#meanwhile Ikaris is here like

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello beautiful! Can you continue the Maleficent AU? I'd like to see Fae Gilgamesh and Thena fall in love. I absolutely adore this AU! And i have a weakness for the famous first kiss :)

"For you."

Thena's face brightened with delight as a handful of grapes appeared in her view. Her wings fluttered as Gil handed over the bowl of them before standing next to her. Her wings made room for his, stark white feathers brushing against his pitch black ones.

"You're up early," Gil said gently, turning to look at the sun on the water with her. "How does it compare with the sunrise in the isles?"

"The sea here is more blue," Thena tilted her head, popping another grape in her mouth as the sky rapidly changed colour with the sun's ascendance. "In the isles it's quite a green colour."

"Like your eyes?" Gil asked before he could realise just how embarrassing it was to ask something like that.

"Mine?" Thena voiced, as if there were any other fae present (or with eyes more beautiful than all the oceans combined). "I suppose I never compared."

Gil just nodded, keeping to himself that he was sure Thena's eyes were prettier anyway. He cleared his throat, his wings fidgeting slightly on his back. "We're going to be going to the mainland to do some harvesting of mountain fruits. I assumed you'd want to come."

"Of course!" Thena smiled widely at him, showing off her pearly white fangs. "Druig will want to come too if Makkari is also on guard duty."

Gil laughed loudly, letting it echo out over the water below them. "She sure is! And she asked me over and over and over to ask you to ask him."

Thena also laughed, although it was significantly softer than his. But no less genuine. "She could ask him herself, I assure you. He's so taken with her I'm surprised he hasn't demanded we extend our stay indefinitely."

Gil blinked at the admission. He had always been keenly aware of the visiting status of Thena and her brothers. He knew that their initial invitation to stay for two months was approaching its duration, though. "He hasn't?"

Thena shook her head, smiling more softly and holding her hair back against a breeze. A few locks tangled around her broken horn end. "I know he wants to. I think he doesn't want to sway my decision."

Gil smiled, reaching over to flip around the errant length of blonde from around her horn. "He's a nice kid. He obviously cares deeply about how you feel about things."

Thena beamed with pride at the topic of her younger brother. "Druig is very sensitive to those around him. If he likes you - as uncommon as it may be - he'll be very protective of your feelings. He does a lot to keep me sane in contrast to Ikaris."

Certainly her other, older brother cared about her as well, but Gil had to admit that Ikaris was...less palatable than Druig. "He doesn't seem to be very fun."

"Ikaris' idea of fun is seeing if he can punch through a rock."

Gil let out another laugh from deep in his belly, his wings shaking with his shoulders. He laughed until he had to swipe tears from his eyes.

"I wish it were a joke," Thena lamented, although she was also laughing.

Gil blinked against the much brighter shine of the sun. He turned his gaze back to Thena, who was soaking up its warmth with her eyes closed. It gave him the chance to take in that exquisite beauty she possessed. It wasn't just the perfection of her face, or the shine of her hair or the glitter in her eyes. There was just something he adored about the woman next to him.

Thena opened her eyes, feeling something against her wings. She looked over at Gil, who was staring at her unabashedly. Her cheeks warmed and she realised as her wings fluffed that his had too.

Their wings were meshing together as if with minds of their own. Feathers pushed against feathers; they would need to preen them back into place before flying.

"S-Sorry," Gil murmured, pulling his wings back (but not stepping further away from her).

Thena just shook her head, clasping her hands behind her to forcefully pin her wings against her backside. Such rogue appendages, she cursed.

"Thena?"

Her eyes dashed to the inside of the nest; it was Druig looking for her. She offered Gil an apologetic shrug, "he'll keep calling until he finds me."

"Better go," Gil nodded, "before he wakes the whole mothernest."

Thena offered a tight smile, still hesitating as she gravitated towards the opening to their little private balcony of sorts. "See you soon?"

"I promise not to take off without you."

Gil blinked as Thena rushed back to his side, leaning forward and raising her wings as she did. They rose around them, shielding them from prying eyes as she brushed her lips against his. It happened so fast, he didn't even have time to react. His hands were only halfway up to her cheeks as she pulled away.

Thena pulled her wings back to her again, offering a coy little wave of her fingers as she dashed inside completely this time, her billowing white dress and sunshine hair dancing in the wind as she did.

Gil took in a deep breath. He wanted to scream out in joy over the ocean, but he had just brought up how waking everyone in the mothernest was not a good thing. He settled on leaning against the edge of the little overhang, grinning like an idiot as his wings stretched all the way out and flapped in delight.

[anthurak]

Shitty Parent vs. REALLY Shitty Parent

So I think this latest episode has finally given us a pretty good idea as to how Prospera Mercury and Delling Rembran act as dramatic foils to one another as the respective parents of our two main characters.

On the one hand, while it’s been hinted at ever since Episode 7, this episode confirms that Delling does genuinely care for his daughter underneath all that distant, aloof demeanor he’s always showing. We seem him in this episode take a proverbial bullet for Miorine at what was very nearly the cost of his own life, all while telling her to save herself.

And on the flipside, this episode also seems to have given us a hint of the true scope of what seems to be Prospera’s manipulation of Suletta. How despite the open care and affection Prospera shows Suletta, it’s clear that she’s also been manipulating and grooming Suletta into becoming an outright killing machine who brutally cuts down her enemies without batting an eye. To the point where it even seems like Prospera may have even subjected Suletta to outright psychological conditioning and indoctrination, given how Suletta bounces back from a major traumatic breakdown once Prospera said a certain phrase to her.

Now this isn’t to say something like ‘Psyche! Delling was actually a good parent all along and it’s PROSPERA who was the terrible parent!’. Delling is still absolutely a shitty father, plus it’s been pretty clear that Prospera wasn’t going to be a ‘good’ parent given how she’s acted shady as fuck basically from day one, particularly is you read the Star Cradle short story.

Rather, what I think we’re seeing here is that rather than the full-blown antagonistic, villainous ‘Big Bad’ parent he may have been initially set up as, Delling is more simply the ‘dysfunctional’ variety of shitty parent. IE; the kind who’s always loved and cared deep down for their child but has never been able to show it due to their own baggage/trauma/ego.

Essentially, Delling seems to have a lot in common with Gendo Ikari, complete with a tragic dead wife.

In contrast, in we’re continuing the Evangelion parallels, then Prospera could be likened to one of the darker interpretations of YUI, as the protagonists mother who acts loving and caring but is actually the true mastermind behind everything in the story. Not to mention if Eri really is in Aerial, it would basically be the Unit 01 situation just flipped on its head.

Or put another way if we look at a previous work of G-Witch’s writer: Delling is a subversive take on Charles Zi Britannia who turns out to not actually be the big bad, and Prospera is a take on Marianne who’s allowed to ACTUALLY BE the big bad.

Basically, both Delling Rembran and Prospera Mercury are shitty parents. The key difference is that Delling is the ultimately more benign ‘dysfunctional, stoic distant father who sucks at feelings but does genuinely want his daughter to be safe deep down’. Meanwhile Prospera represents the much more concerning case of ‘basically a cult leader who’s used her open care and affection to damn-near brainwash her daughter in being an actual killing machine’.

[iamafanofcartoons]

Weiss:…Really, Yang? Really? Ruby: Sis, this is not the time or place! Blake: Just because you can, does not mean you should! Yang: Hey, if it works! Right guys? (Waves at the villains they’re supposed to be fighting). Hazel: I’m asexual, the only thing I’m passionate about is vengeance against OZZZZPINNNN! (Everyone jumps back) Hazel: But he’s not here right now. Tyrian:  My only interest is defending the beauty of our Goddess! Watts: I’m Sapiosexual. Mercury: Meaning? Emerald: Oh I know this one! It means he’s only sexually attracted to people based on intelligence. Tyrian: So her majesty then. Watts: Wait what? Tyrian: Are you saying that our Queen is not a glorious and brilliant ruler?! Watts: No wait, she certainly is, I would never acknowledge Her Grace as anything less! Tyrian: So you do have an attraction to her Majesty! Watts: So do you! Tyrian:  At least I’m not hiding it. Emerald:  Can we focus? Watts: Yes, Cinder fan-girl, do stop. Emerald: Wait, what are you saying? Mercury: He’s saying you’re into Cinder the same way Stabby Tail is into Cinder’s boss. Emerald: You wanna go, Dildo-legs? Hazel: ENOUGH! (Quirky Mini-Boss squad stops comedic bickering to listen to the serious guy) Hazel: In case you forgot, our targets are…wait, where they’d go? BEEP (X5) Watts: Oh Dear. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Salem (Does the Gendo Ikari Hand Gesture): You knew their fighting abilities, you had fought with them before, you had them outnumbered, you even knew the environment… (Competent and semi-competent minions remain silent, Tyrian crying at disappointing Mommy Salami) Mercury raises his hand Salem:  I’m.Not.Done.Boi. Mercury lowers his hand. Salem: Now I’d like to know just how it was possible for all of you to fail like this? Not even Haven was like this. Hazel takes a breath. Salem:  Hazel Rainart, I hope for your sake you do not plan to do another “Take one for the team” attempt that tries to cover up for what the team did. Or do you enjoy being bound up by my tentacles? Hazel, stops, considers…Then takes an even deeper breath. Mercury: It was Boobs. (Ackward silence.) Salem: Excuse me? Mercury: You know how Team RWBY gained that transforming ability? Salem: That leaves them wide open for you to kick-shoot them up in the face? Mercury: Blondie’s shout-phrase was “Big titties” Salem: And? Mercury: That started a conversation that- (Crippled Psychopathic Assassin shut up by fancy pistol from Jock-Nerd and Mecha-Tail from Psycho Fan-Boi covering his mouth) Tyrian: Let’s not sweat the small stuff. Watts: Basically we were distracted. Salem: By boobs? Seriously?  My greatest operatives….distracted by a woman’s chest? And what happened next may I ask? Hazel:  They took advantage of our distraction to throw explosives and explosive dust rounds around, and brought the warehouse down on us. Angry Boss “Lady?”:….. Evil minions who need focus on hormones 2nd, mission priorities first:…. Salem waves her hand and the door opens… Multiple tentacled grimm appear. Salem: Now I am not a therapist or a counselor, but we have got to work on your hormones before I send you any missions….this will be your price for failure. (The following content is flagged NC-17 for tentacles, and too many other tags to count...let's use our imagination) Meanwhile, elsewhere… Cinder receives shivers down her spine, nearly lighting herself on fire to get rid of the chills. Evil Mute Cutie hides a smile looking at evil Ms. Eyepatch on High-Heels getting Random Spooks.

Artist is DebzTheNaught

https://twitter.com/DebzTheNaught/status/1290307790183870475

[duhragonball]

End of Evangelion: 26'

No, it doesn't.

All right, this is the second half of End of Evangelion, a movie that serves as the "alternative ending" to the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. The series was 26 episodes long and episodes 25 and 26 attempted to depict a finale where all of humanity was combined into a single merged being. This was the culmination of "Human Instrumentality", a goal of Gendo Ikari throughout the series.

Episodes 25 and 26 were not well-received, probably because they tried to show Shinji Ikari coming to grips with Human Instrumentality without actually filling in the audience on what it was or how it happened or why it was so important. Also, there were other non-Shinji characters that fans might have been interested in seeing. So in 1997 the studio produced End of Evangelion to show an ending set in the "outside world". This ending also sucks, but at least it connects the dots from Episode 24 to Human Instrumentality.

EoE's two halves are called 25' and 26', as a reference to their purpose as an alternate version of Episodes 25 and 26 of the TV series. 25' is better, because it actually sort of shows what was going on. SEELE attacks the NERV base, forcing Gendo to attempt to launch Human Instrumentality before it's too late. Asuka regains control of her Eva Unit 02, Ritsuko springs a trap to get revenge on Gendo, and Misato escorts Shinji to Eva Unit 01 and convinces him to meet his destiny. Then they all get brutally murdered. 25' also opens with Shinji jerking off over Asuka's comatose body, so... you know, it's a mixed bag.

