#like idg asking me this sorry just look it up

[scoopsgf]

I'd like to add onto the "best boyfriend" debate with two points, the first being that one of the weirdest interpretations of Rory that I keep seeing is that she and Logan are perfect together because she "likes things to be handed to her but she's worried about her mother's disapproval, so she's lying to herself about wanting to work for what she wants". Like I honestly don't even know where to unpack this statement because even when Rory was temporarily estranged from Lorelai, she didn't want handouts. Her grandparents letting her stay in the pool house is them making sure their granddaughter has a temporary place to stay, it's not her just demanding they give her their space. And just overall I'm so confused by this interpretation because yeah, Rory asked for money from them for her tuition which she offered to pay them back for once she finished. Her getting her tuition paid for is not the same as graduating solely because her grandfather was at Yale, and idg why people like, want Rory to deliberately suffer through student loans as if they themselves wouldn't jump at the chance to not have to worry about paying off their tuition fees once they graduate. It also makes zero sense for Rory to go into any writing career but particularly that of journalism if she "likes having things handed out to her". Like not even her grandparents have the direct connections in that world, Mitchum does, and Rory deliberately never asked him for anything because the first time she accepted his offer he used it against her. Even in the revival it's clear that Rory alone tries to get her jobs. She even took a job at the Gazette for the sake of having one, she wasn't waiting for Emily to hand her out money.

And the second point is that frankly the whole "best boyfriend" debate always falls flat to me when people say it was Logan or even Dean and Jess. The latter two were relationships Rory had when she was a teenager, so of course they would never be perfect, but even taking that aside, I don't consider Logan to have been her 'best boyfriend' as an adult because you firstly need to compare Logan's relationship skills at 24 to Jess/Dean's at 16/17 to even make this innacurate point, and secondly, that still doesn't make Logan better overall if you can't expect more from him when he's not even fully honest about what he did when you were on a break/"break up". And not even just that, but the constant ups and downs that Logan makes Rory go through in their relationship where just as Rory thinks that things are great between them and that it could even continue to be long-term, he drops a bomb on her and then leaves her to deal with the emotional consequences of it while they're still together and doesn't expect himself to do anything about it. And again, he does this at 24!!! This is why I can't take any arguments seriously about it. Like I'm sorry but even personally I would think that it's a shitty move for a guy I'm dating to abruptly propose in public just to break up on my graduation ceremony.

EXACTLY! and not only is all of this so on point, but i think a lot of the “best boyfriend” debate stems from both later seasons and AYITL, so if we’re looking at it through that lense logan really isn’t even a contender. like, the guy is cheating on his fiancé and reducing rory to being his “other woman”, he’s mooching off of his family’s money and yet he hides from them and complains about them constantly (still, which means this wasn’t just a college-aged phase), he has no regard for either rory or odette’s feelings and clearly just wants someone to sleep with no matter which continent he’s on, has no respect for rory whatsoever and still doesn’t even know her at all (i mean, offering to hide her away in one of his family’s houses? seriously? that’s what he thinks rory would actually want?). then you have dean, who again made rory into the other woman and cheated on his wife. as with logan, this proves that he has no respect for rory at all. they both treated her like crap as adults (and while dean admittedly was a lot younger, what he did is pretty unforgivable imo). then you’ve got jess, who was a total mess as a teenager, so naturally that relationship went to complete shit. i think the reasons people see him as “best boyfriend material” come from the later seasons and the revival though, because by that point he’s settled down, he’s successful, he’s sorted through his emotional crap, he has a good relationship with luke and the rest of his family, and he’s worked on his communication skills. that means he’s essentially fixed all of the things that contributed to his and rory’s breakup, and if he was right for her aside from those issues, how could he not be pretty much perfect now? anyway, that’s the way i look at the whole thing. tl;dr: logan sucks, dean sucks, and jess sort of sucked but he fixed the suckage and therefore wins :-)

[causticsunshine]

Can I ask you why are you so convinced Larry is a thing? Not trying to be mean, just curious! Sorry if you already answered this

no worries, love! i think i've really only had one other ask on this (here) but it was more about why post-1d hiatus i still fully believe they're together! i also give some backstory on my time in the fanbase in the og days + coming back, so if you'd like to know anything on that i'd check that out too (and i give some examples of some post-hiatus moments that helped convince me, too!)

in general though....i think really it's a summation of everything from goings-on directly involving them and them alone (ie body language one on one, all those LOOKS, the gentle bickering and bantering and standing up for one another when being teased by the others, the two of them interacting together versus with the other 1d boys and even people we see them with now like harry with mitch or louis with his....lads pack? idk what we call them, lmao, but like ollie, stan at one point in time, calvin, luke (i'm not calling him hot luke ok i have seen much hotter men noah fence!!)...yeah, that crowd) to more external forces from coding/symbolism (the traveling fish and eroda and what we could have had with that!!, H shirt from december stream, the LT rubik's cube pre-harry shows, playing louis' songs at the fine line listening preparty, L's cover choices, uhh THE BEARS??) song lyrics (princess park? amsterdam without you? someday you'll be open? including lyric changes—since we were 18 (16!), i'm in love with lou, can't compete with my boyfriend, they're still together) and certain performances both in and out of 1d (b stage, anyone? 'i fell in love to this song'?, harry stops singing when it gets to louis' part of x song every time??, the 1d songs both pick to perform on their own?), implications from other band members (mostly back in the day though, idg why people insist on trying to ask any of them now, like obviously they're going to ignore it or say no??), and maybe most noticeably but in the worst way, the way their management decided to market them (posh harry and underdog louis) early on aided by stunting (harry's supposed womanizing with fans and randos to whichever celeb woman can benefit from hanging off his arm like.....you know who rn, me girlfriend eleanor 1.0 and 2.0, the ultimately very transparently fake but also very conspiratorial sounding babygate) thus pushing them further apart as time passed because they had to fit those molds, those alternate narratives, because teen girl doesn't want gay boy! let alone two gay boy! worst of all, two gay boy together! ew! no money for us because of the queers!!

(although we did get some larents renaissance moments over the years that very much so deserve more attention and recognition! and don't say they never fought their public images and stunts then or now!)

there's just so much, i feel with each passing year there needs to be a big collective roundup for what happened (actually happened, with certain receipts taken with a grain of salt unless hard evidence given, and not bringing back shit that's been debunked a hundred times to either negate HL or try to give it more reasoning post-hiatus) especially because back in the day, it was easier to be a larrie only by way of maybe becoming one, because they were always right there in front of you. now, unless you've been around or at least are aware of why 'larry' was/is a thing, or you do a big dig/catch up/research post-hiatus, being a larrie in this day and age can potentially have you come off as a bit of a conspiracy theorist....and more so than before, because we're not openly seeing them interact with one another.

(BUT, to be fair, the ones to blame for blacklisting and bullying of larries and all that bullshit is 1DHQ, and their legacy in that department has only been carried on and possibly further exacerbated by HSHQ 🙃🔪)

so tldr; it's everything wrapped up together, and that's how it was even early on for me. each additional thing that happens just further cements what i've seen, heard, and ultimately feel. there's not a doubt in my mind that those two are still together and happily in love, even if we don't see them standing side by side most nights like we used to, or interacting visibly on social media or in big hangouts where they can be spotted together, or with stupid and predictable stunts they give a half-effort to, still going on.

🌈love is real baby!! 🌈

[janiedean]

I feel so frustrated, I mean.. I read so many bullsh*ts around and I'd like to know your opinion. I think that making a villain sympathetic through their backstory is not *insert bad action* apology. I'm so tired of people trying to make me feel guilty just because I think 100% of times a bad person is not born bad but turned into a monster because of a lot of reasons. It's dehumanizing to consider someone bad without taking into account their past. There's always a reason in the past, even if a villain looks like they're enjoying doing bad things. It's sad and something to be compassionate to that a person find enjoyable hurting others because something in their past made them reach the point where they think hurting others is acceptable or even the only way out

eh I... agree with you on all accounts but again this is... the ultimate reaping the sows of this idiotic attitude cool motive still murder in fandom everywhere lately which like, some times it could be a fair objection to... people not owning up to their favorite being actually an asshole (and even then it would be valid just if they’re harassing you), but most times it started like that and turned into AH IF YOU JUSTIFY BAD DUDE’S BACKSTORY OR EXPLAIN IT THEN YOU EXCUSE HIM, which like.... shows at least some things:

a complete lack of being able to analyze a story going outside the ‘good guys vs bad guys scheme’ which is why I really wish people stopped consuming only media aimed for ages from fourteen under because that’s not going to do anything to help you

refuse to consider the fact that what happens to anyone in life shapes them negatively or positively but negatively is... a... thing, thus falling back on the usual calvinist bullshit of either you’re good or you’re bad and the best thing you can do to redeem yourself is dying to help someone else, which again.... the world doesn’t work like that

a complete refusal of actually trying to understand how trauma and abuse works because like cool motive still murder for someone you don’t like 99,9% of the times translates in the good victim vs bad victim dynamic, which in turn basically translates into ‘if you’re an abuse victim/you have trauma but you don’t react in The Appropriate Way or don’t fit the Good Victim points then your trauma/abuse isn’t valid’, which like... sorry but all victims of trauma/abuse are valid in that sense and you can’t write off someone just because they didn’t react the way you think they should

(which then usually means that they treat fans of problematic character who might in their turn have trauma etc in the same way and like... lol no)

now, thing is, one thing is fiction and another is real life - in real life if someone hurts you and they’re a shit person and they have exceedingly good reasons to be but they’re still a shit person you don’t have to be in contact with them and if they don’t get their shit together even moreso (or if they try to and reach out for help you can accept to or not), but when it comes to fiction the point is: it’s up to the damned author.

like, one thing that people don’t get is that obviously fictional bad actions are not happening in real life and a narrative is usually built to either redeem the person committing them or not, but if they want to, then... that character will be redeemed and there’s like nothing the reader can object. now, like... I mean if this ask isn’t about b*n solo I’ll eat my hat but if it’s not let’s just take him as the poster child example for this entire bullshit trend: ofc if you kill your father irl you go to jail, but since star wars is a SPACE OPERA where real life world consequences don’t exist and patricide is a literary device since the history of ever (GREEK TRAGEDY FFS) to symbolize freeing yourself from your roots and needing to find yourself and so on, the act of ben killing han in itself means shit narratively beyond telling you that ben has ISSUES that made him go to the dark side and that he’s conflicted, and in the moment that someone is conflicted you already should see he’s a decent person or has the potential to be. now, ofc ben solo did an amount of exactly not kosher things and is a shit at declaring his feelings and has issues, but the point is: if the sw sequels (as bad as the overall narrative eventually was) wanted him to be conflicted and then do the right thing (reconciling himself with his parents ahahahahah HAN FORGAVE HIM LIKE.. XDD) then they want you to see him as a human being who made mistakes but then could still do the right thing. the fact that he died after bc they couldn’t commit to one damned side and do a sensed story doesn’t matter, but the concept of ‘he did x y and z fictionally so BAD’ is stupid bc x y and z never happened irl and you can choose to forgive a fictional character because he’s fictional, and a lot of people who are ‘’bad victims’�� or not poster children for trauma management actually do find hope in seeing characters like that getting another chance. because guess what, catharsis through fiction. like guys I realized I could actually not settle for someone out of fear of not ever finding anyone the moment I realized why I was into jb that much, someone else can find catharsis in bensolo being redeemed or whatever and people refusing to see it can’t engage with an adult-driven story (and not even for children bc a lot of media for children has bad guys who turn good).

and in that sense like.... I mean personally if I see a character like that I don’t even count them as villain bc I know they won’t eventually be (like I didn’t consider bensolo a bad guy since... ever) and for me villains are 95% of the time just people who are assholes without redeeming qualities that the author doesn’t care for redeeming even if they explain why they’re like that (see instances c. lannister for one I hate and randall flagg for one I actually love) so I have troubles like.... seeing them as bad guys (I mean the... supposed one from luke cage s2? for me went from vague villain to antagonist the moment they exposed his backstory lmao) and idg this mindset but personally I just hope fandom goes back on the ‘you do realize you can like antagonists without being a bad person for relating to them’ train because this entire mindset is just... fucking... tiring.

[interstellix]

4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 22 skxkdkkd those are so many I'm sorry, I'm just so curious👀👀👀

oof nono don’t apologize, it’s pre entertaining so it’s fine! 7, 16 and 22 were answered in a different ask, found right here!

4. favorite dish specific for your country?

- oof there are a few different ones!! 

janssons frästelse (jansson’s temptation) is a hit or miss depending on who makes it, like it’s either good or just. not. ugh. but yeah it’s a casserole creamy potatoes and some more stuff (the ingredients aren’t always the same depending on who makes it, hence the hit or miss). usually eaten and fits well for christmas so that’s nice :’)

then there are some swedish pastries and stuff too omg :’(( listen i live for our cinnamon rolls and pls if you ever c’mere, have some along with strawberry saft (idk what the heck it’s called in english but?? i think?? it’s called saft in german too??), it’s sO gOoD oh my god

but also!! prinsesstårta!! literally translated, princess cake :’) i normally don’t even like that kind of cakes but this one is so good. it’s a layered cake with custard, strawberry jam and whipped cream between the sponge cake. it’s covered with a layer of green marzipan with a pink sugar rose on top and it’s tbh adorable and idg why swedes are so 50-50 on this one omg

5. favorite song in your native language?

