#go show Aqua some love she did fantastic on this continuation and I want to support all my alters

[darkmagenugget]

We now have a part 2 to this!

This is a short story written by Aqua and I think it is a perfect continuation. Takes place after where everyone else currently is in their comics.

More Lore for everyone's current favorite doctor of

@ayviedoesthings 's Dragon HRT Series. Where did he get access to all the transformation HRT? Well, the research had to come from somewhere. Iris' response to

Fun fact of Iris' transformations: Her usual spells and the HRT are 2 different kinds of transformation. With the HRT overriding base, making it permanent. Where her quick transformation spells essentially are like a magical suit she can lock you into. But Someone can undo the lock if they are skilled enough in magic, and return you to base form. Like an advanced version of the watch which uses a digital projection over the physical form.

Iris' notes isolated as well for easier readability.

Part 2: A short story by Aqua

[starcharmfunzies]

Can you rank the kh characters in terms of their voice acting?

Only main characters and based on their english voice acting 11. Aqua. I love Aqua with all my heart, but god does she sound bored and apathetic in most of her lines. I still find it so strange that Willa Holland, and actress, can't seem to show emotion in her voice. I'd like to blame the directing but Ven and Vanitas sounded just fine in BbS. 10. Terra. I had a tough time deciding whether Terra sounded better than Aqua, but I can at least give Terra some credit that in his emotionally powerful scenes he does deliver a little bit. The one I have in mind right now is during his fight with Xehanort at the end of BbS. Other than that, he's still not that great.

From here on out the difference in my ranking is much smaller. If from a scale of 1 to 10 Aqua and Terra are a 4, the rest of the characters go from 7 onwards. 9. Xion. Not bad, but I feel like her sad emotional deliveries rely a lot on making her voice raspy, which isn't quite as effective as actually sounding devastated. Her performance is decent. 8. Kairi. The only reason I'm placing Kairi above Xion is because of Hayden. I feel Hayden's performance was charming and really sold the role of a sweet tomboyish girl, but ever since she was replaced by Alysson Kairi just sounds like any other girl. The acting is not bad, but nothing memorable. 7. Naminé. Brittany Snow was good, but Meaghan took the cake for sure. Naminé has not been given a lot of powerful scenes but the ones she did have are great. I'm remembering the end of Re:CoM the few times she's screamed in despair (like that scene when she aks Repliku to stop), and you really do feel her distress and desperation. I really wish we could hear more of her. 6. Vanitas. You can just tell Haley is having fun with this role, and he's definitely at his best in BbS with that iconic laugh and the venom in his voice whenever he talks to Ven. Sadly in KH3 direction seemed to be off, because his performance isn't that consistent from scene to scene. In Monster's Inc. he sounds great while in the Keyblade Graveyard he sounds strangely raspy and a little high pitched. It was very noticeable the first time I played KH3. 5. Sora. Sora is a joy to listen to, I'm so thankful that Haley has continued to give Sora that cheerful and friendly lilt to his voice throughout the years, but sadly his good performances are not consistent in all the games. DDD in particular is pretty bad (which is a shame since his DDD lines are the ones reused the most). In KH3 he seemed to improve a bit, with some scenes better than others, but I am aware Haley is in his 30s and can only do a high pitched voice for so long without sounding off sometimes. 4. Riku. Like Sora Riku is pretty great, with his peak in KH1 imo, and although his performances decline a bit as the games progress I don't think it got as bad as Sora did in DDD. Nevertheless David really seems to still be passionate when working as Riku and stands out the most during emotional scenes. He is on thin ice tho, since in Re:Mind his dialogue sounded off (I want to blame the directing), but his battle quotes of KH3 (especially Repliku's) are perfectly fine. 3. Ven. I had a really hard time picking the top 3, but despite my bias I don't think I can give Ven the first place. Not that I got much to say really, since Jesse is consistently fantastic. I want to credit him particularly in the fact that when he first voiced Roxas he probably didn't think he'd be getting another character with the exact same voice but he still managed to find a way to make a distinction between them. 2. Axel. The thing about Axel is that because he started as a bad guy we got to listen to a lot of different and fun performances. He's cunning, deceiving, ruthless, but also kind and playful, and with every single range of emotion he's displayed Quinton has nailed it. 1. Roxas. When I think of powerful performances in KH I always think of that scene in the Days movie where Roxas confronts Axel for answers. He's angry, frustrated, betrayed, desperate, and you can hear it all in his voice. Jesse is fantastic, and I'm grateful he was the one that got to voice such a complex character as Roxas. Whenever Roxas is happy, or sad, or defeated, or furious, or relieved, you can hear everything. It's thanks to Jesse that Roxas' last line in the KH2 intro hurts so much, and it's so memorable I can still hear it in my head clearly. He's just amazing.

[mala-sadas]

For context: [x]

The Pokémon World Tournament is nothing like the prim, pompous sponsorship parties that Leon frequently has to attend. He’s surrounded by fellow Champions – kindred spirits who understand the hearts of their Pokémon and the joys of Pokémon battling better than anyone else. Talking with them is easy as breathing; there’s so much he can learn from Trainers who rival him in skill but have years more experience. Leon feels like he could do it for hours, soaking up as much wisdom from them as possible.

So, really, is it any wonder that he doesn’t think to keep an eye on Hop the whole time?

Hop was sticking close to him at first, shadowing him around while Leon greeted – and, in some cases, met – everyone else. He had introduced Hop to all the Champions he already knew, mostly from exhibition matches and the like. But sometime between meeting Wallace and Professor Kukui, Hop must have drifted away from him, and Leon feels awful that it took him this long to notice.

“We’d better Aqua Jet back to our seats before the ceremony starts, yeah?” Professor Kukui says.

“Right, that’s a good idea,” Professor Burnet agrees. “It was lovely meeting you, Leon.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Leon says, only half paying attention to the professor’s words. He scans the rapidly growing crowd for any sign of his little brother. How did he lose Hop already? They haven’t even been in Unova a full day!

“Looking for someone?” asks Diantha, the Kalos Champion, who’s seated in the front row.

“My little brother,” Leon admits, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought he was right behind me, but…”

She nods in understanding and stands up, glancing across the seats. “What does he look like?”

“Short, purple hair, always wears a denim jacket…”

“Looks like a miniature version of you?”

“More or less. Did you…?”

She points to one of the seats in the second row. Leon has to shift his position to see which seat she’s pointing at, and – ah! There he is. Sitting behind Alder, who’s probably the tallest person there, and looking just about ready to nod off. “That’s him. Thanks,” he tells Diantha, who waves him off with a “no problem” and a kind smile.

Leon squeezes past the other people on the row to reach where Hop is sitting, between Lance’s cousin Clair and an empty seat. Hop’s head is starting to drift forward, but he jerks it back up to look at Leon when he approaches.

“This is really boring,” Hop says, rubbing his eyes.

Leon quirks an eyebrow at Hop as he takes his seat. “I told you it would be.”

Hop sighs and rests his head on his hands. “I’m tired.”

“I told you that would happen, too,” Leon says, not bothering to hide his amusement. Hop looks so jetlagged that Leon doesn’t think he’ll even notice. “And I offered to let you stay at the hotel and sleep. But you insisted that you’d be fine.”

He groans and slouches in his seat. “Stop being right,” he grumbles.

“Can’t. I’m always right,” Leon says cheekily. An announcer comes on over the loudspeakers to ask people to get to their seats, as the ceremony will be starting in five minutes. “Just a couple more hours. You can make it,” he adds, ruffling his little brother’s hair and giving him an encouraging smile.

The ceremony begins when a Seismitoad meanders onto the battlefield in the center of the arena. A Hydreigon flies down from somewhere up above to meet Seismitoad, and the crowd noise dies down as people begin to sense that something is about to happen. Water begins to condense in a ball in one of Seismitoad’s hands, and Hydreigon’s mouth begins to glow with bright orange energy. Leon leans forward eagerly in his seat – are they about to have a battle?

But to his confusion, instead of launching the attack (a Water Pulse, Leon recognizes) at Hydreigon, Seismitoad lobs it up into the air; Hydreigon tilts its head upward and shoots the ball of energy (a Draco Meteor) straight into Seismitoad’s attack, causing an explosion that sends a rain of sparks and water droplets on everyone in the rows closest to the battlefield. It’s fun, flashy, and gets everyone’s attention, just in time for Iris and a stout man wearing a wide-brimmed hat to walk onto the field.

“Welcome, welcome, everybody!” Iris exclaims, waving to the crowd with both hands. The giant telly behind her, which had just been displaying the PWT logo, now switches to a camera focused on her face. “Thank you all for coming to share this momentous occasion with us!”

“The Pokémon World Tournament’s been a long time comin’,” says the man, putting his hands on his hips. The screen switches to a camera view showing both him and Iris. “It ain’t easy ta put together somethin’ as massive as this, eh, Iris?”

“You got that right, Clay! But it’s totally worth it!” Iris grins. She stops beside Hydreigon and pats its head. “Hydreigon’s been chomping at the bit to see all the Trainers from all over the world who’ll be coming to participate in these tournaments. The Pokémon World Tournament is a place for all the strongest Trainers to test their skills against each other!”

“But it ain’t just fer them, ya know,” Clay says. He nods at Seismitoad. “Seismitoad here is all eager to meet the young ‘uns and the rookies who are lookin’ to start makin’ a name for themselves. Ya never know which feisty li’l whippersnapper will turn out ta be the next Unova Champion.”

Iris laughs. “I better keep an eye out, then!”

The pair exchange a few more introductory remarks before Iris dismisses herself to give Clay the spotlight. While he continues to talk about what the opening of the Pokémon World Tournament means for Unova, Iris takes the seat beside Alder, right in front of Leon. She twists around in her seat, and just as Leon opens his mouth to comment on the fantastic job she did with that opening, she reaches over and taps Hop’s knee.

Hop jolts back to semi-alertness, glancing first at Leon and then at Iris. She waves at him, and he gives her a tired smile.

Iris turns back around, and Leon nudges his brother to get his attention. “You can sleep on my shoulder if you’re tired. It’s okay.”

Hop blinks at him a couple of times, and Leon wonders for a moment if Hop couldn’t hear him over the crowd noise and Clay’s speech. But then Hop shakes his head. “I can get through it. I’m not gonna fall asleep,” he insists.

“Alright,” Leon concedes. He doesn’t want to force him. He just hopes that, when Hop starts feeling sleepy again, he’ll remember to lean on Leon instead of continuing to fight it.

Meanwhile, Clay is still talking, and Leon is starting to think that it’s going to put him to sleep, too. The opening ceremony of a world battle facility should be more exciting than an old man droning on about tournament rules and sponsors. Can’t Clay have his Seismitoad throw some more Water Pulses in the air or something to keep things interesting?

Clay, Clay…where has he heard that name before? The only people from Unova that Leon has heard of are members of its Pokémon League, and Clay is clearly a strong Trainer. And if he’s working with the Champion to start a battle facility…maybe he’s a member of their Elite Four? The Elite Four are the Trainers who work the most closely with the Champion in other regions, after all. Would only one of the Elite Four be helping out with this sort of thing, though? Maybe he’s just the local Gym Leader. His Seismitoad doesn’t seem anywhere near as skilled as Leon’s own.

Leon feels pressure on his arm, and he glances down to see that Hop has finally given in to the exhaustion and leaned against him. Hop’s eyes are still half-open, though – he’s nothing if not stubborn. Leon smiles fondly.

Unfortunately, not even a minute later, Iris stands up and asks all the Champions to come with her so she can introduce them to the crowd. Hop looks a little disappointed when Leon gets up, but there’s not much Leon can do for him besides ruffling his hair to help him wake up a little bit.

The Champions line up next to one of the staircases leading up to the battlefield; Iris calls them up one by one and talks a little bit about them – who they are, where they’re from, and what kinds of Pokémon they use. Leon doesn’t know what she’s going to say about him; he was never asked to submit an introduction of any kind. Either Iris or another organizer wrote the introductions themselves, or Chairman Rose submitted an introduction on Leon’s behalf – which typically means that Oleana wrote something for the chairman to send in. He hopes that’s not the case – he can’t imagine that something Oleana wrote about him would be terribly flattering.

“And, last but not least, please welcome to the field…Galar’s Champion, Leon!”

Showtime.

Leon puts on his best Champion smile, jogs up the stairs, and waves to the crowd. Their cheers are far less enthusiastic than the kind of reception that he gets back in Galar, which doesn’t surprise him at all. The unbeatable Leon has far less notoriety outside of his home region. That’s alright, though – he’ll just have to give them something to cheer about!

“Hailing from the small town of Postwick, Leon holds the impressive distinction of being the youngest-ever Champion, earning the title when he was only ten years old,” Iris announces. “While he uses a diverse team of Pokémon, he tends to favor Dragon- and Ghost-types. Shauntal and I love him – give it up for Champion Leon!”

Leon continues smiling and waving at the crowd as they cheer for him again, but inside he’s cringing. Of all the fun facts about him that they could have used, they had to pick the one that emphasizes just how young he is? Nothing about how long he’s been Champion, or the fact that he’s never lost a battle… Oleana definitely wrote that introduction.

Iris talks a little bit about how the tournament of Champions is going to be structured, and then the tournament bracket is displayed on the big screen. Leon scans it for his name and discovers that he’s matched up against Cynthia in the first round. He glances across the battlefield at her, and she nods at him, a smug little grin on her face. He shoots her a cheeky grin back.

He fought Cynthia once before in an unofficial battle when he visited Sinnoh several years ago. He had lost to her then, but it won’t happen again. Not when the whole world is watching. Not when Hop is watching.

Speaking of which… Leon glances back at their seats, wondering if Hop has managed to stay awake this long. He doesn’t see him, which could mean that he’s fallen asleep, or it could just be that he can’t see Hop from this angle with all the other Champions’ guests blocking his view.

Thankfully, the ceremony wraps up not long after that, so Leon can follow the others back to their seats. While the other guests get up to meet their respective Champions, Hop is still nowhere to be seen. When Leon reaches their row, he discovers why – and he can’t help chuckling at the sight.

Hop is curled up in a ball in his seat, his head pillowed on the armrest. He doesn’t stir when Leon approaches him, but he shifts a little bit when Leon scoops him up. Leon could probably carry him all the way back to the hotel like this, but his arms would be sore for the rest of the tournament – especially when factoring in the extra time it’ll take when he inevitably gets lost on the way. Plus, Hop’s at that age where he’s super self-conscious about looking childish, so he probably wouldn’t appreciate being carried back to the hotel like a little kid.

(Even if he is, in fact, still a little kid.)

So, Leon only carries him to the end of the row, where he puts Hop down and attempts to rouse him. Hop lets out a half-hearted grunt of protest. “C’mon, Hopscotch. You’re too big for me to carry back to the hotel.”

“Lee…?” Hop mutters, not opening his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he says softly. “Ceremony’s over. Let’s get back to the hotel.”

Hop finally allows Leon to pull him to his feet, but he flops into Leon’s chest as soon as Leon lets go of him. Leon wraps an arm around him to steady him and keep him from falling any further.

“’m tired,” Hop murmurs.

Leon rubs his back. “I know. Let’s get you back to the hotel and you can sleep all you want.”

“You’ll…get lost.”

Leon grins, shaking his head. Only his little brother could be half-asleep and still find the energy to roast him. Or maybe he’s just concerned. Still. “I’ll manage, Hopscotch,” he says fondly.

He lets go of Hop and takes Hop’s hand instead so he can lead him back to the hotel. Hop follows right behind him. But the first time Leon has to stop because of the crowd, Hop keeps going and bumps into him. That’s when he realizes Hop still hasn’t opened his eyes. The tacit display of trust fills Leon’s heart with even more affection, and he holds Hop’s hand a little tighter to be extra certain that he won’t lose him.

When they reach the lobby, Iris and Alder are standing just outside the main flow of people exiting the stadium, and they wave Leon over when they see him. “Hey, Leon! How would you like to join us Champions for a little afterparty?” Alder asks, grinning heartily. “My son and daughter-in-law live here in Driftveil, and they’re letting us borrow their house for the night!”

“There won’t be any alcohol or anything. We’re just hanging out,” Iris adds. “Hop, you can come – Hop? What’s the matter?”

Hop’s face is buried in Leon’s side, and as happy as he is that Iris extended the invitation to Hop as well, Leon knows he has to decline. “Jet lag hit him pretty hard,” Leon explains. “I need to get him back to the hotel. I can’t join you all. I’m sorry.”

“Aw. Well, maybe after you drop Hop off, you can come to the party?” Iris suggests.

Leon considers the suggestion for a moment; Hop will be fine to sleep alone in the hotel room for a few hours. But Hop’s not the only one who jumped ahead six hours today, and even if he’s not feeling it now like Hop is, he will definitely be feeling it when he has to wake up at seven in the morning in order to get back to the stadium on time tomorrow. Best to get in as much sleep as he can.

“I’d love to, but I can’t,” he says, shaking his head. “Thanks for the offer, though!”

“Aw, darn,” Iris says, pouting. “We’ll have to do it another time, then. See you tomorrow!”

“See you!”

After they make it outside, Leon runs into Professor Kukui, who asks him if he and Hop are coming to the party; once again, he has to explain that he can’t because he needs to get Hop back to the hotel. The professor is understanding, though, and asks if Leon has seen his wife instead of pressing further.

Professor Burnet shows up a moment later, and Professor Kukui tells her about the party. She immediately assumes that Leon is coming, too, and he doesn’t have the heart to correct her. He says goodbye to the couple, and after subtly watching other people to figure out what direction most of them are heading in, he heads towards the PWT exit, Hop stumbling along behind him.

He’s a little disappointed that he has to miss the party; it would be a blast to hang out with his fellow Champions even more. For the first time, he wonders if it would have been better to invite Sonia as his guest instead of Hop; the guest accommodations were clearly made with adult guests in mind, and he wouldn’t have to let his activities be so rigidly dictated by what she could or couldn’t do.

But…he thinks about how excited Hop has been about this trip, and how much fun Hop has already had so far. He thinks about the joy he felt having Hop sprint into his arms back at the airport, and how amusing it is watching Hop’s reactions to everything. He looks back at Hop, following behind him faithfully like a Growlithe following its Trainer, and his heart swells with so much love that he thinks he could burst.

No, he wouldn’t trade this time with Hop for anything in the world.

When Leon turns back to watch where he’s walking, he comes to the sudden realization that he wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings while he was lost in his thoughts, and he has absolutely no idea where they are. He stops and lets out a resigned sigh. He knew it would happen, but it’s still a pain to get lost once again.

Normally, in situations like this one, he would let Charizard out of its ball and let him lead the way. But Leon hasn’t let Charizard out since they arrived in Unova, so Charizard has little more idea how to get to the hotel from here than Leon himself does. Hop is far too tired to give coherent directions now. There’s only one option left.

Leon lets go of Hop’s hand to crouch in front of him. His eyes flutter open, unfocused and confused. Leon smiles apologetically, grabs Wooloo’s Poké Ball from his waist, and releases the Pokémon. “Hey, Wooloo,” Leon says quietly. “Think you can guide us back to the hotel?”

Wooloo glances around for a moment before bleating in affirmation. Meanwhile, Hop slips his hand back into Leon’s, and Leon squeezes it. Wooloo begins to trot back in the direction they came from, and Leon and Hop follow him. Leon doesn’t bother trying to memorize the path Wooloo takes them down; he’s rubbish at remembering locations, and this whole area will look completely different in daylight.

