It was good to be back.

Summer vacation had been a little crazy. Relaxing, in its way... Stressful as all else at times... But strangely enough, after all of that, the icy breezes of Lowee were more welcoming than ever. Blanc had already begun writing a new best selling novel about everything that had happened over the past few months, as it were. She could say this for certain, you see, because she knew it was going to be a best seller thanks to that whole time machine incident from the month before. She'd have to remember to leave that out of the book, though.

"Maybe I'll start the first chapter with a reference to it..."

She didn't want to leave it out completely, after all... She supposed she could figure it out as she went along, if need be.

It was around this point in Blanc's musings that she was reminded that she was at the dining room table in Lowee's Basilicom. Specifically, she was reminded of this lovely fact because her especially lovely sister chose that moment to speak up, commenting on the would-be author's most tender thoughts and ruminations with the most sensitive comment her little CPU Candidate mind could muster.

"Such much. Much such. Wow."

A pin dropping after Ram's comment to her sister would have sounded like an earthquake. A bomb going off, even.

Ram had been sitting at Blanc's side, last Blanc checked, with Rom at her other side and Mina across the table. They had been sitting down for a Thanksharing dinner, all cozy and "family" like, whatever. It had been nice... almost. Somehow, Ram was now right next to her, and... And...

"... What the fuck did you just say, Ram?" The CPU kept her tone even, even though she couldn't say the same for her vocabulary. Blanc really hoped she had just misheard her sister. It was one thing to deal with that kind of crap from Neptune, but if Ram started now, then she didn't know if she'd be able to last through the last few weeks of the ordeal that had been this year.

Grinning, Ram just scooted her seat over towards its original position. The look in her eyes was dangerous. Blanc already didn't like it, and despite the fact that she could hear Rom saying something in an attempt to calm things down across from her twin, Blanc ignored it. She knew she had to be on the ready for whatever Ram was about to do nex-

"Nooothiiiiing. Want to see my recipe for blue waffles?"

Jaw dropping, Blanc went as white as her Heart. Her heart then promptly fell into her stomach, quickly shooting back up into her throat, before barely stopping itself from getting thrown up when Rom tugged on her sleeve and said...

"I didn't know there were blue waffles..." Innocently looking up at Blanc with wide, hopeful eyes, Rom smiled. "Sis, can I see the blue waffles...?"

Upon hearing her sweet little sister speak those words, whatever part of Blanc's innocence was still left inside of her after the touch screen incident promptly jumped into a car, got onto the highway, then jammed its foot onto the accelerator, causing the most horrific crash into emotion history since Osmosis Julie 2: Meet Aunt Flow premiered in theaters.

Needless to say, Blanc was in something of a poor state of mind at that moment.

"N... Now now..." At long last, to Blanc's rescue, Mina finally spoke up! Slowly raising in her seat, the Oracle gently raised her hands and looked hesitantly from one of the twin CPU Candidates to the other, unsure of who she should worry for more. Had Ram become corrupt beyond salvation? Was Rom still pure? Did she need to rush Blanc somewhere before it was too late? What was she to do?! "Maybe we should all just take a deeeeep breath and remember we're all here to celebrate this lovely holiday, and-"

"But that's what I'm doing, Mina!" Ram quickly interjected. "Today isn't Thanksharing anymore! Today is Danksmemeing now! Thanksharing can get rekt."

Rom made a small o with her mouth, as if this explained all of Ram's actions and strange words up to this point. Mina, for her part, looked like she was on the verge of having a mental car crash as well, but seemed to be hanging on for Blanc's sake...

Seeing that, Lowee's goddess was able to take a deep breath. She could handle this. She could handle whatever her sister had gotten in her head this time. She had handled eleven months of "The Year of Ram," hadn't she?! ... Some of which had been on off weeks, sure, but she'd been taking 'em in goddamn stride, she had! She could handle whatever dank memes Ram threw at her!

"Ram... Ram..." Huh? Who's voice was that? "Can I see the waffles or not...?"

- Shit! She'd forgotten Rom was trying to see Ram's stupid phone! And when had she come across the room to get a look at Ram's phone? Dammit! No more internal monologues, Blanc!

Ready for the worst, Blanc snatched Ram's phone away from her, just in time to stop Rom from being scarred forever by...

... a picture of a Pocketed Monstrosity on... a waffle?

What? This wasn't...

"Ram, what is..." Blanc turned from the cell phone to look quizzically at her sister, unknowingly walking right into little Ram's next trap.

"So I heard you like Swampkips, Sis."

The downright sleazy grin on Ram's only widened when she saw the vein appear on Blanc's forehead. What was the point of this holiday of hers? To piss off everyone, was that it? Well if that was the case, then it was sure as heck working!

This was Neptune's idea, wasn't it? She did this! Blanc knew sending Ram over there had been a bad idea! And the way Ram had come back... Yeah, this was definitely all Neptune's fault! She should've gotten rid of that nation when she had the chance!

She'd have to deal with that later... For now, though, Ram was her biggest concern.

"If you keep this up, you won't be getting any desert." Blanc calmly straightened her back, lowering herself into her seat and taking a swig of her drink like things were perfectly normal again. She wasn't going to let Ram spoil things, and she definitely wasn't going to let Ram get the better of her here. "Vert convinced me to get you twerps a big cake to make up for how badly last year apparently went for you brats, but if this is how you're going to be acting, I'll just call up Nepgear and Uni and let them have it."

The good old standard threatening of the sweets. Blanc didn't know why she hadn't just resorted to that sooner.

Naturally, like clockwork, Ram's expression shifted completely. Her eyes went wide as the confectionery delight was described to her, but when she understood that it was at risk of leaving her life forever, she knew that this game had been lost. It was time to stop playing around and go back to Thanksharing. She could go back to terrorizing her big sis any day. For now, it was family time.

"I... I'm sorry! Don't take the cake away! Anything but that!" Clapping her hands together, Ram put all her sugary sweetly lovey dovey feelings together and rammed them into her eye holes into what she hoped was the best puppy dog face in the whole wide world. That had to get Blanc to forgive her! "You can't! I'll be a good girl!"

At the sight of how hard her little sister was trying, Blanc returned her sister's hopeful, adoring, apologetic look with a small smile of her own. It was an expression that radiated the genuine relief she felt inside as she realized this nightmare was finally over. After how hectic this year had been, all thanks to Ram of course, it was a real joy to finally have her apologizing for something.

"Sorry. The cake is a lie."

And it was an even greater joy to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Smiling all the wider as she watched the look fall straight off of Ram's face, probably never to return, Blanc found herself laughing at her stupefied sister, who began to blush a hot pink as she realized she had been had. Blanc could get used to this.

"Happy Danksmemeing, Ram."

Refusing to meet her older sister's gaze, Ram just mumbled a response towards the floor that brought even more holiday cheer to her older sister.

"I... It's Thanksharing... That's not a thing... Sheesh..."

Oh yes.

Blanc could definitely get used to this.

Happy Danksmemeing indeed.