Welp, prepare yourselves for a wall of feels, because I watched Desperate Checkmate and now I'm consumed by them. Holy shit. As always, enstage knocked it out of the fucking park and I'll be thinking about this for awhile.

Anyway. Lemme start by saying that I am not a KnightsP and mostly just love Leo, so I'm a fake fan who hadn't read Checkmate before watching the play. I'd seen the web anime like a year ago, but that's it. However, Desperate Checkmate was so fucking good that I immediately started reading shivalries's translation of Checkmate as soon as the play ended (which was around 3 am) and just. Okay. I'm starting to see the Knights appeal and even give Izumi fucking Sena rights, so...let's fuckin goooooooooooo!!!!

I'm not doing a scene by scene analysis because my understanding of Japanese is shaky, especially for long monologues and Leo's manic energy/breakdowns. So we're going by a lot of vibes + knowing the vague story beats from the anime, which means it comes down to the stage actors to get things across...and holy shit, they did. Sena's the POV character for most of the play and it opens with him alone on stage- before we cut to Leo in his throne.


Leo on the throne is sooooo good and ominous at first...

( click click for more of the opening shots )

And then we have the opening theme, Desperate Checkmate, which is honestly quite catchy and I'm looking forward to getting the soundtrack for this play whenever it comes out. Because like. Look. Some of the enstage-only music is really good, actually!!! And I need it.

We have a new Eichi for this place, which is like...fine? This is number three??? He honestly does a really good job, but he's noticeably shorter than Tsumugi (which makes for some creative staging to try to hide that). Kinda makes me wonder what they're gonna do next time fine is in a play, because I think the new Eichi is around the same height as Tori...

ANYWAY. Little John was a puppet, which was honestly such a good choice since she had to move around the stage. But holy shittttt. The scene with Leo rescuing her and getting the shit beat out of him was so fucking intense, thx to the really good lighting.


like HELLO!!!!!!!!! sir you are in peril

( more from this scene!!!! )

I liked the cuts between present day (Sena and Eichi playing chess/mind games) and the past (Leo being dragged to the hospital and meeting Eichi)...idk I'm not smart enough to describe it properly, but it's like...well executed. The set changes were all really solid; I always love the stairs/levels in Japanese stage plays, and Desperate Checkmate made great use of them.

Honestly, fuck going in order the whole time, I have ADHD- lemme talk about the staging choices. The set looked perfect: it was just like the Checkmate stage but had enough moving parts that it could be seamlessly changed for different settings/scenes/etc. And the fucking lighting in this one fucking killed me over and over.

Example 1:

when Eichi is talking about the Eccentrics and they're all represented by lights in their colors... *chef's kiss*

Example 2:

Madara's stage play actor had a scheduling conflict - he's in the Blue Lock stage play that's running at the same time - so this was the solution. One of the ensemble cast played him while his regular actor recorded his lines, and they used intense lighting to obscure the details of his face & such to make it seem like it's still our regular Madara. But god, while working within the limitations, it made him so much more menacing in every scene he was in. Fucking stellar, 10/10 solution, honestly drove home what a dangerous and sketchy dude he is SO WELL, I love it.


like- even if this guy is bringing you good(ish) news, he's clearly someone who's frequently up to no good. FANTASTIC. I love him *w*

WHICH IS ALL SO FUCKING COOL. Just. There's clearly a lot of love and care put into adapting the stories for the stage, and it shines through. But getting back to those stairs...Leo enters a scene through a central arch and gets into a conversation with Eichi. This conversation fairly quickly turns into emotional warfare - thx Eichi - and Leo tries to escape- only to find that his exit has been blocked by the stairs.


