#But I started this before S8 dropped and it was already getting crazy long

[some-cookie-crumbz]

I really love the Kidge Child HCs, I honestly can't get enough of them! Do you have any Grandma Krolia headcanons? Or headcanons for the rest of the Paladins?

REMEMBER HOW I JUST SAID THIS WAS COMING SOON?? IT’S FINALLY HERE, EVERYBODY!!!!!

First, for those who may not have seen my other posts, here are the links to all my other Headcanon posts.

Kidge Married Pre-Babies: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.1: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.2: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.3: [here] *There’s a little angst in this one, FYI

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.4: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.5: [here]

I’m gonna go the full monty with thisone; we’re taking about the kids with Krolia, Sam, Colleen, Matt, the Paladins(and any/all of their children), and all the other peripheral people involvedwith them! This is gonna be a little bit of a longer one, as such, but I wantto be as thorough as possible!

Also, mentioning this here, but there will also be mentionsof Shatt (I have two sets of headcanons for Shiro and Matt, both as a coupleand in relationships with other people, but don’t want to have to write downboth alternatives), Hunay, and Allurance, as well as me talking a little bitabout their respective families, so be aware.

The order will be as such; Krolia, Sam and Colleen, Matt andShiro, Hunk and Shay, Lance and Allura, Coran, Romelle, Kolivan and Slav.

Krolia

As I know I’ve mentioned in my previous parts, the kidsrefer to Krolia as “Nana Olia”. Amber was the one who started it – obvious, asshe’s the oldest – because, when trying to say Krolia’s name, she couldn’t getthe “Kuh” sound right, gave up, and opted into the part of her name that shecould pronounce. The other kids follow Amber’s lead because she’s their bigsister. Krolia loves having a special name that only the kids use for her.

So, being a grandma was never something Krolia ever thoughtshe’d get the chance to be, but she absolutely loves it. Part of this is because she gets to come over and engage withthe grandbabies at an age she didn’t get to with Keith, which is bittersweet.She comes over to visit as often as she can and loves playing with the kids;specifically, she loves taking the kids to the park and going on little walkswith them. She’ll admit in private that she has a soft spot for Kaden – due tohow much he looks like Keith – but she loves each of her grandkids equally.

So, for each of the kids, Krolia goes on the harrowingsearch for more luxite mineral to get them each their own brand new blades.Amber and Kaden are the two who make the most use of theirs; Newt keeps his incase he gets himself in a hairy situation, and Aria keeps hers mounted in herroom for safe keeping.

In regards to Amber, she absolutely adores what a fiestylittle thing she is. She often remarks that Amber carries in her the fire ofthe ancients in her, remarking that she’ll certain accomplish great things inher future. Krolia is absolutely correct about this, but that’ll be somethingwe talk about in later posts. She always starts their little training sessionswith a small meditation session to help get Amber grounded, and this actuallybecomes something that Amber implements in her every day; especially onstressful days. Krolia enjoys teaching her how to properly use her luxite bladeand teaching her about what, exactly, being a successful Blade member entails.

She never admits that Amber wouldn’t be the best atespionage due to how short-tempered she is, but she still loves how enthralledAmber gets to hear her stories.

Kaden breaks her heart in some of the harder ways during hisinfant and toddler years, simply because watching him interact with the worldis a physical mirror to what it looked like with Keith at that age, and shemissed out on all of that. She admits this to Keith and Pidge, who both trytheir best to help comfort her. As Kaden gets older, he becomes equallyinterested in the lessons she does with Amber, so she starts training both ofthem. He’s also a bit more interested in their Galran heritage and the historyof the Blade; including how long their Galran family had been involved and ifthere were any relatives of notoriety. This leaves her absolutely thrilled andshe’ll often tell him about their long family-lineage of involvement.

Kaden actually writes a history paper discussing his great,great, great, great grandfather, Tulore, for class. He got a perfect mark andgave it to Krolia to keep when it was returned.

Her relationship with Newt is a bit strange at first butdevelops much better as he gets older. At first, Krolia sees him as a littlehellion since he’s almost always a shrieking little grouch, and is very meekabout engaging with him. Due to what occurred when he was born and his infantilepersonality, she thinks this means that he’s much more delicate than hissiblings were, and she worries a lot about hurting him. Once he starts to getolder and his tears transform into tricks, she sees how clever he is and findsit entertaining. Something about a child constantly outwitting his parents andsiblings is entertaining.

She’ll occasionally bring him materials from other planetsto help improve his pranks; taking the time to explain how he safely use it, ofcourse.

Aria is a bit of an odd duck when it comes to Krolia,specifically because of how drastically different she is from her siblings. Herbeing such a delicate little thing makes Krolia hyper-aware of how she is withher, but the fact that she’s the clingiest, most affectionate of her siblings?Oh, Krolia loves nothing more than getting to snuggle up with her littlegrandbabies. Additionally, small footnote, but Aria and Krolia share a distainfor the snow. Krolia lived her years on Earth in the desert and she tends toprefer warmer climates in general. During the wintery season, she’ll oftenhunker down in the house with Aria is the other kids want to go play in thesnow, sipping cocoa and playing with her inside.

She teaches Aria a lot of old Galran lullabies, as well asactually teaching her their language, too.

Sam and Colleen

For the Holts, the kids call them “Nanny” and “Pappy”.Sometimes they’ll use their names as well, but since they have different titlesfor their grandparents, it’s not always needed. When they do add the names,they’re “Nanny Collie” and “Pappy Sammy”.

Being grandparents was something Colleen and Samuel had beenhyped for the minute their kids got into serious committed relationships. They’rerespectful and understanding to the situation, of course, but there’s a secretbetting pool between them on which of their kids will yield grandkids first.Colleen loses because she bets on Matt and Shiro, banking on the fact she knewthe two of them had been having more active conversations about it than shethought Pidge and Keith were. Samuel banked on it being Pidge and Keith morebecause he’d noticed the subtle things; Pidge looking at baby clothes whenparoozing the mall, Keith making the throw-away comment about what kind ofthemes he think would be cute for a nursery, etc.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Colleen knits littlebaby blankets for all the little Kidgelings, using colors that arerepresentative of the respective season they were born in. Samuel also does alittle crafty thing for them; he makes little ceramic ornaments of the kidsfeet when each of them after they’re born.

So, Amber is probably just a little bit closer to Colleenthan Samuel, but it’s a very slim margin. As I’ve mentioned, she tends to helpKeith with tending to their garden and yard at home. When she goes over tovisit with the Holt’s, she loves seeing what latest new flower or vegetableNanny has introduced to her garden. During the summer, Amber will also drop inunannounced to help Colleen take care of pulling weeds and such, since sheknows it can be hard for her.

With Samuel, Amber explores an interest in space travel andwhat, exactly, that entails. Pidge and Keith will tell the kids stories abouttheir time as Paladins, but they don’t talk about the really difficult andfrightening missions, and they don’t necessarily encourage the kids to followin their footsteps. As she gets older, Amber is a bit more aware of herparents’ apprehension, so most of her interest is only ever explored underPappy’s watchful eye. He tells her about the things he’s seen, the ships he’spiloted and helped to build, and occasionally sneaks her onto the Garrison baseto fly simulators. Samuel keeps this all secret from Pidge and Keith, though,because he thinks they’d be terrified at just how skilled their daughter is.Amber never outright asks him to keep this under wraps, but she appreciatesthat he does.

Kaden’s naturally reserved demeanor leads him towards morequiet hobbies, but also ones that are a bit more hands-on. Much like withKeith, Kaden bonds with Samuel about making models, but with Samuel it’s moreclassic vehicle models such as old trains or boats. They’ll typically sit withsome soft music playing in the background, but as Kaden gets older they’lloccasionally have more conversations about whatever’s going on in their livesat the time. It’s mostly just pre-teen angst and post-retirement gossip, butit’s nice and Kaden enjoys it.

As for Colleen, she bonds with him over painting, actually!Kaden’s not very good at drawing with a pen or pencil, but he’s pretty good atdoing landscapes with paint. I like the idea that Colleen was a hobbyist whoused painting as a form of stress relief, and she ends up passing this on toKaden. She’ll show him all the little tips and tricks she’s figured out for herown, and he’s always happy to take her advice. Colleen likes to hang some ofher favorites of his paintings in her office at work and, upon retiring, shekeeps them hanging in the guest room of the house. It always makes Kaden superembarrassed but also super flattered by it.

So, Newt’s cheeky and mischievous nature make him prettygood at things that require a high level of trickery; this includes poker,which he’s taught by his Nanny. Colleen actually tries out a couple ofdifferent card games with him – War, Uno, Spoons,etc. – but poker ends up being the one that Newt enjoys the most. The kid justloves getting to be a sneaky little shit, and he’s incredibly skilled with hispoker face. Colleen takes him with her sometimes for her weekly poker gameswith her friends and he usually makes a killing in hard, caramel candies.

With Samuel, he enjoys playing more tactical, contemplativegames, such as Risk and Clue. Newt has inherited Pidge’sinquisitive nature, but also ends up developing a huge fascination withmysteries and scandals and such. He likes the idea of breaking down lies anddeceit used for malicious intentions, inheriting his Dad’s sense of morality.He may be a little shit who likes to prank and tease his family, but he’s alittle shit for Great Justice™. One time, for the fun of it, Samuel hide aplaque he received upon his retirement and pretended it got stolen for Newt toinvestigate. During his investigation, Newt uncovered that one of the Holt’sneighbor’s was involved in helping with human trafficking.

So, since Aria’s the family oddball, she ends up with someodd interests that she shares with her grandparents, too. With Sam, they bondover researching old, classic amusement park rides and innovations,interestingly enough. While Aria isn’t a big fan of mechanics or engineering,she finds the lore and developments of entertainment technology to beabsolutely fantasy, and I headcanon that Samuel was a total theme park fan boyin his younger years. They’ll watch videos and documentaries, and one time theyactually broke into an abandoned amusement park to take pictures and videos ofhow far dilapidated the place got.

With Colleen, they learn how to make special effects propstogether. One of the little troops Ari attends for her performances is short onstage hands, so Colleen volunteers to help, and sometimes the cast have to helptoo. Part of this requires masks and other such things, but because the Holt’srun under the mantra of “Go Big or Go Home”, they become super invested in thequality of their work. They watch tutorials, take classes, watch tons of Face Off on Sci-Fi, and, of course, learnfrom some level of trial and error. Ari’s group put on Beauty and the Beast once and they actually had to remake theBeast’s face piece because the mask was deemed too realistic and terrifying forthe grade schoolers that would be coming to see it. During Halloween, Ari andColleen also end up creating the scariest haunted house in the town with howrealistic they make the make-up look. Especially zombie-with-head-axe Amber,who is surprisingly dedicated to her role.

Shiro and Matt

Mkay, so, I’m not going to get into all my Shatt headcanonshere, but I will give a brief overview of their family and their relationshipswith the Kidgelings. So, I headcanon that Shiro and Matt have three kids; a setof twins – one boy and one girl – and a second daughter; names are Akihiko,Auryon and Hikari respectively. The twins are born in the gap between Amber andKaden, placing them about a year and a half younger than Amber and a year or soolder than Kaden, while Hikari is born the same year as Newt, but at the tailend of the year. The children are biologically Shiro and Matt’s, born throughwhatever means is most comfortable to the viewer. I’m sure Altean tech could beadvanced enough to allow this sort of thing, or one of them could be trans. Ipersonally love Trans!Character headcanons but that’s just me.

So anyway! We’ll start with Shiro, then Matt, and then I’lldo small notes about the relationship between the cousins.

I mentioned this in my last post and said I’d elaboratehere, so here we go! Amber talks with Shiro a lot about sexuality and thestruggles that come with it. Keith and Pidge are completely supportive of theirdaughter, and she’s fine talking with them, but sometimes she likes getting totalk to Shiro about it. I’ve always headcanoned that Shiro is someone who isincredibly comfortable in his own skin and simply saw his sexuality as oneother part that made him who he was, and never shied away from that. It’s thatconfidence in himself that makes him so easy to talk to for Amber.Additionally, Shiro being a bit more of a modest and well-spoken sort – whereUncle Matt is a bombastic disaster – makes him a bit easier to talk to aboutwhat’s going on in her head. They tend to gossip all the time and Shiro, who isattentive to those he cares about, always remembers the stories about herclassmates and crushes that she shares with him. Aside from those talks, Shiroalso bonds with her over helping her a bit with her classical literaturereadings for school, because she finds the classics dull but I think Shirowould really respect those pieces himself. He mostly just helps her by lettingher bounce thoughts off of him and give her some additionally insight to thedifferent ways the pieces art interpreted.

Keith appreciates the help, since sometimes Amber can be abit stubborn and ill-tempered when she struggles with her homework, and Shiro’sa bit more patient.

As for Kaden, Shiro helps him a lot with his training forthe teams he joins and doing workouts. Once the kids are a bit older andindependent, Keith is able to pick his workout schedule back up and Shiro tendsto go along with him. As Kaden starts getting interested in sports and, byproxy, starts taking how well he maintains his physical health more seriously,he starts asking questions about it. Keith knows a decent amount, but admitsthat most of what he knows is from Shiro helping him out, which causes him togo ask Uncle Shiro his questions. From there, Shiro offers to help Kaden figureout his schedule to help keep him in peak form for his teams and such. Sometimesthey’ll work out all three of them, but more times than not it’s just Shiro andKaden, since Keith tends to get busy doing other things with the other kidswhen they’re gonna do their workouts. From the workouts, Shiro eventually endsup helping Kaden out specifically with his training for baseball. Shiro sees itas a good way to keep himself active, as well as pass along his own knowledge.Sometimes, he and Matt’s son, Akihiko, will join them, too.

This helps Aki and Kaden bond as well, but I’ll talk moreabout that later.

Newt is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to hisrelationship with Shiro. Between Uncle Shiro and Uncle Matt, he’s mostcertainly closer with Matt, but Newt very much loves his Uncle Shiro and findsa unique way to bond and help him. Much like a majority of people like to talkabout, I like the idea of Shiro benefitting from having a service animal.However, I also see Shiro as being someone who doesn’t like the idea of lettinghis weakness show; because he didn’t want his illness to hold him back when hewas younger, because he had to be in charge both with Voltron and later theAtlas, and in more recent times because he has three little babies of his ownto look after. I plan to write a fic about this, but Newt finds out aboutShiro’s situation and starts looking into what it takes to train a dog to be aproper service animal. He ends up adopting a young pup from one of theirneighbors, with Keith and Pidge agreeing, and starts working with specialiststo get the little pooch trained up to help Shiro cope with panic attacks andnight terrors he gets on a somewhat regular basis.

Shiro is absolutely floored but also incredibly touched bythe gesture. He ends up naming the little pooch Leia.

With Shiro and Aria, they bond over something a bit on theodd side. So, this was a headcanon that was inspired by a talk with my oldersister that I absolutely fell in love with. Shiro is a huge fan of theprohibition era style; speakeasies, mobster/gangster organizations, the wholeshebang is just wildly fascinating to him. Aria herself has a soft spot for theaesthetic and the Big Band sounds of the time. And, since Shiro is a big fan ofthat time period, he has a huge collection of music from the time period. The twoof them bond over it. One year, for Halloween, he actually helped her make hervery own flapper costume from scratch.

