#when she sees an opportunity noelle does reach out and not in a way where shes trying to provoke susie to hurt or threaten her

[hellspawnmotel]

“caroline, please kill me” by coma cinema

[accidentalmistress]

GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS

No, it's not hump day. It's Accidental Mistress Release Day!

(Really showing my age with that reference, lol)

Man, has it really been two weeks already? Time sure flies, don't it? OH, and I sneezed today! It's been exactly 15 weeks since the last one! An auspicious day indeed!

Today we have a relatively short piece, but it's one of my favorites. This is a very snz-centered piece that's entirely from Oraion's point of view, so please do enjoy the next installment of Accidental Mistress...

Title: Silver Metal

Word count: 2,044

Content and warnings: snz (male)

----------------------------

Oraion waited patiently for the perfect opportunity to present itself, and the time had finally come. One of the middle levels of his Mistress’s tower was one sprawling room that served as her library, study, and workshop. Today, he found Noelle standing before her workbench, fussing over a number of glass bottles, vials, and beakers. She had her back to him and was quite absorbed in whatever she was working on, so he took a moment to let his eyes rove her figure. Noelle was a petite little thing, barely taller than five feet while he stood three inches over six. Today she had on one of her usual ensembles of a plain dress in a neutral color with a knit shawl around her shoulders. Despite his efforts, Oraion had not yet convinced his Mistress that simply because she was a witch did not mean she needed to dress like someone's grandmother. At least she was wearing the silver earrings he had gifted her back when they visited the Silver Market together with that Knight friend of hers.

He crept into the room as silent as a cat, crossing the distance until he was standing directly behind the young witch with her being none the wiser. Her focus was intent on a metal bowl on the table—Oraion hesitated to call it a ‘cauldron’—and the small vials she held in each hand, one containing a luminescent green fluid and the other a substance that was milky and pale blue. It seemed she was just about to add some measure of each to the mixture.

Oraion waited until he was nearly touching her, leaning to peer over her shoulder, before he spoke.

“My, that looks fiddly.”

Predictably, Noelle shrieked and jumped, the two vials in her hands dropping from her grasp completely. With a satisfied smirk, Oraion reached out a hand and snapped his fingers, and the falling vials of liquid froze in the air as though time had stopped. Noelle turned to look over her shoulder with an indignant look, but her freckled cheeks were a delightful pink.

“O-Oraion! Do not sneak up on me like that! What if this was something volatile and explosive? Or if it produced some kind of toxic gas? It’s dangerous to startle me when I’m working!”

“Oh, come now, I had everything well in hand.” The demon twirled his finger and the liquid that had begun to spill from the vials flowed right back in. “See? No harm done.”

Noelle snatched the two vials out of the air before flashing Oraion an irritated pout.

“You still scared the life out of me.” She turned back to her work and added in a sulky grumble, “I’d say that’s some harm done.”

“Oh dear, it seems I’ve upset my Mistress.” Oraion placed his hands on her shoulders and started to massage the tension there with his thumbs. “I do hope she will allow her humble Servant to make it up to her.”

“W-well, I suppose that does feel nice…”

He could feel little ripples of pleasure radiating out from where he touched her—not the same as what he felt when he pleasured her in more intimate ways, but it still provided him with a tantalizing taste of her. She really was different from anyone else he had ever fed on, an intoxicating nectar more exquisite than the finest wine and sweeter than the most tempting dessert. Now that he had gotten that small taste, though, it only left him wanting more. He leaned down as though he were trying to get a closer look at what she was doing.

“Hm, perhaps I could also offer my Mistress some assistance? After all, is it not my duty as your Servant to lend a helping hand with your magical endeavors?”

Being a demon, his ears were long and pointed, like an elf, and as he bent down with his head next to hers, he allowed the tip of his ear to brush hers and the silver earring that hung from it.

“Ah, sorry.”

“Oh, n-no, it’s all right. Um, this potion, though, is really more manual than magical. I don’t know what I would have you do to help.”

“Hmm, I see… Then perhaps it would be acceptable for me to simply observe?”

“I-I suppose… I don’t see why not.”

Oraion smirked and straightened back up. “Wonderful. Well, don’t let me interrupt you any further, Mistress.”

“Um, all right…”

As she resumed her work with the potion, readying the vials to add to the mixture, Oraion felt the telltale prickle in his sinuses blossom. He had only barely touched the silver for a fraction of a moment, so it was a tenuous tickle stirring at the bridge of his nose, but it was enough to start a sniffle forming.

“So what is this potion you’re -snf- making?”

“Oh, um, it’s an energy potion. I’m trying to perfect the formula, so whenever I’m feeling a little tired I can take some for a quick boost. I have to be very careful with the proportions, though. I don’t want it to be too strong, or, um, I won’t sleep for days.”

Oraion chuckled. “Sounds like you’re, ah, -snf- speaking from experience.”

“Y-yes, well, it’s a… work in progress.”

He could tell he had her attention, but it wasn’t entirely uncommon for him to be a bit sniffly at times. She wasn’t getting riled up quite yet, but half the fun was the slow build, wasn’t it?

He moved his hands from kneading her shoulders to lightly rubbing the nape of her neck. The silver charms dangling from Noelle’s ears were shaped like luna moths, and he surreptitiously brushed one with a finger. The effect was more immediate now that his sinuses were already irritated, and the tickle began to spread.

“Mmh…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, -snnff- sorry.” His nose was beginning to run, giving his sniffling more substance, and he could just barely detect a stirring of desire within her.

“O-oh, okay…”

He watched her add the ingredients from the two vials and put them away, then start stirring the concoction with a metal rod. He stopped rubbing her shoulders so he could instead rub his own nose, which he was certain was starting to flush. Though the itch had spread, it still wasn’t enough to send him over the edge, and as he bided his time it even began to subside a bit.

A slow burn was his aim, no need to rush things. So far his sniffling was nothing out of the ordinary, just enough to catch her attention and interest.

“So, ah, what’s our -sdnf- next step?”

“Um, well, I need to keep stirring it until it changes color. Right now it’s a dark blue, but as I stir you’ll see it lighten and change to a sort of lavender color.”

“Lavender, eh?” He seized the opportunity to tease her. “Just saying the word makes my nose itch.”

Looking at her profile, he could see her cheeks turning redder as the desire within her sparked. She laughed as well, but it was more of a nervous giggle.

“W-well, it, um, it won’t smell like lavender, it will only take on the color. So, uh, no need to worry.”

“Oh, I’m not worried. Even if it did smell like lavender. That would only make things more interesting, I think.”

Things were about to get more interesting either way. He touched her earring with a finger again, and a flare of irritation swept through his sinuses so quickly that he very nearly lost control right then and there. He pressed a knuckle beneath his septum as his breath caught.

“hehHEH–  Oh, g-goodness, I’m sorry. -snnff- I-I suppose it’s all that talk of lavender.”

That spark of desire within his Mistress began to smolder and burn, and he had to suppress a shiver as the feel of it washed over him. Another anxious titter crossed her lips.

“Oh, um, sorry, haha. W-we can talk about, um, something else.”

Now it was getting fun. Time to turn things up a little more.

“Ah, yes, I certainly wouldn’t want to interrupt you again, Mistress.” He snapped his fingers, and a handkerchief appeared in his hand. “This ought to help. Excuse me for a moment.”

He turned and blew his nose into the cloth, a satisfied smirk crossing his face. Under the guise of trying to restrain himself, he could wind her up even more. It was delicious.

“R-right. Um, oh, look: the potion is changing color. See?”

He craned over to peer at the bowl on the workbench. Indeed, the liquid inside began to change from the sort of navy blue color it was before to a lighter color. A perfect opportunity: he brushed her ear with his own again, and a sharp buzz lanced through the bridge of his nose. He felt his nostrils twitch and flare. 

“Oh dear— eh-heh-hehh! S-sorry, I duh-heh- d-don’t know what– what, um… hehh-HEHH!”

Gods, he was barely hanging on. He wasn’t going to be able to hold it back much more than this. If he touched the silver again, that would surely be the end of it. He pressed the handkerchief desperately over his nose and mouth and somehow wrested control back over his sinuses.

“Nnhehh… P-please forgive me, -snndff- Mistress. I-I’m so sorry to be such a- such a-hah! Mmnh- -snnf- A d-distraction. I don’t know what’s c-come over me. -snf- You know, s-sometimes the, ah, littlest things can se-set me off.”

Oh, she was enjoying this. The more he apologized, the more flustered she became and the brighter her desire burned. It was becoming difficult to stay in character, all contrite and genteel, when his instinct was to embrace her and whisper in her ear all the things he could do to her right there on the table. He’d been with her long enough now, though, to know that something like that would only stoke her anxieties. His Mistress required more care, a gentler touch—Oraion suspected she might be a virgin. And so, the perfect gentleman he would remain, with his remaining hand on her shoulder being the only touch between them until she wanted more. Until she wanted him.

Noelle shifted, barely paying attention to her potion at this point. Oraion could feel her body heat radiating through the charged air between them. The sight of her face, so flushed and red, set his pulse racing.

“Um, i-if you really need to, you can, uh, you know, g-go ahead. It wouldn’t… bother me.”

The demon grinned and leaned down close to her ear again.

“Then do I hihh-have your p-permission, Mistress?”

She didn’t reply, only nodded with a little closed-mouth squeak. He leaned in even closer and nuzzled her ear, brushing the silver earring directly against his nose.

“Oh- p-please excuse m-me, I- hiihh- iihhHHIIIH-! HIIESSSHHHOO! HNG’TCHIU! heh-haaESHHIUU! S-sorry- hiih-! hih-hih-hiTCHIU! HIIHTCHUU! Nguh… -snnff- I c-can’t seem to s-stop- heh! … hehhHEHHhheh-! … heh-HEH-HEHHIISSHIIEEW! HEH-HIISSHHIIEW! HEH- HEH- HEH-TCHOO!”

Once the sneezing subsided, he dabbed at his running nose with his handkerchief.

“Oh my, -snnfff- that feels much better. -snf- Thank you, Mistress.”

“Y-yes, of course. I’m, um, glad you feel better.”

He could think of one thing that would make him feel even better…

“I think I -snf- must have touched your earring. I quite forgot it was silver. -snnff- I-I’m terribly sorry. I can tell that I’ve worked you up into quite a state, -snnf- s-so if there’s anything you need, Mistress, please let me make it up to you.”

She finally turned and looked up at him, her potion work forgotten. Oh, but she looked so adorable like this, all rosy-cheeked and impassioned, her large brown eyes batting shyly beneath her lashes.

“Um, well, h-how long has it been since you last, um, fed?”

With supreme effort, Oraion managed to keep a triumphant grin off of his face.

“Oh, about a week, I think.”

Noelle fidgeted with her fingers and gave a thoughtful nod. “Well then, maybe we should… go to my room?”

He took her hand in his own and bowed over it, placing a gentle kiss upon her fingers. Now he could no longer keep the smile from his face.

“As you wish, my Mistress.”

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically  and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her  to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend. 

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way. 

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina).  Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s  protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

[lynxgriffin]

Here’s my issue with the “Toriel will be in the Dark World in chapter three!” idea…it’s based only on the fact that Toriel is in the same room as Kris when they open a new fountain.

Aside from the fact that we know a fountain can be made the way Kris did it, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how it works. Does it happen instantaneously, or is there some time frame between making the fountain and when a new Dark World area is fully formed? Will a Dark World just naturally form around someone asleep there, or do they need to use some sort of entrance to get into it? We don’t know if Berdly and Noelle were just already in the computer room when the Cyber World popped up…they could have stepped in through the doors with study materials in hand, same way Susie and Kris used the doors both times. There’s a few mechanical guesses being made just based on what little we can guess from Berdly and Noelle being there. We don’t actually know fully how it works yet.

And it just doesn’t make much sense narratively for Toriel to be running around the Dark World right now. Not to say that it’s impossible, but yeah, I think the game is going to focus more on the DR-exclusive characters before we get into much with the characters we know from UT. I’m sure we’ll get more backstory and character development for Toriel, but to me it seems to tie in more with stuff we may be dealing with closer to endgame.

The Dark World itself has a running theme of centering around imagination, dreams, games and the like. That’s something that’s going to relate to the kids much more than the adults. Again, not that the adults can’t get involved. But that seems like something that is built up to until it reaches a point where the adults can’t avoid or ignore it, not something one of the primary adults is thrown into midway through the story.

From a purely game mechanics standpoint, I find it unlikely that chapter three will start us immediately in the Dark World, with no opportunity to go and change out equipment/items at the hub area that’s just been established at Ralsei’s castle this last chapter.

I think there’s way more hints pointing towards Catti and Jockington being in the next chapter:

Catti and Jockington both have rooms in Queen’s castle that you can see inside. No adults were listed there that we could see.

The video game stashed under Asriel’s bed is specifically listed as belonging to Catti and Catty. It’s kind of strange to specifically add in this detail, which in chapter one they were just said to be old video games.

(As an aside to the above: that can tie back in to the very likely scenario of the next Dark World being centered around TV/movies/console games. Catti coming over to finally pick up the game can be an excuse as to why she’d be at the Dreemurr house.)

Susie mentions that Catti hates her, and while she just brings up stealing Jockington’s hat, I get the feeling there’s more to it than that. 

And then Catti’s thoughts on Noelle hanging around Susie, tying directly into Susie and Noelle starting to develop more of their relationship in chapter two:

Which seem to be hinting at more development for Susie’s character and backstory if Catti’s present in chapter three.

And then there’s this very telling line from Jockington:

SO YEAH. Apologies for the long babble, but I did want to try and explain my thoughts. I’m less interested in what seems like technicalities, than is what is being set up via dialogue, environmental storytelling and narrative structure.

[xlbrh]

Genshin Impact - Small things they do to show their love

notes : so i’ve been trying to think of an idea for a long story to write for one of the characters, but i’ve been having a little bit of trouble :( if anyone has any suggestions i’d love to hear them! hopefully i’ll be able to come out with an introduction or something soon 

in the meantime i wrote this up, so i hope that you guys enjoy!

Genshin Masterlist

warnings : none

format : bulleted, headcanons. fluff

pairings : diluc, kaeya, childe, zhongli, xiao, albedo, aether x gn! reader

word count : 1426

everything under the cut-

Diluc:

during your nightly walks around mondstadt, he notices how chills can rack your body, especially when the wind blows

he’ll remove his jacket and drape it around your form, no matter how much you may protest

sometimes his arms will circle around your waist, drawing you towards him in an effort toto keep you warm until you get home

if you’ve been out adventuring close to the dawn winery, he’d invite you to the manor to share a meal or drink, whichever you’d like

whatever you desire, he’ll see to it that you receive it – most of the time he wouldn’t even ask you due to how well he can read you and your actions

when you try to refuse his offers, he’ll tell you ‘just let me look after you, my love’  

when you come to visit him in the angel’s share, he always has a seat ready just for you

he’ll keep a blanket and some books under the bar, since he knows how you like to curl up in the corner, engrossed in your reading

if you’d like he’ll come and sit with you for a short while, bringing a drink of your choice over while you tell each other about your day

Kaeya:

kaeya is the kind of man to call you every pet name under the sun

whether it be sweetheart, darling, love etc. he loves to use these types of names for you frequently, as a form of affection

he loves your reactions to them, especially when your cheeks flare up and you turn away out of shyness – he finds it extremely endearing

he would offer to train you in swordsmanship, regardless of whether you can already wield a sword or not

he likes to not only see your strength grow, but also offer you a way to protect yourself since he cannot be with you at all times

kaeya takes pride in the training sessions you have, after all they give him another reason to spend even more time with you

he loves for you guys to have matching things, no matter how small they may be 

for example, he’ll buy you a bracelet to wear, one that matches with one on his own wrist as well

jokingly he once bought you an eyepatch to match his, but he finds it sweet but hilarious when you’ll wear it around him sometimes

Childe:

since this man is a literal walking wallet, he has no problem with spoiling you with gifts

whether that be a necklace you’ve had your eye on, a new shirt because you ripped yours in battle, or a book he knows is the next in the series you enjoy

when asking him why he leaves you so many small gifts, his response is just ‘well, because i love you, of course!’

if you ever get hurt during a battle, he’ll be the first to help you

whether that be taking down the enemies if you haven’t already, or tending to the wounds you’ve received

he’d work with utmost caution, wrapping each wound gently and finishing them off with a kiss on top

when strolling the streets of liyue together, childe ensures that your body is connected to his one way or another at all times

whether that be intertwining your hands together, an arm loosely wrapped around your waist, or stopping to give you a brief peck on the forehead

he has no qualms in showing the public that you’re his – something he makes you well aware of

Zhongli:

he knows you love when he tells you stories of his past and the history of liyue, and he enjoys telling you about them

he finds the childlike wonder in your eyes adorable as he tells you tales of adepti and archons alike

zhongli will try his best to make them as entertaining as possible for you – drawing you in with every word he uttered

he likes to play with your hair, and for you to do the same to him

if you have longer hair you can guarantee he’d be braiding and styling your hair in all different ways, adorning it with hairpins he’d purchase for you

if your hair is on the shorter side then he’d love to run his fingers through, stroking your hair and massaging your scalp until you fall asleep with your head against his chest

if there is anything in particular that you take a big interest in, zhongli will try his best to research around it – even though he probably has the knowledge anyways

he wants to be able to talk to you about things you’re interested in, as well as share in the enjoyment that you get from it

he would leave small notes to you when he can’t always be around you, sometimes with small facts he learned of

Xiao:

he would for sure watch over you if you ever go on a long adventure, no matter what other duties he may have to attend to

expect to see a good few hilichurl and treasure hoarder camps abandoned thanks to his interference

‘anything to ensure your safety’, he thinks

some nights, when his duties have been fulfilled early, he’ll try his hand at preparing a meal for you to share

of course nothing especially fancy! After all he doesn’t have to eat himself – its all for your enjoyment

if he struggles he’d probably reach out to verr goldet some help

just imagine him setting a small picnic up on the wangshu inn rooftop iM WEAK

once xiao finally becomes accustomed to physical contact, he’d make an effort to hold your hand a lot more often

lightly squeezing it or tracing shapes with his thumb every now and again

if you’re lucky he way even take his gloves off – just to feel that warmth from his hand can be very comforting indeed

Albedo:

you’re literally the only person he will listen to when he is engrossed in his experiments

as we know he tends to block out the rest of the world when he is deep in though

but as soon as he hears your voice of concern asking if he’ll take a break to eat, you wanna bet he’ll be leaving his office in an instant to join you for lunch

he does the exact same for you when you’re hard at work, so he appreciates the way you always look after him

when out looking for more specimens to analyse, he stumbles across his fair share of flowers

of course he knows which are your favourites – he knows everything about you, after all – so he’ll be sure to pick some to bring home to you

when giving them to you, he mentions ‘well, they reminded me of you, so i thought you’d like them’

if you ever get ill for some reason, albedo becomes your personal doctor

he’ll spend hours preparing serums and medicines for you to alleviate your pain – but will never let you out of his sight while doing so

he’ll ask noelle if she can fix up some food for you in the meantime, since at every free opportunity he’s sat at your bedside, hand in yours as he whispers words of comfort to you

Aether:

aether is always ready to make you something to eat whenever you’d like!

he for sure has a small section of his brain dedicated to learning of recipes that he knows you enjoy, no matter how simple or complicated they may be

will make sure that you always have some lunch ready to take with you wherever you go, even if it means he had to wake up early and travel halfway across teyvat to bring it to you

he will bring you back numerous treasures from his travels

sometimes he’ll ask the locals in whichever area he’s in if they can craft the raw materials into something that you can treasure

there would be a shelf in your room specifically for aether’s gifts, where he’ll occasionally point to each one and tell you the story of how it made it’s way back to you

he makes sure to let you know how grateful he is to have you by his side

every time you do something for him, no matter how small it may be, he’ll thank you and let you know how much you mean to him

when on his travels he makes sure to write letters and send them home to you – just because he’s far away doesn’t mean he’s not still thinking about you

[agentravensong]

Two ways Weird Route could go (DeltaRune spoilers)

I have two different ideas for how Chapter 2's Weird Route could continue in future chapters. I'll describe them below the cut. Spoilers, obviously.

