#my sibling found a thing through it. one of those galaxy lights that projects space onto your ceiling and whatnot

[wander-over-the-words]

Tiktok FINALLY had a benefit to my life

[jedi-order-apologist]

I finished reading Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, and I have to say, I really, really loved it! Everyone who recommended it to me was 100% right - this book is great, and especially great in its representation of the Jedi. I think I like it even more than Shatterpoint, and I really liked Shatterpoint.

There are some weak points - it was a little slow to pull me in, and there’s a couple of Weird Legends Things™ that, with me not being particularly immersed in that continuity, don’t quite fit in with my conception of Star Wars (Dooku apparently having had a Master that was not Yoda; the infamous 13-year-old age limit (though I was at least familiar with that one), the Jedi being so far in the public eye that there exists a famous Yoda impersonator, etc), and I was a little iffy on how it handled the “Jedi shouldn’t be in the war” angle (I’m fine with there being Jedi who think that the Jedi shouldn’t be in the war. I’m less fine with an author deciding that other Jedi can’t find the words to defend their involvement, because that’s a cheap way of framing the argument), and a small moment of the “everyone falls in love” stuff I dislike.

But those were very small aspects of the book, all things considered, and pretty much everything else about this book is really, really good, and very Star Warsy - a very healthy mix of the wacky as well as the philosophical sides of the franchise, which suited my tastes really well. This book is fun - Yoda is the grumpy grandpa that he deserves to be, and spends a good portion of the book disguised as an astromech that gets into all sorts of trouble. Obi-Wan and Anakin have peak sibling energy in the handful of scenes that they show up in - Anakin at one point insisting that a woman would have to be desperate to want Obi-Wan, and only a younger sibling could possibly say something like that with a straight face to a man as attractive as Obi-Wan, as well as Obi-Wan lying to Mace Windu’s face to cover for Anakin and then immediately grumbling about it to Anakin that he doesn’t know why he does these things for him is such an older sibling thing to do.

Where this book really shines, though, is the serious stuff - the philosophy and the dark side and especially grief. What absolutely sold me on this story, and what made me sit up and go “this is going to be one of my favorite Star Wars books”, was the part where Yoda speaks to the padawans and helps them address and work through their grief. It was phenomenal, and beautiful, and absolutely everything I want out of depicting the Jedi - especially in the context that only a chapter earlier, Ventress had been hurling those standard accusations of “the Jedi don’t let you feel”, and this book wonderfully, completely demolishes that nonsense. This section is absolutely amazing:

Yoda set his bowl of gumbo regretfully aside. “Hear it working, do you?”

“Hear what?” Whie snapped.

“The dark side. Always it speaks to us, from our pain. Our grief. It connects our pain to all pain, our hurt to all hurt.”

“Maybe it has a lot to say.” Whie stared at the starscape hovering over the projector table. “It’s so easy for you. What do you care? You are unattached, aren’t you? You’ll probably never die. What was Maks Leem to you? Another pupil. After all these centuries, who could blame you if you could hardly keep track of them? Well, she was more than that to me.” He looked up challengingly. Tear tracks were shining on his face, but his eyes were still hard and angry. “She was the closest thing I had to a mother, since you took me away from my real mother. She chose me to be her Padawan and I let her down, I let her die, and I’m not going to sit here and stuff myself and get over it!” He finished with a yell, sweeping the plate of crêpes off the projection table, so the platter went sailing toward the floor.

Yoda’s eyes, heavy-lidded and half closed like a drowsing dragon’s, gleamed, and one finger twitched. Food, platter, drinks, and all hung suspended in the air. The platter settled; the crêpes returned to it; Whie’s overturned cup righted itself, and rich purple liquid trickled back into it. All settled back onto the table.

Another twitch of Yoda’s fingers, the merest flicker, and Whie’s head jerked around as if on a string, until he found himself looking into the old Jedi’s eyes. They were green, green as swamp water. He had never quite realized before how terrifying those eyes could be. One could drown in them. One could be pulled under.

“Teach me about pain, think you can?” Yoda said softly. “Think the old Master cannot care, mmm? Forgotten who I am, have you? Old am I, yes. Mm. Loved more than you, have I, Padawan. Lost more. Hated more. Killed more.” The green eyes narrowed to gleaming slits under heavy lids. Dragon eyes, old and terrible. “Think wisdom comes at no cost? The dark side, yes - it is easier for them. The pain grows too great, and they eat the darkness to flee from it. Not Yoda. Yoda loves and suffers for it, loves and suffers.”