So, what about good ole’ Uncle Matt?

Matt and Amber bond over space travel, much like she doeswith Sam but on a drastically different note. He talks a lot with her about theworlds he got to visit with the Rebels and what all he learned. He teaches hera lot about different cultures and customs, different strategic approaches theytake and the like, as well as how to read the stars in some of the othergalaxies he’s traversed to. He and Keith have a few serious conversations aboutit, as Keith is highly uncomfortable with his kids taking an interest in spaceexploration, but Matt continues to do it anyway. After the fifth or sixthconversation, he just gets better at lying about it.

As for Matt and Kaden, they bond over medical training andmedical shows. As I mentioned before, Kaden becomes fascinated by the work ofEMTs and medical professionals after he breaks his arm. Matt, through both the Garrisonand the Rebellion, has a pretty decent wealth of knowledge on the subject. Heteaches Kaden how to do CPR properly, how to make a short-term splint forbroken bones, and other such things. In regards to programs, they watch tons ofHouse, Untold Stories of the ER and Scrubs.With the drama shows, they mostly just make fun of how ludicrous it is, whilefocusing on the diagnostics. With the reality-based shows, they enjoy seeinghow the case develops and the ultimate outcome. Sometimes Auryon will jointhem, just to have something to do, but that’s incredibly infrequent.

Newt and Matt go together like peanut butter and chocolate,to say the least, and they have the most shared interests. The big one theyshare on, though, is a love for all things Star Wars and Star Trek themed; theshows, the comics, even a couple of podcasts that talk about the lore of eachrespective series in depth. Newt likes Star Trek a bit more than Star Wars –and he really likes Captain Picard – while Matt is the opposite – with a hugeaffinity for Han Solo – and they like to tease one another good-naturedly aboutit pretty often. Other than that, Matt is his biggest helper when preparingLeia to be a proper service dog for Shiro when he gets the idea and is the oneto first suggest it to Keith and Pidge.

Lastly, Uncle Matt and Aria bond about her cheerleading,interestingly enough. I like the idea that Matt, despite being a bit of stringbean, was on the cheer team in his high school years. Back then, he wasn’t verygood at helping with the flyer stunts, but as an adult who has lived throughfighting with a rebellion and being a Dad to three kids? He can most certainlylift up his petite little niece to practice her flyer routine. Aki joins thecheerleading squad as well, so he’ll help out sometimes, too. Additionally,Matt played the violin, so sometimes they’ll do duets together. They typicallypick pieces where the cello takes the lead, as he hasn’t really kept up withplaying over the years, but also because it’s good practice for her.

Now, as for how they bond with their cousins, the dynamicsare interesting, to say the least.

Aki gets along well with Kaden and Aria the best, gets alongdecently well with Newt, but actually butts heads a lot with Amber. Aki’s alittle bit of a rebel and tends to get himself into a lot of trouble, whichAmber often times tries to dissuade him away from. And, if he doesn’t listen,she tends to be the one to narc on him. As they get older, she’ll typically goalong and have Hikari, his sister, record his stupid stunts and show them offlater. Many times, she’ll end up using it as either blackmail or showing it tohis parents without showing it to him first. Her favorite was the time when hewent to a party, got drunk underage, and face-planted doing a keg stand. Asmentioned before, he bonds with Kaden and Ari over baseball and cheerleading,respectively. He’s a bit more of a physical activities kind of kid, with apassion for those kinds of things visible since he’s young. With Newt, they don’thave a whole lot in common, but Aki still looks after him because he’s hiscousin and is also a smol. Newt also occasionally helps him with his mathhomework, since he struggles a bit with his academics.

As for Auryon, she gets along pretty well with all of themequally. With Amber, they bond a lot over the ideas of space travel. WhileAuryon herself isn’t particularly interested in engaging with travelling, shedoes find the way the now-unified galaxy operates, and how the unification effectseach different planet within the Coalition, which leads to some interestingconversations between them. Auryon and Kaden bond over, interestingly enough,martial arts and hand-to-hand combat training. She admires Amber’s eagerness tofight to protect her friends so she decides she wants to learn as well. Sinceshe and Kaden are a bit closer in age, he tends to be her sparring partner moretimes than not. With Newt, they share a passion for animals. Auryon actually hastwo ferrets – named Boo and Radley – that she loves to pieces and Newt happilyjoins her with playing with them and has even helped her with cleaning up theircages every now and again. With Ari, they actually bond over learning foreignlanguages. Specifically, they both learn Italian together, but Auryon alsolearns how to speak Japanese. Sometimes, she’ll translate songs from Japaneseto English for Ari to do covers of for her YouTube channel.

Hikari, as opposed to her brother and sister, is an artistictype with a decent relationship with all her cousins. She and Amber have thebiggest rift between them, due to the moderate age gap, but they enjoy makingher brother miserable. Like most little sister’s, Kari lives for teasing her brother. So, when Amber offers her theperfect chances to do that? She’ll be there with a camcorder in a heartbeat. With Kaden, she recordshe and Auryon’s sparring sessions to use as reference for some of heranimations. Additionally, Kaden enjoys just talking with her about his lovelife. I won’t go into too much about it here, but she offers him significantlymore practical advice than his other source of information coughAlforcough. WithNewt, he’s pretty good for sound boarding her ideas off of. While he’s workingon this or that, or training the dogs, she’ll settle in and just kind oframble. If he thinks something is dumb or needs more thought, he’ll say asmuch, which she appreciates. She and Ari bond over the aforementioned YouTubechannel. She helps record and edit together the music videos that Arioccasionally makes for the songs that she performs, as well as handling thedirectorial responsibilities. She loves getting to have the experience andreally enjoys how she and the rest of their little group work together.

Hunk and Shay

Much like with Shiro and Matt, just a quick rundown of theGarrett family! Hunk and Shay had two children together; one son named Richterand one daughter named Morganite. Richter is a few months younger than Amberand Morganite is a few months younger than Newt. The reason for the huge agegap between to the two siblings is due to another headcanon of mine, in whichthe less similar two alien races are, the more difficult it is to reproducesuccessfully. Galra, Altean and humans are all somewhat similar in geneticmake-up, so it’s easier for them to conceive, but since Balmerans can bedrastically different based upon their environment. Due to this, while it’sclearly capable, it is a bit of a struggle. They’d been trying long before anyof the others to conceive Richter, and are delighted when he’s born. They weren’tactually trying to conceive Morganite and view her as a happy accident.

So, let’s talk about Uncle Hunk for a moment or two!

In regards to Amber, Hunk is actually appreciative of whatan abrasive personality she is. He knows that Richter tends to be on the morereserved side, which makes him an easy target for bullies, but she’s alwaysthere to protect him. As a sort of repayment for how good of a friend she is tohis son, he tries to help teach her how to cook and bake. Kaden ends up joiningin the little lessons, too, simply out of interest to learn how so he can helpout more at home. Amber’s downright awful at anything culinary-themed, but withHunk’s help she ends up getting decent. She can’t do anything particularlyfancy or extravagant, but she can make meals without burning down the kitchenand those meals taste well enough to not leave her paying homage to the porcelainGods.

Kaden actually ends up being a lot better than Amber, aswell as being a bit better at baking than cooking. He can make some of the mostbeautiful multiple-layer cakes out there. When the extra-curricular activitieshe participates in do fundraising bake sales, he always volunteers to help makeproduct for sale. A lot of the time, Hunk will help him as well. They alwaysend up making asinine amounts of baked goods, but they also end up selling allof it, so it never goes to waste.

With Hunk and Newt, he gets to work with him on his roboticsprojects and such. Newt and Morganite end up joining the robotics club andalways work together on the projects they’re completing. Team Punk often getsback together to help the pair out. Hunk takes the time to really explain thenecessary components to create an engine that’ll allow the robot to do whatthey intended purpose is, as well as occasionally smuggling themGarrison-issued supplies that they probably shouldn’t have access to. Do thejudges at the competition need to know that? Absolutely not. And Hunk wouldn’t breathea word of it, even if he was asked.

So, we all know that Hunk is ultimately the beacon of peaceand unity that the universe truly deserves. As Ari gets older, she seeks Hunkout for advice and suggestions on better ways to approach conflict-resolution.This is due to how some of her friends – outside of the other Palababus – like totalk smack instead of just dealing with disagreements in a more civil approach.While Ari can certainly understand that sometimes being a little petty can helppeople get over things, when the problems start causing rifts and involvingmore members of their group, she feels the need to intervene. Hunk, who wasalways the Voice of Reason on Team Voltron, he can sympathize with her. Whilehe didn’t have to deal with too much of that, he knows how it can be whenothers are using little things as an excuse to be mad and cause furthertrouble.

I see Shay as being a very affectionate and doting mother,and that extends to all the children of their friends as well. I really lovethe idea that Shay, Allura and Romelle get super invested in trashy daytime televisionprograms like Maury and Jerry Springer and such. There’s even spaceversions where different alien species go on and the trio love to watch andcommentate. The Allurance kids find the shows the most interesting, thoughthere is a level of entertainment in it for Morganite, Newt and Ari as well. Richter,Amber and Kaden tend to spend more time with her learning about the legends ofthe Balmera of crystals and how to distinguish which types of crystal are goodfor what purposes.

Richter gets along best with Amber and Kaden, and sees Kadenas a pseudo-little brother. The three of them grow up running in the samecircle and, even as they get older, remain close. When Amber’s still reallyyoung and bad at controlling her temper, Richter’s the best at getting her tocalm down. He’s also the one who deals with the petty squabbles between she andAlfor the most often. When the kids play pretend, they take it very seriously.Richter’s really good at constructing stuff out of cardboard and buildingblocks, so when they have tons of play-props that he and Kaden have built and coloredtogether.

Last note, he’s a pretty big boy who certain could defend himself, but he’s just agentle giant. There’s something really cute and funny about this really big,sweet guy being protected by these smol little firecrackers.

Now, Morganite is closer with Newt and Aria; especially sowith Newt. As I’ve mentioned, Newt’s a bit stand-offish with other people, butshe sees beyond all that to what a sweetheart he actually is. At one point, he thinksthat she’s only his friend because their parents are friends, but he realizesthat she genuinely does like him. This allows their friendship to develop evenfurther and the two of them to actually focus on the many things they have incommon. Consider them to be Team Punk Version 2.0. Lastly, I mentioned this inmy last headcanon post, but Morganite is really talented at making jewelry andother accessories. She teaches Ari how to make them, as well as helping herfigure out which accessories are best for this or that situation.

Lance and Allura

Let’s get the little notes about the McClain-Altean Heirs outof the way first! Lance and Allura end up having five kids; Alfor, Raya,Coriander, Paige and Anthony. Alfor and Raya are each a few months younger thanAmber and Kaden respectively, Coriander and Paige are a few months older thanNewt and Aria respectively, and Anthony is about two years younger than Aria. Ioriginally planned for them to have six kids, but decided to cut Anthony’s twinbrother, Ben, from the equation simply due to the fact it felt like too manykids. Additionally, since I started this before season 8 dropped, this isn’tnecessarily compliant with that; though, admittedly, it could easily just be aslight deviation where Allura saves the universe without having to sacrificeherself. But I think that we’re all mostly in agreement that that who spiel wasa little lacking, yeah?

Anyway, let’s get in to it!

I can’t talk about Lance and Amber’s relationship nearly asmuch as I want to. Initially, while Lance doesn’t hate her, he does get a bitmiffed by how she and Alfor always seem to be at odds with one another. As thekids get older, though, Lance starts to see a bit of his own struggles in Amberand becomes a pretty good source of reassurance for her. Amber clearly wants tobe someone who does great things for others, like her parents, but is unsure ifshe’ll ever have her chance to. She also worries that her abrasive personalitywould prevent her from being a very good source of comfort, even if she did getinvolved in any kind of work like that. Lance is able to help reassure herthat, so long as she’s willing to work hard and dedicate herself, she’ll beable to accomplish her goals.

Kaden goes in a bit of different direction than his sister;Kaden’s leaning towards being reserved but typically pretty polite, Lance hasno problem with him. He isn’t as aggressive as Amber can be in his issues withAlfor or Raya, and even when they do, the most that ever happens in the way ofphysicality is knocked over drinks or water fights. In regards to bonding,Lance actually offers him little tips and tricks to help him with his drivingduring his soap box races. I like the idea that Lance liked go-cart racing inhis youth so he knows a little bit about how to maneuver a smaller vehicle.Keith greatly appreciates this, as his own experiences prior to meeting Shiroand attending the Garrison is limited.

Lance actually teaches Newt a lot about farm animals. It’skind of implied by how Lance knew how to deal with Kaltenecker, and is apopular headcanon that I’m fond of, but I like the idea that he came from afamily in which his mother was a successful business owner and his father rantheir successful farm. As such, growing up, Lance had a lot of first-handexperience with the ins and outs of how to care for barnyard animals. Newtlatches on to him so he can learn all that he can about cows, horses, chickens,goats, and any other animals. While Lance doesn’t actively work on the farm anymore – what with now being one of the ruling monarchs of New Altea/ living alife as a Garrison recruiter on Earth – he has a lot of fond memories of hisexperiences caring for animals, as well as finding Newt’s passion to beendearing. He specifically regales him with the tales of his favorite animalthey ever owned, a goat named Hoppie, who would scream at you when he wanted atreat and had a bad habit of hopping fences; including a hilarious time hejumped into the pig’s pen and got coated in mud.

As for Ari, he probably likes her the best, simply becauseshe tends to be around the most due to her friendship with his daughters. Whenthey have sleepovers, he’ll often be brought in to help with braiding hair,doing facials, painting nails, etc. He also occasionally helps out with thechoreography, costuming and music for Ari’s YouTube videos; specifically, withthe music, he’ll help with the balancing of the audio and occasionally offerback-up vocals. We’ve already seen how well Lance can… Put on a show, to put itlightly, so he’s got a lot of creative ideas to help Ari catch attention. Pidgeis the one who tends to step in and rein him in if she thinks his ideas aregetting a little too salacious.

Now, what about our favorite Altean royal?

Allura gets along with Amber a bit better that Lance does,simply by virtue of seeing that her son needs someone to call him out. Sheloves her son to pieces – he is her first born and her baby in general – but sheacknowledges that he has inherited his father’s ego from their youth, whichmeans he needs to occasionally be reminded that he isn’t the greatest thingever. She doesn’t always agree with how she goes about it, and is happy tovoice her opinion, but also finds Amber’s interest and skill with fighting tobe admirable. She helps to teach her some Altean combat moves, along with herteaching them to her own kids as well, and admires what a quick study she is.

Now, her and Kaden actually bond over something kind ofinteresting; superhero comic books. Of all the Earth literature that she checksout, I think that Allura would find comics to be incredibly interesting. Thestories, the characters, the situations that cause them to gain their powers,all of it just kind of amuses her; both the campy stuff and the more seriousstuff. This hobby of hers is one that she ends up getting to spend a lot oftime bonding with Anthony, she and Lance’s youngest son, as well as Kaden.Kaden’s favorite characters end up being Spiderman, because he’s super smartbut super snarky, and Captain America, because he’s so moral. Allura’sfavorites are Thor – which is shared between she and Anthony – and Storm. Oneyear for Halloween, actually, the three of them all dressed up as their faveswhen they went trick-or-treating.