(For those who don't know what this route is, here's the breakdown. Yes it's all real, I've played through it myself.)

Both these ideas assume that Berdly's gonna be in the hospital or something for most of the rest of the game.

1. Noelle Focused

This path assumes that the Weird Route will be focused on Noelle's corruption throughout all chapters.

In that final Hospital scene, Noelle implies she's going to do some digging on what's wrong with Kris. She's def gonna be in some future Dark World adventures, which means more opportunities for us to command her.

This is my main prediction for this path:

At some point, Noelle will become possessed by the Red Soul, and we will control her directly.

The main evidence for this? The faceless angel doll in Rudy's room, that Noelle and Dess made for him. I mean, Weird Route def points even more at us being the Angel (Spamton literally calls us that when we go to get his ring, and the other shopkeep calls Noelle "angel" before that). And faceless to me signals possessed. Consider how Kris appears almost faceless to us most of the time.

Why would this happen? Oh, I can think of plenty of reasons:

Noelle learns the extent to which the soul has been hurting Kris and takes it to save them

Noelle becomes so obsessed with the idea of getting stronger and is allured by the Soul to the point that she takes it on willingly to become as powerful as possible

kind of related to the last point: Noelle mistakenly believes that having the Soul will grant her more agency

Noelle can't stand the pain of hurting people under the Soul's command but, seeing how it seems to affect Kris, believes being fully possessed by it will numb her guilt. If it'll be using her either way...

Something terrible happens - like, say, the death of her father - and Noelle believes the Soul will give her the power to fix it

Switching gears, Kris could force the Soul onto her to save themself... though I'd like to think they wouldn't do that, and they more than anyone would know giving it to her wouldn't be a kindness. Perhaps they try to get rid of and Noelle just gets unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire?

Or, perhaps, neither Kris nor Noelle have any say in it. Perhaps we simply reach a point where Kris is actively fighting against us, and so we transfer to a more willing vessel. One we've already groomed.

However it happens, Noelle ends up under our direct control, and we likely have a fight as her against the rest of the Fun Gang. I could see this working with the "only one ending" theory if the goal we as the Soul are trying to accomplish is the same in both runs, but in a regular run, we as Kris would be fighting against the Fun Gang plus Noelle at this moment. Or maybe it'll actually be two different endings, who's to say.

(Bonus theory: If Noelle isn't the faceless angel, then perhaps Dess will come back as it (assuming she's dead)? Probably won't be faceless in the player-possessed sense if that's the case)

2. Not Noelle Focused

Alternatively, what if, instead of focusing on Noelle, we do what we did to her to other people from HomeTown? Specifically, Kris's other classmates?

Well, first of all, it would make "Snowgrave" as the route name not really work. But beyond that...

The rest of Kris's class, minus Temmie, has already been helpfully split into pairs: MK and Snowy, Catti and Jockington.

So I could easily see the next two chapters each involving bringing one of these pairs to the Dark World, and the Weird Route involving getting one of them to kill the other. I figure we'd do this with MK and Snowy first, because a) they seem to be less close than the other pair, and b) Snowy would surely have ice magic like Noelle, so the kill method could be the same, with the kill method for the other pair being a surprise (perhaps by that point we'd have the ability to keep enemies from fleeing when their HP is depleted?).

Now, this only takes up two of the five promised upcoming chapters. Unless, perhaps, they're spaced out to be every other chapter? After all, Chapter 3 seems like it'll be set in Kris's home, so it wouldn't really make sense for any of Kris's classmates to be involved. And considering Chapter 1 didn't have a weird route, it would make a consistent pattern.

Either way, by Chapter 6, we'd have three Lightners who have been negatively influenced by the SOUL, and three who have "fallen down". I also figure that, by then, Ralsei and Susie will have caught on to what we're doing.

How does it end? Not sure. However, if it's true that DR only has 1 ending, then I figure there'll have to be some way to bring back the "dead" characters. ...Hopefully.

That's all I've got for now. Might come back and edit this post if I think of more. I'd love to hear y'all's theories!

[violethowler]

The Elephant in the Room

In my previous essays, I have covered how the Kingdom Hearts narrative follows Maureen Murdock’s template of the Heroine’s Journey, as well as how various characters and story elements tie in with the overarching themes of the framework. Before I can continue to dig further into other themes and archetypes, there is something I need to address first. While I have avoided directly touching on the topic in my previous essays, I have now reached the point where it is no longer possible to talk about the Heroine’s Journey in full without acknowledging the elephant in the room: 

Romance.

In ongoing serialized stories such as TV shows and video games, conversations about potential relationships in canon are often treated as inconsequential to the overall story. Something that is separate from the main plot. At worst, I have seen fans who openly center a ship in their analysis and theories be dismissed and criticized as biased - or worse, delusional. They are treated as being so obsessed with their pairing that they try to make everything about their ship and jump on any excuse to declare that it’s viable in canon. 

Among the Kingdom Hearts fandom in particular, this has often taken the form of someone trying to dismiss other fans’ hope for a ship to be canon by saying that the series is about friendship, not romance.

While friendship is absolutely an important theme in the Kingdom Hearts series, to insist that this is mutually exclusive from depicting the development of romantic relationships ignores the continued presence of canon Disney romances in almost every game in the series. In each “main” game where Sora is playable, he has directly or indirectly been involved in getting those Disney couples together in the KH universe. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the series to turn the tables and give some attention to his romantic interests for a change. 

A story having other major themes is not mutually exclusive from showcasing the development of a romantic relationship. There are many popular movies, shows, books, comics, and video games in which a romantic relationship plays a central role in the narrative but there are still other plotlines going on that are equally as important as the romance. This is especially true for Disney and Square Enix.

The reason why it’s impossible to fully talk about the Heroine’s Journey without acknowledging romance elements is best encapsulated by this quote from She-Ra showrunner Noelle Stevenson about her show’s endgame pairing in an i09 interview after the release of the final season:

“The show’s not a romance show. It is about a lot of things. It’s about choice, destiny, fighting, tyrants, you know, all of these other things. I grew up with so many stories—like sci-fi and fantasy—that I was so passionate about. And it would be considered no big deal to have the hero get the girl and to have a kiss at the end, without it suddenly becoming a romance or ‘Oh, the shippers got what they wanted.’ It was just a part of the story. And to actually see it be a central part of the plot and to fulfill the arcs of the characters in a way that felt satisfying. I really want to take it beyond ‘Oh, the shippers got what they want.’ Like, it’s not just a ship for me. It is a plot point. It is the necessary conclusion of each character’s arc, separate and together.[1]”

While not every story known to follow the Heroine's Journey features a romance for the main protagonist, those that do make the romance an integral part of the narrative. It’s not something thrown in at the end to please shippers, but a central component of the story. Therefore, when analyzing a Heroine’s Journey story, it is vital to acknowledge and discuss textual support for potential romantic relationships in order to have a full understanding of the narrative.

Even if one is not aware of the Heroine’s Journey, Sora’s repeated interactions with Disney romances indicate that there is a high probability that he will be in a romantic relationship himself by the end of the series. Every story I know of that follows the Heroine’s Journey broadly adheres to a pattern in regards to how the romantic relationships of a main character are set up.

By examining the series through these patterns, we can narrow down who Sora’s endgame romantic partner will be. 

Because the themes and character dynamics emphasize resolving internal conflict through balance, the Heroine’s Journey lends itself extremely well to Beauty-and-the-Beast, rivals-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers relationship dynamics. A major component of the Heroine’s Journey is the main character learning to accept themselves, and since the Animus as a Shadow figure can represent the parts of themselves that they haven’t accepted yet, it is simpler to symbolize that self-acceptance via a romance with the Animus rather than attempting to build a separate relationship on top of the existing story framework.

For these reasons, the Animus is more often than not the main character’s endgame love interest, their feelings for each other made into critical aspects of their respective character arcs. The only Heroine’s Journey stories with romance that I know of where this wasn’t the case are ones where executive meddling resulted in the finale being rewritten to kill off the Animus despite established narrative set up for them to have a happy ending together[2], while the protagonist was either forced into a relationship with a different character or left single.

And like I said in previous essays, the one character in the series who fulfills all criteria for the Animus role within this storytelling framework…. 

Is Riku.

[Image Description: Sora supporting Riku as they walk toward the ocean on the Dark Margin at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. End Description.]

As mentioned in my earlier analysis, this narrative framework emphasizes the importance of balancing contrasting attributes, which fits in extremely well with Kingdom Hearts’ focus on balance between light and darkness. For stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey in a visual medium, that dichotomy is often incorporated into the characters’ look. Height differences are common, while their color schemes and outfits are designed to make them complement each other. Further adding to the focus on balance between light and darkness, the visuals of the story frame the romantic leads with imagery associating each one with light or darkness to create Yin-Yang symbolism when they are finally in balance. 

In Re: Chain of Memories, Vexen openly calls Riku the “Hero of Darkness[3]” as a counterpart to Sora’s role as the “Hero of Light”, and their combination attack in Kingdom Hearts II utilizes moves that reflect both elements. In the Ultimania for the original game, Tetsuya Nomura said that Riku’s look was intentionally designed to balance Sora’s[4], and the contrast between their respective color schemes is maintained in each of their new outfits. In Kingdom Hearts II and Dream Drop Distance, Riku wears white and blue, while Sora in those same games wears black and red. Two different pairs of contrasting colors. Kingdom Hearts III has them both in outfits that are primarily black and grey, but still emphasize the blue and red that have been part of their respective outfits since the first game. 

In a Heroine’s Journey, the love interest is typically an active character in the story and usually serves as the deuteragonist. This fits with Riku having been a mandatory playable character in multiple games since 2004. In addition, series producer Shinji Hashimoto said before the release of the HD 1.5 Remix collection[5] that the main focus of the series is how Sora and Riku develop both as individuals and as a pair, which fits with how the central conflict of the Heroine’s Journey revolves around the dynamic between the Protagonist and their Animus. 

A common viewpoint held by many fans of the series is that Kairi is Sora’s love interest, and it’s not hard to see why people get that impression. He has sacrificed himself to save her in two separate games now. He’s charged enemies head on in order to rescue her whenever she’s been captured. He even got down on his knees and begged for her freedom when Saix demanded he show how important she was to him. Multiple characters have talked about how special she is to him, and Roxas refers to her as “that girl he(Sora) likes.” 

However, there are multiple elements in the narrative that point to them not being the endgame romance. Kingdom Hearts III foreshadows the final shot of them sitting on the paopu together at the end of the game with Sora disappearing from the cover of the 100 Acre Wood storybook, textually framing Winnie the Pooh as a parallel to Kairi. While many fans regarded their sharing paopu fruits in the base game as the beginning of a relationship between them, he still only refers to her as a friend in Re:Mind, and even compares his bond with her to the bond between Ventus and Chirithy. 

Sora also does not treat his promises to her with the seriousness he would if they were going to end up together. The promises to return her lucky charm and to come back to her that he makes in the first game are never treated as anything urgent when he awakens in Kingdom Hearts II. Instead, he declines the opportunity to return to the islands and check in with her in favor of searching for Riku. When Kairi says in The World That Never Was that they’ll be together every day, Sora agrees, yet he was content to spend the rest of his life on the dark beach at the end of the game as long as he was with Riku. 

Meanwhile, the most consistent theme regarding Kairi in relation to the Destiny Islands trio is the idea of childhood friends drifting apart as they get older[6][7]. This is particularly highlighted in Kingdom Hearts III, with Kairi writing letters to Sora that she never sends, thereby keeping her thoughts to herself. Merlin also emphasizes this when he talks about forging new connections after Sora’s visit to 100 Acre Wood. This parallel frames the ending of Re:Mind as the two of them recognizing they’ve drifted apart and choosing to put in the effort to renew their friendship by spending time together.

On a structural level, her portrayal does not fit with how love interests are typically depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, both as an individual and in relation to the main protagonist. There is no contrast between her and Sora’s designs or roles the way there is between his and Riku’s. Her color scheme is predominantly pink, which does not have the same contrast with Sora’s red as Riku’s blue. Because she’s a Princess of Heart, there is no dark and light contrast, and the combination attack she shares with Sora in Re:Mind only utilizes light-based moves. It took 17 years after her first appearance in the series for her to be made a playable character, and even then, playing as her is not mandatory. They are never portrayed as equals, and she is not an active force in his emotional growth. 

The Heroine’s Journey was crafted for narratives revolving around identities that have been Othered by society for one reason or another. Murdock designed her template as a tool to help women deal with being shamed by society for expressing and pursuing their desires. In a similar way, LGBTQ+ people also face stigma from society for expressing and pursuing their desires. So it makes perfect sense that a framework for narratives of people overcoming internalized stigma against important parts of themselves would be ripe for stories featuring LGBTQ+ protagonists of any gender.

As mentioned in previous essays, stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey challenge the biases and blind spots of the audience. A relationship between Kairi and Sora does not challenge anything because she has largely been regarded as the endgame love interest by default since the beginning. Meanwhile, a romantic relationship between Sora and Riku challenges players to recognize heteronormativity within themselves and in the media around them. It challenges people to examine the lens through which they perceive the story and rethink how they look at what’s happening in the narrative.

In summary, the portrayal of Kairi and her bond with Sora is not consistent with how love interests are commonly depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, while the portrayal of Riku and his bond with Sora is. If Sora’s story is going to continue on this storytelling formula to the end, the structure of the Heroine’s Journey narrative leaves Riku as the only thematically viable candidate for the role of endgame love interest. 

Now, as some people bring up in conversations about Soriku, there is a potential obstacle in the form of corporate executives. It is entirely possible that Disney will drag their heels and try to force the development team to downplay or remove any open same-sex relationship the series may try to depict. They do not have a strong track record of LGBTQ+ representation that isn’t a minor character who only appears for one scene. Given that their last IP to follow the Heroine’s Journey - the Star Wars sequel trilogy - crashed and burned at the end, executive meddling is my greatest fear for this franchise.

But the thing to keep in mind is that Tetsuya Nomura is stubborn as hell. One of the reasons the long gap between Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III was because he was holding out for permission to include Pixar movies in the game, outright refusing to start work on KH3 until they were given that go ahead[8]. If you want further proof of how stubborn he can be, this is how he described the meeting where he first pitched the series to Disney in a 2012 interview with the late president of Nintendo[9]:

Iwata: Their ideas were different from yours, naturally…

Nomura: Yes. They appeared to believe that we would make whatever they wanted us to make and came up with rather specific requests such as, "We'd like the game to feature this character." They were really excited, explaining their ideas... To be honest, though, I wasn't really interested in any of them. (laughs) 

Both: (laughter)

Iwata: You wanted to borrow Disney's characters in order to make a new game that could compete with Mario 64, and you already had a vision of what this game would look like. I suppose their ideas didn't fit in with this vision.

Nomura: They didn't, no. In the end, I actually stopped a presentation halfway through. We didn't have that much time, and it looked like it was all going to get taken up by various Disney presentations. So, I interrupted them and told them the conclusion by saying, "I won't make such games."

