#maybe I just haven't watched the Pilot enough times

[curioussubjects]

How is there a throuple on prime time TV?And why are they the medical staff on a luxury cruise?

I'm still not sure how Doctor Odyssey is a real show that's airing every week and not some fever dream, but since it seems to be that it is a real show, here's why I think it's yet another medical procedural drama...and on a cruise!

While polyamory has become more widely acknowledged in the mainstream, it's hardly normalized or even common in both media and people's lives. Likewise, queer representation, especially that of bisexual men, is still far from being without controversy (if it's allowed to be represented at all, as Supernatural fans like myself well know).

So, again, how in the world is Doctor Odyssey, which very explicitly centers the developing sexual and romantic relationship between Max, Avery, and Tristan a thing that exists? Or, to put it another way: if we have a story that is unusual for most people and even uncomfortable for many of them, how can that story be told without alienating the audience?

The answer: tell it in a way that feels familiar, and maybe a little detached from reality. So, medical procedural drama on a cruise! Ok, let me explain:

Why a Medical Procedural Drama?

Not only has the the genre been a staple of American television since the 90s (thanks, ER), it's a type of story that is told in formulaic ways. It is, after all, a procedural. Both its familiarity and predictability allow the audience to sit back and enjoy the story unfold with its expected beats. This type of TV is meant to be fun and easy to watch. Such shows might give you some current issues beats to ponder as you watch, but they're not making you do a lot of work.

But why medical as opposed to law enforcement, which is a much more common type of procedural? Because, thanks to the legacy of shows like Grey's Anatomy and House MD., medical dramas have a lot more leeway to be dramatic AND unrealistic while somehow preserving the veneer of realism. It's this allowance for dramatics and breaches of realism that create a comfortable bubble of "sure this might as well happen" that prevents the audience from being alienate when faced with a wide variety of topics that can be as accurate or fantastical as the plot demands.

Polyamory, within this broader landscape, can be a Very Special Episode that just so happens to span every episode, and viewers can be carried through that plot by the familiar patterns and conventions of the genre.

Why on a Cruise?

Oh, aren't medical procedurals so cliché? How can we make it interesting?? I know, put them on a cruise! We haven't put doctors on a cruise yet! (totally 100% real conversation on ABC)

Sure, the cruise premise stinks of gimmick, but what if that's the point? Surely, most people would see a show like Doctor Odyssey and imagine that what makes it different is that it's set on a cruise. Yeah, that's not completely untrue, but the cruise serves a much more important purpose than being a differential on a pitch.

In fact, the cruise, like the medical procedural, is another liminal space that allows for multiple ways to engage in fantasy or reality as the plot demands. Mainly, and most crucially, though, the cruise is a bubble, an illusion, which is a point the show itself makes in the pilot episode. It is unmoored (heh) from the expectations of land, like accurate representations of healthcare, or say...monogamy as default. As such, the cruise makes not only for a dynamic choice of setting, but a very intentional one.

Reality Check:

The interplay between genre and setting is crucial. The audience, with all its expectations, of what a medical procedural drama is know what they're tuning in for, and they can easily imagine the dramatic (or ridiculous) nature of the cases that will be present in a luxury cruise. True enough, as I mentioned before, the pilot episode starts by being very honest that the cruise is an illusion: the captain shows and describes all the craft and skill that goes into creating a safe space for passengers to engage in fantasy. The genre savvy audience is then invited into aligning not with the cruise passengers, but with the crew.

Except Doctor Odyssey isn't really about the medicine, or the cruise, is it? It's about Max, Tristan, and Avery. So the audience is given a choice at the metanarrative level: be the passenger or be the crew. Be aware that the point of the story is the polyamory or tune in for medical staff...on a cruise! Win-win! What I think is fun and clever about all this is that no matter who you choose to align yourself with, you can't ever truly escape reality lurking in the wings. The polyamory is simply there no matter how resistant the audience, but the setting and the genre create a buffer around it.

Sure you can have a threesome on a cruise, it's like Vegas. No big. Nothing threatening to social conventions. It's not real. But reality has a way of reasserting itself: in the tragedies that befall the passengers on the ship, or their mishaps, or the cherished memories they'll look back on. And while the crew upkeeps the illusion, they aren't immune or completely separate from its effects (good and bad). No one can divest themselves from what they experience on the cruise and neither can the viewer.

Through genre convention and its setting, Doctor Odyssey (and I mean, look at this title alone lol) navigates the unfamiliar waters of accepting the richness of the human condition (to echo Captain Massey), and brings the audience safely to shore with a new understanding of what relationships can look like.

And this is how Doctor Odyssey managed to get produced and make it to air, and we get to be unhinged about Tristan, Max, Avery, and the YEARNING. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk etc.

[averytirednerd]

Ha ha ha!

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name. You are much shorter in real life."

"Who is this? Who's this now? Are you the bellhop?"

"Haha! No! I am the host of the hotel. You might have heard of me from my radio broadcast."

"Hmm...nope! I guess that's why Charlie called it the 'Hazbin' Hotel! Hahaha."

"Ha ha ha. It was actually my idea."

"Ha ha ha! Well it's not very clever!"

"Ha ha, fuck you."

[b3ach-bunn7]

LEATHER COATS AND PIZZA PART 2

You and Touya’s unspoken feelings come to head on the hood of his car

No quirks AU, a bit nsfw but nothing too bad

—————————————————————————

You don’t care how much you miss Hawks. Nothing is worth being at this party.

Too many people all crowded in the hallways and the living room. The stench of alcohol, the stupid music that you can feel thumping in your chest. The only blessing is Hawks is loaded beyond belief, evident by the fact his hallway was probably the size of your living room. This means there is ample room for you to hide away from all the noise and chaos.

You’re nursing a cup of coke mixed with what you think is probably vodka. You weren’t paying much attention when Toga had poured it for you. You’re sitting on the stairs just close enough to the front door that when your social battery is drained you have a quick getaway. You're sure Toga is bugging some guy on the dancefloor with Twice at her side, and Shigaraki doesn’t even show up to these things. He’s probably at home watching TV, and you can’t help but feel jealous. You think Spinner’s in the kitchen, and Dabi. You haven't seen him all night.

Or Touya, you should say. It’s been about a week since that day, since he asked you to call him Touya. Which you have been. Nobody’s commented on it and you’ve chosen to ignore the smug looks Toga is so insistent on sending you every time you use it. She’d asked about the kiss, too. According to her, it had looked just as passionate and intense as it had felt. You told her it was just a game and she told you that she wasn’t stupid.

The leather of Touya’s coat warms you even though you're sure you don’t need it. You still can’t help but wear it wherever you go. You keep telling him that you’ll give it back and he keeps giving you a hard time about it. But he doesn’t actually mind, you think. Because he’s had ample opportunity to take it back. Two days ago when it had been hung up on the back of your chair at lunch, or when you’d left it in Spinner’s car.

You think he likes it, honestly. You know you do. You’d caught the eye of some girl you knew he used to hook up with last lunch period. You saw the way her eyes had darted to you, to the coat, and then to where Touya had been sitting next to you. You had to admit you liked the jealousy on her face a little.

You wonder where he is now. You decide to just scroll on your phone for a bit. Maybe your Twitter feed is more entertaining than this. If not, an Uber was calling your name.

“Someone’s not having fun.” You follow the voice and look up, quickly enveloping Hawks in a hug.

You could definitely have a crush on Hawks. You think everyone does, just a little. His hair was always so perfectly windswept and dirty blonde, tan skin shining even in the winter months. He was training to be a pilot and so you’re sure the promise of future plane rides is enticing to anyone. He’s charming, charismatic. You’re yet to meet someone who doesn’t like him.

And yet, even with his arms wrapped around your waist, feeling the hard line of his lean muscle under his shirt, you just can’t seem to break that barrier.

“No offence, Hawks, but parties aren’t my thing. Especially ones as loud as yours.” You smile bashfully, and he laughs.

“Don’t worry about it, birdie. I take no offence.” He nudges you and you shuffle so the two of you are sat side by side on the stairs.

“So. Why the long face?” He asks.

“Not sure. Not feeling up to it today.”

“Are you sure it’s not because we’re missing a certain emo at my little party?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

You roll your eyes, looking away. “Shush, you. And I wouldn’t call this little.” You huff as you watch another few people walk into the house with a case of beer.

“I’m only teasing, but. I’m not entirely wrong though.”

“Well…” You trail off, unable to even lie to him.

“Yeah. I’m never wrong. It’s one of the greater curses of life.” He hangs his head and you snort.

“No, I don’t. I don’t know. We’re just friends.”

Hawks lifts his head up. He shuffles further back on the stair. “Didn’t you guys kiss?”

You feel your face heat immediately. “How do you know that?”

“Toga told me.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. “That girl. Look, we were playing truth or dare. It didn’t mean anything.”

Hawks frowns. “I disagree.”

“Were you there? No. I’m telling you, it was. It was fine.”

Hawks studies you for a moment. He suddenly says,“If i asked you out on a date would you say yes?”

You choke on the sip of coke you take. “What?” You splutter.

Hawks taps your back. “It’s okay, birdie i'm not actually asking you out. If i were, would you say yes?

You think for a moment. “I. No, I don’t think I would.”

He hums. “Why not? I’m good looking, I’m smart.”

“Modest, too.”

“I’m being serious. We get along well. You like me and I like you. It would be fun. What reason do you have to say no, other than the fact that you like someone else?”

You’re speechless. Hawks grabs your cup and downs the rest of it. You tut, but don’t make much of an effort to take it back.

“Now, if say, Dabi asked you out, would you say yes?”

“God. I think I would.” You rest your face in your hands.

Hawks rubs your shoulder sympathetically. “It’s not all bad. He’ll ask you out one day.”

“I doubt that”

“He will. Maybe he’ll even be all romantic with it.”

You giggle as Hawks pulls his hair over his face, drops his grin to brood at you. He grabs your face and you bite your lip to keep from laughing.

“Oh, Y/N, please do my cold dark heart the honour and go out with me.” He deepens his voice to the low gravelly tone Touya speaks in and you shove him away.

“Fuck off, weirdo.” You grin. But it doesn’t last long before you knock your head on his shoulder, your face falling.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s more emotionally stunted than I am. I doubt he’d admit it to himself, let alone to me. It’s hopeless.”

“Well, you- Oh hey, Touya!”

You shoot up from your seat on the steps. Touya is standing by the front door, looking very good in a black top and joggers. It seems Hawks forcing you to admit that you might like him has upped Touya’s attractiveness level, and you very purposefully look at anything but him.

