#the next one we make is gonna be matt centric

[thecascadesystem]

We decided to do a screenshot edit/redraw to show how Tommie, Tord, Matt and myself (Edd) look compared to canon, inspired by @ew-sparesworld ! I included the original screenshot for comparisons.

Some notes about the smaller details:

I wear badges that I made, which feature small doodles of my friends. I chose to just colour the badges in with their hoodie colours to convey a similar idea on a small scale.

It isn't shown here, but I glow in the dark slightly and emit a faint green light sometimes!

Tommie exclusively wears ripped jeans because he thinks they make him look cool.

Tommie's eyes are actually a super deep purple that just look like a chromatic black.

He actually wears that belt loop thing on his right side, but it wouldn't be visible in the image and he really wanted me to add it, so I drew it on his left instead.

Tord is a Legacy Tord introject, so he wanted me to add that plaster on his face to further drive the point home about his source.

The patch on Tord's hoodie is handmade, but I didn't want to draw all of the messy stitches that keep it pinned to his sleeve.

Matt is a zombie-vampire, so he has fangs and pointed ears. His left arm is also slightly discoloured from the time he lost it.

Matt has freckles. I don't know if they'll show up once this is posted because Tumblr sometimes eats the quality of our art, so I wanted to point them out just in case.

This was super fun to do, and we may make more of these in the future once we learn how to do them better!

[incomprehensiblelentils]

8 13 24

sorry, I didn’t have enough time to do this last night!

8. First fandom of the year

...was just me yelling about Terminator: Dark Fate lololol oops. But like, my first proper fandom-fandom that I got into for real was The Magnus Archives, which, again, real big shout out to that podcast for letting me focus on something other than how angry I was at work all day long.

13. Favorite villain of the year

Not to make this a TMA-centric post but I must give a shoutout to Elias Bouchard, the MVP of Bosses From Hell. There’s one point where everybody at the Institute is gearing up to try and stop a world-ending ritual and he says something like “I just want to make sure you understand that if you die, you cannot claim your expenses. :)”

24. Fandom resolutions for next year

okay so last year I said I was gonna write the Foggy/Karen church porn BUT I REALLY AM GOING TO NEXT YEAR I STG. This, for the unfamiliar, is a thing Julia and I came up with literally like 3 years ago because Matt was “dead” after Defenders and we were like “well what if Foggy and Karen were REAL SAD and they went to church to mourn him and then they got so sad they had grief sex IN THE CHURCH and they talked about how much they missed Matt the whole time” and we’ve been trying to get someone else to write it for us since literally Defenders came out, but nobody will. so I will have to, I guess. (this was maybe going to be part of a trilogy where Foggy got Snapped and Matt and Karen also had grief sex, but then I was like, part 3 would have to be about Karen dying or “dying” and that is TOO SAD I CAN’T.)

oh also I want to do a Dollhouse and TSCC rewatch next year, because I love and miss them.

[zaffrenotes]

What were your thoughts on today's episode of Criminal Minds? and the promo for the next episode?

Henney anon? CM anon? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have so many thoughts about this episode!! 

First, I LOVE that Simmons/Daniel Henney has been getting a bunch of screen time so far this season - they opened the season with the Simmons Sprinkle/mini baby shower, last week he was the main b-plot of the episode with the whole “my wife’s on bedrest, I’m watching the kids AND helping solve a case when I’m not trying to creatively figure out how to use dice with no numbers on them even though with 4 kids there’s got to be at least ONE board game with dice somewhere” and tonight was Simmons-centric (and Spencer-centric adjacent) when we see the BAU with a day off, that turns into a workday for some of them. 

attempting a cut again to avoid spoilers but it is what it is, friends!

Garcia taking lead on a case was great. Her line to Alvez about his snark and getting away with it “because of your face” was hilarious 

Day drunk/wine drunk Emily 😂coming over and not helping to assemble the obnoxiously red, custom-built, no refunds crib that doesn’t-go-with-anything in what used to be an office (sorry not sorry Breeder Matt!) was great

Matt with his “the paint is some kinda space age polymer and nothing will stick to it” juuuust like the dice from the game had numbers that wouldn’t stick to it 😂 (sweetie, sand the paint. nothing’s gonna stick to a smooth surface sealed with something intended to be safe for a child to nom on)

Reid and his meet-cute with Max was definitely cute. I can’t even with her nephew that told him he had weird hair AND a long neck 😂though the pace of their first day together is moving fast (we’re nearly halfway through the final season so I get WHY it’s moving fast, I just don’t like it)

Alvez basically gave up his entire day off to help Garcia with a case - and the two of them working together was cute

TBH I didn’t pay that much attention to Emily’s scenes because I was using that time to update my twitter feed to see what everyone else was talking about during the episode. I did think it was funny she dragged Tara into helping her because she (Tara) looked like the ex-wife though

UNCLE DAVE 😭

Uncle Dave asking Matt and Kristy if that was a real number (in regards to what they’d have to save up for F I V E college educations) - ‘fraid so, man. 

creepy creepy CREEPY Joe Goldberg level stalker creepiness when Garcia and Alvez found all those listening devices in the apartment, not to mention THE BOX 👀👀👀

SIMMONS STORIES 😭YES MATT, BE A WRITER!!