- hun i listen to more german songs than swedish ones 🤡 but i still have a few haha, most are pop songs from the past few years but the last one is actually from 1992!

miriam bryant - ett sista glas, highly recommend tbh, her voice is really nice and the song itself is lowkey sad (i mean the title translated is ‘one last glass’) oof :’)

maskinen - stora fötter & stora skor and stora trygga vargen - maskinen’s music is The Shit ngl but the lyrics to these songs that already are catchy are just :’( rly nice fjkdflj. side note, the first one translates to ‘big feet & big shoes’, the latter ‘big safe wolf’ 

veronica maggio - 17 år and måndagsbarn, i don’t have much to say about these?? translated, they make ‘17 years’ and ‘monday kid’, these are kinda nostalgic somehow so i just like these a lot :’)

angel - sommaren i city, ngl the lyrics to this one, ‘the summer in city’ (city is in this case more like the name of a place, rather than an actual city) are hella cheesy but legit live for the chorus

8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?

- not really?? i mean i don’t look like a swede at all so people here mostly ask me where i’m from rather than have their own guess, and outside the country.... well it’s the same, when it comes to it i’m asked about it :’)

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

- had i answered these questions going by kurdish this answer would’ve been longer than the bible omg i like ‘fan’ (damn it) and ‘helvete’ (hell) a lot lol, they’re rather mild, or like basic, compared to other swear in swedish but can be used pretty much all the time asdfghjkl. ‘möggelkakeätare’ is one i have never ever used, not because it’s an actual bad word but because somehow, SOMEHOW, moldy cake eater turned into a swedish swear word (:

15. a saying, joke or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?

- i’m not all too good with these ones but really, i’ll just go ahead and say danish people/denmark, i’m not even gonna bother explaining myself on this one aside from clearing up that there is nothing racist about this one lmao, it’s,,,, it’s just,,,, a thing :’)

[stuffandnosense]

All Of Us - Plance - Chpt 7

Chpt 1  |  Chpt 2  |  Chpt 3  |  Chpt 4  |  Chpt 5  |  Chpt 6

***Well the timing of this chapter worked out strangely well, considering season 6 haha. Obviously this is in a completely different continuity now though, so there aren’t any spoliers. ;) Trigger warnings for panic attack/ptsd in this chapter, though.***

Blue and Black are the closest lions, and Keith and Allura are the only ones to make it and take off as the fighters open fire. The rest of us are pinned where we are.

Hunk and his bayard canon and Lance and his bayard’s blaster are the only weapons we have that are useful at all against attack from the air. Both of them cover the rest of us with fire as Coran and I try to push Shiro under Red for more protection.

The rocky ground isn’t helping the wheelchair. Coran is reaching for Shiro as if to just carry him, and Red and Green are moving to cover us themselves when one of the fighters swings back around, and time seems to slow down.

There are two lions in the air and three fighters. Of course one is coming back while it can.

I see Keith break off following the one he’s after to fire at it. Hunk fires his canon at it from the ground. I know Coran with his Altean strength is more than capable of snatching Shiro up on his own but I reach to help anyway, because I can’t do anything else.

Hunk’s canon grazes one wing of the approaching fighter and Black’s lasers catch the tail, but even as the damaged ship spins to the ground it fires at us.

Shadows loom over us, not quite fast enough. Red and Green, as Lance spins around himself to warn us. To usher us under the lions. To do something.

“Pidge!” I see him coming at me. I see how wide his eyes are as the fighter goes down behind him. It’s final laser blasts glint toward us and the concussion and dust cloud it raises throw Lance into us, toppling us all to the ground under Red.

Everything is hazy, for a moment. My ears are ringing. I’m coughing and I can’t...breathe. Or see. Or hear, really. Dust everywhere…

Faint sounds. Groans? Coran cursing, I think. Lance...Lance is shouting. Why is he shouting? Where is he? Where is Hunk?

I manage to turn over, feeling every bump and bruise and scrape and hoping Lance isn’t far. I can hear him. Still so faint, but so close. Where…?

I almost roll on top of him. He’s right beside me, practically shouting in my ears. My hearing must still be recovering from the blast.

“Lance…!”

Blood. Red and scorch marks from the Galra fighter’s lasers, a swath across his left side and the inside of his arm. As my vision clears I can make out his wild eyes as I lean over him. The pupils blown out from the pain.

“Lance!”

“How bad is it!” Coran calls. He and Shiro have rolled to a stop several feet away. The wheelchair is on its side, wheels bent and twisted, but Shiro looks all right, just bruised and scraped from sliding across the rocks. Coran is bent over him.

“We need a healing pod!” I call back.

I focus on Lance again. His arms are flailing, hands closing and opening, hovering over the wounds as if he wants to do something about the pain but not wanting to touch anything. I catch one hand and hold it close to my chest.

“Lance, I’m right here! Come on, look at me…”

It take a moment, but he manages to focus. He squeezes my hand. His shouts have faded to quick, pained gasps.

“P-Pidge...Pidge...Pidge…”

“I’m right here…”

His other hand, his injured arm, reaches for me, fingers brushing my cheek. “Pidge…”

Is Coran coming? Movement, out of the corner of my eye. He’s coming.

“I love you,” Lance whispers.

“Stop it! You’ll be fine.” I’m already reaching out to Green, having her move with Red to keep us covered and provide a way to get to the castle.

“I...I-I love…” Lance cuts off and groans, and I don’t know if he’s really listening to me. I don’t know if he can.  

My ears are still ringing. He was even closer to the blast. Can he even hear me? I reach for his face to make him look at me, forming my words clearly just in case. “You’ll be fine! It’s okay!”

His eyes are wide. I still don’t know if he can hear me but he’s paying attention, now. He’s watching my lips and his eyes are damp. “Pidge…”

“I love you, too! I love you...and you’ll be okay. You’ll be fine. Okay?”

Coran moves in at my side as Lance smiles at me weakly, but we all flinch when a new explosion behind the lions tells us another of the fighters has gone down. Still one more to go. I catch sight of Hunk, still out there, half hidden under Yellow and still firing at the sky.

“Green will cover you - you have to get Lance to the castle,” I say. Coran nods and scoops Lance up. At first I think he winces because Lance cries out, but then I realize how stiffly he’s moving.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Just a few bumps, Number Five. I’ll get him there.”

“Is Shiro all right?”

“As far as I can tell.”

“I’ll stay with him, I - Ah!” I try to get to my feet, but my right ankle screaming at me sends me right back down to my knees.

“-idge…!” Lance, gasping from Coran’s arms. I reach up to squeeze his hand briefly.

“I’m fine! It’s just my ankle. Coran, go!” Lance is getting weaker. His eyelids are drooping, There’s no time.

Coran goes, sprinting as fast as he can across the desert ground under Green’s cover.

I crawl back to Shiro, who blinks up at me, dazed. “Lance…?”

“Coran’s taking him a healing pod. He’ll be fine. He’s fine…”

So why am I shaking? I try to stay calm, but Shiro is looking up at me with that look that could always see straight through me, and I don’t know when I start to sob. Shiro can’t sit up on his own, but he takes my hands and squeezes them gently between his own.

“Lance will be fine, Pidge,” he’s saying. “He’s been through worse. He’s tough.”

Matt was tough. Matt had been through so much, too. That didn’t stop him from dying. That didn’t change anything. He looked at me the way Lance did before Coran took him. Smiled at me. Trusted me.

And he died.

“You...you...you don’t understand,” I gasp. I can’t breathe anymore. I can’t stop crying. I know what’s happening to me and I can’t stop it right now.

Shiro’s hands tight around mine. His flesh hand moves farther up my arm, as far as he can reach. Trying to hold on to me - to help. “Katie, it’s okay. Breathe…”

Of course Shiro knows what’s happening. If anyone would, he would. But he doesn’t know why.

“You don’t understand,” I whimper again, between gasps.

“Talk to me…breathe.”

He shouldn’t have to do this. Not here. Not right now. He just woke up. He shouldn’t be trapped under a lion in the middle of a firefight trying to keep me from coming to pieces.

“Pidge…”

I’m trying to breathe. I’m trying. “Matt...Shiro, Matt’s gone...I’m sorry…”

Sorry to tell him this way, sorry for everything I did to the other him, sorry I hurt Lance. Sorry for everything…

“W-we got him to a pod...almost immediately, but...but he still…”

Shiro swallows. “You found him…”

I nod. “For a while. And Dad. What happened was...was months later. In the war. He...I can’t lose Lance too,” I gasp. “I can’t.”

“I’m so sorry…”

I don’t decide to do it, but I bend over almost into Shiro’s chest, just trying to get enough air, and he lets go of my hands and wraps his arms clumsily around me, instead. His grip is weak, but it doesn’t matter.

By the time someone is pulling me up from behind, I can breathe. I’m still crying, silently, but I can breathe. Shay and Dad have come back for us. Shay picks up Shiro, and Dad becomes my crutch. With his free arm he reaches out to take Shiro’s hand briefly as we go. Something passes between them, but I know it isn’t my business.

Beyond the castle, the last fighter goes down and I can hear Hunk whooping, somewhere.

By the time we make it to the cryopod bay Lance is already under. Coran is scowling at the control panel and my chest clenches.

“Coran…?”

He glances up, blinking. “It’s...the pod is still working to stabilize him.”

“It hasn’t yet?” My voice tics up in pitch.

“It’s only been a dobosh or two,” Coran says quickly. “I’m sure we’ll know something in a few tics more.”

I hobble more quickly, effectively dragging Dad with me straight to Lance’s pod as he tries to keep up to help support me. I lose my balance anyway, almost colliding with the transparent front of the pod.

“Lance, come on…” Beyond my splayed fingers he still looks restless, even in pod-induced sleep. A flash of memory...the nightmares from earlier this week...and my throat tightens again. “Come on…!”

Behind us Shay deposits Shiro on the steps that ring the room and lead up to the pods, as Hunk catches up to us. Hunk crouches down to sit by Shiro, to help keep him sitting up. But when I glance over my shoulder they’re all watching me. Or watching the pod, maybe.

“Coran!” I call.

“No change yet, but not for the worse either,” he says.

This is...this is the same pod, isn’t it? I know Coran didn’t do it on purpose. It’s one of the closest pods to door and he was in a rush. But the realization hits me like a sledgehammer that drives me to my knees.

Dad is calling to me through a haze of sound - blood rushing in my ears and my own gasping.

“I can’t,” I’m saying. “I can’t...I can’t…please…”

Please. Please don’t take Lance, too.

“-atie! Katie...listen to me. Katie…” Warm hands on my shoulders, tugging me to look at him, at my Dad. I’m trying, but I can scarcely see him through my tears.

“He has to be okay,” I whisper. “Tell me he’ll be okay…”

“I can’t,” Dad says softly. Over his shoulder, I can just make out Keith and Allura barreling into the pod room and coming to a stop.

“Katie, I want that boy to come out of there all right as much as you do, but I can’t promise you that. Sometimes things don’t go the way we want.”

How is this helping? How…?

“But look around, Katie. Whatever happens today, you are not alone.”

I’m still shaking, but my hazy mind manages to recognize what he’s saying as almost the same thing I said to Keith...less than varga ago. Keith, who makes his way over to us now, tentatively, and crouches at my another side and wraps his arms around me and it’s not very Keith, or it wouldn’t be usually. But right now it’s the only thing that makes sense to me even though he doesn’t say a word.

Keith, who could have lost one of the people he cares most about today. If he had, the rest of us would have been there.

Just because Shiro is sitting over there on the steps, awake and with us again, doesn’t mean Lance will come out of that pod alive and well. I want it to mean that. But…

Six and a half years ago Matt looked up at me from this spot, on this floor, as we said our goodbyes. He smiled at me. It was okay, he said. There wasn’t any pain anymore. We talked like nothing was wrong for...maybe ten or fifteen doboshes as he weakened. The pod had given us that much time, at least. I can still hear that thready version of his laugh.

Lance never left. How could he leave now?

But somehow, I’m calm, held between Dad, and Keith. Over their shoulders are Hunk, and Shiro, and Allura, and Coran, and Shay. My family. And it’s quiet. Well. Coran is pounding at the console, but otherwise it’s quiet.

I reach out again to press a hand to the front of the pod.

Please.

Coran shouts something else and kicks at the base of the console. My breaths hitches, but then there’s a beeping and he lets out a whoop.

“There it is! He’s stabilizing!”

I sob. When I glance up at Lance’s face, I think I can almost see it smooth out into a more peaceful rest, but it may be my imagination.

“H-He’ll be okay?” I choke out.

“Just a tic...yes. Yes! It was touch and go there for a bit, but he’ll be fine!”

I don’t know whether I’m laughing or crying, or what is what in the cacophony of reactions from the others as Dad helps me back to my feet. Keith is still there, smiling at me, and at the pod. He squeezes my shoulder and I know he’s saying he’s glad none of us lost someone today. But when he opens his mouth nothing comes out, and I don’t blame him. I just hug him, instead.

Keith tracks back to where the others are on the steps, to sit beside Shiro, but I stand at the pod for a while longer, watching Lance sleep and balancing on my good ankle. Coan asks if I want to get into a pod myself, and I tell him maybe later.

“Number One?” Coran asks, turning to Shiro. “You could use a spell in a pod yourself - give yourself a head start on recovery.”

“I will, Coran, just…” He glances at Hunk braced against his back and Keith against one side. “Not right now,” he says, a smile tugging at his lips.

I join them before too much longer, taking up the space at Shiro’s other aide and tucking myself under his arm. He squeezes my shoulder a little, as much as he can I suppose, and doesn’t seem to mind at all. Allura and Coran sit beside us, too, while Shay and my Dad retreat from the pod room.

