away from Lissana, His body recovering quickly from surging towards her, propelling him back to the remaining prisoner. But a few steps was a few too many, and Lucy and her partner could do nothing but watch as their friend was quite literally gutted before them.

Blood had always been red. But nothing compared to the deep scarlet pooled around the stark white of Lissana's being. An enraged bloody titan plucking the clouds goddess right from the sky and dragging her to the fiery pits of hell. That is, if hell consisted of somebody shredding your torso to smithereens and hysterically laughing as vital organs spewed through the skin. Lucy was sure that in this world, nothing would ever hold a candle to the vile scene displayed before her. The grotesque sound of a lifeless body crashing limply over its inner parts. The ferocious roar of a wounded dragon casting thieves to scaper away, a high pitched squeal on their lips. All the while a daunting march of hungry war men encroached on them.

Lucy's head snapped painfully back to reality. They couldn't stay here, the army would swallow them alive. The Ogres were sprinting out of a tunnel near the back of the cavern, no doubt another way out laid beyond it. They still had a chance. With a silent prayer to all that was holy, she pulled herself up from her shambled mess on the floor. Taking rushed staggered footsteps towards her partner and the offending carcass in front of him. "Natsu..." She croaked. "We need to get out of here." She rested her palm on his shoulder, placing most of her weight on him. Her ankle lacking in its career of helping her walk. He didn't seem to notice her. Lips quivering as he muttered under his breath, fingers twitching, coated in the blood he had tried to prevent. "Natsu, we need to go..." She tried again, giving the man a light shake.

"We can't just leave her here..." His broken cry pleaded, head-spinning to meet her gaze. Never, in all the years Lucy had known Natsu, had she seen him cry. His deep onyx eyes swimming with salty tears, his raging passion extinguished. Her strong motivator completely shattered before her, frantically attempting to scoop spilled organs back into a frayed body. The footsteps of soldiers drawing ever closer as her own tears spilled over.

"Please Natsu." She sobbed, gaging slightly as blood bubbled from the split in her throat. She thought his previous expression succeeded in breaking her heart, but the look he was giving her now practically split it in two. A mangled pain-ridden yell erupting from his chest while he grasped Lucy's wrist, dragging her away from their murdered friend and the on slot of guards that inadvertently let it happen.

Again, check out the full story here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/3/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Dreamin’ Sun v1

Now that I’ve finally read this [after having dealt with the nightmare of originally getting an incredibly damaged copy and needing to wait an extra two weeks for a replacement copy to arrive], I may as well write down my thoughts. This isn’t really going to be a review, at least not “officially”, though I’ll obviously talk about my opinion on different parts of it. It’ll be more ramble-y and over the place than a proper review. Like with Rakugo, I might just wait until the series is done before doing a proper review of the entire thing, to save on time.

This got really, really long, but it’s mostly because since this is the first volume there’s just a lot to talk about right off the bat to get my initial feelings out. And also because there’s stuff like my whole lengthy point about comparing the art in this version to the original release of the series, which I won’t need to bring up as much later on. Even if I have less to say overall about the later volumes, I’ll still probably try and make posts like this about them even if they’re way shorter.

TL;DR: Basically I REALLY enjoyed this, more than I thought I would. It reminds me a LOT of Fruits Basket, in a good way. But it definitely seems to be going for a different vibe from that series. I like both, though. This might not be anything mind-blowing, especially if you’ve read a lot of shoujo rom-coms, but it seems like it’s probably a good title for people like me who are a bit less ‘experienced’ with the genre.

I’m really excited to see what happens in v2 now. I guess one good aspect of how it took like a month since v1′s release date for it to arrive is that it means there’s now only about a month or so until the next one’s out.

Detailed thoughts under the cut

For a bit of background info, the biggest reason I even checked this out is because I really adored the anime adaptation of Orange when it aired a year or two ago. I plan on getting the English release of the manga eventually, since I liked it so much as an anime. I’d been curious about this series for a while, but then Seven Seas announced their license of it, and I decided to wait for it and hold off on reading the scans online. I’m so glad I chose to just wait for this release, which I’ll explain in a bit. Over the last 6+ months or so I’ve been checking out the covers of the new Japanese re-releases of the series as they got revealed. Which certainly got me hyped for this. Let it be known that I am a complete sucker for beautiful covers, and man are these covers wonderful. They fit all of my aesthetic tastes so perfectly. Even if the series somehow falls apart later on I’m gonna still collect it just because the volume covers are so beautiful. OK, I just needed to lay that out there because these covers deserve to be raved about.

