#but then of course I completely understood why buddie was such a big ship

[thelaurenshippen]

Welcome to the clown car! 😂 Hope you'll enjoy your time here!

hahaha thank you!! I've been enjoying my time here immensely - I started watching the show...gosh, fall of 2021 I guess? Mid-season 5 is when I started watching the episodes as they came out. I'd been aware of the show for a little while (bc I use tumblr duh) but I had no idea that there were so many DISASTERS and that the found family vibes were SO STRONG!! I'm so well fed!

but anyway, I've only really started tentatively using this more front-facing tumblr to go insane about my blorbos, so I'm glad that others can relate. few shows reliably make me cry, like, 9/10 times!

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Okay so MASSIVE Project Hail Mary spoilers but

I like to think of what Project Hail Mary was like from Rocky’s point of view.

He went out on a desperate mission to save his species in their first ever proper spaceship with a big crew, who all mysteriously died. Their bodies just... gave up, just died, and none of them understood why. He didn’t understand why he alone had been chosen to live. Their flight path to tau ceti makes no sense; the ship isn’t where it’s supposed to be, their velocity is wrong, their fuel calculations are wrong, time is wrong, and he’s not a pilot or a scientist and he has *no idea* what’s going on, he just has to somehow, step by step, trial and error his fucking way to tau ceti. He manages that, gets there in one piece, but things are broken all over his ship, and some of them he can’t repair. His sampling device, absolutely critical for the survival of his species, is just gone. He tries to make a replacement, but he’s not a scientist. He fails.

He tries again. He NEEDS this or his people are doomed. He fails.

He is alone, the fate of his planet, of all intelligent life as he knows it, resting on him.And he does not have the skills or materials to save them. It’s a hopeless task, an impossible task. He is alone and he is failing to save them. For forty five years. Forty five entire years.

And then

This FUCKING ALIEN LIFE FORM

This INTELLIGENT ALIEN

Just SHOWS UP

Rocky’s analysing tau ceti one day and this alien ship’s engine activity shows up on his telescope. An actual fucking alien ship and it has an INTELLIGENT ALIEN LIFE FORM in it beyond anything Rocky’s ever conceived of and the alien WANTS TO BE FRIENDS.

He’s not very bright. And he’s kind of an arsehole. But he’s the first person Rocky’s seen in 45 years and he just shows up with this ship full of advanced scientific equipment and answers all of Rocky’s pressing questions. “Here’s why your crew died, here’s how to protect yourself. Here’s why your navigation to tau ceti was off, here’s a proper path that will get you home safely. Here’s all about my fucking weird planet and my fucking weird biology, since you’re interested. Of course I have a sampling device, I’ll just go and grab some of what we need to save both our planets. Hmm... this isn’t going to work, both our planets are doomed... wait! Here’s a method that just might work, that I can design because I have the specific skill set you need since your biologists didn’t make it! Now you can save your planet! Oh, also, of course you can have a copy of every piece of digitised art, culture and science created by my species, I bet your scholars will love that! ‘Bye, I’ll miss you!”

Everything is great. Everything is fantastic. Rocky is going to go home, his people are going to live! His species has been saved!

Then his ship breaks down. The fuel is corrupted, he has no way home. He has the solution to his people’s salvation *in his claws* and he has no way to get it to them. No way to even tell them about it. He is SO CLOSE and he is adrift in space, he’s going to die alone in an unfixable ship after all. And his people are going to starve.

And then

His FUCKING ALIEN BUDDY shows up again, out of absolutely nowhere

Just shows up and starts literally banging on his hull with a spanner. “Hey dude! I see you’re marooned in space! I have a bunch more fuel and know exactly how to solve your problem! Let’s get you home! I don’t have a way back to my own planet but saving your entire species is kind of more important.”

So Rocky gets home with the materials to save his entire species, and also the news that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe and exactly where in the universe humans come from, and also a living sample in the form of his new alien buddy who’s perfectly happy to move in next to a major university and talk to scientists about his species as much as they want, and also a record of all this cool alien science, which is great because said alien is in fact a science teacher and would LOVE to spend the rest of his life explaining relativity to aliens.

All of this happened in what is, to Rocky, an extremely short span of time, and completely out of nowhere. I wonder how long he sat listening to his instruments after detecting the Hail Mary for the first time, just thinking, “ah, finally, the isolation has driven me completely mad.”

[stubbornjerk]

Juno’s Season 3 Was Good, Actually

Or: Kevin and Harley’s writing is getting better with every season

I’ve seen a lot of people being unsatisfied with the finale, which is perfectly reasonable to me. What’s not is when people say the themes were a bit off this season and, as someone who Just Recently Caught Up, I can tell you definitively that the themes of this season have been anything but confusing. They’re simple and kind of genius that way.

To summarize, this season was about the Aurinko crime family learning to work together and getting the Curemother Prime.

That’s about all the TL;DR you’re getting from me. The long version is... that this season had about three themes: growth, faith, and family. Not specifically in that order, but I’ll try my best to illustrate these themes as coherently as possible through proud tears.

Major spoilers under the read-more :)

Growth

We began this season with Nureyev. Which was due to a lot of reasons, including the fact that Joshua Ilon wasn’t really available for extensive monologue recording. RL reasons aside, it matches up since we met our dear detective and understood him completely (season 1) and knew that he’d grown and set himself on the path to recovery (season 2).

Putting him in the backburner for a character who had grown to know him as well as Nureyev served as much of a narrative new perspective as it was an actual new perspective.

There’s a reason why all these episodes are still named after Juno Steel. These perspective shifts were both to introduce us to a cast we’ll end up getting to know well, and because they were highlighting themes of growth we’d seen on Juno in the previous season:

Nureyev realizes that his scorn and difficulty getting along with people is placed in his insecurity of his current emotional maturity.

Jet acknowledges the impacts of his past and accepts it going forward.

Vespa learns to open up to new people in her life, accepting that they aren’t always there to hurt or leave her.

Rita gradually accepts that there’s a reason these people trust in her and that wanting to help someone isn’t always in the best intentions.

Buddy wants to live and die on her own terms.

And when we come back to Juno, he’s a new person.

We’re Nureyev now, all over again. We see this new Juno Steel, who doesn’t get stuck in his head a lot, who doesn’t pick fights all the time, who tells his best friend I love you and means it, who isn’t scared to get introspective of moving on, and is vulnerable with people. He’s learned to let people take off the armor and see who’s wearing it instead of embodying the armor itself.

And that brings us to our second theme:

Family

Right, yeah, the queer sci-fi audio drama has a found family, surprise, surprise. But there’s more to it than just that. This season started with its own thesis statement: that this group of unlikely people do not have to like each other, but will have to. And staying with people you don’t have to like and still believing in them, still risking your life for them– that’s family.

Best example: none of them may trust Peter Ransom or his motives on this ship, but that doesn’t mean that when the going gets tough, we don’t trust him to get us out of this mess even if it means he has to fight tooth and nail for it.

Buddy and Jet believe this concept of family the most, Nureyev and Juno, the least.

There’s a reason why Buddy believed Jet to be the best chance this ship had for its next leader, and that’s because Jet accepts all of them, what they can and would do now despite of what they have done before. That was his big arc for Tools of Rust.

When the Getaway arrives, who else is it if not Jet who believes that they can get out of this, that Juno and Ransom would have to work together, not alone, in order to get them all out of this.

And they will. (Brilliant callback to Monster’s Reflection there, btw, I always did love that quote).

Nureyev doesn’t really believe in the concept of the Aurinkos as a family– he’s a lone wolf, of course he doesn’t. The way he scoffs family meeting in Man in Glass only reinforces that, though he starts believing the hype a bit as we go forward. He never addresses it again, of course, but that’s just on the King of Repression.

Juno, on the other hand, would love to believe in this idea of the Aurinkos as a family, except that in the moment he finally has to address it in himself that he does believe in it, that it isn’t just something he got used to saying in front of his old family, Sasha, he ends up having to choose between them and him.

And that’s where we get into our last theme for this season:

Faith

Before you call me a Catholic and move on, I mean this in the most generous of terms: this fits the season.

Faith is a step above trust, and it is a grand concept. It means trust, means belief, means that come whatever trial or tribulation, you know the person you have faith in will come through.

I’ve talked about this before, that people keep saying that the thing between Juno and Nureyev was always trust. Trust always evoked the idea of having to prove it in my brain, and it never added up until recently. Because, like Jet, the way Juno believed in Nureyev changed the way he saw him. Angel of Brahma (P2), the episode they bring back up in the finale, perfectly encapsulates this idea of believing in what Peter Nureyev could do.

And it’s such a masterful callback, because it really puts the entire season into perspective. That this unlikely group of people ended up putting their faith in each other and kept coming through for each other.

Shadows on the Ship was the perfect blind faith moment of this– when she stabs the bot pretending to be Juno because she believed, finally, that Juno would never call her crazy.

Mega-Ultrabots of Cyberjustice spins this on its head, the perfect twin episode, where she takes that faith, fumbles with it, but ultimately still proves to herself that she’s worthy of it, that there’s a reason she’s with this group of people.

I could mark all the moments it pops up in both HOIA and WLB but we’ll be here all day.

So, in conclusion...

When people say that the finale came out of nowhere I just sit here in my corner, clutching these ideas together like a bouquet wondering what stench straight up followed these people out of this season.

This season could not have been more clear about what it was about: growth, the idea of family, and having faith in each other. This was a reading me and my friends grew to accept and interpret, because it all made perfect sense and it was pretty clear cut.

Sure, you can read in the idea that this season is about accountability and Nureyev, but... that would muddy the waters, if you catch my drift.

Anyway, if you got to reading this far, thank you, and if you relisten to the season, keep these themes in mind!

[rtcosley]

ep12

disappointment

honestly all I’m feeling after this episode is disappointment and I can see that other people feel it too - even Portwell shippers?

Look, I really hate putting other ships down, because they usually deserve a chance, but I can’t do it with Portwell (nor EJ x Mazzara O-o)

Adding the whole family thing as Portwell drama isn’t doing it for me; Ashlyn sees Gina as her sister and EJ is her cousin, Jamie got big brother vibes from him. Yet, they get over this problem because they are so in love. Was that seriously the best option? Making the ship super weird?

Also, why are they making Gina and EJ so cringe this season? Especially EJ, but let’s start with Gina.

Gina - a lot of people were hating on her “pining over Ricky” arc in 2a. I understood that, she was hurting and she needed to move on first. What I don’t get is why 1) the chocolates were a big thing - they got mentioned like 4-5 times this season? 2) the flashback got brought up yet they have never gotten the chance to talk about it? (Ricky and Gina) 3) why would they focus on her broken heart for six whole episode if they aren’t going to pursue Rina? Was that supposed to show us how wrong those two for each other? Or is this another weird way of making the ship more likeable? (Because it is not working)

Also, why is Gina talking about her first kiss with a complete stranger? And why would she say it like that in the finale? “Can I kiss you? Will you be my first kiss?” proceeds to run/walk a marathon - Is someone going to interrupt them? Why else would you make a 10 second walking scene? Wouldn’t it be easier to just make her run up to him and kiss him like every other show does? O.o

EJ - such a good arc took such a bad turn - a relatable senior who was figuring out what to do next in life is suddenly focused on a girl, forgetting scholarships, universities, his future because of a girl that’s 2-3 years younger than him? He called her classmates kids - specifically Carlos, who I think is older than her?

And when did he get so weird and coy? In s1 he had his cool senior buddies, which are nowhere to be found (yes of course, covid is a thing, but they don’t even get mentioned and he spends all of his time with the Wildcats), then he proceeds to flex about how he’s not used to spending V-day alone, he’s a jock and he is shy when talking to Gina? Besides, as many have mentioned: Portwell was excellent at communicating, where has that gone to? Why have Ashlyn intervene?

Now, onto the Ricky x Lily ship. Is that really happening? Lily got no redemption arc, are you going to drag Ricky through the mud by putting him into a toxic, fake relationship or is this just to throw us off? And if it’s supposed to be serious, why have you created another Gina except this one is staying true to her evil roots? Why not just aim for Rina?

I won’t comment on the lack of Seblos and Redlyn because they had their moments, which is nice considering they aren’t the core four and the fact that this episode had 27 minutes out of which only about 20 were the actual episode? Why did we get a kind of pointless Rini scene? Was that supposed to bring Rini closer again? Why.

And please, do not focus on Mazzara if we get a third season. I love everyone in the cast, but it’s crowded enough as it is, don’t give him a brand new shiny plot if you can’t even handle the plots of the main four characters. An adult love triangle (or square??) is also pointless. It was cute in s1, quite annoying in s2.

If season 3 is happening, please be so kind and finish what you’ve started. There are so many open ends, so many questions unanswered - and I don’t mean cliffhangers, I mean plots and drama that you’ve started and never finished. Things that should not be dragged into the next season.

[fandom-necromancer]

I hate you means I love you in android Part 2

This was prompted by the amazing @get-me-a-coffee-dipshit! I guess no fluff without angst with me, but I hope you still enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 [Part1]

‘Hey, Nines!‘ Gavin turned his chair slowly to face the android on the opposite desk. He had the plush kitty on his arm, trying hard to incorporate a mafia-boss petting it slowly while grinning at him. Nines looked at Gavin, the toy and then back at Gavin, lifting a brow. ‘Any plans on the weekend?’ ‘I never don’t have plans, Detective’, he answered dry as always. ‘Okay, I’ll word it differently then’, Gavin said and sat the kitty back on her spot on the table. ‘Mind changing those plans?’ ‘Depends.’ ‘On what?’, Gavin smirked. ‘On what you want from me.’

‘The way I understood it you want something from me, buddy’, Gavin laughed, winking at the android. ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’ Nines averted his eyes just a second too quickly for Gavin to be convinced. Gavin took the cat again and sat it so the plush looked at Nines from underneath his screen. ‘What happened to I care about you, too?’ ‘I didn’t write that.’ ‘Oh, really?’ Gavin was short of laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. ‘You can’t prove I wrote that’, Nines corrected himself, looking at Gavin threateningly.

‘Come on. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about’, Gavin tried to be diplomatic. ‘Everyone feels something. Even a big bad machine like you.’ ‘That’s not what I’m embarrassed about!’, Nines hissed. ‘Perfect! Then how about going out for a coffee with me?’, Gavin caught him. ‘Or I don’t know wherever you want to go.’ ‘Why?’ Gavin groaned. Had he not known better he would have thought Nines really wasn’t interesting. ‘I thought it would be nice, okay? Spend some time together outside work, maybe talk about what you are embarrassed about if it isn’t feeling stuff…’ He sighed. ‘I won’t press you for it. But it’s an offer, okay?’

He saw Nines’ LED go red and stay on it for quite a while. Right as Gavin wanted to ask if everything was alright, the android nodded. ‘Okay. Coffee. Talking. Good.’ Then he went back to working. ‘Okayy…’

~

Saturday at exactly 4 PM Gavin had received the cryptic message Detroit West Riverwalk. Entrance from Orleans Street. On the hill. Bring a jacket. 19:00. At 6:58 he parked his bike at the side of said street and hurried to the park. It was only a short walk until he could see the android sitting on the hill looking over the river. Gavin followed his eyes and got stuck on Cyberlife Tower standing on the other side illuminated by the setting sun. It looked breath-taking, but somehow Gavin questioned whether that was the goal here. Carefully he approached the android and sat down next to him. ‘Hey.’ ‘Hello.’ ‘Err… Nice view you chose.’ ‘Thank you.’ The android lifted a shoulder bag to his side and opened it, handing Gavin a takeout cup and taking a blue bottle out for himself. ‘Got you coffee.’

