#senshi en pointe

[unkat]

More drabbles on the Chilaios ems au. (please see Psiroller's beautiful Stop Smoking, We Love You!)

Takes place after Chilchuck's bad call and talk with Laios.

Rating: M for content, nothing spicy yet

contains non-graphic discussions of pregnancy complications, death of children, cancer; backstory things

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When Chilchuck returns to the station after his long weekend and hike with Laios, the sense of dread he had about losing his job has abated, but his guilt over the meeting and anxiety of how his coworkers might react still lingers. He puts his uniform next to his bunk and hovers in the room as he builds up energy to go back into the main areas.

As he steps back into the living room, the whole crew is piled in front of the TV watching some show; no chairs available for him to join in quietly. His palms sweat as all eyes turn on him, leaving him at the mercy of the jury of his peers. Trapped by his employment contract to interact with the men he hasn't spoken to in days after rolling his eyes and scoffing at them for debriefing a call.

Plenty of reason to cause a scene in a lull between the action.

Laios gives a smile from the far seat on the sofa, looking up from his work phone. Someone else speaks to Chilchuck before Laios can open his mouth.

"I saved you the best seat in the house." Isaiah remarks and pats his lap, making no move to shift. Chilchuck can see Laios tense as he tries to decide if he needs to intervene. But this is something he can handle himself.

He saunters over and drops into his lap, shifting a little until he is comfortable. "Thanks, sweetheart." He winks and the other guys jeer at the two of them. He stretches out, and drops his feet onto Dan and head onto Laios. "You really know how to make a guy feel at home, please don't let me interrupt your show."

Dan snickers and grabs his legs to make sure Chilchuck doesn't fall off. He can see Laios covering his mouth with his hand as his chest shakes and he looks away from the rest of the room. Isaiah plays along, "Anything for you, gorgeous." And he pats his stomach before settling back into his seat. The tension that was in the room before has dissipated and the lull returns as they continue to watch King of the Hill. Chilchuck turns his head to see and his hair flops into his face. Laios tucks it away before he can do anything about it.

They make eye contact before Laios has to look away, grin still trying to get onto his face, not that Chilchuck is any better at this point.

Almost at the end of the program, the radio goes off. "Dispatch to Station 9, house fire at address 589 South Pierre Creek Road. Sounds like a backyard barbeque getting out of hand, and the neighbors want it checked out. No injuries reported."

Dan sighs and keys up his radio, "Station 9 to Dispatch, we copy your call for address 589 South Pierre Creek, we will notify you when we are en route."

Chilchuck lifts his legs vertically to let him get up, and Isaiah uses them as a handle to tip him further back and stand up himself. "Sorry gorgeous, but I need to drive the engine."

Chilchuck flops back onto the couch. "Listen, I do more medical only calls than you, I'm doing my job here!"

It gets a few chortles as they leave to gear up. A few minutes later, Isaiah get on the radio as the sirens start and fade into the distance.

It's only him, Senshi, and Laios still in the room after they are gone. Chilchuck looks up at Laios, still not moving from his position laying in his lap. "Hey. Can I talk to you about something?"

Laios looks down at him. "Sure. Do you want to go to the office?"

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Nah, it's not related to this job. It's something someone told me might be good for me to talk about." He shuts his eyes.

"Back when I first started, I was thinkin' about being an EMT for a couple of years before going to paramedic school."

"But then…is this about you not driving?"

"Shut up. Yeah." Chilchuck chuckles. "My work partner and I had a deal, she wanted to keep going with the EMT driving stuff and I had already crashed the truck twice-- never with a patient in the back, stupid shit like backing into a pylon and getting stuck over the curb. I got banished to the passenger's seat, but it worked for us. Gave me practice doing patient care, writing reports, all that shit."

His brows furrow. "I had only just started working when my wife told me she was pregnant, and we got married. We found out we were having twins and I saved all my PTO, all my sick time, talked about taking a leave of absence with my chief, all that stuff. We had a c-section scheduled for 37 weeks, which is pretty good for twins. Pregnancy was rough for her, and it was tough-- it was a high-risk pregnancy, and they were keeping an eye on their size the whole time."

He waves his hand. "There was something called twin-to-twin transfusion that we kept worrying about. Their placentas were too close, and they started getting connected." He meshes his hands together as an example. "The doc hadn't ever seen it like that before, it's only supposed to happen with identical twins who share the same one. Mei was getting bigger than Fler and the docs kept saying it was just something we had to keep an eye on, something we had to watch, come back in two weeks, my schedule isn't available then, Chil can you take a couple hours off to come with me?"

He sighs.

"I was doin' all sorts of overtime with my partner, offering to stay late a couple extra hours to make up for it. And I had other guys who I went through orientation with who were willing to let me ride along without having to do too much driving. We did nights as first on scene emergency BLS, transported if it was BLS appropriate, waited for the paramedic otherwise."

"We were at 29 weeks with the girls, a month and a half out from being a new dad, when we got a call for active labor in our zone. Dispatch asked me if I wanted off the call, because of my wife, and I said are you fuckin' crazy? This is practice for the real deal, send me in."

The room is quiet. Chilchuck speaks again. "We got on scene, and baby was already on his way out. They had been going for a water birth with a midwife, who called us. We had backup coming, but I radioed that in--if the midwife is calling, that means something went wrong."

Laios brushes his fingers through his hair. "They hadn't cut the cord yet, but he was going blue and wasn't crying. I am the medical guy, so I was the one who suctioned his nose and mouth, turned him upside down and slapped him on the back trying to get him to breathe. Then we bagged him, on oxygen, notified dispatch and the medical director. She said to transport. We were less than ten minutes from the nearest women's hospital and waiting for the paramedic wasn't going to make a difference."

He can't speak and Laios says nothing, continuing to pet his hair. Chilchuck opens his eyes. "I was doin' everything they taught us in school, the stuff we always joked would never happen, two finger CPR and pediatric AED and everything. I didn't know if I did something wrong or not. But I lost pulses quick, and the hospital couldn't get them back."

Laios lets him go quiet. "I'm so sorry."

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Don't be. You didn't even know me."

"No, I mean I wish you didn't have to go through that. I'm feel sad for you."

Chilchuck huffs a laugh. "Thanks."

He exhales, relaxing into Laios. "They had another call while we had a smoke outside the hospital, and asked me if I could take it. My crew chief called after it went out and asked me if I needed to come back to the station instead. I said duty calls, we're on it."

He laughs. "Nobody asked if I needed to talk to anyone, I just want home and went to sleep. Afterwards, I didn't know what to say to my wife about it-- I watched someone else's baby die and now I thought our babies were gonna die? So I sat on it, but I was gonna tell her. Then she went into labor two days later, and I had to leave work."

Laios pauses. "How old were they?"

"Twenty-nine weeks and three days. They were so small, less than half the size of the one from my call. It left my heart in my mouth, holding them in my hands, I thought they were going to stop breathing the whole time. Their lungs weren't fully developed either, they had to be tube fed, and they had vision problems."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "All my planning, my saving of my PTO, it was was for nothing, you know? I took a few days off to stay with my wife, we'd go to the NICU in the morning, stay there until it was time to do home, sleep, and do it again. Then I couldn't handle it anymore."

"I went back to work. We brought women to the hospital all the time, but I never told my wife we were there. I felt like I was gonna contaminate them, and bringing money in made sense when she suddenly wasn't working for an extra month. Mei came home after seven weeks, and Fler after nine. Those two weeks was the worst time, cause she had to go back and forth to the NICU to bring milk to Fler while taking care of Mei."

Laios hums his understanding and encouragement. "Did you get some days off then?"

He opens his eyes again. "I didn't offer to take days off, and she didn't ask. We weren't really talking then."

Laios swallows. "That sounds awful."

Chilchuck laughs. "I don't think she ever forgave me for leaving them like that."

Chilchuck goes quiet, throat bobbing as he swallows, opens his mouth, shuts it again, and shrugs, face flushing in embarrassment. Laios keeps his hand in his hair. "You know, I didn't get into EMS right out of high school. I worked at a mechanic's shop where this side of the county brought their trucks for a couple of years. I'd learned a bit from my dad, fixing our car and tractor, but there was a lot of learning I ended up doing on the job."

He smiles softly. "Nothing like Falin. She was good in school, but really good at biology. You know, she was trying to go to med school and cried when she saw an open heart surgery, not because it was scary but because she thought it was so beautiful?"

He looks down at Chilchuck who nods back, listening. "She came out here to go to school, giving up a position at John Hopkins because she wanted to be closer to me, and make connections at Regional. I'd moved out here as soon as I graduated, bought and slept in my car for a couple of months before I could get a job and afford an apartment. I don't regret it, but it was pretty stupid."

He laughs looking to the side, almost wistful. "When she was getting bloodwork done, as a part of her yearly school physical, they found that she had really high, like really high white blood cell counts along with abnormal weight loss. She called me at work and said she had just started an oncology seminar and these were cancer symptoms, that she might have some kind of blood cancer."

"She was so proud of herself for the self-diagnosis, and I was the one freaking out on company time. So, I told my boss it was a family emergency and left. While I was there, I saw the same trucks we would get in the shop at the hospital. It planted the idea in me, you know, that I could do a job I liked rather than one that just put a roof over my head. And maybe I could get some kind of insurance for Falin and I."

He smiles. "So I enrolled in community college EMT classes, got a student loan, and struggled my way through all the classroom bullshit, until I could get on the road. Everything got a lot easier after that for me, but Falin had to take a medical leave halfway through the semester because she was too sick to do her studies. She stayed with me at first, and I would drive her to her appointments and take care of things around the house. Until we went to one of her chemotherapy appointments, and they said she should stay for a couple of nights, to monitor bloodwork. She didn't stay at home much after that."

Chilchuck carefully grabs Laios' hand from its spot tangled in his hair and squeezes it. Laios squeezes back. "That's when I got my job, pretty much. I got my national license and kept pushing ahead, claimed Falin as a dependent on my insurance plan, and worked. I was doing the same thing you were. Bringing people to Regional, thinking I would go see my sister, and realizing I just didn't get the time, and after a point, I wasn't allowed in the same room as her, especially during a shift. Her immune system was too weak, and I was exposed to too many sick people."

Laios rubs his thumb against Chilchuck’s, more of a nervous tick than intentional contact. Chilchuck lets him, opening his mouth to speak.

"She's doin’ better now. What changed?" Laios squeezes his hand.

"She needed a stem cell transplant."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Uh. It's a part of what brought Marcille out here. I saw her on Falin's facebook and saw she worked at a cancer research lab, and I emailed her. We talked."

"And you helped her?"

