#hoo came out fourteen years ago

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

Girl, I know it's hard being an editor and you're busy but PJO is Disney's big cash cow. You should at least be invested by the series that brings in so much money. And you're using the fandom wiki as a series bible??? FOR FOURTEEN YEARS?!?!

[hamsterboos]

Fell in Love on Christmas Night

🎄Day 12 of 12 Days of PJO Christmas🎄

“Plus,” he started, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I really don’t like your last name.”

Annabeth choked on her saliva. “What” she coughed, “the hell?”

PSA: These drabbles are canon-compliant till HoO and just acknowledge the existence of Estelle. Also technology use is a thing.

Read on AO3

~~~~~

“You know,” Annabeth started, looking out at the open ocean next to her as she spoke, “I never thought that our Christmas breaks would end up being alternated between spending it with your family and spending it with mine.” This year they were spending it with Annabeth’s family in California. They had booked a beachside resort for the week and had just finished Christmas dinner with both families before deciding to take a walk down the beach. The sun was slowly setting, casting a warm orange glow over everything. They had left without their shoes, so Annabeth relished in the strange feeling of the sand between her toes. 

Percy hummed next to her, tightening his hold on her hand. “There’s a lot of things that I never thought would happen,” he answered, taking a brief glance at her. Annabeth just smiled, pressing the side of her head up against his shoulder as they continued walking down the beach, the sand pressing up between her toes. 

“For example,” Percy spoke up again, “me spending Christmas in a place where it’s too warm for it to be Christmas.” Annabeth snorted, trying to control her laughter. It was something that Percy had been saying for years — California was too warm for Percy to believe it was actually Christmas.

“What, the lights, decorations, Santas, and Christmas trees everywhere you look don’t do it for you?”

“Nah, it has to be freezing in order for it to properly sink in.”

“I think that can be arranged,” she answered, tugging him closer to the ocean and promptly shoving him in. She knew it would have practically no effect on him because “son of the ocean god” and everything, but it was still funny to watch him momentarily panic.

“Annabeth!” he protested, quickly wading out of the water. He came out absolutely dry, and so he really shouldn’t be mad, but he had a scowl on his face that Annabeth couldn’t help but laugh at.

“Why are you so bothered about it?” she laughed. “It’s not like you got wet.”

His expression changed to something akin to nervousness for a split second before the scowl returned.

“If you weren’t wearing such a nice dress, I would’ve dragged you in here with me.”

“For another underwater kiss?” she teased. He barked out a laugh in surprise, clearly not expecting her to take that route. Percy probably expected her to threaten him over her dress because he was right, it was a really nice dress. It was a blue halter neck dress with white flower patterns that fell down to her knees with a net extension on the back that trailed towards her ankles. Percy was wearing denim jeans that he had rolled up a few inches with a white button up shirt.

“Sure, let’s go with that,” Percy agreed, moving out of the range of the waves and took a hold of her hand again.

They stayed quiet for a while longer, just basking in each other’s presence when Percy spoke up.

“Annabeth?”

“Yes?” she asked, her eyes trained on the sun as it slowly started disappearing under the ocean.

“Do you think we’ll be forever?” 

Annabeth came to a stop, looking at her boyfriend incredulously. At her sudden stop, Percy stopped and turned to look at her. He was nervous, and he was looking down at the ground. Their hands were still intertwined, and Annabeth used their hands to pull him closer to her before tilting his chin up so she could look into the eyes that stole her breath away since the very first time she looked into them fourteen years ago. 

“Of course we’ll be forever. You’ve literally raised the standard for me so high that even if there was some reason — which there isn’t — that we broke up, no one could even compare to you. You literally walked through hell for me! Who else would do that?” 

It was rare for Annabeth to be so open and straightforward when it came to her emotions, but Percy’s question baffled her so much that she didn’t even think before she spoke. It must’ve worked though, because his sea-green eyes were twinkling in the dimming sunlight, and there was a small smile playing at his lips.

“I also gave up immortality for you,” he answered. Annabeth scoffed.

“So did I.”

“Just so you know, you raised my standards impossibly high too.”

“Good,” she answered, stepping into his embrace. “I love you, Seaweed Brain,” she mumbled into his chest. She felt his chest rumble as he laughed.

“I love you too, Wise Girl.”

After giving him a tight squeeze, she pulled away from him just enough to look at his face. “Now, you want to tell me what brought that up? We’ve been dating for ten years. If I wanted to break up with you, I would’ve done it before I spent the last ten years of my life with the same guy,” Annabeth asked, raising her eyebrow.

“So, you know how I didn’t give you your present yet?” 

She nodded. Earlier this morning, the families had gotten together in the living room to exchange presents, but Percy had said that he would prefer to give her his present alone. No one said anything to dispute it, so she figured that it was just something sentimental that he didn’t want to show off in front of everyone. 

He licked his lips and took a deep breath before speaking. “You came into my life at a time where I didn’t know who I was and what I was doing anymore, and you were like the first ray of light as a sun rose for me. You showed me what I was supposed to become and helped me every step of the way. You’re quite literally my anchor to this world, and I can’t imagine a forever without you.”

Percy stopped speaking for a moment, and Annabeth felt as though she couldn’t breathe. Her heart was pounding, and one of her hands came up to cover her mouth as the other went to lie above her heart. Everything around her froze, and everything boiled down to her and Percy. She had a feeling she knew where he was going with this, but she still couldn’t believe it entirely. He stepped away from her and smiled at her.

“Plus,” he started, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I really don’t like your last name.” 

Annabeth choked on her saliva. “What” she coughed, “the hell?” Percy let out a bright laugh before sinking down to one knee as he reached into his pocket to open up a small red velvet box to reveal a ring inside. It was a thin silver band with a bright blue sapphire in the center surrounded by four smaller diamonds. It was absolutely beautiful, and Annabeth felt her heart swelling. 

“Jackson is a much better last name for you,” he grinned. “Annabeth Chase, will you marry me?”

Annabeth choked out a laugh. She couldn’t believe that he had turned such an emotional moment into a weird joke, but it was just so them.

“Yes, you dumbass.” He slipped the ring on her finger before standing up, and she launched herself into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and kissing him, but their smiles were too wide for it to be a proper kiss. They eventually pulled away from each other, grinning.

“Just so you know, if I am going to change my name, it’s going to be hyphenated, Jackson.”

“Whatever you want, Chase.”

~~~~~

Merry Christmas! A lot of the drabble for today was directly inspired by the gif~

Title from Ariana Grande’s Santa Baby!

Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5 || Day 6 || Day 7 || Day 8 || Day 9 || Day 10 || Day 11 

[highchalowwis]

eden grace honey: facts and figures

the first in the collection of facts and figures about my characters: stats, relationships, current situations

facts:

level 5 fey wanderer ranger / level 3 arcane archer fighter (eden multiclassed after training with one carter highland. we’ll get there)

12 str; 18 dex; 15 con; 16 int; 16 wis; 16 cha (i rolled. supremely well on stats! and changeling gave +2 cha and +1 wildcard which I put into wis for ranger reasons)

at level 4 she took sharpshooter for her longbow, which came in handy in the last fight when she could fully shoot the bbeg from 300 feet down

assigned colors: green and gold and coffee brown

figures:

other party members! 

ember (basrar’s boy) was a fire genasi arcane chef and eden’s best friend at camp; they’ve both been at camp bumblebark for about ten years and are both now counselors together and fiercely protective of its members

calluna, a new junior counselor firbolg barbarian from a long line of firbolg druids. her younger brother hilly is the best npc ever and she is one of my best friends - sweet, kind, and incredibly dumb (in the most loving way possible)

camellia! a half-dwarf druid and the newest senior counselor for dryad cabin. truly the sweetest and also i love em so much. shoutout to camellia for un-poisoning eden like Eight Times jesus Christ. has a pet mouse whom eden hates

crow! the newest jc for eden’s cabin, a fire genasi bard and former drug dealer. the token traumatized kid. she simply just needs love. has a pet crow (duh). eden’s partner in crime in winning capture the flag

other (important) camp figures:

hilly: aforementioned little brother. built a dragon gun (dragun). won the end of year talent show (as he deserves)

carter: eden’s sort-of ex from last summer, who she started out the year pretending to hate because she regretted her treatment of him the past fall when she ghosted him due to not thinking she deserved to date because she takes care of her sisters and the family coffee shop and she chose them over him. he is an idiot and came along with the party so many times that eden had to get over herself, heal him, and fall back in love with him. they are currently happily dating in their senior years at aguefort (eden) and hudol (carter)

hornwallace: the camp director! a gnome druid and possible distant descendant of the camp founder, hickory bumblebark

lorelai ergan: an albino elf wizard. she rocks (and turns out is secretly old, evil, and kidnapping kids)

hugo rowland (hugh): minotaur camp safety director. an old ranger. eden looks up to him so so much

hickory bumblebark: the camp founder. 2000 years ago sealed off a dangerous portal to the feywild alongside her party members, some of whom were lost in the battle and others of whom were secretly evil! (and eden’s mom, apparently)

there were simply so many counselors and campers what’s important is that the direwolf cabin (eden’s cabin) won capture the flag against all of them

family members:

mark honey: a human dad trying to raise his three “half-elf” daughters and run honeybee coffee, the best coffee place in town. a good solid dad. did not know his wife was a semi-immortal changeling from the feywild but we all make mistakes,

viola honey: also known as geoffrey gones, elenenguin lox, and luciana “lucy” lockley. hoo boy. until this summer, eden did her best not to think about her mom, because she thought her mom disappeared when she was three and left her three young daughters and loving husband to fend for themselves. this was technically true - what eden found out this summer was that her mother was in fact not a deadbeat elf mom, but a deadbeat changeling mom who had been LIVING IN ELMVILLE for the past fourteen years as a dwarven drug dealer named goffrey gones and a high elf named elenenguin lox, and that 2000 years ago was known as lucy lockley, the former lover of camp founder hickory bumblebark, and had been keeping herself alive for 2000 years by using young bumblebark campers in necromantic rituals alongside lori. she sucks, is the thing

ava elizabeth honey: eden’s 15 year old sister, who is currently going into her sophomore year at aguefort. she’s studying barbarian classes right now because she’s going through an edgy phase but will end up as a paladin because below an edgy exterior she loves her sisters and dad deeply. this summer, she’s spending a lot of time working at the coffee shop and pretending to hate it

ophelia grace honey: the youngest honey sister at 14, spending the summer at a dance intensive in bastion city with their aunt. in the fall, she’ll start monk and bard classes as a freshman at aguefort. the sweet baby sister. eden misses her so so much. i could talk about the honey siblings for hours.

features

the party are counselors or junior counselors at camp bumblebark, the leading secular camp in elmville of fantasy high fame! except, people start having weird dreams, campers start leaving in the middle of the night, and eden has freckles now?

over the course of a summer, our plucky heros discover a 2,000 year old plot to feed off the lifeforce of campers and reopen a portal to a dangerous region of the feywild, headed by the camp’s assistant director lorelai, a mysterious changeling who bears a suspicious resemblance to one eden honey, and a family of warlocks whose son is not good at capture the flag.

from cabins to coffeeshops to cottagecore to drug dealers to diners to dragging npcs along on wild goose chases, the chowder clams (named after the camp’s famous breakfast chowder) helped stop lori and co by destroying their final step to open the portal, stop the heterosexuals from going too far by setting camellia up with a hot air genasi rogue, and stop carter highland from dying by using the baby chain system (this did not entirely work out)

highlights include:

being put on the spot to name types of drinks at my family coffee shop and suggesting lime tea as an option

a picnic on the water, held up by a hot air balloon and a nat 20 and hope,

calling out your deadbeat mom for not remembering your middle name

and carter highland rolling nat ones every goddamn session

eden honey: she’d be bi if she weren’t so goddamn straight

[ffamranxii]

Favorite Fruits Basket ships?

~Canon OTPs~

1. Tohru Honda and Kyo Sohma

I’ll be honest. I NEVER like the canon ship. When I read Furuba at the tender age of fourteen, I liked Tohru well enough (another surprise - I also never like the cute, ditzy heroine), but I wanted her with Yuki. (I’m sorry, Machi!) I couldn’t see Kyoru for what it was, and there is so much on tumblr right now about Kyoru and what they are to each other that I’ll just sum it up: I couldn’t at fourteen see that that Tohru needed Kyo as badly as Kyo needed Tohru. We all know that the Sohmas needed Tohru, each and every one. Tohru is the only one who ever treated Kyo like a person, who saw his curse and loved him in spite of it, who loved him more because of it. And Kyo in return is the only person who ever looked at Tohru, REALLY looked at her, and saw someone cracked and hurting. Kyo is the only person Tohru confides in, the only person she feels comfortable confiding in. All of Tohru’s friends and all of the Sohmas treat her almost with reverence, like she’s a living angel, and Tohru is almost afraid to shatter that image, to admit that she gets scared and lonely and angry and disappointed. But with Kyo, she can open up. He never once fawns over her, or worships her for saving him. Her friends don’t do it to a creepy degree or anything, but they do it enough to make Tohru want to keep up a certain image. But Kyo is different. With Kyo, Tohru can be herself. They fell in love hard and fast, and couldn’t admit it even when it was obvious to everyone else. Out of everyone in the entire series, their love is the most believable, the most likely to last.

