#it's the way he's treating Keith that i have a problem with

[wroteclassicaly]

A/N: Uh… I might do a part two to this? But it randomly came to me and I wanna try something different.

Warnings: Language, hurt, angst, unrequited/one sided feelings, sadness, anxiety, mentions panic, body issues, and mentions self-esteem problems.

You’re hunched over the counter, skin taunt over your knuckles, bones sharp enough to shred through. A hot, sticky wetness resides in your lungs, the pain of its steam burning in your throat, settling over your lungs. You cannot see through the haze of blurred vision, half-assed attempts to wipe copious amounts of moisture going nowhere. Only when a heavier set of footfalls fall outside of the door and it’s yanked open — you finally cease some panic. Your manager, in all his greasy glory, clings to the doorframe, looking into the storage closet to make sure that you’re alone.

Obviously, because who would go in here with me? Steve never fucking will. He’s probably had other girls in here…

Keith is speaking, sounding like his voice is somewhere above the surface of murky waters. But you make it out. “Hey, uh. I heard what happened with Harrington back there. Let me take you out, show you how a real man can treat a lady?”

If Keith wasn’t so disgusting towards the female population, you’d feel bad for him, but to sink yourself as low as to only get an offer from him? And right after HE saw you get rejected by your best-friend?

Nip it in the butt before it continues. You have to work here, after all…

“No, thanks, Keith. But I appreciate it.” You force a smile so fake that it burns the corners of your mouth.

He snorts, shaking his head. “Fine, but know that if Harrington side stepped you, you shouldn’t be so stingy with standards.” The comment stings, pricks your heart, tearing it apart to bleed out. “I’ll be in my office if you change your mind, sweets.”

One nasty wink later, and he’s back in his office and you’re out the door. This is all too much. You have to go. It’s break time, you thank fuck for, glancing at the clock, but you can barely think, your head pulsating with a pressing pound between your eyes. You punch out for lunch, gathering your purse, and you’re coming out as Robin is talking rapidly to Steve, seemingly scolding him at the front desk.

She’s come in for her shift. They stop immediately, features softening, too observant for your liking. You do what you do best — change the subject. Steve isn’t going to care anyways, so you might as well say it. It’ll help you get outside quicker.

“I have a fucking headache, I’m hungry, and Keith just hit on me, so I’m taking my break.” You blow out a wobbly breath.

It’s also Steve’s break, and he starts to remove his vest. Is he serious? You are so beyond outer limits right now… Granted, you take your breaks together every single day, but after everything that just happened in the past hour?

Steve’s jaw clenches and his body tenses at what you tell them, pausing his removal mid-way, inclining his head to look back in the manager’s office direction. Robin looks mad, tongue clicking as she looks over at Steve and shakes her head. You let them go, about halfway to the door before the bell rings and the beautiful girl that Steve’s been after forever to get a date with — approaches. She’s looking extra special, all dolled up. Sundress, heels, makeup, bracelets, a dainty necklace on her perfect shape.

It’s things you know Steve loves, because it’s also what you’re wearing. It made you feel good, but it was out of your element, yet you’d thought his hints, his behavior with you — Robin and Nancy had encouraged that those things were MAJOR signs. The girl goes straight for Steve, reaching for his massive hand. You’re frozen, having been waiting on him, despite all of your instincts telling you not to. Robin is looking at you with sympathy, something you’d rather never see directed your way again.

The girl, she’s acting as if it’s just her and Steve here. “I know you said this is your lunch hour. Looks I’m free if you still wanna hang out?” She swings her purse in her free hand. He’s been after her for a while — for sex or emotional connection, you aren’t sure. But what you do know, is that doesn’t want you at all.

And you can’t fault him, no one can. As his friends, you should worry about his happiness and dry yourself up, not making him feel guilty for not returning what you have felt for a while. That doesn’t mean that this isn’t pulverizing your heart, dusting your bones to ash, dashing all hopes and future fantasies, telling yourself he did like you, letting yourself believe — it does not hurt any less. It hurts more than you can bear. You feel his mossy eyes filter into your direction, meeting over her head, his nose wrinkling, that tick in his jaw that occurs when he wants so badly to speak, but can’t.

You’re caught in the moments that happened before any of this… Body on fire, doused in flames, tumbling down a cliff side of revelations. You weren’t even sure if reality existed, or if you were feeling too much of every emotion to comprehend anything.

“I really like you, Steve. And I think that, maybe, you like me too?”

“I do.”

“Yeah?”

“More than anyone, probably.”

“Me too.”

“But I don’t… We’re really close, honey.”

“That’s a good thing though, obviously. Right?”

“It’s always gonna be a good thing, trust me. I’ve never had someone in my life like you before.”

“Sooo. What about tonight?”

“I’m so sorry. Any guy would be lucky to have you. And I care about you, more than anyone, but I just… I don’t feel the same way.”

Drowning in an ocean of pity and panic. You’re back to present, watching him see those moments through your eyes, which have now glossed over with tears. He’s trying to be respectful, not accept her in front of you, keep things okay, show he won’t make it weird because of your confession. Normal. Keeping his lunch date with you.

You don’t fake your smile, hand on the door, nodding several times. He doesn’t have to feel guilty, he doesn’t have to sacrifice his happiness. You love him, even if he isn’t in love with you. And that’s all that matters. He deserves this.

When Steve glances down towards the door and back up, the bell is fading against the glass, but you’re gone...

Your sundress blows in the wind of a fresh summer storm as you leave the store behind to walk to the deli, your tears cresting, before rising in a tempo that you don’t control. Your chest feels as if there’s a thousand pounds crushing you, every negative self-image colliding, thoughts flowing free, self-loathing — it all lets loose. And before you know it, you’re sobbing in the middle of the street over Steve Harrington…

[littlewitty]

Weird Ikepri HCs I have

Yves has an acne problem and that’s why he spends so much money on his skin care routine, but anytime he does get a pimple, Clavis, Jin and Nokto tease the shit out of him. Nokto has small breakouts but is never that bad.

When Gilbert enters a room and he’s the only one there, he 100% sighs, leans against the wall and breathes deeply (sick boy and all)

Clavis has a surprising amount of paper cuts on his fingers from studying, working and reading in his room

Licht is literally pristine. No acne. Always smells gorgeous. Never dirty. Always presentable. No matter what just happened. Like he just woke up? He looks gorgeous, ethereal and snuggly. He’s just finished training? He’s macho, sweaty but in a hot way man

Jin smokes. He was really bad back in his early twenties, but Sariel found out and punished him by (sorry an NDA was signed and no one’s allowed to tell) but anyways, he smokes in the office now and then when he knows he’ll not be found out by the devil himself.

Keith once accidentally got high when mixing the wrong quantities of herbs together….. So now Wicked!Keith purposely gets him high and switches out just because he thinks it’s fun to torment him!

Walter and Gilbert spent one year of Gilbert’s childhood together in the safe house in Rhodolite, and they are a lot closer than people realise. Little Gilbert would constantly ask Walter to cuddle him, and to sleep in bed with him because he was homesick and missed his mother and brother. Walter would read Gilbert bedtime stories to keep him happy when he was too sick to leave bed. He would give him all the love and affection in the world and stroke his forehead to sleep…. But when Gilbert returned home and found his mother and brother dead, he ran to Walter and scream-cried in his arms.

Gilbert treated Luke the same way that Walter treated him as a child.

Clavis regularly walks by just moving his hips and not actively avoiding things meaning he walks into a lot of desk corners, door frames, breaks vases (you know the ADHD walk?? Yeah that’s him.)

Clavis also used to own a pet rabbit as a child.

Ive written a 3 part fic about child Gilbert and Walter haha 😂 didn’t post it but might do

[leonspretty]

windows of opportunity

in which lance is a disaster romantic and misses every opportunity to ask you out

masterlist

pairing: lance x reader

tags: fem! reader, disaster romantic lance, blue paladin lance, oblivious reader, oblivious lance too, reader isn't a paladin she just, like, helps(?), very very tiny bit of angst, happy ending, fluff, mutual pining, flirty banter, no use of y/n, lance calls reader ‘pretty’ as a nickname, cheeky little taylor swift reference if you squint.

notes: as a huge hopeless romantic, missed opportunities with a happy ending and mutual pining but thinking the other doesn't reciprocate is my obsession. i also know i said the first one would be keith but then i thought of this and it fit lance more i think.

wc: 2.3k

“Rise and shine, work hard, carve out your name, Take aim, pull the trigger, hit the bulls eye for fame, Know the value of faith, an' family, and don't you complain, Open wide, your windows of opportunity" — Kate Denson's "Windows of Opportunity”

To say that Lance liked you was an understatement. He was obsessed. Not crazy obsessed, but obsessed in the way that you consumed his every thought.

Luckily this didn't extend to during fights, but even then he would still be acutely aware of where you were at all times, making sure he could hear your voice over the comms, often talking over Coran just to flirt with you.

You were no different. Having known Lance since before joining the Garrison, your feelings for him have come and gone repetitively. Each time you'd confide in Pidge, declaring that you were over him after seeing him treat someone else the same way he treats you, claiming that he'd only ever see you as a friend, he'd do something that would make you retract anything bad you'd ever said about him.

Yours and Lance's feelings were obvious to everyone and it bewildered them how you both thought they were one sided.

The kitchen was quiet, Hunk, Keith and Pidge holding conversation while each did their own thing: Hunk baking, Keith tracing his blade and Pidge on her computer. Peaceful.

"What if I say something and she thinks I'm weird and never talks to me again?"

Keith and Pidge immediately groaned while Hunk remained silent, watching as Lance walked past all three of them, interrupting their conversation and train of thoughts. He threw himself onto a chair at the table across from Pidge who had already gathered her things and gotten up to leave. "Nope, not dealing with this again," she said as she left.

"She already thinks you're weird, I'm surprised she still puts up with you," Keith says from the spot next to where Pidge was. Lance glared at him in response, ignoring him.

"I think you should just try. If her face when she looks at you is anything to go off, I'm pretty sure she likes you too." It was a usually useless statement that was many times returned with "You're lying," or "I would've noticed." This time however, Lance turned to face Hunk and instead said,

"I was on my way to ask her out just now but she was training with Shiro and was in a zone and I didn't wanna disrupt that cause- where are you going?" Lance cut his rant off with a question directed at Keith who was leaving the kitchen.

"To train," was all he replied with.

"So you're finally going to do it? Why are you in here then?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah I am. I'm sick of wondering if she feels the same so I'm just gonna ask. I've never had a problem with it before so why should I now?"

From there, Lance vowed to himself that he would ask you out as soon as possible. He didn't want to spend any more time not being able to call you his than he had to.

You heard your name being called from down the corridor as you made your way to the showers. Training with Shiro was one thing, training with Shiro and Keith was another when you weren't out in the field anywhere near as often as them. It also didn't help how Keith had mentioned he had come to you two to escape Lance's apparent rambling about you. It had thrown you off and to make up for it and stop Shiro's teasing, you had put even more effort in than you normally would.

Turning around, you saw Lance running to catch up to you. Despite wanting to turn and make a run for it to the showers to avoid any embarrassment, you stopped and waited for him to meet you.

Huffing slightly, Lance met up with you and stopped to take you in. You were beautiful. Even when you were clearly sweaty and exhausted. He had to shake his head slightly to keep his thoughts from turning dirty. "Finished training?"