By the time they make it back to the hotel, it’s nearly ten o’clock, but the hotel’s main doors haven’t been locked yet, thank goodness. Leon waves at the concierge as they head over to the elevator and take it up to the twenty-third floor.

He has to let go of Hop’s hand again so he can open the hotel room door, but he doesn’t take it again afterwards. Hop is capable of getting himself to bed from here without needing Leon to guide him, especially when he has Wooloo at his feet to nudge him in the right direction.

Leon isn’t going to make Hop change into proper nightclothes when he’s so tired, but he knows Hop will be more comfortable sleeping without his jacket on, so Leon takes it off for him as Hop slips off his trainers. He hangs it in the closet next to the bathroom, and he hangs up his cape beside it while he’s in there.

By the time he turns back around, Hop has already crawled into bed, Wooloo curled up by his feet. Leon heads over to the bed and pulls the covers up to Hop’s chin.

“Night, Hopscotch,” Leon murmurs, leaning down to kiss his little brother’s forehead. “I love you.”

Hop is already too soundly asleep to reply.

Leon smiles fondly at him, but it’s broken up by a yawn. He needs to be getting to sleep himself, but there are a couple of things he needs to take care of before he can.

First order of business is feeding his team. He would prefer do it somewhere where they won’t run the risk of disturbing Hop, but he doesn’t have anywhere else where six large Pokémon can fit comfortably to eat. And even this huge hotel room might get a little tight. But his team is exceptionally well-trained; he trusts them to be able to eat quietly.

So, he sends out his team, and the first thing he does is shush them. “Hop is sleeping,” he whispers, pointing to Hop’s bed. “We need to be quiet, okay?”

The Pokémon all seem to understand, so Leon proceeds with taking out their food bowls and filling them up. He sets out the food for everyone, getting to Charizard last, who nuzzles him in thanks. Haxorus, Dragapult, and his Dreepy decide to join in, and Leon can’t help barking out a laugh at being assaulted with affection by all his dragons all at once. Then Charizard sticks a claw in his face to remind him to be quiet. Leon grins; of course Charizard would take that rule super seriously. He’s always had a soft spot for Hop.

“So,” Leon whispers, taking a seat in the middle of the floor. “Tournament map. We’ll be facing Cynthia in a one-on-one tomorrow, and Alder or Diantha in a two-on-two the day after that. The final match will be a three-on-three, and we could be facing just about anyone. Charizard, Aegislash, Seismitoad, you three can handle anything that comes our way.”

Charizard and Seismitoad nod their agreement, while Aegislash holds his shield a little higher.

“Haxorus and Rhyperior, you two can take on anything that Alder or Diantha throws at us. And you, Dragapult…” Leon grins. “You’re well overdue for payback against Cynthia, don’t you think?”

Dragapult grins eagerly, while Charizard lets out an annoyed huff.

“Sorry, buddy,” Leon says, rubbing his snout. “You’ll get your chance for a rematch, too. But for this tournament, I’m counting on you to give everyone a great show in the final round!”

With his strategy settled, he returns all his Pokémon and heads out into the hall to make his daily call to Mum. Since he doesn’t have as much privacy out in the hallway, he opts to make it a regular phone call instead of a video call. However, it’s only after he dials her number that he remembers it’s the wee hours of the morning over in Galar, so she’s probably fast asleep.

She answers on the second ring.

“Mum! Why are you still awake?”

“Why are you calling me if you didn’t think I was awake?” she teases.

“I wasn’t – I didn’t think it all the way through,” he says sheepishly. “We just got back from the opening ceremony, so it was a convenient time for me to call…”

“Well, better a late call than no call at all,” Mum says. “I haven’t heard from you since you left, and I couldn’t sleep a wink if I didn’t know that you boys had made it to Unova safely.”

Leon winces. “I’m sorry, I should have messaged you earlier,” he says guiltily. “Yes, we both made it here in one piece. Although, Hop’s been vibrating with so much energy today that I’m afraid he might have shaken something loose,” he jokes.

Mum laughs. “I’m glad to hear it! Where is he? Can you put him on?”

“He crashed after the opening ceremony,” Leon says. “Well, during, to be precise. He’s fast asleep now.”

“Oh, well… I don’t want to disturb him,” she says. “I’ll wait ‘til tomorrow, then. In the meantime…how are you doing?”

“Me? I’m fine. Better than fine, in fact. I feel great!”

“Really? I watched the live broadcast of the opening ceremony. I saw you’re going up against Cynthia in the first round,” Mum says. Leon swallows. “You’re not nervous about that?”

“Of course not! Why would I be nervous about facing Cynthia?” he says lightly. “I’m unbeatable! I won’t lose to her.”

“Leon, honey, I’m not your brother. You don’t have to put on a brave face for me,” she says. “If you’re really not worried about losing to her, you wouldn’t feel the need to assure me that you won’t.”

Leon casts his gaze to the floor; Mum’s hit the nail right on the head. “I…I’m much stronger than I was the last time I fought her. But – but she’ll be stronger, too. I’m…I don’t wanna lose to her, Mum.”

“But you’re worried that since it happened once, it could happen again,” Mum says knowingly. “You know, even if you do lose, it’s not the end of the world. You’re still Champion. You’re still undefeated in the Galar League. You’re still loved.”

“Yes, but…” Leon runs a hand through his hair. “I just – I invited Hop here to watch me win the tournament, and I don’t want to let him down,” he admits.

“Oh, sweetheart, you could never. Hop adores you.”

“Hop doesn’t know that I ever lost to Cynthia.”

“And why is that, hm?”

“Because I don’t want him to,” Leon says quietly. “I want to be someone he can look up to – someone he can always depend on. I want to be his hero.”

“You already are,” she says. “One loss isn’t going to change that.”

Leon nods wordlessly. She’s right – he knows she is. Hop will still love him and look up to him even if he loses to Cynthia tomorrow. So there’s really no reason for him to be worried. He and Dragapult will give their best tomorrow, and that’ll be good enough – regardless of the outcome of the battle.

But it won’t matter – because he’s going to win.

“Thanks, Mum,” he says, stifling a yawn.

“Anytime,” she says. “But I think it’s time for both of us to be getting to bed, now. Goodnight, sweetheart. Good luck tomorrow! I love you!”

“Night, Mum. I love you too.”

He hangs up the phone and heads back to the room, where he changes into pajamas and brushes his teeth. He pauses by the foot of Hop’s bed for a moment to pet Wooloo, noting with satisfaction that Hop is still sleeping soundly. He lies down in his own bed, kicking off the too-thick comforter and snuggling under the sheets. The mattress is soft, the pillows softer. He closes his eyes, and within minutes he’s fast asleep.

[popculturebuffet]

Top 10 Sealab 2021 Episodes (Comission)

Happy 2021 Everyone! After an utterly AWFUL fucking year, it’s nice to be in a brand new year with brand new possiblities, new projects you’ll see soon, finsihing the old.. and all that good stuff. And good friend of the blog and only patron and contributer kev had a great suggestion to comission to kick off the year. Since it’s 2021 it’s only fair ot honor one of the very first adult swim shows, one taking place in the same year and still one of it’s funniest and fucking weirdest, and as we’ve seen that threshold is vast: Sealab 2021 Sealab was created by the wonder twins of Adam Reed and Matt Thomspon, and if those names sound familiar.. that’s because their the guys who created Frisky Dingo, a cult classic i’ll defintely have to write about someday soon, and more famously and in Matt’s case still to this day, Archer. Yup, after adult swim jerking them around lead to the closing of their initial studio, the two moved to FX and here they are. So yeah this is where the roots of a lot of archers workplace shenanigans and petty dickery come from.  But even ignoring what it’d lead to, Sealab on it’s own is pretty damn good and holds up pretty well. Some jokes.. have not aged well, especially the treatment of Debbie as the villiage bicycle, but on the whole most of the humor is just really funny, really weird and really insane and I still love it after this revisit even if some episodes didn’t hold up so good, most of them held up good or even better than I remembered.  The show was THE first abriged series, taking bits of old forgotten and seemingl really damn boring hannah barbara show sealab 2021, and using the footage to tell the tale of a bunch of assholes, weirdos and what have you running an underwater research station.. and being so bad at it or getting into such other insane bollocks it often blew up. Continuity was loose, jokes were the priority, and dialouge was key since the animation was not great in any way shape or form, but the cheapness was enough of a charm and improved enough with time that it didn’t really matter. The show was good and set the bar for adult swim shows for better or worse alongside other greats like Home Movies, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and others. It also had a unique cast of mostly small time actors, and bafflingly one respected news pundit as local asshole idiot head Stormy, and broadway legend Henry Goz as series MVP Captain Murphy. It was good, it was part of my childhood and teen years, and I love it so. I bought the dvds, quoted it decently and will again now Kev’s brought my fire for the series back.  So naturally for a series like this since regular reviews just don’t.. work on something this insane sometimes, i’m instead counting down my top. 10 . episodes. Yes top 10 lists are comissionable, 5 bucks a pop. As long as I know the series well enough i’d be glad to and here I ws more than honored to. I also uped my game this time and rewatched every cantidate and thus I feel this may be one of my best lists yet. So without further adeu... grab your grizzlbees oninon burst , your bebop cola and your pitcher of whale cancer. this is the top 10 episodes of sealab 2021!

10. Tinfins  This one’s a classsic just for it’s uniquness, taking the piss out of glitzy and vapid hollywood insider shows and their annoying hosts, while also being delightfully weird, from mocking the show’s own animation by having detailed cgi used to map the limited animation, to Erik Estrada’s interview where his fictional self is clearly having none of toni and is also clearly getting wasted, to the utter bizzarity of Kid N Play being the films directors.. it’s just a good time. 

But what REALLY makes the episode are two things: The first is a series of increasingly bizzare commericals for Grizzlebees, a fictional restraunt that would become a staple of the show: From a simple commerical showing off their onion bursts, to their kids meals with tonic water, to Henry Goz’s utterly bizzare farm based commerical for it, to finally a commerical about depression being okay because grizzlebee delivers that’s pitch black as it is utterly hilarious, it’s just one hit after the other.  The crown jewel of the episode of course is the trailer ofr tinfins itself, which is insane and includes great bit after great bit, the best being the titular mecha shark cutting the power “How the hell can it cut the power? It’s a shark. “ Holy Crap indeed. 

9. In the Closet A bottle episode, which Sealab really excelled at and not the last on this list by a mile, as the show’s key was it’s dialouge the episode had a simple premise it quickly managed to have make some pretty insane turns. Marco, played by the glorious Eric Estrada and Muprhy, played by the late and very game Harry Goz, have been trapped in the suply closet for a few days, with Muprhy, being muprhy, having already married a bucket who has a history as a “Hookermop” named wendy. Soon other sealabians get caught inside too, and it results in plenty of hilarious gags, From muprhy sucker punching the hell out of everyone, to Sparks panicking under claustrophiba, to the repair guy getting sucker punched and no one caring much about his well being. This one lives off of Muprhy as while the others are good, Goz as he usually did during his time on this earh and on this series before his untimely passing, steals the whole damn show, and the ending, where it turns out Muprhy adopted and starved a bunch of fighting dogs, is a nice twist on everything. And the punchilne to it is utterly fantastic “It could be worse” “How in the hell could it possibly worse?!” “We could be out there.. with Stormy”. 

8. The Legend of Baggy Pants Speaking of Bottle Episodes and Captain Murphy being awesome.... this one narrowly beat out the episode it’s a spirtual sequel too, the classsic all that jazz, but this one is easily better. Like that one it’s a bottle episode that’s almost entirely just Captain Muprhy on some sort of shenanigan, with only abit of other cast, in this case Hesh, Eggers, and an unfortunate phone operator. In this case the premise is simple, kind of nuts, and utterly hilarious and utterly captian murphy: Captain Muprhy is having a round of Golf in Sealab, which is weird but fits the character but what ratchets it up to funny is apparently this underwater research station, for no reason, has a pro shop. So after loosing his last ball in a reactor, and sending poor hesh in to get it leading to the advent of the glorious Monster Hesh, Muprhy spends the entire episode tooling around in his “Muprh Mobile” trying to find the pro shop. As a result it’s basically 11 glorious minutes of Harry Goz going absolutely mental as muprhy, and it is as great as that sounds. From Muprhy’s sudden hatred of pod 6, to his bullying of Eggers, a hapless sealabian he runs into and then tries to run over, his bullying of dolphin boy and then trying to run him over, to his compuance as eggers steals his stuff and then his muprh mobile, it’s just glorious riffing from one of the best in the buisness and Harry is still deeply fucking missed by yours truly. RIP you magificent stalion. 

7. Cavemen One of the series final episodes, and easily one of it’s best. While the later Seasons get some flack. While season 3 is a bit weak,a s Goz’ tragic passing left them stumbling, Season 4/5... it’s complicated, is REALLY damn good and has some of the series finest episodes which many probably never saw. Case in point, Cavemen.  Cavemen is another spirtual sequel this time to lost in time, which also didn’t make the list, but this one is also better. Like LIT, it focuses on one of the series best dynamics: Brainy super scientest and often only sane man Dr. Quinn and all around idiot, moron and bane of everyone’s existance, Stormy, played by Brett Butler and Ellis Henican, both of who nail the two and this episode. The two are trapped in a cave after Stormy’s stupidity blew up sealab, and his trail of dead rabbits lead a shark to him and quinn. The result is a TON of great back and forth as Stormy tries to make Quinn see him as his best friend, Quinn rightfully shouts at Stormy for... everything, and Stormy tries to show off some ancient cave painting she himself made, that quinn quickly figures out because he left his paint around, and shows that off in a very clever gag I can’t convey correctly here. We also get knife fights and Quinn beating stormy over the head with a dead rabbit, an da surprisingly solem ending where the two hold hands as they die before heading up to heaven for a happy and weird ending. Overall an episode that’s really hard to dive into as it’s just relaly damn good and all in the performances, gags and pacing, as it’s done entirely in real time. Easily worth a watch. 

6. Shrabster Another great late season episode and another really experimental one. This one’s told from back to front, then we’re given the ending. It ends up working really well as it not only jacks up interest but the story itself is great. Asj it ends up turning out over the episode Dr. Quinn’s created the solution to world hunger: The shrabster, a hybrid of crab, shrimp and lobster. Grizzlebees, naturally wants it and after finding out Sparks didn’t actually own the rights, have Shanks, muprhy’s replacement, try and steal it, only for him to fall in love with the creature and spirit it away to give it a better life.. before shooting it in the end and eating it himself. We also get some good runners as Sparks starts speaking in slang and gets his neck rightfully snapped for it by Quinn, Stormy keeps eating shellfish despite being allergic, and we get the glory that is dan and don, two grizzlebees reperceives played by reed and thompson who are just an utter delight. I also ALMOST forgot the fucking announcer whose just fucking hilaroius the whole damn time with his various segways. 

5. HappyCake An early classic and damn worthy with a simple, batshit premise, which as should be clear by now was Sealab’s Bread and Butter. Muprhy’s happycake oven has been stolen, so he sends Stormy (who knows about the captain’s bedwetting and thus must be silenced) Quinn and a fishman out to find it in the ocean. Turns out it’s Sparks, in a character defining episode, fault as he’s working on world domination, and thus is working on driving murphy insane and thus stole it. He and marco discuss Marco becoming his henchman and getting metal teeth, Muprhy goes nuts, it’s a damn good time. Also a lot of talk of Michael Cain so that’s always a plus now I know who he is. And of course it has one of the series best lines period “Pudding can’t help the void inside” but it’ll help. Only this low because i’ts a bit structually messy compared to what’s to come and given it beat out two really damn good structurally episodes for this slot, that should say something. 

4. Hail Squishface! No best of list would be complete without this one. Once again the show banks itself on a simple premise: Captain Muprhy buys a white blob, a gloop, from a vendor and gives it liquor and gremlins style his little buddy multiplies and he soon gives them out to the crew. Everyon’es on board except Quinn.. whos naturally proven right ot be suspicious as the gloops methane output will doom them all and only muprhy, whose gone insane and is wearing squishface like a fez as you’d expect, wants them alive leading to what you’d expect: a flamethrower battle between muprhy and the crew with murphy decked out like a transformer.  This one’s just endlessly creative, from the various glooptransformations to the finale to the gags, i’ts just great. The fart gags are also.. actually pretty funny, which given i’m not a fart gag guy most of the ttime, speaks to how well executed they are and use the gags of htem being fart machines. Also we get muprhy in a fez and that alone cements it as top 5 matieral.. but as for the top 3. 

3. Moby Sick

Our last late season entry and the third to last episode of the show ever, this is top 3 for a reason, even above a classic like Hail Squishface. This one just has so many insane jokes packed in I forget quite a few despite them all being pretty damn great.  The premise is dour: A whale named Avalard shows up in Sealab wanting to die, as he has whale cancer. Stormy recognizes him as the star of the show “Gotta Have that Dick”, even saying “I gotta have that dick!”.. which of course they have a loop of ellis saying in the credits he correctly assumes will haunt him for the rest of his days. And if a whale starring in a cheesy 90′s tgif sitcom wasn’t enough we get the best gag of the episode as Marco eats some of avalard’s whale cancer leading to an insnae kool aid style add

And of course Marco later puts on a Mayor F Whale outfit and eats the cancer.. and his way out of avalard. But before that we get fights over wether the whale should die or not, including the guy on the pro whale side stabbing him, Debby’s rambling nosense and Shanks, who first builds a wooden whale to put his brain in .. that promptly sinks “and all my puppies were in there!” and then goes on a far right pundit show and gets into a giant robot phsyical challenge.. which frankly we need more of. Tucker Carlson would be .0001 percent more tolerbale if he were getting his ass kicked in a gundam is what i’m saying. 

2. Feast of Alvis I’ll be brief here, which in an article where i’m already trying to be brief says a lot but since I JUST covered this one a few weeks ago for my best holiday special lists: Feast of Alvis is, like most of sealab, deeply creative, deeply batshit and deply fun as Muprhy pushes his violent frontier version of jesus on everyone, with predicably great results. I watch it every year for damn good reason, it has some of the series best gags, including “Cram a penny o nthere” And great satire about the supposed “War on christmas”. I’m only being so breif as I said pretty much all I had to say last time. Exxcept this: Adam Reed is a DAMN talented voice actor both as virjay (though in hindishgt he REALLY shoudln’t of been playing a hindu man, especially since otherwise the series actually cast poc), and in various rolls and kills it as alvis here. So what could top one of my faviorites? Wellll.

1. Chickmate Another early one and as should be clear the best. It incapsulates the series the best, has the funniest jokes packed into it’s 11 minutes and in general is just an outstanding episode that throughly defined the cast and their rolls and chemistry.  Debbie’s biological clock is ticking and she wants to have a baby, and after mothering a dolphin dosen’t help decides one of the sealab men will be the father and auditions them. It goes as well as you’d expect: Muprhy thought she’d become his mommy, and not in a kinky way, Sparks provides one of the series best gags by giving her a modest proposal by jonathan twist and giving us the utter black comedy joy of him describing “ribs dripping off the bone”, Stormy’s tape gets interrupted by Hesh who clasically screams “Hesh wants some sex”, Marco freaks her out with his muscles and quinn seems sucessful before ultimately botching it and Debbie decides none of htem are worth it. We also get stormy’s untieontally racist and throughly stupid use of the term “Black debbie” to describe the other debbie, which he gets rightfully called out on. We also get this exchange as a result Quinn: What if everyone started calling you white stormy? Stormy: You mean there’s a .. black stormy Quinn: (Beat to take in the stupidity) no. 