I love that Rossi suggested they collaborate on it - rather than Rossi thinking of some weird way to give Matt and Kristy money - and he could show Matt how to get into writing true crime novels with all the crazy sh!t they’ve seen over the years so he could have another income venue

Rossi sure likes smoochin Simmons not that I blame him at all I mean LOOK AT HIM

Reid with the sprinklers and Max with the “use your skillset to find me, then” 😉 THIS IS CUTE

okay so that baby got here FAST and that delivery was crazy FAST but she’s also done this 4 times already so it kinda makes sense

Flustered, frazzled Henney/Matt is ADORABLE and they’re arguing about the stupid crib while Kristy’s in labor these two I can’t even–😂

BURN IT! // (Yes, dear) 😂

I was suspicious of the convo JJ and Reid had at the end because it seemed like she was almost jealous that he is FINALLY moving on and showing interest in someone else but…good, good, she’s trying to do him a solid and telling him to go find the girl

I am NOT looking forward to next week’s episode because Brown Eyes and Muscles 😂are in trouble and Matt’s head is bleeding and HE JUST HAD A BABY COME ON. Couldn’t be all slightly warped, never quite sunshine and rainbows for the BAU, right?

[aion-rsa]

The Batman Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Batman trailer is finally here, accompanied by Nirvana’s “Something in the Way.” The two-minutes-and-a-half of footage presents a nightmarish new take on Gotham and the Dark Knight, an impressive feat considering only 25% of the movie has been shot so far, according to what director Matt Reeves said during the DC FanDome digital event.

Matt Reeves’ Batman reboot explores the early days of the Caped Crusader’s career, about two years into it, and focuses on a younger Bruce Wayne who is haunted by his past as well as a new villain who’s leaving victims all of the city for him to find.

We see in the trailer as Batman is hunted by a serial killer who is leaving him letters at every crime scene, teasing that the movie will feel more like a detective story than the usual action take. The trailer also gives us our first look at several villains, including Penguin, Catwoman, and a gang that seems to call back to a group first introduced in an animated series.

While the trailer makes quite a few things clear about this new Batman movie universe, there are a few lingering questions left in the promo’s wake. So we’re going breaking down the trailer to see what’s really going on in The Batman. And if there’s anything you spot in the trailer that we missed, let us know in the comments!

Before we get started, take a look at the trailer again:

Okay, let’s get started:

The trailer kicks off the character reveals right away, giving us our first look at The Batman‘s version of the Riddler — at least I’m pretty sure this is him. The riddle-obsessed villain isn’t really known for wearing a full facemask with glasses over it, but as you’ll see throughout the trailer, this movie seems to play like an extended fever dream full of grotesque baddies set against an almost overbearingly dark Gotham City.

This is the perfect version for this new take on the Riddler, who seems more like a serial killer here than the grinning megalomaniac we know from the comics, video games, and Batman Forever. In fact, Paul Dano’s Riddler looks about as far the opposite of Jim Carrey as you can get.

The trailer definitely sets up the Riddler as the main villain of the piece, a killer obsessed with getting to the Batman by leaving behind corpses and messages for the Dark Knight at his crime scenes. Above, we see one such victim, his face wrapped in tape with the words “No more lies” written over it.

Uncovering a lie seems to be a major aspect of the movie, as its a message the Riddler repeats to the Batman several times in the trailer. It suggests the Riddler knows something about the Caped Crusader that no one else does. Does the villain know that Bruce Wayne is the masked vigilante? Or does this lie run much deeper than that?

The fact that the Joker movie also dealt with the idea of the Wayne family’s hidden past — in that case, that Thomas Wayne may have had an illegitimate son — and that this movie could have at least one potential connection to last year’s Taxi Driver-inspired character piece makes me think the Riddler knows a secret about Bruce’s past. The Riddler, who seems to be speaking to Batman throughout the video, tells the Dark Knight at the end of the trailer that “he’s a part of this,” meaning whatever the villain is doing was designed to punish Bruce for something.

Reeves has said that his take on Batman is more of a detective story than an action movie, and this trailer definitely delivers on his promise. We see Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon investigating the crime scene the Riddler leaves behind at the start of the trailer, while a forensics team takes photographs and gathers evidence.

One piece evidence is a green envelope left behind for Batman. Inside is a card with a riddle that I can’t quite make out, but it’s undoubtedly meant to lead the World’s Greatest Detective to the next clue in the Riddler’s twisted game. We also see that the Riddler has also picked up a few things from the Zodiac Killer’s book of riddles, as he leaves behind a code for the Bat to crack.

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a framed newspaper at the crime scene gives fans of The Dark Knight and The Long Halloween a nice easter egg to mull over. We already knew John Turturro was set to play crime boss Carmine Falcone in the movie but now we know that his comrade in crime/rival Salvatore Maroni also exists in this universe and has been busted for transporting drugs at some point before the start of the movie. Was Maroni one of Batman’s early targets? Maybe we’ll find out.

Here’s an excellent look at what the top half of the new Batsuit looks like. It’s pretty much a suit of armor, although the cowl and cape seem to be made out of leather. And as we already knew, this Batsuit has a collar, which is a pretty neat addition to the usual suits designed for the movies.

This scene also confirms that by year two of Batman’s career, he’s already on good terms with Gordon and the GCPD, although something tells me that relationship ain’t gonna last very long…

I have no idea who this is, but I’m going to guess it’s The Batman‘s version of Commissioner Loeb, the corrupt head of police that preceded Gordon. Since the movie is getting a GCPD-centric spinoff on HBO about the corruption inside the police force, I’m going to assume this version of Loeb will be a bit closer to the power-hungry chief introduced in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One.

