#focuses on razz because hes the most important guy of all time

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Shadow Into Light (Lena Restrospective) Finale!: Lena In Season 3! (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the FINAL part of my look at the life and times of Lena Sabrewing. It’s been a long and satsifying journey through the character’s rich arc and some of Ducktales 2017′s best episodes. Lena started as a tourtured but complacient teen willing to do bloody awful evil things if it meant her freedom, who through the power of love and friendship realized what she was doing wrong, that she loved Webby and turned on Magica... and after a brief stint of this going horribly wrong a magica simply just bodyjacked her, she sacrificed herself for Webby he story seemingly done. Of course it wasn’t, Disney woudln’t let them kill a teenager... fully grown lion men horrifcally decaying indiana jones style yeah, of course it’s disney, but killing a teen is where they draw the line. Point is Lena was merley trapped in the shadow realm with a bunch of those guys Yugi beat and with the help of everyone’s faviorte stoic hummingbird, freed Lena. Lena found new family in Violet.. but also found dying is easy but living is harder and had to wrestle with both her fears of turning out like Magica and Magica herself who naturally was gaslighting her to try and get the last scraps of her power back. We also took a detour or two to see where she came from: looking at both Minima De Spell and her rivalry with a 34 year pretending to be a small child, and Magica’s Shadow whose like Lena except almost nothing like Lena. We also took a look at her one comic apperance which was never released here for some reason and was incredibly disapointing. 

So yeah i’ts been one long, fun ride filled with gay subtext, launchpad’s spider sense, giant legs, movie refrences from warriors to jaws to nightmare on elm street 3: the dream warriors, toddlers who look and probably are 34, launchpad apparently huffing enough paint to damage his brain as that’s the only way to explain the terror of the terrafirmains subplot and gay subtext. I’ve enjoyed every step of the way so before I take the last one of those steps, i’d like to thank all of ya for reading this. I’ve gained at least 10 if not more followers off this series alone and I appricate all of you. I’d also like to thank Kev for directly comissioning this, keeping me in work and in x-men comics since 2020. 

As you can probably guess by the title.. this one’s a bit different. This is a combination of two things: The first is that i already reviewed “The Phantom and the Sorceress” when I was reviewing each episode of Season 3 as it came out.  My thoughts have not changed  at all so I felt redoing that review would be redudant and a waste of Kev’s money. The same goes for Split Sword, which has the extra issue of  being a three story episode with only one of the parts starring the focus of this retrospective. The second is while she shows up about the same amount as season 2, her apperances in season 3 outside of her Christmas Cameo are all more substaial outside of her two starring roles. Both COTHJSW and The Last Adventure shed some more light on our faviorite shadow and feel like natural evolutions of her character so it felt wrong to just flat out ignore them. 

So rather than do a full review of the episodes i’m just going to go into Lena’s apperances for Season 3. This way I can cover Phantom again without fully repeating myself, and fully track the last steps Lena takes as the series closes out in a fresh and hopefully enjoyable way. So join me under the cut for one last step into the shadows as we finish bringing Lena into the light. 

Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!

Challenge was one of the very first Ducktales I ever talked about on here, alongside Quack Pack, so it’s quite a trip returning to it a year later, even if i’ts just my memories of it. It’s also an excellent episode, with a great and engaging main plot and a “it’s just kind of there” subplot. 

It’s also one of the only three episodes to focus on Violet, and one of only two that focuses just on her and not on Lena in any way. It is a shame: While I love Lena as a character, I wouldn’t of just spent several weeks talking about her if I wasn’t getting paid for this retrospective or not, Violet is equally intriguing and so i’ll be taking a second out to talk about her as I really HAVEN’T gone into her character this retrospective and given how important she is to Lena and to all of us, most Lena fans like Violet just as much and vice versa. I’ll still be talking about Lena in this episode, obviously, but I feel her sister from two misters deserves some time in the spotlight too as the show only gave her three episodes, and one was more focused on Webby and Lena by design and the other we’ll get to. 

Violet is an excellent character. She speaks well and with little emotion but that’s just how she is and she’s never called out for it or insulted, something I like. Likewise she dosen’t judge others, never really batting an eye at the rest of the groups own quirks and at most being freaked out by leg huey a bit. She’s just a kind, curious, intellgent young lady. 

And this episode shows that off: We get to see her in the spotlight of her own, every bit the Woodchuck Huey is and more, but still supporting and encouring him, seeing their contest as a friendly one and putting no stakes into it as she’s failed before, she can fail again. What matters is she get back up and keep going. Her “razzing” is also just downright adorable, and nicely shows off her and Lena’s new dynamic: they’ve gone from friends to siblings, something really not shown off last time and something that wason’t confirmed on screen till now but it just works naturally, the cool and collected but chaotic underneath that lena just plays perfectly off the uttelry calm and deadpan violet. It’s a natural, perfect dynamic that they clearly had mapped out from the beggining and simply had to build up to that. 

Her genuine shock at Huey’s betryal... hurts the heart, as she genuinely thinks it’s her fault and not just my boy having a panic attack and doing something questionable. But it also shows her character.. when givne the same opprunity and no guilt for it, he struck first.. she dosen’t. She saves him because it’s the right thing to do and shows Huey she really is the bettter woodchuck.. but htere’s no shame in it. It’s okay to fail, what matters is you keep trying. And as a result despite giving Huey the opporunity to win with her.. he turns it down. She gets a deserved win, celebrating with her family and just wearing the most adorable smile. She also just has.. buckets of chemistry with Huey. I mean it was apparent to me with the whole Library Scene in Nightmare but god damn do they ramp it up with this one. They just contrast each other perfectly here, the handshake is adorable and he clings to her.. while also being hilarious “I naturlaly defer to authority!”. I will take this ship to my grave, and fully support it... that being said if you ship Huey/Boyd or all three togehter, go for it man. I do the latter sometimes. Your good. You didn’t need me to tell that but sometimes shipping discorse can get downright ugly so rather than make it a war between two ships, I just wanted to offer an olive branch for once you know? Same with Weblena. I obviously adore that ship but if you have a non-boys ship with her, tha’ts cool too. Ship what you want to.. i’m just doing me through this retrospective. 

Now back to Lena. Her apperance in this episode is really heartwarming and really nice after all the shit she’s been through. This is the first episode she’s in where NOTHING bad happens to her. No really, every apperance, even her two cameos had her suffer in some way. She spent the entire first season grappling with Magica, and her season 2 apperances trapped in a shadow dimension and nearly loosing her girlfriend to her own jealously, horrifically stalked by her abuser using her own self doubt against her, attacked by a literal tempest in a tea pot and captured by aliens. The girl has not gone one friggin onscreen break since the series started and probably not many off it either. 

Here? She just gets to cheer her little sister, proudly celebrating both her and her new dads. She gets to teach her sister to trash talk, even if that ends up backfiring a bit but she meant well. And she gets to celebrate with her family when her little sister wins. It’s all small stuff.. but it’s all things she’s NEVER had. A sibling to be proud of and support. Dads to sit with and go places with. A family to celebrate things with. This is all pretty normal stuff, but not something everyone gets to have and something Lena NEVER had even remotely. But now she’ll ALWAYS have that. A supportive loving family to give her a place to belong, and to support in turn. After a nightmarish 14-15 years of existance, she’s FINALLY allowed to just be happy without having to fight a giant monster first. 

She’s finally made it, she’s hoped and she’s waited, for the first time in her life she dosen’t feel alone. Her hearts started to heal, to know this is real, this is how it feels.. to have a home. Yes I haven’t given up on that song. And if you think this is the last time i’m going to quote a song you clearly didn’t read the review I did of the next episode. 

The Phantom and the Sorceress:

Season 3′s primary focus outside of the FOWL plot was tying up loose ends. Pretty much every major recurring episode outside of Fethry got an episode tying up their character arc and of course Lena was no exception.

You’d think with Magica no longer a threat to her and having fully accepted she’s a good person now, and having found a place to belong that Lena was done.  But while she accepted her past, that she’s not magica, and that she deserves to be happy.. she never accepted Magic as part of her despite being made of it and that’s what this episode ties up as well as the mystery of the blue aura that surronded her magic at times. 

The episode starts with Lena’s amulet, which she has back now which is the only part of this episode I don’t like as they don’t really explain why she’d take it back from Violet. But her magic keeps goofing up and making Sleepovers dangerous, and gets Scrooge grousing about how magic is bad.. only to naturally backpedal when an angry Webby points out Lena is magic. He does amend things and genuinely apologize for it, having not meant her at all and not even thinking of her as part of his hatred of the stuff. It also shows why Lena likely didn’t take him up on his offer.. with her self loathing still going she probably thought he was just pitting her and would always resent her.. when really he just geninely did not care despite his overwhelming hate of magic. It worked out granted, she found a better fit for her family wise.

But Lena hates it too.. and while she hasn’t fully brought it up before it makes perfect sense: We saw how she viewed it as dangerous and not worth the risk to bring her back in Friendship Hates Magic and Magic has brought her nothing but pain, nearly killing her on several occasions, allowing magica to fuck with her head  or directly control her and general putting the one person she cares about more than anyone in harms way. She hates what she is.. because it’s brought her nothing but pain and misery. She has ever reason to resent it..

Yet this episode is about forcing her to accept it.... to realize that Magic is part of who she is, and that it’s not inherently good or bad, it’s all about the intent of who uses it. Her last two uses of it were not made with any malice and in fact using it to pull her friends into her dreams allowed her to break free of Magica. 

And it’s perfectly done by giving her a new enemy, something I REALLY wish tehy’d done with Fenton at some point, but get why it took this long with Lena: The Phantom Blot. The Phantom Blot, like many characters in this series is HEAVILY redone: he keeps the iconic look and threat level but instead of being an operatic supervillian, he’s an anti-villian with a link to magic he never really had before. He works with FOWL sure but it’s likely because unlike the rest of FOWL he actually agrees with Bradford’s goal for a less chaotic world and his desire to wipe out magic is perfectly in line with that. 

He’s also given a backstory that perfectly parallels him with Lena: Both were created by Magica in a way and horribly abused by her: Lena mentally and phsycially, and Blot by having to suffer under her rule after he took over her family and then barely survivie as she wiped out his villiage, his family and his normal life swearing vengance on her. LIke Lena magica didn’t care about him or see him as a threat, figuring like most people who swore eteneral vengance on her he’d get swatted down like a gnat once and never return. INstead he returned again and again and again for decades, learning each time getting stronger and wiping out more magic along the way. He went from what was probably a good normal person to a vengeful vigliante dedicated to wiping out magic good or bad because he can’t concieve that it isn’t ALL bad. He’s easily what Lena could’ve become if , ironically enough she hadn’t encountered him, seeing the end result of hating something just for what it is as it tried to murder her. That hating and resenting Magic would just lead her to become as hollow and vengful as the blot, having a good cause to start.. but slowly loosing yourself to hate and anger. Letting the person who ruined your life still control it simply by focusing all your energy on hating them and people like them. 

It also gives us an interesting and painful teamup as with the boys and Scrogoe stuck in another dimension, there’s only one person they can turn to deal with Magic: Magica herself, whose resulted to depression eating pizza and the most she can do as a threat is eat the garlic Violet was wearing in case of vampires (”There now your susceptible to vampires!” is easily the best joke of the episode, from how Magica eats the garlic in one bite to her manical laugh to Violet just being annoyed rather than terrified or anything). Magica only agrees because they have a common enemy and if he sucks up her magic amulet, that’s the end of any magic she has left. 

It’s also here we learn the reason for the blue and purple color coding: Duckworld magic is indeed color coded.. but rather than be based ont he emotions used or anything.. it’s based on the user. The purple is Magica, and as we later learn Poe’s, magic, and thus Lena borrowing it via the amulet. The Blue is HER magic. Tapping into her emotions and her own inante power. It’s a nice twist I didn’t see coming but makes absolute sense in hindsight: Every time she’s triggered it.. it’s been when she’s been using her own emotions and been doing thigns for her own good, and not for anyone elses. It also explains why the Magica powers aren’t working for her or stable: their not HERS to control and thus are fighting her. 

So she trains to use her own using the time honorted traditions of montages and having your sibling shoot things at you out of a magical amulet. She grows in her talent and power and herself, even if she learns from the person she hates more and comes to accept magic.. in time to fight the Blot who misguidedly thinks harming her will show Magica the pain he felt.. even though as we learn later that ship already sailed and we already knew she cares nothing for Lena. 