2. Hatsuharu Sohma and Rin Sohma

Hoo boy, I ship these two so hard. Forever my OTP of this series and my first Furuba OTP. Rin has long been one of my favorite characters, because I’m a horse and Rin is very much like me; and Hatsuharu has always been tied with Kyo as my favorite character. These two together are passion and fire. Haru loves Rin so much, it’s evident on every page - the page could literally burn with the fire he feels for her. And Rin is desperate to protect him, from Akito, from the curse, that she lashes out at him, breaks up with him, chases him away, to try and break the curse herself, so that they can be together, they can be happy. She knows that no matter how cruel their break up is, Haru will always come back to her, but if she gives in, even a little, she won’t be able to protect him. She left him for his safety, taking the brunt of Akito’s attacks and not telling Haru a thing, because Akito would probably have killed Haru if Haru tried to go after her. Them reuniting and having twins was beautiful, and their children are so much like how I imagine them as children would be.

3. Yuki Sohma and Machi Kuragi

I admit it. When I first read Fruits Basket, I hated Machi. I didn’t see the subtly of their romance (even though it’s sort of glaring obvious now), and I didn’t quite understand Machi’s character, being in a lot of denial about the similar treatment I myself was going through from all sides of life myself. Coming back to the fandom after the announcement of the reboot, I find myself in love with Machi Kuragi and wanting desperately to apologize to her for the vile things my teenage self said about her, because I see a LOT of myself in Machi. She’s my favorite non-Sohma, and she’s easily in my top five favorite characters, period. My ex and I watched the series together and I legit screamed when she made her onscreen debut in the reboot. Like myself, Yuki also seemed to underestimate Machi - but Machi did not underestimate him. She wasn’t obsessed him like the rest of the girls (and her brother.. and Makoto Takei) in school, but I believe may have developed a crush on Yuki pretty quickly after he joined the student council. She didn’t think he was a prince and never did - she saw him as a person, a flawed human being - and that’s what drew Yuki to her. Yuki, like Machi, had always HAD to be a perfect person. For Akito, his mother, the extended family in the know about the zodiac. But Machi saw him and kind of scoffed like “pfft, some prince he is,” and Yuki’s attention was kind of immediately seized in a different way than how it was by Tohru. Tohru sort of forced her way into Yuki’s life, but Machi... Machi was going through so much shit, she didn’t have time or mental energy to devote to stalking boys or mothering them. Boys were just boys. Machi had her own shit, and I think the first time Yuki really truly noticed her was when she trashed the student council room, and he just wanted to know why. And by the same token, the first time Machi truly acted on her feelings was when she smashed down the door to let Yuki out. They started really reaching out to each other then, and their relationship - in a romantic sense - truly became something then. (And Kakeru, the little shit, shipped it all along.) They eased each other through their faults and anxieties, and they were truly two damaged people who came together to make one whole. *tear* It was beautiful.

4. Arisa Uotani and Kureno Sohma

(CONDITIONAL: Uo MUST be out of high school. )

I think I’m one of the few people in the current fandom who likes Uo and Kureno. I’m not the biggest fan of them as a couple while Uo is still in school - Kureno is nearly ten years older than she is, after all - but I LOVE shipping them a little later, maybe when Uo is in her mid twenties and Kureno his mid thirties, and they meet by chance and feel that same spark they felt all those years ago when they were younger and Kureno was cursed-yet-not, and Kureno takes the leap this time because there’s no Akito holding him back this time. I like to think he used the time in between the end of Furuba until that meeting to travel, do normal people things he wasn’t able to do under Akito, settle into his own home and experiment with having CHOICES, and Uo maybe went to university, or went straight into the workforce - maybe she manages that cafe she was working at where she met him the first time. They’re both older now, and more experienced in life, but they still feel that pull towards each other and can’t and don’t want to resist it. That’s what I live for with this pairing. 

~PREVIOUSLY CANON~

Hatori Sohma and Kana Sohma

Oh break my fucking heart. All I wanted in Furuba was Hatori to have a happy ending with Kana somehow. That was ALL I WANTED. (Don’t even @ me with Mayuko.) Their love story breaks my heart and I cry every time I read it or watch the episode. I hate reading fanfiction where Hatori is with anyone else, and it seriously bothered me that Kana married some rando. They belonged together. She wasn’t even fazed he turned into a goddamn seahorse. She loved him and wanted to marry him without even being able to hug him - THAT is love.

~NON-CANON~

1. Sawa Mitoma and Shiki Sohma

Okay this is cheating. If you read Fruits Basket Another, Sawa/Shiki is basically canon. Literally the whole damn family ships it. Shiki has been talking about Sawa since he was a little boy - how fucking cute is that? He saw a lonely little girl one day, who then hurt her arm, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her for literally YEARS. Mutsuki spends two and a half books trying to set the two of them up because he’s a little shit like Shigure. This ship is so soft and precious.

2. Yuki Sohma and Kakeru Manabe

My ex likes to accuse me of “making everything gay,” but I like surprisingly few gay ships in Furuba. (Oh there are plenty I enjoy, but not many I would actually be happy with being canon.) If Yuki had not married Machi, I would have loved to see him end up with Kakeru. Kakeru My Sexuality Is Always In Question Because I Have Hit On Every Single One Of Yuki’s Male Relatives And Also Yuki The First Time I Saw Him And Several Times After That Manabe very openly loves Yuki, and their relationship is very much like Kyo and Yuki’s, without quite as much violence. Kakeru was Yuki’s first real friend he made on his own (after Tohru, and Tohru kind of... happened. Yuki pursued student council, which Kakeru was on) and they became extremely close. Despite all of Kakeru’s nagging, antics, laziness, and even Kyo-like behavior, Yuki was never entirely serious with any threats and actually enjoys the interaction. I really, really love these two.

BONUS: Ritsu Sohma and Mitsuru! The anime gave us some Ritsu/Mitsuru interaction, and I LOVE their newfound friendship. I do hope they show another scene or two because I kind of ship it now, but I don’t know if I’d call it an OTP yet.  

[lukasbaxter]

just a telephone wire //

Piper’s been asleep for at least half an hour but somehow Lukas still hasn’t worked up the courage to just press the call button, his thumb hovering over his mother’s contact information.

Finally, he does it, and it barely gets through one ring before she picks up, her voice sharp in his hear, “I can’t believe you pulled something like this, Lukas.”

Lukas has his headphones in so that even if Piper overhears his end of the conversation from his spot in the balcony, she won’t hear their mother. Maybe his little sister’s delusions about them haven’t been shattered yet, but he’s not keen to be the one to cause the breaking.

Taking a moment to light a cigarette, Lukas finally answers. “Not even a hello? Just immediately blaming me?”

“I don’t know what lies you’ve been feeding her, but clearly they’ve been enough to make her hop a bus to come see you in... where even are you again?”

