#could picture being at an event w my brother somehow or ALREADY at [talk show] bc of his gf. only situations i could realistically see

[lascapigliata]

my brother's gf works at [insert famous talk show here] and every once in a while i'm like. should i keep track of who's going to be on the show so if they come on i can get tickets to be in the audience and try to meet them which i think she could do! and then i remember that most of me actually does not want to meet a celebrity at all in that kind of capacity

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Traitor.”

Going to be working on this one for a while. Hope you guys enjoy the update :)

He did his best to stay calm even as he was led into another room and introduced to their drake boss. He tried to keep his expression somewhere between an easy smile and a thoughtful nod, let them think he was really considering their offer, really considering  their offer to go out and murder himself.

It was all just so unbelievable.

He couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that the chairwoman would want  him killed. He thought the two of them were long time allies. He thought she had been the one, along with Admiral Kelly, to support his rise to the rank of captain when all of this began. What had happened between now and then to necessitate her desire to kill him.

He had to admit that he was both hurt and concerned for himself.

His brother Thomas was out there posing as him while the universe's most powerful politician plotted to end his life. She had the strength of the entire GA Armada behind her. He doubted all the ships would attack the omen if she asked, but at least some of them would, and without him there to maneuver the ship…. He worried that they wouldn’t last through a fight.

His stomach churned as the two pirate  women spoke among each other trying to make him believe a lie. His stomach tied itself into another knot. He was surrounded by an entire galaxy of people who wanted to kill him, and for what?

Because the human race was growing too powerful politically? And somehow he had something to do with it.

Despite suddenly being thrown into politics at a young age, he knew that he didn’t understand them. He was a pilot and a soldier first and foremost, and he found that being a politician required lying to people and in ways that he just wasn’t capable of. He knew he was in a vulnerable position.

The two women finished their little speeches, satisfied that they had followed him, and he nodded to them as he was led back out into the hall. Cannon walked behind him the entire time spear held at the ready, ready to cut down anyone who tried anything. He had no doubt that they would be able to handle Beatrice and Geea. The Drev was no great shakes as a warrior and Beatrice behaved more like a  crack addict with a knife than she did a fighter. Between him and Cannon they could take the two of them out.

In fact, Adam could probably take both of them at once if he had to, though he didn’t relish the idea.

He had a feeling that the two of them were being used just as anyone else might be. They weren’t working for themselves but being manipulated by a system that didn’t want to get in trouble itself.

The two of them were just patsies.

They led him out of the room and back into the main thoroughfare of the pirate waystation. Where once he had been excited to view all of the cool and illegal technology, he now felt sick to his stomach. Neon lights flashed above him under colorful ad campaigns for new jetpacks and all he could think of was the betrayal.

He needed to talk to someone. Immediately.

“I must return to my ship to make preparations.”

“We will come with you.”

He shook his head, “No, I need you to make sure that the rest of my men are getting along in the equipment they find. If they don’t get what we need then the mission is a bust, so you better make sure things go smoothly.

He didn’t wait for them to respond, but turned on his heel and made his way back towards the ship, his boots clattering on the metal flooring.

Beatrice said something rude behind him, but he ignored her for the most part.

He didn’t care about her at this point, she was simply a pawn in a larger game.

And while they were pawns….. Well that would have to make him a King, which honestly wasn’t much better than a pawn.

He was a target for an assassination, and the entire board felt like it was moving around them, and the opposing queen had him in her sights.

He was going to have to change that.

He stepped into the tube leading him into his “fake” pirate ship.

It had been a lot of fun pretending to be a pirate over the past few months or so, allowing words of his deeds to spread in just the right circles, and crafting elaborate stories of daring encounters with UNSC cargo ships who were willing to help him with his plan. For the most part it had all gone off without a hitch, and he had been able to live out every child’s fantasy of becoming a pirate.

But now, now the jig was up and the fun was over. He was going to have to figure out something in the next few hours.

He stepped onto the ship and headed towards his rooms, shutting the door behind himself before setting up a secure transmission to the Omen. The line that he sent the transmission out on was disguised as some sort of manifest request to an orbiting ship above. No one would find anything interesting about it, though the signal would be intercepted by the Omen and opened on another secure channel, which generally tended to be used to monitor cosmic feedback.

He waited there for a moment as the device rang a few times, and then the screen sputtered to life.

The picture wasn’t the greatest quality, but they had made sure to do that over the past few days to hide any of the small quirks about Thomas that would have made him easy to identify as an imposter.

“Cargo?”

The word was a pre made code word asking if it was safe to speak out of character.

Thomas would respond with either, “Goods, or weapons.” The first meaning go and the second meaning stop.

“Goods.”

The image before him cleared up, and his brother's face peered back at him from the camera. He had to admit, they had done a good job in making him look Like Adam. He had tousled blond hair and eyepatch and likely makeup to adjust the structure of his face. All in all, it was pretty impressive, but being Adam and Thomas being his brother he could definitely tell. Thomas was shorter and a bit thinner than he was, though he had filled out since joining the marines, and his hair was a shade or two off from Adam’s.

“You good?” Thomas asked, flipping up the eye patch to show his real eye.

Adam sighed, and rested his elbows on the table before him, “There has been a….. A massive compilation, and I’m not sure what to do.”

Lord Avex still sat on his shoulder, and had been surprisingly quiet since the revelation about the chairwoman. 

“Are Sunny Krill and the others there, I need to talk to them.”

Thomas nodded and shuffled on the other side of the camera for a minute before returning.

“How about physically. Haven't had the shit kicked out of you, have you?”

Adam shook his head, “No, no I’m alright, Just mentally reeling at this point.”

He rubbed his temples trying to stave off the headache he could feel coming on.

There was a soft thud and hiss, and the door behind Thomas opened.

Sunny stepped into the room and hurried over to the monitor resting her hand on the back of the chair Thomas sat in, “Adam, are you alright!” The worry in her voice was palpable. She had wanted to come along on the mission with him, but he had reasoned that she was  too recognizable. Even if they had changed her colors it would have been far too easy to  identify her. She hadn’t like that, but had still agreed to stay behind.

“I’m alright, physically anyway, and so are the others.”

“You’ve figured out who their leader is.”

Adam went quiet, and by the looks he was receiving, he knew that they could sense the tension in his face, “Wait till the others get here.”

Just when he said it, the door hissed open again and Simon, Dr. Katie and Krill walked into hte room.

Dr Krill inflated his helium sack and floated into the air, looking him over with a critical eye for a long moment, “You don’t seem injured, so that is a good sign.”

Adam sighed and shook his head, “I wish that were the case.” 

“I don’t understand.”

“I mean I would rather be beaten up than dealing with the real problem at this point.” He rested his head against his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Look, this is going to sound absolutely insane, so I will just go ahead and send you the recording.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the recording device he had taken with him dropping it into the little well on the communications array. There was a soft whirr and it slowly levitated upward and began to spin. The video was played back for the others to see, and they watched in silence ad growing horror as the Chairwoman of the GA plotted his death.

When the recording cut off, the group of them stared at him with wide eyes.

Sunny shook her head, “This makes no sense.”

“Why would she…..”

Adam shook his head, “I don’t know…. I thought we were on good terms, but it seems as if that is no longer the case. THe GA is against us, or at least the head of the GA is. I don’t know who is loyal to us, and I certainly don’t know who to trust.”

It was then that lord Avex piped up hopping down from Adam’s shoulder, “The Celzex will always be on your side, Admiral. That is why I came on this mission, that is why your ship is the only one equipped with our weaponry.” he stamped one of his feet, “We will wipe her and her puny planet off the map.”

Adam raised a hand, “Woah…. woah , I don’t know about that. We have to do this carefully. I doubt she is acting with the entire interest of her species in mind, but more likely a small group of people. If we are going to deal with her we will want to confront her quietly where no one else is going to get hurt.

Lord Avex didn’t seem particularly pleased about that turn of events, but he kept quiet and allowed Adam to continue.

“We need to expose her publicly is what we need.”

Sunny shook her head, “And how do you plan to do that. There is already the problem of you having to assassinate yourself, which really isn’t going to do us well at this moment in time.”

He shook his head, “IT will be easy to take care of the pirates, they aren't all that smart and taking them out won’t be difficult. Just let them board the ship and then we can deal with them from there. After that is what I am worried about. We need her to show her hand, and we need to gather plenty of evidence. What I have right now is good, but if we can find something better, then that will ease my mind.”

He stood and paced back and forth slightly across the room, “We need…. We need to open me up to them. We need to make it look like I am vulnerable, we need to give them a chance to carry everything out, make it look like I am an easy target. Let thor guard down, and then when they come for me, we close around them like a bear trap and they will be none the weiser.” He tapped his fingers against the table, “You can’t help but leave some kind of digital trail in a time like this, it is completely impossible, if we have one end of her plot in a public setting, than we can unravel it right before her eyes and there will be nothing she can do about it.” 

Krill, who had been mostly quiet for this time shook his head, “It seems strange that she would involve herself so closely. Using a proxy to do all the work for her would at least give her plausible deniability, why would she do it herself ?”

It was Thomas’s turn to pipe in, “Seems easy enough. She’s the only one she can trust. If what you say is true than I doubt she is going along with the interests of her own people. If she involves someone else than it is going to get messy for her especially if she doesn’t know where their loyalties really lie. She would have to make the decision to deal with it herself and ricks being caught, or risk being outed by the people that she trusted, and seeing that most of the Rundi are politicians at heart, it wouldn’t surprise me that she wouldn’t trust anyone ther than herself.” he waved a hand in the air, “They are grabbing for power just like she is, and they might see this as an opportunity to undermine her and set themselves up to become the new chancellor.”

He nodded slowly, that did make some measure of sense.

But how to pull hair out of hiding.

One thing at a time he supposed.

Outside he heard the sound of footsteps coming up the hall, and he turned to look at them making a quick hand signal, and the feed was cut off. He leaned back in his chair just as there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” He ordered, and the door opened up to reveal cannon trailed by Beatrice and Geea.

He growled internally

They continued to get in his way and were becoming  a real annoyance for his plan.

He was gong to have to deal with them soon.

“Ah, ladies, you’re back. Were we able to find all of our supplies.

Geea stepped forward, “I believe we have, now you better get to work quickly, my employer grows impatient with your stalling”

I bet she does, he thought standing and smiling to conceal the rage that was festering inside him. He walked over and patted the Drev on the arm, “Don’t worry, by this time tomorrow you will be all sorted out, and all of us can go happily on our merry way.”

He slipped past her and walked into the hall chin down eyes narrowed,  hands balled into fists slightly at his sides.

By this time tomorrow they could begin dealing with the traitors, whoever they may be.

[blookmallow]

uhHH well i finished rusty lake roots... there are still many things i do not understand but wow that sure was. a lot 

-----

oh. ohhhh i was right 

albert did get into voodoo

i mean really if you have enough blood to write a sentence with it i think thats more of a “there is blood” scenario but i guess that’s just semantics really 

anyway uhhHHh that happened,

oH god what the fuck ok apparently mary’s dead now too

i dont know what killed her other than like, old age, maybe. shock?? could’ve been a heart attack if she. saw what albert did to his brother and ida 

:( 

the kid with the glasses Was emma’s son and she Did commit suicide in her grief when he went missing 

still dont know where he came from in the first place but nevermind 

what the hell kind of egg is that (the second thing. the first thing is a potato) 

oh

it’s. it’s that kind of egg, isn’t it. 

is that what that looks like???? i was under the impression human “eggs” are like, microscopic, like you can’t visually see individual sperm cells and i couldn’t really find a clear answer trying to look this up and got kinda freaked out about it anyway (pregnancy/uterus functions fuck me up sdfgggh) but 

APPARENTLY, AFTER MURDERING HER (AND HIS BROTHER) ALBERT HAS DECIDED TO HARVEST IDA’S EGGS FROM HER BODY AND CREATE HIS OWN FETUS SOMEHOW HIMSELF 

I DONT THINK THATS HOW THAT WORKS BUT UH. ALBERT???? WE NEED TO TALK 

god fucking damn it i liked him so much and wanted to understand him and i still think it’s heavily implied he was abused and/or bullied by his siblings and he’s definitely mentally unwell and definitely had some kind of rivalry going on with samuel, definite “wants what he has” situation but 

i guess “murdered his brother and his wife, apparently harvested eggs from her corpse to Make A Child With Her after she rejected him” is uuhhhh not really redeemable is it :’   ) god 

or im not sure if she actually rejected him or if he ever made any advances on her in the first place but. definite “she belonged to me/should have been Mine” possessive behavior ramped up to 11 

i still think he needed Help and maybe wouldn’t have turned out like this if he got help and had support from his family but my god what a. series of events that was  

also this guy keeps showing up everywhere. i dont know what he is but i like him even though he may be some kind of shadow of impending doom or a personification of death 

BIG fan of the implication here that i may in fact have been a ghost the whole time, subtly influencing the events of my own family destruction in an effort to sacrifice them all to resurrect myself 

is that what all this is. did all this happen because william was haunting everybody trying to get the pieces to revive himself. was this man willing to destroy his entire family line for the chance to live again 

oh FUCK THE KID’S STILL ALIVE 

HE DIDN’T DIE IN THE WELL HE’S JUST BEEN LIVING DOWN THERE THIS WHOLE TIME. OK

how did nobody hear him calling for help or anything... 

guess what

i fucking killed the hand again 

apparently albert also knows about this??? and never told anyone??? fucking why??????? he doesn’t seem to be Using the dude for anything, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to keep him down here unless it’s just some fucked up revenge thing on his sister 

also i dont think it was albert’s hand that i stabbed Again bc he’s not bleeding when he shows up but 

is he the one who has been keeping him alive?? why. what purpose is served in keeping him alive if he’s not using him for anything. if hes just trying to get back at his sister why not just kill the guy or leave him to starve down here. Albert What The Fuck Are You Doing 

hey buddy!!!!! its u!!!!

i was wrong it seems like mr. crow is not a voodoo curse victim but is actually probably the first vanderboom brother. the not william one. i forgot his name :’) and i still definitely think william’s going to become mr. owl

i found this picture later (it was shown before but i didnt remember) (also has. puzzle stuff on it but anyway) its definitely the same suit thats it isnt it 

i dont want to go searching for the pic of the other brother and the one of mr owl bc ill probably just find spoilers if i do that but Hm. hmm.

is this how the revival ritual works. do u become a bird. is that why everyone else at the hotel was animals too

that would mean the brothers have already done the ritual once though and would’ve needed a bunch of sacrifices to do it before so maybe not 

albert’s bizarre science experiment child seems to be living at the house now, which i was gonna say “how the fuck did he explain this to his family how is she just Here Now” but then i realized i think she and albert might be the only ones left now 

ida and samuel are dead, emma is dead, mary and james are dead, leonard isn’t dead but i think he might be... out fighting the war at this point 

also that dog is still here and i didnt previously question why the cup was called “cup with liquid” and not “water” and i really, really wish i didnt know the answer to that mystery 

try to guess how this dog provided liquid. the answer is not blood 

rose helped frank get out of the well, not sure if she knew why he was down there in the first place or that he’s her cousin, and. well 

:( 

sorry things had to be this way, bud

digs up my entire family’s remains to make one hell frankenstein skeleton

sure 

o fuck i did it i got all the things

i like how some of these are like “gouge out an eyeball” and then there’s like “cut off some hair” 

some of this family suffered more than others for this ritual, shall we say

theres probably Reasons for each of the parts though like, frank’s hair grew super long from his years in the well, so while the removal of a lock of hair itself wasn’t really a Sacrifice/suffering on his end its symbolic of what he went through

william’s the one being revived so it makes sense to use his heart

eyes could be... Too Late To See The Truth about albert or something, ida was a fortune teller so, Inner Sight or w/e, also a pair of eyes taken from a couple

emma died from her grief so we have her tears

james... died from drinking the elixir? so indirectly his tongue could symbolize that?? i guess???

rose means red, she was born through murder, she got her bio mother’s red hair, we have her blood 

albert could be seen as a mastermind behind a lot of these events, and a lot of this was caused by the mental illness he never got help for, so we have his brain

leonard lost his foot in the war

the only one i cant figure out is mary’s teeth, i have no idea what that one could mean unless she Did die of old age and “teeth falling out” is meant to symbolize that

theres.... three teeth and she had three children? i have no idea 

anyway DONT LIKE THAT AT ALL 

hm. unpleasant 

the other brother Confirmed to be mr. crow but its still possible mr. owl is Not in fact william but he could be talking about future william when he Becomes mr. owl, maybe 

this is such a mess ok so william was reborn as a baby, the grandchildren looked like they were consumed by the roots but we see rose holding the baby so at least she’s still alive (and probably the boys too if she is) 

and this process also created the seed which planted the tree so... william’s death and subsequent rebirth also created the family tree?? i guess?? so his family was brought to ruin one by one possibly through him influencing events from beyond the grave, all to revive him, which started the family in the first place, and there’s definitely a lot of... “all time is one/timelines can be altered” not direct Time Travel but just sort of. time as a nonlinear web that the original vanderboom brothers seem able to transcend 

hm! hm. theres still. so much i dont understand but i have at least one more game left im not sure if the other things in the bundle are related to rusty lake or just other things by the same developers 

[sunsetscurving]

honey, you should see me in a crown [modern royalty AU]

CHAPTER 9 || ao3 link

Lucas Lallemant, crown prince and heir to the throne, never needed someone to protect him. He never needed someone to protect him until the day he nearly got stabbed by an assassin.

Now he has to deal with an annoying bodyguard named Eliott Demaury who is, to the chagrin of Lucas, fucking handsome too.

As if his life hasn‘t been difficult enough already.

Lucas was standing in front of his mirror, fixing his tie, straightening his collar.

One week passed after… after Lucas nearly lost his mind in that crowd in front of the castle. If it wasn’t for Eliott, he would’ve passed out right then and there, in front of hundreds of cameras. The news of “the weak throne heir” would have dominated the news for months after this.

But none of this happened because Eliott had been there.

Eliott…

This event had brought them even more closer than they already were before that. And Lucas was one hundred percent sure that this was definitely not good.

And yet.

Yet he felt so safe whenever he was around Eliott. He felt like Lucas, not the prince, not the throne heir, but like he always wanted to feel around people. Like he sometimes felt around Cece back then when they still had all the time in the world to play with each other. Eliott had been there nearly 24/7 after Lucas’ attack. He had been there whenever Lucas needed him, he had been there at night and in the morning and he was always by his side, letting him know that he took his duties as Lucas’ bodyguard more than serious.

