#and the whole team as a ship's crew

[puzzlevision]

the episode didnt broke me, i broke the episode

[grimvestige]

🌹 for Lillian!

AHHH SORRY THIS TOOK ME 8 MILLION YEARS TO GET TO!! (I still wanna get to those other outfit requests from folks too I just got slapped really hard by mental and physical health and drawing motivation for a bit)

Anywho! Soft OC Ask!

🌹 Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? Is there any reason why? If it’s not the place they were born, where were they born? Is there a certain somebody that makes them feel at home where ever they may be? What does home mean to them?

Killian is a particularly interesting case for this question because he was a stowaway, and is still currently figuring out where he even belongs in the world. (He thinks it's kicking the ass of his older brother and proving to his family he's worthy of upholding their high-skill mercenary tradition, but as his player I'll tell you that he's wrong lol)

Killian feels the most at home when working a forge, crafting weaponry, or tending to his own. It gives him quiet time to think and focus. And, while he would never say it, he enjoys being able to contribute to the well-being and safety of the crew, and being appreciated by the ship's engineer, which isn't exactly something he got at home.

Speaking of home, he was born in Ellara! Which in the campaign setting is a country of mostly adventurers, and serves as a demilitarized zone. I haven't actually picked a particular town, since he's my backup character in case I can't play Tiarnan.

Killian probably doesn't really know what home means to him in any substantial way, if you asked him he'd give you the dictionary definition, and if pushed for a more meaningful definition then he'd probably make an excuse and leave.

Thank you for the ask~! Killian's such an inexperienced adventurer, and also pretty immature emotionally (aka pettiest bitch in the universe) so trying to drill down into more serious stuff with him is fun.

Soft OC Asks if anyone wants to submit some!

[ponett]

Any opinion on the Pokemon Gigaleak or nah?

I think seeing some of the WIP assets from when gen 3 was in development is kinda neat, because Game Freak is normally so secretive about that kind of thing. But beyond that I mostly just find this whole situation tiring.

Fans have a tendency to almost treat scrapped material as "more canon" than whatever actually made it into the finished product, in a way. It's treated as this pure, unfiltered insight into the creators' true vision. In reality, most of the time this stuff gets cut for a reason. Sometimes they very quickly realize it was a bad idea that was never gonna work, and they don't go very far with it. Sometimes it's a pitch from just one guy on the team that was never gonna get accepted. Sometimes they're just spitballing. Experimentation and iteration and knowing when to cut things are integral parts of the artistic process.

And hell, a lot of the time creators will just mess around with an idea purely as a creative exercise, or to get an idea out of their system, or to explore a crazy what-if scenario, or even just as a joke, with no intention of ever actually using those ideas. We recently saw this same thing happened with those leaked Rebecca Sugar sketches, where people were like "OMG Rebecca ships this, this is what they REALLY wanted to do with the show, this is canon, this was happening off-screen!!" And it's like, y'all have no idea how much crazy shit your favorite artists draw with their characters just to amuse themselves. The crew on Clarence had a not-so-secret Tumblr where they redrew scenes from Evangelion with Clarence characters. That doesn't mean they wanted to turn Clarence into Eva. They were just screwing around. This happens all the time, and with way more extreme examples than these. Lord knows how many Disney animators have drawn Mickey Mouse with his dick out over the years. That doesn't mean they ever actually wanted to make an official Mickey Mouse porno.

And, of course, there's the response to those myths that were never supposed to see the light of day. Anyone who's even passingly familiar with mythology from just about any part of the world shouldn't be surprised to hear fables about humans and animals having babies or whatever. But now people are responding to those unused stories and going "OMG Game Freak is a bunch of gooners who want humans and Pokemon to have sex!! This is canon!!!" It's so fucking tiring. So much of the modern internet, particularly Twitter, is driven by people who just want an excuse to whip out their favorite shocked/disgusted reaction image and ham up their reaction to something that isn't actually all that shocking. Everyone just wants to get their funny dunks in and feign moral superiority. It's childish. And it's because of reactions like this that this stuff was never supposed to see the light of day in the first place. But fans feel like they're owed every single shred of info from the development of their favorite franchises, so these leaks happen and people run wild with them.

(It also doesn't help that this is all just sourced back to a 4chan thread, so people were posting fake shit between the real leaks and muddying the waters. And also most of it is in Japanese, so people are just sticking documents through Google Translate and going "whooooaaaa this is canon")

[average-mako-enjoyer]

I recently scrolled past this one post that talked about how a certain turian was oh so important to the SR-1 crew because he was working on Mako while Kaidan and Ashley were basically doing nothing. And while I have no interest in "correcting" the author of that post, I'm pretty sure we don't talk enough about how essential Kaidan and Ashley are to the SR-1 crew.

So Ashley is filling in for Corporal Jenkins, which means she has her own unit of soldiers to command, just like she did on Eden Prime.

What does that mean in practice? She does the training, she does the physical and psychological assessments, she does the team building exercises, she writes reports for her CO. If you've ever been the leader of a small team (in Ashley's case, about 7-10 people), you know it's a hell of a job because you have to be both a babysitter and a confidant to fully grown adults who tend to get into all kinds of trouble with each other.

She also maintains the squad's weapons in her off hours, which is wow? Great job, Ash. Now go get some rest.

Kaidan is the staff lieutenant and head of the marine detail, which makes him the third most important person on the ship after the captain and the XO.

What that means in practice is that he's constantly observing and evaluating the work of all the marine personnel aboard the Normandy, working with lower-ranking officers like Ashley to determine how correct and effective their actions with their units are, determining what kind of duties and positions are best suited for each marine on board (he's definitely responsible for Anderson's decision to add Ashley to the crew), and doing the same babysitting, training, and confidant duty for not just one squad, but for every member of the marine detail.

He's also a really good tech specialist, so I bet he does a lot of calibrations on the squad's weapons, armor, and omni-tools.

So yeah, big shoutout to the most useless members of Shepard's team, who are literally responsible for keeping this whole Sarenhunting Spectre shitshow running smoothly.

[hoaxghost]

Mouthwashing has been on the mind cause the intentionality and execution of its concepts make me dive further into it than I normally would otherwise. Haven't seen as much discussion on it but one aspect I super like is the theme of children/offspring. Heavy spoiler discussion

Like there are so many parallels you can draw between Daisuke and the unborn baby. The way Daisuke was a last minute addition to the team despite the ship only having enough resources for four members (and four cryosis pods), the way he's seemingly a burden upon everyone because he's a nepotism hire whose new to the whole job, and especially the way Jimmy's selfishness kills Daisuke in the end. Like there's a reason the fetus was located in the vent system along with all the hibiscus flowers you can find scattered throughout the section. Just as how a baby is loud, disruptive, and immature, so is Daisuke in contrasting against the rest of the team with continuous optimism, much more colourful (and childish) attire, and fondness for sweets. It's worth noting he's the only one to really mention his family back home.

It's also worth noting how both Daisuke and the unborn baby had to be 'put out of their misery' by their 'parents' (Swansea being a clear father figure and well Anya is self explanatory) despite their harm/existence being caused by Jimmy. It's the way Jimmy has convinced himself that responsibility means the 'burden' of ordering others to their deaths that makes it all the more gut wrenching. He didn't want to take on the responsibility of the unborn baby- so it led to him crashing the ship and dooming everyone to their deaths. He didn't want to go in the vents to visit the med bay so he used 'captains orders' on the one person in the crew whose too naive to refuse them. Also the whole thing with Swansea too- how the old man expresses near constant frustration throughout the game with him but then its revealed its more of a frustration with himself and his difficult relationship with taking responsibility with his family back home. How much easier it is to fall into hedonistic pessimistic alcoholism and involve his intern when faced with 99.99% guaranteed doom. At the end, it's too late for him to change anything. The only thing left he can do is to put Daisuke out of his misery cause he let his intoxication be manipulated by Jimmy. There are other facets to Daisuke's personality too I think are interesting to explore but those are more fitting for a different post... stares off into the fake sunset sky...

[pinkiemachine]

Alright @newtonnote ! This one’s for you!

STORYTIME!! (spoilers)

So, starting off, forming this new team was Tim’s idea. The OG Teen Titans had been drifting apart for a while, Cyborg was a member of the Justice League, and it looked as though the whole “Teen Titans” thing was gonna be shelved indefinitely until Tim came along with the idea for the old crew to form Young Justice instead, and he would reboot the TT.