Newt, being intelligent and having some interests similar tohis Mama, talks with Allura a lot about how, exactly, she developed Shiro’sprosthetic, as well as how the Castle Ship worked. He also talks with Coranabout this, but he likes to talk with Allura about it a bit more since she wasthe one who made the ship able to jump through wormholes. He’s absolutelyfascinated by the idea of technology and magic being melded together to theextent that it was with the Alteans. Due to his lack of Altean heritage, he can’tdo anything involving alchemy, but he still finds the practice to be absolutelyfascinating and loves listening to Allura talk about everything she’s learnedfor hours on end. Additionally, Alfor is the only one of the Allurance babiesthat inherits any Altean alchemic ability, so Newt will often sit in whenAllura’s working with him just to see how, exactly, it’s done.

Much as I mentioned before, Ari in the Kidgeling thatprobably spends the most time around the Allurance babies because she gets alongso well with the girls. Much like with Lance, she’ll join in for slumberparties, but she also likes to take the girls out for mani-pedis. Pidge enjoysoccasionally going out for pampering, but she’s not nearly as big into thatstuff as Aria is, and Allura is always more than happy to bring Aria along.Pidge is grateful because she wants Ari to be able to enjoy herself in herinterests. This is also good for Allura, as she sees her friends and their kidsas her family, and loves getting to spend time with all of them. Allura is alsothe one that takes the girls clothes shopping at the start of each new schoolyear, since Pidge loathes having togo shopping.

Alfor and Amber’s relationship is completely complicated.They absolutely love each other and will shank someone for bad-mouthing them,but they’d also happily roast each other until they’re a well-barbequed chickenthigh. As kids, they constantly bicker and butt heads because they’re bothincredibly stubborn and have huge egos, but as they get older and become moretempered, they’re more like caddy frenemies. There is a point where theirfriendship almost implodes on itself, but that’s something I intend to touch upon my final headcanon post coming out soon. Alfor gets along pretty well withKaden and Newt, as well. With Kaden, he takes on an older brother role andoften tries to help give him love advice, because he considers himself to be areal Casanova like his Daddy even though he’s never asked out Akihiko,who he has a HUGE crush on. With Newt, he actually really likes how hesits and watches his alchemy training. Newt will take notes and, through thesenotes, Alfor can often figure out what he was getting wrong when he’sstruggling. Alfor likes Ari, but he sees her more as his sister’s friend, so hedoesn’t really hang out with her much.

Raya is the Queen Bee of the little Girl Gang that is formedby the Palababus. While she and Amber don’t really spend a lot of time hangingout in their youth, there’s a sense of mutual respect for one another, and theydo become closer as they get older and get to know one another better. In theiryounger years, she always tries to include Amber in their activities, butnormally the older girl isn’t too terribly interested. Raya and Kaden havedrastically different interests and tend to not get along at all – due to Rayahaving a “little princess” personality and Kaden finding this annoying – thoughthey do grow to admire one another and become significantly closer during theirlate teens, as mentioned before. She and Newt don’t really talk much; shethinks he’s kind of weird and he thinks she’s a spoiled brat. Aria is theKidgeling she gets along with the best and, as I’ve mentioned before, looksafter her just as much as she does her own sisters. She helps Aria with herYouTube music videos, as well as helping her work on her cheerleading routinesand preparing for try-outs.

Coriander, much like her older sister, isn’t very close toAmber but has some respect for the older girl; though, admittedly, she thinksAmber can go a little overboard when she sticks her nose into a fight. It mightbe a little bit of a crush, but she never acts or speaks of it to anyone, andit fades relatively quickly. She also respects Kaden a lot, given hisreputation of being the Bullier of the Bullies, but is also a bit intimidatedby him. Due to her own tendency towards being a sociable and outgoing character,she finds Kaden’s quiet personality to be a bit unnerving. With Newt, she goes tohim and Morganite for some help with her academics, as she struggles a bit withscience and geography classes. Lastly, as I know I’ve mentioned multiple timesnow, but Ari gets along best with the Allurance girls. Since Cori is such asocial, outgoing girl who likes the spotlight, she ends up becoming a hugetheater kid. She’s not the best at musicals but she loves getting to do regularshows, and Ari always helps her with her lines. In return, when they domusicals, she helps push Ari to audition, as well as practice her songs/ linesonce she gets cast.

So now we get to the youngest little lady, Paige! Unlike hersiblings, she lacks the outgoing personality. She’s really sweet and friendlywith her friends, sure, and she gets along well enough with others, but she isn’tquite as interested in expanding her social circle like they are. She’s notreally passionate about it, but she does join the swim and volleyball. Herinterest in volleyball isn’t particularly big – most just doing it because sheknows how helpful extracurriculars are for college applications and such – but Amberstill helps her get ready for the team tryouts. She’s grateful for this,especially since Amber doesn’t once chide her for signing up for something justby virtue of being signed up for something. Paige is ambivalent to both theboys, though she does think that Newt’s fascination with Altean alchemy isweird. She really enjoys writing poems and actually goes to Kaden for hisopinion, since he’s the bluntest and most straight-forward person she knows, soshe knows his criticisms will always be his honest opinion. She has a huge softspot in her for cheesy romantic comedies – even the ones with awful writing –and she’ll happily marathon them with Ari. Sometimes the two of them just enjoygetting settled in nice and comfy and having themselves a squeal-fest.

Last, but certainly not least, is little Anthony! Anthony isan absolute Momma’s boy who talks a big game but will back down pretty quickwhen he knows he’s about to get smacked down. Due to how much younger than theother kids he is, he doesn’t really know Amber and Kaden all that well; mostlyjust knows what the kids say about them. At one point, after finding out he’sbeen dealing with some jerks at school, Amber outright tells him to just useher and Kaden as a threat to any potential bullies, and he actually does and itseems like enough to dissuade them from pestering him too much more. He ends upactually joining the local scout’s troop and goes to Newt for helpful tips onwhat to expect from the wildlife they encounter. Through this, he grows toreally admire how much care and effort Newt puts into learning about the thingshe’s interested in, and decides to do the same. He gets really passionate aboutdoing little magic tricks and slight-of-hand things. Aria ends up agreeing tobe his partner when he participates in shows and charity events and such. Also,instead of pulling a rabbit from his hat, Auryon will occasionally let himborrow Boo and Radley and he pulls them from the hat.

Coran

Now, I see Coran as being significantly more invested in theAllurance babies, simply by virtue of him Palababus, too. These last few willprobably be a bit on the short side, but I hope it’ll still be good!

Coran loves getting to tell the children about everything hedid and saw throughout his many years of travel. He’ll often regale them with thetales of shenanigans that their parents, as well as the OG Team Voltron, got upto. Does he occasionally embellish the stories to make their parents seem alittle more imposing? Maybe. But the kids don’t even care and the parent’s coughLancecoughappreciate being seen as total badasses by their kids. Additionally, he teachesthem how to do all the strange, alien-animal calls that he knows just for thefun of it. None of the parents thank him for this; especially not Pidge andKeith, who end up getting the worst of it because of how much Newt loves making the strange noises.

Additionally, he ends up hitting it off particularly wellwith two of the Palababus through offering them more insights in to Voltron andhow the Lions work, but, again… Subject for later! ;3c

Romelle

She ends up becoming super in to video games and Eaeth boardgames; specifically I think she’d be really in to Sorry!, Monopoly and anyRPG games she can get her hands on. Her being into games makes her a favoritewith Kaden and Newt, who loves having little gaming tournaments. She’s kickedtheir tales at literally every game they have but they still enjoy getting toplay with her. She also loves teaching them the different games they playedback on the colony when she was a child. She teaches Amber some meditationtechniques to help her calm down and help rein in some of her violenttendencies. She also teaches Aria how to play some Altean instruments,including a strange tuba-accordian hybrid.

Additionally, she tells them cautionary tales about her lifeback on the colony and lies they believed about Lotor. The kids are aware thatLotor was a bad guy, but they don’t know the extent of it. She saves thosestories until they’re a little older, just to avoid causing them nightmares,but they take what she says to heart.

Kolivan

So, I have a lot of headcanons about Kolivan that I won’t begoing into great detail about right now, but I will state I think he has atleast one child of his own, but they have an estranged relationship. Betweenthis and how close he is with Keith and Krolia, when he opts to retire fromactive Blade assignments, he ends up settling on Earth and taking up Grandpa Privilegeswith the Kidgelings.

Much like with Krolia, he helps teach Amber and Kaden aboutself-defense techniques and other such things. He decides pretty early on thathe likes how the two contrast but complement one another, what with Amber beingan enthusiastic little spitfire and Kaden being a sneaky little tactician. Theymake for a good team and he can see that the two of them have greatness laidbefore them. With Newt, he really enjoys listening to him go on his ramblesabout the tech he’s working on; specifically, he likes when he goes on hisrambles about the prosthetic limbs he wants to develop for humans and animalswith missing limbs. He thinks it’s really cute how this snarky little bratactually has a very soft and compassionate heart underneath it all. With Aria,he really loves letting her play with his hair. Since it’s so long, she’ll sitfor hours and comb it out and then restyle it. Sometimes she does simplebraids, or twists it into a bun, or even busts out her curling iron and leaveshim with a cluster of bouncy silver curls. Sometimes they’ll talk while shedoes, and other times she’ll just put on music and they’ll let the quiet musicfill in the peaceful space.

Slav

Slav is literally only here for one hilarious footnote.

One week, for show-and-tell, Aria actually smuggled Slav toschool with her. At lunch, she swapped candies and lunch tray desserts forreadings of their possible futures from the alien genius. This led to a bunchof the children going in to complete panic and the school hadto call in Pidgeand Keith.

They’re both impressed with the fact their daughter managedto sneak Slav to school, as well as how she managed to carry around a backpackwith him inside for the entire day.

[m-aster-of-spinjitzu]

golden power; never wielded

my first work for @ninjago-angst-week! prompt - abandoned (16/08) Lloyd's never known what it's like to share his heart with another, linking two lives together as if one had found the melody to their chorus, now a song in perfect harmony. If he’d always felt like he was invisible; wondered if there was something fundamentally wrong with his inability to touch others’ hearts, then, well, that was no one’s business but his own. Of course, that was before he quite literally fell for someone - the first person, actually - who seemed to care. Of course she was too good to be true. Or, the S8 angst I've been wanting to write about 'game of masks' and the aftermath. trigger warnings - suicidal thoughts, brief mention of implied self-harm, not really a warning but it talks a lot about loneliness. "How did you know?"

"It's an Oni Temple. It's safe to assume that only an Oni could take it."

"No. How could you know that I was part Oni?"

How could you know that I was part Oni?

The question repeated itself in his mind, echoing into the blizzard.

Sometimes, he wondered what would've gone down at the temple if he hadn't been so observant.

Well, he thought bitterly, probably not the temple itself.

The walls collapsing, he'd caught a glimpse of his terrified face as the room filled with swirling inky blackness, freezing him to the bone.

But the real pain came from her words.

Ah. Your emotions. You can't get rid of them, can you?

No, he'd wanted to yell, staring listlessly at the shaking grey semblance of sky.

He'd always felt like he wielded the element of light; invisible, trapped behind a barrier that no one cared enough to break. Isolated; locked away from the world. Longing for - yearning for - a single soul to want to know his heart. Pain that almost felt tangible, bleeding into every motion, every day.

Everyone else seemed to find it so easy - so effortless - simple as breathing, taken for granted like it was ingrained into their bones. Everyone else seemed to have given away a little piece of their heart - to their parents, friends, or lovers.

The fact that his was, and had always been, entirely whole?

He was either cursed, the venom from the Great Devourer passed down to him, or there was something fundamentally unlikable coursing through his veins.

By this point, he assumed it was the latter.

Maybe, if anyone had ever cared - wanted to know him - he'd never have felt like it was pressing down on his chest like a casket; a useless block of ice that no one wanted, not even the unfortunate owner it'd been given.

If no one would know his heart, he'd thought, grabbing a forgotten map, he'd strike fear into theirs - until they knew what it was like to sob into invisible barriers, to gaze upon the world with a weary eyes and a heart heavy with the knowledge that if they vanished, no one would even notice.

He'd realized far too late that he had unleashed an evil that couldn't be controlled - or one that could only be controlled by his- by someone else that had sunk beneath the darkness until no light remained-

He'd escaped from the crumbling casket, energy and eyes blazing - only to find that Har- she'd already escaped with the mask.

The Oni Mask of Hatred.

As they had steered the boat through the river, her sweet smile hiding lie upon lie, he'd thought it was somewhat ironic - two lovers, seeking a literal manifestation of hatred.

He'd laughed bitterly; no mirth in the sound.

After his first crush had - well, literally tried to crush him, he didn't think that this day could get much worse.

Until she dropped him into a contraption that was the stuff of nightmares - leaving the others with a seemingly impossible choice.

He'd wanted to yell, scream, that they should save his mother - he'd hurt enough people over the course of his short life, as evidenced by the grief-stricken orphan yelling a foreign language right in front of him.

I'm the expendable one! Maybe she was right - it was my fault the Serpentine were able to release the Great Devourer. And it took thousands of lives - but never the life of the one who was to blame.

He'd grabbed the vengestone bars, the faint sense of numbness they brought a welcoming relief from the storm of emotions that- he honestly had no clue what to do with.

i could drown, he had thought briefly, fleetingly. what if i drowned and i never hurt anyone again-

you have  a responsibility, even though you've pretty much failed to uphold it so far

"Clotho venge! Clotho decer! Clotho haeed!"

Shoving the thought to the back of his mind, he'd gripped the bars tighter, ignoring the sting of the metal against skin.

If anything, he'd welcomed the sting.

Any pain was better than the agonizing reminder that his heart was, and had always been, entirely whole.

He didn't even realize he was trembling until he heard his father's voice echoing from the vortex.

His father hadn't asked to be bitten by an evil snake, the venom coursing through his veins for years upon years. He hadn't asked to be dumped at a boarding school for bad kids, spending what he had left of his childhood hiding in empty classrooms or yelling empty threats as his classmates snickered.

Against all odds, they'd been reunited. Evil snakes, Fangblades, even Jade Blades - none of it had stood between them.

Just when he thought they might have a future - he might have a- a family - the Cursed Realm decided to curse them all.

His father with imprisonment, him with a life devoid of a father he'd loved, at the end.

Now H- she wanted to resurrect him?

His father had been so much more than the Oni blood in his veins. So was he.

But if he was completely Oni-

Lloyd didn't like their odds. He kind of hated them.

"Clotho venge! Clotho decer! Clotho haeed!"

---

A few chaotic hours later... they'd won? They'd won.

The Sons of Garmadon (he'd always thought the name was kind of ironic - he, the only son of Garmadon, wasn't in their crazy biker gang) had been imprisoned by courageous, if a bit overzealous, taser-wielding policeman.

Ninjago was celebrating - everyone was; he should be, too.

Should he really revel in their victory, though? It was his fault that she'd been able to snatch the last mask, all the safeguards the Oni had put in place practically worthless because of his stupid feelings-

H- Harumi had been thrown in one of the police vans.

"You're right - this isn't me," she'd started, her meekness almost convincing him that she really was the girl he'd fallen for - the girl who'd been forced into a mask she never wanted to wear, but someone who still cared about the world... and- and about him.

