#can you imagine being Senshi and this like. what you thought was a child. gives you the best sex of your life???

[nsfwitchy2]

I am like so overstimulated and my head is so muddled rn but I am putting that last post in my mouth and just

[rosahope]

CHIBIUSA & ART

       It should come as no surprise that Chibiusa has a love for ART. Besides the fact that it is listed as one of her hobbies in her official bio, she’s seen drawing/working in various mediums throughout the classic anime and manga. Art is a creative outlet. It allows Chibiusa to put her thoughts, desires, and dreams onto paper, canvas, and all other manner of medium.

        One of the reasons she loves it so much is that the creativity behind it is as boundless as her own imagination and she can always convey how she feels in one way or another through the use of Art.

        In the classic anime, one of the first real instances we see of Chibiusa’s prowess in Art, is the Super S season during an episode in which Chibiusa’s art class is given an assignment to paint a landscape. Chibiusa proceeds to paint a surprisingly accurate and detailed landscape picture overlooking a glossy lake surrounded by trees, but adds her own touch by including a white-winged Pegasus ( Helios ) in the background. Chibiusa is initially reprimanded by her teacher for not following instructions and painting “only what you can see”, but she doesn’t seem deterred by this criticism, instead insisting that even though she wouldn’t get a good grade on the assignment, she wanted to keep the Pegasus in it because it made the picture look better.

          It’s a remarkable show of maturity and sense of self that even at such a young age, she knows exactly what she wants her art to be and what she wants to portray, and won’t compromise for anyone ( even at the expense of her own grades ).

          The subjects of her drawings are, not surprisingly, often a mirror of her dreams. The landscape drawing was inspired by her meeting with Helios, and in another episode later in the season, she is seen at her desk drawing a bride after coming home from a fashion show which featured a beautiful wedding gown. As she draws, she converses with Helios of her own dream of being a bride one day.

       As a child, Chibiusa’s primary medium was to draw with crayon, markers or water-based paints (those cheap little kid paint sets ), but her preferences change a little as she gets older and becomes more adept with it. By the time she’s in high school, she has a great interest in watercolour painting and Impressionism—often painting scenery and landscapes with the sort of softness and evoking of emotion reminiscent of painters like Degas and Monet. She takes quite a liking to drawing people as well, though not as seriously as her landscapes and still life.

       Chibiusa is one of those artists that, when the inspiration strikes, she will draw on nearly anything she can get her hands on; scraps of paper, napkins, tissue paper, cloth. Anything to get the initial outlines down so that she can later fill in with detail on a larger canvas. Whatever medium she decides to use ( and she has a love for many of them—except charcoals ), she almost always ends up wearing it in some way. Paint often gets on her clothes or under her nails and a sure sign that she’s been sketching recently is to look at her hands for signs of lead rubbed off on the insides of her fingers or the sides of her wrists.

          In college, Art becomes such an integral part of her life that that she ends up pursuing a degree in it, enjoying the creativity and inspiration it gives her outside her duties as a princess and a Senshi. If circumstances were different, she would have loved to open up her own art studio and paint for a living. But, of course, as the crown princess of Crystal Tokyo, she has other responsibilities that are more important.

       Art is something Chibiusa is very passionate about. Not just as a hobby to utilise, but in its history. She could easily name her favourite artists, eras, and styles if asked and is always eager to share her enthusiasm on the subject with others ( sometimes even when they don’t want to hear it ). Some of the pieces she’s most proud of can be seen hanging around the Crystal Palace, and in her room one can find a number of blank or half-finished canvases varying in size.

[huesofthemorning]

JunTaba’s Sailor Moon Theory

Characters: Junna, Futaba, Kaoruko

Words: 1500

Summary: Junna and Futaba sit down to discuss the most important thing in the world: A Sailor Moon AU for their friends.

“If we’re going to do this,” Junna said, slamming her notebook on the table, “we’re going to do this right!”

“Can you do it not in this room?” Kaoruko asked.

“No,” Junna and Futaba answered. Kaoruko groaned and put a pillow over her head, sending silent prayers to the giraffe god that she could fall asleep and miss this discussion.

“So, how we doing this, class prez?” Futaba asked, balancing a pencil on her finger. “Going in order, or going by easiest?”

“Easiest,” Junna said, “I’m calling Mercury.”

“Hah! Course you would!” The pencil clattered to the table. Junna snatched it up and penciled Mercury next to her name. She drew the little mercury symbol next to it.

“I like her computer,” she said.

“We have smartphones now, Junna. That computer is obsolete.”

“Don’t ruin my childhood.”

“Well,” Kaoruko drawled, “since you asked so nicely.”

“I thought you weren’t listening.”

“You’re just impossible to ignore, Junna-han. And I mean in that in the least nice way possible.”

“Oh, I’m aware. Anyway, Isurugi-”

“Dibs on Uranus. And Kaoruko’s Neptune. Because we’re gay.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t hmm me! We were made for those roles!”

“Hmm,” Junna hmm’d again. “Aren’t you a little bit short for that role?”

“Bite me.”

Kaoruko sat up in bed. “Oh?”

“Not you.” Futaba grabbed the pencil back from Junna and wrote Uranus next to her name. “Come on! I’m the butchest here! I own a motorcycle! Who else would you put as Uranus?”

“Tendo-san and Saijo-san would fit Uranus and Neptune pretty well.”

“What? No way! I’m way butcher than Tendo.”

Junna rolled her eyes. “There’s more to character analysis than butchness, Isurugi.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“See,” Junna started, in her I’m About To Give You A Dissertation voice, “Uranus and Neptune are supposed to be the outliers. They’re stronger than the inner senshi. More experienced. Everyone looks up to them and wants to be them. Then when you finally get close to them, you discover they’re actually a pair of idiots.”

“Okay, that’s good and all, but I’m going to say it again: I have a motorcycle.”

“Fair enough.”

Futaba nodded decisively and added Neptune next to Kaoruko’s name.  Really, it was a perfect match. Kaoruko and Neptune had the same hair, the same quiet presence, the same sly smile, the same ability to cut a person to shreds with words alone. Not that Junna would say any of that out loud, of course. Kaoruko didn’t need a confidence boost.