"Sorta. I was the donor for Falin. Marcille kept talking about our HLAs, protein testing, immunity, medications, experimental therapies. It started going over my head, and she had these medical journals as sources that were. Just. I didn't get it, even when she tried to make it easier. All I cared about was if she could help, what they needed from me. She's amazing, Marcille-- she got Falin and I into clinical trials and took over talking to the oncology team. I don't know what we would have done without her."

Laios gaze wanders off to one of the corners of the room and he goes quiet, the smile having drifted away, replaced by a furrow between his brows. Chilchuck lifts and drops his head back into his thigh. "It all worked out?"

Laios looks back at him and the corners of his mouth perk back up. "Yeah, she's doing better now. And with Marcille here, I don't even hear if there are any problems because she is right there with Falin, and they take care of it. Falin moved in with her after she recovered. Marcille lived closer to the medical school and they were always really close."

"That's good."

"Mhm." Laios lets a moment pass. "I still was worried for a while afterwards. I ended up using the EAP too after Senshi said it might be a good idea to talk to someone about it. I was having dreams and waking up freaking out that she wasn't there, calling her and Marcille way too much. Things are a lot better now."

Chilchuck is the one to squeeze his hand. Laios' smile grows and he squeezes back. "Things work out. They have to."

Chilchuck gives an affirmative hum in response. They should probably move and work on other things, but there is an ease in tension that Chilchuck never realized he had carried into the station, had been carrying for many years alone and coiled in his chest.

He closes his eyes, and Laios does not ask him to move, does not try to slide away, does not untangle their hands. Chilchuck can feel his breath, a silent fond laugh, against his face and can't help it when the corners of his own mouth twitch upwards.

Glossary *BLS=Basic Life Support. Referring to training that is for Emergency Medical Technicians only. BLS trucks have x2 EMTs and no paramedics. *CPR and AED= cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator. Used when someone's heart has stopped. *NICU= Neonatal Intensive Care Unit *EAP= Employee Assistance Program. usually provides some sort of counseling/mental health coverage.

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

[ainosenshifansub]

Wonderful Precure! 15 VOstfr

Le 15ème épisode!

Petite visite du Niko Garden pour Mayu, après tout elle connaît maintenant le secret de nos chères Precure!

On continue les épisodes à la fois un peu lore et un peu chill en attendant l'arrivée des prochaines Precure.

Sans plus tarder, place à l'épisode!

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Guard Point!

Lien DDL: Mega

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Pour rejoindre le Serveur Discord de la Ai no Senshi: - Serveur Discord -

Envie de nouveaux projets et d’autres nouveautés?

N’hésitez-pas à faire un don, si vous pouvez

[maythevoidnotscreamback]

Story Idea: Sailor Moon Apocalypse AU

Think about it!

The world has gone to shit for whatever reason, the Senshi and Mamo have somehow lost access to their powers - some strange form of radiation that affects Star Seeds/Sailor Crystals (just as an example that can also affect Mamo since he's technically as TerranBorn as the rest of the planet that aren't also reborn other-planetary souls from the SilMil) and so they must all survive like regular people, Ami's palmtop goes on the fritz because her magic isn't there/too out-of-wack to power it just as an example, until their bodies have acclimated enough to said radiation.

But!

During said process, they lose access to their civilian identities as their latent off-world DNA activates, for both the Inners and Outers, when they do regain the ability to transform in that they can't detransform afterward; like, they can take their fuku off and wear other clothes and style their hair differently if they want but they're still Senshi who no one seems able to remember, no matter their relation to said Senshi if they have one, that they once existed as normal people with lives outside their transformations. (my HC reason Chibi never knew who the Inners already were in the 90s anime)

Usa, however, loses her identity as SM because her powers as Princess-cum-Queen manifest in its entirety, turning her hair silver in the process, because it happened on Earth instead of her homeworld of the Moon; not that she knew that would happen. And poor Mamo's powers as Prince-cum-King go haywire because the radiation, having permeated his homeworld, his Seat of Power, messed with his Psychometry to the point of being unable to turn it off, as seen by his hair turning purple/lilac, and thus he must always be as fully covered as possible unless within a certain radius of his wife or within the protective walls of the Crystal Palace (my HC reason it's so frickin' huge) his wife made with just such a thing in mind because she'd never be comfortable or happy with the idea that people, whether foreign or native to their planet, would think her husband couldn't think for himself or that he would be considered 'clingy' or 'distrustful' or 'overbearing' of his wife because it looks to outsiders looking in as though he never leaves her alone.

Hell, Usa and Mamo's Royal Ascension (completely unknowing it would happen and thus unprepared for it and the consequences) could be the reason for the Great Freeze! And the result is that while the world slept for a thousand years to heal what damage it could it felt more like it happened in the blink of an eye to all other sentient lifeforms; namely Usa, the Senshi, Mamo and, if one wants to include them, the reborn Shitennou and other planetary inhabitants like the Kinmokuns and Ail and En to name a few.

Anyway! If there's anyone with recs to something like this - the apocalypse AU, not the other shit I said - I would be grateful to be directed on where to find it. I've already read ShnuggleTea's "At World's End" over on Patreon, Black Beyond's "Changed Destiny" over on FFN and am aware of lady-nyx-de-muertos's RoleSwap AU - of which they've posted a drabble fic about it on Ao3 called "A Different Spin" by Heiress_Serene for now - here on tumblr; just so's ya know to not rec those. Thank you!

[timemachineyeah]

S really is the best season of Sailor Moon. I know it became obnoxiously en vogue and pretentious to say that, to the point where it then generated a backlash and it became like "S is your favourite season if you're and edgelord who hates fun" and now I think we're in a neutral place (god I've been in fandom too long) anyway.

Anyway I know all that but. Like, from just a consistent writing and good pacing and coherent characterization standpoint, it's just really good.

Like it has its low points, like the Usagi slap - but even that two-parter isn't entirely ruined by her bad characterization! There's still a lot in there I like!

I think it's fair to say other seasons are your favorite, but by the psuedo-academic standards by which one judges what makes tv "good" (which, yes, are arguably arbitrary, but at least somewhat codified), S is easily the best. It maintains the most tension, makes the best use of all the characters, tells a personal and high stakes story, and ends with a brutal catharsis. (And then, yes, ends in a weird prolonged wrap-up that does in 22 minutes what it could have done in, like, 4. But R ended with a literal clip-show of the upcoming season with voiceover. So.)

Outside of Usagi in her birthday episode and couple tiny moments, I don't feel like any characters are totally shafted by the season. Which isn't something I feel like I can say about any other season. Whether it's The Entire Dark Kingdom and Rei in Classic, Pluto and Mamoru and Chibiusa in R, Usagi and Mamoru and all the Outer Senshi in SuperS, or Basically Everyone in Stars. And that's not me saying I don't love Stars. I do. I probably put Stars, Classic, and R all on the same tier in my head for different reasons. And I think Stars might have the best writing and pacing after S if I ignore previous characterization. Like if I approach Stars as a self-contained story, I think its good. Putting it in context of the overall story? I have notes.

What I'm saying here is that S is the season where I'm most likely to just get into watching it and going "teehee, Usagi! Oh no :( Hotaru. OMG!!! Setsuna!!!" instead of like, "why are they being so mean to each other, why did they make Rei act like this, why did they decide Luna needed to be such a bully, that contradicts something that happened last episode". That's also helped by really pulling back from the victim of the week. Instead of spending a bunch of time introducing a character we are never going to see again and telling their story while the girls kind of float around the sidelines and fight a monster, the episodes either do the bare minimum to establish their victim of the week or just make one of the main characters the victim of the week, allowing for each main character to get a dedicated episode. The "green ranger"-esque dynamic between the inner and outer senshi is compelling. The villains are fun. IDK. It's a good season. It's good TV.

It's the season I most feel like my brother could walk in on me watching and just decide to hang out and watch it with me, because even without context it is engaging, episode to episode.

[animecreator3000]

About the Boueibu iceberg

@delphoxqueen asked me to explain about my list for the iceberg so here it is. I might update this from time to time with links and stuff if I stumble across the original posts. This is all from what I know so feel free to add new info. Also, spoiler warning for RobiHachi and the Boueibu manga and novels. (This is like a masterpost it’s very long)

1. There’s a theory in tumblr about which decade the series is set in, using data like the friday the 13th calendar in s2 ep11. In HK we got a second number for when the next monthly Pretty Boy Contest was happening and using the one from Love it was theorized that around a decade had passed since then, which ended up being true.

2. The stage play had a few original songs and characters exclusive to it so unless you watched the full performance, you probably weren’t able to witness all of them. One of the characters is called “Robato Deniro”, as romanized in the stage play booklet I own.

3. The nurse and the cafeteria staff from the s1 mobile game appear in the background in around the first half of s2 ep3.

4. S2 had an unfinished manga that was only available online and was never released on physical format; it was centered around the defense club and sometimes the conquest club and Beppu brothers. All that’s left from what I know are the scans linked on magicalgirlsandcerulean’s blog.

5. This isn’t that obscure because it’s talked about in the anime, but I’m mentioning it because I think many people dropped it before the ova, where right at the beginning it is revealed that the alien that resucitated Mr. Tawarayama twice was, as described by Io, a “mulberry-colored naked mole rat-looking thing”, and was nicknamed “Moley-san” by Yumoto. At least in the anime, we had never heard before of who this was and it never appeared on screen nor was mentioned again.

6. In HK ep8, Karurusu promises the knights to grant a wish if they show him how earthlings spend summer. Kyoutarou reveals at the end of the episode that he wished that summer lasted one more day so he could spend it doing nothing, which prompts Ichiro to theorize that it’s the 32nd of august, and the next day is the second 1st of september.

7. The stage play was was held from march 10th to 13rd, of which the latter is Ryuu’s birthday. There’s an additional recording of a small celebration with cake focused on Ryuu and Io.

8. Atsushi mentions his older sister in the flashback at the beginning of s1 ep4, but she never appears or is mentioned again.

9. There’s a few posts on tumblr theorizing about what happened to the Hakone parents since Yumoto only says in s2 ep3 that according to Gora, “they are busy with their hot springs tour”. En mentions that it’s a bit suspicious, but it’s all the information we have from the anime. Posts talk about the parents perhaps passing away from an accident or an illness, thus the reason why Gora was so worried about Yumoto’s cold in s1 ep10, but from another post I think it’s implied in the second novel that they actually left their home when Yumoto was still a toddler.

10. It’s no secret that the surnames of the characters are all real onsens in Japan that even the seiyuus have visited, but apparently the Arima onsen has two different kinds of water, “kinsen (gold hot spring)” and “ginsen (silver hot spring)”, with different properties each, and the Kusatsu onsen water also has certain properties, both that were used to build the characters. Additionally, Ryuu’s favorite food are Sato Nishiki cherries, which are grown in the same prefecture, Yamagata, as his onsen, Zaou.