It’s funny, it’s clever, and it’s just damn fun. Easily the series best outing and the reason it became what it became. And overall.. the series is just really good. it’s on HBO Max if your curious, and if you haven’t vistied that lab underneath the sea. maybe i’ts time to. Goodbye, Goodbye, goodbye for now, until then.. play us out marco and debbie. 

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 178

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 30 - “Milk’s Resolve and Everyone’s Power!” Date watched: 5 April 2020 Original air date: 2 September 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/bzG8Kza Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

when all their brooches glow you know you’re in trouble

You should know by now that episode 30 correlates to a fairy-driven powerup of sorts.

FWPC: Porun and the Rainbow Braces

Max Heart: Lulun and the Heartiel Brooch

Splash Star: Moop & Foop and the Crystal Communes

Well, this is no different. Sure, they technically already used Precure Five Explosion once, to defeat Girinma, but they didn’t fully understand their abilities at that time. In this episode, we get the first full combining sequence of the Symphony Set and Milk to create the giant saucer that they fly on.

The Plot

Nozomi and Milk are squabbling as usual, this time because Milk ate some chocolate that Nozomi bought for herself. Which is rude, by the way, don’t do that. Nuts has everyone sit down and try to work things out. While they’re there, the other girls ask Milk what being an apprentice caregiver entails, and she explains that she had to learn about the Palmier Kingdom’s politics, economics, culture, history, and everything else about the kingdom. After some potshots from Nozomi, Milk fires back by saying she doesn’t want to entrust the future of the Palmier Kingdom to someone with no dreams and therefore that Nozomi fails at being a Precure.

Nozomi is stunned by this.

Over in Nightmare, Arachnea confronts Kawarino and demands a black mask like he gave to Girinma. He warns her about the side effects of losing her free will but she insists, and he gives her one, commenting on her impressive resolve. After she leaves he has a horrifyingly evil grin on his face, and Bunbee, who saw the whole thing, looks on with concern.

The next day, at Natts House, the others explain to Coco that Nozomi went straight home from school and he confirms to them that Milk is still hiding in her room. Karen decides to go talk to her, and admits to Milk that Nozomi is able to allow people to be honest with themselves and inspire the best in them. She really admires Nozomi’s skills at bringing people together and is grateful to her for pulling her out of her loneliness. She goes on to explain that she herself has no dream for her future, and neither does Rin, and that she admires people like Urara and Komachi who have already figured out their dream, as well as Nozomi and Rin, who are living in the moment while they figure it out. She encourages Milk to be more honest with herself and make amends with Nozomi.

Meanwhile, Nozomi shuts herself in a room and takes off her Pinky Catch, thinking maybe she really does fail as a Precure.

On a rooftop overlooking Natts House, Arachnea is preparing for her attack when Bunbee shows up and asks her not to use the black mask. She ignores him and charges in with ferocity. When Rin, Urara, Komachi, and Karen realize Arachnea is outside, they confront her and transform. They try to fight her but she turns their attacks back on them, grabbing Rouge and Aqua as they try to charge her and throwing them into Lemonade and Mint, knocking them all over. She steals the Dream Collet from Nuts and brags about how simple this was. Milk latches onto her arm, like she did at Nightmare HQ in episode 24, but Arachnea just pulls her off and begins to lecture the Cures about their ineffectiveness against her. At that moment, Nozomi shows up, being alerted by the glow of her Pinky Catch. She quickly apologizes to Milk and then says that although she may be a failure as a Precure, she wants to keep fighting to make Coco, Nuts, and Milk’s dream come true and therefore she wants to continue being a Precure. In a powerful moment, she holds her Pinky Catch out in front of her, it turns back into a butterfly, and then it lands right back on her wrist, reaffirming her worth and her place in the team. She transforms and her mere presence is enough to reinvigorate her teammates, as they turn the tables on Arachnea and overpower her, proving they’re more than the sum of their parts as they recover the Dream Collet and pushing her into a corner.

Left with no other options, Arachnea finally pulls out the black mask and puts it on, mutating into a giant, monstrous version of herself.

Once again the tables turn in her favor and she throws the cures around, tossing them into buildings or the ground. The fairies stand between Arachnea and the fallen girls, who are too weak to move. Nozomi begs them to move but Milk gives a speech explaining how she trusts and is thankful for the girls’ hospitality and friendship, and that she loves Nozomi. She then says that Dream is a precious Precure to her and she wants to join her and the others. They stand up and their brooches start to glow as inspiring music starts to play. Milk latches onto Dream’s left arm and transforms into an armband, and then the glow from Dream’s brooch extends down her right arm and her Dream Torch appears. (note: when she summons it normally, it goes down her left arm) The others let the glow travel down their left arms but instead of summoning their weapons, instead they launch them into the air and they combine with the Dream Torch to form a larger baton. Dream places it on top of Milk as an armband, who infuses it with her power, and it shoots into the sky in giant size. From there, they perform Precure Five Explosion, flying straight into Arachnea and destroying her. The full sequence is below.

Back inside Natts House, Nozomi and Milk apologize to each other. Nozomi proposes they split a chocolate bar that Milk brought to make up for yesterday’s incident, and Milk agrees, but then she quickly snatches it back at the last minute and leads Nozomi in a chase around the store. For some reason, nobody calls her out on her rudeness and instead they laugh it off as we close out on a still frame of Nozomi chasing Milk.

The Analysis

This is a fantastic episode, and despite similarities to previous Milk episodes, it actually does take her in a new direction. I had to go back and double-check. Her major character beats so far have been learning to adapt to this world, wanting to help out in battle, and now, actually wanting to be friends with all the girls (especially Nozomi). She does make progress at being sincere about her feelings.... although the ending shows she still has a lot of innate selfishness to overcome. She loves to torment Nozomi and it makes me sigh. But, she’s making progress. I gave crap to Porun and Lulun during their early days and I’m starting to think I was too hard on them relative to her, but, again, she’s getting better. When Milk is being sincere and earnest she’s nice to have around, and she forms an especially strong bond with Karen. We’ll see that explored in greater depth in a few episodes.

One aspect I think was CRUCIAL to both Milk’s development as a character and advancing the core theme of this show, which is dreams, is outright stating that several of the team actually do not have dreams they’re working towards right now. Really only Urara and Komachi know what they want to do. Milk says she can’t trust anyone who doesn’t have a dream to be a Precure, before Karen turns around and tells her that she herself has none, yet, and neither does Rin. Nozomi became a Precure to help Coco fulfill HIS dream, Rin joined to protect Nozomi, and Karen joined because she wanted to help. None of them have ambitions of their own, they’re still working that out, Not knowing what you want to do but doing your best at what you can do is a really important and powerful message for the audience, and it helps Milk resolve a conflict within herself about how much the girls fight for her wellbeing without having their own ambitions.

On the literal front, Milk turning into an armband for Dream is certainly an.... interesting way to incorporate her into the sequence. As far as alternate modes for fairies go so far, it beats the laptop computer that Porun turned into but it’s not as practical as the cell phones of yore, or the human forms that Coco and Nuts can take (but she’ll get there eventually). A toy of it exists so I assume this was Bandai’s idea first and the show’s staff had to figure out how to make it work in animation.

To their credit, it looks a LOT better in the show than as a toy. It’s still kind of silly looking but at least it directly incorporates the mascot into the attack in some way rather than simply dispensing the powerup.

Alas, poor Arachnea. She wasn’t my favorite villain in the show, but of the remaining crew, she wouldn’t have been my first choice for elimination (that would be Gamao). It’s unfortunate to see her go, but it was time to change things up. I like that Arachnea went to Kawarino rather than being given the black mask due to poor performance. Not that her job performance has been any better than Girinma’s was but it’s just an interesting direction. Ever since Girinma’s defeat she’s acted overconfident, like she sees this as an opportunity and has a plan. She hasn’t really acted on that idea until now, but being a go-getter and asking for the mask is a welcome change. What’s really interesting to me is that she almost doesn’t even need it. During the fight she pretty much has the girls on the ropes and considering she had the Dream Collet in her hands she could have just left right then and there, but her pride demands she defeat the girls, and that’s when Nozomi arrives and turns the tables, forcing Arachnea to put on the black mask and go full monster.

Interestingly, despite Kawarino’s apparent indifference to Arachnea’s plight, Bunbee seems genuinely concerned for her. He’s an okay boss who looks out for his employees sometimes, and having seen what the black mask did to Girinma, who he considered an old friend, he doesn’t want Arachnea to suffer the same fate. She ignores his concern but it’s a rare moment of honor among villains, and a seed for Bunbee’s eventual pseudo-redemption at the end of GoGo.

I love the genuine concern on his face.

The villains have actually had their hands on the Dream Collet several times in this series, and each time their arrogance results in it slipping through their grasp. This somewhat annoys me if I’m being honest, but on the other hand it shows how ill-managed Nightmare is. Even Kawarino himself has had it in his clutches but a couple of fairies are able to steal it back with a coordinated effort. There should be an administrative review about this, everyone is doing it and it really undercuts their company’s objective. However, it shows the resourcefulness and resilience of the girls and fairies to be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, as we’ve seen them do over and over.

On the animation and art side of things, this episode is great. I love this shot of the spider shadow darkening the shop sign, even though Arachnea doesn’t turn into an actual spider.

It’s a moment of ominous foreboding and it’s wonderful. Also, when she first makes her appearance in the fight, Arachnea’s eyes are glowing and she looks ready to kill. The fight is fluid and the action is well-choreographed, and has an important moment of mirroring before and after Nozomi’s arrival. Arachnea uses the same web attack on them both times, but before Nozmi shows up they get hit by it, while afterwards they effortlessly dodge it and run on the webs to knock the Dream Collet out of her hands. It’s the little things that make me smile.

Interestingly, I noticed a lot of Dutch angles in this episode.

A tilted camera is a film trick designed to make the audience uneasy, and it��s used very well here. I don’t often notice camerawork but this stuck out at me.

Now, on the other hand, there is a small animation error that I feel compelled to point out. It takes place during the stock animation for Precure Five Explosion, specifically the point at which the four supporting components are flying in to attach to the Dream Torch. For a few frames, the Lemonade Castanet is incorrectly colored green like the Mint Leaf, instead of the proper yellow. As it gets closer to the camera, this is fixed.

(These are subsequent frames, one right after the other.)

I’m surprised that this made it into the stock footage, and wasn’t fixed for the blu ray releases I’m using for my reviews. I’ll have to see if it gets fixed in future uses.

Of course there’s also some small moments of merchandise pushing in this episode. Aside from the obvious Symphony Set, the box to hold the Pinky Catch makes another appearance, and I had to point it out because it’s very detailed.

None of these points detract from the episode in any meaningful way, I just feel obligated to document them. This episode is fantastic from start to finish, it reinforces the strong bond the characters have and Nozomi’s role on the team, builds on Karen and Milk’s relationship, and moves us into the next stage of the show. It’s a great cap to the first 2/3 of the show and I can’t wait for more.

Next time, on Precure Daily: Coco is getting love letters and Nozomi doesn’t know how to feel about this. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Kettei!

[twisted-fics]

Meeting the Parents (pt.2)

(pt.1 here) (Visual for the parents here)

"So, you're positive your parents will like me?" Divus asked as he walked through the airport with Ashton. 

Ashton squeezed his hand, "Of course they will, I've told them a lot about you, they were so ecstatic when I told them you proposed, they'll be overjoyed to meet you." 

They continued walking when a voice called out, "Ashton!! Over here!!!" 

Ashton and Divus looked up to see a thin man with long blonde hair in high ponytail that went down to his waist, he wore black glasses, a red long sleeved shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. 

Ashton saw the man and grabbed Divus's hand, running over to the man and giving him a tight hug when they got close enough.

"Papa! It's so good to see you again!" Ashton said. 

"I know! It's been forever since I've seen you! You've grown so big!" The man said back. 

Divus stared at the scene before him, unsure what to say.

Ashton pulled away from the man and turned to Divus, "Ah! Divus, this is my dad." 

Divus held out his hand and the man grabbed it but then pulled him into a hug and hugged him tightly.

"It's so nice to finally meet you! I'm so happy to be meeting the man who loves my son as much as I do!" 

Divus was surprised, he had never really been hugged like this before, but it felt comforting and warm. 

The man pulled away and patted his head, "I'm glad to meet you, I'm Adrian Vargas, Ashton's father." 

"R-right, I'm Divus Crewel, Ashton's fiance." 

Adrian smiled, "Well you have your bags right? Then let's go! I brought my car to pick you boys up! We gotta go quickly though because-" 

"Because we want a surprise mama?" Ashton asked. 

"Exactly! So let's go!" Adrian laughed. 

~~

"Your father is so…kind, Ashton." 

Ashton smiled at him and held his hand, "I know you're not used to affection like that but you'll get used to it, I promise." 

Divus smiled, "Yeah, I think I will." 

"Here we are boys! You stay here while I get Ruby!" He laughed as he exited the car. 

"Your father is excitable too, he must love your mother if he wants to surprise her." 

"He does love mama, he always have since he met her." 

"How nice." 

They both jumped a little in surprise when they heard the car door open and felt the cold air blow on them making them both look over. 

"Oh my goodness!" 

Divus and Ashton turned to see a woman with dark brown hair tied into a braid with pink eyes and freckles dotted across her nose, she wore an aqua turtleneck sweater and black jeans along with white shoes. 

She hugged Ashton tightly and he hugged her back, "Oh my goodness! You've changed so much since I last saw you!" The woman said. 

"I know mama, I missed you too!" 

They pulled away from each other, "Well let's get you both inside! Rouge has dying to see you and to meet your fiance!" 

Ashton and Divus stepped out of the car and grabbed their luggage from the car and began heading to the door. 

The woman walked up next to Divus, "Hello dear, sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, I'm Ruby Vargas, Ashton's mom." 

Divus smiled and shook her hand, "Right, I'm Divus Crewel, nice to meet you and thank you for raising such an amazing man." 

Ruby giggled, "You're welcome and thank you for taking care of my son and being there for him, he was so convinced that nobody would ever want to date him." 

Divus wrapped an arm around Ashton's shoulder and pulled him close, "Well he does joke about things." 

Ashton blushed as he snuggled up closer to Divus, "Stop it…I wasn't confident in myself back then." 

Divus laughed, "I know, I'm just teasing you." 

The three of them walked into the house, it was a cozy little place, light blue walls and a white carpet in the living room with a fireplace and small television on top a wooden chest, a small coffee table in front of a large leather couch, there were also small family pictures everywhere. 

Suddenly, someone came rushing out of the kitchen and hugged Ashton tightly. 

"Ahh! There you are you little teddy bear!" She shouted as she ruffled Ashton's hair. 

"Rouge know it off…! My fiance is right there!" Ashton shouted back at her.

The young woman stopped messing with Ashton and looked over at Divus, she then grabbed Divus's hand and shook it roughly. 

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Rouge Vargas, Ashton's cool big sister!" 

She also had dark brown hair, tied up like Adrian's but significantly shorter, she also had blue eyes, freckles and a mischievous grin, she wore a yellow and white striped shirt and blue jeans, she wasn't wearing any shoes but instead socks, one blue and one red. 

Divus nodded awkwardly, "Right…" 

Adrian poked his head in from the kitchen, "Rouge show them to their room and make sure they take off their shoes before they come all the way inside! Divus you don't have any allergies do you?" 

Divus shook his head and Adrian smiled. 

"Well come on, let's get you both settled in." Rouge said as Divus and Ashton took off their shoes. 

~~

Adrian sat down bowls of food in front of everyone and then sat down, "And dinner is served! Tonight we're having boeuf bourguignon and a small salad and since we're all over 21 I've allowed myself to pull out red wine for tonight." 

Ruby smiled at him, "It smells amazing dear, thank you for cooking again tonight too." 

Adrian kissed her hand, "You're welcome, but don't just thank me, Ashton helped a lot too." 

"Of course, he did a fantastic job too, well, everyone go ahead and eat!" 

Everyone began eating with a bit of small conversation in between about life and school and such. 

"So, Divus, how's the food?" Ashton asked. 

Divus swallowed, "It's good, you did a great job cooking." 

Adrian laughed, "Well, Ashton has always had an interest in cooking, he's been helping me since he was five and even wanted to be a chef when he grew up, though he also had a phase where he wanted to be a-" 

"Papa let's not talk about that…" Ashton said quietly, his cheeks now light pink.

"Awww, but it was such a cute time, you wore a little apron and everything." Adrian responded. 

"Ashton what is he talking about?" Divus asked 

Rouge started giggling, "Ashton…" she started laughing louder, "Ashton went through a phase of wanting to be a housewife!!" 

Ashton covered his face, his cheeks now red with embarrassment. 

Divus laughed a little and grabbed Ashton's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers together, "It's ok babe, it's cute." 

"Jeez…stop lying, it's so embarrassing…" Ashton said, turning his head away. 

"Is not, you're too precious." 

Ruby smiled, "I'm glad to see you love him, Divus." 

Divus smiled back, "Of course, I've loved him since I met him." 

"I'm glad to know." Ruby responded.

~~

Everyone was asleep on the couch, a fire in the fireplace was dying down and the tv was playing some old sitcom. 

Divus wasn't asleep, he sat on the couch, petting Ashton's hair as he snuggled into Divus's side, Divus stopped and gently laid Ashton down and kissed his head. 

Divus walked out and sat on the front porch, breathing in the cold, winter air and looking around at all the trees, the sky was beautiful, there were lots of stars and he could trace constellations with his hand. 

"Divus?" 

Divus jumped in surprise and looked back to see Adrian standing behind him. 

"Oh…hello…" 

"You ok? You're not sick are you?" 

Divus shook his head as Adrian took a seat next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "That's good to know, can't have my new son getting sick while out here." 

Divus looked at him surprised, "N-new son?" 

Adrian nodded, "Of course, you're gonna marry Ashton which will make you my son-in-law, so, you're my new son." 

"But we're not married yet." 

"Divus, even if you were just Ashton's friend I'd still think of you of my own child, you're kind and you love my son, you clearly treat him well and I couldn't ask for anything more, so yes, I think of you like my own child." 

Divus felt his face heat up and his eyes suddenly welled up with tears that soon spilled over making him start sobbing, "I…I'm sorry I just…I don't know…my parents were never kind to me like that so I just…oh my god…" 

Adrian pulled him into a hug, petting his hair, "Shh…shh…it's all ok, you're ok, cry as much as you want, just let it all out until you feel better." 

~~

A week had went by quickly and everyone was at the airport saying goodbye to Ashton and Divus. 

Rouge hugged Ashton tightly, "See you around teddy bear! Maybe I'll even invade your school one day!" 

Ashton groaned and hugged her back, "Alright but try to behave while I'm gone." 

"No promises!!" 

"Divus, please continue to take good care of Ashton for us and maybe take time to come back to visit." Ruby said as she held Divus's hand. 

"I will ma'am, I'll protect him for as long as possible." 

Divus grabbed Ashton's hand as he and Rouge stopped hugging. 

Ashton smiled, "Well, we better be going, the plane takes off in an hour and the tsa line looks a little long." 

Adrian smiled back as he put his arm around Ruby, "Well, I guess this is goodbye till you come to visit again." 

The two boys nodded and began walking in. 

"And Divus?" Adrian suddenly said. 

Divus turned back to him. 

"Welcome to the family." 