“You two look close. Having fun without me?” He drawls.

You stammer, “I- We weren’t, I wasn’t-“

“It’s okay, baby, I’m not jealous.” He grins.

There he goes again with the ‘baby’. That nickname had seemed to be in his vocabulary much more the last couple days.

Him and Hawks do some weird boyish handshake and you watch from the foot of the stairs, arms wrapped around your waist. You ignore Hawks as he makes a kissy face behind Touya’s shoulder.

“So what are you two up to?” Touya asks.

“Nothing much. Y/N was just about to leave.”

“I was?”

“She was. She thinks my party’s not good enough.” Hawks pouts.

“I- Hawks.” You frown. “I didn’t-“

“It’s okay, I know they’re not your thing. And I know Dabi hates them too, so why don’t you guys go do something you’ll enjoy more?” He grins innocently.

You know what he’s doing. You know exactly what he’s doing and it’s so painfully obvious that you’re sure the weird way Touya is eyeing you means it’s obvious to him too. You curse under your breath and wish that you had something in your hand you could throw at Hawks.

“Cool. We can go get food if you want.” Touya says, eyes moving from the jacket around your shoulders to your eyes.

“Uh, yeah. I could eat.” You nod.

“Perfect! You two go have fun, I’ll stay here and make sure nobody breaks any more of my mums china.”

Hawks hugs you, ignoring the threats you whisper in his ear, and disappears into his house. Touya turns to you and the two of you walk out.

He showed up in his car so you quickly climb in the passenger seat. Touya told you once the only positive to having the father he did was he had money, and his love language was throwing it at him and his siblings. The seats of his Audi are warm and you fall back into the soft leather.

“So what are you feeling?”

You hum, thinking. “Something greasy and cheap that’s probably going to give us food poisoning.”

Touya grins. He’s driving with one hand on the wheel, the other hanging out the open window. It’s only eight in the evening, so the sky is just light enough you can make out everyone walking around outside. You can also make out how good Touya looks.

“Alright, Wallies it is.”

Wallies was the local chicken shop every person under the age of twenty inhabited. It was cheap, fast, and the easiest food for you guys to stop by. Touya parks quickly, bringing one hand up to rest on the back of your seat as he reversed into a parking spot. You look out the window for something to do that isn’t ogling him.

You wait while he orders food, cheering when he comes out of the shop with a bag of burgers and fries. He’s dumps them in your lap through the open window and you reach in and grab a fry. Once he’s sat back down, Touya holds out his hand and you drop one in his hand.

Once Touya starts driving, the wind from the open window tussles your hair, blows over your face. You shiver slightly, pulling the coat closer against your body.

“My coat not warm enough for you?” Touya says.

You huff a laugh. “Nah, it’s awful. Might throw it out.”

“I’d hope not. It’s looking like I’ll never get it back.”

“Oh shit, sorry.” You wince. “I’ll give it back to you tonight.”

“No!” He says suddenly.

You look at him, confused at his sudden reaction. He averts his gaze. The tips of his ears turn red, and you think this is Touya nervous.

“No, it’s fine you can- You can keep wearing it. Looks good on you.” He clears his throat.

You smile softly. “Thanks, Touya.”

He has the look on his face again, the soft one you find yourself doing anything you can to make it appear. He doesn’t reply, just nods his head once.

Touya ends up driving you two the field you seem to be frequenting a lot recently. He parks just on the top of a hill, the hood of the car facing the setting sun and expanse of grass. You both prop yourselves up on the hood, spreading the food out in front of you.

No

It’s a messy, impromptu picnic that you decide might be the best meal you’ve ever had. Conversation with Touya comes easy. It always has from the very first moment the two of you met. Part of you wonders why nothing happened between the two of you before. Why your first kiss had been at the hand of truth or dare, of all things.

You wonder if Touya still thinks about it. You know you do. His hand in your face, the feel of his shirt curled around your fingers. You wish it had gone on for just a second longer, that you could’ve tasted him for a breath more.

“You alright there?” Touya asks suddenly.

You look up at him. He’s tilting his head slightly, a chip hanging out his mouth.

“Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About me?” He flutters his lashes at you.

You snort. “Why, of course. What else?”

You hope he doesn’t realise nothing about what you just said was sarcastic.

“That’s alright. I’m doing the same.”

Your eyes widen. He cleans up the remaining wrappers and crumbs away from you two. He gets up and chucks the rubbish away. He grabs his packet of cigarettes from his back pocket. You wrinkle your nose at the sight but say nothing. It’s an useless argument you’re not bothered to have right now.

“You are?”

Touya nods. Leans against the car right next to you. You move to the front of the hood so that you’re closer to him. The smell of fast food still lingers in the air.

“Have been since last week.”

You swallow shakily. “Last week?”

“Mhm. When we kissed.”

He says it so easily. Like it means nothing. You laugh nervously. He puts out the cigarette, tossing it on the floor and trodding on it with his shoe. He turns so that he’s facing you. Even on the hood of the car, you're shorter than him, and he looks down at you, placing his hands either side of you.

“You. You think about it?”

“It’s all I’ve been thinking about. Every time I see you. Or every time I think about where my jacket’s gone.” His fingers fiddle with the zipper, right where it’s closed against your throat.

“When else?” You whisper.

“Every time I see Toga. She keeps bringing it up, you know. Hawks, too. He thinks I should ask you out.”

You feel your face heat. He’s close enough that you think he might be able to feel it. Blue eyes trail up your body, up your chest and over your lips and back to your eyes.

“It’s why he was acting so weird. At the party.”

“What do you think about that? Asking me out?”

Touya smiles slightly. A hand comes up and brushes a strand of hair behind your ear. His hand stays there, resting against the side of your cheek.

“I was going to. I am going to, if those two stay out of it.”

God. You think he’s trying to kill you. He just stays there for a moment. You swallow roughly, impatience spiking in you.

“Touya?”

“Yes?”

“Are you going to kiss me or shall I do it?”

He grins, eyes shining with something much more heated then the soft way he usually looks at you.

“No dare this time?”

“No. No, just-“

You can’t really finish that thought because Touya uses the hand resting against your face to pull you impossibly closer, pressing his lips against yours. Your arms immediately snake around his neck, a noise erupting in your throat. Your lips move against each other fiercely, his tongue licking into your mouth. After a while he breaks apart, the both of you gasping for air, and he groans.

“So beautiful. Did you know that? Gorgeous, baby.”

He clumsily unzips your jacket, hands immediately descending on your body. His hands trail up your waist, over your chest. You sigh, leaning your head back, and he takes the opportunity to kiss down your face, down your neck. He sucks a dark spot right by your collarbones and you moan, hand running through his dark hair.

“Touya, don’t- My parents will see.” You say, breathless.

“Don’t care. Need everyone to know your mine.”

He continues kissing down your body, down your collar bones, the valley of your breasts and right over the hem of your dress. His fingers slip beneath your dress, but you stop him. Despite the fact it takes very single ounce of self control to do so, you are in public. You tell him as much and he frowns, placing another lasting kiss on your lips, teeth nipping at your bottom lip as he breaks apart. He frowns, hands refusing to leave your body.

“You’re killing me, Y/N. I’ve waited forever for this.”

“Forever? Why didn’t you ask me out before, then?” You giggle. You trace your fingers across his face, following the lines of his smile.

He pauses for a moment, pondering. He kisses your lips, your jaw. “I had to be sure you liked me.”

“And how did you become sure?”

He leans back. Touya looks at you again so full of feeling you feel like you might burst.

“That kiss at Shiggy’s. It sounds fucking stupid, but. I don’t know. There’s no way you can kiss someone like that without having any feelings for them.”

So it wasn't just you who felt it. He did too.

“Alright. I guess that’s a good excuse.”

He rolls his eyes and you laugh. “So now what?”

Touya thinks for a moment. He lets his hands fall to your waist, dragging you closer, until you're practically sitting between his legs. He leans forward, his mouth right against your ear.

“How about I go show you what I would’ve done to you here if you hadn’t stopped me?”

—————————————————————————-

the highly anticipated part two 😱 I think I might try write some established relationship stuff, because I always write how they get together but never after? We will see. Hope you enjoyed!

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

I really think that this is where, this is like where the episode should have, this should be like scene three of the episode. Do you know, like, 'cause there's actual, there's something, there's something cool here about Cory being the pilot and forcing me to, into his version of Wooing and Angela. But, but like, instead, like I'm, I'm just not quite clear, like the conflict is like kind of class-based, like that we're too fancy of a restaurant, but we haven't established that like the things that we like are really like, like I, I just, I wanted it to be more about like if we knew that Angela liked a certain type of food and that Shawnn liked another type of food and then they were both trying to be something for the other. That's not quite established enough here. So I I I it it's a funny scene, but I'm just don't know why it's happening. Yeah. And then I, the resolution feels like, let's get burgers. I'm like, oh, okay. So the problem was that we were forced into eating fancy food. I I just, it's a little like mudelled for me. -Rider

No, I think it's exactly what you were saying before. The it's not a problem. It's that you realize that there are different kinds of love and cory and topanga are their own thing and everybody, it's like you want what they have, but you are not them. Nobody's them. -Will

We want our version of what they have. -Rider 

Your version is burgers and Vivaldi and hanging out at a different place. But, so it's like you, you can't be them because they're in, you know, even Topanga doesn't want this, the them at this point. So I think it's, if this is what happens when you let Cory in, the driver's seat is, well this is what love is. It's being married right away. -Will

That should have been the whole episode instead, instead of one scene. If that had been a story where we watched that play out in hijinks and funny scenes with cory whispering in my ear and, and maybe even Topanga whispering in Angela's ear. It could have been like a lot of miscommunication. And then the two of us finally being like, no, we're gonna do our own.... We keep alluding to the fact that we're not ready for this relationship. We're broken people, but we don't talk about what that means and we're not engaging with each other about that. We're just like, Vivaldi, I like it. You like it.  I don't know. It's underdeveloped. I feel like taking this scene as the model and expanding it in both directions would've been a better way to like confront this episode. -Rider 

Meanwhile, Angela asks, Sean, you said you knew me. If you really knew me, why would you bring me here? Sean admits, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know how to be myself around you. I really want you to like me. Angela assures him. I do like you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here. Sean asks, why it's so hard. Angela tells him she's never had a serious relationship either. Every time she got close to someone, she figured it was best to get away before they hurt each other. Is someone going to get hurt here? Sean? He earnestly tells her, no, not if we are ourselves. He calls out for Eduardo asking him to clear their table and just bring them a couple of burgers and -Danielle

See like all of that dialogue is exposition good? I think we're, I don't dunno what we're talking about. Like we're just saying. -Rider

They never established my character to say what I would like or not like. -Trina

And so, and we're not being specific. We're just hope and love and we and want and, and it's like, it's like song lyrics as opposed to like very like sharp. Like the thing you're doing right now, you can take you, I don't know, it just feels like, I dunno. It felt so like...Yeah. I just think the actual, like we, we have not covered details between our characters. So we have not said like Right. What we do imagine our lives would be like, 'cause we, we have the Vivaldi and Shakespeare, but we haven't seen the like, what do you like to wear? What do you like to eat? And, and then to see that in conflict with this.  So we're just expressing this makes me uncomfortable in abstract terms. And so it stays abstract. And that's what to me is the definition of like, acquisitional dialogue. -Rider

 I think it's more, I think it ends the same way where you guys are now figuring out what it's going to be. The same way you figured out this restaurant isn't for us. You figured out you didn't want to eat this food. It's like, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We You don know it's you don't know yet. And it's, it's, this is just the start of we know we don't want that. We know we're not them and we don't, we don't want this restaurant, but we'll figure out whatever comes next. As long as we're ourselves, we'll figure it out, I think is what they're saying. -Will

It's a nice sentiment. -Rider 

[writergeekrhw]

HOW TO KILL A CHARACTER

(A Writing Spew)

I'm trying to archive some of my old Twitter writing spews on Tumblr. You know, because of things. So here's a rather big one. HOW TO KILL A CHARACTER.