11. The press club lose relevance after s1, with only Kinosaki and Tazawa reappearing briefly in s2 ep2 to interview the Beppu twins after they arrive at the school. Tazawa doesn’t even have lines. Hireashi is mentioned by Zundar in ep11.

12. What the heck

13. Exclusively in the manga we see that Arima met Kinshiro and Atsushi when they were little and they were good friends, but when they met again as adults, Kinshiro seemingly didn’t remember Arima. Atsushi, however, stated that Kinshiro’s talent is remembering people’s faces and names, so Arima wonders if he’s just trying to distance himself from him. He also explains to Akoya that he follows Kinshiro and obeys him because as a child, he was fascinated by his radiant smile. This is never talked about in the anime.

14. Like the previous point, the anime never shows Akoya being bullied, at most just a slight dislike of his full name, but the manga shows that he was made fun of for it and how he actually hates his surname, to the point of introducing himself formally to the president and vicepresident of the student council as “Holy Angel Akoya”.

15, 16, 17, 19. Batonama lives were the livestreams done through the franchise by the defense club seiyuus on youtube and niconico. They’re all on youtube, without any kind of translation.

Love-ko is a girl with a shell bikini drawn on a piece of cardboard that was used as a girlfriend in the Batonama Love! lives, acted by the seiyuus themselves.

RobiHachi has one episode full of official Boueibu artwork and a parody of the series too, a Love-ko doll appears, and Wombat appears as well, named “The Don”. It received an english dub, so for a bit, people were excited that Wombat was going to speak in english too. Also, various mechas appear in both Boueibu and RobiHachi.

18. The director of Fairy Ranmaru (Masakazu Hishida if I’m not wrong) revealed in an interview that he was inspired by Boueibu and aimed to make a show like that.

20, 21. The website super-groupies.com has results for defense and conquest club lingerie sets, dc and VEPPer tote bags, the Beppus’ scarf rings, dc bath sets and the pumps magicalgirlsandcerulean mentioned. I’ve found the s1 Loveracelets and Caerula Adamas’ ring on different sites, the True Loveracelets on TheChara’s twitter and the Happybraces (apparently called “Hapibure”) on broccoli.co.jp but I’m not sure where exactly they were all announced and sold, so I’ll just drop that.

22, 33. Boueibu was originally pretty much a copy of Sailor Moon, I think they were all going to be called “Lackluster Moon” and that stuff and be literally Sailor Moon genderbent. They were all different from color palettes to physical features (except Yumoto’s), and Ryuu was a shota, even smaller than Yumoto. Their names were also very reminiscent of the five Sailor Senshis’. Even if they made it more original, the show is still clearly inspired by Sailor Moon (just look at Caerula Adamas lol) and Pretty Cure. It has also referenced, very blatantly, animes like Doraemon, Detective Conan, Aikatsu and even Vocaloid, when Kyoutarou tries to guess what Karurusu is saying with ““Just Google It, Asshole”?” in ep1.

23. Wombat’s real name and the name of his planet sound like gibberish to the earthlings and ends up being named after the Earth animal, but Zundar, Dadacha, Karurusu and Furanui all have original names. And I think Hireashi means “goldfish”?

24. If you google “zundar technology”, it’s actually a company in Shanghai, China. Aren’t Wombat and Zundar always talking about “advanced alien technology”?

25. Zundar and Dadacha are siblings, so are Karurusu and Furanui, and so are their father King Kamopapa and their uncle minister Wao, but neither are the same species and, except the first two, not even the same color. But they are supposedly related because they share birthmarks or something like that...

26. Everyone who’s in this fandom knows about the pixel blur and voice pitch censor from s1, but I’ve added it anyway because it’s so rare for mahou shoujo and shounen animes to explain why the heroes aren’t recognized when transformed.

27. A good while of s2 ep11 is spent discussing Zundar’s ex-wife and his problems to give child support. Naturally, he gets mad at this.

28. “Money doesn’t betray” (s1 ep6) and “The despair hidden behind your smile that comes from not being understood” (s3 ep11) are sentences that came out of nowhere and implied that the people they were said by (Io) or about (Taiju) respectively had some kind of angst going on but were never explained at all. They’re famous for just that.

29. The Beppu twins’ house in Andromeda shown in flashbacks had strange green circles that apparently are from another anime I don’t know but honestly I didn’t get it very well... It was revealed on a tweet from Takamatsu.

30. Alien language mostly appeared in s2 due to the many flashbacks of Aki and Haru in Andromeda, but in Boueibu s1, it appears on the Zundar Needle before it is shot on the human. It appears a lot through RobiHachi as well, due to being a story about travelling through space. There might be an alphabetical chart somewhere, but I can’t assure it exists, I might even have dreamed it.

31. Hikaru Midorikawa as the melon monster, Kousuke Toriumi as the bishounen monster, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as the kotatsu and panda monsters and Takuya Eguchi as the remote controller monster in s1 and 2, before going on to voice the main cast in HK. Keisuke Koumoto voiced Hatchi Kita in RobiHachi as well as Akihiko in Boueibu, and the characters look similar.

A new addition is that so far Boueibu is the only anime I’ve seen where children weren’t voiced by female seiyuus, but by actual children. Personally, it’s charming and makes it so much more realistic, specifically since no women appear in the franchise at all either (not counting Protag-chan in the game).

32. Speaking of seiyuus, Can I Destroy The Earth? had a dub shown in ep11/12 (?) that made Gora the villain that wanted Earth to stay the same and not progress, against the monsters that supposedly wanted to bring good things to earthlings. Aki and Haru quickly dismissed this dub as fake. (I made a mistake in the title in the previous post btw)

34. As seen in the glossary in the Boueibu Mook (I think, but might not be the mook), Caerula Adamas’ speeches are based on an old japanese detergent commercial that went “Gold, silver, pearl, gift”.

35. In the manga there’s a short parody of the first chapter of Sailor Moon with “Pretty Boy Guardian Gakuran Akoya”. The conquest club manga was released before the anime, so I remember reading somewhere that a fake website appeared for the Gakuran Akoya manga, before turning into the conquest club manga website in the day of its release.

36. Cgi was used a few times in the anime: s2 ep10 for a short sequence of the defense club on a rollercoaster and the carousel monster, ep11 for a cenital shot of the Battle Lovers singing, and HK ep12 for the Honyalaland soldiers and the Wao mecha.

37. The toothbrush incident in s1 ep7. (It’s definitely well-known but it’s so weird lol)

38. “We hope we can see each other again someday!” Something along those lines was the last text to appear in the last episode of HK, implying a s2. We all know how that went.

[sanjuno]

Sanjuno? Everything but the title on the original Music of the Spheres post seems to have somehow disappeared (Tumblr won't let me link it). Is there any chance you have it somewhere else? Pretty please?

Ah, I looked but I didn’t save it anywhere. 

In brief summary, Music of the Spheres kicks off right after the end of both series.

Ikkuko dyed her hair black and took her husband’s name when she found out that her little brother was a criminal. So Ikkuko is actually where Usagi and Shingo get their blonde hair and blue eyes from.

Iemitsu drops the ball yet again because he didn’t give his sister any security the same way he didn’t protect his wife and son.

So enemies of the Vongola find out and kidnap Ikkuko and Shingo, leaving Kenji comatose in the hospital. Usagi doesn’t get grabbed because she was on her honeymoon. (I meant it when I said this kicked off right after the end of the series.)

Tsuna freaks out when he discovers that he has close relatives only when a ransom demand is sent to the Iron Fort. Tsuna immediately sends security to take Kenji into protective custody and said security experiences multiple panic attacks when they run into Usagi and her COSMIC MOON POWER levels of Sky Flames. Usagi was in the hospital because she was sneakily using her powers to heal her dad.

The Senshi are already mobilizing to track down Ikkuko and Shingo when the Vongola team shows up. So Usagi is like “Hmm, suspicious.” and agrees to go with them under the assumption that they’re the same people who kidnapped her mom and Shingo. Magic tracking program activate!

Then Usagi gets whisked away to the Iron Fort where she proceeds the charm all the Mafia men, seduce all their women, and yeet Iemitsu out the nearest window every time he enters her personal space.

“Shoot.” Goes Usagi. “They really meant it when they said they were here to protect me. Now how am I supposed to find out where Mama and Shingo are?”

Shenanigans happen which include Usagi being challenged to a Mafia duel (she steals Chikusa’s yo-yos and kicks ass), an attack that prompts Usagi to scream in self-defense and shatter every window within a kilometre of her position, and either a ball or figure skating event where Usagi and Belphegor steal the show.

Mamoru is currently on a quest to resurrect his Shitennou which is why he isn’t playing much of a part in this aside from Usagi turning down courtship offers with a blunt “I’m already married.”

Then someone decides to offer up a Guardian candidate instead and Usagi’s just like... “No. Rei-chan would kill them.” And Tsuna scrambles to send people to pick up Usagi’s Guardians. The Senshi descend on the Iron Fort en masse and proceed to terrify the Rainbow Mafia.

Things happen, Usagi reveals that Zero Point Breakthrough is the same as the crystal cocoon defence we see Neo-Queen Serenity use during the Crystal Tokyo Arc. Probably while she’s ripping through the enemy goons to rescue her mother and brother. I’m still debating over having the enemy Familglia suffer from demonic possession of some kind.

Maybe someone trying to get the same powers the Vindice have who fucks up real bad and now there’s negative energies infecting everything.

After the rescue succeeds, Kawahira drops by and gets outed as “General Odysseus” much to his mingled joy and terror because “Yay! The Princess is alive and can take over keeping the world stable!” but also “Oh shit! The Princess is alive and was kinda pro-Earth I am going to die.”

Tsuna doesn’t know if he’s horrified or overjoyed because suddenly there’s a Sky that’s stronger than he is and Tsuna doesn’t have any experience with that. Usagi being who she is, has a Sky vast enough to encompass the entire sol system and that’s frankly terrifying to think about. 

But long story short the Senshi use the Vongola as a springboard to track down Flame Actives and train them as proper Mages so that the other Planets can be revived and inhabited again. Which means that Crystal Tokyo is not the future that results from this AU but Usagi’s honestly happier about this ending.

There may be an aside where Mamoru and the Shitennou grab the Shimon and any other Earth Flames they can find to repopulate Elysium too.

The End.

[callistochan87]

To fit with Sailor Callisto and Sailor Eos, here’s Sailor Persephone, who has never been drawn (or seen in the story) since her profile pictures were drawn in 2002, perfect 🙃

She was the soldier of springtime, because Persephone is a spring goddess and I hadn’t even thought of the “Queen of Hades” connotations back then,  although that would’ve been a sweet twist. I referenced a ballerina dancing en pointe for this, because all I remembered was that she was a horrendously shy smart girl that went to the swanky private school that, uh, sounds so fricking Japanese, you guys /s. Anyway I thought that meant she was the arty type, so ballerina would fit, especially with the “delicate” aesthetic, but then I looked it up and, uh, nope, Art was her least favourite subject, so I was clearly going more for Ami Mizuno, Science Queen rather than ballerina delicate.