One could have heard a feather hit the floor.

“The price of Yoda’s wisdom, high it is, very high, and the cost goes on forever. But teach me about pain, will you?”

“I...” Whie’s mouth worked. “I am sorry, Master. I was angry. But...what if they’re right?” he cried out in anguish. “What if the galaxy is dark. What if it’s like Ventress says: we are born, we suffer, we die, and that is all. What if there is no plan, what if there is no ‘goodness’? What if we suffer blindly, trying to find a reason for the suffering, but we’re just fooling ourselves, looking for hope that isn’t there? What if there is nothing but stars and the black space between them and the galaxy does not care if we live or die?”

Yoda said, “It’s true.”

The Padawans looked at him in shock.

The Master’s short legs swung forth and back, forth and back. “Perhaps,” he added. He sighed. “Many days, feel certain of a greater hope, I do. Some days, not so.” He shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“Ventress was right?” Whie said, shocked out of his anger.

“No! Wrong she is! As wrong as she can be!” Yoda snorted. “Grief in the galaxy, is there? Oh, yes. Oceans of it. Worlds. And darkness?” Yoda pointed to the starscape on the projection table. “There you see: darkness, darkness everywhere, and a few stars. A few points of light. If no plan there is, no fate, no destiny, no providence, no Force: then what is left?” He looked at each of them in turn. “Nothing but our choices, hmm?”

“Asajj eats the darkness, and the darkness eats her back. Do that if you wish, Whie. Do that if you wish.” The old Jedi looked deep into the starscape, suns and planets and nebulae dancing, tiny points of light blazing in the darkness. “To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan.” His matted eyebrows rose high over his swamp-colored eyes, and he poked Whie with the end of his stick. Poke, poke. “Be a candle, or the night, Padawan: but choose!”

Whie cried for what seemed like a long time. Scout ate. Fidelis served. Master Yoda told stories of Maks Leem and Jai Maruk: tales of their most exciting adventures, of course, but also comical anecdotes from the days when they were only children in the Temple. They drank together, many toasts.

Scout cried. Whie ate. Fidelis served.

Yoda told stories, and ate, and cried, and laughed: and the Padawans saw that life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

I want to show this passage to every hot-take Yoda-critical fan who’s ever leveled that kind of nonsense at him. I want every one of them to read this and still try to tell me that Yoda is detached and uncaring of the galaxy around him. I want every fan who thinks the Jedi are expected to be unfeeling to read this and understand what the Jedi actually say and do and why giving into these feelings is the issue, not the feelings themselves.

The confrontation with Dooku is also amazing. Yoda challenges him to explain why the dark side is so great, and Dooku only gets more and more frustrated as Yoda is unswayed by any of what he tempts him with. I especially love this bit where Yoda lays out exactly why what the dark side promises is false:

“Want something else. Want power.”

“Power have I.”

“Want wealth.”

“Wealth I need not.”

“Want to be safe,” Dooku said in frustration. “Want to be free from fear!”

“I will never be safe,” Yoda said. He turned away from Dooku, a shapeless bundle under a battered, acid-eaten cloak. “The universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light, that can save me.”

That then leads into a bit where Dooku has a vision of what a dark!Yoda would look like, and realizes how utterly terrifying that would be.

Dooku also has abandonment issues on full display - lashing out at the lady who had given her son up to the Jedi, getting furious at her on the son’s behalf (but so clearly, his own, speaking of his own resentment towards his parents), and throwing an absolute hissy fit because he’s convinced Yoda likes Anakin more than him. I’m not kidding, he’s so offended by Anakin’s entire existence that just his mere presence in his house is enough for Dooku to stop feeling conflicted about the whole thing and jump right back into the dark side.

And there’s just so many good little moments throughout it all on top of all that. Whie’s dreams - and oh, I knew exactly what his dream of his own death was when he described it to Scout and it hurt at the end when he hugged Anakin while saying “I’m so glad you’re not coming to kill me!”. And Ventress, calling Dooku out on the fact that it’s so obvious that Sidious will end up replacing him (also for a more humorous bit - the fact that she apparently has some petty grudge against Anakin and Obi-Wan for stealing her ships so she goes out of her way to steal their ship at the end), and the droids, and Scout’s cleverness in winning the tournament despite her disadvantages, Jai Maruk’s last stand and refusal to fall when he was at the edge, and...so much, really.

