#tofu immediately asking if the series ended when she saw this is so Funny in retrospect

[michyeosseo]

tenderness; handless

Better (CN duet ver.) by BoA & Xin

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

I can’t believe it, 2020 is finally over. Or at least, it will be on the day this goes up. From where I’m writing it, we’re nearing the finish line, but haven’t yet reached it. Part of me wishes I could have finished season 1 in the same year I started this blog, but I’m getting close to there anyway, so I shouldn’t despair. This episode...yeah, looking at the episode title, I cannot remember for the life of me what the Shiatsu Technique is. By next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes, and I’ll know. See you in a second!

That was an...interesting direction for Shampoo’s introductory arc? I mean, it’s her second episode, and she’s barely in it. I think I’ll have quite a bit to talk about, but I will say once again I’m holding off on doing a Shampoo Character Spotlight just yet, just because I want to have more material to discuss.

So, anyway, the episode starts with the Tendo’s asking Akane to wake up Ranma, and it’s made clear once again just how angry and jealous she is over the whole Shampoo situation. That doesn’t get any better when she relents but finds that Shampoo is snuggling in Ranma’s bed with him, without him knowing. She dumps water on them, activating the curse, Shampoo tries to kill Ranma, he turns back, she wants to kiss him, it’s a bunch of hijinks.

As Ranma and Akane walk to school, they bicker a little more fiercely than usual, now that the spectre of Shampoo’s affections have come into the picture. Ryoga is chilling on a nearby rooftop, and he’s actually ready to leave. He’s being very angsty, upset that Akane only likes him as P-chan, and knows that if Akane ever admits to loving Ranma, it would break his heart. He tries to head back on the road, only for him to get hit by random water throwing lady’s water, at which point Shampoo finds the piglet in the road.

Next scene, the amazon breaks down the wall of Ranma’s classroom to give him lunch, which as it turns out is Ryoga, though he hasn’t been killed or ever really cooked. Still, Akane and even Ranma are concerned, even if Ryoga doesn’t really appreciate the latter. Angry at Akane ruining her plans for Ranma several times now, Shampoo gives Akane the Kiss of Death, but Akane doesn’t back down, and is ready for a match, despite the fact that Ranma seems absolutely sure that Akane has no way of winning.

By the time Ranma gets to the place they are fighting at, the match is already over. Shampoo is gone, and Akane is unconscious on the ground. When she wakes up, she feels rather refreshed, but is more than anything confused: Akane has no clue who Ranma is. It isn’t regular amnesia, either. She still remembers her classmates, Ryoga, even Ranma’s dad.

After a lot of Ranma trying over and over again to remind Akane who he is, which even fails when Ranma activates his curse, they eventually go to Dr. Tofu. As it turns out, he knows what did this: the titular Shiatsu Technique. It actually has a much longer name, but I will stick with that. Anyway, Ranma’s dad was passing by and saw the whole thing. The move is actually just washing and styling the person’s hair, but using specific herbs and massaging scalpel pressure points to specifically remove memories of a single person.

The only way Dr. Tofu can imagine curing it would be with more Chinese herbs, so Ranma takes Akane out on the city to try and find Shampoo and get what they need. Only thing is, Shampoo shows up at the clinic right afterwards, because it turns out she’s been living there, working with Dr. Tofu.

So, that’s the episode. I’m going to start with some things I didn’t like as much, before getting into what I thought actually worked. The entire premise is just a bit...odd? Like, I have to admit I’m kind of down on amnesia plots in general, just as a matter of personal preference, but even if I wasn’t I feel like using one in the middle of a main character’s introduction arc is a tad bit strange.

I talked a bit last week about how I find that shows using jealousy as a way to show much a person cared about another is kinda sucky, so I won’t go over it again, except to say I’m still not a fan. I’m even less a fan of the fact that Akane is still being looked over as a fighter. First she never really got to fight Kodachi, and now that Shampoo is here they get...a fight we don’t see that only lasts a few seconds.