I guess it’s not really related to this series, but I’d also been reading Fruits Basket over the last six or so months via Yen Press’ new omnibus versions. Mostly because I’ve been wanting to read some cute, fluffy shoujo rom-coms for a while, and FB is like the most universally praised manga within that genre. I might still make a separate review of that series later. I’m bringing it up here because, honestly, it’s really hard not to note the surface-level similarities. I keep finding myself comparing the two. But even then, the comparison just makes me like Dreamin’ Sun, thus far, even more. I won’t call one better than the other, but this series definitely has it’s strengths.

To get more into detail about the similarities, both FB and Dreamin’ Sun involve a teenage girl being either voluntarily or involuntarily forced out of her home because of drama and life circumstances stemming from the relatively recent deaths of their mothers. Both protagonists wind up living in an isolated house with two teenage boys who complete the central love triangle, and their kimono-wearing house-owner/landlord who’s in his 20′s. It feels a bit weird to even list this out, since I don’t mean anything negative by it. I’m not saying that Dreamin’ Sun is a rip-off or anything. It certainly didn’t impact my enjoyment of it. It just highlights how even strangely similar premises can be handled in different ways. And obviously those elements aren’t the entirety of the story of either manga. I mean, you can’t really ignore the way that FB is also about supernatural curses and people that turn into animals, and Dreamin’ Sun is very much not about those things at all :V

[Lengthy ramble about comparing the current style to the ‘original stye’ starts here. Scroll down a bit if you want to skip past this]

Before I talk about the actual premise/story, which will take a while, I want to talk about what I said before about being happy that I chose not to read the scanlated version. I didn’t realize it until the author states it at the end of the volume, but for the recent re-releases of the series [that the English version is based on], she actually re-did a fair bit of the art. I spent a while comparing chapter one page by page across the ‘original version’ and the version we got in English. To put it simply, judging from just this one chapter, it seems that about half of the art is redone to some degree or another. It’s a bit complicated. It’s not a complete re-draw, or anything like that. It’s mostly focused on changes to how the characters themselves are drawn, but I noticed a few instances of slightly refined backgrounds and added/edited visual effects, though I wasn’t paying as much attention to that stuff. I can tell that the artist was focusing on fixing inconsistent or anatomically incorrect art, while in general making the art-style feel more consistent. I could tell that a lot of the panels that were left alone were the ones most similar in style to her current art.

It didn’t bug me or anything, but I could tell that there were notable differences between the style of certain panels, especially when it comes to how eyes, and specifically irises, are drawn. Takano’s art style clearly hasn’t changed that much over the years [it’s just gotten more refined and consistent], but she’s obviously developed a specific way of drawing eyes/irises, as you can see from the cover of this volume, which is very consistent across how she draws all of her characters now. It definitely clashes a bit with how she used to draw irises in particular in a more . . . inconsistent way. This is especially notable with Shimana, who used to often be drawn with largely unshaded/uncoloured eyes, and with more shaky lines. But, just to be clear, the difference is so relatively minor that I genuinely thought it was just a matter of her putting more effort into certain panels compared to other ones, and was genuinely surprised to see that there was, what, a 9+ year gap between when these were drawn? Wow. So yeah, she’s notably improved, and there’s still a fair amount of untouched art in this, but it’s not very noticeable at all. It’s actually most noticeable, I feel, with the colour pages [I assume they were originally in colour. This release has absolutely zero colour pages, which is very disappointing since I thought that the official blurb for it said that we’d get at least one per volume]. Something about the way they’re done feels more immediately different to her current style.