LIKE!!!!!!!! THESE WEREN'T HERE BEFORE!!!!! THE SYMBOLISM OF HOW BLOCKED IN HE IS JUST SENDS ME SOMEWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And then later on there's a part where the IzuLeo divorce/love confession is happening and they're back to back on the stairs and I want to chew fucking glass over these idiots. Eichi and Tsumugi were in top form, which is to say Tsumugi had an obvious and desperate crush while Eichi missed all the parts where he was supposed to reciprocate it in a healthy way. So like. Very good XD And Sena and Leo were......codependent and shitty at communicating and Leo kept saying "I love you" and it kills me. EXPRESS YOURSELF BETTER, SENAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

sorry not sorry about how long this is I can't contain myself

Leo's breakdown at the climax killed me. It killed me in the anime and Leo's actor is so fucking incredible at capturing the angst, the desperation, the mania, the everything that makes Leo Leo. And it was everything in this. Crying and laughing at the same time about how everyone loves his music, not him, broke my fucking heart again; when will this not destroy me???? The part where he blames Sena for all of it is not in the anime, so I got to have my heart ripped out again for these fuckers ;w;

It took over a year, but I think I've finally been worn down: Izumi Sena does in fact have more depth and worth than I've given him, and he can tentatively join the characters that I care about the most. The stage play + reading Checkmate in full gave me an appreciation for his dynamic with Leo, but also him on his own and how he interacts with the rest of Knights. Cannot believe I've ended up here, since I did NOT originally click with Knights.......

Ritsu is still canceled for gacha crimes tho

So, this had sorta the same problem/conundrum as Meteor Lights in that it's a serious story without a lot of room for inserting musical numbers - save for We'll be "Knights" - so...the last half hour or so was just a Knights Live XD Probably to fill time + make use of Tsukasa, since they had him there for the small bit of plot he was in...but literally the story wraps up and then it cuts to Knights backstage announcing that they're doing a Live next and they hope we'll all stay!

OKAY THEN XD

But part of the way through the Live, Knights has to do a costume change, so someone else has to sing to fill that time...and it's none other than these fuckers:


nothing could have prepared me for the EiMugi duet called Never Over of all fucking things. who did this. Liz and I screamed so fucking loudly we couldn't believe it!!!!!!

( I have so many screencaps of this song specifically... )

Also, for a lot of the Live, Tsukasa was equally if not more central in the blocking. Since this is a !-era story, which technically takes place before Leo has returned to school, he's still the newbie of Knights. But since it's a play being performed in 2025, we know that he eventually takes over as leader, and it's a nice bit of foreshadowing~

OH GOD ALSO THE BEST PART!!!! It seemed like there was a new ending song for enstage, which like....okay Checkmate and Human Comedy are more serious stories, I guess Singin'☆Shine! isn't the best closing song, you know, for the mood...but it was still disappointing. Liz and I had resigned ourselves to no more Singin'☆Shine!, but then.......

EVERYONE CAME BACK ON FOR IT AND IT WAS SO GOOD AND WE SCREAMED SO LOUDLY THAT LUMOS HAD TO LEAVE XD Lumos watched the entire stage play with us because she loves Leo, but our excitement over Singin'☆Shine! was too much for her XD

I swear I could say a million more things and I probably will later, but I'm hungry and thirsty and I have to walk away before I go insane~

also I do have a download of the stream but I don't want HappyEle to nuke me so just PM me if you want it thx!!!

I'm really hungry but don't feel like cooking yet, so here's me trying to make a bit of a catch up post from the past week or so.

Friday
BUSY DAY. I picked up my PS2 from the store and they did an incredible job (as always). The top loader has been warped since I installed it in 2007, and they fixed that without me even asking??? The whole repair was only $30, because they're fucking amazing. I ended up chatting with the employees for like two hours because we all love to talk, but I managed to avoid buying anything extra...this time XD


I cut through Round1 on the way out, so I just had to take a pic of Madara on one of the rhythm games~
And then I got to be disappointed by the BIBLION scout box - aka the rate up box for the Crazy:B climax - because I guess Tsukasa has betrayed me???? idk I was exhausted and hadn't eaten yet, so the world was ending. After I got lunch I felt a lot better XD

idk what I did the rest of the night...OH!!! I picked Liz and Pat up from work and then we (unsuccessfully) tried to pick up meds for Pat before driving off to Petco. Lumos and her expensive food is killing me but I love her...anything for baby ♥


also I put Tsukasa on my homescreen in an attempt to entice him home...tune in next time to see how that went!
Saturday
Crazy:B climax babeyyyyy!!!!! I can't believe the climax events are finally here OwO I'm kinda sad I'm only going for one copy of Rinne, but the Double Face one will be here before I know it. I'm also excited for the TRIP album cards in a couple more months!!!