Anyway referencing a dancing ballerina and then trying to change the ballet shoes to regular heels, and also not standing on her toes means the legs look awkward, but I think when you train to do ballet your joints will be able to easily turn like that. Still looks painful and awkward.

Not going to lie, her name is Sakura Haruno, and...I honestly never watched Naruto. I actually think Naruto was out just a little before the period (2000 for the manga in Japan; 2003 for the anime in Japan -- longer if you’re looking at the English dub, which is what I would’ve more likely been exposed to.) I don’t even remember it at that time period, although my anime consumption was limited to Sailor Moon and Pokémon.

She actually wouldn’t have been too bad--I mean, still anime, and Sakura is just LMAO, but like...those green streaks in the hair, why? I remember being annoyed whenever I requested a picture and they didn’t include it, too. Honestly was thinking the hair looked quite nice, and then I added the streaks and it wasn’t 😂

Also 14-year-old me was so stoked about the flower scrunchie as a senshi, enough so that I literally pointed it out on her profile. (Also, are scrunchies even a thing still, or am I dating myself again? I’ve never had hair long enough to tie back except for once, and even then I just used your plain hair elastics).

And thank God for that, otherwise I might not have made it the right colour 😂 I don’t have any colour pictures of her left, so I’m really guessing as to the specific shades of green and yellow that I used--with the handful of requested/not by me images out there, it’s really up to each artist and how they drew, so I took a stab at it based off my knowledge of colour schemes back then (BRIGHT) and what I think looks good now.

Also I knew she had an attack that was basically Razor Leaf from Pokémon - sharp-edged leafy projectiles. I thought it was cherry blossom petals, or at the very least petals, because, you know Sakura? Her literal actual name? Plus the pink contrasts with the green, since she was the Jupiter expy?

nah mate it was just leaves. just boring leaves. It literally was Razor Leaf.

perfect

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#220-211)

#220: Yiannis Dimitras -- Feggari Kalokerino (Greece 1981)

"Κοίτα τον έρημο γυαλό Σου ψιθυρίζω σ’ αγαπώ Τώρα θα χτίσω εκκλησιά Για της αγάπης τα τρελά παιδιά" "Look at the desolate seashore I whisper you “I love you” Now I’ll build a church For the crazy children of love" The opening shot, the rose on the piano, set the stage for such a romantic journey under the summer moon. And the soundscape created through the piano and instrumental throw us into this endearing scene, one which is also tinged with melancholy. Feggari Kalokerino is not only an ode to this beauty, but also an admission of craziness for falling in love. With such pretty lyrics, one can't help but get enveloped in this pretty world, where everything is so beautiful. The combination of Yiannis' singing and the woman's piano playing is also quite cute, albeit with some...interesting undertones to it. Either way, it's classical yet timeless.

Personal ranking: 3rd/20 Actual ranking: 8th/20 in Dublin

#219: Liliane Saint-Pierre -- Soldiers of Love (Belgium 1987)

“Neem elkaars handen Smeed nou die banden toe Hoor je die verre kreet? Geen mens vraagt dat leed” “Take each other’s hands Come on, weld those bonds Do you hear that distant scream? Nobody asks for that suffering” Top ten opening themes of anime, haha. It also helps that "Soldiers of Love" is the English translation for the song "Ai no Senshi" from Sailor Moon (which I've listened to many times but haven't gotten that far into the anime...). That said, Soldiers of Love packs a punch with the instrumentation and the high intensity of the melody. The lyrics are a powerful battle cry, albeit one which advocates for peace amongst people. There’s so much energy and determination in Belgium’s host entry, one would prepare themselves for battle for a good cause. Liliane really delivers this earnestly and with determination, though sometimes the military-style get-up stands out to me the most when I watch it again. Though those two guitarists turning their ends as if they were firing guns is a cool thing to behold.

It's one of the host entries that is better than the song which one it for the country, which is something because J'aime la vie is considered a fan favorite.

Personal ranking: 6th/22 Actual ranking: 11th/22 in Brussels

#218: Beth -- Dime (Spain 2003)

"Cuántas veces te llamé en la noche Cuántas veces te busqué Por mis recuerdos yo vuelvo Y no pierdo la fe" "How many times did I call you in the night? How many times did I look for you? I return for my memories And I don’t lose faith" For some reason, Dime reminds me of "Die for You" from two years earlier--both feature modern pop bops with ethnic influences, both imploring about the state of a relationship (while they both want to make it wor. And they're both in the same key! At the same time, Dime holds its own as one of the strongest 2000s entries from Spain. They had similar flamenco/Latin inspired entries in 2001 and 2004, which were highlights in rather mediocre years because of their uniqueness overall. But the guitar flourishes here work well with the dance beat, and it provides its own fun.

Personal ranking: 3rd/26 Actual ranking: 8th/26 in Riga

#217: Svala -- Paper (Iceland 2017)

“Drawing every bit of my truth Colour me in with your blue” I didn’t actually pay attention to this song in the follow-up to the 2017 contest. I also didn’t watch the semi-finals, which could’ve led to me neglecting the song entirely otherwise, especially I've heard a lot about Blackbird during that time. However, the summer after the contest, I discovered the song and listened to it. And I liked it! (And then I got hooked with Svala's other songs through her different groups) I was interested particularly in the lyrics, which discussed a fight between one’s mental demons and anxiety. I like the English version more than the Icelandic one; the latter is a bit more optimistic on winning against the battle whereas the former really takes the issue seriously. The production, while a bit staid, added to the feeling of helplessness with its electronic coldness. The staging also tries to incorporate this, though it didn't work in making it stand out. (I did like Svala's cape and makeup, though!) While I do love "Hear them Calling" a lot, I had a more interesting journey with Paper--it grew until it became something I highly enjoyed. Personal ranking: 6th/42 Actual ranking: DNQ -- 15th in the first semi-final in Kyiv

#216: Live Report -- Why Do I Always Get it Wrong? (United Kingdom 1989)

“You can do what you want to do now...” Honestly, this has to be one of my favorite British entries ever. While "Go" from the previous year gets a lot of acclaim because of its songwriting and Scott's performance (along with how it ended up second in the end), "Why Do I Always Get it Wrong?" is better on how it envelops a mood and could actually be found from this era (though it sadly didn't do too well commercially afterwards, sigh)

Whenever I do something wrong, or self-hate, this is the song I turn to a lot. The synthesizers drew me in—it fit well with the late 1980s-early 1990s sound elsewhere. It's also helped that Celine performed "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" earlier in the contest, which piqued my interest. And while Ray’s ponytail was a choice, it didn’t distract from how he delivered the song.

Despite getting more 12-points, it ended up losing to Yugoslavia by just six points that year. While not my favorite that year, I think it was the better one of the top three; it equally reflects the times and holds up!

Personal and actual ranking: 2nd/22 in Lausanne

#215: Tommy Nilsson -- En Dag (Sweden 1989)

“En dag vi alla förstår, En dag, när stillheten rår, En dag jag finner din hand, När vägarna möts förstår vi varann,” “One day, we all understand, One day, when silence rules One day, I find your hand When our roads meet, we will understand each other” My two favorites from 1989 are sonically different, diverging between despair and hope. I listen to "Why Do I Always Get it Wrong" a bit more, but "En Dag' would stand out for me in a few different ways, more from being just the optimistic song of the two.

The intro features really good brass, which leads way to the fun instrumental. I like how it builds, and Tommy’s interplay with the backing vocalists is incredibly strong. You get a sense of energy from the both of them as they send the song to new heights.

Basically, it's just glorious!

Personal ranking: 1st/22 Actual ranking: 4th/22 in Lausanne

Final Impressions of 1989: It's a pretty fine year, both in songs in production. There are a number of good songs there, though not many classics which hold out in the long-term (except for Vi maler byen rød, which became famous in Denmark and even became the premise of a musical!). Highlights include an overactive conductor from Turkey, two children, and an awesome interval act involving a crossbow!

#214: Bang -- Stop (Greece 1987)

“Ότι κάνεις για δόξα και λεφτά Δες τι χάνεις, αλλού είναι η χαρά”

“Whatever you do is for fame and money See what you are missing, joy is somewhere else”

I’ve heard this song compared to Wham’s output, especially with its vintage rock-n-roll sound (wake me up before you go go). This doesn’t make it any less bad, with its charming tone and thoughtful lyrics about how a girl who only wants material goods should stop chasing them.

(This is another reason why sometimes, the original-language version is better that any other one--the English version to this song has goes on a completely different tangent)

The performance also falls into vintage aesthetics, with the suits for both Thanos and Vassilis and sock-hop style dresses for the backing vocalists. It's really cute, and the way they dance fits the scene.

On another note, apparently Greeks saw this as a favorite at the time, can someone verify that?

Personal ranking: 5th/22 Actual ranking: 10th/22 in Brussels

#213: Guy Bonnet -- Marie-Blanche (France 1970)

“Nous sommes là dans une douce quiétude Nous avons mis fin à notre solitude Nos corps apprennent de tendres habitudes Et Marie-Blanche est à moi”

“We’re there in a soft stillness We’ve put an end to our loneliness Our bodies learn tender habits And Marie-Blanche is mine”

By 1970, chanson was on its way out; in its place was folk, rock-n-roll (spearheaded in France by Johnny Halladay, who has a great French version of "House of the Rising Sun"), and psychadelia. Within France itself, some of the #1 singles from that year include Comme j'ai toujours envie d'aimer, Let It Be, and Bridge over Troubled Water (a total masterpiece, I tell you).

So, what does one make of Marie-Blanche, in this case?

It's a really sweet love poem, in which Guy declares his love for the girl. and conveys a particularly cute scene. Whenever I listen to this, I envision two lovers cuddling inside while watching the snow fall during the winter. There's a sense of magic and serenity in all this, and the lyrics match the pretty piano melody.

Basically, hits are important to keep the contest alive. But songs like Marie Blanche can pull on the feels in the right ways.

Personal ranking: 2nd/12 Actual ranking: =4th/12 in Amsterdam

#212: Justyna -- Sama (Poland 1995)

“I czuła się tak marnie Poczuła się tak marnie Jakby Bóg, dobry Bóg Nie lubił pcheł..”

“And I feel poor Feeling so poor As if God, the good God Didn’t love little fleas...”

If 1994’s To nie ja represented something classic and hopeful, 1995’s Sama takes it and reverses it. (And in the grand Eurovision timeline, they're only separated by the last song of 1994, Je suis un vrai garcon from France) Instead of a young woman filled with life and singing a decent ballad, we have another one pondering herself, all alone, with nobody to help her.

