#162 – Somewhere In My Memory (part one)

Posted on August 29, 2011 by L.J.

Zack: “What…what happened to me?”

Originally Published: 2/26/06 . 32 pages

Synopsis
Zack is determined to get his own memories back, so he goes to the video game character therapy center for help. But in trying to remember more about himself, he reveals something about Rufus instead.

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

Zack’s always been a favorite of mine. I always thought he was unappreciated. So when he showed up as the resident doctor, it was just kinda like an inside joke. But then he became a bigger character and I decided to build toward this. The title of this one took me for-freaking-ever to come up with, but I love the results. Somewhere In My Memory is also the name of the beautiful and very recognizable song from Home Alone. Also Rudy comes out of the room for seemingly no reason in this ramble – that was setting up for a future ramble.

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#161 – Lloyd Goes Tribal

Posted on August 29, 2011 by L.J.

Zidane: “I know he’s annoying, but he’s good for one thing.”

Originally Published: 2/22/06 . 35 pages

Synopsis
Koudelka and Yuri decide to do singles mixers at the therapy center to earn some extra cash. Zidane is desperate to have sex – but is he desperate enough to go after Lloyd?

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

My favorite part of this is the actual singles mixer and all the different characters interacting. The title was suggested to me by my now husband, which I thought was quite a clever play on Zidane’s last name

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#160 – Lament of the One Night Stand

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Zidane: *smiles* “Trust me, Sephiroth… If anything…last night you took advantage of *me*.”

Originally Published: 2/15/06 . 13 pages

Synopsis
Sephiroth freaks out after he realizes he slept with Zidane. Meanwhile, things are equally awkward in loser land.

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

This ramble wasn’t planned at all. I left that last one with a cliffhanger that I also didn’t plan, so I had to tie up the loose ends! This ramble is much better than the previous in my opinion.

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#159 – Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Nida: *looks embarrassed* “Because…because…because you’re a whore!”

Originally Published: 2/14/06 . 24 pages

Synopsis
It’s Valentine’s Day at the ramble room and everybody’s in the mood for love. Reeve and Tseng have planned a romantic evening, and Kuja and Seymour each have blind dates. But will the night end happily for everyone?

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

This is pretty unhappy for a Valentine’s day ramble. The losers are far and away the best part, but you gotta move the drama along somehow.

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#158 – The Museum of Modern Mayhem

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Twilight: “Educational is just another word for boring!”

Originally Published: 2/7/06 . 57 pages

Synopsis
The gang decides to spend the day at the museum! Things start off crazy, with Hojo up to his usual tricks, Cloud constantly running off and Dante and Sephiroth at each other’s throats, but they get even zanier when they discover they’re locked in for the night!

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

I had this idea for a long time. I was very much inspired by the special I watched frequently as a child where Sesame Street goes to the museum and gets stuck there overnight. Hence all Cloud’s references to a big yellow bird – my little tribute. The museum in this ramble is really two in one – natural history and art, but it’s partially based on the MET in NYC. They really do have a complete Egyptian temple in there. It’s amazing. The Zell subplot started out as a joke – in cartoons you always see crazy stuff like the dinosaur bones just collapsing, so I decided to incorporate that. Reno and Irvine are basically useless till the end. There may be a little too much going on in this one. But the while thing where Lark trips after claiming she can see by candlelight really happened to me in real life during a black out.

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#157 – To Be a Turk

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Tseng: *snaps* “Are you hard of hearing? Put your hands up!”

Originally Published: 1/30/06 . 8 pages

Synopsis
Tseng, Reno, Rude and Elena on a real job.

Ramble Milestones
Nothing this time.

I’m obsessed with Shinra and the Turks, so I wanted to showcase what they really do when they actually have work.

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#156 – Franswa Revisited

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Horatio: *chuckles* “It’s always been my opinion that all Belmont’s are meant for greatness. But that doesn’t mean they’re all meant to fight Dracula.”

Originally Published: 1/26/06 . 46 pages

Synopsis
Franswa already knows he isn’t a Belmont, but when Juste lets something slip, he begins to wonder if that’s really the truth.

Ramble Milestones
-Horatio Belmont shows up.
-Alucard admits Trevor Belmont is his son.

Time for another ramble confession. So, after I wrote about Franswa not being a Belmont, I was kind of sad he wasn’t a Belmont at all. So I fixed that. Believe or not I had written out my entire Belmont family tree (based on canon, of course). I wonder if I still have it. That thing was huge. Speaking of Belmont’s, this ramble reveals that they’re all descended from Alucard. This was implied by the games, but never confirmed. I liked the idea so I used it. I also love drunk Alucard. He cannot keep a secret. What’s also amazing is the FF10 characters actually appear here – I was replaying the game at the time. The title of this one was inspired by the book “Brideshead Revisited”.

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#155 – Lloyd of the Disco

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Zell: “Wow! You really do have to like fires to work here!”

Originally Published: 1/24/06 . 37 pages

Synopsis
Rufus opens a discount center for all his failed products, and he makes the Lloyd the manager. Meanwhile, Sephiroth decides to get back at Alucard by pretending to date Lloyd.

Ramble Milestones
-The Disco-center opens.

Ah, the Disco-center. My favorite of all the Rufus business ventures. My favorite Rufus brand product, the Hamcuber, shows up in this ramble as well. This is the first time you really see a lot of Lloyd, which is good, because then even the reader wasn’t quite sure what Sephiroth was getting himself into. The fake sex is my favorite.

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#154 – Home Is Where You Hang Your Heart

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Yuri: “We have *got* to install some cameras.”

Originally Published: 1/18/06 . 49 pages

Synopsis
Sephiroth decides to move in with Alucard, but to do so he dumps Dracula in a the new old folks home at the therapy center. Will they live happily ever after? Or will Dante come between them? Meanwhile, the Belmonts are also having some problems with Trevor, and Nida needs to find out what happened to Headmaster Cid!

Ramble Milestones
-Bugenhagen’s first appearance.

This is one of my favorite ramble titles, but I also really enjoy the ramble itself for it’s balance of comedy and drama. Sephiroth shouldn’t be too surprised that Alucard would cheat on him. After all, he had no problem helping him cheat on Vincent.

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#153 – Everything Ages Eventually

Posted on August 21, 2011 by L.J.

Barret: “Hell no! That’ll make me forty! I sure as hell don’t wanna be over no damn hill!”

Originally Published: 1/11/06 . 9 pages

Synopsis
Some of the gang are sick of being stuck as teenagers forever and want Lark to make them age. But some are dead set against this idea! Whose side will Lark choose?

Ramble Milestones
-Everybody ages for the first time ever.

I know this ramble is weird, but I was just so sick of the younger characters never aging so I decided I had to make them finally grow up. And of course I had to explain it. Because that’s the way I do things.

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