LC's Sidetrack: The Pride Special! A Skarlow Date To Remember!
Art by Crosshot: No first date jitters to be seen here.
While Skara takes Willow on a date the night before the war, Gilbert and Sully meet up with some old friends and recall their past.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptation Expansion: The chapter delves into the story of how Willow's dads got together and came to have her/adopt her.
- Big Damn Kiss:
- At the end of their date, Willow and Skara kiss just as the sun sets. Both girls are left happy and flustered, Willow admitting it's her first one.
- Gilbert and Sully had theirs after winning the Flyer Derby finals as kids, Sully surprised that it was a "heat of the moment" occasion.
- Averted when Boscha kissed Skara three years ago both to be her first kiss and to express her feelings for the bard. Unfortunately for Boscha, Skara felt nothing.
- Big Damn Reunion: While the girls are on their date, Gilbert and Sully meet up with their Flyer Derby team, the Ghouls, along with Geist, who's hosting the reunion at his bar.
- Breaking Old Trends: The last three one-shots were set in Alternate Timelines; this one's an interquel set within the main story.
- Breather Episode: This is meant to be the last chance for everyone to have some case of normalcy before the war against Glandus begins.
- Call-Back: In "Prelude to War (Part 3)", Skara went to Luz for dating advice so she could take Willow out after school. A few hours later, and Skara makes her move.
- Call-Forward: Flyer Derby is mentioned again, and Willow's plans to form her own team are brought up.
- The Cameo:
- Luz, Amity, Eda and Camila only appear at the beginning when going home for the day, Amity taking her Abomi-bike while Eda takes Luz and Camila home on her staff. Amity also appears sleeping in a flashback to when Boscha stole Skara's first kiss.
- Gus' palisman, Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo, only shows up for two scenes playing Hexes Hold'em with her owner.
- Edric and Emira are seen being told to prepare the Ghouls' meal, Emira having a silent appearance.
- Like Amity and Boscha, Amelia and Cat are seen in the flashback to the moonlight conjuring, reacting to the truth Boscha gave Skara and turning away when the triclops kissed the bard.
- Commonality Connection: As it turns out, Willow was adopted when her parents found her alone in the woods just like Luz was.
- Continuity Nod:
- While deciding on outfits, Willow turns down a fancy dress saying she's not going to the Socket.
- Gilbert transfering from Glandus High is mentioned.
- Crush Blush: As to be expected, Willow and Skara have their moments.
- A Day in the Limelight: The special is dedicated to Willow and Skara going on their first date. As a B-plot, Gilbert and Sully are given some light to shine as they meet their old Flyer Derby team for a reunion and delve into important points in their lives together.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Willow once lost control of her plant magic as a kid and attacked some kids at a slayground.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Skara's watching a video of her girlfriend that arouses her enough to cause wolf fur to pop out. She hides her fur embarrassed when her parents enter the room to give her dating advice, which gives off the impression that they caught her doing something else.
- First Kiss:
- Gilbert was Sully's and was able to tell he was, too.
- After their Big Damn Kiss, Willow shyly confesses that Skara just gave her her first kiss.
- A flashback reveals that Boscha was Skara's.
- Foreshadowing: The mugunghwa flower that the cloaked woman left behind originates from Korea.
- Interquel: The special is set during Wednesday evening in "Prelude to War (Part 3)".
- Lampshade Hanging: Ron notes that Gilbert and Sully didn't have Willow enrolled in the Plant Track to begin with, since Sully was in said track in his Hexside days, and Willow was named after a plant.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: After seeing that Skara didn't feel anything when Boscha kissed her, the triclops asks the bard, as well as Amelia and Cat, to pretend it never happened. To this day, they still don't talk about it.
- Morph Weapon: Jimmy not only acts as Skara's staff, but can transform into a violin.
- Mythology Gag: Two Moringmark comics are referenced: the first is "Hoot Tube
", which features Skara watching Willow in a workout video. The second is an exact recreation of how Willow's parents reacted to her being put in the Plant track and an incident where she went ballistic as a kid. - Named by the Adaptation: Gilbert and Sully's flyer derby teammates are called Samone (the purple-skinned witch girl), Ron (the red-skinned boy, though he's initially called Rob), and Bernard (the Big Guy).
- Out of Focus:
- Luz, Amity and Eda, as stated under The Cameo.
- Gus appears for a few scenes to help Willow with her outfit before being left at the Park's home for the night playing Hexes Hold'em with Emmiline.
- Platonic Kissing: Boscha's forced to pass off her kiss with Skara as just wanting to see her reaction after learning Skara felt nothing.
- The Reveal:
- Gilbert and Sully became a couple after they won the Flyer Derby finals. They found Willow supposedly abandoned as a baby and as a child, she caused an incident where her plant magic got out of control.
- 3 years ago during the moonlight conjuring, Boscha kissed Skara as part of Truth or Scare, giving her her first kiss only to find that Skara felt no spark. It's also shown that Amelia and Cat know about Boscha's crush on Skara and implied that Skara isn't as oblivious to it as we thought before.
- Sequel Hook: Willow plans to reintroduce flyer derby to Hexside and Skara decides to help, with both girls deciding to be the team's co-captains.
- Shout-Out:
- Each of the Ghouls' names have a meaning to them; Bernard was named after the character from Where the Wild Things Are, Samone is named after Raven-Symoné, and Ron is named after Ron Perlman simply because his appearance brought to mind Hellboy.
- Near the end of the girls' date, Skara serenades Willow by singing "I'd Rather Be Me (With You)".
- Small Role, Big Impact: The woman who left baby Willow in Forearm Forest gave Gilbert and Sully the child they were hoping to adopt.
- Something Else Also Rises: As Skara watches a video of Willow working out in the outfit she wears while doing so, fur sprouts on her neck and hands.
- Test Kiss
- Thousand-Yard Stare
- The Voiceless: Luz, Amity and Eda all make brief voiceless cameos, noticeably making this the first chapter in the series where none of them speak when they appear.