We also get a look at the new Batcave, which is about as minimalist as the Dark Knight’s secret lair can get. In fact, it looks more like a garage than a secret underground science lab/high-tech surveillance station. It even looks like this version of Bruce spends more time working on his Batmobile than on his computer piecing mysteries together. Can you even call that a Batcomputer? It looks like a workbench with a dual-monitor PC setup. Does this dude even get wi-fi inside his underground mechanic shop?

Bruce is at someone’s funeral for someone I don’t recognize when a car comes crashing through the church. Inside seems to be a man with a bomb and a letter for Batman strapped to his chest. Does the Riddler know Batman is attendance already or does he think this latest scheme will lure him there?

Either way, we also get our best look at Pattinson as Bruce. It’s interesting to see a version of Bruce who doesn’t sport slicked back billionaire hair. Instead, Pattinson wears more of an emo slick — very fitting for the mood of this trailer.

We get our first look at Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle doing what she does best: stealing. Reeves said during DC FanDome that this version of Selina hasn’t quite morphed into Catwoman at the start of the film and is instead still being shaped into the master thief we know and love.

The trailer shows us a brief snippet of Selina taking on Batman, suggesting that the characters will be at odds with each other in the movie. But could this be the start of a love-hate relationship like what we’ve seen in past takes on this duo? This should be interesting.

We also get to see Colin Farrell’s absolutely incredible transformation into the scarred Oswald Cobblepot, who, according to Reeves, is still working his way up the crime ladder in this movie. He’s not yet the powerful crime lord known as the Penguin, but it sure seems like he causes plenty of havoc for the Bat nonetheless.

Here’s why I mentioned that Joker connection earlier. The gang of face-painted goons that challenge Batman in the trailer sure look inspired by the Clown Prince of Crime. My initial reaction was that The Batman was doing the Jokerz, the Joker-worshiping gang introduced in the Batman Beyond animated series, but what if these guys were actually inspired by Arthur Fleck’s actions in the ’70s-set movie?

We know that by the end of Joker, Arthur has a cult following rallying around him, despite the fact that he’s admitted to murdering quite a few people by that point. His followers, who don their own clown makeup and masks, see Arthur as a freedom fighter, someone fighting for justice in a corrupt city where the rich have it all and the poor have nothing. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that Arthur has become a symbol all these years later, inspiring the next generation to go out into the streets and cause their own chaos.

I know WB has said that both The Batman and Joker exist in their own universes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio was suddenly anxious to tie these two movies together after the massive success of the latter. If Pattinson ever does take on the Joker, you can bet your Batarangs that WB will try its very hardest to make it the Joaquin Phoenix version of the villain.

Anyway, we eventually watch as Batman beats the ever-living shit out of one of these clowns. It’s a bit…much.

While Batman and the GCPD seem to be on good terms at the start of the trailer, things have certainly taken a turn later. We first see Bats getting into a scuffle inside an interrogation room surrounded by cops and then later escaping a building while police officers shoot at him. That second shot actually seems to recreate the famous panels from Year One where the Dark Knight escapes an abandoned building surrounded by the GCPD with the help of a swarm of bats, a scene that also inspired an action sequence in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.

Why are Batman and the GCPD suddenly at odds? It’s possible this is part of the Riddler’s plan to destroy the Bat. Has the villain framed the Dark Knight for something? Or has Batman gone too far in his search for justice?

The new Batmobile is front and center towards the tail end of the trailer. It’s a very cool and surprisingly realistic take on the Batmobile unlike what we’ve seen in past movies. This muscle car definitely looks like something Bruce would have worked on himself inside the Batcave.

Finally, we get a look Batman sans mask. There’s no elegant bachelor under the cowl in The Batman but a beaten down, soot-covered man who looks more troubled than any other Bruce before him. Pattinson’s Bruce almost looks more inspired by The Crow than Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, or Michael Keaton before him. It definitely looks like he’s taking the character in a new direction.

We’ll find out for sure when The Batman hits theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.

The post The Batman Trailer Breakdown and Analysis appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[acrobaticcatfeline]

The Fear of the Dragonwitch (Triplets Rolorem AU) Chapter 2!!!

Word Count: 2738

TW: Remus, vague mentions of deceit, swearing, arguing, anxiety, self deprecation, that’s it I think, lmk if I missed anything!!!

Notes: Ok so we have a second chapter!!! First chapter here! I have a whole plot line planned out for this fic y’all don’t understand. This chapter is just family dynamics, but next chapter should have more interaction with the other characters. Hopefully I get to a bit of Logan centric things soon but who knows, I certainly don’t! I hope you like it, I really do!

Pairings: Vivian x Mimi (OCxOC), pining demus possibly more in the future!

Summary: “wait you can sing?” roman was just trying to tell his family about this lifechanging event, and no one is taking his concerns seriously! though, maybe a bit of confidence and encouragement from the right people might sooth his anxieties enough for him to actually be excited instead of dreading what was going to happen tomorrow.

“wait you can sing?”

While it was an expected outcome, Roman was in fact rather upset at how quickly his brother had brushed off the important part of his confession. yes, in fact, he can sing but that’s not the point! The point was that he was now being thrown headfirst into a leading role in a musical in front of way more people than he was comfortable with and he was expected to sing and dance as well? While he was catastrophizing Logan pulled up to the curb, stopping to let them get in the car. Unfortunately, while Roman was ready to just drop it and move on, Remus had other plans. As they strapped into the car Remus kept running his mouth.

“seriously though, I've literally never heard you sing how can you be lead role worthy when you’ve never sung in your life? I mean like congrats I guess but like, I dunno if your teachers all that-”

“Remus if I had brought this up so you could tell me how unqualified and bad I was in general I would have asked this morning. I mentioned it because I'm terrified of doing any of this and I can’t let down my teacher. Yes, I can sing, I do it often you just never pay attention to anything in the world other than your stupid bubble. I should have known better than to talk to you about this, of course this is how you'd respond.”

