#but i don’t plan to force anything beyond what quest they’ve accepted

[leftmysoulbythesideoftheroad]

we’ve talked about switching around who dms our games, but my sister said she wants to watch me do it before she tries, and now i’m feeling the pressure. all i’m going to do is try to channel johnny chiodini, hopefully that’s enough lol

[thechildoflightning]

Pumpkin Ch1- Maize

Title: Pumpkin [Masterpost]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Pairings: CALM/LAMP

~~~

Chapter Title: Maize- Chapter One

Summary: 

Family traditions are something Virgil’s never really had in a good way before. He had traditions- rituals- in his life once. But they weren’t the good kind. After, well his father had tried and they did have small traditions. But for the most part, Virgil never had that chance, never had the chance to create small little traditions with his family.

And now he does. He has that chance.

Warnings: Concussion (mention), Trauma Responses/Brief Panic, Cult Rituals (mention) 

[ao3 link]

~~~

Maize- Chapter One

Virgil and his spouses are in no rush to leave the house, something he appreciates immensely. While they are planning on leaving soon, no one is in a rush to leave as soon as possible, considering they have the whole day together. A few extra minutes of getting ready is okay if it means that everyone will be in a better mood and less stressed.

They leave seventeen minutes later than they planned. Beyond a simple notice of the time, no one cares much. There is no rush, only contentment.

When they all get into the car, Roman quickly steals Trixie, cooing at her and giving her pets as Virgil gets Kit settled, making sure the small puppy won’t go flying as the car starts. Kit is used to the car by now, but he’s still working on keeping his balance when the car switches between reverse and forward, and Virgil always feels awful when he goes skidding across the seat with a yelp.

The car starts moving forward, and with the palpable energy of excitement in the air, Kit chooses to participate, letting out a small yap.

“No barking,” Virgil tells him. Kit falls silent and sits down on the middle seat, partially on top of Trixie. Trixie just turns to give him a look of disinterest before putting half her body on Roman and demanding more love.

It isn’t a long drive, and while all of them are excited for the destination, no one really minds the journey. It’s part of the experience. It’s part of this small family tradition they’ve created.

It hits Virgil all of a sudden. This is a tradition. This is a family tradition.

Virgil forgets sometimes. He forgets that he has a whole life now. A life with three incredible partners and two lovely dogs, with his dad, and friends, and so much to live for.

Virgil and his spouses have created this little tradition together. They hadn’t even talked about if they were going this year, just when.

He thinks that’s beautiful.

“What are you smiling about?” Roman asks as Logan parks the car.

Virgil turns to him with a dopey grin.

“Just how much I love you,” he admits.

Roman blushes and Patton coos from the front.

“You can’t just do that,” Roman complains.

“Just did,” Virgil responds, and unbuckles his seatbelt and opens the car door. Roman sputters behind him and moves to get out of the car himself.

Virgil helps Kit down, worried about the jump on the puppy's tiny legs. Trixie follows Roman out. Roman opens the back of the car and then they switch.

Roman gets Kit on his leash and his tiny puppy vest. Virgil holds Trixie’s vest and allows her to slip into it. Logan hands him a few of her things from the side and he easily clips them on before calling for Trixie to bound off the car.

Now prepared, the four of them turn towards the entrance.

A pumpkin patch is sort of a silly thing to care so much about, Virgil thinks. For some reason, he’s okay with that.

They’re actually here to buy pumpkins, but they all know that will only be a small piece of their trip today. This is quickly proven correct when Roman drags them in the direction of the giant corn maze, away from the pumpkins.

Kit starts to race towards the stalks, excited by all the scents and new atmosphere.

“Heel,” Logan chides gently from where he’s holding Kit’s leash.

Kit slows down, settling for a more acceptable place right at Logan’s side.

Logan clicks the clicker and gives him a small treat. Before Kit, Virgil had never clicker trained, but Kit has struggled with getting a few of the commands down, and Virgil thought it best to try a variety of methods. So far the clicker seemed to be working, and they were slowly giving Kit less and less treats and simply just a click in reward.

They arrive at the entrance to the corn maze, Roman saying something dramatic about this being the start of a glorious quest before Logan pushes him forward and he goes stumbling in with a squak of protest.

About four feet in the come to their first debate.

“Left,” Roman insists.

“We stay right,” Logan argues.

“You always say that,” Roman protests.

“If we follow the right wall the entire way, we’ll get back to the entrance without being lost,” Logan explains, “We’ll have solved the maze.”

“But… What about dead ends?” Patton asks.

“We’ll run into those,” Logan agrees, “but if we keep following the right wall, it will work. We’ll end up wrapping around the dead ends.”

“But that’s no fun,” Roman complains, “Sure we’ll make it to the finish without being lost, but part of the adventure is figuring it out yourself. We don’t solve anything by following the right wall.”

“The purpose of a maze is to get to the finish as quickly as possible without getting lost. Following the right path keeps us from getting lost. Due to dead ends and such, it might take longer than we hope, but it’s most certainly quicker than wandering aimlessly.”

“Logan-” Roman tries.

“We have to do it this way,” Logan interrupts, looking down and tapping a hand against his chest before scratching at his shirt with a nail.

“Why?” Roman asks, “I’m- This seems important to you Logan. I don’t want to devalue that. At the same time, I’m also lost and confused as to why we have to do it your way. Could you explain?”

“It’s how you solve a maze,” Logan insisted.

“I get that,” Roman agrees in clarification, “I’m wondering why solving the maze is so important to you?”

“It’s the right way,” Logan answers immediately, and then realizing that doesn’t explain much, takes to tapping his foot with a concentrated frown, “I’m not quite sure how to explain it,” he admits quitely, “But it feels like it has to be this way. It’s the right way. It would upset me greatly if we didn’t do it, because it is the right way.”

He looks up, meeting Roman’s eyes for a fraction of a section.

“But I also understand that as a group I need to be willing to compromise and be accommodating. I am willing to do that.”

“But you don’t want to.”

It’s not a question.

“No,” Logan admits, “No I do not. And it’s not that I am unwilling to hear your perspective or that I am trying to force you to do something. I don’t want to- It’s. I’m autistic. And I think it’s just one of those things.”

“Okay,” Roman responds, “I appreciate you explaining. I’d also like to point out that you’re right, compromising and accommodating each other is an important part of our relationship. Which means that we are also willing to compromise and accommodate you. And considering I want to explore and you feel an inner need to do it a certain way that’s directly tied to being autistic, I’m more than willing to do it your way. Maybe we can solve it first and then explore? Would that be alright?”

“Yes,” Logan is quick to agree, eyes lighting up for a minute, “That would be… uh… appreciated.”

“You’re allowed to be excited about solving the maze,” Roman offers. Logan lets a smile slip lose and bounces on his toes twice.

He then turns to Virgil and Patton.

“Is that alright with the two of you?” Logan asks.

“Yup,” Virgil agrees.

“It’ sounds like a fine plan to me,” Patton adds, “Though I would like to ask if there’s benches or places to sit anywhere. I’m not sure how long we’ll be walking and my hips aren’t doing the best today.”

Issue resolved, they go to find someone to ask about benches.

Apparently there are benches, so they all wander in, sticking firm to the right hand side. They chat and giggle and kiss in the corn stalks (or next to them actually, considering Logan hates the texture) and Kit and Trixie both love the adventure.

People pass by them in all different directions and kids and their families go shrieking toward the center where there’s apparently some kind of attraction. They’ll go there next.

It’s a goal of theirs to go to a different pumpkin patch every year, to explore. Virgil can’t help but think that if they keep doing this, they’ll eventually have to be repeats. He likes that idea.

They find their way out on Logan’s instruction, and Roman cheers as they exit the twisting maze. He turns to take his “genius husband” to which Logan denies even as Roman peppers him with kisses and Patton laughs behind them. Virgil rolls his eyes fondly, and doesn’t protest when Roman moves from Logan, to Patton, and then to him for a kiss.

He does keep an eye on their surroundings. Just in case. But no one seems to be paying them any attention.