Now, the first TT was not sanctioned. It was a spontaneous thing that happened more or less behind Batman’s back, but this time around, the Justice League had more of a say in the matter. Hence, all the sidekicks.

At the beginning of the NTT run, the only members are: Tim/Robin (founding member), Spoiler (invited herself), Miss Martian (Martian Manhunter volunteered her), Aqualad II (Aquaman volunteered him), and Wonder Girl II (volunteered by Wonder Woman). All the Justice Leaguers think it’ll be a good bonding and training experience for them, because they’re all a bunch of anti-social/socially awkward beans in their own ways. Tim likes the idea of leading the NTT, but soon realises he just might prefer working alone (if you want something done right, do it yourself) but he’s stuck in this situation now, so there’s not much he can do about it! XD Miss Martian is from Mars and she’s still learning all about every day teenagering, and can get very nervous about fitting in and can’t stand when she messes up. Wonder Girl (who I decided will only be called Olympia AFTER her time as Wonder Girl II) is a homeschooled girly (or, she *was* while her mother was an archeologist) but now she’s being forced out of her comfort zone and having to make friends for her stupid mental health, or whatever Wonder Woman said she had to do… meh… It’s not like she doesn’t want friends, it’s just that it’s so much work to make new ones. Then there’s Aqualad. He’s an interesting case, because no one else can seem to really understand him. He’s quiet, painfully practical, and almost emotionless. He doesn’t really do “chit chat” or “making friends.” He’s simply here following orders from Aquaman, and trying to be a “good soldier.” Steph/Spoiler is the only person keeping them all together.

The team’s first mission is in Atlantis, something super small scale that Aquaman picked out for them—almost laughably easy stuff. But while they’re in the underwater city, they happen to get their fortunes told by a fortune-teller lady. She says that someone in their team will betray them. Dun dun dun.

Not very long after that, the NTT get an alert that there’s a meteor headed straight into the ocean nearby! When they go to investigate, turns out it’s not a meteor, but a space ship. Inside, they find Kon El. He’s taken back to the Hall of Justice for questioning and other such scrutiny, but questions abound. (This happens after the Death of Superman, and Kara and Krypto are in outer space taking care some other stuff, which Batman thinks is suspicious timing.) So, without the only other Kryptonians around to verify this new guy’s legitimacy, they have to rely on his word and a DNA test for the time being. Kon-El claims that he was just one of the few lucky survivors after the end of Krypton, and when he heard that Superman was living on earth, he came as quickly as he could. Imagine his surprise when he was told that Superman was dead.

With nowhere else to go, he was allowed to stay with the NTT, as he adjusted to life on Earth. Kon-El decides to take up the secret identity name of Conner, and he decides that, if he should pass the Justice League’s tests and become a beginer superhero (which he does) then he wants to be called the next Superman. But the name doesn’t stick, and everyone winds up calling him Superboy instead, which irks him. All the while, that little prophecy the team had been told is hanging in the air.

Then—BLAM—the NTT’s first major fiasco happens! BLACK MANTA. He’s come for revenge, and to reclaim… Aqualad… his son? Dun dun dun! The backstabbing, just as it was foretold! And surprisingly, Aqualad goes with him! Now, to cut a long story short, here’s the skinny: When Aqualad (Kaldur) was a little toddler, he was present when Aquaman fought his father Black Manta, driving him away from Atlanits for a while, and accidentally killing his mother in the chaos. Aquaman felt so horrible that he decided to take Kaldur in and raise him at the palace. All the while, though, Kaldur seemed to be growing up a little… strange. Because of the shock he went into, witnessing all of that, his brain chose to react by almost shutting down all emotion. He was sleepwalking through life, too young to make sense of what had happened, and by the time he was old enough to understand, it was such a blur that he could barely remember any details. He accepted Aquaman’s hospitality, he entered the royal guard after a certain point, working his way up to becoming Aqualad, but through it all, the only reason he was doing it was because he was told to. He was told to learn to fight, because he was told he had an aptitude for it. He was told he could become Aqualad, so he accepted. And so on. But he never had any agency in those decisions. Life was happening to him. Around him. Never inside him. So when Black Manta came, telling him to leave the NTT and join him instead, Kaldur accepted.

Eventually, after a long and meaningful journey, the NTTs are able to get through to Kaldur, and essentially “wake him up.” For the first in his life, he was going to choose what he wanted to do, and what he wanted to do was protect his friends and his home from Black Manta. Double-double-cross! So Aqualad comes back to the NTT, Black Manta’s defeated, the prophecy (we presume) has come to pass, and Kaldur is actually a little excited to continue his journey with his new friends.

After that… I haven’t decided whose story is next, so we’ll leave that space blank for the moment, but I know whose story comes third! After the grande finale of (whoever, either Wonder Girl or Miss Martian) their story, there’s suddenly a time travel anomaly! A certain someone with big hair comes tumbling out of the time-stream—and it’s BART! aka IMPULSE!

So the next arc is all about Bart. He’s come back in time to warn the Justice League to prevent a horrible future from happening! One where planet Earth was invaded by an alien race called The Reach. Only problem is, not long after arriving, the Reach themselves travel back in time and try to capture Bart! They grab him, and are about to time travel back to the future, when the rest of the NTT grab onto them and stow away, sending them all beyond the Justice League’s help.

The Reach timeline is a grim existence. They invaded sneakily at first, posing as allies, but over time, they revealed their true colours. They were a nomad society, flying in one massive ship around the galaxy after their home planet was destroyed, going from planet to planet gathering resources. When they got to Earth, they discovered more than just water and minerals and crops… they discovered human beings, and their “Meta Gene.” No other known races in the universe possess this seemingly magic gene that grants superpowers, and once the Reach realised its true potential… they couldn’t just leave well enough alone. They schemed and they lied and they manipulated the human race so easily, they fell within a matter of years, and once they were in control, they started the Meta Human black market, where they would study Meta “Specimens” and/or sell them to other unsavoury alien races.

Where was the Justice League? Why didn’t they do anything? Batman was the first to suspect them, long before things turned bad. However, during his investigation, he was discovered by the Reach, and he was silenced. One by one, they found ways to lure, trick, manipulate, or just plain overpower many heroes, such as Superman and Wonder Woman, but they didn’t just kill them. No, no. Their central hubs were known as Mothercities. Entirely technofitted, entirely run by AI, entirely for the purpose of breading and raising and harvesting humans. The AI at the helm was a super advanced AI named Arcturus. The thing that made him so advanced was that he didn’t rely on normal computers for hardware and processing power. The Reach, as a whole, prefer biotech, and so what Arcturus used instead… was the human mind itself. By harvesting even a few dozen human beings, a massively powerful AI could be sustained, and the more minds you add, the bigger, badder, and faster it gets. Arcturus loooooved Batman and Wonder Woman’s minds, so full of processing power and knowledge about the planet, and the Reach were enthralled with studying Superman’s Kryptonian biology, being a member of an endangered species and all. Soon, they had built the Byway, a massive space station in Earth’s orbit, specifically for the black market’s selling and buying, and through it all, the Green Lanterns were nowhere in sight. Leaving Earth to believe they had been abandoned.

Over time, things just kept getting worse and worse. The superheroes kept on fighting, but with every victory came two losses. Then some of the Reach’s AI programs began going rampant. Some went straight up crazy, bombing as many locations as they could, or blasting themselves into space. Others changed allegences, to other countries or to the Resistance, but the most powerful—Arcturus chief among them—remained loyal to the Reach. All in all, it left Earth a tattered mess. To top it all off, Starfire, Princess of Tamaran, died trying to protect Earth, and the Tamaraneans were so livid… well… They called it “Skyfall.” A mixture of starbolts and space debris sent falling down onto the planet’s surface. Many Reach cities were destroyed… but many bases belonging to the Resistance were also hit.

Countless heroes were either harvested or killed during the years this took place over, but the few who remained made Atlantis their final stronghold. Including The Flash’s son, Don Allen, and his son, Bart Allen. Now, sadly, even though Bart was young, he was tasked with being a member of the American Meta Human Army due to the fact that he had a superpower. This would prove to be a terrible mistake, because during Skyfall, where Bart was present trying to evacuate refugees, he slipped up, and was captured by a Reach Harvester. For an entire year, he was plugged in to Arcturus’ mainframe, and boy did Arcturus love having a mind that could think so fast. He loved it so much that when Don Allen and a rescue team came to break Bart out, he swore that he would do everything in his power to get Bart back.