“what's this about?”

Oh yeah, Logan was there too. Well he should probably know too-

“Roman randomly sung in his drama class and got chosen to play the leading role in the schools musical for this quarter.”

Well then. Guess he didn’t need to explain himself. He turned around in his seat, giving a look of ‘what the fuck???’ towards Remus before settling again, ready to be interrogated. However, Logan simply smiled.

“so, your friends absolutely hate you for singing huh?”

“no… shut up!!!”

“hey, congrats ro. You deserve it.”

“no??? no I don’t???? Logan you don’t understand I didn’t even audition!!! He just gave me the part!!! Like firstly that’s unfair to the rest of the kids who actually want parts, and secondly, I don’t want the part?????? This isn’t a ‘congrats!’ occasion!!! This is an ‘oh shit you just got roped into complete life ruining changes because you're an anxious mess who is too afraid to disappoint your teacher’!!!”

“one is easy, the auditions were last week. He already heard all the other options and decided you were the best. You should feel good about that Ro. Two, also simple. I know how much of your free time you spend wishing you could be the one on stage, I see you humming and swaying around the house restraining yourself, you want to do this, you're just scared.”

“…”

“third, change isn’t going to ruin your life. he's not changing your classes, he's not taking you off the tech crew, not much is actually changing. You're using your teacher as extra justification to do something you’ve been dreaming of. You’ve let your anxiety blind you from knowing what you really want. You can’t let it control every aspect of your life.”

“… stop being ‘wise beyond your years’ with me its uncalled for and I'm feeling attacked.”

“listen what do you want from me, I have the knowledge what else am I supposed to do with it at this point?”

“stupid jerk prodigy brother… you stole all the brains from us I can promise.”

“I was by far the smallest of us, I did not absorb your brains.”

“pics or it didn’t happen.”

“insufferable”

 As soon as they were home things flipped on their head. Remus had a call and suddenly he was having a breakdown. He wouldn’t even tell anyone what had happened he was just pacing back and forth with wide eyes filled with tears. He was half delirious and Logan was trying and failing to reason with him.

Re, you're walking a hole in the floor you need to calm down. I know you're having an anxiety attack but-”

“IM NOT HAVING AN ANXIETY ATTACK!!!”

“Remus stop yelling-”

“NO, YOU SHUT UP!!! IM NOT ROMAN I DON’T HAVE ANXIETY IM NOT EVEN STRESSED SEE I AM FINE JUST LEAVE ME BE!!! YOU HAVE THE WRONG BROTHER”

Roman and Logan sat in stunned silence as Remus ran off to his room. Roman gave Logan a look and Logan straightened his back and shook his head trying to be composed, though his steadily shaking hands sold him out. He turned away from where Remus had previously been standing and looked back at Roman, moving his offending hands behind his back.

“well it seems like he refuses to be reasoned with. I suppose we have to wait for mother to get home to fix whatever is bothering him.”

“its not your fault lo.”

“… yes. I- of course I know that why would you think I thought otherwise. It was clearly whatever stressor acting on him and not my involvement. I know that. Of course. It’s the only logical conclusion.”

And almost right after their mom walked in the door. She held a large satchel thrown crossbody and her hair was slicked back held in place with a little hairspray and a bunch of bobby pins. It was styled in a neat bun with her bangs framing her face perfectly. She had small black glasses and little silver earrings and had a simple matte red lipstick perfectly in place. She was wearing a light blue button up shirt and a black blazer with matching dress pants and flats. She looked perfectly put together as she tossed off her shoes and threw her bag onto the couch. She smiled at her kids and finally let herself slouch and look a little more like the mess she felt like.

“hi kids, how was school today?”

Roman shot a look at Logan before answering.

“well, um there was a lot, and though I want to tell you, Remus had a meltdown and we need help to get him back. Logan tried but he wouldn’t listen.”

“oh, geez ok um, Lo could you please grab my computer from my car? I have to finish something up later, and Ro could you pop the clam chowder on the stove? It was gonna go with dinner, but I know how much Rem loves it. Besides there should be plenty of the French mac that Mimi makes to feed us tonight. I’ll go work things out with him.”

 “hey kiddo? Can I come in?”

Vivian Royale had a knack for pulling her kids out of their heads enough to actually fix problems, but her son Remus was usually rather self sufficient in that regard, while Logan and Roman both had anxiety and Roman had the rest stacked on top, Remus was rather neurotypical and usually had less issues that required her intervention. That was, until high school hit. His mental health took a rapid hit as soon as he had started high school, and no one quite knew what happened. She knocked on his door, waiting for his answer before stepping in.

“hey bud. What's wrong? I heard you had a bit of an outburst. Can you tell me what happened?”

Remus sat on his bed, a green octopus comforter laid on the bed and his Cthulhu plushie was in his grip. He hid his face in the toy as he mumbled something into it.

“Hun I'm gonna need you to speak up ok? We can’t fix anything if I don’t know what's wrong.”

“it’s dumb.”

“obviously its not to you. If it was it wouldn’t have affected you enough to cause you to yell at your brothers.”

“… I just- it’s so dumb I don’t wanna say it!”

“you're safe here Rem.”

“my friend got asked out by this lame dude in our class. And- and I think I have a crush on him. My friend I mean! And- and I don’t know what I'm supposed to do, I can’t tell him, what if he hates me? I just. I don’t know how to feel I just know it sucks.”