And above all else, the book really latches onto the idea of Jedi as family, and you all know how much I really, really love the idea of the Jedi as a big found family. The idea that they consider each other to be family is driven home again and again, in their words and in their actions, and I absolutely adore this book for that emphasis.

[pianoperson]

Revised Cradlesona Character Sheet

Because I got more ideas for my Cradlesona so :’)

Also I made a new artwork!! (I was trying to shade but it looked too ugly sooooooo)

And here’s the updated character sheet!! (Also posting it now because I’m writing for the school event ongoing)

CRADLESONA CHARACTER SHEET

Basic Info:

Name: Angel Burnham

Nickname: None; call her Angel

Birthday: December 12

Age: 22

Height: 150cm

Blood Type: O+

Physical:

Eyes: Her right eye is a natural dark brown color. Her left eye, however, is a mix of colors that resemble a galaxy. It used to be the same brown color as her right eye until she first performed magic. When using magic, both her eyes take on the galaxy colors. Nobody knows why this is the case, although Angel has a feeling it’s because of her heritage.

Hair: Dark brown hair; in some angles, it looks black, while in others, it looks brown

Accessories: Two rosary bracelets on her left wrists and a St. Benedict’s ring on her left middle finger

Features: Other than her left eye, nothing too significant

Illnesses: Aside from allergies to most seafood except fish, none

Social:

Affiliation: Neutral initially, Red Army after two months

Occupations: Originally worked as a waitress in a cafe, but days after she discovered her magic, she was recruited by the Red Army to help them in the war

Relationships:

Blanc and Oliver: These two were the first people Angel met when she first arrived in Cradle. Blanc had been nothing but kind to her while Oliver was more merciless with his words; nevertheless, Angel was able to get along with both of them. Blanc had even given her a tour around Cradle. Angel stayed in their home for a few days until she requested to stay in another place. Blanc and Oliver also helped her find a job.

Fenrir: Fenrir and Angel became immediate friends when he stopped by Blanc’s house. He even gave her a food tour around Cradle. Fenrir found out her new home when he visited the cafe she worked in and since then, he has made occasional visits. He was there for Angel after she learned about her magic and also helped her move out of her apartment after she was recruited by the Red Army.

Lancelot: Angel found him intimidating. She even disliked him for not allowing her to go out of Red Army HQ on her own. However, after finding out about what he had to go through to keep Cradle (and her) safe, she realized he is actually kind.

Jonah: Angel found him very attractive the moment she first saw him during her tour around Cradle. She saw him eating mille-fueille while having a lunch break in another cafe and found it really endearing. When she was made to serve the Red Army, Jonah was assigned to be her (main) bodyguard. They grew closer because of it.

Edgar: Angel found him sketchy, despite his kindness to her. Much to her annoyance, Edgar teases her about her crush on Jonah. However, when he teases Jonah, she either enjoys the show or joins Edgar. Sometimes, if Jonah is really busy, Edgar takes the role of bodyguard.

Kyle: Angel likes his chill personality, especially since she grew up in a lax environment. Kyle has brought her out to the bar he goes to twice. The first time went off without a hitch. The second time, however…

Zero: Because of his quiet nature, Angel doesn’t know him that well. They do talk about their annoyance towards Edgar. If Jonah and Edgar aren’t available, Zero is her third bodyguard.

Personality:

Angel has Filipino and Cradle blood. She was born and raised in 21st century Philippines, having a pretty decent life with a loving family, enough sustenance, and (as decent as it can get) WiFi. Although her elementary and high school taught her, Angel isn’t particular about manners. She can act properly if necessary, but she prefers to let loose and be chill.

When you first meet her, you might be intimidated by her serious expression. However, once you try to talk to her in a friendly way, you actually see she’s really friendly and great to talk to. She’s particularly energetic if you talk about similar interests, such as Pokemon, TwoSetViolin, etc. (sadly no one in Cradle knows about those things). While Angel likes to chat, she is an introvert and can get tired easily during hangouts.