Lucas caught him one day in the training room, sweating and punching into the air, training to get even more fitter. Lucas just stood there and watched him, studied the desperation on his face and how his messy and sweaty hair was hanging all over his face.

He does this for me. He gets fitter and fitter so he can protect me.

A warmth filled Lucas in that moment. The same warmth which always seemed to fill him whenever he thought about Eliott.

“Ready, your highness?”

Lucas jumped slightly as the boy he had been thinking about for the last several minutes suddenly stood behind him. Lucas lifted his head and watched Eliott in the mirror reflection. Eliott was wearing a black suit and tie, the pistole hidden in a secret pocket. But Lucas knew that it was there and Lucas also knew that Eliott could fire a gun without blinking.

Before Lucas got lost into Eliott’s eyes again, he adjusted his gaze and studied his appearance. It was the first time he would really get out of the castle and confront strangers, paparazzi and reporters.

“Not sure”, whispered Lucas quietly and he felt how Eliott moved closer. The hands from the other boy were heavy on Lucas’ shoulders and he was glad for the weight. He felt grounded.

“I am sure, Lucas”, said Eliott quietly and stared at Lucas, intensely, “More than that. You’re doing this not only for them but for you.”

Lucas nodded. Eliott was right. The hospital visit had been on his mind for a long time and it was finally the moment where he maybe could give back some love to his people. And maybe he could even help some children at the hospital to smile today, also if it was difficult for them.

Lucas took a deep breath.

“Let’s go.”

.

“So, how is the plan for today?”

Lucas looked up from his notes to Eliott who was sitting next to him in the limo. They were driving straight to the hospital and although Lucas was in thoughts and repeating the speech he wrote over and over again, he could still feel the warmth of Eliott next to him. Lucas shifted closer without a thought.

“We’re going to visit the children section of the hospital and I will try to speak to everyone who wants to speak to me”, said Lucas and nodded slightly as Eliott looked at him with a small smile.

“I… I want to give them hope, you know? I want to show them that they shouldn’t stop fighting, that wonders are still possible.”

Lucas was not able to look up from his notes now anymore. This was not a business affair for him. This was a personal matter because he knew that some of these kids have the same disease which killed his brother.

“I also want to talk to the doctors. Ask them if they need anything for their research. I want… I want to give them every help I can.” Lucas’ voice broke and he felt Eliott’s hand on his knee now, squeezing it reassuring. It gave him strength and so he continued, speaking past the emotions in his voice: “These kids… these kids could maybe get a treatment if the right antidote can be found. These kids… Maybe they don’t have to end up like my brother. They deserve to live. They have their whole life in front of them.”

Eliott had been silent the whole time and Lucas now looked up, finding Eliott watching him with an expression he cannot quite name.

“Does this make any sense at all…?”, asked Lucas with a thin voice, afraid that Eliott might think of him as mad. That he might think Lucas is too weak to change the world like this.

But Eliott only started to smile, leaning in, stopping shortly in front of Lucas’ face. Lucas’ heart starts to raise, his hands holding the notes getting sweaty at the closeness of Eliott’s lips to his own. If he would just lean in a bit more, then…

“All of this makes wonderful sense. You’re wonderful, Lucas”, whispered Eliott and Lucas eyes suddenly burned. He opened his mouth to reply something but suddenly the car came to a stop, the driver announcing that they were here. Lucas already heard the reporters, the flashlights going off, the paparazzi screaming. He took a deep breath, putting a hand over Eliott’s on his knee.

“I’ll always be right behind you, okay?”, said Eliott and Lucas nodded, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

“I know.”

“Let’s show them what a real king looks like”, said Eliott with a smirk and Lucas was so glad that at least one of them always knew what to say.

.

This is bad.

No.

This is worse than bad.

Eliott was standing at the door of the hospital room as he watched the prince kneel down in front of a boy, speaking to him with his soft voice. The little one looked at him with so much admiration in his eyes that it nearly hurt.

This is how I must look whenever I look at him.

The speech Lucas gave in the beginning of their visit took breaths away and made eyes wet with tears. Eliott had always known that Lucas was a good speaker. But knowing that Lucas laid out his heart bare in front of all these strangers brought Eliott to the edge of crying too. He wanted to kiss him so badly back in the car.

And he maybe would’ve done it if the car hadn’t stopped.

Eliott knew that his feelings for Lucas were wrong. That he should’ve drowned them from the beginning on, that he should’ve kept his distance. But… but he just couldn’t. From the moment he knew that Lucas was the prince, he felt such a urge to protect him that it sometimes caught him off guard to feel how fucking much he cared about him.

Too much.

Way too much.

To this day, he dealt with everything. Whenever he wanted to kiss him, he turned his face away in the last moment. Whenever he wanted to touch him, he did, but he always reminded himself that they were friends. And nothing more. And maybe this could’ve worked out somehow. Maybe he could’ve guarded his heart for so long until Lucas was happily married and he was out of the game.

But in this very minute, in this very second, Eliott Demaury couldn’t deny it anymore.

He loved Lucas.

He loved him and he would never stop loving him.

Eliott had always been the type to hide his feelings, to wait it out, to let it all pass. But seeing Lucas with all these children, caring so much about their dreams, their hopes, their faith and just… being there for them and bringing them joy in their dark times… All this just made Eliott’s heart melt with all the love it held for Lucas.

Lucas was kind. So fucking kind. And he was charming and caring and resolute to the same time, giving the reporters the answers they wanted and posing for the pictures they needed. No one saw how he always threw a glance over his shoulder, reassuring himself that Eliott was still there. But Eliott wouldn’t move an inch if Lucas didn’t command him too. He would be there till the end of the world for him.

Lucas deserved everything and more.

And Eliott was not sure if he could give all this to Lucas.

He deserves more than a simple bodyguard. He deserves the world.

And a simple man like me cannot give this to him.

.

“I cannot believe I made it”, said Lucas with a laugh and threw himself onto the couch. Eliott laughed softly and fell down next to him, turning his head so he could look at Lucas.

“You did such a wonderful job, Lucas. You can be proud of yourself.”

Lucas propped himself up onto his elbows so he could properly look at Eliott. His bodyguard had been quite quiet during the visit and on their way back and Lucas didn’t know him like that. He had asked if everything was okay and Eliott just responded that he felt kind of tired these days.

But Lucas had the feeling that there was more to it.

“You really think so?”, asked Lucas now because Eliott’s opinion meant more to him than he would ever openly admit. Eliott now sat up too and nodded with a completely serious face.

“Your speech touched so many people and the kids… Have you seen how there eyes were shining? They were so happy to see you, to meet you. To… have been a little and tiny part of your life.”

“They are more than a tiny part…”, said Lucas quietly, “I want to visit this hospital more often now. Maybe once a month. And… and maybe I could read to them. Do you think this is weird?”

Eliott laughed out and suddenly wrapped his arms around Lucas, holding him in an embrace.

“This is… not weird. On the contrary.”

Lucas was so surprised by this hug that he didn’t dare to move for the first few seconds. But then he basically melted into Eliott, snuggling into his arms and burying his face into the chest of the taller boy.

I could stay like this forever.

Please let me stay like this forever.

“When I’m king, I want to change the world”, whispered Lucas after some seconds passed. Eliott didn’t move and still held him this close and Lucas didn’t want it to be any other way.

“You already did change the world of some people.”

Lucas lifted his head at that, looking up into Eliott’s beautiful eyes. The other boy was wearing a small smile, looking down at Lucas, one hand at his back and the other was slowly travelling up his arm to his cheek.

“Lucas… I—”

But suddenly, Lucas’ phone was ringing. They both jumped, as if someone had caught them in this intimate embrace. Lucas was blushing now and turned away to look at his phone.

monvoisintuturo: boooooooyssss it’s party night

basile_simple: BIRTHDAY BOY SPOKE

monvoisintuturo: lucas pls tell me that you can somehow make it

“Oh, fuck”, whispered Lucas now. He forgot. He really forgot the birthday of one of his best friends.

monvoisintuturo: you can also bring eliott, ofc

y4z4s: yesss then we can finally get to know him a little better

This was… actually not a bad idea. No one could say anything against Lucas being out and partying if Eliott, his bodyguard, was with him.

“What is it?”, asked Eliott now, tilting his head slightly.

“It’s Arthur. It’s his birthday today and they’re going out to celebrate.”

Eliott nodded and a slow smile was spreading on Lucas’ face.

“And… since we also have something to celebrate, we should go too.”

“WE?”, asked Eliott, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Yeah. They said you could come, too. I mean… you need to pretend you’re coming with me as my bodyguard but I… I would like to have you with me as my…”

As my boyfriend.

“… friend. As my friend.”

Eliott blinked once. Lucas could tell that he was thinking, going through all the protocols in his head and trying to find a little leak so they could leave right there and then.

“Please?”, added Lucas now, wearing his best puppy look and Eliott sighed deeply, throwing his hands into the air with a grin.

“As if I could say no with you looking at me like this.”

Lucas nearly raised his fist in the air, cheering, but instead he grabbed his phone and started to type an answer.

lucallemant: we’re in, meeting up with you in 15 minutes

“This will be super fun.”

“Oh, dear god, let’s hope so”, said Eliott with a laugh.

[miss-sternennacht]

Tsukasa Yugi isn’t who we think he is.

[curealkira]

Be My Princess Headcannon: Halloween Scare Fail? (prince)

Note: The MC is my OC who is a Native (tribal) woman. Her English is not fluent at all. But I added “translation” in parenthesis to understand what she was trying to say. So with that being said...unless its genuine grammar or spelling corrections, please do not comment against the intentional errors when it's she who is speaking. I appreciate the understanding ^^.

Lastly, this theme was suggested by Choi (from a different community)

Links 

Non-wattpad users: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4705210/Kittah-Curechan

Wattpad users: https://www.wattpad.com/user/KiraChan2

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October is the month of a special event that the majority of all ages enjoy celebrating. It is none other than Halloween, a term, let alone an event, unknown to our young native lady, Rana. She only learned about it only a few days prior to October 31st. It's enough to say that she still does not understand the concept or purpose of the event. But what caught her attention the most was the idea of dressing up in a costume and scaring people. Rana never scared anyone before and somehow...she wanted to try that out. With the help of her best friend from Charles, Rana managed to have a costume waiting and ready for her to try on and attempt to scare the prince that she works for. Her costume is basically a wolf theme (similar to the picture above) that consists of a black, long-sleeved blouse that was tattered a bit on every edges and collar of the blouse. She wore a plaid skirt with black tights. She wore white furry boots and gloves. Lastly, she wore the accessories of fuzzy ears and tail, heterochromatic contact lens (red and gold), and her necklace that she would never take off.

Excited to attempt to scare the prince, Rana had dressed into her costume and made her way out of her room and stealthily hide at a corner where the Prince would most likely walk near.  And the moment he does....!

"BAAH!!! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!"  (translation: "BOOO! I AM WOLF! I SCARE SCARE!") 

Wilfred: Calm, composed and collected as he to many, even this young man can get taken aback at times. This day was no exception as he wandered around the hallways to see if a certain young woman has returned back from Charles. Wilfred was, in fact, aware of what kind day October 31st was to most kingdoms. Unfortunately, the concepts of wearing a costume, trick-or-treating, or even scaring people were not traditions of any sort in the kingdom of Philip. The idea would have probably brought amusement to him but it's not something he is putting much care for right now. All he is thinking about is waiting for her so he can show her a new pumpkin dessert recipe that the chefs made. And so, Wilfred continued down the halls, having no idea or expectations of what is soon to come as he approached a corner. And the moment he does....a shadowy figure suddenly jumped in front of him. "BAAAAH! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!" No doubt this took aback him more than usual and he took a step back with his eyes widened and his mouth drop. Before him was the woman he was looking for. Rana was wearing her costume with a grin of mischief all while trying to be scary. For a moment or two, both sides were quiet until one spoke. "U-um....scahr scahr? You not scahred?" She was anxious and felt she failed. If this was a cartoon, both her ears accessories would drop. However, she felt a hand gently stroking her head and as she looked up, she saw a gentle smile and warm blue eyes looking down on her.  "No. You did scare me. My heart was beating fast. Good job my little wolf." Having said that, she smiled happily-victoriously without being aware of the hidden meaning behind his words.

Edward: The very prince of Charles. A romantic, kind-hearted, and thoughtful man. The idea of scaring people did not sit well with him, however, he was fond of the idea of his people of various ages spend time with one another on the festive day of dressing up and going out for trick-or-treating. In fact, he has considered putting together a special event for his people, but most of all, his lovely friend who works alongside the gardeners. Having already known her lack of knowledge of many of what common people would know, he wanted to shower her with as much experience and exposure as possible. He would do this much for her only. Of course, without her having any awareness of this. Knowing that she would be returning from spending quality time with her best friend, Edward had Louis have tea and snacks prepared for the two of them before making his way for his secret place. However, the unexpected is to come as he approached near a corner and a shadowy figure popped out of nowhere. "BAAAAAH! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!" No doubt, his eyes would be as white as saucers and his mouth would drop as he gazed at the young woman before him. It took him a while to process what happened until he recognized the young lady and came to realize she was dressed as a wolf and attempted to scare him. It would be a lie if he were to say that his heart didn't stop. But to him, rather for the reason of being scared, it was because of just simply how adorable his friend was as he gave a smile, his heart feeling nothing but warmth. "My lovely daisy. My heart nearly stopped. And yet, your smile revived it back. You did a good job scaring me. Now let's go and have rosehip tea and some snacks." Placing his arm gently around her shoulders, he guided them to his secret spot where the two would enjoy a sweet evening snack together.

(A/N: errr yeah I tried with his flowery style of talking....hope it wasn't cringe-worthy..)

Roberto: The fun-loving, playful prince of Altaria, who can be quite the slacker, but can get also serious. Heck, he can be unexpectedly perceptive and hit the nail on the head at times. But enough of that, let's talk about how enthusiastic and excited he is about Halloween. Probably out of all the six princes, Roberto might be the only one who actually would willingly dress up and go out of the palace just to enjoy the thrills of the season. Maybe adding a few pranks here and there, especially towards a particular butler of his. With all that being said and done, this year, to him, is going to be different. Yes, he still wants to go out dressed in a costume and have the time of his life, but not alone. Oh no. Ever since he met Rana and she started working in the gardens, the two became really good friends...well at least that's how she saw it. Roberto has been thinking a multitude of costumes specifically for her to wear. And yet, he can't decide! There was only one solution. Have her decide! And when he got the word that she was coming back from Charles, he was giddy as a little boy who got so much candy. Speeding down the hall while fantasizing about her reaction, Roberto was not aware of the unexpected encounter he will soon face...almost literally as a shadow appeared right in front of him from a corner. "BAAAAAH! I WOLF! SCAHR SCAHR!" "H-huh??" Taken aback, the prince looked at the figure before him with awe before excitement. The person before him was none other than Rana in her wolf theme costume. She was having a mischevious-looking grin as if feeling successful in scaring him...or so she thought when she was suddenly grabbed into a very big hug by Roberto. "EEEEK! My dear Rana is too adorable! And in a cute wolf costume! Oh, now I don't let you go!" "W-Wha!?" Having set her down, Roberto seemed to have been filled with more energy. "Meet me at the outside in front of the palace gates my dear Rana! For we will go out and have the best Halloween ever!" With that, he ran off back to his room to change into his costume, leaving her stunned. "B-But why Robbeh (Robbie) not scahred!?"

Glenn: The prince of Oriens kingdom. He is the youngest prince amongst the six princes and one of the tallest. Two words can describe him as a whole. A blushing tsundere. But most of all, a dedicated-hardworking individual who wants to prove to everyone that he has what it takes to be a responsible prince. That being said, especially because of his upbringing, there have been a number of times and moments where he wants to briefly escape the prince lifestyle just to enjoy a bit of what a normal person would. And yet he can't if he doesn't want to be looked down on. So he tries to at least allow his little brother to have the experiences that he couldn't. Despite all this, Glenn had no regrets about the sacrifices he made for himself. One of them was not being involved in events or activities that he or others could label it as childish. An example of such activity would be dressing up for Halloween. Not even the urgings of from his younger brother or his most trusted butler would change his mind. He was walking down the hallway sighing. "Come to think of it, she was shouting about Halloween and flew straight to Charles. I guess she will be spending time there...well it's her first one...and not like I can give something I never experienced." Sounding a little bit disappointed, he continued walking down the hallway absent-minded until he reached a corner where a figure suddenly jumped right in front of him and shouted. "BAAAAH!! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!" It would be an understatement to say the prince was not shocked at all. Yes, he was stunned on the sudden appearance but most of all what the woman he was just thinking about was wearing. No doubt this made him involuntarily blush as numerous questions ran through his head until only one came out of his mouth. "Why are you here....you went to Charles not to long ago.." Not aware of his flustered face or his confusion, Rana just grinned as she held his hand with both of hers with a grin. "Hahlohwehn (Halloween)! Lot of fun outside! Ahlan (Alan) and Yu waiting! We go! Gahlen (Glenn) must wear cohstoom (costume). Our first Hahlohwehn!" Those last three words echoed in his head. Normally, he would refuse but somehow he can't. His lack of refusal gave her the impression that he wants to go as she dragged him shouting 'Hahlohwehn!’ while he was smiling inside thinking that celebrating Halloween wasn't bad every once in a while.

