#like sure yes. for at least half the season they don’t deal with it at all and it’s in the back burner

[sammygender]

i do genuinely think s7 is decent but even if it wasn’t it’d be like crack to me considering it’s an entire season essentially centred around sam’s trauma. it’s the closest we ever get to the show properly genuinely acknowledging the things it puts him through. which is ironic considering it’s also before many many other things he goes through!

[moonshynecybin]

what would you consider essential marc and rosquez watching? i don’t mean races but the stuff happening around it, there seems to be so much and idk where to start 😭

BIG ass question. i think it depends what you want outta this and how you best interact with content slash consume information. for me (not to brag but. winner of multiple historical essay writing competitions in high school. for context on the kind of freak i am bringing to the table here.) the research is kind of the fun part ! like i just started googling shit! i would go to inactive blogs and just search 'marquez' on them to see what would happen ! a lot of the times that works ! but it also takes a lotttt of time lol so i'll chuck some good resources your way, why not...

okay im not sure how basic we're talkin here but um. background. so the documentaries are, i think. the best place to start. theyre entertaining and offer a good amalgamation of clips to provide context for the actual racing. and like i know you de-emphasized racing (which is fine lol who cares) but it really is like the most important thing in the world to these fools and its a pretty visual sport so i think its at least helpful. like yes sepang IS about the press conference, but its also about the conversation they have ON the race track using their motorcycles. which is also somewhat a conversation that they HAVE been having all year long...

i'd start with hitting the apex (2013), its a GREAT introduction to the "characters" that does a lot of legwork to contextualize everything. lays the scene for where vale is at coming into his relationship with marc (both personally, wrt to marco simoncelli, and career-wise concerning his flop at ducati), and also how insane marc's whole deal is in general. the second half is. materially a study on what him entering the premiere class did to the sport as a whole. the introductory chapter in many respects

marc marquez: all in. MY introduction and blissfully free online. marc comma in his own words, with all the implications of that. a self-produced documentary where he is giving feedback about the edit of said documentary straight to camera and no less vulnerable because of it which is very marc imo. revealing both intentionally AND unintentionally about his whole deal with injury, vale, and his image.

motogp unlimited. im gonna be real kind of boring. like i would still watch it ! but do it kind of later, once you know the major players so youre automatically more invested. it doesnt really give you more than marc says himself in all in tbh, and i get the sense him and vale were NAWWWT interested in doing more than the bare minimum for it.

marc's rookie doc. free and subtitled on the youtubes. the first half of this is deadass just him wanting to fuck vale so bad while every comment from vale has me saying GIRL. out loud because the foreshadowing would be genuinely shocking if this was fiction. anyways the laguna seca of it all....

next i would hit up PODCASTS ! i think it makes sense after the documentaries, because these are all podcasts that arent strictly about rosquez (even if they are in many ways the main characters lmao) and personally it helps to put faces to lesser known names that might pop up before i listen to a purely audio product and get lost in the soup of sounds. the paddock pass podcast has two retrospective episodes about the 2015 season that are really good at context, oxley bom pod has a fun recent episode on valentino that i love, again just poke around a lil

videos. these guys have never filmed a lot of content together tragically. what i wouldnt give for someone to make them do an escape room. anyways ranch visit HERE (post explaining the ranch visit here). sepang presscon (sowwy) here. vale unhinged podcast interview the month after marc's documentary came out here. vale retirement interview where he gets asked about marc here. vale talking about asking marc to the ranch here. vale postrace at argentina 2018 here. UCCIO postrace at argentina 2018 here. theres a lot moreeeee just go on my blog archive and filter for rosquez and vids its easier lol

journalism. hello. okay so you should genuinely spend some time reading through mat oxley's stuff he can write (theres a paywall but you can run that shit through wayback machine). he also loves an insane comparison which i do enjoy.... again this is one that can be solved by googling his name and tacking on 'marquez' or 'rossi' or a specific time period or race it will probably reap some dividends. in terms of specific ass articles this one is kind of load bearing in terms of sepang and some of the interpersonal competitive tensions at play. that being said there are manyyyyyy crazy interviews and snippents of articles from other journos floating around motogp tumblr (like literally too many to link) adn its fun to dig around to find them, but mat oxley gets a shoutout because i was reading this article TODAY !

other content. honestly one of the best resources I'VE found for plotting out the arc of their relationship is @kingofthering's everyrosquezpodium series. you can REALLY see it play out lol. also her tagging system rules she very neatly lays out years and races... so if something jumps out at you, CLICK ITTTT ! also all of @ricciardoes fave presscon moments series. insane.

all this to say a small little rpf fandom like this rewards some digging! i would just recommend following narrative threads that interest you ! its also a small fanbase that is pretty research oriented, so if youre ever confused about somethin, just shoot an ask or run a search on someone's blog (@kwisatzworld has endless vale resources and @batsplat is one of the most thorough researchers ive ever seen, for example) like for real theres so much... i also have a primer that i made forever ago that has some links on it so you can peruse that if you so wish. but frankly a lot of it is just using those research muscles and being sufficiently deranged enough to be screenshotting reddit threads at one am so you can post them to tumblr because they mentioned marc and vale in the same sentence and that lit up some of the neurons in your brain

(and i know you said outside of races but i think theyre good benchmarks as turning points soooo you should do some diggin on laguna seca 2013, jerez 2015, argentina 2015, ASSEN 2015, sepang 2015 obvi, argentina 2018, and misano 2019. those are the big tentpoles of insane rosquez relationship drama imo. i mean theres many more but. im limiting myself.)

[skylandart]

*cries* they’re parents.

Headcanons under the cut :3

Their daughter’s name is Adelyn Jones Garcia. It was Javi’s choice because they’d made a deal.

They had her when Amelia was 27 and Javi 26. Useless piece of information, but hey :3

Accidental child.

She’s got Javi’s eyes and Amelia’s hair. And a cute little dimple near the side of her lips. And a little spacing between her teeth because when her adult teeth were growing in, she used to push them aside with her tongue just for fun. She likes the windows between her teeth. She thinks they’re pretty (they are.) and she refuses to get braces. Ever.

She has the physical Rafkonian features. She’s got the antlers and stuff, but she lacks the entire “mind reading” capabilities, the way Amelia and Aiyon do, because she is technically half human.

She’s very annoyed about this fact when she’s in her teenage. Especially because her sibling gets the mind reading capabilities without the antlers and she thinks it’s the universe being unfair.

She was also bullied as a kid because of all this. And Amelia nearly committed homicide as a result— only Javi could hold her back. And Javi…. Javi made sure no kid ever bullies Addy ever again.

They don’t let aunt Izzy find out about this tho bc if she did some primary school kids are gonna get IT.

She loves dad’s cooking. But she loves uncle Aiyon’s cooking more. Those Rafkonian taste buds make an appearance when she’s in her teenage, and suddenly her love for every single weird thing on the planet spikes up, much like Amelia.

Poor Javi. He’s now got two weird girls to take care of :3

Everytime Addy is upset, Amelia makes her muffins— except, Amelia can’t cook. It’s Javi who does the cooking, but hush, Addy doesn’t need to know that.

Javi likes to dance with her. Both of them can’t dance, really, but it’s fun to watch them stumbling about. It always cheers the both of them up, no matter what’s been bothering them.

Almost half of their home movies collection is Javi and Addy’s weird dancing. Amelia just loves recording them.

Amelia and Addy gang up on Javi every snow season, peppering him with snowballs. It’s the cause of a world war every Christmas.

Addy takes after Javi in her musical taste. Javi saw that early on, and tried to put her in music classes, but she was more of a freelancer and class timings and all of that annoyed her very much, and in the end, after three years of tantrums, they were forced to pull her out.

Javi then decides to give her home lessons. It works out much much better, because Addy likes her dad wayyyyy more than any other random music instructor.

Amelia likes taking Addy on walks. It started when Addy was five and Amelia took her out of the house for fresh air, but it evolves into adulthood and becomes their mom-daughter bonding time. They gossip about everything under the sun on their walks.

Addy has fried uncle Ollie’s computers, headphones, fitbits, and every other technical equipment, at least twice, in her lifetime.

Aunt Izzy introduces her to all the “bad” habits at the appropriate ages.

But every time Addy and her friends do stupid things, Aunt Fern is their first point of call, because Aunt Izzy tattles to the parents more.

I have more but this list has already become so long so mayyyyybe I’ll do a part two.

PS: yes. Yes Javi gets dorky dad!glasses. And yes, Addy breaks them eight times when she’s smol.

[harukamitsuki]

Hello, I saw your tumblr pop up and I saw that you are very critical of lances character. I mean absolutely no harm and want to have just have a conversation.

I’m not going to bash you completely because that’d get absolutely no where. I understand a lot of the points you’ve made. The way Lance treats his other teammates (especially Keith and allura) are to say the least… not great.

His one sided rivalry is terrible especially because Keith really is just a kid. He’s got a lot of family issues and now he’s being hated on by some kid he doesn’t even remember/recognize. Allura is dealing with 10,000 years of guilt not being able to save her planet and especially her father. Then ofc Lance comes in and immediately flirts with her.

Neither of these are good things. However, I’d argue that it helps in largely with his growth (if the writers actually cared).

In the first episode when the trio get in trouble Iverson immediately states to Lance that he’s only here because Keith isn’t.

And considering how easily he says this it very much feels like something that’s said often to him.

I don’t think Lance just started the rivalry because he just decided to hate Keith’s guys but because he’s having to be reminded that all he is, is a “cheap replacement” in a sense.

If they (writers) explored this idea more thoroughly I feel as though it would’ve made lances character more understandable. Not better (because even tho something happens doesn’t give anyone the excuse of whatever) but more to show that he’s human.

I would’ve loved to see an apology to Keith for this but obv it never happens.

I will say he does grow more with Allura though. Yes he still flirts but considering in season 5 the scene where Lance is comforting Allura really shows a change in lance.

I feel as though he really changes but the thing is Allura treats him in the end almost as a rebound (not bashing on her or anything). She clearly is more in favor of Lotor and even kisses the hallucination of him and never tells Lance when they’re together.

Moving on, I believe you’re characterizing Lance a little too unfairly. He does not get everything on a silver patter. He gets to be a fighter pilot because he’s the only thing closest to Keith’s record. He is constantly made the joke to the point where even Veronica his older sister find out that they’re being killed because she thinks Lance is an idiot (despite actual evidence mere 5 seconds ago proving it wrong). The whole bob episode makes fun of him. The team kinda leaves him behind. Hunk who’s supposed to be his best friend rarely interacts with him and is more pidges best friend than anything. Season 5s whole thing with Kuron and Lance gets scrapped instantly.

Is Lance a flawed character? Absolutely. But he is very much not given everything. In all honesty I believe Keith is the one who is the most “spoiled” in the show.

Season 1 and 2 lovely. However when shiro dies everything kinda changes.

I understand what the writers were going with but in truth Keith is by far (in my opinion) the worst option for being the black paladin.

Yea Keith has a fucked up backstory. He didn’t want to be the black paladin. he was forced into it.