He rolls his eyes though she can’t see him and lazily flicks ash off the end of his cigarette. “Google is free and Palmetto’s game schedule is readily accessible. If you actually cared about where I was, you could figure it out for yourself, so guess you’ll just find out when you pick her up in Palmetto.”

“Do not start-”

“Don’t start what, calling you out on your bullshit? I haven’t said a damn thing to Piper, not since I saw her a couple summers ago. She came here of her own will, thanks. The accusation was nice, though.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Lukas scoffs. “What reason do I have to reach out to her, exactly? All the happy times we shared together? I was a fucking dick to her-”

“Watch your language-”

“I was a fucking dick to her,” he says a little louder. “I don’t hate her anymore, but I also don’t have a reason to reach out to her. You all aren’t my family. I have my own that I made for myself, full of people who don’t give up on you if you fuck up. And that’s without them being responsible for my wellbeing.”

There’s a long silence, achingly long, that he only knows isn’t a dropped call because his mother can be heard breathing on the other end.

“You were a danger to Piper,” she finally says and her voice is pathetic, childish and whiny.

“Boo-fucking-hoo. If you weren’t ready to square up and be a damn parent, you shouldn’t have had kids. And while I’m the last person to stand up for her, that includes to Piper. She deserves better parents than you. We both do.”

“I’m still your mother, watch the way you talk to me.”

“You’re not though.” His voice is calm now, as it finally washes over him that it’s really okay to feel this way, that he has a right to be angry. Regardless of whatever mistake he made, he’d shown remorse even then, expressed his regret, but it hadn’t mattered to anyone. He’d been tossed aside anyway. “You sent me away because I was a fourteen year old boy who was confused as to why his parents suddenly seemed to love him less. What I did was shitty, but you sent me to an aunt and uncle who didn’t even know my birthday. Did you know I had my first birthday wish when I got to Palmetto? I got tired of nobody caring enough to remember, so I didn’t tell anyone until I got here.”

The silence is deafening and it only fuels the way words are falling past his lips in a way they haven’t since the night he told Jordan about all of this, only this time it hurts, it aches, and he wants to claw out that part of him with his bare hands, toss it at his mother’s feet and make her deal with it for once.

“Everything I have, I have because I earned it on my own. You don’t know how to be a parent, Mom. Neither of you do. You throw gifts at your favorite kid and when that doesn’t pacify their emotions, you chuck them away. Maybe Piper decided she needed to get out before you could do the same to her.”

It’s then that Lukas realizes he can sense someone standing behind him. In his anger, he hadn’t heard the sliding glass door open, and for a moment, seeing her standing there looking stoic and scared all at once, Lukas feels his first rush of affection for his baby sister.

“I have to go. We’ll be back at Palmetto by noon tomorrow. Bye.”

His mother starts to protest but he hangs up anyway, shutting his phone off and tossing it onto the plastic table. He gestures to the other chair with the hand holding his cigarette and Piper takes it. Neither of them say anything for several minutes and it’s nice, but it’s all wrong. Maybe in a different timeline there’s a version of them that’s close, that acts like siblings. 

“They’ve been fighting,” Piper finally says. “About me, mostly.”

Lukas nods, lighting another cigarette because apparently he’s a chainsmoker now (because Jordan is 98% of his impulse control) and glancing at her. “As much as they like to think a kid can magically fix their marital problems, unfortunately for you, you’re not an adorable little toddler anymore. You’re having emotions. They suck at those.”

He trusts Piper won’t be offended, she’s so smart, and she’s not, only nodding in agreement. “I’m just scared, I guess. Of what’s going to happen to me when it ends. So I wanted to come see you, because you’re okay, right?”

Her little voice is a plea and it hurts his heart because honestly, he isn’t. Not all the time. So he tells her that. “Most days, yeah. But okay isn’t really a constant state. You have to feel shitty sometimes to feel okay. But if you mean I’m surviving, and making my own way, and keeping my head above water, then yeah. I’m good.”

Piper nods and they lapse into silence again, and this time Lukas breaks it first.

“Look, I’m sorry about what I did all those years ago. I won’t pretend that I have any sort of brotherly... love or whatever for you, because you’re a stranger, but if you ever need to get away, or talk, you have my number now. You know where to find me.” He smiles softly. “Just... warn me next time, yeah?”

Piper gives him a small smile. “Deal. Thanks, Lukas.”

He studies her for a long moment, trying to see any bit of the baby he hated so much in this girl, but he can’t. He was never angry at Piper. He always was, and still is, angry at his parents.

“Anytime, kid.”

[onelovewonderwoman]