Something inside of Virgil starts to worm around though, sitting awkwardly in his insides. It- It wasn’t the kiss but- wow there’s a lot of people here aren't there? A lot of them. And- and screaming kids run past. Are they alright? Is- are the kids okay?

A paw scratches as his pants and he settles a hand in Trixie’s fur to calm his rising anxiety. Deep breath in, hold, out. Carry on. He’s safe. Everyone’s safe.

They reenter the corn maze, this time for wandering rather than solving. They follow the crowds for the most part, coming across pumpkin statues and corn sculptures. And, in the very center of the maze, are stacks of hay for climbing.

Roman’s eyes gleam as he looks ahead.

“So…” he turns to the three of them. “How do you feel about climbing?”

Logan and Patton both sit out, but Virgil lets Roman drag him towards the structure, leaving Trixie with Patton and Logan. They quickly make it to the top, their larger adult bodies much better suited for tackling the hay then the children surrounding them. Roman stands up victorious at the top.

“Don’t fall,” Patton calls up at him, “We don’t want another concussion.”

Roman gasps, hand going to his heart as the hay bale wobbles slightly under him. He eyes it, and slowly gets off.

“First off, that was Virgil’s fault,” he claims, stepping further down, “Second off, I’m not in college anymore.”

He gets close to the bottom before one of the hay bales twists before him and Roman takes a tumbling step off, catching himself before he can fall.

“See?” he grins brightly as he brushes his clothes off, “No falling.”

Patton offers an unamused smile and Trixie races over to him, tail wagging, as she makes sure he’s okay. Virgil snorts and follows Roman’s way down, choosing his steps much more carefully.

Trixie turns to greet Virgil once he rejoins the small group and Virgil gives her a few pets and ear scratches. He stands back up and she slides back to work mode. Kit is wriggling in Pat’s arms, struggling to get to Roman, so Patton passes him over gently and the puppy gives Roman kisses before being set down.

They wander around a bit more before Virgil gets an idea.

“How long do you think it would take Trixie to find me if I hid?” he asks.

“Around a minute,” Logan answers without hesitation.

“No clue,” Roman says a second after.

“Oh are we playing hide and seek?” Patton asks.

“Okay,” Virgil agrees, “Logan I’ll take that bet, I think she can do it in thirty seconds.”

“On average, hiding anywhere throughout the entire maze- one minute. Choose numerous spots. Different distances. We’ll time them and then average out.”

“Deal.”

Virgi leaves Trixie and Kit with Logan and Roman and takes Patton to wander further into the maze. They go forward and backtrack, turning around a corner and finding a bench to sit on. They settle into wait.

“I love these trips,” Patton says after a moment of silence.

Virgil turns to give him a soft smile.

“Yeah,” he admits, “Me too. I uh- I like doing things with you. I like, I like creating traditions. It’s nice.”

It’s something Virgil’s never really had in a good way before. He had traditions- rituals- in his life once. But they weren’t the good kind. After, he, well his father had tried and they did have small traditions. They would always go out to ice cream to celebrate together. But for the most part, Virgil never had that chance, never had the chance to create small little traditions with his family.

Suddenly slightly overwhelmed, he takes one of Patton’s hands, brushing his thumb against the back of it and then giving it a firm squeeze. Patton gives a squeeze back and looks at Virgil. His hand relaxes, but neither lets go.

“Yeah,” Patton agrees, “It is nice. You know I’m sentimental, and just, these things with you- I really enjoy them.”

Virgil continues to smile at him as Patton takes his hand and gives a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Do you really think Trixie can find you in thirty seconds?”

Virgil shrugs, “We didn't go that far. Though the backtracking could make it longer. How many times do you think Logan’s going to make us do this to get a fair data set?”

“Quite a bit,” Patton, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he does the math.”

Which is fair. Virgil wouldn’t be surprised either.

Trixie finds him a moment later, racing around a bend in frantic excitement. She catches sight of him and lights up, tail wagging rapidly. Virgil laughs and meets her halfway to give her an abundance of kisses.

Kit whines at Trixie’s side for attention so Patton takes him to coo over him. He soaks up the spotlight.

“30 more times,” Logan says in front of them.

Yup. He did the math.

Virgil and Patton hide 30 more times, Trixie finding them quickly each time. The question then is, how quick.

“54.25 seconds on average,” Logan claims, shoving his phone back in his pocket when he finishes the math, “I win.”

Virgil turns to Trixie with a gasp.

“Trix? You let him win? How dare you. This is utter betrayal.”

Trixie just flops onto her side at his light teasing, tongue lolling out as she begs for pets. Virgil leans down and complies with her demands.

“And because I won the bet, I’m pretty sure I get a prize,” Logan comments.

“We didn’t bet on anything.”

“Maybe not verbally.”

There’s a fleeting second of panic. Because Logan’s right, he won the bet which means Virgil owes him. Logan holds a position of power and that’s terrifying because what is he going to make Virgil do?

But the panic cuts off quickly.

Because it’s Logan.

And Virgil trusts Logan.

Trixie still nudges him softly for support.

“And what do I owe you?” Virgil teases back.

“A kiss.”

“A kiss?” Of course. “Sounds doable.”

Logan hums and Virgil gives him a quick peck on the lips, all smiles. Logan even allows a few flaps of one of his hands before taking to tapping his leg instead.

“This corn is pretty darn a-maize-ing,” Patton comments.

They all fall silent.

“Was that- is that a double pun?” Roman asks.

Patton grins proudly and Virgil lets out a muffled snort.

“Oh and uh- does anyone know the way out?” Patton asks after a moment, “Because I definitely forgot.”