"Yeah, was just heading to the showers, wanna join me?" you said with a smirk, knowing that your question could be taken a couple different ways.

Recognising your signature smirk you used whenever the two of you would 'harmlessly' flirt, Lance played along. "Of course."

"Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?" Lance froze up briefly. He had wondered if Keith had overheard him say that he was going to ask you out and had opened his big mouth to you. You quietened his thoughts by following up with, "You look like you wanna say something. If its to tell me I smell, I know, Shiro and Keith are not easy opponents."

"Yeah you do stink, but I hope you kicked Keith's ass." Lance joked. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask you the best way to ask someone out." Your smile dropped for a second before replacing it with a forced one. You knew he didn't like you and he wasn't yours to lose so why should you keep someone else from experiencing what you could only dream about.

"Oh, well, it depends who it is. Personally, I like when it's done in a way that shows the person really knows me, like with trinkets or using inside jokes as a way of showing their feelings rather than just saying it. Allura though, she'd probably like to be taken somewhere nice, so when you ask her out maybe do it on a planet with a nice skyline or sunset or something." You knew it had to be Allura he was planning to ask out. He'd been flirting with her ever since you all met her. It was only a matter of time. You felt the unwanted tears build up - you had to get away, and fast. "Oh look, we're at the showers, thanks for walking with me and good luck on asking Allura, I'm sure she'll say yes." You were out of sight in seconds.

Lance stood facing the door speechless and confused. Where did Allura come into this? Why were you so quick to leave? He had only asked how to ask someone in hopes to lead up to him actually asking but instead his window of opportunity had closed before he even let it open.

His next window was clear. He had his speech planned out, knew exactly what he wanted to say and how. Now was the perfect opportunity. You were the only one on the bridge, sat in his seat seemingly just relaxing. Why you were doing that here instead of in the lounge he didn't know but he decided to ask later.

You hadn't noticed Lance's presence until you head a "Quiznack" be muttered under his breath as he tripped over his own feet, luckily managing to catch himself. You sat up and turned to face him. "Finally falling for me, Sharp-shooter?" you joked, internally cringing at the use of the word 'finally'.

If Lance had noticed your slip up, he didn't mention it. Instead, he rounded to the front of the chair you were in and dropped to sit on the floor facing you. "You wish. No. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"How did it go with Allura?" Truthfully, you didn't want to know, but you were sure you'd hear about it from one of them soon enough so why not get it out of the way.

"How did what go with Allura?" The confusion on his face was obvious.

"You were gonna ask her our remember? You literally asked me how to do it like two days ago." You mirrored Lance's confusion.

"Oh." Silence. "Oh! No! I wasn't planning to ask her out! I actually wanted to ask you-" his voice, which was already turning very quiet was cut off by you sitting up and squinting at the window.

"What was that?" You asked yourself aloud. Lance mistook that as a question for him.

"I said-" he was cut off again when you quickly got up and ran to the window.

"Quiznack!"

"What?"

"Alert everyone. Get to your lions. Now."

At that, Lance looked outside to see multiple Galra ships appearing. He groaned internally. To you the groan was about having to go out and fight. For him, the groan was because yet another window of opportunity had shut.

Keith really just wanted to lay down. Not necessarily sleep as that had never come easy to him, but he was exhausted. Instead he had to listen to you whine about how Lance doesn't share your feelings. When he had asked why you were coming to him about this you had said that everyone who wasn't Lance was busy and she didn't want to bother them. At that moment he wished you hadn't found him sat in the lounge. As much as he cherished you as a friend, he was quite frankly sick of hearing about Lance. When there was a knock at the door of his room, of which you had followed him into and immediately flopped onto his bed mid rant, Keith rolled his eyes and opened it. He was glad it had at least got you to be quiet since you also wondered who it was.

"Hey have you seen, oh hi pretty, Keith have you seen-" Lance stopped talking. When he'd said hi, he wasn't thinking, it was natural instinct. When he realised you were laid out on Keith's bed, his brain caught up to his mouth.

You, on the other hand, were blushing. It wasn't the first time Lance was calling you pretty. In fact it's what he called you 90% of the time. But it was the timing. You had just been complaining about how he doesn't think of you except from if he has to or if you're talking with him then he calls you pretty, offhanded. You were going insane.

"What's up?" Keith asked Lance, aiming a sly smirk at you as if he could tell you were going crazy over both seeing the person who was the main character of your rant and at the name said person had called you.

"Actually I was looking for her but if you guys are busy..."

Keith took this opportunity to both get rid of you so he can lie down and also get back at you for talking his ear off. "No, no, please, take her, I'm sick of hearing about you."

Lance ignored Keith's comment, turning to you, "Can we talk?"

Your eyes went wide as you sat up, your heart immediately dropping. Had you done something wrong? Had he overheard you talking about how much you liked him? Was this the end of your guys's friendship? You'd rather have him as a friend than nothing at all. You just nodded and said bye to Keith as you left his room.

The door closed within milliseconds of you leaving the room. It was just you and Lance now. Alone. "Come on," Lance smiled and started walking to his room.

Arriving in his room, Lance's nerves began to pick up. This was his chance. Again. He promised to himself that this is it. He wasn't going to let another interruption keep him from telling you how he feels.

Being in his room alone with him was nothing new, so why did you feel so nervous. "Come sit down, pretty." Lance patted the spot next to where he had just sat on his bed. You plastered a smile on your face and sat down.

"What's up? You never ask to talk, you usually just... do."

Lance let out a snort at that, giving you a pointed glance. "Oh and you don't?"

"I never said that."

The light hearted joking relaxed you - it's what you were used to between the two of you.

Your previous nerves about what Lance had to say dissipated as the two of you continued to joke together a little longer.

"Lance. You didn't come find me just to hang out. I know you. What's up?"

He had been putting it off, nerves creeping up the closer he came to confessing and so he sought comfort in your company as it was. Lance nodded and cleared his throat, turning to look in your eyes. "Every time I've tried to talk to you about this, something interrupts me: you rushing off to the showers, then the galra finding us. And then you thought I asked Allura out which is crazy because yeah she's-"

"Lance." You cut him off, not wanting to hear about how the princess of Altea was perfect and dreamy. "Come on."

"As I was going to say, before someone rudely interrupted, again-"

You laughed and stuck your tongue out at him quickly and jokingly.

"Hey! Anyway, yeah Allura is cool, I mean, she's a princess. But she isn't you." He paused, but realised how that could be taken, he continued, "I don't want Allura... I want you pretty girl. And it has taken me way too long to finally tell you. There have been so many missed windows of opportunity, and I refuse to miss any more. It's you. It's always been you, and I'm sorry I led you to believe otherwise."

You were speechless. A confession wasn't even on the list of things you had expected to come from this talk. The smile that grew on your face was unstoppable. Not trusting yourself to let out a happy squeal, you threw your arms around the man who had just told you he chooses you.

The sudden force took Lance by surprise, but he was fast to wrap his arms around your waist and fall back onto his bed, pulling you down with him. You lifted your head to look Lance in the eyes. Lance took this as his chance to finally make things official. "Will you be mine, pretty?"

The smile you didn't think could grow any wider, did. "I will always be yours, Loverboy Lance."

notes: i low-key kinda don't like how this ended up but i tried. it's also only slightly proof-read because i wanna move on to a keith fic now. also, if you saw this before, i reposted it cause i wanted it after my masterlist stuff so its still the same just reposted. reblogs, comments and likes are always appreciated. i also may make a taglist so let me know if you wanna be on it!

@cafekitsune made the dividers here!

thank you for reading!!

[yellow-yarrow]

director's commentary for this post (lmao) because I like yapping

the reason why I choose these artworks is not just because they looked good, I thought it was interesting how they treat colors, light and rot

Damien Hirst's Black Sun is made of many dead flies, people have said that this artwork smells gross up close. Its theme is obviously death and disgust (like most of his works), he has also said the flies represent people, and quotes Hobbes saying that people's life without a government is bad and tragic (which I HEAVILY disagree with)

Hirst sells his works for millions of dollars, it's highly commercialized, some have accused him of money laundering and such. Insert the Wompty-Dompty Dom Centre thought:

Problem It's Wednesday evening and something heinously exciting is under way. People have gathered beneath the billowing roof of an oddly shaped trophy building, sipping wine and exchanging opinions. 29-year-old wunder-twins Guy and Keith Joost are the stars of the show, with their bomber jackets and white sneakers -- head curators of this art exhibition. It's the wompty-dom-di-dommiest event of the year and all the cool kids have RSVP’d. Where are you, if you are not there? Solution You're at home, stupid cop, not with the art crowd. You hate them, everyone hates them, even they hate themselves. It's nauseating -- an industry built on sprezzatura and sparkling wine. And, let’s be honest, tax evasion schemes. The Wompty Dompty Dom Centre is the heart of this unholy symbiosis of esthetics and tax optimization, and now that you've internalized it – you can have a piece too!

personally, for me, it invokes disgust both on an aesthetic level (dead flies) and in a conceptual level (rich guy using death to make millions). Tieing this into black being the color of money in Elysium, and the end of the world.

Malevich's Black square is a painting without an object, it doesn't represent the material world, it is independent of it. but at the same time, black is the density of matter in the white empty space.

He said this about this art: "[Black Square is meant to evoke] the experience of pure non-objectivity in the white emptiness of a liberated nothing." "It is from zero, in zero, that the true movement of being begins." (x) ‘In the year 1913, trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square.’ (x)

Important context for this work (like many other black paintings) is that it was made around the time of the world wars, and the russian revolution. Black paintings express the trauma of the world wars, and in this case the revolutionary approach to art too.

quoting from the article I linked:

Malevich had been collaborating with the musician Mikhail Matyushin and the poet Aleksei Kruchenykh on a manifesto which called for the rejection of rational thought. They wanted to overturn the established systems and hierarchies of Western society. Together with poet Velimier Khlebnikov they staged Victory over the Sun, where the characters aimed to abolish reason by capturing the sun and destroying time. The libretto used Kruchenykh’s zaum – a new language of sounds that had no meaning. This sparked something in Malevich.

Similar things apply to White on white. The Moma website describes it better than I would:

[Malevich] "wanted White on White to create a sense of floating and transcendence. White, Malevich believed, was the color of infinity and signified a realm of higher feeling, a utopian world of pure form that was attainable only through nonobjective art. Indeed, he named his theory of art Suprematism to signify “the supremacy of pure feeling or perception in the pictorial arts”; and pure perception, he wrote, demanded that a picture’s forms “have nothing in common with nature.” In 1918, soon after the Russian Revolution, the connotations of this sense of liberation were not only aesthetic but also social and political. Malevich expressed his exhilaration in a manifesto one year later: “I have overcome the lining of the colored sky. . . . Swim in the white free abyss, infinity is before you.”

These molding fruits made out of gemstones by Kathleen Ryan make me think of Damien Hirst's bedazzled Skull artwork, decadence, kitsch, death. The gemstones make the mold feel like it has value, importance, like it's almost sacred. The pale as a "sacred and terrible smell"

Rothko's paintings heavily empathize colors, paintings like these invite us to really experience those colors and be moved by them.