Shampoo is an amazon warrior, I get that. But I just find it annoying that they completely sideline that conflict for the amnesia one, when giving Akane an opponent to fight who is better than her would be a great way to make her grow. Even if we got a real fight and she lost, it could be something to build on later, a way to see where Akane is as a martial artist. Sadly, this series doesn’t really take Akane seriously as a martial artist, so that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Only other small thing to cover in the negatives column is that I didn’t really like the whole comedy bit of, “Uh oh, Ranma shows Akane his curse, but she thinks he’s a cross-dressing pervert!” It’s just...yeah, I don’t have the mental energy to dive into that topic, let’s just say it left a very bad taste in my mouth.

So, what did I like about the episode, then? Well, quite a lot. As much as I dislike the general idea of doing an amnesia plot here, I liked some of the specifics of it. The fact that not only had Akane forgotten Ranma, and only Ranma, but that it seemed as though she couldn’t even form new memories of him, no matter how much he or others tried to make her understand, definitely added urgency. In a good way.

I also found myself liking the technique itself, strangely enough. The fact it’s just washing the person’s hair, but with special martial arts stuff, is just kind of amazing, ridiculous in that exact Ranma 1/2 kind of way. The fact that all of the characters treat it dead seriously, none of them laughing at the idea, also helps make it even funnier.

Speaking of funny, the slapstick was pretty on-point this episode. It wasn’t quite as funny as some other episodes, but I definitely was at least smiling for a good portion of it. The whole scene of their class trying to help Akane remember Ranma was pretty funny too, in English and Japanese.

For something more heartfelt, I love that after half an episode of Ranma teasing Akane, of so many episodes of Ranma kind of being a jerk, his immediate response to her forgetting him is to do everything he can to fix it. It goes uncommented on so far, but he clearly hates the idea of Akane never knowing who he is. It could just as easily have been done with Ranma not caring in the slightest, being an aloof jerk, but this shows that Ranma does genuinely care about Akane, even if he often has a bad way of showing it.

Ooh, also, on the characters front! Ryoga! My boy! I haven’t really talked about it in a while, but I’ve been kind of unhappy with how Ryoga is being portrayed for a while now. Ever since his arc, he’s just been chilling as P-chan, only turning back to try and take Akane from Ranma in some way. He’s been very scheming and underhanded, which doesn’t fit what I remembered of his character at all.

This episode was much more like it. Ryoga fits so much better as the brooding boy, stuck in the moral dilemma of what to do about his position with Akane, scared of how she might really feel. More of this, please, and less of him making schemes to steal her.

So then, how does this episode shake out, on the whole? Well, I don’t think it’s a surprise that I wouldn’t say it’s as good as last week’s. In fact, it’s dropped quite a few places. Just barely in the top half of episodes I’ve seen thus far, I’m putting this episode just above the Ranma vs Ryoga fight and one spot below the big fight that ended Kodachi’s arc. So, here is the new ranking.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Next week, I think we’re finishing this arc? I’m not completely sure? We’ll have to see? All I know is, the penultimate episode of the season is titled “I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye”. Sadly, unlike Ranma, I do have to say goodbye, but only until next week. See you all then!

[theadventuresofhelena]