Virgil, Logan, and Roman turn to each other, equal look of panics across their faces.

~~~

Taglist Below

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@mewithanie @eddies-spaghetti @lemonyellowlogic @savioursailor @goldteethandacurseforthistown @you-betcha-weirdo @gattonero17

[voltron-s7-8-rewrite]

“The Way Forward”

This is part of my Voltron Season 7 & 8 re-write. If you are interested start HERE

  Previous

Teleporting into an unknown cavern, Keith realizes the others are in danger, and tells Kosmo that they need to get back to help them. However, before anything can be done, Macidus teleports nearby. Keith and Kosmo teleport again, hiding from the Druid.

 Macidus slowly searches the cavern as Keith and Kosmo hide underneath floorboards. The Druid passes by, and after a moment Keith relaxes. His moment of relief is cut short as Macidus stabs a sword down into the floorboards, just barely missing Keith. The Black Paladin Grabs onto Kosmo and they teleport once more, Macidus smiles and teleports as well.

 Back at Macidus's "home", the Druids finish charging up their dark energy, and prepare to unleash their attack against the Paladins when they are suddenly bombarded by laser fire. With the Druids distracted, Allura focuses her power, absorbing the energy keeping her and the others in place, freeing them all.

Once able to move, the Paladins turn to join the fight that's broken out, only to find that their saviors are Galra who are being led by Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid. The Paladins are surprised, but join their fight against the Druids.

As the groups work together, Krolia recognizes some of the Galra in the Ex-General’s group.

   On the run through the tunnels, Keith and Kosmo try to hide and stay ahead of Macidus, but the Druid relentlessly chases them down, never allowing them a break.

Eventually Keith and Kosmo come to a cavern where Kolivan is being held. Macidus appears and Keith, unwilling to leave Kolivan, no longer runs. Unsheathing his Blade, and summoning his Bayard, Keith fights the Druid.

   As the Paladins and the Ex-general’s forces finish off the Druids, Allura orders Pidge to find Keith’s location. Scanning the area, she discovers that he’s underneath them, Allura uses the energy she absorbed to break through the floor into the caverns below.

The Paladins, Shiro, and Krolia head down into the lower caverns where they find Keith fighting Macidus. The group assists Keith, but the Druid is able to evade their attacks. Seeing Macidus attacking his friends, Keith hesitates; closing his eyes, he senses as the Druid teleports. Throwing his blade he is able to hit Macidus, killing him.

   After the fight, the group helps Kolivan, who, despite being in bad shape, is conscious. Keith asks him about the Altean colony, but Kolivan says the Blades were never able to check on it,as they were overwhelmed by attacks from the Druids and Galra factions.

Keith turns to Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid and asks them if they know anything about it, but they say they never even knew of its existence. They had known Lotor had special pilots that he attempted to send into the rift, but they were never told who they were, or where they came from.

Lance asks how they can trust them as they’ve worked against Voltron alongside Lotor, Zarkon, and Haggar. One of the Galra from the Ex-General’s force steps up and defends them, saying they are trustworthy. The Paladins don’t know who this Galra is, but Krolia reveals that this Galra is a Blade, as are many of the others in the Ex-General’s group. Hunk says Macidus said the Druids killed them all, but a Blade says that’s not true, many had been saved by the ex-generals.

Keith asks the three to explain everything and Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid share their story; growing up as half-breeds they were mistreated by Galra for not being being pure blood, and by the other half of their species for being part Galra, causing hatred to form in their hearts. When Lotor came, he used their pain, promising that he would change things for half-breeds. They followed him and his promise to create a universe where they would be accepted, not realizing how Lotor fed their hated by having them believe that only he could bring change for them.

The Ex-Generals lived believing that lie was true, until they saw Keith. Here was another half-breed, embraced by the Blades, by his human friends, and by the Voltron coalition as a whole. At first they could not understand how he did it.

It wasn’t until Lotor admitted in his final battle that he wanted to wipe Galra from the universe, that they realized how they had been nothing but pawns to him this whole time. They had embraced his lies wholeheartedly, blindly following someone just because he was like them and said what they so desperately wanted to hear; rather than working for acceptance and trying to change minds. They ended up rejecting everyone who wasn’t like them in the same way they had been rejected.

After Lotor and the Paladins vanished, they decided that they would no never blindly follow someone again. Instead they decided if they worked at it, maybe they could create a place for themselves in the universe.

Eventually they ended up stumbling upon a damaged Galra cruiser whose surviving crew had been abandoned by their commander. The Ex-Generals took control and worked with the survivors to get the cruiser back up and running. Due to their aid and hard work the Galra crew pledged loyalty to them, not caring that they were half-breeds.

Now, with their ship that they named “The Narti,” they decided to continue doing what they had done for this crew, finding those who needed help and giving aid where they could. Drawing inspiration from the Blade and Voltron coalition, they wanted to change the perception of Galra and half-breeds.

It was then that they started picking up on Blade distress signals and realized the members were being hunted by Druids and other Galra factions. Their mission became finding and aiding any Blade and Rebel call, which caused their crew to grow. Their hope was to find Kolivan, reunite the Blade into a unified force, and continue Voltron’s quest of freeing the universe.

They explain that there are still more Blade distress signals out there, and they plan to continue on their mission. They hope that now, with Kolivan, they can unify the Blade.

Hearing their story, and believing their words, Kolivan asks Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid to assist him in that goal, and offers them an official place in the Blade, which they accept.

The Blade and Paladins decide that while the Paladins continue to Earth, The Narti will find and tell the Rebels of Voltron’s return, and once they finish their mission they will join the Paladins on Earth to form the coalition’s next plans.

Kolivan asks Krolia if she wishes to join them, but she says she is needed more with Voltron. Kolivan accepts this, but gives her his own Blade as a weapon. Kolivan then tells Keith that he is glad to see Keith is back where he belongs, but says that he will always be welcomed in The Blade.

As the Lions of Voltron take off, Kolivan watches from the deck of The Narti. Axca, Ezor and Zethrid join him, all in Blade uniforms.

.::+::.

So, I have Major issues with how all of the General’s stories went, but especially Ezor and Zethrid’s. First off, it's all over the place, ‘We’re loyal to Lotor-, no Zarkon-, wait, now Haggar-, nope, back to Lotor-, Oh, look, we’re pirates now! Guess we can help Voltron? Yay, we’re Blades!’

Like, I get that they were characters who were just trying to survive, but there was no flow to their story, and without getting any of their actual backstory you are just left questioning all their actions.

But even without that, to me their characters were completely derailed and destroyed in season 7. By the end of “The Way Forward” Ezor and Zethrid are just too irredeemable. I mean, they take sadistic glee at the idea of torturing the Paladins, for goodness sake! If they had been permanently killed in that episode I would have been fine*, however they both show back up later with no explanation, do practically nothing, and then are redeemed at the end, despite never showing a genuine change of heart. The fact those two got to live, while Allura died is just beyond comprehensible to me.

*note, I said I would have been fine, that does not mean I would have been happy with their story. I wanted all four generals redeemed since the moment I saw the leaked art of them.

Another thing that felt so wrong was only Axca willingly seek redemption. I had thought that the four generals were close to each other, as in the early seasons Axca came off like a sister to Zethrid and especially Ezor. I thought these ladies were going to have a strong bond, especially after Narti’s death, and Lotor’s treatment of them. But nope, there was nothing there.

So, that’s what I’m giving them. The idea of these three having a strong bond, leaving the empire together, and forging their own path would be such an beautiful story for them. Then through embracing the Paladin’s way of helping others, and gaining respect and loyalty from those who at one time would have rejected them, would be inspiring. Unlike the Empire they grew up in, they didn’t gain power and use that to control others beneath them. They won true loyalty it through their actions and care for others.

As for Krolia staying; she’s just a great character. It’s such a shame that they had her leave in S7, especially after saying she would never leave Keith again. Then to do nothing with her after that is just such a waist! I think it would have been much more interesting if she had stuck around, and we got to see the Garrison react to her...

NEXT

[mister-honeynuts]

Prompt: Spring / Autumn / Winter Pairing(s): Gwen/David Word Count: 2,440 Summary: Day Four for @gwenvidweek in which they get married the same way they do everything which is to say, untraditionally and without an ounce of grandeur.

David is not ashamed to say that their entire relationship is untraditional to its core.

He’s not clear whether that’s a product of both of them being very much not straight or if it’s just the way their personalities meld but the truth is, David’s happiest with Gwen as they are and he wouldn’t trade it for all the cliche Hollywood romances in the world.