/BeginSpew

Okay, you’re a writer. You’ve got a mess of characters. You want to move your audience. So, it’s time to take out the old writer’s ax and chop chop chop! But how do you do it with maximum impact without your audience turning against you forever?

Pull up a chair and Uncle Robert will explain it to you!

(Warning, there may be spoilers ahead for stuff that if you haven't seen it by now it's your own damn fault.)

Luckily, there are a lot of reliable tricks to kill that character. Any of them can work for both #TVWriting and #Novels. Some of them can backfire. Here are some proven approaches…

Death #1: The Intro Death!

Want to set the stakes for your world? Introduce a character or characters and fool the audience into thinking they will be a big part of the story. Then… CHOP! OMG THEY’RE DEAD! SHIT JUST GOT REAL! AKA the Hello-Die.

The Hello-Die pretty much always works because the audience hasn’t had time to really get invested, but they’re invested enough to feel the sudden shock.

Examples: Psycho. Buffy (S1E1). GOT Teaser. #DS9 pilot. Hill Street Blues (averted).

The Hello-Die is often used by shows to shake up your expectations in what has usually been a fairly safe genre. And yes, I did this in #Andromeda. You think this is a nice safe Fantasy/SpaceOpera/CopShow/FamilyDrama? NOPE! Hello-Die! Watch out for exploding Helmsbugs.

Death #2: The Mentor Death

Your character learns cool stuff from the smart old person. Then the smart old person dies! OMG! “But I had so much more to learn!” “True, but don’t you see? This was the real lesson.” AKA The Obi-wan.

The Mentor Death is pretty safe too. We all know the old people we learn from are going to kick it soon, right? But that’s okay, because WE GOT THIS! Circle of Life, ya’ll!

Examples: Star Wars. Star Wars again. Star Wars that other time too. Harry Potter.

Death #3: The Hero’s First Kill.

Your hero lives in a violent world, but they’re a good person. They don’t want to be a killer. Alas, the world needs them to kill. And you want to portray how that impacts your hero. And so that minor villain must die!

The HFK can be tricky. For best results, the victim should need killin’. Because you want the audience to still like your hero. Plus it’s your hero’s first kill, so you need to overcome their reluctance. Or maybe it’s an accident? (OR IS IT?)

Either way, now your hero is transformed and all it took was offing a minor character. WARNING: Often involves hero puke!

An excellent example of the HFK is the Stable Boy in GoT. Arya asked him to let her go. He wouldn’t. She insisted. He said the Queen would pay her handsomely for her. She lashes out with Needle and… OOOPS! Or was it an oops? Well now he’s dead & Arya’s on her way.

Death #4: The Villain’s First Kill

The opposite of the HFK. The villain is bad, but he hasn’t killed… yet. Then he takes his first victim (usually someone either plucky or gross) and he just can’t help himself! Afterward, unlike the hero, the villain feels good.

He’s got a taste for this now. It’s going to happen again. Cue dramatic (or ironic) music!

The VFK can also sometimes be the Intro Death. Maybe it’s not the villain’s 1st kill, but it’s the first we see. Either way, the VFK is relatively safe, though there's a risk that if the victim is too likable, the audience won’t just hate the villain, they’ll hate the author.

Which is why the VFK is often someone gross or “disposable” or even theoretically somewhat deserving. In American Psycho, the first kill is a homeless man, the second is a Wall Street asshole.

Another VFK example: In the Bone Collector, the first death is a man no one cares about, and he dies off-screen, but the next is a plucky woman who dies horribly onscreen. The story eases you into it.

Still, the VFK is fairly safe. It needs to be just bad enough to shock, but no so awful that you completely lose the audience. You can get awful later once you've built up good will.

Now come some of the tougher deaths to pull off, starting with...

Death #5: The Season One/Book One Death

An important character dies relatively early in your tale. This is usually done because you want to drive home the stakes even more. Also the death launches/twists the story. AKA The Boromir AKA The Ned AKA The Sean Bean.

The Sean Bean is tricky because you’ve spent a fair amount of time getting the audience invested. You may have even tricked them into thinking the Sean Bean is a major hero. The more invested they are in TSB, the higher the risk you might lose your audience.

To minimize audience hate, make sure they understand it’s kind of Sean Bean’s fault. Or a noble sacrifice. Or if the character is minor enough (Hi Tasha Yar) it's a way to show the random awfulness of the universe. The important part is your real heroes will learn from this.

There will be crying and anger and thirst for revenge (or Data will struggle to understand death and we’ll all love him for it.)

The Purpose of the Ceremony - YouTube

Now part of why the Sean Bean works is its earliness. The later in a story a character is killed, the more their death needs to have meaning. You can kill Tasha randomly in Season One but you would never do that in Season Six.

In Season Six, if a regular dies, it better not be random or the audience will feel angry and… Oh. Yeah. Her. I wasn’t on staff then. IT’S NOT MY FAULT!

Anyway, the later you get, the more meaning a death needs to have, ideally.

Now we’re getting into the Big Earned Deaths. So let’s talk about them.

Death #6: The Big Bad Death

This is pretty easy, honestly. The easiest. The audience has been waiting for this bastard to die for years! They will cheer. Even if you’ve run this asshole through the Face/Heel Revolving Door a few times (Hi Gul Dukat), by now, they’re past redemption.

The Big Bad needs killing. KILLING THEM IS KINDA THE POINT. Go for it. Make it as horrific and painful as you’d like. Make them fall a LOOOOOOONG way before they hit something. Make them bounce a bit. The audience will love you for it.

Death #7: The Sacrificial Hero Death

Solid option. You might want to foreshadow the heck out of this. Maybe even near-death your hero a few times. But still, the audience usually gets this one. After all, messiahs die. It is known.

There will be tears, but we all know sometimes the only way to save the world is to die. If the good done by the hero’s death outweighs the sadness the audience feels, this can even be uplifting. Bittersweet chocolate is the best, right?

The SHD is a perfect way to kill a beloved character late in a novel or show. They died for our sins! If not for them, we’d be toast. Very satisfying when done correctly. I mean, there are entire religions based on this. Do it right and it packs an immortal punch.

Death #8: The Shakespearean Tragedy

Your hero isn’t really a hero. They might’ve started that way and/or had good intentions, but they’ve slippery-sloped themselves into full blown villainy… and they know it.

They’ve had their moment of tragic awareness. They realize theirs is a tale told by an idiot. Time to go out in the blaze of glory/late heel-face-turn sacrifice/by their own hand. My kingdom for a horse! Lay on Macduff! Good night sweet prince!

The classic ST is incredibly satisfying for the audience. They’ve enjoyed watching a good person descend into villainy, living vicariously through his/her badassery. They felt bad when the badassery turned to madness. SO MUCH METH!

Now the villain realizes how wrong it all was, and how flawed they are, they deliver a final moral lesson, then CHOP! And... cue Baby Blue, maybe some passing prince gives speech... then... curtain.

Death #9: The Final Wrong

Remember how bad that bad guy is? Gee, when’s the last time they were really, really bad? Time for them to shockingly kill a beloved character right before the final confrontation with the hero! I know you traveled a long way to help, but die Scatman Crothers!

Now there’s no going back. Now the villain can’t be redeemed. They must die. Cue the final chapter/episode/season/third act.

This one is risky as hell and maybe don't kill one of your few/only female POC protagonists this way but hey, you be you.

Death #10: The Sidekick Sacrifice.

Your hero can’t just win clean, right? That’s boring. There has to be a cost. And sometimes that cost is Robin’s life. Often this is a minor heroic sacrifice in its own right, but by someone other than the hero.

The sidekick takes the bullet, goes into the warp core, etc. Can be combined with the Final Wrong. Either way, "I have been... and always shall be... your friend." Cue tears.

Death #11: The War is Hell

A variation on the Sidekick Sacrifice. Beloved character dies randomly in a final great battle because War is Hell.

Sometimes the WiH is just A Bad Break. The bullet came from nowhere. WTF?!? Sometimes this happens in the Fog of War. No one saw it. The hero finds the body afterwards and feels the cost of victory. It’s high, man. So very high.

And yes, I used this one in #TheGoblinCrown. War is Hell even in YA fantasy novels.

Death #13: I Couldn’t Save Her

The riskiest variation on the late character death. The kid your hero has been protecting all along dies. The hero tries to save her/him but fails. Generally, only done in the Darkest Timelines. Or at the start of Alien 3. Fuck Alien 3.

The ICSH tells your audience this is not a hero’s story. This is a brutal examination of the inherent unfairness of life. Surprise!

WORDS OF CAUTION!

WARNING: Beloved Characrer Deaths often do not go over well. Use with caution.

The Final Wrong, the Sidekick Sacrifice, the War is Hell, and the I Couldn’t Save Her/Him are all somewhat risky. Sometimes you kill the very character that the audience most cares about. You know, like Glen. Or Lexa. OMG Lexa!? You can lose big chunks of your audience this way.

Still all four can be effective ways of turning on the feels late in a story. If you use them, make sure they either feel super well-earned or that they fit your theme so well that the audience will accept it.