From the Disco Elysium artbook:

Eyes are direct, unmediated input to the brain. You like or dislike something before you have a chance to reason about it. It affects you emotionally without offering you a chance to throw up intellectual defenses first. Witnessing death and good art are materially equivalent experiences: they are visual information transmitted straight to the centers of emotion by way of the eye. This might explain why a person could tear up in the presence of a Rothko painting. If you’re a sensitive enough instrument, seeing his Orange, Red, Yellow in real life feels intense. It doesn’t work on a computer screen though, you’re just staring at some bright pixels imitating the appearance of the painting the same way seeing a dead person is different from seeing a picture of a dead person.

El Lissitzky was also an important figure in russian avant-garde, like Malevich. Well. I put this one in here cause it looked nice and because of the theme of light and the lack of (it's a gelatin silver photograph).

maybe this adds something to the discussion of the symbolism of colors and light in Elysium

[anonymouszephyrus]

Voltron Characters Headcanons, go!

Finally, Part 3! Here's Shiro, Allura, and Coran! This is a little bit shorter, so sorry. Thank you for helping me with some of these @gilyoungroach & @hotdogcabbagesausage !

ALLURA

- Pure Pansexual (Aliens don't have labels but she loves everyone so-) - Mostly She/Her Pronouns (Genderfluid) - Allura definitely had a rebellious teen era and it's why she doesn't like Keith because he reminds her of that era and she cringes every time she remembers it. - Allura collects shiny and sparkly rocks. This is canon but still. She has a very extensive rock collection spanning from "shiny but ordinary" to "so shiny" and even all the way to "super, extra sparkly" - I don't have much to say with her actually. Niko sums it up pretty fucking well: "allura goddess case closed" - @nikogane

CORAN (Aka. Single Pringle)

- Aliens = Pansexual. Duh. NJFKAFN (he's an adventurous fellow) - He/Him (Transgendered Coran!!) - #Alforan was one-sided. Yes. He loved Alfor with all his heart. Sadly, the feeling wasn't mutual, he never confessed but knew the truth deep down. Coran was content just being there beside Alfor as his advisor though it hurt him every time he saw his first and only love being sweet with Melenor. - Despite his jealousy, he never hated Melenor or Allura. He treats Melenor like a queen, obviously, but also like a sister. And of course, he loves Allura like his own daughter. - If he was an Earthling, he would've totally done drag. And he would've slayed. - He gives me so much... Lance but a different age, different upbringing sort of vibe. Those two definitely talk deep into the night about their issues and problems, Coran would've been Lance's version of Shiro.

SHIRO (Aka. The gayest man that ever did gay.)

- Gay. Just gay. This isn't even a headcanon, it's canon. - He/Him - probably brings a first aid kit wherever he goes when he's with Keith or the others. Let's be honest. - A red wine mom/dad. He definitely chugged one in a sitting and Keith was just amazed.. (and also did it too, leading to Keith's first hang-over and Shiro being an irresponsible brother) - Chronically addicted to coffee. Has like- brewery equipment, like the shit you'd see in coffee shops but only for like half of Shiro's whole kitchen. He's got packets of different flavors, sugars, milk, etc. - He was emo. He was emo before. It's canon. He was emo. That's where Keith gets his genes /j - Contrary to popular belief, Shiro can cook. Especially Korean and Japanese foods because he learned so Keith could still taste those familiar things his late father would've given him when he was little. - Probably is a hoarder, not that much though. Like, he keeps antique cups, teapots, dishes, and even a china cabinet solely for coffee cups that he never uses but only keeps on display so that he has a good story to tell everyone that visits... and it's always the same fucking story. - Will take any and all opportunities to tease Keith about literally anything. - Adding to the last headcanon/kinda canon thing, he also likes to remind Keith of his embarrassingly cute moments like when Keith first moved into Adam and Shiro's house and had a nightmare so they all curled up on the couch and watched shitty movies and Keith fell asleep literally seconds in and slept like a fucking baby. - Gay. Just gay. This isn't even a headcanon, it's canon. - He/Him - probably brings a first aid kit wherever he goes when he's with Keith or the others. Let's be honest. - A red wine mom/dad. He definitely chugged one in a sitting and Keith was just amazed.. (and also did it too, leading to Keith's first hang-over and Shiro being an irresponsible brother) - Chronically addicted to coffee. Has like- brewery equipment, like the shit you'd see in coffee shops but only for like half of Shiro's whole kitchen. He's got packets of different flavors, sugars, milk, etc. - He was emo. He was emo before. It's canon. He was emo. That's where Keith gets his genes /j - Contrary to popular belief, Shiro can cook. Especially Korean and Japanese foods because he learned so Keith could still taste those familiar things his late father would've given him when he was little. - Probably is a hoarder, not that much though. Like, he keeps antique cups, teapots, dishes, and even a china cabinet solely for coffee cups that he never uses but only keeps on display so that he has a good story to tell everyone that visits... and it's always the same fucking story. - Will take any and all opportunities to tease Keith about literally anything. - Adding to the last headcanon/kinda canon thing, he also likes to remind Keith of his embarrassingly cute moments like when Keith first moved into Adam and Shiro's house and had a nightmare so they all curled up on the couch and watched shitty movies and Keith fell asleep literally seconds in and slept like a fucking baby.

PART: 1 & 2

[icypantherwrites]

Hi!

I really love your works!

Especially those related to the Voltron fandom.

Unfortunately the fandom is a bit stagnant but it's nice to see how you keep it active. Just for Voltron I wanted to ask, what would you think of a Canon au where Lance is possessed by an alien god and the team has to save him, and in the process face the fact that they treated him poorly and were a mediocre team?

Aw, well thank you ♥ It's definitely a pretty dead fandom these days, but doing my best to at least finish posting Here and wrapping up that trilogy on AO3 :)

To your question, I will admit that I don't ever envision or write the team as ever purposefully treating Lance poorly as I don't think they are like that. I think they are human (or Altean or part-Galran ;p) and like all of us sometimes we can get so wrapped up in our own problems or concerns or even our own past experiences that we can inadvertently hurt someone we care about through our actions (or inactions). So that would not be a story I personally could write or design as it goes against how I view the characters.

That said, I've explored in a few of my stories elements of where members of the team have unintentionally hurt Lance. I think it's very reasonable to hurt someone you care about like that in the short-term (with the exception to this being Kuron!Shiro whose actions can hurt in longer term because he's not quite himself) when there are outside factors and even internal ones that can skew your perception of the situation and how it might affect another.

If you're interested, a few of those off the top of my head are:

Quiet Your Pain, Suffer in Silence

Summary: Lance has never liked the quiet and he likes it even less on this big, empty castle far away from home. He tries to fill it with stories and laughter so it doesn't feel quite as lonely.

But lately whenever Lance opens his mouth all he seems to do is upset people, annoy people and now… now he’s hurt them too. So there’s only one solution.

He just won’t ever talk again.

Icy Notes: This one is probably the most 'team hurts Lance' story on the list as everyone (save my sunshine boys Hunk and Coran) do indeed hurt Lance by their words and actions. They all realize though in the end what hurt they caused (thanks, Coran!) and resolve it.

The Poison of Deceit

Summary: This diplomatic mission is not going the way Lance had hoped. The diplomacy part on behalf of Voltron is going fantastic and Lance doesn’t think he’d be remiss in saying he had a large hand in that. But the whole impress Shiro bit is an epic fail as Shiro doesn’t seem to notice his efforts at all and it’s only worse with Keith showing him up at nearly every turn. The aliens they’re working on the alliance though have noticed his efforts. But as Lance stands here now, Shiro and Keith’s lives along with a vial of poison in his hands, he isn’t so certain that was a good thing.

Icy Notes: This one might be the closest take to your comment about the alien God in the sense that an outside party is also involved. This one is just focused on Lance, Shiro and Keith so not the whole team, but those two do get a very hard lesson in what it means to be a good friend and is definitely going to stick with them.

Feast

Summary: Lance is well aware he's the weak link on Team Voltron. He knows he's not the brightest. But he's not stupid. And he's always thought that even despite his shortcomings he had not just a place with Voltron, but friends who would look out for him just as he would do for them.

But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. While there's no knife to stab him in the back, the ones his friends wield with their cruel, heartless words cuts just as deep. And by the time Lance realizes that something is wrong, that these people are not his friends, it's too late.

The feast has begun.

Icy Notes: This story has a lot of other plot points other than just team treating Lance poorly, although it is the most literal interpretation of the team hurting Lance (legit torturing him) even if it's not quite them... But it explores the show post Game Show and how those actions made Lance feel and again, unable to confide in his team and feeling like no one values him.

Worth(less)  (please note this one is rated M!)

Summary: On their journey to Earth, Voltron stops at a planet for supplies and finds that its inhabitants are not only incredibly generous but powerful and would make strong allies in their upcoming fight. In order to secure the alliance, the king assigns a member of his council to observe each Paladin and judge their worth.

Lance is delighted to find out his evaluator is the king’s own son, Prince Barin, who is a formidable fighter and pilot, and he’s determined to prove himself worthy and make Voltron proud, especially following the horrible game show experience with Bob.

Except Lance discovers that the prince isn’t interested in evaluating his worth as a Paladin; he's just interested in his body. And for the sake of the universe… Lance knows what he has to do.

Icy Notes: Like Feast above, there's a lot of other plot at play here and definitely heed warnings if you read it, but a large part of said plot is Lance's reactions and feelings from the Game Show where he felt like the team didn't care about him and so he's unable to trust them now. Horrible consequences for thinking so little of himself and unable to go to the team for support, but comfort and resolution at the end.

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith blinks.

It was — it had been right there.

Right?

He squeezes his eyes shut, thinking back. No, it had been. He’s sure of it. It had been on the hangar right next to his fancy schmancy Altean suit, which was the worst thing in the world and something he avoided at any and all costs. (One frequent cost, for example, being his dignity. Take last week. The team was tasked to attend some stuffy gala, and the formalwear was non negotiable. No chance of wearing his armour instead. Well, there was no chance of Keith wearing that stupid fucking suit, so he’d had the wonderful idea to fake a case of intense diarrhea so he could skip the gala entirely. He was real proud of that excuse, too, until the self-appointed Garrison Trio started giggling to themselves, and he’d realized — too late — that he’d taken a pretty large L.)

Forcing his brain back to the problem at hand — truly a herculean effort — he glares at the closet and all its contents harder. Maybe he’d somehow misremembered? He flicks through each of the garments in his closet, one by one, but he still doesn’t see it. Confused and a little frustrated, he starts throwing shit out of his closet on into his bed, wondering if it’s somehow hidden by the other clothes.

Nothing.

Fully annoyed, now, he starts digging through his dresser drawers, wondering if he had somehow completely misplaced it, but nothing turns up. He throws his hands up in indignation, finally giving up on the apparently fruitless search.

His favourite flannel! Missing!

Scowling, Keith shrugs on a random black shirt. He glances around the piles of clothing strewn about his room, and decides it’s not a problem for Current Keith, and Future Keith can handle it.

He makes his surly way down to the common room, as was his original intention, just…colder. (Does he have other flannel shirts he could wear? Yeah. But he wants his blue flannel today. His fancy flannel. His favourite flannel. So he will suffer until damn well finds it, because no other flannel is going to cut it now that he has his mind set on the one he wants.)

Hmph.