Max had joked, back in the beginning when he’d discovered the shift in their relationship and been around enough to witness how they worked together, that Gwen was his boyfriend. Needless to say, David had taken it as an opportunity to discuss the effects of toxic gender roles which had left Max grumpy but overall noticeably more comfortable in the apartment.

The way he and Gwen operate works for them. For the family they’re making out of an equally untraditional little boy. In all things, they’re equal and so it really comes to no surprise to him or Gwen that neither of them actually proposes.

For as much as Gwen fantasizes about over the top romance, their path to marriage is a simple one. They discuss it. Plans for the future until one day becomes one day soon and casually tossed out suggestions become cemented decisions.

Then suddenly, they have a date and that’s that.

David’s out of school now and it’s letting them live more comfortably but the reality is that they don’t have fantasy dream wedding money. That’s fine. They’ve always been crafty.

There’s no question of where. It’s obvious. The only place truly befitting of their special day is Camp Campbell. And well, it doesn’t hurt that they now technically own the camp. Saves a whole lot of money for other things like feeding the growing number of people in their lives worth sharing this with.

Gwen is immediately insistent that she doesn’t want a wedding dress. Thousands of dollars on some massive, easily stained dress she’ll never have a reason to wear again extends beyond luxury and into stupidity. According to Gwen herself, of course.

David thinks she’ll look beautiful in anything.

Instead, she finds a cocktail dress with a skirt that spills layers of a translucent fabric. It’s a horrible khaki color that reminds David of the jumpers girls in his elementary school were forced into wearing but they’re nothing if not a family of problem solvers.

Gwen spends an afternoon teaching Max how to mix fabric dye in a plastic rope tub they bought to hold drinks for the Summer Social out on the balcony. They take turns prodding at the fabric with a yardstick miraculously fished from the kitchen island until the dress is a beautiful dark forest green.

Involving Max in the process has been important to both of them since the beginning. The wedding is a celebration of their relationship but it’s a celebration of their family too and that extends to Max’s presence in it.

Which is why when Max snidely congratulates Gwen on her now being the owner of a random green dress, Gwen shoves him into the couch and then agrees that it’s missing something that makes it special.

David digs around the sterilite tower he keeps their arts and craft supplies in until he comes across some gold thread Gwen had bought this past summer when Preston decided the costumes for his play were not sufficiently gaudy. He hand sews little golden pine trees around the hem of the skirt in what Gwen claims is overkill but she smiles soft and pretty as she traces the shapes afterwards.

There will never come a day that Gwen’s smile doesn’t fill him with butterflies.

Neither Max nor David own a proper suit. It’s never been a need and clearly the very idea of it offends Max to his core because the thought of having to spend an afternoon in one sends Max into a full-blown meltdown.

“Calm the fuck down. We don’t have the money for suits,” Gwen huffs, placing corn in front of their ridiculous child to husk as this delightful exchange took place in the middle of making dinner. “And you’d look stupid in one anyways.”

She’s teasing and so he doesn’t call her out on it. They’re both aware how cute Max would be in a full suit. But it’s true that they don’t have the money and regardless, it’s entirely not their style.

The comfort of everyone involved is far more important than what tradition dictates.

Gwen finds them nice button ups in an almost exact match to her dress while hiding from her mother’s insane quest to find her shoes that match her dress but don’t make her taller than David. Like either of them have ever cared about that.

David’s got some cheap, generic black ties from back when he was interviewing with schools. He cuts and hems one down so Max won’t look like he’s playing dress up in his dad’s business attire and then, for the heck of it, he sews matching golden pines into the ties.

Max makes a face when he’s shown their matching accessory but accepts the tie without a snide comment which he takes as the ultimate admission of love.

The day before the big day, Gwen’s mom comes by to steal Max and neither one will tell them what they’re up to. Gwen’s mom just winks when he asks and leads Max away with a hand on the shoulder that the boy seems unbothered by.

David watches them go with unease, sighing when Gwen presses a kiss to his shoulder and smacks him on the hip.

“It’s fine,” she says, moving to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee for this too early weekend morning. “Max is fine with Mom. And she seems to not even realize that he’s the devil so.”

David knows this but it’s not often that Max is away for the day outside of school when David is gone too. Now that he’s not working odd hours, it just doesn’t feel right to not have Max somewhere underfoot in the apartment.

“Mom probably thinks we’re going to have sex,” Gwen mentions offhandedly later in the afternoon when David’s managed to get nothing done but worry.

“Why would she think that?” he asks, blinking when Gwen responds with a small laugh and a cocked eyebrow. “Oh.”

“So dumb. Don’t know why I’m marrying you,” she says full of fondness and pushes him back onto the bed.

Gwen’s mom brings their kid back not a second past five and Max still won’t say what they did, burying his face into David’s leg when David pulls him in for a hug. Gwen asks if they at least had fun and Max shrugs off the question, running off to the bathroom to wash up for dinner.

Max is quiet through dinner and doesn’t complain when David enforces a bedtime even though it’s the weekend.

The next morning, they wake up early and David muses that it doesn’t feel any different than any other day which is to say, he feels lucky and loved.

It takes longer than they plan to get Max out of bed despite how early they all turned in the night before. He seems more withdrawn than usual and David worries that Max has convinced himself of something completely untrue.

The concept isn’t foreign for their family.

Moreover, he’s still half asleep when he comes stumbling out of his room, Mr. Honeynuts tucked under his arm. A less than promising sign. Mr. Honeynuts only leaves Max’s room for camp and when he’s upset about something.

David draws him a bath, worrying his lip with his teeth as Max does not voice his usual pre-bath complaints that he’s not a baby. Crumbling one of Gwen’s less flowery bath bombs into the water, he leaves Max to sleepily soak until breakfast.

“You’re worrying too much,” Gwen tells him, plating up the pancakes she’d been making while David was handling Max. “Max doesn’t handle change well. You know that.”

“But this is a good change,” David argues, looking back at the bathroom door. He loves Gwen. He’s excited that they’re going to be married and he’ll be able to tell people about his wife but…

“Him coming here was a good change too and that still sucked ass for two months. He’s gonna be twelve, David. All major changes are scary, even for Lord Satan himself,” she dismisses.

Max appears a minute later, wrapped tight in a towel and dripping water onto the floor.

“Morning, bud. You with us finally?” David asks.

“David, you asshole. I smell like cinnamon and pine cones,” Max grumbles.

“Then you’ll fit right in at the wedding.” Gwen says, lightly pushing him towards his bedroom. “Go get dressed and you can have this fucked up pancake that’s suppose to look like a bear.” Max scowls and stares up at her with purpose.

“David does it so much better,” he whispers spitefully.

“I’m gonna tell him you think so,” he hears her whisper back, laughing when Max makes a mad dash to escape to his room.

It’s a long drive to Camp Campbell and they’re not even close to the first people there despite living closer than anyone else. Max wastes no time popping out of the car and running to join Nikki and Neil where they’re climbing a tree outside the counselor cabin.

“You look beautiful, honey,” Gwen’s father compliments, helping her out of the car. David beams.

She really, really does. He hadn’t seen the dress on Gwen, their own version of not seeing the bride until the wedding or, well, wedding day at least. She looks maybe not so much like a bride but definitely something out of David’s dreams.

Gwen’s mother tuts at her choice of shoes. Both of them had chosen to go the way of cleaning up their boots for camp, for money and for ease of walking around camp. It was, they decided, much easier to find Max a nice pair of boots than to look for suitable dress shoes for the three of them.

David thinks they both actually look quite nice, their button ups contrasting against new dark denim disappearing into sturdy boots. Maybe not the fanciest but they certainly look like they belong among the dirt paths and towering woods.

Gwen shoots David an easily read look as her mom repositions herself for the hundredth time, heels sinking into the dirt.

Max comes back with Nikki and Neil trailing behind him. He tugs on the sleeve of Gwen’s mom’s blouse and she smiles, patting Max on the head like he swears he hates but he doesn’t voice that fact now.

“Okay,” she agrees though to what, David doesn’t know because no one has said a word. “Max wants to show you what we did yesterday.”

She leads them over to the tents set up for food later in the evening and a table in the middle which sits the prettiest cake David has ever seen. The bottom tier is a vibrant sky blue with a lush icing pine forest circling the bottom. The tiers gradate up into pinks, and oranges, and finally a dark blue with glimmering speckled stars.

David feels emotion well up in his chest, more so when Gwen tugs Max back against her and he allows it, wrapping a hand around one of her arms.

“Max came up with the design,” Gwen’s mom explains. “I never would have considered something like this for a wedding cake but, well, he insisted this is what you’d want.”