Also, this is more of an acquired taste with its out-of-tune recordings and Justyna’s scream. But it doesn’t feel out of place within the 1990s, with its alternative influences and production, and I like Sama a lot for that!

Unfortunately, it also caused it to do substantially worse, which is simultaneously explainable and baffling. A good result would've made waves for future Eurovision entries; the 1990s are my favorite decade, but they did misalign quite a bit from the mainstream.

Personal ranking: 7th/23 Actual ranking: 18th/23 in Dublin

#211: The Shadows -- Let Me Be the One (United Kingdom 1975)

"You and I could have an affair/make sweet music, go anywhere"

Isn't this lyric really charming? I couldn't help but have a little giggle because of it; there's a sense of naughtiness (especially with choosing "affair"; are they trying to something illicit?) underneath it.

That said, The Shadows are mainly known for their instrumental rock, but Let Me Be the One has a neat melody line. The rock-n-roll vibe, which could be released within that decade, is light but lovely, and added a jolt of uniqueness to the otherwise poppy contest up to that point. The flubbed line in the beginning ("let me be the one who literally holds you tight", haha) adds to the whole thing, but they were able to carry on, nevertheless.

And while I like all the 1970s winners to some extent, I would switch out "Ding-a-Dong" for Let Me Be the One in terms of winners vs. runners-up; like with Sama, it could've changed the contest in a positive way.

Personal ranking: =3rd/19 Actual ranking: 2nd/19 in Stockholm

[furederiko]

"Shin Sakura Taisen Rekidai Kayoushuu" Review (Part 2)

SEGA boldly (or is it a risky move?) introduces new Kagekidans that represent new cities with this game. Not one or two, but just THREE for now, with a fourth one debuting later in the Spring TV series. Track 4 to 6 of the album are specifically slotted for these new heroines...

Contrary to reports in various sites that had reported them as such, in my opinion, these are definitely NOT character image songs. Kouhei Tanaka-sensei has openly referenced them as "[City Name] GEKITEI". So these sit in line with Paris Kagekidan's "Mihata no Moto ni" and New York Kagekidan's "Chijou no Senshi". Whatever happens to those teams, by the way? Hmmm...

One might argue that unlike "Shin GEKITEI", only one member sings these songs. But they seem to forget one thing: Sakura Shinguuji sang solo on the first vanilla version of that song. I don't know what the future holds, but there's a possibility that in the sequel(s), we might get another take of these songs that incorporate other members of their teams. For two of them, at least. We'll just have to wait and see. For now, let's embark on a globetrotting journey!

Niji no Kanata (Other Side of the Rainbow) by. Huang Yui (Sumire Uesaka)

As soon as I heard the full version, I wasn't completely sure how I felt about it. Surprisingly, I think I enjoyed the short MV version better. When SEGA started releasing one MV after another, starting from Berlin to this one, "Shanghai GEKITEI" totally stole my attention. I proudly declared it as my favorite of the three. Perhaps because the verses felt more concise (with less instrumental parts) that made it sound more... kickass? Even though it had a somewhat odd lyric, which you will understand why. This full-length version somehow exuded a different vibe. The verses were longer, which was the bit that I'm not too fond of. On the other hand, the lyrics flowed better and made more sense. And then there's an issue with Yui's voice. She had a playful and childlike tone in "Aratanaru". Assuming that's her who got the shortest line in the interlude, of course. I prefer the more gallant take that she used here, but the inconsistency threw me off. Suffice to say, I had to hear it a few times to finally get the hang of it. But goodness gracious, the Chinese vibe, which was even stronger (that should be obvious, I know! Ahaha), never failed to win me over. Just like the verses, the instrumental portions were also longer, thus giving it a slower and elegant pace. That serenading sound of Erhu just hit my soft spot every single time, likely resonating with some part of my genes. Combined that with a blast of modern instruments, and it blew me away. I sure want to see a live orchestra perform this with a Chinese theatre dance to accompany it! Its lyrics, courtesy of Ouji Hiroi, carried a similar message of Teito, Paris, and New York themes. Protect the city, its people, and seize the dream. Why does the title use 'Rainbow', though? Especially considering 7, while being a good number for a relationship, is considered as unlucky in Mandarin (ghost month). The key is in the kanji for 'Rainbow', because it is also known as 'Hong' or 'Jiang', the name of a two-headed dragon in Chinese mythology. And what does the symbol of Shanghai Kagekidan look like? Yep, a DRAGON! So while in Japanese it literally translates as "Other Side of the Rainbow", the context also points to it being "Other Side of the Dragon". Even though it might take me a while to get used to this, and it's no longer my number one, it's an amazing piece nonetheless. I'm old, so I'm not familiar with Sumire Uesaka's pop songs. But so far, I haven't heard her sang a song like this. As Kouhei-sensei had stated, these new "GEKITEI" were composed to challenge the VAs vocal prowess. That seems to be the case here, to which Uesaka did a great job! PS: Wikipedia told me that Uesaka is a fan of Russia. I wonder how she would feel if she was cast as a leader of the Moscow Kagekidan instead?

Entaku no Kishi (Knights of the Round Table) by. Lancelot (Manami Numakura)

Just like the previous song, I had a completely opposite reaction to this as well. It honestly took a while for me to like or even understand the London Kagekidan theme when its official MV first came out. This full anthem also sounds different but in a far more positive light! How so? The second Westminster Bells kicked off, my mouth grinned so wide. Then the music slowly developed into that familiar tone, but continued to build up even more with meticulous touches and flares of fanfare, horns, trumpets, and an electrifying mix of the electric guitar. And suddenly I was transported into the medieval era, with images of brave knights flashing on my mind, en route for a battle to protect the land. Daaaang... Kouhei-sensei totally knows how to make something sound so graceful, yet gallant and rich, huh?! A sensation that young'uns nowadays would easily call 'EPIC'. My lingering issue with this song remains as-is: Manami Numakura's voice. Don't get me wrong, she is a wonderful VA with a unique vocal tone (Kohaku in "Dr. STONE", right?). I'm just not a fan of her singing voice, never was since her Idolmaster days. Even when it's my least favorite part of the song, that tomboy-ish charm blends perfectly with the song and gives it a distinct sound. The end result is something that continues to delight me and puts a smile on my face. Oh, what about the title, you ask? I think it's obvious enough. London Kagekidan is clearly based on the tales of King Arthur. Arthur is (likely, the code-name of) its blond-haired, high priest-dressed Captain, while our female lead here is the loyal Lancelot. It intrigued me when the lyrics, by Shouko Fujibayashi, mentioned 12 knights just like its lore. Does the team really have that many members? Assuming it will feature in the sequel, that would be fun to see. Then again, Idolmaster started out with 10(+1) idols, so I'm sure Lancelot would fit along just fine! Hahahaha... PS: Do you think that echoing bell at the intro and interlude sound convincing? Well, Kouhei-sensei said they actually recorded it at the actual location! Another good reason to appreciate this song.

Kurogane no Hoshi (Iron Star) by. Elise (Nana Mizuki)

*standing ovation* This. This IS a SCARY song! And by scary, I mean what a challenge it IS to pull off. Imagine trying to do at least an okay job at this in a karaoke booth? Godspeed. Nuh-uh, I don't think this song will work without Nana Mizuki's powerful vocals. Not just because I'm a fan of her, or have always wanted her to be part of this franchise. But I love Elise because she adds that much-needed heavier tone to the cast. Her brief but scene-stealing lines in "Aratanaru" proved that notion. You could easily recognize her voice amidst the chorus. If you think the short MV version (the actual first 1:20 minutes) that you see above already sounds amazing, just wait till you hear the middle part of this song. It slowed down, with various strings gently swayed you to enter another realm. Then it went FULL OPERA, with a piercing vocal work that would send nothing but genuine shivers to your soul! Goosebumps. All the time. The music had clear influences of Wagner's compositions, and those who are at least aware of classical music (or have seen "ClassicaLoid Season 2" Hahaha) would probably notice that almost immediately. Song of Valkyrie, anyone? Because of that, Kouhei-sensei personally did the arrangement for this number, seeing that it required a full-blown orchestra ensemble. Sensei showed the first part of the music sheets during one of the Teigeki Report, and I had a feeling it must've blown away everyone who saw it. I mean, Seijuurou Kamiyama's VA Youhei Azakami was literally jaw-dropped. He also revealed that Nana went above and beyond on that last high note, hitting it longer than she was supposed to, in time for the grand orchestra finish. Seriously, goosebumps. It is certainly one of the highlights of the album, and you DEFINITELY need to listen to this. Also, this is the only Kagekidan theme that I'm not sure can work as a group song. It IS still a Berlin Kagekidan song, proclaiming the might and power of the team that started it all. But can it be performed by a team of Hoshigumi? Dealing with that complicated lyrics by Shouko Fujibayashi ("...Schwarzer Stern, kurogane no hoshi..."), and fast-paced tempo will undoubtedly leave them breathless. Now I'm patiently counting the days to see Nana perform this in a live concert! Mindblown... PS: By the way, original Hanagumi's "Dream/Yume no 1 Pound" and Kanadegumi's "Enbukyoku, Kimi ni" came to mind when I tried to analyze this song. Presumably due to that middle part, which is true to Kouhei-sensei's style. You'll be hearing that magic touch of him again in some of the next tracks.

Next: the curtain rises for the Shin Hanagumi ladies!

Video is available on SEGA Official Youtube Channel. "Shin Sakura Taisen" is produced by SEGA, and RED Entertainment. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[datshq]

Wow, this episode was a real waste of time, but it was also really fun? Mostly because all of En's plans came crashing down on her through her own actions. She practically invited Ali to ruin the play and alienated everyone around her to make, not even the play happen, but a kiss that wasn't going to get her anywhere anyway. Basically, the plot is the classic set up of an unlikeable douchenozzle acting obnoxiously just so that the viewer can point and laugh when they get their comeuppance. And yeah, seeing En get smacked around by one of their own Cardians and then get verbally trashed by Ali for being so utterly useless was very satisfying.

The major downside is that this episode feels like it tried to be En’s character depth episode to match Ali’s own a couple of episodes back. Except that Ali’s episode was earnest and concluded with him doing a sweet gesture for En, while En spent this entire episode acting petty, selfish and entitled and taking everything Ali does for her for granted. Basically, the pity the Senshi feel towards her feels completely undeserved, since all the time they were worried about how lonely she was, En was planning how to molest Mamoru against his will.

The Senshi themselves were also somewhat fun. The fight at the start was a bit forced, but it worked out in the end, since the girls do get along outside of that, so it wasn't that serious. There was a bit too much focus on En's absolutely idiotic kiss scheme for my tastes, when they could have set up more comedy with the Senshi, but the final fight against the Cardian let them all chew the scenery so I'm satisfied.