[themattress]

Everything wrong with the series heroines’ scenes in Kingdom Hearts III

Because it is legit fascinating how horrendously sexist this game’s writing is.

SCENE: Kairi and Lea, post-Twilight Town

- "I'm training to become a Keyblade wielder like you".  Right off the bat, we have something wrong. Kairi apparently needs formal Keyblade training in order to be a “real Keyblade wielder’ like Sora and Riku. Except that Sora and Riku didn’t receive formal Keyblade training - it was just fine and dandy for them to pick up a Keyblade, start slinging it, and become a master at it through their adventures. But a GIRL doing the same? Oh no, we can’t have that!

- "That's right. No more waiting for you to come back from your adventures. I want to get out there and do my part to help."  This is bullshit, because this was a development that Kairi already made in KH2! Seriously, talk to her before entering the door to Kingdom Hearts and she outright said “I’m tired of waiting, from now on where one of us goes the other follows!” and the epilogue is framed as if Sora, Riku and Kairi will be going on an adventure together now. But then Nomura and Oka decided “NAAAAH!”, retconned this in BBS’ secret ending by having Kairi meekly agree to just wait behind for Sora and Riku again, and are continuing this degradation of her character here, where she only steps up when Yen Sid calls for her to.

- "I'll admit I was a little scared of him at first, but I've gotten to know him better. All he ever wanted was to help his friend. Honestly, it's hard not to like him." Fuck this. Axel didn’t want to help his friend, Axel wanted to help himself. Roxas, the friend he betrayed, made him feel like he had a heart. Axel wanted that feeling back, and was willing to harm Kairi and Sora to get it back. He was a selfish bastard, and this whitewashing of his character in order to pander to his popularity is disgusting, especially when at the expense of his past victim. The line given to her of “It’s hard not to like him” is especially wretch-inducing. I sure as Hell don’t like him!

- "It won't be easy, but I hope you'll remain the happy and cheerful Sora I know. There's no heart your smile can't reach." Schmaltzy, forced SoKai crap right here. Remember how good and subtle the writing in the original KH was? Where all Kairi needed to say was “Sora, don’t ever change” and that said SO MUCH about her character and her relationship with him?

- "But I won't send it. It's more for me. I just like talking to Sora, even if it's on paper." OK, now you’re just making Kairi and her feelings for Sora look pathetic. In KH2, when she couldn’t remember Sora, she still sent him a letter in a bottle that she wrote, having faith that it would reach him. And now I’m expected to believe she’s too shy to send a letter to Sora now?

- "You're sweat, Lea." God, I think I’m going to be sick!

- "Don't hold back, Lea. Promise?" A contrived line in order to use Kairi for Xion-related angst for Lea to go through. By that same token, Xion is also being used for a man’s development.

- "Call me Axel from now on."  This is so fucked up! A girl tells the older man who once kidnapped her that she’s not comfortable with his constant apologies. The man doesn’t respectfully stop, he instead tells his former kidnap victim that he’ll only stop doing this thing that makes her uncomfortable “one one condition” - that she begin calling him by the name she knew him by when he kidnapped her! WTF!? In what universe is this appropriate!?

SCENE: Aqua and the two Ansems, post-Monstropolis

- "Don't need it!" And thus begins Aqua’s degradation into a joke in this game - she attacks a powerful Heartless without her Keyblade, and shockingly is owned in two seconds flat and turned into a Darkling. There’s being brave, and then there’s being dumb. This...is dumb.

SCENE: Kairi and Lea, post-The Caribbean.

- "Now that she's a part of me again, I figured all was right. But she can't look at this forest, feel the wind on her face, none of it. And if she could, it would be different for her. Her time was short, but she lived it, and that makes it hers. What right did I have to take those feelings and experiences back? They don't belong to me. Nothing's as it should be. Not for her or Roxas."  FUCK THIS. This pisses me off so much. I loved the happy ending of KH2, including for Roxas and Namine. But now it’s been retconned so that it wasn’t a happy ending, that they didn’t retain their individuality from within Sora and Kairi despite what was clearly said and shown in KH2′s ending, and it’s a terrible fate that they must be “saved” from to end their “hurt”. And Kairi is now blaming herself for it - “what right did I have to take those feelings and experiences back”? Oh, I don’t know - maybe you had a right because Namine wanted it and fucking extended her hand to you so that she could rejoin with you!? Remember that!? I guess not, since otherwise the game would remember that it was said/shown that Namine would still exist and be able to experience things and keep hold of her own feelings and experiences. But that might create lots of bonding scenes between Kairi and Namine, and we can’t have that, can we? This series is all about the MALE bonding!

- "Well, you don't have to worry alone anymore, Axel." GAAAAAAAH!!!

SCENE: Anti-Aqua in the Realm of Darkness

- Just...everything. From Anti-Aqua being treated as a villain that must be defeated rather than reasoned with even when the entire breaking speech she gives to Mickey is objectively true and well-deserved, from Sora needing to beat the shit out of her in order to save her, and from the hollow “you’re home” callback to the KH2 ending, with Sora in place of Kairi (are they going for a Sora/Aqua pedophilia ship tease here?) and Kairi herself nowhere in sight, not being a part of rescuing Aqua despite being allegedly her counterpart in the Destiny Trio. At the end of KH2 and even at the end of this game’s opening FMV, we had Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Thus, Kairi’s absence is glaring (and not for the last time!)

SCENE: Castle Oblivion becomes Land of Departure again

- "Ven's expecting me. I promised to wake him. Said I'd be right back, but I'm not even close. I'm in for an earful." But Ven’s heart wasn’t in his body when you promised that! Why would he remember that promise or be expecting anything from you!? And the way you’re phrasing it (”in for an earful”) makes it sound as if you’re the child and he’s the adult! What the Hell!?

- "Why? Your heart never found its way home?" Did Sora really not tell her!?

- "Sorry, but you've seen me too weak, too often. Now it's my turn to shine." Where to begin? This notorious line is woodenly delivered right before a fight with Vanitas where Aqua is playable. She is saying it to Sora, basically admitting that this is a matter of ego and that she wants to show off in front of him (again, creepy pedophilic ship vibes here). Also, “you’ve seen me too weak, too often”? He literally just met you, and you were pretty damn strong when fighting him as Anti-Aqua! And after the playable fight is over, Vanitas blasts at Ven, Aqua jumps in front of the blast and has time to deflect it with her Keyblade or barrier magic...but she doesn’t, gets knocked out, and has to be saved by Sora and Ven. Weak!

- "Good morning, Ven." Wow, such an emotional reunion! (That’s sarcasm, btw.)

SCENE: Gathering at Yen Sid's Tower before the final battle

- Again, everything. Aqua and Kairi’s interaction is pathetically brief and only revolves around “Hey, remember when we met in BBS? That was a thing.” Plus bringing up the bullshit retcon of Aqua enchanting Kairi’s necklace, Mickey somehow not having pieced together that the little girl was Kairi until now, Lea whining that this talk is taking time away from him and his narcissistic entitlement complex, and more “Roxas and Namine need to be saved” crap.

SCENE: Land of Departure at night

- "It's like I've been part of some big adventure." This scene features Aqua and Ventus. But it’s only about Ventus, and his X connections. Aqua is nothing but a springboard for him.

SCENE: Paopu Tree on Destiny Islands

- "I want to be a part of your life no matter what. That's all." Except that Kairi already IS a part of Sora’s life no matter what. This has been true since the events of the original KH, where she inhabited his heart. The paopu sharing was never meant to be a literal thing to happen when it was conceived, it was symbolic, it was smart writing. This is dumb, and forced.

- "Let me keep you safe." This line isn’t going to have much payoff. In fact, between this and her dialogue in her letter at the very start, it’s sounding a lot like many a poor unfortunate shonen heroine who will pay lip service to getting stronger and helping the boys, and then ultimately proves useless when it comes down to it. Three guesses as to where this is going.

SCENE: Terranort appears

- EVERYTHING. The sheer incompetence displayed by Aqua and Kairi in this scene must be seen to be believed. Both of them have Keyblades, and neither of them use them. Unreal.

SCENE: Kairi brings Sora back

- "The light in the darkness. It was you. You're the one who kept me from fading away." Get it!? Because it’s like the first KH! Where Kairi was the light in the darkness who kept Sora from fading as a Heartless! And the scenery and music is literally straight from the scene where she showed him the memory of her grandmother’s story! ‘Member that fantastic scene? ‘Member? ‘MEMBER? Isn’t this coming full circle? Isn’t this poignant? (No. It’s not.)

- "I feel strong with you, Kairi." This line right here shows the big problem with Kairi in this game - she has nothing to offer for herself, she only has something to offer Sora. She is used for Sora’s role and development, as he says: to make him strong, all while she stays weak. 

SCENE: The Finale

- EVERY FUCKING THING. Larxene implies she was only part of the Organization because of her feelings for a man.  Aqua gets beaten by Terranort and has to be saved by Terra (which on it’s own wouldn’t be so bad, seeing as Sora and Ven are in the same boat, but it’s her last battle in the game after having lost all the other ones and she loses AGAIN). Kairi, after just half a battle as a party member, gets beaten by Xion and then kidnapped by Xemnas. Xion, who only shows up now, is again used as a prop for Lea, then gets beaten down by Xemnas and needs to be saved by Roxas, and then is a pitifully weak party member in the battle against Saix while Roxas is overpowered. Kairi is fucking killed by Xehanort in order to give Sora “proper motivation” and thus achieve his goal, meaning Kairi was more useful to the villain than to the heroes. Xion does nothing but say an out-of-left-field line about something she shouldn’t possibly know. Aqua is basically told by Eraqus that she shouldn’t have been named Master and that Terra should have (”Take care of them” - Eraqus to Terra about Aqua and Ven). Namine only shows up in the last seconds of the game, without any dialogue. And for the final slap in the face, Kairi is resurrected offscreen, only to lose Sora as a result of it.

Amazing. Literally every scene featuring these girls had something to demean them in it. KH3 is the absolute embodiment of the KH series’ woman problem. Hardcore fans can deny it all they want, they can accuse me of being a stupid hater or a killjoy or an SJW or what-have-you, but they cannot change the truth. And the truth is that Tetsuya Nomura is a sexist hack.

[darkzorua100]

My thoughts to episode 70 of Vrains.

Before watching the episode: Soulburner better do his fire tornado thing to save Playmaker or else I’m going to be very disappointed with this episode.

After watching the episode: Well...uh...that escalated quickly. Yeah never mind about the whole fire tornado thing, what the actual f*ck just happened here?!

I walk into this episode expecting the basics. Revolver to Synchro Summon Borreload Savage Dragon, Soulburner and Flame rescuing Playmaker and Ai, Windy getting out right murdered. I did not expect us to get two more Lost Children/Ignis pairings, that gorgeous freaking Synchro Summoning being so technology heavy, and Windy getting out right murdered like that. Yeah, have fun censoring that one, dub. 

Just like episode 68, where do I even begin with this? Again, I guess at the beginning where it is revealed that Windy is actually an out right psychopath. He literally tried to murder his kid in a car accident. Of course, we don’t know his actual condition now because of this. His kid could very well be dead but I highly doubt that. The Lost Children are to important to the story for the writers to just have killed any of them off like that before we even had a chance to meet them all, similar to the whole Aqua situation where some people thought she was dead after episode 66 airing with the way Earth was speaking about her. At the very least, he’s in a coma, physically disabled, life support if we want to get that dark, or heck his whole body could have been replaced with an artificial one. Geez, and we talk about how Jin couldn’t catch a break after the Hanoi Project. The Wind Child probably has mental and physical problems  to boot because of his little sh*t of an Ignis. Also, what is this? The third car accident now? God, I knew I was onto something about this being sabotage. Of course, this could all be different car accidents, and the writers really have no creative ideas when it comes to terrible backstories (yeah there are boundaries they can’t cross because this still is a kid show after all) but this has cross the line of just being just a coincidence.

First time is an accident (Aoi and Akira’s parents) Second time is a coincidence (Blood Shepherd and his mom) Third time is a pattern (Windy’s Lost Child)

And this isn’t even factoring in Takeru’s parents, who we still don’t know how they dead. If it was also a car accident, we definitely have something more then just a pattern. We saw in Blood Shepherd’s backstory that his car started to glitch out which to me looked like something was interfering with the signal but if it was Windy taking over it to hit his kid’s car, that would explain a lot. Blood Shepherd really was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and his vehicle was just a means to a end for Windy. The Zaizens, and Takeru’s parents, if they were also involved in this, might have just been caught in the cross fires. Also keep in mind, if this all happened in the same accident, the Wind Lost Child would have only just been freed from the Hanoi Project when Windy decided to kill him based on the fact that Aoi and Takeru were both little kids when they lost their parents. Heck, the Wind Lost Child might have been on his way to the hospital, like Takeru was after he was freed, when Windy decided to play some Grand Theft Auto with him. Windy claims that he did this because he didn’t need his partner but at this point, I’m pretty sure that Kogami might have put in a Fail-Safe program in the Ignises that can only be activated by their respective kids that can destroy the Ignises for good. After all, it can’t just be a one way relationship between the two. All of the Ignises know who they were based on and have shown the ability to be able to find them instantly. If Windy knew about this Fail-Safe, he might have went after his kid to make sure that he never would have had the chance to use it. Same could probably be said with Lightning.

Oh and then there’s Lightning to talk about here who I think just became my favorite Ignis at the end of this episode because he’s a literal sociopath. At the end of this episode, Revolver actually tries to murder Windy and it is brutal. Like holy crap, Windy is screaming his head off and Lightning is just standing there, watching the whole thing so emotionlessly, as Windy is begging him to save him. He does, but only at the last second, and when he does, Windy is almost completely destroyed. Like we know he can repair himself, but geez, Lightning is just...wow. I mean, we all knew Jin was messed up because of the Hanoi Project but how messed up do you have to be to create that? Oh and yeah, Jin was confirmed to be the one Lightning was based off of and sh*t, I was kinda right about him being who the silhouette character was. Maybe not the actual character, because it was Lightning, but as for the silhouette itself, yeah I was right. Lightning actually stole Jin’s consciousness to use him as a weapon. It is even creeper when you remember that Lightning already had the silhouette of Jin created before he got his consciousness's data. Yeah...uh...crap...well...we might have to put Yusaku, Takeru, and Spectre into Witness Protection now because if Lightning could do that to Jin, if he can hivemind Ai, Flame, and Earth (because yeah, Earth is basically confirmed to be Spectre’s now if there was any doubt before between him and Windy), then we are going to lose them to the Light Side (I seriously love how they are making Darkness (Ai) good and Light (Lightning) evil again for this series). Spectre who knows with him, since Earth doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him (not that anyone could blame him), Yusaku possibly since Yu-Gi-Oh isn’t afraid to make their protagonist evil for some time (looking at you Judai and Yuya (though if they do do this to Yusaku, I see it more like what happened to Yuma and Astral with the whole Dark Zexal moment), and as for Takeru, oh he’s definitely going to get brainwashed for sure because we can’t have a Yu-Gi-Oh series where the best friend character doesn’t get brainwashed, possessed, or turns out to be evil all along sometime later during the season. 

Oh and we haven’t talked about Kusanagi’s reaction to this reveal. My god, the opening foreshadowing is coming soon. He is so going to flip when Yusaku and Takeru return. Lightning is going to manipulate him so hard through his brother to get what he wants. Or Kusanagi might just try and murder Ai and Flame instead, blaming them for what has happened to Jin. Either way, Kusanagi is definitely not going to be in a good place in the upcoming episodes.

As for the conclusion to Revolver vs Windy, yeah Revolver out right destroyed him with his new Synchro Monster and my god, the animation for the Synchro Summon was freaking amazing. They went all out on this one like damn. The Knights also got to show up the end too, after out right destroying all of the Echos, watching as Revolver proves to everyone again why he is the leader. Spectre stayed behind and we got the meeting between him and Soulburner (hell yes to this! Though I have to wonder if Soulburner actually does know if Spectre is a Lost Child just like him) and the dialogue was just amazing between them. I loved how Spectre just flips on a dime like that like one second he is being friendly to Soulburner and asking him to view for himself if the Ignises can be trusted or not and if he still wants to work with Flame after all of this, he would destroy him personally himself. Soulburner vs Spectre foreshadowing? I hope so because my god, that would be amazing. 

Soulburner and Flame save Playmaker and Ai from their spheres but not before Revolver has the best reaction to Soulburner and Flame’s appearance.

“Oh? Four Ignis in the same room.” Just the way he said it got me hyped because yeah, as long as Takeru has Flame, we are getting Soulburner vs Revolver and I want this match up so badly. I need these two to fight to the death. It would be fantastic.

A few last things I like to note about this episode on the top of my head is that Windy used Storm Access during this duel and I seriously wish this wasn’t a thing. Having the people in Lightning’s group have Storm Access as a Skill would be one thing, even though that would be annoying to begin with because that is Yusaku and Ryoken’s thing (they are called Datastormshipping for a reason) but for them to just continue to screw the rules and use it during a Master Duel just will continue to irritate me since they shouldn’t be able to do that. Sure, they are advanced A.Is that can break the system but the system should still be able to say “no, you can’t do that” and automatically give the opposing player the win, or at the very least give the people in Lightning’s group a penalty, such as in ARC-V where we had the intrusion penalty whenever someone should join in on a already ongoing duel. Like if they can just break the rules like that, why not just screw the rules entirely and play with Duelist Kingdom logical? Seems kinda stupid to just break the rules and not take full advantage of it. And they are supposed to be the smart ones here.

Also, during the duel, Windy does what I wanted him to do since the beginning of the duel and out right taunt Revolver, using his father against him, saying stuff like he’s a failure and that if his father believed in him, why didn’t he use him as a test subject for the Hanoi Project, and that Ryoken’s true reason why he wants to kill the Ignises is because he is jealous of them for being the “chosen ones” in his father’s eyes. Revolver has a flashback to when his father died, saying how he never wanted to involve him in this, which Revolver fully believes, and honestly, I think at this point we can all agree that Kogami is full of crap. Never wanted to involve Ryoken in this is out right bullsh*t. Windy does bring up some good points with this though. Ryoken has ever right to hate the Ignises, not just because of his father’s goal, but because like Windy said, they were the chosen ones in Kogami’s eyes, not his own flesh and body. Kogami said it himself, he viewed the Ignises as his own children to his own son. Ryoken has ever right to hate them out of pure jealously. And since I fully believe that Kogami is full of himself when he said he didn’t want to involve Ryoken in any of this, why didn’t he use his own son for the Hanoi Project? I talked about how Ryoken is basically an unofficial 7th Lost Child of the Hanoi Project but he seriously might just be. He’s Dr. Kogami’s son after all. If the Lost Children are the keys to destroying their respective Ignis with some kind of Fail-Safe built into their program, Ryoken might just unknowingly hold the instructions to activating those Fail-Safes hidden somewhere deep inside his consciousness. Or if we are to believe the major plot twist done the line that Ryoken might actually be an A.I. himself like some people theorize he could be, Windy might just mean this literally. Ryoken might have actually been the chosen one, the first successor to humanity, or a simple prototype to the Ignises that wasn’t what Dr. Kogami wanted, a failure as Windy claims him to be, and was effectively replaced by the Ignises. That’s why he wasn’t used for the Hanoi Project. He had no free will to take to use to create the Ignises. If anyone has seen or played Detroit: Become Human, Ryoken’s case could be something like that. He was reprogrammed to be Dr. Kogami weapon but he started to gain a free will of his own after witnessing the torture of the Lost Children and speaking to Yusaku and especially after coming to his own decision to save them. Interesting thing to look back on if the “Ryoken is actually an A.I.” theory does actually turn out to be true. 