“It’s perfect,” David agrees, voice wavering with emotion.

“Gross,” Max grumbles, averting his eyes. “It’s just a cake, David.” The adults all laugh, much to his obvious displeasure and Gwen releases him to make his escape as the rest of their return campers all arrive at the same time.

The ceremony arrives before they know it and it’s perfect in the way that it’s not.

David had ideally wanted a summer wedding but Gwen had vetoed the idea immediately. They were, she pointed out, obviously going to be working and the last thing she wanted was to be married one day and cleaning paint off the Mess Hall walls the next while Nurf tried to glue Space Kid to the ceiling by his helmet.

Now, he’s thrilled they waited. Beyond the reality that planning a wedding during camp just wasn’t feasible, their backdrop is a plethora of beautiful trees in shades of red and orange and golden brown scattered between the pines.

Leaves fall as they say their vows and David sputters when one manages to fall into his mouth. Their guests all burst into laughter, draining him of his nerves. This, like everything else, is a moment uniquely them shared with their closest friends and family.

Max is practically clinging to him instead of standing in his spot right next to David and he rests a reassuring hand on the boys back as he and Gwen are instructed to kiss. He hears Max make a soft noise of disgust and laughs, tugging the boy between them while he makes a show of fighting and clawing his way out of the hug.

“Mom offered to take Max while we’re on our honeymoon,” Gwen mentions when everyone disperses to eat. David offers her a confused glance.

“We’re taking him with us?” he reminds her. They’d planned that from the very beginning. Family vacations were still a little out of their reach. It seemed infinitely unfair for the first one to be without Max, honeymoon or not.

“I know. I told her as much. Wouldn’t be much of a vacation without our little monster. She told me that wasn’t the point of a honeymoon. But it’s the point of our honeymoon, right?” she continues, soothing his worry that Gwen had had a change of heart about the whole thing.

He’s not sure what he would do if he was made to choose between Gwen and Max. Not sure why the rest of the world seems hellbent on making him do so when they were all happy in the compromise that made up their makeshift family.

“I sure do love you, Gwen,” he tells her like it’s brand new information. It feels that way sometimes. Like every day, he discovers love for her like it’s the first time. Bright and overwhelming and good.

She shoots him an amused smile, linking their fingers together.

“Yeah, you’re pretty alright yourself, David,” she teases and she doesn’t echo the words back but David still hears them loud and clear.

That’s their tradition.

[sigurdjarlson]

Companions react to Sole becoming the leader of the Institute, but making the wastelands a better place with the institute's technology and not being a jackass like their son was(also random reminder that you are indeed a beautiful, elegant creature).

ahhh thank you so much

 it’s late here and I’m kind of tired so this might not be my best work. I’m a little rusty too but I hope you enjoy :) 

Codsworth: He’s confident in their intentions. He knows what kind of person they are and he’s so goddamn proud of them for using what used to be a source of fear and pain and turning it into something good. It would have been a waste for them to just destroy the Institute given all the resources and technology it contained that could (and now are) be used to help others. 

He’s deeply saddened by how everything went down with Shaun but he’s proud that Sole isn’t going the same route. He takes to synth Shaun instantly honestly. He might as well be the same person he took care of as a baby. 

He’s confident that with Sole..this Shaun will grow up to be what the original should have been if things hadn’t gone so horribly wrong.

Preston: He’s unsettled by their decision to become leader of the Institute but he trusts them. He knows they’re a good person and any doubts he has are wiped away as he watches them turn the Institute into what it should have been in the first place.

Not only is the Institute one of the good guys now but alongside the Minutemen they can do so, so much good for the people of the Commonwealth (and even beyond). He’s never been prouder of them. He never would have expected this outcome but that’s just fine with him. 

The Commonwealth was saved the day Sole walked out of that vault.

Piper: She does NOT respond well to the news that they’ve decided to become leader of the Institute. She’s angry. She’s hurt and she feels betrayed. They were supposed to bring this awful organization down and they decided to join them?

She probably is very aloof at first but time passes and she begins to think back on things. She knows them. The Institute was an awful force in the Commonwealth but Sole is anything but. She..decides to find them and listen to what they have to say. 

This is Sole. She knows them. She’s not exactly comfortable with their decision but she’s willing to give them a chance. When they really do turn the Institute into a force for good she feels guilty for ever doubting them. She’s more than happy to spread the news too. 

“The Institute: Boogeymen No Longer.” (this is a terrible article title..i’ll leave the article writing to Piper)

If you read the article she writes if you side with the Institute it’s really touching because despite her initial reaction she clearly comes to accept it because it’s Sole and she trusts them to do what’s right.

Nick: He has a similar reaction to Piper but he feels it on an even more personal level than Piper does because of his connection to the Institute. How could they?He immediately demands they tell him why because they better have a damn good reason for doing so. 

He’s so hurt but he listens because..they have to have a reason for doing this. Sole is his partner and his best friend and that’s why he listens because he can’t bring himself to believe they would do this will ill intentions.

But Nick is idealistic and while he’s a little unsure about their plan he’s willing to listen and see what happens. He’s willing to work with them as long as they stay true to who they are.

As time goes on and he sees that it’s truly a force for good now he makes his peace with their decision. How could he have ever doubted them in the first place? He’s so very proud of them. 

Hancock: He’s not sure what he thinks of the decision. He sure as hell hates the Institute but he knows Sole. He knows they’re not that kind of person. He believes them when they say they’re going to make the Commonwealth a better place. 

Any doubts he might have had are erased as time goes on and Sole uses the Institute to help the Commonwealth. He’s proud of them and he’s never loved them more then he does now. Who would have thought they could turn such a shitshow into something good? Well, he should have known. If anyone could do it..Sole could.

Maccready: Honestly Mac really doesn’t care. The Institute is creepy and all but Sole is his best friend (or lover) and he knows them. He finds their quest to save the world a bit ridiculous but he supposes it’s..admirable even if it makes him roll his eyes. He can see the logic in their decision when they explain it to him. Why waste resources right? And..maybe some of these resources could be used to help Duncan

Regardless he doesn’t care. He’s loyal to them and he’d follow them into hell and back. He just hopes they make a choice they can live with. If they’re happy he’s happy.

Cait: Cait really doesn’t give a fuck. She thinks they’re far too idealistic but they’re her best friend (or lover) and she’ll be there by their side no matter what they choose. The institute is kind of..stuffy for her liking but she tolerates Sole leading them. Her loyalty is to them and them choosing to lead a bunch of Eggheads isn’t gonna change that. 

Curie: She’s thrilled. The amount of technology and information the Institute has..and now it can be used to help people. She never once doubts Sole’s intentions. She’s not disappointed either because they do exactly what she expected them to do. 

She’s also in heaven because there is SO much to learn and so many new opportunities. She’s at the forefront of finding ways to use the Institute’s resources to help the Commonwealth. 

Longfellow: He just kind of eyes them skeptically and asks them why they chose to do it. They certainly seem like a bunch of awful people but he’s willing to listen because surely they have a good reason. He’s a bit skeptical but when they actually do use it as a force for good he’s fine with it. They’re a bit of a stuffy group but he can’t deny that they’re helping people.

Gage: Scorn. He doesn’t understand why they’d want to lead the Institute. Although he knows power  when he sees it and he’s interested in the possibilities this opens up.He thinks their insistence on charity is ridiculous but hey they’re the overboss. Of more than a group of raiders too. He can dig that. He just wishes they’d stop wasting resources on..helping people.

He never thought highly of the Institute (or any other faction for that matter) but he loves Sole and well, if they wanna lead a bunch of eggheads who’s he to argue. He’s particularly interested in what they could gain from this however. 

Danse (pre-BB) His first initial reaction to them accepting the position is anger. How could they? This is going against everything they believe in. He just wants to know why. Their explanation is..he’s unsure about it.

In theory using the Institute’s resources to help instead of hurt people is a great idea but the nature of the Institute makes him wary. He gives them a chance though because he trusts them. He loves them and he has faith in them. 

He’s so proud of them when they do turn it into a force for good. 

However..there is an elephant in the room and it’s the synths. He’s not going to be happy if they continue producing synths. He’ll be vehemently opposed but I wonder if perhaps he would grudgingly accept it since they would be under Sole’s control and leadership. 

 I don’t know? He would not be happy about it though. That I do know. 