Angel is generally a relaxed person. She would rather go with the flow than organize things because for her, things become messier if she does plan it. She acts chill around people, never trying to get mad at anyone because for her, it makes it much easier in the long run. This is also because Angel hates conflict and problems and would rather stay away if she can.

However, in unfamiliar settings, Angel gets very tense. If she is made a leader, she gets easily nervous and can break down. She wishes that she was more confident, however, so she can be someone people can look up to. In very familiar areas, however, she has more confidence, to the point she can seem arrogant.

Because of her relaxed nature, Angel tends to laze around and not finish whatever projects she herself started on unless there are more people involved in it. This also causes her to not have many passions for things. However, she has two things she really likes: astronomy and music. Stars always make her feel better and she gets excited over space. As for music, she is a pianist and a flutist. Music is the one thing where she feels confident and very much like her ideal self. After discovering magic, however, she had a rocky relationship with it for a while. Angel also likes maths, writing, and drawing, partly because it makes her feel smart but mostly because she likes doing it. She tends to get lazy with those three, however.

Angel is also an honest person, never one to tell a lie. She can also be blunt, especially when the situation calls for it. She is also a very loyal friend, not wanting to turn her back and hurt them.

Deep down, she hates herself to the point where every time she’s asked what positive quality she thinks she has, she wouldn’t be able to give a response. She wants to be good enough for people to even want and appreciate her but feels like she isn’t. Sometimes, she feels like telling someone but she fears she’ll burden them.

Because of this low self-esteem, she attempts to raise it up by counting her blessings every day. Occasionally, this causes her to be arrogant in a way, but she really doesn’t intend for it to be that way. This awareness of her arrogance tends to attack her ego, bringing her self-esteem back down.

Family and History:

Angel is actually from the 21st century who recently graduated from college with a degree in music. While walking back to a condo her family owns, Blanc bumps into her and drops his pocket watch, which she picked up. The rest is history. 

Angel’s family is actually a mix of two worlds. Her mother was a Cradle citizen, born into a family of magic users, while her father was from the Land of Reason. Her mother, dared by her friends, entered the Garden on the full moon via teleportation and accidentally ended up being transported to 21st century Earth, where she met Angel’s father and fell in love. They hid this from Angel and her other siblings and she only found out during a chance encounter with her mother’s parents. Because of the magic and resistance to it being passed down, she inherited both abilities, which are most powerful in music.

Skills and Special Abilities:

Magic: Angel can cast magic like typical magic users. When she uses magic normally, it’s far from the power of magic users such as Lancelot and Harr. However, when she plays piano or flute, her magic becomes much stronger, possibly stronger than the aforementioned two. Using it, however, can cause fatigue, fever, and even fainting.

Magic Resistance: Due to her roots in the Land of Reason, she also has the ability to nullify magic, making her one of the most powerful people in Cradle– and a target. Strangely, when she makes TwoSetViolin references, her magic nullification ability is more powerful. (It was how she even found out about her magic resistance. She remarked “iNtErEsTiNg” once and the nearby lights went off. The crystals in the light bulbs were newly installed.)

Pianist: She has a decade and a half worth of experience.

Flutist: While not as experienced with the flute (only having played it for around 5 years), she can still play it.

Writing: She writes in her spare time.

Drawing: She’s less confident in her drawings and would rather not show them to anyone. She does draw in her spare time. 

Paired with: Jonah

Life in Cradle:

Angel just recently graduated from college when she first encountered Blanc, who bumped into her. Blanc seemed very antsy and, after apologizing to her, ran off. He dropped his pocket watch, however. The same thing that happened to Alice the Second occurred, except Blanc actually was nearby when Angel was falling to 19th century Cradle.

The portal closed immediately after Blanc caught Angel, so she was trapped in the unknown world.

On the first days staying in Cradle, Angel was nervous, even with Blanc and Oliver helping her. Often, she was reminded of how tense she was.

During one of the days Blanc showed her around, Angel saw a troop of Red Army soldiers, being led by Jonah. Angel found him attractive and kept glancing at him. 

Eventually, Angel asked Blanc if she can get a job and her own living space, since she didn’t want to burden him. Blanc helped her find a job as a waitress in a cafe and got her an apartment to stay in.

She found out about her magic nullification abilities when she moved in to her apartment.

For two months, she carried a rather mundane life as a worker in a cafe. There was a day when, during break, she ate in another cafe at the same time as Jonah (and found him cute as he ate his mille-fueille).