But even though the difference isn’t too noticeable just in the context of this version we have now, after seeing the original version and all of it’s art, I’m VERY happy she re-did the parts she did. A lot of panels in the original felt very similar to what she does now, but a LOT of them were noticeably worse, and definitely needed to be updated to make things consistent. She pretty much just took the worst of her old art and re-did it, and left the best parts, which seems like a good way to prioritize this sort of partial re-draw if she didn’t have the time to re-do the entire thing. Her older style definitely has it’s own charm and personality, and is arguably more experimental and expressive than her current style, which could be called overly consistent and ‘safe’ if you wanted to be negative about it. I imagine that there’s probably lots of people who prefer the original art completely, even beyond just basic nostalgia, and that’s fine. But after having been exposed to this new version first, I’m very glad it exists. It might get ironed out quickly [I only read the first chapter in it’s original form], but from that chapter alone it definitely felt like Takano sometimes struggled with keeping facial structures and hair-styles perfectly consistent between panels. Her handling of it’s better than a lot of other artists, but there were obvious examples of faces seeming a bit too flat at the side, or eyes being oddly sized/spaced, or foreheads being too large. The characters also have more realistic and consistent hair-styles, which is nice. It was especially noticeable with how Zen’s hair felt more wild and fire-y originally [and his hairline seemed too high a lot of the time], but is more specific and rigid now while retaining the spiky look [I really don’t know how to phrase this], and how Taiga’s hair felt more messy originally, with lots of strands/tufts on the top part sticking out more wildly. His hair’s a bit more tidy and flat now, but not entirely so.

[Art comparison ramble ends here]

Also the fan translation used for the scanlation I found was TERRIBLE, holy shit, but that’s not a point against the story itself obviously.

In general I love the art-style of this manga. I’ve been a huge fan of Takano’s way of drawing her characters ever since I watched Orange. I’m never good at praising visual types of art, since I never know how to put my thoughts into words about it, but her style is just really nice. It all feels very soft and consistent. She has a way of drawing hair and eyes in a way that captures a nice middle-ground between looking ‘realistic’ and looking ‘manga-y’, if that makes sense. They have a nice sense of depth and visual complexity to them. She’s also really good at drawing outfits, but really I’m just envious of anyone who knows how to do fabric folds at all. It might annoy some people that her modern style is more soft and subdued and clean than how her art used to be, but it never bothered me.

I guess there’s not too much to say in terms of the “story” of this, if we ignore the romantic elements. But I do want to say that I actually think I prefer this variation of the “girl leaves her original home and moves in with a group of guys”  set-up to how it was handled in Fruits Basket. It’s a bit of a meaningless comparison though because I love them both for different reasons. FB was taking a way more comedic and silly angle for a lot of it, while Dreamin’ Sun handled it in a relatively more serious and reasonable way than I expected. Aside from the vague contrivance of Taiga immediately guessing that Shimana is looking for a new home, I really liked how everything else about it was handled. For one thing, Taiga’s an actual landlord who’s already renting out parts of his house to other teenagers, so it makes everything feel way less sudden and unprepared. It also explains why Taiga so readily presented her with the option. Which helped make it all feel way less creepy than it could have been. He also gave her every chance to back out of the choice if she wanted, while also being rather responsible in telling her what to do if she actually wants to commit to it. I greatly appreciated how he wanted to make sure that Shimana cleared things up with her parents and got permission from them, and it was nice seeing him go with her to more or less negotiate with them. It was cool seeing him back Shimana up and make a reasonable case about how she deserves to have some freedom of choice while she still can. And I really love that she didn’t cut herself off from her family entirely, or anything, and is going to stay in regular contact with them. They even gave her some money to help her get settled in. In general what I mean is that the story put WAY more effort into making the entire moving process more reasonable than it necessarily needed to be. I could have dealt with it being hand-waved more easily, with nobody caring that much about the gravity of the situation. So it’s nice that it went out of it’s way to do all that. [I just realized that the way Taiga stood up for Shimana and made a case for her choosing to stay at his house is probably reflective of his family’s connection to law. Huh. I never quite put two and two together on that]. It’s also worth noting that the updated art-style also made Taiga seem notably less creepy in chapter one. It actually surprised me how outright sinister and unnerving he looked at times in the original, whereas in this version he’s mostly just sorta snarky and deadpan. It’s especially notable how sinister he looked originally while commenting on Shimana’s bag at the end of the park scene, whereas in this version he just looked mildly curious about it. It’s stuff like this that also went a long way to making him and his living situation proposition feel more reasonable.