[caffeineivore]

Fic for Charlie

Prompt from @charliechaplin2blr: Makoto making chicken broth, “talent”, another senshi.

RP-verse, possibly.

***

“That thing is hideous.” 

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t care about your opinion on its looks, Mina.” Efficient hands lift the carcass of last night’s roast chicken out of its pan and lowers it into the stock pot. “Now, get those pieces of celery and onion and those carrot peels. And the rosemary and thyme and ginger.”

“Which ones are they?” Mina slides over the bits and pieces of vegetable, including peels of carrots leftover from the carrot cake currently baking away in the oven. 

“The one with the tiny leaves and the one with the leaves that almost looks like pine needles, but a bit fatter. If you don’t recognize ginger, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Mina makes a face at the direction of the kitchen but obediently goes towards the flats and pots of herbs sunning on the living room balcony with the kitchen shears and a bowl, then returns with her small harvest as Mackenzie chops up what looks to be more carrots and onions, as well as potatoes. 

“Okay. That one there is dill, not thyme.” Mackenzie barely manages to refrain from laughing at Mina’s expression. “It’s not a big deal! I can make some potato salad later-- stop looking like someone just ran over your cat!”

“I am too smart, and cunning, and quite possibly Machiavellian, to be defeated by something so plebeian as a New York taxi driver, thank you,” an offended voice comes from the direction of the living room.

“If you’re so smart, you should’ve helped her find the thyme, Smarty McSmartypants,” Mackenzie calls out drolly. 

“It’s not catnip, ergo I do not care,” comes the response, and the brunette rolls her eyes. 

“Round terra-cotta planter on the right, second row. Then get the ginger out of the refrigerator. I don’t have all day.”

***

An hour later, the chicken stock is well under way, and Mina, under Mackenzie’s watchful eye, fishes out the herbs and carrot peels and vegetable odds and ends with a skimmer. In a proper mise en place, ready for the next step, are the chopped vegetables and a portion of egg noodles. 

Mina, who has donned a voluminous frilly apron the colour of green apples and a bright pink oven mitt over a chic but definitely clashing caramel-coloured cashmere wrap, yelps when a bit of hot broth splatters on the back of her wrist as she attempts to pour it into another pot, and almost drops the whole thing were it not for Mackenzie’s quick intervention. Somehow, the latter manages to catch the smoking pot, complete the next step of the process, and point Mina in the direction of the aloe plant (”Big pulpy triangle leaves!”) for her scald. The chicken noodle soup is made, then portioned up into a sturdy tupperware container to be brought to its proper destination. 

“You know, I’m pretty sure Thor doesn’t care if you heat him up some Campbell’s out of a can and buy him a bottle of Nyquil. Actually, he probably could manage to get both of those, himself, being the paragon of self-sufficiency that he is,” Mackenzie says as she cleans off the kitchen counter and pours Mina a much-needed cup of herbal tea to calm her nerves. “I’m sure he likes you for something other than your domestic talents.”

“Yes, well,” Mina inspects her nails, “He’s sort of too sick to care about any other talents that I may have right now, so...”

“OKAY, MINA, THAT IS NOT THE MENTAL IMAGE WE NEEDED RIGHT NOW!” Mackenzie and Artemis’ exclamations are almost freakily matched up in both tone and words, but the blonde faces them with the wide, innocent eyes of a four-year-old career cookie-jar thief. 

“I meant, I get him to laugh and such! Good Lord, you two have such filthy minds, don’t you?”

[holdharmonysacred]

I remember seeing a post the other day from someone pointing out that Sailor Moon ended with a total party kill, and someone else in the notes pointed out that it was an unearned total party kill as well, going into what an earned TPK is like versus an unearned one in D&D terms (the gist being that an unearned TPK is the result of the DM railroading and rigging the game to kill the players, whereas a truly earned TPK is when the players make a series of bad decisions and mistakes that combine with bad luck to lock them onto a path where the only possible ending is the death of the whole party), with Sailor Moon’s TPKs generally being unearned since, the vast majority of the time they happen, it’s because the writers throw a bunch of super strong enemies at the senshi just to slaughter them all as an excuse to get Usagi alone, and like

See, I know we all hate dark and edgy MG shows, but to their credit, this is the kind of shit they do better. What makes a dark MG show actually genuinely good is not that it is merely dark or that it kills its characters, because shows like Sailor Moon did that too, but that it gives these deaths all the weight a character death or TPK deserves, and that it actually tries to look at the consequences of these otherwise unaddressed darker elements.

Sailor Moon may have a high bodycount once you actually look at it, but the thing is that those deaths don’t actually mean anything. The senshi die again and again at least once a season but they always get brought back, and no attention is ever brought to the trauma they should by all means have after dying again and again. Villains get slaughtered en masse, but in the manga they’re all flat as cardboard cutouts and are basically just mooks to be cut down, while even in the anime (where they get more development, and many even survive their dooms) they pretty much never get mentioned again after their season is done. Other recurring things, such as humans being turned into Monsters of the Day, are just things that never really get explored in full the way they should be, even in shows where literally everyone in the gang’s class gets Monsterfied at least once and you’d think they’d maybe talk about it at some point.

Literally all of that shit gets played off in standard MG shows as being basically nothing. It’s never really addressed or explored in any way, even when it really should. What good dark&edgy MG shows do in these situations is restore the weight this kind of stuff should carry by showing just how horrifying or traumatizing it is to see all your friends die, or how horrifying or traumatizing it is to see people you know and love fall victim to the monster plague.

And if the genre were following the deconstruction->reconstruction pattern as it should be, we’d be getting more standard MG shows that take this stuff into account, going into the implicate horror of their settings while still showing that not everything is as utterly crapsack as it seems. Sadly we’re not getting that for some reason, because either people don’t want to create standard MG works, or because fans of standard MG works have such massive hateboners towards dark&edgy MG works that they’re not paying attention to the valid critiques of the genre these shows bring up.

[smokingbomber]

wreck / seventeen

@storyofthedoor​ did not just do prompt requests, she actually gave me a FRAME STORY for them, and I died three times before I could finish laughing long enough to start trying to figure out how the hell to pull this off. And then I figured someone would be pulling something either way!

Prompts: 

kendy/skunzite/seventeen,smut ok

kendy/luna/wreck,smut ok

Frame story is CT Kunzite and CT Minako, Luna, Diana, and King Endymion, written by her. XD

Vee sitting up in bed, staring at phone. Kunzite in bed with her, arm around her, laying down. K: quit staring at things that light up I’m asleep. V: Not asleep, you just talked.

He sits up to look at what she’s fixated on. She types gleefully. K: … what? Is that? V: TUMBLR.

He grabs the phone out of her hand and starts typing furiously. K: I GOT YOU ONE BETTER THAN THAT. V: NOOO my phone my ask.

What he types. K: “King Endymion / Luna / Wreck” V: You can’t type stuff like that about your king! K: Anonymous internet I do what I want.

She grabs the phone back and types furiously with her tongue out, he watches what horrible thing she writes. K: That’s not even POSSIBLE… V: It’s the internet. There’s porn of it ESPECIALLY if it can’t exist!

What she types. V: “King Endymion / Silmil Kunzite / Seventeen” K: Not gonna be porn though with that at the end. V: It could be porn in Europe. ^_~

The phone makes a pinging noise. Vee looks down at it. Her face lights up. V: Oh!! That was - fast --

Her face goes horrified. Kunzite’s face lights up. She hands him the phone between thumb and finger, barely holding the dirty dirty corner of it. He gleefully holds out grabby hands. V: …………. It’s for you.

He holds the phone, but they both stare transfixed at the screen.

After the haze of pleasure slowly cleared and he looked down at the beautiful odangoed girl in his arms, catnapping peacefully, Endy realized that he was actually in the middle of a slow-motion trainwreck.

For a moment, his heart froze in terror: for the many, many long years ahead of them, he hoped damn well he'd still be Artemis' drinking buddy and poker night rival. And then it got worse: for the many, many long years behind them, as much as it was the subject of endless jokes about him and cats, he'd never even once considered-- even knowing about the one astrophysicist-- and so, how could he forgive himself? Had she been pining all these years, afraid to ask? Was the famed Joined Court strangely xenophobic or speciesist in its casual polyamory?

Vee recoils from the phone and can’t look anymore. V: AAaauuu how are you still reading? Poor Endy! K: They got the ‘wreck’ part right. K: And seems like Luna enjoyed it. c:

And then the blood drained from his face and took the terror with it, leaving a hollow feeling in his gut. The ultimate potential consequence to his inability to stand strong against the woes of a crying girl that he loved in any way revealed itself to the King of Earth--

Now Kunzite holds the phone away from him and makes a XP face. Vee wasn’t reading but now she wants to know! K: ooh…. V: What?? How did it end??

Small Lady was about a month away. King Endymion really didn’t know if Mauan reproductive biology worked like humans’ or like cats’... and that meant Diana could well be Small Lady’s half-sister.

They both squirm and flail.

V: I should have just stayed away. I see Diana every day I don’t want to think about this. K: …. So bad….

He grins at her and elbows her. K: So worth it.

Outside their room, a little fuzzy black paw pats on the door and begins to push it open.

Both Vee and Kunzite jolt to stare at the door.

Luna pushes the door open, Diana is sitting on her back. Di: Hi!!! C: L: You guys are sleeping in today! I thought we had work to do! I was going to talk to you about-

Vee is traumatized by sudden Luna. O_O Kunzite makes the :| face and throws the phone over his shoulder out the window.

Luna and Diana stop talking. O_o ...

The phone makes the looooong drop out of a high (modernized neo tokyo) castle window. V: aaaAAAAA THAT WAS MY PHONE!!!!

Vee has put a bathrobe on and is shaking Kunzite by the shoulders. V: YOU THREW MY PHONE OUT THE WINDOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS ON THAT PHONE-

K: Ye- NO… V: WE HAVE TO GET IT. BEFORE ANYONE-

Luna and Diana are ready to help!!!! L: We can help you find it! It can’t have gone far!!

Vee and Kunzite, together, launched out of bed and running for the door. V: NO THAT’S ALRIGHT LUNA WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK IT’S TOTALLY OKAY!!!

Meanwhile, outside, strolling around the castle gardens on a nice morning, King Endymion comes across an abandoned phone that looks like Vee’s phone???

He picks it up, and the screen is still unlocked, and it says 'new notification' so of course he checks it out, and his eyes widen.

He woke up in two Elysions simultaneously, and instantly knew he'd misstepped. He hadn't even been aiming for Elysion at all-- he'd just taught his former self how to use Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber in defense of his daughter and the past version of his wife, and had only meant to check and see exactly how well his younger self's psychometry was developed in comparison to what he remembered of the time.