26', on the other hand, is the drizzling shits, and that's what we're going to talk about now.

Gendo's plan is to do the exact same thing SEELE wants to do, only he wants to do it in some slightly different way. I went over most of this when I covered 25', so I don't really want to get into it again. Suffice to say, a merging of Adam and Lillith, the two cosmic beings who begat the Angels and humans, respectively, will somehow trigger Third Impact, which will then bring about Human Instrumentality. Gendo has Adam inside his own body, while Rei is some sort of receptacle of Lillith's soul? I don't know how that works.

Anyway, Rei's body begins to fall apart even as he talks to her, so they need to get started. I don't understand why he waited this long if this is all they needed to do.

Step One: Cop a feel. Seriously, he could have done this in Episode 1. To be clear, there is a little more going on here than Gendo fondling a minor. You see...

At some point after Episode... 8 I think, he had Adam grafted onto his own right hand. They don't show this in EoE, and I'm pretty sure you never see it in the TV series either. I could be wrong, but I only noticed this image during the clip-show segment of the first Evangelion film, Death and Rebirth.

The point I'm making here is that when Gendo puts his hand on Rei, he's pushing Adam inside her body. His hand actually phases inside her somehow. Of course, he could have put it somewhere other than her boob, but this franchise loooooves sexualizing teenagers.

Meanwhile, Shinji has arrived in Eva Unit 01 to repel SEELE's squadrong of bad guy Evas. He doesn't actually fight them, he just screams like a maniac when he sees Unit 02's dismembered corpse. Then the Lance of Longinus, which Rei had tossed into space weeks ago, suddenly flies right back to Earth. Why? Who the fuck knows?

This isn't even the first time it happens in this movie! In 25', Asuka was fighting these same evil Evas, when another Lance of Longinus suddenly flew in from out of nowhere and turned the tide against her. She saw it coming and even confirmed that it was "The" Lance of Longinus. Well this other one came from the moon, so it's definitely not the same lance, so I guess there's two of them now. I'm so sick of trying to make sense of any of this.

At SEELE's command, their Evas drag Shinji's up into the sky. I think he's pinned to this cross, except I'm pretty sure the cross is made from energy wings from Unit 01, so I don't know how that's supposed to work. The bad Evas then do some other mukity-muk, and this changes the cross into...

Whatever this is! I ain't got time to read all that.

This produces a field of destruction that tears up the ground and exposes the "Egg of Lilith", or the "Black Moon". The Wiki says that this is the vessel which brought Lilith to Earth, and Adam had a similar vessel called "The White Moon" which landed in Antarctica. But this movie doesn't bother filling us in on any of that. They're just like "Here's a purple ball, that's dramatic for some reason, trust us."

As all of this is going on, Rei suddenly separates from Gendo and rejects his procedure. He doesn't understand, but she informs him that she is not his puppet, and Shinji needs her. So instead of doing it the way Gendo had in mind, Rei floats up to merge with Lilith by herself. Also, I think the took Gendo's right hand with her, because he keeps clutching at his arm for the rest of the movie, and we never see his right hand again.

Now, you might have noticed I haven't had much to say about what Shinji is doing during all of this. That's because he can't do anything. The poor dope is stuck in Unit 01, completely helpless as the bad Evas do their ritual. All he's been doing this whole part of the movie is screaming in helpless terror. I had hoped Rei coming to save him would offer him some comfort, but she looks like this now...

So yeah, he's not exactly reassured. Rei/Lilith also assumes control over SEELE's Evas, and their heads change so they all have her face, which is pretty disturbing.

BE NOT AFRAID.

Finally, Rey/Lilith reshapes into a new form, that of Kaworu, the 17th Angel that Shinji had to kill in Episode 24. This seems to calm Shinji down. I think it's just Rey/Lilith in disguise, but maybe Shinji sees this as evidence that Kaworu isn't really dead, which would mean Shinji didn't murder him.

So a bunch of visual things happen and Clownshoes declares that Eva Unit 01 has now become God, because it possesses an S2 engine, the Fruit of Life, and a human mind, the Fruit of Knowledge. Didn't Eva Unit 01 already have those things before, though?

I suppose this could explain why there's more than one way to do this ritual. Gendo wanted to combine Adam and Lilith with himself, I think, which would have made him God, maybe. SEELE, on the other hand, wanted to do it all with just their Evas, Unit 01, and the Lance(s?) of Longinus. In the end, Rei sort of combined both of their approaches, though I don't know what difference it makes.

Well, no, I guess I do know. Rei/Lilith asks Shinji what his desire is, and he impulsively thinks of boobs. I assume Gendo would have thought of his dead wife, or the SEELE guys would have thought of worldly power.

From here, the movie goes off the rails with a bunch of fantasy visions. In other words, we're right back in the same bullshit that made the original Episodes 25 and 26 so esoteric and dumb. We start with Shinji as a small boy, farting around in a sandbox for like five minutes.

Then we see him watching Misato having casual sex with Kaji, just like in Episode 25 of the TV series. This is presented like it's some horrible thing Misato did, which is disillusioning to Shinji. I still don't understand this. Adults have sex. Why is this supposed to be a problem?

Then he's suddenly trying to figure out how to connect romantically with Asuka, except he doesn't really know her, or Rei, or Misato, or anyone else. He gets bitter and frustrated, accusing them of being unclear about their feelings towards him, but they say he hasn't tried to get to know them.

Then he's with Asuka at their apartment, and he begs for her to help him (with what?). Asuka is upset because she knows he just wants someone to be nice to him. He's only begging Asuka because he's too frightened of Misato, Rei, or his own parents, so he's come crawling to her. Well, she's not playing along.

So he strangles her. I doubt he could do this to the real Asuka, but this is some bullshit dream so it works.

He asks Lilith what went wrong, and she replies that he just assumed everyone had the same feelings as himself, so this isn't the harmonious world he wished for after all. I guess? This seems like a repudiation of the scenario from the TV finale, where Shinji could interact with other humans through the Human Instrumentality, but it took him a while to get comfortable with doing so. Here, he tries to live that way, but it isn't working.

So at this point, Shinji decides that if people don't like him, then to hell with it. This leads to Third Impact, with Lilith essentially dissolving the entire human population into LCL fluid. Each human is visited by an image of Rei, which sometimes takes the form of someone they love. For example, this girl at the command center is visited by an image of Ritsuko, who embraces her tenderly before she turns into orange Kool-Aid. Of course, the real Ritsuko is already dead, but a Rei shows up anyway to turn her body into orange goop.

The leader of SEELE is also gooped. Interestingly, you can't really tell how they feel about the way this has turned out. That's because everyone is visited by some pleasant fantasy before they dissolve, so I think it's reasonable to assume this is not what SEELE had in mind, and yet they probably think it's exactly what they wanted to happen.

Gendo Ikari's fate seems a bit different, though. He does get a visit from the image of his dead wife, and he admits that he'll probably receive retribution from Shinji over the way he treated him in life. He admits that he pushed Shinji away because he was convinced it would be less painful that way, so it looks like father and son are more alike than they ever wanted to admit. Anyway, an Eva picks Gendo up and bits off his upper body, though I doubt any of this was real.

As Lilit-- I got a phone call from my mom while I was typing this part. She's fine, but she's fed up with the weekly dominoes game she was attending. We talked for probably 45 minutes and after that I felt genuinely refreshed. I don't normally mention when I take breaks while writing long posts like these, but I needed that one more than I realized. So I want the record to reflect my gratitude.

Right, so as Lilith gathers up all the goop-ified humans, she has the bad guy Evas self-destruct. I don't think they explode, since we see some of their remains at the end of the movie, but they do stab their little core-dealies with their weapons.

Then she opens up a third eye in her forehead and sends the cross containing Eva Unit 01 to penetrate it. Okey dokey.

Then we get this rapid succession of images with voices saying typical breakup/brushoff lines. "I don't like you in 'that way'," "I don't want to know you", "I'm just not into you", all the classics. I think this is the sort of thing Lilith is removing from the human condition. Now everyone's just disembodied minds suspended in goop, so there are no boundaries.

This is where I got completely fed up. This is a photograph of an empty theater. That's cute how they worked the cross into the image, but it serves no purpose at all. Nothing's made much sense ever since Rei merged with Lilith, but now it's extra stupid. We're not even watching a cartoon anymore.

To be fair, there were photographs in Episode 26 of the TV series as well, but not to this extent. After this we get: a cat, a TV broadcast transmitter, a bunch of people walking through a busy street. More people milling about, people sitting in a theater, and then the empty theater again. Okay, I'll show you the cat.

Best part of the movie. RIP to this cool and good friend.

So when all is said and done, Shinji finds himself in this reality, where everyone is just floating in a big sea of LCL fluid. I like how his and Lilith's bodies are merged together to represent this condition. Mostly I'm just glad we're using animation to represent things instead of just random film of bystanders.

But Shinji decides that this doesn't feel right either, and he asks to be restored to his former state. Lilith grants this request, though she does make it clear to him that things will be like they were before, with everyone knowing feat and pain, and misunderstandings and such, but Shinji seems to have (re?) learned the same lesson he figured out in Episode 26 of the TV series: that this pain and the boundaries between people are necessary in order to grow.

So Lilith collapses into the sea of LCL fluid, and her entire head falls off. I guess this is the same AT field failure that led to the disintegration of Rei's body at the start of this episode. Anyway, when all is said and done, Shinji is back in a corporeal body, and Eva Unit 01 pops out of Lilith's eyeball. It's no longer God this way, so all the heavy stuff is over with.

Yui then appears before Shinji and they talk it over. He's fine living this way on Earth, and Yui is happy continuing to exist as part of Eva Unit 01. She plans to fly out into space and contemplate her existence, and she figures that, billions of years into the future, when the Earth no longer exists, she will still be there as evidence that humans lived in the universe. Okay... You know, I thought she was the normal one in the Ikari family but... no. Just, no way.

And that leads us to the epilogue, where we find the Earth after the Third Impact. Lilith's remains still lie in pieces over the surface of the planet, and all the LCL has pooled into the oceans or something.

I read the wiki about this scene, and it pointed out that there's evidence that some time has passed since the battle that started all of this. The moon is full in this scene, but it was a new moon earlier. So at least two weeks have passed. More importantly, these wooden stakes are set up in the area, and these are apparently markers Shinji set up to commemorate his dead friends from Tokyo-3. Before she died, Misato gave Shinji the cross necklace she wore, and he held onto it throughout Third Impact, but now he's hung it on a rusty nail in a piece of wood, and some rust has gotten onto the necklace, indicating that some time has passed.

The reason this matters is to add some context to this scene, where Shinji wakes up to find Asuka lying beside him. The movie gives the impression that he just got back to the real world, but the details suggest he's been living out here on his own for a while. It's unclear what happened to everyone else, but Lilith's words seemed to suggest that anyone who wanted to return to a corporeal body like Shinji could do so if they wished. So it's possible that lots of people have already done so, and Shinji just isn't around any of them. Or maybe Asuka's the first one to join him out here.

Maybe she's the only one, and they're the only two humans here. The point is that when he sees her, the first thing he does is strangle her, which seems completely ridiculous, unless you consider that he's been here a while, and he probably doesn't believe she's real. When he strangled the fantasy-Asuka earlier, she didn't put up a struggle, so he's trying to use that as a test this time.

But instead, Asuka raises her hand and caresses his cheek, and this surprises him so much that he stops what he's doing and starts to cry all over her face. Well, it could be worse, Asuka. She mutters how disgusted she is with him, and that's the last line of the movie.

Objectively speaking, this probably is better than the original TV series ending. It's more ambitious in scope, the visuals are more impressive, and the conclusion seems more ambiguous and grim. Everything seems to have turned out... okayish for humanity. The world looks unrecognizable, but nobody's suffering, and if I understand correctly, those markers Shinji put up may be premature. Asuka's return suggests that others might follow, and if they don't it'll be their choice.

I guess Gendo definitely will not be reunited with Yui, since she's buggered off into outer space, but at least he acknowledged his failures as a father, and I take that to mean he at least cared about his son, even if he couldn't express that to him.