Vivian set a gentle hand on her sons’ shoulder and gave him a soft smile. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“I understand Rem. That’s sort of how it felt when I realized I liked Mimi. I've known Mimi since we were kids and it wasn’t until after me and your dad broke up that I realized that I loved her. We were in our twenties and I had three newborns and my best friend jumped headfirst into that without hesitation. Is he actually going on the date?”

“no. he's not his type, I guess. That’s what he said at least.”

“then ask him out! He's not interested in them, and he called you to tell you. You obviously matter to each other, even if he doesn’t like you back, I don’t think it would change anything. Just go for it, what's the worst that could happen?”

“…you're right. I-I guess I’ll talk to him later.”

“atta boy!!! Now come on, Roman has clam chowder on the burner and Mimi should be home soon!”

 The four of them sat down at the dining table eating and Logan and Remus recounted their day to their mom, Roman staying quiet for the time being, only wanting to say his announcement once. It was 15 minutes before Mimi got home in her fancy outfit. Her red hair was everywhere, curled and messy and absolutely her. She wore a black dress that had a cat head shape on it, with a pink bow at her waist and where the cats head didn’t cover was a see-through mesh. She had a light pink tank top under it and had a pink and white jacket about 2 sizes too big for her on around her shoulders. Her shoes were shiny pink stilettos that made a pretty click clack noise as she walked. She held a pretty black purse and she had little unicorn earrings that looked adorable with her pink lipstick and black to pink cat eye. She set her bag down on the table next to the door and slipped out of her shoes neatly setting them next to the door before slipping over to the table where everyone was sitting. She ruffled Roman and Remus’ hair before giving a big smile to them all.

“how are my boys doin? I see Viv pulled out the chowder, I hope everything is good!”

“I'm really gay!”

“me too Hun, what's new?”

They all let out a fit of giggles. Mimi went to serve herself a bowl of soup and Logan and Remus repeated their day back to her. When they had finished and Roman still hadn’t spoken, she leaned on her arm with a gentle smile and encouraged him to speak. He nodded and cleared his throat.

“um… it was pretty average all around, but this morning Mr. Sanders heard me singing and um, well he uh,”

Logan gave his hand a small squeeze from under the table. He swallowed and finally finished.

“he cast me as the lead in our coming musical.”

Mimi and his mom stopped mid bite of soup, staring at him intently and he wanted to melt through the floor. They swallowed their mouthfuls and looked at each other before turning back to him with wide smiles. Suddenly Logan and Roman clasped their hands over their ears as the two started squealing at the top of their lungs, Mimi jumping out of her seat, jumping up and down. when they finally stopped screaming, Mimi was still bouncing and had Vivian’s hand in hers.

“oh my god Roman!!! Our baby boy oh I'm so so proud of you!!!!!”

“Roman sweetheart, that’s incredible!!! Wait, but weren’t auditions last week?”

“yeah, um, he just had me sing and dance again and he gave me the part.”

“Roman that’s incredible!!!!!!!!! Oh, I knew it!!! Didn’t I tell you Vivi? Didn’t I tell you that Ro was gonna be an incredible performer? I remember, I remember when I first saw him when he was an itty-bitty peanut that I told you he was gonna be a star in the showbiz!!! Oh, he's our little star oh I'm so proud!!!!!!”

“yes, babe I remember, calm down you are going to make him explode! Roman I really am so proud of you honey.”

“oh, oh oh!!! Roman you should sing for us!!! You always stop singing whenever either of us enter the room, I want to hear you sing!!! If you're ok of course, no pressure”

Roman’s face was the shade of an apple. His stepmom was always over the top with support, but this was more than he expected. He was about to nod when he heard Logan make a confused noise.

“am I really the only person who has heard him sing? He never stops singing its like his default mode! He's always making music whether through his fidgets or humming or singing, I don’t know how you guys have missed it!”

“I mean, I do my best to keep people from hearing me but you're sorta the exception. You're calm and you won’t like, smother me.”

“… well then. I also vote for a song.”

“hold on, lets get dinner ready first and then we can fully focus on him”

 They had sat down with their plates and Roman was playing with his ring to keep him calm as 4 pairs of eyes stared at him waiting to hear him sing. Logan gave him a small smile and that was enough to help him start.

As the smile fell from your face, I fell with it Our faces blue There's a heart stain on the carpet I left it, I left it with you Yeah, the truth is that I'm sorry Though I told you not to worry I'm just some dumb kid Trying to kid myself That I got my shit together So go, get to runnin', won't you hurry? While it's light out, while it's early Before I start to miss any part of this And change my mind, whatever

Logan’s smile widened as he recognized the song. Remus mom and Mimi sat still, with looks of… awe? He was too nervous to analyze their expressions while he was singing. He continued on.

I say I wanna settle down Build your hopes up like a tower I'm giving you the run around I'm just a lost boy Not ready to be found Not ready to be found I'm just a lost boy Not ready to be found

He let his eyes close and his body sway to the song playing along in his head. He didn’t see the looks his moms gave each other, he didn’t see Remus shove Logan with a jealous look screaming that he was bitter he hadn’t heard him sooner. He was absorbed in the song.