But yeah, I think that about does it for episode 71. As for the preview for 72 and the cast list, Playmaker and Ai seem to be chasing after Jin and Lightning which is what I guess leads to the Playmaker vs Bohman rematch since I figure Bohman is trying to stall for time for them to get away and do whatever it is Lightning is trying to do in the preview at the end. Looks like he’s trying to rise someone from the dead or maybe this is a flashback to him giving Bohman new memories once more? He could also be creating more minions to shall for him as he prepares to attack the real world or also be trying to fix up Windy since in the preview, he has seen better days. SOL Technologies people are back (Akira, Blood Shepherd, Hayami, and Go’s goons) and here in this fake Cyberse World to destroy some Ignises from what we see of BS in the preview with him destroying copies of Bit and Boot. No Emma or Aoi (is anyone surprised at this point though?) so who knows if we actually are going to find out what happened with that stand off between BS and Ghost Girl. No Go either so I really want to know now what kind of special mission he is on if it is more important then this mess right now. Faust and Baira aren’t speaking so I wonder what happened to them? Kusanagi is more then likely going to be losing his mind in the real world over the whole Jin situation so that just leaves Soulburner, Flame, Revolver, Spectre, and Dr. Genome speaking. Revolver is probably going to send Spectre and Dr. Genome after Lightning, Jin, and Windy so I wonder if he’s actually going to try and take on Soulburner to try to destroy Flame? Soulburner has to do something during the Playmaker and Bohman duel, same with Revolver, and I don’t see the writers just having them destroying Bit and Boots during this time being. Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen at this point. We have a lot of characters in one area so a lot can happen in these upcoming episodes. This is going to get good for us as the viewers, and bad for the characters, is all I can say.

[mimiplaysgames]

Beloved Memories, in Notes (Vol. III)

Pairing: Terra/Aqua Rating: T Other characters: Ventus Word Count: 7,485 One-shot (part of a series) Pre-Birth by Sleep / Fluff / Mutual Pining / Sexual Tension

Summary: The Mark of Mastery is almost here. Nineteen-year-old Terra and eighteen-year-old Aqua have one last mission to complete before they they are evaluated for all the efforts they put into being Keyblade Masters. If only they had mastery over their own emotions.

AO3              FF.net

A/N: It’s FLUFF TIME!!  @holyteapotofrussell sent me this prompt:

“It’s three in the morning.”

For a romantic pairing, that sounds pretty smutty, but I can’t have them romancing just yet! So this was born instead. It’s long. It will be released in parts so the prompt will be addressed later. There was also no Ventus in the last chapter, so I had to really give our adorable little hero some screen time.  I also wanted to dedicate this beast, which took weeks to write, to my readers. It has been a very dark month. You guys are the only reason why this was finished, and the only reason why I continue writing. Thank you guys so much!!! You being there gives me so much meaning that no words can define. It’s the lifeline I rely on. <3

Title of the chapter is named after Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.”

A Tale of Landslides, Pt. 1

Terra twirled the card detailing the goals of his next mission, written neatly in the Master’s handwriting, in his hand. He would share this mission with Aqua, who was currently busy drilling her dance movements. He learned to respect her time to that kind of dedication, since it was such an important aspect to her fighting style. It was also a craft that wasn’t shared with either him nor Eraqus - it was her own thing, her time for herself. 

This annoyed him a little though, not that he would ever ask her to stop dancing. He normally loved watching her, admiring her ability to adapt such beauty and grace to the way she commanded her magic. It proved fruitful, since he had been stumbling more often in their last several duels. And if he was going to be honest... watching her dance was also the one chance he got away with gazing at her.

But the Mark of Mastery was less than two weeks away. Eraqus had already informed them that an old friend of his, another Master, would be on his way to examine them. Another pair of eyes from a stranger, there to judge their performance. Terra needed the both of them to do well, including this mission. They’ve worked too hard for too long to make a bad impression on someone else who wouldn’t know a thing about them.

I’m sure Aqua is also nervous. Why else would she be dancing before we have to embark?

He entered the castle’s lounge, a spacious room featuring several desks and loveseats, a small library, a wardrobe, and massive windows with an unbeatable view of the mountains. We really need more students. This castle is far too big for us.

Ventus sat there alone with an open book, looking like he was working on an essay. Except he really wasn’t. He was doodling a mess of himself fighting monsters. Terra pulled on the backrest of the boy’s chair so that the blonde can look directly up at him.

“That looks like a fantastic essay you’ve got written there,” Terra said to the young boy who was showing off a grin, happy to see his oldest best friend.

But the grin quickly faded. “This book sucks,” was all Ventus had to say.

Terra let go of the chair and leaned over to read the cover of the book. Guidelines from the Philosophies of the Greats: On the Adjustment of a Keyblade Bearer’s Lifestyle. It was the driest book he and Aqua had ever studied, and it was mandatory. He didn’t understand why Eraqus still required it.

Terra didn’t grimace at the sight however, knowing that showing any sign of discouragement was going to make it so much harder for Ventus to start his essay - a feat that the boy already struggled with. It usually led to too many long nights before the deadline, rushing to finish it. Terra was often the one to help him, as Aqua quickly ran out of patience.

“You know, when you finish this book, it will do wonders for your sparring. It will completely change the way you approach fighting,” Terra said.

It was a lie. There was nothing in this book about fighting.

Ventus at first looked suspicious, then softened his expression as a timid excitement seeped through. “Really?”

“Of course. It’s the most important book that a Keyblader wielder needs.” Terra tried hard to keep a straight face.

Ventus put his doodles aside, curious to find out how the book would cater to his interests. It was then that Terra noticed another book underneath the messy stack of papers and pencils. It was battered and well-worn, displaying the image of a fox and a bear donning a bow and arrow. The Adventures of Robin Hood. This book belonged in the library normally, but if he were to open it, the very first page would grace the scratchy hand-written words of a ten-year old: this book belongs to Terra.

“What is this doing here?” Terra asked, a little smile curled on his lips as his heart pumped with childish excitement.

“Isn’t it the coolest book ever? It’s so much better than this crap.”

“Well, there’s nothing that could be better because Robin Hood is the greatest hero of all time.” He cleared his throat. “But it’s no excuse not to do your studies.” Terra flipped through the pages. He read this so many times that he could almost recite the entire thing. Images of his childhood imagination threatened to take his mind away. “I actually wanted to be exactly like him.”

“You know he reminds me of you.”

Terra flashed a look of disbelief at first, not certain if it was a genuine compliment or a jab. Still, he was proud of the comparison. Not that he had the time to respond, since Aqua rushed into the lounge, panting a little bit, and looking a bit more serious than what was usual after a drilling session. Dance normally perked her up.

“I’m ready,” she said as she approached Terra. She gave a small smile, but the tone of her voice forced optimism.

Yup, she’s stressed.

Ventus swung around in his chair. “I hate the both of you right now for leaving me here alone.”

“We don’t have a choice, Ven,” Aqua said as she gently brushed his hair. “You can always have the Master help you out.”

Ventus rolled his eyes. “All he’s going to do is criticize the way I do anything. Terra is much more fun doing the most boring things with.”

Terra snorted. “I hope that’s not all I’m good for.”

“And it sucks that I can’t do anything.”

Aqua let out a deep breath through her nose, her jaw a little tense. She normally was soothing and understanding of how isolated Ventus felt in the castle, but it seemed as though she was itching to get this mission over with. 

”C’mon Ven,” Terra said, “what do we make you repeat every time one of us goes away on a mission?”

Ventus let out an incredibly loud and snarky sigh as if to protest. “When you guys were my age,” he started with clear mockery and contempt, “you weren’t allowed to go out either.”

Terra gestured to Ventus to continue the speech.

And Ventus glared at him. “And one day, even though it will never happen because the Master is absolutely paranoid, I will be able to leave the grounds - let me mention that the Master took you guys out when you were young and never does for me.”

“That’s good enough.” Terra smirked. There was nothing he could do to ease his friend’s restlessness and feelings of abandonment except to keep the atmosphere uplifting. Aqua smiled sadly.

“Where are you guys going this time?” Ventus asked, seemingly unaware of her mood.

Terra held up the card with the details. “We need to guide a princess of a kingdom into following her destiny. Apparently, the forces of fate are stirring for her, and the Master doesn’t want her following a dark path. That’s where we come in.”

“And we can’t mess up,” Aqua said with a forced smile. They normally had a philosophy of keeping positive about their prospects, although her slightly perfectionist tendencies were definitely going to get in the way this time.

Well, we can’t always have a great outlook. I’m going to have to be the one to let her relax this time.

“We won’t,” Terra said as he gently squeezed her shoulder.

The two Keyblade wielders stood in the throne room, guards surrounding them. They were being questioned by the king and queen while their daughter, Merida, pleaded with them to listen to her. She tried to tell them that they had saved her from her horse reacting to a round of boars and throwing her off - hiding the fact that she was there to hunt them in the first place.

The queen in particular was much more concerned about the way Terra and Aqua looked and dressed. She focused on Aqua’s choice of hairstyle and how she refused to dress like a woman. She focused on Terra’s tan skin, and wondered where he had come from. Clearly, they were outsiders, and the queen feared an invasion. The king, however, burst into a fit of hysteria and dismissed his wife. He pointed to Terra and exclaimed that there was no way they could pose a threat since this pretty boy has eyelashes like a cow’s!

Merida used her father’s reaction as leverage to convince her mother that neither of them posed a threat and that they were her friends. So, please Mum, let them stay.

The queen was convinced to agree. The king pulled Terra aside while Merida  grabbed Aqua by the hands and led her away. The princess took quite a liking to her the moment they met. Aqua lingered back at him as she disappeared through a doorway.

The king listed the things he expected Terra to do as they walked through the stone castle halls. Hunting. Upkeeping the farms. Guarding the castle. He slipped into his long speech that Terra could not continue to dress the way he did. He took time to tell Terra of a tale where he faced a large, monstrous bear and how proud he was of his accomplishments (even though he failed to capture or kill said bear). He then introduced Terra as “the foreigner” to his men.

Terra was shown to his quarters, a large room of bunkers that he would share with the other servicemen in the castle. He was given what they called a kilt, and was dragged outside to start his chores. The other men flipped between calling him “pretty boy” and “foreigner” for nicknames. The latter made Terra’s skin crawl, though he tried not to let it terrify him. He focused on making himself seem as less threatening as possible. The last thing I need right now is to be thrown into the dungeon because they suspect I’m a spy or something.

When he sparred, he messed up on purpose in order to make it seem like he didn’t know what he was doing - despite that none of the other men posed a challenge to him. Nonviolent. As long as they understand me as nonviolent.

This invited more teases and laughs from the other men however, who then considered Terra as someone who wanted very hard to look like a man but could never be one. Terra bit his tongue each time they referred to him as a “lady,” and instead thought about ways to reunite with Aqua. He wasn’t allowed up in the princess’ ward of the castle, so he couldn’t just walk up to her.

Not that these restrictions in behavior were important to Aqua, or to Merida for that matter. He saw them together in the field while he was herding sheep. They were practicing archery and riding horses. Aqua wore a long brown gown made of cotton, indicative of maid work. She looked pretty. But she was pretty anyway in whatever she wore, even after grueling training sessions that left her sweating. She beamed a smile as she rode a horse for the first time in her life, radiant as her short hair bounced. A stress-free smile.

Terra forgot he had sheep to take care of. The men made sure to remind him of that as they guffawed about his pretty little head up in some maid-in-waiting’s bosom where it don’t belong. One of the sheep bayed as if she was in agreement.

Aqua noticed him from the distance and while on her horse, gestured with her head toward the forest behind the castle. It was to say that they should meet later that day, in private. Terra knew what was expected of him and how it should happen. He tended to his sheep with determination and focus to finish as fast as possible, and it kept the other men off his back. Knowing he will reunite with her was comforting enough to keep him going on with his meaningless chores.

With every single one of his sheep accounted for, Terra took the opportunity to sneak away when the other men gathered together for a late afternoon brew. He slid through the shadows in between the trees, leaving the castle behind, which sat in a valley amidst serene mountains that were threatened by storm clouds far away. Lakes rested in between, undisturbed by wind or any other force of nature. Taller mountains stood peacefully beyond with snow caps. It was a beautiful sight, very much like home.

Deep in the thicket, he placed his thumb and middle finger up against his tongue as he rolled it. He whistled three short times. Silence. A half hour later, after finding a clearing with a creek, he whistled three short times again.

Two long ones replied. This was the signal. Anytime they were separated in the mountains as children, this was their call to find each other.

Aqua arrived, her brown dress dragging the leaves on the ground and her short, choppy hair perfectly framing her face. Terra must have stared for a little too long because she suddenly got self-conscious.

“It’s called a dress, Terra. Sheesh.”

He forced a chuckle to hide his nervousness. “As long as you’re comfortable.”

She put her hands to her hips. “What about what you’re wearing?”

“A kilt.” He wrinkled his chin and swayed his hips back and forth. “It’s nice and airy. But... well...”

Something on his face must have given his anxious disposition away, because Aqua immediately gave him a knowing smile that told him she was ready to tease.

“What is it?” She grinned, not a single ounce of stress on her face and this was the way he liked her best.

“Well...” His voice wavered. “Some of the men, you know, kind of... don’t... wear anything underneath.”

She snorted very loudly and eased herself into laughter, the sound of which made his heart jump. She was most beautiful laughing, and he had to control the aching need to touch her.

He continued, “I’ve had my fair share of sights today as it is.”

“No!” Her hand was on her chest and her eyes were tearing from the laughter. “Tell me you’re-”

“Of course I’m wearing shorts under it, Aqua,” he stressed, his nose wrinkling as she laughed harder. “What is hard to deal with though is how the guys here just have these very specific expectations of how I am supposed to act - like I’m not worth their respect otherwise.”

“Tell me about it, it’s suffocating. I swear, I think the queen mentioned the length of my hair three times.” She composed herself and wiped her tears. “Merida really struggles under this kind of pressure, which is a shame because she has such spirit and she’s a great fighter. I’m grateful the Master doesn’t force such insignificant and stupid rules on us, it’s ridiculous. I wish I could take her with us.”

“I would like to do the same for her...” Terra started to say and then fell silent. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. They both knew that they could not mess with the political affairs of other worlds. Merida was just unlucky and he was no Robin Hood.

Merida however was lucky enough to have Aqua as a friend. She told him that she served mainly as a personal counselor for the princess: sparring with her, learning about archery, and meeting her trivial needs. Aqua gained the princess’ trust fairly easily.

“Anyway, I asked you to come here for a reason.” Aqua proceeded to take her brown dress off and toss it to the side, revealing a shorter but simple white cotton underdress with no sleeves. White was the best color on her. Her skin looked nice, too. She summoned her Keyblade and got serious, her upright posture ready to duel. “We can’t slack off.“

Terra summoned his own, grateful for the chance to practice so shortly before their exam. “Who said we would?”

Aqua, having trained with him since she was eight years old, utilized her acrobatic abilities to outmaneuver him. It was best for her not to directly encounter him head-on since he was a powerhouse, and she struck him whenever he left himself open, which happened more often than Terra would like to admit, since his attacks could get slow and wide as he pushed every ounce of strength into each blow. He could easily brutalize her if he caught her unguarded, but over time she barely allowed it. Of course, there was also her magic that he had to juggle as well. He bore magic too, but it never shone a light in comparison to her skill.

Because of this, Terra stumbled several times, as what had become usual in the last few weeks. Normally, he would have no trouble keeping up with her or making up for his mistakes. She has improved so much in the last couple of years and I’m now falling behind. I’m sure the Master has noticed my lack of performance. ...Am I not going to be able to pass the exam?

When their duel was over, Aqua headed over to the creek to rinse the sweat from her arms, neck, and face. He silently squatted next to her and did the same. It wasn’t just the Master that he worried about. For as much as he admired Aqua, he wanted her to reciprocate. He wanted her to continue to see him as an equal. What if she doesn’t think that I am good enough for her anymore? What if I drag her down?

“How did I do?” she asked. It was always the question that followed after a duel. Checking on their progress. This was the way the two of them held each other accountable for their work.

“You were incredibly difficult to pin down. You’ve been working hard, I can tell,” he said.

She sighed, sounding as if she was relieved. It made sense. Progress was always a good sign. Terra didn’t bother asking about his own performance, however. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.

She noticed that he didn’t ask and went ahead with her thoughts anyway. “I was pulling new moves on you. You’ll eventually get the pattern down in no time and start beating me. Definitely by the exam. I mean, you know me. You’ve done this longer and you’re an amazing fighter. You’ll see that I’ll get predictable again.” She leaned forward in order to meet his gaze, to make sure he got the message.

All of those words made sense. They were far softer than anything the Master would have told him. But it brought little comfort. The point was to be good enough to hear only words of praise out of her mouth. Terra nodded in return, thinking about how time had changed his perspective completely. Before, he had no trouble bracing himself for what she had to say. They were on this road to becoming Keyblade Masters together. Only together should they succeed, and only together could they improve.

But as he got older, as he noticed different features on her, as he started to feel new sensations in his body and the pangs of loneliness that came after, he yearned for her praise. He needed any ounce of proof that he could win her affections, that he could be something more than just her equal. It had been a few years since she was more to him after all. As time passed, it was less comfortable for him to hear her criticisms. He had to do better. He had to be better.

She smacked him on the shoulder, a gracious smile on her face. “Hey, I’m not talking to myself for my health.”

“Sorry.” He forced a grin. “There’s a lot to think about.”

“Yeah.” She nodded as she pursed her lips, the weight of the exam heavy in the air around them. But her eyes were bright and large and stunning anyway, and they locked with his. A pause between them. She chuckled and stood up, breaking the connection and it pained him a bit. She pulled her brown dress on and dusted off the dirt.

“I can’t imagine the queen’s fright if she saw me walking around in what is technically my underwear,” she said. “I’m relieved that we fought. I needed to get away from all of those pointless rules.”

It seemed as though she was trying to make him laugh, although he didn’t give her what she wanted. She cleared her throat and gestured her head behind her. “C’mon, Terra. There is this secret passage that I want to show you back at the castle.”

“Secret passage?”

“I asked Merida about it and she just showed it to me. It goes straight to her side of the castle.” She stepped toward him.

“So we’ll be sneaking around. The guys will never let it down if they ever find out.”

“Then don’t let them.”

Another lingering look. Another nervous chuckle, Aqua and Terra together wondering about the implication of what sneaking around was supposed to mean.

Two nights after that duel, Terra sat with his best friend inside a room tucked away within the secret passage of the castle. It was the safest place for them to converse without any interruptions, expectations, or demands. They sat atop some dusty crates that the tens of people living within the castle had all forgotten about, eating lamb meat. Though Aqua made a passing comment that it had no flavor.

“You know,” Aqua said, “the queen talked today about preparing Merida for a possible suitor for marriage. Three princes from other clans will arrive tomorrow.” She sounded a bit apprehensive.

“I can’t imagine that she would want that,” Terra said.

“Maybe this is what the Master meant by fates changing for her? What am I supposed to do, though, Terra? Am I supposed to comfort her and make her feel at peace with the ceremony?”

“It’s funny, I don’t actually think it’s the right thing to do.” Terra imagined what Robin Hood would do. To the depths of the deepest cracks of the earth with the idea of a forced marriage! But if only he was working in an actual fairy tale. He swallowed his flavorless meat, though he didn’t mind it. “But still... you can’t tell her not to see it through. We can’t actually affect how another world maintains its balance.”