I think at first that maybe we’re going to talk more, but we don’t, not much. Not like we did back in the black lion. Instead we’re comfortable right where we are, just being together.

Allura gets up at one point, and disappears briefly. When she comes back she has news of what happened.

“Surviving members of one of the old factions managed to infiltrate one of the other ships,” she says. “They scrambled communications between the castle and the fleet before they attacked. We’ve re-established channels now...any threat has been neutralized,” she sighs.

It’s over, and after that we’re quiet again. The barely perceptible hum of Lance’s pod is the only sound. Shiro, soon enough, drifts off on Keith’s shoulder. Hunk falls asleep against Shiro’s back, and I find myself dozing, too.

***

This time, when I wake up on the floor of the pod room amongst pillows and blankets that weren’t there when I drifted off, I smile. Lance isn’t the one beside me - I’m sandwiched between Shiro and Hunk, and apparently at some point we all ended up horizontal - but Lance is safe.

No one died today.

I sit up slowly, trying not to disturb anyone. Shiro, Hunk, and Keith are all still here, Hunk snoring away. I suspect Coran and Allura of being the ones to pile the pillows and blankets around us. They left something else behind - the twins, curled up against Hunk’s other side. The three-year-olds must have wondered into the sleepover situation and insisted on joining in.

I don’t know how long we’ve slept, but when I looks up at Lance’s pod, his wounds are gone. At some point the process must have been paused, when he was healed enough for it to be safe. He’s been changed into one of the white and gray suits that can better withstand the pod’s processes.

My ankle still aches, but not as badly as it is did. It’s easier now to get to my feet and pad over to the pod...oh. My shoes have been removed and set aside on the steps. So have everyone else’s.

Just as I’m thinking about going back to the console to check the stats on Lance’s progress, the pod hisses. I almost jump out of my skin as it opens, and Lance stumbles out into my arms.

“Hey…!” I say. I’m trying to be quiet, but I’m smiling so widely I feel like my face might crack.

Lance latches onto me as his forehead lands against mine. I stumble back a step with his weight, and the pain in my ankle makes me overcompensate pushing forward again, sending us back to nearly slam into the side of the pod. That helps steady us and Lance is already shifting his hands to my face, as if he already had a plan. I wrap my arms around his waist as he kisses me, over and over, grinning.

“Hey,” he breathes, between kisses.

I don’t know how long we go on like that, and I don’t care.

Lance is alive. Lance is safe. Lance is mine, and I am his.

“Yeah okay I’m gonna have to get used to that…”

Lance breaks off at the new voice, and his cheeks so red. “Shiro…!”

I’m laughing. Lance is taking in the others, now, and I don’t think he realized they were there before. Shiro is the only one who’s woken up, at least. And he seems better. He can get his metal arm under him, at least. He’s managed go use it to push up into something like a sitting position.

Shiro chuckles. “I keep forgetting you’re not teenagers anymore.”

“And if we were what would you do anyway?” I tease.

“I’d separate you,” he answers, completely serious.

“Geez, Space Dad confirmed much?” Lance smirks.

We help each other over to where Shiro is. Lance notices my ankle halfway there and scowls at me for not saying anything.

“I just twisted it, and it’s already getting better, I’m fine.”

We settle beside Shiro, stepping carefully over the others. Lance sits against him so he can take the weight off his arm, but not before Shiro pulls him into a long embrace.

“You were both there,” Shiro says quietly. “All of you were but...you two...you were with me the most. I think I’m starting to remember now.”

“You could hear us?” I ask.

He smiles. “You kept me from drifting too far. Thank you.”

*** Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I’d love to hear what you think! :) I appreciate any comments/feedback so much! <3 (Also, there will still be some fluff to wrap things up, I promise ;) ***

[anxiousboyo]

Chapter one: normalcy

Virgil woke up the same way he always did, with the sun. He changed into his purple tank and blue jeans with his black and purple jacket around his waist. He jumped out his window and landed on shadow, his horse. Then, riding out into the apple trees, he whooped, feeling alive.

He rode like that for a while until he started over to his friend Patton’s farm. He rode in, knowing he had an open invitation. “Hey Pat!” Patton looked over and smiled, his dirt-smudged face lighting up. “Hiya Virgil!” “Morning ride?” Patton’s smile only grew. He ran to the stables and mounted garnet, his loyal maroon-brown horse and rode up. “Definitely.”

They raced through their families’ shared orchard, smiling and whooping and loving life. Their horses, just as alive, powered through the rows and rows of trees, nickering in delight. The two boys heard a familiar neigh, and glanced behind them.

There they were. They urged their horse to catch up to the two boys. They joined them in whooping. It was Avigeal(av-idge -eel) or AV. “HEYYYYA! I RIGGED IT SO I CAN RIDE WHILE I HEAL!!” They yelled, riding their favorite horse, Null. Sure Null was thin, but dame did she have speed.

About a month or two back, the three of them had gone berry hunting in Avigeal’s orchards. They had gotten attacked by wild horses and Avigeal had tossed Virgil out of the way of Null, who was untrained at the time. They had broken a rib doing so, but said it was worth it anytime anyone asked. They had been healing and training Null since, and hadn’t been able to ride until then.

They rode for about twenty more minutes before heading back to Patton’s place. By that point, Null had started to act up, so Avigeal had gone to drop Null off at home with Patton. They came back with Pat on Sandy, a sand colored horse with an attitude, and Avigeal on Quiver, a white horse who was so shy, she couldn’t even gallop in front of horses other than Shadow and Sandy.

They arrived at Patton’s parents’ farm and Quiver bucked in fear. Avigeal, who was experienced in this, held on to the reigns tight and comforted the shy horse. “Shhhh, Quiver, it’s okay! You have me, Virgil, Patton, Sandy, and Shadow with you!”

The horse calmed and whinnied in fear. “You want me to walk you in?” The horse nodded. “Okay! We can do that!” She dismounted and led the horse in by the reigns.

“AVI! You seem well!” Patton’s brother, Deciet (Janus) yelled. Avigeal was the only one he talked clearly to. “I can ride again!” Avi yelled back. Janus’s face lit up. “No way! That’s amazing!” He mounted his noble steed, slither, a confident horse who tended to nip, and rode over. He hopped off and enveloped Avigeal in a hug, then kissed their forehead and checked their rib.

Apparently while they were healing, they had been painting more landscapes. Virgil learned this when they pulled out a sunset painting that was so realistic it could’ve been a photograph. Virgil had no idea how they did this, as the sun disappeared quickly in sunsets where they lived. They then admitted (while hanging up the painting in Janus’s room, since it was his turn to get one.(also while sitting on said snek boi’s shoulder)) that they were able to capture an image in their head, focus on it, and recreate it. Janus has smiled at this and said, “follow me.”

Around seventeen minutes later, they stopped. “If I could make a request, I’d like for you to paint something for the famILY room.” Avigeal nodded curiously. He smiled and his flicked his tongue out like a snake. “Sit there.” He pointed to a clearing in the leaves. They obliged, and he sat down in front of them. He put a small stone on their thigh and clicked his long fingernails against it. “Close your eyes. I’ll tell you when to open them.” They nervously obliged.

Moments later, a weight landed on their lap. He continued to tap the stone, but now there was a rattling noise. They stiffened. “Relax. I would never hurt you.” Avigeal loosened and whispered, “I’m trusting you. I haven’t not seen in years. You know what happened.” He sighed and kissed Avigeal’s cheek. “All too well. Now shush. I don’t want the risk of you getting bit.” They felt his forehead against theirs. He slid his fingers from their cheek to near their eyes. He gently caressed their eyelids, signaling them to open.

What they found when they did, they wanted to paint right away. Janus was playing with three or four baby snakes that he had set in their lap. The mama laid in his, and seemed to trust him. Avi’s eyes shone slightly with lavender energy, and as far as Janus knew, that meant they were taking a picture. He was dumbfounded when they looked up at him, but grinned anyway. It was small, but it was there.

“Open your hands like this,” he started, cupping his hands in demonstration. They followed, and he gently put one of the babies in their hands. They looked like they were gonna shriek. “Too fa-?””can I pet them!” He glanced at their face. Grinning from ear to ear. They thought it was SO cool that they were holding a baby snake. “Sure. Just take your finger aaanndd...” he gently grabbed their hand and stroked the baby with their pointer finger. “Ooooohhhh!” They breathe-squealed. He had no idea, but they were recording the entire thing in their mind for later, when they’d paint it. He smiled again until he felt eyes on him. He looked up from the baby, which he had been carefully putting back in their lap, seeing them smiling in a trance-like state. “Earth to Avi?” He chuckled. They shook their head and looked around, blinking. “S-Sorry! I-I...” “it’s alright, Avi. Just means you like my smile.” He was taken aback when they nodded. “It’s...picturesque.” They mumbled, looking up to a confused Janus face. They sighed and rolled their eyes. “Like a picture or a painting. It’s pretty, or unusual or inspirational or otherwise and is like a great artist painted/ took a picture of it.” Janus nodded thoughtfully. “So like you?” They made a choking noise and covered their face with both hands. “Did I do something wrong?” They parted their fingers to look at him. “I-it’s just that... in that context,... it’s used as a pickup line...” Janus looked confused at first, then covered his mouth and nose with his hand. “S-Sorry...” “Nah... ‘s fine...” Janus then stared into their eyes. “I don’t show everyone this... so far just you and a friend of mine named Remy.” They smiled. “We should be heading back.” They nodded. He gently started lifting the snek babies off their lap. After he put the mom down, he led them back out of the grotto.

He whistled for their horses, and only slither came. “Huh?” “Quiver is too shy to run in front of other horses.” They looked ashamed. “It’s cuz I trained her for private rides.” He smiled. “Better hold on then.” They smiled in return. “I love a challenge.”

They rode across the plains, just having fun. He made slither buck them off at the farm. They landed on Quiver, and came galloping over the fence. They then rode to the race track. They shouted encouraging words to Quiver and the horse sped up to at least five times as fast as she was before. Her rider shrieked with delight again, urging her on. She whinnied competitively. Slither nickered back. Their riders were saying something to each other. They ripped from the starting line with such speed it even startled their riders. She saw shadow. She couldn’t let him down. He’d supported her for years. It was her chance to prove it. She ripped into first. Her rider shrieked again. She powered forward until her rider stopped her. She slowed to a stop instead of stopping abruptly like slither. Her rider got off and fed her an apple. She heard a breathless “Good girl!” from her rider. She nuzzled them and nickered. Water. Her rider needed water. As if by magic, a water bottle appeared in the air. Her rider caught it and drank from it. Good. She trotted over to the water trough triumphantly. Slither was there, and boy, was he pissed. She bumped hips with him to get him to smile. He did. “Look.” She whinnied. Their riders were talking. “So in love.” He hissed, as he often did. “Why don’t they kiss already?” Slither nickered. Sandy sputtered, offended. “Humans don’t work that way! It takes time! It took me MONTHS to get my rider to kiss Valiant’s!” “Will you shut UP about valiant?! Day in, day out it’s valiant, valiant, valiant! Can’t you focus on ANY OTHER HORSE?!” “No! Valiant is amazing! What other horse is there to talk about?!” “Oh, I don’t know, rotten, brownie, majora, Camden... need I continue?” Sandy fell silent. “Look, sand, I’m sorry. It’s just- you know I don’t like him. Or at the very least don’t trust him. He’s so full of himself I’m scared he’s gonna break your heart.” He looked away in shame. “Slithie?” She nickered. He shamefully glanced at her. “Love you, bro bro.” “Love you too.” He whinnied.

“Wow. Didn’t know Quiver had that kind of speed. You must’ve trained her well!” “Yeah, well... it wasn’t TOO hard...” they smiled anyway. He chuckled. “Wanna get to painting?” They nodded, giggling. He led them into his room and grabbed a rather large canvas by their request. They giggled and said “I’m gonna need you to pose. Don’t worry or complain. It’s an easy one.” He quickly found that she needed him to recreate the crisscrossed position he had been in when he was playing with the snakes. He wondered why.

They started to sketch with a familiar-looking pencil. He recognized it as the pencil he had given them a few years back.

They noticed he was staring and turned the pencil so he could see ‘property of snekboi’ carved into the side. They saved it for sketching on canvases to get a basic design. He blushed (from embarrassment) when he realized the face changes were messing them up. He chuckled, the smile returning.

Ten minutes later, they told him he could drop position. He came up behind them and hugged their waist to his. “Dame, Avi! That looks amazing!” Avigeal smiled and replied with, “it’s only amazing cuz you’re amazingly patient with me. I must’ve redone the smile at least forty times.”

The painting was a masterpiece by Janus’s standards. It was of the moment he put the baby’s snek in Avigeal’s hands. From what he could tell of the sketch, they were gonna put some sort of fade on the edge of the painting leading in. Most of the pencil lines were smudged, suggesting a blurry appearance, but the ones on his face, his hair, their hands, and the snek were all fine and detailed.