Japan was a dream

Ugh. I was absolutely floored with how amazing Japan was. I expected to like Japan but not fall in love with it. Everything about it was amazing, it was a perfect first port. We arrived on January 24th and it was absolutely freezing cold, but we were determined to be outside to watch us pull in to our first real port (Hawaii didn’t count in my mind). My toes were frozen and my body was an icicle, but it was so wonderful. Everyone was so excited to finally be landing in a new country. At the port the workers had balloons and a marching band to welcome us, it was so cool to see and hear them play. We definitely felt like they were so excited for us to be here. My first day in Japan consisted of a Field Class for my Abnormal Psych class. We traveled by bus from Kobe to Kyoto where we went to a temple and had a class on meditation and got to speak to a monk (this relates to my class because of mindfulness). Immigration took forever so by the time I was able to get back on the ship I had to run to get my things, swallow down some sandwiches, and then run to the lounge where my class was meeting. We left about 10 minutes later and went to the bus, the drive from the cities didn’t take too long and it was really cool to see Japan by bus for the first day. Once we got to the temple grounds we had to walk a bit before getting to the actual building, but it was fun to see the little village it was in. We got to the building and had to take off our shoes and bags and then walked to a little room down the hall. When we got inside the room we were all silent because we had no idea what to expect and were unsure of what to do exactly. Eventually the monk slides open the door and pops his head in and says “Hey, hows it going?” And immediately we all start laughing because we had this stereotype of a monk and he broke it within the first second of walking in the room. He turned out to be a really cool guy and he actually travels to the US to speak on Zen Buddhism at universities which I thought was pretty cool! Anyways, I learned so much but I can’t say it all otherwise this post will be one million pages long, but we talked with him for a bit and then we meditated and I found out after about 7 minutes I’m pretty bad at it! But hey, it was fun and definitely something I wouldn’t mind trying more of in the future. After the meditation class we drank real Japanese Green Tea (which wasn’t that bad!) and some interesting rice-looking cookies (not quite sure what they were made out of). Then we talked with him some more and left to go to eat at a local restaurant. The restaurant meal was unreal. It was so freaking good. It had a little bit of everything on the plate (yes I took a photo, and you bet I’ll be adding it on here). There was shrimp, salmon, squid, tofu, a fish of unknown origin, veggies, green tea, rice, the whole nine yards! And those of you who know me know I am not a big fish person, but I’m in freakin Japan so I’m gonna eat it. And not gonna like ALL of it (minus the salmon) was AMAZING. The squid was probably my favorite out of all of them, it was SO good, I was shocked. I miss it honestly hahah it was freakin delicious. The salmon was alright, but the texture just didn’t seem right when comparing it to the AK salmon I’m use to being force-fed (just kidding ;)) but yeah, overall one of my favorite meals by far on this trip. That night, we got back to Kobe and decided not to go out and just go to bed to get ready for tomorrow. I had made plans with my friend Anna to travel with her and her friend Josh the next morning at 5am, but I couldn’t get a hold of her so I just placed a sticky note on her door to let her know that she can just wake me up when she gets up. So I went to bed, but got up at 6am just incase, but I couldn’t find Anna so I ended up finding my other friends Molly, Allison, and Allie to see what they were doing. They were going to Hiroshima that day and I was debating on going with them because I still couldn’t find or get a hold of Anna. I ended up deciding to go and that was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. We only went there for the day, to see the museum and the one building that wasn’t destroyed when the bomb hit. But that museum was the most powerful museum I have ever been to. Every single one of us were fighting back tears, it is one of the most gruesome things I’ve seen. I questioned a lot about the decision Truman made when I began to see how horrible it was for the people living here (obviously a bomb is horrible anywhere, but when you see it’s effect in real life it is horrifying). The thing that really got me was a small tricycle that a three year old had been riding right before the bomb hit. The father buried his son in their backyard. There was a girl who had grown up healthy after the bomb struck, but later on in her life she developed leukemia and eventually died from it (some time in her teen years), there is a children’s park that is dedicated to her with thousands of paper cranes in containers that have the word “Peace” on them. I never thought about children dying in the bomb, only adults, and I think that is what really struck me. We left the museum with heavy hearts, but after recooperating slightly from