Gavin took it with a smile. ‘Thanks. Just what I needed.’ They sat in silence. Gavin took a sip of his coffee appreciating the warmth rush into his body. Nines began refilling his thirium too. ‘Hey, you sure you are alright?’, Gavin asked in the end. ‘We don’t have to do this.’ ‘We have to’, Nines shook his head. ‘This is what I want and I won’t wait any longer.’ Gavin lifted his brows, hoping for an explanation. ‘I had a… A crush, I believe is the word, on you for a while. I never told you and this… gift misunderstanding was the end of it.’ ‘Hey, no hard feelings’, Gavin laughed. ‘It was adorable.’ ‘You think so?’, Nines asked. ‘Oh, hell yes! It’s nice knowing someone cares for you. Makes you feel appreciated. And it says a lot about you that if that hadn’t been my brother, you’d be respectful about the whole thing.’

Nines sighed deeply. ‘For me it’s just another proof how much control they still have over me.’ Gavin cocked his head questioningly, but realised Nines was once again watching Cyberlife Tower. He swallowed making the connection. ‘You want to talk about it?’ ‘No’, Nines said, watching the grass between his feet. ‘No, I don’t want to talk about it. I would love to bury it so deep I myself forget about it, but that’s what I’ve been doing until now and it isn’t working.’ Gavin side-eyed the android, but concentrated on drinking his coffee, giving him time. ‘Hey, I’m here. You can tell me; I won’t tell anyone.’

Nines nodded. It still took a while for him to speak up: ‘I was designed without the ability to feel anything. Compassion was what made my predecessor fail, they thought. I was supposed to set an end to deviancy, to never deviate myself. But I had access to Connor’s memories. To his feelings. And although I had never been programmed to feel something, I did experience feelings through him. It was fascinating for me. I wanted to know more and searched for what allowed him to feel in his code. No surprise they weren’t to happy finding out I did that.’ ‘Cyberlife?’, Gavin asked. ‘You were in development during the early days of the revolution, right?’ Nines nodded again. ‘Yes. They found out the first time and deleted it. But they didn’t know the source where Connor’s memories, which they left me. So, I could reclaim the programming again. Until they found it once more and rewrote my code again. It was difficult, but I once again surpassed the barrier they sat me. Of course, they found out. They found out I had stolen and modified my code every time. But I got better at hiding it too. I guess in the end the revolution saved me. At one point they would have found out the RK800s memories where the source of the problem.’

‘But you still have these feelings, right?’, Gavin asked. ‘They didn’t succeed.’ ‘Yes, I still have them. They fled the city before they could take it away from me again. But… When you are told you are not allowed to have emotions and are constantly corrected so you don’t have them… When you are trying to keep your emotions and feelings a secret, just so you can keep them… I guess they did succeed in the end. Even free like I am now, I am scared to show them. Because there is still that irrational fear someone will notice and take them away.’ ‘Holy shit’, Gavin cursed, coffee forgotten. ‘What a bunch of assholes.’ Nines smiled. ‘Cheers to that.’ He took a sip from his thirium and cupped it again to put it away.

‘So you are feeling something for myself, but this shit keeps you from voicing it?’ ‘Something like that’, the android said. ‘I have problems emoting in public. Feelings had always been something private. I was waiting for a situation where I could tell you, but I never met you outside of work. Seeing you with these packages made me… I was envious and frustrated, angry at myself. For never getting over my fear and just telling you.’ Silence spread, and Gavin couldn’t help but smile gently looking over at Nines.

‘You could tell me now’, he suggested. ‘Look around, we are completely alone here.’ Nines did look around and the way his eyes were unfocussed, Gavin suspected he scanned the area. As he was finished, he stiffened up and Gavin feared he might have said the wrong thing. But there was a minute change in the android’s expression, and he angled his body to get more comfortable and look at Gavin.

‘Detective Gavin Reed. I love you from the bottom of my mechanical heart and I wanted to tell you for so long. I love the way you smile. I love to see how your heartbeat fastens when you solved a case. I love how calm you look when you fall asleep, although I would advise getting more sleep instead of falling asleep on your keyboard at work.’ There was a small smile on those normally unmoving lips. ‘I love how cute you can be. And I would like to spend more time with you.’ Gavin grinned and put down his coffee to lay his hand on Nines’. ‘Love you too, you goddamn softy.’

[nureyevv]

Eye-patch Chats

“So,” said Buddy, “Are there any questions about the plan?”

Juno tried to ignore the way she directed her gaze at him as she spoke, waiting for him to ask her to repeat herself. Sure, back when he was still adjusting to life on the Carte Blanche he’d asked some stupid questions, but plenty of time had passed since then and he was practically a seasoned criminal by now.

Ok, well, there was that one time last week when he’d forgotten what their objective was, but that was a complicated heist! And of course the time before that when he’d nearly overslept their departure… 

Alright, fine, maybe this didn’t come naturally to him the way it did Buddy or Vespa or Jet or Nureyev or even Rita (honesty had she been running a side hussle the entire time she was his assistant?), but this time he understood her plot perfectly. He would not be supplying the kind of dumb comment she was expecting. 

Except… he did have a question. 

After a moment of silence as Buddy waited for his inevitable interjection, he gave in. At least this time he wouldn’t be asking about simple logistics that everyone else at the table seemed to understand already.

“I know the whole attire thing is your deal, Buddy,” he began, thinking back to their first mission when Buddy had put him a gaudy golden gown. She’d been right, though, he fit in perfectly, not that objecting got him anywhere anyways. “But, I was hoping we might skip the glass eye, considering last time I used a replacement I almost died getting rid of it-- no offense Big Guy.”

Jet shook his head. “No, you are correct. I did not anticipate your survival.”

“Well, isn’t that a vote of confidence,” Juno muttered. 

“Oh, you should see him before getting a shot!” Rita interjected. “He gets all pale and grumpy and starts grumblin’ about how he can’t stand blood even though he was a detective and worked a bunch of murder cases and I always had to say ‘Mistah Steel, you get out of that windowsill right now and march on over to the doctor’s office--’”

“Alright, that’s enough of that!” he said, shooting her a look.

“Actually, I think we should recreate that scene,” added Vespa in a tone that made Juno very uncomfortable with the fact she was the only medic on the ship.

“That would be very humorous,” said Jet. 

Before anyone else could jump on the ‘embarrass Juno’ train he decided to redirect the conversation to the topic at hand. “So is that a yes or no on the glass eye?”

Buddy considered for a moment before nodding. “I don’t foresee that causing any issues, although if it comes down to a matter of safety--”

“I’ll suck it up and wear the thing,” he finished for her. “Is there anything else or can we call it a day-- not that this whole conversation hasn’t been a complete joy.”

He glanced around the table at the others. Vespa was still smirking, proud of her contribution, while Rita seemed to be playing an intense game of charades with Jet that was either a continuation of their earlier conversation or a reenactment of a star combusting. To his surprise, Nureyev, sitting at his right, was silent. Sure, it wasn’t like him to jump headfirst into conversations like this, but he usually had a comment on the plan, at the very least. 

Instead, his expression was blank. If Juno hadn’t known him so well he might have mistaken it for boredom, but experience told him that was the face Nureyev put on when he was lost in thought. 

He’d have to ask if everything was alright once they had a free moment. Chances were he was just breaking down the next heist, plotting his own movements within what Buddy had already determined. Still, an unease settled in him. 

“Yes, that’s all for today’s family meeting, “Buddy answered, pulling Juno from his thoughts. “I expect you each to spend the remainder of your day preparing.”

With that, she stood up and the table picked up it’s individual conversations. 

He was about to use the cover of post-meeting chaos to ask Nureyev if he was alright, but was interrupted before he got the chance. 

“Mistah Steel,” Rita said, having abandoned the game of violent gestures with Jet, “Why don’t I go ahead and fix that tracker in you comms. Sounds like you're going to need it for the big mission tomorrow.”

“Huh?” he said, his attention shifting over to Rita. “Oh, yeah, the tracker. Sure thing Rita just give me one sec--” 

Looking back at where Nureyev had been he found that the thief had made one of his signature escapes while Juno had been distracted. It seemed that their conversation would have to wait until later. 

Rita was staring at him with a curious look on her face as he returned to their exchange. 

“Uh, here you go,” he said, fishing his comms out of his pocket. “Actually, I was wondering if you could show me how the tracker feature works. If it breaks on a job again I can’t necessarily rely on you to be there to fix it for me.”

“Are you sure,  Mistah Steel?” she asked, a hint of a smile creeping onto her face. “Last time you asked me to explain something technology related you spent an hour tryin’ to figure out where the power button was-- and that’s not even counting the time ya spent claimin’ the screen was broken.”

“Well I’m still not convinced it wasn’t broken, but that’s beside the point,” he argued. Stupid computers and their stupid controls… “Anyways, can you just show me how the thing works.”

“If you insist,” Rita said with a shrug, “We should probably go to my room though, it’s pretty busy out here and I’ve got a hunch this’ll take a while…”

His eyebrows pulled together as he frowned. 

“I won’t take that long,” he retorted, though he followed her to her rooms anyway. 

***

It took the entire afternoon and a large portion of the evening to fix the tracker. Well, it took Rita ten minutes to do it and another hour to explain how. The rest of the time was dedicated to his attempts to repeat what she’d done and breaking the thing even worse than before. 

At the end of the day they were both exhausted and Juno was nowhere closer to understanding how his comms worked. Hungry and brain dead, they’d decided to call it a day and grab a late dinner.

It wasn’t until he was about to retire to his room for the night that he actually had a chance to look at his comms. As Rita had not so subtly pointed out, he wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to technology, so he wasn’t particularly accustomed to receiving messages, especially now that most of the people who had any interest in speaking to him lived on the same ship. 

As he flopped onto his bed, prepared to all but pass out, he decided to double check his inbox, just to be sure.

It was a surprise to find a question from Nureyev. 

“Can we talk?” it read, short and sweet, which only made his stomach drop.

It was probably nothing, and yet… well that sure was a comforting message to receive from your ex-something.

It’d been sent around noon. As much as Juno wanted to crawl into bed and forget about his growing dread long enough to fall asleep, he couldn’t let Nureyev wait any longer in good conscience. 

So, somehow he found himself trekking across the Carte Blanche in the middle of the night, the day before a mission. It didn’t occur to him until after he’d knocked on the door that Nureyev was probably already asleep. 

He was just about to make a shameful retreat when the door swung open.

Nureyev, it seemed, was still wide awake. In fact, the other man was still dressed in the clothes he was wearing earlier that day, which made Juno a bit embarrassed of the T-shirt he slept in. 

“Uh,” he began, noticing the quizzical look on Nureyev’s face. “I got your message” 

Before he could get a response, though, he followed up his own statement with apologetic word vomit. “I just realized how late it is, though, and you probably have a ton you want to get done before tomorrow so I should go, right? Yeah I should go--”

He tried not to physically cringe at how awkward he sounded. Jeez, he was acting like Rita, but at least she made it charming. 

But Nureyev only smiled in that easy way he did and motioned Juno inside. “Not at all. I’ll be up for another few hours anyway and all my preparations for tomorrow are complete. Please, come in.”

Juno obliged with an embarrassed nod. Nureyev followed him inside the door shutting behind him with a soft click. 

“So I got your message,” he started again, rubbing the back of his neck when he realized he’d already said that. “I guess… I guess I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You were kind of out of it earlier today.”

At that, Nureyev laughed and shook his head. If Juno hadn’t been so drunk on the sound of that laugh he might have worried he was being mocked, but Peter had a way of easing tensions without saying anything at all. Or, at least he did when it came to Juno.

“I could have asked you the same thing,” he answered, matter-of-factly. “Have a seat, Juno.”

Juno did, settling into the edge of Nureyev’s cot. The other man took the space next to him. 

“I suppose I was simply curious,” he continued with a shrug. “I may have no right to ask this of you considering how tight lipped I’ve been about my activities last year, but what were you all referring to this morning?”

Juno’s brows furrowed as he thought back to that day’s meeting.

“I thought you already knew I hated blood?”

Nureyev smiled again. “Yes, I do recall that-- although Rita’s recounts added more pizazz than you’ve ever let on. I was actually talking about the near death experience with Jet.”

Oh. Oh. He was talking about the THEIA incident. 

“Again, you can tell me if I’m overstepping,” he added hastily. “You seemed quite open about it earlier but I don’t want to assume anything.”

Juno leaned back and turned his eyes to the ceiling. “No, no it’s ok. I was just… surprised.”

By which he meant he was shocked Nureyev cared how he’d spent the time they’d been apart. Maybe that was just his own guilt talking, though. He’d made the choice to stay on Mars-- everything that had happened with Ramses and THEIA was his cross to bear. He’d had the chance to get away, but he’d chosen not to-- telling Nureyev about it felt a bit like throwing that choice in his face. 

But he’d asked, and Juno was tired of the awkwardness between them. If Nureyev wanted to know, then Juno would tell him all he could. 

“I guess it’s just hard to know where to start,” he mused. 

“Might I suggest the beginning?”

Juno laughed. “Yeah, that’ll work.”

It was a long story, but Nureyev was patient as Juno navigated through the last year. It felt a bit absurd saying it aloud. The person he’d been back then was something else entirely, so convinced his worth was determined by his aim or how many cases he solved. 

There was something refreshing about how the memories had become distorted with time. It was proof things had changed, even if some topics were still sore. The image of Ramses dead in his office… the ghosts of his mother and brother… the fight for control against his own body. All of it still sent a chill up his spine, but he’d learned to let his past walk alongside him rather than keep him in place.

By the time he got to the end his eyelids were threatening to shut of their own accord, but he hoped his exhaustion wasn’t too obvious on his face. 

“After that, Rita and I decided to leave Mars. I… I couldn’t fix the planet on my own but I knew if I stayed I would keep trying anyways,” he finished, purposely leaving out the part where his new life was interrupted by the presence of a man he’d never expected to see again… and was quite possibly still in love with. 

“I see,” said Nureyev, speaking for the first time since Juno had begun, an intensity in his face Juno couldn’t quite name. “Juno, I’m so sorry.”

He looked at the other man with a sideways smile.

 “Don’t be. I won’t say I’m glad it happened, because I’m not. It was really really shitty. But, y’know, I’m not proud of who I was back then, and I might still be that person if life hadn’t knocked some sense into me.”

“Yes,” Nureyev agreed. ‘Yes, I think I understand. You aren’t the same man as you were in the tomb. I must admit, I’m glad for that.”

Juno swallowed, a wave of doubt rushing over him. Nureyev was… glad he wasn’t the person he’d known. What did that mean? He was relieved to no longer be distracted? He was happy he had no reason to care for Juno anymore? Maybe he deserved it after leaving the way he did, but that was a bit harsh, wasn’t it? He’d just told Nureyev his life story and all he cared about was that whatever he’d been charmed by was gone. 

Nureyev was looking at the floor now, but Juno had nothing more to fill the silence. To his surprise, however, Peter beat him to it. 

“Back then, with Miasma and the bomb, we didn’t know it only affected martians. It’s comforting to know that, should a situation like that arise again, it would play out differently.”

Juno gaped at him. “Oh.”

So he wasn’t glad that Juno wasn’t the person he’d fallen for. Nureyev was just glad he wanted to live.

Unsure where to go with their conversation after that, Juno stood. “Well, it’s getting late, and now that you know the story behind my aversion to eye replacements, we should really get some rest before tomorrow.”

Following Juno’s lead, Nureyev got to his feet  and moved to open the door for him. “Yes, of course. Good night, Juno.”

“G’night,” he answered as he crossed through the threshold. “--And Nureyev?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

The other man shot him a confused look. “For what?”

Juno shrugged. “Take your pick.”

***

Despite their late night, the next day’s mission went off without a hitch. Well, if you considered getting chased by the local authorities “without a hitch”, which Juno did. 

The next few days were rather quiet. Buddy still required family meetings each day, but since they were a ways out from their next heist the discussions were rather concise. Juno spent most of his days somewhat begrudgingly watching streams with Rita. Anything to pass the time, he supposed. 