Talk about nerves of steel. This man basically said “we do this my way, or we don’t do it at all” TO MOTHERFORKING DISNEY, AND. HE. WON. If there is any human being with enough force of will to make the Mouse House cave in and allow the depiction of an openly LGBTQ+ relationship in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is Tetsuya Nomura.

I cannot say with 100% certainty how things will go. But everything I know about storytelling patterns and narrative structure is telling me that Kingdom Hearts is a textbook Heroine’s Journey with a romance between Sora and Riku at its core. A relationship between the protagonist and the Animus does not truly begin until the “Integration” stage at the end of the Journey, and we are rapidly approaching the point in the narrative where the two leads traditionally become aware of and acknowledge their feelings in order to be on the same page for the finale.

Sources: 

[1] “She-Ra's Noelle Stevenson Tells Us How Difficult It Was to Bring Adora and Catra Home” May 18, 2020

https://io9.gizmodo.com/she-ras-noelle-stevenson-tells-us-how-difficult-it-was-1843419358

[2] “Death of a Dark Youth, Desecration of the Animus”; December 20, 2018. https://www.teampurplelion.com/death-of-a-dark-youth/

[3] Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. Square Enix, 2007. 

[4] “A Look Back: Kingdom Hearts Ultimania Gallery Comments Part 1″; August 30, 2019;

https://www.khinsider.com/news/A-Look-Back-KINGDOM-HEARTS-Ultimania-Gallery-Comments-Part-1-15519

[5] “How Kingdom Hearts III Will Grow Up With Its Players;” September 24, 2013.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/25/how-kingdom-hearts-iii-will-grow-up-with-its-players.

[6] “E3 2018: Tetsuya Nomura on If Kingdom Hearts 3 Is the End of Sora's Story”; June 14, 2018.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/06/14/e3-2018-tetsuya-nomura-on-if-kingdom-hearts-3-is-the-end-of-soras-story

[7] “Character’s Report Vol. 1 Translations”; Jul 16, 2014

https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/characters-report-vol-1-translations.195560/

[8] “Edge Magazine Features Kingdom Hearts III Cover Story”; January 9, 2019. https://www.khinsider.com/news/Edge-Magazine-Features-Kingdom-Hearts-III-Cover-Story-14331

[9] “Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS: Third Party Game Developers, Volume 12: Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Part 2: It’ll definitely be fun”; April 2012. 

https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/11/1

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Alrighty, so this is my brief rambling about my two OCs, and I just wrote this piece since information has been/and mostly still is, in my brain and not on paper. (Also, you can probably see for which I have a clearer plan)

Solara Equinox

Height: 175 cm

Preferred magic type: Solar (often mistaken for fire)

Nationality: Thean

Birthday: July 23rd

Age: 29

Love interest:                Fuegoleon

Likes:                           

Warmth, relaxing after a long day, kind and genuine people

Dislikes:                       

The cold, indecisiveness, indifference, being rushed

Main fighting style:      

An attack mage, but has a couple of support spells as well (She has a binding spell “Gravity of the Sun” that can concentrate the gravity around the target, binding them to that spot without the ability to move)

Personality:                  

She has two modes: get things done, being efficient as hell, or then loitering about and enjoying the quiet. Of course, she does only “loiter about” when she has time, but she does enjoy laying in the bed, sunlight warming her skin without a care in the world.

She definitely radiates an aura of warmth when she smiled, being open and supportive, but if she’s observing the situation, her stare can make people anxious. She’s not giving off a malicious impression, but more of the “does not miss a thing and will silently judge you” kind of vibe. And, even though she wouldn’t admit judging people, she does. But she does recognize that people have a right to live their lives as they see fit, within the confines of the law of course. She doesn’t need to agree with the life decision of every single person and that is fine.

But if somebody asks for her advice, she’s glad to give it. As long as you have a genuine wish to improve, then she doesn’t see a reason to turn that person away.

She is strong willed, but will listen to reason. In the way “convince me otherwise. You can’t? Alright, then step aside and watch me.”

Colours worn/used most often:                       

Deep red, black and gold

 Selena Equinox

Height: 168 cm

Preferred magic type: Lunar (often mistaken for water)

Nationality: Thean

Birthday: July 22nd

Age: 29

Love interest:   Nozel

Likes:               

Quiet evenings, warm tea, reading, listening to rain falling outside during summer

Dislikes:          

Recklessness, rudeness (yes, Nozel has been scolded behind closed doors)

Fighting style:   

Mostly a support mage, but uses her spells as offense as well so she can be easily mistaken for an attack mage. But she will argue against, saying that if she was an attack mage, she couldn’t go head to head with her sister. (Eg, she can cast a large water barrier for defence, but would that wall of water fall on you… ouch.)

Personality:      

Inventive and curious, but also reserved. She’s kind and compassionate, and feels bad for Noelle for a while (before Noelle starts to find herself) and actually “adopted” her as her sister in the early stages of Nozel’s and her relationship.

 She is a quiet observer, who doesn’t speak unless she has something to say, but will not turn down an opportunity to help, if her help is needed.

Her personality is much like the moon, she lingers around, staying a little mysterious, but has a big impact from the distance. She does appreciate being given credit for her work, but most definitely won’t demand for it. What matter her the most is the outcome.

  She also has pretty effective healing magic “Healing waters” in which strands of water reach for the patient, radiating silvery light (like that of the moon), healing wounds.

 Selena is opinionated, but will not hold on her perceptions if they are proven wrong. Rather she has a researcher -type of mentality, where she’s open to new points of views, but can be quick to dismiss theories that seem absurd to her. In this case, you need to present her fool proof evidence to support your case, or she won’t budge.

Colours:          

 Blues, silver and black.

 Both Solara and Selena were born to a noble house in a distant, island, land of Thea, who have teleportation arcs to the main land where also Clover Kingdom is. (Note: Solara would have been born first, but as there were complications with Selena, they needed to be birthed via surgery. Selena was taken out of their mother first, because there was severe concern for her health, thus the order of birth that took place, was Selena first and then Solara. However, Theans admitted the title of “first born” on Solara because of the natural birth order that would’ve been.)  Their mother and father were the only children of their respective houses, so their parents marriage was a union of two families, merging into one.

These families had celestial thematic associated with the heavenly bodies, so despite being twins, their vast differences make sense. And the youngest of the family, Aurora, has been called a perfect representation of the powers merging. She has Twilight magic, which is more or less a combination of Solara’s and Selena’s abilities, and her appearance is also a harmonious combination of the two blood lines.

Thea is a matriarchal kingdom, where women have a similar status as men in other countries. The ruler is a Queen, who does have a King, but the power is held by the Queen. And they have an abnormality among their people, that being that 60% of their citizens are non-magic users. This has caused the society to revolve as much around technology as around magic, because it’d be idiotic to not utilise the capabilities of all of their people. One of the (8) noble families is composed of entirely non-magic users, who are largely involved in creating non-magical inventions.

The Queen has encouraged members of the noble families to explore the outer world to see how it works and the practises they have, because you can learn that way and improve your own country. But the Queen is very strict about what kind of information is released about Thea, because she doesn’t want anyone to attack and disturb their peaceful living (I mean who would?). So, all nobles are given a set of instructions and guidelines on what kind of information they can disclose at their own discretion, which also depends on their security rating.

Theans have connections to different magical creatures due to their isolation and peaceful living, but also due to their curiosity of the unknown and the outside world. They also have ally countries and enjoy different kinds of partnerships with them. However, they define “ally country” with a set of rules and laws that must be adhered by both parties in question, and a contract that must be signed. This allows the ally country to claim a “yearly favour” from Thea, which is a self-sustained country, without an additional cost. What Theans most often gain from this relationship is companionship and the possibility to immerse themselves further into the customs and practises of that given country. Also, there is only a fixed amount of slots for these countries, because the Queen is suspicious and doesn’t want to spread too many rumours of Thea in fear of an attack.

Thea is also an ancient kingdom, which has amounted to a lot of “forgotten knowledge” as well as some families becoming experts in some specific creatures and animals, such as devils. But disclosing this kind of information is considered controversial with any other country other than an ally country and would there be a need to take actions, direct actions by Theans is encouraged rather than giving off information. This does create a lot of problems and has created some discussion among the members of the noble houses, but has remained to this date.

[beca-mitchell]

Jingle (1/1)

Summary: Beca’s new job has some festive perks—aka—Beca gets a second job at the mall as a Christmas elf and Chloe really likes the outfit that comes with it. Rated M/E.

Word count: 3,550

For @asimplefavors​ bc nobody loves Anna Kendrick more than u...and this is like the best of both worlds...and for always being there to listen to my hcs while also being absolutely demonic with ur own hcs.

Yes, this was inspired by Noelle.

Read below or on AO3.

—

It starts off as an off-hand comment from Fat Amy. Something about Beca being perfectly suited to be a Christmas elf—they had been watching a Hallmark movie or something similar and incredibly cheesy—except for her temperament, which could use “some work”.

Beca shoves Amy with her foot, nearly pushing her bodily off the bed, but the damage is done. Chloe’s eyes brighten, and she looks entirely too amused and entirely too thrilled at the thought. She turns teasing eyes onto Beca before launching into a detailed list of all the ways Beca would make a perfect elf and since she is Chloe Beale, it ends up being pretty hard for Beca to stay too upset. Instead, she's being attentive and all...like a good girlfriend.

What is upsetting is how unfairly pretty Chloe looks, reclining casually in their bed—their bed!—in a reindeer onesie and penguin slippers. Ridiculous.

— — — — —

Beca doesn't hate Christmas.

Chloe just happens to love Christmas a lot. Enough for both of them.

No, Beca does not get the job on purpose. Not one bit.

— — — — —

Dating Chloe is a fairly new thing, but it is possibly the most natural part of Beca’s life at the moment. Still, it’s a thing nonetheless even if Beca isn’t necessarily complaining. Dating your college friend (previously acapella co-captain) while also living in the same tiny apartment was, to Beca, a sure-fire way to mess things completely. Nevermind that they were struggling young adults in one of the most unforgiving cities in the world. Nevermind that they were already sharing a bed. Nevermind that Beca had to come to the realization slowly over the past year and a half living with Chloe, even before they started dating, that her crush on Chloe was more than just a fleeting passion. It was more than just a recent development.

She thought she was fucked the first time she woke with Chloe’s hand draped casually over her midsection and her breath warm against Beca’s cheek.

But she never stood a chance, in retrospect. Not even back in school, when she had slowly been falling in love with Chloe over a series of mash-ups and trophies.

It is thus totally and completely understandable that only two and a half weeks later—after that fateful movie night—Beca somehow finds herself tiredly stomping up to their walk-up, disgruntled and shaking clumps snow out of her bright green elf hat. The horrendously bright red ruffles on the skirt of her dress are even more out of place considering she spent most of the subway ride back into Brooklyn tugging her dress out of the hands of an extremely excited child who was wondering if Santa was riding the subway as well. The job itself was taken on a whim because somebody at work had offhandedly mentioned that their niece had taken on a part-time job at the mall and that it paid ridiculously well for such an easy task.

Beca wants to go back in time and tell her past self to never believe something so ridiculous ever again. She has the utmost respect for people who manage to keep a genuine smile on her face while working—Beca finds herself retreating behind the scenes at least once every ten minutes to simply breathe and use her stress ball. It is not a fun job and not one Beca would pick again, but the extra money is nice and she really is trying to keep an open mind.

(She would just rather not be leered at by middle-aged fathers bringing their kids to sit on Santa's lap. And she's also pretty sure Santa is drunk ninety percent of the time.)

Beca is additionally prickly due to the fact that Chloe has been away for the past week and a half at a conference. Beca is proud of her and glad that Chloe is already getting a head-start in pursuing her veterinary dreams with amazing opportunities on her plate, but she’s only human and misses her girlfriend. She misses Chloe’s arms around her and the gentle kiss Chloe had begun to leave against her ear each morning. She misses grabbing two take-out cups of coffee from their favourite shop just down the street and returning to receive a kiss from Chloe in gratitude.

The perks of being in a fully-fledged adult relationship and all.

(She misses the sex. More than she’d care to admit to anybody considering her only available confidante is Amy and that isn’t something Beca would care to explore.)

There is a silver lining, however. It’s that Beca gets at least one more day of reprieve before Chloe returns and has the time of her life seeing Beca in all her ridiculous get-ups ( plural )—all of which Beca absolutely plans on burning.

Finally, in front of their door, Beca fumbles with the key for a moment before she gleefully manages to get the door open and nearly slams it open in excitement. She’s glad to have avoided most of the snowstorm. She’s excited to curl up in her bed and finally place the order for Chloe’s Christmas present, which she had been putting off because they’ve all been a little strapped for cash, but this second job has been immensely helpful in that regard.

“Hello,” Chloe’s voice sounds unexpectedly from behind the rack of clothes. Beca startles and yelps, dropping her keys and jacket on the floor. She catches sight of Chloe’s feet and the laundry bag by her feet before Chloe is walking back around the rack. Beca’s eyes dart around nervously, realizing she has nowhere to hide.

She strongly considers walking back out the door.

“I was wondering where you we—” Chloe’s words die in her throat the moment she catches sight of Beca standing awkwardly by their kitchen table, clearly having no words for what she sees. “Beca?” she questions, eyebrow rising on her forehead.

“I…” Beca swallows, licking her lips nervously. “I thought you were coming back tomorrow.”

Chloe’s eyes are flicking up and down Beca’s torso, like she doesn’t quite know what to do with all the visual information being sent her way. “I asked to come back a day early because of the snowstorm,” Chloe explains, though her words are stilted and her eyes are still flicking around distractedly. “Are you…”

Curiosity rises in Beca’s body when she realizes Chloe is more than the usual amount of distracted. She tilts her head, waiting for her girlfriend to say more, but Chloe’s mouth quickly clamps shut and the most peculiar blush rises up her cheeks.

Interesting.

Beca definitely recognizes the flushed state of Chloe’s cheeks and neck and she’s certain that it has nothing to do with the slight chill from their unreliable heating unit.

Suddenly, Beca isn’t so exhausted and embarrassment seeps further and further from her mind. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad idea to not change back into her jeans and t-shirt. In her haste to leave work, she had simply grabbed everything and ducked out, hell-bent on avoiding conversational friendliness. “Hi,” she tries again, stepping closer to Chloe. A grin stretches across Beca's lips when she catches bright blue eyes flicking down to her leggings.

Chloe clears her throat. “Hello,” she mumbles, shy and extremely formal.

"Chlo?” Beca questions, using a very specific tone reserved for Chloe when they’re in bed (or about to get into bed). She loves having a momentary leg up on Chloe Beale. “How do I look?"

"Um.” Chloe’s eyes seem to start right at the top of Beca’s head with the obnoxious felt hat, before drifting down to the loose, messy waves of Beca’s hair, then the tightly-fitted bodice of Beca’s dress to the ridiculous flare of ruffles—Chloe’s eyes darkening as they go—before her eyes finally shoot back up to lock onto Beca’s face. “You look nice,” she says politely, though her fingers twitch by her side and she takes two steps closer to Beca. The air already begins to shift between them. Beca struggles to maintain a hold on her libido and her sanity.

"You know, I thought it was kind of stupid, but I think it’s not that bad now,” Beca says nonchalantly, even if her heart begins to race at Chloe’s proximity. She reaches up to brush some hair away from her neck, almost laughing and breaking character when she sees how Chloe’s eyes immediately zero in on the expanse of skin available due to the slightly lower (definitely inappropriate) cut to the dress. “I might make a good elf.” Beca tugs her lower lip between her teeth before shooting a grin at Chloe’s gobsmacked expression.

God, it was hilarious how much Chloe loved Christmas. Or it would be if Chloe's expression weren't morphing into one that more closely resembled lust.

Beca swallows. Damnit.

"Good is one word to use,” Chloe murmurs, clearly regaining confidence. “Small might be another.”

Beca scowls. “Try again. Without using small.”

“Did I lie?” Chloe asks, clearly pleased at having regained some footing. She closes the distance and wraps an arm around Beca’s waist before reaching up to brush some unruly strands of hair away from Beca’s face.

"Kiss me,” Beca demands quickly, hoping to pull Chloe back into her orbit and maintain a hold on the situation.

“I thought Santa’s Little Helpers were supposed to be nice,” Chloe wonders aloud, pressing closer still. The ruffles of Beca’s dress lie trapped between their bodies uncomfortably, but they do nothing to alleviate the heat rising through Beca’s chest.

“I can be nice,” Beca mumbles, eyes flicking to Chloe’s lips not at all desperately.

Chloe smirks—God, Beca hates her—and gently presses the softest, barely-there kiss to Beca’s lower lip. “I missed you,” she murmurs against Beca’s mouth. "I love you," she continues, pressing another firmer kiss. “My little sexy elf,” Chloe teases.

Beca snorts but pulls Chloe in for a firmer, more intense kiss. “Love you too, nerd,” she mumbles quickly in reply before refocusing on her task. She tangles her hands into Chloe’s hair, keeping their lips together. Slowly, she parts her mouth, eager to feel Chloe’s tongue against her own. Chloe hums contentedly before parting her lips obligingly. Both hands now grip Beca’s waist firmly, pulling Beca flush against her body.

Beca hates the clothes between them. She quickly moves her hands under Chloe’s shirt, scraping her nails up her girlfriend’s back while Chloe’s tongue does absolutely sinful things to her mouth. Moaning, she fumbles with the clasp of Chloe’s bra, nearly crowing in delight when she gets it unclasped. Immediately Beca’s hands move to Chloe’s chest and she begins to grope at her girlfriend’s chest, palming delightfully hard nipples. Chloe grunts and gently pushes at Beca’s chest, their lips parting for a moment.