The thing about TV Episode 26 is that it ended with the whole cast applauding for Shinji, which is either a fantasy he made up for himself, which is cheap, or the ending really is saying that they all lived happily ever after in a heaven of their own making. And that seems kind of chipper for a show like this. It made it hard to accept that this was really how they were ending things, even if it was the best possible scenario for the characters.

But like I said before, the big problem with both endings is that they're so damn confusing, relying on me to recall little details about the lore that might not have even been available to viewers in 1997. Huge chunks of the movie are just lavish images depicting vague events. Shinji barely does anything in the whole movie. First Misato has to drag him to the Eva, then the Eva puts him inside of it, then Rei/Lilith has to rescue him by turning him into God.

I think the biggest problem I have with the NGE mythos as a whole is that the lore is really fascinating stuff, but the show is never really about the lore. Everything always comes back to Shinji and his mental health issues. I keep wanting, for example, Ritsuko and Misato to have some in-depth discussion about Adam and Lilith and how the Second Impact went down and so on. But the show never wants to just sit down and go into all of that. It's always one character sort of getting the partial gist of it and trying to explain it all to another character. Like, Misato was telling Shinji a bunch of stuff while she was driving him to his Eva, but I seriously doubt he was paying any attention, and he probably wouldn't have been in any condition to understand what she was telling him.

Like... I don't hate Shinji as a character, but this whole premise just feels kind of wasted on him. Does that make any sense?

I still feel unsettled about this, like I'm on the brink of apologizing that I didn't enjoy this more than I did. I went in just assuming this would be a blast, and it was for a little while, but most of it just... isn't for me.

I don't know. I think I'm just gonna sign off here. I'll probably have more to say about it in the coming days, but I'll save it for replies to any asks you all want to send me. But otherwise, I think it's time I moved on...

[carrotkicks]

hi just wanted to tell you your ninjangelion au single-handedly got me to watch the whole original evangelion anime in one day. also i noticed you said you'll be going off the manga more, so i've been wondering if you could point out some main differences between manga and the anime?

Glad you asked! Firstly, I hoped you enjoyed the depressing mindf*ck that is Neon Genesis Evangelion. This au is definitely going to be a lot more positive, and will generally play out a bit more like your average mecha anime because the Ninjago cast is going to be running this story, and unlike in Eva, the ninja have bonafide action series personalities.

Now the differences between Eva Manga vs Anime:

It's hard explain how overwhelmingly different Shinji is in the manga compared to the anime. For one, thing he's actually assertive and pretty self assured. Manga Shinji is what you get if you gave him a more standard shounen protagonist personality and some therapy sessions. Despite that he's still very recognizably Shinji Ikari.

The manga like the rebuild movies, skips over a bunch of the filler angel battles in favor of moving the plot along. It's also likely that Sadamoto didn't have the energy to write and draw all those. (mentally I kept the fillers in for Ninjagelion, mostly because they're fun.)

You'll find that the storyline is much more cohesive here because theres a lot more focus on the secret mystery with SEELE and the Human Instrumentality Project, and learning what the heck the Evangelions even are.

the messages in the manga are pretty much the same as they are in the original anime (excluding EoE)

Manga is significantly less Freudian. Ninjagelion is not gonna be Freudian at all, it's very easy to not give you're characters oedipus/elektra complexes.

the Manga swaps out the weird trippy psychological scenes with weird dream sequences and flashbacks because it's weird to convey them in the medium

Kaworu is a pervy creep with an awful attitude, and Shinji is very discomforted by him. it's really funny

Asuka's role is mildly diminished, and there's no romance with her and Shinji.

Meanwhile, Rei and Kaji's role is much bigger.

END OF EVANGELION IS SOOO DIFFERENT!

The hospital scene is completly changed, making it less disgusting and fucked up as it was in the movie.

Shinji actually manages to save Asuka from being mauled by the MP Evas.

The Ending on the beach is switched out with something that's a little bit like the Rebuild series ending, with Rei creating a new world where the characters wake up in. (which supports the idea that the Manga might be the first iteration of the Eva Timeloop)

Overall the manga might not be as much a masterpiece thematically as the anime, but it's far more cohesive and satisfying. Also its not as depressing.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: ML Season 5 Episode 2 Multiplication

Spoilers below

-Wow they continuing from the previous episode like almost exactly, that is impressive Continuity. I feel like I wrote it XD

-So recap, and They are addressing Felix. Smart move!

-So Gabriel is being a salty b**** but evil monologue as usual

-And su han is pointing out their mistakes and Chat noir tells him that he needs to shut up

-OH SNAP THEY ARE TAG TEAMING HIM. Couple goals

-Su Han got distracted by modern stuff! Thats actually kind of funny. I enjoy this bit. Su han is still an idiot tho. HE GOT DISTRACTED FOR 4 months on Cat videos! Okay I don’t hate him as much as before.

-Ladybug and Chat noir dealt with that well.

-Su han going to get back up. Well that will take a while. But at least he is doing something.

-So they are heading to Felix!

-FELIX FATHOM! OH DAMN. He got a wiki page.

-WHO MADE THIS PAGE THO?!

-Damn Felix, and here I thought he was just a typical rich kid. He graduated highschool already. Well we knew he was smart.

-They are talking to amelie. I am amazed.

-Amelie seems concerned and doesnt know where he is and promise to look for him.

-Felix is on the run, of course he would!

-Marinette blames herself, and it seems its a dead end.

-I’m sus of Amelie

-Holy crap the finale, the Evolution and the first part of this episode take place in the SAME DAY! Ladybug ain’t kidding. It’s been a long day

-AWWW SHE MISSES THEM kwami

-Marinette asks for company, baby girl is sad.

-Adrien returns home and is thinking about what felix did.

-Adrien realizing that if he just stood up for himself that would have saved everything.

-Adrien told his dad?! That was way too easy. He was WAY too okay with it

-meanwhile at the sleep over

-Alya trying to assure her that it wasnt her fault (cute sleep over)

-STATUE REFERENCE @gentil-minou now grows more powerful! Also Alya loves cringe

-Marinette vowing she is done with adrien until monarch is down JUST AS HE CALLS! Because Life ain’t that simple

-Alya answers for her like a bro.

-Adrien just wanted to let her know he quit modelling.

-Marinette was so happy for him! So cute. She forgot she was pretending to not be there

-ADRIEN YOU BEAUTIFUL BABY

-Adrien is clearly simping

-Marinette is trying not to look into it. Alya is me rightnow

-Adrien is GUSHING. I CANT TAKE THIS KIND OF SWAP

-Plagg calling his fake ass out!!!! drag him! he knows

-REVERSE CRUSH LETS GO

-Oh, Nathalie is back. She is gonna call out Gabriel.

-Nathalie seeing adrien and smiling. She cares for her psuedo son.

-MR. ALIM TELLING THEM THAT HIS DAUGHTER IS BUNNYX! TO THE CLASS

-CALINE IS PREGNANT! It wasn’t me

-The class is worried about Alix but are staying motivated.

-Nino is right, stats are cool, but max, Shut up.

Also his stats are wrong

-And Chloé is being a salty b****

-Oh Lila, you have a role in two episodes, amazing. Also I saw that Back hand compliment you bitch!

-Sabrina looks a bit different. Also sweetie, Roger is a dumbass.

-A MONTAGE!? Of them being vigilent but no akumas.

-Tomoe is there! I see drama in the rise.

-Oh, this is awkward.

-MARINETTE! STOP COCK BLOCKING YOURSELF.

-Anaisi training DJWIFI! I love it!

-Wait, are they making an ADRIEN HOLOGRAM!? OH SO THATS HOW HE IS GONNA GET OUT OF MODELING.

-Gabriel hasnt been active for weeks so everyone is relaxed with no akuma.

-Felix hasnt shown up. His mom has to be covering for him

-OH SNAP AN AKUMA PERFECT FOR COCKBLOCKING!

-Adrien you awkward boy.

-AH YEA GIANT MILF AKUMA

-Oh damn Ikari Gozan is agile for being so big

-OH S*** SHE CAN MULTIPLY! SHE GOT THE MIRACULOUS.

-so many milfs

-I mean so many monsters

-Ladybug and chat noir are asking her how she got a miraculous.

-Chat noir still got his cataclysm active

-FISHING ROD LUCKY CHARM

-oH!!! I think I got it.

-Chat noir got the rod

-I am living for this teamwork!

-Wow they handled this a lot easier than I thought.

-Tomoe seems to not know what happened. Just something about a park being in the way of her development plans.

-They ask if she has a miraculous. But she says she doesnt have one.

-I am sus. She has something.

-They give her a lucky charm.

-Tomoe you lying bitch! THE PROTOTYPE! The rings! That’s what it was! That why he got those rings!

-THE TECH! OMG THE TECH! ITS AMAZING! IT LOOKS SO CLEAN

-WTF IS WITH THAT ALL WHITE LOOK

-Its a communication tool

-ITS CALLED ALLIANCE! SO ON THE NOSE! YOU EVIL BASTARD! THATS HOW THE RINGS GO.

-Its an alliance of two companies.

-so thats why he did the scan thing!

-Amelie straight up lied to keep her son safe, shady, also Felix what you gonna do boy.

-Felix sounding OMINOUS!

___________________________________________

Okay so I am LOVING this continuity. The flow is nice. It seems like they are actually USING the characters! Season 5 seems to really seems to be an improvement. The writing is much more crisp. The pacing is a lot better, the drama is more apparent. It’s like they took the best aspects of season 3 and 4 and fixed it.

I enjoy the ladynoir and adrinette. Solid stuff

Felix’s mom is awesome. (And she is single)

Gabriel seems to have a new plan that involve those rings and Tomoe seems in on it.

I’m hoping it’s the rich cult from season 4.

Adrien finally waking up and realizing Marinette is special is about DAMN TIME!

And just in time for Marinette to try and keep her distance. A little late, but a reverse lovesquare would be lovely.

Overall I will say that this is a solid 8.5 out of 10.

It is a bit dialogue heavy but I think it’s crucial in setting up the next episodes. Now some might call that boring, I call it world building.

If season 5 can keep this level of good writing and execution it will be a great season.

[lovelyfanatical]

I Get a Sugar Rush Whenever I’m With You - Chapter 2.2

Good evening fellow Drukkari stans, or whatever time it is for you! I bring you the next mini-chapter of this fic: aka Sersi comes to dinner. If you missed the last mini-chapter, you can read it here or start over from the beginning if you're just joining in! You can also find me on AO3 now, though I'm updating here more frequently. Anyway, enjoy the next installment of Drukkari in the Great British Bake Off!

Druig wasn’t lying about the extra copy of his recipe. As taken aback as he had initially been, he really was flattered that someone would want his recipe for anything. He was more than happy to pass it along and was even thinking of asking for Sersi’s rosewater macaron recipe in return. Fortunately, he was able to do just that at dinner, and Sersi agreed to send him a copy.

“Are we even allowed to do that?” Kingo asked upon witnessing the exchange.

“Definitely not before the challenge, but I don’t think the rules say anything about not sharing them immediately after,” Druig answered.

Good, because I want a copy, too! Makkari signed.

“I’m surrounded by delinquents,” Kingo sighed.

“I think it’s nice to see young people sharing recipes!” Ajak asserted. “These things need to be passed on, you know.”

“Sure, but I’m not getting kicked out for not waiting ‘til the end,” Kingo replied before getting hit right between the eyes by a flying crouton. “What the hell, Makkari!?”

We’re not getting kicked out either because you are not going to snitch! she signed forcefully.

“Okay, I won’t snitch,” he replied in exasperated defeat. “I don’t speak for everyone else here, though.”

“Of course we won’t tell!” Ajak jumped in.

“If Miss Makkari wishes it to stay a secret, I will not tell,” Karun added.

“Obviously I won’t,” Sersi said cheerfully. Druig and Makkari shared a celebratory high-five, and Kingo merely rolled his eyes before continuing.

“Okay, well now that we’ve all been sworn to secrecy, we may as well get to know each other better. Where is everyone from, and what’s your relationship status?”