As he walks, he toys with the idea that perhaps someone else knows where his flannel is. Maybe he left it around, somewhere, and someone picked it up? He tends to be forgetful, so it’s very possible. Maybe he left it in the kitchen when he was helping Hunk bake last week? (‘Helping’ being the operative word. He was sitting on the counter and bitching about various things that had pissed him off that week, because Hunk has forbidden him from touching anything kitchen related — you blow up one damn spaghetti pot and you get a lifetime ban, so unfair — but Hunk is also insatiable for any form of drama.) Or maybe he left it in Pidge’s workroom, when he was handing her tools a couple days ago. Or maybe he left it in the training room when he was sparring with Allura and Shiro yesterday?

Man, but he was so fucking sure he saw it in his closet!

He walks into the common room with a scowl that could turn air to stone, admittedly stomping a little.

“Hey, Keith,” Hunk greets absentmindedly, fully engrossed in what looks to be an intense staring contest with Pidge.

Keith decides he doesn’t want to know.

“Has anyone seen my flannel?”

“Isn’t your closet, like, 80% flannel, you useless gay person?” Pidge asks, which earns her a flick on the ear (and subsequently makes her lose her staring contest with Hunk, which has two direct consequences: Keith is now in Hunk’s good book — which means more treats and preferential kitchen chore treatment, hell yeah — and in Pidge’s bad book — which means Keith has to Watch His Back for the foreseeable future, yikes).

“I have a normal amount of flannel,” Keith says, lying and unashamed about it. “Anyway. I was talking about my good flannel. The blue one. The formal one.”

“There’s no such thing as formal flannel,” Allura says, looking at him with disdain. “You fashion disaster.”

Keith sniffs. “It is so fancy. It’s got a nice collar and buttons on the cuffs. That’s formal, right there.”

“What’s that term Lance used? What was — oh, yeah.” Allura gives him a deadpan look. “Okay, you country fucking bumpkin.”

Keith lets that sit there for a moment.

“You should go back to being annoyed every time Lance walks into the room,” Shiro says sagely. “I miss when you didn’t know what fuck meant.”

Allura shrugs. “I’ve made my peace with it. Unfortunately for me, he’s funny, so.”

“Guys,” Keith says again, with more urgency, but he is still largely ignored because his family is full of mean people. “Important problem at hand. My flannel. It’s missing.”

Pidge and Hunk have now moved from intense staring contest to a furious round of rock-paper-scissors, so they offer no input.

“You know, I bet Lance has it.”

It’s the first helpful piece of information Keith’s heard all day. Shiro is officially re-instated as his favourite brother. (He was knocked down yesterday because he stole all Keith’s fucking almost-peanut butter ice cream, and Keith barely held back from killing him for real, because how fucking dare he. He’s lucky he’s stronger than Keith and that Keith loves him, or else he would be dead.)

“Lance? Why would he have my flannel?”

“Because he never wears his own fucking clothes,” Hunk says, scowling as Pidge beats him — scissors to his paper. “I swear to god. He didn’t even come to space in his own clothes. He was wearing Marco’s jacket and Veronica’s jeans. He steals my hoodies on a regular basis.”

“He steals my socks on a regular basis because he is the worst,” Pidge complains. “He fucking stretches them every time. Why are older brothers so obsessed with doing that?”

Shiro, looking pointedly away because he’s an asshole who is also guilty of doing that (Pidge is right — seriously, why??) and pipes up next. “He keeps stealing my pants. I don’t even know why. They’re too big for him.”

“None of you get to complain,” Allura says venomously. “He has raided my closet at least three times a week since he fucking got here, I swear on the sky. I keep having to steal all my favourite skirts back! It’s not fair!”

Keith feels something like jealousy writhe around in his stomach, which is stupid. He’s not jealous that Lance doesn’t steal his clothes.

He’s happy. Lance’s stupid stinky butt shouldn’t be in his clothes, anyway. This is a good thing.

“Lance never steals my clothes,” Keith says, unable to tamp down a scowl. “So that can’t be it.”

No sooner are the words out of his mouth that Lance comes waltzing into the room, pleases as punch, visibly smirking.

He fucking is wearing Keith’s good blue flannel.

The bitch.

“You stole my fucking shirt!”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Lance says breezily, draping himself on top of Pidge, who immediately sends him tumbling to the floor via hard shove. Lance is not phased in the slightest, and simply gets up and drapes himself over Hunk, who has had over ten years to get used to Lance as a person and so he does not react. “I bought this shirt for myself at the space mall.”

Keith is incensed. Fuming. Rage-filled.

(And a little pleased to see that Lance is wearing his clothes.)

(A little.)

(Like, the most minuscule, tiny amount. It doesn’t even count, really.)

“Take it off, you asshole! It’s mine!”

Lance hums, insufferably smug. He doesn’t even have the decency to look at Keith, pretending instead to investigate his nails. “No.”

That’s — it’s the self-satisfied smirk, Keith thinks. That’s what makes him snap. He wants to wipe it off so fucking badly. That fucking smirk haunts his dreams.

(Nightmares! Nightmares! He fucking meant nightmares!)

He lunges at Lance, snarling, who shrieks at the top of his lungs and begs Hunk for protection.

Hunk does not provide it. (Hell yeah. Keith knew being on his good side would be awesome.)

Lance, who is woefully unprepared, has nowhere to go when Keith tackles him to the ground, sitting on top of him. He immediately tries to unbutton the flannel and rip it off, and Lance, who is screeching so loud that they can likely hear him from Earth, is desperately trying to button it back on. Keith pins Lance’s wrists above his head to stop him.

“Stay still, you brat,” Keith growls.

Lance keens. His face lights up bright red, pupils dilating so wide they almost swallow up the brown of his irises. He stops struggling.

Keith freezes, captivated by the heat pouring off Lance’s face in waves.

Holy shit.

“You’re blushing.”

“Fuck off! Fuck right off! No I’m not!”

“You are.” Keith’s voice is almost awed. Unbidden, his free hand comes up Lance’s face, backs of his fingers pressing to his cheek.

“Oh my God,” comes a gleeful mutter behind him, along with a camera shutter. It shocks Keith right out of his stupor, and he throws himself off Lance’s lap — holy fuck, he was on Lance’s lap — with a strangled shout.

“G-give me my flannel!” Keith yells, ignoring how red his own face is getting.

“Fine,” Lance says, voice stretched and reedy. His fingers shake as he unbuttons the shirt.

Keith’s mouth goes dry, watching those long brown fingers fiddle with the buttons.

Oh, no.

Oh no.

“I love my life,” Shiro says, rubbing his hands together like a goddamn cartoon villain.

Lance shoves the flannel in Keith’s face, and then scrambles to sit next to Allura (who, he says, is the only person who hasn’t betrayed him).

The flannel is warm. Keith is already sweating.

Lance is still redder than Keith’s lion. Keith wants to bite him.

Oh, God.

What is he doing to do?

[moonmeg]

What was Breena's relationship with her siblings-in-law like at the beginning? (especially with Edan, I guess it took a lot for him to trust her after knowing how she treated Neil the first time they met).

Long post incoming~

Breena (17) and Edan (20)...

...indeed had their problems at first. Breena still had her firey kinda mean attitude and Edan was still judging her for how she treated Neil at first. This ridge between them bothered Breena because she got along fairly well with everyone else.

Bree: Edan hasna a lot of good to say about me, does he?

Neil: What ya mean?

Bree: He's avoidin' me but constantly eyein' me in a warning and threatening manner. I just dinna understand why? What did I do to him?

Neil: Ah... he is just lookin' out for me- us- as in his younger siblings.

Bree: So he's bein' typical protective older brother?

Neil: Pretty much, aye.

Bree: But why? I havena even exchanged a word wi' him. What reason does he have to gi' me the cold shoulder?

Neil: Dinna like the taste of yer own medicine?

Bree: Excuse me?

Neil: Bein' unfriendly to people ye dinna ken, I mean.

Bree: If this is about our first encounter, I already told ye I'm sorry. Did I misjudge ye? Aye. Was I wrong? Aye. I was wrong and I am genuinely sorry. But it's not Edan's place to treat me like this now.

Neil: Well, he kens what ye said to me and how ye treated me when we met and is simply wary of ye. Especially as we're starting to become friends of sorts.

Bree: It's not his business who ye're friends with. It's a matter between you and me. Not him.

Neil: You... you dinna have siblings, do ya?

Bree: I don't. And even if I did, I fail to see where our friendship is of interest to Edan.

Neil: He's just looking out for me. I'm his younger brother and he doesna want me to get hurt by befriending someone who might turn out bad for me.

Bree: I'm bad for ye now?

Neil: That's not what I said. I'm just sayin' that as siblings we all dinna want one of us getting hurt and we're all lookin' out for each other. If I heard someone was yellin' at Ian, Keith or Maisie when they were just bein' nice and then that person suddenly lives with us, aye, I'd be wary too. Edan is this cold to everyone who gets closer to us. I understand it bothers ye but he has his reasons for bein' wary and protective. He'd never forgive himself if one of us got hurt by someone we liked and he kens he could've prevented it. Perhaps ye should have a heart-to-heart conversation wi' him when the situation occurs.

Bree: I dinna just open my heart to people, goldie.

Neil: And that's the first thing ye two have in common. I'm sure ye'll understand why he is that way once ye get to talk about it. And he'll understand why ye yerself were so rude to me at first if ye explain. He doesna hate ya. He's testin' ya.

(Neil turned out to be right)

Breena and Blair (18)...

...quickly got to like each other actually. They were both jealous of the other one in terms of appearance and didn't voice that at first. It did come out of them at one point and they both started endlessly complimenting each other. Blair braids Breena's hair, Breena helps Blair with dying her hair, Blair teaches Breena some crafty skills like basic sowing or embroidery. After Neil, Breena was closest to Blair.

Some years down the line

Blair (putting a pin into Breena's hair): Aaand all done! How are ye? Bree (pregnant at that time): I feel like I'm gonna throw up- Blair: Oh, dear- ye need a basin? Bree: No, no, I'm not actually going to I'm just... Blair: Nervous ye're only minutes away from standing in front of an officiator and exchanging marriage vows wi' the love of yer life? Bree: In summary, aye. Blair: I ken exactly what ye mean. I felt I was going to faint any moment before sealing the oath wi' my wife. But after it all... when the oath was taken, and we were announced as married and got to kiss each other as wives for the first time... there was not an ounce of those nerves present anymore. It's gonna be the same for ye and Neil. I'm certain. Bree: I dinna ken... What if he says no after all? Blair: If he dares say no at the officiator I will kick his arse into space. But he won't. He's deeply in love wi' ya, Bree. He's been airheaded and footed since the first day and he hasna shut up about yer engagement for months. And he's most excited about the bairn. Neil will marry ya. Nothing and no one could keep him from that. Bree: Thanks, Blair. I'm so lucky to gain ye as sister-in-law. Blair: Leave out the "in-law". Such a mouthful. Just sister.

Breena and Ian (14)...

...also learned to get along rather quickly even though she joined in on the playful bullying of Ian (he's used to it at this point). They would've been even closer than Bree is with Blair if they were just closer in age tbh.

Breena and Keith (11)...

...don't have much to do with each other but she helps him with his school work every now and then or keeps an eye on him when everyone else is busy. Breena was never really fond of children but when Keith would come up to her with his five-string or lute and ask her to listen to the tune he learned she began thinking that maybe kids aren't that bad.

Breena and Maisie (8)...

...had a similar development to the one with Keith. Maisie really liked Breena immediately and always found ways to spend time with her, asking her to help in choosing how to dress or asking her to help with the hairstyle, take her to school or pick her up again. If Keith already began to crack Breena with her perception of children, Maisie sold her on definitely wanting at least one kid sooner or later, even if things like this happened

Maisie: Breena?