that we went back to the train station to head over to Kobe. Now, on a lighter note, when I was in 7th grade I was in my social studies class watching this documentary series about a woman who travels around the world and gives insight on the people, food, culture etc. in different countries. And this particular day in class we were looking at Japan, more specifically Tokyo. And after I watched this episode my mind was immediately intrigued with Tokyo and I told myself I had to go there. Flash forward 8 years later, I find myself in the Kobe port terminal after already spending 2 days in Japan with friends, without yet being able to go to Tokyo. My entire mind was focused on getting to Tokyo, I could feel my body itching with anticipation of getting there. All my friends had plans to get there the next day but I knew that wouldn’t be enough time for me, so I asked my friend Allie if she would want to pack up tonight and catch a bullet train to Tokyo. She said yes and we ran to get our things. We caught a bullet train around 9:30pm which landed us in Tokyo at about midnight. We were struggling to find out how to get from the train station to the certain metro line we needed to get to so we could find our hostel, when a man came up and asked us if we needed help. We obviously said yes and he looked at where we needed to go and pointed us in the right direction, that normally doesn’t happen super often so I think our spirits lifted slightly because we were exhausted from traveling and we finally knew where we needed to go. Once on the metro we got off at the correct spot and then while getting out of the metro we were unsure again of which exit to walk out of. And again, another guy comes up to us and asks if we need help and we show him the address to our hostel and he points us in the right direction and we thank him and continue on. By the time we are coming up the stairs to the actual street, he was behind us (not in a creepy way) going the same way. He ended up catching up to us and told us that he could take us to our hostel because he lived close by. I had my maps up so I knew where we were and semi-knew where the hostel was located so I felt comfortable enough to let him show us the way. He ended up being so cute and funny because he legit gave us a tiny sight seeing tour while on the way to the hostel, we passed by a famous market and he took a picture of us there and then he showed us his favorite place to eat and what he orders, he showed us some places to drink at and other random things like amusement parks that were near by. He ended up adding both of us on Facebook and then we parted ways. Once we got to the hostel, we checked in, got into our room (which was shared with 30 other people-but it was actually wonderful, I’ll attach pics) and proceeded to pass out. We wake up the next day around 8am and decided to book another night at the hostel because we loved the location and the room and the price, once we got that out of the way we asked for a recommendation of where to get good Japanese food for breakfast. So off we went with our new little map, excited to eat because we were starving, but of course, when we got there, it was closed. It opened at 11am and it as only 9:30am, we didn’t want to eat American food so we looked at our surroundings and saw a Starbucks. We decided to get a small snack/drink and use their wifi to plan our day while we wait to get real food for our meal. So, I got my hot chocolate and we decided to walk through the market that Yudai (the guy who walked us to our hostel) showed us, see the temple that was at the end of it, go to the Sky Tree for views, and then head over to the Shibuya area for food. The market was a lot of fun, we tried hot sweet sake which wasn’t horrible but there was chunks of random things in there, and if they weren’t in the sake, both of us would have liked it better-but hey, we tried it! The temple was packed but it was really cool to see all the bright colors and people, and there were also some lanterns to the right of it that looked really cool. We walked to the Sky Tree afterwards which took some time but it was nice to walk around the streets for a while and just observe what people do here. Once we got to the Sky Tree I was taken back by how tall it was, and once we got to the top it was insane how huge Tokyo is. There was so much city all around us on every single side, it was crazy. I had no idea Tokyo was so huge! It was insane. (I’ll also add pics :)) And we could see Mt. Fuji from the top too because it was a pretty clear day, so that was pretty freakin neat as well :-) once we were done with the Sky Tree, we were hungry so we went to the nearest metro and made our way over to Shibuya to eat some highly anticipated ramen! When we got to the restaurant there was a wait, so we knew it had to be good. When we finally got into the restaurant we realized that it was once of those restaurants where there is the least amount of socialization possible, so you sit in a chair and there is small boards that come up to the right and left of the counter, allowing only one person to sit in each spot and in the front of the counter space there is a little blind that the workers pull down after taking your order (which you