From that time on, Bart was not required to fight. Instead, he stayed with his father and his father’s cousin, Wally West, who were on the verge of a breakthrough. Time Travel, using the Speedforce. If this worked, they could undo everything. Fix Earth. Save their loved ones. Don and Bart were charged with the task of going back in time and warning the Justice League, but only Bart made it through. Don stayed behind to fend off a surprise attack from a group of Harvesters. Bart alone traveled to the past, where he met the New Teen Titans and the Justice League. But of course, after capturing Don Allen, a fellow speedster, the Reach were eventually able to figure out how to use the Speedforce for time travel as well, and used it to go after Bart.

Back to where we left off in the story:

Everyone was sucked into the Reach Timeline, and the NTT found themselves in a Mothercity, completely outmatched. Miss Martian and Aqualad were harvested almost instantly, Robin and Wonder Girl got caught shortly after that, and the only members who were able to escape into the lower levels of the city were Superboy, Spoiler, and Bart, who might have been able to prevent all of that from happening… if he hadn’t been so afraid. Ever since coming out of Arcturus, he’d been different, and mortally terrified of technology—any kind of technology. Now, though, if they were going to rescue their friends and get back to the present, he would need face his greatest fear one more time.

Now, I’ve thought about this story so much, and written so much down, I could go on for another 40 pages, but I’ll spare you each and every minute detail.

Yes, they rescue their friends eventually. They wind up breaking out of the Mothercity and joining the Resistance back in Atlantis. There’s a big final battle against the Reach and Arcturus—they go up into space and discover that the Green Lanterns hadn’t abandoned them, the Reach had simply been holding planet Earth hostage and forming a blockade, severely limiting what the Green Lanterns could and couldn’t do, and keeping them at arm’s length for years, though they were trying everything they could think of to save Earth. But now, things had changed. Sneaking the Green Lanterns onto the planet, the fight was finally fair, and they were about to beat Arcturus once and for all…

But then he pulled out one last dirty trick. He put his AI consciousness into a chip in Don Allen’s mind, effectively controlling him and using him to go back in time to prevent Bart from ever being rescued in the first place. The NTT chased him down through the timestream, but in the end, they realised that there was only one way to stop him. Only one way to stop a speedster. Bart looked away when it happened.

When they finally returned to the present, Bart was with them (their only means of returning to their time) and he was forced to keep living… but he couldn’t bear to remember everything. So he asked for his memories to be wiped. Thus began his new life with the NTT, as a new Bart Allen. (But those memories weren’t completely gone…)

Then begins Superboy’s arc. In the days following their little “time travel adventure,” Conner had been acting strange. He’d been disappearing a lot too. Eventually, it was discovered that Conner was secretly working with Lex Luthor. When the NTT found out, they were shocked. Conner had been a little wild and a little aggressive, but he was their friend. They told jokes, they stayed up late talking, they saved each other’s lives over and over again, and… now that his secret was out, he wanted them to know that he was sorry… but he couldn’t say no to his father. Lex.

Conner had been made in a lab, using spliced DNA from Superman and Lex Luthor. Superman’s powers + Lex Luthor’s brains. After countless failures, finally Conner was born. He was trained and “programmed” (as Lex called it) to covertly get close to the Justice League, learn their weaknesses, and ultimately be the force that brought them down from the inside. Then, Lex would frame it as though the Justice League had gone rogue, and his invention—his synthetic Heroes for Hire—had saved the day. Not only would HIS version of Superman become famous, he’d also get rich. But Conner… he was a lot more human than Lex ever gave him credit for. Ever since being born, all Conner wanted was some kind of affection from his father, but Lex made it very clear that he was not, and would never be, Conner’s father. Lex was Conner’s creator. His manufacturer. Conner was a product. Property. Nothing more. But secretly, Conner still wanted to impress him and please him, so he went along with his mission eagerly.

While he was away, he learned about Superman, his “other father.” He was crushed when he discovered he was dead, because for a moment he had thought that maybe he would be able to find a father figure in him instead… but it was not to be. Instead, he often found himself sitting alone in front of the Superman memorial statue at the Hall of Justice, talking to it for hours. Filling him in on how his life was going… imagining what it would be like to have a real dad… most of all, he told him about his new friends, and how… he didn’t want to betray them, but he didn’t want to betray Luthor more. He was sure that if he completed his mission, he’d get what he was after.

Flash forward, and the NTT were captured for discovering Conner’s secret, and the plan to take down the Justice League was in place, about to begin, and Conner looked to Luthor, hoping to hear some kind of encouragement, only to be reminded that he was just property. He did as he was told by Luthor, or he would be terminated and replaced by anther clone. But the cherry on top was when Luthor presented something to Connor. A Blue Scarab Beetle. The AI powered supersuit parasite that the Reach use to enslave their mightiest warriors. How did Luthor get his hands on this one? Conner had no idea, but the fact that Luthor wanted to use it on Conner… that was what finally convinced him that Luthor really wasn’t ever going to care about him, let alone love him. Now, thankfully the Scarab didn’t activate when presented to Conner, so that idea was a bust, but Luthor still had control over Conner with a kill-switch he could flip at any moment, so Superboy was forced to continue with the plan, fearing that there was nothing he could do. He really was nothing more than property. He was half of Lex Luthor, a villain, and he was about to do the unthinkable to his friends because of it.

That’s when Superman came back. The full story takes place with the Justice League, but there’s a crossover here. Superman comes back, totally scaring the living daylights out of Lex and foiling his plan, and in the end, he convinces Conner to join the light side by promising to protect him from anything Luthor would try to do to him. He was a good person inside, and he had people he cared about, and wanted to protect. Superman just helped bring out that side of him. When all was said and done, Luthor was defeated, and Conner’s kill-switch was destroyed. He was free to actually live. He was so excited to do all the things he thought he’d never be able to do, and to keep his friends! Most of all, he was excited to learn from his “big brother” Superman (though to himself, he still thought of Supes as a father) and he couldn’t wait to start making up for all the bad stuff he did. He didn’t care what he had to do to make things right—he was just happy he had the chance to! And of course, there was his budding relationship with Miss Martian… two awkward little alien beans…

So those are the most fleshed out stories I’ve got, but beyond that, Tim and Steph are a power couple—he’s the dark, she’s the light, he’s the calm, she’s crazy, and they’re amazing together. Wonder Girl II I’m still thoroughly exploring and learning about her character, and Miss Martian goes through a whole identity crisis as she tries to determine who she wants to be, because she’s spent her whole life trying to please other people, and be the girl they wanted her to be. Conner helps her discover herself on her journey.

I hope that wasn’t too much info… sorry if I buried you a little… but trust me…. this is the condensed version. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

[threeacttragedy]

Entry 19: The One Where I Perform Mis-Directed as a Three Act Comedy, Act II

“Before you started the bumpers cars act, for the record unless you’re eight years old trying to make your dolls kiss, smashing your teeth together is not an ideal approximation of romance.”

“And [Hattie’s] gaze fell to [Anthony’s], felt as if somehow it was attached to his, as if there were filaments between them hooking together every time their glances connected.”

“Maybe there had already been the faintest glimmer of this horrifying attachment even then. His first steps on a map to a very unexpected destination but somehow it still felt as if there’d been no warning at all. As if a thousand insignificant moments and incidents had quietly woven together until one day he’d turned and he’d fallen and he’d been caught by a net of those impossibly unbreakable threads which he hadn’t realized existed.”

“…[Anthony] was not a touchy-feely person… But when he and Hattie, when their characters had kissed each other into the wall, he’d almost purred against her like a damn cat.”

“It was a closed set this morning so thankfully a very minimal number of crew personnel…On the flip side, the team reserved this level of set closure, basically a skeleton crew, for only the most explicit scenes and semi-nudity.”

“But she never had to worry in the past about being more involved in the dance than she ought to be. Not once had she arranged herself in a castmate’s arms and felt as if they were doing something truly, genuinely intimate…"

“Quite clearly the issue here was her scene partner and the potential for an amped up repeat of what had happened last time. Hard nipples, damp thighs, and a heart trying to burst out of her chest, all from a fully clothed screen kiss. This time, they’d both be all but naked, writhing on a bed, gasping, grinding, sighing.”

