Chapter 4 is now available for your reading pleasure.

[classicdrogn]

I'm rereading and haven't gotten up to the new chapter yet, but these stuck out to me in ch3:

I chuckled and caught her eye. "A welcome break from cat food, Sherada?"

She smiled back. "Royal Canin is more appetizing than I would have thought, but yes, I do long for a proper meal on occasion."

When I was a younker (preschool or earlier) I was a fiend for Meow Mix, to the point my mother and babysitters had to keep a baggie of some meant-for-humans snack in a pocket and physically head me off to stuff something else in my hands when I started heading in the direction of the cat dish. It was like bacon-burger flavored Cheerios but more solid and crunchy by my recollection.

I stifled a laugh. "Yeah, except for that part. But Moon — it gave the enemy that much more time to get in the first hit. You are damned lucky they didn't! I'm the last person to complain about banter in combat, but if you must give a speech, give it while you are kicking their butts. Or better yet, knock them down first, then rant at them. Otherwise you're just making yourself a target."

She bit her lip. "Okay, I'll try. It's just that, every time I've done this, I just kinda automatically say stuff like that."

I tilted my head at that. "'Automatically'?" She nodded and I glanced at Luna. "Some side effect of the transformation, Sherada?"

Luna looked thoughtful. "Not one I'm aware of. We'll have to look into that."

That... might actually be Moon Kingdom stuff coming from reincarnation memories -- formally judging the villain of the week a criminal/enemy of the realm before administering a death sentence. It would fit with the direct monarchy of what little we see of it for the royal family to have the power of high and low justice.

In anything but the defeat of your enemies, always use the lightest touch and the least power necessary, because there is a great difference between a drinking fountain and a fire hose.

I am reminded of a BtVS fanfic (I don't recall if it references a canon incident or not) where someone is talking about late-Willow's magical power, and mentions an incident where an enemy had trapped some magical MacGuffin (possibly a captured soul?) in a bottle, so Willow set up a ritual to find and break the bottle to release it, and the hardest part was making sure it only broke the right bottle, and not every bottle on earth. Debatable for Willow depending on level of fandom wank, but at least as plausibly within Usagi's reach.


I further note that the end of ch3 is lacking a "next chapter" link, but anyway, on to ch4 at last! The hype, as they say, is real. I think I'll post this now though, to avoid risking a derp that erases it all.