Obviously that hadn't worked, and he reached up to rub his eyes under his mask, and Elysion resolved, collapsing the uncertainty into one reality. Strangely, he could hear people in the background, and picked himself up off the forest floor and crept ahead to see what was going on--

--and came across the outskirts of the little town that had thrived, back in the days of the Golden Kingdom, between the castle and the sacred buildings that housed Helios, the Maenads, and the Great Library of Magic. His eyes widened, and he stepped backwards, only to feel the point of a sword at his back.

He was already calling his strength into his hand for its inevitable attack release when the owner of the sword spoke. "You're trespassing on holy ground," the voice came. "Who--"

That voice. He knew that voice so well: that voice from his past and his present, that voice that belonged to the person he loved so well as a child and an adolescent in the Golden Kingdom, that voice that was raised in frustration so soon before the end, that voice that had haunted the senshi during the days of the Dark Kingdom, that voice that thereafter had come, ghostly and level to advise him from the depths of a stone.

The King turned, tears in his dark ocean-blue eyes behind the white mask, and he let the forming attack disperse. Kunzite was behind him, still threatening with the sword, solid and firm in his ready stance. He sounded young-- he looked so young. "Kunzite..." he barely breathed.

The teenaged Shitennou stared, sword lowering abruptly. "En-- Endymion?" he asked tentatively, then glanced back over his shoulder toward the library, and looked back at the impossible King, the man's bearing and age, and fine but strange attire, bespeaking a future he couldn't possibly know. He knew without asking, but he had to confirm it-- but the fierce pride when looking at him had already settled in his bones. This was the king that his beloved prince would one day become, this king who held every bit of love in his eyes as the boy he protected with the entirety of his body and soul. His king.

King Endymion, smiling with such wistful affection, reached up to undo the ties of the mask behind his black hair, showing so much more clearly the long, long life between himself and the boy prince that Kunzite knew to the depths of his heart, showing the glittering of unshed tears. "I don't know if this is a dream," he said, voice low and uncertain, "so I don't know how much I should tell you-- but I want to tell you so many things..."

Kunzite could only stare, reading more things in that face he could read so effortlessly, in those eyes that clearly held grief and longing, than the King could have said with words. "...oh," he said after a moment, voice so low it was nearly inaudible. The young man swallowed. "Can you-- can you tell me when I... when I made the mistake? No-- no, you can't, you can't change your past."

The King, reaching out to touch Kunzite's young face, smiled with so much pain-- but the contact, the empathic connection, the King's power-- was familiar in the unconditional love and acceptance that the boy had given him since the moment the child Kunzite had come to guard the toddler prince. It's just that the power was so much more overwhelming, a golden flood of centuries of emotion and longing and triumph and grief. Kunzite leaned his face into the touch, then dropped his sword and took the King's hand in both of his, and the King could feel from him the depths to which Kunzite would sink to protect him, the fierce and fiery love he had for him, the desperate desire to know when he could possibly have failed him by dying.

Abruptly, a wild light entered Endymion's eyes, and the rushing golden embrace of his power swept Kunzite up in a sudden, reckless, bright hope. "We're already interfering in the past. Why not again? Why not spare you the heartache, why not give you a chance to fix what happened in my timeline? Why not give another us a chance to live? To live and create another history? It happens when I'm seventeen. Trust me, even if the world tells you I'm under a spell. Trust me, even if everything I say seems to indicate I'm being tricked, being lied to-- trust me and stay by me, and trust that even if everything still goes wrong and everything dies, we'll all come back."

Kunzite's gaze lifted abruptly in surprise, and the hope was infectious, but toward the end, his heart seized in alarm and a growing sense of horror. He hadn't just died, then. The mistake wasn't only one that cost him his own life, and cost the Prince his first guardian.

"We'll all come back," Endymion continued, earnest and strong, "and if you stay by me, if you believe me even when it seems like the world will burn and I'll be lost to you forever, if you keep the others with me-- if you only trust me-- we'll be together again. Don't believe the rumors about the Moon. Don't believe anything you hear about them spying on us, about them intending to invade-- trust me, trust the Moon-- trust Venus. Work with her, once you've met her. Help me, guide me, don't try to prevent the love I'll find-- try to help me find a way to get our people to believe in an alliance with the Silver Millennium. And when the solar storm hits a couple of years from now, after I've met the Princess, ask for the help of the Queen of the Moon. We don't have enough power on our own to ward off the demon that will turn the people of Earth against the Moon... against me. They do. And they will help. They only want to help us thrive. They want to take nothing from us. Believe me. Trust me. You might be able to save everything-- and if the demon overwhelms even the allied planets of the Silver Millennium, and nothing is saved this time except souls-- there will be another time, and we'll find each other again, instead of-- instead of--"

Kunzite reached up to press his fingertips to the King's lips, startled at his own motion but keeping it. "I understand," he said, voice breaking. "I believe you. You're alive in front of me-- and you have the Moon's long lifespan, haven't you? I believe you. I trust you. I won't forget."

The King couldn't help himself. There was only a flicker of warning before he kissed the young man's fingertips, catching his hand in one of his own, and the other hand rose to brush Kunzite's bone-white hair away from his face.

There was a bright laugh from the direction in which Kunzite had glanced back, and the laughter of other boys, familiar but so much younger, and Kunzite and King Endymion both looked that way before glancing back at each other. Time's up, their mutual understanding stated.

And then there was no warning. Endymion leaned forward suddenly, giving the past version of his guardian a fierce, possessive kiss, full and deep. "I won't stop trying to get you back in my own timeline," he said against the young man's lips, voice nearly a growl, and then fading into something achingly hopeful as the thousand-year-old King began to dissipate into golden glimmerings in the air, "but you damned well better make sure there's a better future in yours."

Kunzite watched until there was nothing left, his fingertips pressed to his own lips in incredulity and overwhelming confusion.

And then a thirteen-year-old prince crashed through the underbrush and into Kunzite's side, the impact nearly shaking the wall that was his oldest guardian--

--and Kunzite fell to his knees and captured his prince in a crushingly tight hug.

Prince Endymion squeaked. "What's wrong?" he asked, flustered, even as he hugged back hard.

"Nothing," Kunzite murmured against the boy's hair. "And nothing will be, either."

"Oh god, Venus, what are you even reading..." King Endymion asked the air, breathless and choked up, the heel of his gloved hand coming up to scrub at his eyes and partially crushing his mask. "Who even wrote this..."

He took the long way back around to the palace, pocketing the phone so he could give it back to her once he'd composed himself.

[nulinya]

Katya: Currently deep down in our much beloved Crystalviz- Augmented, Dic #sailormoon swag, conceptualizing a newish oc - Chibiusa/Rini's matured-to-young-adulthood, Kurai-looking (from SMSacrifice), younger sister, Serendipity, who isn't about that CrystalTokyo utopian life, and eventually ends up with Diamond,, though, seeing someone make a Senshi sister of Diamond, and Sapphire, is really awesome. And then, since we've not been on here, we've got our lovely Makai, Ali&En, who appear in the filler eps of R, and OCs Ari&El, the latter of whom, is their Senshi. We'll probably post a charbios thing at some point, to use as a handy one-stop-shop reference link.

[slyreaderslibrary]

CH. 12 Alibi (Last Chapter)

AO3: Here

Fanfiction: Here

Summary: Keeping a secret identity secret is normally hard enough but when you’re as beautiful as Minako Aino you’re bound to have all kinds of creeps and weirdo stalking your every move. Now there’s a cop hot on her trail and she’ll have to be quick on her feet if she’s to keep her identity on the DL. Just what is a gorgeous super-heroine to do?

Venus cursed as another branch slapped her in the face and several more scraped against her thighs. That was it! She was going to put an end to these trips if it was the last thing she did! She didn't care how much Serenity cried and begged. No man was worth this aggravation.

She shoved a few more branches aside, allowing her to see the long, golden trailing tails of her princess some several feet away.

"Found you!"

Venus grabbed one of Serenity's tails before she could slip away but she was so focused on her target, she failed to see the two men standing nearby as her princess cried out her typical excuses.

"It must be hard having a bundle of curiosity for a princess."

Startled by the deep voice, Venus spun automatically, locking eyes with a tall, handsome man. She felt her breath catch as he chuckled, his silver eyes dancing with amusement despite how annoyed his prince appeared to be.

"Kunzite!"

Minako jolted awake in a small and bare windowless room, with her arms tied behind her back and her head throbbing from abuse. The last thing she remembered was watching that drug deal going down with the detective…Minako's eyes widened.

The detective!

She twisted around and was relieved to see his figure across the room with his long silver hair spilling out across his face. A face that, now that she was thinking of it, looked oddly familiar with its sharp cheekbones, full lips and regal nose. Hadn't she just been dreaming of that face? The man could be Kunzite's twin! Why hadn't she ever noticed it before?

Keisuke (aka maybe-Kunzite-maybe-not-Kunzite) groaned, reminding Minako of the situation they were in. They needed to get out of there, fast, before any yakuza returned, wherever "there" was. She twisted her arms slightly and then wriggled her bindings around her legs until her hands were back in front of her.

"I've got a knife in the lining of my jacket," Keisuke muttered, his eyes pressed tight with his head resting against the cement floor.

Minako hoped he didn't have a concussion.

She scooted across the floor until she was close enough to search and ran her hands along the inside of his jacket until she felt a small bulge. Quickly locating a zipper, she extracted the knife, extended the blade and set to work on cutting through Keisuke's bindings. Once he was free, he took the blade from her and made quick work of her own, the whole process taking them a matter of minutes.

She checked the door and pouted when she found it locked. Couldn't anything be easy?