On the topic of things being reasonable and different to what I expected, this may just be because I don’t read much shoujo, and/or because I just recently finished FB in particular, but holy shit did I appreciate the openness Shimana displayed with her emotions. She actually talked about her feelings with people instead of just bottling them up! Obviously she hasn’t really confessed her feelings to Asahi yet, but honestly who can blame her. And even then, she still outright asked him during the test of courage if he has someone he likes, and then when she saw him with that other girl, she plainly asked him if she was his girlfriend. A fucking plus for characters talking to each other about stuff and not just making assumptions and sitting on them for chapters upon chapters that lead to misunderstandings and drama. And it’s just kinda refreshing to get a protagonist like Shimana who is relatively open in talking about romance-related topics, while still not being super confident and forward, and still having relatable insecurities. I also have to respect Asahi for being similarly open about things. I love that he was completely open about saying that even if they’re not dating, he has a crush on that girl. I would have been fine with him hiding it since that’s realistic, but it’s so refreshing to see him be clear and unambiguous about it. This should help minimize any future drama. It was also cute seeing him ask if Shimana wanted to eat lunch with the two of them. Even though I also get why she tried to back off due to not wanting to be some sort of third wheel. Also, I can’t QUITE remember since it’s been a day since I read this, but I remember there being a scene where she talks to Taiga and Zen about her crush on Asahi, and about her wanting to learn more about his preferences and so on. It’s just so nice seeing characters like this who can talk about such things without anyone getting weirdly shamed for their feelings. I also really hope that the story is going where I think it’s going, with the emerging topic of the value of appearance vs personality. Please let this send a message about how being a nice, loving person is more important and valuable than just being pretty. That’d be wonderful. Also, just to fit it in here, I really love Zen’s brand of tsundere, where it mostly comes across as him and Shimana just being close friends who can rib each other back and forth about stuff. He even apologized for one of the more shitty things he said to her as soon as he saw how much she’s going through. I prefer this brand of tsundere to the more rough and violent and edgy kind.The characters in general probably aren’t super unique or memorable for the genre or anything, but they really appeal to my tastes. I love that they’re all just really nice, reasonable people who know how to get along and have fun, while also having some wonderfully snarky back and forths. And obviously I like it when characters lean more toward talking to each other about stuff instead of being moody and quiet and holding onto misinformed assumptions and grudges and so on. I already kinda love Shimana as a protagonist. I get why some people might not like her, but she hits all the right notes for me. Especially since the awkwardness between her and her family, and her angst over all that, has basically been cleared up. I love that she has her own fun, vibrant personality, and can be as much of an active part of conversations as the guys. I like how her torn-up feelings over her mother’s death are portrayed, even though I expect it to never be explored quite as deeply as in something like Fruits Basket. And I already just love her dynamics with all the guys, which I guess I’ll get into when I talk about each one.I’m not even gonna lie, I ADORE Asahi already and I really hope that he’s the one that ends up with Shimana. I mean both ‘options’ are totally fine and I love them both, but I certainly have my preferences. To be blunt, my tastes in romances like this are SUPER vanilla. I know that a lot of people often dislike characters like Asahi who are near-perfect, kind, mellow, smart, etc, and the one that the protagonist already likes from the start with no ‘build-up’, but I’m a sucker for this. I just really like love interests like him. It’s kinda hard to deny that part of it’s because he’s genuinely my type and so I can totally get why Shimana likes him so much. I vividly remember seeing that one panel of him with glasses when the black hair goes away and my reaction was basically just “be still, my beating gay heart”. I will defend this precious boy with my life. But I do also like that we might start seeing a more frustrated, cold side of him as he interacts more with that other girl. There’s some nice contrast going on there. I also really like that he’s studying to be a lawyer, if only because it’s an interest/academic field that I’ve basically never seen a character like him have before, and I’m interested to see if it becomes more important later. [Also I really like his fashion sense. I have a *weakness* for guys wearing ties]Even though I love Asahi a lot already, Zen is just the most adorable thing in the universe. My sweet panda-loving child. I love him. I immediately fell in love with his character design as soon as I saw the cover of volume three. I love that he has a lot of traditionally masculine traits, like his punk aesthetic, his interest in martial arts, etc, but he has absolutely no shame about carrying a plush panda around even in school. The guy has a goddamn full-body panda bear pajama suit. It’s amazing. His plush panda itself is also wonderful in it’s own right. I love how in the new version of the art, there’s a few examples of Takano giving it cute little facial expressions to match Zen. It’s so fucking cute I wanna die. I can totally see why it’s sort of the mascot of the series. Anyway, as said above, I really click with his brand of tsundere. He knows how to treat Shimana like a good friend. I like that his ribbing isn’t just a one-sided thing that she meekly and silently endures, and that she can also poke him right back if she wants. I love that be immediately, profusely apologized for calling her useless once he learned about her family issues. I love that he didn’t even really poke much fun at her for her crush on Asahi. And obviously I love that he never does anything worse than verbal teasing, and I can’t see him doing anything much worse. In terms of his position as the secondary love interest, I’m down with it. He clearly has no chance of being the one she ends up dating, though, so I’m probably just gonna spend this whole thing feeling bad for him. Thankfully it won’t be quite as harsh as Suwa’s entire situation in Orange and how much that poor guy sacrificed for the sake of his friends. I hope that, if he can’t end up with Shimana, he at least finds someone else he can find happiness with.Most of my feelings on Taiga can be summed up with what I said above, about being really refreshed and surprised by how reasonable and non-creepy he is. He’s pretty wonderful thus far. There’s not a whole lot to say thus far, but I’m curious to see how things go as we explore his family situation and his history with Miku. It feels like there’s a lot left to discover with him. Just to get it out from the start, I REALLY hope the story never frames him as a love interest. It hasn’t thus far, at least. And obviously it could be totally fine if it’s executed well. But the power imbalance of their current situation, not to mention their age gap, bothers me a bit too much. Hopefully things just stay the way they are now. We’ll see. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.I don’t have much to say about Miku thus far since she only showed up near the end of the volume, but I can already tell that she’s going to be great. Hopefully she remains a part of the main cast, even if she doesn’t live in the same house [I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t, and that she was just visiting, but I forget]. It’d at least be nice to have a prominent female character for Shimana to befriend. I guess this is also on the note of characters, but it was . . . surprising, to say the least, when I got to the end of the volume where there’s an omake that literally introduces some of the other cast members who have yet to appear. It even specifies which volume they’ll first appear in. Which is really goddamn weird. I don’t dislike it, but it’s weird, and I could see it bothering some people. It’s at least fine by me since I’ve already seen these characters on the later volume covers. But in general I don’t care much about whether or not a character’s general existence is ‘spoiled’ for me. Though seeing Zen’s brother was a surprise since he doesn’t actually seem to appear on any of the covers. So that was new. There’s not really much to say about them all since it was such a short little bonus thing, but I feel like I might dislike Shuu, and I could see myself really enjoying Miura so long as he isn’t a complete asshole. [Also I might just feel silly about saying this if I get ‘proven wrong’ when he appears, but his comment about Taiga’s dad being a stud is making me REALLY hope, in the depths of my gay heart, that he might be bi. I’ve been burned before, though, so we’ll just wait and see].I don’t really have any predictions or anything for where I think things will go. There’s kinda not a lot to go on, which is how these things tend to be. There’s less of an over-arching story/mystery than there was in Fruits Basket, that’s for sure. We’ll just see what happens when it happens. All in all, I pretty much loved this from start to finish. It was pretty damn wonderful. It’s at least nice to read something light and fluffy. I’ve been really needing something like this lately.I’m certainly a bit afraid that, even with my almost entirely positive feelings toward this first volume, there might still be a chance of things crashing and burning later. I’ve definitely heard mixed/ambivalent things regarding this manga, but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of this being a typical shoujo rom-com that lacks the narrative hook and emotional depth of something like Orange, or Fruits Basket, or whatever. Because I’m totally down for ‘typical shoujo rom-com’. That’s what I’m here for. [[I also wouldn’t be surprised if the original art played a part in people preferring Orange. So that shouldn’t be an issue now]]Just to end this off, on the topic of my comparison between this and Fruits Basket, I feel like the best way to describe it is that I feel like Dreamin’ Sun is going to be more ‘consistently level’ than FB. It’s not going to have all of the really good parts of FB that made it such a core staple of the genre that stands the test of time, but it also definitely looks like it won’t have the same issues that I had with FB. So it might not have the same high peaks, but it should avoid some of the pitfalls that caused be to kinda sour on FB a bit by the end.P.S: This is a really subjective and personal point of mine, but at the very least, if there’s any one thing I want, it’s for this manga to avoid actively negative portrayals of queer themes/characters. I really don’t mind if nobody in this is queer, or even if the very concept is never discussed or shown at all, so long as it’s not negative about any of it if it DOES come up. Nothing negative along these lines has happened yet, at least. I’ll say so if anything bad happens later, though. I’d be fine with a base level of silent neutrality, or whatever, but I’d certainly appreciate something a bit more than that, and as I kinda said above, there’s at least one faint glimmer of potential representation, but I’m certainly not going to hold my breath, and if it doesn’t happen, then that’s fine.