“Isn’t that a bit nosy, Kingo?” Ajak asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, but it’s more fun than asking what your job is. Besides, we’re all in this together now. Time to get intimately acquainted!”

“Very well,” she replied. As it turns out, Ajak lived in the countryside with her longtime partner. Meanwhile, Karun was married to his job, and Druig and Makkari were both single in the city. As all eyes turned to Sersi next, Druig thought he noticed the faintest bit of sadness behind her eyes as she announced, “I’m from London, and I’m currently single.”

“See? That wasn’t so bad,” Kingo said cheerfully. “And since I am also single and living in London, we can totally go out clubbing together and be each other’s wingmen!”

“Aw, thanks Kingo!” The sadness lifted a little.

“Although, it doesn’t seem like you need my help in that department,” he added with a wink.

What’s with the wink? Makkari signed with expertly feigned innocence. Druig did his best to follow suit.

“Oh, nothing! It’s just… she did seem quite friendly with Dane during the signature today.”

Sersi turned bright red. “Oh, well, Dane’s just really nice in general, I think.”

“And they did eat lunch together.”

Oh, that’s right! Makkari said, turning to Sersi with a mischievous grin. He hardly ever seems to take his eyes off of her.

“He’s not even the only one. You remember the guy from last week?” Kingo added.

“You mean Ikaris?” Ajak asked. At the mention of his name, Sersi’s eyes widened.

“Pretty sure he had his eye on her too. Too bad Dane got to her first.”

“Aw, then he got eliminated first!” Ajak added. “Now I really feel bad for him.”

On the other side of Makkari, Sersi had gone quiet. The hint of sadness Druig had seen earlier seemed to have returned as well. Makkari had noticed too, and she nudged Druig.

“Well, if Sersi doesn’t need you as a wingman, then where are our invitations?” he interjected, motioning to Makkari and himself.

Yeah, Kingo? she added, as she and Druig both stared Kingo down.

“Hey, it’s mutual agreement and I don’t trust either of you to talk me up to anyone! You’ve known me too long.”

“We’ve all known you the same amount of time,” Druig deadpanned, which prompted a few chuckles around the table and a small smile from Sersi.

“He has you there, sir,” Karun said.

“That may be, but this is me and Sersi’s first meal together. You’ve both eaten with me multiple times!”

“And me!” Ajak chimed it.

“Me, as well” Karun added.

“See? You’re all just proving my point,” Kingo claimed, rolling his eyes. “Sersi’s new to our group, so she hasn’t learned to gang up on me yet!”

“Well, if I officially join your group, won’t I also know you too well by next week?” Sersi asked with a sly smile.

Kingo merely put his head in his hands and groaned while the others giggled.

“That’s okay, I’ll still go clubbing with you, Kingo,” she continued.

“You promise?” he asked, looking up from his hands.

“Promise… as long as everyone else is invited, too!”

Kingo clutched his heart in mock hurt as he whisper-shouted, “Et tu, Brute?”

The table broke down in laughter.

-

After the others headed to bed, Druig and Makkari stayed behind to discuss their shared findings with Kingo.

“She’s guilty!” Kingo whisper-shouted. “She went completely silent when I brought up Ikaris.”

“I think that’s the natural response to being pressed about your love life in front of five new acquaintances,” Druig responded. “Besides, she doesn’t strike me as the vindictive type.”

Yeah. If anything, she seemed genuinely sad when you mentioned Ikaris, Makkari added. Maybe she still has a soft spot for him, in which case, she wouldn’t try to sabotage him.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense,” Kingo conceded with a sigh. “But what about Dane?”

What about him?

“Well, if I was getting close to someone romantically, I’d probably want to get their ex out of the picture if I could.”

How would he even know that Ikaris was her ex? We only found out after he was already eliminated.

“Outside of the people in this room, the only other person he could’ve found out from is Sersi herself, and she’s not exactly forthcoming about it,” Druig said.

He’s also been so busy paying attention to Sersi, he probably didn’t even notice Ikaris.

“Then who could it be?” Kingo asked, clearly exasperated.

“No one, because it wasn’t sabotage,” Druig asserted.

“How can you be sure?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. Kingo looked at him with raised eyebrows, still confounded. Even Makkari was looking at him curiously, waiting to see where he was going with this. “Ikaris shows up to a major competition, only to find out his ex is competing as well. On top of that, she starts getting close to someone new, and since he’s in the very back, he has the perfect view to watch them flirt the entire time. He’s so distracted, he makes multiple rookie mistakes, like using salt instead of sugar.”

They both looked at him for a moment, mulling over his words. Kingo was the first to break the silence. “Well, when you put it like that…”

Brilliant deduction, Dr. Watson, Makkari signed with a smile. Druig couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey, I thought I was Watson!” Kingo interrupted.

No, he’s definitely Watson. And I’m obviously Sherlock.

“Then who am I?”

“You can be Mrs. Hudson,” Druig suggested, which made Makkari giggle and Kingo sigh.

-

And that concludes the mini-mystery arc of this fic! Unless I decide to bring it back :D Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and bonus points to you if you spotted my reference to another OTP. Likes, reblogs, and comments would be much appreciated!

Part 7

[casteliacityramen]

The Story so Far

Arc 1 - The First Night

You've arrived at the pokemon stand! It's a quaint little thing on one of the main streets of Castelia City. It's run by a greninja named Ray Here's the menu! It's fairly humble, and given the prices, it seems more than reasonable. The first customers arrive and their experiences are... nothing to write home about, really. Team Rocket suddenly appears? And promptly leaves when Ray can't be caught. One customer arrives, asking for a spice challenge. Ray obliges, but not before giving himself a sinus and tear duct cleaning. A question is asked about the rockruff hanging out at the stand. Her name is Rio and she works there!

A LEGENDARY customer shows up, a Mew. Ray and Rio are left dumbstruck, but become... strangely apprehensive when another one shows up. Regardless, they are fed and sent on their way with a shrug.

A mythical Zeraora falls asleep on the counter, but instead kicking him out, he Ray drapes a makeshift blanket over his shoulders. After a customer gets an idea about take-out or delivery orders, Rio becomes a delivery dog! Fairly unenthusiastically, I might add.

While Rio is gone, in between customers, Ray ponders his tip jar. He uses it to gauge his performance each day/night, keeping it opaque so that he can't take a peek too early so that he's kept on his toes.

People graciously donate! Ray is ecstatic Ray gets a bulk order of spicy ramen. He's worried that he's attracting the wrong crowd of "capsaicin chasers," but changes his mind when he takes a sip. An onlooker is terrified at the horror and joy of true spice, but they continue to vibe with the heat. A dewott watches from an alleyway in confusion, hooded and hidden in the shadow. Many people ask Ray questions personal questions, but Rio isn't there to speak for him. When he tries to talk, nothing comes out of his mouth... A new character, Jack, arrives from a nearby alleyway to speak for him and he takes a seat at the stand.

Jack and Ray share a strange glance between themselves before getting interrupted. It's revealed that Jack is an underground amateur fighter. It looks like he might not be the best at it…

A question is asked about Ray's feelings about Jack, but honestly, the dewott hasn't really said much about himself. Ray tells it how it is: Jack is a broody teen that comes by to drink miso soup and be miserable in the corner.

A generous tipper returns! Jack starts to eye the tip jar with a thought bubbling in the back of his mind, but mostly continues to brood and sip his Miso Soup.

A character who can't consume food shows up to admire the vibe, but Ray gives her some food, regardless. Jack is starting to keenly gaze at the tip jar…

When two more customers show up, Jack quietly slips away with the tip jar. After Ray creates his next two meals, he closes the shop for the night.

Meanwhile, in the same night…

Rio is on the way to Ecruteak City and makes a critical misjudgement on where she ends up. Unknowingly she gets extremely casual with a God, and is horrified at the embarrassment before she slips away. When she finally makes it to Johto, she stops by a pair of Arcanine. 

She gives one of them some help and words of encouragement before she goes on her way to visit a grave. It turns out the grave is specifically hers for a "Captain Ikari Ryoh" from the Kanto Johto War. After saying a couple of melancholic words, heads back to Unova. 

Back in Castelia…

Ray closes the shop and feels a deep sense of longing for someone who might not be with us anymore. He falls asleep at the counter, exhausted from a night's work.

Jack returns home to an apartment complex after cashing in everything he found in the tip jar and feels super scummy. He rethinks his actions as he walks home. A couple of passerby's throw accusations at him in his apartment hallway, and his mom answers the door.

The end of the first night concludes with Rio coming back to the stand. Both Ray and Rio are exhausted and are forced to reduce the menu to save funds. When the morning comes, and after some considerable effort put forth by Rio, they're ready for customers again!.

ACT 2 - The First Day (Continued Below)

Piko from askbohemiancompany arrives at the stand to eye Ray and Rio before she orders a bowl of ramen. While she waits, she makes a notable revelation: Ray and Rio give off the vibes of experienced combatants.

Piko offers to provide a generous tip to ensure that the stand is back into its previous state, but a memory of the previous stand owner makes him lie in order to avoid taking a tip too large. Ray will not be accepting tips over 2000 pokeyen (20 USD). When asked about what Rio does, she reveals that she's the stand's accountant in addition to a delivery dog.

Hana from pokitsune requests udon in an out-of-the-ordinary order. Rio objects, saying that they can't afford the spare ingredients, but Ray agrees. They disagree for a short moment, but they seem to come to an unspoken agreement. As Rio heads out to get udon ingredients, Ray uses the opportunity to ask Hana, a ninetails, a question about life spans and if it ever scares them.

Hana responds with a overall positive answer, and Ray seems to like that and gives her a bowl of something off-menu.

Turnip from askturnipdeerling asks for some mushrooms and a question about whose idea it was to run the stand. Ray shows off a magazine of the previous stand owner, whose name is revealed to be Tai Ishikawa, a shiny greninja. However, the information seems to fly over Turnip's head because she can't read.

Unknowingly, Ray and Rio ended up feeding a princess and would've been horrified at the notion that they fed one like one would feed a mountain goat at a petting zoo.

In between asks and orders, Ray takes a short amount of time to attempt speech. When he opens his mouth, only guttural and choked sounds come from his mouth. Rio confronts him, telling him that he doesn't have to force himself to talk, but is met with a challenging and enthusiastic stare. It's as if they're talking to each other non-verbally.

After some time and considerable effort, he does say his first word. Hello.

Inari the Mew-in-disguise and their kids come to the stand for a bite to eat. While distracted with preparing for their meal, Kyurem stops by in a human disguise, dropping two relic statues on the countertop, which are worth a lot of money to collectors. However, both Ray and Rio freak out, and in a panic, Ray takes off with the statues away from Castelia City.

[PLOT POINT WIP]

Act 2 - Second Night

Rio attends a gala held by Lord Abbadon in the Snowpoint Mountains. She goes as Aki Tsuchiya, undercover as a rockruff from the local area in order to find more about the Kyurem who dropped the relic statues at her stand.

In addition to her goal, she attempts to return to a more chipper version of herself, one before her participation in the Kanto-Johto War. She finds herself struggling, often met with people who can see right through her heavy masking.

However, despite all of that, she walks away with new friends. Even though she makes a slight slip-up when she drinks too much.

Still, feeling slightly miserable and drunk, she wanders the mountainside in deep thought until met with a Lucario named Kon. This Lucario acts extremely hostile, accusing Rio of a list of all of the things she did wrong at the Gala.

After a back and forth, Kon reveals himself to be a Latios belonging to the Order of Arceus, the Steward of the Snowpoint Mountains and threatens her with ending her life.

In response, Rio actually returns the threat and reveals herself to be a Latias of higher rank than Kon. It's revealed that her nickname is "Kingsbane" and that she is the Shepherd of the Western part of the Unovan Continent. She flies off, leaving Kon with a reprimand. Kon calls her a "Warmonger" underneath his breath.

[gsstories]

Scars and Scales... and Feathers?!