“I know, but I’d hate to agree with the queen on this one.”

“Maybe you don’t have to.” Terra stopped eating. “So far, all we have done is observe. There is no darkness here. Maybe we should let it happen and see what Merida does.”

Aqua nodded unenthusiastically. Terra noticed for the first time that she had stopped eating a while ago. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.

Aqua smiled, though it wasn’t her usual calm, collected grin. She was worried again. “I was thinking about the Keyblade Master coming. You know, Master Xehanort? Remember him?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “He didn’t spend a lot of time with us, though. He dropped Ventus off, and spoke with the Master for the most part. He was a bit eccentric. He actually tuned that old piano in the ballroom, played for a bit, and then left rather abruptly when Ventus wouldn’t wake up. I remember him expressing a desire to have dinner with us. He was very nice otherwise.”

“I remember him being very knowledgeable when he was talking with the Master.”

“You nervous?”

“Well, if you ask me, he could never have a good reason to fail either of us. But that’s just the one day he will see us. He won’t get to see all the years we put into this.”

“There’s absolutely no way you can fail, Aqua.”

She sighed through her nose. “There’s no way you can fail, either. But even if we pass-”

“When.”

“Okay, when we pass...” Aqua looked a bit overwhelmed. “We have been training our whole lives for this. Aside from the house I left when I lost my family, I know nothing else except training for this one special day. We have been dreaming for this for so long. Once we become Masters, what is left for us?”

Terra found the question rather strange. What else would she want besides being a Master?

“You do realize we can suck as Masters, right?” He cut a piece of lamb, but did not eat it. “I mean, there must be some incentive to be good at our jobs. Think of all the opportunities we will get to fail at our missions. Think about this scenario: we could tell Merida to relax about the marriage, and then she murders him.”

Aqua laughed and it sounded genuine, as though he gave her an outlet to relax. He relished the thought that he could help her, even in small ways.

When she was done laughing, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but then stopped herself. She shuffled nervously and played with her food. Was she expecting a different answer from me?

“I’m so glad you and I are friends, Terra,” she said softly as she held his forearm. She meant it.

While this should have been fantastic news to Terra, a part of him hurt to hear it.

The arrival of the neighboring clan members was met with a welcoming ceremony. Terra stood outside with the other men, garnishing fur on his shoulders. The king requested that all of his men should wear fur, as a representative of his kingdom. Bagpipe performers were there to welcome the guests with their music. Terra knew that Aqua, who was still in the castle, was enjoying it. That was always her favorite part of exploring new worlds: participating in the kinds of ceremonies, traditions, music, and dances that everyone else shared.

All the guests were escorted into the throne room. The suitors did nothing but boast about their accomplishments. Their fathers boasted more. Terra kept to himself, not really wanting to be part of this. He could be spending the time differently, with more interesting things to do. Such as sparring. When the feast officially began, he found a table off to the side, away from the thrones where he can sit by himself, a tall mug of ale in his hand. Nothing but a wallflower, watching the other guests converse and play competitive drinking games.

Merida arrived with her parents, followed swiftly by Aqua. Terra had his drink to his lips when he saw her, forgetting that he should be taking a sip of it. Aqua wore a brown dress again, but this one was... tighter than her simple cotton dress, hugging her curves. When she approached him, he could tell there was  small embroidery detailing the fabric. She had a matching knotted headband around her head, contrasting with her blue hair.

“That looks tight,” he told her, gesturing above her.

Aqua reached to touch her headband as she sat down next to him. “It is. But is that all you have to say?”

All I have to say?

Terra never ventured into the territory of actually complimenting her looks. He always forced himself to stay calm when those kinds of feelings swelled. To hint at what he truly thought of her wasn’t anything he needed to do. Not yet anyway. He needed time.

But now she’s expecting me to say something.

“You look refined,” he said.

She scoffed and tugged at his fur, a contemptuous smile on her face. “You look refined, too.”

He laughed and sipped his drink. The immediate sensation that followed burned his throat and sent chills up to his forehead. This ale was the strongest he had ever tried. He looked over to Merida, sitting on the throne. It was quite obvious that she was frustrated, a huge scowl on her face as she crossed her arms. She tossed glares toward her mother when the queen wasn’t looking.

“She’s happy,” he said.

“It was incredibly difficult getting her into that corset,” Aqua said, lowering her voice, as if scared that anyone would hear her. “Have you met the suitors?”

Terra leaned over to her and whispered, “they’re idiots.”

Aqua closed her eyes slowly and pursed her lips, taking a long exhale. She quickly shook her head, as though she was trying to shake off the oncoming stress that she undoubtedly felt in the moment. She stared at Terra’s hands.

“What’s that like?” she asked with a gentle nod toward his drink.

“You won’t like it.”

“How would you know that?” She cocked her head to the side.

He looked at her, close enough to see the individual strands of her hair. His peripheral vision was aware of the tightness of her dress, the way it shaped her chest and waist. Stay calm. “Because I know you.” 

“So then what, I can’t try the drink out? I can’t relax and let go at a party?” She smiled and her eyes looked like they sparkled. Stay calm.

An older gentleman sat in front of them. This was a man Terra recognized, who often worked with the cows. He was normally pleasant, and answered any questions Terra had about the sheep without a witty remark. He had his own ale, his breath stinking of alcohol. He hiccuped and burped.

“That’s not a drink for cute ladies, lass, even ones who want to look like boys,” the man said to her.

Aqua’s pleasant expression froze for a bit as she stared at the man. Never, in the entire time that Terra knew her, did she ever tolerate being treated differently because she was a girl. But it wasn’t just this. Aqua could get competitive, sometimes strongly so if she was provoked enough. The flash in her eyes told him this.

The worst thing that could ever be said to her was that she was cute.

“We’ll see about that,” she said, in the most polite way she could have mustered it when she looked like she really wanted to slap the man.

She grabbed Terra’s drink from in front of him and took a large gulp. She shivered as her face contorted and her mouth was left open. When she composed herself, she narrowed her eyes at Terra, as if to say that she couldn’t believe he would ever go near such a nasty thing.

The man laughed at her, shaking his head at her hideous expression and took a huge swallow of his own drink.

Another man approached the table. He was younger, and wore the red kilt and blue facial paint that labeled him as part of the Macintosh clan. He placed his hand on Aqua’s shoulder. “What’s a proper lady doing with a drink like that?”

She pulled her shoulder away from his grasp.

“There is no such thing as a proper lady,” she told him, rolling her eyes in the most obvious way she could. She forced herself to drink more of the ale, frowning and distorting her chin with each swallow.

There she goes. Terra knew that she wouldn’t pass the chance of proving these morons wrong.

“Aqua,” Terra whispered to her. “You never drank this much before. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?”

She shot him a glare. That was the wrong thing to say.

As if betrayed by his question, she lifted the mug to her lips, taking several gulps of the ale without stopping. She finished, moaning from the disgust, and slammed the mug on the table. She continued to glare at him, the men around them laughing and teasing about her tenaciousness. She wavered a bit, blinking a bit too much. Her cheeks were flushed, and her frown severe. I’m not sure drinking that much that fast was a good idea.

The men continued to make jokes about her, and while she tried to interject, they never allowed her to. She was losing her sharp wit. Eventually, she was left to lean on her elbows as the men continued to taunt, unable to reply. She held her hand to her head, as though she had a headache. Part of it was probably the headband. Terra, afraid to say anything to provoke her further, watched her.

It was at this time that the queen had announced that a competition of some kind was to be held in order to win Merida’s hand in marriage. Merida declared archery, a skill that she never hesitated to show off on the castle grounds. It was a skill that he immediately noticed when he first met her in the forest.

“I guess something big is going to happen tomorrow,” he said. “This is probably what we’ve been waiting for.”

“I just want to get all of this over with,” she said sluggishly. “I want to go back home.”

A maid brought Terra another mug of ale. He waved his hand to reject it, but the fact that only Terra was offered it set Aqua on edge.

“Hey, I’m over here, too,” she mumbled as she leaned over the table. The maid set the mug down, but in front of Terra.

He wasn’t able to take a sip of his new drink, because Aqua grabbed it and swallowed some more. I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s probably better that I stay alert for both our sake.

“Ugh, why won’t anyone take me seriously here?” she said as she slammed the mug down and wiped her mouth.

The man from the Macintosh clan leaned over and grabbed her by both of her shoulders. Terra could see that he was massaging them, and his own jaw clenched a bit with anger. The man’s breath was incredibly strong, traveling too far for someone who was slightly drunk.

“Why don’t you learn to behave the way you should, lass? Have some honor? Grow your hair out?” He laughed, clearly amused, and possibly aroused, by her behavior.

Terra started to reach over to push the guy off of her, but Aqua shrugged his shoulders off herself, and stood up to face him. He was a head taller than she was.

“Who gave you permission to grab me?” she asked, her speech the tiniest bit slurred. Terra stood up alongside her, attentive and watching for any small movements that might indicate the start of a struggle.

“Aw, lookit how the girlie thinks she can to talk to me this way.” The man grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her toward him.

Aqua aggressively shook his grip off while reaching for Terra.

She leaned on Terra and kicked the man on the middle of his stomach, sending him backward against the wall behind him. “Don’t touch me!” 

The surrounding men collectively guffawed together, marking on how such a weakling could be overcome by a simple service woman. Terra knew what that meant. Hurt pride. Shameful reputation. A man from a different clan altogether would consider this an insult since he represented his own group.

And it seemed that Terra was right. The Macintosh clansman immediately contorted into rage.

But the slightest movement that was his first attempt to lunge toward Aqua was thwarted.

Terra stood in front of her, blocked his attempts to grab her, and punched him squarely in the jaw. He then grabbed the man by the throat and pushed him back up against the wall.

“Don’t go near her again,” Terra said to him, sternly but softly. A threat only meant for him, not for any one else to hear.

This change in events sparked an uproar among the men that had worked alongside Terra for the past several days. Compliments of how he had grown to be a man were showered on him. Statements such as looks like we got a brawler in our midst were passed around as one of the older men ruffled through Terra’s hair.

But it didn’t make Terra feel any better. The last time he came up against another person in such a way was when he was still in the orphanage. The Macintosh clansman of course was insulted, and called for justice to right this horrible embarrassment. Lord Macintosh took notice of course, and demanded an explanation.

This was exactly what Terra had wanted to avoid. He could be thrown into the dungeon for this. Aqua leaned on a chair, her hand still to her head and not entirely aware of what was going on. I can’t leave her alone like this.

The king, however, brushed off any concerns. “What is it, Lord Macintosh? Your men can’t stay away from things that aren’t theirs? Let the man protect his woman.”

Terra was tense and expected some sort of retort from Aqua, who probably didn’t have the judgment anymore to tell her that she shouldn’t speak back to the king. But she didn’t say anything. She actually gazed into his eyes, a pale look on her face. He knew her well enough to understand what they said. They told him she wanted out. That she wanted some comfort from the pounding headache, from all the unwanted attention, and from her own mistakes.

The men continued to grant hard slaps on Terra’s back for growing some real courage, of which he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

He gently held her elbow and asked her what she wanted. Some alone time and rest, she told him. He began to escort her away from the table until he reached the stairs leading up the ward that should lead to the royal chambers. He caught sight of the queen, who gestured to him that it would be alright. Merida leaned over to see what was happening, a look of worry plain as day on her face. The noises of the hollering from the throne room faded away, as was the collective scent of alcohol when they entered the ward.

He held Aqua’s arm as they walked down the halls, asking her to lead him to her room.

“Terra, am I that boyish?” she asked him as she stopped in front of a small wooden door, in a hallway of many.

He pushed the door open for her. “Well, honestly it’s not important. But for your information, you’re absolutely not.”

Her room was tiny, almost like a walk-in closet. There was a small wardrobe and a bed with wool blankets. A candlestick stood on the tiny stool next to the bed, and he lit it. There was a bucket of water for washing and a small window. Better than sharing many bunks with snoring men who smelled of livestock.

He left her leaning on the wall while he looked through her wardrobe.

“I’m going to find you something comfortable to wear, then I’ll leave you to it,” he said as he sifted through some clothes. He heard a thump, and looked over to see her collapsed on her bed, with her shoes and everything else on. “Or not,” he muttered to himself.

He wiggled the boots off her feet and placed them gently on the floor, careful not to disturb her. He then stared at the headband. Her headache is going to be bad enough when she wakes up.

He reached over to take it off, trying not to wake her. But the headband was tight, and it pulled on her hair.

“Don’t touch me!” She slapped him across the nose. He stumbled backward as his face stung and throbbed from the hit. Touching his nose only brought more pain as he groaned out loud.

She sat up quickly. “Terra, is that you?”

“Aqua, who else would it be?” His nose bled a little and he took a rag that laid on the stool rest to his face.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” She reached out to him, her eyes squinting.

He held up his free hand and chuckled. “I’m innocent, please spare me.”

She laughed, perhaps a little too much over his pain. “So how did I do?”

“It was a perfect strike. You’ve been practicing,” he said in between some laughs and inspections of the rag to see how much he had been bleeding. He sat on the bed in front of her, noticing that the rag has been showing less signs of blood. “I was trying to get that headband off of you.”

“It is tight.” She nodded, her eyes drooping.

“Let me then.”

She stood still and he reached over, trying to find the knots that would untangle such a piece from her hair. She whimpered in pain from his attempts.

“Sorry,” he whispered.

“S’okay.” She stared into his eyes while he continued to struggle with the headpiece. She wore a goofy grin. “Did anyone tell you that they’re the color of the ocean?”

He smirked and shook his head. “You, apparently. Did anyone tell you that your breath stinks?”

She scoffed and he finally set the headpiece loose. She sighed loudly, reaching into her hair as she massaged her scalp. “That feels so much better. Thanks, Terra.”

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. It could have been a grateful, sisterly peck. But it wasn’t. She had kissed him close to his nose, and while it hurt, Terra’s heart was pounding too much for him to care. And she lingered, too. Close enough that he could see how her eyes reflected the light of the candle in the room, searching his own before they wandered downward.

She touched the edge of his lips with her own, soft and puckered. Then she moved to kiss him again, inching closer to him. He allowed himself to lean against her as he kissed her back, taking in the softness of her mouth and relishing the taste of the bitter alcohol, which he truly didn’t mind. This was certainly different - of that he was sure. They had kissed a few years before. It was simple and innocent enough. And it was only done once. But this kind of yearning between them was everything he could have ever wanted. His heart beat so fast, it might as well tear itself out of his chest and dance down the hills outside.

Am I taking advantage of her, though?

He held her by her biceps and pushed her away. Her eyes scattered around the room, and she was nodding off. She didn’t ask what went wrong. It didn’t even look she registered what happened.

“What am I going to do with you?” He sighed loudly, unable to control how shaky he sounded. Stay calm.

“What?” She asked this incredibly slowly, as if it took her a while to calculate what he was saying.

A stifled laugh. “You’re a dork.”

“That’s so rude.” She sounded sleepy.

“I think you should rest.”

She smiled sheepishly while her eyes closed. “Okay.”

He laid her down and covered her with the blankets. Blowing out the candle, he tip-toed out of the room and shut the door behind him as quietly as he could. He leaned on the door, not bothering to control the smile that stretched from ear to ear. He rubbed his face as an attempt to manage his emotions, his hands shaking. Realizing that he was standing in the hallway where all of the maids must have slept, he sneaked out of there, finding the wall panel which would lead him down the secret passage, where he could eventually find his own bed.

He was the only one back in the large bunk room. Lying in bed, he tried counting sheep in order to fall asleep. This was futile, though. First of all, he didn’t want to think about sheep when he wasn’t herding them. Secondly, his heart just wouldn’t allow it. It beat hard, and Terra tossed and turned as he asked himself what that kiss meant.

Did it mean that she felt something for him? Did it mean that she cared for him in the same way? Did she enjoy it? He was excited at these ideas and was desperate to ask her.

But what if he read her wrong? She was drunk, after all. What if she was just acting up? What if she regretted it?

This last thought hurt most of all, because it meant that he should stop hoping for anything he wanted. His stomach began to grumble, unable to handle all of these conflicting questions. I hope she doesn’t regret it.

In reality, Terra spent hours in bed, staring at the moon through the window frame until it drifted out of his sight. He then stared at bottom of the bunker above him, analyzing every small detail of that kiss until a time when he couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep.

To be Continued...

This chapter references Robin Hood (1973) and Brave (2012).

[kiritokun]

2017 Anime in Review

So, it is that time of the year again, the end is neigh, and it has snuck up on me yet again. With the end of the fall season for me only 3 days away, I thought I should get to writing and compiling this list, which, compared to other years feels dauntingly short. With a total of only 33 anime/movies I saw this year, I feel like either I’ve gotten pickier, shows have gotten worse, or there were too many sequels that I didn’t wanna rush through previous seasons to watch the new season. Regardless, keeping up with tradition, here I am for my fifth annual anime review. As always, the top 12 are in alphabetical order and then the rest are discussed in alphabetical order as well since, as you may have noticed, I was lazy this year and didn’t do any quarterly reviews. So, you’ll get my full rambling here this year! Let’s get this party started!

Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen

The long awaited sequel to Ao no Exorcist, the Kyoto arc is where the action finally ramps it into high gear. The stakes get higher and the action gets real fucking rad. I’m so glad the Ao no Exorcist got its second season finally, it’s, in my opinion, somewhat underrated as an anime and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Here’s hoping that the second season garnered enough attention for another season, because with stunning visuals, great story, and music to boot, it be a shame not to continue seeing more of this series.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria

And here we have it, the spin of to DanMachi that focuses on the Loki Familia. At first I was skeptical that they decided to do this instead of another season of DanMachi, but to quell my concerns I read into the manga and fell in love. The motivations you see for Aiz in the story help make sense of why she puts up with Bell, why she is the strongest and overall just a lot of fleshing out of her character. But luckily it doesn’t just center around Aiz, but the whole of the front line of the Loki familia, letting us see how a strong dungeon clearing familia does business, and boy does they show us the business in the season finale.

Eromanga-sensei

What is this train wreck? Another imouto series? Yes, I’m sorry. I can’t stop myself, I’m a sucker for comedy. Eromanga-sensei is great, because unlike its predecessors (OreImo) it doesn’t try to make the viewers stomach that blood relations hell. With an adorable cast, great punchlines, and reasonable visuals, it’s well worth a watch if you need a laugh.

Gamers!

What is this, another train wreck? Yep, sorry not sorry. At least it’s a unique train wreck, with our 5 main characters in a horrible love pentagon from hell. Amano likes Tendou and vice versa, Aguri likes Uehara and vice versa, and Chiaki likes Amano. Seems simple enough, just a love triangle you say, NOPE. Because its all a clusterfuck of people thinking the person they like likes someone else. EVEN THOUGH AGURI AND UEHARA ARE DATING. God help me why did I like this again. Wait the great lolz. That’s why, grade A lolz.

Imouto sae Ireba Ii.

Yes, it says Imouto in the title. But I swear, its not OreImo again. My boy Itsuki here is a light novel author… with an obsession for little sisters. See that’s new. This anime is a slice of life that revolves around the light novel publishing business and we see most of it through the perspective of Itsuki, but Nayu and Haruto have been in the spotlight, showing us their process to writing their novels or anime adaptations. But the cake for me has to go to Itsuki’s college friend Miyako, who is best girl of the year for me. Lord have mercy that girl is adorable. Also this bastard of an anime has the best ending song of the year for me, freaking great song.