Bree: Hm?

Maisie: I like ye.

Bree: Aw, I like ye too, Maisie.

Maisie: Willya marry Neil?

Bree: Oh- uh- I-I dinna ken.

Maisie: Wouldya if he asked ye to?

Bree: If Neil asked me to marry him?

Maisie: Mhm!

Bree: Well, aye, I think if he asked me, I would. But I dinna think Neil and I are ready for-

Maisie: NEEEEIIIL!!

Bree: No, no, no, no, no don't-

Maisie: BREENA WANTS TO MARRY YE! SAY YES!

Neil: Sure.

Bree (blushing intensely): NEIL!

This wasn't their official engagement but they kept pretending it was for Maisie.

Breena is besties with all of them now <3

[mirpuzzle]

You know those two grown men that hang out with Ghost whose names I can never remember? Who are they and why are they hanging out with a 15 year old? Did they meet at Duelist Kingdom and after being betrayed by Keith they just decided to stay friends? Are those his cousins? His dads? Just some friends of his?

I'm asking you because I think you're the only one who has even the slightest idea who those guys are and why they're hanging around Ghost.

Hello! ✨ I'm glad you ask, because I love those two, and they rarely get any attention from the fandom, except for a few devoted fans. I hope you don't mind long posts TwT I'll write everything under the cut.

My guess is that the three of them met at Duelist Kingdom when Bandit Keith brought them together. However, I like to think they could've been friends before that. After all, there's so little information about them that we practically are forced to make up headcanons.

In the manga, that's the only time they appear. They weren't with Kotsuzuka during his Duel against Yami Bakura.

I'm glad they did stay together in the anime. Unlike when they followed Bandit Keith's orders, Kotsuzuka's gang seems to have no leader. They treat one another as equals, so much so that they were okay with working together to get at least one of them to the Battle City finals. It would mean achieving what they couldn't at Duelist Kingdom because of Keith. I see them as close friends.

The red-haired one is Kiyoshi Takaido, or Sid in the dub. His full Japanese name is shown in the episode where we see their rarest cards.

Takaido seems like the kind of friend who backs you up from afar. He doesn't talk much compared to the others. However, he can have an explosive personality, and has no problem with provoking others. He can be a bit of a coward, too. We didn't get to see enough of him. I think his character holds great potential to explore in terms of trust, bonds, and self-improvement.

His rarest card being Firewing Pegasus, along with his hair being red and shaped like a flame, has led many of us to assume that he could be a Pyro/FIRE duelist.

The black-haired one is Satake, or Zygor in the dub.

The scene I mentioned earlier doesn't last long enough to show his first name. However, he may actually have one. I plan to make a post specifically about this in the future.

Satake seems to have experience fighting, so I wonder if he tends to get into fights often or what kind of past he carries. He's shown to be very supportive of Kotsuzuka. I like to see him as the protective one, and the one who keeps the group together.

Due to his rarest card being Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, and the shape of his hair, many of us assume he plays a Thunder Dragon deck, or specializes in Thunder monsters.

I doubt they have canon ages. We are lucky they even have names in the anime, since they were nameless characters in the manga. They could be 20, or they could be 17. Who knows? I guess we'll have to resort to headcanons, much to my disliking.

With Yugioh, there's no way to tell a character's age based on their appearance alone. Tell me about it. I frown every time I see someone assume Kotsuzuka is 10 or something just because he's short. Sometimes I want to yell 'Kotsuzuka is 15, people, fifteen!!!' at them. He's only 1 or 2 years younger than Yugi's group.

This is one of the reasons why I like to imagine Kotsuzuka, Takaido and Satake as childhood friends. If that's not the case, meeting for the first time at Duelist Kingdom, getting along, and then bonding after Keith's betrayal (like you said) also works.

Thank you SO much for the ask! I love these three guys with my life, and I could talk about them for hours.

[almdragonrend]

What I think about shipps in my next life as a Villainess

1 Geordo x Katarina: okay so first the GeoKata my opinion on this is this shipp Is ABUSIVE towards Katarina, let me explain Katarina started in this relationship believing from the start that Geordo is just using her and that he will cheat on her and is willing to actually exil her as well as taking everything she owns from her and even kill her to be with that other girl, and in the beginning that was TRUE, he indeed just wanted to USE her! I know that he changed his mind on that but that started only because she was "different " and worse is that she thinks she "deserve" that for being the "Villainess" Yes she thinks he has "right" to cheat,betray and kill her because of her "Villainess" staus, yes she does stand up to him to protect others, but she does that despite of what he might do to her because she just cares so much for others, she also sees the engagement she has with him as a cruel leash dragging her to her doom and even if she doesn't see like that anymore she did so for 7 years! In which she continuesly asked Geordo to break their engagement, which he refused, to her this relationship made it impossible for her to have any amount of self-respect, I would hate it if Geordo is the one ending up with Katarina since it would basically rewarding him for unintentionally abusing her and the horrible actions of his Original Counterpart, since she will always think it's his right to cheat,betraying and even kill her as long as she sees that as his "right" it's impossible for them to stay as equal to eachother Katarina will always be Geordo's VICTIM as long as she convinced he can treat her how he wants just because she's the Villainess, this would be a Stockholm syndrome situation and this relationship makes it nigh impossible for her to develop any self-respect, and even if she's able to realize that is not his right to do those things to hear she still had to live under this assumption for 7 years! This relationship is not good for her, it prevents from having self-respect, she believes he can treat her as horrible as he wants, there is no way for them to be equal in this relationship and Katarina shouldn't be forced to be with someone who makes her think less of herself I honestly can't believe that people who actually like Katarina are GeoKata fans giving how abusiv it clearly is to her,GeoKata is bad for Katarina's self worth it's bad for her mental health and it's bad for her overall, yeah it's good for Geordo but if you want Katarina to be sacrificed for Geordo like that than your being very unfair to Katarina, Katarina deserves better + Geordo is the one behaving the most like his Original Counterpart treating Katarina like property, his Original self who exiled and murdered Katarina, Katarina DESERVES BETTER.

Katarina x Keith: so I take Katarina x Keith for seconds, after everything I said about GeoKata you probably think I hate this shipp aswell right? Well wrong, I don't like it, but I don't hate it because unlike Geordo Keith has actually made far greater difference between him and his Original Counterpart, further more he has been far more considered of Katarina's boundaries, and Katarina has far less problems building self-respect since they live constantly together and had a clear heart to heart after the Golem incident she believed that nothing of the bad stuff would happen if she's just happen to be supportive there be no Exile killing, so he puts less of a strain on her soul than Geordo dose, and I can see him to be actual treading her right he's even willing to help her with her civil disguise when visiting Maria, and even helping her from staying out of her Mother's radar, so I atleast see he would do his best for her and atleast try to be good for her so he's better than Geordo and they can have a functioning positive relationship

Katarina x Mary: So third is Mary and yes she's a clear yandere with an extremely aggressive personality, but what concerns me about her is that their is clear indication she's actually willing to Kidnapping Katarina without letting her know the situation she's in, therefore I'm not really a fan of it but atleast she doesn't actually has to fear for her life with Mary, so she's atleast better than Geordo.

Alan x Katarina: so I know alot people like this shipp and I'm honestly not a fan of cheating, but again Mary herself is in love with Katarina so I guess it wouldn't be wrong if he understood that hey if he managed to get Katarina and was willing to share Mary would be more than pleased with him, so yeah I also like that they had Sword fights with her and i wanted to see Sword fighting Katarina

Sophia x Katarina: so now we're going to Katarina's Original friend the friend who Reincarnated along side her, A-Chan a lot people would say the fact that Sophia is A-chans Reincarnation and that she's followed Katarina in to the next life makes her a great partner for Katarina right ? I actually have a serious bone to pick with Sophia not despite but BECAUSE she is A-Chan because a have with A-Chan herself because as you all surely remember A-Chan was the one who introduced her to Fortune Lover and also the one who told her what a Terrible "Villainess" Katarina Claes is, which is the main reason why Katarina now believes she doesn't deserve love, yes I said it A-Chan is responsible for Katarina believing she dosen't deserve love, had she been more honest about the story and told her Katarina who is supposed to be the Villainess is less evil than Heroine and the Capture Targets who ruthlessly destroyed her life, that Geordo and Maria and Keith are Morally bankrupt Monsters (even if there's speculation that Maria didn't want it) who had no right to do what they did to her, than Katarina would atleast have been able to understand that she deserved love and just had the bad luck to end up with a very bad partner who doesn't treat her fair, she would have been able to develop both feeling worth of love and self-respect and might actually get out of the toxic hold Geordo had on her and actually being happy with out thinking of herself as the lowest being in the world, and I know that Sophia/A-Chan maybe just wanted to get her in FL, but it's still A-chans fault that Katarina has such a low self esteem, and after all the content we now know that Original Katarina was a pretty good person atleast for Noble Girl standards, so all A-Chan had to do was just tell Her the Truth that Original Geordo, Original Keith and Original Maria were the Selfish Monsters they are and how they literally ricked a trial to unfairly ruin her life steal everything from her and yeah that's something I hope she sets straight in one of those visions.

Nicole x Katarina: The best ship so far, and even though he appears outward similar if Geordo told this Nicole to help him fake documents to get a person exiled who doesn't deserve that he would probably report that to the King and Queen instead of actually partaking in it, he has been very considered and he is a clever person who also has great chemistry with her

Maria x Katarina: The final part of the main Harem, and I never hide that I'm a huge MariKata fan, I know that comes of strange as I very much insist that Geordo Is the most similar to his Original self despite spending the most time with Katarina, well Maria is the opposite, unlike her sneaky, selfish,heartless Original Counterpart, Hamefura Maria is brave, charismatic she doesn't hide behind others like a Coward, when Katarina or her other friends are in danger she sticks up to them, I really think that Hamefura Maria is the best partner for Bakarina, even though Original Maria is a horrible person, and don't come me with "but she just wasn't confident enough to apposed Geordo and/or Keith on Katarina's trial" she clearly didn't felt any remorse about it! Our she would act differently in FL 2

Harem x Katarina: this is one of the view Shows where a Harem ending is deserved.

[mckinlily]

Um, okay this is a loaded question, and if you want to play it safe, you can answer me in DMs, but...I personally feel that there's something wrong about how VLD placed Keith in the lead. In a way, I can see him becoming Black Paladin, but Shiro...it feels more natural to me, it feels right that Shiro is Black Paladin. I'm not into VLD beyond Shiro, Keith's parents, and the Lions personally, but I know someone who loves it and makes good points about Keith as a leader, but something just isn't aligning for me. Maybe it's because Shiro and Keith are two radically different archetypes, and they got swapped when they shouldn't have, I don't know.

I came here because I saw one of your post S2 rewrites, and I appreciated it. So, again, feel free to answer me in DMs (if you have problems DM-ing me, let me know and I'll fix it for you) if you don't mind discussing this with me.

As a final note, I'm not trying to hate any particular character. They're all fine on their own, and I don't want to treat one as worse than the other. I just want to figure out this problem I'm having with Shiro and Keith.

Thank you for reading this, and take care.

You came to the right blog! Because I adore Keith and believe he certainly has qualities that could make him a good leader—and absolutely hate him as the Black Paladin.