He hadn’t spoken to Nureyev since the night they’d discussed THEIA ordeal, but Juno didn’t push it. He still wasn’t positive what sort of terms they were on. If Nureyev wanted to talk to him, Juno figured he would reach out. 

He did, however, come across a small piece of fabric he’d never seen before on his bedside table one morning. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be an eyepatch-- a nice one, at that-- with a dahlia embroidered in gold on the front. 

It didn’t have a gift tag or anything to reveal the identity of the sender aside for a scrap of scratch paper with a sentence scrawled across it. 

“So you have something real to thank me for.”

[raineydaywrites]

take the big hits

ao3 link in the source!

Summary: Febuwhump day 5: "Take me instead."

There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.

He could take a lot of damage that the rest of them couldn't handle as easily, but he certainly wasn't indestructible. And the knowledge that he would wake up at the start of the next cycle if he died really only made his self-sacrificial tendencies even worse.

There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.

He could take a lot of damage that the rest of them couldn't handle as easily, but he certainly wasn't indestructible. And the knowledge that he would wake up at the start of the next cycle if he died really only made his self-sacrificial tendencies even worse.

And the rest of the crew was sick of it.

They loved Magnus, and hated when he was gone. They didn't like to see him suffering or hurt, and it was starting to seem like he was going to get badly injured or killed every cycle.

They'd lost Magnus early last cycle, when they'd been ambushed by a group of people from a region other than the one they'd found the Light in. They'd communicated with the leaders of the region where they found the Light, and gotten an agreement to bring it back to the Starblaster, but apparently that information had gotten leaked somehow, and it turned out that the other regions didn't feel that they should be left out of that decision.

It would have been easier to communicate with the other region earlier and explain their reasoning for taking the Light, but instead they'd had a tense stand off between the crew and the plane's natives.

Eventually, they managed to convince the natives that it was in the best interest of everyone for them to take the Light back to the Starblaster, but the natives had groused at the idea of losing out on the knowledge they could gain from the Light.

When it had started to look as though they might decide to attack and keep the Light for themselves despite everything, Magnus had intervened.

See, the thing about Magnus is that he understands people. He's a charmer and he likes to be social and he worries about everyone. And a large part of that empathy and extroversion comes from understanding what people want and what they've been through. What motivates them.

He figured out what motivated the natives and offered it to them before any of the rest of them could protest.

"Take me instead," he'd offered, to the confusion of the other crew members. Why would the natives want Magnus?

But the fact of the matter was that the natives weren't fools. They understood that something unusual was happening, and they were unwilling to risk the idea that the IPRE crew were lying about the importance of the Light leaving this plane.

They didn't really want to keep the Light itself after that. They just wanted something to sweeten the pot before they let the rest of them go.

And the chance to study a real live alien was a sufficient sweetener to these scientifically minded monsters.

When they'd understood Mangus' offer, the crew protested, of course, but they were not standing in a safe spot. And the longer they argued, the more they risked the lives of the rest of them, and the opportunity to bring the Light back to the ship and escape at the end of the year.

In the end, Captain Davenport made the call to retreat. It broke his heart to leave Magnus to the devices of these beings, but it wasn't worst the risk that they would decide not to believe them about the Light, or to decide to look for a different way to preserve their world from the Hunger that didn't require the crew of the Starblaster.

They'd communicated with the leaders of the region they'd found the Light in, hoping for help in retrieving Magnus, which they did receive, but by the time they worked through all the legalities and diplomatic necessities, he'd already been killed.

There was nothing to do but grieve and wait for the next cycle to begin.

-

Magnus was greeted with a round of very enthusiastic hugs when he reformed.

"Hi guys!" he said, smiling brightly at the rest of them. It had been a rough cycle from his perspective, and he was so glad to see his family and to be out of that situation.

He was a little concerned about how upset and angry everyone looked past their enthusiasm at seeing him again.

Lucretia was clinging tightly to his side, so he leaned down to her and spoke.

"What's wrong?"

Lucretia gave him a shocked look, and said nothing, glancing around to the rest of the crew as if asking what she was supposed to say to that.

"You fuckin' left us, is what's wrong!" Taako said, extricating himself from the hug to punch Magnus in the shoulder. Even after getting out of the hug, though, he didn't go far, hovering nearby but safely out of hug range.

"I- I had to do something. I knew I'd be okay," Magnus said, uncertain why they were all taking this so badly. Sure, it had sucked, but he'd gotten through it. And everything was fine now.

"You didn't have to do that. We could have found another solution," Captain Davenport said, sternly, but Magnus could see that he was worried behind it. He'd participated in the group hug for even less time than Taako, but that was okay. They were still working on getting him to let go of his shell of professionalism, and it had made Magnus happy that he'd joined the hug at all.

"I know it wasn't the best plan, but we didn't have a lot of time to find a better one," Magnus argued, a tiny bit annoyed at the stern tone that he was being met with. "I knew the risks and I was willing to take them."

"You can't just throw yourself in danger without even telling us what you're thinking," Davenport admonished.

"I'm the security officer. It's my job to do that," Magnus retorted, and now the hug was starting to break up in light of the argument. Magnus missed it, but he was too upset to let go of the fight. He knew that he was young for this position, and that everyone else on the crew save Lucretia was years and years older than him, but that didn't mean that they could treat him like a child.

"What kind of security officer leaves a bunch of magic users to defend ourselves for a year, huh?" Taako said. "Not a very good one."

Magnus felt a little taken aback by the words, and shrunk in on himself a little.

"I have to protect you guys," he said. "I don't try to die early, but sometimes-"

"You don't always get a choice, I get that," Lup interjected, "but Taako has a point. You want to protect us, but you can't do that when you get yourself killed and leave us without you."

"And you had a choice this time, buddy," Barry said, softly. "You offered to go with them, even though you knew what would happen."

"You guys don't need me that much," Magnus argued. "I'm good and everything, but you have offensive spells. And Merle and Barry can fight alright, if they gotta."

"Of course we need you Magnus! We need everyone. But we also just like you and like having you around," Lup said. "You're a lot of fun, big guy."

"But I'm not as important as the rest of you," Magnus said.

Everyone else stilled, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"What's that supposed to mean, bud?" Merle asked, his tone as careful as he was capable of.

"I can't help with the engine or studying the Light or the science stuff. But I can protect people. That's the- I mean, I'm good at other stuff yeah, but that's the thing that's relevant to the mission. The rest of you- I mean, like I said, Merle and Barry can fight, but Merle is a healer too, and Barry knows the engine and the science. Nobody else can take over those jobs as easily as they can take over mine," Magnus explained. It seemed pretty obvious to him. He wasn't trying to be self-deprecating or anything, it was just about the relevance of their individual skill sets. His skills were largely less useful than the rest of them.

"Magnus-" Merle said, in a extremely soft tone, but he couldn't seem to figure out what to say and he stopped talking.

No one else really seemed to know either, and the room went very quiet, until Lucretia broke the silence.

"What about me? I'm just the chronicler, and there's no one to record the mission for anymore. I'm even less useful than you. Should I start sacrificing myself at the drop of a hat?" she asked.

"No!" Magnus said, horrified that she'd even ask it. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then why is it okay for you?" Lucretia demanded.

"It's my job-" Magnus started.

"No, it isn't. Your job description does not ask you to get killed for us," Davenport said, body tense and tail twitching angrily.

"Security officers do accept certain risks, though! And this mission has even more of them than more security jobs!" Magnus said.

"This mission has gone completely ass-over-tea-kettle, my dude. I don't think your job title really matters that much anymore," Taako said.

"But my job still does! You guys do!" Magnus responded. They had to understand. He wasn't trying to be reckless, just practical.

"So do you," Barry said. "We missed you."

"We aren't asking you to stop doing your job, Magnus. We just want you to be more careful," Davenport said, stepping closer and giving Magnus a quick hug. "Please take care of yourself too."

Magnus melted into the embrace, and, seeing the reaction, the rest of them rejoined the hug, even Taako, offering whatever comfort they could.

"Last cycle was some real bad shit, guys," Magnus finally said, quietly. "Did not like it. Do not recommend."

"It's okay, buddy. You're safe now," Merle offered.

Magnus let himself drop to the floor, and the rest of them followed. He let himself think about all the awful shit he'd been going through, and he didn't try to stop the tears that fell after that.

Surrounded by his family, he let himself break. He was safe. He was loved. It was going to be okay.

[furidojasutin]

Title: Buddy talk

Pairing: Grayke (Gray x Loke)

Universe: Modern AU

Rating: K+

a/n: This is my entry for the Fairy Tail Reverse Big Bang hosted by @ftguildevents​ ! I was super happy to get to work with the beautiful @rougearts who also made me see the appeal in this ship, actually! You can find her art piece over here --> https://rougearts.tumblr.com/post/628531912470937601/i-am-not-against-shoving-you-off-this-bed-loke  . Make sure to give her work lots of love and follow her on all her blogs, too!! Her writing is amazing and so is her art. 💓 This event was such an amazing idea tbh, so thanks to everyone who helped hosting it and everyone who participated <3

“Ta-da!”

“Wow.” Even if Gray ignored Loke's smugly shimmering eyes, there was a lot to take in. The modern dining table was completely laid. Despite the comparably small surface of the table, there was plenty of different stuff to eat and he'd also spotted the various kinds of bottles near the kitchen counter. The kitchen counter itself? It wasn't as much of a mess as Gray had assumed it would be. After all this time of being friends with Loke, he was still unable to tell if that ginger was more of a clean person or a messy person. Perhaps it depended on the exact situation, really.

“Wow? That's your only reaction? I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this.”

“Sounds kinda gross, if you ask me,” Gray deadpanned but couldn't help but smile a little when he saw his friend's play-acted offended face.

“Well,” Loke countered, “I've always known that you never had keen eye for things that deserve true appreciation, so I can only feel bad for you I guess.” With a slightly dramatic gesture he left Gray's side to fetch them both a glass from the cupboard.

“Sure, whatever you say, man.” He watched Loke with a shrug, the tiniest curve still not disappeared on his face. Of course he appreciated the effort, he really did. Perhaps he wasn't the best at showing his gratitude most of the time, so he was glad that Loke understood him without him having to say much.

His gaze swerved over the full display of food bowls and the... Wait.

“You prepared all of this yourself?”

Loke froze in his movement for a second and Gray almost missed the hesitation. Almost. When his friend turned around with a glass in each of his hands, he shot a lopsided grin towards Gray. “Weeeell..... Not all of it.”

Gray knew exactly where this was going. “What did you prepare yourself?”

With a roll of his shoulders Loke smoothly turned his back on him to pour them both a glass of wine. “This and that... I toasted the bread and cooked the eggs and-”

“You ordered the rest of the meal.”

“Got me there.”

Even so, starting off the evening with a meal and wine was a very good idea. It was pretty decent wine, too. Before Gray knew it he had already emptied two glasses. They hadn't planned on getting drunk but then again, they hadn't planned out anything really so this night could go anywhere.

Or, almost anywhere.

After they cleaned up they decided to move over to Loke's couch and watch some shitty night tv channel. This channel seriously never disappointed them – there was always something dumb to comment on and make fun about and Gray caught himself laughing at more of Loke's stupid jokes than he wanted to admit. It had always been this way.

The night progressed very fast and it was an absolutely good time. Everything was so easy when he was around Loke. Silly and chill. Gray felt relaxed.

And perhaps it was the bottle of wine that they had killed together (though Gray felt a very tiny buzz at most), but there was something so warm and good about Loke and him just chilling on his bed together and talking about random stuff before sleep would get to them. There was nothing weird about them sharing this bed, nothing weird about two half-naked guys right next to each other and sharing their thoughts.

Until Loke thought that it was a good idea to bring that topic into focus.

“Why again are we talking about this?” Gray averted his eyes and stared at the ceiling instead. He made an effort to sound annoyed but something told him that it wouldn't be so easy to distract Loke from his intention. Ugh... He really didn't like talking about this kinda stuff. And perhaps one of the reasons for this circumstance was right beside him...

“Because you're one of my best friends. And because I'm very curious.” Loke rolled onto his side. “I know all about Cana's love life and-”

“It's not like she has ever tried to make a secret out of it. She's a very blunt person. She loves telling us juicy new information involving her newest crush and so on,” Gray tried to counter.

Without much success.

“I want to know more about your love life, though. We've been buddies for so long and I know that you're not much of a talker, but c'mon. There's got to be somebody, right?”

Something about Loke's tone of voice had changed, but he wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly it was. Maybe there was a tad bit less amusement in it, or perhaps he just sounded more serious.

Gray frowned. He still didn't really feel like talking about this. Yea, he'd much rather change the subject. Besides, there wasn't much to tell anyway...

“Okay.” Loke tried again after a moment of silence. Did he realize that he wasn't gonna say much, even if he begged him to? “If you don't want to tell me any stories yourself, how about I ask what I'm curious about and you answer?” A short pause. “Or not-,” Loke added quickly. “If you don't want to.”

So he still wanted to hold onto this topic. And Gray really wondered why. Perhaps it was the wine that they both had consumed and the fact that they were chilling on Loke's bed, comfortable with blanket and pillows and a crappy reality tv series playing in the background still.

With a sigh, Gray decided that he would agree. For as long as he could bear it. “Alright, fine.”

How could he mentally prepare himself for the questions that might come for him? He probably couldn't.

“Okaaay...,” Loke shifted to lie on his back as well and focused on the ceiling, just like Gray. “I know that your relationship with Juvia didn't work out. But I never actually asked if it was you breaking up with her or the other way round. So what was up with that? She's a sweet woman.”

Gray frowned at that. He should have expected Juvia to be the first person to be brought up but he still felt unprepared. On the other hand, it wasn't too hard talking about her, because... “We kinda both did it? It was weird. I think we both just got carried away and didn't realize from the start that we had different feelings for each other that weren't romantic love, you know? We care for each other a lot, just not... in that kinda way. And we're fine with that.” He couldn't believe that the words were just spouting from his mouth like that and that, actually, it wasn't too difficult to talk about it either.

For so long he had always just lived with the perception that he had to hide away his true feelings from anybody. As time went by and he made his true friends, he learned to let go of this perception step by step, but romantic love was a topic that he had barely ever approached up until now. At least when he himself was involved.

“Huh, alright. Totally get that. I mean, you guys are still good friends, right? I haven't seen her in a while.”

“Yea. She's got a new job and it's pretty busy. Didn't Cana meet her last week?” Gray mused loudly.

“No idea,” Loke shrugged before a small grin appeared on his face. “Talking about Cana... Did you ever have the hots for her?”

Now, that was a question Gray had to grimace it. It wasn't because Cana wasn't an amazing woman or didn't look great, but... Their relationship had really turned out to be one between a brother and a sister. They had fun together, she was game for anything and sometimes they annoyed each other just to hang out again not long after.

Of course he knew why Loke was asking. All three of them were pretty close after all. Loke had even been Cana's boyfriend for a short while before they cut it off again, all without any hard feelings. Gray had always admired this casualty a bit.

And Cana and himself? She had been his first kiss... Ah, yea.

“No, not really, I guess...,” he ended up muttering and scratched his nose in a sense of awkwardness. “She's really been more like a sister all this time and I don't think that's gonna change.”

“And that kiss?”

Yea, yea, yea... “That was... just curiosity. We were kids, kids are curious.” Gray still couldn't say it without feeling even more awkward.

Luckily, Loke seemed content enough with this answer and when Gray dared to turn his head so he could catch a glimpse of Loke's face, he spotted the small smile. Was it amusement? Was it happiness? He was unable to figure it out. Maybe it wasn't important.

“Fact is, she's amazing. And we'd definitely miss her in our squad, right?”

Now that was something Gray could agree with without hesitating a single second. “For sure.”

“Okay, so what about Natsu?”

Loke was facing him again now and he actually had to laugh out loud at the face Gray pulled once the question had slipped past his lips. The sound of it made Gray's heart jump but the absurdity of the suggestion was in the forefront of his mind. Natsu? Never in a million years! “Do you still need an answer?” He asked, mumbling and still with a grimace. “Besides, he's with Lucy. Lucy can deal with his hot-tempered ass. Sometimes I feel really sorry for her.”

