madimpossibledreamer

         Akiyama just...shows up, for year 4 of Ye Olde Miyamoto Family Christmas. She doesn’t treat it like it’s strange, she doesn’t even comment on the fact she’s here, she just treats it like it’s normal. That’s probably the best approach, honestly, because that’s how half the things in Miyamoto-gumi happen, so while it briefly puts everyone on edge (some more than others), it’s quickly forgotten in the hustle and bustle of getting ready.
         Inoue nearly starts a fight with the Matriarch over the honor of cookie baking, until the Matriarch offers to serve as sous chef, and suddenly everyone’s treating the lieutenant of a different Family bossing around a Matriarch like that’s normal, too.
         She also begins a new ancient custom, and that would be Christmas Movie Night. Your average foreign Hallmark movie would probably result in someone getting stabbed, which is why it’s really intelligent that absolutely none of the movies as far as an internet research frenzy can tell even exist. She doesn’t bother to explain that, either, but that’s why it’s perfect for the Miyamoto, and she actually may or may not be seen smiling now and then. It always features at least one version of the Christmas Carol, and somehow despite there being at least fifteen different versions that actually exist, it’s always a new one. That doesn’t.
         The discussions are heated, but the only casualties there are those getting verbally eviscerated, so the Healers loudly declare them a runaway success.

( Chapter 339: Every One of Them )

Reading about shady app developers and generative AI refusing to stop being shady and just keep stealing stuff for training makes me feel like a contrary bastard. Constantine is also a contrary bastard.
...and then it occurred to me that while most Xanders see ‘sleeping with the guy with a hero worship thing is probably a terrible idea’…this is the Xander with Constantine DNA. And actually thinking about it, there's some Gaz parallels here.  (The one Green Arrow one was also a disaster but no one actually acted on anything, just flirted, until that faded a bit.) Andrew didn’t become part of the Trio, but I don’t think this relationship started until season 7.
andrew honestly might start calling himself an ‘emotional support warlock’.

         “Did you just tell your ladies that they’re not allowed to declare war on a game company?” Suna glances toward her husband, hyena’s grin only widening as she nods, patting Cordy on the back, trying to be reassuring.
         “Yeah, pretty sure we’d get tanks called on us if we marched up in war paint an’ the like. Not that I ain’t itchin’ to figure out who’d win in a fight ‘tween tanks ‘n me, but I ain’t gonna terrify a whole country to do it. ‘Sides, think there’s rules ‘bout ‘foreign investment’ or some such.”
         “But Ofukuro,” Inoue whines, trailing.

( care about your well-being )

          The first thing Xander says when he walks out and sees Aura sitting next to Andrew on his doorstep is “Don’t tell me there’s two ‘a ya now.”
          “All right,” she responds cheerfully and goes back to tapping away on her phone.
          He sighs, sounding upset, and Andrew squirms.
          “Why is there two of you now?” he repeats, frustrated, fiddling with his eyepatch, and Aura looks up again.
          “Cordy didn’t stop worrying about you just because she didn’t feel equipped to handle you,” she explains.  “I on the other hand have spent the last decade or so scheduling all the Cordettes and tackling their issues.  Compared to them, looking out for you should be a breeze.”
          He stares, mutters something about meddlers, goes back inside for a cup of coffee, and rejoins them after a few sips.  “Buffy is in charge.  Don’t get in the way.”
          “Sounds good,” she agrees.

          After talking to Andrew (she refuses to call him Annie-chan even if she thinks it’s funny), Aura goes and gets a tattoo started herself.  She waits, unlike Andrew, until it’s done before she shows it off.  There’s a long silence when she does, and she looks over her shoulder to see him staring, eye wide and shocked.  It had been a gamble showing him, but given that he’s not leering at her, seemingly a good one.  “What the hell,” he eventually mutters.
          “And still the raven remains in my room, no matter how much I implore,” she begins singing, and the look gets even more disturbed.
          “I didn’t know you were such a fan of Poe, or Alan Parsons Project,” he manages eventually, intimidated.
          “It was either that or a bad penny, considering you can’t get rid of me, and I’m not putting a penny on my back,” she tells him cheerfully, and he looks torn between laughing and crying.