“This mattress feels very sturdy.”

“The moment Iris bounces him into the mattress in episode 8..."

“If millions of people were going to watch her ride Anthony like a mechanical bull…”

“Stevie pointed at the ornate mirror near the bed. Her gesture a spectacular symphony of sarcasm. ‘As your pre-seduction routine appears to involve a great deal of hair flicking and smokey glances at yourself, have at it.’”

“Are you looking for something?”

“‘Falling buckets,’ Hattie said. ‘Or collapsing bedframes or beams coming loose…’”

“…when the floorboard beneath [Anthony’s] boot performed a preemptive strike. The wood tilted inwards, just enough to throw off his footing…and his full body weight surged forward. She could see later in hindsight that he had attempted to both shield her head and not crush her underneath him…"

“Anthony landed on his knees with a painful grunt but had barely hit the floor before he was at her side, touching the back of her head and her shaking shoulders. She just had time to register a little too much cool air on the backs of her thighs, then he was smoothing her skirts down protecting what remained of her dignity in an automatic gesture.”

“’Gentle, this bit,’ [Stevie] said. “Romantic, soft.”

“But in the ways that mattered, especially in the context of an intimate scene and the scripts that they all dreaded most, he’d been surprising. If she wanted to expand into the territory of actual truth, he’d been the most confusing, unsettling, and fun scene partner she’d had in four years.”

“They were still holding hands. They realized this simultaneously and let go immediately.”

“’She’s my baby,’ [Cassidy] explained as she turned the key in the ignition. ��The first thing I ever treated myself to with my own money, and she’s been with me for the whole crazy ride.’ She patted the gear box fondly. ‘I could never part with Penelope.’”

When discussing the underdog love story on Leicester Square, Hattie commented, “If she were a viewer, she’d be shipping them hard.”

While Anthony and Hattie were looking at gravestones, one caught Hattie’s eye…

“The dates here coincided with the time period of Leicester Square… Below the words was a symbol of a V-shaped flying dove. At first glimpse, it strongly resembled two raised fingers.”

While reminiscing about growing up, Hattie recalled, “...her mother reading aloud to her from a battered old copy of The Magic Faraway Tree.”

“’Do you remember the day we first met,’ [Hattie] asked suddenly."

“In all honesty, no. His early days on various TV and film sets had all blurred into an archived jumble of long hours, interchangeable costars, despised hotel living. As difficult as it was to imagine now, he had no distinct memory of the very first time he had ever seen Hattie. Although, he might have a vague recollection of earrings shaped like miniature garden gnomes. He did, however, have a crystal-clear memory of the first time he’d actually seen Hattie with all that the emphasis on that word implied.”

“She’d obviously read the ‘no’ in his expression, and her smile widened.”

“’It was a Tuesday morning at Malvern Abbey.’”

“And now she felt excessively wrong sharing close whispering breaths with Patrick especially with Anthony sitting on a folding chair a few meters behind the camera awaiting his queue to slip in for the daydream portion of the scene, and currently watching their every move. His pose was typically lazy, one boot crossed over the other, his fingers tapping on the arm of the chair, but he hadn’t looked away from them once. Something in his demeanor had the usually easy-going Patrick antsy as hell, probably the twitching eyelid.”

“’A definite improvement,’ Stevie’s voice came from behind them, very dryly. ‘And if we’d actually started shooting yet, we could probably call it a day.’”

[bookworrm1999]

How Far Away? Part 3

Caleb x Mc

Tags: unplanned pregnancy, presumed death, depression, miscommunication

Summary: Mc and Caleb fight right before he goes on a long mission into space. Caleb ends up MIA while Mc finds out she's pregnant. She struggles to deal with the grief while Caleb is fighting for his life to make it back home to her.

AO3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

Epilogue

Stopping in the hallway, he glanced out a small port window to look at the stars rushing by.

Allowing himself a small sigh in the emptiness of the long hallway.

It had been a long few months, sabotages from plants here from the higher ups, the occasional metaflux incident causing wanderers to show, but worst of all was being away from her.

Caleb looks at his right hand, made stronger by improvements after all that damage in the explosion over a year ago now.

He could take it as a reminder of everything that had been done to him.

The experiments, being treated like a weapon, desperately trying to be cold and calculating all to take attention from the one person he wanted to keep safe.

To him though, it was his reminder of you. What he had sacrificed to keep you safe.

Maybe he should’ve just asked her to stay in his house the whole time he was away.

No, he shook his head a bit, that’s what had gotten him into trouble with her in the first place.

Caleb knew that he should just talk to her about everything.

But it helped his sanity to keep it all to himself, so she wouldn’t be burdened by all this knowledge.

He toed a dangerous line by keeping you so close.

Not that refusing to talk about his relationship with her really helped anything.

It kept him from having to be vulnerable to her though.

He was supposed to be your protector, the feeling that she would leave if she saw how weak he really was when it came to her.

It left him frozen inside, the fear and anxiety too much to bear.

Caleb made himself a promise though. He had left things on a terrible note.

The first thing he would do is apologize after seeing you again. Well after a kiss or two, maybe three.

Then finally sit down to talk.

The ship shook violently out of the blue.

Warning lights and alarms started sounding through the halls.

Caleb rushed to the command center.

“Report!”

“Sir, a wanderer has spawned in the engine room. Our anti gravity thrusters on one side have been knocked out. We’re slowly being pulled to a nearby black hole. The other thrusters are still working, which is keeping us from being pulled in completely but the wanderer is on the move.”

“Send the metaflux incident team to the engine room now, Tell them that I will meet them there.”

“Yes sir.”

Turning on his heel, his coat billowing behind him, he speeds his way to the engine room.

Opening the door, he’s met with a chitinous wanderer snarling at the assembled team.

All of them armed with firearms and specially picked for their evol abilities.

The room is trashed already, if he wasn’t fast, it could destroy life support systems and then they’d really be in trouble.

That is if the black hole looming outside didn’t crush them first.

The wanderer lunged at the team of 6 people with its front legs outstretched.

It manages to swipe one of the men’s forearms before it’s pushed back a bit by a slew of bullets.

Caleb had had enough, using his evol, he stops the wanderer in its tracks.

Doing this took more energy but he saunters over and shoots it straight into the core 2 times.

Letting it go, it slumps to the floor, spent.

Some blood splattering on him but he pays no mind as he casually wipes it off with his handkerchief.

“Salvage it.” He orders, not giving the flabbergasted team a chance to respond.

Caleb quickly left and called the engine crew to come and try to repair the thrusters.

But nothing came through.

“Report!”

Nothing.

Sensing something was gravely wrong, he storms into the command center.

A flurry of activity is happening as no one can contact anyone on the ship over coms.

“What’s the situation?”

“Colonel!”

Someone rushes over, breathing hard.

“In the chaos of you being gone, someone has sabotaged our communications relay for long range and ship wide. All of our escape pods have been ejected with the manual override in the shuttle bay and then escaped in the explorer shuttle!”

Damn it.

He brings his fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he asks

“What’s our status on getting communications back up?”

“That’s the other thing sir, all of the containers of spare parts have been ejected.”

He smiles slowly to himself.

“So this was planned well in advance. They took advantage of the happenstance of me taking care of the wanderer.”

Usually he left the containment of those incidents to the metaflux team but the severity of it happening in the engine room led him to intervene.

They were truly fucked. These types of incidents needed to be reported, then help could be sent but with the communications relay out.

Unless they could magically find a way to fix the thrusters without new parts, they were going to be slowly pulled into the black hole.

Slowly crushed as all the oxygen left the environment, a slow and painful death.

Unless.

Well, they didn’t account for Caleb being a crazy bastard.

This wouldn’t be like that time at the academy when he just thought it might be ok to die after his test flight malfunctioned and sent him to deepspace.

He had to get home to you.

His evol was gravity based after all.

A black hole is a gravity well and all Caleb needed to do was create his own gravity well opposite of the black hole.

Using the remaining thrusters they had, he could slowly pull them away from the counter gravity’s influence. It would be achingly slow, grueling and exhausting.

Caleb didn’t know if the food stores would hold out or if any other systems would slowly turn off due to the existing damage.

He didn’t even know if he would last long enough to pull them out.

But he would do it to get home to her.

HER:

The camera turns on

You come into view of the camera holding a piece of photo paper.