Dying Love - DISCONTINUED ORIGINAL STORY THAT I MIGHT CONSIDER CONTINUING IF PEOPLE LIKE IT

So, hi. I'm posting this stuff I wrote like a year or so ago. This story is actually on Wattpad but I lost motivation and do fanfiction now like for Penis Parker and stuff. So, idk, if you guys want me to continue it, I will cause honestly I have a plot for this but I've just never had enough response to it. Oh, and this stuff isn't gonna be the regular, I'm always gonna be posting for Penis (lmao) and stuff, I'm just posting this cause maybe y'alls will like it in the mean time. I'm posting part two of No Getting Over You hopefully soon, so I'm really excited cause that was just the beginning of the story that has literally only less than a quarter of the angst I'm boutta give you guys. But this story is about a girl, Kylie, who's being abused at home and starts to get to know the popular, whorey, badass guy at school and finds out stuff with her and all. So, here we go, children ----------------------------- Kylie's P.O.V. “Bitch, where the Hell were you yesterday? We had to dissect a frog in class and my partner almost threw up on me! You best have a good reason!” Bianca came up to me with a distressed yet frustrated face, brushing her brown hair away from her face. “I'm sorry. Stuff was going on at home B.” She immediately understood. “Kylie… If this keeps happening… I mean, I'm gonna have to tell someone.” I gave her a look. She's my best friend and she's really protective, I understand where she's coming from, but she doesn't understand the consequences. “Anyway,” we started walking to my locker. “We started a new project in English class. It’s partners.” “Well that's great! We can pair up like always.” I picked up my stuff from my locker and shut it. “Actually….” Bianca turned her head to the side. “What…” I raised an eyebrow. “She take the news okay?” That would be our one of our best friends, Brody. He's hot, not gonna lie, with his brown hair, styled, grey-blue eyes and perfect build, but… he's gay. Not many people would think he is, I mean he doesn't act like it at all, but he is and Bianca and I don't mind. “What news?” I raised my voice a bit more than necessary and leaned closer to the both of them. “Well, um, you see, Mrs. Burch chose our partners for us… And Brody and I were paired together.” “Okay… I don't get how that's such a big deal? I just assumed that she let us pick. That's fine.” They make a huge deal out of everything. I started heading for class and they began to trail behind me. “That's not the news.” Bianca shook her head as we set our stuff on our desks. “Then what is it?” “You're partners with Dylan.” Brody rushed out. I immediately froze. Now, I don't have a problem with Dylan, he's nice and sweet, there's never been a reason to hate him. It's his older brother I have a problem with. Satan himself, Chris Ryder. He’s seventeen, an asshole and a year older than us. He literally has played, and I kid you not, every freaking girl in this school. Like, every one. He even hit on me and Bianca, and we're not in any way popular or noticed! He also has this stupid relationship with the head cheerleader of our school, Lola Hanson. Their relationship is basically acting like a couple, but screwing other people, while they're screwing each other. I crowned them King and Queen of Hoemerica in my world. “Okay, don't have a heart attack, breath. Come one you can do it, in, out, in, out.” Brody started talking to me like I was a six-year-old. “Seriously?” I gave him this ‘you're messed up’ look. “Brody, don't treat her like a child.” Bianca stepped in. “Yeah dude, you can only talk to her like that. You know she's slow.” I added. Bianca just looked at me, “It’s because I'm black ain't it.” I just started laughing and shaking my head. She makes that joke everything single time I say something that ‘offends’ her. To be honest, I'm shocked that A) Bianca still hangs out with me, and B) she doesn't have a boyfriend. You see, she's half black, half white and all beautiful. She's got medium brown hair, golden brown skin and dark brown eyes. She also about 5’8 making her the perfect height. “Hey, how's the weather down there shortie?” That was to get back at me. Brody and Bianca always make jokes about my height just because I'm shorter. Brody’s about 6’1, while I'm stuck down here at 5’2. Like, shit. I don't mind though. I know it's all fun and games. “Hey, Kylie, could I talk to you for a sec?” Dylan approached me. “Uh, yeah, sure.” I waved at my friends and fully walked over in front of him. “We got paired for the English project,-” “Yeah, I heard.” He nodded and then started again, “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house tomorrow to start on it. I could explain it to you then as well.” Oh God, Chris will probably be there. Knowing him he'll probably have one of his hoes with him too. I nodded and smiled anyway, “Yeah, that sounds great. Um, I guess I'll see you then.” I slowly turned as we waved to each other a final time. “What'd he say?” Bianca questioned with a curious yet suspicious look on her face as I made my way back to them. “It was just about the project and stuf-” I was cut off by the bell ringing. “Tell me at lunch.” Bianca walked off to her desk whilst Brody was beside me. “Good morning class, today we'll be continuing studies on World War II. Get out your textbooks.” Our history teacher walked in and made her way to her desk. Brody nudged me and started whispering, “Is everything okay? I mean, you weren't here yesterday.” “Yeah, I’m fine, it's just my dad, he…” I paused, “He, um, wasn't feeling all too great yesterday.” Brody nodded in a sense of confirmation and went to look at the worksheet that our teacher had just handed us. “Shit, I know nothing.” Brody turned to me after he read over the questions. “Kylieeeeee…. I love youuuuu…” I rolled my eyes playfully, “Okay, but listen.” I gave him a stern look. He nodded his head eagerly. “Okay, so the first part is about… --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Fuck school.” “Well it's nice to see you too Bianca.” She sat down at the lunch table, sitting opposite of us. “What's got you all mad?” Brody smirked and took a bit of his sandwich. “It's fucking Josh.” Ah, Josh. You see, Josh is a clueless little boy. A.K.A. The boy Bianca has a crush on but he doesn't know it, no matter how many hints she gives. “He can't take a hint!.... Why does he have to be so cute?” She rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she put her elbow on the table. “Just tell him straight up. It's the best shot you've got with him.” I spoke up. “Yeah, okay. How about I just kill myself now and save myself the embarrassment?” Bianca and her freaking sarcasm! “Okay, I know you're shy and all about it, but seriously! Any guy would be lucky to have you! I doubt he'd say no.” I raised my voice a little to emphasis my point. Bianca smiled a little at me before she said anything, “Thanks Ky, but I don't think I'm ready to actually ask him. Maybe I should just try to become more of a friend to him. Wouldn't hurt to try right?” “Nope. Good luck B.” She smiled proudly and finally started to eat her lunch. “So what did Dylan say this morning?” Brody hit my shoulder lightly. “Hm? Oh! Right…. He just said to meet up at his house after school and we'll start the project then.” I took a bite of my food. “Chris is gonna be there.” Bianca pointed out. “Yeah, I know. But what other choice do I have? I can't bring him to my house.” I let that slip, but each of them knew what I was talking about, one more than the other. They each had different looks on their faces. Brody, one of sympathy and Bianca, one of stress and worry. “Don't worry guys. Everything's fine.” I said, mostly directed towards Bianca. She only nodded and continued eating. After a couple of minutes, Brody decided to break the silence, “So…, what're your guys doing after school?” I shrugged, but Bianca had a different response, “I'm stuck at the library with a new tutor for math.” She shrugged and took a sip of her water. “What happened to David?” I slowly said, my eyebrows furrowed, “Well, he got frustrated. It's not like it's my fault I don't learn as fast as others!” She looked offended. “We all know you don't work fast B, that's most probably not the issue,” I shook my head at her, “Yeah, it's because you get crazy distracted most of the time. And don't you dare try to deny it because I've tried with you,” Brody leaned forward and whispered intensely, “I will never tutor math again.” I unsuccessfully sniffled a laugh. I wonder who's gonna cry today. Oh, I'm just kidding… maybe. “Well boo hoo for you sweetheart,” Bianca said sarcastically, “Why'd you wanna know in the first place?” “Is it a crime to want to know where my two beautiful best friends are up to?” Bianca and I share a quick look. He wants something. “What's in it for us?” I asked, “Being a good friend for me again,” His voice sounded bored and the look on his face looked resentful and upset, “I gotta hang out with one of you guys tonight. My parents think I'm gonna be on another date.” “Oh,” Bianca and I said in unison. Brody’s gay, his family is very religious. I think anyone could see how that wouldn't work out. He came out to his parents when he was just fourteen, he's always been a brave guy and he knew for sure who he liked, but his parents insisted he was just confused. He's gotta date girls to convince them that he's ‘normal’. Sure it's in religion, but I think I lost a lot of my respect for Mr. and Mrs. Johnson that day. “We could go see a movie tonight if you're down?” I suggested, “Sounds good, pick you up at seven?” Little sixteen-year-old Brody already has a Goddamn car. I made him my personal chauffeur though, so I'm really not complaining. “Yup, just make sure to get me some flowers this time.” I smirked, Brody laughed a little and got up, “I’m gonna head to next period, I’ll see you both later,” “I like chocolate too!” I lightly shouted at his retreating figure. I turned back around to face Bianca’s head shaking and an amused look on her face, “What is wrong with you,” but her laughter slowly faded to a frown. “What went on yesterday?” “Nothing Bianca, I'm fine. It's nothing I can't handle, okay?” I make a move to get up but she grabs my hand quickly, “It's not okay Kylie, you're getting beat up everyday. By. Your. Father.” She said emphasizing her point. “Jeez, thanks for the reminder,” I responded sarcastically, “Listen, I'm fine. It's nothing. Everything’s okay.” “Everything is not okay Kylie! It's not! You cannot tell me this and expect me not to worry anymore. It hurts me to know this and I can't do anything about it!” She intensely said in a hushed voice, “I don't mean to put you through that worry and stress Bianca, but you need to understand that there is nothing either of us can do,” I tried to leave again but she pulled me back once again, “Report him. Kylie, it's as easy as that,” I could tell she was close to tears. See, this is why I didn't want her to find out. “And what? Get me thrown into a foster home? No way. I can wait till I'm eighteen, and I'll leave.” I shrugged simply, “That's two years from now Kylie,” she dead panned, “Please,” I bit my lip. I could not be thrown into some foster home. It's just two more years, it's nothing compared to the other couple of years I went on like this. What's the difference now? “I'm sorry B, I just can't do that,” she sighed, “But I promise you that the day I'm eighteen, the day I'm legal, I'm getting the Hell out of there.” “Okay,” her voice was quiet and tired. I didn't want to put her through this. She doesn't deserve to be put through this. “Thank you,” I felt her release my hand and I got up, “I'm gonna head to fourth period, I'll see you later. Good luck with the new tutor.” I saw her sigh, “Thanks, please be careful.” She gave me a pointed look. “I promise,” I smiled lightly and walked out of the cafeteria. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “So tell me, how does young Ms. Kylie James feel about being in the same house Satan, and possibly, getting corrupted,” Fuck you Brody. I'm going on a fake date with you. No flowers, no chocolate. Just this game show host voice. Although, I’d be lying if I said this wasn't amusing in the slightest. I'm gonna make him buy me some chocolate though. I love my candy. “Ha ha, very funny Brody,” I rolled my eyes and tried to hide a smile, quite unsuccessfully may I add, “Is that a smile I see? Is little Kylie amused?” He paused and smirked a little, “Well, we’ll see on tomorrow's episode of ‘Not actually Kylie Jenner’,” “Shut up,” I said playfully. We'd just reached the theatres and were standing in line. We're planning on seeing ‘Now You See Me 2’. Ever since I saw the first one, I fell in love with it. It's been out for a long time now too, which means the theatre should literally only have six people in there. Score! “So… everything good with your dad?” Brody just thinks my dad goes through a whole lot, even though it's been years since my mom died. We've all been best friends since 3rd grade, and they used to come over all the time, but, when my mom started getting really sick, I told them to stop coming over cause it was getting really hard on everyone. She got cancer, lost, and my dad resorted to drugs and alcohol. I look and act a lot like her, that's why I think my dad doesn't want me around. It's too much pain. But I don't think it's right to do that to your child. No matter what. “Yeah, yanno, I've already had this discussion with Bianca. Everything's fine. I promise you,” I shook my head in a reassuring manner as we moved up in line. Damn this place is packed today. Probably coming to see some other new movie or something. Brody nodded, “Okay,” he paused, “You know, Bianca and I will always be here if you need help. We'll do anything for you Ky, anything.” I gave him a soft smile, “Thank you Brody, I know. And if I know anything else, it's that I have the most best friends anyone could ask for.” “Awe man,” Brody clenched his heart, “All of this sappyness is getting to me.” I hit his shoulder lightly with the back of my hand, “Shut up!” I grinned at him. He could ruin any sappy moment, but I couldn't ask for it to be any funnier. “So why do you want to see this movie again?” Brody asked. He hasn't exactly watched the first one. I ended picking. Don't buy me flowers, don't pick the movie. “Because I love it. It's so magical yet logical!” I exclaimed, “It's because of Dave Franco, isn't it?” I got a dreamy look in my eyes and sighed, “Yep.”