A few days after the news of the former King of Hearts being assassinated was announced, Angel was eating out with some friends from work. The restaurant had a piano, so she decided to play Sonata Pathetique mvm. 3. Midway through the piece, she heard screams and shouts of pain. That was when she found out that she was unleashing magical attacks through her playing and started to panic when she realized her hands were moving on their own. That was when an explosion occurred.

She was brought to Kyle thanks to Oliver. She was the only one who survived the fiasco, which was dubbed the Night When Death Sang. She also found out her left eye changed color.

Because of the fiasco, she was fired from her job. 

She encounters her Cradle family by chance near the fountain in Central Quarter. They bring her to her house and decide to teach her how to control her magic.

A week later, Red Army declared war on the Black Army. The next day, they faced off. Angel was nearby when it happened and was praying in her head for nothing bad to happen. That was when she accidentally repelled Lancelot’s magic, confusing everyone. It was enough for Blanc and Oliver to arrive and stop the conflict.

Two days after the face-off, Edgar finds Angel in her apartment, taking her to the Red Army HQ. There, Angel is made to serve the Red Army by using her magical abilities against the Black Army.

Because of what she did at the restaurant, however, Lancelot orders his officers to be Angel’s bodyguards whenever she goes out. Jonah is her main bodyguard. 

[diviinedogs]

do you have a klance fic rec?

I did a fic rec a while back over here! but here’s some more fics :oc

I know younger fans follow me so everything in this list like the last one is gonna have no sm/.ut or too much expl/.icit content

THIS IS...... A LOT AND I’M FORGETTING A TON OF FICS I’M CURRENTLY READING because I just read them when they update I don’t have them in bookmarks on my phone but I really should.... I think these are enough for now though, I actually left a bunch of fics out of this one because it was getting too long

if you guys want I could probably make a page of fic recs? let me know :oc

and of course there’s klance-net’s fic library (I help out with it sometimes c:)

nothing’s quite as sweet

Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street. 

this is like....... one of my fave Klance fics of all time tbh along with A Fish and A Bird+it’s sequel, Crossroads, and the next two fics

Homesick at Space Camp

Lance realizes he's been an asshole to Keith, and on a diplomatic mission to a key planet for the Voltron alliance he... overcompensates. 

the characterizaTION IS THIS FIC IS....... SO GOOD....... and it includes the rest of the team too despite the focus on Lance and Keith and I don’t really see that in other fics tbh

Of Escorts and Espionage

Lance preened. Escort? That sounded kind of sexy and badass. “Why, of course, Princess,” he said, standing up to offer his hand at Allura. “I would escort you to the most Galra-infested reaches of the galaxy if you asked.”

Allura’s arm rose but the hand she placed in Lance’s palm was not hers.

It was Keith’s.

there’s some smut here but I think you could easily skip over it

Handbook of Demonology

This psychic—Lance the Lucid, according to the posters, and Keith wasn’t even going to comment on that—was a charlatan, plain and simple, and Keith kind of wanted to punch him. Sure, Lance knew how to put on a show, but Keith doubted there was anything more to the act than charm and dramatic flair.

Pidge sighed, catching Keith’s eyes. “At this point, they’re pretty much our only hope.”

--

While searching for the truth behind their families' disappearance, Keith and Pidge hire a pair of amateur witches to help summon the demon Zarkon. They accidentally summon Allura instead.

Ignorance is Bliss

As it turns out, learning that your house is haunted makes the ghosts a lot more aggressive. Who knew?

Ah, well. At least one of them is hot. And he's the less-evil one, too, so that's always a plus.

Foreign Scenes

Lance has been dreaming of travelling since the first time he heard stories from his family as a child. Now, having finally the time and money to do it, he goes on a trip to Europe to see some of the most culturally rich cities on the continent. Except he keeps bumping into the same guy over and over again, in random cities, doing stupid shit, and ultimately dragging Lance into his trouble, too.

Basically an AU in which Lance and Keith become impromptu travel buddies and get into trouble.

Would You Want Me (If I Want You)

“Well, maybe you just need to relax,” Lance said with a hum, running a hand through his hair as he grinned down at Keith, his back towards the roof. “So just… lean back and enjoy the weightlessness. It’s…. Nice, right?” Lance didn’t know why he was feeling so sheepish all of the sudden, his lips a thin line. Maybe it was the way Keith looked at him from behind his hair, or the fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt, or the slim legs intertwined with his, or the way the lighting seemed to bounce off of Keith’s skin like he was made of glass.