The thing I never understood about Voltron fandom debates about who should be the Black Paladin is that they always seem based in the idea that because Shiro is a leader and the Black Paladin, that means the Black Paladin is the ONLY leader on the team.

It is worth noting that that premise was disproven in episode one. It was Allura who made the final call on whether the paladins should run or stay and fight Sendak, and Shiro explicitly bowed to her authority. From then on, Shiro and Allura both lead Team Voltron until the show decided to destroy their characters, accepting influence and trading responsibilities depending on which one of them fit the situation at hand. Typically, Allura functions more in a commander and diplomat role and Shiro is more of a field officer, but they both pick up the lead where needed.

I know you didn't bring up Allura, but I think it is vital she is included in any conversation about leadership in Voltron. She is introduced as THE princess of an entire planet, she has more knowledge and experience of the intergalactic landscape than any of the other characters, she's been set up to be a leader since birth, and she IS the leader of Team Voltron for two whole seasons. Shiro makes it VERY clear he considers her to outrank him.

So the question you have to ask any time you consider replacing Shiro as Black Paladin: why NOT Allura? If the Black Paladin is the "best leader", why are you skipping over the one character already established and thriving in a leadership role? (And then you have to ask yourself if that character being a Black woman has anything do with that.)

Now I do think there are ways narratively you could answer that question. For instance, if you keep the Lions as sentient beings, that means they can make choices—including wrong ones. For instance, for a time when I believed anything might be salvaged after season 3, my head canon for Black choosing Keith was that Keith was the one missing Shiro as intensely and desperately as Black in that moment. Therefore, the choice was not about Keith being "better" but rather them being at the same place emotionally and that allowing the bond. The major problem with the Lion swap in canon is that we're given NO reason for Keith to be Black Paladin besides "plot device said so". Especially when we have Allura right there. It's just bad writing.

(By the way, you don't have to be pro-Black Paladin Allura. There's nuance to be had, and I personally am actually more One True Black Paladin!Shiro. But you can't just dismiss her--a capable and proven leader--from the conversation. Erasing her character is not the answer.)

ANYWAY. Back to Keith. Or rather, leadership on Team Voltron. Thing is, there are many different WAYS to be a leader. We already touched on the differences between Allura and Shiro. Keith does a good job of making split second decisions in battle or calling shots if Shiro is incapacitated or somehow separated. If you're in the middle of a fight, the plan has gone to shit, and the team just got separated, Keith is great at telling people what to do and mobilizing because something needs to get done NOW.

But that's not the only way to lead. Keith, for instance, is terrible at pep talks. He misses a lot of the nuances going on between him and his teammates off the battlefield. He doesn't plan ahead, like, ever. Sure he's great at making up stuff on the fly, but sometimes you need a plan.

But it's not just Keith. For instance, when Shiro, Lance, and Pidge go on the mission to rescue Slav, it's Pidge who calls all the shots. Is that not leadership? Pidge is often the one telling people what they need to do to solve technical problems. She's a center for information, typically the one collecting it, organizing and interrupting it, and then instruction others based on her conclusions. We see her take point on a mission, give orders to her teammates, coordinate efforts, problem solve in real time and relay a new plan in order to navigate unexpected challenges. Why not argue PIDGE should be the leader?

And there's when they freed the Balmera and Hunk took the lead. That mission was more challenging, but I'd argue in that arc, Hunk's leadership mattered less in terms of orders and more in terms of determining what type of team they'd be. Hunk was ADAMANT they free the Balmerans and set a tone for the team where they didn't leave suffering people behind. Hunk set up a moral imperative for the team that they'd be lesser without.

And Lance! There's actually lots to say about Lance and his strengths and types of leadership. But it's easy to point out that Lance is the one initiating fun and team bonding outside of battle. And when you're operating a giant robot held together by emotion connection, that's pretty dang important!

Point is, they're ALL leaders. They all have the capability to take point when needed. We SEE them all take charge at different points of the show.

So what's the Black Paladin then? If Shiro's The Leader then what does that mean? And this is the cool part! Because you know what Shiro is really really good? Know who else to put in charge. He's the one who first acknowledges Allura as an authority because he sees she has knowledge and experience he and the others do not. He selects which paladins to go together on which missions based on their strengths and the situations. He steps back and lets Pidge or Lance or Hunk call the shots if they're in an area of their expertise. Shiro's job isn't to tell people what to do. It's to decide who to put in charge of what and place them in best position for success.

There's another aspect of Shiro's leadership that is supporting his teammates, offering comfort, teaching, and giving the kids something solid they can believe in so they don't have to care the full weight of the war. But like letting others take charge where they shine, Shiro's leadership is all about enabling those he leads. One of my favorite Shiro lines is "It's too dangerous—I'm coming with you." Shiro's goal is never control. He is support. He leads the paladins because he sees the best in them and helps them reach it.

Narratively, also, Shiro is just set up to be the Black Paladin. The parallels between himself and the Black Lion are too obvious. From both being controlled and abused by Zarkon to Shiro's missing arm and Black's mission bayard. It's a kid's show. The symbolism isn't all that subtle. And if that weren't enough, we literally get an entire episode A plot in Space Mall about it where Shiro literally fist fights Zarkon for the Black Lion and in the end, he wins because he makes it clear it's the Black Lion's choice and trust.

Remember when I said the problem with Keith in the Black Lion in canon is that we're never given an explanation beyond "because I said so"? We're shown repeatedly why the Black Lion chooses Shiro. Even before we meet most the Lions, the other paladins themselves choose Shiro as their leader when Lance asks him if they should go through the wormhole. We repeatedly see Shiro seek to understand the Black Lion better, and Black responding. We see the similarities between their situations and backstories. We see them bond.

And I think this is really important because when Shiro is in the Black Lion, it's not about him being "in charge." It's about his relationship with the Black Lion. Yeah, of course, the other paladins are leaders! And they should be! But none of them have Shiro's relationship with the Black Lion. In this narrative, the Black Lion isn't a prize to be won but a relationship to nurture, and Shiro has put in the work for that relationship.

Which is really important because it means the Lions aren't a hierarchy. The Black Paladin is one role, an important role in Voltron, but no more important than any of the others. "The Leader" is not the most important person in the room. Instead, Shiro is a facilitator who enables all the others to perform their roles better.

Also can I just remind everyone just how well the Red Lion fits Keith? The paladin who keeps throwing himself out airlocks get the Lion most likely to go AWOL and fly off to save him. Keith defends his friends and team by attacking first and asking questions later, and Red started destroying a planetary body to get to Keith. The kid with abandonment issues gets the Lion who doesn't hesitate a second to go after him. And even the way they're shown to bond—that it's so physical and based in action rather than words—it's so Keith. I freaking love Keith as the Red Paladin. He gets to be as chaotic and free as he was always meant to be and gets a Lion who meets him every step of the way.

But if you say, no, Keith should be the Black Paladin. Well. What about Red wasn't working? Why was that role not one Keith fit in? Because from my reading of canon, Keith was thriving in Red. He got a secure attachment to his favorite person in the world, he gets the freedom to fly while also being part of something bigger, and he's making friends. It's still in its beginning stages, but he's figuring out how to bond with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and you get the sense these are a kind of friendships he's never experienced before. But you know what could kill that really fast? Making him The Leader, a position that inherently sets him apart from the rest.

This is actually a problem twice over for Keith because unlike Shiro, who is shown to be given his role voluntarily by everyone around him and repeatedly shows he's earned that trust and respect, Keith is basically thrown into the Plot Device Machine and gets a t-shirt that says YOU'RE THE LEADER NOW. And we never get a reason beyond that.

This is actually my biggest problem season 3 and the Lion Swap. Because as soon as they made that choice, the Lions became a hierarchy. But what other explanation do we have? Keith won Favorite Character status got "prompted" to Black Paladin. But as soon as Black Paladin is a promotion, that makes the other paladin roles inferior. Red becomes the "second in command". So Lance get prompted but can never be equal to Keith. Allura gets the "Training Wheels" Lion/Blue, and they didn't have to write that as a massive demotion, but they sure did anyway. Hunk and Pidge are no longer leaders because they aren't in the "Leader" Lions.

It makes me so mad. One of the things I loved first about Voltron was the message of equality and servant leadership. The idea that a leader (represented by Shiro) is someone who elevates and enables everyone else. A recognition for the more "feminine" types of leadership—nurturing, compassion, emotional support. Which support roles are seen as vital and just as if not more important than being the "boss."

But we only got two seasons of that before they pulled the rug out and said, "Nope. We're returning back to patriarchy." Suddenly the Lions were in a strict chain of command, one character was the boss and the rest were his subordinates. There was a top position and a bottom position, and the characters were all fighting over each other. Perhaps most damningly, the Lion lost all personality and agency and become trophies to symbolize a character's power. And I'm not saying they're an accidental representation of how women are treated in Western media but I MEAN. It's right there.

My response when anyone says "[X] character should be the Black Paladin!" is—Why? Is their connection with the Black Lion deeper than Shiro's? Do they have more in common with Black than Shiro does? What could they achieve or obtain as the Black Paladin that they couldn't where they currently are?

And, though I don't think most of us realize it, the answer to that last one is power. Because we're soaked in patriarchy and a certain portrayal of "leadership (derogatory)" that many fans automatically assumed the Black Paladin HAD to be in control of and have power over the other paladins. So of course you want your favorite character to be the Black Paladin! You don't want your self-insert to be inferior!

But that's all the patriarchy talking. The other paladins are NOT inferior. There is NOT a hierarchy of types of people. Keith doesn't have to have Shiro's role because he's already equal as Keith.

Keiths look different from Shiros, but they're all equal and valuable as they are. Same goes for Lances, Hunks, Pidges, and Alluras. The whole point is they're stronger together. Their differences make them BETTER.

So yeah. Of course, Keith has some good leadership qualities. There's plenty of situations where it only makes sense for him to take the lead. But why on earth does he need to be the Black Paladin to do that? He's already Keith!

[ochrearia]

If you still wanted prompts? I like the headcannon that Pico has medication for paranoia or anxiety but absolutely refuses to take it out of surviors guilt. But BF and GF stick pills into treats and meals like you would for a dog, and they truly honestly believe he can't tell. Pico thinks their effort is too sweet to fight it.

(Hope you don't mind that I changed the prompt a little, nothing wrong with it but personally I have meds of my own that I have the same problem with (not from survivor's guilt but you get my point) and I don't like the idea of writing out bad behavior I already have on purpose. So instead it's more like Pico just forgets to more often than not)

In PoPr Universe, BF -> Keith, GF -> Cherry

If you asked Pico how this started, he'd actually tell the truth for once. The truth being that having to take multiple medications a day was annoying as fuck even if they did help him feel better and in the event that he does, actually, take care of himself, it's still half assed.

Antipsychotics on top of benzodiazepines, why he needed both was beyond him. Why couldn't there just be one that solved all his problems? Being reliant on more than one pill made him feel weak and frustrated. And it was already annoying to have to keep track of more than one per day, and eventually it started just slipping his mind more often than not. Taking one, forgetting the other. Not the greatest situation, but one was better than none at all, right?

Well, that was until even Keith and Cherry picked up on his bad habit. It took a while for either of them to actually recognize patterns of habits, but once they did it was like trying to move hell itself to get them to stop trying to help. Well, at least they were using his trust in a good way instead of trying to poison him.