“Avi, can I ask about the choice of blurring some things but not others?” Avi smiled as they mixed paint. “It’s to draw attention to the correct things. I don’t want someone to look at it and say, ‘wow! What a detailed background!’ I want them to say ‘what a sweet moment! Such an adorable snake and the detail of the smile, wow!’” Their smile faded. “I want to make something that your mom can look at and know that you won’t be alone when you get your own orchard. A moment, a memory that will make all the difference. something she can look at and smile. I want to give her a piece of your soft side, like you do.” Janus looked at Avigeal’s face. “Like I never got to.” They added. Their mom had died the previous summer and it was going to be their first year without some form of parent. He squeezed Avi’s waist. “Whenever you need a mom, a famILY, a whatever, you can come over. We’re here for you, Avi. We got your back. You’re not alone in the grief of losing Angela, but I swear, if you ever need a piece of her again, please, please, please, come over here. We’ll be your famILY.” Avi dropped their paintbrush onto the easel and turned to hug him. “There, there, Avi. I’m here. Ain’t nothing gonna happen to ya when you’re in my arms, okay?” They nodded into his neck, sobbing softly. They turned around again after a while.

They picked their paintbrush up and dipped it into the muddy green colour, dragging it loosely across the canvas. They continued like that with lime green near where they’d put streaks of sunlight, forest green for the foliage around them and so on.

When they got to the edges, however, they had mixed up a lavender-ish colour and had started to apply it, tainting the colour with green, and effectively dulling it. “Why’d you do that?” Janus asked. “It’s how I saw what happened. I was recording.” They admitted before turning to sandy yellow to start on the sunlight and scales of the snek.

A while later, and the painting was almost finished. They had opted to sitting instead of standing the entire time, and Janus had chosen to sit behind them, his arms still firmly around their waist, but not uncomfortably so. He had closed his eyes long ago, and they were glad he didn’t see them put the small white heart sun-sparkle thingies into his hair. He would’ve flipped. Patton and Virgil have checked in several times by then, and it was looking amazing. It was missing something though. They smiled and picked up the light violet paint.

Forty minutes later, they smiled at the result of their hard work. Janus had fallen asleep on their shoulder, although his grip never faltered. They had already let it dry, and gently shook Janus’s arm. “Wake up, Jay. I want you to see before I hang it up.” He opened his eyes lazily. “Hmm?” “The painting, silly! You must’ve been tuckered out, buddy, you fell asleep right on my shoulder!” Janus rubbed his eyes, letting go of Avi’s waist for the first time in and hour and forty-five minutes. He stretched and hugged Avi, being careful of their rib, and stared at the painting in awe. “Wooow...” he subconsciously breathed. Avi never failed to surprise him when it came to their paintings, but this was a whole other level. The moment was captured perfectly. His smile was slight and you could just barely see a hint of it, while the droplets of sweat on his forehead and in his hair reflected how hard he had been working. His calloused hands were perfectly represented in the painting, and he couldn’t believe the amount of detail in the flower crown he was wearing. The snek’s scales looked rounded, and everything had so much dimension it looked like a picture. Their glossy black nails, the stone on their thigh, it was all there. He smiled fondly.

“So...I’m guessing you like it?” Avi asked. He nodded breathlessly. Avi blushed. “I’m glad. I think there are a couple things I messed up on, but other than that, I agree.” With that, Avi stood up and picked the painting up, Janus following closely behind.

“Heya y’all!” Avigeal’s voice rang out along the track. The two guys rode over and dismounted. “Finished the painting! Whatcha think?” Verge’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped while Patton practically melted. Either way, they both loved it. “Speechless. Told ya, Avi!” “That you did, Jay, that you did.” They remarked.

Two reactions later, and the painting was hung up. “It’s really...wow! Thank you Avigeal!” Janus’s mother squealed. “Ain’t no big thing! Just a painting of a moment I wanted to remember.” They trailed off, listening for something. “The princes are coming!” Avigeal yelped. “Gotta go! Good seeing y’all!” “Bye Avi!” Janus yelled after them.

Chapter two: the princes’ visit.

They rode Quiver back to their farm and grabbed the basket of berries and pony they planned to show whatever prince was left, as their farm was out-of-the-way and hard to reach if not on horseback. Each of the farms would advertise what they had in stock, and try to impress a prince. Avigeal and Virgil’s farms were the only ones who didn’t sell to princes yet. Rumor had it that three princes, including prince Logan of Logos(Patton’s boyfriend), were coming to review farms and see what farms they might want to pick up or drop depending on what goods were in demand. Avi had been preparing for weeks, and Janus had helped them practice their speech. They were ready.

Around half an hour later, Avigeal spotted the princes. When they stopped, Avigeal bowed and started their marketing speech. “Hello, princesses, princes, and non-binary royalty. My name is Avigeal Ouruka and I’m a non-binary masculine berry farmer. My pronouns are they/them/he/him. I market a variety of fresh berries and offer training for these fine animals we know as horses. I also offer painting services, as I am able to capture images in my mind and recreate them.” They held up one of their sunset paintings and displayed it, showed the princes how they had trained the horse, and finally let them try some freshly picked blackberries, before starting the mandatory orchard tour with Quiver as their choice of horse. “My family’s farm has never used pesticides. We use a safe mixture of lemon juice, water, and vinegar to shoo away the bugs. We do not endorse the hunting of deer or fruit bats, and have made parts of our orchards into safe havens for these animals. I’m afraid we have a work force of one, as my mother passed away last summer. I’m lucky to have the support of nearby farmers who care and help to pick every once-in-a-while. I sense the question of how I have been without my mother, and I have been alright thanks to a friend who has kindly offered to lend me his family.” This caused a small eruption of chuckles. “There we go! Now that we got some laughs in here, let’s loosen up a little! I’ll tell ya ‘bout how lucky I am we’re even on this tour. Quiver baby! The normal route, if you will.” They asked. The horse stopped, and Avigeal dismounted. “Something wrong, sunshine?” The horse nickered and nudged their ear. “You’ll have to pardon Quiver, she’s rather shy.” Avigeal started as they mounted. “She’s a lil nervous due to the stiff behavior and mannerisms of y’all’s horses. It’s not y’all’s fault, it’s just that no horse here acts that way.” The princes nodded and smiled, gently patting their horses to tell them to relax.

“You seem to be a friendly, laid-back individual, Miss Ouruka.” “Please, call me Vee. And yeah, I’d say. I don’t like being uptight, cuz I feel the more comfortable you are in an environment, the more of you ya show, and the easier it is to make friends!

“Anywho we really are lucky we’re on this tour. Doctors had me fearin’ I’d miss it. Around two or so months ago I was out harvesting berries with my pals when out of nowhere a herd of wild horses came barreling through the orchards. One of them was about to hit Virge, who I believe you’ve already met, and I jumped in front of him. The horse hit me right in the rib, and ‘m afraid it broke.

“still trained ‘im though, and he’s a mighty fine steed. Null, his name is. I’m lucky cuz just today I was told I can ride again. Horses, that is.” The princes erupted in laughter, Logan included.

“We’re reaching the end of our tour, sad to say, but there’s one more place I believe it’s important to show you.” They took the reigns and turned down a pathway surrounded by willows. A singular cherry tree stood in the center. “I’ll have to ask you to dismount. It’s not visible from horseback.” Vee said remorsefully as they dismounted. The princes did the same. They laid out a blanket and motioned for the princes to sit next to them. Once sitting down they saw a glass coffin containing a beautiful woman which was carefully placed inside the trunk of the tree. “That’s mumma. Angela. A real saint, she was. Taught me how to love when surrounded by hate.” A deer fawn peeked out from behind the tree. “Heya, fella! Where’s your family?” The fawn slowly moved closer to Vee until its head was in Vee’s hand. They stroked the fawn’s coat. “You got a buck or doe somewhere?” They stood up and led the fawn back to the group it was in.

While Vee was gone, the princes read about Angela. “She sounds like a wonderful mother.” Prince roman of amour remarked breathlessly. “Dame straight.” Vee sighed. “She was amazing. Still! She lives on inside me and in the stories of her i tell to my friends. The same stories I’ll tell to my kids and grandkids one day. So there ain’t no reason to dwell on it. She had a bad illness. I’m glad she died from nature’s mercy shot rather than humanity’s. She died from a poisonous berry. It felt bad, giving her it, but she thanked me, so it...hurt less.” Vee kissed their fingers and pressed them to the white wooden border of the coffin. “Love ya mom.” They said. “Rest in peace, lady Angela.” Prince Kaleo of kaua announced while kneeling before the coffin and lowering his head. The two other princes honored her in their own ways, with Prince Logan lowering his head, lifting it and smiling fondly, and Prince Roman simply giving a fond farewell while touching the coffin with his fingertips. Vee seemed slightly shocked. “T-thank you.” They stuttered, bowing. “It’s only customary to honour the dead where I’m from.” Prince Kaleo shrugged. “And I’m sure she was a lovely woman and remarkable mother, if your behavior is anything to go off of.” They nodded. “We should get going-“ Vee was cut off by Prince Kaleo kissing their cheek gently. They jumped. “I should’ve warned you.” He mumbled. “My humblest apologies. I was merely cheering you up as a part of the tradition for when one loses a loved one.” He explained. “Shucks, there’s no need for that! Ya just caught me off guard! I’m fine. But seriously, let’s start heading back.” They chuckled while mounting Quiver. “Ah, yes, indeed. My father will be wondering where we are.” Prince Kaleo announced. They started heading back.

They reached the gates at the front and went back to the display they had set up. Prince Logan spoke up first. “Your painting skills would be much appreciated by the people of Logos.” “I’m open every weekday for painting requests, although four to five in the evening on Wednesdays is when I visit mom’s grave.” “Your mother died?” King Bane of kaua inquired. “‘M afraid so. Last summer, it was.” King bane dismounted and kissed their cheek as well and started to explain, however, Vee stopped him. “With all due respect, your son has already explained this to me, sir.” “Well then, let’s see what about your farm interested him.” He exclaimed, friendly as ever. “The berry services would be great for the people of Kaua. They could be eaten raw or dried.” “I work on berry picking every Tuesday and Thursday, so you’ll get deliveries every Sunday.” Vee exclaimed. “The fine aminal- animal training would also be beneficial, as the children of Kaua want to ride horses their size, but no ponies are trained.” Vee stifled a giggle. “ I’m open whenever, as we make appointments for them. No more than fifteen per week, or I’ll have three appointments in one day.” Vee smiled. “All very acceptable conditions!” King Bane exclaimed. “Finally, the people of amour would benefit from the horse training as well, as the children are wishing that it wasn’t just wooden horses they were riding, but instead real horses, and we have no trained ponies.” “You have heard the conditions for this service. I thank you kindly for your time. Enjoy the rest of y’all’s day!” Vee exclaimed happily. “Farewell, Vee.” “I bid you adieu, Vee!” And a simple wave from Prince Kaleo.

Chapter three: jealousy

When Avigeal rode back over to Patton’s farm, they could hardly contain their excitement. The second they were off Quiver they were almost knocked over by Janus tackle-hugging them. “Did you see Prince Logan!” Avi smiled. “If you mean the flushed pink of his lips or the obvious hickey on his neck then, no I didn’t.” They joked. “Aaaahhhh! We did it! Listen, I know you didn’t see it and you weren’t here, but right in front of everyone! They just...kissed!” “Speaking of just kissed, did you know that it’s customary for the people of Kaua to kiss a person’s cheek when they lose a loved one?” Janus got a look in his eye. “No...why.” “Just thought it was interesting.” They talked for a little while, walking through the orchards. Prince Roman’s name was brought up and Virgil jutted in with a quick “him? Yeah, I guess.” When they were questioning whether or not he was hot. The banter continued until...”...are you okay?” Left Avi’s lips. Janus looked strange. “Just fine...” although he didn’t seem fine. “Are you sure?” “Mmmhmm...” He then fell, completely limp, onto Avi’s chest.

Chapter four: sick

Janus was out of commission. Apparently, he had overworked himself when he built the stands for everyone in the neighborhood. Avi offered to nurse him to health at their house, as the Hart-Raven farms were already packed. The Harts reluctantly accepted, since their evidence was solid. The Harts promised to visit at 4:00 pm every day until he was better.

Nearly a month passed, and Avi had finally reversed it. They hissed as the magic shot back into them. They had forgotten to stop sharing magic with Janus when they left, so Janus had been harboring the magic of jealousy. It was a poisonous magic, and Avi knew they were the source of it. Janus’s rage has been at Prince Kaleo and at himself. Kaleo for possibly stealing Avi, and himself for doubting them.

They finished drawing the magic out of him and pulled back. A full hour. They sighed and rubbed their sore jaw. They had been drawing magic from him like a vampire draws blood... for an hour. They sighed and stood. What a month. “Dame. Couldn’t keep your hands off me, huh?” Avi whipped around. “Janus!” They shrieked. “You’re okay!” He frowned. “Of course. Also, I apologize for the way I grabbed your attention...” “I don’t even care anymore! I thought I lost you to my own magic!” They sobbed. He pulled them up and onto his lap, stroking their hair. “What? Avi, how long have I been out?” They choked out another sob at the nickname before answering with a soft whisper of “A-b-bout a m-month...”. Janus’s eyes widened. “Aviiii...” he cooed, stroking their hair as they cried into his shoulder. He kissed their temple and sighed. “It’s okay, Avi, it’s all gonna be alright now, y’hear?” They nodded slightly, drying their tears. Janus smiled softly. “Now listen here, Avi. I don’t want you falling into a bad mindset cuz somethin’ bad happened. Angela always said to focus on the good, right? Well here’s somethin’ good. I’m okay. You’re okay. Everything’s alright and you even got yourself a couple deals on your farm! Ain’t that worth smilin’ about?” He asked softly. Avi took a deep breath, letting a genuine Cheshire Cat-like smile spread across their face. “Indeedy-do, Janny!” They giggled, drying their tears.