But that doesn’t mean he is the right one. When he starts he almost kills everyone. Yes he’s starting out but afterwards he doesn’t become his own leader. He just steals shiros character.

When the clone comes in he dips. Sure ita because there isn’t space anymore but considering how easy it is for him to leave is what makes me think of him as spoiled.

The others don’t get an out. If the others had to leave they couldn’t. They don’t have galra genetics that can make them a marmora. They don’t have a space mom to travel with.

They’d have to stay in the castle because there is no where else to go for them.

Keith in the other hand gets an out. He is half galra he has a mom out there in space.

We never see him interact with the others again or even think about them. He only ever thinks about shiro.

When he comes back all of a sudden everything that the paladins have been working on is flipped on their heads. Now Keith has to save the day. Kuron goes bonkers and instead of using all that build up with Lance it’s Keith.

Keith leaves the team defenseless and without Voltron to deal with Lotor.

Gives absolutely no remorse on killing Kuron and just allows shiros mind to be put into his body.

Then he doesn’t give a rats ass about shiro anymore. He never gives him the black lion back (despite that being the original reason he left in the first place)

Shiro becomes a cardboard cutout of who he used to be. And to top that off despite the buildup between shiro and sendak Keith kills him off (despite shiro not even getting injured)

Now as a shiro fan yes I am biased. But, even then this doesn’t give Keith the excuse of being a Mary sue.

The mission where Veronica calls Lance stupid is the one where he leaves the team again to do his own thing.

Despite him agreeing with the others to take off the armor their tracking to run and hide the next scene we see is all of a sudden him being the savior of the episode.

no one else gets this. especially not Lance.

Yes lance is selfish. But I’d rather watch him be the black paladin than Keith.

Because in that Lance can learn and grow. Show that yea being a leader of a team isn’t as “cool” as you think. I wouldn’t loved the paladins being mad at him and him having to actually learn to grow up and be better.

Keith being the black paladin is just him being a recycled shiro.

I wish in all honestly that we got to see the characters be more flawed. and see them ACTUALLY grow instead of being either a carbon copy of another or just completely being thrown.

I hope you see this and I’d love to see your feedback.

Okay. At first, I was really liking this ask. I agreed with a lot of your points about Lance. While I have been heavily critical of him, that's only really because of how much people adore him and are afraid to criticise him. I've already stated, in my original 'Lance bad' post, that I didn't have an issue with Lance in season 1. I liked where his character started, but it was only in later seasons that I started disliking him.

I liked that he was insecure, but there was no pay-off to it. Maybe there were a few times he was reassured by someone, whether it be Allura, Shiro, Keith or whoever, but it feels like less of a trait/flaw and more of a way for him to be comforted. There's no scene in which Lance's insecurity puts the team in actual jeopardy, which would be a great way for his character to develop and to put some actual meaning to making him insecure.

I liked that he was flirty and goofy, because the cast needed a balance between the serious characters and the comedic ones. I liked that, even though he was goofy and comedic, the staff still tried to take him seriously. (Unlike Hunk).

So, yeah. There is stuff I do like about Lance, which is why I'm still treating him as fairly as possible in my rewrite. His insecurity is alluded to early, he's actually best friends with Hunk and it's not just saying that, he at least tries to defend his friends against Iverson, he is quite protective of Pidge, and he is capable of speaking to Allura (in SEASON ONE) without flirting every ten seconds.

But. In canon? I can't stand him. You say he doesn't get everything handed to him on a silver platter, but I don't see your point being proven. Instead, you point out how he's the constant butt of a joke. In season 7 and season 8. Yes, he's made fun of, but that doesn't mean he's not spoilt?

You also say that Keith is spoilt the most, because he gets the Black Lion and 'gets an out'. I feel like you just wanted to see Lance in the Black Lion more.

You claim that Keith is the worst option. That just because he has a fucked up backstory and was forced into it, it doesn't mean he's the good option. Um. That isn't why the Black Lion chose him?? Keith was the only one who didn't have selfish reasons for entering Black. Pidge and Hunk were basically goofing around but they're mostly comfortable where they already are. Lance wanted Black for selfish reasons, to prove himself. That's fine and all but it's not what Black was looking for.

Allura and Keith are the only ones who didn't want the Black Lion for themselves. A lot of people think Allura should have been the Black Paladin, which is fine but I honestly prefer Allura in Red and Keith in Black. Keith only went into Black's cockpit because Shiro wanted him to and the universe needed a Black Paladin. He did it for selfless reasons.

Onto your next point. About how Keith led them into danger and near death when he started. Um. He's just started out? And nobody has comforted him about losing Shiro (AGAIN). Instead, we have Pidge calling him a loner, Lance accusing him of using Shiro's death for his own gain, and everyone just being overall mean and nasty to Keith, RIGHT AFTER SHIRO DIED.

Honestly, I'd love to see you try to lead a team that seems to hate you. At least Keith gets his head screwed back into place before long. And calling him a B-tech Shiro? Should I remind you of: "You want me to lead Voltron? This is how I lead!" The whole point of that was to show how different their leading is. Shiro would rather play it safe unless he's emotionally compromised like at the end of season 1. Keith would rather hold nothing back and go at it 100 percent.

Also, I seem to keep having to bring this up. When Shiro was still there but was knocked out or unavailable, guess who was the one issuing orders? Yeah, that's right. It was Keith. Keith was always the first to ask Shiro what's wrong and then issue orders until Shiro gets back. He was always meant to be the Black Paladin, it's you guys who refuse to see it. I mean, if you look at his clothes, you will very quickly notice that it's not Red's colours. Mostly black with some red, white and yellow? Hmm, that's-- Oh yeah! That's Black's colour scheme. He was always meant to be in Black.

Also saying that Keith is spoilt because he 'gets an out' is stupid. Yes, I am insulting you because that's so far from the truth? Lance could have been dropped off on Earth while Allura stays as Blue and Keith goes back to Red. Allura could have taken a step back and let Lance go back to Blue and Keith to Red and Shiro to Black. Shiro could have stayed dead like he was supposed to and let nothing change.

That first episode of season four? Voltron are doing parades. The BOM are searching for important information to take down the Galra Empire. What, did you want Keith to do the parades? Surely, the people could understand that the Black Lion is out on a mission. There's no need for all five to be there. But, no. Of course, Keith is in the wrong. Regris dies right in front of him and he nearly dies out in space and he's doing incredibly dangerous and important work. But when he gets back, surely the others will be there for him after a fellow Blade died and he nearly did? Right? Nope. They just glare at him because there was an attack nobody could have predicted.

Keith leaves and nobody stops him. Keith leaves so Lance can stay happy in Red and Allura can stay happy in Blue and Shiro can get Black back. He leaves, not because he gets an out or is spoilt. The work he's doing is arguably MORE dangerous than Voltron's work. He isn't hiding inside a Lion, he's doing all this in person.

Saying that he gets to go around on Space Whale with his mother? The same one who abandoned him? While reliving past memories such as his father's death? While having to go through future scenarios again and again, essentially dying over and over to Shiro. His brother.

The whole point of setting some stuff up between Lance and Kuron is to compare with Keith and Kuron. Keith who would have been able to hear Shiro. He would have heard Shiro be cruel and snappy and he would have been on that case immediately. He would have done everything to find out what the hell is happening.

Keith is not spoilt. Lance is not spoilt either. Yes, Lance is given mostly everything he wants, but he still suffers. It's not directly correlated to what he wants/gets, but he suffers nonetheless. Keith is the furthest from spoilt. The only time he can get to relax? Um... He doesn't. Not even in the two-year time skip on the Space Whale because he's constantly suffering from images of the past and the events of the future.

Also, it's ironic that you call Keith a carbon-copy of Shiro, even if they're completely different. Because that's what viewers want Lance to be. They never admit or outright say it, but they want it. They want him to be traumatised, kind and serious, and they want the Galra to take something from him (like, say, a limb), and they want him to struggle to rely on others. That's Shiro. They want Lance to be Shiro but Cuban.

Lance would be a horrible pick for Black Paladin. As I've said time and time again. The reasons are in a pervious post if you want to find it. I've only just woken up at the time of writing this. It's kind of funny to me that I can provide a good reponse to this while I still have sleep in my eyes and I can barely remember the multiples of seven.

If Lance was white, I wonder how many people would still love him.

[iffeelscouldkill]

Fic: the old stars are of no importance

Summary: In which RJ McCabe has more emotions about listening to a drunken group singalong than they'd expected. Set during season 1 episodes 9 & 10 and the aftermath of episode 10.

Also posted to Dreamwidth & AO3, or just keep reading for the fic!

---

Junior Agent RJ McCabe is having a terrible day.

A terrible week, actually. Or make that a terrible career.

RJ is no stranger to hard work – no-one can power through the Academy and get a Junior Agent role at twenty-three without working incredibly hard. But since Park was tak- since Park was rightfully apprehended, it’s not felt like hard work so much as desperately paddling to keep their head above water. All the weird stares, the muttering, the pointed questions from their superiors that RJ answers as honestly as possible while frantically analysing the words for anything that could reflect negatively on them.

They go from urgent briefing to the office to one-on-one report with the Major General to another briefing to the office to home, finally, though they’re barely sleeping. RJ is pretty sure their blood volume is 95% caffeine, lately – thankfully the IGR doesn’t test for that.

In recognition of the awfulness of break room coffee, they brew it at home and bring a big flask with them. Or they would, except that this morning they tiredly fumbled the pot while pouring and scalded their hand, causing them to flinch and drop it, splattering half of the coffee across their tiny kitchen floor. They lost ten minutes to the clean-up and they have half as much coffee as they need, damn it.

All of which is to say that they’re not in the mood for Junior Agent Goodman’s attitude.

“Twelve hours of nothing?” RJ repeats as they stare down at Goodman, whose normal mask of impassiveness has given way to annoyance. He looks tired, but RJ is no stranger to all-nighters, and Goodman shouldn’t be either if he wants to get anywhere in the Republic.

“The crew was mostly asleep for part of it,” Goodman responds. “Is there coffee?”

“It’s dreck,” RJ says. They’re wondering if padding out their stock of coffee with the break room sludge will result in halfway drinkable coffee. It will probably just taint the decent stuff.

“Yes, because I drink break room coffee for the delicate aroma,” Goodman says, his sarcasm acidic, and RJ’s patience snaps.

“I don’t want to write you up for insubordination—”

They listen to Goodman’s rationale for throwing away a full twelve hours of audio, interjecting with pointed questions. When Goodman says, “Trust me,” they almost snort. Trust Goodman. Trust Goodman after his leading questions about Park and his poorly-hidden recording device. After RJ had confronted him about the recording, he’d simply smiled and said, “You can’t be too careful.”

RJ is just taking his advice. They hold out their hand. “Hand me the headphones.”

The audio picks up mid-conversation, and at first it sounds like so much nonsensical rambling, until RJ is able to pick up the thread of what the insurgents are talking about. Edict 1837. Any confession by a known criminal needs to be transcribed, analysed, and examined for veracity – no matter what the contents.

RJ has to suppress a smirk when they realise what Goodman has been dealing with all night. For once, they’re glad they’re the ranking Agent.

They’re tempted to skip over it, but they can at least listen to the entirety of the group’s confessions. Patel and Tripathi’s knowledge of Republic laws and edicts gives them the advantage in creating, if not convincing confessions, certainly detailed ones. Jeeter’s is less elaborate, but would require a qualified Ancient Pre-Crisis Languages expert to verify. The Dwarnian Krejjh’s ‘confession’ is a pure flight of fantasy – no-one rational has believed Dwarnians can shapeshift since at least 2175.

As for Violet Liu – RJ would have expected her to choose a confession oriented towards her history as a Republic scientist. “The lead singer of Birdie and the Swansong” is just silly.

Their finger hovers over the fast forward button as Patel drunkenly challenges Liu to “prove it”.

And then –

Violet Liu starts to sing.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on...”

RJ has heard Violet sing before, during 'Report 1: Violet Liu', but there's something startling about hearing her suddenly strike out into song, a little unsteady but clear and melodious.

The note hangs there for an uncertain few seconds before Patel takes up the next line.

“But it’s not the sea that’s coming for me-”

And then Liu joins back in-

“-and it’s not the storm, no, it’s not the storm…”

Tripathi starts playing a guitar – they’ve heard her idly strumming it in her room during downtime – and suddenly they’re all singing.

“When I go to sea, don’t fear for me,

“Fear for the storm, fear for the storm!”

RJ squints in confusion, forehead creasing. What are they all doing? Is this a taunt? Because they know they’re being listened to? Why else would the whole crew be sitting around singing like they don’t have a care?

(Fleetingly, RJ wonders what it would be like to have that level of comfort with a group. An image of Nan and Ferdy flashes across their mind’s eye before they quickly squash it. They’re getting distracted).

“So gather your charts and your portents,

“Throw them aside,

“The old stars are of no importance,

“They’re not what I navigate by...”

In hours of monitoring, RJ has never heard the crew sing together, yet they harmonise seamlessly like they’ve done it a hundred times.

The words are – nonsensical, just old-world seafaring imagery of seas and charts and stars. But the way the group sings gives them an energy; makes them important. Like they might be the last thing you’ll ever hear.

“Though I may burn, the heavens may learn to fear for the storm...

“Fear for the storm.”

Liu sings the final lines, and then Krejjh exclaims, delighted,

“Oops – I guess we’re all Birdy and the Swansong. What a coincidence!”

The whole group bursts into laughter, and RJ’s finger stabs angrily down on the fast forward button.

“Don’t tell me it’s all like this.”

They pretend not to see Agent Goodman rolling his eyes.

---

The rest of the day blurs past, the usual chain of reports, audio, meetings, exchanging terse words with Goodman (who’s even more sarcastic thanks to his all-nighter), more reports, more audio.

They dismiss Goodman at the end of the workday, even though overtime is the norm in the Republic to the point where the ‘workday’ doesn’t really have a beginning and an end. (This was less depressing to RJ when they thought the agents were all getting overtime pay). He quickly goes, obviously not wanting to wait around for them to change their mind.

Silence descends.

RJ mechanically fills in a few more forms, initials some reports, getting caught up on the endless paperwork that’s generated by active cases. The Rumor audio isn’t being logged as it’s coming in; last night was an exceptional case in the aftermath of the insurgents making contact with the other Violet Liu, but based on the subsequent twelve hours of audio and today’s similar experience, they’ve determined it’s a more prudent use of resources to analyse it after the fact.

So, there’s no reason for RJ to be going over to the bank of audio desks and slipping on a pair of headphones. An audio file has just come in, but RJ pulls up an older file and scrubs through it, looking for the right timestamp.

They’re just double-checking Goodman’s work – making sure nothing was omitted when investigating the insurgents’ confessions under Edict 1837. A missed detail could give rise to a lot of additional paperwork, and their department can’t afford another blot on its track record. They pull an empty notepad towards them and poise a pen over it, ready to take notes.

But the notepad stays blank throughout the confessions, and then the singing begins.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on…”

Maybe the lyrics could be – could contain some kind of code? RJ scrawls, The old stars are of no importance, and then just as quickly scratches it out. Code for who? That wouldn’t make any sense. The words don’t mean anything.

“So gather your charts and your portents,

“Throw them aside...”

RJ has never been one for music or singing (especially in public); they always shrugged Nan off when she tried to cajole them into karaoke. At the Academy, they’d sat on the sidelines during that kind of drunken, raucous group bonding, nursing one drink and wishing they could be literally anywhere else. Eventually, they’d started making excuses about work to catch up on.

Listening to the Rumor crew sing should sound like that – the kind of alcohol-fuelled stupidity that RJ has never wanted to be a part of.

It shouldn’t sound like –

Like family.

“Though I may burn, the heavens may learn to fear for the storm…”

The song ends, and RJ quickly hits ‘stop’. Almost guiltily, they navigate back through the audio to where the beginning of the song would be.

Distant footsteps sound in the corridor, and RJ goes very still, listening. Clark went home hours ago, so it’s not her.

They refuse to look around furtively, because that would be childish and also, they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just doing their job.

RJ hits ‘play’ again.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn…”

---

Chaos reigns as RJ, Park, Liu, Patel and Krejjh dash towards the window where Tripathi hovers with the heisted spaceship. The Vre Chel Noke nanoswarm, which had been a thick, shimmering mist around them seconds ago, hovers ominously like a warning.

It’s enough to keep Goodman and the other guards from trying to retaliate as Tripathi begins helping each of them into the open spaceship door. (RJ was tempted to take a potshot at Goodman in the chaos, but they told themself they’re better than that. Also, they didn’t want to waste any time). RJ is keeping their eyes fixed on Park, deliberately not thinking about what they’re doing, just thinking about the next moment. Stay alive. Get out of here. And then – we’ll see.

As Tripathi holds out her hand to RJ, though, they can’t resist a last glance behind them at everything they’re leaving behind. They thought this building would be the site of a long and (hopefully) distinguished career; it was practically their home, their life – until recently.

A line bubbles up in their mind, and RJ stifles the absurd urge to laugh. The old stars are of no importance – They’re not what I navigate by…

RJ turns away and accepts Tripathi’s hand up into the ship.

---

All things considered, it’s not surprising that only a few hours after joining the crew, RJ finds themself in the middle of a group singalong.

The mood is a mixture of tense and exhilarated in the immediate aftermath of their getaway. Everyone is visibly exhausted, Park possibly most of all, but it’s clear they’re all too wired to sleep or rest. They wander around the new ship, acquainting themselves with the layout and the rooms. The Rumor crew all exclaim over the size of the mess hall, which is pretty small to RJ’s eyes, but they guess anything would seem impressive compared to the homemade junk bucket the crew were flying in before.

The crew have a couple of bags stowed away, stuffed with supplies – all that’s left of the old ship. RJ thinks fleetingly of their small, bare apartment. There’s nothing they’ll miss.

Jeeter – Brian – makes some food and crucially, coffee, which is as bad as the break room dreck, but RJ will inhale anything at this point. The group chatters, their voices still surreal for RJ to hear in person and not through headphones.

They glance at Park, who looks more relaxed than they’ve ever seen him. The Rumor crew are sharing details about what happened to each of them during ‘The Plan’; Park volunteers a little about his own part, though there’s a conspicuous lack of detail about anything related to Zone Z. Sometimes the conversation falls awkwardly silent when the subject comes up. RJ isn’t about to push, and can tell the others don’t want to, either.

Trip- Sana and Krejjh determine it’s safe to set the new ship to autopilot, and Krejjh comes into the mess, intensifying the noise and cheerfulness. RJ tries not to stare; they’ve never been in close quarters with a Dwarnian (well, before shooting Krejjh earlier) and have only ever seen them in Republic training footage and, uh, Sh’th Hremreh. But Krejjh seems to find them fascinating, too, gamely questioning them about their ‘sharpshooting’ skills. Apparently sparing their life carries more weight than shooting them in the leg.

Eventually, Krejjh’s attention turns to their fiancé and the wider group, and RJ, no longer observed, lets their shoulders slump. They’ve drained the last of their coffee and want to ask for more, even though they’re practically vibrating. Adrenaline has carried them this far, and they don’t want to find out what happens when they crash and the reality of what they’ve done hits them. Part of RJ feels like they left their body back at Headquarters; or like they’re about to blink and wake up in their office chair with Goodman glaring at them.

“You okay?” Park asks in an undertone, and RJ jolts, upsetting their thankfully empty cup. They open their mouth to reply, but then Sana calls, “Okay, everyone!”

She’s holding a guitar, and RJ stares, wondering how much space that must have taken up in the supply bags. Arkady groans, but she doesn’t look angry. Violet covers her mouth in amusement, and Krejjh cheers.

“I thought we could christen our new ship with a bit of a song,” Sana says earnestly (RJ is learning that ‘earnest’ is Sana’s default mode). Park’s eyes widen, which makes RJ glad that they’re not the only one experiencing slight panic. Is it too late to sneak out? Sana plucks at the guitar strings, twiddling the pegs to tune them. She strums a chord and nods, satisfied.

“What shall we start with? Any suggestions?” Her gaze alights on Park and RJ, and she smiles encouragingly. “McCabe – do you want to suggest a song? You don’t have to sing if you’re not comfortable.”

“Uh…” RJ would like to suggest something less – incriminating, but unfortunately, there’s only one song currently on their mind. “What about... ‘Fear for the Storm’?”

To their relief, Sana doesn’t ask questions. “Good choice!” she says, and RJ feels, ridiculously, pleased. Park quirks an eyebrow at them after Sana looks away, but RJ just shrugs, not wanting to explain.

Sana strums a few opening chords, and Violet and Arkady begin, singing the first line together.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on...”

RJ sits back in their chair and fractionally, begins to relax, letting the singing wash over and around them.

Quietly, too quietly, to be heard beneath the singing, they hum along.

---

A/N: So the idea conception for this fic went something like this:

Me: Okay, I've got this fun idea I want to write about the real lead singer of Birdie and the Swansong listening to the Iris casefiles and reacting to the group singalong-

My brain: I have an even better version of that idea!

Me: Yes?

My brain: What if McCabe-

Me: OH MY GOD

...Go on...

I have one (1) character whose perspective I'm consistently inspired to write from and can do so at the drop of a hat xD (I was trying to write this in a few days for the Small Fandoms Surprise Scramble on Dreamwidth. I succeeded!

The idea that became this idea was sparked off by listening to the full cast version of Fear for the Storm and having some Emotions about it again :D I remember how captivated I was by this song when listening to Episode 9 for the very first time, and so the idea of giving McCabe some of those Emotions was a very appealing one. Poor thing is going through it.

This also gave me a chance to write about the immediate aftermath of Episode 10, which I had not done before!

[nyoomfruits]

“Can you scent me so the others think I’m taken?” with max & oscar pretty please?

EBYYYYYYYYYYYY i love you <3 taken from this list (feel free to send me one!)

“Can you scent me so the others think I’m taken?”

Like all things in Oscar’s life recently, it’s mostly Lando’s fault. After all, he is the one that drags Oscar to the club with him, yelling something about ‘celebrating the first half of the season’ and then promptly disappears into the crowd when they get there. It leaves Oscar standing near the bar with a drink in his hand, a little lost, bobbing along to the music a little awkwardly as he desperately tries to find a familiar face in the crowd.