pick from a machine and the machine gives you a receipt so really the worker just takes your receipt). The ramen was freakin amazing, oh my god. I about died. There were only chopsticks and a small plastic spoon so it took me a while to eat it but it was sooo good, I cannot emphasize that enough lol After eating we went to check out the Shibuya crossing which is where 10 lanes of traffic is stopped and the crosswalks are open in all directions (including diagonally) for people to cross, it was pretty cool to see! I took a timelapse of it so I’ll add that onto here so you guys can see it as well :) That night we were meeting up with our friend Yuhwa so Allie and I went back to our hostel to get ready for the night and eat dinner. We ate at a place really close to our hostel that had these really long dumplings (our form of potstickers basically, just longer) and they were soo good!! We were still full from lunch so we split a plate of them and again, there were only chopsticks and no forks so I struggled quite a bit, but successfully ate them. After we ate we made our way back to the Shibuya area to go out for the night and meet up with Yuhwa and the people she was traveling with. While waiting to hear back on where we should meet them, Allie and I went to a little bar that was called the Hub or something like that, it ended up being kinda fun because it was jam packed with Japanese people and very few other westerners, but they were all super nice to us. I ended up trying this drink that was something like 20% alcohol in it, slightly terrified I took a sip and it ended up just tasting like Grapefruit juice! It was really yummy so Allie got one as well, and soon we met a guy who was living in Japan but from Seattle, he worked for Amazon and he was already fairly intoxicated and ended up buying us shots and we all cheers to Allie and I’s birthdays, after we took the shot Yuhwa finally got back to us and told her to meet us at this club called Atom, and off we went. It wasn’t too far from where we were so we walked, it was freezing and we didn’t bring coats because we weren’t sure if there would be a place to put them, but soon enough we were there. Cover charges is a thing in Tokyo which was unfortunate, but we paid and while we were waiting to get into the elevators to go up to the club we saw Yuhwa walking in with a bunch of people, so we ran over and they ended up paying for a locker so we waited for them to put their coats away. While waiting we met some Australians and one of them actually had taught English in Thailand, so that was really cool to talk with him about his experiences while teaching there! Finally we make it up to the club and we had so. much. fun. Yuhwa, Allie, and I were going ham with dancing, and we ended up jumping up on these little platforms where females only ( lol ) were allowed to dance, but Yuhwa was just the greatest and we all had such an amazing time dancing and the dj was amazing (and female!! #feminism) so all in all, twas a great night. Unfortunately, by the time we left it was around 3:30am and the metro was closed. So, we had the option of waiting and hour and a half for the metro to open or take a taxi back. Considering we had one million things we still wanted to do and see in Tokyo before we had to leave, we decided to take a cab back so we could get a little more sleep. We woke up around 9am to get ready for the day, we got to eat those really fluffy pancakes that are a thing in Japan, and they were SO filling. We only got two with one order so I was skeptical at first, but wowzers it filled me up so much. It was great. After we ate, we took the metro to the Shibuya area to meet up with Jocelyn, Kenzie, Kelley, and Molly. While Kenzie, Jocelyn, and Kelley went to a piercing/tattoo shop, Allie, Molly, and I went to a Shrine that was in a park area. While we began to walk through the path to get to the Shrine, there were huge lines of Japanese people along the side of the path. At first we were just really confused, but the lines never ended, as soon as one did there would be another starting 20 feet further down the path. As we got closer and closer, we realized that some sort of event had to be happening because inside the shrine there were chairs lined up and a very clear “stage” area as well as security and important looking people lol. As we walked through the square and took pictures and just observed, Molly suggested that we go through a little pathway on the left side of the Shrine. We all agreed because we were just extremely confused as to what was happening. As we make our way through we see a smaller line up of people to our right and in front of them by about 15 feet were 4 people dressed in suits, and this is when we kinda stopped to try to figure out what was happening, we asked 2 women who spoke English but they had no idea what was happening either. It was about 12:57pm and Molly asked if we wanted to wait a little bit to see if anything happens, and I figured if anything were to happen it would happen at 1pm, so we decided to wait. Soon enough, we see the guys in suits looking down a path to our right. I turn to look and I see this little black car come zooming towards us, they stop abruptly in-front of the guys in suits