“Who next?” Junna asked.

“Uhhhhh… Who’s dumb enough to be Sailor Moon?”

Junna and Futaba looked each other in the eyes. “Karen,” they said together.

Futaba wrote it down, smirking as a thought came to her. “You know, Junna, if we go by the timeline, the first senshi that joins Moon is Mercury.”

Horror filled Junna. “Oh no.”

“I think you mean oh yes. You get to deal with Karen all by yourself for several weeks! We all know that’s your favorite thing in the world.”

“I would probably kill her.”

“No you wouldn’t. You like her too much.”

“Who’s Mars?” Junna asked, changing the subject, much to Futaba’s amusement. “Who’s going to save me?”

“Huh. That’s a good question.” Futaba stared at the ceiling, mentally running through their list of friends. It was hard to keep track of everyone sometimes.

“Let’s approach this the smart way,” Junna said, adjusting her glasses. “Mars is a masculine planet. Symbolizes war. Has to do with fire, and in the Sailor Moon world, birds as well.”

“Tendo. If it’s fire and birds, it’s got to be Tendo.”

Junna frowned, lips tight. She didn’t say anything. Futaba laughed.

“What, not the senshi in shining armor you were hoping for?”

“Trying to wrangle Karen and Tendo-san into a functional team does not sound easy,” Junna sighed. “At least we’d be well balanced. Tendo-san can do the melee and I can do the ranged attacks.”

“And Karen?”

“Karen can stay out of our way.”

“Man, I remember the good old days when Mercury was the nice quiet one. What happened to you?”

“Giraffes,” Junna said simply.

They held a moment of silence. Kaoruko was tempted to talk just so she wasn’t silent in solidarity with them, but she also didn’t want to interact with them in any way.

“Mahiru for Jupiter?” Futaba asked.

“I was going to say Nana.”

“Why? Because people ship Mercury and Jupiter together? You can’t just assign people roles because you’re gay, Junna.”

Junna’s mouth dropped open. “You- your entire reason for you and Hanayagi being Uranus and Neptune was because you two are gay!”

Futaba shook her head. “I didn’t say that.”

“You absolutely did!”

“Nah.”

Junna was scowling. Futaba smirked. “Anyways,” she continued, “what’d you think about making Banana Jupiter?”

“I hate you.”

“I think Junna-han should be Jupiter,” Kaoruko chimed in. “She has the most ~talent~ after all.”

Futaba laughed. Junna groaned. Kaoruko decided that breaking her silence had been worth it for the boob joke.

“Okay, seriously, back to business.” Junna tapped the notebook with the pencil. “Nana or Tsuyuzaki for Jupiter? They’re both very mom-like, as Jupiter should be.”

“Banana’s a mom, but Mahiru is Karen’s mom, and Jupiter constantly takes care of Moon. So I vote Mahiru.”

“That’s a sound argument, for once,” Junna said. “I suppose… Nana could be Pluto, then?”

“Why Pluto?”

“Time shenanigans.”

“Time shenanigans?”

“Time shenanigans.”

“Okay, sure, time shenanigans.” Futaba shrugged.

Nana fit Pluto very well, once Junna thought about it a little more. Existing outside of time, watching over everyone, only to be reborn and allowed to become part of the group and move on. Perhaps a little more tragic than Junna would have liked, but a surprisingly good fit for a silly anime au.

“If Nana is going to be Pluto, I reassert that Tendo-san and Saijo-san should be Uranus and Neptune. Then we’d have the top 3 of the class be the three strongest senshi.”

“And what does that mean, huh? Kaoruko and I aren’t good enough for Banana?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“How rude, Junna-han. We’re going to steal your girlfriend.”

“Yeah, we’re going to steal her so she can become the third mom to our child of destruction.”

“Second mom,” Junna corrected. “I can’t imagine Hanayagi doing any sort of mother work.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Kaoruko said.

“Who is our child, anyway?” Futaba asked.

“Well, we only have Saijo-san and Kagura left.”

“Gotta be Hikari then,” Futaba said, writing it down. “Quiet, willing to sacrifice herself, and probably filled with barely restrained chaos? Sounds like Saturn to me.”

“I’m not sure about that last point.”

“Come on. Didn’t you hear about the time she tied Karen up and locked her in a shed?”

“As class president, I do my very best not to hear that story.”

“Sucks to be you. That story’s great.”

Junna sighed. Futaba patted her on the shoulder. Though rarely admitted, the group all appreciated Junna’s service as class president. Mostly because they were all well aware that the dorm wouldn’t be standing if Junna wasn’t.

“That leaves Kuroko for Venus then, huh?”

“That fits well enough. She started earlier than the rest of us, and in another country too.”

“She’s going to be pissed that Venus lived in London and not France though.”

“And then we’ll tell her that Venus is as beauty obsessed as she is, and she’ll be fine.”

“True, true. Alright!” Futaba raised the notebook in the air, as if showing their masterpiece to the giraffe god watching from above. “The final rundown: Karen becomes Sailor Moon. A few weeks later you join her as Mercury and probably strangle her like 2 days in. Then a bit later you say - what’s the line - ‘There’s a pretty girl who rides this bus every day’ and Karen, like the lesbian she is, jumps onto the bus so she can stare at Tendo. Tendo reluctantly becomes Mars.”

“A while later,” Junna continued, “Tsuyuzaki transfers to our school and becomes Jupiter, thus saving me from having to deal with Karen. A few weeks after that, Saijo-san shows up and says that she’s Sailor Venus and also better than all of us. And then… a mini Karen shows up from the future?”

“That’s too many Karen’s. Let’s skip that.”

“Agreed. We can meet Nana through some other time shenanigans.”

“And then Kaoruko and I come zooming in on my motorcycle!” Futaba jumped to her feet, fists at the ready. “And obviously we’re awesome and mysterious and gay!”

“And completely devoid of morals and human compassion?”

“You don’t need morals if you’re gay.”

“I don’t think that’s true. Though that would explain a lot about Hanayagi.”

Kaoruko just waved a hand in the air, too lazy to respond.