Liz and I went to Arundel Mills, because I guess I go there every few weekends??? I finally remembered to bring the right nuis with me, so I have some very good pictures at the Egyptian movie theatre.


FINALLY BROUGHT THEM!!!! AND THEY LOOK GREAT!!!!!!!

( a few more pics of the mall and dinner )

And then we went home so I could get on the grind- the grind for more dia, because I was determined to bring Tsukasa home. Both for the event rate up and because I have this card in JP & CN, so I'm used to seeing him around. I also just really like the outfit. Also Tsukasa USUALLY stalks me!!!! And so...I had to wring a bunch of dia out of my account and try just one more 10 scout...


SWEET SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the story for the scout box is legit really good...and also is kinda the reason Nagisa has an account for writing RPF in Ougonten XD So that's delightful. I love when thinks interconnect like that (sometimes in silly ways).

Saturday was also the end of The Legend of KAGETSU on the CN server and I did manage to snag Keito from it, as well as use my hoarded memorial coins to pick up some Kohaku and Madara cards I'd been missing. Next up is Mika Goes To Space the event, and then I can maybe take a break from focusing on CN for a bit.

( snip snip for even more enstars screencaps )

Sunday
Writing this entry is really challenging me to think about what I did the past few days....mostly just lounged around the house and played video games, I think???????????? OH. Josh made it back from the bachelor party he was at down in SC, and he stayed over for another night to break up the long drive. And I made a bow for Genevieve to send home with him, since she's living a very spoiled life as an only cat and thus needs an adorable bow, too.

.....I should have taken a picture of the finished product before sending it off :T

Monday
Pat went up to Pittsburgh with Josh, leaving me and Liz alone for a little staycation! We mostly just vibed around the house, but we managed to pop out for some groceries in the afternoon. We got the stuff to make tantanmen + a few other meals but forgot gatorlyte again, because my life is suffering XD I've just been really dehydrated lately ;w;

I started patterning some outfits for nuis, but burnt out kinda quickly because doing tiny stuff is soooooooo taxing for me D: I'll try to get back to it soon, I just...idk. It's a lot. Plus I think I have to get slightly different pleather that's thinner, and uhhhhhh joanns is just about gone so I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon.

bluh.

And then I played a bunch of FFVII and accidentally reached the point of no return with Aerith without remembering to make an extra save file with her, so I feel stupid ;w; I do at least have to replay basically disc one to get the trophy for taking Barret on the Gold Saucer date, so...I guess I'll make one then...

BUT WE GOT THE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT AND I WAS RIGHT IT WAS SWITCH WITH NATSUME AS THE CENTER, EVERYONE ELSE WHO DOUBTED IT CAN DERELICK MY BALLS XD

plz cowboy Wataru, I take back everything I said about "no more cowboys" plz I need the rate up support for Natsume!!!!!!

Today
Woke up early to drive Liz to work, got home, tried to work on graphics/writing/coding/this entry...I started this like 5+ hours ago D: I did take a nap in the middle because Lumos got in my lap and put me to sleep, but I also fed myself. I'm not still starving XD

Anyway!!! I have to pick Liz up in like half an hour, so I'm gonna cut it here. I probably have even more pictures I haven't posted yet, but 1) this is long enough and 2) I don't feel like sorting through everything to see what I have and haven't posted.

OKAY. The image hosting software still isn't working properly, but at least it's being worked on by the support team. And I can still upload things through my FTP client and the in browser control panel, it's just the convenience of the specific image hosting that's lacking- for now.

