#short king keith

[autisticlancemcclain]

The air in his apartment is getting staler, and his scalp is starting to ache.

Everything is going to fail, he thinks to himself, unhelpfully. He doesn’t have time to correct himself because he has time for nothing. He barely has time to breathe. People will be coming in less that two hours, and he’s only just begun decorating; at this rate people will arrive and everything will look barren and horrible and boring and of course no one will say it to his face but he can hear how muttered conversations will go on the way home, how everyone will think he’s —

The front doorknob rattles. Lance gasps, a great, heaving breath forcing its way in and out of his lungs, realizing for the first time his hands are trembling too much to hang the tinsel correctly.

“Lance?” calls a voice, familiar and soft and raspy from years of cigarette smoke. “You in the kitchen?”

Lance finds himself frozen in place. His mind has gone completely blank, and he’s become a statue; thoughtless, still, unblinking, unable to process. As if someone has hooked him up to a remote and pressed pause.

Quiet sounds of boots unlacing echo the empty apartment, followed by socked footsteps. Keith appears round the bend of the front hallway, eyebrows knit together in concern, lips pursed.

“…Lance.”

“Everything is falling apart,” Lance blurts. He twitches suddenly, stiff muscles spasming, and the sudden movement rocks the rickety footstool under him. Quick hands flit out to grip his arms before he falls, steadying him on the ground with a soft, “Woah, dude.”

For several moments the only sound is the synched billowing of their breathing. Keith’s hands slide down his biceps to rest on his elbows, squeezing gently. Slowly, dragging through molasses, Lance’s heart begins to slow.

“You’re freaking out,” Keith says. “There is no need to freak out. Take a breather.”

“I don’t have time for any of this,” Lance says, heartbeat picking up again. “I barely finished the last of the food fifteen minutes ago, decorations aren’t out yet, there’s flour all over my clothes and my face is a mess and I haven’t washed my hair —”

Darting out faster than Lance can track, Keith’s hands come to rest on Lance’s cheeks, thumbs brushing under his eyes — rough, warm, startling. Lance stares at him with wide eyes. Keith smiles back, quickly, widely, crookedly; breathtaking. His hair is twisted back neatly, thick and gorgeous, and festive red sparkles line his eyes. Pretty red stones glitter in his ears to match. The gold bands of his thumb rings are cool against Lance’s cheeks, and the chain he got from his mother rests delicately over black knit fabric. The high-cut neckline of his sweater compliments his frame nicely. His jeans are the only pair he has without rips — a pair Lance forced him to get last time they were shopping together.

The air punches right out of Lance’s lungs, and the last of his worries with it. Keith tucks a curl behind his ear, lingering.

“Go shower and get dressed,” he urges, indigo eyes dark and imploring. “Let me help.”

“Okay,” Lance breathes. He doesn’t move.

Keith smiles. He pulls Lance’s face down at the same time that he stands up on his tiptoes, eyes fluttering shut. Their lips press together softly, one, two, three, and then he pulls away.

Lance makes a noise in the back of his throat. His fingers come up to brush the swell of his lip. “What was that for?”

Keith’s eyes flick up at the doorway. Amusement dances across his expression.

Mistletoe, green and white and fragrant, hangs delicately from the door frame.

“Oh,” says Lance, flushing. He remembers, abruptly, the stepladder and falling into Keith’s arms. He becomes hyperaware of the bareness of the rest of the apartment, hardly lived in one month.

“Lance,” Keith says again, noticing the shift in his expression. He slides a hand down and pats his hip. “Go, you walking mess of anxiety. I got this. Get fixed up. Everything will be fine.”

Lance closes his eyes, exhaling shakily, and nods. It’s too late, now. Whether or not things get finished is irrelevant — he can’t very well host a Christmas party in sweatpants and his grossest, most threadbare hoodie. Whatever Keith can manage while he showers will have to be enough.

He rushes off to his room, tearing off his clothes the second the door locks behind him, practically throwing himself under the stream without bothering to wait for it to heat. He rushes through his routine faster than he maybe ever has in his life, toweling off so roughly the first two layers of his skin go with it, and buzzing around his closet like a horde of wasps on a field of decaying grapes.

There is Nothing to wear. Because of course there isn’t. The outfit he’d picked last night suddenly seems inadequate, and most of his other stuff is still boxed up, so he doesn’t even have the time to go digging. Eventually he just throws on what he’d planned and tells himself to get over it.

Forty-five minutes have passed, by the time he steps out of his bedroom, and the state of his apartment makes him gasp.

String lights are hung delicately along the walls and wrapped around his small tree. Ornaments and decorations sit artistically on every surface, as if each placement was deliberated and perfected. Paper snowflakes, even, that Lance had made in a fit of procrastination to avoid work weeks ago, are hung from the ceiling. Keith stands on the same footstool Lance tumbled from earlier, hanging a few more.

“Keith,” Lance chokes out. “Oh my God.”

His friend shoots him a grin. “What, surprised? I told you I’d handle it. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do.” Lance swallows as the words come out on reflex, heavier than he’d ever usually let them. “I just.” He looks pointedly away from where Keith stretches his arms above him, thin paper held delicately between his thick fingers, sweater raising to show a strip of pale skin. “I appreciate it, is all. Turns out you do have some taste, Mullet.”

“Asshole,” Keith huffs.

But he’s smiling.

They spend the next twenty minutes in comfortable silence, putting up the last of the decorations and plating up the last of the food. Lance doesn’t need to say, I should have asked for help from the beginning. Doesn’t need to say, I’ve missed being close to everyone, being a real adult is hard, finally finishing school and growing into a new phase of adulthood, away from all the people I’ve grown up with, is hard. I had to prove I’m handling it. Doesn’t bother admitting, I couldn’t have done it on my own. Thank you for knowing me enough to come even if I couldn’t ask.

Keith brushes his hand on the small of his back as he walks by. Lance smiles, shy and pleased, and sinks into the comfort of Keith knowing, of Keith knowing him; of the proof of their familiarity despite all the new changes. He sighs, long and silent and heavy, something settling in his bones.

When the doorbell rings, and the rest of his friends start pouring in, he’s ready for them.

———

Hours later his giggly and red-cheeked and a little bit tipsy. Pidge brought bottles of liquor and Allura brought novelty shot glasses, and the rest of that story wrote itself. Lance lost count somewhere between Hunk slicing up the honeyed ham he brought and Shiro busting out the Twister. Cheesy Christmas songs have been looping for hours on Veronica’s CD player, and the air smells of plátanos a sweet-smelling incense Adam pulled out, and Lance is drunk on more than just the booze.

“The place looks great!” shouts Shiro, not particularly because it’s loud in here. He looks pretty red-cheeked, too, glass of wine tucked protectively to his chest. Adam watched him in amusement, arms half-raised in preparation for his clumsiness.

“Keith helped,” Lance admits, just as loud. Their shouted conversation draws teasing glances from the rest of their friends, but for once Lance isn’t self-conscious of the stares on him.

They’re drunk. It’s Christmas. Who cares?

“Speaking of, where is Keith?”

Lance frowns. He blinks some of the dizziness out of his eyes — he truly needs to stop walking around, there was way more rum in that daiquiri than he thought, typical Matt — and scans the crowd of people shoved into his tiny apartment. He would recognize that mullet anywhere and from any angle, and it is not currently among the masses.

“Hm,” he says out loud, and wobbles off.

The first place he checks is his bedroom. It’s locked, but he knows Keith can pick a lock and also has no qualms about picking the lock for Lance’s bedroom, because he was raised by wolves. He’s not in there, though, so Lance pivots to checking the bathroom — occupied by Kinkade and Rizavi who are busy sucking face — and the weird little linen closet tucked in a random alcove, which is empty. Keith is, strangely, nowhere to be found, but he couldn’t’ve just — left, right? He would have said goodbye.

Lance pouts. He hopes he would have, because Lance’s emotions are Compromised right now, okay, and if he gets sad he’s going to get sad for real. And Keith leaving just like that will, indeed, make him sad as shit.

“I need t’clear my head,” he mumbles to himself. He pushes through the tight circle Allura, Pidge, and Veronica have formed — he does not want to know, it might be actual witchcraft knowing them — to make his way to Hunk, tugging on his sleeve to pull his attention away from Shay.

“‘M gonna go get air.”

“Don’t die,” Hunks says. Lance nods, moving to stumble away, but Hunk grabs his sleeve and tugs him back. “No, wait, drink this, buddy. Else you’re going to walk into a wall and we’re going to end up in the ER on Christmas again.”

Lance dutifully chugs the three separate glasses of water Hunk hands him, realizing suddenly that he’s parched. By the end of them and also a banana Hunk has him eat, his head has miraculously stopped spinning.