(This a lil AU thing I have have had for a while. May make more, idk. Character used as the kelpie reader is my friend @ikari-shinsei‘s OC. Original story is Scars and Scales by @intistone, recommend you reading it will make you cry and the fluff will kill you and just, wholesome and traumatized kids, so yeah. Anyway, enjoy this lil shit of mine :))

'I am here, I am queer- what is happening here?'

Those were the first words Cameron, the kelpie who had pale skin, fluffy hair, brown eyes and a few freckles, heard when he woke up in the morning. He ran out of his room only to see his girlfriend Alanis looking at both siren kids, who are terrified as Hell might I say, of the new person, Moon growling and hissing while Sundrop is trying to hide himself. Meanwhile Alanis seemed to be having a crisis on her own, although silently. She was just... staring at the sirens.

She finally turns to Cameron and gives him a look of ‘What is this??’ and Cameron chuckles nervously.

“I can explain...” Cameron replied.

“Ya better cause I didn’t expect to come home to see two siren kids in a pillow fort. Cute but surprising.” Alanis said. “When-When did you find them?”

“Right when you left for your deliveries.” Cameron mumbled softly.

“Right after I left? Why does the interesting stuff always happens when I ain’t home?! Dang it.” Alanis huffed as she crossed her arms.

Despite being a grown woman, Alanis sometimes acted childish. Some find it weird, others endearing. Well, at least she wasn’t freaking out about the kids. Although knowing what she is, she doesn’t freak out over what is home but over the why and how.

“So, what are this kiddos’ names?” Alanis asked as she crouched to take a better look at the kids, wincing a bit when she sees their scars. “And where did you find them?”

“They didn’t really have names so I call them Sun and Moon.” Cameron said.

“Hmm, fitting.” Alanis said as she tilted her head at the kids, who tilted their heads like she did.

“I, uhh, well, technically Smokey, found them in a crate.” Cameron started explaining.

“A crate?” Alanis repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, a wooden crate. They were inside and chained up with chains, cuffs and stuff.” Cameron said.

“I... see.” Alanis said while gritting her teeth, her eyes flashing white for a moment at the thoughts of the kids chained up and hurt.

The woman closed her eyes and hit her head softly before opening them again, eyes back to normal. She turned to Cameron.

“Has it been hard taking care of these two?” Alanis asked.

“A bit. They don’t really trust me but they are doing okay, I think. They have been eating at least but still gotta check on those wounds they have.” Cameron said before wincing.

“What?” Alanis asked, confused.

“I should have mentioned Moon is a biter.” Cameron said as he pointed at Alanis’ arm.

Alanis turned and saw Moon gnawing at her arm, and Alanis hadn’t really felt a thing until Cameron pointed it out. It didn’t really hurt honestly.

“Haha, ow. Okay then.” Alanis just chuckled at Moon’s actions. “Ya know, I met sirens like you kiddos, many times.”

Moon stopped gnawing at her arm and looked at her curiously. Sun did as well from the safety of their blanket fort, and so Alanis started telling some stories to them. Kids love stories anyways.

“Yeah, it feels just like yesterday when I met em! Real big, terrifying creatures, destroying the ships of those who entered their waters! It was only really to humans though, with other creatures they were real nice. I befriended some, years ago. I wonder how they are doing...” Alanis kept talking to the kids, she just loved talking.

Cameron just smiled at the sight, glad Alanis had taken everything well. Now it’s just to tell her why his arm is bandaged up. Hoo boy.

(Hope you enjoyed this lil story thing! I shall probably add more about Alanis and Cameron and their shenanigans with the kiddos! For now, good day/night/evening!)

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1064: Finally Meeting the Sisters (King of Fighters)

10:34 a.m. at the Yabuki's Residence's Dining Room.......

Shingo: (Gently Rubs Leona's Shoulders as He Instructs Her to Breathe In and Out) Breathe in. Out. That's it, there you go.

Leona: (Takes Another Deep Breath Before Speaking) I'm sorry.....I wasn't expecting to meet one of your sisters so soon. Or ever for that matter.....

Shingo: (Smiles Softly) Hey, it's fine. (Starts Rubbing The Back of his Head Back and Forth) If anything, I should apologize for not mentioning them to you beforehand.

Leona: The thought never occurred to either of us at the time, so it couldn't be helped really. ('Sigh') Still, I hope make a good enough impression to them......

Shingo: Just stay as calm and level headed as possible and be yourself. I know you have what it takes to impress her because your name is Leona Heidern: a proud member of the Ikari Warriors and the one that stole my heart.

Leona: (Heart Begins to Melt in Happiness as She Turns to Her Boyfriend Next to Her) You really do have a way with words, don't you?~

Shingo: (Smiles Sheepishly) I really wouldn't say I have a lot if ways with words personally. But I do wanna make you happy.

Leona: You're already making me happy, by being here with me.

Shingo: And I'm not gonna leave anytime soon! I love you too much to do that.

Leona: (Giggles Softly) I love you too, darling~

Shingo: D-Darling?

Leona: (Eyes Starts to Widened Once She Immediately Realizes What She Just Said) S-Sorry! I was thinking about what sort of nickname to give you for the time being and that was the one that came to mind. I really didn't mean to blurt it out to you like that.....

Shingo: N-No, no! It's okay, really! I don't mind it at all! In fact, I think it's a great nickname for me.

Leona: (Turns Back to Shingo) It is?

Shingo: (Gently Place a Hand on Top of Leona's) Yeah. It has a nice ring to it. I....haven't come up with one of my own to give you yet, but I hope you like it whenever I reveal it to you.

Leona: (Smiles Softly) I'm sure I'll adore it very much, just as much as I adore you~

The two newly begins to slowly lean towards each other for the kiss, until the sound of the door opening startles the both of them simultaneously before quickly going back to their spots.

Tsubaki: (Walks Out of the Bathroom as She Makes her Way to the Dining Room) Okay! Got my hair dried and done, now we can start our interrog- I mean, our talk~

Shingo: (Facepalms Himself) Tsubaki, can you please go easy on Leona-san here. She's nervous enough as it is.

Tsubaki: (Rolls her Eyes) I'm not going to scare her straight, Shingo. I just wanna have a nice chat with your girlfriend is all. Promise.

Shingo: (Raises an Eyebrow at his Older Sister) Really? Then how come your hand is behind your back?

Tsubaki: (Looks at her Hand Behind her Back Before Quickly Moving it Away and Turning Back to Shingo) You're seeing things-Anywho!~ (Sits Down at her Seat as She Turns Her Attention Towards Leona) Let's finally get to know each other, Leona Heidern, is it?

Leona: You....heard of me before?

Tsubaki: (Happily Nodded) Yeah. Shingo told me quite a lot about you lately. Mostly about how strong, kind, and very pretty you are-

Shingo: Tsubaki!

Tsubaki: What? I can't help everything you tell me, Shingo. Your words are not my own, you know?

Shingo lowers his head down on the table and groans in frustration, all while Leona gently rubs her hand on his upper back and shoulder to help calm him down.

Tsubaki: As I was saying, you're among the few people around here he talks about the most. By the way, don't mean to go off topic for sec, but I love how your hair looks.

Leona: You do? (Gently Grabs The Side of her Hair as She Weaves it Down a Little) I haven't really done much to it besides wash, dry, and brush on most occasions.

Tsubaki: Hey, if it helps making it look this good, then you deserve every compliments you get. Meanwhile, mines gets more duller in each minute of the day....

Leona: (Smiles Softly) I'm not much of a hair stylist myself, but I think yours look good all things considered.

Tsubaki: Ermm.....I still say otherwise. (Smiles Softly) But I really appericate the compliment. And I can't tell you how happy I am to see my little brother find someone he could love and cherish. (Tears Suddenly Starts Appearing in her Eyes)('Sniff') So happy.....

Leona: Tsubaki-san?

Shingo: (Rolls his Eyes) Oh God, here we go.....

Tsubaki: Sorry....('Sniff') (Takes off her Glasses as Starts Wiping Away Her Tears) It's just so hard to see my baby boy growing so fast.....

Shingo: (Eyes Widened in Disbelief) Baby bo- Tsubaki, I am literally the middle child of our family!!

Tsubaki: (Terafully Glares Back at Shingo) Yeah, but even before Naomi came into the picture, I always have to be the one watching over you and keep your out of every single trouble you SOMEHOW keep getting yourself into! Especially those King of Fighters Tournament you keep participating!

Shingo: (Immediately Stabds Up Frim his Seat) You do not drag KOF into this!!!

Tsubaki: (Got Up From her Seat As Well) ALREADY FEW SECONDS LATE ON THAT, TWERP! You always come home with new injuries and scars on your back!

Leona: (Scars?)

Tsubaki: (Pinches the Top of her Nose) And don't even get me started on that incident on the bridge!.... (Turns Back to Leona) He haven't told you about that yet, did he?

Leona: (Simply Nodded) He has. (Gently Grabs The Top of Shingo's Hand) And it worries me greatly.

Shingo: (Turns to Leona With Genuine Surprise in his Eyes) Leona, I-

Tsubaki: Exactly! Like, I know this is your passion and I'm proud of you for sticking by it and everything, but I can't go through a day without worrying about you 24/7! It's starting to get impossible at this point...

Leona: If it helps make you feel any better, Tsubaki-San, I've been helping Shingo improve his combatant skills as of late.

Tsubaki: You have?

Shingo: (Quickly Nodded With a Hopefully Smile as He Placebhis Arm Around his Girlfriend) Y-Yeah, it's true! Leona and I would train with one another whenever both of us have any freetime.

Leona: And he improved a long since then. He still has a long road ahead of him mind you, but I can assure you with upmost certainty that your baby boy is in your good hands!

Shingo: Yea- (Turns to Leona With a Soft Pout) H-Hey!

Tsubaki: ('Sigh') If you're really that certain, then I guess I have no choice but to take it to great value.....(Smiles Softly) Still, I'm really enjoying your company so far, Leona-san.

Leona: (Smiles Back) I enjoy yours as well. (Lightly Bows at Tsubaki) I hope we can continue to get along in the near futu-

?????: HEY!

Leona: (Turns to the Booming Voice With Confusion) Hm?

Shingo: (Eyes Widened in Grimamce at The Sound of a Familiar Voice) Oh no.....

Tsubaki: (Turns to the Source of the Familiarity) Ah, welcome, Naomi. How was the sleepover last night?

Naomi: (Standing in Front of the Front Door With her Hands on her Hips and a Glare on her Face) Peachy. (Points at Leona) YOU!

Leona: (Slowly Points at Herself) M-Me?

Naomi: Yeah, you! Are you the girl that's dating my brother right now!?

Leona: That....I am, yes.

Naomi: (Squints her Glare at the Blue Haired Girl) Then I only have one thing to say.......

Naomi slam one of her knees down on the ground and reach her hand out at Leona before asking.....

Naomi: Would you please do the honors of taking care of my big brother as his newly wedded wife!?~

'Dead Silence'

.

.

.

.

Leona: (Eyes Slowly Starts to Widened By Youngest Sister's Words as Blush Begins to Appear on Both of her Cheeks) W-W-W-W-Wife!?

Shingo: MY WHAT!?

Naomi: Your wife. Honestly, onee-san, try and keep up for once.

Shingo: (Comically Glares at Naomi) DON'T TRY AND GET SMART WITH ME, YOUNG LADY! EXPLAIN ALL THIS CRAP YOUR SPEWING RIGHT NOW!!!

Naomi: Isn't it obvious? Tsubaki and I can't keep you groundee forever, you know? (Turbs Back to Leona) You see, my onee-san is a very sweet and hardworking boy. But he's more clumsy, thick-headed, and reckless than the two of us in this house combined and it's really starting to get annoying actually.

Shingo's jaw dropped on the floor in complete disbelief by his little sister's blatant insults about, all whe his girlfriend is still flustered and confused by a very...very unexpected proposal she was given by her boyfriend's little sister of all people.

Tsubaki: (Smiles Brightly) But now that you're in the picture and judging by your looks, I'd say you're totally a keeper!~ So whaddya say? Wedding at the church? Forest? Sunset Beach? I can play the role as your Maid of Honor-

'THWACK'

Tsubaki: (Smacks Naomi Upside the Head) Will you knock it off already!?