(A/N: >_< i struggled with Glenn's! And I might made it a little bit longer...I'm sorry!....but I won't be sorry for the next two....>u> my two favorites are coming up and I may intentionally make them longer #biasedlol)

Joshua: Prince of DresVan, known for strict rules and traditions. Joshua, out of all the other six princes, is known to be VERY law-abiding and conforms to his role as a prince. In fact, he can act like a nagging parent should others not act with conduct. Additionally, he tends to not involve himself with commoners. Of course, that's all changed when he met a certain young woman, who also became a favored gardener. Her presence brought him different perspectives and considerations, a positive influence she didn't know that she brought to him. And thanks to her recent outburst about Halloween, Joshua himself decided to learn more about the event and see what he can do to make her happy. Having his butler, Jan, bring to him every possible material associated with the history of Halloween to the customs of trick-or-treating that people of various ages participate in to the repertoire of costumes that people wear, he read them all. There are still more about the event that a book or two cannot contain or express, but he made sure to get down the basics. There was only one problem that made him cringe, but then give him a shock-filled thought as he slammed his hands on his desk as he stood up, making his butler flinch in shock as well. "Get the car ready! That woman is far too innocent for whatever she might be told!" Not even giving his butler the slightest second to regain himself and get clarification on what just happened, Joshua strode out of the room, down the hallway. Why is the prince reacting like this? It turned out that one of the reference materials of costumes for women included certain kinds that Joshua, in his view, found either not appropriate or something he just doesn't want other men to see her wear. Or worse, her wearing a costume of the creature he just can't stand to be around. Just thinking of it makes him want her back here just for her own safety and for his sanity. Being absolutely tunnel-visioned about the matter, he was unaware of what was to come as a shadowed figure suddenly appeared right at him from a corner with a loud outburst. "BAAAAH!!! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!" As shocking as this was to him, it was even more for Rana, who was the one who jumped in front of him, causing him to shout in a scream that nearly echoed down the hall. Her eyes was wide cause she's didn't expect that reaction and looked at Joshua, who was now on the ground, with concern. "P-Pahrence (Prince) Johshwa (Joshua)? You ok??? I sorry I scahred you!!" She felt bad, very bad as she bowed. Having regained his composure, he looked at her and his heart was already pounding. To his relief, she wasn't wearing anything he was fearing, but she was also absolutely cute. Far too cute that it might as well be illegal. Just as he was about to say something... "Your Highness! Is everything ok!? I hear screaming!" It was Jan, his butler, who was dashing down the hallway. But knowing he will see Rana, Joshua immediately panicked and got up and stood in front of Rana with the intention to shield her, though that action alone confused her. "D-Don't come any closer Jan! I forbid it! You are not to take another step forward do you hear me!"

Keith: The most arrogant and prideful one of the princes. Stubborn as heck and can really get on your nerves. Hell he can easily talk down on commoners. I bet he thinks he knows everything about commoners as he might boldly claim. Haaaaaah. Well despite my rant about that. He's not all that people may only see on the surface. In fact, he actually does have a soft caring side. You just gotta have patience and tolerance while getting to know him. Who knew he was a total softy and a closet romantic. Of the few people he knows who have such tolerance, there's also one other person who also has those traits, as well as never talking back against the man, even if she desperately wanted to. Additionally, she continued smiling and being herself while trying to find the goodness out of the man, even at the cost of her own sadness. Eventually, after a rough journey, he started softening and warming up to her. Heck, he secretly tries to find ways to make her smile even more without admitting it. As such, he remembers how much excitement Rana had when first hearing about Halloween that he started planning something special for her. A special Halloween theme welcome party. Yes, a VERY late welcome party but one that he believes she deserved. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware that she left for Charles already. "What the hell!? Who does that woman think she is just leaving like that!" It's hard to tell if he's sad or angry, maybe both. Hours have gone by and the prince was so livid that everyone was giving him space as he stomped down the corridor. "Stupid woman....making me go through such efforts all for nothing..." He just couldn't help but sigh feeling more depressed about the situation. However, that feeling would disappear instantly the moment he came close to a corner and a figure jumped right in front of him."BAAAAH!! I WOLF! I SCAHR SCAHR!" This was utterly unexpected that he nearly tripled backward. "Dammit woman! What the hell are yo-!?" Having a better look at her, he was completely speechless. He can't begin to even comprehend what's happening. Rana, on the other hand, was just grinning happily. "Hehe! I gave Liyon (Lion) big scahr!" Ah, forget what's going on. He will ask later. That smile alone was enough to make him forget his anger just earlier ago as he had an amused smile on his face and pinched her cheek. "Silly woman. Bold enough to come and go as you please just to scare me. Just be lucky you didn't come back late." "Eh? Why?" Keith didn't bother to give her a response. Rather he just dragged her along, anticipating her reaction to his surprise for her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for reading. This was hard to make and I was coming up with all this on the fly as I was typing but I hope I depicted the princes correctly

lastly, below is the picture i found on google image that i used to reference her outfit :) 

[spacialesbian]

Theory: Deltarune is set in a previous universe to Undertale

Okay I'm going to attempt to go through and explain my previous-universe deltarune/undertale theory, in which I give evidence for why the DR universe occurs earlier on the timeline than the UT one (also sometimes referred to as Chara-pocalypse by me exclusively for fun)

Extremely huge shoutout to @rayl1r for basically all Kris-split elements, this post for effectively jumpstarting this whole idea in my brain (I will also be referencing it throughout this) and @hulknaps for listening to my preliminary bullshit

I'm gonna get everything I can out of that post before I move on so. The first thing I want to discuss is the photograph of 3 people with the words "don't forget" on it found in the first shelf of San's laboratory, as well as the blueprint for the "thrashing machine" next to it. Now this combined with the "dontforget.ogg" file found in the "mus" folder of deltarune can be taken to imply (albeit somewhat tenuously by itself alone) that the picture is of Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. However, the photo paired with the blueprint and this Sans fight dialogue heavily implies that the events of DR take place in an alternate universe at some point in time before Sans and Papyrus somehow travel to the UT universe. We know from one of the shopkeepers in UT that the bone brothers "just showed up one day," possibly referring to a sudden jump between universes. Now, we know that by the time Chara in a genocide run reaches Sans he knows all about them and "what they've done" (paraphrasing). Initially everybody assumed he was speaking of Chara's actions in UT, but instead consider the possibility that what he was referencing to "what they've done" was really something in the DR reality, namely Chara bringing calamity and the apocalypse to the entire world (this seems brought out of nowhere but there's evidence to support it I promise). somehow and at some time during the storyline of DR, I theorize Sans will join the organization that he references in his Genocide run fight with Chara here, giving him the means to escape the Chara-pocalypse (see) and even appropriating the teleport door technology we see in DR. 

Okay, that's essentially the core of this theory: DR takes place in a previous universe to UT, in which Chara brings the calamity to fruition in DR and Sans figures out a way to escape to UT with Papyrus, vowing to himself "don't forget" as he leaves the fun gang behind.

Now, the first branch of this I'm gonna analyze is Gaster's "role" in all of this. we learn from his followers in UT that 1. Gaster created the core of the underground 2. something went wrong and he fell in, being splintered through space and time and becoming omniscient to some degree (shoutout to this video for the screenshots of the Gaster follower dialogue). Now, I’m adopting the theory that Gaster is the one speaking to you at the beginning of DR during the "character creator” that I lay out the evidence for in this post that you can read if you don’t already subscribe to this idea. Now Gaster, through his displacement in time, has seen the Chara-pocalypse coming and knows there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. This would also explain his nihilistic disposition when interacting with the player and discarding their vessel, as well as providing a possible explanation for why Gaster’s followers are referred to as goners. Gaster has seen the apocalypse coming and know there’s nothing that can be done about it. Everybody is DR is fucked as their choices don’t matter. Now, what do you call someone who is screwed no matter what they do? A goner.

Departing from Gaster, it's now time to talk about the "Kris-split" theory I mentioned earlier provided entirely by @rayl1r. Now, multiple theories and speculation have arisen about Kris being some kind of amalgamation between Chara and Frisk. However, these all assume that DR takes place “after” UT, as opposed to before like the theory I’ve been defending for 600+ words states. “Knowing" that UT takes place takes after DR, we can instead come to the conclusion that Frisk and Chara are a physical split of Kris into two distinct entities. As a sort of disclaimer, we don't know exactly how this split would take place but as with all theories some things we just can't answer. Moving on, we can further attribute this split to what we actually see at the very end of DR Chapter 1. Kris' body and soul literally split into two entities, which, coinciding with this theory, foreshadows the embodiment of Kris' separated soul as Frisk and their body personified as Chara, a ""soulless"" being. We see in this tumblr post that after Kris' soul is torn out we can still control it, yet have lost control over the body. This is an effective mirror of the mechanics in UT, as we control Frisk throughout the entire game except in parts of a Genocide run where Chara wholly "takes over" Frisk and the player loses control entirely. The similarities between Kris' body in the final scene of DR and Chara also don't end there. Recall that the only human to ever open their eyes throughout UT was Chara. Kris' eyes are closed the entirety of DR except for when the soul (Frisk/The Player) is removed from their body, the opening of the eyes symbolizing Chara's new domain over the body or “vessel.” Dialogue from the Sans fight again supports that even though Frisk is being controlled by Chara, he recognizes them as they once were; as Kris. In the same situation as before, we as a fanbase assumed this line was a reference to Sans being aware of Pacifist timelines where Frisk was his friend and generally didn’t murder the whole underground. However, I believe this is a reference to the piece of Kris still somewhere inside Chara (as Chara came from Kara, some part of Kris must still remain inside of Chara). 

The last directly in-game content I want to reference for this theory actually revolves around Seam and Jevil. First, take a look at the dialogue Seam has with Kris after you defeat Jevil and return to him.  This heavily foreshadows a calamity based end of the world scenario, quite possibly the Chara-pocalypse I have alluded to. How much stake we can put into a brain-addled old shopkeeper is relative, but as it is Toby Fox I won't discount a single thing.  Beating Jevil using violence (FIGHTing to lower his health bar rather than tiring him out and pacifying) reveals much of the same information in this dialogue, but also introduces new things that I find incredibly interesting. He references both the unnamed Knight as well as a "Queen" who will bring "hell's roar from the depths." Apart from this being incredibly freaky in general I believe he is referencing Chara as the Queen who will bring hell onto the universe, enacting the Chara-pocalypse. Again, this only a bit of foreshadowing but nothing in these games is small enough to really discredit so I felt safe in adding it here.

To put the cherry on top of all this, Toby released his "thought on chapter 1" tweet as I was planning all of this giving me even more evidence, particularly for the previous-universe theory. In this writing he clearly and openly states "there will be only one ending." the way I see it, this is a reference to the fact that the events of DR are already set in stone, as it takes place in the past (It also reinforces the idea that you actions through DR don’t actually matter). This talk of the characters of UT being the same as you left them also supports the theory, as a set in stone recollection of the past in DR could not possibly change the outcome of UT due to just how time works in general. 

Now, Toby of course couldn't just leave it at that. He ends his TwitLonger with the same exact line Sans writes to himself on the picture of the fun gang he cherishes but had to leave behind:

“don’t forget.”

[momorabu]

29.10.2017

Ensemble Stars! Event Story - Kiseki☆The Preliminary Match of the Summer Live / Summer Live (Part 2)

Was supposed to finish writing this last week, but end up I ran out of time and only took till today to finish the rest of them~ (This was a very long event story after all ^^:)

This is Part 2 of the Summer Live event story, please read Part 1 first if you have not read it yet ^^ 

Anyway as always, the summary of the story can be found below. Translation may not be 100% accurate due to my poor Japanese skills~

Communication / 交流: Chapter 3 - 4

Turns out that it was actually Hokuto and Hiyori in the practice room, as since Hokuto had said that he would prove to Hiyori Trickstar’s skills earlier on, he decided to perform one of the songs that Trickstar was going to perform at the Summer Live for Hiyori. However, as the song was made for 4 people to perform, Hokuto realised that it was hard to perform and sing all the parts by himself. He knew that his performance was actually quite embarrassing bad, and wonder how Hiyori would criticise his performance later on. Hokuto realised that he had came to rely on his comrades and fighting together now over the time, and wondered perhaps he had became weak because of this. (I hope that’s not true Hokuto TWT)

As expected, Hioyri commented that the performance was terrible, saying that no matter how much he had practised, there was no way he would be able to catch up to a level that would make Hiyori satisfy. And thus, Hiyori wished that Hokuto would stop thinking too much into things and concentrate on singing instead, as he felt that it was painful to listen to Hokuto (probably seeing how Hokuto had struggled to sing the whole song by himself), and told him that being able to provide joy and happiness to the audience is what an idol should do. He remarked that Hokuto’s song had no love in it, and instead asked him that is defeating the opponents in front of him his only goal?

Hiyori remembered his days at Yumenosaki Gakuen and commented that during those days when he sings, there was no love being put into the song due to how the school was set up to be in those times. He blamed that partly on Eichi for setting up the “units rules” at that time (and causing all the battles and bloodshed I guess =w=“...) Hiyori mentioned to Hokuto that he had heard that Trickstar’s greatest weapon was how great it would become when their teamwork and bonds between the members, and wondered whether their skills and performance would multiply and create an explosive effect when they’re together. Even though “unity”,  “teamwork”, “friendship power” were beautiful in writing, to Hiyori it just look like the weak coming together as a group in order to live together, and remarked that it looks ugly. However, he said this was to be expected, since the members of Trickstar were still “young creatures that had yet to evolve”. 

In the end, the thing that pissed Hokuto off was Hiyori calling him by his name ever since he had arrived ^^; He requested the ex-Fine member not to call his name and Hiyori rebutted him that Hokuto has no manners when interacting with his seniors ^^;

Hokuto told Hiyori that he should change his attitude if he intend to get along with him, but Hiyori just laughed and state that this was impossible. He said that he had already planned for his personality to be a “problematic child” since his elder brother was doing a good job in preparation to lead the family and being a good child, he had to become someone who’s different from that image. Hokuto got interested on that as he wondered that perhaps there was a reason why Hiyori had decided to have such a personality for himself... (Maybe there would be Hiyori’s past story someday~? OWO)

In the end, Hiyori decided to give Hokuto a helping hand as he could not bear to see him struggle anymore XD He asked politely whether it was alright to call Hokuto by his name as he felt that it would seems like he’s calling Mr Hidaka (Hokuto’s father) if he called him by his surname. He got close to Hokuto physically which made Hokuto quite uncomfortable, as he asked Hiyori that such a close contact was needed. Hiyori said that such action was what Eve would do recently to attract attention onto them on the stage (skinship ^^;), and said that he used to stand close to Jun like this usually to teach him better.

Hiyori asked Hokuto what was the reason he had decided to become an idol - for money, for the fame, because of love, or he just wanted to catch up to his parents. As they were still in the midst of practice, Hiyori scolded Hokuto for looking up at him and said that eye contact was not allowed at this time, Hokuto was impressed how Hiyori managed to force his head to bow down instead by making use of the dance moves while singing. The reason that Hiyori had done that was because it would be very sunny during the Summer Live as they would be performing outdoors, and if Hokuto had looked up just like he did just now, he would have hurt his eyes as he would be looking up into the sun. Hiyori advised to Hokuto that the gaze of idols were very important in a live, and besides, if he had put his face in the sky, it would make a shadow to be cast on his face which Hiyori found that to be very unappealing. He also suggested to Hokuto to cut his hair and dyed his hair to make himself look more lively and appealing, but Hokuto replied that he preferred that his hairstyle remain the way it is now, as his grandma had praised him that he looked clean and serious this way. (Hokuto and his crush for his grandma ^^) 

However, Hokuto was quite concerned about Hiyori had said about him, and wondered whether he had really looked that dull to others. Hiyori remarked that he didn’t know why Hokuto was so stubborn about wanting to retain his looks, but advised him that he should try to appear more lively and suggested to him that he should try to copy his wink. (So cute that Hokuto actually follows him XD)

It was then Hokuto realised that he had been swept up into following Hiyori’s pace, but also noticed that Hiyori seems to be giving advice since earlier on. Even though he had found Hiyori’s thinking to be very unique, he also found it to be quite logical and was impressed with how Hiyori was able to talk while keeping on pace with his singing and dancing. Hokuto was even to feel that they were actually giving a performance to a large audience even though in reality they were still practising by themselves in the practice room, and realised that this was because of the skills of Hiyori and finally came to realise how good Hiyori was being a key member of ex-Fine. 

Comparing himself to Hiyori, Hokuto realised how weak and immature he was currently, and knew that he still lacks the aura and experience to become an idol. Hiyori noticed that Hokuto had become silent, and dissed him that if he had felt tired already, he should just head home since the Summer Live event was still able to procceed even without Hokuto. However, if Hokuto still wants to do it, Hiyori would welcome him with open hands, to join the bright and shiny world of freedom with “Eve”~ (He even encourage Trickstar to work hard, Hiyori doesn’t seems too bad afterall~)

Communication / 交流: Chapter 5

Suddenly, Subaru rushed into the practice room, with Makoto following soon behind him telling him that they had promised to wait till the end of one song before coming in. However, Subaru said that he was unable to bear anymore longer, and wanted to sing along with Hokuto and Hiyori. (Subaru... seems impatient, but so cute~ ^^)

Somehow Subaru’s appearance gave Hiyori a shock as he realised how energetic Subaru was. Hokuto was surprised that Hiyori actually dodged Subaru who had fly out at him XD (Unexpectedly, Hiyori would actually avoid people.... OWO) This was then Makoto realised that Hiyori was Eve’s leader, whom Jun had referred to as “Ohisan”. Jun came into the practice room and apologised for for Hiyori’s actions, even referring to him as an idiot ^^; Mao was impressed with how polite Jun was, to which Jun replied that he’s being polite since this is the first time he had met the members of Trickstar and besides, they were all going to work together later on for the Summer Live and would be colleagues for the time being. 

Hiyori was angry at Jun for being late, but Jun replied calmly that this was because Hiyori had dumped him behind. Jun offered some omiyage that he had bought to the members of Trickstar to eat, but Hiyori advised him that he shouldn’t be too close to Trickstar since Eve was going to be the “bad guys” in the end who would beat up Trickstar. (Ehh~ Just let Jun be good friends with them, Hiyori =3=“)

In the meantime, Subaru had ignored everyone and started singing by himself, which Hiyori felt that this side of Subaru was an personality overlap with him XD (Hiyori’s position might be in danger now that Subaru is in the picture now XD But still, Hiyori was still quite fond of Subaru, as Subaru was someone who seems to show alot of passion for performing.)

As everyone had gathered in the practice room, Hokuto realised that it was time for the overall practice for Summer Live to begin. He thanked “me” for specially making an appearance here today, since with “me” around, he felt that he would be able to focus and work even harder at the practice. Makoto remarked that Hokuto seems really fond of “me”, to which Hokuto replied that he felt that he has to protect “me” as “I’m” their goddess to success. (These two... I feel that what Hokuto had said was too exaggerated ^^;)

Since all the members of Trickstar had gathered, Hokuto requested to Hiyori to watch them perform one more time to see the skills of Trickstar when all the members were together. He told Hiyori not to hold back and pointed out their weakness, since Hokuto really wanted Trickstar to improve and evolve. Hiyori agreed, since he had started to get more interested in Trickstar. He hoped that them defeating Eichi was not by “luck” but of a “miracle” instead,, and that it was not an event that happened just by “coincidence” but because of “fate” instead. 

Monologue

A week soon passed, and throughout the week, Trickstar had been busy practising and practising to improve and evolve as much as they can during this period of time, and Hokuto was sure that they would improve and evolve in a positive direction just like how it was the last time. However, he started having second thoughts about it as well, since what lies before them was an area of unknown, and all he had were full of questions that no one had the answers for. 