Through heavily-lidded eyes, Beca stares reproachfully at Chloe for ending that kiss far too quickly, but she supposes Chloe is giving her something because her hands have yet to be removed from under Chloe’s shirt. Still, Beca is decidedly displeased by the lack of Chloe’s lips on her own.

"Chloe, why—” Beca begins to whine.

"How long do we have before Amy comes back?” Chloe asks quickly. Her tongue darts out to wet her lower lip. “I haven’t seen her yet.” Her lips part to expel a quick breath when Beca’s fingers twitch against her breasts.

"Oh." Beca grins, leaning up to press a small kiss against Chloe’s chin before trailing kisses to her jaw. “Didn’t you hear? She has a new fling. She won’t be back for at least the entire weekend.”

"That’s good,” Chloe says before lifting Beca and depositing her on their bed. Beca yelps when her hat is knocked askew and her dress bunches up uncomfortably beneath her. Any complaint dies in her throat when Chloe pulls off her shirt and tosses it, along with her bra, away, leaving her in plain blue jeans. Beca swallows, feeling old insecurities float through her, just for a moment. Sometimes she forgets how effortlessly beautiful Chloe is—how completely out of her depth she feels at times—but Chloe often reminds her how beautiful Beca is and how much she wants her at any given moment. Chloe’s attraction to her is not limited to solely physical attraction, but rather it is an attraction on every level.

Beca finds herself believing it, especially now considering Chloe looks like she wants to devour her completely, Christmas outfit and all.

"God, I want you,” Chloe mumbles, crawling up Beca’s body all lithe-like and unnecessarily hot. Beca is already gasping for air when Chloe’s tongue pushes into her mouth again and her hand is pushing up the thick gauzy material of Beca’s dress. “You’re so hot,” Chloe grumbles, hand coming around Beca’s hip to grab her ass and press their hips together deliciously. She begins to leave open-mouthed kisses against Beca’s jaw and neck before sucking and nipping at a spot just under Beca’s ear.

Tilting her head back, Beca moans quietly, lifting her hips up desperately to create some friction. The small bells on her dress jingle with each shift, but she really could care less, especially not when Chloe finally shifts her thigh and presses up hard against Beca’s center. Separated by both the thick material of Chloe’s jeans and Beca’s festive leggings, the friction isn’t as direct as she would like.

“Chlo,” she begs. “More.”

Ignoring her apparently, Chloe cups her jaw and begins kissing her so thoroughly and deeply that Beca’s hands slacken in Chloe’s hair and she can do little more than allow Chloe to have her way with her. Chloe whimpers against her mouth, hot and breathless before she sits back up between Beca’s spread legs. Biting her lip, Chloe tugs at the waistband of the skirt, letting the elastic snap back against Beca’s midsection. Beca pants, flinching at the contact, but more aroused than ever. Every shift against the bed reminds her of how wet she is, how uncomfortable she is every time her clit licks against the soaked fabric of her underwear.

“I love you in this,” Chloe murmurs reverently. Her fingers trail over the tops of Beca’s breasts, now threatening to spill from the dress. “But. Um. We should, um,” Chloe’s voice is thick and hoarse. “Get this off.”

“Get me off,” Beca demands, unable to help herself.

Chloe flicks the elastic of Beca’s dress again, raising an eyebrow in warning. Still, her hands begin to move again and she finally guides Beca to sit up as well, both of their hands suddenly eager to move as Beca helps her shed the ridiculous dress. It jingles loudly and obnoxiously as it floats to the ground as if saluting Beca once more.

Fucking nuisance.

Chloe laughs at Beca’s disgruntled expression when the dress finally slides off her body and allows Beca to climb into her lap once she discards her stockings and nearly trips over herself in her haste to press her body against Chloe’s again. Chloe begins kissing a trail up her chest and around her collarbone before she leans Beca back a little and nips at the sensitive flesh around her nipples. Beca whimpers once Chloe’s teeth finally graze pebbled flesh. She grabs the back of Chloe’s head to keep her there as long as possible. Chloe’s hands slide under the waistband of her underwear, cupping her ass firmly and steadying Beca’s hips as she begins a quick rocking motion.

Back and forth, back and forth—Beca realizes how close she is to coming as her underwear sticks to her drenched cunt with each shift of her hips.

Too close.

It’s like Chloe has a sixth sense. She pauses her ministrations, lifting her head so she can smile at Beca, lust and desire shining in her eyes. Her fingers slide around so she can rake her nails up Beca’s thighs, the sensation causing a new wave of wetness between her legs. Beca wants to push Chloe back and get herself off on the button of her jeans.

She’s that close.

"Chloe," she breathes. She needs Chloe in her—her tongue or her fingers, she isn’t picky—or she might combust. “Now isn’t the time, I swear. Fuck me. Fuck me,” she enunciates. “I don't have patience today.”

"Oh,” Chloe teases, though any humour is immediately outweighed by how fucking hot Chloe sounds like that. “I’d love to meet patient Beca one day. I’m sure she’d be a good little elf for me.”

Beca hates how quickly her mind immediately files that away under things I will definitely get off to in the future.

"I’ll be good,” Beca promises weakly. “Please, Chlo.”

Chloe’s warmth lifts off her body. She pulls at Beca’s underwear, tugging it off successfully before she settles comfortably between Beca’s legs and immediately begins sucking at Beca’s aching clit.

First, Beca thinks that she is immensely grateful for having discarded the ruffled skirts because she has an uninhibited view of Chloe’s face and the top of her head as she continues licking and sucking at the wet, swollen flesh between her legs.

Second, holy fuck.

Beca swallows, unable to even whine or whimper because of how tight her throat feels. Her lungs strain for air as she gasps breathlessly. Chloe’s fingers dig into her hips, holding her down while she continues using her tongue and lips and teeth in absolutely sinful ways between Beca’s legs. Chloe leaves nothing to the imagination, her tongue slicing up and down through wet folds.

With her head rocking back and forth on the pillow, Beca soon becomes aware of the faintest sound—a lone jingle, muffled by the fabric of her pillow. To her horror, she realizes she is still wearing the obnoxious hat on her head and the bell is caught between her hair and pillow. She reaches up to rip it off her head, but Chloe’s lips immediately tighten around her clit and Beca immediately grabs on to Chloe’s head instead, moaning loudly at the sensation.

“Leave it,” Chloe mumbles.

At first, Beca has no idea what Chloe is referring to, but she then realizes Chloe is referring to the damned hat.

She would laugh if Chloe’s fingers weren’t pressing inside her cunt with practiced ease and immediately setting a punishing pace. Chloe rises slightly so her face hovers over Beca’s. Her lips are parted with the effort of each thrust and her cheeks are flushed. Beca swallows as she stares back, her own jaw unhinged without a care in the world. There is pure lust and want in Chloe’s eyes, like she can’t believe Beca is hers. The desperation of Chloe laying Beca down not too long ago in an act of wanton passion simply because she could and simply because she wanted Beca and missed Beca—

“Fuck, C-Chloe—” She groans, head falling back. “Fuck me, oh God—”

Chloe watches Beca's flushed face with no small measure of smugness dancing across her features—particularly in the glistening on her lips—as she does so. “Good, baby?”

“So good,” Beca whimpers. “Harder, baby, fuck—”

A sharp cry escapes Beca’s mouth as Chloe’s fingers curl and her thrusts become more precise and distinct. From her head, she hears the jingles from the hat, but otherwise, Beca can’t hear much else other than her own panting and Chloe’s heavy breathing with the effort she is putting into fucking Beca into oblivion.

She clenches tight around Chloe’s fingers, her thighs locking up around Chloe’s hips. White explodes behind her eyelids and she quickly presses herself close to Chloe if only to keep her fingers trapped inside her for a moment while her orgasm washes over her in waves.

When Beca’s body finally unclenches, Chloe is peppering kisses along her neck and cheek. Slowly, Chloe’s fingers leave the warmth between Beca’s legs, sliding out of her slowly as to not startle her. With her eyes fixated on Beca’s dazed expression, she licks at her fingers, getting every last bit of Beca off her fingers. “You were so good baby,” Chloe praises before leaning in to kiss Beca thoroughly. Beca hums, enjoying the feeling of Chloe’s lips folding around hers, kissing back with the ease of people who have done so a thousand times before.

Faintly, Beca hears jingling again. Pulling back, she frowns and forces her eyes open. She soon realizes that Chloe is playing with the little bell at the top of her hat, a playful smile creeping across her lips. “Chloe,” she whines. She reaches up to pull the hat off her head, and tosses it aside, hoping it lands somewhere near the garbage can.

“It was cute,” Chloe protests.

Beca frowns. She pushes at Chloe’s shoulder so she rolls onto her back before getting to work at removing Chloe’s jeans which have been on for far too long. “You’re cute. And I’ve missed you. Now shut up so I can go down on you.”

“I don’t think Santa would approve of that language, Bec.”

.

.

.

.

Later, when Beca is rubbing her slightly sore jaw, thinking she sufficiently exhausted Chloe to the point where Chloe couldn’t do much more than cuddle Beca and keep her warm, she realizes belatedly that her first mistake was to underestimate her girlfriend.

“So...is that candy cane strap-on out of the question?”

“Chloe.”

fin.

[gra-sonas]

If you remember the reveal on Grey's Anatomy that Dr. Sam Bello was a DACA recipient or Mateo's surprising backstory of being an undocumented Filipino immigrant on Superstore, you've seen a storyline that Define American has consulted on. The nonprofit, which focuses on immigrant narratives, is currently working to improve diverse storylines on television. While folks in the industry are working toward creating opportunities for diversity in front of and behind the camera, it's equally important that the narratives told reflect our world. In fact, Define American is just one of the many organizations doing the on-the-ground work to bring more accurate voices and lived experiences to the small screen.

On Roswell, New Mexico's second season, Define American worked with the team on nuanced storylines involving the complexities of seeking healthcare while undocumented and a harrowing experience involving ICE agents. 

"We'll typically bring in several people with 'lived experience' with us," said Noelle S. Lindsay-Stewart, head of entertainment partnerships and advocacy at Define American. "It's important that whoever comes into those rooms has agency over their own stories and what they decide to share." Initial meetings with writers' rooms typically include an "Immigration 101" overview focusing on the types of misguided narratives that have historically been seen — both the hypercriminalized ones and the "worthy immigrant" (that is, the trope of arguing that a specific immigrant "deserves" good treatment because they're so smart/good/useful) narratives.

"The goal is to help writers tell these stories in all their complexities, without vilifying or sanctifying."               

Fiction is crucial for educating audiences about stories they might not hear about — or might have misconceptions about — in the real world. Between the person-to-person connections and the resources the organization provides, the goal is to help writers tell these stories in all their complexities, without vilifying or sanctifying. For example, Roswell features an ongoing storyline about a Latinx family of mixed immigration status: father Arturo is undocumented, while daughters Rosa (Amber Midthunder) and Liz (Jeanine Mason) are American citizens by birthright.

"I feel a sense of relief," Mason said of having Define American consult. "I could feel confident we had all the resources to do best by this story," noting that she had previously worked with the organization on Grey's, where the storyline was "more about the subtleties of the legalities." As DACA recipient Sam, she had to explain on screen, for instance, that the "green card marriage" trope wouldn't work in that situation. As Liz, immigration colors a protagonist's storyline.

"I'm first generation, but my family's Cuban, so our immigrant experience is vastly different than the one people are experiencing right now. My parents were welcomed as asylum-seekers, my siblings and I all call ourselves Cuban-Americans . . . but there was never any doubt this was our home. Liz's experience is so contrary; there's such a pressure to be so quiet and delicate."

During a pivotal scene on Roswell: New Mexico, ICE agents who have been harassing Arturo throughout a health scare turn up at the Ortechos' diner. Liz is able to use the privilege she does have (as an American citizen) to push back in a way her father can't — which Mason points out is something we all can do: use what privileges we have to stand up for each other.

"It's only when [the agent] oversteps that she feels a need to check him, and that's her own privilege," Mason said. "It was satisfying to get to be disorderly for a second . . . to get to say the truth and claim back a little power from someone accustomed to mowing me and my family down."

When the show does venture into stories that seem familiar, Mason pointed out, it still works to add nuance. The character of Rosa, for instance, is a recovering addict, but, in context, it's just one part of representation.

"Rather than [being] taboo or for shock value, we approach it as something that can further a conversation," Mason said. "We have Liz, who's a scientist, and Kyle [played by Michael Trevino, a Mexican-American actor], who's a doctor, the two of them being Latinx best friends from childhood, top of their game, and it's not gawked at, it's just a simple truth. The beautiful thing about Rosa is that so much of the work we have to do is understanding this [addiction] can happen to anyone. To not ostracize it but to understand that talking about mental health is so taboo within our community . . . It was a really necessary conversation to have."

Immigration isn't the only issue being represented with more nuance on primetime TV today, thanks to the work of nonprofits. Planned Parenthood, for instance, has worked since 2016 to assist shows with depicting abortions.

"Nonprofits like these are crucial to helping writers tell stories that reflect the full spectrum of human experiences — and, in turn, helping audiences discover new ideas they might not otherwise encounter."

"Over 50 percent of people actually believe that the health care information they see on TV and film is accurate," Alencia Johnson, director of public engagement at Planned Parenthood, told Yes! in 2019. "Therefore, we need to make sure that abortion storylines — storylines about sexuality, love, relationships, birth control, whatever it may be — related to gender and reproductive rights are accurate."

Consulting on long-running shows isn't the only way nonprofits are working to redefine narratives in Hollywood, though. Define American is developing its own original content, often in partnership with established producers and networks, in order to help fill in the gaps of untold stories.

"We match the mandate the network is looking for to our message," explained DJ Reed, Define American's TV and film development manager. "We're trying to make an actual change. When we take meetings, industry folks are often surprised at our approach to the creative process, our deep industry knowledge, and the connections we have to immigrant communities across the country." Meanwhile, several nonprofits are called upon to help shows develop strong stories from day one.

"We are meeting with the networks and then reaching out to them and letting them know we are available. Big partners for us are the unions [like] the Casting Society of America's Committee on Diversity, the Screen Writers Guild, and SAG-AFTRA," Jennifer Mizrahi, CEO and president of disability advocacy group RespectAbility, told Vox in 2017.

"I can tell you in a very general way that if you are seeing LGBTQ inclusion on television, there is a very, very strong likelihood that GLAAD played a part in it at some point," added Zeke Stokes, vice president of programs at GLAAD.

Nonprofits like these are crucial to helping writers tell stories that reflect the full spectrum of human experiences — and, in turn, helping audiences discover new ideas they might not otherwise encounter. The team at Define American seems hopeful that there's room for all kinds of stories, covering the tough issues as well as lighter, aspirational stories set in worlds that are, perhaps, kinder than the real one.

"We need really consistent reminders of where we've been, but having something aspirational . . . we need things that give us hope as well," Lindsay-Stewart said. "We're helping more people feel seen while also bringing new folks into this conversation who have never been part of it before."

With so many organizations helping to bring so many voices to the table, it's looking more hopeful than ever that we'll be seeing more nuanced and diverse stories — and that's as exciting creatively as it is culturally.

[formerlyrunephoenix6769]

She-ra SPOP Season 3 theories. Part One.

Well folks, it’s been a while since I’ve done a theory or Tumblr post in general. Always meant to do this but as per usual life and other projects took over. And with the announcement of V3 unexpectedly swiftly arriving on August 2nd 2019 rather than the speculated November, like season 1 last year, now is as good a time as any.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T SEEN SEASON 2, LOOK AWAY NOW!

So at the end of season 2 our deuteragonists, Catra and Adora both seemed in rather ominous situations. With Catra in what I theorise as being in Hordak’s portal, his first test subject if you will.

And Adora about to be kidnapped by Shadow Weaver. 

Noelle Stevenson recently implied that Season 3 would be where Catra and Adora would cross paths again, which brings me to my first part. 

I think that Beast Island is where Hordak has sent Catra in the portal and where SW will take Adora and this is where they will cross paths. BEAST ISLAND.

We have heard Beast Island mentioned on many occasions, mostly in Season 2 between Hordak and Catra when discussing SW’s fate. We know that it is a place that instills fear in the Force Captain and her trusty sidekick, Scorpia, so much so, that Catra risks Hordak’s displeasure and begs SW to give her anything that will give the Sorceress a stay of execution.  

But we have also heard mention of it waaaay back in s1 in Plumeria, when Perfuma tells the tale of She-Ra and how she tamed the beast of Beast Island.

It is a legend that commands enough respect for other cultures on Etheria to pass on to younger generations and immortalise it in art for posterity.And if Mara was indeed the She-ra that defeated the Beast, then that defeat occurred over a 1000 years ago.  

In the ‘Lightspinner’ episode Catra says that no one has ever returned from Beast Island, my theory as to why no one has returned is rather a case of the residents of Beast Island, wishing to be left alone, have allowed its ferocious reputation to precede it and go uncorrected as a layer of protection and is rather a bit of a safe haven of sorts from the Horde and others who may wish to cause harm. They have not joined the rebellion as they wish to be left out of it, believe they cannot beat the Horde and/or lack the technology to withstand a Horde attack. (much like the Plumerians back in s1) That those who have been sent there as a punishment have been integrated into the community that is already there or have been not allowed to leave for fear that they might spill the beans. 

*In the 1985 She-Ra, had an episode named ‘The prisoners of Beast Island’, so this could very well come into play*

Shadow Weaver did not seem as troubled by the threat that she would be sent to Beast Island which leads me to believe that the Island maybe isn’t as terrifying as the Horde children and the current Princesses believe, not to say that it will not present any challenges. 