Naomi: (Rubs her Head as Sje Winces in Pain) Owwwwwwwwww! (Glares at Her Big Sister) Geeez, Tsubaki, what the heck was that for!?

Tsubaki: To give you a reality check. (Crosses her Arms) You know as well as I do that these two are too young to engage in marriage!

Naomi: (Turns Away With a Pout) Oh please. It's not that big of a deal....

Tsubaki: It is to me, damnit!! Do you have ANY idea how mom would react if her only boy got married out of the blue like that!?

Naomi: (Turbs Back to Tsubaki With a Glare) She would be ecstatic! Like any parent would! (Forms a Sly Smirk in her Face) And besides, at least Shingo HAS someone to fall in love with, unlike a certain someone I knooooow~

Tsubaki: (Gritting her Teeth in Anger) And what is THAT suppose to mean exactly?

Naomi: I'm not gonna beat around the bush. You're boring, uptight, bossy, and a reeeeeal stick in the mud. If you keep this up, you'll never gonna get yourself a guy or girlfriend at this rate. Living the rest if you life alone with gray hair and wrinkles all over your face-

Tsubaki: THAT'S IT!

Tsubaki tackles her younger sister to the ground as the two get themselves into a headed scuffle leaving their only brother in a deadpinned state.

Shingo: ('Sigh') And they're off. Again.....(Turns to Leona) Are you okay, Leona?

Leona: (Takes a Deep Breath as She Calms Herself Down) Yeah......I think so.

Shingo: You wanna get out of here already? I doubt they're gonna stop anytime soon.

Leona: That will be for the best really.

Few Seconds Later Outside of the Yabuki's Residence.....

Shingo: I am so sorry about my sisters. They can be real headache most of the time, but they do mean well. In more ways than none......

Leona: (Smiles Sheepishly) That's okay, really. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to meet the both of them on a short notice. They're a colorful bunch.

Shingo: (Rolls his Eyes) Colorful is putting it lightly.....(Smiles Softly) But I'm glad they're taking a liking a to you. Now, I have to hope and pray that your folks would like me too.....

Leona: (Lightly Pouts at Shingo) Hey. What have we talked about earlier?

Shingo: ('Sighs in Defeat') Not to worry about it....B-But-

Leona: (Gently Holds Shingo's Hand) But nothing. There's no point into worrying about something so trivial as pleasing one's approval. (Smiles Softly) All I care about right now to is being with someone I love. And that's you.

Shingo: (Heart Begins to Melt in Pure Happiness as He Gently Squeezes Leona's Hand) Same. So, now that we're out here, do you wanna maybe go by Rock's place for a visit? I'm pretty sure him and the others are probably worried about us as we speak Well, mostly everyone. I doubt K's ever worried.....

Leona: (Giggles Softly) I'd be surprised if he is~ But yeah, I'd love to. It's a date.

@tamrinthian

@keyenuta

@cyber-wildcat

@caleb13frede

@albion-93

@thelexhex

[matt-the-radar-techncian]

With how things actually ended I think I am seriously thinking Steven not forgiven Rose at all feels like a subversion to the trope where the protagonist forgive their parent for their misdeeds and I think that has been quite been done a lot and Steven only acknowledging the bad of rose not forgiving her is a refresher or something even if it kind of rubs some people the wrong way because it's unfair or it feels kind of weird after seeing different characters from other Media be forgiven or a kind of a slap on the wrist for worse things they did to everyone that's makes Rose kind of look like a saint.

But then again it goes back to her being dead and the other characters in question are alive or the way their backstories and what they went through are told view them in a sympathetic light. The only other character who I can think were the protagonist ends up hating their parent is Eren Yeager with his dad Grisha Yaeger from attack on Titan with Eren not saying anything nice about his father when talking to Zeke in the memories and making him kill the Royal family but I think that's probably extremely complicated right there because of the fact Grisha didn't want to kill the younger royal family members as well living behind the Walls changed him and Eren hated his father showing Mercy to the people who don't give a damn about their people who been demonize so heavily to the point where the entire world thinks that they are devils on Earth because of what their ancestors did. Basically the sins of the ancestors (which is kind of like what happened with Rose and her decisions affecting everyone? I don't know about this comparison but I guess it's interesting) and it's kill or be killed.

The idea that Steven not completely "forgiving" his mom and still having some negative feelings regarding her at the end of the story actually being a subversion and not just lazy or bad writing isn't one I've seen a lot, but it does make a lot of sense. It strikes me as something the showrunners might've done to make the story seem more grounded and realistic, since not everyone is just gonna be completely fine with everything a dead parent left them with, especially if it's someone who's been through as much as Steven has

And it's funny you mention Attack on Titan here since I've actually talked about Eren and his father while comparing them to Rose's story once before. The biggest difference for this discussion is that the story never really involves Eren "forgiving" his father at all. He doesn't particularly blame Grisha for everything that has happened to him in his life, it's more that he just thinks that the state of the entire world is fundamentally wrong and can't be saved, so the only choice he sees is to kill everyone else. The scene of Eren telling his father to kill the royal family isn't out of hatred for his father or a desire to traumatize him; the royal family has to be killed in order for events to happen the way Eren has forseen them (using Attack Titan's power to see the future). It's left ambiguous whether the future events can be changed or are predestined to happen but that's not really the point

The situation with Rose and Steven is somewhat different than that of a lot of other well-known dead/absent fathers in anime. A lot of times its either you start off thinking they're bad but they turn out to actually be pretty sympathetic (Grisha from Attack on Titan, van Hoenheim from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) or even worse than you thought (Gendo Ikari from Evangelion, Charles zi Britannia from Code Geass). Meanwhile, Rose is originally introduced as loving and flawless, but soon we (and Steven) see that she's not as perfect as we thought and did some questionable things in the past. But the difference is Rose isn't around anymore to right any of those wrongs, and Steven and the other characters are the ones who have to deal with what she left behind (Steven says exactly this to the fake Rose in the episode "Storm in the Room"). And since Rose can't do anything to solve the problems of the present, (and wasn't given more screentime in flashbacks to explore her morals) people (wrongly!) assume that the show is saying that she was totally in the wrong (which it isn't)

[softquietsteadylove]

heyyy 🫶🏼🫶🏼

can we have some more spicy ten things I hate abt you AU?? I really loved the last one!!! And can we also have Thena being vulnerable to Gil? I love your writing so so sooooo much 🫶🏼🫶🏼

—- Eternalfanatic (I forgot my account password lmao) 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

"Hey."

Thena furrowed her brows, determined to keep on kissing him as their hips moved together. She tangled her tongue with his, trying to dissuade him from interrupting things.

"Thena?"

She huffed, pulling away and bracing herself on his shoulders to glare at him. "You keep saying how much you enjoy our intimacy, yet you insist on interrupting it!"

Gil wore a sheepish expression, despite literally being buried inside of her. His fingers tapped on her bare back. "I do!"

"Then why," she growled, leaning forward and forcing him completely under her again. Not that she enjoyed the thought of his eyes having a full on feast of her naked body. But she enjoyed being on top--it gave her the control she so desperately needed, especially at times like this. She dug her nails into his shoulder, "are you?"

He sighed, glancing away as if they were having a light, normal conversation, and not in the middle of having sex. "Well...is something on your mind?"

"Now?!" she barked at him. Neither were close to the point of no return, obviously, but she wasn't exactly ready to call things off and have a little heart to heart, either. "You're asking this now!"

"Sorry," he whined faintly, holding her hips still as she tried to resume their pleasure. He gave her a distinctly concerned look. "I'm happy you came over and all. But I dunno--you seem kind of...angry."

She was.

"If you wanna angry fuck, then fine," Gil amended, holding her hips more firmly. "But I'm not some exercise bike you can use to blow off steam and then ignore."

Her brows raised. It was the first time he had expressed his qualms about their relationship so clearly. He had a right to, of course, and she knew he was right, too. She was using all the benefits of their closeness without offering any return on his emotional investment.

Gil made room for her as she lifted herself off of his completely erect hardness and flopped onto the bed beside him. "Y'know how they say 'don't go to bed angry'? Well, I'm pretty sure they would say don't have spite-sex, either."

She shook her head, staring up at his ceiling with her arms wrapped around herself futilely. "Sorry."

He shook his head as well, also staring up instead of at her. It did make things feel a little easier. "I'm sorry--I should have asked before we got into things."

In all fairness to Gil, she had positively pounced on him as soon as they were in his room. He wouldn't have had much time to voice his concerns before she was undoing his belt and asking if that box of condoms still had anything in it.

"So?" he prompted, slipping his hands under the covers and over the tent in his sheets. "What pissed you off?"

At the moment, he was at the very top of that list. But that also wasn't fair, and she knew what he was asking and how he meant it.

They had met at the party, as promised. And things had been fine. Sersi had found Dane immediately and Thena had happily left the young lovebirds to flirt and giggle through the evening. She and Gil were talking, relaxing a little out of the thick of the crowd. It had been fine.

"Ikaris," she began. Part of her almost wished the solitary statement would have been enough, but she knew it wasn't. She tugged his sheets up more firmly around her. "When I went to find the recycling."

Which there wasn't one, much to her frustration.

Gil nodded, both of them still flat on their backs. "What did he say?"

Thena gulped. Looking up at the white painted ceiling of Gil's room was easier. The spots hastily plastering over something exposed, the edge where ceiling met the brick walls. "He asked me what we were."

"Oh."

She sighed through her nose. She hadn't had much intention of telling him this. Truly, the desire to tell anyone at all any of this was completely absent. But she owed Gil this much. "I told him to fuck off and mind his own business."

Gil snorted.

But the story wasn't nearly so simple. "But he guessed we were together in at least some capacity. He asked...he asked if I was finally ready to get off my high horse and just fuck--in his own words."

Gil sat up partially, his face drawing in and suddenly radiating a righteous indignity on her behalf.

She reached over, pressing on his chest and making him resume looking up at the ceiling with her. It was the only way she was going to get through this.

"His pursuit of me...he did earnestly try to date me. At least, I thought it had been earnest," she dragged out of herself. It was her least favourite thing to remember of all her life, it wasn't coming out easy. "He had wanted to advance rather quickly. I told him I hadn't done anything with anyone and I doubted I was ready for it with him."

Gil waited through her heavy pause.

She sighed, "he laughed, and laughed, and laughed."

"I'll kill him."

She shrugged, "even that would be more attention than he deserves to be paid. I sent him away and he's thought derisively of me ever since. That's why my contempt for him runs deeper than simply him being a prick, and him thinking he has some right to my sister."

"Wow," Gil scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain, "I thought he was a creep but I didn't know he was a disgusting bastard."

Thena inhaled slowly, running her hands over the sheets. "Sersi doesn't even know. I've only told her that she is not to even so much as speak to him."

Gil had the wisdom not to offer his opinion on things, as least just yet. But he reached over under the sheets until he could grasp her hand.

She let him. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

She shook her head again, her hair a hopeless mess on Gil's pillow (and he only had one, so of course he saved it for her). "It's not fair to you."

He sat up, apparently - unfortunately - done with the anonymity of avoiding eye contact. He leaned on his knees, "I guess not."

She had been the one to state it, but his quick and firm agreement still made her stomach clench. "I-"

"But it's not fair to you either."

"Hm?" she blinked up at him. She expected some lecture but he leaned down again, stretching his body out against hers and scooping her waist into the grasp of his strong arm. She sighed as he kissed her.

"I hope I don't have to tell you I'm not like that asshole."

No, he didn't.

He pulled away, looking at her so tenderly that she wondered how she could ever muster the effort to be cold with him. "But I shouldn't have to tell you. You should just...feel it, or something."

He had his own eloquence, and she found it unwittingly charming.

"Thena," Gil frowned, holding her against him, both of them on their sides. "Were you ready--when you first came over, I mean? 'Cause if you weren't, I can't-"

She leaned in, kissing him again to divert the trajectory of that thought. "I came over, I initiated the kiss, I told you I was ready. Is that not enough?"