“Hi baby! Oh I guess you should be saying that not me, haha. Anyways look!”

You hold up the small piece of photo paper, black and white with a small white blob in the middle.

“That’s our baby! Isn’t it cute? Well it looks more like a jellybean then a baby at this point but I still find it cute!”

You hold up your fingers to indicate the size, the size of a lentil.

“It’s really tiny right now, I’m only 6 weeks. I asked for a photo copy of this because I wanted something tangible. Especially for you, so that way you can keep it when you come home.”

Your head drops a bit, absentmindedly rubbing your firm stomach.

“I really miss you, it’s really hard doing this alone. I’m sick a lot right now and I lost a bit of weight before I realized what was going on.

Don’t worry though! Zayne helped me and I’m seeing an OB now. So I’m eating again.”

You point your finger towards the camera

“That does not mean that I need to be in bed rest when you get home. You hear me? This is normal for pregnancy. Well not the weight loss but the being sick.”

Sighing deeply

“I miss you so much, but I know you’ll be home in 3 months and a week. I’ve got this little bean to keep me company in the meantime. I’ll see you later Caleb.”

The camera turns off.

4 weeks pass, writing little messages to Caleb all the while.

The smell of meat cooking is horrible to me now, what am I going to do?! I want your braised chicken and pork when you come home!

My pants are getting a bit tight. I haven’t told my work that I’m pregnant yet. I’m waiting till I’m 12 weeks but my uniform pants just suck right now!

Maybe I could use a hair band?

Well my boobs are a little bigger now, you’d be happy about that. They’re super sore though so don’t even think about manhandling me!

I’m so tired all the time! It’s hard to go out and do work now. And don’t even start on my working! Pregnant women work all the time safely. Granted my work is pretty dangerous sometimes.

I just know if I tell them, they’ll put me on desk work.

I can’t do that right now, being busy keeps me sane while you’re gone.

I went to your house this weekend to grab some of your clothes. They fit so much nicer and they smell like you too.

I can just see your chest puffing out in male pride.

Yeah yeah, yuck it up.

I really wish you were here. I want to talk to you, cuddle up to you in bed and just be together.

I’m sorry we fought right before you left.

I’m sorry.

The camera turns on

“Caleb! The baby looks like a baby now! They did my ten week scan and it’s got little arms and legs now!

Oh don’t worry, I have the picture right here and a recording of the heartbeat. Ugh, sorry, my hormones just make me cry even when I’m happy.”

You wipe your eyes and display the newest ultrasound to the camera like the proud mama bear you were becoming.

A tiny white blob with little arms and legs.

“I think I can play the heartbeat off of my watch, hold on… there!”

The sound of a fast little heartbeat comes out and you start tearing up again.

“Caleb… Caleb, I wish you were here to do all of this with me.”

You sniff and dry your tears furiously, looking at the camera with a glare now.

“You better come home to me.”

The camera turns off.

3 months have passed since he left, your pregnancy is 15 weeks along now. You had been correct when you said that you’d be placed on desk duty as soon as you made your pregnancy known at work.

Xavier had goggled at you in disbelief, but Tara and everyone else were very happy for you. They wanted to ask you about the father, you could tell but they just gave you inquiring looks every now and again.

It was reaching lunch time as you finished reviewing a report someone had submitted recently.

You had been turned into the captain’s assistant somehow.

Stretching up, you noticed some unfamiliar colored uniforms out of the corner of your eyes.

Wait a minute, those are fleet uniforms! What are they doing here?

Your heart sank into the pit of your stomach.

You watched with bated breath as they caught someone, asking a question before your coworker pointed straight at you.

Oh no. Please.

Two officers walked over to your desk and asked for your name, you confirmed and they handed over a small box.

“As Colonel Caleb’s emergency contact and beneficiary, I regret to inform you that he has been reported as missing in action.”

You sit in stunned silence. They continue on.

“We can’t give too many details but a survivor of the disaster made it back a few days ago on board an escape shuttle, reporting the loss of the colonel and the rest of the crew.”

A strangled sob makes it out of your throat, you look down at the small box in your hands.

“These are the documents left behind for you, granting you access to his estate and trust. The house and everything else he owned is yours.”

You didn’t want this, you wanted Caleb.

Caleb was gone.

You slipped out of your chair, it rolling behind you as you lost all strength in your knees. Sobs coming out of you in frantic gasps.

The officers look uncomfortable as they left you with one last bit of information.

“There will be results of an investigation delivered to you at a later time, the colonels lawyers card is in the box. Good day.”

They left you there on the floor.

World shattered and a baby in your womb from a man you’d never see again.

Tags: @moonberry69 @supermyeon22 @tinnyrabbit @gavin3469 @marina27826 @crowleysthings @tabi-callico @midiplier @rosalyne08 @his-ocean-emissary

[vldunchartedregions]

Voltron Season 8 Meta Introduction

Hi! Welcome to "Uncharted Regions."

Now that it's been several years since Voltron Season 8 came out, the news of Netflix's removal of the series on December 14th, 2024 shook the fandom and pop culture as a whole.

You may be wondering... 1) Huh?! 2) Why?! It's a Netflix Original! 3) I loved this show, I don't understand! I was the same, too. We were all a little confused. However, licensing rights were ending to Netflix and Netflix doesn't want to renew. Fair play.

As someone who worked in a corporate company who also provides live streaming services + has a degree in television production, I have a better understanding of the executive decisions at play that comes down to it. It was not too hard to decipher why when you know what went on in the trenches of the Voltron fandom from 2016-2018.

The bottom line is that Netflix marketing did not match the source material provided, and there was intensive discourse across multiple facets of the fandom. You can imagine Netflix were not fans of the outcome of the series, and may not have even been told by Dreamworks the outcome of the series when Season 8 dropped; especially when Netflix's global social media accounts openly admitted to shipping Klance on Twitter.

Regardless, we're not looking at who's to blame, but you do have to wonder how such a large international miscommunication between Netflix, Dreamworks, and Voltron's IP holders went down the corporate funnel.

...I digress, let's move on.

As many people did from the news of it's removal (which also surprised the official Voltron accounts), I got back into the Voltron fandom really quickly and tried to rewatch as much as I could before it's inevitable removal from Netflix.

I haven't touched this show in years, friends. Not since 2020. The rewatch showed me one thing: that this show is breathtaking, stunning, and at it's core - it represented change. It's truly one of it's kind. To have the crew from Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra working on it on such a high level? Hell, there was an MFE pilot spin off in the works.

There was a lot of promising stories to tell with new outcomes and twists with a classic IP such as Voltron. It was promising a new future and fresh takes with comics, games, and so much more.

Now, alike to most viewers, I was there when Season 8 dropped. Hell, I was at the NYCC 2018 panel where they gave out these posters (which will be VERY relevant to this meta, I assure you):

The hype of Voltron Season 8 lead to a FULL panel that got closed off mid-way in the line. Many fans flew from across the globe (including myself) to get a glimpse of the showrunners, cast & crew, and a unique slice of the pie into Voltron Season 8's trailer.

The excitement was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before in a fandom. It was extremely thrilling, the trailer was outstanding, and Season 8 wasn't too far away.

First shown at New York City Comic Con 2018, get a look at the #Voltron production team's take on the upcoming final season of Voltron Legendary Defender, streaming on @Netflix tomorrow!

Then Season 8 dropped on Netflix... December 14th, 2018.

It was jarring. There were plot points that made no sense, obvious edits to scenes, censorships like a One Piece 4Kids dub, characters cut and pasted into scenes, and storylines were slapped together like a messy sandwich. And it was incredibly obvious too.

The fandom noticed and reacted accordingly - asking questions and demanding answers left, right, and centre. The showrunners responded through podcasts and statements on various levels.

The answer was clear... their vision wasn't the only vision going into the show:

"You know, as we sort of got through the process of premise, script, it went all the way down the line. It got storyboarded. And then at some point, you know, we received pushback from the studio and you know, we were sort of a little confused, like, “hey, how did it go, like, so far down the line before we received pushback?” And you know, this is not like a, like, a vilifying of DreamWorks or anything, like, every exec that we ever interacted with was, it was like, “hey, we understand why you want to tell this story. We understand where you’re coming from. It’s a little bit bigger than that. You know, there’s-there’s other, sort of, controlling parties with Voltron which makes it unique. It’s not just a DreamWorks-owned property.” And it just–I think logistically it just got really, really weird."