and everyone starts pulling out their phones and cameras (and all 3 of us are still thinking what the heck is going on here) so I pull out my phone to take a video as the crowd starts swarming to the car. The passenger door opens, and I hear Allie gasp and she turns back to us and say “It’s a Sumo wrestler!!!” and we move with the crowd to get slightly closer. He gets out and moves straight to turn a corner and we can no longer see him, but we all turn to each other and are stoked on life that we just saw a real Japanese sumo wrestler, we were seriously SO excited, we were laughing and exclaiming how cool that we got to see this dude. Turns out, a couple days later once we are back on the ship and on our way to Japan, Molly is checking wikipedia for world news (we only get a few free sites on our intranet system) and she finds an article that was talking about this sumo wrestler (here is the link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisenosato_Yutaka#Promotion_to_yokozuna) so I guess this sumo wrestler is the first sumo wrestler since 1998 to reach yokozuna, I’m not quite sure what that means BUT we felt really freaking cool that we saw him in person for a good 10 seconds! Afterwards, we went to the National Park which also had a botanical garden in it, which was really cool. The park was nice, but everything was pretty dead because it’s January but it was still nice to walk through. It reminded me slightly of central park in nyc. Once we finished walking around we went to a cat cafe, which is a thing in Japan I guess. I had heard of it before i left and had sort of forgotten about it until everyone starting going to them. We passed by one earlier and decided to go after the Shrine and National Park. We spent 30 minutes there all having a blast, the cats were so cute and soft. But my mind kept thinking that something wasn’t quite right, and I was trying to figure it out and while we were on the metro to our hostel, Molly told me that most of the cats were sedated. Which first broke my heart, and second I was so upset at myself because I was ignorant and supported it by paying them to see the cats. The reason she knew is because their inner eyelids come across when sedated and she opened one of the “sleeping” cats eyes to see and she saw the eyelid. But obviously we can’t do anything about it now, but how the cats were acting confused me because they were all laid back and didn’t try to move when everyone would put their faces next to the cats faces to take a picture, and they were all fairly young cats which usually means they are pretty playful and active and there were only about 3 that were actually walking around and one of those three that was playing (I’m assuming they don’t sedate them all so it doesn’t get too boring when people come). So that was really sad for me, but I know I can’t do anything about it. After the cat cafe, we went back to the hostel to get ready for the night. We ended up going to the Golden Gai area to bar hop but we didn’t want to take a taxi home because it was about $60 total, so we got the last metro back to our area of town, around 12:30am. Molly, Allie, and I were pretty hungry so we ended up walking across the street to the McDonalds and ordering some chicken nuggets, the only problem was that you can only choose 5 chicken nuggets or 15. So, naturally, we all got 15 chicken nuggets and they had curly fries! So we got those as well. We sat in our hostel and just talked about our lives and got to know each other a little better, it ended up being one of my favorite nights because we just had such a great conversation and were laughing and cracking jokes while still being able to have deep conversations. It was wonderful :) The next day was our very last day in Japan, we packed up and checked out of our hostel and went straight to the metro to get to the train station to take our bullet train back to Kobe. On our way back, Allie and I purposefully sat on the right side of the train with the window because we wanted to see Mt. Fuji, and it was a beautiful sunny day and sure enough, about 45 minutes in we got our first glimpse at Mt. Fuji! It was so cool to see, I tried taking one million pictures but only got a few good ones because the train was going about 170 mph and random poles/buildings would get in the way of the pictures but yeah, that was really amazing to see! Soon we had made it to Kobe and we all got on the ship and dropped our things off and headed back to the terminal to get the free wifi for a few hours before we had to be back on the ship. I got to FaceTime my mom which was so great, and a few other people but then I had to head back to the ship. One of the best parts of SAS is everyone coming back and getting together and talking about what they did and how great of a time everyone had and all their different experiences. Japan honestly was such an amazing place, I didn’t expect to fall in love with, but i sure did and I can’t wait to come back to see so much more. The people were so amazing and the food was freakin great. My friends and I had dinner together and discussed all of our experiences before passing out because the amount of sleep we all got was a whole lot of none, and soon we were on our way to China :)