Hokuto had felt that he had become a “somebody” when he realised that Trickstar were being selected to participate in the SS. However, he knew that they were just mid-way on their route to success, and told himself that he shouldn’t be satisfied to stop halfway now. He told himself to work even harder, and to increase the bonds between him and his comrades, so that everyone would be able to attain success someday in the future. 

Just then, he was surprised by the appearance of Hiyori, when Hiyori remarked that he had been there since earlier on but Hokuto was too deeply in thoughts that he had not noticed him at all. (When Hiyori said that he was someone who had such a “presence” ^^; I think he doesn’t like being ignored ^^;)

Hiyori asked Hokuto what was he thinking with such a complicated face, and Hokuto answered that he was just concentrating on consolidating all he had learned for the past one week together so that they would become part of his skills. He reaffirmed that he was the leader of Trickstar, and thus bear the responsibility to look after everyone in the unit. 

Hiyori realised that Hokuto seems displeased that he had follow his orders, and said that it’s a matter of fact that a rule of order is required for humans to live together. The people would always follow whoever that is the strongest, and would treat those above as the god. Hokuto rebutted that Hiyori seems to think that “Eve” was a presence that belongs high above, since from the first day he had met him, he realised that Hiyori had always viewed them, the members of Trickstar with the gaze as if he was high above them even though both units were supposed to be of equal footing. Hiyori laughed at Hokuto and told him that he could have chosen not to follow him at all if he’s displeased with him, and remarked that they’re following him because he’s just better with words and convincing others that’s all~ (Wah... Sometimes Hiyori could really be very proud of himself =w=“)

Hiyori continued on that even if Hokuto chooses not to see his position being part of “Eve” now, he should know that Hiyori used to be part of Fine and was at the top so one should always listen to the advice to those who had been to the top before. He teased Hokuto by reminding him again that he’s  “Hockey-mask-kun” in the past, and remarked that him in the past used to be much more “alive” performing on stage than now. He mentioned that Hokuto was someone who was used to following others in the past, and thus felt that he’s not suitable to be someone in the “rebellious” stage, and added on that his father would be worried for him seeing him in this state. However, Hokuto answered that his decision in achieving what he wants now had nothing to do with his dad, saying that others can’t interfere with his life. Hiyori felt that Hokuto referring to his dad as “others” was abit cold, and told him that he should be blessed to have such talented parents. (Hiyori admitted that he was very envious of Hokuto actually, hmmm... is his family not like this?) 

In the end, Hiyori said that since this was by chance that Hokuto had entered his vision, and would be performing with him, he shall try his best to help him learn and absorb as much as he can from “Eve”. He felt that Hokuto would have some genes inherited from his parents, but had not yet be able to release his talent now. So first, Hiyori felt that Hokuto and the others should learn some “skills” to improve themselves, and said that this was required for them to participate in the Summer Live. This was an assignment given by Hiyori earlier on, and thus he requested Hokuto to show him what he had learned now that they’re on a break currently.

Hokuto showed what he had learned from Hiyori - a happy(?) pose. Hokuto said that this was what he had learned from the advice he had taken from Hiyori earlier on, and had went through practice to achieve this “idol pose”. (This...was indeed quite unlike of Hokuto OWO)

Hiyori signed and answered truthfully that though it doesn’t looked that bad, he felt embarrassed looking at it and said that rather than increase Hokuto’s appeal, it seems to minus off points instead ^^; He was shocked to see Hokuto doing such a weird pose suddenly and thought to himself that just like what Mr Hidaka had said to him, Hokuto was someone who was hard to teach. He felt that Hokuto should be someone who had the talent to do well, but somehow something just doesn’t work well as Hokuto doesn’t really get what Hiyori had wanted him to understand. (I guess Hiyori doesn’t really want Hokuto to follow him to do that pose exactly when he meant for him to livelier?) He wondered that perhaps Hokuto was just someone who was quite absent minded (though abit too much of an airhead for Hiyori ^^;) He hoped that Hokuto would be able to “make it” in the end though... before the ice melts in the summer~

Cheers / 乾杯: Chapter 1

It was finally the day of the Summer Live event which Subaru had been looking forward to. Just like the name of the event, it was a hot and bright day at the event venue. Jun asked Subaru to calm down as he’s worried that he might ended up getting tired himself before the live event was even over, but Hiyori felt that since Subaru was always so energetic, he would be fine since he’s still young. (Hiyori, why are you speaking like you’re old? ^^;) Jun wondered why does Hiyori only appears to be energetic when he’s dissing / scolding others? XDD Hiyori had researched about Subaru’s past, and realised that for someone to be able to still smile so happily and naively while bearing such a sad and heavy past, Hiyori felt that Subaru must be quite strong or else quite slow. (Hiyori, is that meant to be a praise ^^;)

Subaru still talks to Hiyori in an informal tone, and Hiyori reminded him once again that he should speak to him formally as they aren’t of equal status, with Hiyori being older than them and was a senior afterall. However, Subaru felt that they had gotten close after a week of training together, and said that it would be boring if they still have to follow rules of order. Hiyori felt that a week was too short, and remarked that to think that one would be able to understand about the other party in a week is not a good thing for him. 

Jun, who was observing the interactions between Hiyori and Subaru, was quite impressed that Subaru was not scared by Hiyori at all and was able to converse with him normally. Even though Hiyori still speaks with full of disses towards Subaru, Jun also noticed that Hiyori seems to be in quite a good mood and guessed that perhaps Hiyori had decided to do a good job for the Summer Live event towards the end. Even though Jun had no complaints about doing a good job since this was their job afterall, he seems displeased that Hiyori seems weirdly fond of working with Trickstar this time round. (Is Jun jealous...? ^^:)

Hiyori noticed that Jun was staring at him, and asked him whether it took him till now to realise that his looks were distinct. He further guessed that perhaps Jun had felt worried seeing how well Hiyori was getting along with the members of Trickstar, and remarked that Jun had also seems displeased when Nagisa and Hiyori were getting along when they’re performing as “Eden” back then, thus came to a conclusion that Jun was behaving like this because he’s jealous. He assured Jun that his partner in “Eve” would just be him only, but when Jun had became “useless”, Hiyori stated that he would still change him away for someone that’s more useful. (That’s not really comforting words... Hiyori... =w=“)

Jun just calmly asked Hiyori whether he had got himself too involved and had built up a bond with them, since he seems to be enjoying himself getting along with them. Hiyori admitted that he does felt this way, to the point that he even felt troubled now that he had to be the “bad guy” against them. He blamed it on Eichi who had requested him to participate in the Summer Live event, since Hiyori actually didn’t really want to give his all to crush Trickstar now. Unlike Eichi, Hiyori said that he’s someone who doesn’t like to bully the weak, and felt that even stepping on insects and killing them would dirty his outfit with their dirty pus... (Why did I feel like Hiyori just didn’t want to get dirty instead of being kind-hearted ^^;) Jun, on the other hand said that he already had the mindset of defeating others since a long time ago, ever since he had stepped foot into Reimei Academy.

Hiyori continued and said that he had really grew fond of the members of Trickstar after spending a week with them. He felt that each of them had their own personality, had their own way of shining and talent, and were cute and charming. He kind of understood why “Eve” was chosen this time instead of “Adam” or “Eden” to participate in the plan, since Hiyori felt that the members should be polished bright and shiny, so that they could shine in their greatest potential now in the bright sun. Hiyori remarked that as the number of talented idols increased, the higher the value of “idols” would be in the world, and thus felt that this was a plan that was of value to him, that he won’t even mind being the villain in order to educate them. 

Jun smiled and agreed that compared to “Adam”, “Eve” was much more gentle and admitted that he himself was also quite fond of Trickstar after a week with them (to the point that he wanted to be a mum and pat them on the head... I didn’t know Jun had such a... motherly side of him?). However, he also felt that it was already lucky for Trickstar to get a chance to participate in the SS, and remarked that it won’t be easy for them from now on in life. 

Cheers / 乾杯: Chapter 2 - 3

Just then, Mao called out to them to stop talking and get ready for the rehearsal before the actual performance. Hokuto noticed that Makoto doesn’t look good and asked whether he was alright. Even though Makoto claimed that he was alright, Hokuto remarked that his words of “I’m alright” was not convincing at all, since his facial expression gave him away that he was bothered about something. Makoto affirmed again that there’s nothing to worry about and said that what he was thinking was perhaps something he had mistaken about. Hokuto replied that he wished that Makoto would voiced out what he was thinking about since they’re comrades afterall, though if Makoto felt that he wanted to change the performance lineup now when they’re in the final rehearsal stage... it would be impossible ^^; 

Makoto smiled and dissed back at Hokuto that he looked even more serious than him, since Hokuto’s facial expression looks really frozen like he’s really nervous. It was Mao’s turn to lecture his own members not to talk this time, and asked them to learn more from “Eve”, who had already turned on their “working mode”. Subaru noticed that even though the live event had yet to start, Hiyori was already waving to the audience as they gathered in front of the stage. He remarked that if Hiyori doesn’t talk, he’s actually quite good-looking. (Are you suggesting that when Hiyori talks, his bishounen image would have shattered? XD) Hokuto felt that in comparison, them standing around in a group and talking would give off a bad impression instead and thus asked the other members to get ready for rehearsal too.

Makoto called for Jun to join him, which the latter scolded him off that he shouldn’t call for him as if he was calling a puppy over XD He was still in the midst of warming up, and thus requested Makoto to wait for him for a moment. Makoto complimented Jun that he seems to have trained his body really well, that one might thought that Jun was an action star from his appearance. (Is Jun that well-built OWO?) Jun replied that he felt that getting some muscles was not a bad thing overall, but also felt that his flexibility would be affected if he gained too much muscles, since when he gained muscles, not just his weight would increase, the area which his joints could move would be restricted too.

However, Hiyori was someone who hates to gain muscles, and said to Jun before that he found body training to be smelly with sweat ^^; (Sounds like Arashi...) So this is why Hiyori still has a “puni puni” (lit. soft and jelly like?) stomach till now, which Hiyori had overheard Jun saying that, and scolded him for leaking out information that would harm his image XD

Since there wasn’t much time left before the actual live event, Hiyori told them that they should get started with the rehearsal. In fact he wanted to be the person to lead the rehearsal even if anyone objected to it. Hokuto agreed in letting him take over, since even though he was the leader of Trickstar, he wasn’t used to leading the rehearsal, saying that he could instead try to learn from Hiyori this time. 

Hiyori called everyone to take their places on the stage. Subaru and Mao would accompany Hiyori on one side of stage, whereas Makoto, Hokuto and Jun would take the other side of the stage. This way, they’re split into two groups of three, and both members from “Eve” and “Trickstar” would show the image of them interacting with each other. Even though this was partly the reason why Hiyori had decided to split them this way, he also felt that it won’t be that pretty of an image if they were split according to their units, since it would look like  4 vs 2 on stage. Also thinking about their skills level, the songs they were going to perform and the type of audience below, Hiyori felt that this arrangement was the most suitable for this live event. He remarked that though he envied the four of them for their unity, he felt that it would be refreshing for them to try out performing on their own this time. 

Mao agreed with Hiyori’s decision, saying that with this arrangement, their skills level were pretty much balanced, and thus he won’t have to worry about covering up for anyone else like how he used to most of the time in the past. Hokuto felt sorry that Mao had felt this way about their unit and told Subaru that he should feel guilty too, to which Subaru felt unfair that Hokuto was pointing him out like he was the only one who doesn’t knew about the atmosphere around and causing trouble for Mao ^^;

Makoto, on the other hand, was silent as he thought deeply to himself. He wondered perhaps he had think too much as it seems like the usual Trickstar on stage to him now. Makoto had felt a weird feeling ever since they had spent time with “Eve” since a week ago. Their balance was good currently, and with everyone trying their best, Makoto felt that it was a positive effect that Trickstar was improving, but.... However his thoughts was interrupted when Subaru told him that he had a scary expression on his face and encouraged him to smile more instead. (What exactly was Makoto worried about...?)

As the Summer Live starts officially, Hiyori greeted the audience, and knowing that most of the audience does not know who he is (since this was not the area where “Eve” was popular in), he introduced “Eve” to them, requested the audience to enjoy themselves in this collaboration event created by Trickstar and Eve~!

Cheers / 乾杯: Chapter 4 

Eichi was watching their performance among the audience, and smiled to himself while commenting that Hiyori was still the same like he was in the past, just doing what he likes to do on stage. Hokuto on the other hand, was quite embarrassing as it seems that it was alot for him just to struggle to say out the lines he was supposed to say on stage. (I get why Eichi said it’s an embarrassment for Hokuto since he was supposed to recite lines easily being part of the drama club...) Eichi thought that Hokuto should try to buck up since at this rate, it might ended up being “Eve’s” solo performance in the end...

Rei was also at the event too, and told Eichi that he talks alot to himself ^^; Eichi said that he’s not talking by himself, and was talking to “me” instead as Rei had not noticed “me” hiding in the corner ^^; (Eichi actually referred to Rei as Sakuma Senpai, but the latter told him that he could always call him Rei-kun as Eichi seems to call Ritsu in a more closer manner too. Perhaps.. Ritsu or Ri-chan?)

Eichi was surprised that Rei had actually made an appearance at the Summer Live, dissing him that won’t he have turned into ashes if he had walked into the sun. Rei admitted that he indeed doesn’t feel well under the sun and said that he would be returning after taking a look at how the members of Trickstar had performed in the Summer Live, since this was a grand event that might make the mark in the history of the idol world. Eichi commented that it was the norm that idol units might get wiped out if they had let their guard down when facing other competitors, and if Trickstar had fallen now, it would mean that this is just how far they could walk for their talents. 

Rei felt that Eich was heartless when he said this, but knew that he was only just saying it. If Eichi had not cared about Trickstar at all, he won’t have even moved a finger to aid them this time. He also felt that Eichi’s comments aren’t really useful to “me” this time, as “I” wasn’t their producer for the event this time. Echi remarked that “I” must have felt that “I” was being outcasted this time, and all the information which “I” could obtain were in bits and pieces. Worried that “I” might be bullied by Eichi, Rei told “me” that “I” could always go to him for help if “I” had felt terrible. 

Seeing that ‘I” had a confused expression on “my” face, Rei sighed and said that this is where “I” had failed this time. He asked “me” whether “I” had treated the members of Trickstar as “my” friends and comrades, and should know that the members were going through hard training currently for the preparation of SS. Even though “I” wasn’t the producer for the Summer Live event, Rei asked “me” who would take care of “Trickstar” in the future. One might thought that it was the teachers, or the student council who was supporting them now. But would Trickstar be able to continue creating miracles if it’s just them? The student council was even their enemies not too long ago, so Rei wondered that is it even possible for them to become friends suddenly now that they had defeated it. He asked “me” whether the others would be able to take good care of Trickstar and treasures them as much as “I” do now. (Aww~~ Rei could see how much “I” treasure Trickstar and don’t really want to let them go either TWT)

Even though Rei knew that “I” was still a beginner working as a producer, but since ‘I” was just a normal person who doesn’t even knew much about idols in the spring, Rei felt that it was to be expected. However, he also knew that the Tanabata Festival organised by “me” was a great success, and told “me” that my producer skills was starting to get praises from others gradually too. The reason why “I” was not able to help in as a producer for the Summer Live was because “I” was too busy helping out with the other units currently. He continued on that there would always be a limit to what humans can do, but hope that one does not give up in the midst of achieving it. If even “I” had given up on being a producer for Trickstar during the Summer Live, then who else could help to lead Trickstar?

“I” told Rei that “I” had felt regret that it wasn’t “me” who had helped Trickstar this time as a producer, since “I” wanted to be the one who helped them to shine the most. “I” was also worried that Trickstar might be able to move on even without “my” help, and thus doesn’t need “me” around them anymore. (Aww... TWT)

Rei sighed and stated that the producer was actually the idol’s greatest fan, since he/she would treasure the idols the most. Their position was similar to a mum being overprotective of them, being a friend who could talk about anything with them, working colleagues who are happy for them when work is a success, but Rei felt that “my” position to them was like a sun protecting and looking over them. Rather than Trickstar shining brightly like a sun to “me”, Rei had felt that “I” was the sun to them instead. Even though the members of Trickstar were very talented and could shine on their own, however, they’re still considered tiny stars in the universe, which could be affected by the various gravitational force around them. In order to make sure that they didn’t get separated from each other,Rei felt that a force is required to keep them together, and that “force” would be “me”. 

Rei was confident that as long as Trickstar stays together as four, they would be able to shine brighter than anyone. He told “me” that this was “my” responsibility till the end, and thus hope that “I” would continue to help them as a producer. 

Eichi, who had been listening to the conversation since a while ago. remarked that this was a rare chance that Rei was giving a lecture so “I” should listen to it carefully. However, he had felt that what Rei had said was quite complex that “I” might not be able to understand it fully. (I have to say that it was indeed quite complex that I think what I translated above might not make any sense =w=“) 

Since the members of Trickstar was involved in the event overall, Eichi felt that each one of them would have their own thoughts and understood about the current situation in the Summer Live. But for “me”, being an outsider, “I” won’t be able to understand about them, and thus Eichi felt that “me” not being able to understand them was “my” sin this time. He asked “me” to watch the performance with him, and see that the Trickstar which “I” had loved to be gobbled up by a even greater light that’s more brighter than them. Eichi felt that it was even more difficult to fight against a light that’s brigher than them rather than the darkness, but he too felt that Trickstar would be able to make it through, and wished us luck to work hard for it. 

(After listening to what Eichi had said, Rei remarked that he felt regret for letting Eichi saying it in a better way than him ^^; Guys let’s not fight over this matter ^^;)

Cheers / 乾杯: Chapter 5 - 8

In the midst of the performance, Jun wondered if any of them had realised the “trap” that “Eve” had laid out. He had thought that someone would have felt shaken by “Eve’s” performance but unexpectedly, Trickstar’s performance was not messed up at all, and in fact they seems to get even livelier and shone even brighter. Jun felt that he might ended up being the one being swept away by their performance instead at this rate.

Just then, Makoto approached him and mentioned that it seems that Summer Live had became “Eve’s” solo performance in the end. This was exactly what Eve had planned to do, to shine so much during the performance so much that they outshine their opponents and erase their existence. He had seen countless scenarios of that happening before for his other opponents, but Trickstar was unlike any of those opponents which he had encountered before. 