Whatever it was, it made Lance want to do something stupid.

Or; Keith discovering Lance enjoys messing with Altean technology a bit more than he should leads to Keith finally acting on how he feels.

After talking it out, of course.

can you tell me

Keith works in his brother's coffee shop for the summer, expecting a boring break before college. Lance changes all of that.

The boy is still in the front of the group, but he doesn't take off his glasses so Keith can't tell what he's really looking at -- either the menu or Keith. Keith feels a flash of annoyance but smothers it and pins his smile in place.

anything by this author is greAT so yeah :oc

all we have to do

Keith gets hurt during a mission, and Lance is not sure how to handle that.

Lance wakes up on the floor outside of the medical bay, jerking wildly, body a mess of aches and twinges.

Make Me Your Home

“Oh my god, Keeeith,” Lance wheezed. “Keith you’re the best drunk space cadet I’ve ever seen.”

“Space cadet,” Keith mumbled. He repeated the words again although his eyes had zeroed in on Lance’s hands and Lance offered no resistance when Keith picked one of them up and pulled it possessively towards his lap. He began to gently trace over Lance’s fingers, sending shivers up Lance’s arm and down his spine. “You have looong fingers,” Keith murmured after a few moments.

Keith’s face perked up then, as if he’d just had a brilliant idea, and Lance could almost not wait to hear what new obscure thought had entered Keith’s pretty head. He was prepared to laugh, and instead found himself shivering again as Keith leaned far into his personal bubble, lips practically touching Lance’s ear when he spoke next.

“I bet you could reach all kinds of things, Lance.”

some ns/f.w but it’s minor

Medical Duty

Blue is the color of loyalty, so somehow that translates to Lance being the team medic. Except his only first aid skills come from putting bandaids on his younger siblings, and Keith seems to be physically incapable of not getting punched by every new alien they meet.

The Arch Project

When Lance McClain gets promoted to a top secret research project he is delighted to learn that the old conspiracy theories about something crashing in the desert of New Mexico were not entirely wrong. No one is entirely sure what it is that crashed, but it appears to be a man. A very pretty man who hasn't woken up since the crash. Lance is determined to be the first person on the project in a century to finally crack the case of just what this unconscious being is. Human, alien, or something else entirely? But there are forces out there determined to uncover the truth, and steal it if they must. The Voltron Group, a well known hacker group in the research world will apparently stop at nothing to find out what Galra Associated Corperation is hiding. And sooner or later, Lance will have to choose where his loyalties lie.

this fic just started but tbh I’m really excited for it it sounds cool and I don’t think I’ve seen another fic/AU like it :oc

Shadow of the Past / Ghost of the Future

When Lance is thrown through time, he finds himself one year in the future, in place of the Lance that should be here.

He finds his team to be remarkably familiar, yet distinctly different. They have more scars, a better grip on the whole saving the universe thing, and over a year’s worth of teamwork to bind them together. But the weirdest part? Keith seems to be a lot more touchy with him. Not that he’s complaining… much.

The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance’s places and restore them to their original timelines. But despite the fact that they’re still his friends, Lance can’t help but feel a little out of place among a team that’s been through so much with a Lance that just isn’t him. And it doesn’t help that the team is on edge around him, refusing to tell him anything for fear of influencing and changing the past. Things get even more complicated when they have to rely on the team in the past to complete the switch, leaving Lance to little more than sit, wait, and attempt to fill in his future self’s shoes.

//

When Lance is thrown through time, his future self from one year ahead is transported to the past in his place.

This Lance is faster, stronger, and markedly more mature. Not only that, but he's distinctly more intuitive about his teammates and A LOT more touchy with Keith.

The team must try and work out how to reverse the two Lance's places and restore them to their original timelines. Things only get more complicated when the Future Lance can't seem to remember where he was when the switch happened, and he refuses to reveal anything about his own time for fear of influencing the team's decisions.

the other fics by the authors are great too :oc

Your Songs Remind Me Of Swimming

A small cove sheltered by rocks opens Lance's eyes to something he had never seen before. He was never much for believing in the supernatural, but maybe all those sea shanties were true.