“Hunk,” he says in total seriousness, “I love you. Deeply. From the bottom of my soul.”

Hunk rolls his eyes fondly and presses a kiss to the top of Lance’s head. “I know, you doofus. Begone.”

Lance snickers and heeds his command. As he closes the apartment door behind him, shutting out the noise with it, he breathes a huge sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized how overwhelmed he’d been getting, as much as he’d been having fun.

He understands, immediately, where Keith has gone. He huffs a smile.

“Goober,” he says around a smile, and jogs to the stairwell.

———

A sobering seven flights later, he pushes open the door to the roof, panting breaths turning to steam in the frosty air.

“You are elusive, you fucker.”

Keith looks over his shoulder, smiling in that quick way he does. “And you’re tipsy.”

“Nuh uh! Hunk made me drink water!”

“Right, and that undoes the six shots you took when Pidge dared you.”

“Obviously.”

Keith laughs, a little, and Lance preens like he’s won the whole lottery. Keith most definitely notices. Lance can’t bring himself to care.

“C’mon, let’s sit somewhere not so close to the edge. Knowing your shit luck you’ll go careening over the edge and I’ll have to jump after your dumb ass.”

Ignoring how that makes his heart pound, Lance shoots back, “That wouldn’t solve anything, stupid, we’d just both be dead.”

“A very Merry Christmas to us both, then.”

Keith finally finds a spot on the ground that’s mostly clear of snow and only a little wet. He plops himself down. Lance grimaces, looking down at his expensive and shimmery black slacks before sitting down beside him.

“You good?” Lance asks after a moment.

Keith lets out a breath. “Yeah, it was just getting to be a lot in there.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re basically a cat in human form. Surprised you didn’t bite anyone on your way out.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Make me.”

Keith looks over, eyebrows raised. A smile twitches at the corner of his mouth.

“That was very transparent, you know.”

Lance shrugs, not bothering to hide his own smile.

“Hey, you’re the one who kissed me. Not my fault I’m thinking about it.”

“You think I kissed you to shut you up?”

“A little.”

Keith holds his gaze, challenging. Lance crosses his eyes. Keith snorts, punching him in the shoulder.

Heh. Success.

“I didn’t kiss you to shut you up, you goober. I kissed you because I wanted to.”

“…Did you maybe want to again?”

Now it’s Keith’s turn for his smile to turn shy, for a slight flush to rise on his cheeks. Lance’s own cheeks hurt from grinning.

“No mistletoe up here. Not sure I have an excuse this time.”

“Aha, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Lance digs in his pockets until he finds the little sprig, plucked from when he and Hunk were caught under the doorway sometime after shot number five. He holds it up between them.

Keith’s smile grows. “You really are a genuine actual goober.”

“You seem to like it,” Lance says cheekily.

“It’s fine, I guess. If I had to live with it.”

“Mhm.” Keith’s hand has snaked its way around Lance’s neck. Lance’s own hands are planted firmly on the ground between them, keeping him balanced as he leans closer, closer, closer. “Is that the case.”

“Yeah,” Keith breathes, and then he doesn’t bother with anything else, closing the distance between them. “Merry Christmas.”

Lance sighs into his mouth, tilting his head as their mouths move, as Keith’s long eyelashes tickle his cheek. Merry Christmas, indeed.

———

based on this art by @mothmanavenue

[thesimpinquestion]

Anyone else?

[fanvoidkeith]

i started playing a new pokemon fangame just to try it and. it's certainly a journey

— — —

PRO: i got a shiny because the game has boosted shiny odds, and they changed the shiny colors to be cooler. fun shiny moth :)

CON: this BITCH changed my gender on me and he won't change it back unless i give him some stupid crystal or whatever. i didn't even WANT him to change my gender! i was tricked!! he's got pokémon in cages in his creepy dark basement and he's shady as fuck!!! c'mon man, this is what i fuckin' get for giving you a chance????

PRO: cool story so far. people actually swear sometimes and it's pretty funny

CON: my mom's probably dead or a bad guy/worked with the bad guys at some point

PRO: you get to choose your pronouns at the beginning

CON: uhhhhhh everything is on fire, as i suspected. at least at the beginning disaster it is

[jacksonlandgraab]

[soadscrawl]

I've always wanted to see more of Keith and Pidge's relationship from the show (lookin at you voltron writers).

BUTTT personally, I think the short arses would have very... creative ways of getting around the castle.

Fridge hopping is a must.

short kings stick together

[sammaggs]

1x02 Diefenbaker’s Day Off // 2x08 One Good Man // 2x13 White Men Can’t Jump to Conclusions // 3x01 Burning Down the House | Normalized

due South does a main character re-casting better than any other show on TV, and they do it by playing with television's own accepted meta-narrative.

Recasting a character has a long tradition in television, creating a viewership that knows and understands the storytelling short form at play. As viewers, we realize that sometimes actors aren't available to reprise a role (or simply aren't interested in it anymore); but, for the sake of the story, sometimes the show needs that character to come back. So we lean hard into suspended disbelief and just go with it. After all, the characters in the show accept the parareality of it—why shouldn't we?

Of course, the most famous example of a character recast would be the Dick/Darren disaster on 1960s sitcom Bewitched, when Dick York was unceremoniously replaced by Dick Sargent in the role of Darrin Stephens. ("The Dick Wars" would have gone absolutely insane).

it was... not successful

But they weren't the only ones to do it. Aunt Viv from Fresh Prince, Becky from Roseanne, Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones, Greg Serrano from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (pain, agony)—recasting characters but maintaining the fiction is a storied tradition in TV. New actor, same character; totally normalized.

And shows continue to do it, even today, with a—uh—similar dedication to fucking it up doing it poorly.

why must we be punished like this

due South even engages in this trope itself in season 2, when hard-hitting investigative journalist Mackenzie King is recast and they don't even try to find an actress who looks similar. In 1x02 Diefenbaker's Day Off, she's played by brunette Madolyn Smith-Osborne; in 2x08 One Good Man, she's been replaced by blonde Maria Bello, and nobody talks about it.

yeah i'm absolutely the same person, obviously

Everyone diegetically (within the world of the show) is just like, oh yeah, that's hard-hitting investigative journalist Mackenzie King. Totally. Only non-diegetically (outside of the world of the show) does the viewer go "No, that's not the same person." Internally, the fiction proceeds as usual.

So what would happen if, say, Samantha Stephens turned to Dick Sargent and said "You're not Darrin," when everyone else in the show continued to treat him as though he was? Or if Jaskier told Geralt that he knows he's not actually Geralt, and everyone treated him like he was delusional?

Or if Fraser, even, had recognized Mackenzie King as someone entirely different, and everyone treated him like he had a hole in his bag of marbles because of it? Of course that's Mackenzie King; even her boss knows it. No, she's never been a brunette. What are you talking about?

And that's exactly what happens in Burning Down the House.

the rays vecchio

Diagetically, everyone else treats Callum Keith Rennie's character as though he is Ray Vecchio. "Oh, good, you found him," says Det. Huey. Elaine, Franchesca, literally everyone else both at the station and outside of it treat Callum Keith Rennie Ray Vecchio as though he is David Marciano Ray Vecchio. They're acting exactly as any other TV character would in the face of a recasting: as though absolutely nothing had happened.

Except for Fraser.

Fraser's specific brand of parareal Canadian plot magic means that he's immune to the recasting blindness; he's acting as an agent of the viewer, voicing our non-diegetic concerns. Fraser is (as he so often is) a character with one foot outside of the narrative. He's just always been like this and he doesn't know why.

oh this man is infuriating and hot, fuck. shit.

And for a character who already thinks he is likely insane (he sees the ghost of his dead father! He communicates with his deaf half-wolf! He is instantly committed to a mental institution upon voicing the actual true story of his life!), this is very extremely distressing. Fraser thinks he's actually lost it this time, because everyone else in due South is acting like a TV character, and Benton Fraser is acting like a viewer.

This is so brilliant on so many levels. They just fully lampshade the damn thing. It allows our protagonist to speak for disgruntled or confused viewers. It engages at a postmodern level with television as a medium with a storied history (and due South is incredibly postmodern; nearly every episode is or contains a reference to another piece of media). It's written from the perspective of someone who loves and is knowledgeable about TV tropes.

And it gives us an entirely new Ray while still maintaining respect and loyalty to the original, something no other straight (lol) recast could ever do.

Genuinely one of the most clever, witty, well-crafted hours of television ever made. I could write essays about so many different parts of it. And I guess I will!!!!!!

It’s Burning Down the House week in our dS Stacked Rewatch!

[irkimatsu]

Huskposting Masterlist

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

A masterlist of all of my interesting fics and headcanon posts, so you don't have to scroll through all the two-sentence bullshit gumming up the Huskposting tag! NSFW pieces are marked as such. Fics, headcanons, song assignments, and other assorted tidbits that I think are worth looking at more than five minutes after I posted them.

Full Fics:

"If You're Lucky" - After losing a bet with Overlord Husk, the demon asks to have his way with you as your part of the deal. Originally intended as a standalone, I intend to turn this into a collection with a story arc eventually. NSFW!

"Teasing A Beast" - Oneshot where reader stripteases for Husk and then they have rough sex. Short, sweet, to the point. Reader has breasts and vagina. NSFW!

Headcanons:

Husk and one-night-stands in life

Musing about Husk's death

NSFW Heacanons

couple assorted SFW headcanons

Husk as an absent father

Headcanons going through Husk's life, up to his death

Husk nuzzling you so you smell like him

Husk's coping mechanism! (it's not great)

does he hate the name Husker?

he's too drunk to perform

Husk and religion

hehehe claw sucking

a reason for Overlord Husk to be fat

a magic trick goes wrong

assorted Overlord Husk horniness (NSFW!)

Husk's fluctuating weight

speculation about Husk and Alastor

possible future chapters of "If You're Lucky" (NSFW!)

Husk, US history, and legal gambling and alcohol

This man cannot fucking cook

Dominant Husk headcanons

Music (song links go to Tumblr posts that may or may not provide context for why I picked that song):

Full playlist

"Fallen Down" by Assemblage 23

"Forever 2013" by Bruderschaft

"Complex" by Dreams Divide

"The Modern Leper" by Frightened Rabbit

"Drown" by Imperative Reaction

"I Don't Remember" by Northern Lite

"Casino" by Toby Ash

I keep picking songs about drowning...

Drabbles:

Husk gushing about his S/O (centered around my self-insert, this was for me, sorry)

dancing with Husk in his room

dancing with Husk at a hotel party

playing with Husk's wings (NSFW!)

Husk dialogue during sex (NSFW!)

riding Husk (NSFW!)

Husk taking the lead with you (NSFW!)

Alastor interrupts (NSFW!)

Husk and the word "love"

to be Overlord Husk's spoiled pet...

massaging Husk's chest

more about being Overlord Husk's pet

Yandere Overlord Husk

Husk with a childhood friend of Alastor's

rough sex, Husk catching feelings

Other:

WHICH ONE OF YOU WOULD FUCK THIS OLD MAN

some cool t-shirts I yoinked from the fan Wiki

me infodumping to an outsider with Wiki facts

that line from Finale that itches my brain so good

you fuck wrinkly ass cats stop fucking submitting it

official Valentine's Day card

"Sober" cover by Paranoid DJ (not on my playlist but still worth a look)

FOXY GRANDPA

the first appearance of the phrase "cat nipples". get used to it

Keith David singing "LOVE" by Nat King Cole

me making terrible daddy jokes

my excuse for everything that happens on this blog anymore

[demon-witch-cat]

Keith in different outfits for different scenes!

First fully colored drawing i do in a while, and I make a few outfit designs for Keith in my AU! That feels on brand for me, but also, LOOK AT MY SWEET BOY!

First, his outfit for King Gristle and Bridget's wedding. I gave him a purple sparkly vest to match Branch, then matching leg warmers. On top of that, I gave him a bunch of flowers in his hair(each color represents his parents) because I thought he might be co-flower boy with Tiny. Forgetting there's also ring bearers

Next, an outfit for the Pop Medley in Lonesome Flats. I wasn’t sure what to do outside of the glasses and giving him sparkly shorts. Plus, I brightened his hair a bit and gave him a flower earring (I've been giving him w flower theme).

Lastly, we've got him all ready for the holidays! With a simple green scarf, and a red & white pair of earmuffs. This could count for either holiday special, but I did it with the first one in mind.

What do you guys think? My favorite is his wedding outfit (^m^ )

[jovenshires]

THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS AU OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK

THE BEST OF THE CHOSEN

the chosen is an alternative rock band, whose members are spencer agnew (lead singer / secondary guitarist), shayne topp (lead guitarist), damien haas (bassist / vocalist), and courtney miller (drummer / vocalist). known for their iconic guitar riffs and heavy bass lines, the band has been accused of relying heavily on their instrumentals to distract from their lead singer's vocal insecurity, to which they have not disagreed. hit songs include "short kings," "i was there man," and "nuclear rain." the band is inspired by the early 2000's alternative movement, specifically weezer, green day, and simple plan.

THE BEST OF FTC

ftc (short for full-time cast) is an indie trio known for their slow melodies and sad lyrics. their songs, typically written by their lead singer tommy bowe, are often explicitly queer, romantic, and yearning, though they also frequently feature themes of self-doubt and internal struggle. other members of the band are amanda lehan-canto (singer / guitarist) and kimmy jimenez (drummer / occasional background singer). with songs such as "creekside killer," "reading of the will," and "bones," ftc is inspired by artists such as boygenius, hozier, and mitski.

THE BEST OF KOLIVTION

kolivition is a hip-hop duo fronted by keith leak jr. (singer / rapper) and backed by olivia sui (pianist / dj / sound mixer). they incorporate r&b, funk, and rap into their music as well, with their soulful beats and psychedelic sounds. kolivition's songs typically revolve around romance in the modern world. the duo's hit songs include "life's a party," "give me all your money," and "bobby from the block." kolivition is inspired by childish gambino, frank ocean, and kendrick lamar.

THE BEST OF COVENTRY

coventry is a female-led punk band consisting of erin dougal (singer / guitarist), heidi ha (singer / drummer), and selina garcia (singer / bassist). they typically theme their songs around female empowerment and relationships - romantic, platonic, or otherwise. their hit songs include "sluts," "sunflower," and "wish i could (say the same)." they are inspired by paramore, no doubt, and veruca salt.

THE BEST OF LET'S DO THIS

let's do this, though a relatively new band, is an enthusiastic underdog pop trio. its members, chanse mccrary (lead singer / guitarist), angela giarratana (bassist / vocalist), and arasha lalani (drummer / vocalist), are clearly tuned into the pop scene and thus make current, upbeat, snappy music that is practically made for the radio, even if it's yet to take off. their songs rely heavily on romance, and are often either explicitly queer or gender-neutral. their top tracks are "i lied," "lost the room," and "coroner." ldt is based off of artists such as conan gray, maisie peters, and troye sivan.

THE BEST OF SMOSH

smosh is a moden reinvention of an early 2000's pop-punk / alternative duo. back after a 6-year hiatus and preparing to win a competition they've already lost, ian hecox (singer / bassist), anthony padilla (singer), and their rotating backup band are re-entering both battle of the bands and mainstream. their music centers around personal identity and how that identity affects one's relationships. though they are re-inventing their sound, smosh was and is still known for their heavy instrumentals and all-star vocals. hit songs include "shut up," "the sun," and "destiny," and the band was based off of twenty one pilots, fall out boy, and panic! at the disco.

THE BEST OF JACKIE UWEH

jackie uweh - also known as the most talented voice of our generation - is an r&b / soul singer who sells out football stadiums with her powerhouse vocals. her songs often feature themes of feminism, romantic relationships, and a continuous journey of self-discovery. this is her first year judging battle of the bands, and, according to her, hopefully not her last. jackie's hit songs include "buggin'," "over easy," and "been with." she is inspired by beyonce, rhianna, and lizzo.

THE BEST OF MYTHICAL

mythical, which consists of rhett mclaughlin (singer / guitarist) and link neal (singer / guitarist) and their fantastic backing band, is a country band notable for having won battle of the bands ten years ago. since then, they have created their own empire, complete with a record label and several signed artist - previously including ian hecox of smosh fame. though they are a country band, mythical is also known to incorporate alternative genres into their music, especially their most recent album, which has been by far their most controversial in terms of sound. their musical themes vary, sometimes instead focusing on story-telling rather than relatability, but typically they utilize love (romantic, platonic, and familial), religion, and self-expression and exploration. their songs include "will it?," "buddy system," and "let's talk about that." they are inspired by james and the shame, noah kahan, and the lumineers.

THE BEST OF TREVOR

trevor (that's it, just trevor) is a soundcloud-based rapper who's honestly just happy to be here. an up-and-coming (read: thus unsuccessful) artist, trevor is a part-time musician and a part-time sound designer and editor. after working on mythical's latest album, he was invited to emcee the battle of the bands and is ecstatic at the chance to promote himself. trevor focuses on the self-described subgenre "meme rap," which views modern life through a comical gen z lens. his songs include "another banger," "silly guy," and "o7," and he is based on yung gravy, yungblud, and danny gonzalez.