"Stop."

He'd cut her off, the venom in his tone surprising both of them.

"Save it for someone who cares," he'd forced out, the hurt welling up his chest almost as painful as their unceremonious descent into the jungle, (the descent she'd orchestrated, he'd thought fleetingly, squeezing his eyes together) unable to believe that this- this liar was the same sweet girl he'd fallen for.

With that, he slammed the door of the van, locking her in - wishing that locking his memories away could be easy.

She'd never cared about him; simply needing to use him as if he was nothing more than the power he wielded.

He watched one of the policemen drive her away, the tired-but-enthusiastic cheers of his teammates nothing more than background noise; static.

Vaguely, he realized that his heart wasn't quite whole - he'd given a piece of it to someone whom he had thought would link theirs together in harmony, the melody to his chorus; what he'd been searching for ever since he'd woken up screaming in a 'boarding school' that seemed more like a prison.

She'd taken more than what he'd given - draining the light from his entire being as if she was the Overlord, stealing his golden power without a shred of remorse.

That failure was practically painless, compared to her-

An almost unfamiliar emotion slowly stated to replace the ache in his chest that he'd grown used to for all those years; it'd become comforting, even. Watching the world go by with a heart that seemed more like a curse, he briefly, fleetingly, wondered if he'd be better off without one.

If there was ever a problem that presented itself to Nya while she worked on the Bounty, she used to joke that it'd be easier to just dump their entire hard dive into the sea.

Destruction seemed to be easier than fixing, he conceded - the van now just a glimmer of bright light; one of the many that made up their vibrant city.

"How did you know?" he heard, yet again wondering how he felt so disconnected from his own role in the memory.

How had she known? 

The whisper of a voice long gone bled into his consciousness, his hands shaking at his sides even as the city celebrated.

Why had he even asked that?

Plastering a smile on his face as he walked over to his teammates, the question repeating itself in his mind, echoing into the blizzard.

FSM - she didn't need to be leader of a biker gang to know that.

Who could ever give their heart - the epitome of human connection; golden power all on its own, albeit of a different kind - to an Oni?

Maybe he wasn't the one trapped behind an invisible wall, built on tears and loneliness and yearning and heartache and a lone question - why? Why could no one seem to look past the cage he felt himself trapped in, observing the world rather than playing a part in it.

He hadn't been a- abandoned by everyone, he realized, a weary sense of clarity and shadowed eyes not sure to accept it or push it into the back of his mind like the hours he'd spent there, as if he'd ever want to have hurt his teammates like he did, the twisted ghost-

He trailed behind his teammates as they sang - horribly off key, his mind pointed out, forcing a small smile onto his face - lost in the figurative blizzard, despite the fact that the sun's rays had only vanished a few hours ago.

If no one would know his heart?

FSM - could he really blame them?

(if you read this far, thank you so much, you’ve made my day:D)

[destielfanfic]

My First Destiel Fic, vol.2

Thank you guys for sharing your memories! My First Destiel Fic is a nostalgic survey open to any destiel fan and has a simple goal - to celebrate fics that were our gateway into a wonderful world of destiel shipping. Thank you, fic writers, you are our heroes!

from @clio-philyra

Hello! For the first Destiel fic post 😊

The first Destiel fic I bookmarked the was the Forth Wall series by Entanglednow, which is lovely and funny. I first started watching the show in 2013 (end of season 7 on UK tv I think?). The first Destiel fics that made me really fall in love with them were probably All Things Shining by askance and standbyme (which is one of my favourite things I’ve ever read - fic or otherwise) and the Holy!Dean series by bunnymaccool.

This is a great idea btw! 😊

All fic titles link directly to the fic, when it’s possible, we have added another link to our review or submitted rec post. 

The Fourth Wall series by entangled_now [M, 40,000 word count, 15 works, posted 2009-10] (our review)

No summary by the author for all work. 15 separate stories in chronological order about Dean, Sam, and Cas discovering the wonders of destiel fan fiction. Ratings vary between T and M, with only one story rated NC-17 and even then it is only the discussion of sex in fanfic.

All Things Shining by askance & standbyme [NC-17, 142,000 word count, posted 2013] (our review)

Something in the world is waking up. It isn’t long before it’s brought to the attention of the Winchesters and Castiel: miracles are spreading across the country, the paranormal seems to be shrinking back on itself—and it all has something to do with the missing prayer book of a traveling preacher who died over a century ago. Dean is convinced it’s all the lead-up to another Apocalypse; Sam and Castiel aren’t so sure. Regardless, it sends them out on a less-than-typical road-trip, following the Mississippi and remnants of a very old story that seems increasingly to call to them. And along the way the trio learn much more about themselves—and the consequences and origins of love—than they’d ever have anticipated.

Holy!Dean Verse by bunnycaccool [NC-17, 120,300 word count, 5 works, posted 2012-15] (our review)

(from part 1)  Dean Winchester has grown used to God dicking around in his life the last couple years. But this crap? This takes the CAKE … or pie, rather. Now he’s been thrown a whole new curve-ball. The kind that has ended the Civil War in Heaven … but resulted in Raphael taking over, and hunting for Dean’s ass on a silver platter. Not to mention dealing with Balthazar acting like a self-righteous prick, Sam having some big damn epiphany on his big brother’s sexuality, and Cas eying him up like he’s the world’s juiciest cheeseburger. All that mixed with the chance to fix it all and set everything to rights … but only if Dean is willing to sacrifice himself. Again. Seriously, if he ever meets that bastard God he’s gonna- … oh hey, Chuck! What are you doing here?

from @foxymoley

The first fic I read was All Things Shining by askance and the first fic I did fanart for was A Little Inspiration by Nadiahart. I found the former when I googled free fiction for kindle (I was on maternity leave and bored!) and fell into a Destiel fic rabbit hole. I then did the art for the latter and accidently met the author via a Destiel discord server (a fellow Angel in Profound Bond 😍) and now she's one of my best friends! I squeed, she squeed, we all squeed.

My life full of these two dumbasses hasn't been the same since. ♥

A Little Inspiration by NadiaHart [T, 3,500 word count, posted 2017]

This was it, it was perfect. Exactly what he needed for his final project. Castiel ripped the page out of the campus life newspaper, tossed his paint brushes back into their cup and raced out of his studio. Checking his watch as he rounded the quad, if he hurried he’d be just in time to catch Dean. Sure enough Dean was exiting the gymnasium still in his baseball uniform as Castiel staggered to a halt in front of him. “Woah, Cas, what’s up man?” Dean asked as he helped Castiel back up from where he was hunched over gripping his knees and panting for air. “D...Dean, I-- I--it's perfect.” He gasped holding out the clipping towards Dean.

from @unforth

My first Destiel fic was Bring it On Home by thecouchcarrot. It was S8 and I'd finally "seen" Destiel (after watching since s4) so I went to a friend I knew shipped it and asked her what I should read first, and that was her recommendation. Once I saw what fanfic could be, and what joy an AU could bring? I've never looked back!!

Bring It On Home by thecouchcarrot [M, 41,000 word count, posted 2011] (our review)

Dean the Sales Rep just moved into the neighborhood, and his new neighbor is a possibly crazy shut-in. Wait - make that definitely crazy.

from @ltleflrt

My first Destiel fic was Real Slick Dean by Trilliath, and it was also the event horizon fic that dragged me into fandom in S8. It was written by a friend, but I put off reading it for a few months because I knew I'd never look back at my old fandoms, and I was right. It was also my first omegaverse, so it opened 2 new worlds for me. I was already in love with the ship before I read the fic because I started watching in s6, but I didn't know there was a Destiel fandom. I was a real newbie :)

Real Slick Dean by trilliath [NC-17, 28,500 word count, posted 2013] (submitted rec post)

There’s a new alpha enhancer drug “Rutter” on the streets that gets used at “exclusive parties” for the worst purposes. Detective Castiel Novak and his partner Balthazar work hard to put a stop to it and other sex crimes in their work as Special Victim’s top detectives. Ellen Harvelle’s Roadhouse is both a bar and a refuge for unmated Omegas. The Roadhouse gives Omegas the opportunity have their heats in peace and, if they so desire, even sell an ‘exclusive supply of high-grade slick for the unmated Alpha on the go!’.Castiel is just such an Alpha, career oriented and having no time for casual sex or potential mates. He’s a regular customer who only buys donor D347’s slick. He’s also a family friend and advocate who helps Omegas in need get connected with Ellen. It’s all fine until one night after a difficult bust he brings Ellen a new Omega about to have her first heat. What Alpha Castiel doesn’t realize is that he’s been over-dosed with Rutter during the fight and is about to go into a rut so bad he may die. And if that weren’t enough to kill him, the embarrassment he’s about to feel will, because he’s about to meet donor D347 face to face and neither of them are prepared for what’s going to happen.

If you enjoyed the fic, please drop by the archive (AO3) and let the author know with your comments and/or kudos! And if you found our recs useful, let us know by Liking and/or Reblogging our posts!

You can find all My First Destiel Fic posts under this tag!

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

15 and 18

15 - If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

Just answered that one here!

18 - Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Oh my God, I have so many!! Beware, this is going to be a very long answer. Click on the thingy to read more!

Last year, back when I first started writing fanfiction, I had a lot going on in my mind, and at one moment I had to choose which stories I would actually work on, and which ones I would have to drop it for now. There were five stories in total, and I dropped three of them.

Two of those five stories evolved and they became When The Levee Breaks and Map of the Problematique, the other three are still unnamed and undeveloped.

I'll give you the main summary of them, because why the hell not?

The first story is a pretty fluffy one, I've abandoned it because there are already a few stories like these in the fandom and because I got too invested writing my other stories. Also, a huge chunk of it is written in the first person, because I started writing it at the beginning of the last year, and I've learned that I don't really like writing in first person anymore... Writing WTLB is hard enough already lol.

This story would narrate the beginning of Jackie and Hyde's relationship while Donna and Kelso were still in California, but there are a few twists: Eric doesn't mope around in his room most of the time, and he develops a really nice friendship with Jackie (that friendship would turn into a small crush later), and Eric and Donna would not be endgame.

There's a lot going on at first, in this story, Hyde actually plans on "wooing" Jackie once he's sure she's over Kelso, they flirt a lot and he's aware that he's going to make a move on his best friend's ex. Jackie's also very interested in Hyde, but for a while, she thinks he'd never be interested in her.

Their flirting wouldn't last long though, I had planned on making them get together at the beginning of the story (I think it was in chapter five?), the rest of the story would narrate them hiding their relationship from their friends and how close they are getting to Eric and Fez.

I've planned on writing lots of sweet friendly moments between Jackie, Hyde, Eric, and Fez. In fact, there are quite a few scenes written out already, and in one of them they're all in a circle and it's the first time Eric realizes that Jackie's not as bitchy as he thought she was. Here's one of the circle scenes I've written:

"You know what?" Jackie announced, ignoring Fez's sobs and passing the joint to Hyde, thanking God that he was probably too high to notice how goosebumps rose all over her body when his fingers brushed against hers "I hope Michael gets syphilis from a random beach whore and goes blind."

"Odds are pretty good of that happening." Hyde nodded as he took another hit "Of him getting an STD, I'm not so sure about becoming blind, but I'm sure once he gets back to Wisconsin we can convince him to stare at the sun long enough for that to happen"

Eric snickered "Yeah... I hope Donna just... Never comes back, I hate her... Yeah..."

"No, you don't," Jackie said flatly to him "You'll probably marry her if she ever does come back."

Eric stared at Jackie for a few seconds before sighing dejectedly "... yeah, you're right..."

"But, hey, we can bash on Michael some more if you like, it's fun!"

"You're right, it is fun! " Eric nodded, smiling at the petite girl sitting next to him on the couch and wondering when did he start to actually enjoy her presence.

The whole google doc for this story has over 7k words of random dialogues and random moments I came up with. I'm not going to lie, it has potential, lots of it actually, but I don't have the time to work on it now.

The story would be overall a light read, it would've been M-rated because I did start to write a sex scene, but it would be overall something funny and cute. For example, one of my favorite moments is this one where Eric almost catches Hyde and Jackie:

"Oh my God…" Eric muttered in awe, glancing at the two very guilty-looking people sitting on the couch.

Hyde and Jackie exchanged a look, they were caught. Crap.

"Is this what I think it is?" Eric said

"Look, Eric…" Jackie started to explain, but stopped when she saw the huge grin forming on Eric's face. She looked at Hyde and apparently he was just as confused as she was.

"You're watching Star Wars!" Eric said in glee "You're geeks!"

"What?!" Hyde protested and looked at the TV, where he could clearly see Leia and Luke kissing on the bridge "We're not geeks, you're crazy"

"Steven, stop," Jackie said "Fine Eric, you caught us, we like Star Wars"

This story would end in a nice place, but... well, there would be a lot of changes.

Here's the thing, I was kind of really hating Kelso (and Donna too, a little bit) when I started writing this, so I chose to write something that might be a little weird for a few people. In this story, Donna and Kelso would have a fling in California, and Eric would catch them on the spot when he arrives to get Donna back.

It's not something Eric would be able to forgive. And even after a lot of talking, he wouldn't be able to get back together with Donna after seeing her with Kelso.

Coming back to Point Place, Eric would try to make a move on Jackie, he would kiss her for like, two seconds, and she would've pushed him away and blurted out that she's in love with Hyde. Hyde would arrive at the basement a few moments after that, and Eric would be completely freaking out. It's a funny scene lol.

Things would get messy for a while, but in the end, Jackie and Hyde would go public and have the happily ever after they deserve, Eric, Fez, Hyde, and Jackie would continue their friendship, Donna would move to California for good, and Kelso wouldn't hang out with them anymore.

There are a few stories that are somewhat similar to this one, like Summer Lovin' by leoasc, One Difference: Donna and Kelso Have a Fling by MistyMountainHop, OPERATION: REBOUND by ShanghaiLily, and there are probably a few more that I can't remember the names right now.

The second story is a heavy one, like, really heavy.

I got the idea of writing this story when I was watching a Grey’s Anatomy episode, so yeah, its a dramatic one lol.

The episode that inspired this story is the one where Richard is in between life and death, and Meredith is the one he chose as his next of kin. Which means that she’s the one the doctors report to, and she’s the one who decided how he was going to be treated. Meredith took some risky decisions and they’re literally the reason why Richard is alive.

I remember that when I saw this episode, I was also reading a fanfic... Being more specific, I was reading The Right Road Lost by zpplnchick, and an idea just popped into my mind... What if Jackie was the one with the memory loss? How would Hyde deal with that in a post s8 universe?

I know there are a few fics that deal with that subject, like Steven Who? by kezztip and Redemption Road by SkittlezLvr79, but believe me, my story would’ve been waaay different than these ones.

Here’s the main plot: Jackie and Hyde talk things out, and Hyde asks Jackie if she could ever take him back, promising her that he would never, ever give up on her again. She says no, because y’know, she’s a freaking self-respecting woman, but this talk would make her think, a lot, because she can see that he actually meant it every word, and she has never seen him this determined before.

As she was driving home, she would crash her car, and things would get pretty serious pretty quickly.