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.

The premise here was interesting, our protagonist meets an early end in his world, but God having pity on him allows him to reincarnate in a new world, taking one thing with him. He chooses to keep his smartphone and there by gains a interesting advantage in a world of magic, where he is able to access all the old information from his home world (Assumingly an anime Earth), but also gains amazing power in this world. Because God felt the phone was a bit of a cheap gimme, he enhances all hit attributes including his affinity for magic, allowing him to be incredibly fucking broken and OP in this world in combat. So don’t go in to this for a fair fight, but for comedy, bullshit fights, and a interesting take on how a medieval magic world would benefit from someone from our time period came and started just dropping knowledge. (ICE CREAAAM)

Koi to Uso

A society that has a system that will match you to your perfect soulmate, seems ideal doesn’t it? But what if you find yourself fallen in love for years and come your 16th birthday you are matched with someone whom you have no feelings for. That’s the premise of Koi to Uso, and man it’s a doozy. I wish this had gotten more episodes because I feel like the premise was great, even if the protagonist was a bit spineless. Unfortunately I doubt it did well enough to get another season, so I’ll have to read the manga for some closure, but it got my interest. It also had a fantastic opening song, catchy as all hell.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2

If you read my reviews in the past, you should NOT be surprised that KonoSuba2 made it into this list. The laughs were still there, the bullshit success story of Kazuma never ends. God what else can I say about one of the best action comedies I’ve seen? Go watch it? Season 1 first though, it does actually continue story wise so you need to see it in order. ERIS IS TRUE LIFE, AQUA LIES!

Rewrite 2nd Season

Man, I can already feel how controversial this pick is. A lot, and I mean a lot, of people did not like Rewrite, nor Rewrite season 2. I am one of the few that thought it was alright. I have also not played the visual novel its based on so I’m more forgiving to its faults than most. But I have researched into the series post watching the anime, and can see very well why people were so… triggered. Overall the second season I feel was stronger than the first, elaborating on back story a lot more and giving viewers more to understand what the actual fuck is going on. And you gotta admit the season started off with a bang with that huge battle in episode 16. After which the series I feel took a darker and more realistic turn, which I thought was a step in the right direction.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

Yes, another magic world school series. What was unique about this one? The main character is older for one, isn’t trying to fall in love for another, and lastly, isn’t purposefully gimped of his power. He tends a lazier route but is able to be bring forth his abilities to full blast when necessary. I will say the uniforms are kinda bullshit, like how are they practical lol.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata 

Why oh why did we not get just a bit more of this series? I’m glad they announced a movie to hopefully finish the story since its so close to the end of the light novels. But this ends up being more of the same, with Aki trying to pursue his game creation dream further with more trials and tribulations along the way. But none of that matters, what matters is we got more Megumi in our lives and man oh man is she still as great as ever. Best heroine, no boring heroine here!

Tsurezure Children

Considering how much I love the manga series, it is no surprise that I loved the anime. They stayed true to the manga and made it a snippet of short stories for all the characters. I only wished it had been 24 episodes so we could have developed everyone more and introduced more people as well. But, its okay, we introduced the best characters anyway with BROTOYAMA being introduced and of course, everyone’s favorite LOVE MASTER! He gets even better, just you wait.

Honorable Mentions

ChäoS;Child

This was just a big disappointment to me, I had hoped it would fall back on Chaos;Head a bit and explain some more, give us an epilogue if you will of what happen to those people, but we just got a new story full force. While the story of Chaos;Child isn’t bad, it wasn’t what I wanted, though man, the movie was something else. Sadly it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Clockwork Planet

Iffy animation, story all over the place, main dude kinda nuts and annoying. I couldn’t actually find something I liked about Clockwork planet. It’s a shame because I thought I’d love it based on the poster art, but, it wasn’t meant to be apparently.

Code:Realize: Sousei no Himegimi

I have a very love hate relationship with Code:Realize. I don't actually enjoy it that much, but its interesting enough that I was not able to bring myself to drop the series. Week after week I watched with half attention because I wanted to see a resolution to the series, but it wasn't very good to watch it. I don’t know what drew me to it, but it brought me back for more every week so I guess it had to be somewhat good if I can't find something I hated either.

Fate/Apocrypha

Man, Fate Apocrypha is an example of why ufotable should be the only people that are allowed to handle the Fate series. While the story is pretty interesting war wise, the character development felt slopy, the fights were poorly animated (til episode 22-23 those were pretty rad), and overall just felt bad. It’s a shame ufotable doesn’t have exclusive rights to fate adaptations, but oh well, it was okay. Hopefully Shaft does better with Fate Extra, but I doubt it.

Gin no Guardian

Normally if a series gets a second season announced and I watched the first season, I watch the new season. Like I watched Samurai Girls, then tried to watch Samurai Bride and realized it was god awful. Well with Gin no Guardian, I watched the first season and will not be giving its second season a watch because it was very boring, slow paced, and scattered about. I don’t see how it got a second season, but I guess some people might have liked it, or maybe since its shorter episodes it was worth finishing up another season? I don’t understand really.

Hajimete no Gal

The boobs in this series were fucking absurd. Who was the character designer for this and the manga? They need to go look at some real women to understand how boobs function. Holy shit was that a problem in this series. Unless the designers only watched porn with very fake breasts, they should have realized something was awry with their boob design. Holy fuck have I been waiting to complain about that for a while. Besides the boobs, pretty good anime, I laughed pretty hard actually, when the boobs were functioning like human boobs.

Hand Shakers

Now, the art style alone was a bit of a departure for me, but it also caught me attention so I gave it a shot. Hand Shakers story was rocky at best, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t actually bad. The concept of not being able to let go of her hand got real old fast, like come on that’s a horrible life flaw to force on someone, even anime wise. But oh well, I didn’t hate the anime, I found it enjoyable at least.

Juuni Taisen

Some people really loved Juuni Taisen, I was not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, it was actually pretty interesting; I enjoy that battle royal genre a lot. But I just couldn’t get behind the predictable episode structure and most unlikable characters. I was glad when I started to like people, but then they’d die off and make me feel like I wasted my joy. So, that was rough going, even if it was predictable in the end it was a fun watch.

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series

Oh my god, Kino is a wonderful anime, but I couldn't make myself drop one of the other 12 down. So no don't think I didn't love this anime, I did, I adored it. The visuals were beautiful, the music was great, and each individual story was amazing. Episode 11 was incredible in my opinion, and a satisfying watch to realize how Kino came to be.

Konohana Kitan

I might be a bit slow, but I did NOT realize that the hotel was a kind of limbo til very late in the series. Did I miss some key dialogue? Maybe, someone let me know. But holy hell has this been an amusing watch. Its been beautifully animated, and on top of that the stories are all heartwarming.

Kuzu no Honkai

This fucking anime, holy shit this anime. I had some issues here. First of all, our two protagonists, like fuck, why didn't you end up together? Like, are you that childish that you can’t accept that you’ve made mistakes but are essentially good for each other? Also; Ecchan; can really go fuck off, her attitude drove me up a wall the entire series. What a horrible personality. God, I think I only made it through this because I was hoping for a happier ending and man did I not get that.

Little Witch Academia (TV)

Very unpopular opinion incoming. This should have stayed a movie. There, I said it. I didn't think it needed to be adapted into a full length anime. It felt like every episode dragged on and on and only felt like it reached a proper pacing structure towards the end when everything started to go down. Had the series been condensed to 12 episodes I get a feeling I may have been fonder of it.

Masamune-kun no Revenge

Masamune really needs his revenge; he went from tubby to abs in a few years. He needs to get vengeance for starving and working out to be healthy. Wait that sounds wrong, shouldn't he be thanking her for making him realize that he needed to get healthy and that she was kind of a bitch? That would be the logical outcome, but no, we get led into a lengthy hell. The manga has started to move towards the conclusion, which I think might satisfy me more than the anime did, but we'll see what happens.

New Game!!

More of the same and that's okay with me! Watching the game development process is fascinating! And the characters are all adorable and relatable! And so well drawn and animated. I really do love this series so much, even though it broke my heart with the last episodes. Oh well, I trust the writers!

Princess Principal

I really liked the series. But, I felt like I was watching the episodes out of order a lot of the time. That really threw the pacing through a loop in my opinion. I thought it was a lot more mature than I initially gave it credit for though, so that was good overall. I'm glad I watched it.

Re:Creators

This on the other hand, I regret bothering with. But I was so many episodes in by the time I regretted it that I couldn't just stop anymore. Man, this was not a good anime.

Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2

If you'e watched season 1, you know what season 2 is all about. Death, glory, fighting, WOO! While we do make some plot progress in season 2, we haven’t gotten to the real meat of the plot just yet, so hopefully another season and we'll get to the nice dark conspiracies!

Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

I loved the Ordinal Scale movie. I was able to go see it in theaters and it was fantastic. While original content, it fit so well with the world that Sword Art Online has built. And the magnificent tease at the end. We will see Alicization soon enough boys!

Trinity Seven Movie: Eternity Library to Alchemic Girl

A shame I didn't get to see this in theaters, but man it was good. While not canon to the manga's story it held its own with a very interesting take on the series. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

UQ Holder!: Mahou Sensei Negima! 2

Oh god what a fucking train wreck. Why can't they make a good Negima anime? Is it really that hard to get it right? It was so fucking bad. Why can't you stick to the source material? Why must you skip so much? God fucking damn it.

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (TV)

At least we end on a high note. This was one hell of a trip. The concept was cool and the animation was decent. They had some issues with slow pacing to start, but once the politics and drama began it just kept rolling. I wish it had had more episodes to give us more plot because with how it ended, you really are left wondering what the intentions of the main character are and where the story is leading. Oh well, hopefully it gets another season or if not I'll have to read the light novel.

And with that we come to a close, yet another year of anime. While I watched significantly less this year, it was still a lot I think. I hope this helps you if you are on the edge about some of these, if not, well, sorry I like to ramble. I';m always open to discussion, so if you have opinions that clash, let us have a duel of words. Til next time!

Edit: Apparently my formatting freaked out a bit and I had to fix it, hopefully I got everything, if not let em know!

[frankincenseisnotamonster]

The Play

 EXPECT IT! 

Today is the day we have some fun :)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DEETS: 

“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” - Toni Cade Bambara

Heard this quote I love, at one of my band mates shows recently. I only got introduced to Toni Bambara, a year or so ago, an amazing activist, and author of, “The Salt Eaters”. There are so many great words she gave us, praise to this goddess. To me part of the artist making the revolution “irresistible” is by making and letting the revolution be fun. Part of my personal revolution has learning to extract more joy from life, to be a lady that laughs at life and myself. 

Some of the fun I have been having such as seeing Brittany Howard in concert, (so amazing and Brittany is a fecking treasure to be sure) has been life changing!  I have also been reflecting on some of my more “wicked” fun. When I say wicked fun, I refer to “joy” I derive from embracing my inner villain, as one of my friends always says.

I like causing mischief! I am finding this to be true even more so as I age. Perhaps things are going backwards for me. Getting into a little trouble, can be fun especially if its for smashing or subverting the patriarchy! Makin way for the Matriarchy heck YEA! 

Sometimes in my stringent thinking, I get caught up believing I can only be “evil” sometimes, but really you can be evil all the time! Or rather just cuz I get into some mischievousness doesn’t take away from how I support women, and thats what I was struggling with. But then I think of some of the female characters from shows I love, such as Faith from Buffy that you just love for being bad, and I do love Faith. 

I like to believe its possible to be a caring kick-ass lady, una mujer en una misión, and still have some guilty pleasures in life. 

I actually find most of the women in my life I admire, usually are both dedicated to their principles, but also are human, real and imperfect. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lately while visiting family for the holidays felt a huge amount of gratitude for all family, friends, and enemies alike that have crossed my path. In particular  I am very inspired by the women in my family and young women in my family to continue on my path. 

I want to lead by example and I thought that meant sticking to all my principles steadfastly and most of the time that is true, but I want women to enjoy themselves and have fun and sometimes that might mean bending your principles a bit, but if I want that for other ladies, I have to also accept that in myself. The revolution doesn’t need to be perfect, but gosh darn it, it should be fun. 

Sometimes I think of it like watching a bad disney channel original movie, such as “Descendants”, its just bad there’s not way around it. The premise is actually fantastic, disney villains children and their lives, could have been so good! But from far away all above 11 years of age will be able to see very clearly, that this movie will reproduce problematic stereotypes, propping up static characters with a plot as sturdy as a tower toothpicks. 

However these movies can be fun to watch with your cousin over the holidays purely for the fact of yes it is bad, but some of the pop songs in it are pretty cool and so is some of the dancing. Plus I can’t be fully mad at movie with Ursula’s black daughter in aqua braids, like come on. 

Of course I am being facetious, yet I’m also being serious, sometimes for its own sake its enjoyable to watch bad movies, and eat a peanut and jelly filled donut  with FROSTING from Disneyland, yes it will make you sick, but as long as you’re not expecting a healthy snack option, or a good movie, isn’t it okay to do these things once in a while?

And thats what I’m really saying, no one ever said smashing the patriarchy would be easy, and no one ever did say you couldn’t have some fun while doing it. Plus women having any kind of fun seems like a good a rebellion against the patriarchy as any. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I give praise to the goddesses in my life by being my full self, loving myself and accepting myself, even if I have many imperfections. I  try to heed the words of my sisters and still walk with my hyena so to speak. Fire can’t burn me anymore because I’ve become quite the fire myself. 

Devil woman by Cliff Richards, oh what a song. Its my new favorite forever! 

“Be careful of them neighborhood strays Of a lady with long black hair Tryin' to win you with feminine ways Crystal ball on the table Showing the future, the past Same cat with them evil eyes You'd better get out of there fast”

Apparently in the song a man gets cursed by a cat (already amazing just for that), then goes to a fortune teller to break the spell, but what he doesn’t know is that the fortune teller he went to is a witch and she is the one that cursed him in the first place. Oh dear lord...let me be that kind of lady. 

For all my ladies, in whatever way it is you find your joy whether in being crafty and witchy, strong and unyielding, fun and mysterious, kind and true, and in charge of our own freedom, subverting whatever roles you want, may you always have fun in your revolution.  There will always be repercussions for all we do, the ladies know it, but I think the worst thing is letting anything keep you from your joy, from our humanity,  

“The trick to not feeling cheated is to learn how to cheat”- The Brothers Bloom

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UPDATE

I got the stomach flu I think, but in some of my delirium have been writing like crazy! There are so many songs, and hope to be sharing some soon :”)

In the goddesses we trust! Praise to the ladies, may you have all the fun this holiday season ;)

[onceuponalegendbg-su]

Thoughts About SU 5x01-4 The Wanted Special

We are the Crystal Gems! 

Well.... we’re in it now peeps. 

First, let’s talk about Stuck Together. 

This was a great start to the season. Aqua continues to be her...B word self and we finally get a personality for our Topaz fusion. But, Aqua had an unexpected moment of mercy when she told Topaz “look, just unfuse and we’ll forget this whole thing ever happened.” Like, that surprised me. 

And OMG Topaz is absolutely adorable. Really, I never seen opinion of a Gem change so quick. Even Peri took time. No, Topaz went from “Boring” to “Oh my gosh you are now my child I will protect you” in five seconds flat. Steven, you know, you could have invited her to live on Earth, bro?

And then there’s my other newly adopted child, Lars. Continuing that glimmer of actual growth we saw in the Good Lars, this kid became so much more endearing. And, yes, before it was hinted at that he had some issues but oh my gosh he was an unbearable jackamule most of the time. Now the growth actually sticks. 

Now for The Trial. 

If I heard right, we start this episode off with a blue Zircon. Sounds familiar but I’m uncertain. Poor thing was set up to be shattered from the start, thankfully we only see her and the yellow one get poofed by Yellow. 

We also have the return of Eyeball for a quick little reminder that yeah, Steven left them floating in space and Navy no doubt picked them up. 

It was interesting camera work showing the Pearls reactions anytime Pink Diamond’s Pearl was mentioned. 

Speaking of the Diamonds, Blue has an interesting power that seems to be Empathy. She can make people feel how she does. However, what really fascinates me is that Blue said a sword shattered PD and, well, as stated by Bismuth, Rose’s sword could never actually shatter a Gem. Zircon raised some excellent points which leads me to believe that A) Yellow D actually did shatter Pink, or B) White D did and Yellow knows about it, because Yellow was very quick to shut that line of thought down. And where is White? 

One has to wonder if Blue really is the only Diamond in the dark. 

Next is Off Colors. 

This episode was... interesting to say the least. I never seen an introduction of so many Gems at once. We have a twin Rulite, a Rhodonite two Gem fusion, a Padparadscha Sapphire who is basically Internet Explorer, and a giant six fusion Gem named Flourite. Dudes, we have a possible 13 new Gems introduced in this one scene alone. (For those confused I’m talking about the 6 Gems that make up Flourite + Flourite + the 2 Gems that make up Rhodonite + Rhodonite + the 2 Rulites + Padparadscha Sapphire.) And I love them all. Padparadscha Sapphire’s gimmick could possibly get annoying but so far she’s fine. I personally love the Rulites. 

Can we talk about the Jurassic Park reference tho? 

The High Five callback tho. Lars was all kinds of kickbutt this arc! He’s grown so much in just five episodes! And holy cow, they actually killed him.... before Steven brought him back to life and turned him pink. This explains a little bit about Lion, honestly. 

And finally Lars’s Head.

What even is Lars now? He’s pink, has a cool eye scar, his hair is a Lion-esque portal, he doesn’t need to eat (so far)... It’s so cool that the portals are connected! Easy access home, but Lars is stuck! 

I don’t have the answer to how they’re going to get Lars back to Earth, but I do know that we basically have 4 (13) new Crystal Gems and holy crap is that amazing! 

Steven finally got that hug from Lars and the looks on the everyone’s faces when they saw Steven was home. It was really great guys. But now, I want Steven to ask the Gems point blank what the heck really happened to Pink D. We as the audience deserve to freakin know! 

All in all, this special was pretty fantastic. We’ve finally made it to Homeword guys. Now let’s see where the Sugar woman takes us. 

[insomniac-arrest]

You Don’t Have to Smile Like you Used to

@lapidot-week

Day1: Water/magnetism

Peridot uses her powers to cheer Lapis up

“Lapiiiis,” Peridot cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered into the empty barn air, “Lazuuulii.”

She checked behind their broken toilet art, she wasn’t on the smaller-than-average-lake and then made sure for a second time she wasn’t just on the roof.

Peridot takes a deep breath and calls from the bottom of her chest, “LAPPIIIS.”

She finally hears a small grunt from the hayloft, Peridot blinks and spouts a wide smile, she runs across the room and scampers up the ladder without missing a beat.

“Oh,” She gives a sharp laugh as she finds a distinct lump under a tarp, “There you are.” She lifts up a blue tarp they had a snagged from off a ‘pool’ a little back for a project. For the life of her Peridot couldn’t remember what the project was for

Lapis was lying curled on her side with her back toward Peridot, her head bent down into her arms and hair fanning out on the wooden floor. Peridot crawled under the tarp, feeling the gritty dirt under her palms and wrinkling her nose, she lowers herself to Lapis’s level.

“Steven took a trip to the store and I have discovered something referred to as ‘Crazy Glue!” She cheers and kicks her feet in the air as she lay on her stomach. “And while I can’t speak to the mental state of the substance, I think you’ll agree with me when you find it quite agreeable.” She grinned and waited for Lapis to turn over from her nap.