Makoto noticed that Jun didn’t answer him at all and asked him whether he was feeling tired from the performance. Jun told him that talking in the midst of a live performance was not allowed, and that it was his turn soon to be in the center of the trio on this side of the stage. As the center would gather alot of attention, Jun wished that Makoto would not embarrass himself and brought trouble to Jun who was performing with him. Even though Makoto knew that he’s of no match to Eve, he also knew that this was not the time to be focusing on how scared and worried he is about what he’s weak at, and could only try his best at this time. He decided to carry out the “assignment” as requested by Hiyori earlier on, and threw out a wink and a kiss to the audience to grab attention onto himself. Jun notice that Makoto had indeed practised for this moment, and thought that he had chosen a good pose too, since the kiss he threw out gave a sexy vibe and was success in attracting the audience onto him. (Why did I feel quite embarrassed writing this out >////<)

Makoto said that he won’t run away even if Eve was scary or nice to him, declaring that he would definitely not let them go easily. Hiyori had told the members of Trickstar that if they had not agreed to carry out the “assignments” given by him, he would not let them to go on stage. This was a side of Hiyori that even Jun was impossible to go against, Jun guessed that Trickstar must know fully well by now what kind of a person Hiyori was, since there would really be such a possibility that Hiyori would not let Eve participate in the Summer Live in the end. (Talk about threatening...) If Eve had not performed, this event and collaboration would be considered as a failure, and the image of Yumenosaki Gakuen would be affected if words had spread that the school had angered the guests to return and made the event organised by them to be a failure.

Makoto knew that Eve had laid out a trap for them, but he said that Trickstar would eat the bait and grew even stronger to break out of it. This was also what Hiyori had planned for, the “assignments” he had given out to Trickstar was to get them to learn these skills for their own. Even though Jun felt that Hiyori would speak illogical stuff at times, and had a difficult personality, he knew that Hiyori was really a talented idol, seeing that how he himself was being well trained by Hiyori in the past. Since the Trickstar members would get to gain skills and experience from this event, Jun felt that they could hardly call this a trap actually. However, it still works as one, as they’re used to laying something “delicious” in front of their opponents, leading them gradually further into the trap.

The members of Trickstar would have to perform and carry out their assignments, and using the new skills which they’ve learned to perform on this stage. Trickstar might felt that they had gained a new weapon, but these new weapons exist to help Eve to shine even brighter. Without even knowing that they’re actually being attacked, Jun thought happily that this would be how Trickstar would get gobbled up and become a part of Eve in this live event.

Mkoaot had knew about all this, but declared that Trickstar would create a miracle again no matter how times it might took, and would finally defeat Eve one day. However, Jun just smiled, since the result of the summer live event was that the audience seems to be cheering for Eve instead this time round, and Trickstar had ended up being an “omake” (extra) for Eve without realising. The main star for the Summer Live event had turned out not to be Trickstar, and was Eve instead, as the stage had gradually became their solo stage in the end. He remembered his father who had passed away who was also an idol in the past, but unlike him, Jun vowed that he would not be a dog which had been defeated. He wondered whether his dad would be proud of him, or had felt that he was not fit to be an idol. Jun didn’t want himself to be easily satisfied and thus being buried away if he was being defeated, and vowed that he would still continue to live on even if he ended up with dirt and scars all over him. In replacement of his dad, Jun thought to himself that he shall continue on and sing until the day he vomits blood (or die I guess)

Makoto tried to talk to Jun again, which pissed Jun since he had already told Makoto that they are not allowed to talk in a live performance. However, Makoto said that he enjoyed talking to his members in the midst of the live performance (if not interrupting the performance / singing I guess ^^:) since he felt that communicating with his members this way might led them to create a shiny moment for them. He felt that as they talked to each other, they’ll feel encouraged, and would be able to support each other this way. This made Makoto feel much more alive and thus he prefer doing it this way. 

Jun calmly remarked that he had thought that Makoto was someone who was more professional initially, and thought that he was someone who was able to switch into “working” mode once he went on stage. (But I guess he guessed wrongly since Makoto is talking now, which Jun found to be an action that was quite unprofessional ^^”?) Makoto praised Eve that he was impressed with how fast they had climbed onto the stairs of success, since he now realised  Eve was already preparing for the Summer Live the moment Makoto had met Jun at the game center. The theme song that Eden had sang for the game was now publicly released, and this had worked out to be promotion for them. They would collaborate with the game company, and would give out flyers that offers discounted event tickets to the players who had played the game. This was something that was widely spread on the internet, and thus Makoto could easily find that out (being someone who’s good at fishing for information online ^^)

Jun joked that perhaps the school should offer them promotion fees since they’ve done a good job in gathering a large crowd at the event today, to which Makoto actually agreed since he guessed that perhaps the people who were in the audience today were mostly Eden’s fans overall. In other words, most of the audience had came to see Eve, since Eve was under the same unit as Eden. Due to the new game being released, and the song being known over the whole country, Makoto guessed alot of fans from over the country had specially came over to see Eve today. 

Since Eden was the most popular group in their era now, Makoto guessed that Eve, who was one half of Eden, was definitely more popular and well-known than Trickstar definitely. And thus, he declared that this live event was ultimately a defeat for Trickstar, since even though the live event was held in a venue that’s more advantage to them, they had now lose this advantage with their stage being taken over by Eve instead. He commented that the audience which had gathered here today was Eve’s guests, and thus this venue had became Eve’s territory in the end. Even Trickstar themselves had their performance being affected by Eve, since in the end their performance style ended up following Eve’s style. Even though Makoto had thought he was performing as part of Trickstar in their own territory, from outsiders’ eyes, this had already becoming Eve’s solo stage in the end. Makoto admitted defeat to Jun, saying that they had totally fallen into their plans in the end. 

Jun thought that Makoto had talked to this with him because he was angry with him, and said that this was to be expected since usually most units do not want to collaborate with Eve after working with them once in Reimei Academy, and that’s how they ended up being the villains in the end. Alot of times it ended up with alot of units disliking them afterall, so for Jun, he actually felt that it was pretty amazing that they were able to get along well and in such a happy atmosphere. He remarked that Hiyori had revealed that he was quite fond of the members of Trickstar, and felt that what he had said was the truth and not just some polite words instead. He worried that Hiyori would be hurt when Trickstar said that they dislike Eve later on, and wondered how he was going to comfort him later on. (Aww~ I don’t want Hiyori to be hurt TWT) However, Jun also found that Hiyori being disliked by others was his own aftermath, and that Jun was pretty much used to his personality by now due to how long he had been with Hiyori. (Sounds like 80% of the time, Jun just had to put up with Hiyori ^^:)

Even though Makoto had said that Trickstar knew that they were being defeated by Eve, Jun wondered why they were still able to perform so happily. Makoto answered that even though the answer he’s giving now was just him representing the rest of the members and may not be exactly what each member had feel... He felt that everyone’s goal for the Summer Live this time was not to gain victory. He remarked that everyone in Trickstar wasn’t interested whether the live performance ended up with Eve or Trickstar being the center of attraction, since for them, beng able to dance and sing in front of such a big audience was a success for them now, seeing that not too long ago they were still nobodies, and that nobody would even know about them. Makoto felt that he was already satisfied and felt happy about his performance today, telling Jun that he may find it weird for them to be this happy even though they knew that they had landed themselves in a trap. He thanked Jun because due to their plans, alot of guests had turned out and were able to see Trickstar for themselves~ Even though the members of Trickstar were threatened by Hiyori’s assignment, and were being influenced to perform to Eve’s style, Makoto also felt that it was all thanks to Eve that they were able to learn some new skills this time. 

He told Jun to take a look at Mao’s performance no, and said that in the past, Mao was always making sure of everyone’s actions during the performance, and was busy trying to cover up for the members who had went off and did what he wants. (Subaru...^^;) But now that things were under control according to Eve’s style and plans, Mao was able to perform without thinking and worrying much on stage, and thus able to use all the energy he had within him for himself to give a performance. Makoto felt that when Makoto doesn’t restrict himself and was able to give his all, he shone even brighter than anyone. The audience seems like they were being charmed by his magic and thus this had made Mao into a much better idol overall~ ^^ (Makoto... really took notice of Mao quite alot ^^)

Makoto also pointed out Subaru to Jun, saying that Subaru had to make sure that he doesn’t outshine anyone in the past and thus had to keep in line, which was a waste of his talent actually. But now, he doesn’t have to fear about that and was able to expand and shine just like a sun. Makoto felt that Subaru’s energy were now all poured towards a positive direction, and thus would make a good weapon in the future. Makoto felt that him being a member who would only pull back the others, had caused Subaru’s burning passion to be held back during the performance in the past, but now all these fiery passion were being launched as a gun towards the audience. 

Hokuto too had also grown. Even though he still wasn’t used to being a leader, now that an opponent for Trickstar had appeared, Hokuto knew that he had to do what he can as the leader. Once he knew what he should do as a leader, Makoto felt that Hokuto’s thoughts had gotten simpler and more direct, compared to how he would overthink about certain matters. However, Makoto gave a weak smile and said that Hokuto would still end up being pissed in the end seeing that how the live event had turned out to be Eve’s solo stage in the end ^^;

Makoto said that Trickstar would not dislike Eve nor hate them, since all they could blame for the outcome of the live event was themselves for not working hard enough this time. They would work even harder to win a victory next time, and said that they would continue till they become a superman up till the day of SS itself. 

Makoto revealed that he had felt that he had to do well when he was threatened by Hiyori that if he doesn’t manage to gather the audience’s attention on him, he would be kicked off the stage. As the members of Trickstar were really kind-hearted, no one would ever say that kind of stuff to him XD He admitted that he was actually quite used to feeling that his life was at stake, as this made him remember to certain events that had happened to him in the past. Even though it was a sad and pitiful past which Makoto had tried to run away from, he felt that he was able to grab hold of himself even if his past self had returned to him...Makoto said that this was his “weapon” and that he would not run away anymore. (Not too sure what Makoto was trying to say here, but I guess that he was able to accept and face his past even more now, and was sure that he won’t run away like how he did in the past...? ^^:)

Makoto was sure that they’ll continue to improve even further in order to defeat Jun and Hiyori when SS arrives. Even if they were being led to a trap by a bait, Makoto said that they would just eat up the bait and grow stronger in order to break through the trap, and... ended up biting them who had thought that they had captured Trickstar. He threatened Jun that this was not the time for him to worry about whether they’ll be dislike and told him that he should be on guard even more starting from today. (Oh my... Is Makoto threatening people for the first time? OWO”) Makoto claimed that he doesn’t want to be a main character that does things in secret, and declared that Trickstar shall beat Eden fair and square in the future.

Jun thanked Makoto for telling him everything so clearly, which actually helpted to clear up all his worries. He felt that even though travelling out from the school till here was a hot and troublesome trip, it was all worth it in the end, seeing that Trickstar was a prey that’s hard to keep. He felt that it was actually quite enjoyable instead, seeing that if all preys were easy to catch for him, his teeth would have rusted from the lack of practice. He told Makoto that he would be checking up on his progress in the future, and thus hoped that what Makoto had said just now wasn’t just empty words in the end XD Makoto replied that unlike him, the rest of the members in Trickstar were really talented, and thus Makoto was sure that they would defeat Eve someday in the future. Jun just smiled and told Makoto that he should concentrate even more on the performance now, since if he slacked anymore, Jun was definitely going to kick him off the stage XD (I really like how they’re dissing each other and getting along well as rivals +W+)

Hokuto as noticing Makoto’s interaction with Jun, and thought to himself that it was rare to see Makoto getting along well with other units like this. Other than him escaping from Izumi when the latter tried to get close to him, Makoto usually hides behind the other members. He knew that Makoto views himself lowly compared to the other members, felt that his presence might pull back the others instead, and thus worked even harder trying to catch up to the others. Seeing how Makoto is like now, Hokuto smiled and thought that Makoto had really grown up, and this was how Makoto should be like. Makoto had always been noticing the members from the back, and thus Hokuto knew that he was the person who actually understood Trickstar the most, and also treasures Trickstar the most. (Erm... What about “me”?) 

Hokuto thought back to how the other members, including himself were all badly shaken when Eichi suggested to them to disband at that time. Makoto was the only one who was firm and wanted to stay, and knew that that was because this was the place where Makoto had arrived after running away for so long. Makoto knew that he could only live on if he stayed here and thus he was really firm in wanting to stay. Hokuto felt that he should learn more from Makoto for his attitude. Even though he had to become a strong presence due to his parents position in the entertainment industry, he had met Trickstar and thus wanted to be not just anyone, but someone as part of Trickstar and reached the top. He wanted to believe in this and make it a reality. This was the way which Hokuto had chosen to live on~

“I won’t lose my way ever again if I’m with you guys.”

Hiyori was glad and remarked that Trickstar were like metal to be molded and beaten to make beautiful and strong gemstones. He could now finally understand why Eichi was so interested in them, and even started to knock on Hokuto’s head that the latter asked him to knock if off ^^; Hiyori said that he had found Trickstar to be very beautiful and didn’t want to break them actually as he just want to put them into his palms and care for them. (Hiyori, you like these guys way too much XD) However, fate had decided that they would be opponents in the upcoming SS, so Hiyori felt sad that they had to battle each other for real when the time arrives. Hiyori really loves idols, and was glad that talented idols were increasing. He was glad that he had came down specially to “play” at the Summer Live event this time. (It’s not just play time Hiyori~? ^^;)

Epilogue 

It was night time when the Summer Live event has ended, and unfortunately, Eve would have to return back to their own school straight after that. Even Jun was glad to know that Subaru would miss him, there were still matters that they had to attend to back at school and thus had to make their way back quickly. (Since like what Hiyori had said, they were people who were really busy and sought after by others ^^;) Even though Hiyori felt happy that Subaru wanted them to stay even more, unfortunately they really had to bid good bye to them now. He had enjoyed himself very much at the Summer Live event, and told Trickstar that they should organise a live performance again in the future. 

Mao had helped Hiyori to arrange for the stuff that he had bought earlier on to be mailed back to their school. Turns out that Hiyori had bought too much stuff on his trip here, and he proudly showed some of them off to the others. One of it was a toy that was made in Germany, and was really colourful and shiny that it caught Subaru attention. He asked Hiyori to give him that toy as a gift, but Hiyori felt that giving a gift to Subaru would be making their relationship closer, since now that the Summer Live event was over, they’re considered rivals again. Subaru felt that they were all still idols and should get along well, he gave Jun a nickname called “Jun Jun”, which made Jun displeased to get such a weird nickname. (It’s a cute nickname though~ ^^)

Hokuto looked at them and wondered how they could be still be so excited after performing at the Summer Live event. Makoto was tired too like Hokuto, and guessed that perhaps the others had a much stronger stamina than them and thus could still be this energetic after the event. 

Hokuto sighed and remarked that this time was a total defeat for Trickstar. He felt that they had lost completely to Eve no matter it was the promotion techniques or the performance itself, and knew that if Eve was already this strong for them, it would be even harder to face Eden in the future when Eve combined with Adam. There was still just half a year more to SS, thus Hokuto worried whether they would be able to make it to their level even if they train crazily for the next half of the year. 

Eichi approached Hokuto for a conversation, and Hokuto admitted that he had felt embarrassed as a representation for Yumenosaki Gakuen. However, Eichi smiled and said that even though Trickstar might think that they had “lost”, this was a collaboration event afterall and Eichi felt that it was actually a grand success for his plan. He told Hokuto that Trickstar had not lost anything this time round, and thus they should gather what they’ve learned this time and worked even harder from now on, adding on that he would be supporting them from the bottom of his heart. Even though Trickstar had now gradually started to gain even more attention and had a foot in place in terms of popularity, Eichi felt that they still had a long way to go, seeing that in the SS there would be other units that were as strong as Eve, other than their main rival Eden. If Trickstar still remains the way they are now, they would be defeated really fast in the competition. Eichi wished that they would win in the future, so that Hokuto would not have to bow down to him to apologise for a second time. (Eichi seems really nice here, he even encourages Hokuto ^^)

Hiyori overheard their conversation, and remarked that it was unexpected for him that Eichi would actually talk like a student council leader. He told Eichi that it was actually great to see him after a long time, and hope that he would call him to participate in such an event again if such an opportunity appears in the future. (But... Hiyori just sounds like he just want to come and play though XD)

Eichi replied that if Hiyori had encountered any troubles, he wished that he would come and discuss with him as he would be able to lend a helping hand... for a sum of money though ^^: Hiyori just treat it as a joke, stating that if his family had heard that he get along well with people from “Tenshouin”, they would roll his eyes at him XD (I guess both families doesn’t like each other very much... ^^:) Hiyori remarked that his elder brother was a great person, and would be heading back to the family to “bloom”, and thus Hiyori’s goal was to become an even better idol so that he could promote about his family’s organization through him. Eichi assured that he would take good care of his body and not pushed himself too much, and told Hiyori that if he lost his way again in the future, he would welcome him back anytime to rear him (as a pet) anytime. Hiyori just laughed and rebutted that he hope that Eichi would still be living if that day were to arrive. 

Just then, Jun notified them that it was almost time for them to take the train and thus they had to leave now. Makoto took this chance to ask Jun for his SNS (social media information), saying that they could exchange information about SS, or chat normally to get along well together. Jun offered to add Makoto instead since he already knew his account (how do you even manage to find that out Jun?), but also warned him that he should not try to contact the other members in Eden by SNS other than him. Hiyori agreed too, saying that Nagisa is someone who doesn’t really like anyone clinging on him. He warned Trickstar that they had to be wary of Nagisa, since he’s someone who was as dangerous as the natural disaster. However, he guessed that Eichi may have perhaps planned for them to meet “Adam” next now that they’ve met Eve, and told Trickstar that unlike them, Adam isn’t an unit that’s going to be nice and gentle to them.

Hokuto told Hiyori that they won’t be destroyed that easily and would become even stronger. Hiyori smiled and said that he hoped to see them again in the future, and told them to continue “living” and staying till the end.

As Eve was leaving, Hiyori demanded Jun to carry his luggage, telling him that this was his reason for living. (To live for the sake of carrying Hiyori’s luggage ^^;) Jun sighed and remarked that he had thought that Hiyori had became a better person after interacting with Trickstar and being a good person to them, but seems that Hiyori had not changed at all after that. (And Jun just wished that Hiyori would just die... That’s not really nice to say Jun... ^^:)

Makoto commented that even though they had only spent a week with Eve, he felt complicated feelings rising up from his heart as he saw them leaving. Mao agreed, but too thought that they shouldn’t get too close to the members of Eve in terms of relationship wise since they were going to be rivals in SS next. He noticed that “I” was watching them from a distance away and told “me” to come closer to them, thanking “me” for making an appearance to watch their performance at the Summer Live event. (Even though Mao felt that they were just showing an embarrassing side of them at the event.)