His best friend had a hard time suppressing his chuckles. “I mean, you two act like an old married couple sometimes. It would be cute as well – if it wasn't for you wanting to bash each other's head in on a regular basis.”

“Go fuck yourself!”

“Oh, kinky Fullbuster is here.”

“Shut up!”

It was over, Loke was laughing and rolled around on the bed until he almost pushed Gray off the edge. He could be worked up about Loke asking if he had a thing for Natsu, or he could let himself get infected by his friend's laughter, ignoring the soft warmth in his cheeks. He didn't hate Natsu and Natsu didn't hate him. Honestly, they'd probably help each other out of the biggest problems and be there for each other but the bond they had was still more like a... love-hate thing? It was hard to imagine a life without Natsu in it but sometimes he just wanted to throw him into the nearest trash can.

Oh well... The second option won out anyway. At this point it was impossible not to give a laughter of his own and with a quiet, playful curse on his lips he pushed Loke away again so he wouldn't end up falling off the bed after all.

“Calm down man, it wasn't that funny,” he argued and huffed, a not so secret smile on his face, though.

It took another moment for Loke to calm down but eventually he just wiped a single tear off his face and then he was ready to proceed.

Gray had hoped that he was done.

“Okay, okay, okay...” The ginger placed a finger on his lips, looking as though he was thinking hard. Gray didn't trust any of it. How was he still not done? “What about Erza?”

“She's just a good friend.” Although, and that was something he had never told anybody really, he's had a small crush on her years ago. Years ago, really.

“Fine. She's a very impressive woman, though, damn. If she wasn't part of our friendship group I'd be so intimidated.”

“Yea.”

Gray knew that they still were pretty intimidated by her sometimes, though. They just didn't like to admit it.

“Mirajane?”

“Dude, she's a lesbian.”

“The women of this world are very lucky.” Loke sighed and placed the hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling again. “Levy? No wait, she's taken, too. No surprise, she's cute and smart.”

“So don't ask me about Gajeel.” He was almost getting used to these casual suggestions now.

“Right, right. Freed?”

“He's engaged with Laxus, remember?”

“Sure, sure. Two more attractive dudes off the market.” Loke waved him off, but the grin had returned. “Maybe I'm just trying to be nosy and find out what kinda guys you like... And girls. But I'm more curious about the guys.”

And Gray hated how fast this false feeling of casualty disappeared again. It flew right out of the window. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw his friend grinning at him and he couldn't handle it right now. He just hoped that his reaction wasn't too obvious and that the warmth tingling in his body was to blame on the remains of the wine (even though they really hadn't drunken much). Harrumphing quietly, he decided to fake-stretch himself and then roll onto his side. “I don't have a type. Are you done, then? I'm kinda tired, seriously.”

Gray wanted to hit himself because of this obvious sounding lie. How more obvious could he be?! Still, the tiny, naive spark of hope that Loke would buy it and just leave it be was there and he felt tense when he awaited his friend's response. It was really late, so that was no lie at least. Late, early? It was starting to get light again outside anyway.

Wow, had they really been talking for so long?! The tv was still on, too, but he hadn't been paying attention to it anymore at all.

“No type?”

He felt Loke shifting and so he decided to fake a yawn. “No, I don't think I have one.”

“Huh, okay, I get it.” Loke was looking over Gray's shoulder, he could see it out of the corner of his eyes. Intently he averted his eyes and just stared at Loke's wardrobe, still lying on his side. For a second he thought that Loke was done, but then- “Except that I don't get it. I mean, you only have to take a look at this charming face of mine and you'll be sold.”

More heat seeped into Gray's cheeks immediately and he really, really wanted to blame it on the alcohol again. Was Loke trying to flirt? Was he just being Loke? He could never be too sure about it... There was no way that Loke was seriously having any interest in him like... that, right? Fuck.

He knew that he shouldn't turn his head and look, because that was exactly what his friend wanted him to do. He knew he would be doomed and his heart would make that kind of jump again and make him feel stupid, but...

Turning, with Loke half-hovering above him, he looked straight at him and Loke immediately intensified his stupidly charming grin.

“See? Hooked yet? Nobody can resist this beautiful face.”

There was so much Gray wanted to do, but would never dare to. There were so many thoughts in his head that he wasn't anywhere near ready to voice yet. Loke's illegally suave grin, the colored light of the sunrise beginning to stream through the window, their closeness, the flirty atmosphere...

But it was just them being bros. It had always been this way.

Or had it not?

When had his stupid heart begun to make such a ruckus about Loke? And was there the smallest chance of Loke feeling the same?

Fuck. He hated the conflict this man threw him into and yet, at the same time, he wouldn't want to miss these evenings. Not a single one of them.

And before he even took note of it, he was having a lopsided grin of his own, with the most stupid little hope somewhere in his heart. “Pfft, sure. Try again, man.”

“Oh you know I'm an enthusiastic pursuer of my goals,” Loke countered and adjusted his non-existent tie in a silly way.

“I don't mind', Gray thought to himself and when catching this thought of his he just waved his friend off again and huffed before turning his back on the ginger. With a smile sneaking its way onto his face, he muttered.

“Night, you idiot.”

“Hey, I wasn't done yet,” came the silly complaint from behind him and before Gray knew it, Loke had flopped on top of him. How could he have been so naive to think that a simple 'good night' would shut his friend up? It wasn't like he had a huge issue with Loke flopping onto him, but part of him had and... it wasn't exactly helping his case and all the thoughts he's had around it.

“You can't just turn your back on me like that. What point are you trying to prove? I'm irresistable. And if you're really going to try and escape this simple reality, you've got to try harder than that! Worshiping the beauty that is me is inevitable, Gray.”

Gray knew all too well that Loke could just go on like this forever. At least it hadn't reached the point of him becoming ridiculously poetic about himself yet, although the thought made him want to shake his head and roll his eyes in fondness. Still, he really wanted to sleep. Or perhaps calm down and shut off his brain for now.

So he just tried to shrug Loke off with a huff and grumbled. “I swear, I'll throw you off this bed if I have to.”

“You would yeet me off my own bed?!” A surprise gasp.

“Yea. Yea, I would.”

It was definitely worth it because he finally seemed to get through to his friend and, perhaps more importantly, he got more of Loke's warm laughter before he felt how said man retreated and made himself comfortable without sprawling across him.

“Fine, fine. I don't wanna get yeeted anywhere today, so sleep well, have sweet dreams and all that.”

The chuckle in Loke's voice faded away with his words and then it was quiet.

In this silence and while closing his eyes, Gray decided that Loke's laughter and the sound of his voice definitely weren't the worst things to hear last before falling asleep and that the knowledge of him beside him and the warmth radiating from his body were a kind of comfort that he would like to get used to, like to have and to keep.

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

The Girl in The Blue Dress

Chapter 15: Exploring the Sea

@megatraven These chapters keep getting longer and I hope it’s good :))). 

EDIT: Some blood is mentioned but it’s only for one scene and I just needed to warn that in case you or others don’t like that😌💙.

Apollo rubs his forehead as it pounds from the slight pain. “Ow. I really shouldn’t have done that,” he thought. He got up and saw clothes on the little nightstand that was beside his bed. He picked them up and changed into the, surprised that they fit well. He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath in and out. “Gods, I wonder what’s going to happen,” he said as he breathed out. “Well, we don’t do too much, but life on this ship is still fun,” a man behind him said. He jumped and then turned around, an embarrassed look on his face. “Didn’t mean to scare ya, I just woke up and needed to make sure you’re okay.” The man was in the doorway and leaning on one side, looking interested at Apollo, and Apollo let out a little laugh. “Well, it sounds pretty interesting,” Apollo said with a nod. He looked around and noticed that the beds weren’t made which hinted that the men were up. “Is everyone else up on the deck?” The man nodded. “Yeah, the kids are up there, too. They’ll be glad to meet you,” the man said with a little fond smile. “Come on,” the man said as he left and did a gesture, motioning for him to follow him. 

They both ended up in the kitchen area and most of the crew were already there, talking and eating at a calm pace. He looked around and was a little surprised to not see Rose. “Looking for the captain? She’s up on the deck with everyone else, checking if we’re ready to leave in a few hours.” Apollo was a little shocked and a little excited at the idea of leaving, and he knew he needed to discuss something with Rose. But he then felt his stomach growl and knew he needed to eat first. “Ah, the new man is hungry ain’t he?” A woman with light, blonde hair said. She was sitting at the head of the table, so he assumed she was also in charge. She was wearing a black shirt that stopped at her waist, it framing her upper body, black pants, and she had some blue fabric as the sleeves, that ended at her elbow, and had a rip on both of them that showed basically all of her arm, almost not even sleeves. She was wearing a smile and nodded her head over to another table with a plate ready for him (and some ready for the others). He bowed his head in thanks and grabbed his food and sat down at the table. The mere smell of it had his stomach growling, and he let out an embarrassed laugh. “It’s alright, buddy. That poison does make you hungry and basically dehydrates you,” one of the other women said, handing him a cup full of water. He took a big sip of it, yet his throat was still thirsty, but he took his time between drinking and eating. “So...” one of the men started, “what were you doing at the ball?”

“Someone gave me a ticket and I decided to go. I didn’t know that everything there was deadly,” Apollo said with a little bit of sadness in his voice. He wonders how many other innocent people have been killed because of greed, or just because of fun. It almost makes him not want to eat anymore, so he changes the subject. “Anyways, how long have you all been here?”

“I’ve been here since Rose was born,” the woman at the head of the table said, “I mean, I am her mother after all.” Apollo tried to smile. “Melody’s here. Of course she is,” he thought, happiness rising in his chest. He was glad to maybe be able to become friends with them both again, but he knew it would take time, time he was glad to give. “I’ve been here for a few years, my name is Amy,” one woman said. “My name is Jack. I’ve been here for yeeeaaarrrsss,” one man said, exaggerating his words. “My name is Jessica,” another woman said, her face looking at him with suspicion. “My name is Flynn,” another man said, and everyone else began telling him their names. However, he knew they probably weren’t real. They are suspicious of him (he understands why), so he just takes it as nicknames, in a way. “Well, it’s all nice to meet you. My name is Andy.” They all nodded at him. “Nice to meet you, Andy,” Melody said. She didn’t tell him her name, so he would just call her Melody in his head. 

After he finally finished drinking and eating, the people began to lead him back to the deck, and he heard loud laughter as they got up there. When they got there, he saw Rose swinging around a little girl, who was basically screaming with laughter. There were other kids grabbing at Rose, waiting for their turn. “My turn! My turn!” One of the kids shouted. Rose put down the one girl, and ruffled her hair and picked up another kid. The kid looked around 6 years old and swang him around as well, grip obviously tight as she had her arms under his arms and hands resting on his shoulders. Melody laughed and walked over to them and crouched down to ruffle all the kids heads. “Hey, guys! How are you doing?” At the sound of her mothers voice, Rose stopped and put the kid down, facing her mother with a smile. “Good morning, mom! I believe we’re ready to set sail soon!” Rose’s voice was loud from excitement and she was almost bouncing on her feet. She caught Apollo’s gaze and she excused herself and walked over to him, a serious expression on her face. “Good morning, Andy. Did you sleep well?” He nodded and decided to not tell her of the incident of his mysterious dream that he couldn’t remember and the pain that lasted still from hitting his head.

“I did. The bed was very comfortable.” Rose let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad! The beds aren’t the softest and I get worried people don’t sleep too well.” She straightened up her back and crossed her arms as she cleared her throat. “Andy, I know you said you’d be here, but are you ready to go?” Apollo remembered what he wanted to ask her. “I actually wanted to say goodbye to someone. He’s a man I work for here and he was the one who gave me the ticket in the first place, and I’d like to say goodbye to him. I want to ease his worries especially since I didn’t come home last night.” Rose nodded. “Alright. I’ll save the trip for tonight if you want to spend the day with him or anything, and I’ll be here if you decide to come back. But I’m leaving by night, no waiting,” she said with authority in her voice, and Apollo nodded with a smile. “Of course, captain.” At his words, a light blush ran across her face, she then bid him goodbye and walked back over to the little kids. 

He got off the boat and basically ran to the shop, worried for the old man. When he got to the shop, he saw the man stocking his shelves, jumping a bit when Apollo tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and let out a little gasp that ended in a laugh. He hugged Apollo and he hugged him back, glad he wasn’t hurt or angry at him. “Sorry I didn’t come back. I got sick and had to stay with someone for a day.” The man pulled back and had a smirk on his face. “I thought something completely different,” he said, laughing too hard. When Apollo understood what he meant, his face went red and he didn’t know what to say back. “Well, no, I didn’t find anyone like that. But I did find someone who offered me something, something you might not like.” The man stopped laughing and turned serious and waited for him to speak. “Well, the woman owns a ship and she offered that I could become part of her crew, and I was thinking about it since it seemed like fun, but I wanted to check with you first!” He explained to the old man trying hard to not hurt his feelings. Instead of being angry or upset, the old man smiled and clapped him on his shoulder. “Apollo, I want you to be happy, so if you desire to go, then go my friend! I’ll miss you, but it’ll be okay!” Apollo smiled at the man and gave him one last hug, and the man gave him a few things to take with him to remember him by. He then gave him one last hug and bid him goodbye. 

Apollo walked back to the ship, saying goodbye to some of the other vendors he saw everyday and managed to become friends with. They were all a little sad, but encouraging. When he arrived at the ship, he saw some of the men on the ship, but didn’t see Rose anywhere. A kid ran up to him and smiled at him. She looked around 12 and had black hair put into a ponytail, and when he saw her green eyes he realized it was the girl who scared him when he first awoke. “Hi, sir! Rose is in her bedroom and is waiting till you get back. I’m assuming you’re coming with us?” He nodded at her and she nodded back at him and grabbed his hand. “Well, let me take you to her!” The little girl, he remembered was named Ellie, led him to one of the rooms in the hallway his room was in. He was led to the door at the very end of the hallway, and Ellie seemed excited when she knocked on the door. “Roose!! The man is here!” Some noise was heard on the other side of the door, and Rose eventually came out, wearing different clothes than she did earlier. 

She was wearing a beige colored shirt, it was open where it showed her collar bone and went down in a V like shape to her chest all the way to the start of her cleavage, sleeves starting at her shoulder and going down to her mid-arm (almost her wrist), her dagger put away, and it ended with the same cuffs she wore earlier. The shirt was part tucked in to her pants and half tucked out, as if she was in a hurry. She looked like she was dressing down and getting ready for bed. “Hey, Ellie! Thanks for bringing me him. You can go to your room and I’ll be there in a minute, okay?” Ellie nodded and bid Apollo goodbye and walked to her room. Rose turned to him and ran her hands through her hair with a smile. “Well, welcome to the crew, sir Andy.” Apollo tipped an invisible hat towards her. “I’m glad to be here, ma’am.” She bowed her head as well and nodded her head in front of them and led them both back up to the deck. When they got there, she got the anchor up and told everyone to start preparing for traveling. The ship rocked pretty hard and Apollo almost fell over, only maintaining his balance as he grabbed onto the railing behind him, and he heard Rose let out a laugh where she stood at the steering wheel. Apollo’s cheeks became a little warm with a blush, and he cleared his throat as he began to walk over to her. He climbed the steps, only wobbling a little, and got to be beside her, his hands resting on the rail and looking out to the whole ship. “The ship really is beautiful. It shines at night.”