[buddyrabrahams]

Early favorite to win every major conference in college basketball

The turn of the calendars to a new year can mean only one thing for college basketball: Conference play is here!

The first two months of non-conference play can feel like the first quarter of a thoroughbred race. Jockeys move, shake, and jostle for positioning, but no mistake can truly cost a potential champion of their chance to win down the stretch. Teams from across the country play games that matter on their resumes but feature teams that will look and play differently than those we’ll be watching in March. True freshmen can look lost or unpolished. Veterans can dominate. Sleepy arenas in ignored holiday tournaments can lead to puzzling results.

Conference play, however, is here to save the day. Now we get to see packed student-sections (once all students return from winter break) and the rivalries we know and love. This is when college basketball hits its stride and we can really begin to assess every team on a familiar playing field.

Here, then, is the early front-runner for each power conference championship:

ACC – Duke

The Blue Devils are unquestionably the most talented team in the conference, but Duke’s schedule isn’t without its fair share of challenges. Coach K’s squad will play five road games against the KenPom Top 50, including three games against teams in the KenPom Top 10.

Virginia, though still undefeated this season, arguably has a tougher slate through conference play. The Cavaliers have six road games against top 50 competition still to come. Virginia and Duke are scheduled for a home-and-home that could provide the inside track to the regular season conference championship. Those two games will feature a radical clash in styles, with the Hoos forcing Duke to play at a slower pace. If Duke’s athletes are still able to force the issue in the halfcourt and use their speed and size to maximize their scoring chances, the Blue Devils can be successful against Virginia. If the Cavaliers can force RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson to settle for jump shots, they’ll have a tougher time in Charlottesville.

North Carolina will remain part of the race to the top of the conference as well if Coby White continues to play like an All-American. Of the three teams, Carolina has looked the most like a work in progress, but also sports the best win of any ACC club, as they handled Gonzaga fairly easily.

In the end, Duke’s top-level talent likely comes out on top. Even if they drop a game to UNC or UVA, the Blue Devils stars make them less susceptible to losing any other unexpected games in conference.

Big East – Marquette

For the first time in recent memory, the Big East is wide open. Even when Xavier has challenged Villanova in the last few seasons (and won the regular season crown last year), the Wildcats had distanced themselves from the middle of the pack. The third-place team in Big East play hasn’t finished within four games of the league leader since the conference realigned in 2013.

This season, there are no fewer than six teams capable of finishing the year atop the standings. Villanova has clearly taken a step back, but still is plenty capable of finding its way in time to win the conference. St. John’s is 13-1, having looked strong against a questionable non-conference schedule. Creighton, Butler, Xavier, and even DePaul will be competitive this season. Top to bottom, the league will feature great games all season long.