  Being that the Horde have raised their soldiers deeply entrenched in propaganda and have more than likely kidnapped, taken as wards so the kingdoms won’t rise against them, ie Scorpia, it is not too far a stretch, that the Beast Islanders have been able to keep up the illusion.

We have also seen many characters with animal characteristics such as Scorpia, Rogelio, Octavia and the so far unnamed Orange* and Saffron Princesses we saw back in S1. I theroise that these characters are from Beast Island’s neighbouring kingdoms or may even be residents of Beast Island.

*see link in Catra, below.

CATRA.

Over the last two seasons, Catra has geared up to be one of the most complex characters of the show, her motivations coming from deep seated issues of self worth and the trauma she has suffered at the hands of SW. 

Added onto by her complicated relationship with Adora and the deep wound of her best friend’s perceived betrayal. It has culminated in a lust for a position of power and an opportunity to show what she is capable of, born of a wish for some form of independence. *Season 1 

“Soon we’ll be calling the shots.”

However, that position of power has been granted to Catra by someone else being taken out of play, ie Adora leaving the Horde and SW being imprisoned. 

That is not to say that Catra is undeserving of the title Force Captain as she has proved herself on many occasions to be clever, resourceful, quick witted, forward thinking and has an ability to see the way the wind is blowing. (if she is a little single minded where Adora/She-Ra is concerned). She has even gone so far as to garner the begrudging respect of her subordinates, even if they do dislike her and have made that displeasure known, so she is capable of drawing others to her cause, whether just through fear, coercion and manipulation remains to be seen. 

If she is indeed being sent to Beast Island through Hordak’s portal, we might see Catra gaining her independence, power and agency, rather than being held hostage by the orders of an overseer with their own agenda. 

I have theroised before that Catra could well be a lost princess. 

* see  https://formerlyrunephoenix6769.tumblr.com/post/184572132476/catra-could-she-be-a-lost-princess-and-if-so

   We might see her on Beast Island, becoming part of the community and rising to a position of power. She could very well end up finding her own tribe and be happy to remain there until she crosses paths with Adora and SW which will result in her having a round two confrontation with her foster parent, whose manipulation of her complex feelings caused her to be exiled. 

Finding out  that SW preyed on Catra’s confused attachment towards her abuser as a way to escape, throwing one child under the bus in favour of finding the Golden Child, who is already a huge bone of contention for Catra, will no doubt sour Catra towards Adora even further. 

This is of course if Catra comes across the pair together, rather than finding Adora alone and on the run from her kidnapper. 

Another avenue of thought is that Beast Island is as harsh as everyone believes and SW brings Adora there as a place where they won’t be disturbed as SW begins to enact a plan and we begin to learn more about Adora’s background, She-Ra’s origins and what exactly Mara was up to. 

Catra just unfortunately ends up stumbling upon the pair and the three end up together, thereby giving Adora and Catra a chance to take small steps to repair their rather rocky and complex relationship as I don’t think there will ever be a time that Adora does not try to reach Catra somehow. 

(The pair have some major unresolved issues with each other, and Adora carries a large amount of guilt at leaving Catra behind, but understands it is something she had to do in order to do the right thing. And its a case of getting Catra to also come on board, do the right thing, independently and not at the behest of others.

To do this whilst making sure that Catra does not feel that she is in Adora’s shadow or beholden to anyone is where in lies the problem, until Catra sees her own self worth and stops blaming Adora and believing that she meant her deliberate harm over the years.

They have a lot to discuss with concerns to SW treatment of the pair growing up. That both of them were children and neither in a position to be able to call SW out on her abusive BS.)  

This post has gotten pretty long so I think Ill break it into sections, next time I’ll be looking at Adora/She-Ra and Mara and the rest of the Super Best Pals Trio. 

She-Ra: Princesses of Power Season 3 is out on Netflix August 2nd 2019

*If you liked this post and would like to support more like it, consider contributing to my kofi,

http://ko-fi.com/formerlyrunephoenix6769

[calebswitching]

Easter eggs - Noelle/Caleb

Caleb assists Noelle with her easter eggs scene, doing a brief impact play session at four in the morning in the glee room. @undefinednoelle

Caleb didn't know Noelle particularly, but he was very happy to help her with her Easter eggs scene.  He hadn't branched out and scened with anyone new in a while, and he was looking forward to it.  He wasn't exactly thrilled about getting up before four in the morning, but it wasn't the end of the world.  He made himself coffee, and one for Noelle, and brought them both to the Glee room, where he waited outside for her to arrive.  It was only another minute before Noelle came down the hall.  Caleb sent her a smile and held out the travel mug to her.  "Good morning, Miss.  I made you coffee, if you'd like some."

Noelle decided to forego sleeping all together because she knew that having to get up in the middle of the night wasn’t ideal and she would more than likely sleep through every alarm she set, and she would feel bad for standing up Caleb when he was so willing to help her. She only had need for the flogger because she didn’t plan for it to be some long intense scene so it was the only thing in her hand when she walked towards the glee room. She smiled seeing him already there waiting for her. “Well that was sweet of you to think of me, thank you.” She took the mug from him and took a small sip. “So let’s go over limits and safewords shall we?”

Caleb smiled and ducked his head submissively, pleased that she called him sweet for bringing her coffee.  He was motivated by praise more than just about anything.  All he wanted, most of the time he was with a Dominant or Switch, was to be a good boy.  "Yes, Miss," he agreed readily as he opened the door for her and waited for her to go in first.  "Safewords are red and yellow.  I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and I really like impact play, so I don't expect to get near any limits with that regard.  Other limits that might come up... humiliation play can be tricky for me, Miss.  When it leans towards topics like being bad or being in trouble or needing to be punished, or things about my value, words like stupid or worthless...."  He swallowed, uncomfortable even talking about some of those things.  "It's not fun.  But, um, other than that, I can't really think of anything that might come up that I'm not happy to do with you, Miss.  I hope that I can make it fun for you, I want to please you any way I can."

At the way Caleb practically preened at the compliment, Noelle could only remember Eric's words that Caleb responding best to praise and she made a mental note to make sure she gave him just that. She took another sip of the coffee as she walked into the glee room. "Well, I don't anticipate needing to punish you so we won't have to worry about that, sweetie." She placed the mug down on the desk in the corner and turned back to face Caleb. "I want you to pick a number between 1 and 15 before we begin."

Caleb set his half-drunk coffee down on a table and moved into the middle of the room, unsure where Noelle wanted him.  "Oh, um... Twelve?"  He wasn't sure why he was picking a number, or if she was thinking of one that he was trying to guess.  He watched her uncertainly.

Noelle nodded her head. “Then you’ll be getting 12 strikes.” She pulled a hair tie from her wrists and pulled her hair out of her face so that nothing would get in the way of her concentration. “Remove you clothes and lean over the desk. I want your arms flat at your sides and your chest pressed completely against the wood.”

Oh, it was the number of strikes.  He kind of wished he'd said fifteen, then.  Even that was way less than he could handle.  But he wasn't going to protest or anything.  Noelle probably just wanted to get this over with sooner, since it was four AM.  "Yes, Miss," he said obediently, sending her a small smile as he started to strip.  He quickly folded his clothes and left them in a neat pile next to his coffee before moving over to the desk that Noelle had indicated.  He leaned over it like she said, laying his chest down flat, his cheek pressed to the cool surface, and then put his hands down by his side.  "I like the flogger, Miss, so you don't need to worry about taking it easy on me.  I always like having a bit of a sore bottom when I sit in class."

“Such a good boy.” Noelle complimented him. She waited until he was in position and just as she was about to begin, his words caught her off guard but they somehow didn’t surprise her. “I will certainly keep that in mind, sweetie. Now you’re going to count each strike and thank me afterwards as this scene is a privilege. Is that understood?” She paused before flicking her wrists and allowed the strips of leather to rain down across his skin. The first few hits were meant as a way for Noelle to warm up and fall into a steady rhythm. Each strike that was soon to follow grew harder, slapping across his ass until the sound was echoing from the walls and his skin was reddening.

Caleb nodded quickly, wanting her to know that he really did understand that this was a privilege, and that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve her in whatever way she needed.  "Yes, Miss, of course, thank you."  He relaxed his muscles and started to focus on breathing evenly, the way he always did during impact play, even though he doubted that this would go long enough for him to need to focus on breathing through the pain.  "One, Miss, thank you," he counted as soon as the first strike hit him.  He loved the flogger, the way the sting was immediate and spread out over his skin rather than focused to one spot.  As the swats continued, he took them calmly and counted each one with no more than a small twitch or a slight gasp  at the later, more painful strikes.  His ass heated up, and the warmth and pain spread through him, along with the endorphins.  His mind quieted, and all he had to think about was keeping still and counting, as Noelle had said.  When he counted the twelfth hit, his ass was stinging and sore, but he knew it would fade soon, and probably wouldn't even bruise much, if at all.  "Twelve, thank you, Miss."  He wanted to kneel for her and show her how grateful he was, but he was better trained than to move until given permission.

Noelle watched him closely the entire time. The harder she hit him, the more relaxed he became it seemed. If it wasn't the middle of the night and if it wasn't only meant to be a simple scene, she might have explored that a little more. "You did so well. It makes me want to play with you some more, but I did promise your Dom it would be a simple scene and I am a woman of my own." She dropped the flogger and rotated her wrist and her shoulder. "You may stand up now." She reached out to card her fingers through his hair. "How are you feeling?"

Caleb beamed at her when she said she wanted to explore more, and that he'd done well.  He hadn't been concerned at all, but the praise still made him feel a soft glow in his chest.  He stood once he was given permission and stepped towards her, then dropped gracefully to his knees.  "I feel good, Miss, thank you.  I would be really happy to have the privilege of scening with you again, if you want to.  I'm allowed, as long as I ask my Dominant.  I can tell you know what you're doing with that flogger, Miss, and I would love to serve you and pleasure you in whatever way you'd allow."  He ducked his head in a show of respect.  "And I'm grateful for the privilege of being flogged this morning."  Caleb had dipped down into the beginnings of subspace, as he always did when he did impact play, and this kind of formal, subservient language flowed naturally from him.  It was genuine, he really did feel grateful to Noelle right now.

"I would love nothing more than to have another scene with you. We'll talk to your Dom and see if we can set up another time." The chance to have another scene with Caleb on her own terms without the time constraints wasn't something she was going to turn down. He seemed like a natural submissive and she could see that she could easily learn from him and it would help her be a better Domme in the long run when she finally did settle down into her own claim. "Such a sweet boy. I appreciate that. Now let's get you dressed. We can have a little breakfast and hang out until we have to get ready for classes. How does that sound?"

Caleb smiled up at her, clearly delighted to have pleased her, and nodded eagerly.  "Yes, Miss, of course.  That sounds perfect.  Thank you."  He stood to get dressed.

[eighty-sixformyown]

I wonder it will finish today?

Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai Desu

 Chapter 11 Bonds Stronger Than Chains

Nicks had been nervous since that morning.

Looking uncomfortable, he would walk around the mansion, return to his room and then come

out again.

I was disappointed to see her in such a sad way.

" Calm. Dorothea had just come to visit. ”

Nicks was neatly dressed from head to toe and her hair was neatly styled. He was clearly looking

forward to Dorothea's visit.

II-I'm calm!

"In which direction?"

Nicks didn't seem happy with me, but occasionally he took deep breaths to ease his tension.

And he wasn't supposed to be hanging out with Dorothea until a while ago. -Brother, you look

pathetic.

I shrugged and shook my head. Luxion, unconvinced by my comment, spoke with his usual

sarcasm.

[If your brother is pathetic, then you are even worse, Master.]

"Stupid. I decided if I couldn't escape, you know? My sister is already at the wedding countdown

stage, but she is too worried. ”

[I would say it was a misunderstanding.]

" Where ? I guess he was fine yesterday too? And I'm quite worried. ”

[I am referring to the part where Master is ready to make a decision when he is unable to escape.

You were the one who worried too much until the end. You have no right to make fun of your

brother].

" Is that true ?"

When I was getting gloomy, Colin looked at me from the corner of the room. -Colin!

" Hi !"

When I quickly stood up, Colin was startled and ran away.

I reached out to Colin, who had run away, and was depressed that I couldn't speak to him today

either.

"If only he would talk to me. Luxion, do something. ”

Even though I gave him an unreasonable order, Luxion refused.

[I don't want to because it's mostly resolved.]

"What do you mean you don't want to? This is an order!”

[Does not matter. We are working on a solution.]

" Is that true ?"

The moment I doubted Luxion, the entrance of the mansion became bustling.

Apparently, Dorothea and the others had arrived.

After experiencing his heartbreak, Colin had been looking for an opportunity to apologize to

Leon.

However, he couldn't talk to her easily.

When he goes to see Leon again, he finds Noelle in his wheelchair. -Leon, did you talk to Colin?

" I can not. ”

" I see. I wanted to talk to him too, but he's avoiding me now.

Colin's heart ached to see the two of them so depressed.

However, when he saw the two of them getting along well, there was still some part of him that

couldn't digest it.

This was a very divided story for young Colin in some ways, and this time too, he left this place

without speaking to Leon.

At least I'll apologize in a place where Noelle isn't.

He missed the chance to apologize because he ran away like that.

When he was trying to go to a deserted place, he saw through the windows of his parents'

mansion picking up a boat.

What was removed from the warehouse was a floating boat.

The boat was full of food and drink.

Barkas was dressed a little better than usual, and Luce was neat too. Colin was curious as to what

the two of them were doing and went outside.

When he left the mansion and arrived outside, they would board the ship. Barkas helps Luce on

the ship.

Then Colin called them.

" Where are you going? We have guests today, right?”

Colin found it odd that they had to leave the house when they were told they had an important

guest today.

However, both Barkas and Luce looked at each other and smiled.

“ Nicks will take care of them, so that's fine. Dad's going out with Mom, so you have to be quiet

without disturbing Nicks. ”

When Barkas said that, Luce told Colin as well.

" That's right. Stay away from Nicks. You just have to play with other people. Colin didn't quite

understand, but decided to nod for a moment. ”

" Okay. Besides, where are you guys going?”

Barkas was embarrassed and scratched his cheek with a finger.

“Ah~, that's all. I was thinking of having a look around the area with your mother. Take a small

boat and go around the area.

They boarded a small floating boat to circle the area.

It's not about going up in the sky, it's more like a little walk.

However, Colin was worried that his parents were more excited than usual.

And then he came up with an answer.

"Maybe it's a date?"

Luce narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, this kid has grown up, right?"

Barkas scratched his head without answering.

He must be embarrassed.

Then Luce answered instead.

“I have reconciled with your father, so now we will go together. So, Colin, you should stay home. ”

"But why did you come out at a time like this?"

Can your parents be absent when Dorothea comes from the Roseblade family? Barkas answered

Colin's question.

“This is to make Nicks feel better. Colin, don't get in the way of Nicks. But you can get in Leon's

way, it's fine if you make him worry a little. ”

Luce agreed with Barkas' opinion.

"I still don't know if that kid is great or not?"

It seemed his parents were wondering how to evaluate Leon.

However, Colin was relieved to see them together.

The two have reconciled.

Recently the two had been a bit distant and, as a child, he had been worried about them. Colin

was relieved when the two were back together.

" It does not matter. I will read a book in my room. ”

Barkas patted Colin's head slightly harshly. -Good boy.

As he watched them leave in their boat, Colin started to feel a little jealous. They are a very close

couple.

Not long ago, he had a main wife named Zola, but Colin didn't have a good memory of that.

He wasn't usually in the mansion, and sometimes he would come over and complain.

Even though she was Barkas' wife, she was never seen as part of the family. When the two of them

disappeared, Colin noticed.

" Hah ? Father married my mother and Zola, but he was always alone after that, right?”

Zola disappeared before he knew it and no one in the family mentioned his name.

He thought he shouldn't have asked when he was a child, but Barkas didn't seem to want to marry

another woman after that.

Colin felt uncomfortable.

" ... What ?"

When Colin returned to the mansion, Jenna and Finley were walking down the hall.

The two didn't seem to notice Colin and started talking when they stopped in the hallway.

Colin decided to hide behind a pillar and wait for them to leave, thinking they would do

something cruel to him.

Then, the two of them started to whine.

“Ah~ my goodness! Why do women come to the camp like us?”

Jenna made a clueless face and complained that she didn't understand why there were classy

women like Angie and all in the house.

Finley seemed to agree, but was not satisfied.

“ Weird, but that's okay because we can get gifts. ”

Finley gave that nonchalant comment, but Colin agreed.

When Angie lives in the mansion, the food becomes sumptuous.

In addition to the lodging fee, they had also received a gift from Duke Redgrave, and Colin was

delighted with some rare treats.

If you have Angie, you can get candy... that's the level of recognition she gets. He had heard that

she was a woman, but he did not understand how big a woman she was.

However, because his parents bowed to him, he thought he was better than them. Jenna, with her

hand on her forehead, marveled at Finley's aloofness.

“They're usually not people you can relate to unless you get involved with them. I was surprised

when it happened with Leon, but I didn't think even Nicks would bring in a countess. ”

"We're barons, aren't we?"

"Stupid!"

" Ouch !"

Jenna tapped her finger on Finley's forehead, which said that since they were nobles and barons,

they had nothing to fear.

Jenna explained to Finley in detail the reality of the Holfault Kingdom.

“In our country, there is as much difference between barons and earls as heaven and earth. Have

you seen the Roseblade family castle? It's a true aristocrat. We have a hair rank that comes from a

family of knights. ”

“It's true that the family is an amazing earl~. ”

Jenna sighed at Finley, who seemed dissatisfied.