[wateryourplance]

A Kiss to Seal (Lance/Pidge)

(Pidgance Month, Day 2: Together | haha whoops my hand slipped I’m sorry it’s long and cliche in some ways but enjoy woo)

“Juxtarth, huh? This planet’s almost like earth...heck, even the name sounds like earth.” Hunk muttered to himself as he leaned over a blueish green bush, examining its fruits with a squint. “And these look like a weird cross of blackberries and strawberries! Maybe we could mix this with the goo and make something reeeaaal good!” He reached over to grab a few, but Allura’s voice immediately intervened.

“Hunk, don’t eat those!” She cried, rushing to his side to make sure he didn’t already take any. She sighed in relief as she continued speaking. “They’re Taeteraegers and they’re...well, I wouldn’t say deadly, but the wrong treatment to the effects could quite possibly kill you.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “What’re the effects?”

Allura smiled patiently at her. “It all begins with your face getting distended, and little hard bumps begin forming beneath your skin. That’s the first stage. Then, the little bumps soften and gather to your--”

“Nope! Don’t wanna hear it!” Hunk cut in as he made a disgusted expression, clasping his hands over his ears.

Allura chuckled to herself and put her hands on her hips. “Besides, it doesn’t have a pleasant taste - you wouldn’t like either way.”

“Did you go through that or something?” Lance asked as he turned to the princess, his eyebrows burrowed together. “Like, accidentally...?”

“Me? Oh, of course not!” Allura let out another lovely chuckle. “Coran did, however. I recall him not wanting to leave his bedchamber that night without eating anything until an antidote came.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Princess, but it’s not the time for stories right now.”

“Ah, yes, my apologies.” Allura nervously beamed at him. “Keith had mentioned that there were some some people left on this planet that we need to get to before the Galra return. The people here are quite, er, tiny, though. They will be a little hard to find; especially now. I’m quite sure a lot of them had gone hiding.”

Shiro nodded - a silent ‘thank you’ for the explanation. “We need to split up. Pidge, Lance, you scope the south. Hunk and I will take up the north.” He turned to Allura. “Princess?”

“I’ll go with you.” She answered, walking next to Shiro. “The south’s a lot easier to scope as its caves and tunnels aren’t that deep. But please, be careful. The southerners are more 

Lance grinned. “Don’t worry, we got this! Don’t we, Pidge?”

“Yeah...sure.” Pidge muttered, already heading to the south.

“PIDGE, A PERSON!”

“Lance, for the last time, that’s a Pithokandra. They’re like monkeys here.” Pidge sighed. 

Lance shrugged. “They’re still pretty cute.”

Pidge didn’t reply as she continued checking every nook and cranny, occasionally scanning rocks just in case anyone was there. She was too concentrated and determined.

To ignore Lance.

And she had been doing that, and she had been doing well in avoiding Lance. Or so she thought.

God, when did this all start? No, she could pinpoint exactly when and how it all began.

Matt.

Two weeks ago

"Sooo...you brought home the blue and green one, huh?” Matt drawled as he watched his little sister play with the fluffy trash creatures on her lap, smirking slightly.

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him. “So?”

“Oh nothing, nothing...” Matt murmured, the smirk on his face becoming wider and more teasing. “Aw, look. They’re cuddling.”

Pidge laughed fondly at the little aliens, unaware of her brother’s intent. “Yeah, they do that a lot.”

“And do you think about that a lot too, Pidge?”

“Uh, no? Why’d I think about these little--” Pidge abruptly stopped as realisation dawned on her. “M-Matt!” She yelped, throwing a random thing she picked up. Thankfully, it was just a shirt, and not the heavy, blunt object close to her.

“What?” Matt asked innocently as he batted his eyelashes at her. “C’mon, Pidge, I can see right through you. You’re crushing on Lance, aren’tcha?”

She scoffed. “That’s just gross. I...L-Lance is one of my best friends! Plus, we’re literally in the middle of war! I can’t-- I can’t possibly...that’s just--” She groaned in frustration as she stood up, the poor fluffy creatures tumbling to the floor. “It can’t be!”

“My little sissy’s got a crush!” Matt teased before he wiped a fake tear from his eye, a touched expression on his face. “I never thought I’d ever see the day!”

“Shut up, I don’t like him...” Pidge whined as she sat on her bed, twiddling her thumbs. “I...don’t like him.” She repeated. “So just stop, okay?”

Matt grinned from ear to ear, taking a sitting down next to her. “You’re right. You don’t like him.”

“Thank you.”

“YOU LOOOVE HIM! PIDGE AND LANCE, SITTING IN A TREE--”

Pidge moaned. “What are you, five? Just...dude, get out of my room.”

“You didn’t say you didn’t looove him~” Matt sang as he poked her cheek. “Stop being in denial and accept it!”

“I’m not in denial! Get out!” She began pulling him off of her bed with impressive strength, dragging him to the door while he continued teasing her. She opened the door as she threw him out. “See you at dinner. Till then, you’re not welcome.” She grumbled.

“You can’t run from the truth, Pidge! You totally like--”

And she shut the door, her face burning. 

That night, she couldn’t even look at Lance McClain. She couldn’t make a single remark, a single insult, a single glance. All that was running through her head was:

‘Dammit, Matt’s right.’

And she didn’t know how to handle it.

Her solution?

Operation: Avoid Lance McClain At All Costs Aka: Operation Alma

“--idge. Pidge!” 

Pidge snapped back into reality. “Huh?” She asked, in a daze. “Oh. Lance. What is it?”

“You okay? You zoned out.” Lance remarked, clearly concerned. “You almost stepped on that thing that looks like poop.” He gestured to the floor, just inches away from her feet. There indeed was a poop-looking thing.

Pidge nodded as she continued walking, making sure not to step on the strange object. “I’m fine. Found anything?”

“Nah.”

“Okay.”

Lance uncomfortably tagged closely behind her, the silence suffocating him. Why was she being so weird? No, why has she been acting so weird? She’d been barely looking at him, talking to him, laughing with/at him, even breathing his direction, sitting/standing far away from him - seriously, what was the deal here?

It’s time to stop.

“Hey Pidge?” He called as he pushed a couple of large leaves in front of his face away. He wasn’t sure if he was exaggerating, but she seemed to tense up and walk in a quicker pace. “Pidge?”

“Did you find something?” She asked without even stopping to look at him.

Lance frowned. "Come on, man. Look at me.”

“Can’t. Looking...for things.” Pidge replied hastily, examining a tiny leaf. “You should too, you know.”

“I am! It’s just that...I feel like you’ve been ignoring me.”

“That’s weird. Why would I be ignoring you? I’m not ignoring you.” She bent over to examine the dirt as if something would’ve been there. “It’s all in your head. Nothing changed. Now shut up so we can find something.”

Lance pouted. “Wow, harsh much?”

She finally looked at him for the first time in days (and she was just as surprised as he was when she did). “We have a mission, Lance. We’ll talk about this in the Castle.”

“Psh, yeah right.” Lance rolled his eyes as he walked over to her. “I know you’ll run off the moment I even say one syllable. Seriously, are you okay? Did I do something? Do I...do I have a pimple?” He gasped in horror as he tried feeling for any bumps on his face. “No, it can’t be!”

Pidge bit her lip to stop herself from smiling or laughing, but a little snort escaped her throat before she smiled. She shook her head, chuckling lightly before pushing herself up.

It wasn’t long before Lance cracked a smile of his own as well. “There’s the smile!”

The two stood there in the middle of an alien jungle, grinning at each other with gentle blushes on their cheeks. ‘I never noticed but wow, Lance has really nice teeth.’ Pidge thought as her heart began racing at the mere sight of her teammate. ‘And his eyes are just...a really deep shade of blue like a trench in the ocean and I’m just drowning in them and-- WHERE’D ALL THIS SAPPINESS COME FROM? WHO AM I, ELIZA SCHUYLER?’

She immediately looked away as she cleared her throat, the smile chasing away from her face. “Uh, we have to keep looking. According to my tracker, there was someone here not to long ago, and it’s not an animal this time. Follow me.” And just like that, she was back to ignorey Pidgey.

“Fine.” Lance muttered, disappointment in his voice. He followed her once again, but he couldn’t take his mind off of the events earlier. For the first time in such a terribly long while, she looked at him with her gorgeous light brown eyes. He was never good with colours, but he was sure that her eyes were the most beautiful shade of amber. Or bronze. Whatever. They were simply beautiful, regardless of the specific shade. And her smile...her dazzling smile. His heart sped.

Oh, yes. He was well-aware of these feelings for her.

But it wasn’t in the way he ‘fell’ for Allura or Nyma or anyone else. Honestly, he never thought about the future with those people. But with Pidge, he seemed to see his future. Their future. Together.

A pang of guilt suddenly struck his chest. Was he wrong? To actually feel like he and Pidge would actually be together? To take pleasure in thinking about waking up next to her for the rest of his life? To take pleasure in imagining them cuddling up, stealing kisses, whispering sweet nothings to each other at three in the morning? To take pleasure in imagining her reciprocating his feelings?

“LANCE, WATCH OUT!”

And it all went dark.

Whispering. Lance heard whispering. His eyelids felt too heavy to open while his head throbbed painfully. He whimpered in pain as he tried to reach over to his head to at least try to ease it, but he realised that his hands had been bound tightly behind him. He still couldn’t open his eyes to properly examine the place. His throat was dry as well as he gulped down some saliva to try to ease the discomfort.

“P-Pidge...” Was the first thing he could manage. The whispering died down.

“I’m right here, Lance.” The voice he wanted to hear comforted as a hand rested on his elbow.

Lance let out a breath, relieved. “Are you okay? I...I can’t open my eyes.”

“I-I’m fine. Does...does anything hurt?” Pidge asked worriedly, her hand travelling to his bruised cheek.

Lance was...surprised with the action, but chose to keep his reactions to himself. “My head, kinda.” He grunted, “But it’s wearing off.” He finally felt the weight from his eyelids fade, wasting no time to open them.

It took some time for him to finally see only one Pidge who was quite close to his face,  an anxious impression on her face. Her eyes were rimmed with tears that threatened to roll down her flushed cheeks at any moment. Her soft hand eventually left his cheek, much to his grief. “Hey,” Lance groaned as he found a more comfortable position, “why aren’t you tied up like I am? And...are you wearing a flower crown?”

Pidge visibly gulped as she looked over her shoulder with Lance following suit.

There was a short, scrawny Juxtarthan man impatiently tapping his foot against the ground, watching the two paladins closely.

Pidge turned to Lance again as she smiled nervously. “That’s the...prince.”

Lance’s face lit up upon hearing the news. “That’s great! We just need to contact the others--”

“I’ve tried. For some weird reason, they don’t want anyone else to come here. Even when I thought I was alone, there’d always be someone that’d appear randomly. Weird thing is, they know we’re paladins of Voltron.” Pidge explained, meeting the silent prince’s eyes for a moment when she leaned against the wall next to her friend.

“You still didn’t tell me why you have a flower crown.” Lance joked, nudging her lightly with his shoulder as to not lose his balance. “Don’t get me wrong, you look really cute.”

Pidge blushed softly as she awkwardly looked away. “Don’t say weird things like that.”

“So, uh, any chance of them uncuffing me?”

Pidge nodded as she stood up, approaching the prince. The two conversed for a while before the prince let out a long, irked sigh. He approached Lance and shot him a ‘don’t-do-anything-stupid-I’m-holding-a-knife’ glare, roughly pushing the human forward as he cut the restraints.

“Thanks.” Pidge said lowly whilst helping Lance up. 

“I’ll be meeting with my advisers in my study. I expect you to be up there in a while to join our discussion.” The prince announced, walking away.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Pidge spat sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, earning her a strange annoyed sound from the Juxtarthan. She returned her attention to her teammate, wishing he wouldn’t question anything.

But he did.

“What discussion?” Lance rubbed his sore wrists, slightly bruised from the rubbing he had done whilst unconscious.

Pidge quickly took his hand. “Are your wrists okay?”

“Dude, what’s going on?”

“If you’d woken up earlier, they would’ve treated your--”

“Pidge!”

“I’m getting married!” She finally released, sounding more annoyed than angry. “They wouldn’t join the coalition or unless the prince is married to some outsider. Another option would be getting the actual go signal from a leader, but they wouldn’t even let me contact Shiro. So what other choice did I have?”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “You should’ve said no!”

“They also mentioned something about killing you...”

“Then, uh, get a divorce the moment they’re safe?”

“Lance...” Pidge groaned, burying her face in her hands, hopeless. “I don’t know what to do...”

“It’s okay, Pidge.”

“No. It’s not...it’s not okay!” The brunette girl snapped angrily. She was undeniably agitated with the situation. "I don’t know what to do!” She emphasised as she looked up at him with desperate eyes, searching for understanding in his eyes.

A lump formed in Lance’s throat. He understood what she meant fully. “...I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell or anything...” Pidge trailed off as she slowly leaned on him, making sure he was perfectly fine with the act.

“No, I get it. I mean, I don’t exactly feel the same way you do but...y’know, you’re supposed to have a plan at hand since you’re the smart one and stuff.” Lance rambled, chuckling drily. “But...there’s not ‘I’ in team. Cheesy, I know, but...it’s true. You - Pidge - may not have a plan, but we - Lance and Pidge - may have one. With your brains and with my brawn and charm, we got this. He winked at her. “And I actually do have a plan. But I’ll need your help.”

Pidge walked down the aisle slowly and nervously, her grip was tight around the bouquet she held. Her hands were practically soaked in her own sweat and the plants’ liquid as she questioned if the plan they thought of would make actually work out.