Pico started noticing his forgotten pills ending up hidden in his food. Originally they'd been actually pretty well hidden, and he only figured it out when a there was the strange feeling of a hard foreign object on his tongue while he was chewing. Keith and Cherry became very insistent on making him lunch every day, taking turns doing it. And he wasn't entirely sure if they knew that he knew, but...

Would they stop if he spoke up? Being dependent made him feel horrendous, but at the same time he couldn't shake the warm feeling in his gut over the fact they were doing this. Pico didn't have a lot of experience with being cared for. His partners were here, willing to do this for him for what? Because they loved him? Something about that made him so damn giddy, in the back of his mind trying to figure out how he could shoot the metaphorical butterflies in his stomach.

Pico fell into a new habit instead. On the days he actually did remember to take both, he made an effort of taking them in view of either one of them. That way it wouldn't end up as a double dose by accident. Sometimes when he took his meds alone, the 'hidden' pill would be not at all hidden in his food. A way of his partners still reminding him without having to ask if he actually took it or not, and if he did he could just take it out of his lunch. None of them ever verbally spoke about this, but that was fine. He liked it better that way.

It was nice. Being able to develop good habits instead of bad ones. Pico would never have the words to tell them how much it actually meant to him, as he was never good with words like that to begin with. But something about their knowing, proud smiles every time he took his meds told him they knew.

[dualityvn]

would you please perhaps consider writing a Keith-centric drabble with the theme “what do I have to be to make you love me?” 💕💗💓

"What do I have to be to make you love me?"

He's been watching you. And he's been writing down every little thing. What smells do you like? Can he find a perfume like it? What are your favorite treats? Can he make them? He'll look into your favorite bands and pretend he's always loved them. He'll dress the way you like, he'll watch all your favorite shows.

So why isn't it working? Why do you still prefer him? He's tried imitating his style, his speech patterns, his mannerisms, everything. You don't seem to care. What is it about Tenebris that's so much better?

Or perhaps he's the problem. Maybe you can see through him. You can see that he cries more easily. You can see that he rather likes talking to people. You can see that he's tidy and he's meticulous and he doesn't know how to play the guitar. He's not brave or bold or funny. Not like him. And maybe you don't like any of what you see.

"Keith," you say one day as you approach him at the flower shop.

"Yeah?"

There's a slight blush on your face and you seem hesitant to speak. "Could you tell Tenebris to see me after you're done with work? I want to talk to him about something."

His heart drops. Suddenly, the room is spinning. He can't feel his knees. His hands tremble as he grips the counter. It's not. Is it? You're going to confess to him. Why? Why is this happening? He's become a nearly perfect copy, he's erased from himself anything he noticed you didn't like about Tenebris. He's worked so hard. Isn't he what you wanted?

"Keith? Are you okay?"

Smile, he tells himself. Don't be pathetic in front of them. Brush it off. Stop embarrassing yourself, he continues. They'll hate you more. You'll squander any crumb of a chance that they might like you. Stop being this way, he says. Stop being you!

That's enough. A second voice interrupts.

When Keith looks at you, there's tears forming in his eyes. He looks sad, hurt, desperate. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. It clamps shut and he shakes his head instead, before rushing off into one of the shop’s staff rooms.

Tears trail down his cheeks. He tries to keep them at bay, wipes them off furiously. This is why he's not good enough. Tenebris wouldn't cry. He wouldn't hide. Is that it? Is that why you don't love him? He doesn't know. He doesn't know anymore. What is he doing wrong? Why is nothing working? Is the Keith you first met so repulsive that you could never love him no matter how much he changed?

Is there no hope?

[readthephible]

“how is it you always know what i need, huh?” is giving shaymien :’)

(this turned into coffeeshop shayne x visual merchandiser damien au) (prompt from here)

~

Initially, Shayne never understood the purpose of opening hours before the rest of the mall. It seemed like a waste of time, resources, and payroll. Business was slow in the early hours, their only customers were usually the elderly people who walked laps around the stores to get their steps in. The more openers he worked, though, he soon realized how early some of the retail workers got there.

It was free entertainment to hear the groups of employees come in, complaining about a recent shitty customer or bad judgment call that corporate made, open to his ears without the concern of the general public able to hear. He’d inadvertently learned a lot of buzzwords that way, the names of some of the higher ups at the stores he’d been going to since he was a teenager, and had a better understanding about how horrible the retail industry treated their employees.

The slower hours allowed him time in between to study his college textbooks and chat with frequent visitors, one of which he had become much more acquainted with.

Shayne could hear the telltale sound of the store gate creaking upwards, then a minute later closing back down, along with the jingling of keys.

“Shayney days and Mondays!” Damien greeted. The lanyard of his store’s badge repeatedly hit his stomach as he walked in.

“Good morning,” Shayne said in a yawn. Once his eyes fully opened back up, he could see Damien giggling. He mentally cursed his body for distracting him from the sweet sound.

He went over to the computer, pressing buttons to start a new order of drinks in the system.

“Who’s all here today?” Shayne asked.

Damien sat in a stool at the counter, rubbing his temples.

“Uhh, me, Keith, Amanda, Courtney, and…”

“Let me guess. TWB?”

Damien sighed heavily, nodding and looking up at Shayne.

“The Wicked Bitch of the West,” they both whispered in unison, trying to hide their laughter.

“You gotta talk to Ian about that, man,” Shayne said, putting in the orders from each employee he’d memorized. “Wait—Amanda likes whipped cream, right?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” Damien said, “And yeah, I know. Ironically, I’ve been working so much lately, but just haven’t had a chance to talk to him about TWB. And I really need to, next week he’s supposed to go over to the Central location to help them with their corporate visit. As if we need any of our employees taken away to prep for ours.”

Shayne nodded, having Damien check the screen to make any corrections to the drink orders. He hesitated before having Damien pay, tacking on a cookie to the order, then overriding the price of the treat to zero.

“Twenty one forty five,” Shayne said, that number ingrained into his mind, as it had become tradition for Damien to come in most mornings during the week.

Damien usually only had to do the 6AM shifts every couple months. Part of him dreaded it, but his passion for wanting to become a better manager and leader kept him going—the drive the man had despite all of his complaints was something else.

He started talking about his recent turmoil with his dreaded boss, the highest authority over the department he loved so much unfortunately was the source of most of his recent problems. Shayne listened and nodded, flipping through the collective bills Damien had handed over then sticking them in the cash drawer. He’d have to remember to make up the difference for the cookie later on.

“Like why the fuck would I lift an already heavy shelf and keep the boots on it? Is she fucking nuts?” Damien griped, watching Shayne work to prepare each coffee.

“That’s crazy,” Shayne answered, “but another great example to bring up to your store manager. Surely he can bring her into his office to talk about stuff like that. Do you think she was purposely trying to make you look incompetent to your coworkers?”

Damien paused.

“I never really thought of it like that…” he said quietly, “That makes sense, though. When you say it like that.”

“I think she probably knows better, but potentially doesn’t have the best intentions for you. Just something to think about,” Shayne said, “And, I’m sorry if that’s out of line. I know you came here to vent, not for me to go all Therapist Shayne on you.”

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get,” Damien chuckled, then thought for a moment. “Hey, do you wanna see what I’ve been working on today? We didn’t have, like, most of the things I needed, but I’m really proud of how the display turned out, do you wanna see pictures?”

Shayne nodded, then leaned over the counter to look over his phone.

“Wow. That looks great, man. I might have to go in and buy some of that,” Shayne joked, looking at the details Damien had described—the steamed pants on a mannequin, the tight folds of shirts on a table, the colors that he’d gracefully balanced on each fixture of the room.

“Thanks. I had to rush a bit this morning, but I’m happy how it turned out. I wish we didn’t have customers coming in soon, they’re just gonna fuck it up.”

Shayne placed each coffee in a holder, but left Damien’s cup and the cookie out, handing them directly to him.

“Is…this my order?” Damien asked, looking at Shayne confusedly. His words weren’t accusatory, instead laced with gentle concern as to help Shayne realize his mistake.

“No, I—“ Shayne stuttered, his face flushing with pink. “I mean, yes, it is, but I—I added the cookie. I bought you the cookie.”

Damien’s lips pursed for a moment.

“Oh,” he said, “You…you didn’t have to do that.”

Shayne shrugged.

“You sounded stressed. And those cookies are really good.”

As if he wasn’t expected back at work, Damien stayed frozen for a minute. Shayne was worried he had done something wrong.

“How is it you always know what I need, huh?” Damien asked. His eyes looked Shayne’s expression over, quickly following up with, “I appreciate it a lot, I mean. I just feel so…different, compared to my coworkers, but whenever I talk to you…you just…get me. And my unrealized need of a cookie, apparently.”

Shayne prevented himself from shrugging again, recognizing the need to maintain the sincerity of the moment, but he was silent. The add on of the cookie was meant to be just a simple, friendly gesture, but…maybe it could mean more.

It did mean more. And Shayne was okay with that.

[sparklingmusicofstars]

Hamefura Bonus story : Catarina 18th birthday.

This one was very difficult to translate so I hope there aren't any mistakes, and that you will love it !

"Wow, it's raining like crazy."

As I was walking out the front door I finally realised that it was pouring outside. I had overslept and was so busy getting ready that I didn't have time to check what was going on outside. I was going to cycle to the place where I had an appointment with Acchan, but now I would be soaking wet by the time I got there.

"What shall I do ?" When I was at a loss, I heard a voice from behind me,

"Hey, what's going on ? Get the fuck out of here."

I turned around to see my second brother standing there, dressed in his casual clothes. He was probably on his way out.

"No, I want to go out, but it's raining really hard outside. I'll be soaking wet by the time I get there." When I replied, my brother smiled and said:

"I'm going to borrow the car, no problem." he said, holding up the car keys. Apparently my brother, who already has a licence, is going to borrow the car from our parents.

'Oh, that's nice ! Give me a lift too !" When I immediately asked him for a lift, he made a disgusted sound, but at least he asked me where I was going.

And when I told him where I was going,

'I don't have a choice. I'll give you a lift.' He said.

"Thank you." I thanked him,

'I'll pay you back when I will get my licence.' I said to my brother like that,

He cheerfully replied, "Okay~" He drove me to my destination and I had a great time without getting soaked. By the time I got home, the rain had stopped, so I skipped home.

Later, I happened to learn from my mother that my brother's destination was in the opposite direction to where I was going. It seems that the "passage" was to avoid distracting me.

Basically, I've always known that my brother is actually very kind, even though he treats me roughly and is not very talkative. Okay, I made up my mind that when I get my licence, I'll give my brother a lift this time.

"…… Lady Rina, Lady Catarina, wake up. It's morning." When I opened my eyes at that call, Anne was standing there, as usual. It was my room in the familiar Claes family.

I seem to have had a very nostalgic dream. A dream not of this life, but of a previous life.

I used to dream a lot when I was eight years old, when I was trying to remember, but in the last few years I hardly ever dreamed anymore, so it's unusual. When I think about it,

"Today is Lady Catarina's birthday, isn't it ? Happy birthday." Anne told me with a smile.

I see, today is my 18th birthday.

Eighteen, I have finally surpassed the age of my previous life. Maybe that's why I had that dream.

In my previous life, I had an accident when I was 17 and died. I couldn't turn 18, so I couldn't get a car licence …… so I couldn't pick up my brother.

I wanted to return what he had done for me, but I couldn't. I couldn't express my gratitude for everything that had been done. My heart ached.