He looked over at her and saw how she was looking out into the sea. “It does, but I love the sea so much more. The blue water becomes even lighter, the moonlight makes everything look...nice,” she said in awe. He looked out to the sea and it did look beautiful. “It is hard to see, I know that, but when your eyes adjust to the dark and the flames we have lighting up the ship,” she pointed to the little fire pits they had on some parts of the ship (the pit was really just fire in these square areas connected to poles), “it makes the whole night world look even more beautiful.” Her voice became quieter with every word, but he knew she was just being quiet so she could enjoy everything, so he decided to be quiet as well. Just take in the beautiful part of the world he didn’t see that often. The silence lasted for around 10 minutes before she looked up and made a whistle noise. Apollo jumped back in surprise when he saw a eagle suddenly land on one of her cuffs. His surprise made Rose laugh and the eagle made a sound that almost sounded like a laugh as well. “Her name is Aerin,” she said with a childish happiness radiating off of her. She scratches under Aerin’s chin as she nuzzles her cheek on Rose’s hand, acting almost like a cat. “I’ve known her since I was around 12, and she’s been following me ever since,” she said, her sentence ending with a laugh. Apollo smiled at Aerin and she just stared at him, her wings spreading for a moment as if she’s about to fly over to him, but Rose tapped her on her head before she did anything.

“No. He is a friend, a new one at that.” Aerin put her wings back down, but still stared at him. “Sorry, she’s very protective of me, like I am of her.” He looked at Rose and tilted his head in confusion. “Do you take care of her?” She nodded. “She’s technically wild, but I know when she gets older it will be harder for her to get her own food, so I feed her from time to time and will continue to take care of her for as long as I live,” she said, her tone sounding like a proud mother, which caused him to smile at her. “I’m glad you will. It’s sad that the birds can’t take care of themselves after awhile.” She looked down at the ground with a sad look and nodded. “Yeah, it is sad. It’s why I took her in when she found me, it’s a long story.” She gave Aerin a piece of meat that she had in a box that was under the steering wheel, basically hidden from view. She ate it within seconds and Rose threw her in the air by throwing her arm up in the air, and Aerin flew off and landed on top of one of the poles. 

“Anyways, are you feeling better? If so, then I’ll show you how the ships work, and then some more training.” She had a smile on her face and looked excited o teach him something new, and he was excited as well. He flexed his arms and smirked at her. “I’m always ready,” he said, causing her to let out a little snicker and began to teach him.

.

.

.

She managed to teach him about some of the sails, ropes, how to fight a little bit more, and ended it when she began to let out multiple yawns. “Okay, we need to end it here, sorry. I’m so tired and,” she paused as she hesitated, “need to do some paperwork. You can put the shields back on the side of the ship and the rest of the crew will take your weapons and put them back.” She smiled at him and patted his shoulder as she walked down back to her room. He watched as she went, and snapped out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a man with short, blonde hair, wearing a blue shirt that had a V neck to his mid-chest, a brown belt on his black pants, and had dark, green eyes, and placed his arms in his hips. “You’re new here, right?” Apollo took a moment to respond, and eventually nodded. “Well, I have to say be careful around here. On the ship and in the place we’re going to.” Apollo tilted his head in confusion. “Where are we going?” The man turned around and pointed at an island that they could barely make out, “It’s an island where Rose also works at. She sings at the castle for the parties, and they have a ton there. It’s why she mainly works there,” the man said with pride in his voice. “And it’s just as dangerous there. These islands are always...terrible,” he said, his voice quieter this time and filled with more sorrow. “You can call me Sam.” Apollo nodded at him. “Well, nice to meet you, Sam. I hope we can be good friends,” he said with a smile. 

Sam did a slight scowl and went to the head of the ship and began steering. “He must be the second captain,” he thought. However, he didn’t have long to think about anything before Sam’s face turned to a panicked look and he called out to everyone on the ship. “Everyone! Prepare for battle!” Apollo looked out into the sea and saw another ship coming towards them and he assumed that they weren’t friendly. He looked around and saw everyone getting prepared in case for a battle, and Rose had suddenly appeared, her dagger and bow with her. “Gods! This is the second time!” Her voice was full of rage as she looked at the oncoming boat. She looked at the crew and noticed him still standing there. She ran over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Andy, I think you should go down below with the others. You haven’t been taught enough yet,” she said, her voice filled with worry. Apollo didn’t have time to respond as he saw an arrow land on the floor, right in between their bodies, causing them both to jump back. Rose was the first one to recover and shot her own arrow at the ship. She looked over her shoulder and nodded to Sam as he began to move the ship away from them, but only to get a better position. She then dragged Apollo and opened the hatch door and gently pushed him down the ladder. 

“Stay there as we get this under control, okay?!” She didn’t give him time to answer as she shut the hatch and he heard her lock it. His mind was filled with worry like he bets hers is, and his head then was hit against the wall as the ship was rocked violently. He heard many shouts, but knew he couldn’t help. He could only help by staying down here. “Andy! This way!” He turned to the hall of doors and saw Rose’s room was opened and Melody was leaning out of it, her hand waving him in. He went to her and joined her as she locked the door. He noticed it was just them in the room and he saw how she was out of breath, leaning her back on the door. “What’s happening?” He managed to keep his voice calm within this panic and she took a second to answer, trying to catch her breath. “The pirates are attacking us again. They keep trying to get some money from us. Money we do not owe!” She got herself together after explaining it to him (her voice was raised a tad bit) and reached for his hand and he noticed how she was holding one arm over her stomach, as if she was in pain or sick. “I need help getting back over to the bed.” He nodded. “Of course,” he said as he grabbed her hand lightly and led her to the bed and helped her lay on her back. He looked to her bedside and noticed there were lids to something and some liquid spilt in the table.

“Don’t mind that mess,” she said with authority, the kindness dimmed down. He looked her in the eye and nodded. “Of course.” After a few minutes and a lot of rocking, he felt the rocking of the ship become normal and things didn’t feel as tense, and he knew it was safe when he heard the door open and saw Rose enter, but she didn’t enter how he expected her to be. She had a wound on her shoulder and only had a cloth on it. “Rose!” Both Apollo and Melody shouted that and she just shook her head and pointed to Apollo. “I need your help patching this up, please.” Her voice was shaky and she was out of breath, so he didn’t hesitate and followed her to the room she trained him in. He shut the door after they both came in and he watched as she grabbed bandages and some type of liquid. She sat on the floor and beckoned for him to follow her, and he did. “I’m sorry, but it’s gonna get personal for a moment,” she said as she hurriedly took her shirt off, taking the cloth off for a moment, letting him see how bad the wound was. It was a small hole, looked like an arrow was shot there and hurriedly pulled out, and blood was covering the cloth and her shoulder completely. And as she took her shirt off, she wasn’t completely shirtless since she was wearing a black cloth covering her chest to above her mid-stomach. Apollo felt a little awkward for looking at her, but he shook his head as she pulled the cloth away again and the wound looked the same. They both winced at the sight of it. “I need you to take some water and pour it on a cloth and wipe the blood off first.” Apollo nodded and wet a cloth and hesitated before he touched her. “I’m going to start, okay?” She nodded and when he began to rub the blood off, he heard her let out whimpers and saw her clenching her fists tightly. Once the blood was off, she told him what to do next. “With the other bottle of liquid put it on a new cloth and rub it on my shoulder,” she said with her voice sounding weak. He got everything she said he’d need and followed what she said, but before he used the cloth, she reached for his hand. “Can I hold your hand while you do it? This one is going to hurt worse, and I’m going to squeeze really hard,” she said with a slight smile. 

He smiled back and nodded. She grabbed one of his hands and closed her eyes as she looked away. He placed the cloth with a bit of liquid on her and let it sit there for a moment, causing her to let out a loud whimper, and squeeze his hand pretty hard. “I’m going to begin moving it, okay?” She nods multiple times vigorously and tightens her grip on his hand. He moves the cloth all around the wound, not slowing down so it can be over with, and she let out a loud groan. “Keep going, get it all over my shoulder, and then take another cloth and wipe it dry,” she said with her voice shaking. He got it on her shoulder and took another cloth and lightly rubbed it over her. This time it didn’t hurt as bad, but she was still whimpering. He then bandaged her shoulder in the way she told him to, and she let out a sigh when it was all done. “Gods...I haven’t had a wound in awhile,” she let out a breathless laugh and he looked at her other arm and noticed the scars. He stared at them for a moment and felt sympathy go through him. “Oh, these?” She held her arm up and traced each scar. “Yeah, I’ve gotten a few over the years. We’re not pirates, but others think we are and try to take our stuff,” she laughed and winced when she was done. She finally looked at him and had a tired smile on her face. “Thank you, Andy. I can get back to my room and you should as well, or go back go to the deck. Everything is safe now.” She eased his worries somewhat and he bid her goodnight since she didn’t look in the mood for talking.

“Gods...what has happened?” His mind raced with worried thoughts, but it stopped when he heard a voice. It was Rose’s, but it felt different. She was humming and he saw that the door was open and someone walk past it. He was worried for Rose, so he left the room and saw the hatch door to the deck finish closing. He knew it was stupid and possibly bad, but he followed her and when he got onto the deck, he looked over to the rail on the left side of the ship, and there stood the woman he saw the last time he dreamt, the memory of the dream coming back to him. However, she didn’t have the baby anymore and she had black hair, but the dress and hairstyle was the same. He couldn’t see her face exactly, but from what he could see, she looked really sad. He stood there to the side of the hatch door and couldn’t move, and he noticed that people walked through her. To make it even scarier, he heard another voice talking, but it was garbled and he couldn’t understand it at all, and another body appeared and walked up to the woman. This time, he knew who it was.

It was Aphrodite. Her long, brown hair, pinkish eyes, and also blue dress was not hard to misplace, he just knew it was her, and he couldn’t look away. Aphrodite wrapped one arm around the woman’s shoulder as she stood beside her, both looking out into the ocean. Their mouths were moving, but he couldn’t hear anything other than garbled words and voices. And as he listened closer, he thinks he hears a name, but only the beginning of it. He heard, “El,” being said and then the word was cut off. He knew it wasn’t the full name since he heard the start of the end of the name, but now he doesn’t know what it is. 

“Who is this woman? Why does she look similar to Rose? Why is she talking with Aphrodite? How is she invading my dreams?” These were the question that raced through his mind, and he has a feeling he’ll find out soon. He thinks it’s time for a trip back to Olympus.

.

Hmmmm....I’m still thinking of everything, so things might be confusing but oof I love this timeline! And two chapters out already!! In between like 3 days or so!! I mean I wrote this 3 days in between, but only tagging you now bc I didn’t want to tag you into too many things. Anyways, I’m proud and hope you enjoyed this one! Love youu and I love writing Apollo and this version of Rose😌. And I proofread but if there’s mistakes then my bad-

[five-wow]

10.07 THOUGHTS. MANY SPOILERS AHEAD

i probably genuinely might not have recognized steve at first, with his beard and cap, if i hadn’t already seen pictures of alex like that. ALSO. steve opens one (1) door and immediately gets attacked by at least three men. oh, steve

steve!!! brought backup!!! to this secretive meeting with some government official who wants to give him shady info!!! i’m so proud of him, and it’s also a wonderful way to NOT EXCLUDE DANNY from important later-season steve episodes for once.

danny’s FACE after they hear it’s about steve’s mother made me actually bark a laugh out loud. oh boY

“but you’d rather bloody these hands instead.” OH GOD okay okay okay i love this, from the bit where steve STILL can’t believe his mother might have done a Very Bad Thing but looks kind of scared and hurt anyway, like he knows it IS actually possible but just can’t admit to it, all the way to the bit where it’s a little more complicated than just “random guy shows up with shady intel and everyone more or less trusts him and steve jumps at the chance to do something dangerous”. GOOD STUFF

“she gave up a family, for you agency, you know that?” OH STEVE. i have a feeling i’m going to be saying that a lot, fjdkfd.

wait wait wait. so lou says lucia, their big bad, has always preferred the company of women, “biblically”, and then steve says that doris was smart and used that... to get close... to lucia?? that sounds like they’re saying doris slept her way into this which, fjdkfdj, that means my doris/amanda ship just got 50% more plausible.

it also means five-0 has yet another evil lesbian (in lucia, not doris) and i’m not to hyped about that, but. we’ll see.

random, but: i LOVE lou’s shirt. it’s this lightly pink thing with sporadic sailboats on it and it’s glorious.

tani says that to her this looks like a suicide operation and she’s not even DONE TALKING when danny says “i said the same thing” and he’s not even angry or trying to appeal to steve anymore, he’s just kind of... sad and resigned, which is WORSE.

danny WALKS OFF. STEVE STARES AFTER HIM. OH NO

THIS IS GOOD. VERY BAD BUT VERY GOOD

and before steve can even get STARTED on his crazy infiltration plan, his car gets shot at and blown up. oh, this is all going so well. it’s that wonderful mcgarrett luck of his at its finest.

“what do you wanna do?” junior asks DANNY, very specifically, after he tracked steve down. fdjkfd just. THANK YOU, alex, for actually making danny a huge part of this, unlike in some major episodes which won’t be named (7.07! 7.07!!! and, oh god, i’d almost managed to repress the whole “let’s not call danny because he’d just worry” thing from 9.10, but that one too, holy shit)

fjdkfdjkfdjk literally, the entire team is just standing around (except quinn - where’s quinn this episode? i miss her) but junior is ONLY arguing with danny over whether he gets to go in and rescue steve or not, like danny is the sole person who gets a say in this. he ASKS FOR DANNY’S BLESSING. steve and danny are so literally the team dads it’s not even funny anymore.

steve confronts doris and some of the first words she says are “but please, trust me” and it’s NOT funny, it’s very emphatically not funny at all, but it’s kind of funny. holy shit, doris.

“my life was compromised the day you walked out of it.” OHHHHH. just. just so many good lines about steve’s hurt by doris’ hand.

doris CRACKS STEVE OVER THE HEAD. WELL GREAT. now we can add physical violence to her list of sins against steve.

steve, to junior: “what did i tell you?” junior: “it’s been so long i couldn’t remember.” fjdkfjdk love him.

i have literally no idea who these other two guys are that junior brought with him (should we know them?), but i’m guessing they’re other navy seals? some of those we’ve never seen before but who are always immediately willing to help out with crazy shit when our main characters need them, because it’s convenient and it adds someone who can be killed off in a single episode for extra tension without needing to spend too much time on it?

dfjkd danny asking junior “you got the animal with you?” is just so perfect. he’s obviously EXTREMELY WORRIED but he can’t just show that too obviously so he insults steve. brilliant move.

also, the “it’s good to hear your voice, buddy” bit almost made me cry.

THAT DREAM. oh my god, THAT DREAM.

doris points a gun at steve, because OF COURSE SHE DOES.

“oh, that’s this ends? huh? you gonna kill me, now?” like i said before: OH STEVE.

oh my gOD they ACTUALLY made doris the bad guy. I DID NOT. EXPECT THIS. don’t get me wrong, i absolutely totally LOVE IT but i DID NOT THINK they’d go there, holy shit.

doris is rambling crazily about how she lost her husband and her kids WHILE POINTING A GUN at one of those kids, which perfectly encapsulates why she’s so wrong, wow.