As this was a collaboration event, it was still alright for them, but Hokuto guessed that they would be suffering a humiliating defeat if this was a live match instead. He encouraged the others to get their spirits up, since they would have to go through a introspection session later on. Hokuto invited “me” to join them too, since he would really appreciate the feedback from a producer. Subaru hugged onto “Hokuto” and even encouraged “me” to hug him too since he has a low body temperature and would be able to give off a cooling effect. Hokuto grumbled to Subaru to get off from him, wondering why doesn’t he felt dispirited being defeated by Eve at all. However, it was no time for Trickstar to feel disappointed or bad about themselves, as they had to take what experience they had gathered this time as their strength to become stronger later on. 

Makoto wished that “I” would be able to participate in an event with them in the future, as he felt that it was because of “me” that Trickstar would be able to shine more brightly. He wished that “I” would always be their producer for their events. (Thank you Makoto~ T/////T)

Makoto admitted that he had saw “my” expression during the Summer Live event, and it was like “I” was seeing them being sentenced in public. He continued on and said that he would definitely be introspecting himself later on for making “me” showing such an expression. Makoto affirmed that they would definitely get stronger, since now that they’ve managed to qualify to participate in SS, they would want to get more active in order show “me” the best smiles that they ever had. 

“I” told them that “I” had also been told alot of Rei, and thus had “my” own introspection on what to improve for “my” skills as a producer. “I” wanted to continue to be Trickstar’s producer in the future, and that pleased Hokuto as he said that he’s glad to know that and Trickstar would welcome “me” anytime. 

“Let’s get stronger together.”

Just then, Subaru noticed that “I” had drawn something on “my” notebook and asked “me” what was it. Turns out that it was the outfit design which “I’ve” sketched for Summer Live event, and it was something which “I” imagined even though “I” knew that the outfits would be prepared by Eve this time round. 

“I” tried to hide “my” drawings, but Mao stopped it saying that he wanted to see “my” designs too. Upon seeing the sketches, Mao complimented it, saying that “I’m” definitely the person who knew them the best.

Eichi, who was watching us from a distance away, thought that this was something that the “ex-Fine” had lacked back then in the past. Even though he envied them, but also wished that they would win in the end, to overthrow this world who was defined by numbers and show him a miracle in the end. He told Trickstar that he would prepare even more difficult obstacles for them to make through in order to train them, and thus told them to prepare for more “bombs” being thrown in their way. He believed that Trickstar would be able to continue to survive and weaved an unexpected story. Even though this was a tiring day for Trickstar overall, their battle was just starting from now on...

And that’s it~! Whew... That was long for this event story, but overall  I really enjoy it due to the appearance of Eve and I really enjoyed seeing their interactions with my favourite Trickstar ^^ Happy Elements always make me liking their new characters even though initially I would always thought there’s too many of them by now... Welcome Jun and Hiyori to the big family~!! ^////^

Even though Eve was the limelight for this event, somehow I felt that Makoto was really important since he had alot of moments in this story (probably even more than Hokuto? OWO Or maybe it’s just my bias making me having this view...) Makoto had really grew up alot compared to his first appearance, he’s really becoming quite manly and really charming that I think I probably like him all over again and even more after this event story~ (I really like how he seems to have a crush on “me” and thinking that we’re on a date~ I love otome moments like this ^////^)

Hokuto was adorable yet dorky when he tried to mimic Hiyori though XD (Made me laugh really hard XD) I like Hokuto for how he is though, it felt weird when he tries too hard to be someone he’s not really similar to at all. (Can’t imagine Hokuto becoming the energetic and hyper type like Subaru ... ^^;)

Anyway, continuing onto the rewards, since Eve was the new characters for the event story this round, the point awards were their cards~ And like always, I grabbed both Hiyori’s and Jun’s card in the end ^^ They’re really nice cards, though Jun looks so angry in both CG though... (Please give a smiling Jun next time! ><”)

In fact I like Jun too much that I set him on my homescreen for awhile when the event was over~ ^^ So cute when he actually blushed when he felt ticklish >///<

PS: Mao’s card look nice this time when it pops up as a live ^^

[nothisis-ridiculous]

Proxy Cosmos

(An alternate reality where Alec Ryder lived, and both twins were awake during the events of Andromeda.)

Chapter Six:

Scott had always loved winter, the slow drift of snow to the Earth. The silence as flakes blanketed away the colors into stark whiteness. Where things could remain silent, untouched even if for just a little while. It was soothing him, reminding him of home and things he wished didn't have to change. For now, having her home was enough.

A gentle tug of his bun woke him from drowsy thoughts, "Little brother."

"Sister."

"Come on," she whined, "hot chocolate it ready. We need to put up the ornaments."

"But Elsee," Scott wasn't sure why he was whining, he liked it just as much, "we're twenty-one, single. Why are we putting up decorations like kids?"

"I already spiked the cocoa, Scott."

Scott sighed, "it better be strong."

The shake of her head bid him not to worry about it, as she retreated to grab their drinks. Scott stared at the empty tree in the corner of the room, the room around it naked except for a couch. The rest of the house was empty or piled high with packing boxes, the last thing to take care of before the house was sold. Elsee had talked him into spending a last Christmas there, together. Alec didn't show, but Scott knew he had to make an effort on this front. Despite how many painful memories the house dug up.

It was easier with the place almost gutted and bare, but heartbreaking in the same note.

"Here you go," Elsee interrupted for the second time, "why the long face?"

Scott shook his head; even she wasn't her usual self in this old house, "neigh."

Elsee snorted, resorting to taking a drink rather than respond. Scott mirrored her.

"Did you put any cocoa in this?"

"I had hoped it would bring out our inner child."

Scott took his turn awkwardly chuckling, before braving another gulp of the hot liquid. Elsee scooted toward the box still closed by the tree, sitting cross-legged before it. Being the shortest of the Ryder clan, she was used to handing out the ornaments rather than being the one to put them on the tree. Slowly, reverently, she opened the box- four foam snowflakes lying flat on the top.

Two white, one purple, and one blue. Four names, covered in stickers and gems that only children could appreciate. The two white snowflakes were more orderly and a little less decorated, but somehow a few decorations had snuck onto both. Elsee gently touched the white snowflake with their mother's name on it. Looking to Scott before she dared to take it out of the box.

The sap had tears in her eyes.

They were both saps.

"I'm so sorry," Scott blubbered.

"I know how you are when you are upset," Elsee murmured, "I forgive you."

"I'm sure Dad hates himself, too."

"Let's not focus on that right now, please."

To cement the turning of his attention, she placed the snowflake in his hand, his fingers smoothing the plastic pipe cleaner that served to hang the snowflake. Placing it in the center of the tree. With his father's snowflake, he debated on where to hang it. Every year it was still a fight on who got to be next to mom. Usually, it was a spirited debate or based on some silly game like rock, paper, scissors... or a chilling game of tic tac toe. He put Alec's name above Ellen's. Elsee's name came next, he put that to the left bottom corner.

"Oh, little Arden Ryder," she mused from below.

The grunt was subconscious at this point. His legal first name was not Scott, part Arden. He never liked it, likely never would. It was so easy to make fun of that he insisted he be called by his middle name.

Again overcoming the urge to rip the ornament, he put it under the right side of his mother's name. His hand empty when he returned to hang the next ornament. He lightly pushed her shoulder in the attempt to rouse her.

"I think, we should only put those up. There isn't a point in the rest, it will just make a mess," being pragmatic wasn't usual for her either. But they could always try again later. If there was a later.

"Elsee, I really think you should join us," Scott finally mumbling the thought stuck in his mind.

"Why?"

Scott huffed, fidgeted, and took a drink before he could answer, "we need you."

"I don't want to talk about this either," Elsee admitted, her hand resting on the envelope that was next in the layer. Placing that beside her revealed an old Polaroid, and rolls of film saved in a container to preserve them.

"Are you really going to make us take a picture this year?" Scott remarked, settling beside his sister.

"Only after we look at the photos, Arden."

"Ugh."

Elsee gently pulled the photos from the container, the first one a picture of their parents close in age to Scott and Elsee now. The next few were more pictures of their parents, in various poses. Usually, Alec looking slightly perturbed. The next picture was of an ultrasound, and two sets off booties resting on Ellen's large stomach and a beaming Alec. His expression turned to stress, happiness, then a level of calm with each picture that marked a passing of a year. The last picture was a little different, with a sickly looking Ellen and a worried Alec.

Decided on not lingering on the picture, Elsee leaned into Scott holding the ancient camera at arm's length. "Say cheese!"

======

Scott watched Liam throwing his weight into the punching bag, eager to throw some of his anger into something that wouldn't scream for expressing it. With each strike came a grunt, with each grunt the intensity grew pushing him harder. Soon a sheen of sweat covered his body, reflecting the harsh light of the room.

Scott must have been staring too long, as Liam sauntered up to the weight bench he had perched on.

"Ryder," accent becoming heavier in his recent effort, "want to go for a bout?"

"Sure," the words stuck awkwardly in his throat, "Liam."

The man barely threw him a look in return, ducking under the ropes of the makeshift boxing arena. Scott all the while debating if it was proper to remove his own shirt, or if the man was doing it out of sheer confidence. With the jury coming in, he decided on not removing his shirt.

Liam circled first, giving it a couple of passes before leaping in to strike recklessly. Scott parried most of the hits with little injury, used to this sort of brawling. Watching the Relays was usually a boring job with little to bother them, so they found other ways to keep amused during their long shifts. Sparring being one of the more acceptable ways to pass the time.

Liam struck fast, and without hesitation. His punches aiming high. Scott didn't want to read far into it, but he also knew when another was angry in the way they sparred. Punches aimed for the face, the little scowls, and increased aggression. With Liam, the aggression was hard to place because Scott didn't know him too well, but the little scowls set him off. The man was unusually full of jokes and smiles, and that was lacking completely at the moment.

"You're working hard," Scott's light attitude caught Liam off guard long enough to make a square hit.

"All the time," Liam wiped his mouth, "started young. The smart little kid. Got angry a lot."Liam's punch connected hard with Scott's jaw, sending him stumbling back, "side effect of giving a shit."

"Liam, what's going on?" Scott raised his arms to defend from the next volley.

"We settled an outpost, gave some people hope. Great," the words coming with fiercer punches, leaving Scott on permanent guard duty, "But things went wrong. Shots get fired, and some of our team gets hurt. Nothing wants to be friendly with us, and nobody wants to take that risk to be friendly first. Goddamn it."

"You're taking on a lot," Scott was losing ground quick, "making all of this your problem."

"It is our problem, we're not going back," the next punch connected with Scott's nose, drawing blood, "we have to make it work."

He swiped the back of his hand under his nose, "Yeah, punching me is going to do that. Do we have a problem, Kosta?" Scott returned all the anger directed at him boxing the man squarely in his cheek.

"No," Liam must have answered out of reflex, "maybe. We came here to make a new home, and all I see is crew responsible for doing that fighting." His arms raised, attempting to end the fight before both of them just got pissed off, "I know I was an only child, but my family never fought like that. The one time my mum got sick we waited by her the entire time. Seems unfair to let any of your family be left alone when they are down."

Scott tightened.

"Maybe we should have listened to Elsee and gone in unarmed, instead of hot," Liam sighed, turning his back on Ryder, "maybe things would have been different. What if they could have been our friends?"

Scott's silence seemed to fuel Liam, rather than encourage him to stop.

"I need something...familiar," the man stooped down, swiping up a water bottle and offering it to Scott, "it has to be 'home.' I won't let my new squabbling family stop that."

He took the peace offering, taking a swig out of courtesy, "have you met my dad?"

"I bet he has something that will make him soft, the scary ones always do," Liam cooed with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Scott chuckled at the prospect if he could find that thing more power to him. Even at Alec reaching his goal of finding new stars to explore he was restless, maybe even worse than ever. At this point, it was just part of the man, like his eye color.

"But seriously, come see your sister at some point," Liam clapped his shoulder, "she'd like it."

It was easier to try and forget that Elsee laid in a hospital bed, still out from reconstructive surgery. They had been lucky the strangers had let them leave without any issues. Luckier that Lexi had managed to keep her from losing the entire arm. The ball and a portion of her upper arm replaced with a prosthetic. The prosthetic wasn't the problem, but the time required in therapy from the prosthetic would complicate an awkward situation.

"Did you get him good?"

Scott needed to pay more attention to what was going on around him, being spooked so often was getting old.

"Yeah, you should see the other guy," he quipped.

Vetra released a rumbling laugh, glancing over the blood down Scott's gym clothes, "was this a bad time to bring company?"

Scott had spotted the Turian standing a few steps behind Vetra, very similar in crest shapes and coloring, but with red markings instead of purple, "I take it this is the pain in the ass little sister?"

"Watch who you call little," Sid huffed.

"I do have the high ground," Scott added, standing in the ring raising him just high enough to look over both of their heads. It was a nice feeling for once.

"Sid," it came more as a warning, "Scott. Scott, Sid."

He thrust out his hand somewhat awkwardly, but the younger Turian seemed to not mind.

Vetra grinned brightly between the two, pleased that the introductions had gone well, "I just wanted to stop so that Sid would stop harping on me to meet the Ryders."

"Vetra, I did not," Sid called out in indignation, "you wanted an excuse to-"

Vetra shooed the girl from the Nexus training room, leaving Scott alone to grin like an idiot.

[cardiaceyes]

if youre still taking supercorp prompts, could you write an angsty one where lena breaks up w kara for their own good but it sucks because they still see each other at events and maybe lena thinks karas already moved on but somehow this all ends up with supercorp endgame? something like that but again, i guess just an angsty break up but happy ending...? if thats cool with you?

I didn’t shoot the lesbian this time, I stabbed her, but she remains alive I promise (I tried)Read on AO3

Every time she looks at Kara, the look of hurt and heartbreak flashes in front of her. Every time she reaches for a glass of whiskey without fail. She can’t let herself think of what’s she done because she knows the moment she does- it’ll end in pain. Probably destroy her again, not that she put herself back together the first time.

It’s been a couple of months since, and Lena still just feels the constant ache in her chest that reminds her of how wrong it is to do this to her. Of how wrong it was to break Kara’s heart, but she can’t bring herself to exactly care when there’s a drink in her hand and the reminder in her email or at her door.

She hates herself for it. She’s plunged herself into nothing but a depth of self-loathing, and sometimes it’s enough to make her wish she was the Luthor that was locked in a cell miles from here. That she had nothing but blank walls to keep her caged. That there was no daily reminder to remind her she’s broken the most loving girl's heart.

It was good, it was great, hell she felt like it was probably the best damn thing to ever happen to her. No scratch that. She knows it was. Fuck sake, she knows, and now it’s gone.

It started with an e-mail. Her mother. Initially, she’d found it stupid, the audacity of Lillian to assume Lena would just help her after everything. To assume she’d drop to her knees after her own mother left her to fucking die because she got what she wanted. She’d only scoffed, traced it, found nothing, and moved on.

Then came the phone call. Lex’s smug voice informing her of what he and their mother could do, the hundreds of people they could kill if she didn’t listen, and the one person in her life that had ever brought her true happiness. They could strike her down.

She’d listened carefully, hanging onto his threats as he spoke. He’d informed her that betrayal was not an option, that she couldn’t just give up her name, or turn her back on them when they needed her the most and side with aliens. He was so vile and angry at her, she had no doubt her big brother had died years ago.

He told her what he wanted.

She was going to give L-Corp up, get him released, and beg for mercy the moment she did it. If she wanted her life intact, the people, she was going to have to do as she was told for once. She froze in fear.

CADMUS would get L-Corp, they’d get the DEO/L-Corp invention plans, files shared, they’d get so much they could destroy the world with. They could get to Kara. She couldn’t let it happen. She refused to let it happen. She couldn’t allow that into their hands.

So she played them at their own game. She informed Director J’onn of it, led CADMUS and her brother so far, let them have necessary wins with modifications (the damage caused was never enough to kill ANYONE, she made sure) to ensure her win in the end. J’onn had agreed to the idea of it being as quiet as possible. Leaving only Lucy Lane, oddly enough, and a handful of DEO agents to help her.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t without slip ups.

Lex had threatened her, with Kara. Threatened to hire the best sniper he could, give them a green bullet, and hunt her down like some sort of prey. He promised he’d split her open and show Lena the goddamn pictures of what she’d caused because she couldn’t just listen.

Everyone panicked. Kara had been shot twice before Lena gave in and did what she thought she had to.

Kara had been at her apartment, tired and sore, recovering from the second shot when she knocked. The door had been answered with the brightest smile of the day, face falling when she took in Lena’s exhausted and emotional state. Every time Kara tried to touch her Lena would step back and distance herself.

Kara had been so confused, and then Lena spoke.

She’d told Kara it was over, she couldn’t do it. Kara had looked so hurt and confused, asked for why, and Lena had thought for just a moment- maybe she should just tell Kara. But if she did, Kara wouldn’t stop trying to help and Lex- no. She couldn’t risk losing Kara to death like that. She wouldn’t play that game.

So she lied. She had accused Kara of treating her like a Luthor, that she’d been told by someone else who Kara was. Lena had known for so long but Kara had never told her. She’d told Kara she couldn’t understand why she’d never told her. Why she didn’t trust her. That if she couldn’t trust her, then there was no room for a relationship.

She can remember the tears staining Kara’s cheeks, already so heart broken, as she tried to god honestly explain what Lena had already gathered. She’d tried to take Lena’s hands and ask her to stop, to think about it. To just try and fix them, but there was never anything to fix. She couldn’t do anything but mutter a soft ‘i’m so sorry’ before slipping back out of the door.

She could memorize Kara’s crying.

The moment the elevator door closed, Lena had let herself fall into nothing but tears. Heartbroken by no one but herself. Hate burned into her heart for her brother, her mother, the next day she burned with a new flame. She was going to be the end of every Luthor that had ever followed in her brother's footsteps and burn them to the ground.

So the battle continued for months. She played the game brilliantly.

Lex believed her, her mother did too, was nearly proud of her. Lucy had been off with her, and J’onn had become cold. She could understand. Kara was like his daughter. She’d broken her heart.

The unfortunate part lied within the form of galas and events. Kara no longer interviewed her, James did that himself, and after the first time- he seemed to understand what she’d done. He became softer with her. However, Kara still covered galas and events. Unfortunately leading them to see each other across the room.

She could see the way Kara’s eyes watered instantly, looking away in shame at herself, and by the end of the night, Lena would walk away nearly drunk just to keep herself from rushing to Kara. Fucking christ she loved her so goddamn much.