Joaquim Dos Santos - Afterbuzz TV interview. Source: https://dragonofyang.tumblr.com/post/183820127648/abtv-mar-4-transcript

---

Fans promptly started a petition two days later to release the original Season 8. THAT'S how obvious the editing was and how obvious the deterred, original vision had become.

As a disappointed fan and someone who studied media analysis intrinsically for university, I did try to rewatch back then, and it was painful to watch. What happened? There were layers of context on the cutting room floor and scenes didn't make sense. Hell, each episode title always has a double layered meaning, and even those layers were stripped from the core of the episodes for the most part. This left fans to say, "Whaaaaat is going ON?" The entire fandom was hurt by what had occurred.

The cast & crew that were also unaware of these story changes were also quite hurt, too. To make it more apparent, the showrunners were pretty open on speaking about leaving the project as well on the Buzzfeed Aftershow Podcast, but they simply couldn't:

LM: It’s not-it’s not just like, “Oh I can’t afford my mortgage!” You know, we have a crew that we care about we brought onto this show. If we abandoned them, we-we don’t know what’s in store for them. We don’t know, do they get to stay on? Do they get to keep their jobs? Does someone else come on and then they’re working under someone else that they didn’t sign up for? Or–

JDS: Or they’re working under someone else that’s just gonna be like, “Alright, we’re just gonna finish the show and not really do right by the rest of it.”

Lauren Montgomery & Joaquim Dos Santos - Afterbuzz TV interview. Source: https://dragonofyang.tumblr.com/post/183820127648/abtv-mar-4-transcript

---

We all wanted answers, and sure, some members of the team did speak up - but it didn't provide clear answers on what was the go with Season 8 being edited so far into post-production.

Now, this blog isn't dedicated to restoring Season 8 to it's original format (that would be lovely, but we have to be realistic - it has been 7 years and no google drives of the original season 8 have dropped so far). No, no.

That might happen (I've got a positive mindset on it - someone has to have a back up copy on some hard drive somewhere), or maybe it will be released... in a green sock reality.

Rather, this blog is dedicated to all the fans (new & old) whom want a sense of closure to as to why their favourite show on Netflix from 2016-2018 dropped the ball so hard for Season 8.

Not thinking much of it, I had posted a twitter thread detailing how the ending with all the lions flying off looked a little odd.

...And so, I received an anonymous inbox on New Years Day, 2025

This DM... was the start to an unravelling of webs and a rewatch that crumbled immediately. The cracks were all there.

I rewatched Season 8 with this information at hand with a few of my closest online friends, and we were shocked at how much there was to uncover. We were absolutely FLOORED by what was found, including incredible pieces of evidence from the fandom itself.

Now... Why does this matter? It's been YEARS and I'm sure we're not the first to uncover some pieces of information (See the #FreeVLDS8 movement - so, so many good finds there as a foundational point of reference).

Some of what we've uncovered in these Uncharted Regions has NOT been covered by the fandom before, nor does it scratch the surface of what's been found as of yet.

Welcome to the Uncharted Regions of Voltron Season 8.

Our aim for this meta is to acknowledge the following with detailed evidentiary support: 1. The editing of multiple episodes & scenes.

From there, we will look at the alleged changes: 2. Plot points & scenes that may or may not have had cuts. 3. Providing official-style edited shots comparisons to portray how some scenes should've looked in the original Season 8. 4. Piecing each episode / episode orders together (as best as we can) 5. The original ending.

Cheers to the beginning of a new meta, a new hope, and a new perspective on what truly happened to Voltron Season 8.

(Allegedly; for entertainment purposes only)

The one thing I humbly request is PLEASE... No hate towards the showrunners, cast, crew, or the official Voltron IP holders. There's a lot that has changed culturally and intrinsically within the industry over the years and this outcome was not something they could simply control. Let's be adults, look at this open conversation with empathy and love, and respectfully, let's indulge in this topic with grace - your feelings, however, are incredibly valid when it comes to this meta and what we uncover, as there's many alleged finds that may shock the fandom.

Let the journey commence.

Check out my Twitter page for any and all updates in regards to this insanely detailed meta; including teasers and screenshots! Please and thank you.

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Sort of a mix of exhibitionism, breeding kink, and experimentation/medical kink, but I really love the idea of hanging out in a group of friends/strangers when we all get abducted by aliens interested in humanoid reproductive and sexual capabilities. Waking up to find myself suspended and covered in some strange diodes/electrodes as some strange being prods at my body, jotting notes and making comments with little acknowledgement of me. Left immobile by the strange technology, I'm forced into presenting my wet pussy while a girl is floated over to me with her cock erect, bumping clumsily against my lips and clit until one alien finally guides her member in, and once its in they bind us together in a makeshift doggy position, looking to test how long it takes for ejaculation to occur with limited movement. Desperately trying to distract ourselves even as her swelling cock stretches me, as my pussy can't help but weep and shiver around her, until its too much, her desperately apologizing to me as her hips hump shallowly, me reassuring her as I feel her twitch, eyes on our strange captors to see how they speak with pride and fascination to each other when they see us fall over the edge of orgasm. They test all our limits with increasing interest, how much cum we produce, how much we can take, depositing fluid directly into the wombs of those subjects who have them, the endurance of each subject. They start to note different subject's tastes and preferences, that this one cums faster when struck while another responds when touched lightly and quickly with instruments until laughter is produced. The aliens are fascinated to learn that even if they are not stimulated themselves watching one of their companions be tested on, toy up their ass and down their throat and cock being milked, results in similar arousal symptoms. The trans-galactic team is especially fascinated to find that some human suspects are even interested in the aliens themselves; a whole new task force/research team is put together to test alien-humanoid breeding possibilites. One scientists finds the eggs of their own species incubate well in human stomachs and wombs, their heavy bellied subjects' caring instincts kicking in; even the most reluctant subject who refuses food begins responding positively with an alien baby in their belly. Another finds that human breast milk is the key component in a breakthrough cure for its species, quickly arranging meetings with its home research crews, a contented human in one of their sets of arm who sits placidly as they're used as a tool for presentation. Some breakthroughs don't even have a real purpose other than the scientists own fascination- one of the ship's engineers takes a liking to a specific subject, and when it's discovered that his frequencies and sustained eye contact with his eyestalks can bring a human to orgasm without physical contact, he manages to make a compromise that he gets to keep his new pet in his personal quarters so long as he contributes to the research with his ability.

.

[ptej1980]

Make it make sense…

A few blog posts ago….before this whole performance I front SM and real life. How pics and posts can change people’s view on the world. Well around of applause for British Vogue and Netflix who were Paid to Push because OMG there are some upset Polin / Bridgerton fans out there.

BV tweeted a picture with caption and nearly every comment was about why was she posted and not other cast members or why was Luke not posted by himself?

BV also did an interview with Nic and Luke about Polin but seperate. It looked weird there was nothing together, no Bridgerton cast were pictured together. I mean we know why Lukola were not put in the same room, they are magnets, and it is undeniable.

So….Netflix and British Vogue post AR. But they do not post any of the big name stars that are in the high profile shows…it does not make sense. Paid to push. AR is nothing to them, so why? When have we seen a star with a nobody girlfriend on a Netflix story and BV reel, tweet, post? I can not remember ever, I mean she has seriously never been in anything of substance to warrant any kind of publicity. So that is a bright and shiny red flag 🚩

On the 9/05 a minion again tried to update Luke’s wiki page with personal information relationship status. His team shut it down and again removed it…why, if he has launched? Make it make sense…

Through out the WT and just after his PR and Nics PR released that they were publicly single. Even st that time he was rumoured to be “dating AR” why would his team shut it down?

We know that the WT was not PR. Journalist, crew, MUA making comments about there unhinged behaviour and insane connection. No way Luke was in a relationship.

Today is BAFTAs, I do not know what to expect. I think it has been set up for damage control in case we get another SAGs. But I will not be surprised if AR is there. I just hope Nic wins she deserves, she will look stunning and I hope both Nic and Luke are able to interact and Luke gets to be himself and smile, I miss seeing the old him.

What I do think is that after this Nic and Luke are going to disappear for awhile. She has already stated that she is not going to do anything over the summer. Last year she did not stop working. I personally think it is her way of spending much needed time with her new family. I hope this works.