“stop thinking about yourself for a second and think about my loss.” oh my GOD, doris, ARE YOU SERIOUS

“a family that never understood me or the sacrifices i made for them” fjdkfdjkfdjkf I DIE this is so hard to watch but SO GOOD. this is everything i could possibly ever have wanted them to do with doris, ESPECIALLY when steve tells her straight to her face that she never actually made those sacrifices for them because HE’S RIGHT, obviously, but genuinely, i didn’t think something like this would ever happen outside the realm of fanfic. wow.

listen. i don’t give two shits about doris, okay, and it might actually be BETTER that she’s dead now, but oh. oh. steve’s response? steve, completely unable to move, staring at his dead mom and just sinking back to the floor like a bag of potatoes when junior tries to drag him up? OH. that has me very near tears anyway

the shots from steve’s pov with the vision that keeps blurring out? oh god.

once back in washington some cia guys zip open the body bags to take pictures and fingerprints and that makes sense but do they really have to do that RIGHT IN FRONT OF STEVE

“she stayed on target, until the very end. she did her job.” are you serious. no. she did not do her job, nor did she stay on target - she nearly killed her son, remember that part?

someone knocked at the door of steve’s sad gray washington hotel room and i was like PLEASE LET IT BE DANNY and he opened the door and IT WAS DANNY. why is this episode so good. why

okay so. the money doris was after was supposed to be for steve and mary and joanie. oh my god, i genuinely don’t know if that makes anything better or worse at this point, but it’s going to be even more of a gut punch for steve, for sure

“define okay for me” I AM SO DEAD

steve ACTUALLY MENTIONS the fact that five-0 started with the dead of his father and that joe died only last year and nOW HIS MOTHER. this!!! this is an episode actually written by someone who understands this character and it rips my heart apart in the very best of ways

“the bed, that’s big enough for two people, right?” OKAY. first you tear my heart to pieces, then you run it through a shredder just to be sure, and then you make me laugh AND give the entire fandom NEARLY CANON “there is only one bed” trope???

THIS WAS SO GOOD. SO PAINFUL BUT SO GOOD. i genuinely did not think i would like an episode that promised the return of doris, but they did just about the one thing with her that DID make it something i really, really wanted to watch and just, oh god, they kept danny in it as a person who actually plays a part in steve’s life, and steve was so good, every single bit of it, and there was so much direly needed dialogue about steve and doris’ relationship and just, yes. god, yes. this was brilliant. this was probably my favorite episode in a good long while and i don’t even LIKE angst.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Weird “One and the Same”

Ok, I am super excited for what this one leads up to. I hope you find it interesting to learn a little more about the Drev. As always feel free to question critique comment, message, give an idea or a prompt :)

“Alright Sunny, you ready?”

Sunny shrugged her shoulders and flexed her hands. The metallic frame on her back was actually pretty light, and she could still move her arms. On the Captain’s urging, she backed up under the cargo lift.

“Damn.” Someone said, “You guys really do this to yourselves for war?” Sunny craned her neck up at the human standing above her.

“Of course, wouldn’t you?” The human shook his head in astonishment but kept working.

The humans were speaking of the body modifications the Drev underwent to be better for war. Sunny had undergone two such procedures. One hand modified her upper right forearm carapace specifically to attach a modified weapon, so she wouldn’t have to worry about dropping it during battle. Her second procedure had cut two rails down her posterior shell on either side of her spine; they had originally been used to carry containers for extra ammunition. Yes, the procedures had both been very painful. Once the humans had asked about them, she had been pleased to explain, and even more pleased when the humans had come up with an idea.

Behind her there was the soft slither of steel on carapace, and then the mount clicked into place.

Captain Vir put a hand on her arm and looked up, “You ok Sunny, that’s about half weight.”

“I’m good.”

The captain gave a go to the team, and the full weight bore down on her shoulders. It wasn’t too bad. The humans came forward and began strapping her into place.

Captain Vir stepped back and looked up, “That’s what I’m talking about, now Sunny, you’ll have an extra 200 + pounds if someone is going to operate that thing, do you think you’re ready?” Sunny nodded her head vigorously excited.

“Alright,” The Captain said, “hopping up on the box behind Sunny, “Get ready.” She braced herself against the floor with a wide triangle stance, as one foot, and then the other came down on the metal frame strapped over her back. The weight grew and then evened out.

“Still good Sunny.” When she nodded, the Captain seemed pleased, “Try to walk around.”

It took her a moment to gain momentum, but once she was walking it wasn’t that bad. The rest of the crew oohed and ahhed as she trotted around the room. It was just then that Krill came around the corner paused and then let off an exasperated sigh, “Hi Krill, do you like it?” The captain teased

The look on Krill’s face almost reached reproachful, “Is that a machine gun?”

“Yes my friend, that’s exactly what it is.”

“So you mounted a machine gun on the back of a Drev, and now you are riding her like a war pony of death.”

He patted Sunny on the shoulder and grinned moving the mounted weapon so it was pointing up at the ceiling. “Hell yeah, Alright Sunny, you can back it up.” She did as told returning to the cargo lift. Vir Stepped off the “Buddy pegs.” He hopped down to where Krill waited, “So my four legged friend, what’s up?”

The little creature scrolled down on his holographic clipboard, “You received a transmission, from your brother. He’s engaged, and they are setting a date for six months from now.”

Vir broke out in a wide grin, “David? Yeah, thought so. It’s about damn time!”

“Engaged?” Sunny wondered as the battle reference for the word didn’t seem to fit in context.

Vir glanced at her, “It’s when two humans become a ‘mating pair’ as you aliens would say. Usually involves a lot of that sort of ritualistic stuff, a big party and what not.” He grinned some more, “Getting married, well good for them. They’ve been dancing around each other for almost four years now. Was almost worried they wouldn’t make it.”

Sunny watched in interest, she didn’t really know anything about human mating rituals. She didn’t even know that humans paired off. From what she understood they sort of just…. Went for it, but apparently there was a difference between a fling and actual mating, which had totally never occurred to her.

As a Drev things were a little different. Since their species culture was based entirely around war, it had become customary to include a ritual that showed your prowess in battle. It was imperative that a Drev pair off with someone equally as accomplished in battle as they were, and the only way to figure that out was to fight each other. Once an attachment was established, and those involved wished to act upon it, a day was set aside for the big fight. The terms of the fight could be set differently depending on how high status or how high profile the pairing was. You could fight, to the death, or to surrender. However, if you were to pick to the death but then surrender, you were immediately shunned and shamed; if you agreed to die, than you were expected to do it without complaining. The mating ritual was successful if both of you survived without surrender, or neither of you could gain the upper hand leading to a stalemate that lasted over a 1/25 cycle. The fight could occur at any time, and after that you were open to become a pair at any time, or, deciding otherwise, to pair with someone else. Generally, those who did successfully complete the ritual and then decide to be together often fought side by side in, what Sunny considered, the greatest example of trust and romance that one could hope for.

She sighed longingly thinking about it, at this point in her life, she had no real hope for something like that.  Though she was still young, she hadn’t seen any of her own kind for some time, and even considering that, no one had ever shown interest in her beforehand.

Kind of heartbreaking…. Watching everyone else fighting alongside a companion when no one had ever even looked at her in that way. She doubted anyone here understood that. The only other nonhuman on the ship, Krill, wouldn’t understand these feelings. His species had no need for romance, everyone was just so logical that they simply mated to keep the population stable.

Meal slid away from carapace, and she rolled her shoulders, the captain stepped down from the box, his metal leg whirring slightly. He looked up at her, “Hey, why the long face?”

Sunny was always surprised to find the human understood her facial expressions. Humans were very good at that sort of thing, krill told her that the humans had a special place in their brain for that, it was called the Fusiform Face area in the temporal lobe, and apparently its knowledge could be expanded to include alien facial expressions.

“Come on, lighten up Sunny, you and I reining death and destruction, a killing machine, come on you like that sort of thing.”

She shook off her blues and nodded. She did enjoy war, and she very much like it when they could make her more deadly than she already was, so that was something. Captain Vir motioned Krill over, and too the clipboard from him looking over the message as he did. He was wearing only one boot today, just for his real leg, the prosthetic foot was clear from under his pants. He said it was easier to move when the foot was bare.

That was the first and only time Sunny had ever felt a twinge of guilt for something she had done during war. To her war was war it was impersonal, it was distant, but to the humans it was very personal, and from what she knew, though humans could survive great physical stress, and come out completely fine, they often received mental damage from war. The mental damage often being worse than the physical damage.

What she had done to Vir had likely left him mentally crippled for much longer than it had taken his leg to heal. She knew that, depending on lighting, or their interaction, or if she accidentally caught him off guard, she could still trigger old wounds. She had done that to him, after all. Yet even despite all of that he had made the decision to accept her aboard his ship, and even manage to enjoy her company, at least she thought so.

“You have siblings.” She wondered.

The captain nodded, “Yep, three older brothers and one older sister.”

Sunny tapped her foot on the floor, “So, you are not born in litters?”

He barked a laugh handing the clipboard back to krill, “Not generally. It is possible for a human mother to have up to eight at once, but that is super rare. It’s more likely to have one to two at the same time, more often one though.”

This was all very interesting, “And how far are you through your lifespan?”

He shrugged, “About a quarter, or less than if I’m lucky.”

“And how many offspring do you have?” She wondered

He barked a laugh, and nearby crew laughed with him as they walked past.

He looked up at her, “None Sunny, not a single one. I’d have to get a date first, and I’m kind of inexperienced in that department. I try not to let it bother me though, otherwise I wouldn’t go back home. My sister has been married for a while, David is getting married, Jeremy has a steady girlfriend and I think Thomas is single right now, but he tends to jump around, so I sort of expected that. How about you?”

She shook her head, “I have one brother, he is much older than me, and was paired when I was born. I just reached adulthood when the war began, and I have many years left, but I have no children. Drev consider a few things in mating, the color of your armor, your fighting prowess, and, I think this is shallow but it’s true, height. I am very short.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, “Sunny, you’re like seven and a half feet tall.”

She nodded, “Yes, and my brother is nine and a half feet tall. No one pays much attention to someone who still looks like a child.”

He shook his head, “Well Sunny, I promise your battle prowess is more than acceptable, and if blinding metallic blue isn’t attractive to your species, than I don’t know what would be.”

She nodded to him thankful for the complement.

Captain Vir turned to Krill, “Set a course for earth so we can be there a week before six months from now. I should probably set up something with the admiral to get the crew shore leave. We’d have been out long enough by then.” He looked down at Krill, “What do you think, ready to go back to earth?”

The little alien looked a little hesitant, “During winter?’

The captain waved a hand, “No, who the hell would want their wedding in winter where I live? You’d have at least a fifty percent chance of having to cancel the wedding because all the guests got snowed in.”

Krill sighed, “If I must, Captain.”

“Oh come on, you had fun the last time we were there.”

He gave the Captain an incredulous look, “ok, yes maybe, but I was also stressed and terrified the entire time. If I do that to much, I will die of a stroke. I might just go ahead and die of a stroke while we are there because I am sure you will all come up with something horrifying to do while we are there.”

The Captain rolled his eyes and crossed his arms turning to look at sunny, “What do you think Sunny, what to come with us to a death world, and then maybe then I won’t be stuck with the party-pooper.”

Earth? Wow… now that was something she wanted to see.

Sunny was ready to go to Earth.

[jadekitty777]

Hi, Bye Birdie

I was originally just going to make this into a tumblr shitpost and then I decided… why not make it into a full fanfic? So here you all go, another generous helping of my weird sense of humor.

Rating: K+

Word Count: 1500

Pairing: Raven/Tai (Can you believe it?)

Summary: Raven just couldn’t understand why her classmates were fumbling over themselves just to ask someone to a dance. Seems it was up to her to show everyone how it was really done.

Ao3 Link: Hi, Bye Birdie

Dust crystals clinked softly as Raven rearranged them in the rotary chamber of her sheath, mentally counting the spaces as she made room for the new ones. As she finished adding the two fire dust crystals, she held her hand out to the assistant beside her, demanding, “Lightning.”

Only to receive no response.

She looked over. Summer seemed to be in a bit of a daze, something across the courtyard completely captivating her. Raven followed her sight line, spotting a scene she had to of witnessed at least a dozen times by now since the announcement of the Vytal Festival Dance. It was the same story every time – the first person stumbles their way through some grand, sweeping speech about how honored they’d be if the other person would accompany them to the dance, before presenting them with a little wristband full of flowers. The other accepted, there was all this unnecessary excitement, and they became the talk of the day of ‘you won’t believe who’s going with who!’ until the next couple stole the spotlight.

Compared to the near hysteria everyone was in when James Ironwood of Atlas asked Valedictorian Glynda Goodwitch of all people, it was unlikely Edgar and Lacey would make too many waves in the gossip chain – they were teammates and Edgar had been making googly eyes at her since year one.

Still, Summer sighed as if it was the most wonderful thing and said, “Isn’t it romantic?”

Romantic? Raven rolled her eyes, plucking the crystals from the case herself. “It’s foolish is what it is.”

“How can you say that?!” Summer sounded almost more scandalized then the time Qrow had put a live mouse in her hood because he wanted to make sure the ‘flower princess’ had a woodland creature to talk to.

She pushed the dust into place with a bit more forcefulness than was necessary. “Everyone’s practically tripping over their feet just to ask each other to some stupid social event and treating it like they’re facing off a horde of Grimm when they do it. Give me a break.”

“It’s more than that.” Her friend refuted. “For some of these people, this is the first time they’re admitting their feelings for each other. It’s not just an ‘event’, it’s a date!”

She paused just long enough so Summer could fully absorb the ‘Who cares?’ expression on her face. “So?”

Yet, she wouldn’t be deterred. “You can’t honestly be telling me that if you asked out a guy you liked that you wouldn’t be at least a little nervous?”

“Of course not.” Raven replied, grabbing the earth crystals next.

“Well,” Summer lent forward. “What if he says no?”

“I wouldn’t give him a chance to.” She shot back.

Her friend stared. “What? You can’t just decide that!”

“Can’t I?” Raven said airily. “Love is a battlefield. And when I play, I play to win.”

“Alright. Prove it.” She challenged.

She met her gaze steadily. Summer seemed to study her, nothing about her even slightly implying she believed she could do it. Raven was going to enjoy showing her all this fanfare was just frivolous nonsense.

“Fine. Today, at lunch.” She closed the rotatory chamber with a snap of finality. “I’ll ask the last person who would ever say yes to me. And you’ll see just how dumb all this is.” She got to her feet, slinging the sheath to her waist, motions matching her words as she geared up for battle.

~

Taiyang sat down at one of the lunch tables, listening to Qrow jabber on beside him about his latest scheme on how to make sure the entire student body would be talking about him for weeks.

“Come on man, just picture it.” His teammate carried on, “It’s the end of the assembly. Oz is giving us one of those big speeches he always does and just when he’s about to dismiss us, my voice overtakes his, saying it can’t end until I ask the person of my dreams to the dance. I come up to the stage and turn towards the audience, pointing out towards everyone like I’m going to choose someone out there and go ‘And that person is-’ before I turn around and point at Oz himself!” He cackled maniacally. “Gods, everyone will go nuts!”

“Okay, first of all, how are you going to get a microphone?” Tai said, gesturing with the knife he had been using to cut through his bread roll, “Second of all: Do you want to be expelled?”

“Ah come on, Ozzie’s got a sense of humor. I think.”

He wasn’t so sure. Ozpin always seemed to have a bit of dual personality; amicable and joking one day, cold and indifferent the next. “I dunno man. Doesn’t seem like the spectacle’s worth the risk.”

“Pfft.” Qrow waved him off. “You’re just jealous that I’m going to snag a cute date for the dance while you can’t find the balls to ask your mystery girl.”

The idea of a teacher and student going to the dance together – no matter how little their actual age gap – sent a weird, disgusted shiver down his back. “Gross. And I am going to ask her.”

“Yeah?” He arched a brow. “When?”

“I-Well!” He spluttered out, desperately trying to find a convincing argument in the pool of nothing, “When the time is right!”

“And when the stars align and the flowers bloom and the moon puts itself back together?”

He punched his arm. “Shut up man. You’re the worst. This is why I won’t tell you who it is. You’d be a terrible wingman.”

He also wasn’t entirely sure Qrow could keep it secret from-

“TAIYANG XIAO LONG!”

The shrill made him jump and he turned towards the source, seeing Raven storming down the aisle and straight towards him, Summer right at her heels. Anyone who dared be in her path was quick to jump out of it, frightened, just like he suddenly was, of the fiery expression on her face. Everyone else was twisting around in their seats, eager for the coming bloodbath.

“Oh shit, what’d you do?” Qrow whispered.