But as he drains her amulet... she focuses on what she cares about... and if we didn’t already ahvea  MOUNTAIN of subtext for webby and lena her “frienddship” montage has maybe one or two shots of her sister.. and about 80 of webby. Seriously they.. they weren’t even hiding it at this poitn outside of the finale, which we’ll get to. 

And so she takes hold of her magic, no longer need the amulet to channel it and taking on her super mode! Which was highly contreversal at the time.  BUt I get why. As a transformation, ala dragon ball, and a superhero type costume it works, giving her a power and grandeur not seen before and showing she’s using all of it, giving weight to when it only shows up in the finale when she needs it most and likely would’ve given it weight any other time it showed up. But it wasn’t clear if this was her permenant look now and Frank’s response to it was to say he wanted to dress everyone up in that outfit , at the same size Lena has it, including launchpad wearing it like a cape. Which while hilarious and it was, was also blatant trolling as her return in Split Sword showed it wasn’t her default form, and they could relax. But as a form showing the apex of her power, character development and confidence, it works and has all the drama i’d expect from a form like this, reflecting the blot’s power back onto him and overloading the gauntlet and facing down Magica easily. 

It’s the perfect way to cap things off... Lena finally acccepts herslef as she is fully: she’s not evil and neither is magic.. magic is a part of her and her power is not something to hate.. but to embrace. To use to protect the world from people LIKE Magica who would misue their power to harm others or the blot who belivie her power is inherently evil. This is a lena freed from the chains of self hatred, fully accepted. It turns her story into a wonderful, beautiful story of escaping abuse and accepting yourself as who you are, that no matter what you are or where you come from, you are beautiful, you are good and you can do good. And as she flies off with her sister and girlfriend, she’s finally, fully, truly at peace with who she was who she is now and flies into the future.. and to free her girlfirends dad from another dimension. Nothing is holding her back now, no one can push her around, she’s who she wants to be, she’s the master of her, and the thoughts enough to lift her off of the ground. She and Webby are independent together and they are flying. And yes i’m linking the song again. 

But even with her character Arc Wrapped she still could support others in their own growth. Case in point:

The Split Sword of Swanstantine!

This was the vingette episode, with a pair of the kids, one from Team Magic the other from the Duck Boys, going after a piece. And while Violet’s segment is neat it dosent’ really expand on her enough for me to go into it like I did with Challenge, so i’ll only be covering the cold open and Lena and Huey’s segment. Given these two are some of my faviorites, Lena hasn’t really gotten to have any meaningful interactoins with anyone besides Webby, Violet and Magica (And scrooge but for like.. two minutes), and this bit is really creative and intresting I loved it. It also has Steelbeak so I got a nice Jason Mantzokus fix on top of that despite him barely getting to speak in this one.. and really all season. Season 3 REALLY wasted Steelbeak, only using him three times and just ignoring the whole idea of him growing more compitent with time. Maybe Frank’s saving that for darkwing duck if he gets to do that I dunno. At least Invincible and Close Enough are using the man properly so I got that. 

THe setup to the episode as a whole is comedic gold: Scrooge has taken the kids to Monocrow to find the split sword, one of the missing mysteries before FOWl.. only to then realizze in one of the best jokes of the season, after HOURS of plane travel probably that Violet and Lena had also come along having slept over and thus spending the episode in their sleep clothes. As Violet puts it in LIebe’s best delivery of the series “You said eveyrone get on the plane so we got on the plane”. So, fricking relatable. Scrooge’s awkard “Do you.. like history?” is also great, David is a treasure, as if he’s just now realizing he really dosen’t know Webby’s closest friend and girlfriend and is scrambling for some common ground so he can stop talking. 1/2′s good enough and we’re off. 

Lena and Huey’s plot, the final one of the three, likewise has a simple setup: Huey finds the sword piece.. and also Steelbeak, whose ready to punch  him some children. Lena freezes time as she can do that but can’t delay the inveitble, just give them time to plan. 

And this is a nice showcase for Huey and a nice chance for Lena to be snarky as Huey wants to try anything and everything he can do that dosen’t involve fighting as he hates it and Lena endulges him as he gets tossed around, playing on her phone while he tries dumb scheme after dumb scheme from prtending to be his dad, to his inner child, to construction to offering him a snack, to “what sword piece” while hodling the sword blade twice his side behind his back.

Lena eventually calls him on it: He can’t keep avoiding this and there’s some reason he dosen’t want to fight. The reason turns out to be he bruce bannered himself and thus has a split personality for all his agression and primal rage, the duke of making a mess,  Huey’s version fo the McDuck family anger he’s buried away and is ashamed of, hating his  more impuslive emotions due to his desire for control. 

As for how Lena impacts this.. it’s her own acceptance of the part of her she hated, her magic, that gives her the clarity to help Huey, helping him realize like her this shit isn’t healthy and to make peace with the Duke instead of fighting him and locking him away. The result is a perfect combo: a huey with all the power and strength of a mcduck, but the nuance and tactics Huey normally has to beat Steelbeak easily. Lena is impressed, a friendship is forged and we see how far sh’es come: from hating herself.. to helping others stop doing it before it gets worse. 

How Santa Stole Christmas!

All we really learn here is that she and Violet share a room and a king sized bed.. but we got that cheek smooch and I had to mention that so there you go. 

The Last Adventure!:

Like most of the main cast Lena gets a decent note to go out on, if a bit wobbly. The wobblyiness comes from two sources. The first is just a nitpick of mine; We don’t get to see the climax of her fight with the Blot alongside Manny. No really. The Blot got two spotlight episodes, his own sidekick/wife/amy sedaris, and was built up as one of FOWL’s biggest threats.. and his defeat isn’t even shown on screen for some damn reason. I feel they just ran out of time but given how important Lena and Manny were series wide and how awesome the keith david reveal was, it’s a cop out

Speaking of Cop Outs we can’t talk about this episode without talknig about the elephant in the room: Lena saying Webby “already has two sisters”, seemingly shooting down any posiblity of Weblena. I do not see it that way but do feel the two could’ve phrased it better and we could’ve gotten SOME Weblena by the end instead of none to offset this. I feel Lena’s motivations, esecpailly given the context were purely to try and placate Webby to keep her from investigating the twins further and endangering herself, not realizing how badly this wouldn’t work as Lena’s never cared about where she comes from and her past is all pain and abuse before Webby, while Webby had this gnawing at her her whole life. I do think the last episode was the WORST POSSIBLE place to put this, as it comes off as queerbaiting evne though I don’t think that was the intent. So yeah this line sucks and was poorly conveyed. 

Everything else though is thankfully excellent: Her raging frekaout at June feels warranted, as June is literally trying to cut Webby out of her life and was purposffully trying to galight webby as we find out. Her and Violet’s reason for going is also just pure awesome, pure heartwarming and pure badass, both angrily and simply proclaming when stating why their going on the final attack no fowl “It’s Webby”. Webby helped Lena become a better person and lnvoes her more than anyone else and vice versa and Webby gave Violet Friends, a sister and a life of her own. Nothings going to stop them and Scrogoe wisely backed down on that one before they strangled him. 

Her final scene is the best though: Not only do she and Violet give May and June friendship braclets but despite the earlier hostlitlity... Lena helps them with not a second though. She now understands them, gets that their like her: a being made by an evil dickhead who saw them as a tool to use and not a person and was willing to kill them the moment they were no longer useful. She too was once lost, sad and felt alone..but Webby pulled her out of that and now she’s going to be there for these two, these alterante versions of the love of her life, to give them the same support and encourages them they’ll find their home. And sure enough my boy comes by not a second later to adopt both of them. In an instnat they’ve gone from alone with only webby like Lena was.. to having a family of their own and loyal friends to stay by their sid.e 

And so Lena ends the series charing off into the wild blue with her sister and her newfound friends, the future all ahead of her, the past finally put to bed, and herself finally at peace, in love with Webby.. and with herself at long last. 

This retrospective was a wonderful time. I throughly enjoyed going through Lena’s history and being more and more impressed how much I’d missed and how it was even BETTER the second time around. This arc is Ducktales at it’s best and Lena is the finest thing they acomplished. This is easily Kimiko Glenn’s best role and really let her show off her range. Hopefully this isn’t the last we’ll see of this wonderful lesbian shadow, but as it stands with peace, love and self worth found, it’s still a good place to leave her. If she ever returns i’ll of course pick this up again, and free of charge but for now I enjoyed the ride and throughly enjoyed this retrospective. T

Thank you all so much for reading. If you liked this retrospective, please stick around. My next comissioned story arc is covering the various crossovers Lilo and Stitch did, but after that in three weeks return here for Season 2. All three arcs, All done intermidtley. Buckle up. 

Until then follow for more, and join my patreon. My next stretch goal is monthly reviews of darkwing duck and reviews of the super ducktales mini series, and after finsihing this post i’m going to throw in some extra non-duck ones! 25 is being changed up from covering Tailspin every month, to covering a Danny Phantom episode every month, and the beloved special ultimate enemy. So check that out. I may throw in some more on both 20 and 25 so stay posted. And just for joining at the 2 dollar tier you get acess to my discord server and get to pick one of the shorts for my varoius shortstaculars I do. Next one up is goofy’s birthday with Donalds in june so join now! 

ANd if you just have one speciifc episode I haven’t covered you’d like me to, those are 5 bucks a pop on commission and available via my ask box, direct messages on here or discord at technicolormuk#6550 and until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 18

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 7,733

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Oh dear god, the rumors are actually true."

I blinked over at Frozone. "What rumors?" I asked as I bent forward over the countertop towards the little girl with short black hair tied up in adorable pigtails, handing her an ice cream cone that was almost as big as she was.

He facepalmed, dragging his hands down his face to give me a deadpan look between his fingers. "Are you seriously dating the pizza guy?"

My shoulders tensed momentarily before I gave a nervous chuckle, holding my hand out to my tiny customer so I could receive her tip since she was too short to reach the jar. "Why do you ask?" I avoided his gaze, instead electing to sift through the small treasure pile now in my palm. Besides the assorted change, there was a smooth pebble, a shiny paperclip, and a crumpled up business card I assumed belonged to the kid's dad who she was scurrying back over to now. He was a big hairy guy standing off to one side in a garish blue suit with purple polka dots. The name on the card read James P Sully and he hailed from a company called Doors-R-Us, which I believed was a hardware store located somewhere else in the mall.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Frozone wordlessly point across the way. As I dropped the munny into the jar and tossed the rest, I looked to the Pizza Planet and I had to quash the urge to facepalm myself. Lea was bouncing around behind the counter there, not so subtly alternating back and forth between blowing me kisses and holding his hands up over his head in the shape of a heart.

"Yup," I sighed, closing my eyes and pressing my fingertips between my eyebrows, "that idiot over there would be my boyfriend alright."

It'd been a few days now since the group date. There hadn't been any further outings, not of that magnitude at least, but Lea and I had been taking our lunches together if they lined up as well as making other small public appearances together wherever else we could to keep the act up. I was finally getting to the point where I was more used to all the hand holding and hugs so they no longer fazed me, not outwardly at least. The little flutters my heart would give were another matter, but at least those were easy enough to conceal and keep to myself. His kisses, on the other hand, continued to be a work in progress, often still causing my brain to experience a temporary hiccup in functionality. But I liked to think I was getting better about that too, just more slowly. I still hadn't made any progress in the initiating-PDA-myself department, but I just needed more time. I was working up to it, I swear! I'd get there. Maybe today even. Perhaps… Possibly… Hopefully? ...unlikely. Ugh.

Lea himself had been enthusiastically taking on the task of leaving no doubt in anyone's minds that we were now a couple. In fact, this was not the first time he'd been brazenly sending me air kisses and hearts across the food court. Just the first time Frozone had caught him doing it.

"But why?" Frozone shook his head, looking genuinely confused. "I thought you two weren't even getting along. I mean, after the incident on your first day of work and all that weirdness in the weeks after…"

"Actually, we were dating before all that. Even before I started working here," I said quickly. Not that that helped clear things up for my coworker. Like… at all. But hey, I had a story to maintain. As his brow only wrinkled further at me, I winced. "It's… complicated."

He held his hands up, "You know what? I've decided I don't even care. As long as you don't let it interfere with your work, you do you, girl."

"Oh it won't! I promise! You can count on me," I reassured him, plastering on a smile. From my peripheral, I could see Lea was still at it with no sign of slowing down. If anything, he only seemed to be getting more spirited about it. To Frozone, I said with every ounce of dignity I could summon, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important and totally work-related text to make on my phone right now that in no way, shape, or form has anything to do with…" I gestured a hand gingerly towards the Pizza Planet, "that over there."

"...uh-huh," he said flatly, turning away to assist another customer.

Hastily fishing my phone out of my skirt pocket, I brought up my texts, tapping on a certain name before my thumbs were blurring across the screen.

Quit it, you're making a fool of yourself.

I narrowed my eyes up at him as I hit send and he froze mid gesticulation, looking down at one pocket of his pants. Then I watched as he dug his own phone out, read my message and smirked before his fingers were on the move. There was a buzz in my hands and I looked down at the screen.

1st of all, when hz that ever stopped me b4?

Well he had me there.

2nd of all, u thought all that was 4 u? Plz, all that luv was directed mr studmuffin ovr there

I squinted one eye at the words before looking back up at him. He was now waggling his eyebrows as he pointed to my left and I realized he meant Frozone. The man in question was looking between us as he rang up an order, his eyelids drooping. "Do I even want to know?"

I snorted, biting back a grin. "No, I really don't think you do," I told him, tapping away at my keyboard again.

Dork.

Lea was now typing something back one handed, using the other to wave off Xion as she tried to get his attention.

U know it. What time u off?

I checked the clock on my phone before replying.

10 more minutes.

Xion was beginning to look frustrated over there as she more urgently tugged on his sleeve. Lea just smothered her face with his free hand, lightly shoving her away while he remained focused on his phone.

Perfect me 2. Dont go NEwhere without me, we got plans ;)

My head tipped to one side.

We do?

Xion huffed, stomping away to grab a giant slab of pizza dough and balling it up in her hands as she gave Lea the evil eye. He continued to remain blissfully unaware.

Most defini9kf.u1kd4

Apparently his fingers had slipped followed by accidentally hitting send as that ball of dough smacked him square in the jaw, courtesy of Xion's pitching arm. And strong arm at that, for it was enough to knock him straight off his feet and send him disappearing below the counter. She razzed her tongue at him, dragging her left lower eyelid down with a finger. Then she paled and squeaked, bolting into the back room when a scowling Lea pulled himself back up, half his face dusted with flour now and one eye twitching as he stalked after her. I just laughed softly, turning my attention to a new customer that had just approached my register.

A few minutes later found me clocked out and standing in the food court, scrolling on my phone while I waited. I was still in my work attire, including of course a pair of glorious, blessed stockings (of the snowman-print variety) because never ever again would be the day I'd go without. My hair was still pulled back into a ponytail, but I'd tucked away the Ice Palace cap into my bag.

"Ah, there ya are!" I felt Lea's arm slip around my shoulders and his hand cup the side of my head, bending it towards him so he could press a kiss into my hair. He grinned down at me, "How is my lil lekker stroopwafel this fine day?"

I blinked up at him. He was still in his work clothes too, sans apron and visor. Pocketing my phone, I echoed, "...lekker stroopwafel?"

"It's Dutch. It means you're my lil delicious waffle," he cooed and planted a swift peck to my cheek, which I squeezed one eye shut against.

Face warming, I gave him a blank look. "Do I even have to say it?"

He pouted, "Aw man, really? Overruled? Crap, I'd thought you'd like that one too. Guess it's back to the ol' drawing board." He started walking, the arm still hugging my shoulders pulling me along with him.

Shaking my head at him with a tiny smile, I asked, "So what are these plans we have?"

Holding an index finger up to his lips, Lea winked at me. "It's a surprise."

I quirked an eyebrow and frowned thoughtfully. "...is it the clocktower again?"

"Pft, like I'd do the same thing twice. What a lame-ass surprise that'd be. What kinda uninspired oaf do you take me for? Gotta keep things new! Fresh!" he chuckled as he moved us along, keeping our pace brisk. "And bonus, it's good for the masses to see the two of us out and about like this. Keeps us in the public eye and people talking about what a freaking adorable couple we make. Stop here."

"Wha-?" I was cut off as he suddenly swept me around, pointing me at the Bippity Boppity Boo formalwear shop. However, I got the feeling that he wasn't so much facing me towards it specifically as he was more so facing me away from something else.

Standing in front of me now, he brushed a hand down over my sight. "Close your eyes please. No peeking now."

As soon as he removed his palm, my eyes snapped open again, "But what are you-"

"I said no peeking," he laughed, his hand gently sliding my eyes shut again. "You'll see soon enough, 'kay?"

"Fine," I puffed out a breath, crossing my arms and doing as I was told this time.

A shadow flickered over my eyelids - I think he was waving his hand in front of my face. Then I heard his footsteps walking past me, followed by him asking, "You got it?"

"Right here!" a friendly female voice I didn't recognize responded.

"Perfect! Thanks, you're an angel, this world isn't worthy of your pure divinity," he said back, to which she just gave a warm chuckle. Then I heard the tip-tap of Lea's shoes again, could feel him hovering just behind me now. When he spoke, his voice was right next to my ear, "Alright, you can open 'em now."

I did, discovering he'd looped his arm around to hold something up in front of my nose. A flower. Two of them actually, blooming from one stem, both white and delicate and with fuzzy sprigs of yellow sprouting out the centers.

"...winter honeysuckle?" I said quietly, carefully taking it from him.

His head still beside mine, I felt him nod, "Mm-hm! It's your favorite, right?"

I turned to look at him as he straightened up now. "How did you know?"

"Asked Raindrop," he grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets with a shrug and not yet taking a step back, remaining real close.

"Thank you," I murmured, bringing it up to my nose with a soft inhale. "I'm surprised it's blooming this time of year."

"That's Aerith for you. The Greenthumb Goddess," he tossed his head back towards the flower kiosk behind him and in particular at the woman running it. I recognized her from last time I'd walked past here, her big pink bow hard to forget. She just smiled at me, green eyes dancing as she waggled her fingers in a tiny wave.

I returned the smile and wave before setting my gaze on Lea once more. "Is this the surprise?"

"Are you kidding? Please, this is just the opening act. C'mon," he slipped his hand into mine and gently tugged me into a walk once more.

"But what's it for? Is there some sort of special occasion?" I frowned down at the plant, twirling it between my fingertips as I racked my brain, trying to come up with the answer myself but drawing a blank.

"Whaddya mean, what's it for?" he snorted as we passed an Olympus Gym with floor-to-ceiling windows, through which could be spotted a squat, bald, grumpy looking fellow that appeared to be training a chiseled, golden-haired Adonis who could be a strong contender for the Mr Universe title. Pulling me onto an escalator, Lea continued, "I just wanted to give ya something you'd like."

We slowly rose up to the second level, a Blitzball Sports shop and a Glass Slipper shoe store gliding by before disappearing beneath us on the floor below. A crease formed between my eyebrows. "But why?"

He blinked at me, then chuckled and ruffled his fingers through his hair. "Just cuz! What, does a boyfriend hafta have a reason to give his girlfriend lil gifts every now and again? Jeez, ya act like you never-" he froze, eyes widening. The back of his foot hit the top of the escalator, catching him off guard and he stumbled, but managed to remain upright before looking back at me horrified. "Wait. Please, please don't tell me your royal dumbass of an ex never gave you any flowers."

I stepped off the moving stairs after him, looking away with a tiny huff. "Yes, of course he would. Big bouquets, in fact, full of a whole variety of blooms. They were actually quite lovely… but…" I raised the flowers up to my nose once more, hiding my small grimace behind them. "...well, there was just always a reason… an event or something. Just because etiquette would demand it. And they were never winter honeysuckles. I don't think he even knew they were my favorite. He never… asked…"

Lea pinched the bridge of his nose with a grumbling sigh. "This guy sounds more n' more like a total tool with each new thing I hear about him. Ugh, forget him," he brightened, linking our hands together once more, leading us onward.

We passed a magic shop bearing a glittery sign that read Sorcerer's Apprentice, inside which were two old dudes, each with beards more ridiculously long and grey than the last, plus a younger blonde gentleman with a goatee and several piercings, his hands shuffling what was most likely a trick deck of playing cards. Neighboring that establishment was the Blue Sitar, a musical instrument store with some guy snoozing behind the counter, his hair at war with itself, not quite sure whether it was a mohawk or a mullet.

My attention was drawn back to Lea as he chimed in once more, "Besides, we have way more important concerns to be thinking about." He turned his head to the right and his eyes lit up. "Like puppies!"

"Pup-?" the word was swallowed in a gasp as he dragged me into a run towards a store dubbed 101 Spots. A pet store, to be exact, as I quickly learned when we passed through its doors and my ears were greeted with a chaotic chorus of woofs, meows, and chirps. Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as I glanced around, "...is this the surprise?"

"Nah, this is just a detour," he chuckled, releasing my hand to squat down and reach forward, fingers beckoning towards a dalmation near the cashier counter. The dog's ears perked up curiously for a second, then it gave an excited bark and barreled into his arms, nearly toppling Lea to the ground. It seemed the two were already old pals, if the way the canine's tail thumped against the carpet was any indication.

I tilted my head. "For puppies?"

"Well yeah! Always detour for puppies! Isn't that right, Mr Slobber-Drool-Face? Yes it is!" he squished the dalmation's face between his hands, using his baby-talk voice as it responded by enthusiastically giving him doggie-kisses.

Oh dear. Lea liked dogs.

"Is that the spot right there, buddy?" he asked as his four-legged friend flopped onto its back expectantly and Lea obliged, both hands giving vigorous belly scritches. "Oh yeah, that's definitely the spot! Woojy-woojy-woo!"

Like… really, really liked dogs.

My crush was soaring to dangerous new heights.

Clearing my throat, I tucked my flower into my bag, leaving the petals poking out the top so they didn't get smashed. Then I kneeled down beside him so I could reach down and scratch behind the dog's ear. It lapped at my palm and I grinned. "You looking to take this one home?"

"That's Pongo," a new voice spoke up. I looked up to see the woman with blonde hair done up into a bun smiling at me from behind the counter. Anita, or so her nametag boasted. "And he's not for sale. He and Perdita," she looked fondly down at a second dalmatian sleeping nearby, "belong to my husband and me. Perdita will be having puppies soon though, so you may want to check back in a few weeks."

"I like to stop in and give Pongo and all the other puppers here some wub whenever I can," Lea cooed, playfully wrastling the dog into a hug.

My eyes crinkled as I watched him play with the pooch for another minute, then I stood up once more, deciding to take a look around. I meandered slowly, reaching into the low pens as I passed by to give quick pats to dogs, cats, and bunnies, running my fingers lightly along the bars of bird cages as their occupants quizzically cocked their feathered heads at me before I moved on.

Finally I came to a stop in front of the puppy pen. And I didn't mean that in the same way Lea did, who seemed to call everything that barked and ran on all fours a puppy, regardless of the animal's true age. These were actual puppies. There were a bunch of children on the other side of the pen that had gathered most of the puppies into a joyful frenzy over there. However, there was one that was staying back, ears at attention as it sat on its haunches and stoically watched the others frolic. Put quite simply, it was a pure ball of fluff, white and poofy. It had to be more fur than dog.

"Hey there little guy," I murmured, getting its attention as I bent down over the enclosure. It backed up a step, lowering into a crouch and giving the hand I offered it a tiny growl, which was more cute than threatening. "It's alright," I soothed patiently, still holding out my hand. The snarling subsided and after a hushed pause, it tentatively crept forward to snuffle at my hand before giving it a timid lick. "Ah, I see," I laughed, sticking both hands in now to pick the puppy up and hold it in front of my face, "not such a tough guy after all, huh? No, you're just a big ol' softie deep down."

Its stubby tail began to wag and it replied with a small yip.

"You don't say?" I smiled back, cradling it in my arms now and taking one of its paws in my hand. "Look at those feet. You're going to be a big fellah, aren't you? Do you have a name?" Another yip. I scanned the puppy corral, but didn't see any signs listing names. Ruffling the cushy fur of its tummy, I told it, "Well you look like a Marshmallow to me."

"Quick," Lea suddenly appeared at my shoulder, whispering into my ear, "you distract everyone with your feminine wiles and I'll stuff the pup down my shirt to smuggle him out of here."

I snerked, not taking my eyes off the poof as I tapped a finger to its wet nose. "Ah, so this is the one you're going to get. Good choice."

"Me? Nah," he shook his head as his hand went to pet it and it repaid him by treating his fingers like a chew toy. He didn't seem to mind. "Saïx would murder me execution style if I ever brought a dog home."

I turned to look up at him now, arching an eyebrow. "But I thought you said Saïx loved dogs."

"Nope. Other way around, they love him. He just suffers their presence. Does lead to some pretty funny interactions though whenever he crosses paths with one. But no, I meant you. How 'bout it, wanna give this lil tyke a home?"

"Oh no," I sighed sadly, shifting the puppy in my arms and it took the opportunity to flick my nose with its pink tongue as I did so. "Unfortunately, pets aren't allowed in my apartment complex. But maybe when I get my own place."

His head rocked back slightly, "Huh? Already have plans to move out? But you just got there."

"Situation's temporary. My room's a future baby nursery, so I need to find a place before junior arrives in a few months." I nuzzled the critter's snoot. "Hopefully I'll find somewhere nice that allows dogs and I can get a little cutie like this guy to just snuggle with in bed all day."

"Mmm," he hummed. I could feel his hand trailing down the length of my ponytail, running it through his fingers and letting it slowly slip free strand by strand as he mumbled, "Sounds like that would be nice to come home to." Then he tensed beside me, snatching his hand back to instead scratch a spot behind his ear, "Er… that is… I mean you make… coming home to a dog sound nice. Heh."

I made a noncommittal noise in my throat, stroking a curled finger under the puppy's chin.

"...I'm going to have to take the lil mutt away from you, aren't I?" I heard Lea ask.

"Chances are good, yes."

"Alright, fuzzball, time to go back to your pen before the pretty lady commits grand theft doggo," he scooped the pooch from my arms. It growled at him and he just snorted as he plopped it down into the enclosure, "Oh yeah, so scary. Got me shaking in my stylish-yet-sensible Chuck Taylors."

Would-Be-Marshmallow ran up to the plastic fence, whimpering at me and giving me the full force of its sad puppy-dog stare. I tucked in my bottom lip, my hands already reaching for it again, "Maybe I should just-"

"Nope, let's go," he snagged my hand and started leading me towards the exit. "Don't make eye contact, that's how they get ya. One look and bam! You're powerless to resist their evil, doggie mind games."

I let him guide me back out of the store, offering little resistance beyond a tiny pout. It wasn't until he led us onto another escalator that I snapped out of my sulking. I furrowed my brow, looking down, "Wait, we're descending."

One step below me, he turned to face me with a smirk. This was one of the rare occasions he was at my eye level without having to stoop. "Yes, that more or less tends to happen on down escalators."

"But why?" I frowned.

His head tipped slightly to the left. "...I'm guessing you're looking for an answer more sophisticated than, 'to get to the first floor.'"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, I mean why-" I stopped, realization dawning on me and my eyelids drooped. "...did we seriously only go to the second floor so you could pet the dogs?"

"Puppies," he corrected then shrugged, "and yes. It was on the way."

"No, no… if it requires taking an up escalator to get there, then a down escalator to get back on track, that is by definition out of the way."

He lifted his chin with a sniff, "Puppies are never out of the way."

I shook my head at him, "You have a problem."

"Says the puppy snatcher."

"I did not-"

"Oh-ho, but you wanted to. Could see it in your eyes, El," he leaned forward, pointing to his own gaze. "Lucky I was there to save you from going down a dark path from which there's no turning back."

I gave a huff through my nose and deadpanned, "My hero."

"That's right, babycakes. And don't heroes always get a kiss from their lady fairs in honor of their heroic deeds?" His hands shifted to cover mine on the rubber handrails and he leaned in further still, his nose brushing mine, his eyes hooded.

Cue the conga drum beat that was the hammering of my heart.

Gosh, he really did just so love using this pretend boyfriend act to mess with my head, didn't he?

Well, nope. Nu uh. Not today, you stupid blush! Turn around and march yourself back to wherever you came from because this face ain't buying what you're selling.

I rocked back on my heels a bit, regaining a little space between us as I turned my head away. "Well, if you head back to 101 Spots, I'm sure Perdita would love to slobber you with those kisses."

Snerking, he stepped off the escalator as we reached the bottom, muttering, "Was worth a shot." As I followed him onto the ground floor, he grabbed hold of my shoulders and guided me a few steps further before bringing us to a stop. "Here we are!" he proclaimed, flourishing his hands out before us, "Ta-da!"

My nose scrunched up slightly. "...The Toy Box?" I read the colorful sign hanging over the archway before me that opened up into (you guessed it) a children's toy store. It seemed business was currently slow, for inside all I could see was one employee by himself, wearing a kiddie cowboy hat too small for his head and galloping around on a stick horse to amuse himself.

"Huh?" Lea followed my gaze then tsked under his breath. "No, not that. That." He pivoted me slightly so I was instead looking at the next business over. Above its entrance flashed big, neon letters spelling out Hot Wheels. They were punctuated by a blinking image of a pair of old fashioned four-wheeled skates leaving a trail of cartoon fire in their wake.

"A roller rink?" I asked slowly and uncertainly.

"Yup! C'mon!" And with that, he weaved our fingers together once more and pulled me through the doors.

The place was huge inside, with eighties synth-pop blasting out from the overhead speakers. The ambient lighting was dim, but you'd hardly notice what with all the glowing neon rainbow tubes twisting and stretching along the walls, the iridescent laser light show dancing to and fro, and the spotlights darting about all over the large arena that was taking up a majority of the space. It was jam-packed with roller skaters laughing and having a good time.

Lea led me over to a long counter immediately to the right of where we'd entered. The cashier across from us was a chick with short, choppy black hair that had a few streaks of violet in it. She said nothing, just crossed her arms and stared at us, chewing her bubblegum and looking unimpressed.

"Hey Go Go!" Lea chirped at her, holding up a pair of fingers. "Two sets of skates please!"

Bored stare not letting up, she merely blew a bubble and remained silent. For a second, I almost thought she hadn't heard him over the blare of the music. But then the gum burst and she gave a flat, "This her?" Her eyes gave me a quick once over before narrowing on Lea. "She's too good for you, Red."

"Don't I know it!" he laughed before shifting over to mime cupping his hands over my ears, "But don't let her hear you say that, otherwise she might finally come to her senses and dump my sorry ass!"

Her eyelids drooped and she blew another bubble. Tough crowd, it seemed. With another pop, she turned her back to us, grabbing a few things off the shelf behind her before dropping them down on the countertop in front of us. "You know where the lockers are," was all she said as I looked down at the padlock and two pairs of roller skates - the smaller set powder blue while the others a blinding red.

"Sure do! Thanks, Go Go," Lea beamed, gathering everything up and tucking it under one arm.

I cocked my head at her, "But I didn't even tell you my shoe size, how-"

Once again, I was being dragged away by Lea's hand on mine. I tripped but caught myself, glancing over at him as we walked towards some benches. He grinned, "Don't worry, they'll fit. Like me, she's got a gift," he tapped an index finger to his temple. "Except instead of ice cream, it's skate size."

Okay… strange talent.

But couldn't argue with results. They fit like a glove. As I tightened and tied my rentals, I glanced over at Lea out of the corner of my eye while he did the same with his. Roller-skating, huh? Not what I'd expected. Then again, I'd had no idea what to expect. But this could be fun. Plus, maybe I could look at this as another opportunity to initiate PDA. Couples roller-skating was an optimal time to do that, right? Right! I just needed to look for my opening and, I don't know… just grab his hand, something like that.

Alright. Mission Make A Move was in motion.

Maybe.

We'll see.

It wasn't long before both Lea and I had finished lacing up and stowed our shoes away into a locker along with the rest of our belongings we wouldn't need. I followed him to one of the few openings in the barriers surrounding the rink. "Ever roller-skated before?" he asked, stepping out into the oval arena just as the song You Spin Me Round started playing over the sound system.

"No," I shook my head, padding across the carpet and stopping at the edge of the ring. I watched as his wheels glided him into a half-spin with ease, coming to a stop when he faced me. Clearly, this wasn't his first rodeo. I shrugged, "But I used to ice skate, so shouldn't be a problem."

"Shouldn't be," he hummed a chuckle, eyes crinkling. Then he rolled back a few steps, making room for me and gesturing for me to proceed, "Have at it then."

I took a step onto the glossy surface, stumbled and nearly faceplanted.

I say nearly because Lea was there in the blink of an eye to catch my arms and steady me, giving a loud snort through his nose. "Dunno how much your ice skating background is gonna help ya here. Blades and wheels? Not the same thing. Ice and hardwood? Not-"

"-the same thing. Got it," I grumbled, my legs wobbling as I struggled to keep my balance, my fingers squeezing his forearms hard.

He smiled down at me before cautiously releasing one of my arms so he could about-face, shifting to my side. There, he took my other hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow before his feet pushed off, coasting at the speed of molasses. Me, being on teeny-tiny tires, had little choice but to be towed along with him as he said, "Ice and roller-skating are two sides of the same coin, but still totally different animals. Your muscle memory is probably gonna work against ya for a bit. Your body will expect things to work one way and react accordingly only to be surprised when the physics of it all is totally outta whack."

"Thanks for the lecture, professor. I think I'll figure it out." I tested moving one foot forward, slipped and desperately tightened my grip on him to stay upright. "...eventually," I amended, both my arms hugging his bicep close now.

Did this count as making a move?

I don't think it did. It was more like advancing a move already in progress and not even one that I'd started myself in the first place.

Maybe I should concentrate less on making a move and more on just not falling flat on my rear.

Consider the mission scrapped.

"So… you were an ice skater?" he asked conversationally.

I nodded, trying out another step while still using him for support. This one went marginally better. "I took lessons for a few years as a kid. My parents' idea. Supposedly, it improves posture, balance, flexibility and coordination, all in the pursuit of excellence," I recited dryly. "But even though it was just another tool they used to mold me into being their perfect little girl, I still found it fun despite all that. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I was sad when they ended my lessons once they'd decided I'd outgrown it."

"Ah," he continued creeping us along at a lazy pace while I grew more bold and determined in my attempts to figure out how to make the cursed roller-skates bend to my will and obey me. "That explains why all your movements are so graceful."

"Graceful?" my head snapped up to look at him before I gave a derisive snort. "No, not at all, I'm a total klutz."

"Sometimes," he agreed, pulling to a stop and curving around to stand in front of me now as he hunched forward to look me in the eye, one corner of his lips twitching up. "But that's cute too."

Bam.

Shot through the heart.

Which, coincidentally, were the lyrics that'd just sung out over the speakers as the music switched to You Give Love A Bad Name.

As my brain scrambled to come up with a response, any response to that, a huge smirk suddenly flashed across his face and he declared, "And spin!"

"Wha-?"

Taking both my hands in his, he leaned back and started swinging us both around into a twirl together. Or perhaps death spiral would be the more appropriate term for it. I squeaked as we gained speed, our surroundings blurring more and more together, my feet scrambling to keep the wheels from slipping out from underneath me.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall," Lea called, still grinning like a madman.

And oddly enough, I took comfort in those simple words. I shyly smiled back and my muscles began to relax. Once I stopped fighting the spin, it went a lot more smoothly. I laughed as my ponytail whipped about from the centripetal force.

He abruptly slowed us to a stop and I staggered at the sudden change, but he caught me around the waist with one arm, pulling me up against him. "I got you," he reassured, panting a bit from energy expended on the twirl. I just breathed a small chuckle and his gaze softened as it flicked from my eyes over to my ponytail, which had swung itself forward over my shoulder when we'd stopped spinning. He brought his free hand up to twist a platinum tendril around one finger. "...why don't you ever wear your hair down?"

"My…?" I blinked at the random question that'd seemingly popped up out of the blue. My gaze averted and shifted about. "Well, I… I guess I never really thought about it. Just to keep it out of my face, I suppose."

Lea watched his fingers as they continued to play with the strands. "Your hair is just really pretty. It looks… I mean, I can... imagine how nice it must look down."

That blush came a-knocking again. And this time my face, being the utter fool that it was, let it in.

I suddenly shot out one arm to the side, pointing a finger and blurting out, "Go over there."

He spluttered and snerked. "Seriously? Just cuz I'm a fan of your hair, you're banishing me?"

"Th-that's not- no, I just-" I stammered, looking down with a frown. "I want to try and see if I can skate on my own for a bit."

"Oh." He tipped his head. "You sure you're ready for that?"

"Won't know until I try. Now," I flicked my hand dismissively at him, "shoo."

Releasing me, he started skating backwards. "Fine. I'll be right here though if ya need me," he said, stopping just a few feet in front of me.

Now shakily standing under my own power, I moved one foot forward to attempt a glide. I teetered and I saw him tense, ready to spring into action and rescue me. However I steadied myself, shooting him a tiny warning glare. He backed off, raising his hands in surrender. I sighed then told him, "Turn around."

His head reeled back, "What?!"

"Turn around," I insisted, rolling slowly forward now, feet lurching and arms darting stiffly about to maintain my balance. He began drifting backwards, maintaining the same space between us. "I can't do this with you looking at me. I feel self conscious."

He beamed. "But I like looking at you! It gives me the warm fuzzies inside," he announced loudly into the sudden hush as the last song ended so all the other skaters around us could no doubt hear.

How I didn't pancake onto the hardwood right then and there will forever remain a mystery to me.

This guy, I swear. The lengths he was willing to go to to sell the whole boyfriend act would never cease to amaze me. Feeling that familiar warmth creep back up into my cheeks as Take On Me started to play, I snapped, "Just turn around!"

"Alright already, jeez," he sniggered, rotating away from me to face forward now while still maintaining the same snail speed.

"No peeking," I told him sternly.

Lea gave an exasperated laugh, "I'm not! I'm not peeking!"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously on his back as I wobbled my way into another step. Then I had a thought. Perhaps now would be the opportune moment to give the whole PDA thing another shot. I was already starting to get the hang of roller-skating. If I could catch up to him, I could go for the hand or… or hug the arm or something! Just for the sake of maintaining appearances, of course. You know, just... keeping up my half of this whole pretend girlfriend-boyfriend deal. My motives were strictly professional and had nothing to do with a certain little, teensy-weensy crush that would never, ever even see the light of day.

Yeah, okay, let's do this.

Mission Make A Move was back on.

Alright, step one: reaching him.

...that might take some doing.

In the meantime, we'll instead work on step zero: small talk.

"Do you come here a lot?" I asked, unsteadily picking up speed and trying to close the gap. "You seem pretty good at it."

"The kiddos and I goof around here from time to time," he scissored his skates, leisurely weaving his feet in and out and in again. "Been doing it for a while now, so I've picked up a few things. Not gonna be going pro anytime soon, but I get by."

I attempted to mimic his actions with my own skates and failed miserably, floundering a bit before stabilizing. At least the fumble had brought me a few inches closer. "I'm sure you've brought a girl or two here before too."

He shook his head with a chuckle, "Nah. Never really made any stops along the way between the bar and my apartment when taking a lady friend home. But… I always did think this might be a fun place to take a gal on a date."

Realization struck.

"Wait!" my foot slipped, I staggered and flailed before catching myself. "Is this a date?!"

"Heh, sorta?" his hand went to the nape at the neck, tugging at the hairs there. "More of a mini-date? Or just… chilling together cuz we enjoy the pleasure of each other's dazzling company so much!"

"This is a date!" I repeated, stomping after him furiously now. Which, let me tell you, was not effective in skates at all. But through sheer force of will alone, I managed to get a bit closer. "I was supposed to pay for the next date!"

"And you have!"

I swear I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I most certainly have not!"

Almost there now.

"Have too! It was free. Me and Go Go are tight, like this," he held up one hand, crossing his index with his middle finger, "so I gots the hookups!"

A growling huff escaped me. "Cheater. This doesn't count, I'm paying for the next one."

"This so counts! Next one's on me, you can cover the one after that."

I scoffed. "And give you time to figure out how to con the system again? I don't think so, you-"

I suddenly tripped over the toe stop of my left skate and toppled forward, crashing hard into Lea's back, my arms instinctively latching around his waist. He grunted in surprise and swayed, but managed to keep us both upright and standing. As I hung onto him as if my life depended on it, fingers clutching at the front of his shirt, face buried in his back and inhaling his cinnamon scent mixed with the hint of pizza that still clung to his clothes from having gotten off work not too long ago, it slowly sunk in…

Mission accomplished.

Move made.

...albeit accidentally.

But still!

One small step for Elsa, one giant leap for introvert-kind everywhere.

Maybe the next one I'd actually do on purpose.

Cheeks burning now, I awkwardly cleared my throat as I relaxed my grip on the fabric of his Pizza Planet polo and started to withdraw my arms, mumbling, "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't," Lea said quickly, covering my hands with his and squeezing, forcing them to stay put right where they were. I could feel him pushing us off into a slow glide once more. "Don't… worry about it. It's fine, I don't mind. Take all the time you need to regain your footing."

"...thank you," I muffled into his shoulder blade. Then I hesitated, gnawing on my bottom lip. "...you know… for a guy who's never been an actual boyfriend before, you're actually really good at this."

I could feel his laugh rumble through his whole chest. "Thanks," he said, gently pulling on my arm to bring me around to his side so he could look down at me as he slung an arm over my shoulders, all while making sure my arms remained firmly secured around his midsection. There was a faint redness to his face, probably from the exertion of all this roller-skating. I could only hope he'd assume that was my excuse too. "I guess I was just waiting for the right person to come waltzing into my life." Then he winked and grinned, "That person being your uncle of course."

Eyes widening, I stumbled again, grasping Lea more tightly. "My… you mean the Duke?"

"Hell yeah, the Duke! Talk about silver fox! I mean, hot damn, mamma may I!" he fanned himself with his free hand.

Snorting, I shook my head. "I guess the heart wants what the heart wants."

He chuckled, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. "Seriously though, if it weren't for his Royal High-And-Snootiness marching into the food court and unleashing all holy hell, you and I wouldn't be here doing this right now. I wouldn't be unlocking and realizing my full boyfriend potential and you," he poked the tip of my nose, "wouldn't be experiencing all the joys that come with being the lucky recipient of such attention. He's the one that started it all."

"I suppose that's true," I nodded as I tried to mirror the way his feet moved. How did he make it look so easy?

"And I like to think we have fun with it too," he smiled down at me.

I returned it. "We do."

"Good. On that note," he reached down, unfastening my arms from his waist as he announced, "let's make like a pair of professional roller rinkers and dance!" Taking my hand in his, he whipped me into a couple tight spins.

"Roller rinkers?" I laughed softly when I came to a shaky stop, one hand going to his chest to steady myself. "Don't think that's a real term."

"Hey now, who's the one who actually knows how to skate here?" he smirked, twirling me out wide now. "Trust me, I know the lingo."

I rolled my eyes as he pulled me back in. "My mistake. Forgive me for questioning you, oh supreme fountain of roller-skating knowledge."

"Damn skippy! Now for the flashy finish," his hand went to the small of my back and he bent me backwards into a low dip, waggling his eyebrows at me as he did so.

And that's when it all went wrong.

For you see, I don't think nature ever intended for one human being to dip another while both had tiny wheels attached to their feet.

"Motherfu-" that's all Lea got out before our skates shot out from beneath us and we both went crashing painfully to the floor, him on top of me.

I heard him groan, then, "Shit! El, you okay?!" He hastily braced himself up onto his hands, hovering over me and eyes full of concern.

"Fine," I winced, my fingers going to rub the sore spot at the back of my head. "Let's just… leave the dancing to the professional roller rinkers from now on, okay?"

Relieved, he gave a low breathy laugh and pushed himself back to sit on his knees. "That sounds like quitter talk and I won't stand for it."

I sat up, propping my palms against the cold hardwood behind me. "Good, better not to stand period. Less chance of falling that way."

"C'mon, you. Back on the horse," he grinned, drawing a knee up to his chest to get one skate under him followed by the other before standing and reaching his hands down towards me.

With a sigh, I took them and let him pull me back up to my feet. "Alright, but no more dipping."

One arm encircling my shoulders once more, his eyes crinkled. "I make no such promises."

That earned him an elbow to the ribcage.

Author's Note: Here, have the latest batch of lil references I've baked up fresh out of the oven xP I actually don't have any fun facts for this chapter, I just simply delighted in getting to expand on the mall a bit and injecting more gooey, mushy fluff xD Personally, this is up there for one of my fave chapters of the whole story, haha!

Next chapter, will our couple continue to perfect their fake dating skillz? How will their actual relationship keep developing and evolving? Will Elsa ever successfully "make a move" on purpose? Will the two of them ever realize their as yet unspoken dream of being professional roller rinkers and take the skating world by storm? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S02E03 - Signals

The watchtower that Adora fixed really looked like an antenna so my first guess is that it has to be related to that. Maybe they'll receive a signal from outer space? I'm not really sure so let's do this!

What's with the bad guys' obsession with staring at bright sources of light? First Shadow Weaver and now Hordak.

If Mara moved the entire planet to another dimension, was the Horde already attacking Etheria or did they find the planet after it got transported to Despandos?

I'm wondering mostly because this "finally" (along with the title) really feels like Hordak is trying to get in contact with whatever is outside Etheria. Did the Horde land in Etheria to conquer it or was it just an accident?

Why not ask Entrapta for help?

Aw, we missed Adora's first reaction.

So, the Horde is "tech", the Rebellion is "magic" and the First Ones (and She-Ra) are both.

On the bright side of Entrapta's turn, it looks like we're getting some Bow development this season.

So, is Glimmer doing an Adora and just burying everything so she doesn't have to deal with her emotions or is she genuinely dealing with it by focusing in what she can do?

"Pulling magic rainbows out of our asses, got it"

Yeah, no, quad sounds bad.

yup

ooh, last time Adora got spooked it was because of Shadow Weaver. What's going on this time?

If Entrapta switches back to get better tools I'm going to laugh my ass off.

oooh, so he was trying to get a signal off (or into) Etheria.

Now I'm really curious about Hordak's goals. Does he want to defeat the Rebellion or is it just a side-mission while he's (stuck? maybe he wants to call for help?) in Etheria?

This shot screams "horror movie"

Oh no, he's going to turn into a zombie.

They are even using dutch angles to increase the creepiness.

Really? Now you're mentioning that? Even though the creepiness started many creepy apples ago?

What a cute little story to tell Adora before bed.

I mean, in what other context would Shadow Weaver tell her a story?

I'm still not used to the dynamic with the four of them, it feels weird having a horse telling them to do... but he is the most emotionally mature of them all and probably a licensed therapist so maybe it's the best idea?

I thought maybe they were hearing Razz but that's definitely not her.

null

Aargh, for a second I hoped Catra would at least smile but nope, just deflection.

...is this a "Catra is too selfish to see beyond her own problems" example? Because letting the one woman without fingers handle all the paperwork feels like a pretty bad idea and almost cruel.

Like hands instead of claws.

I hope Catra is not going to consider giving Shadow Weaver half of her job back because that's just the worst idea she could have.

of course she'd focus on that

Poor Catra, trapped in the one army in the world where the only people she can order around to do something are Scorpia and maybe Entrapta even though she's second in command of the entire thing.

The plots of the first season were mostly a bit less obvious about the lack of budget for generic soldiers, now with all the fights and the bureaucracy it's starting to show more.

This is how the plot of Resident Evil 4 starts.

I'd ask what Shadow Weaver was thinking telling Adora those stories but it's Shadow Weaver. Scary stories are very on-brand.

"Maybe it's the Pyramid Head Princess..."

So, where does Glimmer go when she's teleporting but doesn't immediately re-appear?

Yeah, I was thinking before that a promise wouldn't hold too much weight for Entrapta. Not because she'd explicitly break it but because she wouldn't be able to resist looking for loopholes.

null

Excellent cut.

And I guess Hordak is going to ask Entrapta for help this episode.

sigh *

I hadn't considered the comedic potential of Entrapta helping Hordak in the long term.

yup, amazing potential

She-Ra (Mara) did. And oooh, does Hordak want to escape Despandos then?

If Mara trapped Etheria because of the Horde and Hordak, that'd be a pretty good reason, right?

aaaaaaaaa

More evidence that the rebellion is secondary to whatever he's doing, enough to delegate it all to Shadow Weaver and now Catra.

Can't believe they are falling apart because of ghosts.

oh scorpia, fall for someone who appreciates you

That has to hurt. After everything she's done, Catra's been replaced again.

What a way to open up She-Ra's world.

aaaaaaa this episode was so good

Entrapta's thing wasn't as important as I thought it'd be, but at least we got some reaction to it and it seems to have shaken up everyone's confidence so maybe it'll be more long term.

But everything else? Everything else was great. I was wondering how the side plots were going to connect, if at all, and the ending image with something having reached outside Etheria was just perfect.

The main plot with Adora and the rest getting into a haunted "house" adventure was fun if mostly an excuse for the final revelation that the First Ones were just people, their messages lost because of She-Ra's predecessor, adding even more to Adora's burden. It did serve the purpose to display how much they are "faking it until they make it" though, and it gave Bow a needed boost to his confidence so it's all good.

Also, what got alerted at the end? They seem to be alone in that dimension but Etheria does have moons.

The side plot, however, oooh, so good and it did so many things! It introduced a possible mentor-student relationship with Hordak and Entrapta, it shook Catra's confidence in what she was doing, it allowed Shadow Weaver to relate to Catra (even if she wasn't willing to accept it at that moment) and it hinted to Hordak's real mission(?).

I have been operating on the belief that it has been a thousand years since Mara sent Etheria to Despandos because of Light Hope's comment of being alone that amount of time. This bothers me now because it really feels like Hordak is trying to get out of Etheria, but has the Horde and the Rebellion really been fighting for a millennia? His comment about how no one in Etheria seemed to know there were other planets seemed weird considering they are in another dimension.

If he wasn't in Etheria when Mara did her thing, was he sucked up by a black hole? Has he been trying to conquer Etheria just to get enough resources to escape?

I'm loving all this build-up and I can't wait for more, until next time!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x07: Open Your Eyes - First Thoughts

How did everyone like the episode? Man, it was sad! And kind of a cliffhanger on many levels. As usual, today’s post will be relatively short, just focusing on first, broad thoughts. And I’ll do details tomorrow.

***As always, Spoilers about below for episode 10x07. Don’t read until you’v watched! ***

Okay, in terms of TD stuff, OBVIOUSLY I have to mention shirtless Daryl and Dog. I think this was a really important scene (and not just because of shirtless Daryl; promise ;D) For the first time, like EVER, we see inside Daryl’s room here. He doesn’t have a bed, for the record, but rather a couch with a pink pillow. (Pink Theory.) Kind of interesting. He has a box full of arrows and a table that’s chalk full of knick knacks.

Me and my peeps already examined the pics as best we could. Most of it seems to be tools and fishing tackle. There have been a lot of fishing references around Daryl in the past, and plenty this season as well (such as the story about him and Merle fishing that he told Connie.)

It actually struck me as somewhat reminiscent of Beth’s cell in 4x01. I was kinda hoping we would see Beth’s knife in there somewhere. Most of us have looked closely at the pics and haven’t seen it, but it’s probably in there somewhere. Remember, Norman confirmed that Daryl still has it.

He sets the acorn Carol gave him on the table and stares at it. Yes, the Carylers are gonna claim that he’s thinking about Carol. I think he is contemplating what she said; but by extension, he’s thinking about Beth. Donniers will say he’s thinking about Connie, which is kind of true because Carol asked about her when she gave him the acorn. But we all know who he’s really thinking about, right? 😉

For the record, he takes off his shirt (heavy emphasis on the X scar and the two parallel lines—I like to think of them as train tracks—beneath it), lays down on his pinkish (kind of mauve) pillow with dog, and stares at the acorn.

Since Dog represents Beth’s return, I choose to think of this as a Daryl-taking-off-his-shirt-and-lying-in-bed-with-Beth sort of scene. Hehe.

Okay, this one isn’t at all Beth or TD related, but I gotta say how much I loved it. It’s pro-Carzekiel. Spoilers mentioned Carol putting on Zeke’s ring in order to hurt the whisperer, right? But they didn’t include what he said to her right beforehand.

Basically, he threatened to rape her. He said he knew he was the prisoner, but if they were outside the walls, he’d “take her like a bitch in heat.” Which is pretty much a rape threat. So, Carol puts on Ezekiel’s ring and beats the hell out of him. I LOVED it! It’s basically her saying she still belongs to Zeke. This guy made a sexual threat, and she uses her husband’s ring to beat up her would-be rapist. My favorite Carol moment all season!

The “bitch in heat” line is also a dog reference. So, part of the Sirius/return symbolism.

Plus, it establishes that the Whisperers are cool with rape. Of course, we knew that from the CBs, but this is the first time they’re addressing it in the show.

In terms of Siddiq, we also learned some interesting things. He had a good heart to heart with Rosita. It was really sweet and made the ending more tragic.

It’s worth noting which theories were proved wrong here. A lot of the fandom (not just TDers by a long shot) thought perhaps Siddiq had helped kill the pike victims, especially Enid. This definitely disproved this. It was a good theory, but we now know this was never about Siddiq being evil or doing anything twisted. It was always about Dante.

He tells Rosita he’s never warmed to Dante, not because he’s a bad guy (or so Siddiq believes at the time) but because he misses Enid. The two of them doctored together for 6 years and had grown really close. So her death affected him and haunted him the most. And when he looked at Dante, he wished for Enid. I thought that was sweet and really tragic.

@frangipanilove​ also pointed out something that does pertain to Beth symbolism. In episode 1, the very first time we see Siddiq have a PTSD episode, he’s watching Dante’s mouth. Remember this? Dante even razzed him about it, asking if Siddiq wanted to kiss him because he was staring at his mouth so intently. Even then, Siddiq’s memory didn’t surface, but the point is that the writers hinted at the truth in the FIRST episode and the FIRST time we saw this happening with Siddiq.

So it’s yet another example of very potent, purposely-placed foreshadowing that was then paid off. Kind of like Beth saying she’s gonna make it? Get out like Noah? Daryl saying he’ll meet her down the road? This is what the show does. Whether it’s paid off a few episodes later or a few seasons later, it’s ALWAYS paid off.

It doesn’t seem like Siddiq told anyone about Dante OR the water before he died, so no one realizes the water is making everyone sick. That’s not good. Dante kills him right next to Coco’s crib. The baby’s not in it or anything, but still. Super cold. And um, you know, with Beth symbols in the background.

The spoiler site reported the tiny detail of the camera showing Siddiq’s arm dropping when Dante kills him. 

I gotta say, the arm thing didn’t especially stick out to me, and I kind of wonder why the spoiler source included that extremely subtle, random detail. I’m not saying it’s NOT a Beth thing—given other Siddiq/Beth parallels this season, it probably is—but I probably wouldn’t have pegged it that way, if the spoilers hadn’t reported it and someone hadn’t sent in an Ask saying it might be a parallel to Beth.

Just makes me suspicious about maybe AMC feeding info to the spoiler site, you know? Because Siddiq isn’t even lying on the floor at this point, the way Beth was. Dante was sort of…holding him from behind, and his arm just drops downward as he passes out/dies. But it’s like they really wanted us to catch that detail.

Oh, in terms of what I was right about? Last week I said Cheryl’s line to Siddiq (It’s like I’m sleeping next to the Grim Reaper) was either a death omen for her or Siddiq. Both of them died this episode. (R.I.P). Just saying.

I know it’s short, but that’s about all I got for today. Again, details tomorrow. And then I have a lot of small, but very exciting things for you guys. Crossing my fingers that I’ll get them all posted this week. Mostly, I’m sad to lose Siddiq, but it comes with some very interesting implications, which I’ll be discussing throughout the week.

What did everyone else think of the episode?

[furrieswillrise]

chapter 2

Chapter two: the new Edd It was 8:30 when the all the buses had arrived at the peach creek high school all the students exited the buses and flooded the parking lot with most meeting up with others to form groups of friends and began heading inside all talking to each other as it was just usual day for them. Ed and Eddy had just got off the bus followed by the kankers everyone stopped and looked at the new teens who got stares mostly out of fear mostly towards Marie who just glared up from her phone and then shoot a smirk at them which made many head for the safety of the school. "well Marie even in high school you can scare some of them with just a smirk. i’m impressed." Lee said turning towards Marie who just returned to her phone and just shrugged. "bunch of losers is all they are." She then proceeded to walk towards the school. "She misses that book worm pretty bad, I think that its mostly because it gave her something to look forward to. I want that old Marie back." Lee said out loud and may just nodded in agreence. "we all miss him that's something that won't change." Eddy said starting toward the school "lets go lumpy we have to find our classes." Ed just nodded and ran up next to eddy and they disappeared into the hallway with the crowd. Then the two sister followed them shortly after.

Eddy and ed were standing at the class list looking over it and realized that they had all the same classes which was a relief to them both the first was math class and they turned around and where about to head that way when another teen decked out in dark clothing was standing behind them. He was staring at the class list and focusing hard on the list. Eddy and ed  both looked over him judging up and down his hair was dark black with a little bit red on the ends of the bangs. A dark beanie with a skull plastered on it sat on top of his long hair he was wearing a five finger death punch sleeveless shirt showing his colored tattoo of a white wolf howling at the moon. He had gauges in both ears and his black jeans were full of rips that just made them look way cooler and a single skull ring on one hand and a dark red pair of converse on. Eddy got a strange sense that he knew who the boy was standing in front of him. The boy just shoot a quick glare at eddy and then just turned away heading in the direction of their first class.

Eddy shook off the feeling and hit eds shoulder and ed then gave eddy a quick glance "lets go we are going to be late." then both of them started towards the class and entered the room. Eddy scanned the room and found the boy he had picked a seat in the back just looking out the window waiting for the class to start. "Who is he?" Eddy wondered as he and ed sat closer to the front of the class both sitting across from each other. Suddenly the speakers came on and a voice spoke."Good morning students I am Doctor Jonathan Brown and im so glad to see all the new faces of the new school year and seeing as today is the first day of school we have a tradition that we are let out after you meet your new teachers and get your calendars for the year. Also those who are driving your cars to school please report to the office after class to get your parking place number. Thank you." with that they meet their teacher and then got the calendar and proceeded to the next class except for the dark dressed boy who was heading towards the main offices. "He has a car Just who is that guy?" Eddy thought as he watched him go into the office.

The rest of the day flew by and soon it was lunch and eddy and ed walked into the lunchroom and stood in line to get their plate. It was nothing special just some fries and a chicken sandwich which they paid for and started towards a empty table when a familiar voice called out to them."Hay dorks over here!" Eddy looked in the direction it came from to see Kevin waving to them to join them. Eddy nudged ed and they headed towards the table. "Hay shovel-chin how ya been?" eddy said teasing Kevin "Weak man you need to better with the insults. I'm good man except that I had to go get a fricken parking space so i could drive here." Kevin then looked around the lunchroom again spotting razz who was his girlfriend now. "Nazz!" She looked and saw him flagging her down she then came and sat next to her boyfriend. "Hay Kev!" As she sat down she then noticed that ed and eddy were there and she smiled at them "Hay guys how's it been going?" eddy smiled looking back at her "Can't complain except somethings been bugging me. Earlier in the hall there was the guy who looked familiar but I couldn't tell where I have seen him." nazz looked at Kevin who just shrugged then she turned back to him "What does he look like?" Eddy then started to scan the room and soon found what he was looking for. "There" eddy pointing towards the dark figure who was leaning against the wall waiting for the line to move. Nazz then looked at the dark figure and then she got a vibe that she also knew who it was but couldn't tell where she could have met a shady character. "Hmm I see what you mean I feel like I know him as well. Weird." She then looked at Kevin just starting a conversation that eddy wasn't paying any attention too.

The door of the lunchroom then opened and all the sudden the room got quite suddenly everyone  seemed to be looking like they just saw a ghost. Eddy and the group then turned and saw what they were staring at then they snickered a little bit. Standing in the door was the kankers who just looked around the room looking at the faces of the kids before them most were scared, others where just cautious not to get on their bad side. Lee then landed her eyes on eddy and the group who waved at her and she shoot them a smile then she continued until they landed on the shady character who was just minding his own business at his own table. "Hay Marie you know that guy he's dressed like a bad-ass like you and seems to not be intimidated by us but maybe he doesn't about who we are." Marie just glanced up from her phone and then eyed the dark figure and shoot him a smirk that would scare most others but he just shoot one right back at her. Marie then was in shook no one ever just shoot a smirk right back at her. She looked at lee "don't know him but I think I might like to." Then all the sudden she put up her phone in her pocket and just stood there waiting in line. Lee looked at her in shock she just put her phone up! That thing was always out to distract her from the world that she didn't want to be apart of since double' d left.

Soon the three sisters had their plates and then started towards eddy and the others except Marie she was drawn to the dark dressed figure. As she approached the table the boy glanced to the girl who was approaching him and just leaned back to a usual position. She sat down in front of him everyone silently watching the scheme play out. "Hay onlookers back to normal or ill give a beating after school!" Lee shouted at them. Everyone returned to what they were doing before when they entered the lunchroom. Lee and may just watched from the where the others were talking watching to see what will happen. "You know who I am?" Marie asked looking at the the dark figure who turned his eyes towards her and straighten up. "Yah I know who you are Marie Kanker sister of those two sitting over there." He then turned his head in the direction of them and pointed right at them. "But the real question is who I am isn't it" Marie smirked at him and she then decided to be a little dirty towards him "No idea who you are but I would like to get to know you. Not everyday someone stands up to me and gets away with it." He just looked at her and then proceeded to get up and walked over to stand next to her and leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Maybe we should but you have to work for it" He then started walking towards the door and around the corner. Marie just sat there not knowing what to do then she got up and grabbed her plate and headed towards her sisters who where just in shock of what just happened. "Wow that is a first." Lee said looking at Marie and then at may who was just as shocked as lee "What did he say to you?" May being the first to get the words out first. "Nothing important really just a challenge is all" Marie then let a smile escape as she looked at her sisters. "One I will win." Marie then began to eat her lunch with a evil smirk on her face. She was up to something evil and her sisters knew it. "This might get interesting after all."Lee said to her sister may who just nodded. The lunch-bell rang indicating that it was time to get to the next class but since it was the first day they would be heading home early.

[whereoblivionreigns]

i am very bored

A – Accidents 01. Have you ever been in a car accident?: No 02. Do you have a lot of scars?: A few on my arms, one on my right knee cap and one under my right eyebrow 03. Have you ever been in a fist fight with someone?: Yes 04. Have you ever seriously hurt anyone by mistake?: Sort of.. My sister and I were fake boxing once and I accidentally knocked her out cold 05. Have you ever had stitches? Where?: Yes, knee and eyebrow

B – Beauty 06. Do you consider yourself beautiful?: Still working on that 07. Are you self conscious of how you look?: I learned to not care about that shit long ago. 08. Do you put on a lot of makeup?: Not usually 09. Would you ever consider getting plastic surgery?: How rich do I look 10. What do you think makes a person beautiful?: Their aura, and the way they talk about their passions

C – Consequences 11. What was the longest amount of time you’ve been grounded for?: A week probably 12. What would you do if you got pregnant, keep it or have an abortion?: Abort 13. Do you ever think about how your actions affect other people?: Always 14. What do you think is the worst punishment someone could give you?: Putting me in a cage 15. What is one thing you wish you didn’t do, just because it wasn’t worth it in the end?: Chase after a boy

D – Dealing 16. When you are mad at someone, how do you show them?: By either ignoring them or taking the bitch up a few notches 17. Name a time when you had to be strong: An ex passed away a few months ago.  It’s been tough but I have a great support system. 18. Have you ever dealt with a divorce or parents fighting? Any kind of abuse at home?: Divorce, fighting, physical abuse, emotional abuse. 19. When people at school don’t accept you, or have problems with you, how do you react?: Keep doing my thing 20. Have you ever lost someone to death? Explain how you got through it: My aunt when I was 11 and my ex recently.  Lots of positive reflection, friends and drinking.

E – Experience 21. Have you ever had a job? Any volunteer jobs?: I’ve had several kitchen jobs and I had a co-op in an elementary school last semester. 22. Do you think that you are sexually experienced, or not at all?: I’d say I am pretty experienced. 23. Have you gone through a lot emotionally, or has life been easy thus far?: I have been through a hell of a lot. 24. Do you think you are ready to be on your own (have your own home, job, etc.)?: I am on my own, focusing on getting through school. 25. How old do you act?: Sometimes 12, sometimes 20, sometimes 60.

F – Family 26. Is there anyone in your family you don’t talk to? Why?: Not for any negative reason, only because we are all busy living our own lives 27. If you had to choose, family or friends?: My friends are my family 28. Can you tell your parents or one of your parents anything?: I can tell both of my parents anything 29. Do you have any siblings? One younger sister, 2 step sisters 30. How often do you spend ‘quality time’ with family members?: Not often

G – Growing 31. How tall are you? How tall do you wish you were?: I’m 5'3.  Wish I were a few inches taller so I could reach the steel bowls at work. 32. Do you think that you have grown more in the past year than any year before that?: I’d agree yes. 33. As a person, do you think you are mature for your age or still act childish?: A good mix of both for sure, but mature for the most part. 34. Are you scared to think that one day you will turn 30, then 40, then 50?: Trying not to think about it. 35. Do you believe you still have a lot to learn?: Of course

H – Hope 36. Love – real or not?: I suppose it can be real 37. Are you a pessimist of an optimist?: More so an optimist 38. Do you believe in fate, that everything happens for a reason, or do you think that our actions lead the way?: The things we do bring us to where we want to be, but some things are certainly beyond our control 39. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive?: I don’t think I believe in an afterlife. 40. What gives you hope when you just feel like dying?: Music.

41. Do you suffer from depression or constant sadness/loneliness?: I have a colourful history with depression, it comes in waves these days.   42. Do you have any type of disease or disability?: I have a thyroid disorder, as well as a disease called chronic autoimmune urticaria, which causes me to break out in uncontrollable, painful hives and there’s nothing I can do about it.  The two are likely linked but my doctor has no clue how to deal with it. 43. Are you currently in a hard relationship or have bad luck with the opposite sex?: Can’t seem to find the right one. 44. Do you think that you are alone in this world?: Not at all, though sometimes I’d prefer to be. 45. How often do you think about death, suicide or running away?: Not often, though the prospect of running away is a delightful one.

J – Jokes 46. Say a word or phrase that would not be funny to anyone but you & one of your friends (an inside joke): “Rock me like a fuckin’ train” 47. Are you usually the one who makes people laugh, or the other way around?: A good mix of both. 48. Do you cry when you laugh hard?: Always 49. Write down a hilarious moment you had with someone that makes you laugh to this day!: My best friend and I had a bucket list we wrote a few years back, and one of the things on it was to “punch some faces if Orange Goblin doesn’t come back in the next 3 years.” It’s been 3 years. 50. Do you ever get in trouble for laughing or talking a lot during class?: No

K – Knowledge 51. The purpose of school: to learn, to cause trouble or to hang out with friends?: Highschool is about hanging with buds, college is about learning. 52. Do people refer to you as smart, dumb, or average?: Smart. 53. What was the highest grade you have received (full course mark) ever?: I got an A+ in my elective last semester  54. What was your last average? This year would you like to maintain it or aim higher?: It’s definitely not happening this year aha 55. What do you find the most interesting subject to be (to study or to talk about)?: Psychology & History.

L – Love 56. Are you currently in love? If not, have you been before?: Not currently. I have been once, with someone who is no longer alive 57. Do people around you show you a lot of love (tell you they love you, hug you, kiss you, etc.)?: Yes, my friends and I are huggers for sure 58. Is love worth it?: This is yet to be determined for me. As of now, no. 59. Do you hate it when girls in their young teenage years say they ‘love’ someone that they’ve been dating for a few months?: Love is a very individualized concept. If it feels right to them, who am I to challenge it? 60. Does it take a lot for you to say you love someone, or is it just a word?: It takes everything in me.

M – Money 61. Do you believe that money makes the world go round?: Unfortunately 62. Is your family on the poor side, average, or above average when it comes to money?: On the poor-average side.

College or University, or planning to?: I’m in my second year of college

64. Would you rather win millions of dollars & be set for life, or find the perfect person to marry & start a family with?: The first one. The second part is easily achievable afterwards 65. On a scale of 1-10, how important is money to you?: Would be a 1 if I didn’t need it to live

N – Naught 66. Are you a virgin?: No 67. What do you think about doing sexual things with someone you’re not going out with?: Previously I would have been cool with it. These days casual sex is off the table for me, I just end up feeling horrible about myself. 68. Do you know anybody you consider a ’slut’? What makes you say that?: People should be allowed to fuck whoever they want without being razzed for it. 69. If you could, would you erase some things you did in the past or make it so you did more?: There was a guy I dated for about a month a couple years ago. It was a mistake on my part of get into it, and I ended up breaking it off before I moved out of town for school.  He went crazy on me over the next couple months -  called like 50x per day screaming stuff like that.  I’d erase it if I could, we could have been good friends. 70. Do you consider yourself more nice or more naughty? You can’t say both!:  Nice.

O – Openness 71. How long does it take for you to open up to someone?: Very long 72. What does it take for you to fully trust someone?: Years of not fucking me over. 73. Are you generally untrusting towards people because of past experiences, or any other reason?: Past experiences and a general distaste for the human race. 74. When are you comfortable with someone sexually?: Frightfully quickly

Family and close friends, what’s the limit of what you can tell them?: I tell them everything, except my mom who doesn’t know that I am fond of illicit drugs

P – Positive 76. Have you ever had an experience with someone that didn’t necessarily end positively? If so, would you rather erase the memory of that person because of the sad times or keep the memory of thatperson because of the good times?: The thing I mentioned previously. I’d rather erase it. 77. Do you agree with the saying:better to have loved and lost than not have loved at all?: Nope 78. Are you more optimistic or pessimistic? What do you try to be?: Mostly optimistic, I strive more for realism 79. Do you agree that something good can come out of everything?: I have a strange tendency to pick out the good in everything. 80. Have you ever had a time where something really bad happened, but something really good happened because of it? If so, please explain what it was: Every year when roll up the rim comes around I develop a Canadian gambling addiction. Sometimes I win so that’s good I guess.

Q – Questions 81. When faced with a problem, do you ask for help or try to figure it out yourself?: I usually try to figure it out myself at first 82. Do you often question the world and how we came about? What are some things you would like to know about creation?: I don’t really care to be honest. 83. Do you think the government is truthful? If you could ask the president one question, what would it be?: The government is sickening. I’d have nothing to say to them. 84. When someone does something wrong to you, do you confront them and ask them why they did it or just let it go?: Depends on the severity of the issue and who it is I’m dealing with. 85. What is one unsolved mystery about the world that you want answers to?: Where the fuck they got Loki chained up

R – Respect 86. How do you show respect?: I listen. 87. What can someone do for you to lose all respect for them?: Act as if they are in any way superior to another human. 88. Do you respect your teachers, parents, and other authority figures?: Parents and Teachers, yes 89. When you are disrespectful to your parents, what is the punishment?: Usually just a sick verbal smackdown  90. If someone is mean to you, are you mean back or do you kill them with kindness?: I am either mean back or ignore them

S – School 91. If you are still in school, what grade will you be going into?: I’m in 2nd year of college 92. When will you graduate high school/college?: 2014 93. After high school, what did you do/are you planning to do?: I took a year off to work and party my ass off. It was great but still trying to shake some of the habits. 94. Do you like or hate school? What do you like/hate about it?: I love to learn, but the school environment and structure sucks. It’s oppressive 95. Have you ever been suspended, expelled, or dropped out of school?: No

T – Temptation 96. Have you ever done something wrong, knowing it was wrong, because something inside of you said it was okay?: Yeah, I’m sure I’ve said some nasty things to my parents that I knew I shouldn’t have. 97. Has anyone ever pressured you to smoke or drink? Did you do it?: Beer pressure is a common theme among my friends. I don’t need to be pressured haha 98. Did you ever cheat on someone? Why did you do it?: Once. I was obscenely drunk and I’ve never forgiven myself for it. 99. Did you ever want to do something sexual with someone you didn’t really know or love? What did you end up doing?: Many many times. I followed the liquor. 100. Do you give in to temptation easily, or are you more independent and strong willed?: I have a pretty low impulse control to be honest

U – Unique (where’s the question 101?) 102. Do you do a lot of things because your friends are doing it?: No, unless its drugs or drinking. But even still I do it because I want to. 103. Do you follow trends, wear whatever you want, or wear really unique pieces?: I wear what I want 104. Do you give in easily to peer pressure? Do you do things such as smoke, drink, or have casual sex?: Peer pressure, not exactly. Everything I do is of my own account. Smoking and drinking occasionally, not casual sex these days. 105. What makes you different from people your age?: I know the actual meaning of St. Patrick’s Day and choose not to celebrate it.

V – Value 106. What’s the most expensive thing in your room?: My vest

107. What’s more valuable: your life or the lives of your loved ones? Would you sacrifice your life for other people?: Their lives.

108. What is something you value not because it cost a lot, but because it means a lot to you?: The stupid little things my ex used to bring me that I still have laying around

109. If there was a fire in your house/apartment, what is the first thing you would grab?: My laptop because I need it to pass school

110. Do you think past memories and experiences are more valuable than what could possibly happen in the future?: I have a tendency to romanticize the past, but I think the future will have more to offer

W – Wishes 111. If you had three wishes, what would they be?: Nice cabin on a Norwegian fjord, a pound of magic mushrooms and about 9 dogs 112. Would you rather wish yourself to be happy, or your loved ones?: If they’re happy, I am happy 113. Do you believe that wishes come true if you really believe in them?: No. 114. Have you ever had a wish come true? If so, what was that wish?: I wished I’d win on a roll up the win a few weeks ago - I did. It was a coffee 115. Do you find wishing for things a waste of time because everything that’s meant to happen, will happen?: Yes.