I don't care much for locks on the window To keep me at bay I'll leave you one last kiss on your pillow Before I fly away Yeah we knew from the beginning That this wasn't never ending Shouldn't stay too long Cause we're both too young To give into forever

So what are you waiting for? Cause someone could love you more I'm just a lost boy, lost boy So what are you waiting for? Cause someone could love you more I'm just a lost boy, lost boy So what are you waiting for? Cause someone could love you more I'm just a lost boy, lost boy So what are you waiting for? Cause someone could love you more I'm just a lost boy, lost boy

Roman quickly finished the song and hesitantly opened his eyes. The amazed faces that they all had completely floored him. Mimi got out of her seat and surrounded him in a hug, which was objectively adorable due to her barely reaching his collarbone. Remus had an odd look on his face with a mixture of awe and curiosity. Mom sat with a wide grin on her face that matched Logan’s. He felt happy and at ease and calm. And he felt much better about his new part in the musical seeing his family filled with some interesting type of pride.

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @fandomloverangel @demented-dukey @karmels-stuff @demented-dukey (sorry if you didn’t want to be tagged, you seemed interested in it)

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing!!!

Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!

[beingallelite]

All September long,IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today, we're checking in with Cody Rhodes and

All Elite Wrestling, a fledgling wrestling promotion with big names behind it that's about to unleash a new weekly show on TNT, premiering Wednesday, October 2. AEW on TNT will feature the likes of Rhodes, Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose of WWE), Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, newly-crowned AEW Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho, and an exciting exhibition of stars on the rise.

AEW has its work cut out for it. Not that there isn't an intense hunger among fans for an alternative to WWE, which still monopolizes the industry in most regards - but all eyes will be on AEW's product to see if it's truly the fed that can give the giant a run for its mega-money.We spoke to Cody Rhodes - an AEW performer who also serves as one of its founders and Executive Vice Presidents - about the upcoming TV show, AEW's competition with NXT (which will also air on Wednesday nights as of mid-September), and how his promotion intends to stand out from the pack.

RHODES TRIP

AEW will kick things off in Washington D.C. for its October 2 show, then move on to Boston and Philadelphia for the next two tapings. So why the decision to hit the road with the show, instead of staying in one spot? Well, Rhodes could feel the fan fervor all over the country early on. "I think [AEW President] Tony Khan had the same ambition that we had when we envisioned this," Rhodes explained. "When we did All In [the franchise's recent PPV], and even before we did All In, we felt the hunger for this. And it wasn't just in Chicago. Every place we'd visit we'd find this really strong hardcore fanbase who wanted to be part of everything we did. And we wanted them to be part of everything we did. And that was nation-wide, that feeling."

Despite running for two hours each week, not everyone on the roster is going to be featured on each episode. "We're going to try and present quality over quantity," Rhodes said."Which means that some guys are going to have some time off. Which for the life and the well-being of a wrestler is a great thing to hear; that they're not gong to be, every week, putting themselves in a high-profile singles match. That, every week, they're not going to be in a barn-burner tag. It's going to be a very different show each week. We're not going to try and cram everybody on the two-hour show. There's no participation award here."

That being said, Rhodes and others behind AEW are considering an extra hour of content, which more than likely won't be televised. "It will probably live for people to stream on B/R Live," he shared. "We have a lot of resources and we want to make sure that people can plug into the wrestlers who we signed who they're fans of. We're going to try and keep everybody busy."

Check out this exclusive promo for AEW on TNT...

AEW vs. NXT

A few weeks back, WWE announced that its lauded NXT promotion would shift from streaming Wednesdays on the WWE Network to airing on USA Network in mid-September, landing in AEW's time slot before AEW debuts. "We can't pretend that we don't know that's happening," Rhodes said, "but we were always planning our show. And have been for a long while. This isn't a reactionary move on our part. This is what our intentions were. To be on Wednesday nights and to be on a major network with such a great partner like Warner Media and TNT. Our focus is still on providing the best AEW, providing the best alternative. We haven't switched over to 'Well how can we compete?' because we already felt like we had a product that people wanted to see."

He added, "We want to provide bell-to-bell sports-centric pro-wrestling. That's going to mean longer matches. That's going to mean stories being told between the ropes. That means no invisible camera backstage. That's gonna mean more of a live-sports approach to our product. That's 100% what we're doing, so I want to avoid any reactionary elements. I loved the Monday Night Wars, I did. And I'm not trying to be naive and ignore a situation where it's like 'Hey, if this happens, we'll have to play this card,' but I'm just saying I want us to be more about our young and upcoming crop of talent."

"I'll give you a great example: the very first match you're going to see on TNT is myself versus Sammy Guevara. I can't sit here and tell you that Sammy Guevara's got all the potential in the world because it makes him so angry. He's so full of piss and vinegar and genuinely thinks he's the best and that's the type of thing we want to put out there. People like Jurassic Express, which is Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy. People like Sonny Kiss. Kip Sabian. Obviously, my best friend in the whole world too, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. I just want to stick to our word, that we gave fans back at the beginning."

TOO MUCH WRESTLING?

With AEW launching its show, WWE still creating hours and hours of content each week, New Japan available on AXS TV, and ROH (Ring of Honor) in syndication, this Fall features a very crowded wrestling landscape. But Rhodes doesn't see this as a problem at all. "As a wrestling fan you don't have to watch every show," he said. "You only have to watch what you like and who's keeping your attention and who's doing right by you, the wrestling consumer. I know the rising tide affects all ships, but at a certain point, you're going to watch what's better. As one of the biggest wrestling fans in the world though, there can never be too much wrestling for me. I'll give you an example: As a huge Trekkie, I think about that Golden Era of Trek when Next Generation and Deep Space Nine and Voyager were all on and all crossing streams. That was heaven for a Star Trek fan."