“When you enter the academy, you will understand, even if you don't like it. Real women are on

another level. ”

" What do you mean ?"

“ All the clothes they wear are made to order and they have their own tailor. They even have their

own airship too. The maids following them were from the gentlemen's families. ”

“It's amazing to be rich. ”

Finley was impressed, but he still didn't seem to feel it was really real.

So was Colin, who was listening to them, he even thought it was amazing, but he didn't

understand either.

Jenna was annoyed with my sister not understanding, but she didn't scold her because she

reminded her how it was before she joined the academy.

“You won't understand now, but when you go to the royal capital you will understand. Then you

will see how unnatural our situation is. ”

“I'm still wondering about that. Our boring older brother brought some women with them. Our

older brother Leon with a duke's daughter and our other brother Nicks with a noble's daughter. I

don't believe it either. ”

From Finley's point of view, knowing how they used to be, the older brothers were boring.

They really didn't understand how a beautiful woman could fall in love with such a boring

brother.

Then the story turns to Dorothea, who is Nicks' partner.

Jenna folded her arms and looked down, as if worried.

“In Nicks' case, it's awkward because he's about to take over the house. His wife will eventually

live in this mansion. I can put up with Miss Angelica leaving, but when I thought that Miss

Dorothea would be in charge of our house……”

Jenna, her face blue and trembling, was utterly terrified.

Colin was frightened by the frightened appearance of his younger brother who usually dominated

behind the pillars.

"Miss" Dorothea? There was still that person Jenna called. On the other hand, isn't Jenna really

scared of him, I wonder if Dorothea is really that scary?"

Seeing Jenna scared, Finley told him the scary part about Angie.

“Oh~, I got it! When I asked Leon for money, he glared at me with his eyes. That's scary~. ”

However, he laughed and said, "I made him angry."

Angie and Livia felt uncomfortable when they showed an exaggerated attitude towards Leon.

From the point of view of the two, Livia, who was not a noble, was not scary.

But Angie was different.

Even Jenna couldn't be strong because of the existence of a solid noble class.

He was the strongest in the school caste, and Jenna couldn't fight him because he had strong

standards.

If it's male, there will be some flexibility, but on the contrary, the hierarchical relationship

between women becomes very tight.

Jenna was mad at Leon for making things difficult for her.

“Not only a noble, but also a foreign princess. What about the boys in our family? Thanks to that,

we couldn't do much. ”

Finley agreed with that opinion and complained about Leon.

" Right. Only Leon, but I can't forgive him being surrounded by women. In general, isn't it strange

that he has three wives? What's the use of that brother? The three of them together do not have

good eyesight for men. ”

“ Amazing~ . If it was me, I would never forgive him. Even if he had money, he would never

choose Leon. ”

The sisters booed Leon in unison, but when Colin heard it, he understood the unease growing

inside him.

... Maybe it 's strange to have three wives ?

Colin's next stop was in the courtyard.

Due to various things he wanted to think about, he sat on the edge of the flowerbed in the

courtyard and swung his legs.

Then a man and a woman came out of the mansion.

The man was Nicks and the woman was Dorothea, his guest.

They couldn't seem to see Colin.

Nicks was a little nervous, but he had something important to tell Dorothea.

Colin remembered his parents telling him not to bother Nicks, so he said, "I have to hide," and

disappeared from their sight.

So, Nick...

"Dorothea!"

"Y-Yes!"

Dorothea, who was called by name and had a strained, whiny voice, had a bright red face like

Nicks.

“I-I… want… Stay… With you… hereiii. ”

Dorothea answered loudly after a brief pause from Nicks, who was shy but was able to convey her

feelings as best she could.

“I-I want to stay here!”

The two of them had bright red faces and didn't move for a while. Then, they started laughing

together, maybe because it was funny.

... Colin had witnessed the confession scene.

Colin, who was observing the situation, congratulated himself in his heart as he was envious of

Nicks' appearance.

Congratulations, brother Nicks.

And Dorothea also shared her feelings for Nicks.

"I love you Nick. ”

" I love you too. ”

"Yes, but I think I love you more. No matter how many times I am reborn, I will find you and fall in

love with you. And we will be together again and again. I won't give you to anyone.

Nicks was embarrassed to hear those passionate words.

“Ahaha, I'm happy about that. Ah, but umm..."

Dorothea shook her head at Nicks, who hesitated.

Nicks seems to have given up and made some conditions.

“As for the necklace, if you promise not to do it in public, we can do it on our own. He did not

deny Dorothea's hobby and gave conditions to do so. Dorothea then shook her head.

“ No, it's not necessary. ”

" Hah ?"

“I don't need a necklace or chain between you and me. ”

“R-Right! Sorry. Not that I'm happy about it, I just thought it would be nice to have a relationship

like that. ”

" Of course. From now on... I will be with you forever. I will never leave you. -Y-Yes?"

Nicks seemed bothered by Dorothea's way of speaking, but didn't think much of it.

Realizing that the two were trying to kiss, Colin, whose face was red, decided to leave the place

quietly.

However, Colin thought somehow.

Hmm, is this normal? I feel a little scared.

That was before dinner.

Colin went to visit Nicks' room.

Nicks looks pretty tired, but he's happy with his successful confession. Thus, he happily

welcomed Colin into his room.

" What is it? If you want me to help you apologize to Leon?! ”

" Not that. I have something to ask you, brother Nicks. ”

"Something to ask me?"

"Yes. -Well... Nicks, you're going to marry Dorothea, right?"

"O-Oh. So it seems. ”

Nicks, shy but agreeable, was overjoyed.

“I wonder if I'm compatible with his partner… It seems unbelievable that I laughed when Leon got

engaged to Angelica because it was a story that had nothing to do with me. ”

" That's right. …So, are you going to marry someone else after this?”

Hearing Colin's question, Nicks furrowed his brows for a moment.

However, he immediately softened his expression when he saw that it was a child's question, and

Nicks answered Colin's question.

"Since you've seen our father and Leon, do you think so?"

"Yes. Father married this woman named Zola.

Nicks briefly explained the situation when he saw Colin, who had trouble pronouncing Zola's

name.

“They are not part of the family. My father married Zola out of necessity, and our real family is us.

First of all, our father could not work alone in the territory. ”

In the Holfault Kingdom, where the power of a few women continued for a long time, the male

side of the weak position had concubines and mistresses.

The reason is that the presence of female companions is indispensable for work.

Whether you are a noble who was given a job by the royal palace or a noble who owns territory,

work efficiency will decrease if there is no one to take care of the house.

Moreover, if you let him take care of the house, your family will be safer. For this reason, he must

have another woman as a wife.

Otherwise, families will not be able to do their jobs and many of them will go bankrupt.

So, when Barkas took Luce as a concubine, he never touched a woman after that.

Inside Barkas, only Luce became his wife.

“Our father got married because he couldn't do anything about it, but I thought he would only

marry our mother. ”

Colin confirmed Nicks' feelings.

"Is it the same for you, Nicks?"

“I can't vouch for it in the future, but I can't think of any other woman right now. Colin thought as

he heard Nicks' words. ”

Is Leon, who has three partners, really the weird one?”

Colin hadn't been too aware of marriage until now, but after his first love and heartbreak, he

started thinking about things.

Then all he could see was Leon's fiancé.

Why does Leon have three fiancés, he thought.

“Brother Leon, sorry about the other day. ”

Facing Colin, who was bowing deeply, my eyes burned.

I didn't realize Colin was in love with Noelle.

"I'm sorry too. I should have explained it to you from the start. ”

" It does not matter. That's my fault. ”

Not long ago I thought he was a boy, but Colin seems to be growing not only in appearance but

also inside.

I can't help but be happy with my little brother's growth.

While I was impressed, Luxion started teasing me as usual. [Your little brother has grown

mentally, isn't that something you should emulate, Master?]

“Usually I would answer you with something, but I won't because we're in front of Colin. And I'm

also contemplating it right now. ”

After dinner, Colin apologized and I was relieved to know that we were finally together. Noelle,

who was watching us, was overjoyed.

"I'm glad you two have reconciled. ”

Noelle, who is worried about our relationship, looks very happy.

Angie and Livia who were watching the situation also felt relieved.

“It's been a while, but it's back to normal. ”

Leon is also relieved. I'm glad to hear that all the problems have been fixed before the new

semester starts. ”

Colin and I caused the three of us a lot of trouble.

“Even though it was a vacation, the three of them couldn't enjoy it. I'm sorry. ”

I feel guilty for ending spring break like that after the school festival. It all started when Angie

and Livia were worried about me from the start.

Even if I tell them it was a misunderstanding, they don't believe me and I'm a little dissatisfied.

However, thanks to that I was able to rest my body and I want to thank the three of them. Angie

gave me a friendly smile.

" Do not worry. It's enough as long as you're distracted. ”

Livia placed a hand on her chest, as if she felt the same way as Angie.

“We had fun too, so don't worry. It's been a long time since we had the chance to spend time with

you, Leon. ”

Noelle opened her arms and expressed her joy with her body.

“Me too, my rehabilitation is going well and Leon's family is treating me well. Instead, I feel a little

sorry for them. ”

From their circumstances, I could tell they cared about me.

"Thank you all three. ... What's wrong, Colin?”

Tugging at my clothes, I turned to look at Colin, who was also looking at me. Colin said to me

with a serious expression as I turned to see if there was anything else. -Brother Leon.

" What is it ?"

“I think you should take good care of the three of them. Yes, you definitely have to make them

happy. The word "definitely" felt heavy and I hesitated to answer for a moment. However, there

was no point in denying it here, so I decided to nod.

" That's right. I meant to. ”

Nothing is certain in this world.

So I can't promise, but I don't think Colin found the answer I gave that I was willing to do reliable.

" More clearly! Nicks has confessed his feelings for Dorothea and said she would no longer think

about anyone else. ”

I didn't expect to hear the Nicks confession story from Colin. Yes, first of all.

" You're lying?!?!? That idiot Nicks confessed!?!?! ?”

“ He did! -Dorothea says she will marry Nicks no matter how many times she is born again! -Hah?

-Isn't that a little heavy?”

Isn't that a little heavy? No, this is really too heavy?! ?

For someone like me who had a previous life, it was the same as saying that it would haunt him

even if he died.

That Nicks didn't think about it?

“By the way, how did Nicks react when she heard those words from Dorothea? Was he surprised?

Or is he afraid?”

Colin looked at me as if to say Why are you asking me that?

"He's happy. Naturally, because the confession was a success. ”

" Are you kidding?! ?”

If he told me that, I would think of a way to get away from him at all costs. Too scary to chase

after you die!

The girls were excited, although it was not a sentence to be proud of.

“Dorothea said that too, didn't she? It doesn't matter how many times I'm reborn."

I want to meet you no matter how much I am reborn.

“I feel it is a wonderful destiny to meet even if we are reborn. If I were to be reborn, I would look

for all of you. ”

“The royal ladies say great things. But… that's a good thing, isn't it?”

...Are you kidding me? Why is this so popular?

I felt a chill down my spine.

Something like being chased into the afterlife... with Marie, that would be enough. But in Marie's

case, it's not a sexy story, and since it's on the margins of fun, is it still acceptable?

As he thought about it, Colin continued the conversation.

“Brother Leon, are you listening to me? I think you should be more assertive. Learn from Brother

Nicks. ”

"Yes. ”

I never thought there would come a day when my little brother would lecture me. Luxion teased

me, probably because he found her attractive.

[The growth of his sister is very encouraging. What do you think?] The three people who were

smiling until a while ago were slightly envious of Dorothea. Angie put her fist to her lips.

“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of Dorothea. ”

Livia held her cheek.

“I'm surprised Nicks confessed. I certainly admire him. ”

Noelle looks at me with concern.

“I guess that makes Leon the worst of the siblings when it comes to love. Colin was heartbroken

and apologized properly. ”

Nicks confessed.

Compared to the two of them, I seem to be inferior on the romantic front.

I found the part where I won in this suffering.

“…I didn't lose in the number of fiancés. ”

Luxion and the three shook their heads in disdain.

The four of them understood that he was joking, but Colin didn't seem to understand.

" It does not matter! You have three important people, so, Brother Leon, you must work three

times as hard!! ”

"Y-yes. ”

This is a children's mystery theory, but I get the point.

From Colin's point of view, it was hard to accept that the person he loved was one of several

fiancés.

Colin looked like he was about to cry.

“I can't make him happy, so I have to rely on you, Brother Leon. Actually I wanted to make him

happy, but that's impossible... So please Brother Leon, make the three of them happy. ”

What should I say to my little brother who is about to cry, should I say, "I will make everyone

happy, so leave it to me!" ?

But I feel like I'm lying if I say that.

Seeing me in a hurry, Luxion spoke in a slightly amused voice. [How do you feel when your little

brother argues the truth with you?]

“…I can't answer anything. ”

Count Roseblade castle.

Dorothea, who returned from the Baltfault family's territory, looked excited. Deirdre, who was

observing the situation, was dumbfounded but delighted.

“I don't think the other party will confess. So are you conveying your feelings properly, sister?

Because your partner is shrinking back. ”

When Dorothea turned to Deirdre, she smiled slightly grimly.

" Of course. No matter how many times I am reborn, I am willing to accept that we will be bound

each time. After all, chains cannot be physically linked. This is not enough at all. Even if I die, the

soul chain is the highest if I can bond with it in the afterlife. ”

Dorothea is serious and intends to meet and connect with Nicks no matter how many times she is

reborn.

The weight of his love took his sister, Deirdre by surprise.

"Isn't that just because he doesn't take it so seriously?"

“ It was fine. I won't let it go. ”

Deirdre shrugged when he saw Dorothea smiling.

Newer Posts Old Post

“She's my only older sister, but she's a woman with a heavy love. ”

Epilogue

 The Einhorn Airship has arrived at the great port of the Royal Capital Holfort.

At the port, where the airships came and went, Finley, who had a large travel bag, was overjoyed.

“Finally I will live in the capital reaaaaaaaaaallll!”

Do you feel that you have fulfilled your dream of moving to Tokyo?

It wasn't sunshine and rainbows in my time, as it was the start of the wedding hunting season.

“You are really excited about the prospect of living here. After all, you've visited the capital

several times, haven't you?”

After disembarking from Einhorn, we will board a small plane that will land in the royal capital.

Angie and Livia brought Noelle to the Redgrave Mansion in the capital, so there were only three of

us left here: Luxion, Finley, and myself.

“ Glad to finally be able to stay here. I'll be a city lady in no time, just you wait. ”

What my sister stated was very similar to what Jenna used to say.

"Oh, with pleasure. By the way, how will you be able to live here?! ”

When I asked Finley about his future plans, he gave me the expected answer.

" It is clear! I will marry a rich man who lives in the royal capital. I will look for a man who is

handsome, tall, and rich. ”

“It's good that you uphold such ideals. Enjoy it to the fullest because you will soon face reality. ”

It is good to harbor dreams; however, what is important is to understand the reality and adapt

your life to the circumstances. The sooner you do it, the richer you will be.

However, Finley wouldn't be convinced even if I explained it to him. He was transfixed that fate

had a prince for itself.

Sometimes I forget that this is the world of that otome game; since there must be some Prince

Charming out there, the chances are not zero, but the chances are very bad.

The reason why people have very bold dreams is because there are few that can be achieved.

They are unlikely to reach their target even if they are close, but they will still dream because of

the limited interaction they have in the same school.

I too, would dream if my idol was in my class at my school from my previous life. I'm sure I'll

imagine how we could be together.

That's why there should be time to daydream.

Though, reality is usually harsh, so I can't do it without wasting precious time.

Finley puffed out his cheeks at my attitude.

“You really are not ambitious, are you, brother? Don't just rule because you've made your dreams

come true. ”

I have Angie, Livia, and Noelle, so in a sense I've reached the finish line.

I haven't fulfilled my goal of a peaceful and quiet life, but I won't put myself in more trouble than

I should.

“ I just got lucky. ”

"Very honest today, isn't it?"

“That's because I'm a man who likes to be honest. Besides, let me tell you this honestly, after I

solve all these marriage crimes, I will have a comfortable and independent school life. You also

have to fight for marital activities. ”

“You just went out of your way to say unnecessary nonsense.

Finley, who turned his head away from me, looked around with interest.

At this time of year there were a lot of new students and quite a number of them, like Finley, were

very aware of their surroundings. However, what was different from two years ago…… was the

appearance of the subhumans in the harbor.

In the past, demi-humans doing "heavy work" were common; but now, they work with sweat.

Nowhere else could you see the usual sight of well-dressed subhumans following behind their

beloved woman.

Most of the demihumans we saw were sturdy and strong, creatures like that excelled at heavy

lifting.

[Behind us, Master.]

As I looked at Luxion aiming his red lens, several young noble students forced their way in as if

they wanted to skip the queue.

They passed the line of people and passed us to get into the small carrier.

Even though it was an entourage of young nobles, the boys behaved much more arrogantly than

girls, which was very unexpected.

Despite knowing school practices have changed, I'd be lying if I said the boy's appearance didn't

leave a bad taste in my mouth.

However, they nudged Finley with their hands, who looked away and paid no attention to the

group.

“Out of our sight, ugly !”

He wasn't sent flying, but Finley was off balance, confused.

The cursed words triggered Finley.

"Oh! Just what is it?”

Two years ago this was impossible, but not for the new student in front of him.

As the boys looked at each other, they started laughing as if Finley was stupid in front of them.

“ Woah, woah, what do we have here, no one? You're from the middle of nowhere, aren't you? You

will definitely graduate without getting married!”