Post-BB: He’s confused. Why? He’s angry but most of all he’s hurt and confused. Why would they join them? Lead them? He’s unsure but he knows them. If anyone can turn the Institute into a force for good it’s Sole.

When they actually go forward and do so..he’s never been prouder of them. He naturally is never fond of the place itself but Danse can respect that it contains resources they could use for the good of mankind. It would be easy to misuse something like that but it’s Sole and he trusts them not to. It was a smart tactical decision in retrospect. It would have been a waste of resources.

I’m unsure how he’d respond if they continued producing synths. He’s a synth after all but he still seems to hang on to a lot of BoS rhetoric even post-BB (to be fair it would take a long time to unlearn that kind of brainwashing) Hm..I don’t think he would want them to make synths regardless of his true identity. It just doesn’t mesh with the way he sees things and while hopefully one day he can make peace with his identity and come to see they’re not monsters (and neither is he) he still thinks it’s..unethical. 

Maxson: He’s fucking pissed at first. He feels betrayed (god knows we know he doesn’t respond well to that) and he’s astonished they have the gall to come onto his ship and tell him they’re going to be leading the Institute. He demands they tell him why the hell they would do such a thing or he’s going to do what they came to do in the first place. He can end the Institute right here right now. 

He gives them a chance to speak though because they say they have a reason and they better have a good fucking reason for doing this. 

He’s..unsure. While he can agree the Institute has technology and resources that could be used to help the Commonwealth he also knows they’re the same organization that created synths, that killed and terrorized the Commonwealth. 

They’re so..earnest in their plea for him to just give them a chance. He relents and..he finds that he’s been doing that for them quite often hasn’t he? He’s suspicious and aloof for a while but they’re actions speak louder than words to him.

They did come to save the Commonwealth and that’s what Sole is doing. He can respect the logic in their decision. In retrospect maybe destroying all the knowledge the Institute contained was a bit..impulsive. 

If the right cards are played I think he would come to some sort of agreement. Mutual gain. If they’re going to use it for good he can respect that. He does care about the people of the Commonwealth and Sole is helping them. Not quite in the way he imagined but perhaps this is better.

He’d probably be a bit pushy because he thinks the BoS should have control but..he trusts them. If they work alongside them he can tolerate it.

HOWEVER

I see an issue when it comes to the fact that the Institute does produce synths. Would Sole continue to do so? Is it ethical to do so? We know Maxson’s opinion on that.

I’m not so sure he would be willing to accept this if they continued to produce synths. They might end..tragically for at least one side. He’s not going to accept that.

X6: He’s pleased when they accept the position. That was the plan after all. However..he does find their desire to help these wastelanders a little annoying. Why waste resources on these wretches? The future is here. In the Institute not out there in that godforsaken wasteland.

They’re going to butt heads over this but he eventually comes to grudgingly accept that they’re going to continue to charitable. He trusts them though and hopes they remember what really is important. The Institute. He’s as loyal as ever even if he does roll his eyes behind those sunglasses a lot. 

Deacon: He thinks they’re joking honestly. He cracks a joke  but they fall flat because Sole isn’t laughing. When he realizes they’re serious..Deacon doesn’t get angry easy but Deacon is fucking pissed. It feels like betrayal but he listens because surely they must have a good reason..they must..because they wouldn’t? Would they?

He’s..not sure how he feels about it but their plan seems like a good one..but could it work? He’s very pleased when he starts seeing real change. In retrospect it’s smart of them to use the resources they have at hand instead of throwing a bomb at it. 

With the leader of the Institute working aside The Railroad real change can occur. Not only for the people of the Commonwealth but for synths and hey, that’s something Deacon is more than happy to be a part of.

Strong: As long as Sole still smashes with him sometimes he doesn’t particularly care? He doesn’t like the Institute though but in his eyes they conquered it and he can respect that. It’s like..a new, stronger leader taking over in his eyes. Since strength is something super mutants hold in such high regard. 

Dogmeat: He doesn’t care. In truth Dogmeat is the most morally dubious of the companions because he loves the Sole Survivor unconditionally. If you killed everyone in the Commonwealth he would still love you ;) 

The first part is a joke of course. Dogmeat is a pure and good boy.

[sensespike3-blog]

Eating Is an Existential Chore on ‘Forever’ and ‘The Good Place’

When I was younger, my mother and I would play a game. It started with a simple question: “If you could eat one [X] for the rest of your life, what would it be?” The [X] in question varied: sometimes we’d leave it totally open; sometimes reduce it to a cuisine or restaurant dish or a fruit or a cheese. But there would always be one condition attached: Every time you ate the thing, it would taste as good as the very first time you’d tried it.

The extended montage that opens the first episode of Amazon’s acclaimed series Forever explains why this caveat was always necessary. The show charts the slow decline and gradual rehabilitation of the marriage between Oscar (Fred Armisen) and June (Maya Rudolph), two contented-seeming, yuppy-ish types living out contented-seeming, yuppy-ish lives in the suburbs of Southern California. They meet-cute, bond over drinks and dinner, and eventually buy a lake house. Oscar appears to spend most of his time there fishing and cooking his catch. We later learn that his signature preparation is trout amandine, but at this point in the series, all we see is Oscar present it, with a flourish, to June. And he does so again and again and again, with consistent enthusiasm on his part, but visibly dwindling interest from his wife.

The scene illustrates the repetition and tedium of this dysfunctional marriage in microcosm: the initial excitement, followed by the slow decline into borderline-resentful boredom on the part of June in particular. Showrunner Alan Yang could have used anything to chart the evolution of their relationship — think of the equally masterful sequence that opens Pixar’s Up — but it’s hardly surprising that he lands on food. As anyone familiar with another Yang project, Master of None, will know, eating and drinking are central preoccupations in his work, somewhere close to a full-blown obsession.

The food on display in Forever doesn’t belong alongside the fine dining moneyshots, regional delicacy close-ups, or full-blown Italo-porn of Master of None, though. It’s domestic, in every sense of the word: homemade, on home soil, by one home-owner for another. The very intimacy of this kind of culinary act makes it a perfect stand-in for the couple more generally, and for the issues between them: The reliably conflict-averse Oscar, for example, cooks when he should talk, as though he could nurture the ailing relationship simply by fixing it dinner.

He even continues to do this when given the ultimate second chance. In a “holy-shit!” spoiler that Amazon somehow managed to keep secret in all of its marketing for the show, Oscar actually dies at the end of the first episode, during an ill-advised skiing trip in place of the usual lake house vacation. During the second episode, we watch June pull her life back together, slowly gaining some closure and starting to acknowledge that not every aspect of their life together was perfect. There is even a suggestion, as she prepares to fly to Hawaii and sips on a business class guava bellini, that she is ready to move on. Except she then knocks back a macadamia nut, and (spoiler again!) chokes to death. June regains consciousness in the afterlife, with Oscar standing above her.

June (played by Maya Rudolph) and Oscar (Fred Armisen) presenting mac and cheese to Kase (Catherine Keener)

Amazon/Forever

So her no-longer-former husband presenting a familiar dish of trout amandine at the end of the third episode is a decisive moment — a sign that the old routines of their life together have continued, unaltered, despite their very obvious change in circumstances. Rudolph’s facial expression at this point speaks volumes about her character’s broader discontentment in her new home and with her new (old) companion. It’s no surprise that June seizes on newcomer Kase (played by Catherine Keener). In contrast to the other residents of the bucolic Riverside community, Kase is brusque and self-sufficient. She also clearly has little interest in befriending Oscar and June, going so far as to throw the mac and cheese cooked by Oscar as a welcome gift into her garden flowerbed.

In rejecting Oscar’s food, Kase is also rejecting the cosily monotonous routines that he enjoys, giving June permission to do the same. She gives voice to her growing disillusionment in Riverside in a conversation between the couple, in which she complains that they do “the same five things every day,” and Oscar — again, rather than engaging — goes off to make dinner. His announcement (“We’re having ceviche”) is met with another look of consummate anti-enthusiasm.

June’s lack of appetite for Oscar’s food shows her dwindling appetite for him. The gregarious Kase (“We should be trying something different, we should be pushing the limits, exploring, having orgies”) offers her a far more rewarding form of emotional sustenance. While she remains well-fed, June is starved of something more fundamental. By the fifth episode, when she tells Oscar, “We do the same things every single day, and I don’t see it changing — literally forever — and that bothers me,” it is a foregone conclusion that she will abandon her husband in search of new stimulus in Oceanside. The eternity suggested by the show’s title has started to look less like a reward, and more like a punishment.