Rhodes himself is getting a shot at Chris Jericho's AEW Championship at the Full Gear PPV, coming November 9, but, according to Rhodes, that match might not wind up being as advertised. "This is one of the positive uses of 'card subject to change,'" he said. "I'm coming off a win over Dustin, one of the best of all time, and coming off a win over Shawn Spears, who's an absolute stud. Those were two huge wins. So me going for the title makes all the sense in the world. But it may not end up being me versus Chris Jericho. Because Chris Jericho still has a title defense before that in Philadelphia. And it may not be me if I take a loss to Sammy Guevara on the premiere episode. I think Chris Jericho is probably going to get through his first title defense, but if he doesn't we're going to stick to our word about win/loss records being a deciding factor. It's really about the data and who has the best record."

SO, ABOUT THAT CHAMPIONSHIP...

It was a whirlwind 24 hours. Just days after Chris Jericho became the first-ever AEW Champion at the All Out PPV, the belt went missing. But it's back now, so we've heard. "Yeah," Rhodes laughed, "it's all intact. There's no damage to it, which was my biggest concern because myself and Matt Jackson are the ones who ordered this title - who painstakingly tried to cover as many details as we could because we wanted it to be a really special championship belt. So I was not stoked when I found out it was gone and the mystery will remain a mystery, I suppose, of what happened. Was it grand larceny? Did someone just put it on the roof? We don't know. I'm glad it was found. Stuff happens. Jericho's, like, a 60-year vet and one of the greatest of all time, this isn't his first rodeo. And he did everything he could to get it back. Thankfully it's back in the champion's hands."

With the first AEW Champion in place, the AEW tag team champions to be determined by a tournament, and the first AEW Women's Champion to be crowned on October 2, are there any other championships on the way? "There's a title we're considering," Rhodes stated, "and it's something people can probably guess since we're going to be on TV, hint hint, but there are no plans for it at the moment. Right now we revolve around the AEW Championship and in D.C. we're going to name the first ever AEW Women's Champion, and that's such a beautiful belt. I don't know if people know, up close, that rose gold is layered into it. Brandi, Kenny Omega, and Tony did a great job getting that title. There's going to be some guidelines laid out for whoever wins that title though," he laughed. "Some guidelines about how they're supposed to take care of it."

[irondevilpunisher]

johngrey32 replied to your post “Is it just me or was Iron Fist Season 2 very much under-promoted?...”

All I know is I'm gonna be pissed if this doesn't get a season 3 because you can't just make him stronger and toss him aside like that

I feel you but going by the fact that these writers deliberately marginalized and disrespected Danny Rand on his own series; ripped away his dignity, his destiny, his POV, crapped all over his character development in K’un Lun and chucked it at his now Mary-Sue of an ex I doubt they give a damn about his arc in S3. They didn’t even give him his suit and mask besides that little tease in the Davos/Danny flashback fight.

We know why they did this too. It wasn’t enough for Finn Jones to endure all this abusive treatment from unhinged masses. No IF showrunners felt virtue signalling was better than actually showcasing how awesome the titular hero really is.

markkzuccerberg replied to your post “Raven Metzner is no help. Here's what he said about the whole "give...”

Danny’s not single. He and Colleen didn’t break up.

Ah hate to break it to you but as of the IF2 finale they are officially done. Colleen made it very clear that she prefers their relationship to be strictly sensei/student. Their apartment is gone and Danny is moving onto the next phase of his journey. If you don’t like my posts then maybe its a good idea to avoid them. 

ohereweare1 replied to your post “Is it just me or was Iron Fist Season 2 very much under-promoted?...”

@punknatch it’s sad that he deleted his Twitter account again. I do hope he knows he has plenty of fans out there that appreciate him and his hard work. And you can tell he absolutely loves Danny Rand. I think the producers need to let a little of Finn shine through Danny. Maybe season 3 will be more Danny-centric....

But @ohereweare1 this show is called ‘Iron Fist’. It should be ‘Danny Rand-centric’ 100% the same way Daredevil is about Matt Murdock, the same way Luke Cage is about Luke, Jessica Jones is about Jessica and the Punisher is about Frank Castle. Danny should be taking a backseat to NO ONE on his series. This is his story not Colleen’s or anyone else’s.

[themadvigilantist]

just a thought...

wait...

yall mean to tell me thor's crush on valkyrie because she was a valkyrie and valkyrie constantly going in your face - im not into you romantically thor, im into hulk and alcohol. we can be platonic friends and hey thanks for making me king of new asgard bestie - was supposed to translate as "omg THOR X VALKYRIE IS GONNA BE IN THE NEXT ONE AS A COUPLE" because i rewatched thor ragnarok by myself and i still didn't come to that conclusion.

and yall mad that it went to 'sassy black friend stereotype' again instead of interacial [specifically yt main x poc] dating because of ????

i mean, she wasn't sassy, she was thank fucking christ sober for the most part but other than that, i expected at least jane and valkyrie but then again disney and marvel changing it because they are known as both anti-lgbt and have a glaringly obvious past with their racism that still is bleeding through to this day - disney looked at thor: ragnarok and looked at taika and tessa and straight up just went

Disney: 'dont fucking bring jeff goldblum back we hated it. that lil plot b shift towards a comedic murder-y klutz loki to nearing-valkyrie vs hela centric? dont fucking do that either. keep loki dead, keep valkyrie to the sidebar as she should be. bring jane, reference cancer but dont bring back darcy because ppl really liked thor and darcy and her going mew mew, no. and we wont tell you how the vfx suffered for korg because of our shit working conditions to these artists so you can look like assholes for laughing because we hate communication that requires us to realize our own decisions in trying to rush art only harmed us because kids are disinterested in our stuff due to behind the scenes in our studios because kids and most of the adults arent falling in line for our distraction tactics no more due to our homophobia and microaggresive-macroaggresive racism-colorism.'