Slowly, as the days ticked by, as it became more unbearable for her to look at Kara without feeling nothing but guilt- she noted how more at peace Kara became. Whether it was fake or not, Lena never let herself look long enough. Kara stopped finding her eyes whether she was like Lena just didn’t exist.

That hurt the most.

She drank more.

The inevitable end came, eventually. CADMUS was ready to make the last move for supporters, J’onn and Lucy had noted it would be the perfect place to put a stop to it. To grab Lillian and Lex. There was no way they couldn’t show up. It was far too important of a move for them not to. Lex had escaped prisoner, switched with a double, days prior.

Lena took initiative and offered to plan the event. Lillian had protested but Lex had grinned in pride and accepted the offer. So she did.

A gala, with her brothers favorite, her mother interfering here and there. But she’d done it. In the end. Lucy had made plans, agents hidden as waiters, investors, and the like. Lucy herself hidden as a guard near the entrance.

The event started.

Music played softly, it continued, as she was whisked around to talk to people here and there. Positively boring. She hated it. Hated hearing the words, the words of xenophobia come from their mouths. She loathed it. Taking great pride that most of these investors, possible supporters, would be arrested and their asses thoroughly kicked.

She drank a lot.

Halfway through, the stage lit up and she was pulled on stage by Lex who had an arm around her shoulders, grinning brilliantly, and so proudly. She felt absolutely sick to her stomach.

But still, he continued, exclaiming how bright and proud he was of her. She forced a smile. He went on a tirade about the alien menace as Lillian stepped out, pitching in, and the crowd- good lord they cheered. Called for the death of millions. She had to swallow the bile.

And then she saw it, J’onn at the back, his eyes turned red for a moment signaling her. She saw Lucy ready a gun, other guards do the same and nodded. Her part to be done.

She’d said she had some words to say. Lex had eagerly let her step up. She spoke with a knowing smile, happy to watch their faces contort from eagerness to fear. They’d been caught.

“My brother, what a man he is,” her smile turned grim, dark, “what an absolutely...stupid man. To think he had any right to force death upon hundreds of those among us, to think he could forcibly deport men, women, children, people,” she turned to find Lex standing there, fuming, she turned back to the crowd, “you are all despicable people. You are NOT any better than the view you hold upon those you don’t understand. You will rot, and I will watch.”

Screams filled the air as people dashed about, sirens heard outside, closer than expected. Police surrounded the building completely. They had been as quiet as possible in doing so. J’onn and Maggie’s design, she’s sure. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing as DEO agents scurried around, grabbing those with weapons, and those they could as fast as possible.

She watched people fight back and be detained. Those that didn’t fight back were escorted out, towards the police. She watched the mess.

“Lena,” her brother fumed, as did her mother.

She turned, a dark look on her face to address him. She was met with a sharp pain, her stomach- her eyes widened, and her hands locked around the knife piercing her skin. She gasped for air, looking back up at him.

She shouldn’t have been shocked.

“I loved you,” he spat angrily.

“You died, years ago,” she spat back, with as much venom as she could gather, “you left- and never came back.”

Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone before she could think about it.

The knife was pulled out sharply and angrily, leaving her to cry out in pain, hands trying to keep blood from flowing out and then she was teetering forward. Threatening to fall over. Strength went from her body.

So she did. She fell forward but came into contact with red fabric and blonde hair that smelled like lilacs. Instantly, a hand moved, painfully, to wrap around the Hero’s body and keep her upright with a grin.

She was bleeding out but Kara was there. Kara was going to be there when her eyes closed, no matter the nightmare that saw her after her eyes would close at least she could be in comfort that Kara would be there. She’d missed her so much. She didn’t stop the tears that streamed down her face from the sheer pain and emotion.

Her hold was growing weak.

She heard Lex gasp, Lillian yell out, and it was enough to make her move her head slowly to look at what was happening. She wanted to be scared from the sight but had no strength to. Kara held Lex up with a death grip, he was breathing in no air, and Lillian was fumbling for her purse.

There was a sound that happened before heat vision shot out in two beams and all but destroyed the purse, making Lillian gasp and fall backward in fear. Kara’s free hand was clenched into a fist so tight...she was trying to keep her calm.

“Don’t try it,” Kara warned with a snarl, looking back at Lex, “neither of you will ever be free again.”

“What about Lena-”

“She’s helped the DEO,” Kara sounded so...angry, “no matter what she’s done, she did it to stop you two. She’s a hero, traitors- fear mongering murderous villains like you two will never touch her again.”

Lex gripped the hand around his throat, trying to speak, and the grip tightened again. Having loosened a little to let him breathe.

“Never.”

Kara was far too angry. Lena knew it. With a groan, she slowly moved her hand from around Kara’s waist to her clenched hand. Gripping it softly. The Kryptonian relaxed almost instantly. Lena smiled softly, but keeping herself from falling was too much. She was still bleeding.

So she fell, hand still around Kara’s as she tipped and fell.

The ground never greeted her. Instead, Kara turned and gathered her up in her hands instantly, ordering a few agents that stood to the side to cuff them. Tightly. Multiple times. Then she was in a frantic state as Lena threatened to slip into an unconscious state. Yelling for her sister, Alex.

Just as her eyes closed to blackness, she heard Alex tell her to stay alive or she’d bring her back and fucking kill her for breaking Kara’s heart. She managed a smile before she slipped away to unconsciousness.

Kara was with her now, at least, and Kara still cared.

She awoke to blind lights, days later, and a pressure against her legs. Blinking her eyes, she tried to sit up but groaned in pain and watched as Kara sat up out of fright she’d done something, her own eyes adjusting before finding Lena’s soft smile directed at her.

Lena expected to be yelled at.

Instead, Kara wept for her, burying her face back into her arms on Lena’s lap. She cried for what felt like hours, Lena couldn’t cry anymore. She’d done too much of it already. Instead, she stroked Kara’s hair softly and waited for her to speak.

“You almost died,” Kara looked at her, distraught, “you almost died and it hurt so much more than-”

The breakup.

Lena frowned.

“Kara I-”

“Lucy told me,” the blonde interrupted, “Lucy told me because you were putting yourself in mortal danger. You were- so reckless and stupid...Lena.”

A lump formed in Lena’s throat.

“I’m sorry, Kara.”

“I know,” Kara stood up, leaning forward to press a kiss to her forehead, “there was so much unnecessary pain. Please never do that again, let me have a say next time, please?”

“They shot you. Because of me. Twice, Kara I-”

“So did you,” Kara reminded her as softly as possible, “you tore through me. It hurt so much because I love you.”

Lena let herself cry finally, unable and unwilling to stop. Kara sat on the edge of the bed and allowed Lena to grip her hard, to allow her the opportunity to cry into her. Giving her the comfort Lena felt she didn’t deserve.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered again and again.

“Never do that again. Our future won’t last long if you do.”

Hope filled her chest as Lena sat back and looked up at Kara.

“Our future?”

Kara nodded and smiled, kissing her softly.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, so much, I’m so sorry.”

There was far too much to talk about in a hospital bed. There was a chance for a future, however.

[sleepymarmot]

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

55-56

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Austin and Janine are a pair of sadistic bastards lmao

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

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

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

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

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

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

57-59 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

60-61 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

62-63

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

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

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

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

[welcometowcwmondaynitro]

WCW Monday Nitro 08/07/1996

It’s the day after Hulk Hogan turned heel. This was a pretty monumental event in wrestling history. If you didn’t grow up in this era you might not get it, the closest comparison at this time would be Cena turning heel, but even that pales in comparison to the shock of the Hulkster turning his back on the Hulkamaniacs, brother.

WCW is starting its summer run at the Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, which would last a few weeks.

As usual we’re welcomed by Tony and Larry Z to the hottest two hours in television.

Larry is going super casual. He’s a man of the people. 

Tony says “words cannot describe what happened last night, but the pictures will”. I don’t think it would be that difficult to tell it in words, it wasn’t exactly a complex situation. Larry says he’s disgusted, and Hogan’s actions were “total unmanliness”. They show pictures of Rey Vs Psychosis from the PPV, then Dean Vs Disco. 

The show starts with Rey Mysterio Jr.

His opponent is Dean Malenko.

Rey Mysterio Jr Vs Dean Malenko

You know how these types of matches go, a lot of speedy, flippy stuff from Rey and technical wrestling from Deano. Always good to watch. Towards the end of the match, Tony says “Malenko is showing he’s not only a champion, but he’s a man who can fight as well, and escape near-falls”. Well... yeah. He wouldn’t be champion if he was no good at those things. Thanks for stating the obvious, Tony. Match ends when Dean puts Rey on his shoulders on the top turnbuckle, throws him up as he jumps...

Then...

Ouch.

Malenko goes for the pin but pulls Rey up before the three count, then hits a suplex and once again pulls Rey up before the three. This comes back to haunt him when Rey hits the Frankensteiner...

And gets the three count. Your winner and new cruiserweight champion, Rey Mysterio Jr! The senior citizen front row are loving it. The guy in the “MGM” shirt literally jumps up and down in excitement.

Rey Mysterio Jr defeats Dean Malenko via Pinfall.

Tony says Mysterio earned the win. Larry says he didn’t earn it, Malenko made two mistakes, as if these are somehow mutually exclusive. We get a crowd shot, focused on this guy.

So that’s where Genie goes at the end of Aladdin... to Florida to watch Nitro with a really rough looking Steve Sanders. Cool.

We cut back to the locker room where Mean Gene is with the Nasty Boys and the Steiner Brothers.

What’s up with Rick’s over friendly smile here? It’s kind of creepy.

Scott Steiner says he doesn’t agree with how Harlem Heat won the titles or how they beat them last week when Parker hit Rick in the head with his cane, then gets interrupted by Knobbs. Steiner then yells “shut up, fatso” and says he doesn’t agree with how the Nasty Boys act or look (who would?) but that he respects their wrestling ability. Is he being sarcastic? Doesn’t seem to be, but if he isn’t then what wrestling ability?

Saggs says the Nasty Boys don’t care about the Steiners’ problems with Harlem Heat, they just care about winning their match tonight. He says the Steiners are taking a trip to Nastyville. Scott says “keep talking and I’ll knock your other tooth out”. Hah. Rick starts talking with this weird expression on his face...

And says “I don’t think it’s Nastyville, come down to the dog pound, and get down where it gets real nasty boys. You see, my nose is [inaudible, starts sniffing like a dog]

“I smell em, I smell the heat, I’m coming after you boys, [inaudible], I got you. Nasty Boys, you gettin’ away is just [inaudible] it ain’t gonna be personal”

Word for word. 

Knobbs yells a bunch of stuff as Rick growls like a dog. End segment. Wow. Rick makes his brother sound like Shakespeare.

OUR WORLD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. ENTER THE REALM. BLOOD RUNS COLD. IN EACH OF US BURNS THE FURY OF A WARRIOR.

GLACIER. 

We get a shot on Mickey as we return to ringside.

Yeah.

Anyway, the announcers are still going on about Hogan’s heel turn as Big Bubba, Hugh Morrus and Jimmy Hart wander out.

Big Bubba is wearing a helmet.

Looking chilly, bro.

Larry says “the Dungeon of Doom are rebuilding their, uh... force, if you will”. If you will indeed. 

They are facing the Blue Bloods w/Jeeves and Earl Robert Eaton.

The fans chant “USA” at the Blue Bloods.

Big Bubba and Hugh Morrus Vs the Blue Bloods

Mercifully this match doesn’t last long. Larry meanwhile says that Earl Robert Eaton “doesn’t know how to treat a bummer the right proper way”.

What?

I’m not sure what he means by this, nor do I think I want to, but he then goes on to say “bummers do all the dirty work.”

“We have the same situation here. We just call them wives.”

Let’s just move on.

Oh, wait no, because Larry just said Hugh Morrus “moves like Rey Mysterio Jr”.

Okay.

John Tenta suddenly arrives and starts beating on Bubba. 

The Blue Bloods hit a double back drop on Hugh Mysterio Jr...

Squire Dave Taylor gets the pin. Tony calls it a “sensational win”. Not quite.

The Blue Bloods defeat Big Bubba and Hugh Morrus via Pinfall.

We come back from a commercial break and Eddie Guerrero and Psychosis are already in the ring.

Apparently this is Psychosis’ debut on Nitro. He didn’t even get a televised entrance. That doesn’t bode well. The cut to this split screen where Rey is talking...

But the announcers are talking over him, so we can’t hear anything he’s saying until Tony tells Larry to shut up. Rey is giving his opinion on Hogan’s heel turn, apparently. He says “there was much confusion in all of our minds. Especially the little kids, they were crying. They were very disappointed, and personally I’m very disappointed on who the third person was. I don’t think that’s fair for all of us. To all my Mexican friends... [speaks Spanish]... he betrayed us.”

Not sure why that had to be shown in the middle of this match - Psychosis debut, remember. Way to showcase him, WCW. Have Rey interrupt and talk about Hulk Hogan instead. I wouldn’t worry Rey, you’ll never be anywhere near Hogan. Watch out for Nash, though.

Larry says if Rey interrupts him again “he’ll have my hand upside his head”. It was the production crew who made the decision to air that, Larry. Rey didn’t walk into the truck and say “Zybszko’s talking, put me on now and cut that sexist old crank off”. I wish he had.

During the match, Eddie whips Psychosis onto the ropes, and Psychosis apparently gets hit in the balls..

Feels bad, man. 

“When human bodies get sweaty, they sweat” - Larry Zybszko. 

For some reason the crowd have decided Psychosis is the heel and started booing him. He hasn’t done anything especially heelish but, yeah, fuck Psychosis apparently.

The match ends when Eddie hits a superplex...

 Then a Frogsplash...

And it’s over. Psychosis debut ends with a loss. Welcome to WCW.

Eddie Guerrero defeats Psychosis via Pinfall.

We go to Gene, who is standing at the entranceway with Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and the Giant. 

Taskmaster’s arm is extremely shiny. Jimmy Hart’s suit is ridiculous. Why is the twizzler mouth there? 

Gene asks Hart about Hogan. Hart says “this is the first time in my life that I’m lost for words, and I really have no comment”. I can believe that. This is a guy with a screaming mouth on his jacket, after all.

Sullivan says “sometimes when you live for the destruction and demise of something, like Jimmy and I did, we lived for a year and a half for the demise of Hulkamania, and he plucked it away from us. He destroyed it himself”. 

Well, how much longer was he supposed to wait, Kevin? Another year and a half? 

Sullivan says that the evil deeds he’s done in his life have come back to haunt him, and that when he looks in the mirror he sees Chris Benoit. He’s a madman. Then he switches back to the New World Order. Jimmy Hart then says “there’s a new world order coming, Gene, and you could be out of a job”. Hah, don’t count on it. Gene starts to act offended by this suggestion he might be out of work, but then the Giant gets on the mic and reminds everybody that he’s the world champion, and as long as he is, “nothing in WCW can go wrong”. I’m not sure what logic he’s employing to come to that conclusion. Didn’t help Bischoff much when he was powerbombed off the stage. 

Giant says that last night the Horsemen “won the battle, but you didn’t win the war”. Strange thing to say considering Giant & Sullivan beat Arn & Benoit, but okay. As the Dungeon walk off, Gene continues to rant about losing his job, as if Jimmy Hart would have any idea whether that was actually true or not.

Here come the Nasty Boys.

The camera zooms in on a mother and (I assume) daughter dancing to the Nasty Boys theme.

Guy on the left is leering kinda creepily at the mom. I hope that’s her partner.

Here’s a story of two brothers, Ricky and Scott...

Nasty Boys Vs the Steiner Brothers

The Nasty Boys try to get a “nastys” chant going. About ten people join in. 

The design of the Nasty Boys shirts and Rick Steiner’s wrestling gear are both similarly horrific. Just a mess of scribbled coloured lines. An adult actually designed those.

Towards the end of the match Scott Steiner gets dumped out of the ring. Jerry Saggs literally forces a kid to get out of a chair so that he can use it to whack Steiner with. 

Splat.

You’d think this would be a disqualification, as the ref sees all of it, but no. 

Hour two begins and we switch to Bischoff and Heenan. 

Scott Steiner recovers from the chair shot and hits Knobbs with a belly to belly. The Nastys regain control briefly, then we get a shot of Sister Sherri and Colonel Parker watching the match from behind the stands.

Sherri jumps on the ropes to distract the ref, Parker hits Saggs with his cane, and Scott Steiner pins Saggs for the win. This means they get a title shot at the next PPV, Hog Wild, which Bischoff describes as “250,000 of your favourite bikers and you”. Sounds scary. 

The Steiner Brothers defeat the Nasty Boys via Pinfall. 

Gene is in the ring with the Nasty Boys.

He says he couldn’t sleep because of what Hogan did. Get a life.

Saggs says “life, as is wrestling, is all about attitude. And ours has always been nasty. The big man, along with that stinking cane, just sent a lightning bolt right through my stinking head with a big message. A big message that says change is inevitable, we’ve got to change”. Saggs begins to say “it’ll be a cold day in hell” and Gene is like...

Because apparently you can’t say hell in front of the kids at Disney. Only in Sunday School. Gene promptly pulls the mic away from Saggs before he can even finish his sentence and asks for Knobbs’ opinion. He tells Gene “don’t take the microphone away from him until he’s finished talking”, Gene then says “fine”, glances over at Saggs, and says “he’s finished talking”. Ice cold.

Knobbs says the Nastys don’t condone Hogan’s actions, but he doesn’t see anything wrong with what he did either. Gene isn’t impressed and pretty much cuts the interview there. 

Jim Powers comes charging out, and he’s so happy to be there.

 He’s facing Ric Flair for the US Title. 

What has Jim Powers done to earn a US Title match, by the way? Then again, what had Disco Inferno done to earn a Cruiserweight Title match at Bash at the Beach? Me and my silly attempts to look for logic in WCW. I’m just going to look at Liz, Woman and Debra instead.

Wooo! And yet it’s also sad to think that only one of them is still alive. And now I feel weird. Let’s just pretend it’s 1996.

Ric Flair Vs Jim Powers

You know how a Flair match goes. His opponent spends the match dominating, Flair cheats somehow and wins. Except in this one Flair doesn’t actually cheat, just wins by using the Figure Four, pretty much fair and square. 

Jim Powers, such a jobber that Flair doesn’t even need to cheat to win.

Ric Flair defeats Jim Powers via Submission.

Gene is standing by with the Horsemen and their ladies. Woman is giving the camera a sultry look. Arn is just glaring at the audience at home angrily. Debra is looking at Gene with a very concerned expression. Maybe she heard he’s out of a job too. We can only hope.

Gene: After last night, I know a lot of things are running through even the minds of the Horsemen.

Even the minds of the Horsemen? Sounds like a bit of a put down.

Arn says that what Hogan did make him “want to puke”. Gene is like:

Arn continues, saying the Horsemen never claimed to be role models, but Hogan did. Arn says that there are people whose “lives hinged on what he said”. I doubt it. If so then they have bigger problems than Hogan turning heel, frankly. Mongo says “the apocalypse is on WCW” and says it only has to do with the Four Horsemen. OK. Flair cuts in and says Mongo isn’t “jumping jack flash” he’s a five time all pro. He bigs up Arn as well, and says that until the outsiders can “heal the sick, wake the dead, and drive little girls right out of their head” ... and then doesn’t finish his thought process. I’m not sure I want him to - little girls?

Anyway, Flair screams “GIANT! GIANT! GIANT! There’s a new champ in town, one that can go all night long, ain’t that right girls? Wooooo!” 

Insane.

We cut to Bischoff and Heenan at the announce desk.

Heenan’s looking sharp. Bischoff not so much.

They both talk about WCW fighting back. At this point it’s pretty funny. I mean, we’re talking three people against literally dozens. It’s not really a contest, is it? Hell, just fire Hogan if it’s such a problem. In kayfabe Hall and Nash don’t even have contracts so they shouldn’t be an issue to begin with. Obviously the nWo will eventually become bloated and a legitimate force, but for now it’s just three guys, two of which are not even supposed to be employed by WCW. God knows what these guys are panicking about.

Anyhow.

Out comes the Sarge with Teddy Long - Holla!

His opponent is Chris Benoit.

Chris Benoit Vs Sgt. Craig Pittman

Obviously Benoit wins. Pittman doesn’t actually tap, though. For some reason Long comes in and tells the ref to ring the bell. Gotta protect Craig Pittman?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chris Benoit defeats Sgt. Craig Pittman via Submission.

So, it’s the main event of the evening - Arn Anderson Vs Sting. That’s a pretty big match, but I don’t think they’ve mentioned it all evening. Too busy crying about Hogan, who isn’t even there. Anyway, out comes Arnold.

Fireworks go off as a sombre looking Stinger walks out.

Haven’t heard from him about Hulk Hogan, which is strange as he was directly involved in the match at Bash at the Beach. Haven’t heard anything from Luger, either. Or Macho Man. We’ve heard from Rey Mysterio Jr and Mongo, though, so yeah. Maybe we’ll hear from some of the others after this match.

Bischoff says “we may have guests” and that there isn’t enough security at Disney to handle the Outsiders. Really? Two, three people at most if Hogan is with them. You don’t have enough security to deal with that? Don’t be so stupid.

Arn offers his hand...

Sting pretty much says “fuck you”.

Arn Anderson Vs Sting

The commentators are still going on about Hogan’s heel turn. For fuck’s sake, we get it. It’s a terrible thing. It’s a betrayal. Heenan warned us all for years. WE GET IT. Call the fucking match. 

Sting and Arn have a serviceable match. Nothing memorable. The crowd are behind the Stinger, for sure. During the match they actually air another Glacier promo. They were so high on this guy. Glacier should have been the one to take down the nWo. 

At one point during the match Bischoff says that Sting is “lit”. That’s interesting. I thought that was a recent saying, but Bischoff was throwing it out there in 1996. Trendsetter.

Arn and Sting are taking a break.

Bischoff tells us a “black limousine” has pulled up and that it’s “not a good thing”. Well, the show is practically over so it could be worse. 

Ohhh, scary.

Hall (dressed in all denim, so 90′s) and Nash are out of the vehicle.

Bischoff and Heenan are shitting their pants at this point, whereas the crowd politely applaud when Hall and Nash arrive at the ring. The contrast is amusing.

We have a standoff. What was Bischoff so worried about? Look at all that security, led by “Big” Doug Dillinger in his barely fitting turquoise shirt. No problem. 

The Macho Man comes to the ring. Anderson tries to blindsight Sting with a DDT, but Sting basically just pushes Arn over and applies the Scorpion Deathlock.

Arn gives up. Sting wins. Notice how the women came out with Flair but were nowhere to be seen when Arn and Benoit were wrestling? 

Sting defeats Arn Anderson via Submission.

Okerlund is in the ring with the Stinger.

Check out the dude in the middle rocking the Eddie Guerrero look with dat tash and dat hair. Then the ginger boy next to him with the glasses and turquoise tank top. Why are so many people wearing turquoise? 

Sting looks like he needs a nap. He says “I am not at all surprised. What happened last night I’m not surprised about, coming from the two outsiders. But I will say I am very very surprised at you Hulk Hogan. But I should have known. I should have known when you were travelling to every town in that big fat limo. I should have known, because you didn’t want to travel with the Macho Man or the Total Package and the Stinger. Uh-uh, you were too busy making big movies, and coming in for a little cameo appearance. You were too busy walking on the dark side. I should have known when you referred to the Macho Man and the Total Package and me as three little dogs waiting for a chance to wrestle the great Hulk Hogan. I should have known when I looked into your eyes, but you know something I made a mistake. But you made a bigger mistake, because last night you wiped out and trashed every single little kid, every single person that was a part of your life, that patterned their life after you! You told them to believe in the man upstairs! You told them to say their prayers and to take their vitamins! You told them to believe in themselves and you know something? It’s a good thing you told them to believe in themselves, because they sure as heck can’t believe in you! And last and not least, to put the cherry on the top, all those little kids, you told them to stick it. No, you stick it Hulk.” 

Word. To be honest, based on Sting’s evidence, everybody really should have guessed that Hogan was going to be the third man. Did he actually make the little dogs comment? 

Gene tells Savage “you really got it stuck to ya”. That’s our Gene, he doesn’t mince his words. Savage says “I’ve got a message for Hollywood Hogan...”

“What I wanna tell ya, and I wanna do to ya, I can’t say on television, especially here at Disney.”

“But you take the worst thing that you can think about, and you multiply it by the number nine million, and then you multiply it by infinity and beyond...”

Yeah, Savage just quoted Buzz Lightyear in this supposedly serious promo.

“It would be just like one grain of sand in the Sahara Desert brother, because it’s  really really scary, what I’m thinking and gonna do to you, yeahhhh!”

Sting and Savage hold each other whilst Gene talks about emotions being high. 

We go to a break. I guess the Outsiders just... left? Oh, no, they’re just chilling with Gene.

Wait, what? Bischoff and Heenan are leaving puddles of piss on the floor and talking about not having enough security to handle these guys, and Gene is just standing around with them? Okay. Nash looks like he wants to give Gene a noogie. He totally should. I like how Nash is wearing a fanny pack. Was that cool in 1996?

Gene says that since the outsiders turned up, things in WCW have started to crumble, but he doesn’t think it will continue. Nash says he begs to differ. He says WCW took a beating at the Bash at the Beach, and the fans took a beating too. He says Hogan built professional wrestling and nobody appreciates it. He says next week the third member of the “New Order” will be at Nitro, and they’ll see what WCW can put up against them.

Hall says that this portion of Nitro is brought to us by the Outsiders and Hulk Hogan. He also calls Gene “chico”, which is something he’ll eventually stop doing. Believe it or not WWF sued over stuff like that, saying he was channeling the Razor Ramone character which belonged to the WWF and not WCW.

Hall says WCW should be begging them to come through the door. Gene brings up Jimmy Hart’s comment about him not having a job, again - really, Gene? This isn’t the time. Hall calls him “Scheme Gene” and says he’s got a job with the New World Order. I would have liked to have seen Mean Gene in the nWo. He turns it down flat by saying “I’ll continue to work for Turner Broadcasting”.

Gene asks where Hogan is, and Nash says he’s working on a movie. Hall says Savage is jealous of Hogan, and that Luger didn’t get hurt at the Bash at the Beach, he just fainted when he saw the Outsiders. Video evidence suggests otherwise, but okay.  

We cut back to Bischoff and Heenan. They show slides of the Bash at the Beach main event, including Hogan’s heel turn. They’ve been talking about it so often during the broadcast that this really isn’t necessary. Even if you hadn’t watched the fucking PPV you’d be able to describe the main event minute by minute just through the amount of times it was mentioned during this show. 

Heenan goes on a rant about how Hogan didn’t build wrestling, everybody else in the business did. Then the show ends. Anti-climactic. Why were Bischoff and Heenan so concerned about the Outsiders arriving, and there not being enough security? The pair of them were very quickly escorted back to their limo, with no issues, then had a brief interview with Okerlund before the show ended. Big deal. 

[glamamor]

TCM Classic Film Festival 2017 - Making Us Laugh

Charlie Chaplin once said, "A day without laughter is a day wasted." If this is the case, then there was not a day wasted at this year's TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF). The theme was Make 'Em Laugh: Comedy in the Movies and the programming - which delivered comedies from every era and everything from the low brow to the high - brought our greater classic cinema family together once again. They did indeed make us laugh and often made us cry as well. Of course there were more than just comedies, including some of my favorites in both the Pre-Code and film noir genres. This year was extra special for me because the whole week kicked off with my own talk related to the festival - Fashion in Film of TCMFF: Sophisticated Comedies 1930s-1950s. It was held at the Annenberg Beach House, the former beachfront estate of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, and many of the people I know and love from years together at the festival were there. Despite multiple accidents on the LA freeways, we still had a packed house and a wonderful evening that started with flowers and ended with a standing ovation. After my Q&A, several of us then had a chance to say hello and catch up a bit before Thursday's opening day at the festival. Opening day is always like being shot out of a cannon. It's a rush of activity at the Roosevelt Hotel, the headquarters of the festival, seeing who you can before events and screenings take all of your time. Though there were already a few events earlier that day, the first one I attended was "Remembering Robert Osborne." It was a moving tribute to the beloved TCM host who recently passed away. After a video that showed clips of him over the years, including some charming goofs behind the scenes, the heads of TCM lead a discussion about his life and legacy. Others who were close to Robert also contributed their own memories, such as his close friend actress Diane Baker. After a couple more hours of meeting and greeting friends, I was off to my first movie - 1959's Some Like It Hot. Seeing those Orry-Kelly costumes on the big screen was incredible. Since the Production Code was still technically in effect, it's remarkable to me that those illusion dresses somehow got the studio's stamp of approval. Then after that screening, I dashed to two opening night parties - one at the Roosevelt and another that was co-hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). This one was quite the event - held around the rooftop pool at the W Hotel in Hollywood. The heads of TCM were there, including GM Jennifer Dorian, Creative Director Pola Chagnon, and Programming head Charlie Tabesh. TCM hosts Ben Mankiewicz and Eddie Muller were there along with guest hosts like Illeana Douglas. Celebrities from Martin Landau to Ruta Lee were also there. And I got to spend time with friends Monika Henreid, Alison Martino, and Sony's restoration queen Rita Belda. I was so busy talking with everyone that you'll see I only got a picture of the pool. After about 3.5 hours of sleep -  a regular occurrence for me at this year's festival - I was up bright at early for one of my favorite movies of all time. 1941's The Maltese Falcon was introduced by my friend Eddie Muller, who is the president of the Film Noir Foundation and also TCM's newest host with their Noir Alley series. This was my first time seeing The Maltese Falcon on the big screen and I saw so many new details in those costumes on the big screen. Interesting that these costumes were also by Orry-Kelly, but this was the style he was really known for while at Warner Brothers rather than Marilyn Monroe's risqué costumes in Some Like It Hot. Some Like It Hot was one of the movies I covered in my talk, and I was able to see several others I included at the festival. They were all something to behold on the big screen and each proved how rewarding it is to see these movies with other fans. 1950's Born Yesterday, 1934's Twentieth Century, and 1942's The Palm Beach Story, which several of us saw together at the historic Chinese Theatre, were one big party. It was also thrilling to bump into people who attended my talk that were still raving about it. I even overheard people discussing what they had learned from me and seen in those movies as a result. It doesn't get any better than that. The festival's Red-Headed Woman was another film whose backstory and costume design was included my talk, and I managed to get myself second place in line for its screening at the historic Egyptian Theatre. That 1932 Jean Harlow Pre-Code classic played to a full house and a crowd that absolutely LOVED it. It was so popular that it became one of the TBDs on Sunday - movies that TCM picks to show again that were sold out during their first run at the festival. My last hours of the festival were spent at the mighty Chinese Theatre starting Saturday night with The Graduate. Ben Mankiewicz interviewed Buck Henry before the screening, and they discussed the casting as well as the scripted and unscripted moments of the 1967 film. Of course it was stunningly beautiful on that huge screen, but I was also extremely impressed by the sound. When it started, the sound was so good it made you feel like you were inside the airport with him. 1942's The Palm Beach Story was my first film Sunday morning at the Chinese, which started in the forecourt and I was lucky enough to meet some of Mary Astor's relatives. Historian Cari Beauchamp recognized them in the audience before going on to interview Joel McCrea's grandson Wyatt on stage. Then came 1952's Singin' in the Rain at the Chinese, which was special because it was filmed on the MGM lot (where I now work, owned by Sony/Columbia Pictures) and because some of it was set at the Chinese Theatre. It was made even more special by Todd Fisher and Ruta Lee paying tribute to their mother and friend Debbie Reynolds on stage beforehand. Closing the festival this year was what many consider the best movie of all time - 1942's Casablanca. I've seen the iconic film many times, including on the big screen, but seeing it at the Chinese Theatre in celebration of its 75th anniversary was really something. I also got to sit with friend Monika Henreid, who was recognized by Ben during his introduction to the classic and the entire theater applauded her. Then it was off to the closing night party. There were even more moments and experiences of the festival - including a fascinating interview between Ben and writer/director/producer/film historian Peter Bogdanovich. I've tried to capture as many as I could to share with you here. But many times I was simply caught up in the moment of being with my TCM family and celebrating classic Hollywood. Until next year, my friends... People filing in at the Annenberg Beach House before I started my talk Fashion in Film of TCMFF 2017: Sophisticated Comedies 1930s-1950s "Always riveting, wildly entertaining, and educational, I could listen to Kimberly talk about fashion in the movies all day long." --Danny Miller The Roosevelt Hotel in its earliest days Entering the Roosevelt Hotel - the center of all festival activities - for the first day of TCMFF 2017 Two from my arrival at the Roosevelt Hotel day one with several of my TCM family -including our first group selfie (of many) at the festival More from opening day at TCMFF - "Remembering Robert Osborne" with heads of TCM and actress Diane Baker After my first festival movie Some Like It Hot, it was off to opening night party #1 at the Roosevelt -with fellow vintage lovers Beth Ann Gallagher and Karie Bible (above)and TCM's Jeremy Arnold (below) Then off to the big gala after party at the W Hotel in Hollywood including heads of TCM, friends like Monika Henreid and Sony Restoration queen Rita Belda, and celebrities that included everyone from Martin Landau to Ruta Lee Day 2 of TCMFF started bright and early with The Maltese Falcon -great intro by Film Noir Foundation founder/TCM host/friend Eddie Muller and had such fun sharing it with Noir Girl's Casey TCMFF day 2 continued with Born Yesterday -funny intro to the intro from TCM's VP of Studio Production Sean Cameron (above)and a blast seeing it with friends, including birthday girl Karin Mustvedt-Plüss (below) The Blossom Room in the Roosevelt Hotel, which was home to the first Academy Awards, was the location of Club TCM events including a great Peter Bogdanovich interview After Born Yesterday, Ben Mankiewicz spoke with Peter Bogdanovich at Club TCM  about directors like Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock Bonus was spending time (front row, no less) with friend Alison Martino of Vintage Los Angeles I love how the Getty photographer caught her taking pictures (as always) Also always love spending time with Jeff from the Larry Edmunds Bookshop (below) - Mad Men creator Matt Weiner and Daniel Selznick are right behind us At the Egyptian Theatre for the first time at this year's TCMFF Day 2 at TCMFF continues - #2 in line at the Egyptian Theatre with good buddy Kellee Pratt for the Jean Harlow Pre-Code Red-Headed Woman Thanks Gary Pratt for photos My TCMFF day 2 outfit has a Cinema Connection - when I saw it, I immediately thought of one of the Yves Saint Laurent costumes for Catherine Deneuve in 1967's Belle de Jour Day 3 started at the historic Montalban Theatre for Ben's 2-hour interview with Michael Douglas -many fans took photos of Robert Osborne's Hollywood Walk of Fame star in front of theater  Michael was charming - animated in his answers and frequently engaged with the audience Thanks Alison Martino for photo below Then I went to see Eddie Muller introduce Dan Duryea's The Underworld Story at the Egyptian -great fun watching this film noir with friends Aurora and Monica A departure for me at this year's TCMFF was checking out a more modern film in this year's comedy theme - Best in Show was made even more hilarious by cast members talking with Ben before its screening To prove how much we love this movie, Kevin and I bought our German Shepherd Ava (Gardner) a bee toy just like Parker Posey's On day 3, I saw my first movie at the mighty Chinese Theatre - you can read all about the theater's history from my past visit there for GlamAmor Closing out day 3 for me at TCMFF was the 50th anniversary screening of The Graduate -Ben talks to the always funny Buck Henry before the film (below) At the Chinese Theatre to begin day 4 of TCMFF 2017 with The Palm Beach Story - nothing better than starting the final day with good friends, including Kellee and Karin Thanks to Peter Gong and Gary Pratt for photos Mary Astor's relatives were in attendance at The Palm Beach Story - (left to right) Andrew Yang (great grandson), Krystin Nihei (granddaughter), and Michael del Campo (grandson) Thanks to Karin Mustvedt-Plüss (below left) for photos With buddies Aurora and Kellee at The Palm Beach Story -Cari Beauchamp interviewed Joel McCrea's grandson Wyatt before screening I stayed at the Chinese Theatre for much of day 4 and next up was Singin' in the Rain - Debbie Reynolds' son and Carrie Fisher's brother Todd Fisher shared stories along with family friend Ruta Lee before the movie After Casablanca at the Chinese Theatre, my final film of the festival, Monika Henreid and I walked back to the Roosevelt for the closing night party The big closing night party at the Roosevelt is always a mix of laughter and tears - Kellee's husband Gary captured us taking one of our many festival selfies With TCM's Jeremy Arnold and Sean Cameron Thanks Sara Henriksson for photo Last but not least, a moment with a couple of my favorite guys from TCM - hosts Ben Mankiewicz and Eddie Muller Thanks Aurora Bugallo and Kaci Kielmar for photos Monday morning I was back at work at my office on the former MGM lot (now Sony/Columbia) Until next year, my friends!