They want the PR narrative to stick, fine ok, I have never gone and put hate or comments on anywhere to contradict a narrative I will quietly lurk and be harmless over here. But I am not going to stop shipping them. I am going to support each and every one of Nic and Luke’s projects and do my best to block anything to do with AR.

Enjoy you night💛 just to End with a Little Whoremembers 😈 in honour of there BAFTAs nomination 1 year anniversary of this post.

[jinuaei]

Idk if this is canon to all of the DJD members aside from NIckel who hates organics (us lmao) and like they see this whole fiasco going with Tarn. Like they at first hates us, and as this whole circus show goes on, they're like that one meme of a man comforting the girl in the toilet seat with a broom cause goddamn.

POV: You are a Southerner who accidentally said "What in 'Tarn'ation." and hear'em heavy footsteps and those haunting catbell.

(btw you're no longer in pixel jail for me in android I heard that it only happened to android which is annoying.)

Yippiee no more pixel jail! I am free!!!

I am ashamed to say... I have not finished reading MTMTE yet 😭😭 I am currently on issue 7 but I will get to it I promise! It's just time consuming for me to just read and I prioritize writing and drawing more. If only it's a show then I'll probably be done by now. I know a little bit of the comics but not everything!

I am aware of the other DJD members I just don't know much about them! Or if I do, it's something related to Tarn.

So I'll make sure to make it as vague as possible so those canon accurate fans won't grill me as much 🥲🥲

If Tarn hadn't abandoned them yet after seeing you on the other team (See my religion fic) I think the other members would feel the ick bubbling from the depths seeing their most powerful leader becoming something akin to a dog just for a small, insignificant organic. They think he's the whole damn circus for that and they were even planning on removing you completely just so they get their terrifying leader back.

But then they see him tear apart a mech just because they were talking shit about you. And now they realize they don't want to be at the end of whatever this obsession fueled rage that he gets into. You're even worse than his drugs, because he can't live a second without mentioning you!

Tarn would absolutely preach about you to them though, maybe even converting some of them into joining your cult. Maybe some of them will join because they are genuinely swayed by his devotion and whatever this religion is, or maybe they just joined for shits and giggles. Either way Tarn will make sure EVERYONE knows about how glorious you are. (Now I'm thinking about Tarn wanting to show you off to the world as HIS deity but also wanting to gatekeep you and kill everyone who tries to get close to you.)

It's even worse when you are part the Lost Light crew and he's still on the DJD because imagine all the crashouts he's going to have because how lucky LL is to have YOU and your presence grace their ship while HE'S here lamenting about your lost lamb not being able to even see you. He even thought about defecting and becoming a decepticon traitor just to get to you (Which honestly doesn't sound so bad considering he'll finally be with you!)

Additionally imagine all of the comms that LL will get just from him wanting to see you and talk to you, like I'm talking, every hour, every minute, every klik of everyday. They'd have to give you your personal comm just so Tarn would fuck off and not disturb the communications.

There is so much goldmine waiting to be explored with this idea, Tarn still being in DJD while you're LL crew. It would also be funny to see that the rest of the DJD actually came to LL to beg Rodimus to either give you to them or accept Tarn into his ship just to stop seeing their leader reduced to a sparkbroken mech. Maybe reader would be the reason that the DJD will finally disband 😭

The POV is so funny LMAOO you'd have to think about your words carefully in case you accidentally call his name without actually meaning to. The horrifying realization as soon as you hear the heavy, but fast pedes rushing to you accompanied by the ringing of the bell! And with that, you already know your whole day will include a mech cosplaying as grimace.

[lutorao]

law is truly an incredible man

he isn't talkative person , instead he prefers to do things rather than talk and his actions always say otherwise

he always said that they weren't friends, they were soon to be enemies, it was just an alliance and so on, but both his actions and the way their teams treated each other said otherwise.

Let's start from the beginning, just like the other pirates, law also stalked Luffy, especially after the Ennis lobby incident, besides, he was very excited when he saw Luffy for the first time.

Then there was Marineford, this man rushed into the middle of the war to save Luffy, not only putting his own life in danger, but also putting his crew in danger, (there is a theory that law was a revolutionary and that's why he saved him, but who knows) ( bonus i m gonna show you one more that moment later)

This person not only saved him, but he went to a safe island, and stayed with him for 2 weeks, two whole weeks, and even left his own sword with him, to show his respect for him, and I think he understood Luffy's pain best, Let's not forget that not only him, but also his hat, he kept it, and when Rayleigh appeared on the island, he even got scared a little bit

And then he left the island without saying a word, but 😏🙂‍↕️i know right?!

(On Punk Hazard, when he met him, he says that Luffy was able to survived, we don't know what happened during those two weeks, but we can assume that he knows about Luffy's nightmares

Another point, the fact that law was there for him at his worst, and saw him in that state and didn't leave his side for two weeks, that makes the bond between these two special for me.)

Then there's Dressrosa, Luffy was the first person law tells about Corazon (besides his crew), he entrusted to luffy his 13 year of preparation

he shoots law

in addition i guess everyone remembers that this man was ready to die along with luffy and Despite the fact that he was half dead

He still came to help him

and one more thing, I like how luffy was focused on him, and the fact that even though Luffy said at the beginning that he was going to defeat Doffy himself, he later just allowed law to use him to his max and at least inflict some kind of injury on Doffy

It doesn't matter whether you ship them or not, the fact is that they are a very good duo, when they work together, law may complain a lot, but in the end, everything works out.

(next part will be about Wano)

[the-zine-directive]

* ✵ * ˚ Meet Our Triumvirate! ✦ ⋆ ˚ ✫

The Zine Directive is being spearheaded by a team of three editors: Kat, Margot and Sim. We thought it was about time we introduce ourselves!

Pronouns: she/her Socials: spirk-trek on bluesky and discord, katruyck on ao3, @spirk-trek on tumblr (inactive) Starfleet Division: Probably command or security! I'm a black belt so I might even be a rare member of the red-shirt-survivor club 😏 Kirk, Spock, or McCoy?: Captain Kirk my beloved <3 Favorite OTHER Star Trek character: Chekov for the bridge crew, but I'm also obsessed with Vanna from The Cloundminders! Favorite episode: Operation: Annihilate! for sure. I love Shatner's acting in this episode, and Spock going blind for just long enough for McCoy and Kirk to be sick with guilt only to be like, "oh yeah, I have a second eyelid" is 10/10 writing. Philosophical dilemmas, silly props, shooting on location… Spock being in pain and trying to hide it the whole time... "Let me help" ... what’s not to love?! Least favorite episode: Elaan of Troyius, Wolf in the Fold, and Miri are honestly a three-way tie.  Favorite movie: For Star Trek movies, TMP all the way! For regular movies it has to be Forrest Gump. I've seen it over 100 times and can quote most of it from memory 🙃 Favorite fanfic trope: I love anything soft and full of whimsy. My favorite spirk-specific trope is probably accidental bonding! Anything else we should know? I've traveled a lot (25 countries, 30 states), I went to university in Scotland, I have 24 tattoos (including 2 Star Trek ones), my favorite color is yellow, and I have a history degree!

Pronouns: she/they, but it doesn't matter much to me Socials: ao3 booksrule123, tumblr @margottrek, youtube margot-forgot Starfleet Division: Probably engineering, or just chilling at a starbase somewhere. Kirk, Spock, or McCoy?: Kirk, but McCoy's a very close second. Favorite OTHER Star Trek character: Saavik! I also got very immediately attached to Tasha Yar while watching TNG. Favorite episode: The Empath is the easy answer, but I also love The Changeling a lot. Least favorite episode: The Omega Glory gave me such intense secondhand embarrassment for some reason lol Favorite movie: The Final Frontier is my favorite Trek movie. For a non-Trek answer, that'd probably be the Truman Show. Or one of the animated Barbie movies, for nostalgia's sake. Favorite fanfic trope: I'm a sucker for soulmate AUs, especially platonic soulmates. Anything else we should know? I'm a very tactile person. I like having physical things. so I'm really excited to work on a physical zine project like this! ❤️