[sirenluna]

After Happily Ever After, a Vampire Diaries FanFic (Post series finally)

Damon and I stuck around Mystic Falls for a year to help Caroline and Rik start the school. To this day I think it was most of Damon's involvement was to make sure his best vintages weren't snuck away by Rik in the moving process. Then it was time to say goodbye. My new Jeep and Damon's revived Camaro were packed with our most important belongings as we bid our nearest and dearest farewell's. The rest of the too large to fit in the car stuff had been sent by moving trucks to a storage place outside New York City.

Caroline was all tears and warnings of course. "But you guys don't even have a place in New York yet! I still say you should stay another few months." I looked at her with a knowing grin as she rolled her eyes and corrected herself, "Or forever…"

"That sounds more like the Caroline I know." I said and hugged my best friend. "Bonnie is off exploring the world and you and Rik are doing an amazing job with this place. It's just time Care."

Care sniffed, "I swear to god Elena, if you don't call me the moment you get there, I will vamp speed all the way to Manhattan to trample your ass!"

I laughed, "Yes Mrs. Salvatore." I said only slightly mocking her new role as the Salvatore School's head mistress.

Damon and Rik came out of the front door of the former boarding house. In Damon's arms was a large manila envelope. The two men chuckled as the approached us.

"What's so funny?" I asked as Damon came to my side sporting his telltale mischievous grin.

"Just man stuff,"

"Uh-ha, what's in the envelope?"

"A signed copy of Madonna's playboy issue, thought it would be best that I not forget it here and send one of these witchy kiddies into early puberty."

Caroline cringed. "Ew! How about you burn it?"

Damon looked at her like she had deeply insulted him. "It's Madonna and a signed issue blondie, have you no respect for art?"

I jumped in to derail the budding drama, "Ok, Madonna can ride with you to New York then she goes in the recycling pile, got it?"

Damon took me in his arms and kissed me, "Don't be jealous babe, the material girl has nothing on you."

"Aw, you always know what to say." I kissed him back and whispered, "But she's still compost."

He sighed defeated "Happy girl, happy world." We turned back to Care and Rik,

"So where are you guys staying?" Rik asked with an unusual eyebrow gesture that looked like a taunting challenge more than a question. Odd.

"I rented us a spot in the city while we look for a permanent place." Damon answered, giving Rik a look that read like silence, I kill you! Odder.

"Um, ok not sure whats going on there but we should get going." I hugged Rick.

"You guys drive safe and let us know when you get there." Rik and Damon bro hugged after I went back to Care.

"We will, Care already threatened me thoroughly." I nodded at my best friend.

Never being one to back down, Care nodded her head in agreement "Mm-hm, and I meant it."

We all laughed and Damon as usual made sure our departure was on a sarcastic note. "Ok, Dumbledore, McGonagall, try not to let Hogwarts explode while we're gone ok?"

Rik looked serious "I make no guarantees." Yet another round of hugs later and Damon and I were on the road. After 5 minutes I began to look back on everything we'd been though in this town. It was where we met, fell in love, broke up, got back together. Where we literally died, and came back in more ways than one. Where we met, and said goodbye to so many people who were so important to us. And even though it was centuries apart, it was where Damon and I were both born, where we grew up. Now we were leaving.

My phone started ringing from the holder on my dashboard. It was Damon. Putting him on Bluetooth, I answered, "Hey,"

"Put it away," he drolld

I smirked "Put what away?"

"The crease in your forehead."

He knew me too well, "It's just hard to think of leaving."

His tone went from playful to sweet, "I know baby, but we're starting our lives together. Human lives. Part of being human is leaving home and making your place in the world."

I smiled "You're right. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've mastered this whole being human thing."

"Took some getting used to but I think I'll be writing self-help books and blogging by next week."

That made me laugh. "The day you start blogging is the day I go vegan."

"Hey, don't knock the vegans, I think they have a hold on human immortality. I've already scoped out a few food coop's and organic grocery stores."

"Ok, have fun with your algae and tofu, I'll stick with my burgers and fries thank you!"

Damon signed, "Fries are something aren't they? I seriously have a new appreciation for human food since I lost my Vamp status." I could barely contain my laughter. I could practically hear the satisfied smile on Damon's lips, knowing he had successfully distracted me from my previous mood. "Feel better?" he asked,

"Ya, much. Thanks love."

"Any time, when you feel like you need a driving brake just honk ok?"

"Yea, you too."

"I love you Elena," He didn't say it in the typical emotionless way most guys said it to their girlfriends. Damon uttered those three words with his whole heart. Like it was the first or last time he'd ever have the chance to say them.