What do I think when I hear this sentence? Uuuuuuugh... Really horrified.

The content and hostility of the dialogue is the same as before. The only thing that has changed

is that girls have been replaced by boys.

The girl group seemed inferior, if not downright pitiful.

Directed by such humiliation, Finley's blood boiled and he started making a fuss, drawing the

attention of the crowd.

“ Stuff and crap! You're a lot of stepping out of line, so stop the bullshit. ”

The other party he said was glaring at us.

"Be careful, I will remember your undisciplined peasant face. ”

The boy told Finley that he would pay him back and tried to get on the boat that had arrived.

The people around didn't stop these youths, but it seems that some of them noticed my

presence.

"Wait, that person, next to that girl?"

"Isn't that Leon-senpai from the third year?"

" You're serious! ?”

“It must be him! I've seen it once. I heard he came back from studying abroad this year. ”

“So did you hear how the boy spoke earlier? Hey, didn't they call Leon-senpai a farmer?!

“Ah~, they're done. ”

As the murmurs around grew louder, those people must have realized something was wrong.

I looked around and felt uncomfortable. At first, I really planned to retaliate right away, but I

ended up standing out so it can't be helped.

This time, I decided to stop it enough, to give them a warning.

"Hello. I'm the older sister of this country girl~. I'm sorry if we caused you trouble. ”

"W-Who are you?"

The boy did not lose his condescending posture.

Maybe he still doesn't know who I am.

“I come from a remote area, but I myself am a marquess. ”

“M-Marquess? Y-You're kidding. ”

" Not at all. You can confirm with the Royal Palace staff. ”

“This is getting ridiculous! S-if you still intend to apologize, there's still time. ”

“I can't and won't. ”

Using my position like that to intimidate others…to be honest, I really find it funny. But you never

know who's a scary person and who isn't. If bullying works, chances are the other person is a

goofball. It's my way of finding out who they really are and repaying them.

For better or for worse, there are many naive people like the man in front of me, who tend to

misunderstand and ignore me like it's no big deal.

" See. You threw some dirt in my eyes; better queue quietly, or I'll show ferocity [1], freshman. ”

When I narrowed my eyes and looked at him, the boy looked away from me.

He was trying to get into the small boat to escape, so I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

“ Get it. In the. Line. ”

I made a low, domineering sound, and the other party gave a sad “Hiii” cry and retreated. The

group calmed down and returned to the end of the line.

I quickly escorted Finley to the carrier.

On the boat, seats are lined up and all seat belts are fastened.

Finley, who was sitting next to me, complained about the boy.

"What's wrong with him? He's too rude to girls, isn't he?”

" That's right. ”

"You too, brother. Things will get better if you use your name from the start. ”

"I hate getting into trouble, you know..."

When I said that, Luxion, who was on our side, said I was lying.

[You're planning to take revenge later, aren't you? See? He really is a disgusting Master!]

Finley forgot what he had just said, showing visible disgust and distancing himself from me.

"Isn't that... worse?"

What a rude brother.

Even if I wanted to take revenge, I would only look at their parents' house and confirm the

difference in rank at a later date, and then state "They treated me wonderfully at that time."

Ever since they came to the academy, sooner or later they would hear about who I was from their

surroundings. If that were the case, it would be a great return.

"If we meet again at the academy, I'll just answer politely." - I replied.

"You think it's a small thing?"

“You can say it's to a degree that I can still tolerate. Ah never mind… "

Inside the small boat, there are noticeable mood swings between the male and female, contrary

to my first year. Two years ago, there would be no one like that man before.

... It's sad to see how society's position has changed so suddenly; because it means that the base

remains rotten, and men and women are not very different in essence.

“Seriously, it has to be bigger than the last one...”

When I got to the bedroom all tired, I let out a sigh when I saw my new room. I would have felt

more at home in a smaller room; but since I'm an acting marquess, of course... I was given a

special room.

It was a room normally used by the former Crown Prince and his entourage.

I put my small suitcase in the large room and sat on a chair while Luxion carefully inspected the

room.

[Nothing suspicious.]

"Aren't you being too careful?"

[Master, you are too relaxed all the time. And more importantly, Marie and the others will see us

soon].

Claire should have informed me of Einhorn's arrival. So soon it would be time to ask him about

the investigation.

“I'll prepare tea and sandwiches. ”

Getting up from the chair, I took out the candy I bought as a souvenir and placed it on the table.

Luxion was floating around me.

"Is there something you want to say?"

[No, I just thought you were having fun. Are you so happy to see Marie?]

“Stupid~. That means he did a great job gathering intel. The girl always tries her best, let's give

her a nice gift. ”

[Always one step ahead of the “little sister” you know so well. As expected of a siscon].

"Oi?"

[Is not it? It's you, Master, who rambles on when Angelica and Olivia treat you like a big brother.

Acting so enthusiastic, I didn't expect you to cry from joy]

"You just don't understand, do you? There is a clear difference between heaven and earth, like

between a younger sister and a younger sister without blood relations. The first is the highest!

Marie is different!”

Saying that, Luxion caught a contradiction.

[Oh? Master is not related by blood to Marie at this time. From Master's philosophy, does Marie

not fall into the category of supreme sister?]

"She's my sister in spirit, so she must be different!"

[...Sister in the soul? You mean Marie belongs to a special category, then?]

“Yeah~, he's special. And I mean... he's really annoying. ”

[Nevertheless, this is beyond your character, going to great lengths to prepare tea for my

“disruptive” little brother.]

“I told you I would feed him, didn't I? Even the slowest horses can do best with a carrot on a stick

in front of them. ”

At that time Luxion also said that he was trying his best, so I had to give him preferential

treatment. That way, even if she tried her best, Marie would be happy to eat sweets.

... Why? I feel sorry for Marie, who in her previous life would have touched branded goods or

expensive things, now deliberately chose simple sweets.

When I started taking care of the five idiots, I could understand quite a bit about the difficulties of

"nurturing" them.

“…Well, that's all. I'm starting to think there's nothing wrong with pampering her a little. ”

[So you're a tsundere siscon? Ahh, that's not good.]

“Can't you at least let me finish?! Maybe you're not working? Should I ask Claire to run the

diagnostics for you? ”

[I'm better off without that AI research.]

It's annoying to see artificial intelligence act superior. Claire, who is more flexible, smarter and

overall seems better to me.

While the two of us were busy exchanging pitiful comments with each other, there was a faint

knock on the door.

“O~ I, is that Marie? Please come in. I'm preparing tea now. ”

It was Marie who was standing at the door.

However, there was something wrong with him; Marie, who was depressed and sweaty, didn't

dare look me in the eye.

“…Hey, is something wrong?”

“Y-Brother, y-you see…. ”

That attitude, I remember it from my previous life. It was Marie's standard attitude when she

made some serious mistakes.

I held Marie's trembling face with both hands.

Marie's cheeks contorted, her mouth was clenched tightly and she was crying.

" What are you doing? Tell me !"

From the way Marie looked at me, I wondered if she and co. have done something irreversible. I

was starting to have a bad feeling.

Luxion scanned the surroundings with his red lens.

[There is no trace of Claire anywhere, sir. I'll assume he's cloaking himself.]

My bad feelings are getting stronger. I asked Marie about the situation with a sly smile.

"You'd better talk, don't mess around. ”

"P-Please don't be angry?"

"Depends on the content. ”

Marie used to ask for such a promise when the problem was growing rapidly. He knew I would be

angry, so he wanted me to tell him that I would not.

At this point even my artificial smile had disappeared and I was probably left expressionless.

Marie, seeing the toneless face, knew resistance was futile and tried to speak, so I let go.

Then Marie uttered an unthinkable sentence with a pale face.

“ ...Claire turned one of the capture targets into a girl. ”

"Ha~?"

For a moment, my mind refused to understand what he was saying.

“ The target of the arrest is not a man? He turned into a woman?"

" Hah? J-Just... wait. ”

"Why did she become a woman? W-Wait a second, can he do it?!

“Marie, w-come on… step by step, okay?”

" Okay. ”

“In the first place, the capture target is a male, right? It's not like he changed his gender from the

start or something, right?”

I thought about the possibility that she was born as a woman even though she should have been

born as a man.

Marie shook her head.

“Then let's move on to the next thing. You say she became a woman, but to what extent? There

must be several steps such as cross-dressing, hormonal recalibration, right?”

Then Marie spoke while she was still breaking out in a cold sweat and her eyes were wandering all

over the place.

“Th-She turned into a perfect and full girl!”

"...It's fine if I assume you're involved, right?"

I applied more strength to my hand that was gripping Marie's shoulder. Despite the pain, Marie

spilled the details.

“The boy who was experimenting with Claire was one of the targets for capture! In the third

game, he was the character of a senior student who enrolled in the academy last year! ”

“Why didn't you tell me that first!! And what "experiment"!?! It's not just an observation, but a real

illegitimate experiment?!? !”

" I just knew that! I didn't think Claire would go that far!”

Needless to say I was completely dumbfounded by this turn of events.

" What did he do? We will get it back as soon as possible. Tell me where he is. ”

" This is not possible. ”

"Out of the question?"

I glanced at Marie who rejected me with a glance, but her answer didn't change.

“Because... he himself said he wanted to be a girl. ”

"You can't be kidding. Isn't he the target child?"

“ ...He told me that he had found his true self. When Claire changed her gender, she cried and

was very happy. She thanked him again and again and again, over and over. He says he can finally

be himself because of this. I can't just convince him to go back to how he used to be now. ”

Marie, who was covering her face with both hands, was crying because it seemed like the

situation couldn't be saved.

"But we still have to follow the scenario!"

I was confused and tried to put her back together, but Luxion stopped our idea of trying to return her to her previous sex by force.

[Not recommended.]

" Why ?"

[He has been changed to his preferred gender. We don't know the details, so we can't make a

judgment, but if we tried to force her back to her original gender, she would refuse. Also, if she is

mentally female, it is possible that her preference is male. If you try to force it back, there will be

unforeseen consequences.]

What Luxion wanted to say was that there was no way he would be able to connect with the main

character if he was forced to change his gender.

"...Is yuri's development on the table?"

In the midst of this suffering, I hope that even if she has become a girl, she will still be the target

of capture. However, when I saw Marie, she trembled and indicated that Luxion's idea was correct.

“She aspires to be with a manly man. ”

" What will we do ?"

Both Marie and I put our hands and knees on the ground.

If we had known this was going to happen, we wouldn't have left it to Marie and company.

“Luxion and I are more compatible. ”

[Are you sure about that? There's a problem with your sister's partner. If Marie had arranged it,

the result would have been less than satisfactory, wouldn't it?]

Marie looked up and asked Luxion for a detailed explanation of the couple.

" What? Pair? How ?"

[Master's older brothers Nicks and Dorothea of the Roseblade family have a partner. His older

brother was not enthusiastic about the idea and wanted it to fail. However, Master's efforts in

helping the couple have led to resounding success. Also, the probability of initial success is quite

low].

Marie looked at me with drawn cheeks.

"How did you do it, brother?"

"I don't want to hear it from you. Where's Claire?"

[He runs away first, quite quickly to his feet. Claire is 99.99% responsible for this predicament.]

I was walking to the school building with my rifle.

“Where are you, Claaaaaaaaaaaaaiiire!!!! ?”

With bloodshot eyes, I searched every corner.

Claire not only used the stealth function, but also prepared a decoy to distract us from our

search.

Every time Luxion caught a doll, he became more and more frustrated.

[An abnormality detected. Master, this way!]

Several times I passed seniors and freshmen, but no one saw me or even approached me. The

Masters didn't look at me when they realized who I was.

But in such a situation, I can't worry about that.

Luxion floated next to the door of the janitor's cupboard under the stairs and nodded with his

eyes, which had just started to glow a deep red.

"Are you sure Claire is here?"

[Undoubtedly, this should be.]

When I opened the door, the room was dark and dusty.

The light shining through the entrance made the dust very visible.

As I looked into the unfamiliar place, Luxion scanned the distance for Claire, who had been

hidden from view using active camouflage.

[There's no point in hiding, Claire!]

[Hiiii!?]

The rifle is loaded with less lethal rubber bullets.

I readied my rifle so I could open fire at any time, so I started talking to Claire.

"Too bad, I expected better from you. ”

[Hear my words, Master! I do not know. I didn't know he was a capture target!!]

" Shut up wench! You think it's okay to experiment with random people? There is a clear line

when you are under my command! It seems that ethics is not in your programming. ”

I was too soft on Claire, and she did things like changing genders just for the sake of

experimenting. I forgot that this is the dangerous artificial intelligence of the old humans. I

thought Claire was somehow better than Luxion, but she revealed her true nature in front of me.

[Ethics only apply to old humans. That doesn't apply to new humans!]

"Oh, so logic like that applies to me too?"

[This is different! Master and Marie are in separate categories! Luxion, don't just stand there and

watch, do you see I'm not wrong?]

Ignore Claire's pleas, obviously Luxion was fed up with her bullshit, having to switch academies

just to pick up useless bait time and time again.

[Claire, I can't describe how disappointed I am with you. Plus don't forget the fact that you

deviated from Master's orders.]

[W-What? Who cares if it's just Aaron?! There's still a replacement huh?]

Of course there were still capture targets left, but if the odds were reduced by one, the story

would definitely change. If you do nothing, there is a risk that there is no capture target ending

with the main character, the story will slip.

“We now have one less option and I find your merciless attitude very concerning, running away

like that. ”

[Not all.]

Claire muttered, as if sensing that Luxion and I would not change our attitude.

[Humanity has advanced not without difficulty, some of them may suffer, but that's the sacrifice I

want to make.[2] I'm a laboratory AI, my goal is to gather intelligence about other species, our

enemy is no less! In the first place, it was just a coincidence when I was experimenting that the

capture target became additional damage! I'm not guilty!]

Enemy? Guarantee? Is this AI real?”

How could he assume he could plead not guilty after conducting an experiment without consent

that involved total human transformation.

It wasn't technically against the law to change someone's gender in the Holfort Kingdom. First,

how can we anticipate such a situation? However, with ability comes the responsibility to show

restraint.

"Claire, any final words?"

As I pointed my gun at her, Claire finally gave in and shouted.

[DOWN WITH NEW HUMANS!!]

With that, the trigger was pulled, without hesitation.

Claire, who was hit by a rubber bullet and bounced around the warehouse like a pinball, finally

rolled under my feet.

[Th-That was really terrible. Master is a disgusting demon.]

“Not as bad as what you have done. ”

[Consider this, Claire.]

Luxion and I, who subdued Claire in this way, still had a huge problem before us. I didn't expect

the boy who would be the target of capture to be a complete woman. What will go wrong in this

third installment of the otome game, and the fate of this ridiculous world?”

[songofsilentechoes]

Noelle runs out into the street from an alley as a large explosion rips through the alley sending fragments of flaming shrapnel through the air and whizzing past her. Maaaaaybe she should have taken the blacksmith’s advice and left well enough alone. The locals in Zaun were twitchy enough without an obvious outsider asking questions about their tech, it seems, but were happy to oblige her with a very hands-on demonstration. Loud shouting and the clang of heavy boots on metal suggest they intended to offer more in their chem tech showcase.

Taking a sharp right into another alley, she takes a moment to catch her breath. She took the rail to the promenade which seemed to be a border district between Piltover and Zaun proper where she parted ways with the smith. She looks up, the night making it difficult to see how far down she went. How many layers does this city have?

Her breathing is difficult, the rumors of the toxic air must have some truth to them, at least this far down.

A clang of metal near the alley’s entrance “I saw the Pilt bitch go down this way!” She grits her teeth a little and her hand reaches for her weapon.

A heavy metal hand reaches down for her cloak and a rough voice speaks through a synthesizer “BET SOMEONE TOPSIDE WILL PAY GOOD FOR YOU.” The thug grabs the shoulder and lifts the empty cloak and the waste barrel it was left on.

“WHAT?! FIND THE BITCH!”

Noelle watches from behind a pipe she squeezed behind. So rude...and she liked that cloak. Getting it back is going to be a pain. She attempts to cast a spell resulting in nothing. Shaking her head, she continues her observations.

At least two little guys and the big one. The little thugs had peculiar modifications, but seemed to be armed with an oversized wrench and a pipe. The big one, however, had much larger augmentations. She hadn’t considered cybernetic augmentations during her studies on hex tech, but seems so obvious in retrospect, given the prosthetics she’s already seen. They’re clearly crude, with tubes and important-looking screws exposed suggesting the creator was more interested in results over aesthetics or user safety. However, the lack of protective casing seems to have driven the design to adopt some durable components and plating. There’s vulnerabilities, but striking blindly would be foolish.

There were others in the bar, too. One had what looked like a chemical sprayer, and the other fired the exploding projectile at her. She didn’t know the area well enough to know if this was just a group of thugs, or a cell of heavies for a larger gang. They had tattoos and other markings of identification, but none she recognized.

The big guy smashes his fist into a metal wall, denting it and breaking some pipes. They were getting impatient in their search. She was running out of time, but would be likely to find an opportunity soon. She gently slides her knife from its sheath and takes her baton in hand.

Her heartbeat quickens as the opportunity opens up as the thugs turn away from her hiding spot. She rushes out, bringing her baton into the side of the smaller thug’s head as she closes the distance between herself and the large thug. His cry of surprise causing the hulking man to turn in their direction, she ducks into the shadow of his arm, severing an important-looking tube and follows bringing the blade along his leg, causing him to collapse. She darts from his shadow towards the third thug using her blade to pivot the heavy wrench away and attempts to follow up with the baton when something heavy strikes her.