She reached the 'altar’ next to her groom. The prince was dressed formally, fit for a royal wedding. While she...well, she was just wearing a flower crown and her regular uniform.

“You’re not wearing the dress I gave you.” The prince grumbled with a scowl on his dark green face.

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Pidge snorted. “My boyfriend wouldn’t have approved.” She announced loudly.

Instead of getting the reactions she wanted (shock, disgust, gasps, ‘ohh the horrorrr’). Instead, a chorus of ‘boyfriend?’s filled the air.

Of course they wouldn’t have known.

She cleared her throat again, her cheeks burning up. “My husband.”

And the crowd went crazy. Gasps of disbelief filled the air, some people even fainted, people were running into walls, the prince was so stunned he couldn’t move - just the reaction she wanted. Chaos.

In other words, it was Lance’s cue to contact the rest of the team. He ran up to Pidge’s side so they could both be able to speak to someone.

“Lance, Pidge! Where have you both been? It’s almost been a quintent!” Shiro’s voice asked over the com. “What’s going on? Is that...a Juxtarthan behind you?”

“No time to explain!” Lance countered frantically. “Just get here already!”

“I’m sending the coordinates! Please hurry--”

“Wait!” A booming voice roared. The whole room faded into silence as everyone - including Lance and Pidge themselves - stopped what they were doing, their attention to the owner of the booming voice.

It was the Prince of Juxtarth himself, his nostrils flared in anger. “How do we know this isn’t some ploy?”

“What’s happening?” Allura inquired, but neither Lance nor Pidge bothered to at least try to explain the situation in a few words. The best the other three paladins could do was listen and watch the scene unfold.

“If you both really are married,” the prince announced, “then perform the intimate ritual in front of the Juxtarthan people to prove your union, then you may contact the others!”

Lance laughed nervously. “Uh, heh, hate to be a wet blanket but...we're from another planet and your intimate can be very different from our intimate.” 

They heard Hunk giggle.

“Very well.” An adviser nodded in understanding. “Perhaps a demonstration would be proper. Gyanika, Sitfelk, demonstrate the intimate seal of marriage.”

The old Juxtarthan couple excitedly stood up, gazing into each others’ eyes lovingly before their lips met, earning them squeals and ‘aww’s from the crowd.

“Dude...” Lance breathed as the old couple got themselves into an actual make out session.

Pidge nodded, cringing. “I know.”

“Are we actually...?”

“Do we have a choice? The coordinates aren’t sending. I don’t remember any landmarks either.” Pidge sighed, biting her lip once the couple stopped snogging. “Lance?”

“Yeah?”

She lowered her voice to not be heard by anyone but Lance. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to know that...I...I...like you?”

Lance’s face turned a deep shade of red as he opened his mouth to reply to her sudden declaration, but he was cut off by her lip crashing into his. He panicked, not knowing what to do. He stood as stiff as a brick.

This was actually happening. His crazy dreams and fantasies had turned into a reality.

Pidge was kissing him.

On her tiptoes.

On the lips.

Hard.

Before he could return her vigour, Pidge quickly pulled away, her eyes filled with worry and hurt with a frown on her face. 

She had taken his shock as rejection.

Before she could walk away, he grabbed her wrist, his free arm wrapping around her waist as he pressed his lips unto hers. Initially she was too dumbfounded to move the way she had done earlier, but she eventually melted into the kiss, slipping her arms around his neck, lips moving in sync with his.

This was perfect.

And the best part was there were witnesses to see they belonged to each other.

“...I think you guys can stop now.”

Shiro’s voice - not from the com - caused the two brunettes to jump away from each other, still blushing madly. 

“Don’t tell Matt!” Pidge requested immediately.

“I won’t.” Shiro assured as he smiled slightly, almost in a teasing manner. “Allura and I’ll handle this. You both need to rest.”

Pidge and Lance nodded obediently, silently exiting the area. Soon enough, the two were in the jungle again, walking silently side by side.

Lance was the first to break the silence. “So are we a together now?” He blurted, unable to stop himself.

Pidge chuckled. “Sure, Lance.”

“Can I get another kiss, then?”

“Sure, Lance.”

[just-shaladin-things]

(1/4) confession: i hate l@nce. hate him. so much. he's such an asshole! like i get the writers are going for 'wannabe casanova' but what they've got is a boy that only is insta 'nice' to hot women (in the mermaid episode he was like :/ to the squid head girl until she took it off and was totes hot at which point he immediately did a 180 to ;D), hits on literally everything resembling female, and doesn't take no for an answer. like, a//ura made it pretty clear she's not interested in L@nce.

(2/4) But he keeps flirting with her at very bad moments, despite her being annoyed with it, and tries to police her actions at one point??? (when her at Ke!th run off together he flips shit on her and tries to do an interrogation if anything happened like thats any of his fucking business). Literally the only girls he’s not weird about is P1dge and his mother. It’s fucked him over so many times! N!ma and the mermaids both should have been massive red flags, but he never changes!(¾) Not once does he connect the dots and think hmm maybe there’s a connection -NEVERMIND HOT GIRL. He’s completely oblivious from moral and logical standpoints. I hate it and I hate him. No amount of homesickness and insecurity is gonna make him likeable until he pulls his head out of his ass. Or at least gets called out by someone instead of being told ‘not now’ mid emergency. He doesn’t give a shit about them! That one mermaid girl he was hitting on, she died! Mid episode!(4/4) And L@nce didn’t even ask hey, where did she vanish too is she okay? He didn’t give a single fuck about the missing girl he’d been hitting on literally a day ago, he was too busy with the NEW pretty mermaid girl and the hot mermaid queen! I hate him, I hate how the writers handle him, and he needs to get called the fuck out by someone soon. Preferably A//ura. Or P!dge. Or Sh!ro. Thank you for hearing of my rage.

ok i was about to go to sleep but since its the l@nce ask i decided to wait a bit, because uhhh, welp he’s important to me and he’s probably the only reason why i still watch this show lfdkjgkf im going to try and be as, well, as objective and logical as i can so please bear with me also im sorry i cant really salt with you here. like, i partially salt with you but not entirely since, you know, l@nce stan thing and all that. okay anyway, here we go and it probs gonna be long so im really, really sorry or something. also also before i Really start i want to thank hd, jo and ciel bcos brainstorming with them was a top notch way to figure out what i want to say fldkgj

im gonna start with the flirting thing first in general, then move to @llura, then to other instances you brought up then to lance himself, just so we have some outline here okay? okay. so here i go:

the flirting thingy - i get why it bugs you and it bugs me too, especially with @llura. writers definitely overuse it and use it as a comedic device (not working but shhh). on the other side, aside from @llura (which im going to talk about more in a sec, pls be patient with me, pls) girls usually don’t react negatively to it? pl@xum literally kissed him on the cheek, aliens at the mall and on that first planet in s3 laughed and generally it seemed to be rather innocent if annoying because of how often it was portrayed. the flirting alone isn’t really bad, considering his insecurities and strive for attention its not surprising that he does it and its never a serious thing. and most of the team reacts with just groaning and rolling their eyes, no one ever told him, 100% seriously and definitely, to stop. the thing is, writers portray his flirting in a really shitty way (like most things, jesus christ) 90% of the time??? which brings us to the next point here:

@llura or rather how her and l@nces relationship was portrayed so far. now theres no denying it that the part where he keeps on flirting with her and she keeps turning him down and so on is, well, pure shit and we all want (or rather wanted it considering how he dropped the act in s3) it to stop. while it doesnt make it okay, its still important to note that he never really seems to be 100% serious with his pick up lines and it looks like he uses it as a way to lighten up the mood (cue him using them in, well, not really appropriate moments). and while we’re at it, lance hardly ever opposed to any of her orders (aside from the time when he and hunk argued with the rest of the team about coming back home but, like, can you really blame them for that?). also the thing that you brought up, him flipping his shit out when she left with keith was completely justified??? she and k/eith literally left without any notice??? when they were constantly followed by galra and there was a war going on???? of course he was worried out of his mind, who wouldnt! and when she was captured by the gala he was one of the people who wanted to go and save her. like, you cant really say he doesnt give a shit about her. its further proved by how he acted in s3? he completely dropped his flirting with her, never acted angry when she was chosen to be the blue paladin, he even said he was happy that it was her specifically! when sh!ro came back he never asked @llura to step down either, he thought she was better suited to do it than him he constantly checked if she was feeling alright in blue and we could see how much their relationship improved in this season. i would go as far as to say that they actually became a p good friends.

now, onto the other instances you mentioned:

pl@xum - here its kinda tricky tbh, on one side, yeah, its not really okay that he started to be all over the moon for her after she took of the squid, on the other hand he knew her for, like, a day at best?? its not really enough time to fall in love with personality itself (especially considering how much happened during that time?) and you cant really tell that being attracted by someones good looks is something bad? it was portrayed in shitty way but then again, its more of writers fault. and while we’re at it, even if he wasnt interested in her romantically, he never disrespected her??? he took her seriously after she and her group explained what they did and why they did it and helped her free her planet.

fl/rona - okay i seriously dont know why you brought up this? he had maybe one convo with her and during it or right after he was literally drugged with poisoned alien food, then he got kidnapped, stung by a squid and had to fight and save the entire kingdom. he probably thought she was in the palace or somewhere in their village? with so much happening of course it could slip his mind. 

ny/a - well, im not really sure how to approach this one but im gonna try. yes, l/nce going after her was reckless and not his best moment but also?? literally everyone on the team except for h/nk seemed to trust them? and n/ma not only reciprocated/pretended to reciprocate but also played at his insecurities (aka pulling the “if you wont then im sure k/th aka the boy that you consider ur rival aka the boy that is one of the sources of ur insecurities will take me to his lion). and lance maybe has a strategical mind and works good on missions and in the heat of a moment but? he’s also an insecure teenager and teens tend to do reckless things when they want to impress someone. plus, lance generally seems to be rather trusting? hes not as guarded as, lets say, k/eith, hes thrives on social interaction and likes meeting new people. you can see it in the way he wanted to hang out with p/idge in the garrison even though she probs always turned him and h/nk down or how he was able to confide in coran despite knowing him for week at best or in how quick he was to play around and take selfies with complete strangers from the planet he just helped save in s3 and how well he worked with blade of m/rmora in same ep. hes quick to trust and become friends, which makes him an easy target for people like n/ma but overall isnt really a bad trait. 

all in all, lance is a very, very complex character and cant really be judged only basing on his flirting. hes much more than that. and while i understand where you’re coming from i cant really agree with you fully. the way his flirting is portrayed is shitty but hes not a bad person at all. 

sorry its so long btw, im just,,, kinda passionate dl

[doro7winchester]

Heathers "do it like dean" challenge" #500Doitlikedeanchallenge "FIGHT THE FARIES" @jalove-wecallhimdean  there is a tad bit of cussing but other than that yall are good.

Once again you were running late, it felt like that’s all you did lately, was run late. But you had to get to class on time this rime or professor langar was going to lock you out@, and you couldn’t afford to miss this lab. So you were in a full on sprint across the campus and you looked down for like a second and then, *SMACK*, you slammed into someone, and someone hard.

"ah shit I'm sorry, I'm late as fuck I have to be in lab. Or I would have payed more attention." You say rushed, but then you see him.

"Um do you go here?" you ask forgetting about your lab completely.

"No sweet heart, I'm working, but can I walk you to your lab? You know all the robberies on campus, can't be too careful." He said trying to be casual, but he didn’t seem casual on campus at all.

"How do I know you're not the one doing them?" you say in an attempt to flirt, but then you remember your lab, and the fact that you're going to be late. "ah shit walk me or not I have to be in lab in 9 minutes, and I can't be late, so please lets go." You say as you go to run around him, and you realize he's fallowing you.

"Can I come to lab with you?" he asks while you're almost jogging. All you can think is why are you jogging and talking.

"Uhhh if there is space he will let you sit in." you say in between breaths. "But you can't actually do the lab, just watch." You reply very out of breath. "Damn stairs, up we go…what's your name dude?"

"Dean, woah there sweet heart." He says as he catches you from falling right down the stairs.

"Shit, thank you Dean, nice name, I'm Y/N."

You walk into class with Dean on your heels, and take your normal seat, and he just sits there with you.

Your professor walks over and looks at him, "hello, and who are you?"

"Dean, Winchester, just wanted to sit in on the lab, make sure I want to take it next year." He says.

"Ok, were missing quite a few students tonight your welcome to stay, Y/N, make sure he doesn’t break anything." You blush but you're not even quite sure why.  

The two of you go through a very simple lab of identifying tissues under a compound microscope, all the while he helps you remember the different categories and sub categories with wonderfully awful puns. Such as cartilage is definable by its matrix because its "cart-al-idge' so it's got to have a something to 'cart' around in.

While his understanding of tissues was a tad silly he was very funny, and oh so hot. So you being the cocky person that you are decide you're going to go for it.

'So Dean, labs all over, you wanna go grab pizza and beer with me? Or do you need to get back to your "case"." You say the last word with air quotes convinced he made that up to talk to you.

"Well sweet heart, my brother is going to be looking for me, especially since I just ignored all of his calls for the last three hours to look at "tissue" through a thingy." He says tissue in air quotes as you had done case because he kept saying that all he could think of when someone said tissue, was the kind you use to blow your nose.

"Your brother?" you say questioningly.