"I love you too Damon." We hung up and continued the long drive to New York City.

9.5 hours and 4 bathroom/food breaks later we had arrived in Manhattan NY. I followed Damon to a 24hour parking garage in the West Village. We took out the duffel bags we packed with our immediate essentials and hand in hand my boyfriend walked us to a building on the corner of Bowery and Broom Street. There was a busy looking bar on the very corner of the building that looked like a cool place to hang out. Maybe that would be our go-to spot eventually.

I noticed the manila envelope Damon had taken from the boarding house under his arm. "What's Madonna doing here?"

Damon shrugged, "Thought you'd like to be the one to toss her."

I rolled my eyes as we arrived in front of a classic looking building. Damon took the keys out of his pants pocket and unlocked the front door. The lobby was all marble and steel beams. The place liked like the perfect combination of modern and traditional. "Wow, this is something." I said admiring the architecture.

"Mm-Hm, wait till you see the apartment." Damon guided us to the old-fashioned elevator and together we rode it to the 6th floor, the top floor of the building. There were only 3 apartment doors on the floor, Damon guided me to the one at the very end of the hall. He opened the door and switched on a few lights.

"After you Mademoiselle," he bowed as he let me through the open door.

"Oh my-wow!" I said looking up at the vaulted ceilings. If I had ever designed my dream loft it would be this one here. The space was massive with floor to ceiling windows, a huge fire escape, fire place open kitchen and upper level that looked like it was constructed for bedroom space. Damon leaned against one of the exposed brick walls as I looked around.

"Oh, this kind of sucks." I said still in awe.

"Pardone moi?" Damon asked confused.

"Well, this is supposed to be temporary while we find a real place. But after this, every apartment we look at is going to seriously pale in comparison."

He stood off the wall, "Funny you should say that." He opened the manila envelope to my surprise pulled out a stack of white papers and a pen."

"I wasn't going to sign these until you saw the place yourself." He handed the papers to me. There were a purchasing agreement for a condo. Damon had applied and gotten approved to buy the loft we were standing in.

Shocked I stared at the words in front of me. "Da… those are not naked pictures of Madonna."

He smiled, "Caught that, did you? I had everything sent to the boarding house so I could surprise you when we got here. So, do you like it?"

"Like? I love it!" I jumped into Damon's arms and kissed him. "Wait, can we afford this?" As a vampire, Damon had endless resources for money. And while he did have one hell of a nest egg to start us off with we agreed to not go overboard and fix our spending with the intent of building our finances though real careers.

"Well… not originally but blondie may have been excellent at haggling the price down to our level."

"Caroline was in on this?" I asked, "But she was devastated when we left."

Damon mocked shock, "Have you seriously forgotten her time as a drama major?"

I laughed and kissed him, "So, this, is it? This is our home?"

Damon bight his bottom lip in a not exactly way, "Well, first you're gonna have to sign these." He handed me the stack of papers and pen. I rushed to the granite kitchen island and started signing away.

"Oh Elena?"

"Hmm?" I asked, completely focused on signing my name on every dotted line I could find.

"Just one more thing."

I turned to see what else he needed and was once again stunned. Damon was down on one knee with a velvet box in his hand. "Damon?"

"Elena Gilbert, from the moment I met you. I knew there was something extraordinary about you. From that day on, everything about you has amazed, enlightened and confused the hell out of me. I fell in love with you from that very first moment. I know what it is to have you and to lose you and I don't want to spend another second of this new short life without you. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

The tears that ran down my face were hot and full of joy. Damon opened the box to reveal a brilliantly cut white diamond in a platinum setting. I could hardly breath as I looked into the sparkle. Still on his knee Damon waited for my answer which was an absolute, unwavering…

"Yes,"

He slipped the ring on my finger and lifted me into his arms. Together we were everything and for the first time in our lives we knew for a fact that nothing could come between us ever again. This was the start of us, after Happily Ever After.

THE STORY CONTINUES ON MY FAN FIC PAGE, https://www.fanfiction.net/~sirenluna