Cool things I did this week: more hand-sewing projects! I made a big bow for Lumos and matching-ish ones for my Judal & Hakuryuu nuis! :D


SHE LOOKS SO PRECIOUS the bow is soooooo cute on her + it has a bell and it makes such a good sound, I keep dying from how cute she is ;w;

( more pictures of Lumos + the bow itself )

making bows for my Madara and Kohaku nuis definitely inspired me, and I'm sooooo excited to have some for these little shits, too ♥
Besides that...it's mostly been playing enstars, stressing about my website, and watching Liz fucking crush it at Queen's Blood in FFVII: Rebirth XD I've played some more of the OG, too, but...idk I haven't been feeling great so I've been sleeping a lot. I would really love if this could stop happening ;w;

BUT!!!! I wan to make more cute things!!!!! I have a bunch of YouTube videos open on how to make rosettes for pins/ita bags, and I wanna use that knowledge to make things for my nuis. The Kohaku & Madara ones that I usually carry around are a unique size for nuis - basically only the company that makes them makes outfits/accessories for them - so I also wanna make them some more clothes. I just gotta keep inspiring myself!!

Also I promised myself I was done buying Chinese enstars merch because of the tariffs - even though I love most of it, hence why I've got a bunch I preordered - but they just teased the new collection of merch and it's REALLY FUCKING CUTE!!!!!!!! Everyone has fox ears and fluffy kimonos for most of it, and then they're making fox nuis of all the characters.

AS IF THE KITTY CAT KIGU NUIS I ORDERED AREN'T CUTE ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's killing me XD I guess I'll have to see how all the tariffs shake out/how feasible buying from a reseller in Japan or else is, but damn if I don't want basically that whole collection ;w; Life is hard!!!

Oh, right...on Madara's birthday I did a single scout on his birthday box because I didn't have much else to spare, and this fucker gave me a third copy of his demon 5* XD


I'm not even mad, just surprised!!!!!
.....and then in ENG I did multiple 10 scouts and got NOTHING OF HIS. I did get some 5* cards, just not his. Which like. Okay. I'm glad to have them, but I'm also kinda desperately hoping to max out his first feature scout and get the secret color...maybe someday.

Lemme finish this off with a great pic I took the other night: Double Face in their pristine unicorn kigus...on an old pay phone.


I love putting them dumb places~

This weekend flew by!!!! Maybe because I was out of the house so much? idk. The unicorn kigus for my nuis finally arrived, so I just had to get them new accessories ;D


including a second miniature shopping cart to go with the one I already own, so they can each have one ;D
Seriously, it was a weekend of going places so I could get them things XD We went to Towson Towne Centre on Friday- partially to drop off my ps2 at the retro game store for repairs and partially to look at Claire's for accessories. The unicorn kigus are a different aesthetic than their other ones, so of course they need new stuff. I'm trying to go for more of a cutesy deco look to match the brighter colors, which is a little harder to make with just stuff I have sitting around the house.

We also swung by Ebisu (again) to look for cute stuff + get more snacks and then got bubble tea, because what is my life if not a quest for more excuses to get bubble tea? Gong Cha is doing a collab with Line right now and I got a free keychain with purchase, which goes really well with my ita bag imho.

On Saturday, Liz wasn't feeling well, so Pat and I went questing for nui accessories!!!! I had seen something cute in Claire's the night before but couldn't make up my mind before closing time, so we tried going to the Claire's in Security Square Mall by our house. Key word: tried. Apparently, that location has been closed for over a year but no one updated Google or Yelp :T

So!!!! Onwards, to perhaps the most overstimulating place in the world: Arundel Mills Mall. It's sooooooooooooo stressful and way too huge and I fucking love it XD I gotta remember to take my Bakura and Marikku nuis with me someday so I can take pictures of them at the Ancient Egyptian-themed movie theater...I just keep forgetting until I'm at the mall itself.