"uh, ya, we work together, we are investigating the women being taken from campus." He says as he shows you and F.B.I. badge you're sure looks funny. "Hu, ok so you weren’t just trying to pick me up, you were actually being nice and walking me to my lab. Why did you stay?" you ask, hoping he doesn’t sense your insecurity.

"That was to pick you up." He says with a wink, "And because you seemed fun, and I was right. No one could have kept me entertained in that class for darn near three hours like you just did." He says as he replies to a text you assume is his brother.

"Hey wait you're not like married are you? Using your brother as a cover?" you question.

"No no, but I am starving, still want pizza and beer?" he asks as he starts to look past you in an odd way.

"Uhh is my hair on fire or something?" you ask sarcastically.

"Um no, but does that light over there seem odd to you? Or am I going crazy?'

You turn around and you see a teal like light emulating from the top of the health sciences building you two were just in.  "Yes actually that does seem odd, I don’t know of any chem classes going on right now, and certainly not on the roof like that." You say in astonishment.

"Well sweet heart we may have to settle for a rain check on that pizza." He says as he takes his phone back out.

"Sam, get your but over here I think I found where they were summoned."

He says as he begins to walk towards the building, with you fallowing.

"Hey sweet heart, you should let me and my brother handle this, I wouldn’t want you getting hurt." He says, and you can hear he is being sincere but it triggers a nerve you have from years of being teased by both older and younger brothers, seeing as you were the only girl and smack in the middle of 5 kids.

"Get hurt? What am I some porcelain doll, am I going to just shatter?!" you almost yell at him and you catch yourself.

"I'm coming to help you. I live in that building, and your brother cant teleport so you won't have to be alone, k? And besides if I have to ill run for the hills and find your brother and let him know you didn’t wanna wait for your back up." You say the last part with a wink.

He lets out a heavy sigh as he runs his hand down the back of his neck before he speaks to you, "ok, but here, take this and call Sam if anything happens to me. And you better actually run for the hills if I tell you too ok?" he says with a stern look on his face.

You raise your hand to your eye and say, "cross my heart, or stab my eye." To which he chuckles.

"Don’t think that’s how it goes but ok. Come on." He begins to walk towards the building.

"If we go over here there is an odd stair case I have never gone up, pretty sure it’s the roof access."  You say pointing to the left of the direction Dean was walking in. "Y/N, why do you think it's the roof access?"  

You knew it was because you were a janitor at the school but admitting that to this man made you feel so small. "Well I actually work here too, not just go here. I um…I clean. You know take out the trash vacuum the floors and what not." You say blushing.

"Well that’s convenient, and working where you go to schools gotta have perks right?" he asks while climbing stairs, with his amazing ass in your face you forget to reply. He looks back at you and catches you staring, so he wiggles his hips making you smile and want to grab it at the same time.

"There, to the left, that’s where most of my studying is done." You say pointing to an odd sitting stoop near a flight of stairs that lead to a door you have never seen open before.

"Hu, odd place to put this." He says as he walks up to it.

His phone goes off in your hands so you show it to him by shaking it at him.

"Answer it and give him directions here, you would be able to do it better than I could."

So you tell the man on the other end how to get to the H.S. building and how to get to the stairs you're on once he's in the building. He thanks you and asks you to try and keep an eye on his brother while he gets to you.

You laugh and tell him that you have no problem keeping an eye on his brother from this angle and he doesn’t reply, probably because he doesn’t understand your reference. Next thing you know Deans got the door open and you yell at him, "Wait your brothers almost here!"

But he's already on his way up the stairs through the door and you don’t know what to do. So you flip his phone. Screen up go with Dean, screen down wait for his brother, and it lands. Screen up, you swallow hard and begin walking. Just as you do you hear a voice, "Dean?? Person who gave me directions?" he says and you laugh realizing you never gave him your name.

"Here!" you yell in his direction as you begin to wave. "I told him to wait for you but he wouldn't, and I was going to go with him but I heard you." You tell him as the two of you hear screaming from Dean.

   You both run up the stairs, Sam right under you because of his size, and you wish you had let him lead.

As the two of you reach the roof you can't help but laugh at the site before you, and his brother does as well. You see Dean, the amazingly hot man you had just been with for three hours in a darn dress, not just a dress but a ball gown covered in deep blue sequins, and he's dancing with a see through figure.

"Come on guys! I need your help, I can't fight these fairies by myself, I'm stuck in some kind of farie like dance glue. It dresses you and then this happens." He says as he motions with his head to the dancing he is doing with the see through figure.

"Faries, you're telling me that’s what has done this? That’s what's kidnapping women?" you ask completely ok with this explanation given your religion in some parts worships them.

"Yes, um what's your name?" Sam asks as he look at you in response to your question.

"Y/N, and how exactly do we fight faires, from what I understand there aren’t just fairy fighting weapons lying around in stores."

"Well we are going to start with this." Sam says as he opens the top of a glass container full of what looks like salt. He then dumps the entirety of it at your feet.

Then you see an old women come running over from behind a part of the building, she is yelling at Sam and kneels at your feet.

"Sorry had to make sure it wasn’t you." Sam says as he gently moves you around the pile of salt. You hear her still yelling at Sam about how much was on the floor and how she would be there forever counting all of it.

"Guys! Make this stop please!" Dean yells at the two of you, and Sam goes into action with a book in his hand, and you run over to Dean.

You pull off your protection charm from under your shirt and wrap it around Deans hand, not knowing if your energy is any match for a faire spell, you take Deans hand to channel him as well and begin your meditation. "Chant with me, and do not let go or ill end up dancing too."

He just nods at you and begins the same chant, you are saying, "Our energies combine to break your binds." And before you know it he's free, but still in the dress.

"Really, your mojo couldn’t get rid of the darn dress?"

"Hey I think you look good in it." You say with a wink.

Sam is walking towards you two with a smile in his face.

"Thanks for getting him out of that dance, I wasn’t sure how to do that. And thank you for keeping him in the dress!" Sam says as he bursts out laughing and shaking his head.

"ok ok, enough fun at my expense, can you get me out of this?" he looks at you.

You point at yourself and rely, "No, I'm Wiccan, not some crazy dark witch who can contest with freking fairy magic at full blast. I wasn’t even sure that was going to get you out of the dance, I just was worried it would hurt you if your brother banished it before you were free so I had to try."

"Great so I have to walk all the way to the car in this!" Dean motions to his body.

"No no, here, switch me. The pants won't fit like at all I've got to be 7 inches shorter than you, but high water pants or a dress you can pick." You smile at him, as you walk towards him taking off your clothes.

Both boys gasp, and hard. "What, you two gonna tell me your shy about seeing a girl in her bra and panties?"

As you two swap clothes Sam walks back down the stairs to give the two of you some privacy, which you hadn’t asked for. Seeing Dean in his boxers, and your small t-shirt was almost painful because you wanted to take it right back off of him. And he noticed you staring.

"Like what you see?" he asked looking at you also almost naked.

"Well handsome I don’t know when the last time you looked in a mirror was, but you look like a damn model. And I would have no issue with you letting me take all of your clothes on up here on the roof."

As the words left your mouth your brain registered that you had actually said that out loud, and not in your head.  He walked towards you as your brain was freking out waiting for a response, and before you knew it he was kissing you.

You kissed him back, in all truth you had wanted to do this since the first time he made you forget about your lab.

But then Sam cleared his throat and you both looked at him, you blushing and Dean smiling.

"Can we go get pizza and beer now please? I'll even get a separate hotel room for the night, I'm starving."

Neither of you could deny you were hungry and Dean got tense when he mentioned a separate hotel room so to ease his concerns you got up on your tip toes and spoke as close to his ear as you could, "Hey can I make you put my shirt back on later in that room please?"

He replied by pulling you into another kiss, then he spoke in your ear as you had done to him, "as long as I can take that dress off of you, you can make me where whatever you'd like princess." Blushing you just smiled and saw Sam looking like he didn’t know what to do.

"Deal, now let's go eat, you two have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

  tagging some peeps

 @jalove-wecallhimdean @deanxfuckingadorablexwinchester @riversong-sam

@lordelrondtheconsultingdetective @impalaimagining @supernaturalmarvelgirl

@wheresthekillswitch @goldenangelbloodcastiel @notnaturalanahi @dreamingintheimpalawithdean @sleepywinchester @just-a-touch-of-sass-and-fandoms @shawn-thegunslinger

[janiedean]

please rant about emma! i luxuriate in austen criticism!

... ha. uhm.

OKAY SO ANYONE WHO IS INTO JANE AUSTEN OR THIS BOOK PLEASE SKIP THIS POST I’M BEGGING YOU I REALIZE IT’S MY READING OF THE THING AND IT DOESN’T MEAN I’M RIGHT BUT THAT’S MY PERSONAL FEELINGS REALLY XD 

okay so, premise: tldr, I really dislike austen’s style in the sense that I don’t get why is supposedly sarcastic (??) or has biting humor (??) because it really doesn’t feel like such to me and I personally find it more irritating than else, which I guess is personal taste but... I... don’t really get it. which is a problem. the other problem is that I don’t care for her choices in plots because while I’m the first person saying that characters matter more than plot, my interest in plots that are all more or less summable with ‘marriages within middle to high british society in which the crux is that girls have to marry a good prospect with money and lands 90% of the time and that’s about all of the conflict’ is pretty much sub-zero because I really really really don’t care about that background plot at all. now, there’s the fact that I also don’t like her character work 90% of the time and I could rant a lot about how idg why the hell popular culture has decided that if you’re a woman at some point in life you must have wanted a guy like darcy (false) but that’s not about emma, so whatever.

now: I read that book when I was... like... fifteen I think, and I only finished it because it was a school thing or I’d have given it up at page fifteen because the whole part with how I find her style irritating? yeah. that was... in spades. also, emma has... uhm, let’s say that my reading of the character might have been colored by my life situation when I read the book in question but I honestly couldn’t stand how she basically went about things without like asking the people involved if they actually wanted her to help and like let’s just say that people meddling with others’s business when no one asked them to and keep on doing it on account of thinking they know what others need are and were A Problem when I’m concerned, but like tldr what I really couldn’t stand was the ending because I know that again it might be my problem personally and whatnot, but... the fact that basically I have an entire book where emma is like ‘oh I don’t need to get married I can afford not to I’m fine like this’ and the guy she ends up with is there like ‘yeah just you wait until you change your mind’ and then as much as I recall at least she basically has this epiphany that to me read like ‘omg I’ve been so wrong I fucked up I didn’t know what I was doing I’m really in love with guy who’s been telling me that since the beginning i’M GOING TO GET MARRIED AND NOT MEDDLE ANYMORE WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES’ which......... to me was honestly really distasteful because like never mind whether I like her as a character or not, he has been right all along about her having meddled in good faith so now she has the epiphany that she just had to get married and embrace a thing she thought she didn’t need and oh wow look at her having gotten it totally wrong in the beginning but the guy who as far as I remember had like... zero character arc because he was just there doing the same thing was right all long? and considering that people are all like IT’S SUCH AN EMPOWERING NOVEL... to me it just read that she realized that her own interests/wishes to do well were Wrong ™️ without the narrative even discussing it her properly and she had to realize that the other guy was right all along and waiting for her to fall into his arms and idk my friend I like my love stories when the characters are on an even level and here there was an imbalance that just... didn’t work for me.

that probably also could be influenced by the fact that as I state I don’t like how austen builds characters so the psychology seemed completely off to me and I didn’t detect anything the narrative wanted me to (??) and I don’t think she can write a decent love story because all of her love stories to me feel completely unrealistic and I’m not capable of engaging with them and if anyone else had written the same story I could have liked it better, but as it was I really really disliked the entire thing and maybe if I had read it later in life I’d have had a different approach but right now it’s basically tied to too many negative things for me and idk if I can re-evaluate it, so.. yeah. like, sorry but jane’s just not my kind of author and that was... not my kind of book. /o\

[nctsolar-remade]

Johnny Loving Anon is here!!! Lets get into today’s talk. SEO. JOHNNYS. ARMS. Now, if you’ve seen that one fan cam from 0mile or have seen this boy in a sleeveless shirt, YOU KNOW HES HUGE. He must get those muscles from lifting my heart all the time 🤧 but seriously, he looks like he’d give really great hugs? Just because he’s so strong and so tall that he’d probably swallow you whole but in the best way. He just seems like a big huggable teddy bear. But damn boy can LIFT. 1/2

2/2 and I just wanna add are people seriously upset he talked to much???? I’m sorry but it’s a BLESSING that he talked so much! Honestly they got 3 members in 127 that are fluent(I think Jae still struggles right?) and I feel like Mark was too shy? The members seemed to be happy he spoke so much! I hate the way some people can be. Why can’t everyone just love and respect Johnny ugh. Anywho, I hope your feeling better today~ I love u ♥️♥️♥️ I’ll be back tomorrow or today lmao - Johnny Loving Anon

hi angel !!! 💖💖💖

kksksks 👊🏼😔 he’s got some radical arms my dude he looks so fucking sexy it’s unreal?? u know that good thing fan cam ?? where he is wearing like the sleeveless shirt and he just jrksososoxkdks looks sooooo good like 🤤♥️🏹💫 that’s art ://

LIFTING UR HEART SNOSOSOS ANON UR RIGHT BC UR HEART IS SO BIG N FULL OF LOVE !!!! a real work out!!!!!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖

😢😢💖💖💖 he really is so big ??? like i wanna curl up in his arms and smooch him and cuddle the heck out of him he !!! just looks so soft :(( i keep saying it but johnny would be like :-( such a good cuddler??? he’d be so soft and warm probably and just ndkdododod he probably makes stupid jokes and would tickle u or do smth stupid but he’s so soft n nsksksosks MY HEART IS JUST 💞💞💞💞💞 !!!!! he’s just got some spicy arms that i’d like to curl up into and cuddle him for hours !!!!!!

dude :-( honestly i cant believe that ppl are?? like :( he already doesn’t have that many lines in their songs?? so when he has the ability to speak english and be ADORABLE and FUNNY and CONFIDENT?? idg why ppl have to be so fucking rude ?? like ivie said?? ppl are constantly begging them (and especially him and jae and mark) to speak english and when he finally does smth they just get ???? upset???

tbh johnny was so confident and ?? every time the interviewer asked a question?? at the beginning he spoke up a lot but then even in the middle of the interview he would gesture to the other two (mark n jae) and like !!! he was humble n dmjdjsokss just like :)) ???? why are ppl like this !!!!! and the members were like ?? so cute and looked to him for translations and :-((( it was so sweet idk why ppl have to be so mean… he doesn’t deserve anything but the MOST love 😔💖 but luckily he has ppl like YOU 💖💞💖💞💖💞💖 !!!!!!!! who are always so soft n good and kind ☺️♥️🏹💫 !!!!!!

and today was also p gross but :-( ur message made me smile !!! i’m sorry i didn’t reply earlier?? i didn’t get a notif and i just happened to see it when i checked my inbox 😓 sorry abt that angel !!! i also hope you’re doing well bean 💛✨🌙🍯🔱💫🥂🌱🌷🌧☔️♥️🏹💫🍃🌊☁️💞💖 !!!!!

[brianlichtig]

5 ways to spot a phishing email

No one wants to believe they'd fall for a phishing scam. Yet, according to Verizon's 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report, 30 percent of phishing emails get opened. Yes, that's right -- 30 percent. That incredible click-through rate explains why these attacks remain so popular: it just works.

Phishing works because cybercriminals take great pains to camouflage their "bait" as legitimate email communication, hoping to convince targets to reveal login and password information and/or download malware, but there are still a number of ways to identify phishing emails. Here are five of the most common elements to look for.

Related Video

1. Expect the unexpected

In a 2016 report from Wombat Security, organizations reported that the most successful phishing attacks were disguised as something an employee was expecting, like an HR document, a shipping confirmation or a request to change a password that looked like it came from the IT department.

Make sure to scrutinize any such emails before you download attachments or click on any included links, and use common sense. Did you actually order anything for which you're expecting a confirmation? Did the email come from a store you don't usually order supplies from? If so, it's probably a phishing attempt.

Don't hesitate to call a company's customer service line, your HR department or IT department to confirm that any such emails are legitimate - it's better to be safe than sorry.

2. Name check

If you receive an email or even an instant message from someone you don't know directing you to sign in to a website, be wary, especially if that person is urging you to give up your password or social security number. Legitimate companies never ask for this information via instant message or email, so this is a huge red flag. Your bank doesn't need you to send your account number -- they already have that information. Ditto with sending a credit card number or the answer to a security question.

You also should double-check the "From" address of any suspicious email; some phishing attempts use a sender's email address that is similar to, but not the same as, a company's official email address.

[ Related story: 2017 Security predictions ]

3. Don't click on unrecognized links

Typically, phishing scams try to convince you to provide your username and password, so they can gain access to your online accounts. From there, they can empty your bank accounts, make unauthorized charges on your credit cards, steal data, read your email and lock you out of your accounts.

Often, they'll include embedded URLs that take you to a different site. At first glance, these URLs can look perfectly valid, but if you hover your cursor over the URL, you can usually see the actual hyperlink. If the hyperlinked address is different than what's displayed, it's probably a phishing attempt and you should not click through.

[ Related story: CIOs List the top hiring priorities for 2017 ]

Another trick phishing scams use is misleading domain names. Most users aren't familiar with the DNS naming structure, and therefore are fooled when they see what looks like a legitimate company name within a URL. Standard DNS naming convention is Child Domain dot Full Domain dot com; for example, info.LegitExampleCorp.com. A link to that site would go to the "Information" page of the Legitimate Example Corporation's web site.

IDG

A phishing scam's misleading domain name, however, would be structured differently; it would incorporate the legitimate business name, but it would be placed before the actual, malicious domain to which a target would be directed. For instance, Name of Legit Domain dot Actual Dangerous Domain dot com: LegitExampleCorp.com.MaliciousDomain.com.

To an average user, simply seeing the legitimate business name anywhere in the URL would reassure them that it was safe to click through. Spoiler alert: it's not.

4. Poor spelling and/or grammar

It's highly unlikely that a corporate communications department would send messages to its customer base without going through at least a few rounds of spelling and grammar checks, editing and proofreading. If the email you receive is riddled with these errors, it's a scam.

You should also be skeptical of generic greetings like, "Dear Customer" or "Dear Member." These should both raise a red flag because most companies would use your name in their email greetings.

IDG

[ Related story: 14 Best tech jobs in America ]

5. Are you threatening me?

"Urgent action required!" "Your account will be closed!" "Your account has been compromised!" These intimidation tactics are becoming more common than the promise of "instant riches"; taking advantage of your anxiety and concern to get you to provide your personal information. Don't hesitate to call your bank or financial institution to confirm if something just doesn't seem right.

And scammers aren't just using banks, credit cards and email providers as cover for their scams, many are using the threat of action from government agencies like the IRS and the FBI to scare unwitting targets into giving up the goods. Here's the thing: government agencies, especially, do not use email as their initial means of communication.

IDG

Phishing scams continue to evolve

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Phishing scammers are constantly evolving, and their methods are becoming more cunning and difficult to trace. New tactics include this frighteningly effective Gmail attack, end-of-the-year healthcare open enrollment scams, low-priced Amazon bargains, and tax-season attempts.

So, trust your gut. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. If something seems even the slightest bit "off", don't open the email or click on links.

More resources on phishing and how to protect yourself can be found at Phishing.org.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

from CIO http://www.cio.com/article/3172558/hacking/5-ways-to-spot-a-phishing-email.html#tk.rss_all Baltimore IT Support

[deluxeever867]

How To Install Adobe Flash Player On Mac For Chromes

When the site tries to load its Flash content, you’ll see a message asking you if you’d like to enable Adobe Flash Player. 9 Click Click to enable Adobe Flash Player if you trust the site.

I wouldn't recommend using Chrome, as the last supported version for OS X 10.7 is Chrome 49 and that version of Chrome is only aware of the embedded Flash Player location, thus won't launch Flash Player PPAPI plugin that you install.

How to Update Adobe Flash Player in Google Chrome Hindi-Urdu How to Update Adobe Flash Player in Google Chrome in Windows PC URL to Update Adobe Flash Player in Google Browse (Chrome://components.

Install Adobe Flash Player For Windows 7

Install Adobe Flash Player 11

How To Install Adobe Flash Player On Mac For Chrome's Disease

No de-install, re-install which makes a lot of software better. No almighty Adobe. Flash works on everything mostly but on one particular game, it quit working one day.

Any user/owner of Mac can attest to its efficiency and versatility in handling all sorts of tasks from doing work or school projects, editing, to gaming. While browsing though, you sometimes can’t play a video or animation because Adobe Flash Player for Mac is not updated, disabled, etc.

No worries. We’ll show you how to solve issues concerning your Mac’s Adobe Flash Player installation so you can watch video content with ease.

Installing and Enabling Adobe Flash Player for Mac

To get to the root of any Adobe Flash Player problems, check first if your Mac has an Adobe Flash Player installed. You can check it with Adobe’s official website.

The tool will reveal the status of Adobe Flash Player in your system, e.g. whether it’s pre-installed in your browser and enabled.

The steps in enabling Adobe Flash Player on your Mac depend on your respective browser.

For Safari, which comes along with Mac computers and is the recommended browser, check its version.

Go to Preferences, click the Websites tab and find Adobe Flash Player in the plug-ins section. Tick the box to enable the flash player and from there, choose how you want the plugin to behave in others websites, e.g. whether it will run automatically, ask you first to allow it, or not.

If there’s no plugin, you have to download Adobe Flash Player and close Safari to proceed with the installation.

Other Browsers on Your Mac

If you have Firefox, Chrome and/or Opera installed on your Mac, you can also enable the plugin as you choose it.

For example, Firefox requires you to manually activate the flash player plugin. The same goes with Opera that gives users the option to be asked first if they want Adobe Flash Player to run on a specific website.

Notably, Google Chrome recommends that you run Adobe Flash Player on websites that you trust. This is to prevent security issues that have been detected when using the plugin.

For years now, the Chrome browser has reported that it was up to date, even when there was an old copy of the Flash Player embedded in the browser.

I mention this now, because Adobe released a new version of the Flash player today, one that fixes 13 bugs, many of them critical. The usual method of forcing a Chrome update (Help -> About Google Chrome) on Windows and OS X/macOS may or may not update Flash.

You can, however, force Chrome to update Flash by entering

chrome://components

Flash Professional CC Flash Professional CC Update – December 2013 (13.1.0.226) The latest Flash Professional release is an update that enables you to natively create and publish HTML5 Canvas content using CreateJS.The update also contains fixes to some critical bugs. It is highly recommended that you install this update. Adobe flash player mac 10.6.8. • (ZIP, 453MB) • (DMG, 397MB) Flash Professional CC Update 13.0.1 (13.0.1.808) This update contains fixes for slow response on Wacom tablet (straightening of first stroke), and other crash issues. Visit the for a complete list of all available Flash Player downloads.

Install Adobe Flash Player For Windows 7

in the browser address bar. Look for the Adobe Flash Player in the list of components. Ignore the status. If the version is anything other than 24.0.0.221, it needs to be updated.

Click on the gray 'Check for Update' button and the update happens in a flash (sorry). If you look closely, the status goes from 'component downloading' to 'update ready' to 'Component updated.' It literally takes a second.

If all went well, the version should now be 24.0.0.221.

When I first wrote about this last year, I noted that Flash can not be updated this way on Chrome OS. This is still true.

Adobe Flash Player updates available for macOS on November 1, 2016 Adobe Flash Player updates address a recently identified Adobe Flash Player web plug-in vulnerability. If you're using an out-of-date version of the Adobe Flash Player plug-in, you may see the message “Blocked plug-in,” “Flash Security Alert,” or “Flash out-of-date. Adobe flash player update for mac. Adobe Flash Player is a free software plug-in used by web browsers to view multimedia, execute rich Internet applications, and stream video on your Mac. Adobe® Flash® Player is a lightweight browser plug-in and rich Internet application runtime that delivers consistent and engaging user experiences, stunning audio/video playback, and exciting gameplay. Installed on more than 1.3 billion systems, Flash Player is the standard for delivering high. How can the answer be improved?

I just checked two Chromebooks. Each was running Chrome OS version 55.0.2883.105 and each claimed that 'Your Chromebook is up to date' despite using Flash version 24.0.0.186 which was released back on December 13, 2016.

Install Adobe Flash Player 11

I guess it depends on your definition of 'date'.

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[janiedean]

I think the kiss makes sense. I mean, Bill and Beverly were absolutely having a thing in the first one so why not have them kiss? Yes she finds out that Ben is her secret admirer but she isn't into him right now. Maybe in the book when she finds out when they were older and she's kind of into him it means more but now it just means a super platonic friend of hers has a thing for her and wrote her what she considers a very lovely poem. Glad they didn't wait until movie 2 to reveal it.

idk idk idk I mean unless I remember really wrong in the book she didn’t figure out at all that ben wrote the poem until part II and actually the entire part where she got kidnapped didn’t really happen I mean as far as I remember they were all in the sewers in the first place so like... why the hell would they build it up specifically? first it looks like she and bill are having a thing, then they specifically have ben kiss her and she figures it out when in the book she remained fairly oblivious until she understood it when she was older, and like... her romance with bill worked not having anyone else in the middle, the whole thing happening after the one true love thing just... idk I felt like they wanted to put it in because it was in the original canon and it should have been a thing but it should have happened long before if you ask him, especially given the look that she gave ben after he kissed her?? like

EXTRA BOOK SPOILERS + EXTRA PROBLEMATIC OPINION

like again count that I read it when I was fifteen and I haven’t reread it since so I could be wrong or remember it wrong but the thing was that beverly and bill obviously had a thing and ben pined but didn’t go in between them, and I think they kissed before the whole shebang went down or close to it, and then there was the infamous sewers bang scene which wasn’t in the movie where she had sex with all of them which in the movie was a group hug and like I entirely get why they changed it and so on but like, the whole thing was a build up to that, then you cut it which is entirely fine but then have her realize ben’s given her the one true love kiss thing and getting it (in the book when she realized he wrote the poem it was... fairly important if I don’t recall wrong) and then they go back to bill at the end like hey I’m kissing you right before I leave? I mean the timing was off to me sorry XD like I could have gotten that without her figuring the poem out and THE ONE TRUE LOVE KISS THING but with that it just... felt weird. *shrug* like idk if I recall wrong but the other point was that when she comes back as an adult she’s also married to an abusive asshole who’s a complete jerk to her and realizing ben wrote the poem was also what 

SPOILERS

got them together eventually...? so like... idk given how the original was I thought the timing was all wrong and it really didn’t work, then if in the second part they fix it/make it make sense it’s fine but still XD

(also I forgot to add that idg why they took the research thing from mike and passed it to ben when then mike’s supposed to become THE TOWN LIBRARIAN but XDDDD)