I love........ siren/mermaid Keith so much just look at my url a/sdkf;jk

lungs

After a near drowning experience as a child in which he doesn't remember how he survived, Lance avoids the ocean he once loved. He doesn't realize that's where his savior lives.

Or: a slice-of-life story about a boy and his mermaid.

another mermaid Keith!

[musthaveloved]

hey fellow writer friends I need your opinions

ok so under the cut is some stuff from my ongoing sci-fi project (probably a tv series? idk yet) that I’m super excited to expand on and I’d be interested to know what you guys think / if you have any suggestions

basically the main question is “at a glance, would you watch this series / read this book?”

SYNOPSIS

The story’s set in a future where there are several human colonies across the universe, all of them with different attitudes to interspecies breeding with the inhabitants of their neighbouring planets.  The lead characters are a kind of rag-tag found-family bunch, most of whom are mixed-species or otherwise outcasts from their respective worlds-- the episode-by-episode plot arcs are kind of a Firefly setup, with them kicking about between galaxies causing trouble, taking shady jobs and being an adorable (if dysfunctional) lil family. 

The ongoing plot arc is to do with the differing prejudices and beliefs on each planet (both human-populated and otherwise) - one of the oldest colony planets, 100% populated by humans, has gone a bit sort of.... space republican and is stirring up tensions between “pure” humans and “neo-humans” (those with mixed-species heritage). Which, as you can imagine, ends up affecting our neo-human lead characters in multiple ways.

So as you can see it’s not at ALL politically charged. Heh. (I put a synopsis on twitter a while back and my inbox was immediately full of wankers.)

THE LEADS

DOM 

Partially descended from a species that communicates empathically / psychically-- something he likens to the idea of “reading an aura”. Uses his innate empathic ability to become a very good con man.  And annoy Birdie.

BIRDIE

Dom’s partner in crime-- the muscle, though she’s half his size. Used to work for a smuggling ring on one of the border planets, until she tried to con her own people and got her tongue cut out for her trouble. Now speaks entirely in sign language, and is always finding new and interesting ways to curse at people.

ADE

The only fully-human member of the crew. Assassin for hire-- pragmatic, rash, fiercely protective of their crew. Also genderfluid (something they use to their advantage when it is Disguise Time). 

REI

The tech support-- scarily good with machines of any calibre. Neohuman who is much, much older than she appears (and uses her childlike appearance 

CORA 

A synth (android) originally assigned as Rei’s medical unit and constant chaperone-- until Rei began modifying and expanding on her programming and the two formed a very different, much more personal bond. The two tend to view each other as sisters.

MORE IN-DEPTH STUFF

DOM’S EMPATHIC ABILITIES

To a human, Dom’s empathic abilities are comparably excellent-- he can read people with incredible finesse. To a member of To’Ai society - his mother’s side - however, he struggles to communicate because his brain is simply not wired the same way. He describes it this way to CORA:

“It’d be like you trying to converse with a two-year-old; as far as they’re concerned, I’m basically talking in three-word sentences. Max.”

Having spent a few years in his teens being raised (reluctantly) by his mother on  after his father’s death, Dom was forced to find other ways to communicate and picked up Ruka, a form of sign language originated by interplanetary traders that was rapidly becoming common knowledge among the more developed / multicultural worlds. It was this form of sign language that he taught Birdie when he initially took her under his wing.

Later in the story they accidentally end up in hostile To’Ai territory and Dom has to act as an ambassador between them and the crew. Thought that’d be some nice symmetry but I have yet to expand on it.

BIRDIE’S SIGN LANGUAGE

Shortly after Birdie lost her tongue, she was taken in by Dom, who nursed her back to health and taught her Ruka as a new means to communicate. In return, she taught him how to defend himself a little better. 

Over time, as they took more and more jobs together, they’ve developed certain signs that are entirely their own that help them to communicate better in extreme circumstances (ie when doing crime), and Birdie assigns “sign names” to all the crew based on endearing features, injokes and the like. (This is actually a thing in most Western forms of sign language, as it saves the need to fingerspell everyone’s name.) Her sign name for Dom, for example, is a colloquial Ruka sign meaning “idiot”, but with the inflection that indicates a sibling. 