Her situation would be very critical, I planned on making Hyde suffer a lot in this, guys. I’m just downright cruel to him, because I believe that nothing would hurt him more than seeing the person he loves the most going through absolute hell.

Decisions would have to be made, and that’s when they find out that Jackie’s next of kin is no one other than Hyde. After her mother left her and her father went to prison, Jackie asked her father’s lawyer to provide her with a few papers that put Hyde in charge of her well-being if something ever happened to her. She forgot about it after they broke up, and well... She is going to be very thankful for that later.

Hyde’s shocked, but very pleased to find out that he’s responsible for her, especially since everyone seems to think that her death is inevitable and that they shouldn’t prolong her suffering.

After a very enlightening conversation with Mrs. Forman, Hyde decides that he’s not going to let anyone tell him what to do, and that he’s going to follow his gut.

The next few months would be complete hell, Jackie’s situation is very critical, she would go through a lot of complications and Hyde would’ve been a complete mess. He would watch quietly as Donna, Kelso and Fez stopped showing up to see Jackie, disgusted at how quickly they just gave up on her. He would listen as Donna rambled about how what he was doing to Jackie was torture, and that he must really hate her if he’s not willing to just let her go (which would end up causing a major fallout between Donna and Hyde), but he would never question his decisions. He just knew that he was doing the right thing, and no one but the Forman’s seemed to understand that. 

Hyde showed up to see her at the hospital every single day for months. The whole hospital staff knew him as “the Sleeping Beauty’s prince”, and he hardly ever left Jackie’s side.

After a few months, she wakes up, and he’s right next to her when that happens. It’s honestly a pretty touching scene, he’s just so happy and so relieved to see her awake after everything she went through, and they have a beautiful moment.

Seriously, I cried hard when I wrote that.

They would both cry, share “I love yous” and a few kisses, and it would’ve been beautiful, but the magic’s killed when Hyde realizes that Jackie thinks that they’re in 1978. She doesn't remember the nurse, the “get off my boyfriend” incident, Chicago or Sam. The last thing she remembers is him driving her home after they emptied her family’s ski cabin.

Hyde is divided between telling her the truth and losing her, or not telling her and being with her again.

He would let her think things were okay between them for a couple of days, until Eric shoves some sense into his head and he comes clean about everything. After telling her everything that happened, he also tells her that he loves her and he wants to be with her, but that he completely understands if she never wants to see his face again.

It’s safe to say that Jackie’s absolutely crushed. This breaks her, but she had the Forman’s by her side to help her go through everything, and Hyde also never leaves her. Sure, he gives her some space, but he doesn’t stop checking up on her, and slowly, they begin to form a nice friendship.

He takes her to her physical therapy appointments, and her doctors appointments, he helps her in every possible way he can, and she falls in love with him all over again.

The story would end with her making a full recovery and giving them another chance.

I've abandoned this story for three reasons, reason number one being: I was at a point where I really disliked Donna, and her character is not a nice person at all in this. Now that I understand Donna's character better, I refuse to publish a story where she behaves the way she did in this one. I could've changed her behavior, but the whole point of the story is "Hyde is the only one who hasn't given up", and having Donna acting like herself (nice and supportive) would kind of kill part of the plot.

Reason number two is: There’s already too much drama in Map of the Problematique, working on this story along with WTLB and my other WIP’s would drive me nuts.

And the last reason is... I didn’t know if people would like reading a story like this. I was afraid that some people might think that all of this determination is extremely OOC for Hyde, and I can kind of see why they would think this way. 

The third story would’ve been an angsty one, and I started writing it after I finished watching the first episode of season 6. You guys can probably already guess why I was inspired to write an angsty story after that episode...

Here’s the thing: I absolutely HATE the way Hyde treated Jackie in the first two episodes of season 6. I hate that he cheated on her and had the audacity to be offended that she didn’t take him back right away. I wanted to kick his ass for acting the way he did, it was truly disgusting of him and he did not deserve to be with her again after everything he’d done.

I do like that Kelso was the one that brought them back together, but the rest of that storyline is just... yuck. I truly hate it.

I wanted to fix that. I wanted to give Jackie a very girlboss moment, and I wanted to see Hyde groveling to get her back, so well... I came up with a story idea.

The story would be a short one, it would have 10 chapters, 15 if I got too inspired, and it would consist of Hyde groveling while Jackie didn’t give him the time of her day.

Sure, Jackie and Hyde would be endgame, because it’s me and I would never write a story without a happy ending, but Hyde would have to fight for it, a lot.

@snookstheallmighty is currently writing a story that is very similar to the one I was working on. It’s called “Friday I’ll Be Over You”, and it’s pretty great! You should totally check it out later! I’ve sent her a few parts of my story draft a while ago, and I gave her full permission to use it on her story!

I think this is pretty much it... I have plenty of story ideas and many, many google docs with random drafts and dialogues that popped up in my mind out of nowhere, but these are the ones I’ve fully abandoned and will probably never work on again.

[38sr]

I wanna know everything

WHERE DO I BEGIN, VULPES????

Okay okay, I’m just gonna list off the things that I’ve already written for this AU and hope I don’t get into spoilers for the Undercut DJ. To make things clear, this AU is like a mix of canon divergence/fix-it since I’ve been taking the time to rewatch VLD and analyze the story as a whole. So let’s start at the beginning~

Voltron 2020: A canon divergence/fix-it AU based on the 2016 VLD series. I only call it Voltron 2020 since the stories I’ve written/drawn for it so far wouldn’t be out in the public until next year haha.

Where does it start?

V2020 (I’m just shorten it to this) keeps S1 and S2 in canon and kicks off in S3. There’s only one small change I would make to S1 but I’ll get into that when I talk about Shiro in this AU.

These haircuts??? Explain please???

Haha, yes I’m a fan of the idea of Keith, Lance and Allura (yeah you heard me) having shorter haircuts. More so Lance because compared to the rest of the cast’s original designs, his hair maybe be simple but lacks a bit of flair. Lance is the one who get’s his undercut first and the story behind how it happens is covered in a fan comic called undercut that’s slated for release this year.

How Keith and Allura get their haircuts are part of the story as well but doesn’t come until maybe S4 or after (I have to figure out the details on that). But for now, I just wanted to see how Keith looked with short hair and it looks pretty good! 

Keith is in BP suit and Lance is in RP suit?

Yup, one of the things that drove me bonkers in VLD was how they didn’t match their lions. This is more of an OCD thing because I prefer matched colors over mix-match. However, once again changing their suits also has a reason behind it in the story. You can sort of call it…truly stepping into their new roles in the Paladin team. For Keith, becoming the leader Shiro always saw in him. For Lance, becoming the right-hand man and gaining confidence in his skills as a pilot (also becoming Keith’s rock haha).

Okay the real question: Does Shiro die in this AU?

Here’s where things get…a bit interesting? I have two versions of this AU where Shiro does die in his battle with Zarkon and the other where he does not die. So a divergent…within a divergent haha. I have to preface this with I don’t hate Shiro by any means and love his character with all my heart, which is why I made a version where he doesn’t die. Shiro as a disabled, LGBT and PoC character has so much potential that killing him off would be a waste for storytelling. Since the AU takes off in S3 where it was implied that he died, that’s where I took the story and started writing how his death affected the team, mainly Keith. The main point I want to get across is that Shiro needs to lose his connection to Black Lion in order for Keith, Lance and Allura to grow as characters.

In the case I choose to have Shiro die….

As per usual, Keith reluctantly becomes the Black Paladin, Lance becoming the Red Paladin and Allura is the Blue Paladin. We see how Keith is struggling with his loss of Shiro and how he feels incompetent being the leader of Voltron. This would then lead to into the undercut comic and spark a more genuine, supportive friendship between Keith and Lance. I would also keep how Shiro’s conscience remains in the Black Lion, which only Keith knows about cause he’s BP now. This would be great thread to connect Keith and Allura who have lost someone dear to them and rely on technology to keep them alive (when in reality they will always live in their hearts). 

I would also keep the Kuron idea but instead of him joining team Voltron, Honerva and Zakron use the Shiro clones and make their own version of Voltron with the Robeasts we see in S7-8. That way, we could keep The Black Paladins fight since that’s a very emotional and groundbreaking moment for Keith having to face someone cares deeply for. 

In the case I choose to have Shiro live….

I wouldn’t have him be BP again since that prevents Keith from growing into a leader, which then prevent Lance growing as a character and then prevents Allura from growing as a character. If anyone has noticed after watching the series, the character development kind of gets wonky when they decided to bring Shiro back as BP. If anything, it really hindered Keith, Lance and Allura’s character development since S3 focused so much on the dynamics in team Voltron shifted (which would have been super interesting to see as time went on). Since this idea is fairly still new I haven’t quite figured out how I would write the story if I went this route. But, I’m not opposed of having Shiro being involved with the Altean colony…again gotta workshop some stuff here but killing off Shiro is such a waste of potential!

ALSO, if Shiro stays alive, then we need to address Adam in S1 E1. It can be simple like when everyone is at Keith’s shack and Adam’s name gets dropped casually like this:

Shiro: How did you get all this information? This is classified stuff from the Garrison…

Keith: I had someone help me.

Shiro: Someone….?

Keith: …it was Adam.

Shiro: Oh…

Not exact but my point is that could have been a great moment to tell the audience Shiro and Keith have a connection with Adam (more so Shiro because we all didn’t know he was gay until much much later in the series). But lemme move on before I get too into Adam cause so much needs to be written out before I spill it all haha.

Next big question: which ships are canon?

Y’all don’t burn me at the stake but….

Allura and Lotor. 

I KNOW I KNOW! BUT WHAT ABOUT KLANCE!?!?!?!?!??!

Y’all know I will ship Klance until the end of time but right now I haven’t gotten to a point in the story where confirming Klance as a romantic relationship feels natural and right yet. If anything, in V2020 I really want to build Keith and Lance’s relationship as friends and teammates which in turn can lead into something more. But the groundwork needs to be done in order for that to happen.

But yeah Allura and Lotor are confirmed in V2020 cause that feels right and Lotor deserves so much more than what we saw in the show. I’ll leave it at that for now.

Is the ending the same?

HA. NOPE. FAR FROM IT!

This is probably biggest change I made in V2020 but when VLD did this it made me worried for the show as a whole:

Zarkon remains as the main villain and final boss for the entire series.

I would have not killed off Zarkon as early as they did in VLD simply because Zarkon was made out to be such a big threat in the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, Honerva and the war factions are a cool idea as opposing forces but they could have happened first and left Zarkon for last. 

Honevra regaining her memories and going on her rampage could have happened first. Lotor could have found out that she was his mother  and had to confront his abuser. Allura would have to face the fact someone of her own kind was doing horrible things and that evil isn’t determined by (alien) race. All of that could have been presented before killing Zarkon and would have pushed Allura and Lotor’s character development. Also, having Honevra written off first would give Zarkon even more incentive to do what he’s doing cause well, that’s his wife and love makes you do crazy things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The war factions could have happened after Honerva and that’s where we learn more about the Galra empire and society. Where are there are cracks in the system? How are half breeds like Keith and Lotor viewed? How do factions like the Blade come into play and help team Voltron? All of that could have been explored! Honestly, the war factions arc(?) is an opportunity to further develop Keith and Lotor characters and their relationship since they are both half-Galra. 

As for the final battle and ending of it all, Allura doesn’t die and Voltron (the robot) is the one to be sacrificed.

I wrote a whole theory on it after watching S8, so if you wanna read yet another long post you can check it out here haha.

The point of keeping Zarkon as the main (and final) villain in V2020 is to keep the overarching story simple. Think of ATLA, the story as a whole is really simple: 4 nations based on elemental powers are under the tyrannical rule of a dictator and only one person can stop him and save the world. By keeping the objective of the story simple, there’s room for character development and world-building. Instead of a dark, broody space epic (if that’s what you wanna call it), V2020 focuses more on the characters and world-building that are affected by the main opposing force known as Zarkon. A lot of the stories I have in mind are more episodic but I think that works best for a show where the stage is as grand as space haha.

Pidge and Hunk??

As for Pidge, she kind of….gets everything she wants in the show?? There isn’t really anything drastic I would change since the show fixed her issues…

As for Hunk my baby boy sweet cinnamon roll, don’t worry. I’m making sure he’s more than just a scaredy cat who loves food. I really liked how in the show Hunk learned about Galra diplomacy so maybe I can work with that! 

___

Yeah, I think….that’s everything I can tell you about this AU and I’m so sorry, Vulpes, that I made this answer so long! ^^; Thank you showing interest in my AU!

[hirazuki]

I’m going to try and summarize what bothers me about VLD from as objective a standpoint as possible. A lot of people, including myself, have already made posts pointing out specific issues, especially with regards to the messages it sends to abuse victims, so I’m not going to touch on that or any type of emotional issues here at all. I’m going to skip specifics except where needed as examples, and just talk about the nature of story telling itself. As someone who not only has used fiction for escapism, but who has studied story telling both in terms of literary analysis of novels and of religious texts, it’s a subject that I feel very strongly about.

Warning: long ass post.

Okay, a couple of disclaimers first.

One, I am a firm believer in the “don’t like, don’t read” mentality. If I don’t like something, I don’t talk about it, I just move on. Y’all have never seen a single discourse post about The Dragon Prince, right? Yup, that’s ‘cause I really didn’t like it. It goes for countless other things too. I don’t expend time and effort and energy on things I don’t like, that’s just wasteful. So, why am I harping on VLD? Because I really enjoyed it, despite a couple of what I felt were minor issues at the time, for most of its run. That’s why I -- and I imagine the same goes for many other fans -- am so bitter.

Two, I came late into the Voltron universe. I joined in a couple of days before s6 dropped, and only watched DotU as well as the other Western versions in the past couple of months. Haven’t had a chance to see the original Japanese anime yet.

Three, I’m not a shipper, in general. I don’t ship anything in VLD except Zarkon/Honerva. Romance/sexual stuff is just not my thing, I’ll take swords and explosions any day over that. So my saltiness regarding the series has nothing to do with ships.

Alright, so I think my major gripes with the series can be sorted into three categories:

1. Inconsistency of Story Type:

This is, of course, my own opinion, but through my time of consuming fiction, I think there are three types of stories:

Good vs. Evil: the most basic type of story. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and everyone stays well in their lanes. Think Disney movies, typical Saturday morning cartoons -- the heroes are exemplary of good traits, the villains are one-dimensional and unrepentant, evil for the sake of being evil. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this story type imo, and there are several stories of this nature that I really do enjoy.   

Grey Morality: a much more nuanced take on the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. Due to the very nature of grey morality, there are varying degrees to which this can be implemented. Probably the most common one I’ve seen is where the heroes do some bad/questionable things, the villains/antagonists do some good things or have the right motives or are “noble” in some way; but overall, there is a sense that there are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, certainly by the heroes but also sometimes by the villains/antagonists too. An excellent example of this is Firefly. Another example, that puts a total twist on it by having the protagonist also be the “villain,” is Death Note -- even though the story resolves in a way that to the audience is, really, the only sustainable way possible, it still leaves neither the characters in-show nor the audience with any sense of victory. This concept is taken to the extreme by a series like Tenpou Ibun: Ayakashi Ayashi, where no one is right and no one is wrong, but at the same time everyone is right and wrong, and simply just human. There is no good and no evil, just context, circumstances, and choices. 