Marquette gets the nod as the early favorite thanks to the balance through its roster. The Hauser brothers make for a sturdy frontcourt, capable of controlling the glass. Theo John is a dominant rim protector off the bench for the Golden Eagles, while Joseph Chartouny adds a shooting touch on the outside.

Everything Marquette looks to accomplish, however, is driven by Markus Howard. The 5-foot-11 junior guard might be the best shooter in college basketball. He’s made 45 percent of the 500-plus long-range attempts in his college career, while missing just 22 of the 266 free throws he’s attempted. No player in the Big East can get hot as quickly as Howard, which he proved by scoring 40 points against Buffalo in the second half!

Even though Marquette lost its Big East opener at St. John’s, the Golden Eagles are best positioned to be the top seed at Madison Square Garden this March.

Big Ten – Michigan

It’s never easy to pick against Michigan State in the Big Ten, especially when this year’s Spartans have lost just twice, to Louisville in overtime and Kansas. It would take an elite team to not only challenge Sparty, but to have a leg up on Tom Izzo and company.

Down the road in Ann Arbor, Michigan is that kind of special elite team. Defensively, Michigan has been among the country’s best teams. The Wolverines are forcing opponents to score the 4th-highest percentage of points on 2-point baskets, while also allowing the 6th-worst shooting percentage inside the arc. Michigan funnels teams away from efficient scoring chances and right into difficult shots. It has worked like a charm, thanks in part to the teaching of de-facto defensive coordinator Luke Yaklich. Since his addition to the coaching staff last season, Michigan has leaped into the top tier of defensive scheming programs in college basketball.

Offensively, John Beilein once again has his players running a pitch perfect motion system. While playing a slow pace, the Wolverines have committed the fourth-fewest turnovers in the nation. No team but Michigan in college basketball has had the ball stolen on fewer than five percent of their possessions.

Without extraordinary star power or overwhelming athleticism, Michigan is outsmarting and outworking every opponent they meet on the court. They look like a contender for both the Big Ten crown and the national championship.

Big XII – Kansas

If you want to pick anyone but Kansas, go ahead. I’ve considered it in past years or gotten my hopes about other contenders. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me fourteen years in a row, well, welcome to Kansas’ dominance of the Big XII. The Jayhawks have at least shared the league title each of the last fourteen years, a stat you can’t avoid when watching any Kansas game. You hear less often that the Jayhawks haven’t even shared the title since 2013. This year would make six straight outright conference championships.

There’s certainly no reason to doubt that this is the Kansas team to let the streak die. Dedric Lawson has been a steady double-double machine. Devon Dotson is a joy to watch streak up and down the court. Udoka Azubuike is a monster in the paint. Lagerald Vick would like to have a word with me about me calling someone else the best shooter in college basketball a few paragraphs ago.

Even when five-star recruit Quentin Grimes got off to a slow start, Kansas was the clear favorite in the conference. Grimes was scoring just 7.4 points per game and shooting under 40 percent from the floor before Christmas. In Kansas’ last two games, the freshman has averaged 15 points per game and hasn’t missed a 2-point attempt.

Even though Texas Tech looks like an elite defensive team, if Grimes can get his game rolling, Kansas not only will win the conference, but will do so easily.

SEC – Tennessee

A team like the Vols loses a lot of cache when they fall from the ranks of the unbeaten. If Tennessee were still undefeated, they’d have a chance at the top spot in the polls and be atop the minds of everyone discussing the nation’s best. Even with one loss, they’ve become somewhat of an afterthought among teams ranked in the AP Top Ten. Their only loss to date came to Kansas, in overtime, in a game played in Kansas City.

Grant Williams has a real chance to repeat as SEC Player of the Year, and the rest of the Vols perfectly complement his game. Best of all, Tennessee is a hard-working team that will make any team fight for 40 minutes. Defending and battling the likes of Williams and Admiral Schofield wears teams down like a smashmouth running game in football. By late in the second half, the Vols punish tired teams around the rim.

Pac-12 – Arizona State

Earlier this week, this pick may have been debatable. Then we learned that Bol Bol would miss the rest of the season with an injury, severely damaging Oregon’s chances to challenge the Sun Devils.

Now the rest of the Pac-12 will chase Bobby Hurley’s squad like a roving pack of zombies after the conference had a dismal collective non-conference performance. UCLA grabbed the headlines with a four-game losing streak and by firing its coach, but the rest of the middle and back of the conference has been just as ugly. Arizona has four losses and narrowly avoided disaster in its last game before the holidays, beating UC Davis by just two at home.

Colorado lost back-to-back games to Indiana State and Hawaii. Oregon State lost to Kent State. Washington State has losses to Seattle, Montana State, New Mexico State (twice!), and Santa Clara. USC also lost to Santa Clara, Utah also lost to Hawaii, and Cal also lost to Seattle. For a power conference to have not just one-off losses to lowly programs, but multiple teams losing games to the same mediocre mid-majors, is embarrassing.

Collectively, the entire conference is just 5-26 versus the KenPom Top 50, and three of those wins are Arizona State’s. The other 11 schools have combined for a .074 winning percentage versus top 50 competition.

Touting Arizona State as the early favorite should have been more about the Sun Devils’ positive qualities, yet winning the Pac-12 this year looks like a low bar. If the Sun Devils can’t surge to a decisive lead in the standings, there will be no team in the league that will look capable of a run in March. That surge got a bit harder after Arizona State stumbled and lost to Utah at home to open conference play. If the Sun Devils can’t bounce back, the Pac-12 may be in serious danger of being a one-bid conference on Selection Sunday, for the first time since 1978 when the conference had just eight schools.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports http://bit.ly/2Qn5T8H

[sleepymarmot]

Twilight Mirage liveblog 4/5 (episodes 55-63)

55-56

Ha, Austin rereads the passage I just came back to relisten 

Yeah, this only proves the point that you can't put the wellbeing and infrastructure of an entire society on the shoulders of 300 people with superpowers, and the warmth of their personal relationship with the rest ot the people! Sorry, I can't make myself sad about this system that was ridiculous and inherently unsustainable from the start!

But how about… Not mean humans ~enslaving innocent Divines~ because they're not idealistic enough or too utilitarian or w/e… not the Divines going “Oh no the 30k years of our love weren't real! You only want us for our bodies! Guess we'll die” and flopping over… How about Divines actually step up and sacrifice themselves willingly for the common good, you know, the way countless humans have done in this universe across both arcs?! “They could be made to be what Candidates once were” Oh boo fucking hoo!

I'm just. Thinking of C/w finale and how unnecessarily brutal it was and how many people sacrificed themselves and others for the greater good. And you're telling me that the Divines and the entire Fleet as a society are too precious for that? And I don't mean sacrifice yourself like Belgard, I mean the bigger picture. A utopia that isn't for everyone isn't a utopia, etc, see that post about The Good Place that got a surprising amount of notes lol

Also count me as an Independence kin still. I would absolutely break up with someone over the right to die (then run away and make everyone really upset by my mere presence then behave in such a way they have to kill me, twice. Okay maybe not this part)

Honestly the whole concept of the Fleet sounds so toxic. It's like being fully financially dependent on your beloved parents forever.