Lapis took a long slow minute to respond, Peridot watched her shoulders rise and then her body unfold onto the floor, stretching on her on her stomach with her head finally turning to Peridot. Her eyes were little blank pools of blue.

“Mm’not feeling great.” She mumbled and then put her face back into the musty barn floor.

Peridot stuck her lip out and considered showing Lapis the thrills of ‘Crazy Glue’ right then and there. And then heard Steven’s voice in the back of her head, just a little bit.

She takes a deep breath, “Oh,” She pats Lapis’s shoulder, “It’s one of those days. That’s okay.”

Lapis face turns just slightly so a crescent is showing, she almost have a smile, “Whatever. Go have fun with Crazy Clue.” Peridot looked around, back to the barn floor, and then back to Lapis who was rolling over to pull her legs close to her body again.

Peridot hummed to herself, “It’s probably already dry now.” She sniffs, “I could just stay here.” She grins, “Until you feel better.” Lapis snorts and shifts in place, “Okay. But I’m kicking you out if you say anything.” Peridot flares her nostrils but nods her head anyway, “Peridot’s are known for their silence.” That got Lapis to at least a laugh out of her, a short heady noise that made Peridot give a small smile.

Peridot let the tarp drop over them, a dark quiet overtaking the small space. She lay next to Lapis and listened to her breath, she liked to breathe like humans did.

Peridot managed to stay quiet for the hours to come.

-----------------

“Steven!” Peridot ran down the hill as fast as her legs could take her, a little unbecoming but it got the job done. Steven was wearing a pair of green patterned pants and black dashes under his eyes, he was holding a large fly swatter.

“Peridot,” He says, blinking as she ran down the bright hill, “What are you doing out here?” They were in the fields a few leagues away from Beach City, Peridot threw her hands in the air indignantly, “Looking for you!”

Steven frowned and looked around, “Peridot, we’re tracking a corrupted gem.” He leaned forward, “You can come if you want but it’s gonna get dangerous.” He holds his fly swatter high in the air.

Peridot shook her head and balled up her fists, “Who cares about another corrupted gem? This town is lousy with them! We have real problems.” Steven’s eyes go wide, “Real problems?” Steven’s voice gets high and lowers his arms, “Is it the cluster? Did you pick up something?” Peridot shook her head fervently. “Worse!”

Steven grabbed her shoulders, “What is it?” Peridot frowned and hung her head, “Lapis is sad.” Steven knitted his brow together and his shoulders released, “Well, I mean, that’s okay. She’s like that.” “I know!” Peridot threw her hands in the air.

“I told you,” Steven patted her arm, “She just gets sad sometimes. Give her room.” He smiles, “She’ll be okay.” Peridot pouted and crossed her arms across her chest, “I know, I know...It’s just, it’s been a long time Steven! The other ‘sads’ were quite as long.” She says emphasizing the new aspect of this.

“Aw,” Steven’s mouth became a little ‘o’, “You care about her.” Peridot put her hands on her hips and glowered, “Of course I care about her.” She looks around and scuffs her foot on the grass, “I live with her.”

“You want her to feel good.” He coos and grins at her far too widely.

“Erg,” Peridot tears at her own hair.

“Awww, that’s so sweet.” Steven looked about ready to pinch her cheek, Peridot stepped backward.

“I don’t need all this, I need to know what I can do.” She gestures in the air, “You’re good at this.”

“Um,” Steven scratched his neck and then looked around, “I’m supposed to be on a mission right now, buuut,” He shifted around and then whipped out a piece of paper from his backpack. “One sec.” Steven got onto his knees and started scribbling on it and Peridot hummed and nodded her head along, “Uh-huh, uh-huh, a ‘bubble bath’ you say.” She didn’t understand half of it.

Steven got back up and handed her the list, “Here all the things I do to cheer up.” He smiles, “Maybe ask if she wants to do any of these.” Peridot’s eyes scan the words, her eyebrows furrowing. “Okay, but what’s a cho-” “Ah!” Peridot jumps as a loud sound comes from the distance.

Steven takes out his shield, “That’s Pearl!”

“Okay, but chocolate.” “I’ll be back!”

Peridot watches him run off and she continues to stare blankly at her list of nonsense items and narrow her eyes. “Alright.”

Peridot goes back to the barn (and not just because explosions had started).

------------------

Peridot searches the barn, it was becoming more like an irritating game of hide ‘n’ seek around their place lately, when the tarp and aqua tank are empty she turns to the grounds.

“Lapiiis!” Peridot tries again, she might as well. The sound of her voice might work to cheer Lapis up already.

She was going through the corn stalks when she heard barking, Peridot followed the noise to where Veggiehead was yapping and running around in circles.

She raises her eyebrows, “What are you on about?”

Then she sees two blue feet sticking out from under the tractor, Peridot lifts her eyebrows even higher, she gets down on her knees, “Lapis?”

Lapis was lying on her back under the tractor, presumably staring up at a complex exhaust system. Peridot pokes her foot. “What, uh, what are you up to?” Lapis gives a long-put-upon-sigh, the sound of a ship's engine going out after one too many flights or a puff of breeze losing momentum. Peridot gulps.

“Nothing. Hanging out.” Lapis finally says, her whole body motionless and still. Peridot lies on her back next to her, but not under the tractor since she thought it might be overkill.

“You want to um,” Peridot fumbles for the list, but ends up staring upward, “Fly?” She asks as she looks at the pale blue sky. She grins, “You love flying!”

There is a very stiff moment between them as Peridot waits for her fantastic idea to take root, Lapis just sighs again. “I don’t feel like flying.” She says in a small voice, “Even if I wanted to. I don’t think I have it in me.” Lapis rolls over, unsettling some dust and turning her back to Peridot,

A long silence stretches between them and Peridot reaches toward her a little helplessly. “Lazuli…”

“You don’t have to coddle me.” Lapis sniffs, “Go do Peridot things. Fix something. Scream off the top of the roof, I don’t care.”

Peridot frowns and shifts in place, “Would that cheer you up? You can watch me scream off the roof!” She grins and rounds the tractor so she was facing Lapis’s face, “It’ll be fun!”

Lapis blows air out her nose and puts her arms above her head languidly, “Are you that bored without me?” “Yes!” Peridot says stridently, stomping her foot on the ground softly. Lapis looks at her and studies her face, Peridot steps closer, trying to get her point across. “It’s not...as good without you.” She says reluctantly, “With no fighting. Or moping. Or being Lapis somewhere.” She hunches her shoulders.

Lapis bunches herself up, gathering herself entirely under the tractor, “Peridot...I don’t even feel like flying. I won’t be any fun, let me be.” “You don’t have to be fun.” Peridot was yanking at her hair, she searches her person again and finally finds Steven’s list. Her eyes go wide, “If you don’t feel like…” She gnaws on her lip, piecing it together in her head, “Wait here!”

She waves at Lapis and runs the other direction through the corn, Veggiehead comes barking and panting behind her, she hopes Lapis doesn’t go anywhere.

--------------

It took Peridot the whole rest of the day, but she wanted to make sure it worked. She was just going to use the one logged in the barn wall, but that might have accidently made the whole place fall down.

She enlisted Steven’s ‘dad’ for help who asked a neighbor, who asked some other kin who eventually brought an old battered vehicle around.

Gregg scratched his head as Mr. Something-or-Rather helped push the thing toward them, “I’m not sure what use you’ll have for this Peridot.” Gregg said, “It doesn’t really go.” “That’s okay,” Peridot said, standing fully upright, “Peridot’s have their ways.” “Well alright,” He reluctantly lets her have the new junkyard car. “I have seen you guys do a lot of things.” Peridot manages to get it back just after the sun had set.

She was huffing and panting as floated it down and was relieved to see Lapis was on the roof, drooping like a daffodil about to fall off the stem. At least she didn’t have to look for her again.

Lapis arches an eyebrow silently as Peridot waves at her from in front of her an angry red truck (though it might have been rust).

“LAPI-”

“What’s that?” Lapis cuts her off before she can call her name.

“Come down, come down.” Peridot says excitedly as she jumps up and down and waves her arms. “I’ve been practicing. It’s all ready.” Lapis was like a nervous land mammal as she watched and frowned slightly, seeming to access the situation.

Eventually, eventually, after something that might have been described as a ‘wail’ from Peridot, Lapis creeps down the roof and back to the ground, notably, using a ladder instead of wings.

She comes to the ground and folds her arms across her chest, “What?” She says flatly.

Peridot waves her arms in the air, “Ta-da!”

Lapis looks around and then back down, “Another, what is it, truck?” She asks as she points to their own truck lodged in the front of the barn.

Peridot rolls her eyes, “Come around, you’ll see, come on.” She guides her to the back of the truck and helps her up into the little cargo bed.

Lapis blinked several times and looks at Peridot’s arrangement: a pile of blankets and pillows with a set of bought goods in a basket and the first musical instrument she found on the way (Gregg called it a ‘recorder’).

“Ta-da,” Peridot says again and Lapis steps into the area and feels one of the blankets between her fingers.

“No really,” Lapis says, “What is this?” “Oh,” Peridot feels around her person and takes out Steven’s crumpled list, “Soft things- such as a nest he sometimes crawls into, chocolate over there- a human delicacy. Music, and, uh, driving!” Lapis starts laughing a little bit, Peridot flashes her the list, “I couldn’t fit in Connie, video games, or a long, uh, hug. But we could always fit those in later.”

Lapis let out a short life, looking all around her, “Oh my clusters Peridot,” She was laughing, “Human chocolate?”

“You’ll like it! Maybe.” Peridot wasn’t sure if she was getting through to her as Lapis examines the recorder, face still a little blank colorless wall.

Peridot raises her arms, “And of course…” She strains and puffs, her cheeks puffing out, trying to summon the force within her. She had already had to do this once today.

Lapis turned to her, “What are…?” Peridot tenses her muscles and concentrates, waiting for the sudden surge and the pull of power. The truck lifts, Lapis jostles backward and falls to her the floor as the truck takes to the air.

“If you don’t want to fly,” Peridot says as she tries to hover them above them treeline. “I can do it for you!” She crows and starts the truck gliding forward, “I heard do you like flying.”

Lapis pushes her hair back and kneels on the side of the truck, peering outward as they began to lurch forward above the trees and toward the countryside. Her mouth was hanging open.

Peridot watches her face, “Do you want to go higher?” She asks in a hurry, “Um, lower? A loop-de-loop?” Lapis shakes her head and she was laughing again, “This is ridiculous.” She crawls over to where Peridot was holding her arms in place to keep them aloft. Lapis was still smiling though, so that was a good sign.

“It’s Steven’s list.” Peridot grumbles as she was hoping ‘blankets, drive and chocolate’ would do. Maybe she would have to steal the human Connie.

Lapis leans forward and Peridot feels a sudden peck to the side of her cheek, “Thank you.”

They drop two feet in the air. Peridot quickly grips her powers to right them and Lapis tells her to learn how to fly, Peridot tells her to learn how to not distract her! She blows a raspberry into her stomach and they almost drop again.

They end up landing on some distant hill, they can see the stars, some of the ocean and a sliver of the moon. They try chocolate (status: alright), and Lapis tries playing the instrument. With very poor results.

But who was she to stop her if Lapis was at least giggling again as Peridot covered her ears.

SSstttttzZZTT

“Stop, stop!” Peridot finally says at the high notes, “It’s too much. I think Steven is lying about music cheering people up.” Lapis snort-laughs, “It’s working for me.”

Peridot shakes her head, “Fine, fine, but at least wait until I have something to stuff in my ear holes.” Lapis grabbed at Peridot’s hand. “Wait.” Peridot blinked up and Lapis was looking down at her lap, “You didn’t have to do all this you know. I might just end up, you know, moping again tomorrow.” Lapis gave a little hoarse chuckle.

Peridot shrugs, “That’s fine.” Peridot says blankly, “That wasn’t the point anyway.”

Lapis’s eyes go a little wider and a little dent forms in her brow, “What’s the point then?” Peridot lets out a little angry breath and then looks Lapis up and down, she was pretty thick for a water gem. She pulls at her fingers and then turns back to where Lazuli was sitting next to her. Peridot leans forward and kisses her barely on the side of the mouth. There.

Lapis takes a sharp intake of breath and then her hand is squeezing Peridot’s again, a little too hard.

“Is that so?” She asks with a small smirk.

Peridot raises her eyebrows. “It’s only fair. Retribution.” Lapis laughs and vindictively plays the recorder again until Peridot tackles her. They kiss a little more and quietly watch the sky. Lapis flies them home by the time the sun comes around again.

Peridot categorized as: success. Mission Lapis complete. She promises to make a longer list of ‘Cheer Up Project Lapis’ in the times to come.

Gregg comes back around and tells them to be more careful, apparently, there are many local concerns about flying truck phenomena.

Peridot just shrugs, this is what her powers were for she says smugly and then goes back to painting Lapis’s toenails in sparkle crazy glue.

[travelinglifeshighways]

A Brotherhood from Innocent Days Gone By

A Brotherhood from Innocent Days Gone By

Apalachicola, Florida

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Clear, 85°

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

The drive from Tarpon Springs up and around the panhandle of Florida is consistent with the old South in many ways.  There is still the love of country with flags being flown from many houses and yards.  There are the billboards sharing John 3:16 or other bible verses reminding one of the South’s religious views as a God fearing people.  The growth over the last decade from Tarpon Springs to Crystal River was unbelievable.  It is now one continuous community with little open or wooded space common to this part of the state.

Once you left Crystal River on the drive north up to Perry, Florida it was once again back to that familiar pastoral views of farms, trees, and the occasional house.  Those living in the area have a mentality of a simpler time, not in a big hurry or worrying about the world’s problems just happy to be in their own town and its people.  It has a tendency to remind you of the small town values where many of us are from in this country.

There were some flags flying that I was not familiar with so I will look them up for another blog post shortly.  What I found in a quick search did not surprise me and I will share it with you soon.

As you make your way in the big curve leading out onto Florida’s panhandle and back out to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, one sees the big business of tree harvesting with many old forests ready to be cut down.  There are many newly planted fields as well as trees in various years growth waiting their time to be harvested.  It is nice to see the forest being replanted for future generations without leaving the scars of the opened clear cut lands in view.

There was a quick stop at Mad Anthony’s bar and grill on the water in Panacea, Florida.  Like its name, it is all healing with great seafood, atmosphere with a great view of the boats coming or going out to the Gulf.  It is one of my favorite seafood places to eat in this area.

Driving over the last couple of bridges the sights turn to the beautiful waters of the coast.  The aqua-blue against the vivid light blues combined with the white sands give this area a well-deserved label of beautiful beaches.  The small waves breaking on the sand bars with people fishing or netting in the shallow waters is always fun to see.  The white puffy clouds hanging over the blue/green waters give a great backdrop for all of the fun in the sun activities going on.  We finally arrive on Paradise Lane and find a small slice of it as we are greeted by Gary and his wife Lynn.  Over the years he had invited me several times to stop in while in this part of Florida. 

Gary & Lynn

It had not happened until this trip and it was great to finally meet him.  We went to the same high school but Gary was a couple of years older than me.  His sister Morlee was in my class and Gary, like many of us, went into the service out of high school.  He served in SE Asia in that little slice of jungle called Vietnam.

We both served and over the last eight years or so with everyone connecting with old friends on Facebook we had done so on our high school reunion page and became internet friends.  Over those years, we had contacted each other on the telephone, in emails, or through posts on FB and had gotten to know each other through the internet.  We had never had the opportunity to meet in person.  This was a great time to do it.  The travels would take me very close to him.  It was decided to forego a couple of days in New Orleans and stop by Apalachicola for a bit to finally meet, have a meal and see how each of us are doing.

Gary & D.

It’s funny how the brotherhood of men and women that have served in the armed forces look at one another.  There is a bond and it doesn’t matter whether we had met before or not; we all see the world with a slightly different viewpoint as our youth was taken and replaced with a sometimes cynical and hopefully funny outlook on life and living.  This time now is so valuable and precious that wasting it is not in our cards.  We look for things that give pleasure, therapy of sorts, and a broader truth in what life brings to those of us who experienced something extraordinary in our young lives.

I’m sure Lynn had to wonder what to expect having total strangers show up at her home.  Hopefully she saw something pretty special as Gary and I met, talked, and shared time together.  I know for me, spending time with them, eating at their local restaurant, and being driven around showing us the sights of their small town America was fantastic.  You walk in for dinner just before closing and they (staff) did not care, wanted to serve us and did not rush our meal, again showing the Southern hospitality for which we are known.

After dinner and a drive around town seeing all of the mom and pop shops and eateries was wonderful.  There was another surprise as we exited the car on a sultry moonless evening with an ever so slight breeze, a Vietnam Memorial park which was lit up with the “Three Soldiers Monument”.  The focal point of this beautiful park, the Three Soldiers Monument in Apalachicola, Florida, pays honor to the Southern solders who served in Vietnam. 

Three Soldiers front view

It was great seeing this at night as the lighting was perfect and I honestly do not think the sun’s rays would have done it justice.  The starkness between shadow and light around the monument was almost haunting.  It left one to walk around the statue seeing how the light both illuminated and played off the monument as you slowly turned to the different sides.  Each had a very different look either full frontal or off to one side. 

Side view

To the rear was a dedication marker stone that read:

“The portrayal of the figures is consistent with history.  They wear the uniform and carry the equipment of war: They are young. The contrast between the innocence of their youth and the weapons of war underscores the poignancy of their sacrifice. There is about them the physical contact and sense of unity that bespeaks the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the nature of men at war.  And yet they are each alone.  Their true heroism lies in these bonds of loyalty in the face of their aloneness and their vulnerability.“  (Frederick Hart, September 20, 1982)

Marker

The monument was cast from the original molds of sculptor Frederick Hart's stunning Three Soldiers statue that stands at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  It was funded by the Frederick Hart estate and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and was cast in 2008.

 An informational stone at the monument describes its purpose well: Dedicated this 12th day of July, 2008 in memory of those persons from the South who valiantly served their country during the Vietnam War (1959 - 1975). Their commitment to their country, to freedom and to each other will long be honored by this memorial which represents, for all time, the human face of those who served.  

It is a little known fact that nearly one-third of the casualties experienced by the United States during the Vietnam War were suffered by Southerners.  Of the 58,193 men and women estimated by the National Archives to have been killed in Vietnam, a total of 17,831 of them were from the South.

 The average age of those killed was only 20 and most died in combat in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), although men and women also lost their lives in North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Communist China.

 The original sculpture interacts with the moving black wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  The soldiers in the statue depict American warriors of the Vietnam War era who watch over the wall, standing vigil and paying tribute to the tens of thousands of names listed on it. Sculptor Frederick Hart was born in Atlanta in 1943 and died in Baltimore in 1999. He said once that he believed that art must "touch our lives, our fears and cares - evoke our dreams and give hope to the darkness." The Three Soldiers Monument does just that, as the soldiers appear to be emerging from the darkness into the light. (From: ExploreSouthernHistory.com)

I was deeply moved seeing this in another small American town.  The sacrifices our young men and women have given over our history show what we are made of and the sense of pride to serve our country.

Gary, it was great spending time with you, I’m sorry for cutting it short due to mama’s illness but we will do it again soon.  I think it is time for a little Gulf fishing in my future.  Take care of yourself my friend until the next visit, Traveling Life’s Highways from Apalachicola, Florida.