But be careful. The biggest danger here is when the audience doesn’t realize you’re going to go this bleak and then you do and they feel betrayed. Can be a deal-breaker.

The more innocent the victim, the more horribly they die, and the more pointless the death, the bigger the risk you run of turning off your audience completely. And if it's an underrepresented character that a percentage of your audience deeply identifies with? Oh boy. Run.

Death #14: The Glorious Last Stand

This character was a prick all along, really. No one liked them. But when the chips were down, when our backs were against the wall, the they pulled the pin in their grenade and blew up a crapton of Aliens. Hurray!

The GLS can be supercool. The GLSer wasn’t the hero or the villain. Somewhere in the middle really. But we admire the way they went out. Their death redeemed them. If done right, audience will cheer for their bravery, finally loving them just as they die.

Death #15: The Everybody Dies

Rare. Tricky. Deeply powerful when done right. The time for characters like these is done. Their world is over. Their final great sacrifice, or noble last stand, or tragic Bolivian gunfight was inevitable. But oh how brightly they burned in the end.

Look at how badass they were. Look how bravely they faced death. And remember what it meant! Perhaps we would not be alive today if not for their transformative deaths. We will never forget them. Also their death may spur us all on to victory/change/redemption.

Or maybe the Western is just over. We're gonna miss you, Butch and Sundance! Cue montage!

Death #16 (but not really): Apotheosis

Your character dies technically, but really they become one with the Prophets, God of Light, Force. AKA The Sisko. You can only really pull this off in genre or stuff that pretends not to be genre but really is. Modern variation: Uploaded into the A.I.

Apotheosis can work extremely well if done right. Star Wars does it a lot and it works pretty much every time. You get the OOMF of killing a major character, but you reassure the audience that "They will always be with us."

If handled poorly, it can feel like a huge cheat, but when done well, can be a very satisfying way to kill off your awesome main character at the end of a long series without totally pissing off your audience. Like I said... The Sisko.

FINAL WORDS!

There are lots more ways to kill characters, of course. Including the bad ways to kill.

The It Was Supposed to be a Cliffhanger &Then We Got Cancelled and Now They’re All Dead I Guess.

The That Actor Was a Prick So We Offed His Character and Didn’t Care How We Did It.

The Oh, I Realized I Didn’t Need That Character So Gave Them a Perfunctory Death.

But I think I’ve covered the major and better ways to handle offing a character.

So yeah. Sometimes characters need killing. Just remember, you need to make their deaths satisfying in terms of plot, character, and/or theme or you risk losing your audience.

There are no small deaths. Every character is some off-screen mother’s child. Make it count. Make it matter. Make it worth the pages/screen time.

But think about your favorite movies/books/tv show. I bet they all had memorable deaths. I bet you cried. ADMIT IT, YOU CRIED! Look, I cried when Mike died in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I CRY EVERY TIME I READ IT.

(Mike = War is Hell/Sidekick Sacrifice/Fog of War)

Character Death is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's arsenal. Like all powerful tools, it should be used sparingly, thoughtfully, and for maximum impact. Give them the deaths they deserve!

And with that, I officially pronounce this spew dead. But don't feel bad. This spew will always be with us.

/endspew.

[poisonedspider]

Holy crap guys. In two days it will have been three months since I've had this blog (I don't count my blog that I had for a year back in 2019 because I only wrote with like...two Alastors.) And I woke up this morning to hitting my 300th follower.

I'm really terrible at those follow forever things, plus I know they can sometimes make people feel shitty, so I'm not going to do that. But that's like, 100 followers a month. And I am shook.

I know I've done a big sappy 'thank you' to this rpc before, but I'm about to do it again. Thank you all for being arguably the best community I've been in. Ever. I've been writing since I was 11, and while it wasn't as bad and clique-y back then, there wasn't much of a community either. This is the first time I have genuinely felt a community.

Thank you for loving my spider child. Angel means more to me than anything (other than Eddie Kaspbrak and Steve Harrington too but shhhh I've ignored them for months whoops). I am so connected to this character, and I am my happiest when getting to portray him, whether that be through cosplay or writing. The fact that you guys like my portrayal enough for me to have THREE HUNDRED FOLLOWERS means so much. I get done on myself, but then I remind myself I still have 76 drafts to do so clearly people want to write with me. It's so nice.

Everyone here is so supportive. All the little dash commentary, and writing on people's stuff. It's a nice change. Interactions have been so limited in past fandoms I've been in, so knowing that we can just comment like we are a big family without people being "ew" about it is nice. Knowing people will actually send in memes is nice. Knowing people will create small stories on the dash is nice. I used to honestly hate one liners, and I still much prefer multi-para/novella, but it's fun to do little silly things. You all changed my mind there.

I still have dupe anxiety and I probably always will, but that has nothing to do with the people on here. It has to do with me beating myself up and worrying that my portrayal isn't good compared to others or that I'm the 'lesser Angel.' But there's such a balance here of being being genuine support of every portrayal, it's so nice. No one really ignores anyone else, which is helping that a lot. I don't know if I'm strong enough mentally to interact with other Angels like you guys do (I see you Alastor orgy or whatever), but at least I'm not having a visceral response when seeing one on the dash. You guys have helped that.

Also...thank you for helping me fall in love with Helluva Boss? I had never really watched it prior (I'd seen the pilot and another episode), but you all write the characters so beautifully that it made me want to get into it. I still haven't finished the series, but I have two cosplans on my list from it (maybe three, who knows). I don't know if that would have happened if I hadn't been blown away by your guys' talent.

Thanks for letting me explore dark topics without cancelling me. I got cancelled unfairly in another fandom (which was a fucking HORROR FANDOM come on now), so being able to write out things and know I'm safe to do so is just such a breath of fresh air. This fandom is a breath of fresh air. Glad we are all equally fucked up with our dead dove over here, hahahaha.

So just....thank you. For following me. For writing with me. For creating beautiful worlds with me. 300 followers. I still can't believe that. Wow.

[eunchancorner]

Revenged and Rescued (Part 5)

Thanks to the delay of living a boring ass life, this one is slightly later than the others. It's also slightly shorter too, lol, sorry

-

The General led the two over to one of the medical tents, walking in and nodding to the two inside; Lieutenant Rupert Price, and Dave, of course.

Rupert stood at attention as Galeforce entered the tent, quickly being dismissed as the older waved his hand.

“How're you doing, son?” he asked Dave, who averted his gaze, seeming a bit nervous in his presence.

“I'm fine, though it's been… weird. I did end up losing a leg, though…” he motioned to where the blankets laid unevenly. “They're making a prosthetic now, but it's gonna take a while.”

“I was thinking we could get him in a wheelchair, so I can show him around, sir,” Rupert added, gently grabbing Dave's hand. “Just to make sure he's not too bored in here.”

“That sounds fine to me, boys, however, that's not what I'm here about. You two said you wanted to talk to Henry?” Galeforce asked, stepping aside so the other could step up.

“Stickmin…” Rupert stepped forward, standing face-to-face with Henry, his expression impossible to make out.

“Hey, Rupert, I uh… listen, I know we haven't been the best of friends, but maybe we could put the whole Mesa thing behind-”

He was cut off as the shorter suddenly hugged him tightly, clinging on as if Henry was gonna disappear if he didn't.

“Thank you… so fucking much for pulling that stunt when you did. If you didn't, I don't think I'd've ever gotten Dave back… I missed him so fucking much… And I know, we've been assholes to you, and you've not been the easiest to deal with, but… fucking thank you,” he gasped, tears staining Henry's shirt as he noticeably fought the urge to cry.

“Heh, I take it that means we're even now?” Henry asked, patting Rupert's back as the ravenette took a deep breath. The shorter pulled away with a quiet chuckle.

“Yeah, Stickmin, we're even now,” he assured him, taking a deep breath and going back over to Dave's cot, sitting next to him.

“Yeah, sorry for being dicks at Mesa… Honestly, after the Toppats got me, I… I get it. Freedom is worth so much more than some stupid job. Any stupid job. So… yeah. Thanks for crashing the airship…” Dave chuckled slightly at his own wording. “That sounds really weird now that I'm saying it out loud…”

“A little, I guess but… you’re welcome. And uh, sorry for making your lives kinda suck,” Henry apologized awkwardly, feeling like he owed them that at least.

“At least I have a life again,” Dave reassured him.

“Mister Calvin, good thing I caught you,” one of the doctors suddenly approached, a small manual in her hands. She shoved it into Charles’s arms, watching as he flipped through the pages, confused.

“This is a handbook explaining how to perform Henry’s nightly checkups,” she explained, “It explains how many sensors he has, how to test them, how to check his heartbeat and his respirator, and what to do if anything happens. You’ll need to perform these checkups every night before either of you go to sleep, and if anything is wrong, send him down here right away. A slight hiccup could cause everything to fall apart, and I doubt he wants to die a third time. However, there are variations that are considered ‘normal’ so please keep those in mind. They should be on page 24.”

The pilot nodded, flipping to said page, and Henry leaned over his shoulder to read. It was, in fact, titled ‘Average Deviations: Biological Factors’.

“So, stuff like emotions are gonna make everything a little screwy? Alright, should be easy enough to understand. Thanks, Dr. Stein,” Charles said, shaking her hand before she left as quickly as she’d come.

“Speaking of going to sleep, it’s getting late. You boys should head down to the mess hall for dinner,” Galeforce advised them, motioning subtly to the darkening sky as the sun set.

“Actually, I was hoping to eat outside with my squad tonight. It’ll be nice for Henry to spend more time with them. Besides, I think they like him!” Charles explained, and the General nodded a bit.

“Well, hurry it up then, I’m only gonna give you 5 minutes after lights out to make sure Henry’s alright to head to sleep,” he warned.

“Right. Seeya guys, then!” the pilot smiled as he began to lead Henry out.

“Seeya tomorrow, boys.”

“Till tomorrow, Stickmin and Calvin,” Rupert saluted as they went.

“Seeya guys later…” Dave called out. “And thanks again…”

[taddymason]

So you want asks about your AU? Then you can have it! XD

Imagin you wake up as Kaida, in the beginning of the story, what is the first thing you do?

If Kaida could time travel, in any time of the Ninjago series, which season would she want to interact with?

Has Jay already use Dad jokes?

Would Kaida like the Junkyard?

As what would she work in our world?

Would Jay be her favorite Character, if she could watch the OG show?

Would she get with kid Lloyd along?

What an actor would play her in the ninjago live action movie?

Imagin you wake up as Kaida, in the beginning of the story, what is the first thing you do?

If we're talking about LP, convince Jay to escape from the Administration before any shit happens. And avoid Ras obviously.

If Kaida could time travel, in any time of the Ninjago series, which season would she want to interact with?

if she has knowledge of the events she will immediately go to s6 to kill Nadakhan. no doubt. i have no idea if nadakhan technically has a soul but i have said before that she would do some impulsive shit if she knew what happened. just think something like ellie in tlou 2

Has Jay already use Dad jokes?

he uses it very often but unfortunately I haven't written enough examples of it. I need to add more in the future.

The only example I can think of is him doing the nindroid pun again.

Would Kaida like the Junkyard?

actually yes because she would have liked the opportunity to grow up in an open place, and all the abandoned things she could play with there, although she probably would have hated the heat of the desert.

As what would she work in our world?

mmm ruling out F/A-18E pilot as an obvious choice, I also see her being a firefighter.

Would Jay be her favorite Character, if she could watch the OG show?

I'm gonna be honest and say her favorite character would probably be Nya lol

Would she get with kid Lloyd along?

They'd be a threat together, I don't know how but they'd probably do worse than any shit Lloyd ever did in s1

What an actor would play her in the ninjago live action movie?

I'm going to admit that I'm drawing a blank with this jkd ​​I haven't even thought about a cast for the ninjas so I'm going to say maybe… Cailee Spaeny I guess because she's the only one I can think of at the moment

[goldshirtleia]

Hello yes it is that time of year again, I am listening to the 1970 OG recording of JCS on vinyl and have decided to finally make a list my rankings for every role and aspect of this show. For the record I am a pagan whose only real knowledge of the Jesus story is from this show so forgive my unhinged takes.

Characters:

Jesus:

Ian Gillan (OG album/broadway)

Ted Neeley (1973)

Ola Sålo (Swedish 2014)

Jack Hopewell (North American Tour 2022)

Morgan James (all female cast 2022)

Judas:

Carl Anderson (1973)

Brandon Victor Dixon (2018)

Murray Head (OG album)

Shoshana Bean (all female cast 2022)

Peter Johannson (Swedish 2014)

Honourable mention to Colm Wilkinson (it is a CRIME that there isn't a full recording of the Irish cast)

Mary Magdalene:

Yvonne Elliman (OG album/broadway/1973)

That's it, no one else even comes close

(Maybe an honourable mention for Gunilla Backman)

Pontius Pilate:

Barry Dennen (OG album/1973)

Filippo Strocchi (Vienna 2018)

Orfeh (all female cast 2022)

Caiaphas:

Bob Bingham (OG broadway/1973)

Norm Lewis (NBC 2018) I will ALWAYS stan Norm

Victor Brox (OG album)

Simon Zealotes:

TIE - Larry Marshall (1971)

TIE - Eric Grönwall (NBC 2018)

John Gustafson (OG album)

Tony Vincent (2000)

Herod:

Alice Cooper (NBC 2018)

Mike D'Abo (OG album)

Chris Moyles (Arena Tour 2012)

Overall - staging/set design/costumes:

1973 Movie

NBC 2018

North American Tour 2022

Arena Tour 2012

Honourable mention to the OG broadway production -- I haven't seen enough footage to accurately rank it but I LOVE Jesus's cape in Superstar.

Best overall rendition of Superstar (incl. staging, costumes, etc)

1973 Movie

NBC 2018

Arena Tour 2012

Swedish 2014

Best facial expressions:

Carl Anderson during Simon Zealotes

Carl Anderson right before he engages in respectability politics to slut shame Mary

Tim Minchin when the priests take his joint lmao

Best Superstar costume:

Carl Anderson's white maxi fringe jumpsuit (come ON)

Peter Johannson's shirtless #lewk (I have a whole thing about how Judas should not look like a demon but the sparkly red pants and the Legolas hair are too fantastic)

Brandon Victor Dixon in the full silver fit

Best WTF moments:

That bit in the 1973 film where they all form The Last Supper for a quick second and no one comments on it

When the 1973 crowd says "won't you die for me?" in Hosanna and it just FREEZES on Jesus's face

The Swedish cast pushing Jesus into Jerusalem in a shopping cart

The fighter pilots swooping at Judas after Blood Money in 1973. What WAS that. How did they get that.

That is all lol. Every time we watch even a clip of a new production my mother and I spend 2-3 hours discussing how it fits into our rankings, so this could change.

[victorspindrop]

HOA Characters and Fandoms they are in

**NOTE: Second headcanon type post lets go! Love reading peoples responses (Sorry for the Alfie rap erasure you're so right baes) but anyways, thought of this while driving home from college for Easter weekend so enjoy! Also, some of these fandoms I am not even in but they make sense for the characters so**

Nina

-> Harry Potter fandom or Potterhead

-> I mean with the amount of times she mentions Harry Potter in the first episode it just would make sense that its because she's a fan of the books and movies

-> Definitely brought her entire Harry Potter book series to Anubis House with her when she first moved in (but maybe hid it at first because of Patricia)

-> Favorite character is probably Hermione Granger (she loves a strong and intelligent female main character)

-> Dressed up as a Hogwarts student for her first Halloween at Anubis (Fabian dressed as Harry for her <3)

Amber

-> Twilight. Enough said.

-> Girlie has a huge Jacob poster in her room. No like seriously, its in the show

-> I know she had a heart attack during the last movie (I did to)\

-> Obvi Team Jacob

Fabian

-> Doctor Who Whovian

-> This is where we start to get to things I am of little knowledge of

-> Space, time travel, monsters (i think?) it just sounds right up his alley

-> Has one of those TARDIS t-shirts... and a poster...and maybe a keychain... and maybe a secret plethora of Doctor Who merchandise under his bed, but keeps enough out so people know he likes it but not enough to know he is obsessed with it

Patricia

-> Like I stated in my post about the characters music taste, she had a FallOutBoy and PANIC! At the Disco phase

-> I feel like she's read FallOutBoy fanfiction here and there IDK IT MAKES SENSE

-> I feel like she probably had a Twenty One Pilots phase as well

-> All of those fandoms together, she was DEEP in alternative fangirl culture

Alfie

-> HOT TAKE: Alfie watches anime

-> I haven't watched much but I feel like he would watch like One Piece or maybe Dragon Ball Z

->Have you seen all of his costumes in the show, the boy cosplays for sure

-> Puts on cosplay either to watch his shows or just puts it on for the hell of it and then goes about his day (all the housemates have candid photos of him doing the most mundane things in the most ridiculous cosplays)

Jerome

-> This one was hard ngl

-> I feel like he would be more in like Youtuber type fandoms

-> Pewdipie.

-> Ok hear me out, JSclatt. I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT! DOESNT IT MAKE SENSE IN A WAY???

Joy

-> As I stated in my music post, she was a One Directioner

-> Was a Harry girl

-> She wrote and read fanfics on Wattpad (valid)

-> Along with Amber, she is a Twilight fan

-> Unlike Amber, she is Team Edward

-> Her and Amber have had some HEATED discussions at dinner over this topic to the point where it has been BANNED from the dinner table

Mara

-> Ok I know Mara is all books or whatever in the show BUT, I can see her being a cozy game fan

-> Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, The Sims, honestly anything that is a cozy management type game

-> Hunger Games fan for sure.

->Is in love with Peeta

Mick

-> Fortnite.

-> Does Fortnite dance emotes when he scores a goal during soccer/football (whichever you call it)

-> This is a Mick Campbell hate page.

[fangirl-intensifies]

I had a thought, probably not the first person to think this, I haven't seen anyone else with a similar thought.

But if s8 has the full 18 episodes, then episode 12 of s8 would be the 118th episode. What better way to do the 118th episode on the show that is largely situated around firehouse 118 than to do the history of the 118.

(This is the text I put on the discord chat)

Scene opens with the current team taking a call and the person they help notices the 118 on their helmets and goes

I used to work there a long time ago, if the guy is in his 70s he might've worked there from the 70s to the 90s.

And he comes to see them after the call and sits down and talks to them and its flashbacks of the house. He talks about his time there, maybe it goes in decades, showing us not only the moments from the begins episodes but also how Gerrard became captain either in the 80s or 90s (im assuming thats when he became captain), how Tommy and Eli joined before Chimney did. The in-between time of Chimney and Hen begins, when Gerrard was being a cunt to Hen maybe showing Chimney getting the others together to file complaints. Then the captains in between Gerrard and Bobby.

That's all the stuff they could address, still showing a few calls. Maybe flashbacks from the begins episodes and we saw Buck when he first started but we didn't see the first few months, he'd already been there for 4 months by the pilot. Maybe show Bobby looking through files or going to the academy to recruit Eddie, and how Ravi joined as well.

Fuck knows how it would end, I've never wrote for a show so that's in their hands but that could be the general gist of the episode. I've been informed that it would be similar to the supernatural episode baby from the perspective of the car if this sounds familiar to people. I've never actually watched supernatural, only through fandom engagement on here.

This is mainly just spec. I'll be happy enough if I'm accurate by a small amount.

Right that's enough yapping for today.

[runningfrom2am]

congratulations on 500 !! u deserve it all ur writing is literally perfect

🪐 - this might be difficult (bc the song isnt by taylor swift) but can u write something about rafe cameron based on the song “goodbye kiss” by ‘kasabian’ ? pls be angsty as it’s such a sad and beautiful song <33

omg thank you for requesting this!! i’ve never heard that song before but now i’m listening to it ON REPEAT it is so good omg!!

(ps: sorry i’m advance for the heartbreak you’re about to witness and i hope this is what you wanted!!)

Goodbye Kiss (r.c)

pairing: rafe x reader

wc: 1.1k

Rafe had known for some time now that your relationship was volatile and dangerous. He knew that after you both helped his father drop the body of their pilot into the ocean with the earliest part of the sunrise washing over them, everything was getting too crazy. What scared him the most was the way you didn't ask questions, you helped without hesitating- and he stared at you as you nodded intently, listening to who you imagined would one day be your father-in-law while he asked the two of you to find and dispose of the gun Rafe had used to kill the sheriff. The morning breeze brushed through your hair as it fell messily out of the braids you'd put in the night before, and the side of your face was bathed in the light of the sunrise. And as he watched you wipe the stray blood off your skin with a rag, Rafe realized he had never loved you more.

You had been at his side when he shot his sister in the Bahamas, and you had watched with a straight face as they drove off with the gold- Rafe could see in your eyes that you would never tell a soul. He trusted you endlessly, and you trusted him. Rafe was starting to see that this adventure you were on could only end in one of you facing a similar fate, in the name of money, and in the name of love. You would die for each other in a heartbeat. You were perfect for each other, in the most terrifying possible way.

"I'm okay, Rafe- I'm just... I don't know, a little burnt out." You sigh, rubbing your forehead as you stand in the driveway. "I'll get over it. It's fine."

"I get that, I just- it's so... everything is so crazy I just don't know what to do." He replies quietly.

You look at him in confusion. Ward got the gold back, and you were back home safe and sound. It was all over. "What is there left?" You settle on.

"I killed someone, Y/N/N!" Rafe snaps, throwing down the blood-stained rag he was now using to wipe down his bike. "I killed someone, my dad did too, and I shot my sister and you don't give a shit! What is wrong with us?"

Your eyes widen in shock, unsure what to say. "I- I... of course I care, Rafe. What did you want me to do? Run to the cops and get you locked up for life? I'm not doing that, so what choice did I have other than to help?"

Rafe sighs as he looks around. "That's not the point- obviously I didn't want that." He shakes his head. "I just- I don't know, our lives are just so fucked now. I never wanted this."

"Okay, it's okay..." You hold your hands out to him, grasping his in your own. "We'll get you help, like you wanted. We'll get on a better path, it's over now. Yeah?"

Rafe looks down at your small hands wrapped around his, and the healing bruises that adorn your skin in a hue of yellow and green. "I don't know that it is." He shakes his head.

"Sure it is." You smile hopefully. His eyes glide up to your face, and his breath hitches in his throat as he looks at your expression. You have this aura of innocence around you, like you haven't done horrible things for him and his family. Things he would never expect of you, but this lifestyle he dragged you into has changed you enough to allow for that kind of recklessness. You're the kindest person he has ever known, if he truly loved you, how could he turn you into something you were never meant to be?

He shakes his head again. "Maybe it's time for us to break up, Y/N." He says, before he can fully think it through. He trusts his impulses fully, and this is what he feels is right. For you, especially.

Your face falls and you loosen your hold on his hands. "What? Why..? I'm not upset with you- if that's what you think, I don't care what you've done, Rafe-" You plead, hoping he doesn't mean it.

"No, no I know you don't." He assures you. "I just- this can't end well. Open your eyes. Seriously, this can only end with one of us dead. And I won't let it be you."

You stare at him in shock, not sure what to say. "I... I only care about you..." You whisper, lip wobbling as you look up at your boyfriend. The love of your life- you were so sure he was the only guy for you. How could he do this?

"Don't cry, baby. Please, don't.." Rafe shakes his head at you, squeezing your hands. He doesn't want to watch you cry, he doesn't want to hurt you, but it's for the best. He can hardly remember the last time things were normal for you. The last time you went out for dinner or watched a movie together. It wasn't fair.

"I just don’t understand.” You reply, tears welling up in your eyes as you look up at him.

“I know.. I know. I just have to do what I have to for my family, be the man I ought to be, this whole gold situation has got me going insane and that isn’t fair to you.” Rafe explains, trying to keep a strong front as he drops your hands.

You instantly wrap your arms around his waist, hugging him and burying your face in his chest. “Okay…” You agree hesitantly. You know Rafe will do anything for his family, he’s always fighting for his dads approval, and if that is what he feels is more important right now, you will let him make that decision. No words could save this.

He hugs you back, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he feels you shake in his arms. It’s his fault, all of it. You pull away after a moment and quickly wipe your eyes. “I should probably go home, then…” You mumble, avoiding his eyes now as you pick your bag up off the ground, starting to walk away.

“Y/N?” Rafe calls after you, his voice shaky as you head toward your car, which had looked so normal in their driveway for over a year now. You look up at him, fighting back a sob as you see him standing there. He doesn’t look like the boy you fell in love with anymore. You didn’t see him change. When did he change?

“I hope that someday we’ll meet again.”

You nod softly at this, unable to speak as you get in your car and quickly drive away, tears streaming down your cheeks. You had to go your way, and Rafe has to go his.

taglist: @bookishbabyyy @madelynie , @whore-4-drewstarkey, @slut4drudy , @winterrrnight , @totalswag , @sadfury @fullfledgedemo @rafemotherfuckingcameron , @urfaveluvr , @chenslucy , @hxnnah-397 , @s-we-e-t-t-ea , @tahliac11 , @ragingsammie , @ietss , @dee127

[kaesaaurelia]

In which a daring space pilot divebombs the Great Red Spot of Jupiter against the advice of his doctor

Not sure how I'm going to be posting this fic or writing it because it's coming to me in disconnected chunks, but here's the first(ish) scene of my 3rd Life space colonists/terraformers AU.

character designs & concepts

main AU tag

The fact that Grian comes to him first is absolutely lost on Scar. What isn't lost on Scar is that he's about halfway to lightspeed when he gets the ping, and he doesn't see any reason to slow down to talk to Grian. He can say pretty much anything to Grian, because whatever he says, all he's gonna get back is --

"Scar, what are you doing?"

Grian's voice is shrill and terrified, and his transparent hands grip some invisible desk or railing or something in front of him. It's very funny how frightened he is, especially since he's not even really here in person. He'd probably be loving this if he was here in person. "I was just thinking about how I missed Europa, so --"

"Pull up, pull up!" Grian shouts.

Scar does, and watches the white-blue moonscape fade into the distance. "Did you want to call back later?" he asks Grian's hologram. "Is this a bad time?"

"You almost didn't miss Europa," Grian tells him, looking slightly green.

"But I did!" says Scar. "Anyway, I would've landed in the water, it would've been fine."

"Is… I… it's been a while since I took physics, but I don't think that's how it works, Scar," says Grian.

"So! What brings you to my lovely, um. Short vacation to the Jovian system? That's definitely not on the clock? I definitely put this on the calendar as a day off," says Scar, trying to do that now, but the nearest company servers are too far away to ping him back before he starts to get a headache.

Grian sighs. "Did you read that thing I sent you? About the expedition they're considering sending me on? They haven't chosen pilots yet." He's… "skimmed" would be putting it generously. Parts of the Table of Contents look neat, though. And Grian wouldn't have thought of him if it wasn't a good fit. "Oh yeah," he says, "it looks great."

"Okay, good," said Grian, sounding surprisingly relieved. "I thought you might be put off by the -- well. Anyway. I'll tell them you're interested."

Scar is about to thank Grian, and go on about his day, when that last little bit of conversation echoes in his brain. "Put off by the what?" Scar asks.

"You said you'd read it!" Grian says.

"Oh, well, I lied," Scar explains cheerfully.

"Scar, please read the thing before you agree to it. It's not -- it's farther than we'd usually be --"

"Do you think it'd be dangerous? Are you advising me to do something dangerous, Grian?"

Grian makes an indeterminate noise that builds into a "…nnn-maybe?"

"Is it going to be fun?" Scar asks, diving towards the Great Red Spot, to see how close he can get to the thing without hitting it.

"Scar!"

"Still waiting on an answer to my question!" he says, continuing to fall planetwards. It's safe enough to skim the atmosphere, as long as he doesn't get too close to the Spot, but they've started to set drifting automated helium farms loose all over the rest of the planet, and those are way more annoyingly jangly to crash into. Also, they blow out a lot of hydrogen, so sometimes they explode.

"Scar, just. Just read the thing before blindly signing your entire life away, it's all I'm asking. It's not much."

"Fine, fine," says Scar. He would roll his eyes if he could. Instead, he accesses the file and feeds it right into his brain. It's not the same as reading it, but now all that information is bouncing around in his noggin like a confused bat. But probably smaller. Scar is unclear how big bats are, now that he's thinking about this. "How many bats do you think would fit in a skull?" he asks Grian, who has been his go-to expert on skulls for a very long time.

"What?" Grian asks. Scar assumes he has heard the question right, and just doesn't think much of it.

"Anyway, as you can see I've accessed your silly little packet and it looks great." He likes the shape of it, anyway -- it's an extrasolar terraforming mission, full of promise, and exploration, and... promise... again.... Specifically, very generous promises the company has made about money and land and so forth.

And, if this all goes well, they'll be able to go to the planet, establish a base there, and establish a cheaper, easier, and more permanent way of traveling between the the Sol system and this new place. Then they can either return to the lives they had or go right back through the portal to their new home where they will live happily ever after, frolicking among its green fields and forests. That part is probably what Grian's worried about -- not the frolicking, the part where if everything doesn't line up perfectly, it'll be a one-way trip to a strange planet.

But that doesn't bother Scar. He likes his job plenty, but there's something to be said for sunrises and wind in your hair, and he hasn't been on a planet in so long. Not like that, anyway. Besides which, there's a good chance it'll be a one-way trip for Scar however well everything else lines up.

Also, Scar could probably milk a few more promises out of the company. He's given so much of himself to them, after all. "So who do I talk to about --"

"No, Scar," says Grian. "You're getting a whole new ship out of this!"

"Oh!" He's overlooked that. "Well then I definitely need to talk to them about that. I have some exterior redesign ideas --"

"Please tell me you're not gonna tell them to put abs on it."

"-- and after all I've done for them I don't think it's that much to ask if I --"

"There are no abs in space," Grian says, despairingly. "In space, no one can see your abs."

Scar tsks. "I don't think you understand my vision."

"I understand it all too well," he says. "It's just that your vision is terrible, and it's abs."

"My vision is perfect! I can see everything for millions of miles," says Scar, but he can sense it's time to try a different tack. "What do you want that they weren't giving you?"

"Oh. Oh! Actually," says Grian. "Actually I've got -- oh, but you're not gonna be able to explain it to them. Anyway, I already tried, and they wouldn't listen."

"Try me!" says Scar.

"All right," says Grian, "but don't say I didn't warn you." He sends Scar another document -- this one is long, and dense, and sciencey, and has lots of anatomical diagrams. He catches a doozy of a sentence on its way into his head -- All subjects who had undergone this procedure were able to be fully reconstituted at least twice after full molecular disintegration, with no loss in learning and only moderate disruption to social groups. It takes Scar a few moments to comprehend what that means and translate it, to understand that this process could bring a person back to life -- not just their body, but the whole person, memories and all -- no matter how they died. Or. Rats, at least, he realizes, maybe not people. But that's a pretty big deal, even if it's just in rats. Scar definitely won't understand all the nuts and bolts of it, but he's sure he can sell it. "Just. Just don't put them off it any more than they already are, I still want to be able to try again with it after this expedition," Grian says.

"Wonderful," says Scar. He notes the feedback that's attached to the document, that they won't entertain Grian's proposal due to ethical concerns and liability issues. That should be easy enough to get around -- it's hard to hold anyone liable for anything if you're trapped hundreds of light years away from any court or law enforcement body, and if Farlands Planetary Systems actually has ethical concerns Scar's never heard of them. "I'll just remind them you're not going anywhere without me," he says.

"Um," says Grian, sounding very uncomfortable.

Scar can take a hint, although where he goes with it isn't always where it was supposed to go, apparently. "I mean, how would you get to another planet without a spaceship? Can't take the bus!" He settles into a planet-blurring orbit around Jupiter. "Look at this, I love doing this," he says, lining up with one of Jupiter's rings. "It's like being on a space train!"

"That's not -- Scar, please take this seriously. The proposal for the company, I mean. It could save all our lives out there," says Grian. "You have no idea how hard I worked on that."

"Oh, I will," Scar promises. "I can tell you right now, you won't regret this."

"Yeah, well. We'll see about that," says Grian, sounding almost like he already does. He can fool himself, but he can't fool Scar, and a moment or two after Grian disconnects, Scar receives information on all the people he's going to have to talk into his design changes for the new jumpship. Oh, and Grian's thing too, probably.

[bbyjenks]

Cha Hyun-Su x Reader

Notes from the writter:

I am not the best writter and I preffer first person. Enjoy though!

I have been a monster since the beginning. I have taken out my share of threatening people and terrifying monsters. I have gained the ability to fly. I am assuming that is because during life I ran toward danger rather than away. I have always been what others would call an "adrenaline junky." I volunteered as a rescuer on Mount T'aebaek and worked as a Helicopter pilot. I don't know, I have always felt like I was meant to do something more. I soared whenever I felt a slight sense of danger and I just kept chasing after it.

Well, here I am now, laying on this dumb roof, My black wings stretched as I am burning spam, watching the clear skied sunset. I guess that is something good about the death of so many people...Less pollution. It really does seem like the earth is taking herself back and then some with these hostile monsters.

Yesterday night, I heard a massive explosion and a series of small explosions near the stadium. It's about a days walk. I plan on walking there today. Look through the wreckage, take whatever I can, maybe help some people. It's kinda hard to come up to people with my wings now. People automatically start shooting at me. I mean, I get it but I am friendly... Most of the time. I chose to walk places to help not be obvious. I wear a giant leather jacket to hide my wings.

I happened upon a greenhouse the next day on my way to the stadium. I haven't seen something this beautiful that wasn't tainted by monsters in months. I go in and pick some yellow Canola Flower. I piled them all next to me and take a seat on a blanket that just happened to be sitting on the ground. I start making a flower crown. I haven't done this since I was a kid. Half way through my crown, I hear a crunch. I stop my work and look around the parameter. I slid my jacket off to be more agile. Through the brush, I see the face of what looks to be a small human girl. I become less tense and settle back onto the blanket. She doesn't seem a match for me. I look at her with my crown and hold it out.

"Do you want this when I am done?"

The girl turns her head slightly in confusion.

"Why are you sitting on my blanket?"

"Didn't know it was yours kid. How are you okay out here all by yourself?"

I continue making the flower crown. The little girl starts walking away from me and makes a chirping type of noise. From around a bush, I see a monster. It's very small and looks to be a baby. "They're reproducing now. what an ugly little thing" I think.

Unbothered, I look up.

"I don't have enough for all of us."

The girl laughs.

"You are like me."

Quizzically, I look up at her. She looks normal. Holding my flower crown, I get up for a closer inspection. I walk around her, looking her up and down. She looks normal but something in me tells me she isn't.

"Hm, it's not often that you find people that have held their human form. You must be one strong willed kid."

I place the finished flower crown on her head. The baby seems to jump at the act like I was going to hurt her or something.

"You guys must protect each other, huh?" I gather more flowers to make another crown. She looks at herself in a pc of broken glass and smiles.

"We do and my oppa takes care of us too." She says

"Oppa? Is he like us?" I sit back down and get back to work.

I notice that the baby has disappeared. I look around and at what seems like the back of the greenhouse through some broken glass I see a somber looking man with the baby on shoulders. By this time, the sun is starting lower in the sky. He looks normal. I finish the crown and putting on the babies head. The baby jumps off his shoulders onto the ground and starts inspecting the flowers with curiousity.

The girl goes to the man and hugs him. "Oppa, I found a friend."

I laughingly say, "I don't know about friends but friendly. I have to work my way up to friendship." I turn to look at him. "Are you guys actually related?"

He shrugs and looks at me quizcally and then laughs. "No, I knew her mom."

"Oh... I am Amai Saito. What are your names?" I blush a little. He is a very good looking man.

He rubs his neck and sits down next to me on the ground.

"Cha Hyun-su" he says quickly. "You can just call her Dongsaeng." he says with a slight frown.

i finish the crowns and plop one on his head and one on my head. He smiles and Dongsaeng comes up and hugs him. Shortly after, she runs away with the monsters baby. They play in the street.

Shyly, I pace around the greenhouse looking at the wildflowers. finding that my eyes, keep wondering to him. It's been awhile since ya know. This sickness really puts a damper on meeting men. Looking at a purple flower and not paying attention, I accidently run into his tall frame.

He looks at me through his hair. "why are you here?" he says sternly.

I backup, and stretch out my wings a little and smirk. "the better question is why are you here? But honestly, I heard some explosions at the stadium and I am making my way there for resources and to see if there are people I can help."

He turns away to look at Dongsaeng. He shrugs and says "Oh... I would stay away from the stadium if I were you."

I out stretch my wings and look at him with a smug face. "I think I'll be fine." I say sarcastically.

Dongsaeng comes up to me and starts touching my wings. I didn't see or hear her so I jump from suprise haha. Then, my stomache gurgles so loud everyone hears it. I laugh, " Well, I am hungry. You guys know of any places I can get some food."

Hyun-su shrugs and says " I guess I can show you. I have to get us food anyway." and starts walking away. He looks back and yells "Dongsaeng, stay here."

I jog towards him and start keeping pace with him. Hyun-su and I walk the streets on high alert. He takes me to a beaten down mall. It looks deserted but scavengers have gone through everything. We walk to the food court part of the mall. He jumps the counter of Tonkatsu House and I follow suit. We get to the back of the store where food storage is. There really isn't much there but there is enough for us.

"Well, I guess this will do. Too bad we can't use any of the appliances."

He looks at me and shhhs me. I hear rustling far off in the mall. I crouch and start looking for something hold the door to the front closed. I pick up a broom. When I pick up the broom, the mop against the wall falls. making a crack sound. I hurriedly close the door and lock it with the broom in the handles.

He shakes his head and looks mad but crouches down to the ground with me. We both sit in front of the doors to keep weight on them. I can hear a monster lurking in the food court. The excitement making me think a million things a min. We wait for the monster to go away.

He relaxes, release tension from his shoulders. He looks at me and says "we should wait here for a little before we head back." I shake my head in agreement.

He turns to face me and I stare at his handsome face. Admiring his cute little smirk. Immediatetly, I think of how pretty he would be smirking up at me while I was on top of him.

i think "well, we have time to kill. So, why not." I take his hand and put it on my waist and get on top of him. He is confused and looking up at me. I look down and give a quiet laugh. I put his other hand on my other side. I take my hand and bring it up to the nape of his neck and start kissing him. I move my hands to feel his body. Rubbing them down his abs as we make out. I get to the edge of his shirt and start pulling it up over his head. He lets me but for a slight second when I look into his eyes they twinkle blue.

I start untying my make shift tye shirt while rolling my hip on his heat. He helps me untie it all the way and remove. He grabs my neck and kisses me passionately. Pushing me back and fondeling my breasts while kissing me down to the floor. My wings acting as a cushion. He starts kissing my neck, my stomache, and my waist. He stops and looks up at me and smirks. It's exactly what I wanted. But there was something different about his eyes.

He takes of my pants kissing my waist, getting lower with every kiss. I starts kissing my other lips, teasing me. I push his head into me to show what I want. He licks my clit repeatively grasping my ass. I moan with pure pleasure. My legs start to shake and I know am about to cum. My panting increases. Then, all the sudden he lifts his head and wipes his face.

He laughs and winks at me with one blue eye. "Not yet." He takes off his pants and starts rubbing his dick on my wet opening, hitting my clit every time. I am squirming with the need of his dick. finally, he slowly slips into me, riding me slow. He kisses my breast and then my mouth. I grab his ass and push him further into me. I pull my legs clower to my face to get him in just the right position. I explode all over him.

He turns me around and starts playing with my clit from behind and I squirt everywhere. He slides his dick back in and this extasy is too good. He starts ramming me hard from the back. My ass bouncing off his body. He grabs my breats and then my face to turn back to him. He kisses me and he lets out a sound of completion.

I roll over exhausted and a mess bare chested trying to catch my breath. He lies next to me. I look at him and I was right. I think "why did his eyes change to blue."

[mlmxreader]

Flight Lieutenants | Alejandro Vargas x trans!m!reader

anonymous asked: Hi, it's me again. I wanted to say all the requests I've sent so far were amazingly written and I enjoyed them quite alot. So I wanted to request two more prompts.

The first idea I had was for alejandro vargas x pakistani!ftm reader where reader is again a pilot and after a round in the air as he gets off the jet and removes his helmet (he has medium long hair) and alejandro is talking to someone but stops as he looks at reader with the prompt "Stop ogling your boyfriend for two minutes"

Again if you don't feel comfortable doing it then its cool :)

-🦝

summary: Alejandro doesn't mind hanging around with other pilots while he's waiting for you to come back, in fact, he's more than happy to do so.

tws: swearing, mentions of cigarettes

The smell of cigarettes, coffee and vape filled the large office as Alejandro sat talking with the Pakistani Air Force pilots who had yet to have their training exercises or to be sent out; dinner was only an hour ago, and although Alejandro did appreciate the fact that they often had homemade meals, today was takeaway, and he couldn't quite bring himself to indulge. All the time he had spent on the road lately with the Los Vaqueros, he didn't quite fancy the same thing again. He had struck up a conversation with one pilot after complimenting her Hijab, as the colours were simply amazing and he wanted to know how she kept them so vibrant when they were washed, occasionally looking at the clock.

An hour, and his boyfriend would be back from his flight with the Americans, and Alejandro had a feeling that you wouldn't exactly by in the best of moods; he smiled at the thought, and when the other pilot, Ansharah, noticed, she tilted her head to the side, and cocked a brow.

"You okay, Colonel?"

Alejandro nodded, chewing at the inside of his lip. "Flight Lieutenant (y/n)'s gonna be home soon, that's all... he won't be in a good mood."