The use of food as a form of torture is not uncommon in popular culture. But historically it has tended to be more baroque, borrowing from medieval tradition. In the third circle of Dante’s Inferno, the gluttonous are kept like pigs in a sty, wallowing in a putrid mud that they are also forced to eat. Fast-forward a few hundred years to David Fincher’s Se7en, and John Doe’s first victim has been coerced into literally eating himself to death — a similarly Old Testament punishment to fit the perceived crime.

Forever, though, shows how food can inflict a more subtle kind of agony. Food is something that we must, by necessity, eat every day, but it is also something culturally imbued with specialness, the central aspect of religious and secular festivities the world over. As Helen Rosner’s essay “On Chicken Tenders” articulates, there is something quietly horrifying in the latter category collapsing into the former: the special becoming quotidian; the joyous becoming boring. You can, Rosner says, “have too much of a good thing.” You can, Rosner argues, become “inured to delight.”

We are never told whether the world that June and Oscar inhabit is heaven or hell or purgatory. Things are clearer in another comedy sort-of set in the afterlife: We spend the first season of The Good Place believing Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) and her companions are in heaven, only to discover – twist! — that they’ve been placed in a special kind of hell designed to torture them in far subtler and more affecting ways than the official Bad Place, with its hot spike pits full of lava and bees and lightning.

But in showrunner Michael Schur’s hands, or the hands of fake Good Place architect Michael (Ted Danson), food is used to inflict a very similar sort of agony as that endured by June in Forever. Schur and writer Megan Amram have discussed how they intend the food in the fake Good Place to be “part of Michael’s well-thought out plan to torture Eleanor and company.” It’s all stuff that “seems perfectly fine when you think about it, but is not particularly satisfying to eat,” like clam chowder (“a savory latte with bugs in it”) and Hawaiian pizza. Or, indeed, like frozen yogurt, ubiquitous in the show’s first episode and a perfect embodiment of the totally okay but also kind of meh foodstuffs that Schur and Amram fixate upon.

One of the many fro-yo shops of The Good Place

NBC/The Good Place

It’s certainly food that’s in marked contrast to the usual fare on offer in most depictions of the afterlife. Think of the purgatory-like Judgment City in Defending Your Life, where restaurants are lavish all-you-can-eat affairs and the food they serve is beyond delicious (added bonus: it doesn’t cause weight gain). It’s perfect precisely because it’s so divorced from the occasional downsides that come from having a hungry body on earth: our petty considerations about money; our mundane neuroses about appetite and weight gain. Food in The Good Place and Forever feels rooted in something much more relatable. Whereas most afterlife fiction seeks out extremes — the rosiest vision of heaven, the bleakest vision of hell — these are shows that find a middle ground that looks a lot more like what surrounds us on a daily basis, and use it to ask a more provocative set of questions about what it means to be a person, whether dead or alive.

The answer is fittingly complex. At one point in The Good Place, Michael ruminates on frozen yogurt: “There’s something so human about taking something great and ruining it a little so you can have more of it.” This, in fact, might be the central thesis of both shows. They’re both about our eternal drive to find some sort of satisfaction, and the very human way in which we block our own paths on that quest. And if either show offers some sort of consolation, it’s in the realization that sometimes the route to true, meaningful satisfaction lies not in looking out for ourselves, but for others.

Elanor (Kristen Bell) and Michael (Ted Danson) in a sea of fro-yo shops.

NBC/The Good Place

June and Oscar eventually reunite and symbolically rediscover their love of food (and therefore each other) during a delightful scene extolling the virtues of the banana as the perfect beach snack. But they only find this resolution after they’ve moved out of their comfort zones and accepted responsibility for their faults and marital failures. Similarly, it is only through interacting with her fellow Good/Bad Place inhabitants that Eleanor realizes her selfishness on earth, and seeks to make amends.

These shows are far from heavy-handed morality tales: they’re comedies, first and foremost (The Good Place in particular is a treasure-trove for lovers of deeply silly food puns). But the way they handle food in parallel with the personal growth of their characters is certainly similar. We can’t always get what we want; what we eat can’t always taste as delicious as it did the first time we tried it. Being happy may also mean occasionally being incredibly bored. And being a good person may also mean occasionally doing stuff you really don’t want to. In life, as with diets, balance is everything.

George Reynolds is a food writer based in the UK. He is a regular contributor to Eater London. Editor: Greg Morabito

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2019/1/17/18183922/the-good-place-forever-eating-as-an-existential-chore-boring-food

[aeon-wolf]

Betrayal - Chapter 2

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

Or

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

I.

“C’mon Kara,” Mon-El urged. “We’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.” Kara looked up from her book, signing but nodding nonetheless.

“I’ll meet you there.” She said, her friend deflating a little bit, but not pushing the issue. He closed the door to her dorm room. Kara shut the worn book, running her fingers down the cover gently. “I know you’re still out there. And I promised you that I would never give up on you.” She whispered to herself, gingerly setting the book back in its place on her shelf, getting up from her chair.

The last two years had not been kind to Kara Danvers. Sure, her life generally hadn’t changed that much, but Lena’s absence had still left a hole in her heart. In fact, the entire dynamic of their little group had changed. Kara opened her bedroom door, heading out into the hallway, making her way out of the Zeus dorms. She trudged up the stone path out of the living quad towards J’onn’s office.

Things were different, even though nothing had really substantively changed in their day to day lives. Alex and Maggie went on to graduate then Alex followed through on her dream and went on a three-month vacation to Greece with Maggie. The couple had loved it there and Alex had gotten down on one knee in front of the Colosseum, a ring in her hand, proposing to her girlfriend of over three years. Tearfully Maggie had accepted and the couple had come back to Demos engaged.

Everyone had been overjoyed for the couple, no one more so than Kara. The blonde loved her sister and she loved Maggie. But her heart clenched each time she saw the couple kiss or share an intimate moment. Because it reminded her of what she had lost. Kara walked up the steps of the admin building, dragging her feet. She really hated these meetings. Ever since Lena’s defection, the Gods had seen fit to keep the five halfbloods relatively in the loop. They received intel reports from J'onn and authorized him to tell the five. They all knew because of their ties to Lena, the Gods wanted to keep them close.

Kara reached J’onn’s office, pushing the door open, her four other friends sitting around the office, waiting for her.

II.

“We should strike her down now,” Zeus argued with the rest of the Olympians. “This news that Hyperion’s daughter has joined the Titans is troubling. They are clearly planning for war. The report from Kara and her friends is clear. The demititan is a powerful weapon, as we all knew. The power of a Titan combined with the freedom of humanity.”

Athena and Ares both nodded in agreement. Such a combination was unheard of. Until now. Hyperion had done the unthinkable. “We cannot just destroy her Zeus. That is beyond us. We are forbidden from simply striking down a human.” Apollo argued, his sister Artemis agreed with her twin.

“We don’t yet know what her role is.” She reasoned, but Ares intervened.

“They will train her as a weapon. There is no doubt of that. The Titans will not be strong enough to strike at us for another couple of years. They don’t have the means or the strength to challenge Olympus. But with Hyperion’s daughter, they are a true threat.” He said.

“We need a way to match her strength. Hyperion is a brutal Titan. I do not envy his daughter. She will go through much hardship in the coming years.” Athena said. “But we need to think of our own protection. She made her decision. At full strength, no halfblood will be able to stand against her. Her power will be too great.”

“My daughter,” Zeus said, sitting back in his throne. “She could grow strong enough to defeat Hyperion’s daughter. We still have the Titan’s siphoned powers locked away. Granting her some of that power could easily be enough. Kara is strong already being my daughter. But with the combined power of a God, a Titan, and the humanity to match Lena, she could overpower the girl and end the threat she poses.”

“No,” Apollo said, jumping in. “Kara will never be able to kill Lena.” He insisted. This time Aphrodite, who had remained silent for most of the conversation, agreed.

“Kara Danvers will never be able to strike down Lena Luthor, my lord Zeus. To believe she would even entertain the idea is foolish.” She argued. Zeus sighed but bowed his head in defeat.

“Then we prepare for war. We keep the five halfbloods that returned from the quest close. They will be valuable assets in the coming war. We keep the word of Hyperion’s daughter quiet. The last thing we need is more defections. Hades, rally our forces in the Underworld. War is coming. We need to be prepared.”

III.

Kara sat down in her chair. “Good, you’re here Kara. Now we can begin.” J’onn said, placing his hands on his desk. She just nodded. She hated these meetings. They were always about potential ways to prepare for the coming war. And it always came back to Lena. Over the many months, everyone else eventually lost faith in her