BUT FUTURE NUI ADVENTURES ASIDE. Liz wasn't there to watch us, so Pat and I were drawn in by the siren call of the Books-A-Million...the manga section called to us!!! I grabbed the newest volume of the P5 manga + Fangs volume 3 - someday I'll get a hold of volume 2, but Tokyopop fucking hates me I guess!!! - and Pat got the first volume of The Summer Hikaru Died (which I think I'm gonna steal and read too).

And then the fucking Lindt store got me!!!!!!!! They were handing out free samples and I can never resist a good piece of chocolate...plus I'd been meaning to check them out for awhile. I used to love picking up a few truffles + a decadent drink from the Godiva store, and I've missed it ever since they closed all their stores ;w; The Lindt store does have fancy drinks, but I hadn't eaten proper food before heading out so I didn't try them- this time. I did get a small bag of truffles, though ;D

I also managed to get all the way to the food court and feed myself without throwing a tantrum, despite being wildly overstimulated and achy...since of course I forgot to take my meds, too. Pat and I were both like "shit we should celebrate, this won't happen again" XD

OH WAIT I SKIPPED OVER THE MOST IMPORTANT STORE!!!! Rumi Life, aka the adorable stationary/accessories/home goods/etc store!!!!!!!! I got a miniature shopping cart there a year or so ago because I couldn't resist it, and I figured they might have some stuff for my nuis. And they did; I got a clip on bow for Madara and another shopping cart. This one is also a scooter! tbh the nuis are great because now I have an excuse for all the cute shit I always wanna buy ♥ I use it for them~~~~


you just know I had to take the boys with me, into the desolate wasteland of a dying store~
Today we all went out to Joanns....our location isn't quite closed yet but it's definitely winding down ;w; Since it's one of the last ones, they keep getting shipments from the warehouse/stores that closed already, which is how we managed to score a great deal on a Cricut EasyPress in its largest size :D Pat's wanted one for awhile and tbh I'm excited for it, since I'm still having nightmares from carefully ironing on all that gold heat transfer vinyl to Double Face's Last Mission coats. This thing has precise temperature control, so it'll make things much easier in the future :D

We grabbed dinner at Red Robin + more cat food for Lumos, since we now have to keep her stocked on expensive wet food. I love her dearly, but girl. She's killing my wallet XD

Oh and then we got ice cream!!! Liz had wanted a milkshake at Red Robin but they were kinda overpriced + we had many more errands at the time, so we ended up swinging by one of our favorite places on the drive home. I'm always ready to fuckin CRUSH one of those soft serve + butterfingers blended things, and they're the best place to get them (especially since Sonic stopped carrying butterfingers for some reason).


( come see more nui pictures from the weekend~~~~~ )

I'm also not feeling great today :T Liz has been feeling sick all weekend (and also the end of the work week, honestly) and I'm worried that I caught it. I know I'm a house spouse at this point, but ever since I had covid a second time I've had so much trouble with being sick. If I get sick, I stay sick for longer than anyone else in the household. I used to shake things within a couple days, and now it takes weeks- sometimes months ;w;

So basically I'm just nervous that I'm gonna be sick for the next month, since that's what keeps happening to me. I'm really not looking forward to it...FINGERS CROSSED I'm not actually sick, or I can at least get over it quickly.

"I don't wanna shell out $50 for the next part of the FFVII remake" I said, fully believing the lie was telling myself.

Anyway.

I picked up FFVII Rebirth on Sunday and I basically haven't put it down since XD It's so much better than Remake it's honestly incredible; they very clearly took feedback into consideration with this one. The gameplay is tightened up and modified just enough that it's fun instead of clunky, and while I still prefer the traditional turn-based experience, this is massive improvement over the last one. I still think Crisis Core feels a bit smoother because it leans more into the hack and slash nature of it, but I'm not dying in every fucking fight like I did in Remake.