Oh wait here's another thing I must rage about: they stopped making new Divines so that they wouldn't be enslaved! Here's a novel idea: how about instead making a Divine that could be turned into a more productive machine… you make that machine in the first place??? You know, how people in real life make machines to use instead of manual labor??

Like, the problem with Divines is a two-sided coin:

Flawed individuals should not possess inordinate amounts of power. They might abuse it, misuse or just use with good intentions but in controversial or questionable ways (see: the Divines in Counter/weight).

As a flip side, making an entire community almost fully dependent on labor of a small group of sentient beings of a separate species is an unfair burden to them, and even if it is provided willingly. The benefitters become dependent on providers, which is exacerbated by the latter's small numbers (the Fleet being thrown into a crisis by the loss of the final Divines and only coming out of it fine because another superpowered being happened to be nearby). The providers are put at risk of exploitation (the Divines of being “enslaved/killed”), especially since they are outnumbered. The benefitters’ genuine love for the providers is undermined and may eventually be corrupted and superseded by their vested interest in maintaining this arrangement -- but at the same time, wanting more resources is a natural thing and people cannot and should not be blamed for it. This relationship may be mutually beneficial (and it was for an astonishingly long time) but carries an inherent risk.

So Divines potentially have too much and too little power at the same time. Both of these problems could have been avoided if “a special kind of synthetic beings” and “algorithms and robots that provide unique services that form the backbone of society” were two separate things in the first place! Fine, you can't undo what happened tens of thousands of years ago under very specific circumstances and specific threat, but you could try to recognize the problem instead of building a community whose structure is bound to bring that problem to the forefront sooner or later. 

Okaaay, so where did the Divines that “didn't make the cut”, other than Independence, go? Is there a club of really bitter superpowered rejects somewhere?

I really don't get why Tender is having such a crisis

Austin and Janine are a pair of sadistic bastards lmao

I can't believe it's only been an hour into the episode, feels like an eternity (in a good way)        

On the one hand, it's nice that at least Anticipation was thinking about the things I wrote above. On the other, “They could be made to be what Candidates once were” becomes even more ridiculous, because Anticipation is using her excerpt like a candidate Right Now! In order to determine whether she and her kin should be used! 

Tender gets her own version of the “Independence makes Grand an offer he can't refuse” scene :D 

Okay, my first objection to “giving it to Sho” was “um, you want to waste that resource on becoming a museum piece?!” but my current one is, unlike the players' “Anticipation would hurt Sho”, is “do you really want to combine this with Sho's high-strung personality?”

Aaand Tender makes the right choice :D I'm glad.

Wow! This second episode has wildly exceeded all my expectations. What a ride

57-59 

No offense, but I wish the three episodes of “everything is Advent's fault somehow, again” didn't stand in my way to the much superior premise of “Grand Magnificent and Waltz Tango Cache rescue Fouteen from a newly arrived rival faction's flagship”. God, I hope this goes in some interesting unexpecting direction asap. 

Wait, was it ever mentioned that Echo's family is also separated onto the two planets? That's new to me, and it would have been relevant to the first post-Miracle arc. 

Gig making a bold move, getting hit with 4 stress at once and gaining a status at the beginning of the mission: 

Blease tell me someone has redrawn that Community gif with Echo entering the completely trashed ship. That's such a good image

The entire throwing maneuver and the rolls they got… Absolutely fucking crazy

I actually yelped out loud when Echo failed a fucking desperate roll inside the light beam

How come Echo's nanites were inactive before but got activated now? How does that work? 

It's strange how suddenly the show got intense again! The missions after the Miracle felt fun but unengaging for me, and I didn't expected it to pick up until the finale. So many ups and downs in this arc! Can't believe how quickly and often it went from “we basically won” to mortal danger in about one turn. The title should have been “Echo Reverie's Terrible, Bad, No Good Day”… Glad to see the theme of the weight of violence back. It feels very natural as a conflict between Even and Echo, but I wonder if later it would involve Grand Magnificent too – the discussion during Even's message for Cascabel reminded me of what I wrote after the holiday special.

60-61 

Being one of the only two party members doesn't suit Waltz, he has to act dumb for the sake of player agency 

I understand why Jack wants to see what the “new job” is about, but not why Fourteen does!

Ending the recap on “Now you're gonna go your separate ways, and everything's gonna fall apart” is, um, nice

Wait, why is Fourteen on their last life? And how would they know that?

Oh, here's the arms dealer Grand Magnificent I was waiting for lmao Although to be honest… That design wasn't that special in terms of military power, right? I remember the disussions of its complex appearance and the difficulty of shaping the material into this multifaceted sculpture, but it didn't have any innovative armor or weaponry, right? It's not like it's the first and only q-glass mech. I mean, setting aside the base problem that it might not be the most wise and ethical idea to give weapons to the amoral people for whom you just delivered a bomb (and are trying to ignore that fact) while they're tearing your friend's body apart, and that they would have settled for less… it's not like he gave them the part of the actual Divine Independence. I guess we'll see what Advent will do…

At some point Jack, I think, said that Grand is acting like Lem and I was like. Please don't. Can you not go into that direction in the future too please. I've already been concerned about his character arc since finishing Winter and this isn't helping!

Anyways today I had enough free time to listen to five episodes and now I'm hungover and also sad. I'm glad Grand Magnificent didn't suddenly become heroic but also this is depressing. Can't wait for everyone (minus him posssibly?) to finally meet and share the wild shit that happened to them recently. Tender is an excerpt! Fourteen is a knight and also on the brink of dying forever for some reason! Echo has fought in a civil war against their brother! Grand sold out to everyone's #1 enemy and left!

I don't really get ending episode on so much exposition… I understand the awkwardness of retelling an event that was intended to happen onscreen, but when Schism attacked, I assumed that fighting it would be the finale. On the other hand, I thought the same about the September Incident, and how happy I was to be wrong!

62-63

The downtime episode was excellent – exactly the thing I like! Two notes:

I can't be the only one bothered by the use of the word “fascist”, right? Greedy cynical bandits and graverobbers, capitalists, terrorists, whatever… but what does fascism do with any of that?

Everyone's plans for the future were pretty vague, but what I really didn't get was the heart of the debate between Signet and the Cadent. It sounded as if they were talking about the same thing with different words sometimes…

The doctor is Jace, correct? Rapid Evening, academic career, stratis, husband and wife, used to be rivals with someone named Rose? I had to relisten to the entire vignette looking for clues and trying to rememer anyone who would fit all of these descriptors.