REI’S HEALTH COMPLICATIONS

Rei’s mixed-species heritage is something of a mixed blessing. Her biological mothers, both involved with a genetic engineering lab in Shetuo, pioneered a controversial research project on the compatibility of human genes with those of other species - Rei was the fifth attempt, and the first to survive infancy. Her mothers genuinely loved her, encouraging her interest in technology and trying their best to give her a mostly functional upbringing.... but at the same time - with the help of CORA - keeping her practically imprisoned on their little home-base. 

They had valid reason for concern, too: there are several health complications that come with her particular genetic setup. One of her mothers is a Paniang, a species whose formative growth (ie baby to mid-teens) happens very rapidly and then plateaus, deteriorating just as rapidly at the end of their approx. 100-year lifespan. However, the combination of Paniang and human means that Rei reached the physical age of ten, with a mental age roughly twice that, in two years flat. The rapid aging caused a lot of physical stress, leaving her very weak for a very long time. Her skin is peppered with stretch marks, her bones are not especially strong, her immune system equally so, and her muscles often cause her pain.

Having spent several years under the care of CORA and her mothers, Rei eventually decided her health was not going to be an obstacle. Depending on where she’s going or how strenuous her activities are, she may need a filter mask (to keep her from catching something that could destroy her immune system) and/or a wheelchair.

ADE’S GENDERFLUIDITY

Being genderfluid or otherwise transgender, by this point in human history, is No Big Deal in 90% of the universe. Not only did humans themselves realise that gender is fluid more fluid than their ancestors thought, but they also adopted the lax gender attitudes of some of their neighbouring planets.

HOWEVER, this is not so much the attitude on Jynto, Ade’s home planet. It is the last remaining colony planet from the first wave of human colonisation and the closest to what used to be Earth. Many people there hold onto a sense of jingoism, and have strict criteria for what constitutes a “pure human”. Some have even begun to show intolerance towards humans who demonstrate qualities they associate with other species, or the much more lax and accepting attitudes of the multicultural planets - such as, for example, gender fluidity. 

Ade was born as Adeline Raike, daughter of Senator Raike, a major advocate for human separatism. As a teenager they began to rebel against their father’s political leanings, secretly taking a short-range shuttle to the nearby metropolis of Kumidima so they could attend protests and rallies against the governing body of Jynto. It was there that they met Sarai, a young student from Aeolus where the dominant species is humanoid but monogendered-- and it was them that helped Ade work through a lot of their own gender issues until they came to the conclusion they didn’t fully identify as female. 

Shortly after, their father discovered what they had been doing and had them excommunicated from the Raike family altogether, as he couldn’t risk the loss of respect among his government that having a neo-human sypmathiser for a daughter would bring. Ade was bundled off to a border planet with nothing but a meagre 50-credit chip as consolation-- and, unbeknownst to them, Senator Raike staged their death at a subsequent rally. Agents were already being sent in undercover to deliberately incite violence-- Ade was then alleged to have died in the brawl, amongst a few others. Raike did everything he could to spin the “tragic death” of his daughter to a) gain sympathy / limelight and b) paint the protesters in a worse light.

HUMAN SUBCULTURES

As many characters point out in the book, there isn’t really any “pure” form of human any more, as humans have begun to evolve apart from one another depending on the environment of their colony worlds. Some examples:

Erebos and Hemera-- the former is the moon of the latter, which keeps it in a near-constant eclipse. Over time, humans on the darker and colder Erebos have developed very pale skin and much wider pupils in order to be able to absorb more light, whereas humans on brighter and warmer Hemera tend to have very dark skin. Very few humans choose to live on Erebos due to the unforgiving conditions, 

Insuro has significantly lower gravity than Earth (and many of the terraformed colonies that imitate its atmosphere). The small community of humans that live here are a good few inches taller than average, usually quite thin and wiry-- they have a tendency to appear elven and etheral, in a way. They don’t travel offworld much-- when they do, specially engineered exoskeletons are usually required as they struggle to cope with the increased pressure on their bodies and would otherwise end up with serious injuries.

Deo Gansu is a mostly gaseous planet, and therefore wasn’t a good candidate for terraforming. It was colonised instead with a series of self-contained citadels, essentially “bubble cities” constructed to float on the planet’s surface.

OKAY WOW THAT WAS A LOT OF STUFF  IF YOU HAVE REACHED THIS PART OF THE POST AND NOT LOST INTEREST THEN LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK