#really loved that episode actually. i loved every time they got serious with Julian's character

[hiding-under-the-willow]

Consider; Pearl, living friend from another country coming to visit, and sleeping over at their house. Now all the ghosts gotta deal with a Stranger in one of Their rooms, Even if only for a few nights. How dare!

YOU. Keep talking

[faustonastring]

How would the main six react the the mc wanting to start a family?

Thanks for requesting I hope you like it!

My request are open!

Main six reacting to Mc wanting to start a family!

Psa! Please read before reading!

Heheh hi, so I’m like halfway through writing this and I just want to say, that there are two voices that go into wanting to start a family, just because you want too, doesn’t mean your partner may want to (atleast at the moment) I pride myself on writing the main six as accurately as I can, so I’m keeping this in mind while writing it, they still will all follow the prompt, but I’m also writing the bumps in the road that happen along the way (hopefully this makes more sense when you read it) also like half of them have some sort of childhood trauma sooo... read with an open mind.

Asra

Are you being serious? Like really serious? This is t a prank is it? If it is he’ll cry. Don’t make asra cry. Tell him your being serious. Tell him you want to start a family with him. It makes his heart flutter everytime.

He’s waited years for you to tell him this. Decades even, (depending on your time line) and yet your here. Asking him to start a family. He never thought he’d get the chance. He never thought he’d ever get the chance... but I guess all his hard work is really paying off huh.

I mention this a lot, but Asra has a lot of trauma. It doesn’t just go away when you both say I love you, or get married, or decide you want a kid. Sure it gets better over time, but it will probably take atleast a decade for those wounds to fully heal (and that’s being generous) so, as excited as asra is to want to start a family with you, if it’s too early in your relationship, he might have to decline for now. Ask him again in a year or two.

But if you do manage to get Asra ‘Commitment issues’ Alnazar to agree, he want to do it right. He wants his kid to have a better childhood than he had, so he obviously goes to his parents for help. Often. They obviously don’t mind though, they are thrilled to be having a grandchild. (also if your going to adopt, asras gets very sentimental, and wants to adopt all the kids, in the orphanage (let’s say Nadia builds one after the uprights-) and leaves crying, everytime.)

Nadia

Are you sure? You do know how much time and effort you need for kids right? Don’t worry about the money though, the money isn’t the problem, the problem is: is she going to have time in her schedule to raise one or more kid(s)

I mean her parents did it what? Seven times??? And they were ruling over a whole country weren’t they? How hard can it be???? She’ll be fine. Yep. There is nothing to worry about, she’s decided. As long as your on board for it, she’ll make room for as much time as you need. Besides, it’s much easier to rule with you with her.

She has books on top of books, on top of books on how to be a good mother. I mean she had a good mother, and great sisters sure- but she doesn’t want to mess this up for you. She knows how much it means to you, and besides, being a good mother is much more difficult than being a good ruler. Any one can rule, but only a select few can properly raise a kid.

As soon as her family finds out that your planing on starting a family, they book it to vesuvia to give the both of you all the support and tips you need. And when the kid does get here, they always find it hard to part ways. It’s been a while since a new Satrinava has entered this world. Also having her family near reminds Nadia that she doesn’t need books to be a good mom. You’re here with her the both of you are going to do fine. Hopefully.

Julian

He thinks you’re joking at first. Him? Really??? Bold of you to assume that a no good drunk like him would make a good father. Am I right? It’s not like he’s canonically great with kids, helped raise his baby sister and protected her from a shipwreck, or anything. Hahaha. You my friend. Are very bold.

Julian needs a moment or two to think things over, it’s nothing against you, no no no it’s not that! You’re his love! His light! His one and only! His darling! He’d never mean to offended you! He just needs to think it over, figure out if this is the right time to start something this big. If he’s in the right mental state for it. If he’s not? He’ll let you know when he is.

But if he is ready? Ohhohoho buckle up baby because you got a long journey ahead of you! He’s reading up on child development, digging up old notes he has from the very few times he’s had child patients (he’s also researching more about pregnancy, if you can and want to go down that road with him...but I wouldn’t let him deliver the baby if I were you....if you asked him he’d probably reluctantly do so....but...it’s probably best if you leave that to a professional)

Mazelinka and Portia give you and Julian are the best recipes they can find, and Portia will knit or sew, or crochet, he’ll maybe all three- little toys for your kid when the time gets closer. They will one hundred percent be on board with this, and volunteer to baby sit everytime the two of you need some alone time

Portia

Yes. She doesn’t need to think to long or hard about it. The answer is yes. One million times yes! Yes, yes yes yes yes yes! She is over joyed to be honest! She is also going to be a great mom.

As long as the time is right, and you are alright, everything is going to be alright! Every thing is going to be great! She’s going to be a great mom....right? She’s never really had a mom....well she’s had grandmas that counts right? What if she isn’t a good mom? What if she screws something up? Or her kid hates her? What if they like her brother more than her? (*looks at camera like in an episode of the office*)

Tell her you believe in her. That she’s going to be a great mom! That you’ll be there to help her. Portia has a lot of insecurities and self doubt, so it really means a lot to her. And as soon as she’s mentally prepared- everyone and their mother knows about your plans.....”sorry! It just kind of slipped out....and then people started telling their friends and families...and...uhhhhh”

Julian would not only be a good dad, but a pretty decent uncle too! (Also again, if your pregnant...he gives you his card ;)....but not only for your safety but for your babies safety please throw it away, he’s not professionally trained to deliver-) While your waiting for things to get settled, get ready to hear an ear full of stories from when Portia and Julian were kids!

Muriel

Him? When you first ask him he actually does a double take and looks around to make sure you were asking him. But who else would you ask? The chickens? He just doesn’t see why you would want to do that with....him. Him of all people. You chose him.

He isn’t sure what to say at first, he’s going to need about three to five buissnes days to think it over. No matter how much he wants this....he just isn’t sure. It has nothing to do with you really. He tries to make that as clear as possible but...can he trust him self with a kid? Obviously you trust him, and you know he won’t do anything, but this isn’t about what you think. He needs to figure it out on his own.

In three to five business days, if he says no....ask again in maybe a year or two. ( I know it’s long but you’ll have a higher chance of him saying yes if you wait longer, you can’t push things onto him, that never works.) but if he says yes? Well he doesn’t. You’ll catch him whittling things like toys, or a crib, or a bed, and if you ask what it’s for, he’ll say “for our kid/baby” Our.

He asks asra like a million questions, he gets books, and starts going out into town more to get the softest blankets and clothes. He grew up thinking he was a burden. A waste of space. He grew up thinking he was t alowed to have nice things. He doesn’t want his kid to ever go through that. His kid is going to grow up in the most loving and safe house any one can grow up in. I swear by it.

Lucio

What do you mean by start a family? Like adopt more pets.....or.....the other kind of family. Oh you mean the other kind? Like the human, fleshy kind? Are you sure? Kids are so gross aren’t they? They cry and throw up and you have to take care of them for soooo long-

Look, lucio is a very.....complex..character. I don’t think he’s totally evil but he does have a lot of problems that would take a lot of time to go through before I think he’s mentally prepared to have a kid. What’s intresting about lucio is that he has a lot of layers to him. Like ogres. Which makes him very difficult to write, especially when I don’t know where we’ll end up at the end of his route so- I’m sorry lucio stans, but unless you’ve been together for like 20-30 years...

this is just how I headcanon it, other people I know will disagree and say he’d love to have a mini him running around which is valid.... but...I think he’d be scared to have a mini him running around, because of how bad he turned out, and he wouldn’t want to raise his kid like how morga raised him, but we tend to follow in are parents footsteps when raising a kid, wether we like it or not, so...

I’m sorry this is more of a meta than a headcanon I just don’t really know how to write it....lucio would be against it. He isn’t ready. Not ready for the responsibility, not ready to take the risk of the mistakes his kid is going to make. Once he cleans up all his oopsies, and quite possibly gets on good terms with his mother, then maybe just maybe you’ll have a standing chance, besides... he does want an heir ya’know (but if the two of you make an oopsie together and you want to keep it, go ahead. He needs to start taking more responsibility when it comes to his mistakes, so what a great place to start! besides who would he be to tell you what to do with your body.)

Thanks for reading! I can redo Lucios if some one wants... I really just need ideas because it’s too early In his route to really be able to tell how he handles it, so I’d love to hear your opinions on it!

Next headcanon: main six reacting to Mc’s sleepy voice! (5/23)

Request are open!!!!!

[thoughtfulpaperback]

Charmed 02x18 Review SPOILERS!!!

Alright Y’all! Since there is no new episode of Charmed tonight I thought I would just post my review up today to make up for the lack of an episode. I’ve been saving my 10/10 for this moment!!! Honestly though 10/10. I was extremely entertained through the episode. I thought it was beautifully directed by Rupert. I thought everyone gave great performances including more sidelined characters (usually including Mel which i don’t like but since it has been a standard this season doesn’t affect my overall rating).  Standard format. Likes. Dislikes. Then episode highlights.

LIKES

1. Hacy Kiss Moment

Y’all knew this was going to be the first thing I mentioned. Damn! Listen however you feel about the handling/mishandling of the Hacy story-line you can’t deny this was one of the best kiss/confession moments ever. Macy is in control. They are just soaking up the moment. The smile of realization and joy on Harry’s face when Macy just takes command and asks him to get his butt over there and dance. The slow walk towards her and their dance mimicking the jimmy x macy scenes yet showing how different in feeling they are. That laugh of joy and hugging moment at the end. Y’all!!! I can’t! Story wise, It is so nice to see macy and harry have a moment of joy. In many ways they have been put through the wringer so much in both seasons, so to get some fluff. Beautiful.

2. Maggie, Mel, and Ray

Okay so I wish this storyline would have been distributed more evenly across the season, but I don’t feel this storyline came out of nowhere and it addresses so many things that I feel were worth exploring. Firstly, Maggie’s panic attacks. I do wish we would have had hints of them earlier, but other than that I felt this made a lot of sense. Maggie and Ray mended part of their relationship, but it wasn’t until after he left that she found out he knew the whole time that he wasn’t her biological father and she seemed upset by that information, although it got sidelined because of the situation they were in. While I know people think Maggie’s storylines are always about guys. I believe it has always been about growing up and to an extent being abandoned. Season 1, Maggie dealt with her sister not trusting her or at least not always telling her everything and treating her like a child. This season especially Maggie has been openly fighting against the way she feels Mel and others infantalize her and view the way she thinks. Yes especially when it comes to relationships, but not limited to that. Stretching back to 01x17, Maggie’s greatest desire is a love that will never leave. And it isn’t just romantic love. When fighting with Mel she straight up says that demon can give her “what Dad, Parker, and Harry could never give her: a love that will never leave.” In 02x15, Jordan treats maggie like a child and then when she asks him if he really is going to leave her, he says “that’s what men do”. Which to me isn’t necessarily about romance given that the only people who have stuck around in Maggie’s life are primarily women, even harry was gone for a bit. 

So you have these “conflicting” thoughts in Maggie. She is trusting, wants to see the good in people, and believes she is an adult with something to contribute. But then you also get the other part showing that, she actually fears people are exactly what they have been in the past (that is that people will leave or that they cannot change, or that in then end it doesn’t change anything for her). 

So with that, she then finds out that Ray and Mel have been improving thier relationship and she doesn’t know anything about it on top of the fact she is sore about him never telling her about her parentage. In these last few episodes we’ve seen her try to take charge and be proactive in a way she hasn’t been before, which is good, but you wonder how much of that is suppression of her feelings. What is she “sacrificing” to become the “adult” she thinks she needs to be? In sum, Panic attacks made sense for her story and I thought Sarah did a brilliant job acting. Her last conversation with Ray had me in tears! 

So for Mel and Ray in this, they had small roles, but Mel’s growth was amazing. For one, I really do wish there was more than like one or two references to chuchi after the first time her and her dad went on a mission together. more consistent small comments about ray sendings information of checking things out would have been nice to have more understanding of Mel expanding/healing relationship with her father. But moving on. Mel this season has taken a back seat and I hate that, but with the small character developing moments they have given us . . . I think that moment where Mel is looking in on Ray and Maggie having their conversation and walks away is the second best one this season in terms of development. Mel has admitted to always trying to be the person she thinks she needs to be. She basically said the same thing last season when she dropped out of her Master’s program. She is always trying to be this protector but at the same time wants to be able to let go of the wheel. Mel looking in probably to make sure she was okay was in character, but that moment where she nods and walks away able to realize that in this case Maggie doesn’t need her. This isn’t her “fight” or moment, and her being comfortable enough to walk away and trust that “it’s all good”. I feel old Mel would have wanted in, wanted to explain herself and defend her reasons for keeping that info on the DL, or would have stayed by the door just in case Maggie would need her at some point. But she trust both of them. Which I feel is huge! Anyways when they do little things like that which make sense I love it and just wish they had more moments like that spread out this season rather than some of the other stuff they tried. 

3. Marisol, Macy, and Harry meeting

Heart broken! but I loved it. I love that Macy did get to meet her mom, especially since lots of people in the fandom complained about how unfair it was that Macy was the only one to never get to really meet her mom. I didn’t care about personally, I like a little bit of bittersweetness so I didn’t mind. This scene was all about the bitter sweetness. Marisol getting to meet and talk to macy but not actually see her. Macy having to have her memory altered to forget the meeting, but still internalize that advice. Although now I wonder if that friend Macy spoke about in season one was actually herself and her mind just making up a new person to make up for the erased memories. More likely than not she really was just super serious and restrained, but then went crazy (like many do) in college and just started to shed off that restraint then her powers came in and they had to back that up. 

There is a tragedy in macy and her mothers situation. I don’t think this scene took away from that, but at the same time it added a new dimension to Marisol. Marisol definitely earned her Elder role. 

I loved how Harry in that moment. He explained what he was going to do, as best as he could without freaking her out (he was told to be gentle with her), I like how he shifts strategies when he sees her flinch away. He was being as clinical as could be before that, but when she flinches in fright, he gets personal “It will be okay” “I’d never do anything to hurt you, you have my word”. his movements were slower the second time around. And although she wasn’t going to remember his name, he still took that moment to tell her what it was. it was sweet. The background music was a bit off to me at first, but other than that it was great. 

4. Jordan

Every episode he is in I fall more in love with Jordan Chase. He is this seasons Harry. Harry season one was that way for me, but now it’s jordan. I love how he is open with Maggie and although she doesn’t want to hear it he tries to be as gentle as he can while explaining panic attacks. Then him with James! I love these guys together Rupert and Jordan are just so good in scenes together. 

DISLIKES

1. James

This is a huge nitpick. and I don’t really dislike it...I am just wanting the writers to make up their minds. So Jimmy and Harry, supposedly make up James. Jimmy has the old memories, but harry’s were erased? I thought the mind meld was showing that Jimmy still remembered but Harry had access to those memories because they shared that link. But now, apparently, Harry with no magic and no memories of being Harry is James with James’s memories.... 

Okay so if harry is equally as much of James as jimmy and Harry is a product of the new experiences and memories he made, then why is jimmy necessary? Like how is it that one cannot survive the other if they seem to be equally the “old” person as before. Because that means that jimmy isn’t necessarily inherently evil or less James and his faults than harry. He is a product of his experiences and memories which are of being locked up in a bottle without a body. Like I just want some real clarification, which I assume will be given next episode, but I wish we would have had more info through out the season. 

2. Julian is not that smart

@slowlyandrogynousmiracle mentioned it in her podcast, but I was also blown away by the fact Julian didn’t seem to make it make sense that there was something up with Macy and Maggie. Mijo! They literally disappeared at the same time that your testing room was broken into. Macy was down there just moments before she disappeared. Did your Aunt not tell you what happened? 

Also, I still don’t know what exactly Julian’s game is. That is I was sure before that he knew, but that he probably had other plans than what we all were assuming, or that Aunt Viv has different plans than Julian. This episode didn’t clarify anything, at least to me, again I expect that the next episode will do that, but I didn’t think this Julian moment added anything new other than expose the charmed ones to him. 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

1. James refusing to be held captive by a couple of “girls”. Reminding me of Harry’s first interaction with the trio.

2. James asking Macy about what she and Harry were. That cocky “what?” I might have issues.

3. Maggie’s rage and new power

4. Ray saying that it didn’t matter to him that Maggie wasn’t his bio daughter. “The truth is . . . I love you too damn much.”

5. Jordan pulling out that scalpel and saying he needs to cut that chip out of Harry.

6. That LAST SCENE 

[randomnessunicorn-imagine]

can i get one for Garak, Odo, Julian, Kira, and Jadzia and their reactions to the reader getting a tattoo (i just got one) romantic relationship or platonic either way

{ I only write 4 characters for ask and so I only wrote about the aliensbecause I think their reactions are more interesting. }

⭐ GARAK ⭐

Humans really are weird. Really.

At first, he does not understand the sense of it, it’s not somethingCardassians do and so it’s a pretty new thing for him and so he’s quitecurious. You know, Cardassians’ skin is different, it’s like reptile skin, theyhave scales and so it’s hard making tattoos on scales, their skin is rough andresistant. Garak would never do something like this and the thought of needlesthat penetrate his skin freaks him out.

You explain to him that’s a form of art, there are so many terrestrialarts he still does not know but this one is very particular since it involvesyour body and a lot of pain.

It’s like humans loved pain, they have this sadomasochist nature butthey still don’t accept it, Garak thinks, they should be more honest withthemselves. A very fascinating phenomena anyway.

Humans have a weird relationship with sufferance and everything that’sunhealthy, human’s history explains this concept very well since humans have somany kind of addiction and when even art becomes painful, well, humans areaddicted to pain as well. They look so weak and innocent but they hide a toughpersonality. He has always thought they are creatures of contradictions andoddness.

When you explain to him the normal procedure of getting a tattoo andthat involves needles and ink, Garak thinks it’s a new form of torture and hedoes not understand why you let them torturing you in such inhuman way, noteven Cardassians tortured their enemies like this. Human’s sadism isimpressive, he may take them as role model, at least, he learnt something newand even if his career as a member of the Obsidian Order is over, learning somenew technical of torture is always useful, it’s like a master, an upgrade ofhis skills. Yes, he considers this thing as a valid form of torture since it includespain, blood and needles, so it surely is a form of torture.

⭐ ODO ⭐

Even Odo is perplexed about it, humanoids are so peculiar and weird,they never stop surprising him in so many ways, positive and negative, but hecan’t say they are not original.

Odo is always curious and interested in humanoid’s rituals andtraditions, even if sometimes he does not understand the sense of them.

Since Odo has never heard about tattoos before, you have to explain itto him and he also thinks it’s a form of torture, he actually looks moreperplexed and he is worried –even if he does not appear so worried-. Odo keepslistening to you, with his arms crossed, and his face concentrated, his eyesdon’t show any particular emotion, he’s still very serious and austere in hisways but he’s thinking how barbaric this practice is but you have chosen to doit, nobody forced you and so he does not worried a lot.

Then he starts reading more information about this practice and hediscovers things he didn’t imagine. It’s actually a very old tradition andpeople tattooed themselves for religious, cultural or war reasons. It’s morefascinating than he thought, he’s actually fascinated by ancient history andtraditions especially funeral rites and so he keeps reading books about it.

In particular, he didn’t know that some human criminals used tattoos asa “badge of membership” because only delinquents wore tattoos and so they couldbe recognized thanks to it. For example, the members of the Yakuza, the JapaneseMafia, or even other Asian countries used to tattoo their skin and it was alsothe symbol of their power. Odo finds it very interesting but he knows you havenot tattooed yourself for this reason, you are not a criminal but he could dosome cynical comment about it, just for joking even if he looks so serious whenhe jokes.

Since Odo is not a solid he can’t tattoo himself but he can imitate it,he can turn into every kind of thing. Odo can design on his solid body tattoos andsymbols. Maybe it can be a good exercise to improve his changeling skills.

You often give him advice about new drawings he can “tattoo” on hisskin/solid form and it’s a very funny game. Well, it’s not a game for himbecause he’s serious and he takes it as a training but you are always curious tosee his progress and forms.

One day, you suggest him to tattoo Quark’s face on his belly or back andOdo is so shocked that he does not speak with you for the rest of the day. Itwas such a weird comment and the idea of having Quark tattooed on his skindidn’t amaze Odo at all. Not a hilarious joke. Not at all.

⭐ JADZIA DAX ⭐

We can consider her stains as tattoos, even if she’s born with it but astranger can think she has tattooed herself. Even in an episode where Jadzia,Sisko and Julian had a time travel, she said to the humans of that period shehad Japanese Tattoos and so it’s plausible someone can trade her stains fortattoos.

Jadzia is an open mind, curious woman and so she finds this art veryfascinating. She also would tattoo herself but she already is and and her tattoos are original and so she doesnot need it. If she was a human, she would think about it and she would cover herbody with tattoos.

Jadzia truly loves your tattoos and she could even suggest some new onesyou can make, she’s very enthusiast and she jokes about how strong and brave youare because it’s very painful. You’re even tougher than a Klingon (Worf issnorting as a baby and he does not approve) but Jadzia is very enchanted.

Of course, she already knows about it, she’s a very cultured woman andshe will tell you about some of her old friends who had tattoos and otherstories about her past lives. Then you also can tell her the stories behind your tattoos, she wouldlove to listen and know about their meanings, the reason why you made them andyou chose the drawing you chose.

It would be very hilarious if you would tattoo her same stains on your skin pretending to be a Trill, really funny or maybe you could play to her a joke and you could really tattoo trill’s stains and say to her you wanted to become a trill. That’s amazing and then Jadizia would laugh all the week because of your joke. Well done!

⭐ KIRA NERYS ⭐

She didn’t know about this human’s habit and she thinks it’s weird butfascinating at the same time. Kira is not really an expert of art but shethinks it’s cool and you’re tough if you let your skin being stung by needles,she would never do something like this but you’re the owner of your body andshe can’t criticize your choice.

Kira really likes stories and she wants to know the meaning of yourtattoo, maybe you could also explain to her how it works, what’s the processand all these stuff.

I think she’s the kind of girl who would tattoo herself because she’svery curious about it and she wants to experiment it. Maybe it would take timebefore she decides it but she’s the kind of woman who likes challenge and thenshe could remove it in case she would regret it.

Kira loves observing and caressing your skin, she has always loved yourskin, every part of you, but now she would define you as a piece of art. The mostbeautiful gift the prophets could donate to her.

Maybe you could surprise her and make a tattoo in her honour. Maybe youand she could make a tattoo in common and so she would have no  excuse to refuse, it’s something veryromantic and she didn’t think you could have such an idea and she thinks you’rejoking but you’re so serious. Yes, maybe she has to do it.

[justgenlockthings]

gen:VIEW Episode 2, “There’s Always Tomorrow”

Rooster Teeth knows how to make a premiere that packs a punch when it comes to their serialized dramas (yes, I’m including Red vs. Blue in that category). But it’s the non-premiere episodes that generally give you a better idea of if the show’s gonna be good or not.

Or maybe you’re someone like TheFloofArtist and you were predisposed to hate the show long before you even saw it and so found literally every possible reason to hate it from the 2nd episode and dramatically “dropped it” despite the fact that if you hated the show so much you were shitting on it without having seen a single episode your opinion was never gonna be considered valid.

(Why do grown men throw hissy fits about TV shows?)

Ahem...so. Episode 2 of gen:LOCK...

Let’s Get Down To Business

Where episode 1 was about establishing the relationship between Chase and Miranda, this episode seems to be about establishing the gen:LOCK program itself: how it works and who’s gonna be in it. For that reason, at least for the first half, it’s very expository, but not in a way that ever feels boring. Honestly, the longer episode lengths means the amount of time they spend standing around and talking doesn’t feel like vital time wasted, unlike RWBY which has often made that terrible mistake. This is information we need to get a basic understanding of how this program works, and we also get a chance to hear Dr. Weller passionately talking about his life’s work. Jesus christ, David Tennant gives such a good performance. He really sells the good guy mad scientist voice you expect from Dr. Weller.

I wasn’t entirely sold on Michael B. Jordan as a voice actor the previous episode, but even if at certain points it was clear we were watching a scene that hadn’t been initially animated to his voice, this episode convinced me things were gonna be fine. I loved his performance in the scene of Julian in the tank chatting with Migas: the sort of bittersweetness of the reunion between the two after all that had happened to them, but they were still glad to finally see each other again. Miles Luna deserves some praise too for helping sell the fact that this is a reunion. After all, even though we caught a brief moment of them interacting and joking around in Episode 1, we didn’t really have a chance to establish they were close friends. This scene does well to convince us that yes, they were friends, and they are relieved to see each other again.

Chase and Miranda’s situation was very well-handled in this episode. It was always going to be painful for Miranda to find out Chase was still alive, and even though it’s perfectly logical that Chase wasn’t able to reach out to her in the intervening years, it still isn’t something she can just brush over. She didn’t immediately jump at the chance to see him in-person, and actively avoided him for a day. It would have been a major mistake for her to be the first one who went to visit him. I love this whole situation with Miranda: the way the marketing was going you kind of expected just a bland character defined by her relationship with Chase, and, well, I guess what she does in this episode is sort of defined by the relationship, but it’s done in a way that’s actually interesting, where you actually care about how she feels about all this. Dakota Fanning does a great job conveying the hurt Miranda feels seeing someone she loved after so long who she’d given up for dead. I think she might easily be the third best voice actor we’ve heard so far, behind Monica Rial and David Tennant.

Here’s another case where one of my few pre-show expectations got subverted. From the character teasers I’d sort of expected us to get a depiction of the formation of the gen:LOCK program from the start: presumably that path would have followed Chase and Yasamin’s initial training and the early mech designs we saw in the early posters and the first two teasers. Of course, this was before I had known what they were planning with Chase’s crash, a path in the story that I could not have possibly predicted. And now I’m realizing why they didn’t do that: 1) it would have been too similar to RWBY and probably have made for a very slow show otherwise, and 2) they wanted to get right into the giant mechs fighting things. Sure, it sort of robs us of seeing some cool stuff about what it was like for Chase to join the program, but I figure we’ll get that depicted in flashbacks or in the comics.

One of the accusations regarding Kazu Iida was that having him speak Japanese while everyone else was speaking English would create “The Lopez Effect.” For those unaware, Lopez is a robot on Rooster Teeth’s show Red vs. Blue who speaks “Spanish” (really sentences run through Google Translate) that is translated for the audience via subtitles but no one else can understand. Now, for what the complain actually entails, I think “Lopez effect” is a bad term for it because Lopez’s situation is played for laughs while in gen:LOCK everyone understands Iida and doesn’t bat an eye. The complaint is more that it creates a tonal dissonance in what’s designed as a dramatic show: while everyone’s speaking English Kazu’s saying all his lines in Japanese with subtitles. Now, I can understand why that could all sound a little weird, but the thing is the way they set things up in the episode I really don’t think Iida speaking English is gonna be as distracting as one might think: they set it up where the characters can understand what he’s saying thanks to the augmented reality gear everyone seems equipped with, so that already established a method of communication, and I just didn’t give any thought to the fact he’s speaking Japanese for the rest of the episode. I would honestly be more bothered if he just spoke English all the time.

The other accusation is that the fact that he is the only character who speaks a foreign language was they’d have an excuse to get the voice of Spike Spiegel, which apparently is bad because it’s “weeb-baiting.” I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were trying to draw audiences in with who they were casting...

As far as the new gen:LOCK recruits go, we didn’t get too much information about them, and this is probably the only issue I have with this episode. Still, there was a lot going on here, so I can forgive not learning everything about them in their first appearance. And the thing is, the sequence with the imposter Sinclair (bravo to Blaine Gibson for being able to flip a coin––heheh––from friendly recruit Sinclair to Evil!Sinclair) offered us a good glimpse into who they are as fighters. Especially in recent years, Rooster Teeth fights are a chance to really get an idea for the character (and for that I wholeheartedly thank Monty Oum) and how they handle dangerous situations. Yasamin is clearly someone who can jump into a fight and hold her own without hesitation, Iida is someone who will jump right into a fight, Valentina will keep her distance but can still be quite deadly, and Cammie is a scared little bean...who with a little encouragement can still be helpful.

Now, the Sinclair reveal was a slight bit predictable if you picked up the hints in Character Reveal Teaser 4 (which I hadn’t, and in retrospect was blatantly obvious). The fact that it was predictable was the source of derision by some of the more gen:CRIT crowd, but honestly? I don’t see predictability as a sign of whether something’s good or not. Things can be predictable and still be fun to watch, so long as it’s delivered in an entertaining manner. And we got a pretty awesome fight sequence out of it.

I’ve seen a few people say that the jokes in this show feel forced. I’m inclined to disagree. The type of humor Gray and Evan are employing in the writing is more grounded than the kind you see in RWBY or Red vs. Blue or Camp Camp: it’s designed to feel more natural to the conversations these characters are having, while also not taking attention away from the more serious aspects of the story. Most of Rooster Teeth’s core group (more recent additions less-so) know how to create an engaging story based in serious tones, but they never really stray from their comedy roots––Day 5, their most dramatic venture to date, was a lot funnier than the concept would’ve implied because Josh and Chris knew where to inject humor when it would be desperately needed. This episode isn’t very different: the drama of Chase basically coming back from the dead gets natural moments of levity from his and Migas brief Siege mention and Dr. Weller being disappointed that he couldn’t participate in the reveal; the tension between Chase and Miranda gets a moment where Miranda refuses to hear out Migas on visiting Chase, a moment that can draw laughs while also being realistic to her and Chase’s actual situation; Chase popping up behind Fake!Sinclair and saying “Boo,” which...actually that was more a legit joke, but I laughed really hard. What I mean to say is gen:LOCK is not trying to be a comedy, but Rooster Teeth knows how and when to make its audience laugh.

(save for Red vs. Blue Season 16 of course...)

Conclusions

Another solid episode of gen:LOCK, and a little more interesting one than “The Pilot” because it delves into the meatier stuff that this series is going to follow. Stellar vocal performances by the cast give us a sense of the relationships that need to be picked up in the four years since the war began, and some amazing fighting shows us gen:LOCK means business as an action series.

My only concern is that the way this episode is formatted it doesn’t quite stand on its own in the way “The Pilot” did, but the fact that it was released alongside “The Pilot” worked in its favor, since both episodes give us a good ground to establish what this show is looking to do, and hopefully further episodes will follow on that.

I’ve said enough about people who were predisposed to hate the show commenting on this episode, but I wanna say this also: people. We are two episodes in. The show premiered less than a week ago. There isn’t a whole lot of content to draw from to know where it’s going. Be a little more patient.

[aion-rsa]

Jupiter’s Legacy: David Julian Hirsh Couldn’t Wait to Play Blue Bolt

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This article is presented by:

It seems pretty odd to have survived a serious accident only to proclaim, “I cannot wait to do a superhero show,” but stranger still is the fact that that’s exactly what actor David Julian Hirsch is now doing as Richard Conrad/Blue-Bolt on Jupiter’s Legacy.

Born in Canada on October 26, 1973, Hirsch had every intention of becoming a lawyer, having studied criminology at the University of Toronto. Then he “foolishly” decided to perform in a New York summer acting workshop and found himself hooked. He made his TV acting debut in a 1998 episode of La Femme Nikita and became a series regular on such Canadian series as Leap Years, Naked Josh, Lovebites, and Hawthorne. Between 2001 and 2013 he appeared in about a dozen films. But it’s Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy that is the answer to his accident-inducing pronouncement and as you can tell from the following interview, it would be pretty difficult to match his excitement level about the show.

WHO IS BLUE BOLT?

NAME: Richard Conrad

ALTER EGO: Blue Bolt

POWERS AND ABILITIES: We don’t know yet!

NEED TO KNOW: A founding member of The Union and a neonatal surgeon when we meet him in 1929. In the present day, Richard is no longer part of the Union, and his fate remains unknown.

Den of Geek: What was the excitement level for you about being cast?

David Julian Hirsh: There were just so many interesting things going on in my life for the three months prior to being cast. It was the first time in my life that I said, “I cannot wait to do a superhero show.” It’s never something I’ve done. It hasn’t been part of the genres that I’ve worked with, which has been romantic comedy, or comedy, or basic dramas.

That’s pretty specific. What made you say “I want to play a superhero.”

Just like what Richard Conrad in a way goes through in terms of how they find him and how he hooks up with the rest of the team back in 1929, I had had an accident in my own life. Something had happened and saved me, and it was the first time I said, “I absolutely want to do something huge, something greater than me, something spiritual, something exactly like a superhero show.” 

The next thing I know, this script shows up and I just knew right away, I said, “I’m going in and I’m just going to live this.” And it was just so beautiful. It was such an honor to be a part of that and it was so the perfect time in my life to receive this role.

What was the appeal of this superhero?

I was always very drawn to the power of superheroes, but also the double lives that they had to lead between their private selves and their public selves. You live as a human, but you also live as a powerful superhero. And not only is Blue Bolt living the life of a neonatal surgeon, but he also has another double life. There are many layers to him, and as an actor that’s what I dream of. The more layers you have, the more there is to work with. The deeper you go, the more you have to understand. 

I know the first season doesn’t cover the entirety of the comic and I know it’s bouncing in and out of time, but how does he change over the course of this first season?

I don’t want to give away too much obviously, but…there is an evolution in terms of a lot of it is the origin story in terms of how we got our powers. We definitely are going to find out about all that in the first season. You’ll definitely see an arc and there definitely would be a change, but I just don’t want to give away too many of those details of what you actually see.

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I think that what I love about it is when you have normal people who all of a sudden get these super powers…It’s not like Superman who came down and had them. To actually see people that we can all relate to take on these powers is really interesting. I think each actor and each character has a different way of what these powers are going to do to them personally, in terms of how they handle power, in terms of how much they believe, in terms of how much they follow the code, in terms of all those things. 

Is it empowering wearing that costume? Exciting? Embarrassing? What is the feeling when you have to put on that spandex and be a superhero?

It’s pretty much everything you just said at the exact same time. I’ve never experienced anything like that so far in my career. And I have to say, I was explaining it to my little nephew, and he just is so excited about it. This is exactly how I felt on the first day that I actually got to go put it on. I think it was the third fitting and things were going well, I thought, and I was starting to look like a superhero and it was incredible….it was so much fun and it is so worth it. I cannot believe how good every costume looks. It’s just so much more beyond what I expected. The costume department did such an incredible job.

Is it empowering?

Yeah. I mean, the funny thing is though, you think, you still actually can’t fly. That’s the thing, you think you can when you’re wearing it and you think you could just do anything, but no you’re just a bit heavier. But it definitely feels wonderful. It’s great. Everyone should be able to experience it. I can see why it affects people because you finish the day, you’ve been training for months about how to do all these incredible moves, these martial art moves and how to fight and work with the wires. And you’re trying all these incredible costumes, and then you go home and you’re walking down the street and you’re still you’re nobody and it’s great. It’s a good feeling.

Back in your place.

The secret identity. Exactly. But yeah, that’s our job as an actor though is to constantly be put back in our place and remember who we are. That’s good.

You mentioned earlier this is your first foray into the world of superheroes. Are you ready for the scrutiny that these kinds of shows get online with fans and conventions? Because that’s like a whole new world.

Yes, it is. I’ve been to some of the comic cons. I absolutely love it. I just love the passion and absolutely, I love the fact that they’re critical of their heroes. Why not? I would be too. And I am. We should be able to handle the criticism, the good and the bad. I think it’s fun. I can’t wait for all that stuff. It’s exciting.

I think fans are absolutely, from everything I know and everything I’ve seen so far, I think they’re absolutely going to love this. If you love superhero stories, it’s just so unique. The fact that it shows the different generations and the epic span of it is just so exciting. I didn’t know how it was going to be done. And I was nervous at the beginning, and then I saw it and I just could not believe it, the sets, the costumes, and just the way the writers tied it all together. It’s just so good. 

If you were to describe the power of this show for the audience, what do you think it is? What is the driving force of this show?

I love how it talks about America. We learn about the stock market crash in 1929. It shows how America evolves. It shows how these generations have changed, how America and the world, how morals have changed and values have changed. It shows these different generations of superheroes. By using such an incredible device as superheroes and so much action and so much entertainment, I think it’ll appeal to such a broad audience. And yet it’ll it’s not just action. It’s not just superheroes beating up bad guys. It tells a lot about what’s happened in this country and where we’ve come to, and the fact that they follow a code, but that the new generation has their own way of looking at things.

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I think it really says a lot about where we are today and the different generations. I was talking to my elderly neighbor, she’s actually 89 years old, and she said she’s looking forward to watching it and she loves superhero shows, but she wants it to have some meaning. She wants to learn something from it about power. Anyway, we had a really good discussion. Honestly, I think she will love the show, just as I think a young teenager will. 

We start getting into philosophical questions like what is good? What is evil? What a great entertaining way of looking at this, with those kinds of questions. That’s what’s great about it.

Fantasy and sci-fi has always been such a great prism to examine our world anyway. So it’s a wonderful opportunity to make comments as much as you want, and nobody’s going to judge you on it.

Exactly.

What do you hope the show does for you and your career? 

I’ve always stayed away from social media, but a lot of people are saying, “Oh, you should get social media, especially now because this is the kind of a show people really want to discuss and you should talk to the fans about it.” I probably will because I definitely want to interact with the fans when it comes to this kind of a show. 

The truth is I’ve always loved martial arts and I’ve never been able to actually use that stuff in any of my work. This was the first time I was able to train. We had training before we started filming. I’d love to do more of this kind of stuff, so if it opens doors for me into the sci-fi world, then wow, that would be incredible. I personally love this show so much that I just hope it goes as long as possible. It’s just been such an incredible experience to see how much fun it is to shoot something like this. I’ve never had more fun filming something. It was incredible.

Does it allow you to tap into your childhood sense of playing pretend at all? 

If there’s one thing I felt guilty about it’s that I can’t believe I’m allowed to have that much fun at work. Now I’m not saying it’s not hard. Of course it’s hard work, but I haven’t had that much fun, just laughing and being physical. A lot of the work I’ve done, there’s a lot of sitting around on sets and all that stuff. But here I would want to go in an hour before just to look at the things that the crew has created, even the lighting, just, everything was so beyond the courtroom scenes or classroom scenes that I’ve worked on. That’s obviously a different world of acting, but this was just unbelievable. So yes, I felt like a child in awe of my surroundings almost the entire time.

And they pay you for it.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Oh, stop it. It’s just too good. May this go on forever.

Jupiter’s Legacy premieres on Netflix on May 7. Read more about the series in our special edition magazine!

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: David Julian Hirsh Couldn’t Wait to Play Blue Bolt appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3vOwald

[a-little-ray-of-fantasy]

For the ask thing: Hershel Layton, Julian & Guzma

Alright, let’s get down to business! B)

Hershel Layton

do I like them: Why, yes. Such a well mannered man with brilliant mind is a sight to behold. *sips tea like a sophisticated boss*

5 good qualities: Calm behaviour, polite as heck, highly intelligent, has got many talents, pretty much makes you want to be as smart as he is.

3 bad qualities: Apparently he gets too invested in books and leaves his room all messy, his childhood has suffered a good number of bad events, it’s a miracle the kids he takes care of are still alive (Luke and Flora risked their lives a good number of times, professor: keep a better eye on them, dang it! XD)

favourite episode/etc: I liked the moments when you understand why he loves puzzles and mysteries so much and why he behaves like a gentleman: it’s all because of the most important people he met in his youth, and it’s both heartwarming and tragic…

otp: Claire… WHY???? T^T

brotp: Hershel and Randall, total bros! ^_^

ot3: Hershel, Luke and Emmy are the ultimate mystery team: there’s just so much chemistry between them!

notp: Well, right now I’d say Hershel and Descole because, well… Let’s just say that it was fine before, then it was revealed that they’re actually brothers and… Yeah, it can’t work anymore.

best quote: “Critical thinking is the key to success!”

head canon: He never forgot the day when Claire died, and the day he gave his goodbyes for the last time (see the 3rd game), and every year, when the dates come, he visits the places they used to go together, so he can remember the things they did when she was still alive.

Julian

do I like them: Oh, positively so!

5 good qualities: Surprisingly a good leader, cheerful as cheerful can be, doesn’t really hold grudges against others, very passionate about his hobbies, to him things or people who don’t confirm to “norm” are the best.

3 bad qualities: Can be a tad too clingy, his emotions often take control over his common sense, not trustworthy with secrets (you’ll never know when he’ll blurt them out just to see if people become monsters or not…)

favourite episode/etc:  “The Tale of the Golden Doctor’s Note”, because it’s the first episode featuring him as a character, and it really delivers! ^_^

otp: Uuuhm, not sure; he does seem to really like Randy, but the ninja doesn’t really seem to return that affection, so I’m not sure that can work now… Julian’s is sometimes seen with a cute girl called NG by the fandom: they look cute together.

brotp: If things don’t work out, then he and Randy sure are perfect as bros! I’m not including Howard right away  because he finds Julian annoying, but I think that he’d eventually join in as well.

ot3: Or rather, OT4: Der Monster Klub shall live forever!!!

notp: Definitely not going to ship him with his clone, Evil Julian, mainly because, well, “Ghoulian” is a massive jerk and trapped Julian in the void for quite a while; incest aside, that would never work for me.

best quote: “Oh, how I envy thee: death is so cool!”

head canon: Julian may be autistic, considering how much he moves t his hands while talking, his deep fondness over magic and creepy things and him not really caring about being viewed as “weird” by others (if anything, I think he likes it).

Guzma

do I like them: What do ya think? ;D

5 good qualities: Cares deeply for his Pokémon, never gives up, a good heart that perks up from time to time, wants to matter to people, a possible complete change of heart in the sequel (*^*)

3 bad qualities: Takes defeats very heard, can be violent, can be very resentful

favourite episode/etc: As of now I’d say the moment when we meet him in the Nihilego place, where he tells us about what happened to him and Lusamine; it’s the first time where we see him actually scared, and a hint of worry for the whole ordeal. But  I think USUM might give us scenes that are even better! *_*

otp: Apparently he sorta held a candle for Lusamine, but she ignored him. As of now, I think he should focus more on his self esteem issues before starting something serious with someone

brotp: We don’t see them a lot together, but it’s safe to assume that Guzma and Plumeria (and pretty much the entire Team Skull) see each other as siblings, and will stick together through thick and thin no matter what.

ot3: I think that Guzma, Kukui and the player character would eventually form a strong friendship bond.

notp: Uhm, not sure, but he’s definitely a little old for the player character (at least, the player character that appears in the game).

best quote: "I’m the Team Skull boss, and I’ve never been scared of nothing or nobody. Heck, I live my life making people scared of ME! So listen to what big bad Guzma has to say…Y'all are stupid!”

head canon: Someday he’ll manage to patch things up with his dad, or at least I hope so.

[star-trek-odyssey]

DS9- Unspoken 1

This story is inspired by my OC, her name is Nozria Bix, but there will be several POVs about every character that appears in this story and there will be many plots. I try to make this fanfiction very similar to an episode of DS9.

I hope it can entertain you.

Thank you if you decide to read this story, I put all my heart and soul to write it.

Chapter 1: A li(f)e I left behind

SISKO’S POV

Captain’s log, stardate 2372.

Since a few months Bajor has been hit by a mysterious plague. The Starfleet sent a scientist. She is in charge of leading the research and helping the scientists of Bajor to find a cure. I still haven’t got the chance to meet this new scientist, I only know, she is a young Trill. Her name is Nozria Bix. She should arrive at the station by midday.

.

Sisko was lost in his thoughts while he was observing the vast darkness out of his window. It was the space. His dear old space.

There was never a moment of boredom in the station, because new people came and other people left. Therefore, he didn’t have time to get bored, sometimes he didn’t even have time to think about himself. His life was so chaotic, surprising and so exciting. He would not have changed this life for anything in the world.

Sisko’s deep thoughts were interrupted by the click of the door, someone had entered his office: it was his old friend, Jadzia Dax.

In his opinion, Jadzia would be the most appropriate person to welcome their new guest. Because they were both Trills, so they would understand each other. Maybe his idea was a little simplistic and banal but every Trill was different from the other, especially when the mentioned Trill possessed a symbiont. It was always a surprise, so maybe he was the one who needed support.

Jadzia came in Sisko’s office, nodding, “Did you want to see me, Benjamin?“ Jadzia asked in her usual professional tone, her hands behind her back, her eyes always vigilant and curious.

"Yes, we have to welcome a new crew member. It’s a trill, you know?” he said, grabbing his baseball, and playing with it.

“Ah, interesting. So you’ve thought I could be the ideal guide for her, right? I supposed Major Kira would be the most appropriate guide since, it seems, this new officer will work on Bajor. For Bajor.” Dax replied, raising her eyebrow, her tone was calm, but it was a very human thing to feel safe around their same species so, thanks to her vast experience, she was able to understand why the Captain had formulated this particular thought.

Jadzia started observing the baseball in the Captain’s hands, how he was playing with it.

Like every human being, even Sisko was unable to hold his hands steady, as opposed to Jadzia, she always appeared calm and resolute even in front of the most dangerous monsters.

Sisko launched his baseball from his left hand to his right hand, and then observed his friend. “Kira is busy now, then you are the only Trill here, well, not anymore, but then she will know that she’s not alone. Her name is Nozria Bix, she is a doctor, she was chosen for a project at Bajor, she seems capable and it’s good to have another doctor, the medical staff is never enough.” he said, putting down his baseball and then he stood up, adjusting his uniform.

“How can she be alone in a station populated by more than one thousand inhabitants?” Dax commented, and then she followed the Captain out of the door.

“Well, you know what I mean, meeting another Trill could make her feel like home.” He said and then he headed to the dock where Nozria’s runabout would land.

.

NOZRIA BIX’S POV

The runabout sailed in the space of DS9, ready to reach the dock and land.

It had been a long, tedious and untroubled journey. After all, Nozria was used to these long journeys, this was her job, and space was so familiar to her by now, as if the galaxy itself was her office, her working place.

It was strange to see her job from this point of view, or she was only very tired and so she was not able to create rational and coherent thoughts. It must have been like that. Nozria had drunk too much coffees to keep herself awake, she didn’t like sleeping during journeys.

The Trill had spent the time reading dossiers, observing the space from the porthole, eating –other than drinking a few too many coffees- and chatting with the other passengers on board. Actually, she tried to have conversations with them but it was hard because the other guests could not be defined as friendly and talkative.

There were several species aboard: a Vulcan couple, they did not say a word throughout the entire trip, were certainly not the best interlocutors, then there was a Klingon warrior who had spent all his time polishing his weapon; he had cleaned it so much that she was surprised if it wasn’t ruined.

The other passengers slept or thought about their business, so there wasn’t a lot of entertainment. Fortunately, her boredom was about to end and she would soon arrive on DS9.

Nozria felt excited and curious, she hadn’t felt like this for a while and that made her impatient. Impatient to begin this new adventure, to meet her new colleagues and all the other people who lived in the station. She knew this would be a great beginning full of new possibilities and experience. The greatest aspiration of each Trill was a life full of experience. Her life was based on experience and so she was always looking for it. Always. As if, she never had enough.

Observing out of her window, she took a deep look at the Station and she was left stunned.

The station looked like a big spider, she had never seen a Cardassian’s structure before. It was majestic, threatening and sinister, just like Cardassians after all.

As the little ship got closer to that big mechanical spider, a feeling of confusion took possession of her brain as if it was a mystical fear. She never liked spiders. Her mind was navigating through memories she should have not recalled, she didn’t want to remember, then she turned her head in another direction.

Her imagination was vivid, she was tired and so her mind was making the world around her more absurd than what it really was.

The runabout finally landed on DS9 and all the passengers got out, she took her baggage and followed the crowd of people that was dispersing itself all over the station.

Nozria took a breath, she felt better, the big spider had devoured her but she was still alive. She was not going to be digested by it. Her mind was very cruel with her sometimes. So cruel.

.

“Welcome on DS9, Dr. Nozria. Bix,” said the Captain, showing one of his most friendly smiles.

“Greetings, it’s a pleasure.” Dax said, still in a professional tone.

“Oh, thank you very much. The pleasure is mine.” Bix replied, smiling.

They both looked like interesting people, Dax was famous on Trill and so Bix had already heard of her and her symbiont.

“I hope your trip was pleasant.” the Captain beckoned her to follow him, then all three of them walked down the corridor, “We’re glad to have you here with us, I heard you’re making research for Bajor.” Benjamin started speaking, “I have already read the report about your work, but I want to know more from you.”

“Yes, I read that there has been an epidemic lately.” Dax added, wading in front of her with her hands behind her back and her torso stiff.

“Exactly, it’s a very complicated case. I’ve already studied that virus in the past, that’s why they called me. It’s a virus that usually affects crops, in fact many of their fields have been infected, they’re unused now.” Bix continued to explain, “This is a very peculiar case because that virus should not be here, it is an alien species, should not be in this corner of the galaxy. This is not its natural environment but it found a fertile ground for its progeny, it became stronger and so it has started destroying the other weaker species. I suppose it was brought here somehow.” Even if Nozria still didn’t know how and who had brought this virus on Bajor but she was here to find it out.

“You seem to have a lot of experience, I’m sure you will help them to find a cure.” Sisko stopped, smiling, “Unfortunately, my work also calls. Have a good day and permanence on DS9.” Sisko said, nodding.

“Oh, I see. It was a pleasure. Thank you, Captain.” Nozria smiled politely.

“Can you take her to her quarters, old man?” Sisko asked to Dax.

Dax nodded in reply, “Sure, I’ll see you later, Ben.” Dax greeted her old friend and motioned Nozria to follow her.

.

The two Trills walked toward Bix’s quarters.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine here. The station is an interesting place, full of different species, there are many things to see and discover. It’s always a surprise.” Said Dax, showing a friendly smile.

"Oh, I see. I am sure it will be a stimulating experience. I have never visited this corner of the galaxy, so I certainly won’t be bored.” Nozria answered, hinting a smile.

“Oh, where did you work before, if I can ask?” Dax asked, curious.

“I was the medical officer of the Andromeda starship.” she answered, it was a short but concise reply.

That was a great job but it was part of the past, she was here now and therefore had no reason to think about the life she had left behind.

“Ah, interesting. Our official doctor will be very glad to meet you. Julian is a friendly person, he is one of the best doctors in the quadrants, but also a lovely person.” said Dax.

“Ah, I heard about him, I read many dossiers of his research.” Bix replied.

“He will have to be careful, you look very smart. He risks losing his job.” Dax said in her sarcastic tone that almost seemed serious.

“Ah, I have no intention but I never back down when there is a challenge. I am a little competitive, I admit.”, Bix giggled a little.

“It’s a good quality.” said Dax, “Oh, we’ve arrived to your quarters.”

Dax stood in front of Bix’s quarters, she did her guest’s job, and so Sisko should have been proud of her.

“Oh, good. Thank you.” Bix said.

"Enjoy your stay, have a good day. If you have hungry, I’d suggest you to go to Quakr’s. It’s a great place, the food tastes good and you can find interesting company there.” Dax said, giving some suggestion since the other woman didn’t know the station very well, it was a proper advice to give.

“Oh, I will take a look, thanks. Goodbye, Dax.” Nozria greeted Dax and entered in her quarters.

.

Her first day of work would be tomorrow. Nozria had the whole day off, so she was free to relax, take a shower and wander around the station in search of adventure. Looking for something to do because she had no desire to be alone. She didn’t even want to get bored. It would have been unbearable. Sometimes, thinking too much was unbearable…

Nozria dropped her bag on the floor, careless, and then this room was almost empty.

There were decorations, a couple of plants and furniture. Everything was minimal, she would have thought later to furnish it.

She caressed her hair, ruffling and brushing it with her fingers. Even her hairdo was ruined, her hair, before picked in a bun, was now messy, so she moved her head so she could let her hair down.

A few strands of hair fell in front of her dark blue eyes, tickling her nose and she almost sneezed. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, and knocked her hair off her large forehead. Her hair was brown, almost reddish, wavy and long. They were very feminine.

However, by now, she was used to this femininity, three years had passed since her union with Bix and therefore she didn’t see herself as strange as a girl. Three years were few compared to the hundred or even thirty hundred years when she had been a man. When Bix had been a man and had been hosted by male Trills.

Bix, the symbiont, believed that long hair was very beautiful, most of Bix’s women lovers had long hair. Maybe it was Bix’s way to remember them so Nozria kept her hair long.

Nozria headed to the bathroom, undressing and throwing her uniform on the sofa careless, it was already dirty and so she didn’t care about it. Then she had to change it anyway because that uniform was wrong, she still wore her old uniform, the ship’s uniform and so she had to take another one.

Nozria certainly didn’t have the delicacy of a girl, her manner was very spontaneous, someone would say masculine and rough. They were attitudes she had inherited from Bix’s old guests and could not change them. She couldn’t change herself. She liked to be like this.

She took a look out of her big quarters’ window and contemplated the endless and mysterious space.

This was a real beginning, a new chance, her chance.

Nobody would chase after her. Not this time.

Even in an endless universe like this, there were no places to hide. Nowhere to escape. Nobody to trust. Sometimes, people could not even trust themselves, not even their best friends and so everyone was alone. Lost in deep space. Lost in existence.

Bix lived too long to feel lost, but still didn’t learn anything of the world. Despite her experience should have made her wiser. Years only gave her more questions, doubts, anxiety.

Growing up didn’t mean becoming wiser, it only meant you had to accept that you would have never been wise enough for this life.

to be continued...

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It’s hard for me to recognise that Star Trek Deep Space Nine is over 26 years old. I first watched this series on BBC2 in the 90s when they had the rights to air it, not long after that I was consuming the VHS tapes as my hunger for the show grew. Actually; I can feel that passing of time now when I think about it . . . . . It’s basically a lifetime ago. What a world we lived in back then, when entertainment wasn’t just a click away, look how spoilt we have become, I find it tiresome to put a DVD in the player these days. That click away is a very good reason that I have been less than productive over the last few weeks! I’ve been knee-deep in Galactic disputes, Jambalaya and Orbs. Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of binge-watching. Thanks to Netflix, I no longer have to wait for an episode anymore, even better for me is the “Skip Intro” button, just pour that sweet Ketracel-white into my veins. You know what I have learnt whilst watching this series in its entirety, it’s amazing and would say at this moment in time could be my new favourite series in the franchise. Strong words for someone who has watched The Next Generation as much as me. Funny thing is, I’m not alone as Deep Space Nine is having a real resurgence in the zeitgeist. The Member Berries are strong with this one. Anyway, this is isn’t gonna be a deep kick in the history of DS9 but me picking out my favourite episode from each season. I just thought I best make some use of those hours I lost in the abyss of a streaming app, don’t get me wrong, it was bloody glorious. Enough of the small talk, let’s get started.

Season 1. Captive Pursuit, January 31st, 1993.

Chief Miles O’Brien Colm Meaney what a character and what an episode. As much as I enjoyed the first season of Deep Space Nine it felt like it was still in its infancy stage but this episode hit the ground running. The humanity of Miles is so well written in this episode as he builds a relationship with a Gamma Quadrant alien called Tosk who is one of the best alien costumes in the entire series in my opinion. Tosk says his ship was damaged in the wormhole but was damaged by laser fire and then the mystery begins. Later we learn that Tosk is nothing more than prey for the Hunters, unable to let the prime directive decide Tosk’s future Mile’s does what he knows is right and helps his friend escape. This is pure Star Trek in its element and Tosk is by far one of my favourite characters of the franchise, I just wish we would have seen more of him.

  Season 2. Paradise, February 13th. 1994.

Captain Sisko Avery Brooks and Mile O’Brien locate an M-Class Planet and decide to investigate it further. A colony that once belonged to Starfleet has been living there for ten years, creating a utopian, paradise after they ship they had crashed, stranding them. Turning there back on the technology available to them, the camp opts out for a simpler and more rewarding way of life, that is until someone becomes ill and has to suffer; regardless of using medical science to cure her. As captain Sisko becomes more alarmed by Alixus’s way of running the colony, she becomes more annoyed with his reluctance to conform to the rules. Later Sisko is put into a metal crate as punishment, leaving Miles to work out that Alixus had actually planned the crash on the planet and has kept them there since. Paradise soon begins to unravel and eventually Alixus is forced to pay for her crimes. Funny thing is, most of the colony decide to stay on the planet. Great episode as we much the captain grows into his role, at this point in the series you can really understand how determined and passionate he is about injustice and freedom.

Season 3. Past Tense: Part 1,  January 2nd 1995. Past Tense: Part 2,  January 9th 1995.

A time travel episode that takes us back to San Fransico 2024. I really struggled to come up with anything I really liked from season three, to be honest, this is definetly the worst season from the series. This double bill certainly did take me back to the ’90s though. I think the moral of the story is meant to be something more meaningful but this is just a comedy episode for me. First, is Jadzia Dax! Why is she wearing something Sherlock Holmes would suit better? Next, we have the doom and gloom of the Sanctuary District, every extra in the scene is walking with there heads down and looking gloomy, it was hilarious. Nothing can compete with Miles and Kira energising into different parts of San Fransico’s timeline, the hippy scene was just car-crash television on the highest scale, wonderful! The positive again is Avery Brook’s as he takes part in the Bell Riots, he really does stand out from the rest of the cast in this episode as he falls into the role of Gabriel Bell.

Season 4. Hard Time, 15th April 1996.

I guess I really do like the character of Cheif Miles O’Brien as this stand-alone episode features the darts playing engineer again. Saying that though, this is such a well-written episode that any of the characters could have carried the story. Miles finds himself locked in a cell and is released after twenty years of confinement. Luckily for him, its only been a matter of hours as those memories of his imprisonment are artificial and he can go back to his normal life once again, or can he?  The Cheif suffers flashbacks back on the station, which eventually spills over in his real life as he lashes out at daughter Molly and assaults Quark. Miles is placed on medical leave but is constantly visited by former cellmate Ee’char. Miles sees no way out from this nightmare and finding a weapons locker pulls out a phaser and sets it maximum, until his friend Julian arrives. It seems Miles is feeling guilty as he killed Ee’char over a few pieces of bread that hill cellmate was saving for both of them, Julian manages to talk Miles down and explains that he isn’t an animal and can get help to move on with his life. As Miles gives in to what has happened, Ee’char slowly disappears from his mind.

Season 4. Trails and Tribble-ations, 4th November 1996.

Another time travel episode but the difference between this episode and Past Tense is a huge leap forward in terms of quality for Deep Space Nine. The Department of Temporal Investigations visit the station and they want answers! The one thing I like about this series is that it manages to be a serious and somewhat heavy show and still manage to have little moments of fun in between,  this episode is somewhat on the lighter side, even though the plot could have devastating results. Basically, the plot is pretty simple as the crew pick up the Orb of Time and a hitchhiker, Arne Darvin. During the trip back to the station, the crew find out they have been transported back 200 light years back to original Enterprise, the one featuring Kirk, Spock and the rest of the crew. Sisko and his crew must do everything they can to stop Arne changing the timeline, in which Captain Kirk had disgraced the agent before.  The enjoyment in this episode comes more from watching the Deep Space Nine crew integrate with the Enterprise crew so easily, it really is a very technical episode and somehow they pulled it off superbly. The crew end up in a punch up with Scotty, who they mistake for Kirk starting out and it’s fascinating and funny. There are so many special touches in this episode that are worth writing about but I would be here all day. My favourite moments are Captain Sisko visiting Kirk on the bridge and eventually the promenade been overrun by Tribbles. Great episode, and one you can keep rewatching it without becoming bored.

Season 6. One Little Ship, 18th February 1998.

This is a little summary for an episode I really enjoyed. A runabout shrinks in size as they enter an anomaly, the only problem is the Defiant is attacked by the Jem’Hadar at the same time. The U.S.S Rubicon runabout must enter the Defiant and help the crew take the ship back. I’m a huge fan of the series, Land of the Giants and this episode made me realise just how much. There is nothing new here but its a really fun and enjoyable episode.

Shadows and Symbols, Image in the Sand and  Far Beyond the Stars. 7th October 1998.

Okay, I cheated a little, but I actually think this trio of episodes belong together and is by far one of the reasons I love Deep Space Nine and definitely confirms to me that this series is by far the most ambitious of all the Treks we have had before, or after. I mentioned earlier that I had bought the VHS of this series and Far Beyond the Stars was the reason why! Back then I got my information by a magazine and had seen some photos from this episode and was blown away. When I finally watched the episode, I was not disappointed and think its best and most powerful bit of television I have ever watched. Avery Brook’s is a great actor and I think it was only fitting he could get his acting chops around a story that is as powerful as this, his portrayal of Benny Russell is a thing of beauty. Benny Russell is a 50s science-fiction writer who writes a story about a black man commands a space station and can’t let the story go, regardless of the prejudice he comes up against. Benny works for the magazine Incredible Tales, and in this 1950s scenario, all the characters from Deep Space Nine are all there taking up some amazing roles. I really don’t think I have the writing skills to do this storyline justice enough, all I can say is that its a really important part of storytelling in today’s society. I also really love how Benny comes back and plays an important role in Sisko’s journey with the prophets. I just love everything about it. One picture that always catches my imagination is the picture of the space station for the magazine.

I enjoyed going back to this series quite a lot and Deep Space Nine is definitely back in the headlines again with the release of What We Left Behind and I can’t wait to watch it. I even hear that some of the writers for the show outline what an episode of series 8 would look like on screen. I also realise that movies, tv shows and other forms of media can change through time and becomes something much bigger and this series is becoming that right now and that can only be a good thing. Could we ever see a new series of DS9, I very much doubt it, but I can always dream. Anyway, what are your favourite episodes from Deep Space Nine? I would love to hear them?

          It’s hard for me to recognise that Star Trek Deep Space Nine is over 26 years old.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

'Bones' Says Goodbye After 12 Seasons: A Look Back at Brennan and Booth's 22 Best Episodes

Bones signs off on Tuesday, after 12 seasons of crime solving, evidence examining, blood, guts and, most importantly, bones. But at the core of the long-running Fox procedural -- the “heart of the matter,” if you will -- was a partnership between forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz).

From their first episode together, Brennan and Booth’s dynamic was electric, and while the will-they-or-won’t-they of it all took nearly seven seasons to sort out (more if you count that they don’t actually tie the knot until season nine), their relationship kept fans hooked for all 245 episodes. We watched Brennan wrestle with her feelings as Booth looked for love, saw them lay it all on the line only to yank it back again, and finally, at long last, got to witness their happy ending. Two kids and countless hurdles later, they’re still going strong.

So, as we say goodbye to Booth and Brennan -- and the rest of the beloved “Squint Squad” -- here’s a look back at some of the pair’s very best hours together:

22. “The Loyalty in the Lie/The Brother in the Basement” (Season 11, Episodes 1 & 2)

The show’s 10th season finale, “The Next in the Last,” was written before producers knew whether or not they’d be coming back for an 11th year -- and featured Booth and Brennan stepping away from the crime-solving life as they prepared to welcome their second child. So in the two-part season 11 opener, Bones was tasked with bringing back its core twosome in a believable yet suspenseful way, and they went right for the gut.

When charred remains turn up at the Jeffersonian, all signs point to them being Booth’s. Unsurprisingly, Brennan refuses to accept it, throwing herself back into the work and mentally cataloguing every injury her husband sustained throughout his traumatic childhood and heroic adult life in the hopes of finding something to refute a mountain of physical evidence. As she eventually discovers, Booth is alive, and the similarities in the skeletal structure point her to the real victim: his younger brother, Jared (Brendan Fehr). The elder Booth is merely off trying to be the hero again, a shot in the gut his only reward for trying in vain to save state secrets and his brother’s life.

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Thankfully, Brennan gets to him in time once again, and the two-parter closes on a hospital room scene that calls all the way back to the pair’s season one dynamic. They recover, reconnect and discuss returning to their respective jobs, admitting their undying love for the work that brought them together in the first place.

TV: 'Bones' Sends Off Old Friends and Brings Back a Big Bad in Explosive Penultimate Episode

21. “The Secret in the Siege” (Season 8, Episode 24)

The eighth season finale was an emotional roller coaster for the couple, riding out both the joy of Brennan’s spontaneous proposal and the tense heartbreak when Booth pulls a 180 and says no after being threatened by super-hacker big bad Christopher Pelant (Andrew Leeds). While the final scenes are hard to watch, the episode is a can’t-miss, thanks to Brennan’s speech to Booth when she asks him to marry her, which is somehow even sweeter than the moment she tells him, “You are not allowed to die. Do you understand?”

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Bonus points to the ensuing scene where Brennan adorably tells Cam (Tamara Taylor) and Angela (Michaela Conlin) about the engagement, before immediately moving on to the link she found between the murder victims. Classic Bones.

20. “The Pain in the Heart” (Season 3, Episode 15)

Perhaps another controversial pick due to fans’ mixed feelings about the reveal that Brennan’s assistant, Zach (Eric Millegan), was big bad Gormogon’s apprentice in the show’s season three ender, which aired following the 2007-08 Writers Guild strike. However, the finale is a big one for Booth and Brennan, who deal with serious emotional fallout after the FBI agent fakes his own death to go undercover and his partner is not informed -- beer hats in bathtubs, anyone?

The episode -- and therefore, the season -- ends with Booth assuaging Brennan’s feelings of hurt and guilt at Zach’s betrayal in a sweet personal moment that’s a preview of things to come. As the team at the Jeffersonian look through Zach’s favorite stuff and Brennan worries that she never gave her former assistant anything tangible, Booth finds the acceptance letter she sent him three years ago and reads it aloud. “I think you gave him something great, Bones.”

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19. “The Crack in the Code” (Season 7, Episode 6)

The more obvious choice would probably be the episode following this one, “The Prisoner in the Pipe,” when Brennan gives birth to the couple’s daughter, Christine, but watching Booth finally find his family’s home is just too endearing.

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After wrestling with his feelings about income disparity, the FBI agent goes out on a limb, buying a dilapidated house at a police auction. It’s a gamble, but it pays off, and Brennan absolutely loves the place. She can “see its bones!” It’s too much, really. Plus, these two living in a house that was the site of a U.S. Marshal raid is so very appropriate (and a truly unfortunate case of foreshadowing).

WATCH: 'Bones' 200th Episode: David Boreanaz & Emily Deschanel Spill Everything You Need to Know!

18. “The 200th in the 10th” (Season 10, Episode 10)

After flashing back to the start of Booth and Brennan's relationship for the 100th episode, Bones celebrated the even more elusive 200th by rewinding further, casting the couple -- and their merry Squint Squad too, with hilariously perfect results -- in an Alfred Hitchcock-inspired murder mystery.

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Watching Brennan and Booth -- cast this time around as a young LAPD detective and a jewel thief with a heart of gold, respectively -- play cat and mouse all over again in the stylized glamour of a 1950s Hollywood production was the perfect tribute to the show, the cast and the central couple that was its heart for 200+ episodes.

17. “The Beginning in the End” (Season 5, Episode 22)

Following an emotionally fraught season -- which saw the Jeffersonian team through the harrowing Grave Digger trial and Booth and Brennan’s relationship through a failed attempt at laying it all on the line -- everybody’s hearts broke just a little more when the partners decided to “take a break” in the season five finale, throwing themselves back into their relative fields of expertise.

After one last metaphor-heavy case, about a hoarder who died because he couldn’t let go of the past and love what was right in front of him, watching Brennan flee to the Maluku Islands and Booth ship off for a training mission in Afghanistan is gut-wrenching in itself, until he shows up at the airport to say goodbye. May today’s binge-watchers never know the anguish of watching those two not kiss before jetting off to opposite corners of the world, and then having to wait months to find out what happened next. (Spoiler alert: Her name is Hannah and she’s very nice, but no thank you.)

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16. "The Woman in the Sand" (Season 2, Episode 8)

Booth and Brennan’s first undercover episode -- as boisterous blue-collar Vegas tourists Tony and Roxie -- is rife with TV tropes, but it’s still one of their best, letting the pair turn their chemistry up a notch as they play at wise-cracking sweethearts while trying to piece together the murder of an underground fighter.

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From Deschanel-as-Brennan’s pitch-perfect Roxie character, to her brash recklessness while confronting the Vegas mob, to the sweet and ingenious revelation that she used her beginner’s luck to bet on Booth’s Fight Club-style brawl -- not to mention all of Booth’s double takes at his fake almost-fiancee’s transformation -- this one will always be a winner.

15. “The Foot in the Foreclosure” (Season 5, Episode 8)

A bright emotional spot in the otherwise heavy season five was the introduction of the late Ralph Waite as Booth’s grandfather, Hank, aka “Pops,” who shows up to provide some insight to Booth’s troubled past and -- after becoming the umpteeth person to see that his grandson and his “bone doctor” belong together -- help nudge the pair just a little closer.

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Pops tags along as the partners solve the mystery of a pile of ashes found in a foreclosed house, and later, confides in Brennan that he was responsible for sending Booth’s abusive father away after he found out the man was beating his sons. “When the time is right, you’ll tell him,” the heartbroken grandfather persuades her. “And if he needs it, you’ll hold him?”

GALLERY: 'Bones' Says Goodbye: Booth and Brennan's 22 Best Episodes

14. “The Man in the Morgue” (Season 1, Episode 19)

As Michelle Hurd’s local New Orleans detective, Rose Harding, deadpans to Brennan after Booth muscles his way into her hospital room, “Guy flies down from D.C., you’re more than just sort of.” Everyone knew it, even back in season one!

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Booth rushing to Brennan’s side and defense when she becomes a suspect herself -- and finding her mother’s earring at the crime scene -- isn’t even the half of it, though. The biggest, most romantic moment of this whole episode might be the introduction of fan favorite Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher), who will end up becoming perhaps the biggest Booth and Brennan shipper of all. Hello, Cherie!

13. “The Verdict in the Story” (Season 3, Episode 13)

Brennan’s two families come head-to-head during the trial of her father, Max Keenan (Ryan O’Neal), as every other member of the Jeffersonian team is called as expert witnesses for the prosecution. However, the anthropologist plays it cool, insisting she’s fine to her co-workers, FBI psychologist Sweets (John Francis Daley), and even Booth as they all prepare to take the stand in support of evidence that Max killed the deputy director of the FBI.

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Everything goes according to plan until Booth realizes that Brennan’s plan to prove her father’s innocence involves implicating herself in the murder instead, something he’s unwilling to go along with, even under oath. After 12 seasons, it’s difficult to pick a seminal line for these two, but “That’s a lot of heart, Bones” is certainly in the top five.

12. “The Blackout in the Blizzard” (Season 6, Episode 16)

The “will they or won’t they” couple’s final push towards “they will” wouldn’t have been complete without a classic “stuck-in-an-elevator” episode, and Bones’ comes with the added bonus of having the elevator be an old-school, open-air wrought-iron model, so Sweets can pop by from time to time and update Booth and Brennan on the case-of-the-week while also prying into their personal conversations.

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This wintry episode does mark a turning point, however. After agreeing to the psychologist’s suggestion that they finally talk about their relationship, Brennan goes as far out on the limb as she’s been since getting shot down earlier in the season, positing that “a time could come when you aren’t angry anymore and I’m strong enough to risk losing the last of my imperviousness. Maybe then we could try to be together.” Booth suggests they each write down a date, before burning the slip of paper to release the wish into the universe. Something good is right around the corner.

11. “Mayhem on a Cross” (Season 4, Episode 21)

Whenever Booth’s old friend, psychologist-turned-chef Gordon Gordon Wyatt (Stephen Fry), is in town, it’s a good time for all. That rule holds true for this season four episode that starts out in the world of Norwegian black metal and ends on a heartbreaker, with Booth and Brennan sharing some of their darkest childhood secrets with Sweets in order to “metaphorically compare scars” with the young FBI shrink, who has a similarly mottled past.

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The charged moment -- Booth makes his confession only at Brennan’s insistence, then asks if she’s OK -- is for Sweets’ benefit, but it’s also an unmistakable step in the couple’s now-undeniable emotional relationship. Plus, the final moments of the episode reveal the telling title of the psychologist’s book about the pair: Bones - The Heart of the Matter.

10. “The Hero in the Hold” (Season 4, Episode 14)

Booth’s Grave Digger episode features some stellar acting from Boreanaz as well as Shameless star Noel Fisher, who plays Teddy Parker, a young corporal who served with Booth in the Army and tragically became his son’s namesake after dying in combat. Parker shows up on the doomed Navy ship that Booth is held captive on, but he can’t be much help because he’s a ghost -- or can he?

As Booth wrestles with his imaginary demons, as well as the very real danger of his kidnapping, it’s Brennan’s turn to bust skulls on the outside, calling in favors and wrangling Booth’s brother, Jared, to help find him before time runs out. When they do -- in the nick of time, as always -- she accompanies him to Arlington to pass along a message from Teddy to the woman he loved, in a scene that proves Brennan’s faith in Booth is unshakeable in more ways than one.

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WATCH: Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz Reveal What They're Going to Miss Most About 'Bones'

9. “The End in the End” (Season 12, Episode 12)

Details TBA to avoid spoilers, but just trust us on this one.

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8. “Two Bodies in the Lab” (Season 1, Episode 15)

This season one thriller is not only one of the first, great instances of the pair risking their lives to save each other -- Booth goes into full hero mode, busting himself out of the hospital to rescue Brennan from an undercover FBI agent-turned-killer (played by Adam Baldwin) -- it’s also the introduction of Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded,” which the pair dance to in Brennan’s apartment before Booth gets blown up by a bomb in the refrigerator.

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Despite this, or perhaps because of it, “Hot Blooded” would hilariously and inevitably become the couple’s song, making several more appearances in later seasons.

7. “The Woman in White” (Season 9, Episode 6)

As expected, Booth and Brennan’s wedding was anything but conventional, but it was perfectly them. From the squinterns showing up in old-timey costumes from various Jeffersonian exhibits to Booth’s Army chaplain, Aldo (Mather Zickel), marrying the pair on the same lawn they first forged their partnership on -- which Booth romantically recalls in his vows -- to a Cyndi Lauper serenade, the ceremony was a beautiful tribute to the pair’s history, capped off by Brennan’s vows, the letter she wrote to Booth while buried alive seven years prior.

“Dear Agent Booth, you are a confusing man,” she reads. “You are irrational and impulsive, superstitious and exasperating. You believe in ghosts and angels and maybe even Santa Claus, and because of you, I’ve started to see the universe differently. How is it possible that simply looking into your fine face gives me so much joy? Why does it make me so happy that every time I try to sneak a peek at you, you are already looking at me?”

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“Like you, it makes no sense. And like you, it feels right. If I ever get out of here, I will find a time and a place to tell you that you make my life messy and confusing and unfocused and irrational and wonderful,” Brennan recounts to her husband, before telling him, “This is that time. This is that place.”

6. “The Hole in the Heart” (Season 6, Episode 22)

The penultimate episode of season six is impossible to mention without alluding to the season finale -- which deserves a similar ranking, if only for Booth’s reaction to Brennan telling him she’s pregnant.

But first comes the tragic telling of how they got to that moment. After the death of intern Vincent Nigel-Murray at the hands of season six sniper big bad Jacob Broadsky, the partners spend the night together at Booth’s apartment, sharing a tearful, intimate moment in the middle of the night that turns into much more.

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And then the entire fandom turned into Angela:

GALLERY: The Most Iconic TV Series Finales

5. “The Santa in the Slush” (Season 3, Episode 9)

Bones set the tone for great Christmas episodes with season one’s "The Man in the Fallout Shelter," but this season three romp to uncover the mystery behind a mall Santa’s demise was one of its best, beginning with another appearance from Caroline, who’s feeling “puckish” and blackmails Brennan into getting an uncharacteristically grinchy Booth under some mistletoe, leading to their first kiss! (For now.)

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Ultimately, Booth’s holiday spirit is saved by a visit from his son, Parker, and the two surprise Brennan and her family by hauling a Christmas tree outside the prison fence so that her father and brother can have a real holiday behind bars. And the rest is heart eyes history.

4. “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole” (Season 5, Episode 16)

OK, so about that first kiss…

Bones’ 100th episode flashed back in time, mostly in service of refuting Sweets’ soon-to-be-published book about Booth and Brennan’s partnership. Turns out, they had worked together once before the pilot’s Cleo Eller case, and what’s more, they kissed back then!

Sweets is horrified by the implications of this reveal, but turns his concern back to the pair’s present day romantic stalemate, putting the pressure on Booth: “It’s gotta be you. You’re the gambler.”

They run out on the psychologist, but outside the office, Booth goes for it, despite Brennan’s protests. “You know when you talk to older couples, who have been in love for 30 or 40 or 50 years, it’s always the guy who says, ‘I knew.’ I knew, right from the beginning,” he insists. “Bones, I’m that guy. I know.”

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It’s not enough to change Brennan’s mind, though, and you can see Booth’s heart break just one more time when she pleads with him to remain partners. He agrees, but asserts that he has to “move on,” and even though they walk off together, they’ve never been further apart. Truly heartcrushing.

3. “The Doctor in the Photo” (Season 6, Episode 9)

This uniquely suspenseful season six episode saw Brennan overidentifying with a victim, a doctor whose behavior became increasingly reckless as a result of her heartbreaking line of work and interpersonal guardedness. The usually stone-faced anthropologist slowly crumbles to pieces as she puts together the details of the other woman’s life -- which includes a missed romantic opportunity -- culminating in Brennan’s tearful confession to Booth and the heartbreaking realization that she’s missed her chance.

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It’s one of Deschanel’s most impressive performances of the entire series, and -- thanks in no small part to skillful editing and a guest turn from the always fantastic Enrico Colantoni -- one of those hours that reminds you how unfair it is that major television awards rarely give procedurals much of a second glance.

2. “The End in the Beginning” (Season 4, Episode 26)

One of Bones’ best concept episodes, the fourth season finale gave fans a fresh twist on its usual murder mystery and a taste of Booth and Brennan as a happy couple, even though the real thing was still a few seasons off. The story comes from the mind of a comatose Booth; as Brennan reads to him in the hospital, he imagines a life as a nightclub owner with her as his wife.

FOX

As usual, the whole squad is there, and as usual, they step up to the couple’s defense when a body is found in their club. From Sweets as a bartender who’s “practically a psychologist” to hostess Angela, bouncer Wendell and chef Fisher -- plus, Zach! -- “Mr. B” and “Bren” soon realize that their employees would do anything to keep them from being implicated in the murder, even if they didn’t do it. All this because everyone knows without a doubt that they’d kill to protect each other.

While the fallout from this hallucination, and Booth’s confusion over what parts of it were real -- as an extra blow, dream-Brennan was also pregnant with the couple’s first child -- would reverberate throughout the pair’s relationship in season five, looking back at it now as just another one of their wild stories is sweetly nostalgic.

TV: 'Bones' Stars and Creator Address 'Possible' Revival Plans

1. “Aliens in a Spaceship” (Season 2, Episode 9)

The Grave Digger’s first episode is also one of the series’ best, and a true classic for the show’s central couple. As Brennan and Hodgins contemplate romance and mortality while buried alive in a car underground -- later writing goodbye letters to the people they care for most -- Booth and Angela desperately lead the team in putting the pieces together to find their loved ones.

FOX

Finally successful, the team arrives just in time to see Brennan and Hodgins attempt to blast their way to the surface, and watching Booth sprint across the quarry to drag Brennan from the rubble is the stuff that true TV love is made of. That Brennan’s farewell note to Booth returns, seven seasons later, in her wedding vows, proves just how meant to be these two always were.

Honorable Mention: “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Boreanaz has oft-cited this as his favorite episode, and it’s easy to see why. Though the characters have certainly evolved through the seasons (the first episode aired on Sept. 13, 2005!), the pilot episode sets up the squints we grew to know and love, and the show’s dynamic duo, right from the start.

FOX

Booth and Brennan’s chemistry is palpable from their first scene together -- what woman wouldn’t love a man who calls Homeland Security to have her detained? -- and despite a bit of retconning later in the series, their first case together is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

Honorable Mention: “The Conspiracy in the Corpse” (Season 10, Episode 1) and “The Scare in the Score” (Season 12, Episode 7)

It’s nearly impossible to put the episodes that feature Sweets and Max’s heartbreaking deaths on any kind of “best” list, but credit where credit is due for the couple’s “baby duck” and Brennan’s father -- two men who became some of their closest family throughout the years.

FOX

“Sweets is a part of us. Our lives, who we are at this very moment, have been shaped by our relationships with Sweets,” Brennan says of the psychologist at his memorial service, which is attended by just his Jeffersonian family -- including Daisy, who’s expecting their first child. “Each of us is like a delicate equation, and Sweets was the variable without which we wouldn’t be who we are.”

Much of the same can be said of Max, who, like Sweets and Pops, knew what was happening between Booth and Brennan even before they did. When Brennan’s fugitive father came barreling back into her life in season two, it was Booth who first protected her and then helped her reconcile, forging a tense respect with the future father-in-law he would also try and arrest more than once.

That Max dies while protecting his grandkids from a killer seeking vengeance on Booth -- after Brennan pleads with him to stay with Christine and baby Hank at the FBI safe house -- is perfectly tragic and tragically perfect. EXCLUSIVE: Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz Reveal What They're Going to Miss Most About 'Bones'

[cyanoscarlet]

this is how you introduce a new fandom

#yoiweek2017 Day 1 (Le Parfum Des Fleurs) - beginnings and firsts

Or, how Yuuri was convinced to watch an anime based on his life.

(stories on (and off) ice)

.

It was both flattering and mortifying, Yuuri thought, when a story based on your life and love suddenly skyrocketed in popularity like gossip spreading like a forest wildfire.

He sighed as he watched his sniffling husband from the kitchen. Viktor was crying over yet another episode of this "original fantasy action anime about a no-good mage who meets and falls for the number one ice wizard in the continent." It was really good, they said. The animation was beautiful, the story was riveting and the romance was done perfectly right.

Don't get him wrong; he appreciates a good story as much as the next person does. The love and care and attention to detail that went into the creation of this latest sensation was clearly evident in every frame drawn and every line spoken. It was, no doubt, a wonderful work in its own right. It was even considered by many as a revolutionary piece that broke barriers and made history.

What Yuuri did not appreciate -- and certainly did not expect (though he should have, given the circumstances) -- was the hordes of rabid fans and insatiable tabloid writers that practically crash the door and breathe down his neck every single morning since the first episode aired, and seemed to multiply exponentially by the week.

Chalk it up to very observant people to put two and two together, and your high-profile whirlwind love story is revived and retold again on almost every website and social media platform in existence. The side-by-side comparisons went up to eleven when the seventh episode featured the two leads kissing before the cheering stadium - just like how Viktor, his coach at that time, had kissed him at the Cup of China a mere three years earlier.

The fans became a lot more persistent that day, he recalled. Even the casual passers-by recognized them now. "Oh my god, it's so-and-so! From that show!" (Yuuri could not be bothered to recall the names of the characters.) Viktor eagerly responded to this by kissing him soundly on the lips in public - again.

As always, the Russian's attempts at getting him to watch the new episode together failed spectacularly that night.

.

  Yuuri and Viktor were not the only ones whose lives have changed because of the show. Yurio, for one, started receiving hate mail from all sorts of fans - mostly fujoshi, from what he had gathered. Messages ranging from "damn Mudblood" to "inferior Valentin-wannabe", or colorful variations and combinations thereof, began filling the reigning World Champion's inbox at such an alarming rate, he'd actually changed his phone number and locked all his social media accounts by the time the fourth episode had aired.

("I don't even watch that shit," Yurio had lamented in frustration through a private Skype session. "And even I know that Mudblood's from a totally different fandom! What's wrong with these fucking people?!"

That's what you're worried about? Yuuri had been tempted to say out loud, but he'd kept his mouth shut. Maybe it was just the stress of the upcoming Grand Prix Final talking. The men's short program event was the next day, after all. Other than that, he'd completely sympathized with the angry blond.)

Fortunately, the messages stopped when the current episode aired half an hour ago. Yuuri knew at once when his ringtone for Yurio began playing from his pocket and Viktor tearfully joined him in the kitchen at the same time as soon as the livestream finished. "Let's have katsudon pirozhki tomorrow!" he exclaimed, his eyes shining brighter than usual. "To celebrate Julian finally befriending Yoichi!"

"Okay, Viten'ka," Yuuri shrugged, knowing better than to correct his husband on the in-universe pastry the show's tritragonist had just offered the main character. How they even knew about that event between Yurio and himself at Moscow was purely anyone's guess. ("This show is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real-life persons, places and events is purely coincidental," indeed.)

The phone's vibration gradually increased in intensity as the ringtone segued into the annoying screechy guitar part. (Yuuri never learned how to switch it back after Mila had fiddled with it back when they were in St. Petersburg.) "One moment." He fished out his phone and answered the call, expecting another loud tirade on why the hell he didn't pick up sooner. Instead, he heard heavy breathing over the line, seemingly accentuated by the static.

"... Finally..." Yurio started, his voice unnaturally subdued for someone supposed to be angry. "... They finally stopped..."

Yuuri knew where this was going. "Congratulations for holding out for so long, Yurio," he answered with all compassion. "Are you celebrating tonight?"

"After all that trouble? Of course I am!" The blond loudly harrumphed. "Beka and I are having katsudon pirozhki tonight!"

Viktor immediately snatched the phone from Yuuri's grasp. "Yurio! I didn't know you watched Glassheart, too! Isn't it wonderful?! Who's your favorite character besides Julian? Mine's Yoichi, of course!"

"HELL NO!" Yurio snapped. "Get off my case, old man! Go talk to Chulanont or something!"

Viktor nodded back excitedly, still on an all-time high post-episode rush. "I will! I'm handing you back to Yuuri now." He gave Yuuri the phone back, planting a kiss on his cheek before returning to the couch to call Phichit.

Yuuri put the phone back to his ear. "It's me again... Actually I'm also making katsudon pirozhki for lunch tomorrow. It's been so long; I have to prepare."

"Figured as much."

.

  What Viktor usually meant by "call Phichit" was to open their Skype group for figure skaters who also liked Glassheart. (Yuuri made sure to remember the title now after much persuasion by his husband, lest he gets mobbed by his other friends online, too.) It was a video conference, as always. It didn't take long before the conversation went into full swing, so he played a selection of everyone's skating music from the last few seasons so he would not hear any spoilers.

The beginning lines of "Shall We Skate" was cut off momentarily as a chat bubble appeared on the home screen. It was from Phichit, Yuuri noted, as he pressed a button on his headset to resume the audio playback and lower the volume.

  phichit+chu: hi yuuri! long time no chat!! :))

Me: Hello, Phichit!

Me: It's only been a week, though?

phichit+chu: lol same thing

phichit+chu: so have u watched glassheart already??? :O

phichit+chu: its 3/4 done now, u got some serious catching up to do :)))

(Typing...)

Me: I haven't, sorry.

Me: Viktor's been asking me to watch it with him, too.

Me: I just can't seem to get into it as much as everyone else.

Me: I guess it hits a little too close to home for me.

  Yuuri stopped typing. It was evident Viktor immensely enjoyed the show, even more so because it was obviously based on their own real-life relationship. He'd been a fan since day one, tweeting his thoughts and reactions every week. Now a good nine episodes in, his follower count had shot up to the mid-hundred-thousands and counting. Fans of both the show and figure skating were very much excited to have the Living Legend (and real-life inspiration) on board, and soon he became known as the "Prince of the Fandom" - the King, of course, being the original author.

Many a fan had once asked if Yuuri watched Glassheart, too, seeing as he was the other significant person involved in the story. Viktor handled these questions himself since he knew the Japanese man did not like being associated with the show, albeit not as vehemently vocal about it as Yurio was. (That had almost become a total PR disaster, if not for Yakov's timely intervention with a total media blackout for the young Russian skater.) Yuuri himself chose to stay quiet about it as he went about his daily activities, avoiding requests for interviews and comments pertaining to the show. However, the increasing guilt for putting his husband through this situation in his place, combined with a genuine, slowly-piqued curiosity brought about by many, many messages from various fans, made him reconsider his stance on the matter.

Above all, he missed spending time with Viktor. Sex was one thing, but quality time like this rarely presented itself throughout their respective busy schedules. So maybe...  

  phichit+chu: awww thats a shame :((

(Typing...)

phichit+chu: its actually why i watch the show. it does so many things right. i love how it showcases a mature, healthy romance done right, just like ur love story with victor :')

phichit+chu: at least u would like the action scenes??? they remind u alot of figure skating

phichit+chu: guanghong likes the fighting and magic scenes actually. leo loves the ost

phichit+chu: sara and mila have a crush on the mc yoichi ehehe ;))

phichit+chu: dont tell them i told u tho

Me: Haha, don't worry, I won't. :)

phichit+chu: just give it a chance okay? u might like it :')

Me: I'm still not sure. Maybe if Viktor can effectively convince me. ;)

phichit+chu: listen to ur hubby, man ;)) listen to ur heart :))

  Phichit stopped responding after that. He must be active on the Skype conference now. Yuuri walked out to the living room, and could hear Phichit's boisterous laughter from Viktor's phone as they discussed the ending scene at the kingdom's harbor. Mila was now attempting to pry details out of her former rinkmate about what went down when they reunited after the Rostelecom Cup three years ago.

"No comment," Viktor answered, a secretive smile playing on his lips. "That's between me and Yuuri only."

"No fair, Vitya!" Mila cried foul. "You know he's never gonna spill! How will we make comparison notes now?"

Viktor hummed back amusedly. "Well, I'm not helping. Good luck with that, Mila."

Phichit and Leo also whined at this, while Guanghong tried to placate them. Sara merely laughed in the background.

Yuuri, too, was laughing softly.

.

  It was several hours before the airing of the last episode when Yuuri surprised his husband over dinner. Viktor almost spit out his water when he asked if they could marathon the past eleven episodes while waiting for the finale.

"I guess I'm kind of interested now, with all the hype going on," he confessed, picking at a piece of meat with his chopsticks. "If you're not busy tonight, of course."

Viktor beamed at him, his eyes gleaming ecstatically. He would have hugged the bespectacled man right there and then, if it weren't for the table between them, so he settled for reaching out to clasp Yuuri's free hand, his wedding ring reflecting the white light hanging above them.

"I'll always have time, my Yuuri." Viktor smiled at him tenderly, the silver fringe over his left eye parting ever so slightly as he tilted his head. "I love spending time with you."

Yuuri closed his eyes, feeling somewhat absolved of whatever it was that had been weighing him down. He entwined his fingers between Viktor's, returning the smile with a fond one of his own before letting go. "We should hurry, Viten'ka. I don't want us to be late."

Viktor nodded and resumed eating. The couple finished their meal in silence, the excitement palpable between them, even as they put away the tableware and washed up for the night.

The laptop had already been set up when Yuuri came out to the living room, bringing with him a large blanket and two steaming cups of hot chocolate on a tray. (Not the bedroom, he'd insisted earlier. They might fall asleep.) Viktor clicked on a few icons before invitingly patting on the spot next to him. Yuuri places the tray on the low table next to the laptop, spreading the blanket to wrap around themselves with before joining his husband on the couch.

"I knew you'd come around eventually." Viktor nudged at his shoulder, winking playfully. "I've waited for so long, you know."

"Good things come to those who wait," Yuuri intoned, the old English adage rolling perfectly on his tongue. He leaned in and rested his head on his husband's shoulder. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Viktor tapped on the spacebar, and animated snowflakes began filling the screen.

The opening theme was captivating, the positive lyrics daring the listener to dream big and aim high. The instrumental parts and the repeating refrains were really catchy, and Yuuri caught himself humming along even after it ended. Viktor was humming along, too, albeit at a faster pace. Yuuri smiled; he loved hearing his husband sing.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration if Yuuri said the first episode blew him away. They did not hesitate to set the tone of the series with a healthy mix of fast-paced fight sequences, colorful spells and lightning-speed attacks (which, yes, did resemble figure skating spins and jumps a lot), all tied together by a dramatic narrative that tugged at the heartstrings and pooled tears in the eyes.

Yurio would have enjoyed this show, he thought. It's a shame all that stuff happened to the poor boy before he could even give the show a chance.

They were not kidding when they said Glassheart was totally (albeit loosely) based on his and Viktor's story. Watching the interactions between the leads Yoichi and Valentin, Yuuri could not help but wonder at how well the creators have captured their own dynamics as coach and skater back then, and adapted it perfectly to a medieval fantasy setting. He started daydreaming about icicles forming at his fingertips, easily manipulating their form into whatever he wished. He had been mentally sculpting a still image of Viktor and himself floating in the air when the fourth episode ended.

Viktor was now chuckling as his on-screen wizard incarnation drunkenly hit on the poor bespectacled mage a in the tavern, while said mage's friend gleefully cackled before a floating magic sphere. "And there goes Match Number 55," he explained. "I never really understood how notorious Phichit actually was about these things until this episode aired."

Yuuri responded with a curious hum. He knew better, having been the Thai's friend and rinkmate for longer. On another note, Viktor and the others have apparently been keeping track of the similarities between this show and real-life happenings. Yuuri declined the offer to read through Phichit's detailed masterpost on it later.

His heart soared when Yoichi managed to win his first match at the Wizards' Tournament, even attempting to cast Valentin's signature spell, the Glassheart. It was only for a short moment, a far cry from the powerful attack the legendary ice wizard had unleashed on the dragon in the first episode. Still, Valentin had been so happy and so proud, that he had kissed his protégé before the audience right there and then.

Beside him, Viktor was in tears again. He'd already stopped giving any form of commentary at this point, in favor of "feeling the feels," whatever that meant.

Yuuri sipped his drink slowly. He wished tonight would never end.

.

  The final episode closed with a shot of Yoichi and Valentin standing on the bridge where they had first met, the former now also sporting the uniform of the Royal Wizard Regiment, a silver badge pinned on his breast. Both characters shared a tender kiss, before the screen panned up and faded out to the words, "ab hinc in aeternum" -- from here to eternity.

No sooner had the livestream cut off than Yuuri turned his attention to his husband, who was currently a beautiful, inelegant mess. It reminded him a lot of the time he'd inadvertently shattered his then-coach's heart into pieces by declaring his intentions to retire after the GPF in Barcelona. Though Yuuri's own heart had ached as much, he was glad they'd had that conversation at all. They'd both learned so much from it, and had grown stronger, as a result.

He put an arm around the sniffling Russian, running his hands up and down the latter's shoulder in a slow, reassuring motion. After several quiet minutes, Viktor reached his own right hand up to clasp his, their wedding rings bumping against each ther in their entwined fingers.

"Duo corda," he whispered, referring to the new spell the two leads had created by fusing their Glassheart spells at the last moment in order to defeat the final enemy. It was a beautiful yet destructive spiraling of two columns of living ice, which culminated in a giant arrow that pierced through the monster's impenetrable barrier and stabbed it right through the heart.

More like, "the power of love," actually, if Yuuri dared to have any say in it, but the hot tears brimming on his own eyes said otherwise. He did not expect this anime to make him laugh and cry as much as it had over the past four hours, but it did its job nonetheless and went way beyond that. (Then again, though, the Japanese skating legend was very much known for having a more fragile heart than most other glass-hearted figure skaters everywhere. Or, at least, Viktor had said so.)

So he settled for repeating Viktor's words, reciting from memory the broken Latin phrases that constituted the love song that constantly played during tender moments between the wizards in love. Somewhere along the moment, they had switched from somewhat-butchered Latin to a more-practiced Italian as they softly sang segments of Stammi Vicino in unison.

Yuuri looked up at his husband, poking his head out of the blanket. "Not going to post anything tonight?"

Viktor stopped humming, pursing his lips in mock-deep thought. "I'll do that tomorrow," he finally decided. "I have a lot of feelings to process."

"So you do," Yuuri agreed, observing the already-dried tracks of tears down the other man's cheeks. "What about Phichit and the others?"

"I turned off my phone, actually." Viktor laughed, holding up the dark gadget for his husband to see. "Tonight is Yuuri-time," he added with a flourish, gesturing as flashily as he could from a cramped space, almost dropping the phone in the process. Yuuri caught it just in time, a bubbling feeling of euphoria welling up from deep within his chest.

"If that's the case," he began, "then I have an idea."

Yuuri fumbled for his own phone, opening his barely-used Instagram app. He angled the camera to include an aesthetic shot of the powered-down laptop, the two empty cups of chocolate, and both their legs entangled together. Viktor buried his head into the crook of his neck upon reading the caption, holding the other man to himself tighter than ever.

"You're one sappy romantic, Yuuri Nikiforov," he commented, his shuddering breath as he exhaled tickling Yuuri's neck. "You never cease to surprise me."

Yuuri smiled proudly, bringing his husband closer and kissing him gently. "I learn from the best."

.

     [Image.jpg]

yuuri-katsuki Ab hinc in aeternum. Loving you is an irreplaceable joy like no other.

Liked by v-nikiforov, phichit+chu and 5,277 others

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iheartkatsudon OMG GLASSHEART

lysssssnikiforova welcome to the fandom @yuuri-katsuki !!

phichit+chu about time yuuri!!! :))) @v-nikiforov @m_babicheva @sara-crispino @leo_dli @+guanghongji+

[crabbybun]

First Instinct Fic

Title:  Playing with Fire Word Count:  2,447 Fandom:  Instinct (2018 CBS TV show) Rating:  T for Teen/PG-13 Pairing:  Dylan/Julian, mentions Dylan/Mark Warnings:  cheating Author’s Notes:  BEFORE YOU READ - So, okay I don’t know if anybody’s actually watching this new CBS drama Instinct but I am because it stars my bisexual icon Alan Cumming.  To borrow from the show: Alan Cumming plays former CIA operative Agent Dylan Reinhart, who quit the agency to take a job teaching abnormal behavior.  He wrote a book about it, which inspired a serial killer, which prompted the NYPD to get him involved in the case.  So now he works as a consultant with the NYPD.  It’s Criminal Minds without as many characters and without all the gory depictions of rape and murder.  Here’s why I like it: Dylan’s character is openly gay and has a wonderful on-screen, supportive relationship with his husband.  Here’s another reason: Naveen Andrews stars in it as a former CIA operative turned freelance intelligence agent that Dylan knows from his Agency days and goes to for information a lot (For a “recurring” character, he’s in p much every episode.  Just add him to the main cast already!)  My problem is that every time they are on screen together, there is serious sexual tension between the two characters.  You don’t understand, Naveen Andrews gives Alan Cumming sex eyes and I can’t unsee it.  SO!  Have some bad fanfiction about that affair.  Maybe then it’ll leave me alone.  I’m probably the only one watching this thing anyway.  This is set sometime before episode 11 and I’m generally stoned when I write, so if I fuck up the tenses that’s why.  It’s the one thing I have trouble keeping coherent when I write.

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Dylan Reinhart was the type of man to overthink everything.  Every behavior, every conversation, every interaction, replayed over and over again in his mind.  Always looking for abnormalities in his own behavior, clues in other people’s that would give him insight into their lives; a desperate search for information that he had always collected in his mind.  Now, he wasn’t his father; his intent was never to use the information he collected against others.  That’s one of the reasons he left the spy business.  No, Dylan was simply fascinated by the human condition.  People found new ways to surprise and delight him every day.  So he kept watching them, and analyzing them.  

This behavior of his extended to those close to him as well, which was actually why he was so successful in his personal life.  It was how he was able to tell so masterfully when his partner was obsessing over something on their case, or when his husband was feeling neglected in their personal lives. It made him masterful at small talk, and a great gift giver.  It also put him in a constant battle with his own brain; Dylan was always making sure nothing in his behavior was ever out of line, ever off-putting - more than what might be deemed acceptable anyway.  He liked flamboyance, after all, but there was a fine line between eccentric and abnormal.  Between that and his father’s voice in his head, he had become more than a little self-analytic and self-critical.  

So when he found himself texting Julian for less than important things, he analyzed it.  And when he felt like Julian was starting to avoid him, he analyzed that too.  He certainly liked working with Julian again, especially since the other man had left the Agency as well.  But that didn’t explain the almost intrusive urge to keep in constant contact with the other man.  Dylan was becoming distracted by it, but didn’t know what was causing it, and in order to resolve that, he probably had to talk to Julian, which was exactly what he thought he was doing too much of to begin with.  It was driving Dylan in circles, which was beginning to give him anxiety.  But none of it was action, which Dylan knew he was going to have to buckle down and go do instead.  

That was how Dylan ended up in Julian’s little underground hideaway in the middle of the afternoon.  This whole thing was stressing him out so bad he couldn’t focus on his cases, or his classes, or on anything really so he had finally taken action.  Telling his partner he was going out for lunch, he had come to Julian’s under similarly false pretenses; pretending to need help with his latest NYPD case - a man found dead in his home, open mail in his hand, pile beside him, with a bullet in his head.  The most interesting part to Dylan was how the killer left the bullet displayed on the coffee table in front of him.  Well, that was the spiel Dylan launched into when he arrived, acutely aware that he was talking and pacing rather nervously while he did so.  

Julian sat there and watched Dylan pace silently, slightly bored.  It was easy to tell that Dylan was on edge, and he suspected that it had nothing to do with the case he was currently working.  In fact, Dylan had been doing this a lot recently, Julian had noticed - contacting him a lot more than usual, with requests far below his abilities.  Julian suspected there was something more behind it, but these trifles bored him and he had stopped responding to most of them.  Which was probably the other part of the reason Dylan was here today, or at least, a decent enough excuse to get him here.  But it wasn’t the whole reason, Julian was sure.  He spoke suddenly, cutting Dylan off mid-sentence, “Is everything alright with you at home?  Between you and Andy, I mean.”

The abrupt question blindsided Dylan, and he stood paralyzed for a moment, looking to Julian like a deer in headlights.  A million things ran through Dylan’s mind, about why Julian would ask that question right then and about the body language signals Dylan might have been giving off.  It took Dylan a moment to compose himself enough to answer, “Yeah, everything’s fine; we’re doing great.  Why would you ask that?  It has nothing to do with...anything I’ve been talking about.”

“You’ve been blathering on like a teenage girl for the past five minutes,” Julian replied coolly, “You’ve been blowing my phone up with bullshit for the past six weeks, and you’re as nervous right now discussing your case with me as when you came out to your father.  If you weren’t happily married, I would think you had a crush.”  Dylan turned five shades of red.  Julian’s eyes narrowed.  “You don’t have a crush, do you?” he asked skeptically.  Dylan gulped.  

This is the part Dylan had been having a hard time admitting to himself.  Working with the NYPD meant that he no longer got regular sleep - not as bad as when he was with the Agency, but he didn’t generally sleep much and Lizzie had a habit of not sleeping herself.  Lately, when he did sleep, his dreams were haunted; he found Julian’s deep eyes and intense demeanor were almost following him and that feeling stayed with him in his waking life.  It was probably why his reflections hadn’t been getting anywhere; Dylan had been avoiding thinking about the connection between his dreams and his almost obsessive need to be around Julian.  But that was because Dylan really was happily married; there was no reason on Earth Dylan should have a crush on Julian.  

But there it was.  A crush explained everything: his need to hear from Julian, his intense desire to just be in the other man’s presence, the recurring thoughts and dreams.  Dylan wasn’t necessarily a stranger to this idea; there had been some flirtation, some tension between the two back when they were young and working at the Agency.  But they were both older people now; different people now.  For all intents and purposes, this relationship should be purely professional and Dylan knew they were both perfectly capable of keeping it that way.  The problem was that he also knew that they were both perfectly capable of changing that in an instant.  

Julian took Dylan’s silence on the matter as a confirmation.  It did explain Dylan’s strange behavior, and Julian had to admit he felt flattered.  The flirtation back at the Agency in their youth had been two-sided, and he had wanted confirmation from Dylan before he came forward that he never quite got.  Too nervous to take the lead then, he had let the other man slip away and had never quite let go of that.  Time changed a lot of things, Julian reflected as he smiled and walked slowly toward Dylan.  

“Well, well, well,” he chuckled darkly, more to himself than to Dylan, “how the tables have turned.” “Pardon?” Dylan asked, startled by Julian’s sudden movement, taken aback by the breaking of the silence that had descended, and a little scared by the sudden spike in confidence he was displaying. “I was infatuated with you, years ago,” Julian said, “the way you carried yourself, the way you worked, your intensity...all of it enthralled me.  We flirted, but I could never tell if you were serious or not.  You never gave me enough; I wanted you unconditionally and I couldn’t even tell if you were actually available or not.  Then you married Andy, and left the Agency, and I shoved all that away and moved on.  Yet, here you stand.  For no discernable reason either.”  Dylan swallowed hard as Julian came to a stop mere inches from where he stood.  

“What’s changed?” Julian asked, voice so low as to nearly be a whisper.  His dark eyes softened as he looked Dylan up and down, “If you’re so happy, what could I possibly give you?” When his eyes met Dylan’s face, they were shining with both hope and trepidation. “I don’t know,” Dylan admitted softly with a sigh, “I wish there was some excuse, some way I could rationalize it away.  I love Andy, I really do, and he hasn’t done anything to make me want out of our relationship.  But I still have this intense desire to see you.  I find myself getting excited at the thought of you, I dream of you, and there’s no earthly reason why…” he trailed off, slightly uncomfortable to be having this conversation now, particularly with Julian so close to him.  He had envisioned having this conversation over a lunch or something.  

Julian smiled a little. “Maybe there doesn’t have to be,” he murmured, “Why bother making excuses?  After all, we are ex-CIA operatives.  Keeping secrets is supposed to be what we’re good at.  I can keep my mouth shut, if you can.”  Julian crept into Dylan’s personal space even more, slowly testing the boundaries the other man was willing to put up, if any.  Dylan groaned softly as he felt a stirring in his nethers and his brain began to short circuit.  Julian made a good point, and as Dylan’s eyes left Julian’s and moved to his lips, his breath caught a little.  Julian’s lips were so plump, and so close, and he was right there. 

Dylan made the decision to jump just as Julian decided to stop waiting.  The kiss was heated; Julian was pressed up against Dylan, who was backed up against a table.  Dylan’s hand snaked its way to the back of Julian’s neck, intensifying the action.  When they broke apart for air, Dylan pressed their foreheads together.  