But he didn't rise to her bait. He stared at her like he would never see her again if he blinked. "I...I...I really like you, Thena."

It certainly wasn't what he had initially started saying, but it still made her freeze like a deer in headlights. Excitement and dread flooded through her in equal amounts.

"I'm not asking you to feel the same," he whispered, and she had to admire that he was strong enough to say that, while she was too afraid to even tell him she liked him in the first place. "But I'd rather you know. And it has nothing to do with, uh, this. I liked you before. I liked you as soon as I saw you glaring at me at the theatre beside Sersi."

She rolled her eyes, because there was no way that was true.

"So, even if you don't wanna hang out anymore, or come over like this," Gil trailed off into a mumble, his eyes drifting downward. "Then, that's okay. But I'll still like you--unless you tell me not to, I guess."

She smiled--even laughed. There was just something so earnest and sweet and charming about this delinquent. She kissed him again, just for the enjoyment of it. It was actually rather dangerous, how much she liked kissing him.

Gil laid his head down again. She really needed to get him another pillow (such a boy thing, to have only one). "Sorry, but I guess I'm glad I interrupted."

She supposed it was out of concern for her. Although there was still a faint ache within her, and the insides of her thighs were quite sticky. "Was angry sex so bad?"

He grinned, satisfied that she seemed in better spirits. He ran his hands over her back again, "not that it's bad. But I prefer making love."

Thena let him lure her into making out again. It was a great excuse not to look at him as he expounded such romantic nonsense. "I've never met a boy who called it that."

"Well, I'd call myself a young man, at best," he protested with a faint pout (before kissing her again). "And I think it's only fitting, if I'm gonna worship you like the princess you are."

She didn't have a clever comeback for that, gasping as he latched onto her neck. "Do you still have that condom on?"

"Yeah, but let me do something."

She half expected him to pick up the firm and nearly frenzied pace she'd had before. To roll them over and start absolutely ravaging her. But all he did was move her onto her back and lie himself over her. He stayed close, his head always hovering within kissing distance.

"This okay?" he whispered as he pushed into her again, much more slowly and gently this time. "If I wanna get romantic with the girl I like?"

It was so juvenile, so trivial sounding. And yet when he said it, her heart and her brain screamed in joy. She never felt so elated, despite her fighting against this very thing.

"Gil," she gasped, her hands on his chest as he thrusted slowly but steadily. They had actually never been in this specific position before. It felt intimate, even fore the act of physical relations. Her legs splayed out on either side of him, but her foot was pressed to his calf muscle, as if scared he would slither away from her. Her hands were on his warm skin, she could feel his rapid heartbeat.

"Thena," he moaned as he picked up speed.

Looking into his eyes was too much. She didn't know where he ended and she began. She was being too vocal and the longer she looked into his eyes the more red spread through her cheeks and down her neck. She clung to him. "Fuck, Gil."

"Thena," he groaned again, panting and grunting and meeting her lips in hasty, open kisses.

"Gil, please," she whimpered, her voice thin and high like the last note on a violin. She didn't want to, but she slung to him desperately. "Please, please come with me."

"I'm there, I'm so there," he confirmed. Neither of them had the stamina of seasoned experts, but she felt so much more acutely than usual every movement and breath he took.

Making unfathomable sounds while rutting her naked body together with a boy she liked: she was no princess. She was just Thena, and she was unfortunately quite in love with the boy in bed with her.

And the boy was quite a fine man, she purred as she felt him come first, within the condom, his muscles twitching as he held himself over her. He stayed close but made an effort not to put his full weight on her.

She accepted it eagerly, lifting her hips as she came around him. Her thighs gripped either sides of him, soft flesh to soft flesh. She had no control over her body, or her voice, although he helped absorb some of the sounds of her ecstasy directly against his waiting lips.

They laid like that, both catching their breath. Gil moved first, but her legs tightened around him, unwilling to part with him just yet, even in his softened state.

"You feel good?" he asked aloud (needlessly). He kissed her cheek.

"Hm," she purred, still languishing in the feeling of his skin against hers. She ran her hands over the sheen on his skin and the hair there, fine as it was. "Don't make me move yet."

"Okay," he chuckled, kissing her forehead and only moving enough to lie himself down not quite on top of her. "Whatever her ladyship wants."

It was a teasing nickname, but she didn't even have it in her to scold him for it.

"Does this mean you'll stay?" he whispered, the light touch of his fingertips on her cheek tempting her deeper into sleep.

"Hm, I shouldn't," she sighed, curling against him on her side, even as her energy left her. That was all she got out on the matter. It was simply too tempting to remain all snuggled up with him. He certainly had no complaints, even as she felt him moving around to clean up or some such.

If he wanted to be her boyfriend, then he could be her boyfriend. And that meant letting her sleep as long as she wanted.

[tenebraevesper]

Digimon Tamers: Cyber Battles, Entry 15: Farbenspiel

Chapter Preview/Link To Full Chapter Below

Takuto sighed as he entered the classroom, wearing the summer variant of his school uniform, a short-sleeved button-up shirt, red tie and black trousers. He felt a bit annoyed that he had to return to school, but it wasn't as if he had much choice. He had left Guilmon, accompanied by Calumon, at Ichigo with Kimiko, at least until he returned back home. Calumon had been confused to why he and Guilmon weren't allowed to go along with Takuto to school, but Takuto comforted him, noting that it wasn't a place where he could just bring them along and that he'd be bored. Guilmon told Takuto that he'd keep an eye on Calumon until his Tamer returned home, with the two agreeing to help out Kimiko. As for why Calumon was at the Momotsuka residence instead of the Takashi apartment?

''Impmon had told me that he would be really busy and that I should stay with you, –calu,'' Calumon explained. Takuto and Guilmon exchanged worried glances, wondering what Impmon would be up to. After all, they knew that Setsuna would also be going to school, and just like Takuto, she couldn't bring Impmon along, so what was he going to do?

''I guess I should've called Setsuna,'' Takuto muttered under his breath as he sat down at the back of the classroom, next to the window. He glanced at the weather outside, noticing the heavy clouds gathering. ''I hope Impmon won't cause any trouble.''

''No way!''

''We're getting a new classmate? Shut up!''

Takuto looked up, glancing over at the group of people that had gathered around a girl with dark brown hair. Her name was Ikari Nene and she was the resident school gossip. Takuto had no idea how that was possible, but Nene knew somehow everything about everyone, even offering her own service of digging up information on the person you wanted to learn more about. Therefore, he wasn't surprised that she'd also knew whether they'd get a new classmate.

''Hey, hey, Nene, do you know more about that person?'' one of the girls had asked.

''Of course I do,'' Nene replied triumphantly. ''As a matter of fact, I got this information from a very reliable source.''

''Com'n, don't keep us waiting. What do you know?'' another girl asked.

''It turns out that this person was a delinquent at her previous school in Edogawa,'' Nene told them.

''What?''

''A delinquent?''

Takuto perked up, listening intently. Meanwhile, Nene continued, basking in the attention she got, ''Yeah, I heard that she caused a lot of trouble in her school and that this is why she changed schools. Some speculate that she might even be a sukeban, but that is unconfirmed. Other people said that she's very violent and vulgar.''

''To think such person is going to be in our class.''

''If you ask me, she should go back to Edogawa! We have no place here for a delinquent.''

''If she thinks she'll be able to cause trouble in our school, she is wrong.''

Takuto listened to the conversations between his classmates, wondering if Nene told everyone the truth or exaggerated some parts of the story for the sake of drama. It wouldn't be surprising if she did, as Nene absolutely adored the attention. Takuto drowned out the noise, starting to wonder what this delinquent-person was like. He liked to think that everyone was a good person unless they proved him otherwise, and he hoped that this new classmate had a reason for this kind of behavior.

Eventually, the bell rung and everyone sat down, talking and waiting for their homeroom teacher. It took a while, but eventually, a young woman, Nakamura-sensei, entered the classroom. As everyone got up and bowed respectfully, she turned her head towards the class, then towards the door.

''Everyone, I would like to introduce you to your new classmate,'' she said as the door opened. The class waited in anticipation, some students gasping, some frowning and some staring in awe as a girl wearing the summer variant of the school uniform, a short-sleeved button-up shirt, a red bow and red plaited skirt entered the classroom. Takuto's eyes widened in shock.

Setsuna?!

Digimon Tamers: Cyber Battles, Entry 15: Farbenspiel (Complete Chapter)

[asknarashikari]

Azuma: *chilling in the salon* Keiwa, Neon and Sara: *gasping for cool air* Finally! Azuma: How's the heat? Keiwa: Getting hotter and hotter every day! Azuma: Just be lucky he allows you guys in for free. Go on. Go wherever you guys fancy here. And... Ace is at Beach Planet #6: Radical Waves.

Neon: By the way... where are the munchkins at? Azuma: Beach Planet #3: Boardwalk Fair with their Papa.

Meanwhile

Me: *bored out of my mind because the kids always choose the kiddie rides, Ferris wheel, games rides, etc... instead of the big fast, sometimes scary, rides or haunted houses. And most of them need Daddy's bravery with them* Don and Ikari Gai: How's the ride? *snickering* Me: I'm totally fine! <-(sarcasm) Oren: Looks like Bowser or DK in the smaller carts. *LOL*

Everyone's reactions?

...I think they'll just want to stay somewhere with an AC 😂 It's too hot to even go to the beach anymore

(Seriously guys it's so hot that even the water from the tap at home comes out warm sometimes... we're all dying in SEA)

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 24

All right, this is it, the 17th Angel. Let's see what gonzo powers this one has...

Not quite what I was expecting, but I am impressed.

Uh... So Asuka's completely incapable of piloting her Eva, so I guess she ran away for like a week and she's been living in the bathtub of a wrecked house. The episode opens with a vision of Li'l Asuka running home to tell her mother about how she got accepted into the Eva program or something, and then she finds her mother hanging from a noose. Her dad had died sometime prior to this, I guess.

Later, we see her lying catatonic in a hospital bed, and that's baiscally it for Asuka this episode. Her arc was getting bleak but this is just awful. Let's move on.

Meanwhile, Gendo Ikari questions Ritsuko and asks why she destroyed the Dummy Plug system last time. Ritsuko talks about how her cat recently died, and she hadn't seen it in years, because of her work at NERV. Then she says she's not happy anymore, even when Gendo makes love to her. Oh wow. Well that settles that, then.

Do you think Gendo holds his hands over his mouth while he's doing the deed? Just props his elbows on the head of the bed and stares into the wall pensively while he thrusts his hips? Maybe I should find something else to talk about. Sorry.

Gendo says she's disappointed him, and she says he can't be disappointed, because he never had any expectations of her at all. She's nothing to him and she always was. This does put into perspective all the times Gendo has expressed disappointment in Shinji. Like, it's just a thing he says. Ultimately, it's meaningless.

What about Shinji? Well, he could really use someone to talk to after the startling revelation about Rei. The trouble is that there isn't anyone left. Asuka's... yeah. Misato's off doing her own thing. Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney left town. I didn't realize it at the time, but Tokyo-3 got wrecked in the recent Angel battles. Probably the 13th Angel, mainly.

There is Rei, but Shinji has no idea how to even act around Rei. I mean, it was never easy interacting with Rei, but now it's not even the same Rei? Or something? He can't talk to her is the point.

Then he meets this kid singing to himself amongst the wreckage. He introduces himself as Kaworu Nagisa, the Fifth Child and newest Eva Pilot. He's been recruited to replace Asuka, although it isn't clear if she's been kicked off the team just yet.

Everyone's kind of suspicious of the new kid, probably because he's so damn chipper and he isn't dealing with the trauma of dead parents or whatever. Also they have him do sync tests and his scores are excellent even before they reconfigured Unit 02 for him. He's a little too good to be true, and everyone in NERV seems to know it.

After the tests, the boys take a shower together, and when Shinji says he prefers to stay at the base late because he doesn't like spending time at home anymore, Kaworu invites him to sleep over at his place.