Instantly defensive, he hissed back “Nothing!” despite the fact he was rifling through his memories at lightspeed to try and pinpoint what suddenly had her so furious with him. He hadn’t quite found it when she approached the table and nervousness made him start to prattle, “Raven I don’t know wh-”

Before he could finish, she was stepping up onto the bench and then the table, heels drowning out the noise around them as they clacked down as loud as thunder. She placed her hands on her hips, her stare so intense it almost froze him – if not for the fact looking up at her reminded him that she was in a skirt.

Oh gods. He averted his eyes, face burning hot but mostly feeling confused. What was going on? Was she going to kick his lunch in his face or something?

“Taiyang.” Raven repeated, voice lower but still booming over the now silent cafeteria as if she wanted to make certain everyone would hear what she had to say.

Nothing could have prepared him for it.

“You’re taking me to the dance. Am I understood?”

He stared at the corner of the table, not sure he heard that right. “W-What!?” He dared peek her way, blocking her lower half with his hand with the same defiance one would try to prevent being blinded by the sun.

“You heard me.” She said. “You’re taking me, got it?”

“I, but I,” I didn’t want to take you. He thought but couldn’t manage to say.

Yet, as he glanced towards the girl his heart had chosen and saw no heartbreak on Summer’s face as she tried to contain her laughter, he realized maybe that ship never left the port to begin with.

“Well?”

Heavily, he looked back up at Raven’s expectant face, and said the only thing he could: “Yes ma’am.”

She nodded, a satisfied smile quirking her lips as she turned and stepped down from the table. “Good. Wear something nice.” She paused to look back at him, tossing some of her hair over her shoulder. “And get me one of those flower things.”

And then she was walking away, acting as if nothing had happened at all. Summer trailed after her, giggling madly, “Oh my god Rae!”

“Told you it was easy.” Was the last thing he heard her say before the roar of the cafeteria picked back up with a new fervor. The gossip was going to be on overdrive this week.

Tai sat there, baffled beyond belief as he asked to the air, “What… just happened?”

Qrow placed a hand on his shoulder. “Your funeral.” He announced solemnly. “It was nice knowing you buddy.”

Unable to refute the claim, he only groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

He was taking Raven Branwen to the dance.

His life was over.

[spectraspecs-writes]

Dantooine - Chapter 49

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 48. Chapter 50.

I feel a little silly for picking which door to go through first, which is why I only do it in my head - “Eenie meanie miney moe, catch a kath hound by the toe, if he bites you let him go, eenie meanie miney moe, my mother told me to pick the very best one and you are it.” The east door. Okay. Here goes. I open the door and a blaster bolt comes out. Droid. “Cover me, guys.” And then another blaster bolt flies and the droid blows up. Carth puts his blaster back in its holster. “Nice shot,” I say, stunned a bit, “You hit the power module dead on.”

“Can we keep going please?” I would bask in the astonishment a bit longer but, hey, dude, it’s up to you. 

I slide past the fallen beam that divides the room in two, towards a computer terminal. If it speaks in ancient Selkath, too, this should be interesting to say the least. The computer, I guess, senses me coming, and turns on before I even touch it. The screen lights up and shows me a stream of pretty-looking but unintelligible characters. “Alright, buddy, what are you trying to tell me?”

“Rena, are you… talking to the computer?” Bastila asks me, looking a bit weirded out. 

“Hey, you never know, it could work.”

“Has it ever worked before?”

“Well, no, but that’s no reason to stop.”

She rolls her eyes and mumbles something that I can’t understand so I turn back to the computer. It stops humming and the screen goes blank. Then it starts beeping, emitting a bunch of tones until it stops. From my datapad, I hear one of the same tones. My datapad doesn’t generally beep. Then a slot opens up on the terminal, just the right size for my datapad. So I pull it out of my back pocket. “Is this what you want?”

“You’re seriously going to give your datapad to a strange computer?” Bastila asks. (And at the same time, Carth asks, “You keep your datapad in your back pocket?” I can’t believe everybody doesn’t do that.)

“It’s not like I can’t get another datapad,” I say with a shrug, “Besides, I’ve got a hunch.” And I put my datapad into the slot. It hums and beeps some more, before some characters I recognize appear on the screen.. if not in a comprehensible order.

“Hrsiki? Jsoofs oiuwn so h itasoo'khf?” is what the screen displays.

“Keep trying, bud, you’ll get there,” I say to the computer. It hums again, and the gibberish disappears from the screen. Then it ejects my datapad and a comprehensible sentence appears on the screen. “Data Interpretation – Complete. Language Analysis – Complete. Interrogative: Identify the three primary life-giving seed world types.” I think I understood that. It displays a list of six habitat types - oceanic, grassland, desert, volcanic, arboreal, and barren. Well, only three of them have much life on them, oceanic, arboreal, and grassland, so those are the ones I go with. “Breaking life seal,” the computer says, and it shuts off.

“Well, that was simple enough,” I say, “Let’s hope the second is just as simple.”

We head for the west door, and the exact same thing happens - a droid fires a bolt off at us, and we duck out of sight against the wall. “Carth, any chance at another good shot?”

He takes a look very quickly, and dodges another bolt. “No, there’s an energy shield up, it won’t do a damn thing.”

Okay. Deep breath, deep breath. “Bastila, Carth, I’m going to jump over the droid right to the computer…”

“You can do that?” Carth interrupts.

“I know, surprised me, too,” I say quickly before getting back to my plan, “I jump over, you two cover me. Sound good?”

Both nod and say something to the affirmative. “Okay, one… two… three… go!” And like a well-orchestrated piece, we all spring into action. As I jump over the droid, Bastila and Carth rush the droid. Working well together - it’s neat to look at but I don’t have the time. The computer is what I should focus on right now. It spits out the same unintelligible characters the other one did. “Come on, buddy, work with me,” I mutter at it quickly, hearing the sounds of Carth and Bastila fighting behind me. (“The shield’s down!” I hear Bastila shout. Great, maybe the battle will end fairly quickly.) A slot opens up for my datapad just like before, and I put it in, getting the same nonsense as before. “Keep going, figure out the language.” And after another moment to process, it spits my datapad back out, having completed language analysis.

“Interrogative: Identify the three primary death-giving seed world types.” It gives me the same list of six as the other computer did, and I put in the three that I didn’t use before - barren, volcanic, and desert. “Breaking death seal.” The sounds of the battle stop with a final slice from Bastila’s lightsaber, cutting the droid’s head unit off from the rest of its body. Well, okay, I was thinking that getting the computer out of the way would shut the droid down, but I guess now we’ll never know.

“I guess that means we’re worthy,” I say. And we head back and open the south door, behind the Guardian droid. 

In the center of the room is a strange spire. But as we step closer, it opens with a loud mechanical whir. I see a big ball spin, and then a star chart appears, illuminating the cold, dark room. “This…” Bastila starts to say softly, “this must be what Revan and Malak found when they entered this temple. This must be where their journey down the Dark Side began.”

“I don’t get it,” I say, “I mean, it’s just a star chart.”

“Yes, you’re right,” she says, “Revan and Malak must have used this to lead them to the Star Forge. We could use this map to follow their path and find the Star Forge ourselves. But we must be wary… they may have laid traps or concealed what they found.”

“We don’t even have any idea what the Star Forge does, though,” I say, “Or even why they wanted to find it.”

“No, but they obviously did want to find it,” Bastila says, “It must be a tool of some type... or maybe a weapon. Perhaps the Council can tell us more. But I think this map might be the key to finding the Star Forge, whatever it is. See this world here?” I look where she points. This looks like Korriban, a Sith world.” I have to take her word for it there - it’s been a while since I studied the charts for anything closer than the Outer Rim. “And if that's Korriban, then this is... Kashyyyk... and Tatooine... and here's Manaan.” Again, I trust her. “But there are pieces missing: incomplete hyperspace coordinates, corrupted data... and there doesn't seem to be anything indicating where the Star Forge itself might be.”

I take a look at the map. “Maybe there are clues on those worlds - maps like this one with more complete data.”

“My thoughts precisely,” she says, “This map can't take us to the Star Forge, but I know that Revan and Malak visited Korriban at least once. Perhaps they discovered something more there. They may have found something on each of the other worlds that completed this map. Maybe if we find all the pieces they will lead us to the Star Forge… and some way to destroy it.”

“That sounds like quite a supposition,” Carth says, “What if you’re wrong?”

“What if I'm right?” Bastila says, coming off harsher than she probably meant, “We can't ignore this. Finding the Star Forge might very well be the key to defeating the Sith! We must inform the Council of what we have discovered. They must decide our next course of action, though I suspect our task has only just begun…”

------

The Council takes us right into their Chambers, again leaving Carth outside. Honestly, if I were him I’d hate that. Master Vandar sees us first. “Ah,” he says, “you have returned, young Padawan. Have you discovered what it was that Revan and Malak sought in those ruins?”

“We found a Star Map, incomplete, and a droid that kept talking about something called the Star Forge,” I say, “The droid’s memory and processing units were in good shape, so it wasn’t babbling, and it gave the impression that this Star Forge is pretty serious business.”

“This news of a Star Forge is disturbing,” Master Vandar says, “Action is required, but we must not do so in haste. We must discuss recent events in light of this new information.”

“We should consult the Jedi archives to see if there is any mention of this 'Star Forge' and what it might do,” Master Vrook says, “We must learn why Revan and Malak sought it out.”

“Return to your ship with Bastila,” Master Vandar says, “and we will summon you when we are done.”

It’s several hours and several hands of Pazaak before the Council calls us back. Again, Vandar is the first to speak. “Padawan,” he says, “you have done well in discovering the Star Map hidden within the ancient ruins. But there is more you must do in the battle against Malak and the Sith. We Jedi know victory over the Sith will not come through martial might. The Council has a mission for you, Padawan.”

Master Dorak, looking frazzled, tells us, “I have consulted our vast archives in an effort to discover the nature of this 'Star Forge', but all my efforts have been in vain.”

“Still,” Vrook says, “the Council are in agreement: the Star Forge must be found! Revan and Malak sought it out when they began their tragic fall; the Star Forge is surely a powerful tool of the Dark Side.”

“The Star Map in the ruins showed you four planets, but it was incomplete,” Master Vandar says, “It did not show the location of the Star Forge itself. We believe there may be similar Star Maps on other planets. Each Star Map is likely a small piece of a larger puzzle. Find the Star Maps on Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Manaan and Korriban and we believe they will lead you to the Star Forge.”

“I’ll do my best,” I say.

“The Jedi numbers have been ravaged by this war,” Vandar says, “by defections to Malak's cause and by Sith assassins. But we realize the importance of this mission. Yet if we sent a company of Jedi Knights with you we would surely draw the full attention of Malak and the Sith, dooming your efforts to failure.”

“But I don’t think I’d be well off alone, either.”

“Secrecy is our best defense against the Sith, but it would be foolish to send you on this quest without someone to aid you, young Padawan. Bastila will accompany you, for there is a powerful connection between you two… a connection that might be the key to unravelling the mysteries uncovered by Revan. And Juhani has also asked to accompany you. After long deliberation we have granted her request.” Juhani! I'll be glad to spend time with her!

“Juhani nearly fell to the dark side,” Vrook says, ever the downer, “Perhaps her presence will serve as a reminder to you of the dangers of that path.”

“I would like my friends from Taris to come as well.” I’d be lost with my best friends Carth and Mission, Canderous’ stories, T3’s skills, Zaalbar’s… Zaalbar.

“Of course,” Vandar says, “They possess skills you may find useful in your quest. Remember that secrecy and discretion are paramount to your success. You will not be able to hide the fact that you are Jedi, nor should you. But the true nature of your mission must not reach Malak's ears. You may return here at any time. Dantooine will be a sanctuary for you, a safe haven. Here you can find supplies and whatever advice or other aid we may give you.”

“I won’t disappoint you,” I say.

“You can leave whenever you wish; the sooner the better,” Vrook says, “The longer you wait the stronger Malak becomes. But first a warning, young Padawan: The lure of the Dark Side is difficult to resist. I fear this quest to find the Star Forge could lead you down an all too familiar path.”

“The fate of the galaxy is in your hands, young Padawan,” Vandar concludes, “We pray you are up to the challenge. May the Force be with you.”

[multifandom-mixtapes]

Zabdiel De Jesus mood board 💕💕

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/63DUpq5H4DFg9EQ36Y4D5W?si=EiAA6WOMTq-8hUOVpjvN9w

OKAY so, I know who this is and this somehow turned into a ship so here we goooooo 💕

You and Zabdi would have been friends forever. He’s your go-to, your ride or die, your best friend.

When you were younger feelings and stuff were gross and things both of you didn’t want to deal with. You had your “do they like me? do I like them?” moments FOR SURE but you were like “lol no way.”

Zabdi knew for a fact that he loved you. It started with him just loving to be around you. You made him laugh, your personality was so fiery and independent and the way that you weren’t afraid to express yourself just made his heart swell.

He knew you weren’t big on feelings like at all especially with the part about sharing them so he was super respectful and never pushed his feelings on you.

All this time he had been keeping his feelings under wraps except for when he tried to flirt (but fr y’all had already been so close you just thought it was normal ....but it still made you blush)

Zabdiel is ENRAGED when this new random dude just waltzes in and you seem to be hella heart eyes. Of course, he isn’t mad at you or anything he’s mad that he was stupid and didn’t say anything and mad that this dude is not good for you at all. He would hint in that he didn’t like the dude or thought he dressed stupid but he couldn’t make decisions for you so he lays off.

Until this dude starts getting all buddy-buddy with you. Zabdi is jealous and he knows he shouldn’t because he’s your best friend and no one can take that but he just wants so much more without being greedy and selfish and ruining what you guys have.

He then decides that he will tell you how he feels. He takes you on this picnic to see stars and it gets really cold so he gives you his jacket. (This makes him really excited because he saw this in a movie and it was exactly what he was going for.) When he's dropping you off at home he spills his feelings but it was more awkward than he intended. Even worse when you laughed at the end.

He felt his stomach turn, his throat close and his body get hot. He laughed too but, again, it was more awkward. 

You'd tell him he was crazy and that he is just going through a phase of wanting to be with you. That makes him not only hurt but a bit upset that you don't think he's being real with you.

The weird thing was, you started to warm up to him, leading him to try and be more flirty and you'd accept and do the same but sometimes you'd totally be like "nooooo we're just friends."

For a long time "just friends" was enough for Zabdi but he decided to confront you about what this really was and when you opened up to him and told him what you really felt and why this stuff wasn't something you thought you were ready for he kinda knew and completely understood and when you were ready he was ready.

which happened not too long after.

You guys have a super strong relationship that runs on lots of support and sarcasm lmao.

Zabdi has told you a million times and promises that you guys are going torun away together and have the lives that you have always wanted. He’d carry you through the desert, he’d walk to the ends of the earth, and he’d do anything he could to make you guys strong and happy. It's well known that you guys are stronger together, and the love you guys created is unmatchable.

[silverbackwolf14]

Hey sorry to bother but I would find it funny if q jr just Appear on the Enterprise and was messing about when he accidentally lets it slip about Picard and Q relationship. Love you write and it's only getting better.

        Aw, thank you! This one was difficult to write because I have not seen Voyager. I have, however, read the amazing book ‘I,Q’. (I highly recommend it, it’s amazing.) Anyway, when it comes to writing q Junior, I’m as awkward as Picard around children. I do however, hope you enjoy this. And to other anons I have not answered, I swear I’m getting around to it. Sorry.

—————————————————————————————————-

 The pattering of feet was unnatural to the young Q who explored the vast hallways of the starship Enterprise. He seldom spent time in a materialistic form, so the experience was strange to him. His powers had not yet fully developed, and he was very proud of himself for making it to the Enterprise without help. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be aboard without permission, but the temptation of exploration had thrown all caution out the window.

q Junior had always been the curious type. He simply wanted to know what the other Q knew. But humans were special. Not even the Q knew everything about them, or rather, they didn’t understand them. q wanted to explore the humans that captivated his father so completely.

He had already met Captain Jean-luc Picard; his father’s human mate. He had seemed nice, but a little awkward around him he had noticed. q giggled as he remembered how flustered they’d both been when Commander Riker had showed up at the door. q really didn’t understand why they tried so hard to keep it a secret from Picard’s crew. Was the Captain ashamed of his father? He hoped not, q didn’t think his father would like that very much.

q continued his adventure through the hall until he came to an area with large windows. He stopped a moment to admire the shimmering nebulae outside. He loved the beauty of space, for it often reminded him of home. He gazed at the greens and purples all blending into the inky black vacuum of space. So vast, so lonely. He understood why his father was so desperate to be with the Captain. His father loved the Captain, and this love banished the loneliness of eternal existence. He also knew that his father loved him. A lot. His father didn’t love his mother, nor did his mother love his father, but they got along. Most importantly, they both loved him. q smiled at the thought. His smile grew wider knowing that his mother approved of his father’s relationship with the Captain.

Voices and approaching footsteps startled the young q’s train of thought. Coming around the corner of the corridor was most of the senior staff. Amongst the small crowd the young q recognized many faces. There was the dark haired first officer, the yellow eyed android, the red headed doctor, the blind engineer, and the half-betazed counselor.

“-So when the new engineer started I thought he was just going to be another big shot who thought they knew everything but nothing could have prepared me for-” The first officer’s words were cut off when he caught a glimpse of q. The bearded man crouched down to q’s level. “Hey there buddy, where are your parents at?”

The boy looked up at Riker with a suspicious gleam in his dark eyes. Riker looked back to the others questioningly, unsure of what to do next.

Just as Riker was about to open his mouth, q replied quietly: “My mother is out there.” He pointed out to the stars.

Now the counselor took a step towards him. “Is she on another starship?” Her dark chocolate eyes seemed to be filled with warmth and compassion. q found he rather didn’t care for being looked at like that. As if he were some poor child who had lost everything. He shook his head and hoped that they would leave him be.

The crew once more looked at each other with growing concern. A young boy like this shouldn’t be out alone on a starship. “Where is your father then?” Troi asked, still using that gentle tone.

q was becoming very annoyed at this point. All he wanted to do was continue his exploration of the ship. “How should I know? It’s not my job to keep track of him. He’s probably kissing your Captain or some-” The young Q quickly caught his mistake and promptly closed his mouth. The crew gawked at him open mouthed and q could practically see their minds imploding upon themselves.

To add upon their bewilderment a sudden flash of white light, the signature flash of a well known omnipotent being. Q quickly flashed in next to the young boy, covered his child’s mouth with his hand, gave and embarrassed smile, and flashed out.

They all looked at each other for a moment in awe, then bolted to the captain’s ready room. The rest of the group was fast, but Riker, powered by undeniable rage, was faster. Riker burst into the ready room with the rest of the group right behind. “Q????!!!!! REALLY???!!!! OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS UNIVERSE, Q????!!!!!!”

Picard stiffened and became visibly uncomfortable. He tried to listen but his mind was racing. How did they know? How did they know? How did they- “Captain,” Deanna began calmly. “We all are happy for you-”

“HAPPY? DEANNA THIS IS-” Riker was quickly cut off by the counselor.

Deanna continued in a somewhat more irritated tone. “We’re all happy that you’ve found someone, but we all wish we had been aware of your relationship with Q. We understand your need for privacy, but due to the subject of your secrecy we just wish-”

“I understand Counselor and I’m very sorry that you didn’t hear about it directly from me. If you don’t mind my asking, how did you find out?” The crew all looked at one another.

Beverly was the first to step forward. “Jean-luc, are…are you aware that Q has a child?” The crew held their breath. None of them knew about Q’s child before the encounter, and it would be just like Q to hide something like that. They also knew that the Captain wasn’t entirely comfortable around children.

“Ah, you must mean Junior. Yes I am fully aware of Q’s offspring. He’s a fine boy.” Picard gave a small smile at the thought of q. Meeting him had been an… Interesting experience, no doubt about that.

Then all of the crew (save Riker of course) eased a bit.

“Captain, if I am not invading your privacy of course, may I inquire as to how long you and Q have been in a romantic relationship?” Data paused a moment. “You are in a relationship of romantic nature with Q, correct Captain?”

Picard nodded his head in affirmation. “We’ve been seeing each other romantically for about a year now.”

“Captain,” Deanna started “Why did you keep it a secret for that long?”

Picard thought as to his answer a moment before replying: “I suppose I was afraid you all would have stopped trusting me or would begin to question my judgement.” He looked to the ground, ashamed of his thoughts.

“Jean-luc, we would never think less of you.” Beverly whispered, embracing Picard in a tight hug.

After everything had been explained, Picard went to his quarters, tired and emotionally drained. When he entered his quarters he was surprised to find Q sitting in his chair with Junior in his arms. q’s face was hidden in his father’s chest. Picard gave a small smile and walked over to his lover and his son. Picard gave his lover a quick kiss, then turned his attention to the problem at hand.

“Hello Junior.” He said softly. God why was he so awkward around the child?

q tensed up and shook slightly. Picard sighed, trying to find the best way of going about this.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Picard waited a bit for an answer and just when he was about to give up and ask again, Junior let out something of a sob.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. It just slipped out. They kept asking me all these questions and I just wanted to be left alone.” q continued his light sobbing for a few minutes while Q held him, attempting to calm his frightened child.

“Junior, it’s alright. I’m not angry… In a way I’m almost grateful.” Picard said, resisting the small urge to put a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder.

q lifted his head from Q’s chest to look at Picard. “You’re not mad?” He sniffled.

Picard gave a small smile. “No, I’m not mad. I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell my crew, but it would appear that you’ve taken care of that for me.”

q wiped away another stray tear. “Really?”

“Really.”

It was then that a bright, white flash appeared at the opposite end of the room. In place of the flash stood a tall woman with red hair. “Well it seems we got that cleared up. q, did you learn your lesson?” The small boy nodded solemnly. The woman smiled. “Then I think it’s time we returned to the continuum.”

Junior looked up at Q, telepathically questioning if it was really time to go. Q kissed his forehead and the boy slipped out of his arms, and went over to his mother. Picard watched all of this in silence, knowing it was not his place. When it came to q and his mother, Picard often felt he had no business being Q’s mate at all. The boy was picked up by his mother and given a kiss on the cheek. Picard was about to turn away and go about his business, when Junior looked at him, smiled, then waved goodbye before flashing out with his mother.

Once they had gone, Picard gave a rather deep sigh of relief and headed over to the replicator. Every visit from Junior gave him a feeling of despair and self loathing. He was absolutely certain that Junior resented him. Who wouldn’t? He was probably the only thing keeping Q, from q’s mother.

It was then, in the darkest part of his thought process, that he felt a warm body against him, and long arms wrapped around him. “Q?” The Captain felt his semi-omnipotent lover smile into his neck.

“Junior really likes you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

[go-diane-winchester]

New question:  Why do I dislike Misha and his fans?

@super-who-loser asked the following question:

Hey, I’m not trying to come across as rude or anything I’m just wondering why you dislike Misha so much? I know Jared and Jensen have been there since the beginning and yes, there have been times where his character has been pretty useless but I don’t hate him and you’re being really mean to some Destiel shippers and like I know that it’s obviously never going to happen and Cockles is a big no no for me but I am confused about why you really don’t like him? I’m honestly just curious

Thank you for the question.  Let me point out before hand, that my irritation towards Misha has nothing to do with a ship.  I used to read destiel slash.  I used to like Cockles AU.  I don't ship wincest.  I ship AUs.  Its my favorite slash subgenre.  So no, this is not a ship argument.  Ship whatever you want, but mind your manners.  There are many things that I don't like about Misha.  However I am choosing to answer only from a SPN perspective because that is the primary way that we know him. 

MISHA AND SLASH FICTION

You may not realize this but Supernatural has been on the air for so long that it, plus its fan base, has experienced and initiated a few changes and trends.  In the space of fourteen years, filming became digitalized.  Social media, which was a fledgling thing back then, is the norm now [I have a disdain towards social media].  To put it into perspective, the child actors that played Asher, the Antichrist kid [I forget his name] and Little Lillith from the early seasons are likely in their 20s now.  Trends in entertainment changed.  Hollywood seems poised to implode upon itself, geographically, with major entertainers moving house to outlets like Netflix.  Netflix, not bound by geography, is likely to become the next Hollywood.  Slash, too, has undergone change.  And as far as SPN is concerned, that change has not been organic.  It has been by design and at the hands on Misha Collins. 

When Castiel came on board, there were already two prevalent pairings in Supernatural:  Wincest and Bobby/John.  There were other pairings.  But these were the most prevalent.   So Supernatural had slash fans already.  These fans were already aware of what slash fiction was, and they were a self-monitoring group.  They realized that the actors were aware of slash and didn't want it to be the focal point of their con appearances, because they didn't want the fans to think they were hinting at anything.  The fans understood and ever since, they have respected the actor's wishes.  When some fans liked Dean's interaction with Cas, they started shipping destiel. 

Destiel's old fans were just like all the other shippers.  They were treating destiel the way it should be treated.  Like a fantasy.  They did artwork and literature about it and kept it to themselves, as they should.  Misha never knew what slash fiction was, until he looked on Tumblr and found Destiel.  In his words, he used destiel to ''keep this gig for longer''.  He kept talking about destiel even though he was instructed not to, and pulling the LGBT into it, to make it look like destiel was about gay rights and queer art, when it isn't.  There are various kinds of destiel written by different people, from different perspectives, for different reasons.  That is true for all pairings everywhere.  By making destiel about the LGBT and waving the ''no shipping question'' rule in convention panels, he did two things. 

He turned destiel into a vehicle for LGBT activism.  Instead of being a pastime, now destiel is used to fight for LGBT representation, even though, many of the LGBT people within my own circle despise him for it.  Most of the people fighting for LGBT representation are actually quite homophobic and insulting in their thinking and logic.  And they are not even LGBT.  They are just a bunch of straight girls for whom, their fantasy has become a drug, and they wont stop until destiel becomes canon. 

He turned Jensen into the bad guy.  Misha spoke openly about slash.  Jensen chose not to.  He didn't want any part of it, and this is true about all the pairings he is a part of, not just destiel.  Because of his choice, Misha fans make negative comparisons between him and Misha, even saying that Jensen is a homophobe/biphobe because he doesn't want to talk about destiel or make it canon.  They ranted about it on social media and mass media picked up on it.  The University Of Sydney has an academic paper, under Celebrity Studies, dedicated to Jensen's supposed homophobia.  The destiel shippers are literally Jensen's reputation. 

Misha should have left slash alone.  Any fan of his will know that he overindulges the slash fans.  And the one thing that I noticed about slash fans, is that you don't give them excessive attention, or they will go completely crazy.  It doesn't matter what they slash.

Harry Styles and Liam Tomlinson learned that the hard way, because the Larry fans destroyed their friendships when they over-emphasized the fan servicing.  They did the fan servicing because Modest Management told them to, they  ended up hating their fans for what the fans became.  They have since severed ties with Modest.  Even on a day when one of them was mourning the loss of a parent, the fans who pushing the other guy so they could have a ship moment.  These two boys were very young when they entered the band.  Harry was 15 years old.  They had youthful ignorance to blame for making the decision to blindly follow the manager's instruction.  Misha cannot make any of those excuses. 

Misha got into the show at age 35.  He was already a grown man.  He was not a pivotal part of the show and therefore the only notes he was getting, was for his acting.  He wasn't being coached by anyone as to how he should engage his fans.  He was too small a fry for that.  In fact, no one was sure how long he would last on the show.  So these notes were only acting, including one telling him not to adlib his lines.  Whatever transpired between him and the destiel fans, happened because he orchestrated it. 

MISHA AND SUPERNATURAL

When Cas came on board, he was fun new character.  By the end of season 5, he had run his course on the show.  The show didn't need his character because [and as a writer I understand this] the presence of Castiel hampered the progress of the story.  Sera Gamble dealt with that frustration during her tenure as showrunner.  Cas was an angel.  If he was an ally to the boys, the boys should have a more powerful nemesis.  After all, they have an angel buddy to help them.  Unfortunately, they couldn't keep coming up with more and more powerful bad guys and negative elements, especially on a show where the biggest bad guy, the devil itself, and the worst case scenario [the apocalypse] has already been dealt with.  

During 6 and 7, they had Soulless Sam, Sam's wall, the leviathans, Metatron, the demons, Crowley, Dick Roman and even the Alphas, if I am not mistaken.  So many bad guys and bad situations, because the good guys had a powerful angel.  They could make him lose his power, so he wont be such a powerful ally.  And they did exactly that.  But Misha has very few skills to show off.  Imagine if Osric was Cas.  Even without power, he would still be able to taekwondo the stuffing out of bad guys.  He wouldn't be useless.  Cas, without his grace, didn't help the story along.  He didn't bring something extra to the story.  He was pointless.  So they made him a bad guy and for the first time in a long time, Cas was pivotal to the story.    

Eventually, she got fed up of shoehorning him into the script and just did away with the character.  But, rumor has it that Singer brought him back.  And he was welcome by the worst Q score measurement ever.  That would tell you that he was not appreciated as an actor by everyone, just his shipping and cult fans.  Since then, Cas has done nothing important in the script until recently where he made a deal for Jack.  Other than that, he has been an add on, and that is Misha's fault.  Every time Jensen and Misha did a scene, Misha would overemphasize the destiel aspect, either via social media or during his panels.  And eventually Jensen got fed up and cut the scenes short.  Basically, Misha shot himself in the foot.  The DeanCas fan service made for annoying television for people who didn't want to deal with shippy nonsense while they were watching their favorite show. 

If they didn't add anything shipping related, the hellers screamed.  If they did, the hellers screamed canon and queer baiting.  Misha's interference did that.  All he had to do was stop talking, and he couldn't do that, because his fan base will lose interest in him.  In order to keep that one group of militants, Misha isolated all other fans and potential fans. 

MISHA AND THE DESTIEL FANS

Misha's fan have sent Jensen various death threats, the receipts of which are on my blog.  A few days back, a heller was setting Jensen's picture on fire because Misha tweeted a lie that there will be a turning point for Dean and Cas in the upcoming episode.  So even though Misha was the guilty party, this psycho is punishing Jensen.  These fans have also discussed kidnapping Jared's children.  When they bully Jensen and Jared, they tag Misha in many of the tweets.  Misha randomly does Q and A sessions based on his tweets, but he has never seen a single threat and bullying remark??.....in ten years??.....really??  Nah, I am not buying that.  Frankly, I think the man just doesn't care.  Acknowledging them will mean he will have to stop them which means he will eventually have to stop peddling destiel which means he will not have an audience which means SPN will kick him right out.  The funny thing is, I think he is wrong.  He might actually have more fans if he didn't alienate them with his special brand of shippy vulgarity.  I could fill a page with all the receipts of the death threats.  And Jensen doesn't deserve that. 

I also call out destiel shippers on Tumblr so that everyone else can block the problematic ones.  Have you noticed how many names there are for the destiel pairing?  DeanCas, CasDean, DeanxCastiel and recently I discovered Dastiel.  Have you ever wondered why?  It is because they don't want you to block them.  If you filter destiel, they will use another name.  Why is that?  That is not a ship.  That's a cult.  They want to indoctrinate.  They tag destiel in other fandom names.  They are trying to create more fans for a ship.  That is why I call out specific people.  Especially the ones that tag AKF in their destiel garbage.  I have no issues with the good shippers.  I have done posts about them.  The bad ones might do something criminal one day, which is why they bother me. 

This answer, only just scratches the surface.  I am not telling you everything.  I am not telling you about Jared, Robert Berens, Kim, Briana, Travis, Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Ty Olsson etc.  I am just telling you the brief basics.  I hope this answers your question.  Have a nice day.  Apologies for the inevitable typos.