ALSO THE FEW SECONDS OF ZACK IN THE OPENING IN AN ALTERNATE(??????) TIMELINE GOT ME RIGHT IN THE FEELS. I think because I just finished playing Crisis Core it hit particularly hard, but holy shitttttt, I was about ready to cry ;w;

Cloud looks so good too, like...they really have nailed "anime spiky hair bullshit" mixed with realism...it looks so soft and fluffy and also well spiked. It's just. idk. It manages to nail a lot of the stylistic things that fell short in Kingdom Hearts 3, and while I'm delighted it did...it also makes me sad for what could have been in KH3. It was ALSO an amazing game, but I'm still fussy about the style changes between KH3 and literally every other KH game ever :T

MOVING ON!!!

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm playing a game that was made for the PS5. Besides Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, everything else I own for the PS5 is on at least one other system (usually a fair amount), because everything is made for every damn system now!!!! It makes it feel like.....why do I have this system if it's just like everything else on the market?

BUT NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FFVII REBIRTH FEELS LIKE IT'S USING THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF THE SYSTEM!!!!!!! And not just like, oh the graphics are fancy, isn't that enough? No!!! There are so many little details that pull it all together and make it a richer experience *w*

I have a lot of other thoughts about it, but tbh I just wanna go back to playing....


so here's a majestic picture of Cloud with a dolphin XD

( few more screencaps under here! )

OH ALSO!!!! We had to go out to get more food for Lumos, because she's currently on "only the fanciest food money can buy" for her sensitive tummy...which is definitely hitting us where it hurts (the wallet). But we also picked up some groceries, including this absolutely necessary ceramic figure of a balloon animal. What animal? I have no idea, but I love him ♥


I put him on top of the TV with my son who has every disease (the green pumpkin)
BACK TO MORE FFVII I have a mini game I actually like (rhythm game)~

First thing: Lumos is doing better!!! She's been eating more regularly today and we got her some new antibiotics...which she does not like, but she didn't throw them up. So I'm counting that as a win ♥

Now, let's catch up on the rest of my life, since the last few days with Lumos kinda drove everything else out of mind. I finished playing Crisis Core a couple nights ago and basically cried like a baby. Every fucking time I'm like "maybe this time it'll be different" even though I know it won't be. The nature of a prologue like this is to let the tragedy loom in the distance while every bit of the game fills you with such hope that you can't help but get swept up in it. But that's just it- Zack has to die so Cloud can become the protagonist, and it's so damn good ;w;

Seriously...I have only hazy memories of playing the original on the PSP back in high school. I mostly remember GACKT Genesis pulling a whole bunch of anime bullshit at the end, so I somehow forgot the incredible bit of plot integrating into the UI in the final fight. Holy shit it was good. That's the sort of thing that I love about video games; when the menus suddenly become key plot elements I lose it!!!! :D

Anyway, I now desperately wanna pick up the next part of the FFVII remake (despite not really liking the first one), but I don't wanna shell out $50 for it especially with how much everything with Lumos just cost sobs so...I'm replaying the original XD tbh I wanted the next part so I could finally get out of fucking Midgar and I didn't wanna replay the original because, well, Midgar. But I had a save file on the PS3 that's right before the final couple boss fights in Midgar, so I called that close enough and started playing it this evening.

AND I DISCOVERED SOMETHING:


YOU CAN CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE MENUS??????????????????
Literally I first played FFVII in 2004 and I somehow never realized this until today. Okay. I'm stupid XD This picture doesn't quite capture how pretty my color gradient is, but the PS3 doesn't natively take screencaps and I didn't feel running it through the capture card. Maybe another day~

In enstars news: I got both 5* cards from the jp tour last night!!!! I actually have enough whistles and event bonus that I can probably nab a second copy of each pretty easily, because apparently that's just what I do with year end tours in jp?? XD Whatever, I'm not complaining...I'm delighted to have more Rei and Tori cards.

Aaaaand a couple doujins + a small piece of merch came in the mail! Probably the next package from our jp shopping service will be the exciting one - new outfits for the nuis!! - but this one was still good :D

( more pics + enstars screencaps )

Anyway, I started a new community this week as well, because what good is stress if you don't turn it into making sparkle graphics? XD I'd been hoping for a freebie community to pop up on a DW because I didn't feel like I should be the one running it...for some deranged reason???? I ran a bunch of freebie communities on GJ back in the day, idk why I thought I wasn't qualified??? But talking with thewizardofoz about it the other day pushed me to ignore my nerves and just go for it!

SO!!! Now vogliaa exists, which is the name of one I ran on GJ. I held onto a bunch of old icons I used to use to post there + I managed to lift the profile from the wayback machine, so I had something to start with. The banners and layout coding are all brand new, tho the layout coding comes from someone who was very big during 00s-era of freebies/requestables. I think it looks very nostalgic and colorful and nice ♥

Everyone has been so nice about it so far btw ;w; I've gotten some really kind comments and it just reminds me of how much I love making icons, honestly. I know that it's a bit rose-tinted, but making requestables on GJ was such a formative part of my life...I know I wouldn't be who I am today if not for the community and friends I made there.

ALSO THE TEMPERATURE JUMPED TODAY FOR NO FUCKING REASON BLUH

tl;dr: she was doing a lot better when we left the vet and now is doing less so D:

Her x-rays came back fairly clear, other than the fact that she's been swallowing air- probably because of how congested she's been ;w; She's been gulping air while trying to breathe and now she's full of air + gas. They gave her an injection to take down inflammation and get rid of nausea. And holy shit did that work wonders! Within half an hour, she was breathing much more quietly, was more relaxed, and just in general seemed to be doing better. Yay!

They sent us home with the pill form of the injection they gave her + an antibiotic, with instructions to call next week to see how things are doing. Pat and I got Wawa and then I fed Lumos treats in the parking lot, and she finally ate something!!!!! So we were feeling a lot better. She even ate most of a package of her wet food when we got home :D

Pat had a queer speed dating thing tonight, so it was set to be a nice, chill evening in for me and Liz...which it was! At first!!! Until we realized that Lumos was getting louder again D: But also it was late enough to try to get her to eat another meal.....which she was not interested in at all.

Okay. Well, she has to take her antibiotics without food, so let's do those?

NOPE! It was a liquid antibiotic and she threw it up almost immediately ;w; She's continued to breathe very loudly ever since, though thankfully in the last 15-ish minutes her breathing has started to calm down again. She still has no interest in food or drink, though.

Please everyone keep her in your thoughts ;w; I'm still not over Ethyl passing in 2023- I cannot handle anything going wrong with Lumos right now. I'll just die ;w;

Soooo Pat and I are currently at the vet with Lumos, and she did NOT like the trip here. Usually she's more chill on car rides, but today she was stressed out the whole time. She kept opening her mouth and panting, which I think was from stress, but it's making me stressed ;w;

Her chipped tooth just barely exposed some of the nerve inside, but since her breathing is so bad they're gonna focus on that, since they'd have to put her under for dental work and they don't wanna do that while she's wheezing so much. ESPECIALLY since she decided she didn't want to eat today, which is worrying. Usually she'll eat her fancy slop wet food if nothing else. NOT TODAY THOUGH D:

Anyway. She's off getting xrays, so hopefully I'll have more answers soon ;w; They're real worried about her chest with how wheezy she is.

edit: back from xrays, looking cute! now we're just waiting for results.

Lumos chipped one of her teeth D: She'd already been feeling under the weather - we think she's developed seasonal allergies in her old age - but tonight I managed to catch a glimpse of her yawning and noticed something looked off. Thankfully she's a calm and trusting cat, so I was able to hold her head and gently pull her lips back to get a better look...and yep! One of her front fangies is chipped ;w;

So, uh, we're getting her to the vet ASAP. Liz is gonna call first thing tomorrow morning and see if we can get in same day (or maybe the next day), because tooth stuff is no joke. I'm really hoping it's nothing major...everyone please keep Lumos in your thoughts ;w; She's 12 now, so she isn't young, but she's still so vibrant and energetic usually.

Right now she's sleeping very peacefully, because she got her fancy wet food all day. She's been refusing to eat kibbles and now we know why D: So! Since she's allergic to one of the additives in most wet foods, we can only get her the ~grain free, filler free, all pure ingredients~ foods. We'd been getting her a salmon & pumpkin mousse that's specifically formulated for older cats, but they came out with new flavors recently! And I figured she could use some variety, and I was right, because she loved the tuna, mackerel, and pumpkin one we got this time.

She's so spoiled I love her so much ♥

uhhhhhhhhhhhh my brain is mush because I've been in the enstars mines all day (playing the jp tour) but I have many thoughts about the whole two (2) chapters of story I read XD I usually read the whole thing at once, but I couldn't help but jump ahead to the bit that's Crazy:B + Madara because...okay, because I'm a simple man, I'm always hoping for kohamada crumbs.


the boys were also here for Kohaku + Madara interactions, clearly
AND IT FUCKING DELIVERED!!!!!!! Yeah, it was only two chapters, but they had a ton of back and forth, cute snarky bits, etc etc etc ;w; Rinne now has a nickname for Madara - Mikeneko-chan - and it's so fucking cute!!! I'm so glad someone finally called him a calico cat in text, it's important to me *w* And then Niki said that Kohaku and Madara looked like cats together, which was so fucking precious. Like. Yes, please compare my faves to kitty cats, my day is made.

ALSO!!!!!!! Rinne told Madara that he has to prove his worth before he can have Kohaku back - which for the record isn't even why Madara was there, he just showed up and that was the first thing Rinne said to him XD - and it very much had the vibe of "you broke my friend's heart and I'm not gonna let you do it again" so like. VERY GOOD SHIP CRUMBS FOR MEEEEEEEE. This was followed by Kohaku being like "I can do whatever I want" which, again, gay????? SO GOOD.

HiMERU very clearly did not like that Madara was there and wanted him to leave. Which make sense with how dismissive he was of Double Face during Ephemeral Festival, but I like that Rinne was not and instead acknowledged that Madara is an important part of Kohaku's life...he's just a shit who needs to make up for wronging Kohaku.

gaaaaaaaaaaaaay ♥

And another thing!!!!! It opened with Madara pondering on Nice Arneb Thunder and thinking that him + everything regarding 4piece and his quick acceptance into ES is really sketchy. Which is 1) accurate and 2) hahahaaa I fucking called it, I just knew Madara wouldn't trust this dude!!!!!!!! I said this during the first 4piece tour last year and tbh Madara is one of (the only????) character who hasn't been immediately taken in by Nice's cult of personality charisma. Kohaku also seemed concerned about him after Madara showed up to question Rinne about his past, so like......there's still time for my crack theory to win!!!!! Double Face could still take Nice Arneb Thunder out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry not sorry I'm just having a nice time uwu


I ground through the tour quite quickly so I could get Madara's 4* ♥
Honestly, the tour setlist has been really solid so far!!! I just finished up stop 10 and it's been less than 24 hours, which is a lot faster than I've played any recent tours tbh. idk I'm just having a nice time? It's nice to enjoy things ;w;

I mean also Madara is in the event so there's a lot of MaM and Double Face songs, so I am delighted by that ;D

( more enstars-related screencaps in here )

Oh, right. I do have one complaint about the event. Two complaints, I guess? But they're related, so I'll complain about them together. There's no event song and no MV outfits ;w; I know that tours don't usually have either of those, but the year end tours usually do. I guess because it's the prologue to the next chunk of main story it doesn't? BUT I'M STILL FUSSY.

Just another reason to be mad at Nice Arneb Thunder XD

Liz thinks that the outfits are gonna be the 10th anniversary MV outfits that everyone gets, which, like...okay. That's nice and all, but I wanted year end tour outfits ;w;

AT LEAST I HAVE ALTERED AND MY FOUR COPIES OF TSUMUGI


and here's a Lumos for sticking around for this whole longass post!