Combination: this type of story starts with the Good vs. Evil dichotomy but, as the story progresses and the protagonist becomes more acquainted and involved with their environment, both the protagonist and the audience come to understand that the picture is actually much more complicated than that, and it evolves into Grey Morality. Bleach is a great example. We start with seeing the Hollow as evil, mindless monsters that need to be killed; we learn that they are actually human spirits that have transformed into “monsters” through pain and grief and, therefore, we pity them but also understand that it’s a mercy to put them down; we then find out that, actually, not all are mindless and they have a complicated society and culture of their own; and, eventually, come to accept them as (reluctant) allies against a bigger threat, understanding that they are creatures in their own right. 

From the moment that Keith -- arguably the character within the main cast that had the most time/character development spent on him -- was revealed as being half-Galra (that is, half the “evil” race of the show), VLD promised to be that third type of story. Because there is no way that the writers would make one of their protagonists evil by default because of his blood in a kids’ show, duh, so by logical conclusion this means that that race is not all evil, after all. This was further emphasized by Lotor’s introduction to the plot -- a severe departure from his character in any previous incarnation -- and cemented by the episode, “The Legend Begins,” where we finally get to see the other side of things and the fact that not even Zarkon and Haggar were “born evil,” as well.

After the Keith reveal, we got shocked reactions from his teammates, notably and understandably Allura; got only an apology from her and not the rest for their treatment of him (which could have been better but, whatever, it was a step in the right direction, great!); and then... back to a weird strained relationship in working alongside Galra without another word on the subject.

Okay. Fine.

Then we get Lotor -- again, some of that initial resentment/treatment could be understandable to some extent, and eventually on the road towards, seemingly, genuine acceptance. Cool.

I won’t go into details about the colony episode, because that’s been done to death already, but, woah, major setback there. Back to the knee-jerk reaction of treating individuals of a race as complicit and responsible for the actions and perception of that race as perpetuated by a handful of individuals. And then -- flash forward to s8 -- we are welcoming Galra allies in our cause! Please join our Coalition! We want to help you!

Look. I’m not saying that you can’t retcon stuff; that you can’t go Good vs. Evil, develop into Grey Morality, and then reveal something and BOOM, jk, it was Good vs. Evil all along, gotcha! I’m sure that there is an author somewhere out there that has pulled that off effectively (I can’t think of any examples myself right now, but I’m sure it must exist somewhere).

I am saying that if you’re going to do that -- if you are going to pull the rug out from under everyone’s feet and sacrifice some crucial character development (and crucial characters themselves, let’s be honest) -- you better have a DAMN GOOD IN-UNIVERSE reason for doing so. And no, shock value or getting rid of a character because they were overshadowing the protags doesn’t count. Otherwise, your protagonists will look like giant jerks. Unless, of course, that’s what you’re going for, but I highly doubt that was the thinking here.

And then, we proceed to flip flop between “I knew it, the Galra are irredeemably evil, what’s wrong with these people?!” (I think Hunk -- HUNK, by far the most empathetic character -- said this at some point in s7?) and “Here, we can work together towards a brighter future” or some shit. You can’t do that. I mean you can, but you’re gonna get major backlash from your audience. Pick a fucking direction and stick with it.

For the past three seasons, it has really felt like the story line is being pulled into two different directions: 1) staying true to the original source material of Paladins = good, Galra/Drule = bad, and 2) providing the viewers with a groundbreaking, nuanced interpretation. 

My dudes. You can’t have both. Trying to implement both of these approaches means having morally grey, nuanced characters operating within a narrative framework that is subject to an overarching principle of a strict Good/Evil dichotomy. Do you know how fucking hard that is to pull off effectively without diving headfirst into the pitfall of punishing your morally grey characters by default, simply because they happen to exist in a universe that cannot, by nature, support them???? I can think of only a handful of authors that have managed that and, I would argue, that the man at the top of the list only managed to be so effective and influential because what he wrote was, in essence, a mythology. Mythologies have a totally different set of concerns surrounding them. And even then, he went to great lengths, both in his works and outside of them in discussions/interviews, to note that the “evil” in his world could never have happened without it intentionally being part of the larger cosmological design, i.e. balance. I’m talking, of course, about Tolkien. 

Why the fuck would you attempt to pull something like this off in a kids’ cartoon?! Avatar: The Last Airbender, since everyone loves that comparison, was defined by a black/white view that developed into a very simple grey morality, and it was this limited scope that allowed it to be presented so effectively. None of this sashaying back and forth. 

Especially when this flip flopping is done for le dramatic effect/shock value, with seemingly no good in-story reason?? Of course it’s gonna fall flat.

2. Concept vs. Execution:

This is probably what drives me crazy the most about VLD. 

As an idea, it was fucking brilliant -- anyone who has watched DotU, even with all the nostalgia, I imagine, can admit that it was very much a cut and dry 80s cartoon, with simple concerns; Vehicle Voltron attempted some nuances, but the Lion Voltron part of the show, which was by far the more popular part, was pretty stiff in that regard. VLD took that and introduced themes like: being biracial (Keith, Lotor, etc.), having to choose between duty and family (Krolia), having to choose between personal dreams and important relationships (Shiro), having to overcome deep-seated understandable prejudice and work with people you never thought you could come to stand for a greater cause and through that see that not everything is black and white and attain a greater understanding of the world (Allura), leaving home and learning to survive in a totally foreign environment in the worst circumstances possible (the paladins), dealing with disability, mental illness/ptsd while also dealing with issues of being in a position of leadership/power (Shiro), parental abuse (Lotor), substance abuse (Honerva and Zarkon), being a clone and coming to terms with that (Shiro/Kuron), learning to compromise and sacrifice personal integrity/morals for the betterment/survival of those you have made yourself responsible for (the paladins), and so much more than that. Lotor’s relationship with Honerva/Haggar had serious undertones of both Mother and Child symbolism, as well as Arthurian legend. The whole quintessence thing drew pointers from ancient and medieval concepts of alchemy.

The inclusion of any of these things, injected into a pretty straightforward and tame original source material like DotU, was inspired. What an absolutely fantastic take, with incredible potential.

... and it was the shoddiest, shittiest implementation and execution of any concepts that I have ever seen. Like... how? How did they manage to not be able to successfully see any of these themes to a close, and to actually offend the vast majority of their fanbase (regardless of background, age, race, sexuality, literally from all walks of life) by the way these themes were handled???? 

I’m sure time restraints, direction from above, etc., played a big part in it, but still. If you don’t have time to properly develop the interpersonal relationships between the core members of your main group of characters -- to the point that, say, Keith and Pidge? Hunk and Shiro? Did they ever properly, truly have any meaningful interactions? -- there’s no way you could properly handle all of this.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. 

Also? As stories are being fleshed out, they and their characters tend to take on a life of their own. The Lotor/Keith parallels? I totally believe and understand how it’s possible that it was unintentional. But when that happens, you go back and rework the rest of your plot to make sense with what you now have before you. You adjust and adapt. You don’t barrel on ahead headless and not acknowledging it, and you don’t force your characters into straitjackets just because you want to doggedly follow this one idea.    

3. The Female Lead: 

Let me begin by saying that I really, really wanted to like Allura, and the way she was written was one of the biggest turn offs and disappointments for me. I won’t go into specifics regarding her, as there many posts that already address the problematic nature of how she treats people of her race vs. anyone Galra, but I will just look at her character development as a whole.

Perhaps the easiest way for me to voice my frustrations here would be with a comparison. Let’s look at my favorite female protagonist of all time, Nakajima Youko, from Juuni Kokuki (aka. The Twelve Kindgoms).

Youko starts off as a very meek high school girl, from a typical modern Japanese family. Class representative, top grades, is scared of conflict and wants to live up to everyone’s expectations of her, which makes her very submissive, a total coward emotionally, mentally, and physically. She seeks to please everyone and, as a result, harms her own development by never giving any thought to her own desires and ends up bullied by everyone around her. Magic happens, shit goes down, and she is whisked away to a different world that is parallel to our own, along with two friends from school; ripped from her home, her family, with absolutely no way back. This other world has a different language, people who end up in there from our world are treated like garbage and are slaves, has a medieval level of tech/advancement, and Youko with her friends has to figure out how to survive. She finds out she is actually queen of one of the realms in this world, which makes her a target of various groups. She is betrayed by literally everyone around her, everyone she places her trust in, including the two friends that got transported to this world with her. 

She goes from meek and mild to bloodthirsty and brash; lashing out at everyone around her, plotting to kill those that offer her a helping hand, becoming unreasonably suspicious and racist and way out of line. Understandably so, but the narrative doesn’t, for one moment, present this as okay. Some more stuff happens and she finally snaps out of it, comes to a couple of realizations, and has major character development. She develops the attitude that, yes, people have betrayed and hurt her, but their actions towards her and their opinion of her is none of her business. It will not stop her from acting in ways that are in line with her own morals; if people choose to betray and use her, that’s on them. She will simply do what she must, and treat everyone as an individual according to their actions. This doesn’t mean that she adopts a pushover mentality -- it just means that she loses her knee-jerk reaction, and doesn’t rush to conclusions. She becomes a badass warrior and queen, strong and just, and, frankly, one of the most well-developed female characters I have ever seen.

Do I think this is the only way to write a strong female character? Of course not. But I’m convinced this is what the writers wanted to do with Allura, this kind of progression and path, from being angry, lost, and alone to being a confident, capable, magnificent ruler. And, imo, they totally missed the mark.

I think that the writers were so focused on giving us a “strong” modern female character, and getting as far away from her DotU damsel in distress depiction as possible, that they ended up writing her as, basically, a bully. Sure, they tell us -- both through other characters’ words in the show and through interviews -- about her diplomacy, peaceful nature, leadership quality, open-mindedness, etc., but they never show it to us. In almost every key moment in the series, she has been written to be combative and suffering from tunnel-vision.   

And a huge part of this is that they simply didn’t give her any room to grow. Youko’s character started off at maybe... 5% of her potential? She was honestly so “weak,” I thought about dropping the series. But by the point the anime ended (because the story itself is unfinished and unlikely to continue, unfortunately), I’d say she’s at around 70%. That makes for an extremely dramatic, fulfilling, and believable character development. The VLD writers started Allura off much higher than that. Too high. From the get-go she’s a highly accomplished martial artist, has incredible physical strength due to her Altean heritage, a seemingly natural affinity for leadership and for appealing to people, she’s very attractive, well spoken, had a loving and supportive family, is a princess, had a brilliant alchemist for a father, has access to the universe’s greatest super weapon -- I mean, yes, she’s had to deal with immense loss and grief and come to terms with it in a very short period of time, and lost her father a second time so to speak with Alfor’s AI -- but overall, everything has been set up and handed to her in a nice package. Other than overcoming her hatred towards the Galra and idealization of Altea/Alteans, really, there’s nothing left for her to do that would be defining for her character.

That’s not to say that characters that are extremely accomplished from the start are a bad thing. But in their case, their emotional and mental development and maturity is that much more important, because that’s all that’s left to work with. The writers didn’t really give Allura any significant room to grow in terms of any of that. (And no, I don’t consider her new alchemical powers from Oriande as her growing; she expended no effort for that, it wasn’t really a trial at all for her; it was like me playing a video game on casual mode with the “killallenemies” console command enabled). Her overcoming her racism towards the Galra, beginning with Keith and BoM and continuing to do so with subsequent Galra allies, had a TON of potential and I had been so excited to see where it would go; but that fell flat, totally forgotten by the story.

In contrast, you have Lotor -- we see him struggling to claw his way out of the hand that fate has dealt him, to grow beyond his family’s influence and abuse. Both on and off screen, even described by his own enemies in great detail, we see just how much he has had to fight and to earn everything he has and he is, even things that shouldn’t have to be “earned” in the first place. He’s lost Daibazaal and Altea, both his father and his mother, he’s too Galra for anyone who’s not and not nearly enough Galra for anyone who is. Literally nothing has been handed to him. The juxtaposition between him and Allura, had Allura been given more breathing room by the writers, could have been fantastic and I would have shipped the hell out of it, like I do in DotU. She’s had everything he’s ever wanted (loving family, supportive father, Alfor himself, exploration, alchemy), etc.; envy would have been extremely appropriate on his part, and very interesting to work through, but that was never explored either.

So, I feel like what ended up happening was that a huge imbalance in how these two characters came across was created, made only more evident when their relationship with each other was what was front and center. And, at least for me, this is what makes me completely unable to see Allura’s side of things, and I freely admit it -- I simply don’t understand her or her actions, because I don’t feel like I’ve been shown enough of her inner workings as a character to be able to care about her in the slightest. I can definitely see where the writers were going with her, or where they thought they were going. But unless they actually meant for the character that is, for all intents and purposes, their female lead to be a  racist, abusive, immature person playing at being an adult and at being the leader of a coalition spanning galaxies, who has no problem condemning millions of lives to death and devastation at a whim of her emotions because they are Valid™, and who wades dangerously close to “Mary Sue” territory many times due the way the narrative frames her... then all I see on screen is an unfinished character. Unfinished, because the writers didn’t take any opportunities in the narrative for the flaws and issues she does have to be addressed and overcome, opportunities of which there were plenty! I absolutely don’t mind that she has flaws -- flawed heroes are amazing. But, you gotta do something about them, i.e. address them and work through them. Otherwise your heroes remain static in a plot that is evolving and that’s not a good look.

And, you know, I honestly think DotU Allura is a much stronger female character. She works for everything she gets. She works her ass off. She has to fight to not only be allowed to be part of the team and fly a lion, but even just to do everyday common things like be out in the fields or swim or whatever; forget practicing martial arts. Coran literally ties her up at one point to prevent her from participating. Nanny is a constant battle for her. Over everything, from her clothes to her manner of speaking to where she’s going. But she doesn’t stop, she doesn’t give up. And she fucks up, BIG TIME, several times, she does TONS of stupid shit. But she learns, acknowledges it, gets called out on it, tries again, and keeps on trying. DotU Allura’s biggest battles, in my mind, aren’t with Lotor or the Drule forces or Zarkon, but with her own team and those she considers family, and her struggle for the others’ acceptance of herself and her skills within the group. And for that, she is a much stronger, more solid female character than VLD Allura, despite all superficial appearances and frilly pink dresses and 80s voice acting.

Again, like I said in a previous post, I don’t conform to the view that creators owe their fans anything. Write things however the fuck you want. You want to kill Allura off, fine. Do away with Lotor too? Cool. I completely understand people who want happy endings in fiction because, it’s true, reality fucking sucks; there are several fictional works I turn to whenever real life is too much. And I would be lying if I said that I don’t crave stories where characters like Lotor are given happy endings; of course I want my favorite characters to be okay. But overall, I’m the type of person who, as long as things make for an effective, compelling narrative, I’ll be content with it, regardless of whether the ending is tragic or happy or anything in between. 

So you want to kill off your morally grey character and your female lead, who is also one of the only women on the team, who is also a princess figure, who has also been completely visually redesigned in such a way that you know women of color will relate to her? That’s fine by me, go right ahead. But do so in a way that is meaningful and makes sense within the larger narrative you created, and isn’t some empty, sensationalist gesture. 

And also be aware of your fanbase. This is a reboot -- that comes with certain expectations attached, as a number of the viewers will very likely be fans of the old series, watching out of curiosity, nostalgia, etc. Expectations like, the princess lives, the heroes aren’t assholes, etc. (and I’m referring to expectations from DotU and other Western iterations, rather than the original Japanese series). You don’t have to conform to these expectations -- personally, I’m a big fan of tropes being subverted -- but you need to be aware of them. You need to know the rules before you break them, and if you break them, you better break them damn well.

Imo, VLD ultimately failed to deliver on these fronts, and pretty much fell prey to what a lot of series do -- it couldn’t handle the shift from being primarily episodic in nature (i.e., each episode is self-contained, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, while operating under a distant general goal, like defeating Zarkon; so, s1 and s2) to becoming a more complex narrative unraveling a hidden agenda (s3 onwards). Kind of like how the paladins made no provisions for how they would handle things after Zarkon’s defeat, it feels like the writers didn’t really have one solid plan for how to develop past that point as well.

tl;dr: Whoever is responsible for the way VLD turned out should write a book: how to offend your entire audience in eight seasons or less.

[roominthecastle]

Everyone is making a house call to Grissom, where we're y'all when Sara was here lol? And now noone is there to make him soup or shave him apparently :(( *no but srsly, why is everyone sick this episode? Was there some kind of an epidemy on set or sth? *It's Sara calling right? His face just light up)) I'm glad they stay in touch *wait, are those Mythbusters?? Too many nights those crazy dudes kept me company. Fun times... *Where's Sophia? I feel like I haven't seen her in a while... *Warrick 😿

This ep is a goldmine for domestic!Grissom!! cooking, wandering around in pjs and robe, taking care of his dog, and desperately trying but failing to escape visitors & adventures like some reincarnation of Bilbo Baggins.

I guess if a show is on air long enough, it’s almost inevitable to have an episode where the flu or a cold - or a musical event - strikes our faves. I tend to enjoy those eps and this one is no exception. Yes, your eyes weren’t deceiving you, those guest nerds in the lab were Adam and Jamie (CSI has on- and off-screen ties to the Discovery Channel), and oh YES that’s def Sara calling at the end. It’s enough to look at Griss stretch out on the couch after he answers the phone. I think if you lean close, you can hear him purring ;)))) And I kept thinking about it, but rn I honestly cannot recall what happens to Sofia. I think she just… idk… drops out of the story at some point?? and Warrick, yeah… now his departure is something else, like

9x01. How can I even… I AM NOT OKAY!!! Jesus I can’t even formulate anything… They’re all so close… Family… How can I ever be fine after seeing Grissom’s face?? When he just crumbled… Losing someone after allowing them to become that close, I don’t know how to… I’m not ok, with any of this… Glad Sara is there (even more beautiful than before, that’s just not fair) God I’m such a mess. I didn’t even like him all that much but Nicky loved him, and I can’t see him cry! And Gris… JC

What you said, anon. I’m not familiar w/ the specifics of the off-screen events that forced the writers to come up w/ an exit for Warrick/GD, but boy did they manage to make it CRUEL and PAINFUL. but also meaningful, imo. Warrick once called Grissom a robot for never emoting like a “normal” human being, and here we have this “robot” saying the L word out loud and openly breaking down and literally clinging to him in an entirely irrational and desperately emotional, futile human act to keep him alive… yeah, I’m w/ you 1000%: I AM NOT OKAY!!!

9x02. “who are we talking about right now?” A-a-and there is my Sara from first few seasons! God I love that woman. So brave, and strong, standing up for what she believes in, unwilling to talk riddles and play mind games. Just say it straight to her. Kind of understand Grissom too though… This whole thing is so damn sad… Oh and that pillow talk was so tender and quiet, so them…

They’ve been doing this thing ever since they started dating - whenever one makes an observation or drops a remark about a victim or a scene they happen to process, the other is like “okay, is that supposed to be about us?” and it’s never 100% clear. Work and private stuff has been bleeding together w/ them for a while and it is finally starting to make waves in a way that not even Grissom can remain immune to it.

9x05. Why does this show insists on fucking me up this season??! I can’t see them suffer anymore! He’s like a fish out of the water the whole episode… I’m a bit conflicted though. Sara left because she couldn’t take that job anymore and I totally get it, but did she expect him to just follow her? I mean it just doesn’t seem like him at all. Yes he belongs by her side but she moves around, he should have just upended his whole life, without any kind of plan? Perhaps I need to sleep on it tho…

905 is like exhibit A of why I love Lady Heather episodes - she cuts through Griss like no other, and this time there’s a clear overlap btw case and private life. LH’s sugarcoat-free remarks are relevant to both, helping Grissom unpack (or more like rip open) some of his own private mess and climb off the fence he’s been sitting on. I do understand your conflict, I was the same way at first, but then I came to the same conclusion you did below:

9x08. You damn right it’s time to up the ante! This girl is the right girl!! Ugh… 9x09. If Sara was here, she’d help you with that last word… Just saying… *omg is he for real? (I know he is, I’m just really emotional omg) *fly-fishing) his mind is already off of work)) he has been quite distracted lately though. This whole thing is a long time coming. Perhaps all he needed was that push from Sara… *man I love Bill Irwin! Which reminds me, have you watched Legion this year?

(After reading the summary, Legion instantly went on my watchlist, anon, but I haven’t seen it yet.)

Exactly, it’s been a long time coming and that’s why I think Sara was not out of line with her hope - or maybe even reasonable expectation? - that he’d start a brand new chapter with her away from the lab. Most of this relationship happens off-screen, so I can only offer guesswork, but we can find some telltale breadcrumbs leading up to these final episodes.

Grissom already starts displaying burnout signs in S7 + he starts dropping comments about how ppl no longer really need him in the lab anymore. He is not bitter, mind you, he is genuinely proud of the team he’s trained/mentored, but this also means that he becomes - as he tells Warrick - a teacher w/o students who feels increasingly aimless, unfulfilled and even drained after having spent 25+ years wading through the (literal and figurative) cesspools of humanity. I think the combination of developing burnout and unfulfillment is why he grabs at the opportunity to leave for a month and teach a seminar as far away from Vegas as possible, and I don’t think it goes unnoticed by Sara. It is never said out loud (naturally), but she seemed to understand why he just up and left the same way Griss understood why she needed to leave in S8 despite each feeling miserable w/o the other. It’s a constant back-and-forth btw them, a drifting away then back again then away again, as they work through their individual baggage, and this “double pendulum” doesn’t stop until the very last episode of the show.

Uprooting one’s life is a huge ask, esp for someone like Grissom, but in this specific case I think it was a natural progression and would have happened anyway. Sara did not force him out of a pleasant, fulfilling life. He needed - wanted - to move on, he knew it was time, he just needed one more little push, like you said. Then he jumped in w/ both feet

and:

9x10. Oh Lord omfg this is… I… This is like a cinematic experience or something… Oh God his face the very moment he first saw her! Oh my sweet awkward nerdy boy, his eyes!! And that sigh! The smile! And those needy arms!! And Sara omg I just can’t… Yes that’s right just grab her and kiss her, talking’s overrated anyway!! OMG I saw the gifs but I didn’t realize how this scene will be… will make me feel… It’s just so… I’ll get back to you when I’m a bit more coherent, please stand by

[norman-reedus-gossip]

bulk

~~mod~~ OK here’s the bulk. ill add to the comments.  Before anyone asks my opinion on it or how i feel about it ill just say it.. I don’t care and Im not bothered by it,  I haven’t liked her for a very long time due to how she treated a close friend of mine, them together doesn’t change my fan-ness of him.   I know that there are others that don’t care some that are happy for him and i know that there are a large number of people out there you are angry , hurt and devastated. I get it and i want you all to be able to express that, but do me a favor and respects each others feelings and opinions and keep it medium.

Anon: I am devastated Mod. He lied to us. Blatantly and I will never forgive him for that. I can’t even look at anything he is in ever again. I just can’t believe I trusted him as much as I did. I believed his words when he spoke. Now I don’t know him at all. He is NOTHING like what he says he is. I hope they are ripped apart by media because he deserves everything now. It hurts me so much to say that because I used to defend everything about him. I don’t even know what to say about him now.

Brandi:Let’s tease this NR DK thing out a little. Anon:First off, good for Norman. She’s age appropriate and has some understanding of the entertainment industry and the pitfalls of it. AnonThat said, Norman works eight months out of the year in rural Georgia and works a ton outside of TWD. DK works predominantly in Europe. (I believe) When the heck are these two actually going to see each other? Anon:If her bad behaviour toward her fans/coworkers is to be believed, Norman may have trouble with this. Reedus is incredibly kind to people/fans, if she is rude to them, it might not go well for her, in Norman’s eyes. Anon:The earlier denial of his romance with DK is similar to what happened with CS. Did he not deny they where more than friends for ages?! I can’t blame him, I think he was protecting her, people where really hard on that girl. Anon:Just my two cents. Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Anon::My friend got it on good authority that Daryl will DIE in S8 because of all the negative publicity caused by NR sneaking around w/ DK. 😢 That he “came out” with their relationship per those photos taken in NYC last night to try to make himself look honorable. But AMC had already decided to kill him off bcause of the bad fan reaction to his affair with DK–denying it and such. AMC just now informed NR that Daryl will die in a battle w/ Negan. Totally crying right now. This cannot be true!?!?! 😭

Anon:He’s drunk in those pictures. He doesn’t look happy only drunk and nasty. It’s disgusting marching down the street being something he always claimed to hate. I’m done with him. Anon:Norman is completely full of bullshit.

normieslittletwign :  Well, I guess they’re official. The only thing that disappoints me is how it was handled. They should have “come out” as a couple right at the beginning and let the chips fall where they may. She could have said that her relationship with JJ was on the rocks for some time, that they’d been leading separate lives for awhile… whatever…. make shit up!! They’re only human and shit happens, the heart wants what the heart wants. IDK   But now Norman is (or may be) seen as a homewrecker. She may be seen as a cheater all because no one knows when this relationship started.   To be caught mere weeks after releasing an “official statement” that they are “just friends”… SMH. The pics are *not* of people who are “just friends”.   I also feel for fans who have put Norman up on such a high pedestal… they must be devastated!!   For the record, I’m still a fan of and still like Norman. He has a very unique personality, I quite like his acting and a number of his movies, not to mention TWD. But then again, I never put him on a pedestal and read too much into his interviews. I most likely will never meet the guy and I’m OK with that. And if I did, I’d just be another fan who wants a pic or an autograph.   To be honest, I’ve never wanted to meet *any* celebrity. I’m one of the biggest Iron Maiden fans around (36 years and counting… am I aging myself? lol) and if I go to my grave having never met any of the members of Iron Maiden (or any other band or actor I admire) it won’t bother me a bit. But that’s probably just me.   You know, God himself could hand pick a lovely woman for Norman and she still wouldn’t be seen as being good enough for him by the “lunatic-fringe” fans.  Now to sit back and watch the shit-storm. I’ve noticed on Norman’s Instagram he’s already feeling the heat… sadly.

dixonimagines:On the DK thing: Are they f*cking 13 years olds, making out in a street corner like they can’t rent a hotel room? I enjoyed meeting him this year but I will never again pay another cent to meet him. Not only is he a liar but also freaking dumb one. Why lie when he knew he would be outed sooner or later? I do not feel betrayed but I cannot continue being a fan of someone who is dumb enough to put his fandom at risk for a fling with some woman. He is no better than most of us.

Anon:i don’t particularly like DK, but I also don’t think she’s the evil bitch that some make her out to be. Whatever their relationship is, it’s theirs to explore and pursue. N looks happy in the pics and that’s good enough for me. I’m actually more concerned about Mod being bombarded with the Insanity 😰Sending you 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃, Mod, stay gold!

Anon:I feel like this has been explained ad nauseum (though ppl choose not to listen) but *some* fans are upset this couple began by breaking up Diane’s 10+ yr relationship. So it was cheating then 2+ years lying, with fans defending him against cheating rumors. Is it really that hard to understand that some may take it personally because they defended him, or because they’ve experienced relationships broken by cheating? “As long as the cheaters are happy who cares” is a rather ignorant response.

Anon:Can I just point out how happy Norman looks in the pics with DK? Anyone who can make Norman’s smile that wide is good with me. I wish them so much happiness ❤

Anon:Did pR’s reps genuinely not know he was seeing DK? The just friends comment is making less and less sense 🙈

Anon:To all those defending Norman saying he is entitled to a private life YES he is. But these shots were staged for the paps, he has chosen to forgo his privacy, and expect more like this to come. Everyone in the industry knows these types of relationships are biz deals, he couldn’t give a fuc what anyone thinks, he is as hollywood, elite and privileged as they come. He does not deserve defending. So many of his fans so naive and gullible.

Anon:for people that are saying ‘oh get over it’ or 'why taking this so personally’ its not that the question. Norman lied since day one when it came to all this mess. He lied that he didnt cheat JJ with her. He lied when said they were just friends 3 weeks ago. he lied when he said he loves honest people. he lied when he said he doesnt understand cheating…i mean this is years and years of lies and people believing he was one thing when he was other. its too many lies

Anon:Lol honestly I’m not even his fan and i feel like i could cut a bitch now because i was here trying to prove that he was better than the rumors that were always circling around. I saw on him a good guy trying to break bad habits and i feel fucking offended with this! lol i mean he is a 48 year old men why lie? he didnt need all of this…unless he had another thing going (which we all know its rumored to have) and someone dropped someone and he went on the easy root. sad excuse of a man sorry.

Anon:Now i get why he is friend with Balthazar Getty, which in my opinion, is the ultimate douchebag of Hollywood….Norman is exactly the same. Nobody cant deny people..he is a  sleezy liar. Hope he likes to see his daily life on daily mail from now on.

Anon:the fact that norman played the game of the 'honest'person and he hates liars makes me sick. He lied to everyone. No he doesnt owns us anything but he denied any romantic link with her 3 weeks ago. this to me is beyond ridiculous. I guess she got what she wanted and he once again is going along because its comfortable to him and guarantee he have his dick wet at least once a week…but the rest?? i feel sorry for the fans that always believed how good guy and true to himself he was.

Anon:I guess I have mixed feelings about the whole DK relationship. He does look really happy and I personally don’t care who he is with. But why all the sneaking around and lying? I can only think of one reason they would do that. They wanted to make the cheating rumors look untrue. To me the cheating rumors now look true. I am still a fan of his but I don’t think I will spend the money to see him if he comes to the Walker Stalker near me.

Anon:They are both scum. Anon:Up till now I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, but I feel like the biggest fool alive now. He really is a LIAR!! Yuck, so disappointed in him 😳.

Anon:I just feel sorry for the people that believed in him. They have been duped/snowed/hoodwinked by a professional liar and all around horrible person.

Anon:Let’s Please try to not make Norman and DK’s relationship about us. It has nothing to do with lying to fans, manipulating fans, or laughing at fans. There’s no personal insult to his fans here. It’s just them letting the world know on their terms, not ours. In other news, I’m so glad he looks happy. His kid is growing up, his job has got to be ending in the next few years (sorry but that’s just reality), and he deserves some joy as he figures out what to do next.

Anon:I truly don’t get all the DK hate. And w/ those pics coming out today, I’m sure it will only get worse. How about everyone just be glad he’s in an age appropriate relationship this time? I mean, I can’t be the only one who was completely grossed out by the 18 year old, right?

Anon:I am completely done with him. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for so long and I am mostly an optimistic person…But this is just disgusting. IDC who he dates tbh…But this snake???? And the cheating??? Breaks my heart. It’s awesome that he gives his all to his fans but I think it feeds his narcissistic ways. Sorry Norman…You will live your life whatever you want to…You’re a grown man (sometimes)

Anon:Sending you tons of nachos and lots of alcohol for the incoming shitstorm. If you need anything else let me know.

Anon:I just did a google searched on the latest on NR, and there is a picture of what appears to be N kissing DK right in plain view of a pap. Rather this is the real deal or simply a PR move on behalf of DK herself, N and D are together. Love it or hate it, we don’t have a say in who he dates and I personally wouldn’t want to because I wouldn’t want people to do the same to me.

Anon:Sorry something is not right , your people denied the rumours 3 weeks ago and then you come out hand in hand with her , plus it doesnt look kissing to me but ok , im dissapointed in him , but i will still be a daryl fan !

meags672:This night out was obviously their 'coming out’. They both look very happy to me! Good for them. Its about time!

Anon::Ohhhh mod. ALL OF THE WHISKEY AND NACHOS FOR YOU!!!! Anon:It’s official. Norman is a cheater and liar. They are both gross and deserve each other. They deserve every ounce of hate they get. #shittypeople Anon:its confirmed, they are a couple. bye bye norman. i don’t support lying little cheating sneaks

superleeleehipster:I am sending two bottles of whiskey your way and some nachos… followed by chocolate cause this is gonna get crazy for another week :p

Anon:So umm… how are Norman’s reps gonna say they’re “just friends” again when there are pics of them holding hands and making out? Anon:Those “just friends” look very very happy. I think you all should be happy for him.

Anon:she went to paris to support her friend, just friends, that what friends do, right. but not the show in spain bc why. tho she goes out so ppl see her there. no pap or fan shots of her in fr or ger. why none in ny until some of him show up. guess they r friends who dont hang out in public. btw why never any fan pics of her any where, does she not have fans. just pap shots around him

Anon:Bye bye Norman. You’re canceled. It’s official, they are together. Eonline posted pics of them kissing and holding hands while smiling and walking around in NYC yesterday. They really made it official after denying everything just three weeks ago. It makes me so sick to see DK all happy. Disgusting ain’t even a damn word about what I feel

Anon:Norman died for me. Did you see the eonline pics? He’s holding hands and kissing DK in PUBLIC. They walked around and had the biggest smiles on their faces. What an incredible disgusting piece of trash Norman is. Disappointment is not even a word how I feel right now. Sorry if I’m going to unfollow you but I don’t want to see anything about him anymore.

Anon:Seriously not a fan any longer. You can date who you want, but why lie about it 3 weeks before going public? That makes you shady in my book and I don’t support shady people.

[dxringred]

SVU for the in depth fandom questions, of course!

Whoever sent me this is an angel and I am eternally in your debt. Also going to put this under the cut because I know before even writing it that it’s going to be long. x

Top 5 favourite characters: well anyone who knows me knows that Casey Novak is my favorite character, of course. I also really love Melinda Warner, and Elizabeth Donnelly. And Fin Tutuola and John Munch make me laugh quite frequently so they’d probably round off my top five.

Other characters you like: generally speaking I like most of the regulars? If I had to pick, like, five more they’d probably be, in no particular order: George Huang, Alexandra Cabot, Amanda Rollins, Judith Siper and Ruben Morales.

Least favourite characters: Any of the ADAs who appear after Season 9, apart from maybe Sonya Paxton whose complexity and uncountable character flaws I really loved; Dale Stuckey although I did feel quite sorry for him when it came down to it; Rafael Barba; and Elliot Stabler.

Otps: I won’t lie, I literally ship nobody from SVU? If I had to pick any ship it’d probably be Olivia/Casey because they’re mostly the only characters I pay attention to, and Olivia/Amanda comes directly after it. But I do have a soft spot for Munch/Fin because they’re pretty cute together. I also had a brief thing for Elliot/Casey during one rewatch which was weird as hell.

Notps: lmao anything involving Barba, particularly Barisi although I don’t watch the newer seasons so it’s not really something I have to worry about. I’m pretty much impartial to every other ship there is if I’m honest.

Favourite friendships: basically Casey and everyone? Though I really like her friendship with Munch, and I like Munch’s “friendship” with Fin. And I like Melinda’s friendship with everyone when it is shown. Bensler was pretty good too before S6 when everything went to the dogs between them.

Favourite family: there are practically only two families on SVU so this doesn’t help, but I’d have to pick the Stablers because I actually really like Kathy (and had a little bit of a crush on Maureen).

Favourite episodes: I have a list of all my favorites in my drafts and there are literally 40 names on that list. Night is definitely my favorite of all time (along with Serendipity and Raw) even if it does get me super emotional, but off the top of my head other episodes would include: Hate, Scavenger, Poison, Goliath, Parts, Painless, Game, Screwed, Influence, Alternate, Pretend, Authority, Svengali, Savant, Gone, Manipulated, Mean, Blinded, Impulsive, Reparations, Bound and Alien. (I’m pretty sure I could actually recite the entire list off of the top of my head which is pretty sad lmao.)

Favourite season/book/movie: I love all of Seasons 5-9 but Season 5 is probably my favorite in terms of episodes, with 6 at a very close second.

Favourite quotes: honestly most of the stuff Casey says because she literally just sasses everyone. But some of my favorites in general probably have to be:

“The Patriot Act. This convoluted piece of legislature isn’t worth the paper it’s written on!“ 

"I’m not saying I didn’t see crazies in Brooklyn but you guys are cuckoo magnets." 

"If you think Jack McCoy is going to let me get away with that then you are crazier than he is." 

"His dirty laundry is cleaner than my entire wardrobe." 

"D'you know what you get when you mix fertilizer and diesel fuel? Oklahoma City." 

“Your jacket has more than a few excessive force complaints and if IAB finds there’s any merit to Dixon’s story you’re a liability I just won’t tolerate." 

Best musical moment: I’ve got to say I love the opening theme. I also like the music at the end of Goliath, and the soundtrack at the end of Screwed because that always gets me emotional. There’s also a scene in Avatar where the background music is really good. Generally a lot of the background music is really good to be honest.

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: probably when Casey made her reappearance in Reparations; that sent me over the edge, let me tell you. Liv’s return in S8 also gets me quite a bit when I watch that episode.

When it really disappointed you: even though I’ve only watched the episode once, and have literally no recollection of it, Cold is an episode I will never talk about, never watch, and never admit the existence of. My other big disappointment is the end of Dana Lewis which I am so angry about, god damn it she deserved better!!!

Saddest moment: Night is the saddest episode ever, I absolutely cannot watch it without shedding tears. It’s bad enough that Casey gets beaten to within an inch of her life in her own office (fun fact: the actress actually got beaten up in real life for that scene which makes it 10x worse) but then you see her in the hospital and she’s crying and all banged up and I sWEAR TO GOD. Sometimes I put off watching the episode for days because I cannot mentally prepare myself despite watching it six billion times before.

Most well done character death: Sonya Paxton. It’s one of three I recall and really hurts me when I do decide to watch that particular episode. Because for me she was an interesting character and I quite liked her. And she really seemed to be helping herself out, and trying to get better. (At least from what I recall.) But then she just gets murdered and still manages to help nail the bastard who killed her.

Favourite guest star: Robin Williams in Authority automatically springs to mind personally, just because it’s one of the more memorable ones. I don’t really pay the greatest amount of attention to guest stars (because I never recognize anyone) but the other person I can think of is Mary Stuart Masterson who played Rebecca Hendrix in S6 and a couple of other episodes. Oh and Marlo Thomas as Mary Clark in S5, she was great too. I love watching her in the few episodes she appeared in. 

Favourite cast member: who am I kidding, everyone knows I’m going to say Diane Neal. God I love her. She’s super funny, passionate, and very into politics and I just love her.

Character you wish was still alive: Sister Peg. Plain and simple.

One thing you hope really happens: I lowkey really want Casey Novak to come back but I know that’s never going to happen, especially not while Barba is still around. But a girl can dream. 

Most shocking twist: for me Serendipity and Trade both had great twists. In terms of throwing you off, Serendipity is notorious for it, and Trade’s twist comes about in, like, the last few minutes of the episode and it’s pretty surprising. (Or at least I thought it was when first watching.)

When did you start watching/reading?: this is such a hard question for me to answer because I don’t entirely remember? I remember vague parts of my childhood where I watched parts of episodes, but that’s only because my mom used to have it on the television all the time. I think I finally decided to watch the entire show from start to finish when I was 11? So almost 7 years ago now. (Fun fact: I’m older than the show by literally only one month and a day lol.) Then after one rewatch I dropped it and occasionally watched the current season. And then I randomly got back into the show last May time, watching from Serendipity to the current season. And the only reason I started at Serendipity and not S1 is because I had a weird epiphany where I vaguely remembered the plot of the episode as well as the name and decided to Google it.

Best animal/creature: it’s got to be Basketball Monkey. For sure. That thing was damn cute.

Favourite location: the courtroom and the DA’s office. Courtroom scenes are always my favorite, for whatever reason, and I like the style of Casey’s office in particular. Very professional, and lots of books. I will also never forget the one time we went to Casey’s apartment.

Trope you wish they would stop using: Saint Benson. I just- it put me off of the show among other things, and I honestly don’t like it. Also, I don’t know if it counts as a trope, and obviously it doesn’t exist in current seasons, but Stabler losing his shit with the ADAs pisses me off. He does it way more than the other detectives and it winds me up. 

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: nowadays? Nothing, that’s for sure. In older seasons, however, I’d say things were more original compared to what I see on TV toady. It’s less soapy and more “hardcore”, with the different episodes tackling different issues. One of my favorite episodes in this sense is Alien, which I definitely recommend because it tackles sexuality as does Closet. Influence and Blinded are also rather good when it comes to mental illness, and Raw is fairly good with, like, addressing racial supremacy etc.

Funniest moments: that one time Casey made a house call to a judge and stumbled upon him playing a game of poker with, like, four other judges. That scene is forever etched into my mind and cracks me up every time I even think about it.

Couple you would like to see: probably Munch/Fin. Don’t know why, but it’d be them for sure. Out of the current cast I’d probably pick Amanda/Olivia, just because. 

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: I would personally love to see an appearance from some of the previous NCIS cast members? I have no clue as to why, I just would. 

Favourite outfit: this is going to sound so dorky, but I’d love all of Casey’s wardrobe? From her casual clothes to her work outfits a lot of the stuff she wears is stuff I’d totally go out in. In fact, a lot of my school wardrobe is inspired by her work clothes so I’m already making some headway there. Shame I can’t walk in heels though.

Favourite item: it’s a clothing item so I guess it counts, but Casey’s “Sex Crimes” softball jersey. (I think it’s a softball jersey?) It’s the cutest and I love the colors. I also lowkey want her tan briefcase/satchel from, like, S5/6. 

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: I own Seasons 1-12 on DVD but, other than that, depressingly no because I live outside of the US and the NBC store doesn’t ship to me. (The bastards.) I’d kill - like literally murder someone - for their official SVU hoodie. And there is a poster on Amazon I’m considering getting for my wall, although where on my wall I’ll put it I have no idea.

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: my favorite team is from Seasons 5-8: Novak, Benson, Stabler, Munch, Fin, Cragen, Warner and Huang. (Plus the others like O’Halloran, Judy and Morales.)

Most boring plotline: even though I love Kathy, generally anything involving Elliot’s marriage. Like dear lord there was so much drama there. I also wasn’t a fan of the Dani Beck episodes - I was pretty impartial to her as a character but for some reasons the episodes lacked a little more than usual.

Most laughably bad moment: no clue, sadly my memory isn’t doing well today.

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: I don’t typically remember anything before S5 or anything after S9 so if there weren’t any flashbacks in those seasons then I don’t have one and if there were then I don’t remember them lol. I’m terrible I know.

Most layered character: I am a biased piece of shit so obviously I’m going to say Casey! From what I’ve seen a lot of people tend to just paint her as one dimensional and arrogant, but there’s actually a lot more to her character and it’s dropped in through certain lines in certain episodes, and of course then there are episodes where you find out more about her - Influence and Blinded are key to getting the most out of her past. I love when they explore her conflicts with mental illness, and how she still feels guilt regarding what happened with her ex, Charlie. 

And then there are episodes like Gone where you get to see more of her emotional side and you realize how hard she tries and how personally she takes her cases etc. There are other things too, often dropped in little pieces of dialogue, but you get just enough about her to paint a picture but not so much that she becomes uninteresting if you know what I mean. I love her, personally, and think there’s so much more to her than just supposed arrogance etc.

Most one dimensional character: from what I’ve seen of current seasons, I’d say Benson and arguably Barba. 

Scariest moment: I don’t know about scariest, but the scene that always has me on the edge of my seat (or rather hunched over my laptop in bed) is when Casey gets attacked in Night; the same goes for the courtroom shooting in Raw. Creepiest scene? Definitely the one in Signature where they go to a serial killer’s torture chamber and it’s just very horrific. Well, not so much for me after the initial viewing because stuff like that honestly fascinates me, I won’t lie, but out of all the scenes I’ve scene it’s definitely one that stands out. There’s also a scene in Streetwise where Elliot shows autopsy photos to a suspect and one is of a little girl with her eyes gouged out and face slit from ear to ear. It’s a very horrifying frame if you pause it at the right moment.

Grossest moment: usually any time Warner (or someone else) does something involving blood/organs/whatever, because I’m a tad bit squeamish. One instance I can think of right now is in Serendipity when she extracts a tube from inside a man’s arm. Makes me shudder a little. 

Best looking male: honestly they all look the same to me. Probably O’Halloran? 

Best looking female: Casey Novak but S8 Olivia is very beautiful too.

Who you’re crushing on (if any): current cast? Nobody. From the show overall? Definitely Casey, though I’m pretty sure anyone reading this saw that coming.

Favourite cast moment: as in offscreen? Because there was this one time where Diane Neal did, like, a mini tour of the set and it was simultaneously the cutest and funniest thing I’ve seen. So probably that.

Favourite transportation: I lowkey love when everyone gets into their cars and all of the sirens go on and a car chase ensues. 

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): probably the end of Screwed because it’s all shot very beautifully. But I also like the overhead shot in Influence where Liv and Casey are on an upper floor in the courthouse looking down at the defendant and a gaggle of reporters.

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: usually I don’t pay enough attention to notice. One that I’ve seen others take issue with is when Casey reappeared in S12 and there was a debate about whether or not she was censured or disbarred and what was going on there, but it’s the only thing that springs to mind and it wasn’t like a big thing.

Best promo: there was one that got me back into SVU when I was a little younger, and I don’t remember what season the promo was for but I remember they played This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars in the promo because I spent weeks trying to find the song afterwards and watched the promo every time it came on the TV like it was a full episode.

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: last May when I rewatched it was when I properly fell in love with it again, at least enough to watch it multiple times, buy 12 of the DVDs and follow a bunch of blogs on Tumblr.