“We should stop this.  Now,” Dylan whispered, almost pleadingly.   “I don’t see you stopping though,” Julian countered, “and I’m got no motivation to myself.”  His lips connected with Dylan’s again briefly, chastely, as he felt Dylan pulling away from him.   “Me either,” Dylan replied, “But...we shouldn’t do this here.”  He looked around at the sparse area, consisting of a bank of computer monitors on a desk, a table, and two chairs total. “Agreed,” Julian said, “I do know of an unoccupied Agency safe house close by…” “Yeah, okay,, that’s a start,” Dylan whispered breathlessly, lips lightly brushing Julian’s.  He heard Julian groan lightly beneath him and reluctantly push himself away.  His eyes were even darker and more unreadable than usual.  Dylan’s breath was taken away, even as the feelings of guilt rose in his gut.

Dylan mulled on what he was doing as he left the hideaway.  Like true spies, the pair were to leave separately, subsequently arriving separately and at separate times.  Unfortunately the plan left Dylan alone in his own head, where there was a war going on.  His first thought was about how easy his background made having an affair.  Especially an affair with Julian.  For one, the man was another spy; he was great at lying and keeping secrets so the two of them made a fairly impenetrable force.  Andy would never discover an incongruent story, or abnormal behavior.  For two, his kiss with Julian had been exactly what he dreamed and his worst nightmare rolled into one.  It certainly satisfied whatever he had been craving and now he longed for more.  The whole idea was so seductive, but he kept flashing back to Andy’s face; his husband was so innocent and so loving didn’t deserve any of this.

Dylan was pacing the floor of the safehouse by the time Julian arrived.  This “safehouse” was an unoccupied apartment in the back of a run-down complex, and Dylan could hear Julian’s approach, which put every nerve in his body on alert.  His heart rate rose, and his breath shortened as he heard the gap close, and the other man burst through the door like a whirlwind, taking the air out of the room.  Julian rushed at Dylan, barely closing the door behind him, and engulfed the taller man back into a heated embrace.  Dylan was overcome with adrenaline once more, clutching Julian to him initially and indulging his fantasy.  However, he simply couldn’t let his guilt go; Dylan found images of Andy flashing behind his eyes, making him pull back from Julian.  

“Wait, wait,” he said, putting up a hand.  Julian instantly pulled way back, placing about a half a foot of space between him and Dylan.   “You’ve changed your mind,” he said, matter-of-factly. Then he smiled slightly.  “I should have known.  Given enough time, you can talk yourself out of anything.” “And I love my husband,” Dylan said softly, “ as much as I want this,” he closed the distance between himself and Julian, and took the smaller man’s chin in his hand “as much as I want you, I can’t do it at the expense of Andy.  I can’t... make him a casualty.”  

Julian pulled away and placed a little more space between him and Dylan, leaning against a doorway.  He looked at Dylan again and nodded.  “I respect that,” he said.  He smiled brilliantly at Dylan.  “I enjoyed the taste that I got.” His smile faltered somewhat as he continued, “Just don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a while.”

And like that, Julian was gone and Dylan was alone in the apartment, trembling slightly.  He sighed shakily, and ran a hand through his hair before seeming to come to himself.  He grabbed hs phone and his helmet as he left.

It was sometime later before he was home and reflecting on his misdeeds.  He was deep in thought in one of the leather armchairs of the study when Andy announced his presence by bouncing a Nerf basketball off his husband’s head.  

Dylan turned to see his husband smiling.  “I thought of coming in and saying “penny for your thoughts,” but then I thought that this would be funnier,” he said, stooping to pick up the ball, “What has you so deep in thought today?”

Dylan didn’t answer right away, taking a moment to absorb how his husband was right then.  How he looked happy and carefree.  He had been thinking about how much he didn’t want to do this, but he had almost lost Andy once by keeping secrets and he wasn’t going to risk that again.  He had to talk about this, whether he liked it or not.  

Dylan looked up at Andy and smiled sadly.  “Would you mind having a seat?” he asked, his voice breaking somewhat as he motioned to another chair close by, “I...there’s something we need to talk about.”

FIN

[intjaverywrites]

RobinCeru & why it’s important

[Disclaimer: So the timing of this post may not be the most appropriate, and I have nothing but respect and compassion for the victims of this horrific terrorist attack by Axel Ventura and co., including those at home (like myself) bearing witness.

However, I can’t turn a blind eye to the themes and issues that are being brought to light by him and this show. Call me tasteless, heartless, opportunistic, whatever you want, but these things need to be addressed, and it won’t be any less sensitive now than ten years from now, because let’s face it, there is never going to be a suitable time to talk about the leitmotifs included by a self-proclaimed psychopath.]

This post is going to mainly go into the #RobinCeru ship that is social media’s newest fixation (for now). While among these have been #Alicat, #Millianire, #NavySealMoreno, #crazyknifeguy, #DrFaraday, and other morally questionable men we have either tore apart ten times over despite them having no awareness of our criticisms, or have just stan’d for their entertaining personalities and/or looks, we have somehow managed to get the relationship between #2 and #3 on Mason Solis’ “Skeleton Clique” team into the top ten trending topics for a couple of days.

(I mean, he’s sorta okay when you can’t see his knife, right?)

Arguably, we are all succumbing to exactly what Ventura wants: to be enthralled with this game and its “characters,” as if they are not real life people away from their families and friends, struggling to stay alive in a confined space that is probably a health violation in itself at this point.

Still, when hopelessness takes us all by our chins, forcing us to look at what evil man is capable of, we will do anything to find a silver lining. (May we all take a moment to remember our star, #MsTinTin, whose naïvety we likely will not witness again.)

(We literally all get you, Julian. Quentin was the star we didn’t deserve.)

Although grasping, close to Quentin Roger and his childlike personality is none other than Cerulean Rorschach, who has even been dubbed “Cerubun” for his innocent and vulnerable ambience he brings to a very serious role in this entire show - an antecedent to the real big  installment: a dreaded arena presumably mirroring a concept to The Hunger Games.

Cerulean is no stranger to many of us who are not living under a rock, as he was held hostage on May 3rd earlier this year by Ventura, which is also the first time the world learned of the escaped psychiatric patient. After he was rescued, he was awarded a Medal of Freedom honor for seeking the truth in the murders of Henry and Stella Grans, due to threats by Ria Ventura.

He quickly became hailed as “America’s Sweetheart,” with his strawberry blonde hair, uniquely purple eyes, singsong voice, and altruistic personality. During this same incident did we meet Robin Rayner earlier than other contestants in our current show.

(Hold my ovaries.)

Others were more familiar faces: Shane, Quentin, Julian, Minh-Chi, Ayse, Aaron, Mason, Nadia, and Vaughn.

(How many times do you think Shane just thinks, “What the fuck.” while making this face? Crack those fingers, buddy.)

These people met Cerulean’s company, being honorees Nicholas and Dr. Faraday; the latter’s son, Wally; Cerulean’s then-boyfriend, Tadashi; Victor and Roy, two detectives from the case; and who else?

Robin.

It is better understood now that Robin is a colleague of sorts with Cerulean, though the deeper nature of his work is still not explicit (and maybe it’s better that way). Everyone else that had accompanied Cerulean makes logical sense, but why was Robin invited, especially as Tadashi is also his colleague in their workplace?

During the late-night interview after the ceremony, Robin stubbornly came to Cerulean’s defense when Dr. Faraday accused him of being manipulative and in cahoots with Ria. This theme continues throughout the rest of the show, and not once does Robin actually doubt Cerulean.

(I’m not crying. You’re crying.)

Although Robin tends to pick on Cerulean during the show, he never maliciously insults him, and tends to come to his aid when Blaire and James target Cerulean’s confirmed rapes. This seems like a humanly decent thing to do, but in general, when someone begins ganging up on him, Robin is one of the first to speak up about it.

Robin himself is not malleable.

He is not warm. He is not a sycophant. He says things how he sees them. In fact, a good handful of people do not get along with him, but who does?

This angel.

We can say that so far this isn’t really an argument for why this ship has actual merit to its popularity, but bear with me. This is what has really gotten me thinking, but it takes some greater awareness to just what has been going on in this game show. I’ve dug a lot into the footage off-hours too, and I find this is what really connects my thoughts.

RobinCeru is a paradox.

It is cute, it is funny, but god, is it contradictory.

(It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to go “they’re a bit weird.”)

These two men come from different parts of the country, to start. Cerulean has stated since the interview that he has a high emotional quotient, which allows him to work with all types of people on a humane level, empathizing with even sociopaths. Meanwhile, Robin has proven to be a by-the-book, rigid, and unemotional man who sees people like data. Both learn names, faces, connections, but their interpretations are starkly different. And while their emotional and logical conflictions would normally serve as an issue, neither have ever criticized their methods of working with people. Why is that?

Because they respect each other.

And that’s my first point. Robin stands up for Cerulean because he knows, like everyone else, that some of Dr. Faraday’s accusations are baseless, spontaneous, and downright offensive. However, he also respects him enough as a human fucking being to know he deserves so much more than to be told he deserves something as awful as rape. Although he never flat out says something like I’m sorry that’s happening, or I feel bad for you, he instead shows his care through his actions. He defends him, he has even told him to just ignore them. He gets concerned when he goes through panic attacks and dissociative episodes, he always tries to talk him down or wake him up, he always gives him pep talks to keep playing, to not give up.

Sure, to some degree, he needs him to play because the two obviously have an alliance going on, and he also just doesn’t want him to fucking die.

But also what this tells us is Robin has a lot of trust in Cerulean. Despite everything that Blaire, Dr. Faraday, Ventura, Reyes, and every other adversary wants to instill into everyone’s heads. Robin literally throws questions to him because he wants him to stay in the lead and trusts he can do something better with his points and power than he himself could. He trusts that Cerulean is not secretly fucking him over with an alliance with Ria or maybe even someone like Brennan.

He is trusting him with his life. Robin. Robin, the man who we can all agree is a born skeptic. 

(Please don’t ask were I got this gif.)

This doesn’t even include the fact they do work together well, coupled with their trust and respect. They both know they have serious and scary things ahead of them. They both know they could verily die together. They both know that out of the other 18 hostages, that they are each other’s ride or die. Each time one goes down, they might say, hey, get up - but if they don’t, they bend down, put them on their back, and carry the torch for them. They pull what the other can’t.

They say that relationships should be 50/50, but they legitimately stop and will take 15-85, 70-30, 10-90, until the other is better. And they each try so hard to get better, because they are conscientious of each other’s struggles that they can’t let them down.

When Cerulean was injected with a needle and lost a great chance of having kids of his own, he should have been out of the game completely. That is life shattering. Especially because we know how he actually loves kids and wanted them. Take into account how protective Robin is toward Wally, and even doesn’t want minors to suffer like Mimi, Jacob, or even Rhett. Robin isn’t cold enough to not feel that loss of what children are. Instead, he helped him through other ways. He tries to make sure Cerulean does not injure his neck more when he passes out. He spends so much of his time trying to wake him up, he even shares his food with him (also who noticed how they always come back from breakfast together talking about something?), and they’re just so relaxing and helpful to each other. This is also seen when Elsaied harassed Robin into an obedient and anxious state, that he suffered a panic attack. Or when he was harassed about his relationship with his best friend in high school, when he was emotionally abused. Cerulean gave him space, he encouraged him when he could, and most importantly, he waited. And Robin came back. It took a while, but he got back to his feet and gave back to his 50.

(Talking to you, Blaire Sinclair.)

If we look beyond their relationship toward the situation, but how they are as individuals, they continue to be contradictory. Cerulean is a popular, handsome, and physically apt man. He has a lot of friends and admirers, he defies his odds like in the Hang In There challenge, and he has a history that portrays him as essentially a standard jock. He is a friend of everyone (literally, as 99% of people on the ship know him), and he is mostly an open book with his life.

Meanwhile, Robin has more withdrawn interests. He works with computers, keeps his identity and past shrouded in mystery, and does not try to connect to others because he knows much of what he has is temporary. He is used to this. He is used to not being emotionally attached or driven. And he’s fine this way. He’s used to it. He doesn’t care what you think about him, he doesn’t try to be charming, or popular, or handsome.

(I just want to hug him... but must... respect... boundaries and trauma...)

While Cerulean’s life is based on how well he connects to people, Robin’s is based on how well he connects people. In this way, we really see where their limits are.

Cerulean’s life has been widely exploited so far in this show. He grew up with a single mother, his uncle, and his younger brother. He took his parents’ divorce so hard he developed a bulimia nervosa eating disorder. He occupied himself with so much positivity that he became ignorant, self-seeking, and privileged. This has hurt people around him, like his brother, or childhood best friend, Mason. He never got into serious romantic relationships. Still, he grew into a better person over time. He became more optimistic, he became more aware of what he was doing, he devoted his life to helping others at the risk of his own well-being and security that he could have easily achieved if he continued on the route he was on.

Meanwhile, Robin didn’t have as much luxury. He grew up unpopular, interested in geeky things (because we all know computers aren’t really that cool in 9th grade), and without many friends. When he had the chance to become popular, he was used, manipulated, and mistreated. He became so cynical about forming relationships and knowing people that liked him for who he was. He was like an animal starved for attention, and would immediately latch onto the first sign of affection - just to be tossed aside and forgotten. So is Robin not the nicest person? Is he hard to know, rude, indifferent? Yes, he is all of those things. But he was treated less than a human should be, and when he learns someone shows that genuine care, I bet he would return it tenfold.

So it’s interesting because they both fit into these archetypes of a jock and a nerd, and it’s what makes their pairing so surreal. It’s something we don’t see in everyday life unless it’s some indulgent, abusive relationship.

Instead, both are such strange forms of each other. Cerulean became a more down-to-earth and sincere person, making his job as a PR more authentic, while Robin stays distant from people, wearing a mask to people so he isn’t hurt again, furthered by his unfeeling job.

Yet, they are not only colleagues, but they are friends. They know they each have shit going on. They know they have shit ahead. They know some things that meet the eye aren’t so. And they don’t sit and talk about it. They just help each other.

Those are one of the best relationships. Where you don’t need to always talk. Where you can go all the way down to 0-100, and they are still there for you. I can’t see either of them walking away from each other at their worsts.

(Let’s be real: they’ll say it once off-camera.)

And maybe it is indulgent, because we do get to see a person like Robin gets attention from an attractive, well-liked, and jocky guy like Cerulean. And we get to see Cerulean nurture a man as disturbed and insecure as Robin.

But you can’t fucking tell me it won’t be amazing when you finally see Robin realize for the first time since he was wronged all those years ago - someone fucking likes me despite all of my fuck ups and flaws and walls, hell, this hair!

Or when Cerulean pauses and thinks when he’s just doing fucking nothing, ‘God, he’s really a good person.’

It doesn’t need to be cute. It doesn’t need to be sexual.

RobinCeru is important because it has so much potential to be a healthy relationship, and to make them grow out of their older states that they built around themselves because of their adolescence. It’s important to us as fans, too, because we see that people can be different and still make it work.

Although this show derived from a shitty joke, this shitty joke is actually really relatable. It’s relatable to either know what it feels like to be at the bottom and get noticed by someone, just to be fucked over. Or we know what it’s like to strive for so much positivity because if you don’t, you might stop and realize that you’re not actually okay at all. We know what it’s like to turn our hearts inward and shy away from people’s open hands, unsure of if they’re giving or taking. And we see this pair, with no obligation apart from staying alive, trust each other, grow as friends without any other catalyst except being kind to each other, dedicate themselves to act 100 when the time calls.