Pronouns: ze/zir (or any pronouns) Socials: @self-made-purgatories on tumblr, simtrek on bluesky and selfmadepurgatories on ao3 Starfleet Division: Command gold for me! I would make an excellent helmsman. I am always the driver on road trips! I am planning to pull up a chair between Sulu and Chekov on the helm console and together we can exchange sassy comments about the romantic shenanigans of the captain and the first officer. (I also have a Doylist answer; when my t'hy'la and I cosplay as Kirk and Spock, I am the Kirk. Naturally, I have two Command Gold uniforms: an intact one and a lirpa-sliced one.) Kirk, Spock, or McCoy?: Oh WHY would you ever make me choose? That's just cruel. I'll take all three please preferably in those cutoff crop-tops from Bread and Circuses. If I REALLY had to pick just one, I suppose it would be Spock. He and I are kindred spirits. (Although, if Kirk's shirt is off, so are all the bets.) Favorite other Star Trek character: I adore Lt. Uhura. She is the smartest person on that whole ship. I absolutely love when a fanfic author sneaks in a little incidental "Uhura, you have the conn," as a treat. I also love Scotty, as well as Dr. Miranda Jones from "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" Favorite episode: The Devil in the Dark. It has everything! Big questions about who our enemies are and why. A philosophical exploration of what counts as "life." Protective Spirk! A very intense mind meld. Crying Spock. "By golly Jim, I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day!" THE HORTA. (Wait, maybe I will change my answer for "Favorite other Star Trek character" to Mother Horta.) Least favorite episode: Hard to say; maybe The Alternative Factor. The color trickery and the overlaid nebula and the spinning the camera upside-down are interesting effects for the 60s, but aside from Lt. Masters there is very little else happening in that episode. Favorite movie: TMP. It is a BEAUTIFUL film and I will die on this hill. (I am always saying that in order to fully appreciate this film you have to either ship Spirk or be in love with Spock, so either way I'm covered.) Favorite fanfic trope: Old Married Spirk! Vulcan hand kissing!! And Canon Compliant -- I love when authors find a clever way to retcon something that is canon but doesn't make too much sense, like continuity errors or weird dialogue. Anything else we should know? One of my favorite things about this fandom is its extremely rich and long history of fanworks. It's a genuine privilege to become a part of this legacy and help continue this tradition.

[laanswife]

OMG I am lobing your blog so far!

If you are down for it, I would love to see what you come up with for Data with the "cuddles" prompt?

I hope you have an amazing day/night and your pillow is cool on both sides 🩵

As soon as I saw your request I had to write this straight away, I hope it was good and that you like it.

Cuddles with Data

After a mission that didn't go as planned, you're heading back to the USS Enterprise. Your team would meet with Data, the commander would go with you to the captain to deliver the mission report.

You were quiet the whole way from the transporter room to the captain's office, attracting Data's curious gaze. It was not yet known to the crew that you had gone on a few dates to get to know each other. There was something about the android's calm personality that caught his attention, contrasting with the bubbling day-to-day life inside the ship.

You head straight to your quarters after the meeting, leaving behind a confused Data at the strange and distant way you were acting.

He notices that you're not just quiet — something else seems to be affecting you. Your eyes, normally vibrant and expressive, seem dull, and sadness seems to hang over you.

Intrigued by his way of acting, Data decides to talk to Counselor Troi. He knows that even if he tries, he will never fully understand human emotions on his own.

"Deanna, can I ask you something?" When he sees his friend nod, he continues. "I noticed that the behavior of a person close to me has changed drastically. I can't determine the cause, but I know there is something wrong, her change in behavior doesn't seem to be a matter of logic. Should I address the situation or wait for her to open up on her own?"

"Oh, I see... Remember that emotions don't always follow the path of logic, Data? It's not often that we can express what's going on with us. Maybe a simple hug can be more effective than anything else." Deanna, with her empathetic gaze, smiles softly.

"Muito bem. Obrigada Conselheira."

Later, when you are alone in the ship's cafeteria, with your shoulders hunched and your eyes lost, Data approaches. The silence in the room is comforting, but it also carries a tension — as if the words were just on the verge of being said, but still haven't arrived.

He hesitates for a moment, but decides to sit next to you at the table in silence..

“I don't fully understand human feelings, but I realize you're going through something. If you need help, I can offer a hug." You look at him, surprised by the breaking of the silence, but you feel a strange warmth in your chest.

Your eyes meet his, and there's an undeniable sincerity there.

Data, with his characteristic calm, steps forward but hesitates for a moment, as if he is considering whether what he is doing is right. He then carefully extends his arms and, in an almost... human way, waits for your response. Approaching slowly, you feel relief in your chest.

The gesture is simple, but the feeling is of a reconnection that you didn't know you needed so much.

[asterlark]

me and den @unloneliest were just talking about murderbot and ART's relationship and i want to discuss how they quite literally complete each other's sensory and emotional experience of the world!!

there's a few great posts on here such as this one about how murderbot uses drones to fully and properly experience the world around it (it also accesses security cameras/other systems for this same purpose). but i haven't seen anyone so far talk about how once MB stops working for the company and consequently doesn't have a hubsystem/secsystem to connect to anymore (which for its entire existence up to that point had been how it was used to interacting with its environment/doing its job), after it meets ART, ART starts to fill that gap.

ART gives MB access to more cameras, systems, and information archives than it would normally be able to connect with while MB is on its own outside of ART's... body(? lol), but also directly gives MB access to its own cameras, drones, archives, facilities, and processing space. additionally, so much of ART's function is dedicated to analysis, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, and it not only uses those skills in service of reaching murderbot's goals, it teaches murderbot how to use those same skills. (ART might be a bit of an asshole about how it does this, but that doesn't negate just how much it does for murderbot for no reason other than it's bored/interested in MB as an individual.)

we all love goofing about how artificial condition can basically be boiled down to "two robots in a trench coat trying to get through a job interview" (which is entirely accurate tbh) but that's also such a great example of ART fulfilling the role of both murderbot's "hubsystem" and "secsystem", allowing it to fully experience its environment/ succeed in its goals. ART provides MB with crucial information, context, and constructive criticism, and uses its significant processing power to act as MB's backup and support system while they work together.

from ART's side of things, we get a very explicit explanation of how it needs the context of murderbot's emotional reactions to media in order to fully understand and experience the media as intended. it tried to watch media with its humans, and it didn't completely understand just by studying their reactions. but when it's in a feed connection with murderbot, who isn't human but has human neural tissue, ART is finally able to thoroughly process the emotional aspects of media (side note, once it actually understands the emotional stakes in a way that makes sense for it, it's so frightened by the possibility of the fictional ship/crew in worldhoppers being catastrophically injured or killed that it makes murderbot pause for a significant amount of time before it feels prepared to go on. like!! ART really fucking loves its crew, that is all).

looking at things further from ART's perspective: its relationship with murderbot is ostensibly the very first relationship it's been able to establish with not only someone outside of its crew, but also with any construct at all. while ART loves its crew very much (see previous point re: being so so scared for the fate of the fictional crew of worldhoppers), it never had a choice in forming relationships with them. it was quite literally programmed to build those relationships with its crew and students. ART loves its function, its job, and nearly all of the humans that spend time inside of it, but its relationship with murderbot is the first time it's able to choose to make a new friend. that new friend is also someone who, due to its partial machine intelligence, is able to understand and know ART on a whole other level of intimacy that humans simply aren't capable of. (that part goes for murderbot, too, obviously; ART is its first actual friend outside of the presaux team, and its first bot friend ever.)

and because murderbot is murderbot, and not a "nice/polite to ART most of the time" human, this is also one of the first times that ART gets real feedback from a friend about the ways that its actions impact others. after the whole situation in network effect, when the truth of the kidnapping comes to light and murderbot hides in the bathroom refusing to talk to ART (and admittedly ART doesn't handle this well lol) - ART is forced to confront that despite it making the only call it felt able to make in that horrifying situation, despite it thinking that that was the right call, its actions hurt murderbot, and several other humans were caught in the crossfire. what's most scary to ART in that moment is the idea that murderbot might never forgive it, might never want to talk to it again. it's already so attached to this friendship, so concerned with murderbot's wellbeing, that the thought of that friendship being over because of its own behavior is terrifying. (to me, this almost mirrors murderbot's complete emotional collapse when it thinks that ART has been killed. the other more overt mirror is ART fully intending on bombing the colony to get murderbot back.)

in den's words, they both increase the other's capacity to feel: ART by acting as a part of murderbot's sensory system, and murderbot by acting as a means by which ART can access emotion. they love one another so much they would do pretty much anything to keep each other safe/avenge each other, but what's more, they unequivocally make each other more whole.