"Lady Catarina, what's wrong ?" Anne, who was wise to my change, asked me with a worried look on her face.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. I just woke up from sleep and felt light-headed. I didn't want to worry Anne, so I told her that,

" If you don't feel well, please tell me immediately, because everyone at the party will be worried." She replied,

"Yes. I understand." I replied.

Today is my birthday party. It's not a big party like when I came of age at 15, but a small one with my closest friends and family.

It seems that, at first, my father and Keith wanted to have a family celebration, but when they heard about it, they decided to have a party with everyone.

I don't know too many details, but …… or rather last year and the year before, this is how everyone ended up celebrating, and I wonder how long this will go on ? Will it continue until I get married ?

I'm a little embarrassed, but I'm also happy.

Shaking off the pain in my chest, I looked up.

If I look down on my past life, I feel sorry for everyone who is celebrating me. Today, I will smile and say many thanks to everyone who is celebrating with me.

"Congratulations." The party started and I received words of congratulations from everyone.

Then I also received presents. Farming tools, expensive seedlings, romance novels. Everyone knows my taste.

"Catarina, look, here's a pastry that's well known. Go ahead and try it." Geordo says this with a smile and offers me a plate of sweets.

Right after, Mary, who is also smiling, comes over,

"Lady Catarina , this is a new product from your favourite pastry shop. Please take this one." She then offers me a plate.

Everyone really understands my taste. That alone makes me very happy and puts a smile on my face.

"Lady Mary, I was just recommending these sweets to Catarina."

"No, it's not about that , it's about not interfering with the fiancée's interaction."

Just like that, when the two began to exchange smiles,

"Big sister, this is what my sister said she wanted to eat the other day――" Keith came over, and Geordo and Mary turned a smile at Keith this time,

"I was just recommending sweets to Catarina. "

"Lady Catarina, let's talk about a romance novel ! It's a new novel that just came out the other day-"

"Sophia, don't run. Calm down." Sophia, with a twinkle in her eye, and Nicol come over.

“Umm, Lady Catarina, I made a new sweet for today.” With a shy smile, Maria gave me one of my favorite handmade sweets.

"Hey, I'll borrow that stage for a little while," said Alan, who played the violin on a small stage in the venue. There is a beautiful song that makes your heart beat.

I really feel lucky to be able to celebrate like this.

The party was about to come to an end.

"You seem to be feeling better." Geordo said to me in a voice that only I could hear.

"...?" I couldn't understand what he meant, and I couldn't understand what he was saying, but Geordo said to me,

"I was worried because you seemed to be a little down when the party started."

"Did you notice ?!"

I tried to smile so that he wouldn't notice.

In the end, I couldn't shake off the memory of the dream I had in the morning, and the pain in my chest didn't go away. Still, I put on a smile because it was a party where everyone was celebrating.

I was so happy and joyful while doing so that I found myself really smiling.

"Yes, of course I'm your fiancée - I'd like to say that, but it seems everyone else noticed it too." Geordo said with a sly smile.

I also looked in that direction. Everyone smiled when they saw me looking at them.

They all noticed and were worried about me.

I said, "Excuse me, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for worrying you." I said this and Geordo's eyes widened a little.

"Don't worry about it, it's okay. We did it on our own."

"But ……"

"And you would be worried if I or anyone else wasn't feeling well, wouldn't you ?"

"Of course!"

"That's why we worry about you as well. We're just returning the favour you do for us. And if you feel better after this party, we'll be very relieved and happy." He smiled as he said this. It was a very gentle smile.

"So don't worry about it, just smile and feel better."

"Thank you." I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.

I am very grateful to my mother, father, brothers , Acchan and everyone else from my previous life. I met so many wonderful people in this reincarnated world. I will give back what I received to everyone who was kind and important to me, even if I couldn't do so in my previous life.

I'm sure that my precious people in my previous life would say "That's good" too -.

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #35 (July 1994)

"WORLDS COLLIDE," Part 1! And "THE FALL OF METROPOLIS," Part 2! And a Wonder Woman crossover! And a long-time character dies, as spoiled by the cover! This issue might be peak '90s. This is the most '90s you can cram into 22 pages without the comic exploding.

Things are a bit rough in Metropolis after Lex Luthor's main lackey launched some missiles that destroyed almost every building in the city (Action #700). Keith the Unlucky Orphan and his friends are trying to gather food from what's left of their orphanage, when a bunch of gangsters with machine guns show up to steal everything, reminding us why we call him Keith the Unlucky Orphan. Luckily, though, the kids are protected not just by Keith's pal Superman but by Myra, the Orphanage Lady, who decides to keep a couple of those machine guns in case the ruffians return.

Combined with the scars she got on her face after saving Keith from an hypnotic lizard lady last issue, Myra is only some shoulder pads away from looking like a badass '90s anti-hero.

While Superman tries to help people around the ruins of Metropolis, a Giant Robot That Shoots Death Lasers From Its Chest (GRTSDLFIC) emerges from the ground and starts creating more ruins. The monster runs into Keith and the other orphans, so Myra bravely stands in front of it with her new toys and tries to distract it.

And she does! For about a second.

As he holds Myra's body, Keith yells out for Superman, who arrives right in time to save him from getting death lasered too. The Special Crimes Unit also stops by to help, and the GRTSDLFIC turns out to be smart enough to target Maggie Sawyer out of all of the officers because it can tell she's the top dog (or maybe it's just homophobic, dunno). Superman saves her, because one strong female supporting character death is enough for this issue.

Superman realizes the GRTSDLFIC is alive and needs to breathe, so he flies it up into orbit to take out its air and leaves it suspended there while he goes deal with other problems. (Presumably by also throwing them into orbit, like usual.) Meanwhile, Keith begs Maggie and SCU to take Myra to the hospital, but it's too late for her. The kid has an understandably tough time accepting that another mother figure has left him.

RIP, Myra the no-nonsense orphanage lady. When we met her back in Man of Steel #1 (1991), I don't think anyone guessed that she'd die wielding dual machine guns while facing a Giant Robot That Shoots Death Lasers From Its Chest. But we should have, dammit. We should have.

Plotline-Watch:

So, wait, why is this part of a crossover called "Worlds Collide"? Because a whole 5 pages are devoted to Lois Lane's mailman, Fred Bentson, who is still having weird nightmares where he finds himself in another universe. Professor Hamilton meets Bentson at a Red Cross shelter and takes him to a clinic to treat his sleep disorder, which involves becoming immaterial while he sleeps and being haunted by an inter-dimensional monster. At the clinic, some rather shady psychologists hook Bentson up to a machine that can project his dreams, and they all see him naked as he's chased by the nightmare monster and tries to get help from... STATIC?!

By the way, the shady sleep clinic happens to be located right under the bridge that was half-destroyed during Superboy's fight with that Spider-Man wannabe called Stinger almost a year ago, which is still half-destroyed. At least it doesn't stand out from the rest of the city anymore (thanks, Dr. Happersen!). The half-bridge will be a relevant plot point during this storyline.

And why is this a Wonder Woman crossover? Because she appears for a single panel while Superman is fighting the Giant Robot and wishes she'd picked another issue to come ask for his advice. The comic tells us to buy Wonder Woman #88 (which briefly shows WW helping Superman against the robot) for the rest of the story.

On that subject, Don Sparrow says: "Superman doesn’t appear very prominently in the connected issue of Wonder Woman #88. All that happens is Wonder Woman requests that Superman stop her if she ever loses control of herself. It’s not a great issue, largely because Christopher Priest writes both Diana and Superman fairly out of character throughout, and the art in the issue manages to depict Wonder Woman as both matronly and pervy. (The issue also features the choice line of dialogue “female be trippin’”, so if you don’t rush out and find the issue, you’re not missing much, apart from another great Bolland cover featuring Superman)."

Yes, the Keith stuff is pretty depressing, and could be seen as another example of Superman comics going all "Dark Age," but at least it'll lead to positive things for the character in the near future. Now, those other orphans who lost Myra, not so sure...

Patreon-Watch:

The results of the Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey bonus artwork poll are in, and after tallying up the votes here and at Patreon, the character who will get drawn by the great Don Sparrow is... Maxima, in her post-Doomsday purple suit! Who won by a whole vote! (For those keeping count: 5 votes for Red Cyborg, 10 for Pouch Superman, and 11 for Purple Maxima.)

Don's work will be posted for all to see, but the original artwork will be given away to one of our patrons, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Gaetano Barreca, and Dave Shevlin. If you'd like to decrease their chances, join them at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And speaking of Don, stick around for his section, after the jump...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

It’s an interesting cover, with the protagonist and even the title trade dress obscured by shadow.  It’s not really an action-type pose, but Superman’s angry expression indicates that action will follow.  We also get a hint at the tragedy within, with an injured Myra Allen below Superman.

Inside the book, we get our first glimpses of post-cataclysm Metropolis, seen through the eyes of hard-luck Keith.  The double page spread on pages 2 and 3 is a great drawing of Superman, exuding power even in a static pose. 

The cybernetic monster, who in this issue gets neither a name, nor an origin (unless the story’s title, Afterburn, is maybe the robot’s name?) but it’s an appropriately Fleischer studios-like design for Bogdanove to draw. 

Normally I quite dislike photo-stat backgrounds, but the panel with Superman carrying survivors gets a pass from me, because I love images of Superman saving kids—especially the way Bogdanove draws it. 

Myra Allen’s last stand against the robot is stirringly drawn, and to me visually recalls Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ “Martha Washington Goes to War” which was hitting newsstands around this time.   It’s interesting to see Bogdanove’s version of the famed Brian Bolland pose from Wonder Woman #72, even if she’s facing away. 

Keith’s grief at Myra’s passing is as powerful and sad an image as we’ve ever seen in these books, and my heart breaks for the poor little guy (look at his little hand clutching the cape!  What an astonishing detail!).  Though he’s fictional, it’s hard not to feel for him, when he’s endured so much tragedy in his young life.  I appreciate the restraint here, from a story standpoint—Superman offers no words of comfort, or guidance at what comes next, because they would only be trite and empty in a moment such as this.  All Superman can do, he does—which is to hold Keith, and let him weep.

Our final cameo of the book is Milestone’s Static, another character Bogdanove seems born to draw.  The introduction to him, as the milquetoast Bentson jumps to the Milestone world is fittingly energetic.   

SPEEDING BULLETS:

I appreciate the detail early on that Superman has put “a lot of time into locating” gas leaks and shutting them down.  It’s nice that the writer considered something like that.

We’ve known for a while that the DCU version of Coca-Cola is Soder, but nice to be informed that Sprite is called “Spritz” here. 

Professor Hamilton is perhaps a bit casual about the fact that Bentson was briefly immaterial! [Max: Maybe he's like "Have I been immaterial before? Maybe during the Husque storyline? Don't remember..."]

The great Jose-Luis Garcia Lopez gets a sort of shout out on page 7, as a fresh fruit stand bears his name.

At the time of this issue’s release I remember being very curious about the Milestone characters, and excited about them crossing over with my favourite character, but I still question the choice of having an uninteresting character like Bentson be the initial conduit between the worlds.  Maybe if the previous issues had established him as a recognizable Metropolis fixture (as well as Dakota City) like Whit or Allie or someone, it would have a little more impact (though they do try to build up his importance here, as the mailman who delivered the damaging evidence about Lex Jr.).  But I find it hard to really care about the Egon-looking guy, particularly when he’s running around naked.