It doesn’t help that he’s an Omega, standing alone, which means every so often an Alpha slides up to him, trying to shoot their shot. Oscar’s interested in none of it, politely tells them to fuck off, and they listen, mostly, but it’s still. In a situation where he already feels a little off kilter it’s doing nothing to make him feel less off kilter.

After the fifth Alpha he turns down gets a little aggressive about it, Oscar is about ready to leave. Which is, of course, when he runs into Max Verstappen.

“Hey,” Max says, doing a double take when he spots Oscar. “Didn’t know you were here, too. How are you?”

“Yeah,” Oscar says, nodding his head a little too enthusiastically, realizes this, and quickly stops, making a little hand motion towards the crowd of people. “Lando, uh. Brought me here. And then disappeared.” He tries to sound cool about it, like it’s no big deal that he’s now here alone, like he’s totally cool with that. Because this is Max, and he wants Max to, well. Not think he’s a loser, at least.

Max laughs. “Yeah, he does that. So, you’re having fun?”

No. Oscar thinks. “Yes! Yeah. I mean, I had some annoying Alpha’s trying to flirt with me, but other than that. Yeah, it’s cool.” Max is wearing a pretty tight shirt, tight enough that Oscar can see the outline of his pecks through the fabric. He tries not to stare too hard. “I mean. The last one got pretty aggressive about it, so that kind of sucked,” he continues, because maybe if he keeps talking Max will stop looking so goddamn hot and he can be normal about things again.

“Maybe I should ask Lando to scent me, later. So they think I’m taken,” he continuous, mostly thinking out loud, distracted by the way Max’s biceps bulge under the fabric of his t-shirt when he shifts his drink from one hand to the other. They do that sometimes, him and Lando. Make people think they are together so they’re left alone. It’s a pretty solid deal, if a bit unconventional.

“I can do that,” Max says, and Oscar blinks, dragging his eyes up to Max’s face.

“What?” He asks, because. What.

“Scent you. So people think you are taken,” he shrugs, like this is no big deal somehow. Like Oscar’s insides don’t feel like they’re on fire all of a sudden.

“Oh, uh,” he says, because what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck. “Yeah, no. That would be great, if you wouldn’t mind.” If you wouldn’t mind. Christ.

Max steps forward then, into Oscar’s space, reaching up to wrap his hand around the side of Oscar’s neck, and Oscar’s brain momentarily short circuits. This much up close Oscar can smell his scent, a mix of rain and gasoline and forests that makes Oscar want to tip forward and bury his nose in Max’s t-shirt until he’s drowning in it.

He barely has time to process anything because suddenly Max’s other hand is on his waist, and he leans forward, burying his face in the crook of Oscar’s neck, and Oscar gasps. Max’s nose moves over his scent gland, and even though Oscar knows it’s the fastest way to scent someone it still surprises him when Max’s nose is quickly replaced by his mouth.

Max’s tongue darts out, licking at the sensitive skin of Oscar’s scent gland and Oscar is forever grateful Max is holding him so tightly, because he can feel his knees buckle and he’s pretty sure he would’ve fallen over otherwise.

It’s never felt this intimate, with Lando. Never this intense.

As fast as it’s started it’s already over again, Max pulling away after pressing a small little kiss to Oscar’s neck, stepping away. There’s a dark look in his eyes, though Oscar is pretty sure it might be the lighting in the club.

“Thanks,” He manages to breathe out, voice rough and a little shaky. The places Max has touched feel like they’re on fire, and Oscar can smell nothing but raingasolineforest, and he feels like the world his spinning out of control.

“No problem, mate. See you around,” Max says, and with one last pat on Oscar’s shoulder, he disappears back into the crowd.

Oscar stands there, frozen in place, staring after him, probably for way too long. At least no other Alpha approaches him. They would be mad to, when he so deeply smells like he belongs to Max.

And god, isn’t that a wonderful thought?

Lando finds him again, eventually. Tells him he stinks with a wrinkled nose, and calls them a cab. When they’re in the backseat, he offers to scent Oscar, get that ‘disgustingly cloying Alpha scent off him’.

Oscar declines with a vague excuse that it’s not that bad, and turns to stare out the window. It’ll fade, eventually, Max’s scent on his skin. Whether Lando scents him or not, it will eventually disappear.

But for now, for this tiny moment in time, Oscar can pretend he’s Max’s. And he’s not yet ready to let that go.

[nerdieforpedro]

WIP Tag Game (The XL edition) 🤣

I was tagged by @missredherring and sure I did it earlier this week. Could I have come up with a new WIPs because my mind is never quiet? 🤐

Yes, yes, Yes I did. 😆 I’m also structuring it similar to how she had it because it spoke to me. 🤭

Current foci (because having just one is difficult as I bounce around):

1. Weddings 101 with Dieter and @angelofsmalldeath-codeine - We’re going to finish it one day or at least the next chapter. Also AO3 link.

2. Coasting through the Rainbow 🌈 - I’m half way done with chapter four of this finally. 😆 2 and 1/2 more to go! Also AO3 link.

3. Waters of Lethe - The Qimir one. Maybe 2-5 parts? We’ll see where it goes. So far only one part. AO3 link

4. Honey and Sugarplum - With Jack Daniels and an OFC. Very sweet, smutty kinda and fluffy. ☺️ AO3 link.

Excuse me Ma’am? We’re over here in the back!

1. Unnamed Fae Jack Daniel fic for Monster Smash Challenge. I did write out some Fae facts for this one and I plan to keep it…..an actual one shot?! It’s been 900 years since Nerdie’s done one of those.

2. Fifty-Six Wildflower Lane - this one with Frankie still needs an ending, then I can post it here like. Just need part number four. AO3 link.

3. Tasting Ambrosia - Ezra, ever the scoundrel nagging at the back of my brain has a small WIP. No idea where this one is going. Also trying to do drama and will he make it out sort of deal. 👀

We been waiting for our day to come for so long:

1. Travel to You - A sweet and maybe a little obsessive Javi G? He’s adorable, has golden curls and can shoot those clay bird things down accurately so, totally fine. Have discord and FFXIV references, very nerdy. 🤣 AO3 link.

2. Therapy for the Well-Adjusted - Marcus Pike and Imani are finally going on that date. Or do they? Maybe they go somewhere else? Also AO3 link.

3. A Safe Place for Us - Dieter and Aisha continue to sort their feelings and trying to make a baby. What could go wrong? Also AO3 link.

4. Green Shop of Memories - that Marcus Moreno AU where I made him a wizard/warlock that owns a cafe. 😘 It’s all sad, and cute. Plus it has fairies and a Magic Council. Also fake dating? AO3 link.

5. Kissed by the Sun - I had an idea that Oberyn Martell was a son or descendant of Apollo and he pissed off Venus (Aphrodite if ya nasty) and was barred from his soulmate being able to interact with him other than his voice. Because…..I read too many Marcus A fics that kept referencing Roman gods. 🫡 AO3 link

6. Din’s in the Neighborhood- Modern Din AU that has him meet on OFC DV survivor post divorce. Also Grogu is a human boy and we have Finn/Poe. There’s also Johnnie Mae and Luke that are just together? No one’s asking and I don’t think either of them would given an answer. 😆 So many cameos and randomness, so little time. Side notes: I gave Din tattoos, Obi-Wan is a children’s author and there’s a Jedi Law & Order show. Also AO3 link.

7. Fire and Fury - Pero and Calista’s story likely has two more parts. Complete with smut, more fighting, a bathtub (I promised @avastrasposts that one) and they’ll get their revenge! But what happens after? Also AO3 link.

8. Hands of God - This could be a long one shot or I might have to split it up. The Marcus Acacius fic that @soft-persephone and @megamindsecretlair “gently suggested” that I write. I did start it. 👀 There will be some infidelity, plots, murder and a coup. Also a dash of smut just for seasoning. And maybe a subby Marcus A? Can I do it? Only time and Marcus’ sash will tell.

9. Front Office Adjunct - One of two Dave York fics. ☺️ Dave blackmails on OFC into working for him. Things appear to be stacked in his favor, but are they? This one is a slow burn one, enemies to lovers maybe? Also espionage, murder, violence, smutty and bad behavior. Just bad. 👀🤫 AO3 link

She hasn’t touched us in so long:

Pleasure Principle - The first series I ever started anywhere. Has Dave York in a toxic working on making it better relationship with an OFC. I’ll finish this one someday. 😭😭 Also AO3 link.

Uncomplicated Mi Amor - The fic where I swore I was going to have something sweet for Javier Peña. Which it is, I just haven’t finished it. 👀 Also I will finish someday. Also AO3 link.

Roc & Doc - A Tim Rockford crime series with an OFC ME that is my love letter to the likely thousands of hours I’ve spent watching crime procedurals or listening to true crime podcasts. Also AO3 link.

Some have just AO3 links, I haven’t gotten around to putting them on Tumblr yet and some are in both places. A few just exist in notes. 🗒️ I should also never look through my WIP this in depth again. This thing is very long. 🤣🤣🤣

NPT because you may have already done it but I described things this time around. 🙌🏽

@schnarfer @maggiemayhemnj @lotusbxtch @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @604to647

@inept-the-magnificent @connectioneverywhere @for-a-longlongtime @lady-bess @tinytinymenace

@perotovar @julesonrecord @yourcoolauntie @clawdee @magpiepills

@trulybetty @rhoorl @grogusmum @syd-djarin @sin-djarin

@harriedandharassed @missladym1981 @jolapeno @pedrospurplerain @alltheglitterandtheroar

@movievillainess721 @notapradagurl7 @bishtrouille @fhatbhabiee @secretelephanttattoo

@gasolinerainbowpuddles @din-cognito @djarins-cyare

[shunin-gumis]

As Master Joe Wishes - Track 06

Seasonal Team Event - L4mps

Location: Manor – Large Parlor

Joe: Oh my, tomorrow morning? This is the first I’m hearing of this.

Yodaka: Tomorrow morning… This really is short notice.

Samejima: Sorry about this. It’s not that we don’t trust you, but we were taking precautions against any information leak. As it is, we’re limiting the discussion of the situation with involved parties only.

Toi: Um… If the transfer has already been confirmed, does that mean our orders have changed as well…?

Samejima: I’m glad you’re quick on the uptake. As you guessed, the next 12 hours will be the most dangerous yet.

Samejima: Our troops are stationed in the gardens, as well as the surrounding houses, but– 

Samejima: As we are aiming to lure in the target to arrest them, we’ve decided to deploy only the bare minimum within the manor, so as to not arouse suspicion. That would include a couple of us from command, and all of you. 

Hiramei: If we pack too many folks in here, they’d figure us out immediately and get away… 

Ryui: Wha–

Ryui: (Ain’t no fuckin’ way, it’s way too dangerous. That said, might be worse if we try to get outta here now…) 

Samejima: I suppose it’d be too much to ask for you to spend the next 12 hours doing the same as usual… But of course, I hope you avoid doing anything dangerous. 

Ryui: (They’re aiming for that spoiled brat of a bear. If I can just keep Toi away from her, I should be able to protect him even if they come down on us…)

Nagi: In a development like this, they’re all but guaranteed to come to us.

Nagi: Maybe we should set up some traps to drive away the intruders, like in that one famous Christmas movie.*

Joe: Oh my~ What a splendid idea! I am quite fond of that film myself~

Toi: I love it too! Although, I do feel bad for the robbers at the end of it… 

Daniel: If yer gonna do it, make sure ya don’t half-ass it and have your allies end up in the cross-fire instead. 

Daniel: Anyways, I’m gonna go lie down. Back’s still sore and all. 

Yodaka: He’s got a point. While there’s some appeal to setting up classic traps, I’m worried about being unarmed against a group of thieves… 

Ryui: Oi, old man. Tell ‘em they oughta give us a proper guard, or at least give us somethin’ to protect ourselves with. 

Samejima: Hmm… Maybe I could get permission to get us some batons… 

Daniel: Batons… Well, better than nothin’ I guess. We don’t have much time, so you should—

Netaro: Ask and you shall receive~ ! Drumroll please! There is no need to worry your little heads~ A kawaii and cool arms dealer has arrived~ 

Netarobot: Yes indeedy we have weapons indeed~

Nagi: That scared me… weapons?

Netaro: Tada!

Ryui: T-This is… 

Yodaka: From handguns to rifles… There’s even a grenade launcher… These are all elaborately crafted airsoft guns, aren’t they?

Toi: So cool! Just like in an action movie…! Did you design all these yourself, Netaro-san?

Netaro: Roh’s the one who designed the exterior~

Yodaka: Oh? Sakujiro did?

Netaro: Remember when Ryui oh-so-cruelly rejected the servant clothing that Roh had designed? Well, he said we should at least have some weapons on us and came up with these designs one after the other! 

Yodaka: I see. Now that you’ve said it, I can tell these weapon designs were made in mind to match the butler and maid uniforms he had shared before… Put them together, and the design would leave a deep impression on a certain subgroup of people… 

Nagi: Could I use this one as a blunt weapon?

Netaro: Gii, if you mess with that, you’ll get blown away, along with the entire manor.

Nagi: Eh… 

Netaro: Roh may have designed the exterior, but the interior execution was done by yours truly~ They’re equipped to overkill any band of thieves (or anyone, really)!

Toi: So, they’re like the real deal? 

Netaro: I am an arms dealer after all~

Ryui, you can have this one.

Ryui: Woah, aight.

Daniel: –An assault rifle huh. A mid-ranged weapon that can be used in both offensive and defensive formations. From the looks of it, it’s semi-automatic too, perfect for beginners to use.

Netaro: I’ve adjusted the recoil so it won’t shatter Ryui’s shoulder. Once you’ve strapped on the ammo belt over both shoulders, you may shoot to your heart’s content like Ramboo!*

Ryui: Got it.

Netaro: This one’s for Toi!

Toi: W-woah! It looks really cool but, can someone like me even use it…? 

Daniel: Sniper rifles are long distance, meaning you won’t be targeted as easily. It’s plenty enough if you can just calmly assist your allies from out of sight.

Toi: I can protect Ani-sama with this!

Netaro: Gii gets hand grenades!

Nagi: Thank you… I don’t get a gun, huh. 

Daniel: The hand grenade is considered one of the most powerful weapons because it can reduce a wide area to ashes in an instant. Nagi doesn’t have much of a presence, and he’s real fast. Might be surprisingly suited for a vanguard. 

Nagi: I should be careful not to pull the pin on accident… 

Ryui: (Not sure if we should trust him with that thing… )

Netaro: Yoda can have this one~

Yodaka: A revolver, huh.

Yodaka: (Hm… How strange, feels like it fits right in my hands… )

Daniel: Revolvers are standard equipment for JPN police. Although the bullet count is limited, it’s the easiest to maneuver in close combat, right after the assault rifle. 

Nagi: Buchi-san, how come you know so much about these?

Daniel: … Who knows. 

Netaro: And finally, I get to have everyone’s favorite grenade launcher! The grenades come in seven different colors and seven different abilities and pop out one after the other for great efficiency~ That’s all!

Daniel: … What about me?

Nagi: You’ve got your muscles, Buchi-san.

Netaro: If you must have one, here.

Daniel: A magnum? 

Netaro: I considered scrapping this extra-large caliber gun since it would dislocate the shoulder of any of the other weaker-bodied humans but… Your dynamite muscular frame should be able to handle it no problem~

Samejima: Um, I’m technically still a police officer here, so seeing this blatant violation of the Firearm and Swords Control Law right in front of me is a bit… Well, I’ll still grant you permission, of course.

Hiramei: I’ve been recording the whole thing so, if push comes to shove, it’ll only be Samejima-san’s neck on the line!

Joe: Being middle management must be quite the difficult job indeed~

Samejima: Yeah... Please take me in if I get fired for this.

Samejima: With that being said… I’m sorry to ask this of you after all you’ve done to help already, but until the transfer is complete, please be–

Toi: Um, this is only a suggestion, but… Could we hold a farewell party for Joe-sama now?

Joe: Toi…!

Samejima: Be–

Toi: I’d like to make some more memories with Joe-sama! I can’t believe we’re parting in just 12 hours… 

Joe: Oh my, I am so very happy to hear you say that~!

Samejima: –Be on your guard and as we prepare a wonderful party.

Toi: Yay! It’s decided then!

Note:

The famous Christmas movie Nagi is referring to is the 1990 film Home Alone.

Ramboo is a reference to Rambo.

[fleurywiththesave]

For the ask game: ↻ FLIP FLOP for It’s the magical mystery kind (especially the reveal outside the bar at the allstar game / the ending from Leon‘s POV) please💙

YES I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU!!! (here's the original fic)

(↻FLIP FLOP:send me a scene from one of my fics and I’ll describe or write it from another character’s POV!)

Leon can’t seem to catch his breath in the bar. He was okay during the actual game, but now he feels hyper-aware of Matthew’s presence just a few tables away from where Leon’s sitting with Connor. He’s with his brother, drinking and laughing and apparently having a wonderful time. Which he should be. This is meant to be fun.

Connor has no idea – no one does, Leon’s managed to keep everything locked down tight – but he keeps asking Leon why he’s acting so squirrelly, until Leon finally gets fed up and steps outside to attempt a reset.

“Stop being weird,” he orders himself. It doesn’t help much. Or at all.

He’s not even entirely sure when it all started. It would be easy enough to say it was their first all-star game, but that’s not quite right. Maybe that’s when the Matthew switch in his head initially eased off of PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE, but the rest of it…it crept up on him. At some point during the Covid season, when they were playing each other constantly, Leon began to wish that he were the person making Matthew laugh, genuinely laugh, the way his teammates did. And he’s been suffering in silence ever since.

The past few months have been harder, he won’t pretend otherwise. It’s not like Leon ever made any progress on attempting even just a friendship with Matthew, but at least when they were in the same province, he could still fool himself into thinking that he might. Now Matthew is on the other side of the continent, loving life in Florida, no doubt headed to a Cup win within the next few years, and Leon…

Leon is just a loser who doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings, and Matthew can never, ever know. Which shouldn’t make it so hard for Leon to act normal around him, since their normal is, well, nothing. But apparently that would be too easy for his brain.

He’s staring up at the moon, feeling kind of like he belongs on a teen drama, when there’s some noise behind him and he turns to see Matthew. Of course. Of fucking course he does. Because the universe is out to get him.

“Hey, Tkachuk.” Wow, solid. Try to sound more flat and unfriendly, Leon. He’s usually pretty good with people – how come he can never quite get his shit together around Matthew?

“‘Sup,” Matthew says. He’s a little wobbly on his feet and Leon has to stifle laughter. Drunk Matthew kind of resembles a baby deer.

“Having a good time?”

“I’m a responsible drinker,” Matthew responds, which isn’t really an answer, but he’s nodding sagely like he’s just delivered some profound wisdom and Leon has to fight even harder against laughter.

“I’m sure you are,” he agrees, then adds, when Matthew sways a little bit like he’s getting dizzy, “Hey, maybe it’s time to call it a night. Do you want me to get you an Uber?” There, that’s good. Friendly, helpful. A normal, thoughtful gesture.

But Matthew turns fiery in a second, hissing, “Go fuck yourself” so surely and ferociously that Leon can practically feel it washing over him. He’s half-tempted to just turn tail and run back to Connor like a wimp, but he makes himself try again.

“Come on, Tkachuk. Let me take you home. I think you need to go to sleep.”

“Don’t wanna sleep,” Matthew says. Or, more accurately, whines. Leon kind of hates that he still finds it endearing. “I hate sleeping.”

He doesn’t even know what to make of that. “Um, okay? But—”

“When I sleep, I have to wake up,” Matthew says, cutting him off. “And when I wake up, you’re always gone.”

It’s like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head and flooding his lungs.

“What did you say?”

“You’re always gone,” Matthew says again. “‘S not fair. ‘S like…like…oh, Matthew, here’s your person. Just kidding! He’s in Edmonton and he hates you!”

Leon can’t decide if he’s about to throw up or pass out. How, how, how did this happen? He’s always been so careful, ever since the day his parents sat him down and explained what he could do. He was twelve years old and utterly horrified by the whole concept, and resolved immediately that he would master how to control it and it would never be an issue. And it never has been, until now. Of course it’s now, when it matters most of all.

“Matthew…” He has no idea where he’s going with that sentence. Matthew starts to walk away before he can figure it out, but he’s still shaky on his feet and Leon grabs his arm without even thinking about it. “Whoa. Okay, okay. Matthew, come on. Let me take you home and I…we can talk in the morning. I’ll explain in the morning.”

“Explain to your mom.” Yeah, Matthew is pretty damn drunk. But he tells Leon his address and gets in the uber without a fuss, and, after trying and failing several times to open the front door himself, hands his house keys over to Leon.

Leon peeks in the upstairs rooms as quickly as possible until he finds what must be Matthew’s room. What a joke, what an incredibly sick joke by his old friend the universe, that he’s actually in Matthew’s house, in his bedroom, and it’s only to make Matthew get some sleep before Leon has to confess to what’s been happening and beg for his forgiveness. He tugs Matthew’s sneakers off of his feet and gets him to lie down and hates himself the entire time.

“I don’t wanna have another dream,” Matthew mutters.

“You won’t.” He never will again, Leon can at least promise that. Now that he knows what he’s been doing, he would give up sleep himself if that’s what it takes,

“You don’t know that. You’ve been hau–haunting me for months. When I find out who’s doing it, ‘m gonna…gonna…gonna pinch ‘em, really hard.” Matthew sounds like a petulant child, which only makes Leon feel worse. He should be furious, shouting and swearing and maybe trying to call the police, not morosely threatening classic older brother treatment.

“You won’t,” Leon says again. “I’m sorry.” Matthew doesn’t respond. He’s asleep.

Leon promised to explain in the morning, so he can’t exactly leave. But he can burrow into Matthew’s couch – one that’s clearly been chosen for comfort rather than aesthetics, which only makes him more endearing – and call his mother. Unfortunately he starts to cry as soon as she picks up.

“Leon?” she says, sounding understandably alarmed. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

“I messed up, Mama,” he whispers. It all comes tumbling out, everything he’s been keeping carefully hidden for the last couple years and how badly he’s managed to screw up anyway. His mother makes a few startled noises along the way, but when he finally gives her a chance to get a word in edgewise, she’s utterly calm.

“It’s going to be okay,” she says soothingly. “You can tell him the truth in the morning.”

“He’s going to hate me,” Leon says. “Even more than he did before.”

“What you’ve described does not sound like someone who hates you, Leon.”

“Well, he does,” Leon says firmly. “I’ll just be lucky if he doesn’t tell the entire league what I did.”

“I think you should try to get some sleep,” his mother tells him. “Our problems usually don’t seem quite as scary in the light of day.”

Leon is a good son, so he follows her instructions. Or at least, he does eventually. It takes him a long time to fall asleep, since the sheer embarrassment and mortification of the night gives him another jolt every time he closes his eyes, but he gets there in the end. It’s restless and uneven, but at least he keeps his word to Matthew.

_____

Matthew hasn’t emerged yet when Leon wakes up, with a sore neck and a headache even though he had way less to drink last night than some people. At least Matthew’s coffee maker is a simple model. He stumbles into the kitchen when the pot Leon started is almost ready, also looking a little worse for wear.

“Hey,” he says. “I have multiple guest rooms, you know.” Leon knows – he looked in two of them last night before finding Matthew’s room – but it didn’t seem appropriate to just help himself to Matthew’s space when he hadn’t actually been given permission. He says as much. “Well. Thank you for getting me home. And for making coffee.” Matthew is looking at him expectantly. Leon digs down deep into his guts to dredge up every bit of courage he can.

“Matthew, I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Matthew asks. Leon pulls in a deep breath. He can’t even look Matthew in the eye when he answers him.

“For the dreams.”

“For the—it was you?”

Leon nods. He can’t feel his hands. “I swear to you, I had no idea I was doing it. I never, ever meant to project any of that onto you. It’s been a long time since I had to work to control it, and I guess I got sloppy…I’m really, really sorry. I don’t know how to make it up to you.” His voice sounds desperate and pathetic even to his own ears, so he can’t imagine what Matthew must be thinking. Matthew’s face doesn’t betray anything. He mostly looks confused.

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you do that to try to knock me off my game? Why would you do it by accident?”

“Knock you off your game?” What is he talking about?

“Yeah!” Matthew says. Now he’s starting to sound kind of angry again. Leon braces himself. “Brady and I figured it out – someone was trying to mess with my play by giving me weird dreams. But you don’t—and you just said you didn’t mean to project it, so—I don’t get it.”

He really doesn’t get it. He has no clue what’s been happening or why it’s all Leon’s fault. Leon is going to have to spell it out, and then go hide in a cave forever. Maybe he should book one of those cruises to Antarctica and forget to get back on the ship at the end.

“Matthew, I wasn’t trying to mess with your game,” Leon says. “I was…I was just imagining. What I wanted. And I guess it was just so strong that it…went to you too. That can happen sometimes even when you don’t mean to do it.”

“What you wanted.”

“I’m sorry,” Leon whispers. That sick, heavy feeling from last night is back. He’s never been more sorry for anything in his entire life. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t intend for you to find out, certainly not like this. I promise I have it under control. I won’t make things weird again.” He has to look away from Matthew for a second time, can’t bear to see the hate in his eyes when he tears Leon to pieces.

But that’s not what happens.

After what might be thirty seconds or an hour, Matthew’s feet appear in his line of vision.

“You’re an idiot.”

When Leon looks up, Matthew kisses him.

[mike-haters-dni]

Some S5 Ideas, Before Information Starts Coming Out And They Get Destroyed lol, Pt. I

Part II | Part I.V

Roughly ordered from most to least likely to actually happen, but I'm at most like 50% on any of these. Except for the first one which is a 100% :)

No one dies. Yeah, that’s right. Maiming is on the table tho.

The Duffs said we were getting the original groups back together so I’m running with the idea that our boys (and girl) spend the majority of the season as a unit. (yes, this is mostly about the party, I only think about them lmao)

Mike and El have twin arcs that center around responsibility. They are both officially named the party’s leaders who get the last say on anything the group does, specifically for dangerous situations to make sure the group works together. Technically El is the Supreme Leader who gets the final say if they disagree on anything and generally isn't argued with, but Mike is more often coming up with and overseeing plans. They both take this role very seriously, and end up putting perhaps unnecessary pressure on themselves. They both feel responsible for keeping everyone safe, to the point where they would gladly sacrifice themselves if it meant making sure no one else got hurt or died. Mike grapples with his own fears and starts to buckle under this newfound feeling of being responsible for his friends lives, while El also feels the larger responsibility of being the only person with the power to actually fix the apocalypse. Does this mean she has to be willing to do absolutely anything to fix it? Is she even actually the only solution? Does she have to prioritize saving the world over saving her friends?

Lucas of course feels horrible about “letting” max die and funnels his regret into training to make sure he never loses a fight again. As soon as they figure out a plan to get her back he’s on the warpath, and ends up making some game-winning (and very risky, much to Mike's chagrin) plays for the mission.

Will’s arc is about him finding his own self-worth, and ends with him getting to physically defeat the representation of his trauma.

Nancy teaches Mike how to shoot a gun.

Hawkins gets destroyed. I want it destroyed. The rot from the gates and the gates themselves spread over time and eventually monsters come pouring out, making the area completely inhabitable and everyone gets evacuated and the town is closed off. Of course, our heroes eventually have to sneak back into it to fix The Plot. Imagine a scene where they go to the Wheeler house looking for something and have this terrible “oh shit. Nothing is ever going to be the same again” moment as they see how broken down and destroyed everything is. Our homes are destroyed and there’s no going back. It’s like a metaphor.

Everyone ends up having to begrudgingly work with the government/military to fix Hawkins cuz I mean, there's no way they’re leaving the area of this insane alien disaster and someone on the Alien Disaster Response Team is going to know about Eleven and realize that she’s their best resource for fixing this (again lol). Our heroes agree to this because they don’t really have a choice, plus the military has a ton of resources that they can steal utilize.

I also want that timeskip. A lot of it is spent in a makeshift military base in the next town over trying to figure out how to approach the Vecna problem, who has been weirdly absent for too long. There’s very much a held-breath, dread vibe during this section.

During this lull, everyone trains to become apocalypse-ready, and El finally gets an unironic, non-trauma-based training arc to become the finely-honed, superpowered boss bitch she was always meant to be.

Also Dustin learns a good deal about field medicine, which becomes a skill that he utilizes at least once in a very life-or-death situation later.

The other half/two-thirds of the story is spent traveling to the heart of the apocalyptic Hawkins after confirming the military can’t be trusted.

Will gets slightly more utility out of his monster sensing powers/curse than just being able to tell that the giant ominous rumbling is danger, actually. He can more or less read their minds and sense where they are in an area, which allows the group to avoid or ambush them. It would also be really cool if there was some moment where he sensed some goal the monsters had and it was all spooky and cryptic, or he figures out a way to mask his presence from them and there's a tense scene where he sneaks through a heavily infested area to get to something. Idk, the show’s scifi magic system barely has rules anyway we can have fun with it.

Max gets woken up halfway through the season and has some important new information that is the key to stopping Vecna. I like the idea that she retains like 20% vision and her bones healed through the coma (and the timeskip cough), so she forces the boys to bring her with them on the final mission to end everything despite their reasonable concerns about her physical state. Just so we can have the whole group together.

Continuing the responsibility theme, the idea of El having to sacrifice herself to fix everything is brought up multiple times. She never argues with this—its clear she agrees on some level, but then when the moment comes for her to do the thing and die to save the world, she decides “fuck it, I wanna live actually” and fights her way back to her friends.

The one time someone (Dustin) is brave (dumb) enough to suggest El sacrificing herself in front of Mike he almost spontaneously combusts with rage and gets to say the one ‘fuck’ of the season. I would say lmao but its actually a very intense emotional scene ok take this seriously please.

Mike finally gets a real Violence Moment (checkhov did lend him a gun). As well as anyone else that wants one.

It would be fun to see Dustin like legitimately bitter and angry after what happened to Eddie. He blames the townspeople for Eddie’s death and generally lacks empathy for anyone opposing them. Not sure how that would wrap up for him though.

El loses her powers permanently at the end of the show. I just think it would be a good ending for her to finally get to be normal, and not have the government breathing down her back (as much) anymore.

Part II | Part I.V

[icequeen1371]

You can tell people that grew up, or are still middle income, or being taken care of by middle income, parents, or grew up in a house where there’s money. But they didn’t consider themselves rich or are rich. Just saw someone post something supposedly helpful. A list of 13 things people “usually have in their kitchen“ but can’t think of what to make for a meal. Meanwhile, no, not everyone has avocados and green bread or eggs let alone, fruits and vegetables in their fridge. Do you want to talk about making a meal? How about you? Talk about the bread, the ketchup, the mustard, no eggs, pasta, and maybe a can of pasta sauce, and a leftover container of butter in the fridge. Make some pasta, put a little bit of margarine on that to loosen up the noodles, a splash of sauce, couple of cheese slices to melt within the pasta stirred up at salt and pepper a bit of garlic powder some Parsley, because those are all found at the dollar store. And you have yourself a meal. If you do have eggs, you could put those on toast and make a toasted egg sandwich. If you’re lucky enough to have peanut butter in the house call me you can make a toasted peanut butter sandwich. A lot of it depends on bread. If you have no bread, depends on pasta. Pasta is really cheap but the dollar store. There’s not much room in a freezer when you’re low income because you deal with the freezer that you have in the apartment that you’re renting. So bread has to be a weekly thing, make sure you have $10 on top of the fridge or in the cupboard put away specifically to go buy bread every week. Because a lot of times if you don’t have bread, you can’t eat. Bags from the dollar store are a good thing, makes you feel like you actually have something to drink besides water from the tap. Get a bag of sugar and use it sparingly don’t have super sweet tea. Otherwise she’ll run out fast. Milk always runs out. That’s why I always kept a can of carnation milk in the cupboard just in case. You can always water it down for cereal if you’re desperate. If it’s cold, you can’t really tell. Canned vegetables, canned fruit. They can last along time you don’t have to worry about them. Going to waste in the fridge. Ramen noodles, there’s 1 million recipes for those out now. Get all your spices at the dollar store. Eggs and tuna are always great protein but don’t spoil fast. Learn how to love drinking water from the tap. Buy a case and refill the water bottles but don’t forget to clean the lids and the rims at least once a week and if the bottles get cloudy? Throw them out and save for another case. Yes, I said save because some people don’t have a three dollars to spend on a case of water or don’t want to spend the money on non-reusable plastic. You can always pick up some water bottles from the dollar store that are reusable and fill those up in your fridge. Just don’t forget to wash them with the dishes at least once a week. Can’t exactly offer those people when your mouth has been all over them. Lol so always make sure you at least have a couple bottles put away for guests. Get to love no name brand soda. When you have money to treat yourself get namebrand. But not like a case of it or something. And a case is always cheaper in the long run than just one 2 L bottle, so you can afford it ration it out. It’s not actually that bad. Cinnamon sugar on toast, a can of tuna mixed with a Lipton sidekick creamy Parmesan with half a can of peas, mix that up well with a little salt and pepper and you’ve got tuna casserole for two people. Three people if you have a little salad on the side. or you can make garlic bread. Even if you’re using slices of bread. Toast them, then butter them, add a little bit of garlic and herb seasoning to each one with a little handful of cheese, or even just some Parmesan cheese shaken on top. Let that toast, got some real cheap and garlic bread. Pretty tasty if you’re in a pinch. And you’re not bougie like people are now. I’ve had to put ketchup in hot water with half a can of mixed vegetables to make myself some soup before. Cheap eating is a skill.

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

Yes, hello! I am currently dealing with allergies in my dorm room. May I please have any of the Noah's Ark Circus crew taking care of an s/o who has an awful case of allergies? I'm talking similar to seasonal allergies but year-round and unpredictable AF. I hope I'm not asking too much.

never too much! aaaaaaaa

Well, she’s doin’ the best she can, but… wot exac’ly is she s’posed t’ do?? Other than fetch you anything you need, which she’s already doing. It’s not as if she knows of anything that can make a person stop sneezing, after all. And, although she sometimes gets a little irritated by the repetitive noises when symptoms crop up, she knows it’s a her problem and not your fault. She’s definitely sure that you’re infinitely more irritated with it all than she could ever be. Still, the best way to help eludes her… you just tell her what you need and she’ll do it, she simply doesn’t have any ideas of her own which might help. Other than giving you kisses on the cheek and running a loving hand through your hair, as long as you’re alright with that. She can’t ‘fix’ anything; she’s a great emotional support, though, and maybe that’s all she really needs to be.

Errrrr… damn… ‘e don’t s’pose some kinda tea might ‘elp, would it? The first time he experiences this he’s almost in shock, seeing that they’re treating it like this is normal for them. He’s pretty sure something like that would drive him mad — regular hayfever in the spring is bad enough! Despite that he might get a little bit of it himself, it’s nowhere near as severe as (Name)’s, and at least that slight bit he goes through lasts only a couple of months. He’s the type to dote as much as he can, offering possible remedies that he’s asked around about and reminding his S/O every so often that he’ll do whatever they need him to. It makes him pout some, to see them in a not insignificant amount of misery with nothing he can do about it. At least he’s there, so he prides himself on making sure he takes very good care of them.

Lord, but they never seen someone sneeze so many times in a row! Ain’t (Name) dizzy?? If nothing else, they understand that yes, their darling is probably a little lightheaded from all that. Immediately following any kind of allergy attack, Freckles is quick to let their S/O lean on them, or they’ll reach over to steady their sweetheart. They have no shame in the way that they try to help, mainly because it’s the kind of thing they’d hope someone who loved them would do for them. That’s what it should be, shouldn’t it, to treat someone you love the way you want to be treated? Of course, they’re forever giggling about it, teasing their S/O: “Oi, y’ exaggeratin’ this jus’ ‘cause y’ want me t’ ‘old y’? Y’ don’t need an excuse f’r that!” It’s mostly an effort to get them to smile and make them feel a little better during moments that might be a struggle. None of it really bothers Freckles, and they’re perfectly willing to ask what they can do to be of help. Whatever their darling needs, they’ll get!

Haha, goodness… they’re a sight! Aww, ‘e ain’t laughin’ at ‘em, ‘e’s jus’… th’ situation’s a li’l funny! While he’s never really seen someone with these kinds of allergies before, he can certainly imagine that it’s not a good time at all. He and his family have run into a lot of different people in their lives, so this sort of thing doesn’t really surprise him despite it being something he’s never encountered until now. Honestly, his poor darling; he’ll have to take them to visit Doc and see if there isn’t anything which might take the edge off, however small it may be. Aside from that, he’s always more than glad to take care of them. All they need to do is tell him what they need, and as long as it’s something that’s physically and financially possible, he’ll find a way to make it happen. He also thinks he’s hilarious, because he counts their sneezes, and gives them a half-affectionate, half-cheeky, “Bless ye ten times, m’ love!” once they’re finally done. Just smack him to train him out of that habit!

Wot the devil… are they alright?? They’re not comin’ down with somethin’, are they? He’s far more likely to assume it’s illness, (mostly in the beginning), than he is to think it’s some kind of year-long hayfever sort of condition. Although he hasn’t ever heard of anything like that, he doesn’t have any problems accepting that’s what’s going on once they tell him. It makes him wince a little whenever they complain about their eyes watering, because he’s had his own issues with vision, and he’s a bit scared that it could lead to them not being able to see. Thankfully, he doesn’t often show his fear, and just does whatever they need him to do. If they’re okay with him carrying them around just in case they start sneezing, so that they don’t get dizzy, he’ll do that. As well, they don’t need to do anything other than mention something that may help, and he’s off to go get it or set it up or whatever they need. He doesn’t think anything of it, but he’s really incredibly attentive.

Good God, wot is goin’ on with them?! Even when ‘e’s sick as ‘ell, ‘e don’t sneeze or sniffle ‘alf as much as they do! Much like Jumbo, Peter is definitely inclined to think it’s a cold or something rather than allergies. While he’s got his own respiratory and immune issues, well… he complains in the beginning that his beloved is “bein’ drama’ic, surely it can’t be that bad??” He thinks they’re exaggerating for sympathy and rolls his eyes a little. (This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he’s sometimes faked an extra sneeze or two so that he can ‘prove’ he’s so sick and has to sit out practice or performances. Nope. No projecting here.) Once it clicks that they literally can’t help it, he freaks out in a panic that he was so mean. It’s like watching a switch flip — he’s suddenly at their beck and call, fetching whatever he thinks they’ll need even before he thinks they’re going to ask for it. He surely feels bad about acting so dismissive, so he desperately wants to make it up to them. He might even apologize as he’s trying to take care of them. Dammit, he doesn’t want them to suffer!

(… How many times was that?) Hm. Not sure, Emily. Seven, was it? (Good grief. They’re never going to stop, are they?) Both he and his friends are all startled the first couple of times they see it happen. Actually, it’s a little funny, because Snake tends to sneeze at least five times in a row whenever he does, so he’s borderline relieved to see that it isn’t just him that happens to. Of course, he’s usually sick when he does, and he’s practiced for years to try to keep his from being noticed. (Name) looks a little dazed and annoyed, just… not really surprised. And they don’t seem ill. Tsk. Even though he doesn’t know exactly what it is, other than some kind of long-term hayfever, he knows that any cold remedies probably won’t work. So he tries some of the folk remedies for hayfever that he knows, gently sliding them over toward his sweetheart with eager eyes that beg them to try it. It puts him in pain to see them suffering, so he wants to ease it a little, if he can. If nothing else, he’s content to curl up with them and just… be there. Emotional support Snake, all the way.

One, two, three, four… Lord, ain’t it ever gonna let go of ‘em? They jus’ look so damn itchy ‘n’ uncomf’table! She couldn’t imagine having to sneeze so many times in a row, and coupled with the sniffling and watery eyes that apparently come with whatever this is, she’s quietly worried about her S/O. It extends into her going to see Doc, asking about if such a thing is normal and if anything might be able to help her darling out. That must get old, and she certainly knows how old it gets from the fact that she and Peter tend to catch a cold seemingly every two weeks in the winter. As far as she can picture, that’s a taste of what this year-round hayfever must be like for (Name). If they could see through their sneezing, they’d notice her watching them with a blatantly concerned expression whenever it happens. As small as she is, she thinks she can give them some help, or at least be of comfort. It’s not going to stop her from trying, anyway, so she likes to just lie down with them as often as she can, an attempt to get them away from whatever might be bothering them and a chance to relax. If they tell her anything will help, she’s prepared to go get it. She just… she wants to take care of them. Any way she can.

[disappearinginq]

Show Recommendations: 

Star Trek Strange New Worlds: I love this version of Star Trek, this is like straight up fanfiction (the GOOD kind) come to life. It still addresses social issues, but instead of being dark and miserable, it’s very much hopeful. There’s time traveling, there’s body swapping, Spock-Made-Human, a MUSICAL episode. Jim Kirk shows up in a couple episodes, and I didn’t think I would like former Vampire Diaries actor playing him but I delightfully mistaken. They give Nurse Chapel and T’Pring personalities, all of the characters bring something to the table, and there’s like...next to nil romance. Spock and Nurse Chapel and T’Pring are about as close at it gets to romance, but it’s done well enough that I don’t mind. Also, I never thought I would love any captain as much as I love Kirk, but Pike is DANGEROUSLY close to becoming my favorite. 

Joe Pickett: game warden in BFE Wyoming with his wife and two daughters. Decidedly darker as far as themes go, but it’s weirdly non-graphic with sensitive subjects in a good way - like there’s no swearing, no nudity, and the second season deals with rape and murder but you see neither of them actually take place. Animals are clearly CGI’d when they get injured. But I love Joe himself - he’s one of those Will Always Do the Right Thing even to his own harm. He’s a childhood abuse survivor, and second season is like whump central for him - he gets shot with an arrow, severely concussed, field medicine, delusional in woods by himself on he the run from some psychotic backwoods type. AND - one of the only modern shows that has an adopted kid who is just IMMEDIATELY a part of the family. (Looking at you, Yellowstone, with serious judgement). You like the characters you should, you hate the characters you should, and everyone plays their roles really well. 

Justified: City Primeval - half the fun of this is that Raylan’s daughter is Timothy Olyphant’s real life daughter. Raylan is still his “Are You Serious Right Now?” dead pan self. Only two episodes so far, but I maintain if you liked the first series, you would like this one. 

Vienna Blood: This is probably my favorite out of the recommendations (other than Strange New Worlds but this is a very different vibe). It takes place in Vienna, Austria, in the early 1900′s and it follows Max Liebermann and Oskar Rheinhardt as they investigate various murders/crimes. Max is a psychoanalyst, Jewish, and English when all three are not good things to be at the time in Vienna, and Oskar has to make sure Max doesn’t kill himself with some of his plans. 90% of their interactions can be summed up as: 

Oskar: MAX, NO.  Max: MAX, YES. 

I think 99% of the people who watch it ship Oskar and Max, but I think Max leans a little more towards aro/ace than anything else and Oskar tolerates his BS. Oskar figures out very quickly he cannot prevent Max from doing Dumb Things, so he tries to make sure Max does the Least Dumb Version of Dumb Things. They try and set up romance for Max, but it’s pretty background and not much comes of it - and I actually only remember him kissing the woman he likes once? But there’s three seasons, 6 episodes each, 3 storylines told in two parts. 

[eaeulfl]

My mom just finished watching episode 18 of season 3 earlier and I’m very satisfied with the result and with our discussion. When I asked her if she would revive erwin or armin she didn’t even hesitate and said Erwin. Thank the heavens. Because if she had said armin, I would’ve had to question myself and then subsequently my life again. I already went through so much of that the first time I watched the series and while I’m not completely averse to second guessing myself I’m also not really looking forward to doing it all over again because it is so exhausting.

I’ve already made several posts about this before but I honestly cannot relate to people who swear by Levi’s decision. Can I understand it, yes, most definitely, but I have never felt and will never feel the same way. There was that one time when hange said something like Erwin only ever made one mistake in his life and that was making her the next commander, my immediate thought was the one mistake erwin made was entrusting Levi with the injection. No doubt erwin isn’t perfect and as a human being he’s made many mistakes in his life for sure, but I’m specifically referring to what hange said. If I had to think of just one major thing that he did wrong, it wouldn’t be making hange commander or anything else. The injection was his biggest mistake. And by the way hange is a great commander, and I’d take her over armin any time any place. Heck I’d take jean as commander over armin any time any place.

This has become redundant but the first time I watched the series I kept myself hopeful. I wanted to be proven wrong so badly. Maybe armin was the right choice after all, maybe there was no right choice, maybe it would become the right choice eventually, maybe maybe maybe. I held onto that hope all the way to the end. Unfortunately I now know for certain that I’m never going to get over Erwin’s death. I’m not going to go so far as to say armin becoming the next commander after hange didn’t hold any weight, but said weight was really next to nothing. Virtually nonexistent. Completely negligible. If anyone Jean should’ve been the next in line and this is the hill I will die on.

Do I hate armin? Just for the record, no. Absolutely not. I’ve said this time and time again but he was my favorite character during the first half of season 1 and I still liked him even after finishing the series. Do I find him becoming the next commander completely unacceptable? Also no. He probably would’ve never been as effective of a commander as erwin, or hange, or pyxis, or even jean, but he definitely would’ve done his best and I believe eventually he would’ve done a decent job. My problem is really more with the process and not as much the result. How did we get to him being handed the seat? Largely through Erwin’s and hange’s deaths. Frankly their deaths were so senseless I don’t think I’ll ever recover. And the whole erwin/armin parallel drawn from time to time? Imo that was the worst thing about this. Armin is not erwin, and vice versa. Stop this stupid propaganda. Did I not feel sorry for armin? Of course I did. It wasn’t his fault his friends were being stupid, nor was it his fault that Levi made the wrong decision. It was a crappy situation to say the least and he didn’t deserve to go through any of that. When he nearly threw up after hearing about what had happened, I felt sorry for him. When floch was going on and on and on right in front of him about how erwin should’ve been saved instead, I felt sorry for him. When he was going through his breakdowns dealing with mikasa and the rumbling, I felt sorry for him. Armin had to go through so much crap because of plot armor and he deserved better. But this still doesn’t change the fact that erwin was the right choice.

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Ledyba Line

I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but you need to put your stats in things that do things.

DESIGN:

Ledyba has the “just a ladybug” problem, generally speaking, but the round hands, big smile, and overall friendly shape go a long way. It’s not an overly interesting Pokemon on its own, but it has enough of its own shape that I like it a lot better than something like Noctowl or Furret. Yes, it’s just a ladybug, but it’s a ladybug redesign as a bug-type Pokemon and shaped in a way that doesn’t look generic about it. 

Ledian then adjusts this design, makes it more upright, and turns it into a superhero. I’m not sure if that was intentional or just the result of some superheroes trying to be bugs, but its head reminds me a lot of Kamen Rider, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, and various other bug-themed hero characters. It’s still obviously a ladybug, but now it’s a ladybug that’s ready to go and will kick your ass. I’m pretty confident just by looking at it that Ledian is a cool dude who’ll fight for what’s right. He also looks like he packs a punch... or at least makes a good faith effort at it.

ECOLOGY:

Ledyba are omnipresent in Johto’s and Kanto’s trees during the warmer months, only occasionally found on the ground in the tall grasses. Though safe from land-based predators, they’re easy pickings for even smaller birds of prey like Pidgey and Spearow. Their large numbers and bright red coloring ensure an easy time reproducing, resulting in a healthy population despite their abundance of predators. Ledyba have been spotted in other regions, but never in relevant numbers.

Ledyba are, perhaps, the most important species in the region, acting as the largest pollinator of plants by a significant margin. During the colder half of the year, Ledyba retreat underground to hibernate in massive clusters. Either intentionally or coincidentally, Spinarak mating season begins at precisely this time, and while their territory overlaps entirely the two bug-types rarely interact for more than a few days a year on either end.

As Ledyba are timid and avoid battle, wild Ledian are almost unheard of, and most of those that do evolve naturally leave Johto for warmer climates.  Because of this, Alola has a sizable Ledian population despite Ledyba being completely unable to thrive around the Pikipek and Yungoos.

Ledian’s Pokedex entries are notoriously unreliable for unknown reasons. While the Pokedex describes it as a nocturnal Pokemon with a star-shaped pattern that gains its power from starlight and scatters glowing powder, wild Ledian are only active during the day, have simple black spots, have no ability to gain power from any star other than our own Sun, and have no powder-based moves. While the Pokedex often has questionable information, this is an unusual extreme. Further, Ledyba is listed as 1 meter tall and Ledian as 1.4 meters, and while height can vary widely within a single species, most sightings [read: anime, manga, and card appearances] put them at about half that.

Art by AutobotTesla

TYPING:

Bug/Flying is a curious combination that gives Ledian an immunity and two double-resists, plus one regular resist, but results in five weaknesses to many common types including a double weakness to Rock. The two types together still only hit five types super effectively and neither of them can hit Steel. 

STATS:

Ledian has some of the worst stats of any Pokemon. I don’t just mean that 390 is viciously low for a final-form Pokemon, below that of second-form starters, but that its stat distribution is useless. While it comes with a solid 85 speed and a whopping 110 special defense, an HP of only 55 means it’s still prone to getting one-shot by special attacks, and its stronger attack stat, Special, is ALSO only 55, meaning even when it does go first it’s dealing negligible damage. Ledian’s stats don’t allow it to deliver or take hits, and its speed isn’t high enough for it to use status moves despite that.

Art by Pinkophilic

ABILITIES:

Ledian’s abilities aren’t even bad. Swarm is, of course, as are all the “you deal more damage at 1/3rd health” abilities, but Early Bird has its uses. Though not as good when defending against Sleep as Insomnia, Early Bird cuts a round of sleep off of Rest to turn it into an incredible healing move for Pokemon that don’t get one-shot by everything.

Its hidden ability, Iron Fist, increases the power of Punch-based techs by 20%, which is also a great ability, except that Ledian’s attack stat is THIRTY FIVE, so even the best Punch attack is still garbage on it.

Art by Oddsocket

MOVES:

Ledian learns Bug Buzz to attack with, which everything resists, and can also grab Air Slash, which is entirely solid. Its sole relevant coverage option is Giga Drain if you’re using its special attack. Its physical options are far better, with Drain Punch, U-Turn, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch, but then you’re contending with an even worse base stat.

Ledian otherwise has a very mediocre set of abilities. It can theoretically leverage Rest with Early Bird, but only against weak foes. It has Light Screen and Reflect, but there are plenty of faster Pokemon that can learn those. Agility and Swords Dance are options, but not Nasty Plot, so if you want to build up you’re still relying on a base 35 attack stat.

I made fun of Furret for being bad here, but with Ledian it just kind of becomes sad.

Art by All0412

OVERALL:

Something went very, very wrong with Ledian’s gameplay mechanics, and I’m not sure any of it was intentional. Yes, Ledian has low stats. That’s just going to happen with the early route evolutions, but its Gen 2 moveset tells an interesting story. While its 55 special attack is bad, in Gen 2 it could learn Ice Punch and Thunder Punch, both of which were Special attacks until Gen 4. Sure, it needed TMs for the moves, but this cemented those as the moves it was supposed to use. Unfortunately, when the Physical/Special Split happened, those punches became Physical attacks while Ledian’s stats remained the same.  As more and more moves came out, Ledian was granted moves and a Hidden Ability based on the idea that it was a punch buggy, but its Attack stat was never increased.

Ledian’s never going to be ‘great,’ and as an early route bug I’m sure it’s not supposed to be great, but I would love to see a simple buff of it getting a serious increase to its Attack stat.  Turning that 35 into a 65 or even a 75 isn’t going to break anything or ruin the experience, but it’s going to make Ledian significantly less miserable.

Another option with Pokémon of stat values this low, of course, is to just give it a new evolution. I think Ledian evolving into something sleeker with chitinous armor that really went for a Superhero vibe would be ‘Super’ cool.

Art by Zero

[chenfordspiral]

Ever since Lucy came back from uc school I fell like she’s doesn’t want to it anymore because she didn’t seems happy to come back and honestly I hope she doesn’t do uc because I can’t see the show doing deep cover uc things because that would be big time jumps and I can see Lucy being a training officer

Hi anon! Sorry I waited a day to respond, I honestly thought I had posted it already.. whoopsie.

In total honesty.. ever since Jackson's death, I've had the feeling that Lucy hasn't been as interested in UC as she seems to be now. There was no talk about undercover for all of season 4, not until the finale anyway. She seemed hesitant in 5x02, but there was so much other stuff going on, so who knows why exactly she was so hesitant. It was likely a culmination of everything. Either way, I've gotten mixed feelings from her in season 5. She didn't seem happy early on in the season, totally agree. Afterwards, it became a bit more murky (to ME) and wasn't explicitly talked about again until 5x19 when she suddenly said she wanted to be a detective with narcotics or whatever the second thing was so she could work undercover.

To me, that came a bit out of nowhere. Yes, we had her go under in 5x18, but up until that episode, I was sure she was rethinking her decision or at least not explicitly planning on becoming detective to be UC. Maybe that was wishful thinking on my part because I’ve always had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that people person Lucy Chen would actually, for real enjoy being away from everyone she loves and cares about. Ignoring show logistics here (for a deep cover, long term op), I just don't think Lucy really has thought about how much years of deep cover ops would impact her and her life in the long run. That's precisely the reason why I've always hoped they'd do a long term op over the hiatus between seasons so the finale and premiere (and possibly more eps) could be about that and how Lucy would actually feel then.

I also don't like that the shortened season takes away a lot of room for something like that because they have to make conscious decisions about what kinds of stories they want to tell. Although at least this way, the whole issue can't be ignored for half a season and has to be addressed.

Anyway. Whatever other career choice there might be for Lucy, because I don’t want to speculate even though I would kill to see her as a TO, we all know she'd kick ass. We've seen her deal with so many different tough situations, like when both Grey and Tim were in the hospital in 5x05 and she was Acting Watch Commander, or when she dealt with the domestic case with Kyra in 5x11.. she'd excel in every department and I need someone to tell her that. There's nothing wrong in setting your mind on one career path, but there's also nothing wrong with changing your mind.

At this point, I'm just gonna try and sit back and wait to see what they have planned. From all the BTS we've seen so far, season 6 promises to be a good one, with lots of good stuff to come. And while the whole UC thing won't be easy, I'm glad they're finally starting to actually talk about things instead of just brushing them off. They've still got a ways to go, but it's a start.

That was a long winded answer, geez. I'm sorry, anon haha. I hope at least some of this made sense.