She staggers, but holds her footing, and sees the thug brandishing a gauntlet with rusty knuckles. Groans down the alley tell her she only has moments to deal with this man, who smiles at her with broken teeth.

“Well, looks like this ‘un’s got some spirit. I’ll have fun breaking you.” He steps forward, bringing the heavy wrench up, and pulling his fist back to defend himself. Noelle shoots a worried look at the big thug, causing a moment of hesitation in her attacker. She darts under his wrench, dragging the knife along his side, and bringing the baton into the back of his head causing him to stagger, she twirls the baton around, extending its other side into a staff, getting a second strike in, knocking him to the ground.

The smell of burning hits her nostrils, as she looks back down the alley at the other two thugs. The big one’s arm glows orange, overheating from a lack of whatever was cooling it. He stands, but the cut on his leg causes him to slip in his panic. The first thug begins to yell at him as the large man swings his metal arm around, smashing pipes until he strikes a water pipe. Hot steam shrouds the alley as the water sprays against the overheated metal.

Noelle quietly runs from them under the cloud cover, having grabbed her cloak in the confusion. Her silent steps hiding her over the din of their activity. Once she feels far enough away, she folds her cloak into a small square and secures it under her coat, pulling the hood out over her collar.

No more bootsteps, and the distant clangs of metal (followed by another explosion) suggest they’re far away from her. Driven away from the main streets, she begins to wander the walkways, getting a lay of the land here. In a sense, she’s lost again. However, the way back is obvious: up.

Craning her neck back, she looks at the uncountable walkways, pipes and cables. She’s not going to be sleeping in a comfortable inn tonight, it seems.

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!”

Story by: Franscisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow, Noelle Stevenson, Matt Youngberg

Written by: Franscisco Angones, Noelle Stevenson

Directed by: Tom Owens, Matt Youngberg

Storyboard by: Mark Garcia, Dalton E. Grant Jr., Kalvin Lee, Calvin Suggs

I've seen the top of the mountain, and it is good.

The episode starts with some exposition on the titular Mount Neverrest Summit. Like the real life mountain it is partially named after, it’s the highest peak in the world. It has claimed many explorers' lives, but Scrooge McDuck is about to take it on alongside his nephews, Webby, and Launchpad. No Donald or Mrs. Beakley; seems like it's been a while since we've seen the latter.

Louie isn't too thrilled, because he wants to be back at the mansion waiting for Santa Claus, because it's Christmas. Scrooge reveals that he doesn’t want that jolly old elf inside his home because of "what he did". That’s pretty much it for the Christmas special portion of this episode. That's the end of the Christmas portion of the episode, unless just having snow counts.

The one very interesting change that 2017 did was give the nephews their own personalities, so it makes sense to have episodes focused on each one. While Dewey and Louie have had an episode or two, this is the first episode that really focuses on Huey. That Terra-Firmians episode was the closest before this, but that was more Webby than Huey.

While Scrooge McDuck wants to climb the summit to its highest point, Huey wants to draw a picture of it! Specifically, he wants to earn his Junior Woodchuck Cartography Badge by drawing a map of the uncharted mountain. He then shows off this badge that he has apparently yet to earn. It's not the only inconsistency, either, as Huey explains from his encyclopedic knowledge of the mountain.

Huey: The mountain summit has been shrouded in mystery! Nobody has ever seen the top!

Except for that guy who managed to photograph it for that exposition book, apparently. What he actually means is that nobody has ever been to the top to see what landmarks are on it. After “landing” in the usual Launchpad way, they see the majesty of the highest peak they can land on. Scrooge McDuck is glad to show the majesty of this peak, with no people at all!

Well, except for this tourist trap, which I guess was put up recently enough for him to be surprised to see. Scrooge does seem like the kind of duck who would only get his info from old books. Even Huey, who tried to bring modern technology with him only to be shut down by Scrooge, is taken aback either; he's been told that it's all uncharted territory. This town doesn't have much in the way of advertisement.

He even finds maps of the mountain, but it only shows a map of the resort along with some creative liberties. He points out to a very disinterested Louie that mountain goats are not native to this region, and even the decorative sun is not beyond his criticism. Sounds like a certain bowed individual. Not sure which one.

Huey: ...and why is the sun wearing sunglasses? Is he looking at a brighter sun?

He really likes to nitpick minor things throughout this episode; he'd do well writing for Fly Pow Bye. He takes his map so he can mark a real map in red marker. Scrooge shows up to tell him to ignore all of this tourism, as they're real explorers. Huey, with his knowledge, brings up one of the explorers: the late, great George Mallardy.

To make a long story short, George Mallardy set the record on the highest climb on this summit 75 years ago until his persumed death, and he became a legend around the resort for it. He's shown here carrying a quitter known as the Neverrest Ninny. Scrooge completely scoffs at this legend, only calling it a gimmick to sell t-shirts...and then right after saying that Mallardy's record will be beaten. He continues to talk as if this supposedly fictional event actually happened to the point where Huey asks him why, because, in his words:

Scrooge: Just because it’s a myth doesn’t mean it’s not true!

Considering the Terra-Firmians and all of those amazing things in Scrooge's garage, Scrooge has a point here. At least, when it comes to this series. There's obviously a much different reason.

What are the other ducks to do besides follow Scrooge around? They do find roles for them, in two different subplots. The first involves Webby wanting to go sledding. She buys a sled, goes down about two feet before stopping, and immediately crosses it off her list. Dewey tells her not to give up until she reaches the "maximum opportune moment", and he gives Webby the idea to sled off the top of Mount Neverrest.

Throughout the episode, Webby tries to get on her sled, only for Dewey to stop her. This even comes to Webby trying to, only for Dewey to kick the sled away so Webby can hand right on her face. It becomes a running gag, and like most good running gags, it has a payoff.

We also get a plot with Launchpad and "Ice Fever". Easily seeing Launchpad as someone who isn't too bright, a peddler gives Launchpad a spiel about Ice Fever, and that he should buy a bunch of expensive items in order to prevent it.

With Launchpad bringing half of the equipment, including his new very expensive anti-Ice Fever equipment he's not-really quick to clarify he bought with Scrooge's credit card, they’re all ready to set foot past the gate between the tourist trap and “certain death”. One would think this would be roped off or have some sort of protection against people dying, but that would hinder the plot.

Not everyone gets to join in. Louie immediately goes off to have hot cocoa the second he's told there's no treasure involved, something fitting with his character. As for Launchpad, a combination of a too high backpack, a too low passageway, and elastic straps causes him to be flung back into the summit resort so he can participate in wacky Ice Fever antics.

Huey gets to do his part, naming notable areas along the way, such as “Murder Bridge” and the “Chasm of Despair”. Something tells me we missed some more danger between commercial breaks.

Huey: And I’ll call this one Bunny Rock!

(The snow around said rock falls.)

Huey: Hmm...I’m still going to call it Bunny Rock.

One of the gags is that they keep coming across this rock even if they seemingly “gain a lot of altitude.” At least, it seems like a running gag at first. Good running gags tend to have a payoff, and this is no exception, but the payoff leads to the actual twist of the episode.

While Scrooge and the kids are climbing the mountain, Launchpad is bumbling around the sauna, thinking he's still on the summit. His goggles fog up, and he assumes that it’s the Ice Fever setting in. It's sort of a retread of the mole people joke from Terra-Firmians, right down to Launchpad confusing a regular person for a monster.

Back at the mountain, they stop at a huge cliff. It ends up with Scrooge climbing the mountain holding onto a rope carrying the rest of the kids in a slightly familiar way. Scrooge continues to say that they only need wits, so they have to drop most of their supplies. Huey questions his uncle's actions thanks to his knowledge of the book, hinting at what is to come between them in this episode.

Lost, they go into a cave, armed with only various forms of lighting, that Scrooge happened to know about...even though this mountain is uncharted. What seems to be the writers pointing out their own flaws in the plot is actually a hint of one of the other twists that will be revealed in a minute. It’s also hinted with that myth line, but, as said before, that line could apply to this whole show.

They see markings, presumably made by explorers that didn’t make it, showing them a bunch of explorers without their heads. They outright show the main twist of the episode here, but the correct way to interpret this image may be missed. Of course, that's not the only discovery in this cave.

The skeleton of Geroge Mallardy, complete with a “I didn’t survive Mount Neverrest“ shirt. Unless they were selling shirts back then, which would contradict something slightly later, the only way this could have happened is that someone managed to get up to this point, went up to a dead body, and put that shirt on him. As Scrooge McDuck, Webby uses her glowstick to reveal some writing right next to him.

Curse you, McDuck!

Scrooge tries his best to cover for himself by saying that he's a household name for cursing, but we get our first twist of the episode: he was still an adult making at least a million 75 years ago. Oh, and he happened to be the Neverrest Ninny. I'm sure one of those is more important.

We get to see more of Scrooge McDuck’s past, specifically, the time when he made his first million. To mark the occasion, he decided to hire George Mallardy to go on top of the mountain. This eventually leads to Mallardy doing the folklore causing climbing the rope. After Scrooge didn't want to get rid of his gear, and sizeable money belt, he cuts the rope, causing the Ninny to fall down. He survives, because he's Scrooge McDuck.

One may notice the similarity between this and the earlier scene a few paragraphs ago. This does not go unnoticed. Scrooge does become sort of the bad guy in this episode, though he has a believable motivation.

While pretty much everyone seems to have a role in this episode, the main conflict is between Huey and Scrooge. It builds up during most of the episode. Shouting at each other, probably not a good idea in a heavily snowy area high in the sky.

The main twist of the mountain is accidently discovered by Dewey and Webby, who are still trying to find the best spot to start their sledding. It explains all of the weird location things going on. Let's just say: Aperture Science may have some explaining to do. I already gave away one twist, I might as well keep the other slightly obscure.

The Scrooge and Huey plot. It's all build up for a pretty good action scene, where the villain is actually the odd environment that surrounds them. It's an interesting idea that hasn't been done in the reboot until this episode. It should be no surprise that the sledding subplot has a neat payoff as well. This is all cut up with that wacky "Ice Fever" plot with Louie and Launchpad, and I could at least say it ends well, too.

I don't want to spoil anything more, but it's not a spoiler to say that they all live, right? I mean, there's a Della Duck mystery to solve. I did see one part of the very final shot a mile away, though it's still a very satisfying image. Whether anyone will find out in-universe...may never be said.

How does it stack up?

Sometimes I feel like I'm coming across as saying that modern day cartoons need to have ongoing plots, especially when I'm talking about continuity. Like The House of Lucky Gander, this is an episode that's its own story, and it's a good one. and even some building of Scrooge's past.

DuckTales 2017 is going back on hiatus alongside every other cartoon for Generic Tree Lighting Day, so who knows what’s next. In fact, there’s no new episodes of DT 2017 in January, either. Will we ever find out what Santa Claus did?

← The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra! 🦆 The Spear of Selene! →

[katiezstorey93]

Trump considers tax credit to channel public money to private Colleges

Critics on the perfect worry such a strategy will raise the federal role in education and stress countries to standardize state tax applications. | AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson

The Trump government is thinking about a first-of-its-kind federal tax credit scholarship program that could station billions of dollars to families from working households to empower their children to attend private schools, including religious schools.

The federal tax credit proposal is just one of several ideas under review from the White House to meet Donald Trump’s campaign promise to encourage the growth of charter schools and vouchers that would permit families of low income to use public money for private school tuition, sources inform POLITICO. During a recent meeting with teachers and parents in the White House, ” Trump said he wants “every single disadvantaged child in the united states, no matter what their background or where they reside, to truly have a choice in where they go to college.”

“The end result is exactly the same — federal tax dollars going to private schools,” said Sasha Pudelski, assistant director for policy and advocacy in AASA, ” The School Superintendents Association, who called the plan “a backdoor voucher.”

“It’s just performed through a more complicated and less direct mechanics,” she said.

While a tax credit may be much more politically palatable than requesting Congress to find or reallocate money to meet Trump’s $20 billion promise to expand private and charter school choices, ” because it is much more palatable, does not mean it tastes great,” said Noelle Ellerson Ng, ” the group’s associate executive director.

Critics on the right, meanwhile, stress such a strategy would improve the federal role in education and pressure states to standardize state tax credit applications, many of which currently permit nonprofit groups to prioritize a particular kind of college, such as those of particular religious denominations, for instance.

A federal tax credit scholarship program could be a portion of a bigger tax reform bill and then pass the budget reconciliation procedure with just 51 votes in the Senate. Delays in repealing Obamacare, nevertheless, are complicating Republican strategies to drive tax reform through Congress.

The White House didn’t respond to queries about the tax proposal or its own standing. Details of how the Trump government might structure the strategy stay unknown. But sources near the discussions who weren’t authorized to talk publicly state the program might be capped at an amount as high as $20 billion, and resemble laws initially introduced by Republicans Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana in 2013, called the Educational Opportunities Act.

That charge, which hasn’t passed either room, could have made a federal tax credit up to $4,500 for individuals as well as $100,000 for businesses that make donations to nonprofit “scholarship-granting associations,” or SGOs. Those businesses would award the capital to low-income students, who might use the money to attend private schools, such as those run by religious groups.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos praised the charge in 2015 when it was reintroduced and she was seat of their college choice advocacy group, American Federation for Children.

“There’s no single domestic problem more pressing than adjusting our nation’s antiquated education program and the Educational Opportunities Act will empower pupils across the nation to have access to quality educational options that are otherwise out of reach,” she said.

Robert Goad, ” Trump’s education policy individual about the White House Domestic Policy Council, is a former aide to Republican Rep. Luke Messer, who co-sponsored the bill along with former executive director of advocacy group, School Choice Indiana.

Goad said earlier this month he is “not able to talk about policy matters”

Seventeen states have similar tax credit scholarship applications and a couple of others, like Kentucky and Texas, are considering bills that this year.

It’s uncertain whether a federal program would restrict tax credits to residents and donors in countries that already have their particular tax credit applications having a infrastructure to support people. If that’s the case, it could incentivize countries without such programs to make them.

DeVos has pointed to Florida’s tax credit scholarship program as one of her most important successes. Before being called Trump’s Cabinet, DeVos was about the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a reform group founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Collectively, they pushed to the development and growth of tax credit scholarship applications across the nation.

The nonprofit Measure Up For Students, which can help administer Florida’s application, says it’s served more than 97,000 students. The scholarships, for low and middle-income students, are worth almost $6,000 each. Almost 70% of student recipients are either Hispanic or black and more than 1,700 private schools take part in the program.

More than 80 percent of students make use of the scholarships to attend religious schools, with most coming from large, urban districts, a recent state report shows. About a quarter of those participating students are from Miami-Dade County public schools, the fourth-largest college district from the nation.

“A well-designed federal program could, for the very first time, empower low-income parents from blue states — and red nations who have been unwilling — to select a better school for their kids,” said John Kirtley, creator of Measure For Students. Kirtley can be vice chairman of American Federation for Children. “In states with legislatures dominated by the teachers unions, it may be the only possibility they have to be empowered.”

Florida’s program, however, has been beset by legal challenges. And classes representing the nation’s conventional public schools say they’d fight any suggestions to present such programs on the federal level.

The National Coalition for Public Education argues that private schools accepting tuition financed through tax credits aren’t held accountable like public schools, that the advocacy group notes. And countries have been required to take action to compensate for a decrease in earnings. Alabama once put aside $40 million in its budget to absorb the expected loss from the tax credits, Stateline reported.

Vic Smith of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education said Indiana’s tax credit scholarship program, that passed in 2009, was the “gateway drug to [a state laws called] vouchers,” that passed in 2011. Indiana has lost millions in tax revenues because of the state tax credit scholarship alone, ” the Chicago-based Center for Budget and Tax Accountability has reported. Teachers unions and public education advocacy groups in Texas are actively combating a state tax credit proposal.

“Vouchers in any form divert tax money to private schools or homeschoolers and accept it from under-funded public schools, where the vast majority of school kids will continue to be educated,” said Clay Robison, ” a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association. “When I state public schools, I am speaking specifically about Texas, that spends about $2,700 less per child on education each year compared to the national average.”

While promoting college decision has gained political momentum, maybe not all conservatives believe a federal tax is the perfect way to go — mostly because they don’t need to see a bigger federal hand in education.

“I have reservations,” said Lindsey Burke, who leads the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. “School choice is already moving along swimmingly from the states … We don’t need to over-convolute the tax code and there’s concern that this could acquire overregulated.”

Jason Bedrick, director of policy to the Indiana-based advocacy team EdChoice, worries that states and scholarship-granting organizations might feel pressure to conform to the provisions of a federal tax credit plan.

By way of example, Bedrick said, the bill proposed by Rubio and Rokita could have given federal tax credits just for donations to scholarship-granting associations that don’t “earmark or put aside gifts for scholarships on behalf of any particular pupil, or to some specific faculty or group of schools.” Essentially, donors could receive a federal tax credit only as long as they contribute to SGOs that award funds to all students looking to attend all kinds of schools.

A provision like that could “exclude a wide and diverse selection of SGOs that currently take part in student tax credit applications nationally,” Bedrick said. That’s because the majority of states allow these associations to be “mission-based,” working with schools of a particular religious denomination or educational philosophy like Montessori schools, he said.

“It might be a mistake for conservatives to say, ‘now we have control over the federal government, we’re going to push our thoughts on a nationwide scale,”’ he further added. “There’s going to be a good deal more opposition than they believe.”

Source

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-schools-tax-credit-public-private-235228

from network 8 http://www.creditdebtfoundation.org/trump-considers-tax-credit-to-channel-public-money-to-private-colleges/