"No, he won't," she chuckled, tugging on her coat and making sure that the zip didn't snag her Hijab. "He's like my wife - never in a good mood after being with them."

He followed in her steps as he hummed. "What does your wife do?"

"She's a Colonel, too," Ansharah explained as she lead Alejandro outside, "she got promoted shortly after our nikkah."

He nodded, wondering if he had ever met with a Colonel Iqbal, but while the name did ring a bell or two, he couldn't ever remember meeting her; he probably heard Laswell or Price talking about her at one point or another. "We haven't discussed a nikkah yet."

Ansharah shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she watched the skies, keen to watch out for them. "Took us three years to actually go through with it, we actually ended up doing it after we adopted our dog."

He chuckled softly. Maybe you weren't doing so bad, after all, as you hadn't quite gotten to three years of debating a nikkah quite yet; although then again, you had yet to even have that conversation, and Alejandro wasn't about to push for it, either. He was content to just be your boyfriend, to just be there for you and with you whenever he could; sure, some people had some awful bullshit to spew about you being trans, but Alejandro never allowed them to get away with it - he never allowed anyone to even look at you the wrong way. You were his boyfriend, and although he had more than enough confidence that you would and could handle yourself, he still never missed an opportunity to stand up for you and to protect you when and where he could.

Ansharah kept talking to him, though, and he was thankful for the company, especially thankful for someone who understood what it was like to debate bringing up something as important as a nikkah; he asked her for advice on it, asked if she would be able to help him find the right outfit when the time came, and she was more than happy to offer her assistance. Alejandro was relieved, to say the least. Flight Lieutenant Iqbal knew what she was talking about, and he was more than ready to listen eagerly to what she had to say; his only regret was that he didn't bring a notepad and pen in order to take notes, but he knew that he could always come back and ask again if he needed to.

Turning his gaze to the skies, Alejandro smiled, nudging Ansharah in the side gently as he pointed up at the plane that was nearing the landing strip; the Chengdu J-7 looked in good condition at least, its blue and blue-grey paint showed beautifully in the winter light, and although he could not see it, Alejandro could guarantee that the white and green circles on the upside of the wings were probably not even kissed by the smallest speck of dirt either. You took good care of your plane, he knew that, and he supposed that you kind of had to; a pilot was only ever as good as his aircraft, and the better you looked after that plane, the better it could get the job done.

"You're so proud of him," Ansharah smiled. "Are you sure you're not a hundred percent about having a nikkah?"

Alejandro shoved his hands in his pockets as he shrugged, chewing at the inside of his cheek for a second, his gaze never leaving the plane. "It's something I want to talk to him about... if he doesn't want to be married, then I can live that."

She hummed, turning her gaze to the skies. "Y'know, he talks about you all the time."

"He does?"

"He does," she admitted with a nod. "It's nice to see that me and Salome aren't the only ones who annoy everyone by talking about our partners."

The plane landed, and the very second that you started to climb out, Alejandro lost all focus in everything else; biting his lip as he watched you take off your helmet, shaking your head and scratching your forehead as you grumbled and tried to itch away the sweat that had built up. He could feel his heart racing, pounding as he watched you, big brown eyes focused solely on you as his jaw fell slack, the tips of his ears feeling like they were close to flames as his hands trembled a little and his knees went a bit weak; all the years you had been together, everything that you had been through, but every time that Alejandro saw you, it was like he was falling in love all over again. His breath hitched, and he nearly stumbled when you waved over at him.

"Mi amor..."

Ansharah laughed, shaking her head as she put her hand between his shoulders to keep him steady. "Stop ogling your boyfriend for two minutes and maybe you won't lose balance, Colonel."

He grumbled, not taking his eyes off of you, not until you started to run towards him; he knew what was coming, and took a step back as he opened his arms. He still grunted when you slammed into him, your arms around his waist as you hugged him tightly and dared to steal a quick kiss. "Jaanu..."

"Amor," he whispered, wrapping his arms around you and peppering your face in little kisses. "Mi rey... you're in a good mood."

"We beat them," you grinned. "Everything they did, we did it ten times better - I don't think they'll be challenging us any time soon."

Alejandro laughed loudly, daring to steal another kiss. "That's my boy."

You chuckled softly, pulling away and looking into his eyes for a moment as you grinned. "You happy to see me?"

"Very," he nodded. "I told you I'd wait for you here."

"Chikna, I didn't doubt you for a second," you said quietly, keeping an arm around his side as you turned to stand at his side, grinning and waving at your fellow Flight Lieutenant. "Iqbal, has he been behaving?"

"Yes, Sir," she nodded with a grin. "He's been really good today."

"Good," you put your other hand on Alejandro's chest. "Wanna go out tonight?"

"Sure," Alejandro shrugged. "Whatever you wish, mi rey."

Still, Alejandro couldn't take his eyes off of you, hardly able to shake the feeling that every single time he stole a glance or a gaze, he just fell head over heels all over again, and maybe, just maybe, a night out would be the perfect opportunity for him to finally bring up a nikkah. Maybe, if he could take his eyes off of you for more than just a few seconds.

if you liked this fic, REBLOG IT - you SHOULD reblog it; spam likers WILL be blocked. as will blogs that refuse to reblog or to give feedback. if you don't wanna reblog, then you'll get blocked; reblogging is the BARE MINIMUM. don't just "like", REBLOG

[voxmyriad]

Cal Kestis Week 2024, Day One—Lightsaber

It's Cal Kestis Week and I'm here with fic!

I haven't written fic in ages, but I can't let Cal Week go by without contributing!

Prompt: Touch | “You’re doing great!” | But First They Have To Catch You | Lightsaber

[Gen, no archive warnings apply, read on AO3 or here on Tumblr]

Considering how many enemies Cal has to face on a regular basis, he shouldn't need to practice at all. Or even have the time, for that matter. Every planet he visits, every mission he joins or takes on alone, there's always someone out there who objects to him, really violently. There are some days when Cal feels like he keeps his lightsaber lit more often than not.

But the Mantis never feels more empty than in hyperspace.

At first he spent a decent amount of time just watching it pass, but Cal has never been very good at sitting around. After a while something always tugs him up out of the pilot's seat (Greez's seat) and into the main cabin (never filled with the scents of Greez's cooking or the quiet murmur of Cere and Merrin's conversations). Something has him dialing the power down to training mode (no one left he could spar with) and reaching back, back through his memory. He finds Master Tapal's resonant voice, deep and calm, distantly impatient and amused by turns.

"Master, when can I learn to fight with two blades like you do?"

"Jar'Kai is not to be undertaken lightly, Cal."

"I'm not undertaking it lightly. Shouldn't I be as prepared as I can be?"

"You will be, when you have completed your training in the Forms. Now, begin again."

Begin again. Eyes closed, seeing the training room in the Albedo Brave, Cal moves around the small space in the Mantis. The orange blade reflects off glass and metal, the flickering light of a campfire lit to hold back the darkness. It isn't about learning, not now, but about control. Even the greatest lightsaber masters in the Temple had moved through these exercises.

As he steps through his memories, other voices return to him. Long before the war, before he'd accepted Jaro Tapal's offer and become his Padawan, Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker had led a demonstration for the Initiates. Form III, Soresu, against Form V, Shien. Sitting in a group between his friends Caleb and Reva, Cal had followed the flashing blades with rapt attention. It had seemed impossible that he could ever move that fast, but the masters were still able to talk while they sparred. They had even joked back and forth, as blue clashed on blue, as Skywalker had driven Kenobi back step after step and yet never quite got past his guard.

"Rather flashy, Anakin."

"Maybe I'm trying to distract you."

"Distract me, or impress your audience?"

"Can't it be both?"

They had been impressed. Master Skywalker had been wizard, bright enough in the Force to blind them, but so focused and determined. Cal knows he hadn't been the only one who had resolved in that moment to train as hard as he could so he'd be able to fight like that.

(He'd only learned later how efficient Soresu can be for deflecting a lot of blaster bolts at once, how useful Shien is when facing an angry lightsaber-wielding Inquisitor. Back then, in Cal's eager eyes, it had just been about how cool it looked.)

Every step, every movement, listening to his memories, Cal slowly completes the single-bladed katas in order, ending where he had begun. Then, following the rumbling voice in his memory, he lights his second blade and begins stepping through the form he had only observed, the footwork of Jar'Kai, copying Master Tapal's training as he'd never done in life.

"In Jar'Kai, you are the center of your weapon. You must never forget your center, Cal."

"I won't, Master."

(He's trying, he's trying. What does it mean when his center keeps moving? When he keeps being pushed off-center by enemies and allies alike?)

As he approaches the completion of that remembered kata, Cal arrives at the form he had never been taught, never observed in the Temple. With no pause or break in flow, he separates his blades, whirling in slow motion as he blocks and counters invisible enemies the way he had learned to fight with them. Been forced to train himself to fight with them. There are no comforting memories of former sparring bouts now, only snarling faces and hurled threats to accompany the humming blades.

"Jedi!" "Traitor!" "Kill him!" "Take him out!" "He can't counter all of us, can he?" "What's he doing?" "He's so fast!" "Am I the only one left?" "I don't want to die like this!"

(The sounds of death don't change, he's learned, whether they arrive via burning blaster bolt or cauterizing lightsaber blade. He knows the flavor of fear in the air, in the Force, the spike of it just before death arrives. He knows it better than he wants to. He can't forget it.)

The long hilt in his hands bears almost no resemblance now to the broken thing he'd clutched to himself on that ride down to Bracca's surface. In his travels, in following Cordova's path, his second trip to Ilum and everything afterward, he had kept coming across new components, new wraps, new materials for plating, and he'd always been curious. Hardly a day passes that Cal isn't working to improve it, but there are still a few pieces of Master Tapal inside. All of his teachers are carried with him, inside and out.

"What is a Jedi's lightsaber to him, Padawan?"

"His life, Master."

"Correct. His life, a limb, an extension of himself. But it is also a weapon, the weapon only of a Jedi, kept as a reminder that peace is our goal, drawn only when all else fails. To draw a lightsaber upon an enemy is to take on a heavy responsibility. It must never become the easy solution."

(How often has he begun a conflict by pulling out his lightsaber first?)

Finally, reluctantly, he opens his eyes in the present and takes in the silent ship, with BD-1 perched safely out of the way on the kitchen table and recording. That prompts a smile as, with a snap, the lightsaber blade disappears. BD-1 chirps and straightens up, the recording ending.

"Thanks, buddy," Cal murmurs, holding out a hand for the little droid to hop up onto his shoulder. "Let's see what's next."