“So then what?” Futaba asked, dropping back into a sitting position. “Mini Karen - I guess just Karen then? - befriends Hikari, who ends up being Sailor Saturn. Then she tries to blow up the world, and Karen stops her, and then Kaoruko, Nana, and I become her cool lesbian moms.”

“I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thanks.” Futaba let out a big breath of air, as if exhausted by the excitement. “So what now?”

“Now,” Junna said, flipping to a new page in the notebook, “now we start the script.”

[awashsquid]

Sparkle Sparkle 2019!

This year I got @sittingoverheredreaming!  I chose the prompt Keeping Warm and...well, I’ll just let you read it.  This is set in an AU where Neptune and Uranus were awakened in time to go to D-Point with the Inner Senshi and takes place in that version of the season’s finale, basically picking up right after Rei dies.  Not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind but...here it is!  Hope you enjoy!

Haruka had never been angrier about her Senshi uniform being a miniskirt than she was at that moment.

The cold bit into her exposed legs with such fierceness that each step sent a shockwave of searing pain throughout her lower half.  The wind seemed to have been able to penetrate beyond her soft flesh and into the deepest recesses of the hard bones that lay beneath, encasing them with a freezing grip.

Her gloved hands were numb, and she kept flexing them so that they wouldn’t lose all feeling.  She glanced to Michiru at her left and saw that she was doing her own delicate version of the same instinct, her fingertips fluttering as though playing an invisible violin, tiny white butterflies flitting back and forth in a dance so captivating that she had to remind herself  to look elsewhere.  

Her gaze moved to Michiru’s face, paler than usual, cheeks uncharacteristically blushed and lips red as though painted, looking to Haruka like the most tempting forbidden fruit, and oh, she wished she had thought to taste them, to try and take a bite before they had come to this, because she knew now that they would not be going home again, not ever, and she wished with an aching fervor that she had mustered the courage to kiss the girl she loved before she died.

She turned back to look towards the endless expanse of white stretching ahead, eyes straining to see past the blowing snowflakes.  She heard nothing but the wind’s loud howl mingled with Sailor Moon’s cries from behind her, her usual wailing sobs replaced by a guttural heaving that was becoming more difficult to ignore.  She felt her hands tighten into fists and whirled around before she had a chance to think better of it.

“Would you stop already?” Haruka barked, her voice hoarse from the cold.  Sailor Moon blinked up at her with Usagi’s eyes, streaked red and watery, her face an expression of shock as though she had been slapped.  “We need to focus.  The enemy could be anywhere, and I can’t hear a damn thing with you going on like that.”

“Uranus,” Michiru murmured in her ear, closer than Haruka realized she had been, three syllables managing to be both a warning and an agreement.

Sailor Moon gulped loudly and wiped her nose with the back of her glove, already visibly stiffened from the dried tears and snot.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, quieter than her voice had ever been, so soft that it was almost carried away on the wind like one of so many snowflakes in the air.  “It- it’s just that--”

“Look, I get it,” Haruka cut her off.  “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry they’re gone, but you can grieve later.  Right now, we must complete the Mission.  Nothing else can matter.”

Sailor Moon’s mouth opened to protest, but Neptune took a step forward, edging slightly in front of Uranus.  “It’s not that their lives do not matter, Sailor Moon.”  Her voice was soft but strong, slicing through the wind with the precision of a knife.  “What Uranus means is that we cannot allow their sacrifices to be in vain.  And if you become consumed by grief at this point, it becomes that much easier for the enemy to win, and they will have died for nothing.”

Sailor Moon had flinched at the word “died” as though struck, her eyes cast downward like a child being scolded.  A long moment of silence sat between them, heavy with the weight of the bodies that were left to freeze, beautiful corpses forever preserved in their burial shrouds of ice.

“You’re right.”  She wiped her nose and eyes one more time, then met Uranus’s gaze, her expression determined.  “We have to win.  They wouldn’t want me to give up.  Rei-chan would probably yell at me for crying anyway.”  A tear trickled down, but it was left to freeze on her cheek.  “Let’s go.”

It was the first true command Uranus felt she had ever received from her leader, and she nodded.  The three turned to face the frozen wasteland together and began walking side-by-side.

--

It seemed like hours had passed (but time meant nothing in this vast emptiness, where the sky was always the same shade of grayish white and the heavenly bodies invisible) when Neptune stopped.

Her teammates both began to ask why, but she raised a finger to her lips as her eyes darted back and forth, sensing something they could not.  Haruka strained to hear a noise other than the wind and her own heartbeat, but whatever Michiru had tuned into was not something that she could determine.

The next set of movements happened so fast that her brain processed them only after her body had already reacted, playing catch-up to her enhanced reflexes.

Neptune whipped to Sailor Moon and grabbed her in a tight embrace, launching them both several feet forward, vines immediately bursting from the ground where Moon had been standing.  Uranus leapt backwards on instinct, catching herself with her right hand on the ground.  Neptune had already released the other girl and was in the midst of attacking the vines, bright turquoise light enveloping her, when Uranus felt the ground quiver beneath her.  She leapt to the side and avoided another burst of vines, countering with an attack of her own.  Between them, she noticed that Sailor Moon had risen to her feet and was scanning the horizon, tiara in hand, looking for the source of the attack.

Once the two attacks had landed, the vines quickly retracted back into the frozen ground, leaving large, snaking tunnels that quickly began to fill with snow.  The three soldiers stood, panting, each poised to attack again and scanning their surroundings for signs of the enemy.

“Where’d they go?” Uranus questioned after several minutes of tense silence.

Sailor Moon allowed her tiara to reappear on her forehead.  “Maybe we should keep going?”

Neither of the older girls answered her question or dropped their attack stance.  Another minute passed before Uranus bellowed, “Only cowards hide and attack from the shadows!”  Her shout was swallowed by the wind.

Then Neptune turned to her with an expression of horror on her face, something Haruka had not seen so unmasked on her partner’s visage.  But before she could ask what was wrong, Neptune had charged at her and checked her, harder than Haruka would have assumed she was capable of, so that she landed on her back in the snow a few yards away.  By the time she sat up, microsecond though it was, more vines had already risen from the ground to wrap Michiru in their hideous embrace.  This time, the two enemies remaining were visible as they rose into the air, Neptune struggling against the restraint of the vines.