Minako nibbled her bottom lip as she weighed her options. She could make quick work of the lock by using her power but even with Sailor Moon's help she was still exhausted from earlier. She'd have to transform unless she wanted to faint immediately right after which was not an option.

~~~

"You wouldn't happen to know how to pick locks would you?"

Keisuke opened his eyes to stare at Minako who was looking at him with a mixture of hope clearly laced with doubt. He raised a single eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I don't make a habit of learning criminal activities."

"Damn."

Minako snapped her fingers but didn't appear to be particularly affected by this news despite the way she was incessantly tapping her thigh. She stopped and looked at him again, this time with such a serious expression that Keisuke feared she was about to tell him she murdered somebody.

"Can you keep a secret?"

Keisuke blinked slowly.

Had she really murdered someone?

"Does this secret entail breaking the law in some way?"

"What? No!" Minako paused, "Well, maybe."

While that didn't sound promising, it also didn't sound like murder, so at the very least she appeared innocent of that.

"Tell me your secret."

Minako hesitated.

"You promise you won't tell?"

Keisuke just stared at her, which must have been enough because soon she was muttering about impatient jerks as she shoved her hand in her pocket, grabbing something, and then thrust it high in the air.

What followed was the most unbelievable thing he had ever seen, which was saying something considering he'd just witnessed someone create lightning from thin air earlier that day. First Minako lit up like a freaking torch and then her clothes melted away only to be replaced with a leotard, a short skirt and flowing ribbons. She looked like the senshi from the video he'd seen at Ueda's.

"You're one of them."

It certainly explained her interactions with the senshi at the mall.

"Why?"

Minako blinked and tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean why? Why am I a senshi?"

He nodded and her brows scrunched like she had never been asked such a thing before. Maybe she hadn't.

"Well," she said eventually, "To cut a long story short, I was born this way."

Born with the ability to transform into matching outfits with several other girls? There had to be a lot more she was leaving out but he could get answers later. He nodded towards the door.

"Are you going to fry the handle?"

"I was thinking something a little more subtle," Minako winked, stepping up to the door and placing a hand on the door knob. It took on a golden glow, eerily similar to the beam that had almost smashed him and now that he was thinking of it, it was also similar to the gun from the bank that had twisted abnormally before the robber had tossed it aside. The knob however, appeared entirely unaltered when Minako pulled her hand away, but the easy way she opened it proved she had done something.

Keisuke inspected it closer but saw nothing to indicate it had been tampered with. "I don't understand, what did you do?"

"I can manipulate metal," Minako shrugged. "I unlocked the door."

"Wait, does that mean earlier it was you who saved me?"

Minako nodded. "I did. It was why I'd collapsed. Using my powers without transforming makes me anemic."

"Ah," Keisuke nodded, now understanding their past interactions and why she had currently chosen to transform. "So what do I call you when you're," he gestured to her uniform.

"The Senshi of Love and Beauty, Sailor Venus!" Venus quietly exclaimed, striking a pose with her fingers in a victory sign.

She dropped her pose and winked, "But you can just call me Venus."

Venus, the roman equivalent of Aphrodite. Keisuke couldn't help but smirk at the apt title. It was fitting, even if he wasn't sure how metal related to love and beauty. However, again, those questions could be answered later, they had wasted enough time as it was.

"Venus it is then." He gestured towards the door, "We should get out of here before anyone comes looking for us."

"Agreed. Let me just peak around the corner to see if the way is clear."

Keisuke frowned, not liking letting a civilian take lead in what could be a dangerous situation but, as he watched her pull out a compact and bend it to see around the corner, he realized she wasn't exactly a civilian. Her actions were precise and controlled but fluid. This was something she had done many times before.

And it was familiar. So, so familiar. He couldn't remember when but he knew he had seen her like this before. Searching for something, for someone. They had been outside and she had been alone until he'd found her sneaking through the bushes.

Endymion had asked him to distract her. He'd wanted more tim—

"Hey!"

A hand on his shoulder snapped him out of whatever daydream he'd been having and his cheeks grew warm when he realized Venus was staring at him with concern.

"Are you alright?" she whispered, her bright blue eyes drilling into his. Blues eyes that he knew he had stared into a hundred times before.

Keisuke's gaze dropped to her lips, lips that he had dreamed about, and he had already begun to lean in when he caught himself. He straightened abruptly, pulling away.

"I'm fine," he said after a moment, although Venus hardly looked like she believed him. "We need to get out of here."

Thankfully Venus couldn't argue with that, so instead she nodded and slipped her hand into his, pulling him down the hall and into a large warehouse type room with rows and rows of miscellaneous objects on industrialized shelves. He could hardly believe that any idiot would have the nerve to have an entire warehouse of illegal goods but at this point he wasn't about to rule anything out. He just hoped he could get a squad back here in time before they could move the goods somewhere else.

They made their way through the rows of shelves quickly until he spotted a loading dock a few rows in. The dock itself would create too much noise upon opening, and would likely attract attention, but there was a side door that they could quietly escape from. Venus worked her magic over the lock again before powering down to her civilian self.

"Just in case anyone thinks to put me and me together," she explained. "If they see you escaping with Sailor Venus, without me, they might figure out my identity."

Her reasoning was sound—even though Keisuke doubted the intelligence of the average criminal—but her timing turned out to be rather poor.

"Hey!" came a shout behind them, "Get away from there!"

Minako yanked the door open, shoving him behind it just as a cascade of bullets came raining down on them. The metal door thunked loudly several times as the bullets embedded themselves into it while Minako muttered beside him that they had ended up on the wrong side to escape.

A few seconds later the shower of bullets ceased and shouts could be heard in the distance. Keisuke knew it was only a matter of time before more men showed up. He grabbed Minako's hand and yanked her across the aisle, weaving his way in and out between the shelves in an attempt to lose whoever may be following them. They ended up in a dark corner, where little could be seen through the shelves, filled as they were with boxes labeled something in a foreign language he couldn't understand.

He felt Minako tug on his hand and turned, only to see that she was already halfway up the shelf. Keisuke frowned, but the sound of footsteps drawing closer spurred him to follow, his body rolling out of sight—and on top of Minako—just as two men rounded the corner.

~~~

Minako stiffened when she heard the men curse below, praying that they hadn't left some kind of trace behind. The men whispered heatedley to one another and then took off down another aisle, their footsteps echoing away from where she and Keisuke were hidden.

She allowed herself to relax marginally and then turned her attention to the man lying on top of her. He was watching the men retreat, having a better vantage point than her, and the serious expression he wore was so identical to the man she'd known before that Minako knew without a doubt that he was Kunzite reincarnated.

She just wasn't sure how she felt about that.

And then Kun—no, not Kunzite, Keisuke—Keisuke turned his silver eyes on her, his expression one of anxious concern, and Minako realized she didn't care. So what if he'd been Kunzite in a past life? Kunzite had been a good man before he'd been twisted by Beryl and Metallia and Keisuke had proven to be just as good. She wouldn't let the likes of Beryl and an incarnate of chaos influence her.

"Are you okay?" Keisuke whispered, his breath tickling her cheek and Minako had to tear her gaze away to prevent herself from doing anything stupid.

She swallowed and nodded, hoping he couldn't see the blush on her cheeks.

"I think the coast is clear for now." She listened closer for any sign of a yakuza. "We should get going before they come back."

Keisuke murmured his agreement, his low tones sending shivers through her, and then carefully rolled to one side before climbing down the shelves. Minako gave herself a moment to regain her composure and then followed quickly after.

~~~

"Do you think you can use your powers again without transforming?" Keisuke asked Minako as soon as she had both feet on the floor.

Minako turned to him curiously and then nodded slowly as she thought about it. "I think I could. Sailor Moon revitalized me earlier but I just didn't want to chance it without knowing the layout of the building. Why, do you have a plan?"

Keisuke nodded. "A simple enough one really. Let's get as close as we can to the door and then you can make sure it's unlocked before knocking over one of these metal shelves as a distraction."

"I like it," Minako smiled, her eyes sparkling playfully, "But I'm afraid I might not be quick on my feet after that. I might even need some big, strong man to carry me."

Keisuke smirked.

"I'm not just a pretty face you know."

Minako rolled her eyes but remained smiling until they began putting their plan into motion and then they were both serious, eyes and ears trained for anyone coming their way. They made it through the first few rows easily but had to pause when moving down an aisle until a man standing guard wandered over to another area. In the end, it only took them a handful of minutes but every second felt like twenty times longer.

"Get on my back," he ordered when they had arrived at the closest point to the loading docks.

Minako did as instructed and then stretched an arm out in front of her in the direction of the door. Keisuke could see both the door and her hand glow temporarily before Minako shifted and directed her power toward the back corner of the warehouse. He couldn't see the results but he could certainly hear the crashing of shelves and other items followed shortly by a stampede of footsteps running in that direction.

Keisuke waited until Minako squeezed his shoulder and then took off running towards the dock door while a weakened Minako clung to his shoulders. He threw the door open and then raced down the alley and around a corner straight into a line of gunmen aiming their weapons in his direction.

"NO!"

Keisuke wasn't sure who shouted first but both he and Minako threw their hands out—Minako probably to stop the bullets coming at them, him to...well he didn't know what—only for a dark portal to open up, engulfing the bullets, close and then reappear directly behind the yakuza, releasing the bullets and letting them strike the yakuza down.

"Nephrite!" snapped a voice behind them that made the hair on his neck stand on end.

Keisuke had barely begun to turn in search of the voice's owner when two men walked past him, inspecting the fallen criminals.

"What?" asked the taller man, presumably Nephrite, as he nudged a man with his boot. He was wearing some kind of uniform with a long brown cape to match his wild hair and Keisuke couldn't stop staring knowing that he'd seen that uniform before. "They're alive."

The second man, this one decked out in black armor, murmured something and then bent and placed his hands over one of the injured men's eyes. A warm soft glow emitted from his palm, wrapping around the fallen man and Keisuke gasped in recognition.

He knew this man!

All at once a sharp pain began stabbing between his eyes and he crumpled to the ground as he struggled to fight it. He could hear Minako by his side, calling his name, but his vision was blurred and all he could focus on was the pain...and then there was warmth, glorious beautiful warmth and his body relaxed and his mind raced as memories upon memories came rushing back to him.

His first time on a horse...winning the tournament...taking his oath...training with his brothers...and of course countless hours with his liege, Endymion...and then there was Venus and Serenity and all of the Senshi and he was no longer confused, he was just amazed at how he could have ever forgotten them.

Keisuke opened his eyes to see Endymion's deep blues ones staring back at him, hope warring with fear in his gaze.

Well that just wouldn't do.

Keisuke smirked and then pulled the other man into a hug that sent them both laughing with exhilaration only for Nephrite to dogpile on top of them, sending them to the ground. They were still missing two of their brothers but they were alive and whole and they had found each other and how had he ever forgotten them?

"I'm going to take Minako home," interrupted a cool, sophisticated voice, prompting the men to look up at the dark haired woman supporting Minako with one arm. "You three can join us when you're done catching up."

Endymion nodded as Minako gave a tired little wave and Keisuke started to stand and then paused, staring after them as they walked away. It could wait. He would see her again, and soon from the sounds of it.

"Man you are relentless! Just how long do you plan to pursue her?" Nephrite groaned as he dropped his head onto the ground narrowly avoiding a questionable puddle.

Keisuke frowned, suddenly realizing that perhaps the ground of an alleyway was not the best place for their reunion.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he picked himself off the ground and then offered a hand to Endymion who smiled and took it gratefully.

"You've been chasing Venus' for over a thousand years!" Nephrite exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Give it a rest already!"

Keisuke blinked, looking to Endymion who was still smiling, albeit a bit more amused now. He glanced back over his shoulder, just in time to see Minako and Sailor Mars vanish around the corner, and smirked.

"Why? Things are just starting to get good."