Alex was the first. She had always been wary of the young halfblood, ever since she had been found out to be Hyperion’s daughter. It hadn’t been hard for Alex to treat and talk about Lena like she was the enemy. That hurt Kara a lot more than she was willing to admit. And one by one, everyone else followed suit. First, it was Winn. Then Maggie. Then Mon-El.

Kara always fought for Lena though. She never gave up on the young halfblood. Somewhere in her heart, she knew that there was more to the story. She refused to believe that Lena would betray her like that. She knew that Lena had feelings for her and despite the agonizing years since she had last seen Lena, she still loved her. She could still sometimes feel Lena’s lips against her own. Taste the tears that had run down both their cheeks. Hear Lena apologize to her. That memory was still as vivid as ever, even after two years.

“The Gods are sending Conner on a quest. There is a group of hunters that live in the forests on the Olympic Peninsula. He is going to try to recruit them to our side. Before the Titans get there. He’s bringing Alira and James with him.” Kara’s attention perked up at the mention of James.

He was the only one of their group that was left out of the loop. Soon after they arrived back at Demos, the Gods had decided to spread word the Lena had died, rather than turned. And they were all made to swear oaths on the River Styx to never tell a soul. Even their best friend James. Most of them were torn up about Lena’s defection that it hadn’t been much of a stretch for the narrative that Lena had died to spread. And spread quickly.

James took particular interest in Kara after he found out. And in the coming years after. He had cared for Lena, maybe not as much as some of the others because he hadn’t had as much interaction time with her. But he had still seen her as the little sister of the group. But he noticed that when they had come back, Kara was far more depressed than the others. He had suspected that Kara had more than friendly feelings towards Lena weeks before the two had left on their quest together. And Kara refusal to move on was further proof.

“When are they leaving?” Alex asked, always the down to business one.

“Tomorrow. This is a matter of speed. Our spies tell us that the Titans are being to mobilize. Their armies are vast, larger than originally projected. We need all the help we can get. And we don’t have a lot of time. We don’t yet know when they will launch their first attack, but things have been unusually quiet.” J’onn said grimly. Mon-El and Winn nodded.

There had been an uptick in the number of monster attacks in the last couple of years. Perhaps the Titans. Perhaps not. But everyone was wary of what it meant. But they hadn’t had any reports of attacks in the last few weeks. “Do we know if…” Winn trailed off, glancing at Kara, who tightened her jaw slightly. “Lena is… uhm… involved in planning or anything?”

J’onn looked cautiously at Kara, as did everyone else. They all knew Lena was a touchy subject for Kara. She still believed that Lena wasn’t evil, though all the evidence pointed to the idea that she had completely given herself over to the Titans. She was their enemy. But Kara refused to believe it. J’onn sighed. “No. We have little information about her. Our spies are not highly ranked enough to interact with her regularly. They’ve caught glimpses of her, exchanged swords with her a couple of times. That is all.”

“How good is she now?” Mon-El asked, genuinely curious. Lena had a lot of raw talent, but when they had been friends, she was untrained for the most part. She knew the basics, but she wasn’t a refined swordsman by any means.

“From the information we’ve gathered, she’s an expert now. I can’t say I’m surprised. She always was the talented one. Must come from her father.” J’onn said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“She’s always been great. But that’s because she’s naturally talented, not because her father was good.” Kara interjected. Alex rolled her eyes.

“Kara, you’ve got to stop sticking up for her at some point. If she had a big master plan to screw the Titans, don’t you think she would be back here, in your lap by now? Wake up, little sister. I love you Kar, but it’s time to move on from this idea that Lena is still the same person we all thought she was. Because she’s not. “ Alex lectured. Kara groaned, shooting her sister a dirty look. She stood up abruptly.

“If we’re done for today, I’m leaving,” Kara said, storming out of J’onn’s office before anyone had a chance to stop her.

IV.

Kara headed to the quad and laid in the grass, a favorite pastime of Lena’s. She lay still for a few minutes before a shadow blocked her view. Kara looked up to see Mon-El standing above her. “I loved her too you know.” He said, sitting down next to Kara. The blonde sat up, propping herself up on her hands.

“Then you wouldn’t have given up on her.” Kara huffed. Mon-El sadly looked at Kara.

“Kar, don’t you think I wish every day that she would come home? Come back to us? Because I do. Nothing is the same without her. Maggie and I miss her like a little sister. James does too, I know. He told me. Alex doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s so hostile to Lena because she’s mad. Both at Lena and at herself. She’s mad that she couldn’t stop Lena. And she’s mad that Lena hurt you. And Winn misses his little tech buddy. We all want her back Kara. But it’s time to face reality. Lena is a threat. We know she’s training to destroy Olympus. And it’s going to take destroying us to get there. We’re the first line of defense. We’ll see her again Kara. But we all have to be prepared for the reality that she isn’t the same baby halfblood we took in. She’s dangerous.” Mon-El said, rubbing Kara’s back.

“I just… I can’t believe that Mon-El. How can I? I still love her. How can I believe that she doesn’t love me? That she's forgotten about me, even after two years. I can’t believe that she’d hurt me.” Kara said, her voice cracking. Lena was always a sore topic for Kara, it was difficult to talk about her for any length of time without crying. And she was trying very hard not to.

“Maybe she won’t Kara. She did love you. I’m sure of that. But that doesn’t change the fact, from what our sources say, she’ll do anything to destroy the Gods. And even if she doesn’t, her father will. And he has been rather brutal to her from what we understand. I know you refused to sit in on that report, but…” Mon-El said, but Kara cut him off.

“Don’t.” Kara sobbed. “I can’t…” Kara said, tears rolling down her cheeks. Mon-El shut his mouth, gathering Kara up into a hug.

“I know it hurts Kar. And I wish I could fill that spot for you. But we both know I can’t. But you have to try to move on. Heal your heart.” He said as she cried into his shirt.

“I can’t,” Kara whispered through her tears. “She’s still in there. I promised her I would never give up on her. I’m not going to break that promise.” Mon-El elected to stay silent, just holding his friend who he knew was in agonizing pain. Not of the flesh, but of the heart. And that was often more damaging than a knife to the gut.

V.

Kara lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling when she heard a knock at her door. “Come in.” She called, the door opening and Alex stepped into her room. Kara glanced at her sister, before looking back up at the ceiling.

“Kar?” Alex said, sitting down in the chair by Kara’s desk. Kara remained silent. Alex sighed. “I’m sorry about earlier. Mon-El told me what happened. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know that’s the last thing I want. I just... “ Alex tried, running her hand through her hair, frustrated. “I just want to protect you. You haven’t been yourself since… yeah. I’m just worried about you. Mom and Dad are too. I just want what’s best for you.” Alex whispered. Kara looked over at her sister.

“Trying to get me to get over her isn’t what is best for me Alex. I made a promise to her. Everyone else might be willing to throw her under the bus, but I’m not.” Kara said with a tone of finality in her voice. Alex got up, moving over to sit on the bed next to Kara.

“And that’s one of the things I love about you Kara. You always look for the best in people. You always want to help. To believe that they can be good. I just want you to be careful. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. You may believe in her, but does Lena still believe in you?” Alex asked carefully.

“Yes. She has to. She promised me.” Kara said, a little angrily.

“I know, but Hyperion has…” Alex started, but Kara cut her off.

“Her father isn’t her. She may be living with him and training under him. But he can’t make her do anything. I know she still cares about me. There isn’t anything he can do to make her forget me.” Kara said confidently. Alex sighed, running her hand through Kara’s blonde hair.

“I hope you’re right. Because I get the feeling we’re going to find out. Sooner, rather than later.”

I admit, I almost teared up a bit writing that exchange between Kara and Mon-El. Almost. So that's what Kara has been up to really. Just going about her normal life with a hole in her heart. I wanted to draw a bit of a contrast between what Lena and what Kara have been going through. And I don't want to say Lena hasn't struggled emotionally. Because she certainly has. But Lena's also had an ugly time physically. And she hasn't had a lot of free time to stew on her emotions like Kara has. So they're both hurting over each other, in different ways.

There have been other small tidbits of information (especially in regards to other characters like James, Winn, Maggie, Alex, etc) that have gone on in the last two years, but a sufficient amount has been covered to where we can really start digging in on the plot. Any additional information on the last two years will be worked in when it needs to be. But I think we've all got a good sense of where our favorite couple is at the beginning of this coming war. Kara, as in canon, refuses to give up on Lena. And Lena, while twisted and abused by Hyperion, still holds Kara (and her other friends) in her heart. But things are never simple. Especially when you're the daughter of a Titan.