Uranus felt her heart drop into her numb feet.  She knew what came next--she had seen it happen with four girls already.  She knew that Neptune was going to die because she had chosen to save her, not even the Princess this time, but her, despite the whispered promises that neither of them would do such a thing so as not to sacrifice the Mission.

Neptune went perfectly still in the vines, her eyes closed.  Her hair fluttered in a gentle wind instead of being whipped by the reality of the wintry blasts, and her entire body radiated that same light that always accompanied one of her attacks.

“Neptune- Michiru, don’t--”

“Deep Submerge,” she intoned, the words quiet but furious, her eyes snapping open as she stared down the closest enemy.  The light expanded and encompassed those hanging in the sky before slamming into the ground with enough force to shatter it, forming a crater in the earth with Neptune laying at the center.  

The enemy that had been closer to her had been crushed by the pressure of the deep ocean and lay flat, vines having retreated into its shoulders, leaving only a skinned husk of a corpse.

“Damn you,” ground out the remaining enemy, her vines constricting Michiru until she began to scream as they cut through her uniform and began to saw into her flesh.

“No!”  The cry came from behind her, and Uranus reached out her right arm just in time to grab Sailor Moon’s ankle as she attempted to run past.  “Uranus!  Let go!” she screamed, attempting to wriggle away.

“Promise me you’ll finish this,” she growled, staring at the soldier in her grasp.  When she didn’t get an immediate response, Uranus bellowed, “Promise me!”

Sailor Moon looked into her eyes, tears still falling, and nodded.  Uranus released her leg and stood, the familiar yellow light already beginning to grow in her fist.  She nodded.  “Be seeing you, Odango.”

Uranus charged forward as Neptune stopped screaming, falling limply within her confines.  She summoned every bit of strength that she had, channeling it all into her fist, and pounded it into the ground.  “World Shaking!” she screamed, loud enough that her voice broke, as she let the power course through her and release, the ground shattering where she touched it.

She heard the last enemy scream as the attack ripped through her, the vines retreating from Neptune’s corpse as Uranus dove for it, grasping her hand tightly.

There was no time to ask questions, no time to check on a result she already knew deep within, before the ice burst forth from the ground and Uranus felt herself being rocketed upwards.  She refused to relinquish her grip, though, and she was able to keep her hold until the ice stopped its rapid growth.

Neptune lay still and broken, like a beautiful doll, really, if you didn’t look below her neck to see the jagged strips of fabric hanging from her uniform, the blood staining its edges where her skin had been sliced into.  Her expression was calm and peaceful, and Uranus wondered if she was happy where she was, and if she was going there, too.

Her vision had begun to tunnel, so she closed her eyes and imagined that the two of them were on a beach somewhere, laying in the sand, holding hands as they watched the waves.  The screaming wind almost sounded like a roaring ocean, she thought, and she smiled slightly.

Despite being encased in ice in the middle of a frozen wasteland, Haruka felt warm.

[keyofjetwolf]

Jet Wolf Summarizes Act 40

The manga and I kind of hate each other. This is unfortunate, but still, I’m determined to come out of this with something. Rather than spend energy on a liveblog that’s increasingly negative, I’m reading each manga act (mostly) silently, and then writing up summaries at the end. I won’t pull my punches. There’s going to be criticism and snark about the manga, either wholesale or in details. If that isn’t a thing you feel like reading, please skip this post!

Mercury is in the title, so I am of course immediately suspicious. She doesn’t actually show up until thirty-five pages in. I’m SUPER suspicious. But I get ahead of myself.

First we have to deal with Mamoru in the hospital, where he regrettably regains consciousness. The Senshi run in like they’re a) concerned, and b) were notified, both of which we know are patently untrue. So since Ami isn’t with them, I’m going to assume she had one jello shot too many and passed out. At which point Mako hefted her up piggyback and ran all the way to the hospital like a charging bull, drunkenly barreling down the street and mowing down all passersby while Minako kept pace in her wake despite drinking more than anyone, making ambulance siren sounds and also carrying Rei piggyback style who made it a point to scream at everyone to get out of the fucking way and turn and nearly but never quite fall and yell at anyone who had the gall to not possess her precognitive abilities and ALREADY be out of the way, which meant, not coincidentally, that she was yelling at literally fucking everybody.

Unfortunately the manga didn’t have that, it had this.

Yet another wasted opportunity, manga.

They get an eyeful of bodyswapped Usagi and Chibs, and conclude that Black Lady’s back, which I’m sure wouldn’t have traumatized Chibi-Usa in any way. Talk talk, recounting last issue, Ami enters! MERCURY DREAM!

Oh, not yet, she was just late, despite the Senshi otherwise all consistently arriving at the same time always. She says they should get Usagi and Chibs checked out, and she called her mother to look at Mamoru, too. Speaking of, Ami’s mum enters. She looks, creatively, exactly like an older Ami.

I guess hairstyles are hereditary after all. NOW YOU KNOW.

Ami’s mum finds nothing wrong with Usagi and Chibs, and I can only assume that includes the fact that Chibs is a sixteen year-old girl impossibly squeezed into a ten-year old’s clothes, SERIOUSLY WHY DON’T USAGI AND CHIBS AT LEAST EXCHANGE OUTFITS CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW UNCOMFORTABLE CHIBI-USA IS

I MEAN THE UNDERWEAR ALONE NOT TO MENTION WITH THE SKIRT SITUATION

SHE’S WEARING SUSPENDERS WITH NO BRA YOU GUYS COME ON SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS CHILD ACTUAL FITTING CLOTHING

Anyway, Usagi and Chibs are medically fine, but Mamoru has “shadows over the lungs”, which is apparently so unusual that the doctor “has never seen anything like it”, and I’m just sitting here UHHH MAYBE GET THIS GUY AN ONCOLOGY REFERRAL RATHER THAN LET HIM WALK OUT WITH A VAGUE PROMISE TO SCHEDULE A FOLLOW-UP SOMETIME MAYBE

Of course this is probably the same hospital that let Mamoru walk out with a ten year old child for whom he has no parental or legal guardianship and despite her suffering from cardiac arrest and no blood flow, SO CLEARLY I AM EXPECTING TOO MUCH OF THE MEDICAL STAFF HERE AT FUCK YOU HOSPITAL.