[fizoda]

lotor looks extremely altean other the fact he has purple skin

Galra genes are weak asf when it comes to cross-breeding

stop drawing keith taller than lance you fools. can’t believe i need to start this crusade again

[autisticlancemcclain]

There’s an unfamiliar Blade staring at him. And yeah, that’s a pretty hard case to make with the masks and uniforms and everything. How do you know they’re unfamiliar? How do you know they’re staring at you?

Well, Keith knows they’re staring at him because they’re not even attempting to hide it and it’s been something like ten minutes, and they’re unfamiliar because — well. By Galran standards, they’re short as shit, and Keith makes a point of being familiar with every other short Blade on this base, because of Short King Solidarity.

Shut up. It’s important.

Point is that there is a random stranger staring at him for no reason in the barracks, and it is annoying. Finally, Keith decides that if they’re not going to say something, he is, so he holds his hands up in the universal ‘what the shit do you want, pal?’ position.

It works. The unfamiliar Blade beckons him forward. As soon as Keith gets close to them, they turn and start striding out of the room, and Keith has to jog to keep up (because even though they’re short, for a Galra, the have legs for days, Jesus).

They lead him around dozens of twisting hallways, speeding up whenever Keith gets close. It does not occur to Keith that they might be a murderer until about 10 minutes into their chase. But by then he’s put too much effort into the whole ordeal to just walk away, so he keeps one hand on his blade and mostly just hopes for the best.

They’re pretty lanky, anyway. Keith could probably take them.

Finally, the Blade stops in front of one of the small hangar doors, slapping their palm to the lockpad. This gives Keith just enough time to catch up, so he reaches out to stop them with a hand on the elbow.

“Dude, where are you taking me —”

The Blade makes a frantic cutting motion at their neck, clearly telling him to shut the fuck up. Keith raises his eyebrows.

Well, now. Colour him intrigued.

They duck into the hangar as soon as the doors open, leading him by the hand to a small pod. They key in the code to open the door, and attempt to tug Keith inside.

That’s when Keith decides enough is enough.

“Yeah, no, man. I’m not getting into a tiny pod with someone who’s been nothing but suspicious since I saw them. Sure, I was being a bit of a dumbass when I decided to follow you, but I think this is a great place to draw the line.”

The Blade makes a pleading face. Well, as pleading as they can be with their mask on.

Keith shakes his head, crossing his arms stubbornly.

The Blade sighs, hanging their head in resignation. They peek out of the pod, checking the area — for what? Other Blades? Cameras? Monsters? — and then take a deep breath, before pressing the button on their neck for deactivating their mask.

And, well. Keith can safely say this is not what he expected.

“Lan —”

“Will you shut the fuck up,” Lance hisses, grabbing Keith by the arm and yanking him in the pod, shutting the door behind him. Keith doesn’t put up a fight, too busy staring at Lance with his jaw dropped to the floor.

The longer Keith stares, the more nervous Lance gets. The previous annoyance vanishes from his expression, leaving him biting his lip with his brow furrowed.

“Please say something,” he begs.

Keith snaps his jaw shut. “Okay. I’ll start simple.” He clasps his hands together and presses them to his lips, inhaling sharply. “What the fresh, genuine, actual fuck are you doing here? In a Blade uniform? Acting suspicious as hell?”

“You know the security breach?” Lance blurts.

“Yeah,” Keith says slowly, trying to figure out how that has anything to do with this. “What about it?”

“I am the security breach.”

Once, when he was very young, Keith was fucking around in the desert and he came across what he was sure was a chicken egg, sitting randomly under a bush. Since he was literally eight years old, his brilliant idea had been to bring the chicken egg home, incubate it, and have his very own pet chicken. Since his Pa was not one to stop his brilliant ideas, this was allowed, so Keith nurtured that egg with all the concentration his tiny self could produce. Several months later, it hatched.

It was a snake.

The level of shocked bewilderment Keith felt then is about equivalent to what he’s feeling right now.

“I’m sorry. I think I just hallucinated. Try again?”

“I’m serious,” Lance insists. “I’m Akira Romanoff. I’m the security breach.”

Bizarrely, in between the panicked shouts of ‘oh my god I’m going to have to become the red paladin again because Voltron is going to be down a man after Lance is executed’ in his head, Keith has the thought that Lance looks exactly like Flynn Rider did when Rapunzel healed his hand — same freaked-out expression, down to the slightly puffed cheeks. He wonders vaguely if that’s a practiced expression.

“Okay,” Keith says slowly. “I have no idea how to respond to that. Please start from the beginning.”

“It was never meant to go this far,” Lance says instead, because he’s apparently incapable of following instructions. “I just meant to do small missions, you know? Tiny things. Unnoticed things. But then it spiralled and I panicked and —”

“Lance,” Keith interrupts, putting firm hands on the paladin’s shoulders. “Shut the fuck up and start from the actual beginning.”

“Those are very contradicting instructions,” Lance says faintly.

“Jesus H Christ,” Keith says.

“Okay!” Lance says. “Okay.” He takes a deep breath. “Shiro’s been — weird.” He side eyes Keith as he says it, as if he’s afraid Keith’s going to get mad at him.

“Go on,” Keith says, and reassuringly as he can.

“Right. He’s been kind of horrible, actually. He gets a lot of mood swings, which I understand, but he sort of takes them out on me? And only me? Like, he screams at me, Keith. All the time. Proper screaming, too, in my face and everything. It’s pretty awful.”

Keith blinks. “Shiro? Yelling?”

“I know it’s hard to believe and it sounds like I’m lying but I’m not I promise I’m telling you the truth, and I know I deserve it and say stupid things sometimes but not everything I say is stupid but he yells at me anyway and I know I shouldn’t complain because I never had to go through what he went through but it is kind of unbearable and it also feels pretty targeted which sucks and I know he was never my biggest fan but it sucks knowing that he hates me now and I don’t know what I did and —”

“Breathe, Lance,” Keith says, squeezing his shoulders. “Holy shit.”

Lance takes a huge, gasping breath. Once the air has returned to his lungs, he looks back at Keith, brown eyes wide and imploring. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” he insists again. “But — Shiro kept excluding me from missions. I just wanted to be useful again. And the Blade uniform is so easy to replicate, and I already knew all the passwords and stuff —”

“You infiltrated the Blade to do missions?”

Lance bites his lip. “Yeah. It’s — I like it. It’s kind of fun. And validating.”

Keith gets the validating part. There’s a deep sense of satisfaction that blooms in his chest every time he comes back from a successful mission, almost deep enough that it hides the loneliness. Blade missions definitely make you feel like you’re making a difference.

But fun?

“How the hell are you having fun?”

A leering smirk spreads across Lance’s face — finally, a familiar expression. Keith has seen that dumbass face right before Lance spills the cheesiest line ever to be uttered to some poor, unsuspecting attractive person, or right before he makes a ‘that’s what she said’ joke. God, Keith fucking hates that dumbass face.

He’s never been happier to see it.

“You wanna know why I chose Romanoff as my fake last name?” Lance asks, voice pitched low.

Keith would love to say no, just to throw him off his game. But he’s curious, unfortunately.

“Why?”

“Because I’m the Black Widow now, baby. I get my targets, I seduce ‘em, I handle ‘em, and I’m out before they see me. And that is fun.”

Keith flushes slightly, rolling his eyes and shoving Lance’s face away. “Okay, okay, Casanova. Cool it.”

Lance, unaffected, snickers. But quickly the mirth fades from his expression, and fades back into something worried, fearful.

“If the Blade thinks Voltron is spying on them it will crack the Coalition in half,” he says quietly. He chews his lip, staring at the floor. “I didn’t — I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, I guess. Or maybe I didn’t think I would get caught. I didn’t mean to do any big missions. I didn’t mean to be some big — thing.”

Keith swallows. “I know.”

He wonders whose side he would be expected to stand on, if it came to that. If the tentative trust between the Blades and Voltron cracked forever, if Voltron wasn’t the way he left it, if Shiro wasn’t there to call him home. He meets Lance’s eyes again and his dark eyes are watery, torn and guilty and sad. Keith’s heart lurches with his own guilt, and something heavy and fierce like longing, like I-missed-you and I’m-sorry-I-wasn’t-there all at once.

“I didn’t know who else to turn to,” he admits, softer. “I trust you. I’m sorry.”

He looks hunched and unsure of himself and he says I didn’t know who else to turn to I’m sorry and Keith hears There are five lions and six paladins, you do the math. And he knows he ran then and it fixed things but this time Lance is doing the running, this time Lance is the one who is looking between Voltron and other and doesn’t know what to do, and suddenly Keith’s choice is clear as day and the words come to him easily, without struggle.

“Alright, Sharpshooter,” he says, spine straight and voice firm. “Let’s go. Tell me the plan on the way out.”

Lance grins, wide and bright and beautiful, and the loneliness and fear evaporates in Keith’s chest.

———

part one

[cookiescribble]

Flufftober Day 9: “Don’t Do That!” “But…”

(gif source)

A/N: we've been wanting to write a steddie fic for a long time and we finally got around to it!! clueless bisexual awakening steve is my favorite steve, so i had to put that in there 🫶🏻 - mod angel

p.s. i really enjoyed writing this with bestie, hope you guys enjoy it!! - mod ghost

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson

Summary: Eddie has a proposal that makes Steve question what he wants (and Robin is there to help him think through it).

~~~

It was a slow day at Family Video, typical for the middle of a weekday. Steve and Robin had been keeping each other entertained all day. As it neared the time that high school usually let out, they were hard at work to set up today’s display. 

“I think it’s a good idea to put out Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Steve was arguing. “Really? And not the classic that is Labyrinth? I’m personally offended, Steven,” Robin scoffed, putting more VHS tapes on the shelf.

“How can something be a ‘classic’ if it only came out like, four months ago??” “Have you seen it?” Steve paused for a moment, before muttering a quiet “...no.” “EXACTLY!” Robin threw up her hands, the way she did when she was passionate about things. “So you cannot argue with me about this.”

Steve rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “I can’t argue with you about anything, can I?”

“No,” Robin nodded. “You can’t.”

“Fine. Can we at least put both of them up?” Steve asked, shrugging. “Appeal to a wider audience, or whatever Keith told us to do.” “Are you just saying that because you want Ferris on here?” “Robin.” 

Robin sighed dramatically. “I guess we can put them both up.”

The two began setting up the main display, still arguing the whole time they did so.

Steve had lost track of the time when he heard the front door open with a ding! He looked up to see Eddie Munson walking through the door, holding a tower of VHS tapes. 

“Harrington!” Eddie chimed. “Just the man I wanted to see!” He reached the front desk and carefully placed the tower of tapes down, which immediately fell over and sent all the tapes hurtling towards Steve.

Steve reacted as quickly as he could, catching a few of the tapes while the others landed at his feet. “Great,” he said, his tone deadpan. “Thanks.”

“No problem, Stevie,” Eddie winked, placing his elbow on the desk and holding his chin in his hand. “Just had to get the tapes back on time.”

He started to wander towards the display Steve and Robin had set up earlier. “Hey, Labyrinth! I love that movie.” He started to pick up the tape, knocking over Ferris Bueller as he did.

Steve groaned, quickly walking over to the display. “Don’t do that! We worked on that display all day!”

“But I wanted to see about renting Labyrinth,” Eddie whined.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can I deal with the tapes you brought back before you start taking more out?”

Eddie bowed dramatically. “Of course. Go ahead, o’ king of the video tapes.”

Steve rolled his eyes, going back to the front desk and typing into the computer. “Eddie, all of these tapes are at least a week late.”

“I’m a busy man, what can I say?” Eddie shrugged, walking towards Steve at the desk, leaning forwards.

“...Busy enough to be in your senior year for the fourth time?” Steve raised an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms for the second time that morning. “Alright, smartass,” Eddie rolled his eyes. “What do you want me to do about it?” “You have to pay the late fees for these,” Steve explained. Eddie let out a long breath, tapping his fingers on the table, his rings making a clinking sound as they clanged together. “Well, what if I told you I’m short on cash right now, buuuut I’ll take you on a date if you cover me?” He batted his eyelashes, giving Steve his best puppy dog eyes.

“...But we’re both guys,” Steve replied, confused, his brows furrowed. A snicker from Robin was heard from somewhere deep in the store.

“Okaay,” Eddie raised his eyebrows slightly, giving Steve a pointed look. “But putting that aside for a second, do you like me?” 

“Uuhhh…yeah?” Steve shrugged. “Why do I feel like you’re somehow still not understanding this?” Eddie rubbed his face with his hand. “‘Cause I’m not.” “And I’m the one in senior year still?” Eddie crossed his arms. “What?” Steve replied, still sounding very confused. “Never mind, just,” Eddie took a deep breath here before continuing. “Think about it.”

Steve took a moment of just standing there to think about how Eddie made him feel. It was different to how he felt about Robin, but it was also different from his only real relationship experience up until this point, which was Nancy. Sometimes he did look at Eddie and get a sort of unusual flutter of feelings rushing around in his chest, but he didn’t really think much of it. Maybe he just wasn’t used to hanging out with someone like him.

“I’ll just pay you back, if you want,” Eddie muttered, taking a step towards the door. “But I wasn’t kidding about being short on cash, so… I’ll just, see you later?” He didn’t even wait for an answer before he turned around and practically ran out the door. 

“… See you later, I guess,” Steve mumbled, even though Eddie was completely off the property at that point. 

Robin sidled up to Steve, bumping him with her arm. “Wow,” was all she said. 

“What?” Steve turned to her, looking more confused than he had in his entire life. “Am I missing something?”

“Well, brains, for one,” she quipped, patting him on the shoulder. “But… how do I explain this to you properly…?

“Explain what?” Steve sounded exasperated and flustered. 

Robin took a deep breath, placing her hands on the table in front of them. “Remember when we had that talk, in the bathroom stall?”

“After we were drugged by crazy people?” Steve replied sarcastically. “No, I have no memory of that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off, “forgetting all of that right now.” She let out a deep sigh. “Remember when I told you about Tammy?”

Steve nodded slowly. “Yeah, I remember that…” He said as if he was waiting for what she was saying to make sense.

“Okay. So apply what I said, to how you feel about Eddie. Are you seeing any similarities there?” Robin was speaking slowly, as if she was explaining something to a toddler.

Steve furrowed his brows. “Well… that’s different,” he explained. “I’ve already dated Nancy, and I know I like girls.”

Robin rubbed her temples. “Yes, well, you can like both, Steve. There are lots of people who like girls and boys.”

“... Really?” Steve looked at Robin, and she could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

“Yes, Steve. It’s allowed.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, keeping that in mind, do you understand the feelings you’re having for Eddie?”

Having it phrased to him like that made the whole thing dawn on him; these unexplainable feelings he was having finally had an explanation. I want to be with Eddie. 

He hopped over the counter, not answering Robin’s question as she called after him. Steve honestly didn’t even hear her. 

He didn’t even think about using his car, which he’d very mindfully driven to Family Video; he just ran to the trailer park. He quickly found Eddie’s trailer and banged on the door until it opened.

“Jesus, something better be—“ Eddie froze in his tracks as he saw a very disheveled looking Steve at his door.  “Harrington? What’re you doing here?”

“I… I like you,” Steve huffed, still breathing heavily from running all the way there. 

“…What?” Eddie was just staring at him wide-eyed. 

“…Don’t make me say it again,” Steve pleaded, his voice a bit softer now that he was starting to catch his breath. 

“But—“

“You heard me, I promise you heard me, I just only have enough courage to say it the once so please don’t make me say it again unless you’re saying it ba—“

Eddie leaned forward and kissed him, mostly to get him to stop rambling like an idiot, but also because he wanted to. “Does that help?”

Steve nodded, and then remembered he should probably go back to work. “Yeah, I um…I’ll see you for that date? Soon?” 

“Sure, Harrington,” Eddie replied, smiling like an idiot in love. “I’ll see you soon.”

[billboard-hotties-tourney]

Prince (1958-2016) solo, leader of The Revolution Songs: "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "For You" Defeated Opponents: Donovan, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, David Byrne, Al Green Propaganda: "His music sounds like no one else's. He was able to make a guitar sound magically different to how guitars are supposed to sound. And his voice. He could go from squeaky, almost childish sounding, to a soulful, balladic powerhouse performance all while making it look easy. He was one of the greatest singular performers and musicians ever. And he was a short king to boot." "Most photos of Prince don't really do him justice because, like Jimi Hendrix, he was at his hottest when he played guitar, and to me that's something you have to actually hear to understand. Also he had a great, super energetic stage presence, which is also extremely sexy and hard to convey in pictures alone. What I'm trying to say is that everyone should just watch his Superbowl halftime performance and I dare you to tell me that he wasn't the sexiest man alive that night." "Prince was the only guy who could show up at your party, in frills, and steal your girlfriend. Then steal her clothes, then steal someone else's girl in your girlfriends clothes."

Clarence Clemons (1942-2011) The E Street Band - saxophone Songs: "Jungleland," "Badlands" Defeated Opponents: Keith Richards, Bob Marley, Cab Calloway, Russell Mael, George Harrison Propaganda: see visual

Visual Propaganda for Prince:

Visual Propaganda for Clarence Clemons:

[jacksonlandgraab]

[fluffykitty149]

@empressgeekt heard you’ve been feeling down and thought you could use a pick me up! I honestly just wrote this for fun and wasn’t going to show it to anyone, but it’s the FoF + Caught In The Middle mash up I asked you about a while ago! Had a serious brain rot about it so I ended up making this snippet!

——————————————————————

The wedding ceremony was going great. It never ceased to amaze Branch of the fact that his girlfriend was able to concoct an amazing party regardless of size. She may have struggled with taking charge and staying organized for defense in the past but it’s become abundantly clear that she was and is in fact a master planner. They’d gone back and forth on whether or not Branch should wear his Forest Guardian uniform at the wedding as Branch believed since he’s head of the trolls' security he needs to be ready and Poppy argued that he should dress for the occasion but both Gristle and Bridget assured them that it was okay. It probably helped that Gristle was wearing a T-Shirt tux instead of an actual one. Poppy later confessed that she just wanted to see Branch decked out in a tuz and after a bit of blushing and some persuading kisses he agreed to maybe switch to one for the reception.

As the officiant went on with her speech a forest scout signaled for Branch to come over. Branch lightly brushed his arm against Poppy’s and when she turned to him he signaled that he had to check something out and Poppy nodded in acknowledgement and scanned the rooftops herself before looking back to the bride and groom. Once Branch checked that Keith was still in the wedding rings with his blue tuft of hair sticking out he followed the scout to the other side of the reception. “What’s the situation?” Branch asked as he and the scout climbed up a building. 

“Tresillo caught some trolls sneaking around,” the pop troll answered as they continued to climb. “3 presumably male, 1 presumably female. Pop trolls like us but I haven’t seen them before.”

That caught Branch off guard. Sure he didn’t really know everyone in the village but most of the tribe recognized each other easily. The scout continued “the female one appears to be having some sort of PTSD episode? Kinda like you used to have, she’s convinced we’re all in danger right now from the Burgens. We’ve tried explaining the Burgens don’t eat us under the decree of King Gristle and if she had concerns about a particular Burgen or group she was suspicious of but it’s more like she doesn’t know about the peace that we have now.”

Branch winced at the memories of his thankfully now rare episodes before he finally scaled the wall and found where the other trolls were “go back to your post. I’ll take it from here.” The troll took a final look at the group before they nodded and walked off. As Branch got closer he could hear the group talking animatedly and the familiarity of the male trolls’ voices made a pit drop in his stomach. ‘There’s no way that’s them,’ he said to himself in denial, as he slowed down. 

“Come on man we’re Brozone! Can’t you help us out?” That was definitely JD’s voice. Turns out Branch didn’t miss it nearly as much as he thought he did.

Branch cleared his throat and the guards surrounding the group backed off and Branch was able to get a full view of three out of his four brothers. Spruce had gotten bigger and seemed to be sporting a more beach aesthetic with his hair styled down in a sweep, Clay’s hair was green instead of yellow and curled out and was much taller than Branch remembered sporting a sweater romper. He seemed to at the time be arguing with Wani who had some of her members standing by a pink troll with one of them showing her breathing techniques. JD switched out the boyband vest and pants for a more nature-like vest lined with fur and worn green shorts. Still the same stupid goggles though. And same stupid grin. 

“Would someone from your group mind explaining what’s going on here?” Branch asked in an authoritative tone. It annoyingly didn’t seem to phase his oldest Brother. 

“Hey man, sorry to bother you with… whatever is going on here.” JD gestured with his hands. “We haven’t been around the tree in a while and we’re trying to look for our siblings.”

Branch’s crossed arms helped hide his hands squeezing his biceps. ‘A while would be the understatment of the mother fucking century’ he thought to himself.

“Would you mind explaining who you’re looking for specifically?'' Was it a good idea to pretend he didn’t know them? Probably not. DId he care at the moment? Nope.

“We’re looking for Bitty B man! From Brozone!” Thank god Branch was wearing a mask because the deadly glare he was shooting right now would be beyond suspicious. 

“I don’t know of anyone named Bitty B that lives in the village. Are you sure this sibling of yours isn't’ somewhere else?” Branch asked curtly. If JD could at the very least say Branch’s actual name he might consider telling him the truth. 

“Psh come on man, who wouldn’t know Bitty B! He’s Brozone!” 

Branch drummed his fingers against his arm “again, there’s no one here named Bitty B now if you’re just here to cause a scene at a wedding that helps signal the peace between pop trolls and Bergens then I’ll have to ask you to lea-”

Before he could finish, a pink and blond blur zipped up to him and shook him by the collar “WHERE IS MY SISTER, WHAT DO YOU MEAN PEACE WITH THE BERGENS, AND WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?” 

The other scouts turned to him warily but he didn’t flinch. “Would you mind telling me your sister’s name? We can start from there.”

The woman looked bewildered at him “SERIOUSLY!? I’M TALKING ABOUT POPPY!!! DAUGHTER OF KING PEPPY!!! THAT POPPY!!!”

Now it was Branch’s turn to look bewildered “Poppy? As in the current queen?” 

Viva’s face dropped but then was brought back up “Yes! Yes her! Is she okay!? She’s not in danger is she?”

Branch’s heart seemed to be going back and forth between panicking and sinking. “No, no,” he said gently as he removed her arms away from him “she’s why we have peace with the Bergens. You’re her older sister?”

Viva’s fear turned to excitement and Branch’s heart sank furhter “Oh my gosh she did this! No way I am so freakin proud of her!” the way she bounced in excitement reminded him painfully of Poppy. ‘Peppy what did you do?’ he thought to himself while watching her stim and cheer. 

“Poppy’s busy with the ceremony right now, would you mind me grabbing your dad?” Viva’s face shifted between distraught to hopefulness and it made Branch’s heart squeeze tighter. 

“Dad’s alive?” she asks wiping a tear.

Branch nodded “I’ll just be a moment. We have multiple guards and scouts stationed on the rooftops on the venue. Even if there was a chance of a Bergen wanting to eat a troll we have contingencies in place.” He leapt off the roof of the building onto another and ran back to the reception.

Anger began to burn in his body that fueled him to run faster to the venue. He made it to where the group is and slipped in to grab Peppy’s arm. “You’re needed on the rooftop. It’s urgent.” Peppy barely had enough time to respond before Branch picked him up with his hair and ran off. The rest of the snack pack and Prince D looked somewhat baffled but turned back to the ceremony. 

It probably wasn’t professional for Branch to be running on all fours but focusing on going fast took his mind off of the interaction that was about to happen. One of the perks of traning with Smidge was that his hair was much stronger and could easily hold Peppy well enough not to hurt him as he scaled the wall. He fired a grapling gun up to help him climb with a still bewildered Peppy in his hair. “Branch?! Is everything alrgiht?” 

“Not really,” he huffed making his way up. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” Still on all fours he managed to make his way to the rooftop where Viva and his brothers were. It was definitely a tough sprint but he skidded to a stop and carefully put Peppy down. As angry as he was at the man he wasn’t going to throw him around like a rag doll.

Peppy stumbled for a second and was about to ask again what was going on when he heard a small “Dad?”

He whirled around and saw the daughter he hasn’t seen in over 20 years. “V-Viva?” he whispered shakily stumbling towards her.

“Daddy!” she cried out jumping to hug him. Branch almost stepped in incase of a fall but Peppy let his cane drop and colleceted his daughter in his arms. 

“Oh my sweet sweet girl,” he whispered holding her tightly. “I never thought I’d see you again.” he kissed her over and over again on her head stroking her curls. 

“The tunnels-” he stuttred as he pulled he away to get a better look at her. “W-we dug for hours, all we found in the ruins was your hug time bracelet. I-I thought you-” he sobbed as he pulled her tighter again. 

“I’m alive,” Viva chuckled breathlessly. “I got everyone out, it was tough but we found this old golf course to stay in! I should have gone looking for you guys I kept waiting for you to find us and I had no idea you thought we didn’t make it!” Viva sobbed as she burried her face in his neck.

“No sweetheart, it was my fault. I never should have stopped trying to look for you.” Peppy sighed as he rubbed her back.

Branch cleared his throat and Peppy’s face turned pale. “Poppy doesn’t know about her does she?”  he whispered. He hated being the bearer of bad news but it was clear what had happened. Trolls got separated during the escape and King Peppy lied about it. ‘No troll left behind’ was a total scam. A scam Poppy believed with her whole heart. It made Branch’s blood boil.

“What?”

Branch and Peppy turned back to Viva who’s face had completely dropped with her body becoming stiff. “What do you mean Poppy doesn’t know about me? I’m her sister! Of course she’d know who I am. Right?” She turned to her dad who looked completely guilty.

“I-I didn’t want her to mourn you.” Peppy mumbled fidgeting with the lapels of her jacket.

“Were there others with you who escaped?” Branch asked but Viva remained mute in shock. 

It was Clay who spoke up “there were 36 all together. With new kids we now have 40 as a group.” he said seemingly also in shock.

“Branch is everything okay? We’re supposed to be heading to the reception now.” Everyone’s head swiveled to Poppy who carried Keith on her hip.

“Cake time!” Keith shouted with raised fists and a blank stare. Everyone stared at the duo for what felt like ages before turning to Branch and bouncing back and fourth between them.

“BRANCH!?” “POPPY!” “HOLY SHIT!”

Viva rushed to hug little sister while the brothers crowded Branch asking a million questions at once. 

“YOU’RE ALIVE!?”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY WHO YOU WERE!?” “WHAT’S WITH THE OUTFIT!?”

“YOU KNOCKED UP VIVA’S SISTER!?”

“WHAT!?” Branch, Poppy, and Viva shrieked as Viva grabbed her sister tighter as she turned to Branch.

“Keith’s adopted!” Poppy said, as she tried to catch up to speed. She then turned to Viva “Hi I’m Poppy, nice to meet you. Who are you exactly?” Viva looked heartbroken while Peppy looked guiltier than ever.

“WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU THE AUDACITY TO PRESUME ANYTHING ABOUT ME!?” Branch shouted angrily as he shoved his brothers off of him.

“TOO LOUD!” Keith screamed as he clammed his ears shut with his hands. 

Branch tensed with guilt before turning back to his biological brothers. “I took Keith in about two years ago when his dad died and we see each other as each other’s brothers.” he said with an indignant huff. He then turned to Poppy. “Peppy apparently hid the fact that there were trolls left behind during the escape. Viva, your older sister gathered as many stragglers as she could and kept them hidden.” He paused to monitor Poppy’s reaction before he continued. “I’m so sorry Poppy I swear I didn’t know.”

Poppy’s grip on Keith loosened so he slid down and ran to Branch. “W-what?” She turned to her father in shocked betrayal.

“I was going to tell you I swear!” Peppy stammered. “After the rock apocalypse I realized it was wrong of me to try and hide the truth from you. You got so busy for a while so I figured I would tell you after the wedding in the tree.”

“I have a sister?” Poppy whispered as she turned back to Viva. 

Viva gave a small wave “hi Poppy,” she said as she nervously fidgeted with her hands.

“HOLY SPRINKLES I HAVE AN OLDER SISTER!!!” Poppy cheered as she scouped Viva up and spun her around. “MUSES I KNEW I FELT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!! I WAS DRIVING EVERYONE CRAZY WITH ‘GOD I WISH I HAD A SISTER’ OR’ HAVING A SISTER WOULD LITERALLY MAKE MY LIFE SO PERFECT’ AND YOU WERE HERE THE WHOLE TIME!!!”

Viva burst into tears and wrapped Poppy in a hug of equal force. “I am,” she sobbed in Poppy’s shoulder “I’m right here!” 

Both sisters tried getting a good analysis of each other’s appearance but got too excited and with another squeal tackled each other in spinning hugs and jumps.

Branch picked up Keith to check on him and thankfully now that the arguing stopped he’s seemed to calm down. “We’re not getting Bergen sized cake are we?” Keith said with a pout. “We can ask Bridget and Gristle to save us a slice.” Branch chuckled. 

“Branch, is that really you?” Spruce asked which soured Branch’s mood. 

He hissed between his teeth before turning back towards his brothers. “Yes it’s me. This is Keith, he’s my little brother and if any of you say anything negative about him I’ll throw you off the building.”

The ex-brozone members turned to Keith in different forms of bewilderment but JD was the one who snapped out of it the fastest. “Welcome to the family bro!” he was about to hug both Branch and Keith. Keith lunged to bite JD but Branch managed to hold him back. 

The brozone brothers remained stunned while Branch brought Keith back to him “I think we’d both appreciate not being hugged if its all the same to you.” he huffed as he readjusted Keith on his hip. 

JD chuckled nervously and brushed dust off him “heh, got it. My bad.”

“Why were you asking all those questions if you knew we were looking for you? It was just wasting time.” Clay asked, already tired from the journey.

“Excuse me if I’m not jumping for joy that the brothers that abandoned me at 2 randomly showed up. What the hell are you all doing here anyways?” 

The brothers looked grief stricken for a second and before Clay could explain things JD blurted out “we’re here to reunite the band and pull off the perfect family harmony!” he cheered with a fist pumped in the air. Bruce smacked a paw against his face and Clay dragged his paws against his.

"No thanks, I'd rather choke on rocks than go through that again." The only reason Branch hadn't lost his temper was the fact Keith was still with him and he'd rather not go on a screaming vent in front of him. "Good to know you assholes are alive but you can crawl back from wherever you came from and never contact me again if you wouldn't mind." Branch turned his back to his ex-brothers and headed to where the Royal family was to help them figure out how to transport and shelter the other trolls that got left behind.

Before he could walk far Clay jogged to get in front of him. “Look, we’re here because Floyd needs to be broken out of a diamond bottle. Some wanna be super stars kept him trapped in one to drain him of his talent. We got him out of Mt. Rageous where he was but we need to get him out of the bottle too. I am really sorry our reunion was shit and that our oldest brother has what I can only infer is foot-in-mouth syndrome-"

"hey!"

"But we're going to need all of us if this is going to work."

Branch stood still as he processed everything Clay had said while Keith hopped down to listen in on the Royal family's family issues. "Would you guys have bothered to come back if it wasn't for the harmony?" He muttered with fallen arms.

The other two brothers had caught up by now and heard what Branch had said. "Branch, I did come back." JD said walking towards them. Branch whirled around in shock and even the other two looked surprised. JD wasn't paying attention to them though, he only stared at Branch. "I came back a couple of years later and found the tree dead and abandoned. I spent ages trying to track you guys down but couldn't find a trace of anyone. With all that added up I wasn't sure if any of you were..." he sniffed and wiped his nose.

None of the other brothers knew what to say to that. 

JD noticed all eyes on him and forced back on a smile. "But you're all alive!" he said relief evident in his voice. He ran to hug Branch and while Branch remained completely limp in the hug he didn't push JD off him either. It was the first time Branch noticed his Brother's colors were a bit duller than they were when he was younger. He cursed not being able to properly see out of one eye. 

He managed to get JD off of him "so you want us to try and perform the perfect family harmony, something we messed up so badly you all didn't want to be a family anymore, to save Floyd from being in a trapped bottle?"

"That is verbatim why we are here yes." John said confidently. Clay and Bruce gave each other a look before gauging  for Branch's reaction.

Before he could respond Poppy slammed into him with a hug. "BRANCH I HAVE A SISTER!" she cheered with a shake. 

"Congratulations Poppy, I really hope your relationship with her is less of a train wreck than the one I have with my brothers."

"Hey!" Branch's brothers responded indignantly 

"You're fine Keith."

Keith nodded satisfied and climbed back into Branch's hair. 

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry I was totally busy with other stuff!" Poppy said turning to Branch's bio brothers. "Hi I'm Poppy, Branch's girlfriend so nice to meet you all! I had no idea Branch had brothers!" She zipped to each of the brothers analyzing their clothes, mannerisms, hair, teeth, expressions, everything. 

"Oh yeah, definitely Viva's sister." Clay chuckled. 

Poppy turned to him instantly "you really think that!?" she squealed and hugged him. Then instantly jumped off "sorry boundaries! Branch isn't much of a hugger."

"I am!" JD cheered and Poppy instantly jumped to hug him. 

"Ooh! Ooh! I want a Branch's girlfriend hug!" Bruce exclaimed with a laugh. Poppy rushed to squeeze him too.

"Okay great everyone's had a Poppy hug now can we-"

"Wait a second," Poppy interrupted further analyzing JD "I know you! You're that guy from Brozone! We were just listening to them!" 

By this time some of the snack pack had also made their way up to the roof building. "Brozone? I love Brozone!" Cooper cheered. 

"Was Brozone that boy band you showed me last week? Their music is tight!" Prince D responded.

'fuck my life' Branch thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold.

"Okay, okay, let me guess, you're definitely not the heart throb,"

"What?" JD asked bewildered by Poppy's statement. CLay and Bruce snickered in the background.

"Fun one? No you're way too uptight."

"Uptight?" JD asked now seemingly shocked as Clay and Bruce wheezed in the background. Even Branch couldn't fight back a grin on his face. 

"Not the sensitive one either..." Clay and Bruce struggled to hold back their laughter.

"Okay, a lot of presumptions for someone you'd just met." JD said now a bit offended.

Poppy tapped her foot on the ground "Oh I remember! You're John Dory!"

"The leader!"

"The old one!"

Bruce and Clay laughed shamelessly on the ground completely fallen over and even Branch couldn't hold back his snickers. JD rolled his eyes at their antics. "Put food on the table and this is what you get." he grumbled as he fixed his vest. Bruce gave a somewhat apologetic smile but Clay was beyond happy with the interaction. "Branch your girl is a keeper" Clay said as he wiped a tear away. 

"So wait if you're Brozone and Brozone were Branch's bros..." the memories of old magazines started to click into place as Poppy turned to her boyfriend with a loud gasp. She remembered how much brighter his original colors were when he's in an extremely joyful mood. "BRANCH!? YOU WERE BITTY B!? HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME?!"

Branch was about to defend himself when Keith spoke up "Branch's brothers left him when he was two so he doesn't like them anymore." That brought the mood down instantly.

"Ooohhhhhh that explains so much about Branch's personality." Cooper said quietly

"Oh and the gift swap." Prince D commented.

"Oh yeah! Oh my god it makes so much more sense!" Cooper cheered

"Wait what happened during the gift swap?" Guy asked as Tiny climbed down to see everything. 

"Branch blew up his bunker." Tiny commented as he took some popcorn.

"WHAT!?" his bio brothers asked as their heads whipped towards him.

"Yeah, he was convinced that if he didn't get Poppy the perfect gift she'd leave him. He even had a little doodle of Poppy holding a suitcase saying 'goodbye forever!' on it. It was sad man." Cooper said with a shake of his head.

Clay inhaled sharply through his teeth, and it made Branch's head turn to his brother's reactions. Clay had pained expression, Bruce looked at Branch with pure pity, and JD looked at him in grief stricken horror. 

Branch struggled for what to say to them. His right arm was locked and twitched nervously as he struggled with something to say or just think. He could only try to keep his breathing steady as everyone's eye's were on him. There was a small tug on his hair that reminded him that Keith was still there and it kept him grounded.

"Branch, you okay?" Poppy asked as she made her way towards him. He focused on her to avoid the stares around him and it helped him calm down.

"Fine," he said exhausted from this terrible reunion. "There's 40 trolls all together. 36 that were with Viva and four who hatched on the course. We should probably start figuring out how to transport and shelter them."

"And contact their families," Poppy said with an excited grin. Her upper teeth stuck out a bit and Branch couldn't help but adore her beautiful smile. "We can head back to the village for now. Viva said something about one of your brothers being in a diamond bottle?" Poppy asked with a curious eyebrow raised.

"Apparently so. There's more than just Bergens out to get us." The crowed grew a bit tense at that. It had only been 20 years since they escaped and it barely passed the one year of peace. The fact there were more creatures out there was terrifying for all of them.

"I'll talk to King Gristle about keeping an eye out for Rageons. Did anyone here get a proper view of them?" Poppy asked.

"I kinda drew what they looked like," Clay said as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his hair. "I gave a copy to one of the guys at the course."

Poppy took the drawing from Clay. "Awww they look so cute though." Poppy cooed.

"Theyre about as tall as the average Bergen though, that's way less cute." Clay commented.

"Oooohh look at my fabulous little sister taking charge!" Viva said as she slide over to where Poppy was. Poppy immideatly jumped to a hug that Viva was more than glad to reciprocate. 

"Awww thanks Vivs! I'm just gonna hand this to Gristle and- OH GOD I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE WEDDING!" Poppy shouted as she smashed her paws against her cheeks. "Sprinkles they could be waiting for us! God I'm the worst Maid of Honor ever! I need to go ASAP!" Poppy picked up her skirt to run but Viva grabbed her by the arm and stopped her.

"WAIT YOU CAN'T GO!" Viva exclaimed terrified.

Poppy raised an eyebrow "Why not? I'm the Maid of Honor if I'm not there I can't help if there's a disaster and then Bridget's wedding will be ruined and It'll be all my fault and I-"

"Easy Poppy!" Guy said as he took her hands "We told Bridget that there was a situation and to go on without us, if things seem fine you, Branch, and your families can head back to the Village." He then straightened up and hammered a fist to his chest. "As life of the party I solemnly swear to make sure that this wedding after party is at maximum level fun for all!" Epic music played in the background.

Poppy stared in an awed daze for a moment before going back to a nervous twitch "ugh! I'd never doubt your party skills Guy, but I feel like such a let down as a maid of honor! I should be there for Bridget every step of the way! I'm like a 'maid of not honor'!" She exclaimed as she dragged her paws down her face. 

Branch hated the amount of stress Poppy was under "I'm sure Bridget would understand." He said as he gently took Poppy's shoulder. "Just give her a quick run down of the situation and ask King Gristle to have his guards keep an eye out. Then while I deal with my brothers mess, we can also check on our defenses and notify the other tribes about the Mt. Rageouns."

"Yeah, you're right, we should definitely give the other tribes a heads up," Poppy mumbled as she tugged on her lower lip. "Alright fine," she sighed. "It's not every day you find out you have a long lost sister, I'm sure Bridget would understand." Poppy then turned to Viva "I do really need to go see her and give her and her husband- still can't believe they got married!" Poppy squealed excitedly "a 411 and we can totally catch each other up when she gets back from her honeymoon but I can't leave without saying goodbye!" She pleaded, as much as she loved Viva she'd rather not be forced to stay on the rooftop any longer. 

"I- You can't just-" Viva fidgeted with her rubber hands antsily. She wasn't trying to make her sister feel bad, or piss off any Bergens for that matter. But the thought of Poppy with those beasts terrified her.

Almost as if she could read Viva's mind, Poppy took her hands in hers "I promise, those two are some of the sweetest Bergens I've ever met." Poppy said encouragingly. "Bridget was willing to risk her neck to save us, and I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for her. And Gristle has been working hard to not only fix relations between us and help protect us, but also keep his subjects super happy!" Poppy cheered which jostled Viva a bit.

"It's okay if you're still uncomfortable around them, not every troll in the Village came to the wedding you know? I just gotta explain things to Bridget and Gristle. You can come if you want!" Poppy then tuned excited. "You'd love Bridget, she's such a sweet heart! And trust me Gristle is totally chill!"

"Poppy nearly took out his eye when she tried pitching holidays to him," Branch commented mirthfully "he was still willing to help decorate for the holidays and even helped trim the troll tree. If Poppy could get away with that I think you'll be fine."

"What?" Viva asked with a shocked laugh.

"Ugh! Come on Gristle brings it up less than you do at this point!" Poppy pouted and kicked a nonexistent pebble. Her faux upsetness melted away when she heard Viva laugh a bit more freely.

"Okay, how about I keep an eye from a distance? That way if for whatever reason they do decide to eat you I can grab you and dash." Viva asked as she pulled out her sticky hands.

"Okay 1. Those look so cool please teach me how to use them later, and 2. I totally respect you gotta do what you gotta do to keep calm but if it helps Branch has a bunch of his guards stationed all around. It's how you guys didn't get all that far remember?" 

Viva drummed her fingers in thought "that's a good point... but I think I'll keep an eye out just incase okay?"

Poppy shrugged her shoulders "no problem! Oh my gosh I have got to introduce you to Bridget I swear you're gonna love her!" She took her sister's hand to run to where the reception was. "Branch try not to kill your bio brothers while we're gone!" Poppy shouted as she and Viva ran over rooftops.

"No promises!" Branch waved back.

[sammaggs]

was scrolling through some old photos for work stuff and found a gem: that one time I went to the Canadian Screen Awards in 2015 the lifetime achievement award that year was given to OUR MAIN MAN

photos were absolutely not allowed inside so I have exactly one (1) picture from the entire night, but I was NOT TO BE DETERRED so here, have a Shitty 2015 Cell Phone Rare Paul

This had somehow entirely disappeared from my memory banks (ADHD brain huh) but I now recall sneaky-taking this with shaking hands, and that his speech was beautiful and all about the importance of Canadian cinema and television!

Also a winner that year on the same stage: Callum Keith Rennie for guest starring on Motive

George Pimentel the photog king of Toronto, impossible to not smile at him exactly like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also incredible you can tell I was dating a short king by where the TELEFILM logo lands on Callum (neck) vs my dear sweet Ted (over his head) lmao

I was a baby but I was at the time the Cineplex Girl dating the Space Guy so I was generally in this orbit

So apparently I saw both Paul and Callum on stage from like 2 tables away in 2015 and totally spaced on it until this exact moment!!!!!!! Cool!!!!!!!

GLAD I SNUCK A PIC TBH!!

do u fuckin think they hung out after or what like oh my god