Y – You 121. Are you more independent or social?: Independent 122. What is something that makes you very mad when you see it?: Ignorance 123. Do you think that you have potential to do great things?: Yes. 124. Do you think people are born a certain way, or develop their personalities based on what they go through in life?: I believe experience shapes who we are 125. Do you think people are generally good?: No.

Z – Zest 126. Are you currently happy with your life? Why or why not?: So/so. I’m mostly just bored and tired. 127. Do you go on FacebookCraze.com to get facebook surveys and quizzes like this one?: I wonder how old this thing is 128. When change occurs, do you get scared or are you excited for it?: I generally embrace change 129. Do you like to try new things, meet new people?: Yes and yes 130. What is the most motivational thing in the world? Folk metal.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

9x16: TD Clues - Just Try to Ignore These; I Dare Ya!

Okay guys, I said this would be a details post, but I think I’m gonna have to push that by one more day. I have SO much to say and so much to post, but I don’t want to bombard you with it all at once. So I sat down to write this and just started with the broader parallels I saw and this is already too long. So again, this today, details tomorrow.

***As always, spoilers abound for 9x16 below. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

I’m going to talk about what I mentioned last night: The Alone parallel which involved Negan and Judith, the suicide parallel going on with Lydia, and Daryl staring at the paintings in Maggie’s office at Hilltop, since I can tell from comments and messages that that’s definitely on everyone’s mind. (Don’t worry; it’s on mine too. 😉)

Before we begin, let me reiterate something I’ve said many times, and will continue to say whenever we watch a season premiere, a season finale, or the beginning of a new arc. Structurally, first episodes are used to set up what will happen in the coming arc and/or the coming season. Season finales are used to foreshadow and kick us into the next season. We have ample proof of them doing this in the past on TWD, and especially as the big, dramatic reveal of the heads on pikes was last episode, you know this episode had to be all about foreshadowing what is to come. Keep that in mind as you read.

Alone Parallel:

So when we saw the members of TF at Alexandria struggling to get through the snow from where they had been staying (and the fireplace blew up) to Aaron’s house, that’s when Judith ran off. My first thought was that hearing the dog bark that way, out of sight and in the distance somewhere, sounded a LOT like the dog barking outside the funeral home. Of course, that led to Daryl letting the walkers in and Beth disappearing. In this case, Judith disappeared (chasing Dog) and Negan ran after her. Much like Beth ran after Daryl.

Not to mention, at the beginning of the episode, Dog was missing. Kinda like the dog star goes missing but eventually returns?

I didn’t know where it would go, exactly, but made the observation about the dog barking to my group and said I wondered if this would turn into an Alone parallel. Low and behold, it did. We saw several specific Alone callbacks in this sequence. Negan hurt his leg, as Beth did. Different kind of injury, but still. There was the dog, of course. And then, because Judith was feeling weak because of the cold, Negan carried her, bridal style, through the snow.

(Disclaimer for the haters: I’m not saying Negan is in love with Judith, nor am I saying Daryl and Beth’s relationship was the same as Judith and Negan’s. I think there is genuine affection in both cases, but of two different kinds. I’m merely pointing out the actual, physical parallels. Yes followers, if you can’t tell, I’ve been dealing with a lot of hate this week. But moving on…)

So we saw Dog lure Judith away (inadvertently; Dog is not criminal mastermind or anti-TF spy or anything ;D) and Negan chase after her, calling her name, just as Daryl did with Beth in Alone. The major difference here is that Negan quickly finds Judith and brings her home.

This is super-interesting for a couple of reasons. In terms of Judith and Negan, I think it does two things:

1)      It probably foreshadows something for next season. Remember, this is the finale and the finale does that. I don’t’ know what it will be, but Negan will probably save Judith from something bigger—maybe the Whisperers?—next season as well.

2)      It solidifies Judith and Negan’s relationship. Negan didn’t hesitate to run after Judith and save her, just as if she were his own daughter. As I said above, there’s real affection there and it will probably move him toward being a more productive member of the community. Actually, it already has. Obviously it’s endeared him to Michonne at least enough for her to start considering him an ally rather than an enemy. And that, my friends, heads in a straight line toward Carl’s vision of the future from S8.

But what about TD? Since this is an obvious callback to Alone, I do think we should consider it a Beth thing as well. I think it foreshadows that the thing it’s being paralleled with (Beth’s disappearance from the funeral home and Daryl searching for her) will happen next season as well. What I mean is, just as Negan brought Judith home, Daryl will finally be able to bring Beth home as well. Again, this is a season finale and what we’re seeing set up here will probably happen next season, so I think this points to that.

And while I’m on the subject, let me say this. I know there are plenty of people out there who won’t believe me when I say it, but I’m not predicting Beth’s return in S10 JUST because we didn’t see her in S9. We’ve said since the beginning of the season—mostly because of all the Xs around her—that S10 would make a certain amount of sense for her return. But we have SO much evidence that she’s still coming and very close. I’ll get into it more below, and throughout the week as I post more.

Lydia’s Suicide Arc:

The first thing that tipped us off about this was when Daryl and TF are on the road and they look over to see walkers in the field. 

In terms of the plot, they were worried that those walkers might be whisperers. But this LOOKED identical to the walker Shane and Rick saw in the field in S2. In fact, that scene was used in the opening credits for years afterward. We even had theories involving that shot in the opening credits, which is why we recognized it so readily.

The thing is, that scene where Rick and Shane saw the walker in the field originally came from 2x10, 18 Miles Out. If you want to know how many symbols the writers took from that episode and later incorporated into Beth’s arc, read THIS. For purposes of the S9 finale, just recall that 2x10 was Beth’s suicide arc. The one where she cut her wrist—which Daryl razzed her about in Still—but then realized she wanted to live.

Why is this important? Obviously it was being used as a parallel for Lydia, who was also obviously suicidal in this episode. You could even argue that, when she offered the trapped walker her arm, had she gone through with it, it would have bitten either on the forearm or wrist, very close to the same spot Beth cut herself with the mirror.

The thing is, why would they feel the need to include the walkers-in-the-field scene just to show Lydia’s state of mind. It certainly wasn’t necessary. Why callback to Beth? Unless of course there’s some greater purpose to that, you know? So that was very important.

Aside: I do want to say that I think this suicide arc with Lydia had heavy, HEAVY ties to Lizzie and Mica. I’ll talk about that in the next couple of days when I talk more about Carol and Ezekiel and how what happened here is good for TD. But we did see a lot of growth from Carol here, which I thought was beautiful. While she IS falling back into some of her same old patterns, we did see some growth for her, and I really loved seeing it. But more on that later. Trying to stay focused here. So much to say! Dah!

P.S. Angela Kang? One of the writers of 18 Miles Out. Several people worked on that episode, including her, Gimple, Kirkman, and Darabont, but still. She wrote last night’s finale too, and the walker in the field scene appeared in both. I’m just saying, the parallels are FOR REALS, y’all.

Daryl Staring at the Portraits:

Okay, the first thing most people picked up on as being strange is that we didn’t actually SEE Beth’s portrait in this scene. I agree with all of you that it’s weird. But it’s more than just weird. It’s VERY weird. Given that we saw it earlier in the season with Jesus sitting in front of it, and then that we saw her body very obviously in Rick’s vision, why suddenly decide to hide the portrait from us now? It makes no sense.

So on the one hand, I think it’s part of the “what is hidden” theme. They’ve hidden a lot of things about Beth from us, so it’s just more of that. But again, why now after showing us several images of her this season, letting us hear her voice, not to mention all the Henry parallels that were so ridiculously blatant that even non-TDers picked up on them. So why go back to this now?

I think it has everything to do with this scene and Daryl staring at the portraits. I think it boils down to them trying hard not to be too obvious. And, you know, mission accomplished. This was extremely subtle.

So, when Daryl looks at the portraits, watch his face very carefully. (Yes, I’m totally giving you permission to stare at Daryl for hours on end. ;D) And a shout out to Norman for this. Only someone who can use such subtle facial expressions to emote so powerfully could even pull this off. It’s a testament to his acting prowess.

Anyway, some are saying he looked sad when looking at the portraits. Others say he looked happy. I submit that we saw both emotions, but not at the same time.

He first looks up at them and his eyes shift to the left (his right, our left). This is when we see a small, nostalgic smile. Now, the portraits we saw—of Glenn and Hershel—are on the left. So he’s looking at them when he smiles. I think that’s very sweet because it shows that he’s moved past the guilt he felt at both of their deaths and has reached a place where he can remember them fondly and smile.

Then, just for a fraction of section, his eyes shift to the right—where we already know Beth’s portrait hangs—and the smile fades. That’s when he looks sad.

So even just typing that out, I’m having another thought. Let’s look at the writers intentions coming from the opposite direction. Maybe the whole point of showing us Beth’s portrait earlier in the season was specifically so we could figure out what Daryl was looking at in this moment. It was still SUPER subtle, and you pretty much have to watch the show as closely as TD does to get it, but if we hadn’t seen her portrait earlier in the season, we would have no hope of understanding the emotions running across Daryl’s face here. Angela is a sneaky woman, but I like her!

So what am I taking away from this. Oh, so much. The most obvious thing is that he’s not yet moved past his negative feelings over Beth’s death, as he seems to with Glenn and Hershel. So, even after all these seasons, he’s still not over her. (That’s why Donnie would have never happened y’all!)

But something else interesting happened in this scene. Lydia asked him why he left Alexandria in the first place to live on his own in the woods. He tells her that he’ll talk to her about it someday. That’s totally huge, you guys!

First off, once again, this is a season finale, and setting up for next season. So I think it’s safe to say this talk will happen in S10. Small potatoes, maybe, but important to keep in mind.

Second, we’ve been wanting Daryl to talk to SOMEONE about Beth since S5. We’ve predicted more than once that maybe he would talk to Carol about it—such as in 7x10—but we were always wrong and it never happened. I don’t think it ever will. Not with Carol, anyway. But this was kind of a promise that he’ll talk to Lydia about it. Yet another reason all the parallels with Beth/Daryl and Henry/Lydia make sense. Why Daryl seeing their relationship, seeing Lydia lose Henry as he lost Beth, and now fathering Lydia, make perfect sense. He’s the one she’ll talk to.

Now, ostensibly, what she means is why he left Hilltop and that had, plot-wise, to do with Rick and finding Rick’s body. So obviously they’ll talk about that. But if this is going to be a deep heart-to-heart, we all know Daryl’s feelings about what happened with Rick really started with Beth. Why did he search so long and so hard for Rick? Because he never found Beth, either. Why was he so devastated to lose Rick? Because he lost Beth first. And I don’t in any way mean to impugn Rick and Daryl’s relationship. Not at all. But Daryl’s grief for Rick did come on the heels of his unresolved grief for Beth, which made it worse.

So my point is that, even from a purely plot-based standpoint, talking to Lydia about Rick will have to include Beth. But the fact that he said this while standing in front of the portraits, right after he looked at Beth’s and stopped smiling, is a foreshadow that he’ll also talk about Beth. And remember, seeing this in the finale suggests that it’s something that will happen next season, in S10.

So I want to add one more thing to this about when Beth will return. While turning this all over in my head, I couldn’t help but think of 5x10, Them. (When don’t I, right?)

Daryl was super sad all throughout the episode (like Lydia in this one) but finally at the end, managed to talk to Maggie—very briefly—about Beth and even smile about her. It was only after that that the music box woke up.

So I think this is setting up not only that Daryl will talk to Lydia about Beth, but that he’ll actually manage to heal from her death. At least to the point of talking about her fondly and being able to smile at the memories.

And, one more time (yes, I know I’ve hit broken record status, but don’t care) because this is the finale, I believe we’ll see this play out in S10. All this, combined with stuff Angela said last night about S10 really makes it sound like that’s when we’ll see Beth. I’ll get more into the details of that tomorrow.

So while we really hoped we’d see her in S9, and didn’t, nothing we said about S9 has turned out to be wrong. The parallels are still there, the symbolism is still strong, she’s still coming, and soon, but this show is notorious for moving slowly. So we just have to wait a little longer. 

And I’ve tried to stress throughout the season that, while most of this shows that we’ll see her in this arc, that didn’t necessarily mean it would be in this season. So while I know lots of people are disappointed not to have seen her last night—I am too—I hope most of you will stick it out. Because our girl is still coming home. At this point, she’s practically circling the neighborhood.