Chibs decides to try and trick Ikuko, so she goes home and pitches Luna-P at her. It works! I can’t even be surprised. She goes up to Usagi’s room, and rather than, I dunno, CHANGE CLOTHES, she thinks about how Mamoru said she was pretty and ughhhghgh. The Pegabell accidentally falls and instantly summons him, and someone really needs to tell Pegasus to let the phone ring a couple times because desperaaaate.

Pegasus says he can sense this is a bad spell cast on her by “someone”, but he refuses to answer any other questions, proving that no matter the continuity, Pegasus will never be helpful and needs to fuck off.

“I won’t tell you anything at all whatsoever, not about me or the enemy you’re risking your life to fight, but trust me, okay? PS: GIVE US YOUR POWER PRECIOUS”

One thing I will say is that Chibs immediately is like “I GOTTA TELL EVERYONE PEGASUS SHOWED UP AGAIN”, so while this is super jacked up, it’s not SuperS jacked up, so I can avoid screaming about everyone neglecting Chibs while she’s being secretly groomed by a fucking magical ungulate, and yes, I WILL take my small mercies.

Meanwhile, Usagi’s hanging out with Mamoru, who is intensely weirded out by the fact that Usagi is now a child, which I have to say that I was more than a little concerned about given the Chibi-Usa stuff.

Hm, this is twice in a row the manga’s not exceeded my expectations in a negative way.

OH GOD SOMETHING HORRIBLE IS COMING ISN’T IT

Well certainly Mamoru angst is coming, and jesus fucking wept. “I’M SICK I’M DRAGGING YOU DOWN PERHAPS WE SHOULDN’T HAVE A FUTURE TOGETHER”. And while fundamentally I’m fine with this conclusion, dude, you’ve been ill like A DAY, maybe take some Nyquil and calm your shit. And while I could maybe appreciate this from a flipping of stereotypes to have Mamoru the one so uncertain and worried, given how EVERY OTHER FUCKING PAGE OF THIS MANGA is about lifting Mamoru up and making him critically important, it reads less like a reversal and more Takeuchi grasping at a reason so she personally Usagi can remind us how wonderful he is. These plagues of doubt only work if something ever happened for him to be doubtful ABOUT.

Anyway, Chibs walks in and sees them (specifically she sees ten year old Usagi kissing an unconscious Mamoru but I can’t you guys I’m so tired) and she has a thought.

A THOUGHT I KIND OF FEEL YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD BY NOW CHIBS I MUST BE HONEST WITH YOU

She thinks about how her dream is to become an amazing lady and meet her own prince, and then we cut to Pegasus and then I threw up everywhere. BUT JUST IN CASE YOU NEEDED A PARALLEL TO DRIVE THE POINT FURTHER HOME, Pegasus is thinktalking to Mamoru and apologizing for not protecting him, because they’re trading positions now you see like Usagi and Chibi-Usa with the bodyswap and blaaarg. I much preferred all this last arc, when Mamoru was like “Huh I feel like I just married Chibs and Hotaru, THAT WAS WEIRD.”

Meanwhile at Ami’s house – YES AMI ACTUALLY APPEARS OVER THIRTY PAGES LATER – she’s up late doing research on the Dead Moon Circus. She pauses for a moment to have a really nice flashback with Pluto:

Sweet, huh? ONLY IT’S NOT A FLASHBACK IT’S A BRAND NEW SCENE AND WHAT’S MORE IT’S A BRAND NEW SCENE THAT DOES NOT FIT WITH WHAT WE JUST READ LAST FUCKING ARC.

You guys know me. You know I fucking LIVE for Senshi moments. But the Outers spent THE ENTIRETY OF LAST ARC actively avoiding the Inners. THAT WAS LITERALLY A PLOT POINT. You can’t work so hard to sell them as separate teams unable or unwilling to come together until the climactic final moments of the final battle and then turn around and pretend that Ami and Pluto were hanging out every weekend trading cool links and writing Perl applets. And it can’t have happened after, because as soon as they learned they’d gotten a baby out of the deal, the Outers fucked off before the dust had even settled.

I realize I should just be happy I’m getting anything at this point, but I’m ACTIVELY IRRITATED that this is being painted as something that was there all along when you know and I know that Takeuchi hasn’t been able to scrounge up two fucks to rub together about the Senshi before this point, let alone them interacting in any capacity that didn’t have Usagi at its center. OWN YOUR TERRIBLE DECISIONS DON’T STARVE ME AND THEN ACT LIKE YOU’VE BEEN SERVING ME STEAK DINNERS FOR THE PAST SEVEN MONTHS

Not to mention how it makes exactly zero sense for Ami to be all wistfully missing Pluto.

WHEN DID YOU EVER AMI WHEN DID YOU LITERALLY EVER

Which brings us to Part Two (through fucking Ten, I’m so angry) of why this pisses me off: it attributes whatever accomplishments Ami has had to this point TO A MENTORSHIP THAT LITERALLY NEVER EXISTED UNTIL THIS MOMENT. This Act is ostensibly about Ami learning to trust and believe in herself and blah blah blah THESE ARE NOT PROBLEMS MANGA AMI HAS BEEN WRESTLING WITH. Manga Ami hasn’t been wrestling with ANY problems, because Manga Ami has all the characterization of my partially-filled Papa Murphy’s punch card. But at least she could own whatever tiny moments of achievement she managed scrap together for herself out of this dismal fucking story that barely remembers she exists. BUT NO. Now she has to be smacked back five steps just to watch her walk back to where she started and call it development.

Jesus fucking WEPT I hate the manga.

All right, let’s blast through the rest of this since it means literally nothing. Ami begins to feel ~a stirring~ or whatever, prepping for her end of episode power-up. Her mum finally comes home at 1am and laments that she’s not a very good mother, but seems to make no actual effort by the end of the story to change that, so yeah, I guess you are. Ami zones out partway through to tell us about her father, who was an artist who fucked off to paint fish or something.

Blah blah bad guys, blah blah Fish Eye and PallaPalla will go after Ami because they’re blue.

Next day, Ami goes for a walk and spontaneously buys a fish, as you do.

Oh no it’s really Fish Eye, who could possibly have foreseen this?! As Ami falls asleep, she begins to have a nightmare where her mum brings a new man home and disowns her. Then she becomes her younger self, and her dad doesn’t want her either. Then she sees Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibs (though bodyswapped as they currently are, wtf Ami) and imagines Usagi saying that when she’s with them, she doesn’t need anyone else.

Not a single bit of this I feel is unreasonable for Ami to be really worried about, I have to say, but since no part of this has come up before now and no part of it will come up again (PARTICULARLY LOOKING AT YOU, NIGHTMARE USAGI), it has all the staying power of a foot cramp I had once, inconvenient and a little painful in the moment, but over and forgotten five minutes later.

Ami realizes none of it is real and tries to break free, only to fall through a mirror and begin talking to herself, only tiny.

Tiny Ami says Bigger Ami should remember her real dreams and not give up. “Yes, there are so many people I love and who love me”, she says, LITERALLY THINKING OF ONLY SEVEN PEOPLE TWO OF WHICH ARE HER PARENTS BECAUSE REMEMBER WHEN AMI HAD TO USE NARU SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A SINGLE TERTIARY ACQUAINTANCE WE CAN PRETEND SHE CARES ABOUT

My favourite part of this though?

IT’S A SHITTY LIST AND MAMORU’S STILL NOT ON IT

Ami goes on to say that her real dream is to become a “full-fledged soldier” (okay) and protect everyone. This triggers her power-up, and also a talking doohickey.

I can’t help but notice we’ve increased our talking inanimate objects by about 500% lately, and I’m wondering if Takeuchi was on massive amounts of painkillers.

I wish I were on massive amounts of painkillers.

“Mercury Aqua Rhapsody”, Ami breaks the mirror, and frees her mum from the nightmare. But she apparently still can’t actually do anything of real combat importance, SURE AM GLAD YOU’RE A FULL-FLEDGED SOLDIER NOW AMI. It takes Chibs and Usagi running in (Ami called Usagi earlier) and transforming – triggering the end of their bodyswap – to attack and kill Fish Eye.

Because Usagi and Chibi-Usa are here, the story is instantly handed back to them. Usagi’s awesome awesomeness is just so bloody awesome that Chibs is like “Oh man, I must not be this Princess who can help Pegasus, it’s probably Usagi.” So she calls and tells him he’s got it wrong, to which he’s “Oh? Weird, but okay. So heyyyyy, other Princess, s’up?” Which upsets Chibs and she runs off.

KEEP RUNNING CHIBI-USA

KEEP RUNNING AND NEVER LOOK BACK

[docholligay]

Series Finale

Another release from the patreon vault: My rarely-publicly-published Au of Mystery and Shadow, my “good end” AU--this is a special piece I wrote for Jet to commemorate her finishing the anime! almost 3,00 words.

Mina put the pizzas down on the ottoman, placing some paper plates next to it. “Domino’s finest!” She walked toward the kitchen. “Hey buddy, you need a beer?”

“Love one.” Haruka called from the couch, tucking her legs under the soft blanket. “Thanks. Kimi did NOT want to go down tonight, I’m not sure what her deal was.”

“Well, you know how children are,” Michiru set down her glass and passed the champagne bottle over to Haruka, “they have a miraculous sense of whenever their parents would like to do something.”  Haruka twisted the bottle open and passed it back to her. “Thank you, my love. Rei?” She carefully poured into the glass set on the end table, “May I offer you a glass?”

“I’m taken care of.” She patted the box of Franzia next to her.

“Of course you are, I’m foolish to have asked.” Michiru tossed her hair, her voice teasing, and settled in next to Haruka on the couch.

There was a time when Rei would have blushed, and tried to imitate Michiru’s fineness, but, as it was, she grinned. “Just pass me some of those breadsticks.”

Haruka tossed the box over to her as Mina reentered the room, beers in hand. She handed one off to Haruka and plopped in the oversized beanbag next to Rei.

“I’m fascinated to see their take on this. I haven’t been watching since the turned me into an Usagi knockoff. Blonde isn’t a personality type, people.” She took a chug. “Also, why the fuck did we all have a crush on your gay ass?” She shook her head at Haruka. “Also, we were young, not idiots, I think Usagi was the only one who mistook you for a dude at first. And for like, 20 minutes tops.”

Haruka draped her arm around Michiru, who snuggled into her shoulder. “So you did watch the third season.”

“Just enough to see what they did with you. Heartthrob my ass.”

Michiru gave a careless shrug. “I never watched any of it. I never imagined it would tell the story fairly. Though,” she smiled up at Haruka, “it is true that your handsomeness is without measure.”

“AT LEAST THEY DIDN’T MAKE YOU STRAIGHT.” Rei shouted across the room.

Mina rolled her eyes. “Speaking of incapacitatingly homosexual…”

Michiru put a finger to her lips. “My children are sleeping.”

Rei reiterated in a harsh stage whisper. “At least they didn’t make you straight.”

Mina drew her arm around Rei. “Honey, you are not the only one this happened to. Like...maybe all of us. Except those two.”

“Me! With men!”

“Well you know what they say, “ she smiled, “Men are from Mars--”

“No men are not from Mars no men on Mars ever Mars hates men Mars is women’s space only Mars--”

“Rei.” Michiru called over to her. “We’re all very aware of the...she weakly waved her hand in the air, “lack of historicity involved in this production.”

“Mina, did you see the cathedral episode? They had Usagi trying to convince me not to shoot myself.” Haruka chuckled.

“Oh, did you punch her in her fucking face like you did me, or is that not a magical friendship moment?” Mina shot back.

“Oh, like you didn’t punch me in the face as soon as I got better. And no.”

“You had it coming, buddy.”

“I really did.”

“Ladies.” Michiru steeled her voice just a hair. “If we don’t start catching up, we’ll miss the finale, you know.”

Rei pressed play.

__

“THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED.” Rei sat bolt-upright, which was an impressive feat in a beanbag, such was the quality of her rage.

Mina chuckled. “I didn’t really think they were gonna use my parting words of ‘earn it, assholes’ on a kid’s show.” She took a drink of her beer. “Usagi literally did cry this much though.”

Rei ignored hend continued her rant. “Where’s the battle we had with Galaxia? Where’s Mina crossing swords with her?”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Where’s my sword at all, is the real question here.”

“WE DIDN’T JUST JUMP IN FRONT OF THE FUCKING STARLIGHTS.” Rei was practically out of the beanbag now, near levitating with anger. “We fought to protect everyone, Galaxia STRUGGLED WITH US.”

“I hardly think they would be willing to express the brutality of what actually happened in a children's cartoon, Rei.” Michiru tried to reassure her. “If they even know. We are a fiction, a story, to everyone in this world except ourselves, and so they may bend it however they like, without worry of being ahistorical. I assure you, it isn’t personal.”

“Also,” Mina playfully kissed her cheek. “Shut the fuck up. You get a loving exit, I get to say,” she affected a high and mocking voice. “I have to protect important people!” she fell back into her normal range. “What kind of shitpot strategy was that? I KNOW how I fight, why would I trust it to people who’ve clearly lost before? The whole thing makes no sense.”

Rei seethed. “That’s not how it happened.”

“I was about that shocked?” Haruka tried, helpfully. “Being dissolved hurt about that bad?”

Rei looked down at her large watch. “I think I lasted longer than that.”

“That’s what they all say.” MIna playfully poked at Rei.

Rei’s face twisted up in a scowl. “That’s not what I meant, Mina!”

MIna lay on top of her. “Oh, I know that.”

“Hey!” But she laughed playfully. “Mina, I can’t see the TV.”

“Oh, you can hardly see the TV anyway, and it’s just the long legged senshi disco.” She straddled Rei. ‘I, GALAXIA, WILL GIVE YOU A GREATER CHALLENGE.” They tussled on the beanbag in their teasing, loving way.

“Ruka,” Michiru brushed back Haruka’s hair. “Are you going to be all right?”

Haruka looked at her softly.  “Yeah, I’m fine, Michi, why?”

“The next episode treads into...tender territory for you, I know.”

“Oh.” Her face fell a bit. “I forgot.” She took a deep breath. “I mean, I made peace with it, we did what we did because we thought we had to. We did have to, I guess. I don’t know. I tried my best. It was all I could think of.” She snuggled in a little closer to Michiru. “I asked for forgiveness. She forgave me, I think, somehow.” She gave a weak laugh. “I guess.”

“You don’t have to watch, Haruka.”

“I know. I’m okay.”

__

Even Rei was quiet. She wanted to argue about the unfairness of the four of them getting some kind of battle, of their struggle being made known while hers was hidden and made into another person’s moment, and yet, watching Haruka and Michiru look quietly at the screen, while the girl was meant to be Hotaru (They called her Chiyoko, and her hair was too long, but that was the least of everyone’s problems.) faded away, without a word.

Rei had not been there, and so she did not know except by rumor, but it couldn’t have been like this, a perfect emotionally convenient peace. Hotaru had been confused, and hurt, and angry, and she had continued to be so for many, many, years.

Haruka and Michiru held each other quietly, bearing witness to the terrible honesty of what they had done. Of course that was the part they got right.

Children had a gift for many things, and timing would always be chief among them, as the girls heard the small patter of a child heading down the stairs.

“Mama? Papa?” MA crept into the living room. “Can I have some juice?”

She looked so little there, standing in the light of the foyer, the light behind her casting a shadow across her face. Michiru and Haruka sat still for a moment, trapped in the space between their past and their present, where demons, however captured, still called from the basement.

Michiru was the first to move, noting her daughter’s confused expression. “Sweetheart, we don’t often have juice after we go to bed, you know.” She walked toward her, extending her hand, “But I’m certain we can find something acceptable to both of us, can’t we?”

“Uh huh.” She nodded and took Michiru’s hand in hers, as they walked toward the kitchen together.

It was only when they disappeared from the kitchen that Haruka seemed to regain herself, and wiped at her face for a moment before pulling over her chair and following them into the kitchen.

“I think a cheese stick and a glass of water is an excellent compromise, my darling.” Michiru was knelt at MA’s level. “Much less sugar and twice as delicious.” She handed MA a cheese stick. “Now, let’s go back up to bed. I’ll tuck you back in.”

They turned, and nearly ran into Haruka, who reached out and stroked MA’s hair sadly.

“You know Papa would never, ever kill you, right, honeybee?”

MA looked up into Haruka’s tear-filled eyes, confused. “Yes?” Her tone suggested she had never considered something otherwise until Haruka had asked the question. Her eyes became her mother’s for a moment as she patterned out Haruka’s emotions. “Papa are you okay?”

Haruka nodded and tried to collect herself. “The show we’re watching made me sad. It’s okay.”

“Like when Mufasa dies.” MA nodded sagely.

“Like when Mufasa dies.”

She reached out and patted Haruka’s knee reassuringly. “It’s just a story, Papa.”

“I know.” Haruka leaned forward and gathered MA into her lap, hugging her tightly.  “When you’re older sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.” She kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry, baby, you go on to bed.”

She slid off Haruka’s lap and took Michiru’s hand to go upstairs, Michiru reassuringly running her hand over Haruka’s shoulders as she passed.

Haruka wheeled back into the living room and sighed heavily, letting herself coast toward the couch. She paused for a moment, lost in her own thoughts, trying to pick them apart the way she’d been taught in therapy, trying to give herself the love and forgiveness she afforded Michiru.

She felt a gentle rub on her back and looked up to see Mina standing by her side. “Your kid definitely has your sense of the dramatic moment, Haruka.”

Haruka gave a chuckle. “I guess she does.” She closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath in, and slowly let it out. “I’m doing alright.” She nodded. “I’m not the worst thing I’ve ever done.” She set the brake on her chair and transferred herself to the couch, flopping back on it dramatically.

There was a beat. “Buddy, that’s not the worst thing you’ve ever done. Remember when you bought that pink and yellow sweater?”

Haruka laughed.