He also flirts a little with Shinji, and Shinji blushes. Today I was looking up what people were so angry about when Neon Genesis Evangelion was added to Netflix, and one of the gripes was that they edited out a scene featuring "a key piece of gay subtext". I wondered what that was, and yeah. I may not be the sharpest knife in the crayon box, but this looks pretty gay to me.

I will admit, this isn't something I usually think about when I watch or read stories, but in Shinji's case it probably never would have occurred to me, because of all the emotional baggage we've seen in the first 23 episodes. But now that we're here, it kind of makes sense. This kid's got so much trouble expressing his emotions and figuring out what he wants that it might have taken him a million years to work out that he's into boys. I mean, he apologizes for things that aren't even remotely his fault, and is desperate for the approval of others. He's not going to come out of the closet if there's even the slightest chance that someone might disapprove.

They don't go any further than that, but they do have a sleepover, and Shinji tells him that he hates his dad, which he's expressed in the past, but never quite so directly and succinctly. Shinji wonders why he would tell Kaworu this, of all people. I think, Shinji's sexuality aside, Kaworu showed up in just the right place and time and made himself available in just the kind of way Shinji needed at that moment. He wanted someone to talk to, and suddenly Kaworu's there to grant his wish. Kaworu just makes Shinji feel at ease, maybe for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, SEELE has resolved to put a stop to Gendo Ikari and his usurpation of NERV. SEELE created NERV to further its own agenda, but they feel Gendo has warped NERV to service his agenda instead.

Meanwhile, Gendo Ikari talks to Eva Unit 01, and addresses it as Yui, his dead wife. According to him, the Lance of Longius was in their way, so he wanted it thrown into outer space, whether SEELE liked that or not. He believes the 17th Angel, the last one, will appear soon, and with its death, he and Yui shall have their wish granted at last. Huh.

Oh, also earlier on, Kaworu introduced himself to Rei and told her that they were alike. She stays up all night wondering why she's still alive, and what Kaworu meant. What is it they have in common?

Meanwhile, Misato does some digging on Kaworu and discovers that he has the ability to increase his synchronization with the Evas at will. Like, he can control it completely if he wants, or he can lower his sync score to make it seem like he's not as good at it. That's supposed to be impossible, so Misato goes to Ritsuko, who I guess is in a NERV detention facility. She asks Ritsuko what Kaworu is, and she speculates that he's the final Angel. I was about to ask why Ritsuko never mentioned this earlier, but I forgot, she's turning against NERV, so her answer would probably be "'Cause fuck'em."

But before Misato can act on this informaiton, Kaworu makes his move. He activates Unit 02 and takes it down to the room where Adam is. Everyone's shocked, mostly because Kaworu doesn't even have to be inside the Eva to control it. He just floats alongside the thing as they head downstairs.

But also, as Admiral Clownshoes points out, SEELE is behind this. They knew what this kid was and they sent him to NERV knowing he would launch an attack.

And just so there's no confusion on this point, we cut to SEELE who talk amongst themselves about how they planned for this to happen. They expect this to be Gendo's final stand, and that he'll use Eva Unit 01 to stop Kaworu. So do they plan on NERV winning this fight? I assumed this showdown with the 17th Angel would happen regardless, so maybe SEELE's play here is to force the confrontation on their terms, so that the outcome is more favorable to them than for Gendo.

Because, the worst case scenario here is that Kaworu wins and destroys the world. Right? I mean, that's what this has been about from the start. Why would SEELE take such a gamble? How did they even arrange this? Did they look up "17th Angel" in the Yellow Pages, call him up and go "Hey, we want to pull a prank on Gendo. You want in on this?"

Maybe they just discovered Kaworu's infiltration and chose to let it play out. This implies that they can detect Angels much more effectively than NERV, which seems kind of backwards. If they have superior intel on the Angels, then why is Gendo the one running NERV?

As SEELE anticipated, Gendo sends Shinji to intercept in Unit 01. At first, Shinji refuses to believe that Kaworu is an Angel, but then he gets furious at Kaworu for betraying him and using his emotions against him. Kaworu's as bad as his father, Shinji says, which is as good a motivation as any.

But Shinji can't attack Kaworu while he's got Unit 02 to back him up. Shinji asks how he can control Unit 02, and Kaworu explains that he and the Eva are both made from the same type of Angelic tissues, from Adam. So it's child's play for him to control the Eva. Shouldn't that mean the other Angels would have had the same ability? I guess it doesn't work when they have pilots inside. Whatever.

As the battle progresses, Misato orders her dude at the controls to initiate a self-destruct on the whole base if Shinji's signal is lost. She reasons that it would be better to destroy the whole facility and die than to allow Kaworu to reach Adam and trigger Third Impact. Wait, is that still the lore? I thought they debunked that a while back?

But as Kaworu draws closer, they detect another powerful AT field, and they think it's another Angel. Well, no, it's just Rei. Your guess is as good as mine.

As Kaworu draws closer to Adam, he waxes philosophic about this. From the way he speaks of it, it's like he's compelled to return to Adam, because he was born from Adam. So maybe this was why all of the Angels headed for Tokyo-3. It's an instinctive compulsion, like salmon swimming upstream. But Kaworu seems to find it tragic that his instinctive compulsion will lead to the destruction of humanity.

Then he gets closer and realizes this isn't Adam at all but... Lilith? Who the hell is Lilith? Apparently this wasn't what Kaworu had in mind. He refers to humans as "Lilim", implying that they're the descendants of Lilith, just as the Angels and Evas are born of Adam, but... I dunno.

And in this moment of confusion, Shinji manages to catch up to Kaworu and grab him. If I understand correctly, Rei's AT field is neutralizing his own? And Shinji managed to overpower Unit 02, so Kaworu is defenseless. He seems more relieved than worried.

Kaworu explains that one one life form can inherit the future, Angels or humans, and he seems to have developed an admiration for humanity, perhaps from the time he spent living among them. Now that he's reached this place, he's content to die here, for life and death are of no great consequence to him. But he warns Shinji that he must kill him, because if Shinji doesn't, humanity will surely be doomed.

It's weird how this is the only Angel who can talk and he's even more cryptic and weird than the rest. I wonder if they all felt this way about it. It was all just a weird routine for them, and they don't particularly care if they win or lose as long as it's over.

Shinji begs him to explain what the fuck he's talking about, but this is all the explanation he's going to get. Either kill Kaworu or the whole world dies. At this, everyone just sort of freezes in place for... maybe two minutes? And then finally Shinji crushes him and his head falls into the Tang pool beneath Adam. Or Lilith. Who cares?

Later, we see Gendo and Rei watching Unit 01 getting the blood washed off it.

Elsewhere, Shinji talks to Misato and mourns Kaworu's death. He told Shinji he loved him, and he had never heard such kind words before. Shinji thinks Kaworu should have survived, but Misato counters that Kwaoru had given up his will to survive, and thus forfeited his right to live. That's kind of harsh.

Here's my version: Whatever Kaworu was, he seemed to only value his life as far as the time he spent with Shinji. And so if he had won, and Shinji perished with humanity, what would Kaworu have left to live for? That's why he said life and death are equal to him. It didn't matter because in his view, both were the same fate, but at least Shinji and his kind could grow and evolve to find new purpose. So if only one or the other can have the future, then it's only fair that it go to the one that can actually do something with it.

Anyway, the bigger picture here is that we just saw the last Angel die, and yet there's still two more episodes to go. What, does everyone just have a pizza party now? Asuka was despondent about not being an Eva pilot, but what good is being an Eva pilot when there's no more Angels to fight?

There is, of course, the SEELE vs. Gendo conflict to sort out, but it's hard to get invested in that when both sides are assholes, and I have no idea what either of them wanted. For all I know, they both won today.

Also, Shinji won, but he's still not happy. Kid, there's other boys in the world, if that's what's bothering you.

[hypexion]

It's the final return of the Akuma Tier List. Monarch finally had a good idea or two. I'd say it didn't help him in the end, but it sort of did.

Also some of these supervillains were created for goals other than getting the Miraculous, so they are probably being judged on their own metrics.

S Tier

Hoaxer, Ms. Sans-Culotte, Perfect Alliance

Two of these are already skating in the on different goals rule, but a win is a win. Sure, Hoaxer completed her own goals, rather than Monarch's, but she's still a perfect mind control akuma who only lost because she wanted to. Meanwhile, Ms. Sans-Culotte ironically helped Monarch dispose of a problematic mayor and install a new one. She also gets points for being the "Madame Guillotine" akuma, which I didn't think they'd actually do.

Then there's the Perfect Alliance plan, which leverages negative emotions to transform a signifigant portion of the world's population into soldiers for Monarch. It's the Catalyst plan on a global scale. Now this is supervillainy. It's incredibly effective, and only "fails" due to luck. Fighting the millions of Alliance users simply isn't possible, even if you remove some of the rings. Eventually, you'll make a mistake, and it's over. In many ways, being in the Agreste Mansion when things started saved Ladybug, since the relatively enclosed space reduced the number of Miraculised she had to fight at once. All in all, a very good plan.

A Tier

Darker Owl, Manipula, Safari, Gold Record, Queen Mayor, Nightormentor

A pile of good ideas, although less than before. Manipula is probably the weakest here, but she came with a whole army and performed pretty well. If only the power of Determination worked on wax. The rest all do something fairly dangerous, like "never miss (with paralysis arrows)" or "invisible killer robots". Nightormentor is down here because he technically didn't complete his goal of finding Adrien, and his second appearance gets folded into Perfect Alliance.

B Tier

Ikari Dozen, Pharaoh 2, Kikou, Riposte Prime, Vanisher 2, Matagi Gozen

This time around the B tier is split good ideas with bad execution, and bad ideas with good execution. Giving five powers at once is good, but making two of them defensive is a waste. Matagi Gozen is also dubious, wasting a slot on Clout instead of more useful ability. Meanwhile, Pharaoh could use his truth powers to get the heroes' identities, but he does not.

Riposte Prime and Vanisher are slightly weird in that they're specificly Anti-Marinette akumas. Riposte Prime traps her in a Shelter Sphere, which is not a long term solution, while Vanisher fails to frame her. Riposte is especially strange because it's not like Gabriel had a problem with her impaling his son.

C Tier

Glaciator IV, Reflecta EX, Bugfighter

The violence akumas that have nothing else going for them. Really, the big winner here is the Better Reflecta, who is finally dangerous for once. Meanwhile Glaciator returns again, without anything to make him even slightly effectual. Lots of Clouters are actually hazardous. One is not.

Oh and Bugfighter is the big loser under "reversed timelines count" rules since she just kept shrugging off the akuma. Like she could grab Cosmobug, but it didn't help.

D Tier

Sole Destroyer, Dark Humour

One last "akuma that makes the Miraculous irretriviable" for the road, eh? In theory she only existed so Monarch could do the ambush, but she also got defeated offscreen. Let's not count this as a Chloé akuma so that she can keep her streak of incredibly good akumatizations going. Dark Humour has the problem that a) he has the worst Miraculous power and b) there's no certainty that making Ladybug and Chat Noir jerks will make them easy pickings. Hell, Chat was already ready to catacylsm Dark Humour, and he might have still found it funny after getting hit.

F Tier

Ryukomuri

This is the kind of thing that makes me wonder if I need an even worse tier. Ryukomuri is literally incapable of acquiring the Miraculous. Oh, and Monarch's choice of akuma object could have been fatal to Kagami, which would have immediately turned Tomoe Tsurugi against him. At which point she would murder him and Monarch would inexplicably become a woman. Just a full round of WTFs here, since the outcome for Gabriel is that Kagami turns back and he gets no Miraculous, or Kagami dies and Tomoe kills him. And if he somehow manages to avoid Tomoe's wrath, Felix might do it a few days later anyway.

The overall meta-analysis is that I think over time, Gabriel produces better akumas. Not all of them are hits, but there does seem to be a general progression away from poor-quality combat akumas, and an increasing emphasis on nasty tricks and unusual tactics. This all converges in the Perfect Alliance, which combines mind control and mass akumatization to an almost crushingly effective degree.

If only he'd put all that effort into being a better person!