__

The sound of her hand connecting with Usagi’s cheek rang across the den as Michiru poured herself a cocktail in the dining room.

“You slapped Usagi?” Rei’s eyes were fierce, even with their slight cloudiness.

Haruka held her hands up in the air. ‘Ten years ago! To save the world!”

Mina took a drink of her beer. “Should have said they made it up. You’re in for it now.”

Haruka held out her hands to Rei, as if to appease her. “I didn’t know how else to make her believe it! It wasn’t my first choice, Rei!”

She set down her glass of wine. “You slapped Usagi! I AM GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS.”

Haruka pointed aggressively to the screen. “LOOK I’M BEATING UP SEIYA NOW LET’S WATCH THAT IT’S GRE--”

Whether it was the irritation of her misrepresentation, the fact that Haruka had slapped Usagi ten years ago, the idea that it even had to get that far, the bottle of wine in her stomach, or all four things, Rei Hino was no longer having any of Haruka’s excuses, and voiced her disapproval of past Haruka’s choices being presently animated on the TV screen by leaping on top of her and reaching for her neck.

Haruka held her tight in a hug, her arms pinned to her sides. “You know I, um, I have a lot more upper body strength than you? I literally spend my whole day--OW!” She jumped as Rei dug her teeth in Haruka’s shoulder. “GODDAMN!”

Rei whirled like a crocodile and dumped them both onto the floor, Haruka still holding her close.

“Rei, it's not really winning if you beat up a cripple.”  Mina called over her shoulder.

“MINA YOU’RE NOT HELPING.” Haruka struggled to keep Rei pinned against her.

“Wasn’t trying to.”

“REI IT WAS TEN YEARS AGO.” Haruka tried to flip Rei onto her back, but she sprang off her back foot and fell back on top off Haruka.

“YOU’VE NEVER BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE.”

Michiru strolled back into the living room, drink in hand. “If either of you wake the children, you’ll be responsible for lulling them back to sleep, I hope you know.”

“Michiru, help!” Haruka struggled against Rei.

Michiru sat at the end of the couch. “Is there not some statute of limitations in play, given that Haruka did die for the cause, after it all, and also given that she still bears the scars of her devotion to her princess.”

“No!” Rei growled, still squirming.

“Well, I tried.” She sipped her cocktail.

“MICHIRU.” Haruka looked at her, wide-eyed.

Rei went limp in her grasp, suddenly. “Okay. You win. I give up. You’re right, this is childish.”

“Thank you.” Haruka released her and relaxed against the hardwood.

She was taking a cleansing breath when there was a sharp smack across her face. “OW! Fuck, Rei.”

“I WAS ONLY PRETENDING YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT WELL.” She stood up, hands on her hips, satisfied.

Haruka closed her eyes and laid back on the floor. “I’m too old for this.”

Rei marched back over to the beanbag and sat next to Mina. “Justice is finally served.”

Mina nodded. “Good job, fireball, you sure showed animated Haruka.”

Michiru set down her cocktail. “Haruka, do you need some assistance?”

“Naw.” She rolled onto her side. “I got it.” Her eyes caught the TV screen, where she and Michiru lay fading from life, and she gave a soft frown. She had heard you couldn’t remember pain, not really, but there was something about watching it happen in front of her, more graceful than she remembered it being, less like a thousand tiny pieces of her blinking and dying each second, the pin-prick holes in her body flowing with pain.

Michiru sat next to her, and slipped her hand into Haruka’s. Their eyes met, expressing what might have been a hundred comforting words.

At least, it might have been if Rei hadn’t have checked her watch and immediately started screaming about how Michiru and Haruka got more time to die than she did and this was ridiculous and unfair and unnecessary.

__

“Did any of this even happen? Asking for a friend.” Mina snacked on a last bite of cold pizza, Rei’s head on her shoulder, drunkenly half-snoozing.

Haruka stretched back against the arm of the couch. “I don’t know, we were all dead at the time.”

“Lucky us, this is garbage.” She shook her head. “This is how Galaxia should have destroyed planets, if I have to listen to these nerds whine about their goddamn planet one more time I’ll kill myself, Galaxia doesn’t even have to do anything.”

“I feel kinda bad for them, is that weird?”

Michiru’s eyebrow raised. “I know you and Seiya have made peace after all these years, but yes, I say that comes as a shock.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Haruka motioned toward the pizza and looked at Mina pitifully, who edged the box toward her, trying not to disturb Rei. “I think they were still whiny and annoying and pathetic.” Michiru leaned forward and handed her the pizza box, which she accepted gratefully. “But I mean...they had some more going on than Seiya’s crush on Usagi. I don’t remember it being like...everything?”

Michiru smiled and teasingly ruffled Haruka’s hair. “Perhaps because mainly you spent your time concerned she had a crush on me.”

Mina extended her hand to the TV in disbelief. “Oh, we just had to tell Sailor Moon to believe in herself, why didn’t I think of that! Classic tactical mistake.”

Rei stirred. “What’d I miss?”

“Fucking nothing, let me tell you what.”

__

A commercial for potato chips was on-screen, happily singing about crunching and flavor.

Mina sat up from her beanbag nest. “I can’t believe it’s been ten fucking years. And eight since, you know,” she gestured broadly to the three of them, “everyone but me got hurt.” There was a small note of guilt and hurt in her voice, the way there always was when she spoke of it, and Rei touched her shoulder lovingly.

“Usagi didn’t get hurt. Because of you. So, we did what we were supposed to.” Her voice took on that tender tone it rarely took on in public, the one that reassured Mina in the dark.

Mina nodded half heartedly. “I guess.” Rei kissed Mina softly, and drew her close.

“Rei. Mina.” Michiru motioned to them. “Come sit over here, with us.”

They looked at each other, and smiled, linking arms as they made their way over to the couch.

“C’mon.” Haruka scooted herself over as much as she could. “We started this together, and we’ll finish it together.”  

They shared a look as the commercial began to dim, the colors fading from the screen, a sense of possibility and memory filling the room, the people they were and could have been like ghosts.

“Are you ready?” Haruka asked no one in particular.

“Ready.” Mina nodded.

The four of them snuggled together on the couch, and heard the music come up for the last time.

Makenai.