and knowing that disney owns fox and fx (where what we do in the shadows is shown) really solidifies that taika/writers accomodated to disneys crap demands in his thor films in order to keep one or two of his shows running on one of their networks.

like you can say this isnt true and lean heavily on blaming taika but, alex hirsch really exposed them for doing exactly this on his own show and trying to absolve a megalomanic company for having that much reach is such a massive blind oversight that makes matt murdock being able to see disney's bias in technicolor in comparison to that choice of blame the writers and only blame disney for the vfx opinion. when you should be blaming disney for all of it. all the things you hate about the treatment of loki (the show AND THE CHARACTER) - disney chose that. the whole treatment of black/poc characters treated a ["quirk"] best friend filler to a yt character(s) - disney chose that. that little MINISCULE lgbt rep in korg's parents, america chavez enamel pin and her parents, lefou dancing with the guy that enjoyed the dress the wardrobe gave him in beauty and the beast, loki's uh... 'coming out' and valkyrie's flashback that are all just... what 15 seconds in total? - disney chose that.

there was never 'oh xyz slipped that by them' disney saw it and shoved it to near obscurity that rivaled the power set of the silence from doctor who.

ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED WITH ROE V. WADE NO LESS???

in the words of schoymoho's stranger things remix of eddie munson played by joseph quinn:

chrissy wake up. i dont like this. time to wake up.

unrelated but related: i know why they trying this because tatiana maslany is a known advocate for lgbt, women, trans, and poc rights, a well-known protester against those that refuse to give those human rights - but also is known in orphan black AND HORROR FILMS - so seeing her standing outside their house like [a goddamn weeping angel or michael myers in the backyard equipped with a motion-sensored security light] welding some blunt instrument that you hope isnt a projectile weapon in rollerblades would terrify anyone. and if they fixed the vfx for she hulk, it would just confirm they are drop dead terrified she'd arrive in their home bulk as all hell and had to forced vfx artists to slim cgi she hulk down quickly and give her that jessica rabbit hair to calm their nerves.

tell me im wrong on that last one. pls.

[daresplaining]

Some Thoughts on Daredevil #600

    Here’s to 600 issues of Daredevil (not counting mini-series, annuals, etc.)! As usually happens at these landmark moments, Marvel and the DD creative team celebrated with a longer-than-normal issue, which sparked far-reaching changes to Matt Murdock’s world. 

    The situation set up by this story arc is a grim one. Wilson Fisk has been elected mayor of NYC. Matt has been keeping an eye on him (and vice versa) as Fisk’s deputy, but has struggled in his every attempt to sabotage him. However, he has recently discovered a crack in Fisk’s law-abiding facade: a meeting that he has planned with the city’s prominent street-level villains. Matt, as Daredevil, gathers together a gang of heroes to crash the party. 

Matt: “We protect this city, we fight in its streets, we are New York. And now we’ll take it back from Wilson Fisk. Mayor or not, he has to go down. We agree on that.”

    Colorist Matt Milla still hasn’t quite gotten the hair color memo, because poor Jessica has lost her brown hair. It also would have been nice to see Colleen in this team-up, since Misty is there. But these are minor complaints. In a series that restored Matt’s secret identity and thus symbolically isolated him from many of his friends, it’s a powerful gesture, in this climactic issue, to see him engaged in this kind of a team-up... even if most of the people involved still don’t know who he is. It’s especially nice to see Maya (Echo) here, back in action alongside her former friends. Since her resurrection early in the run she has had a few really touching moments of reconnecting with Matt, and we hope to see more of her as the series continues. 

    Matt has pulled off similar plans in the past, and he has taken down Wilson Fisk in some thoroughly delicious ways, but in this instance, it ends up not being that easy. And we like that-- Fisk has been one step ahead of Matt for this whole arc, and it would have felt anticlimactic for such a simple, faulty plan to bring that to an end. Rather than catching Fisk red-handed, the Kingpin doesn’t show. The collected villains turn on each other, the heroes swoop in to prevent any unnecessary deaths... and then the cops arrive. 

Matt: “Damn. Damn. So much for the plan. Need to get down there, before someone gets-- Wait. NYPD. But that’s... Oh, no.”

    This scene, as exciting as it is, features a reappearance of the less-than-stellar Garney/Milla radar sense, which we’ve complained about before. 

    There has always been inconsistency, but generally, modern depictions of the radar sense don’t allow it to pierce solid objects. Here, we see Matt tracking the activity in the restaurant from outside, a blatant break with tradition that we’re not huge fans of. What makes even less sense is the arbitrary use of multiple colors. Since the radar depiction is a visual stand-in for non-visual perception, the different colors must represent something... but what? Texture? And in the panel where Matt notices the cops, his radar seems to be picking up on flat images and uniform details that he should have no way of perceiving. It’s a nonsensical, misleading approach to the radar sense, and a tragic departure from Paolo Rivera’s crosshatching design, which was used to great effect in volumes 3 and 4. We understand each creative team wanting to put their unique stamp on the comic, but come on... if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    The police swoop in and grab the heroes and villains alike. We learn-- in a neat twist that, again, fits with Fisk’s behavior in the issues leading up to this climax-- that the proposed meeting was a trap, designed to round up the city’s crime bosses and get them arrested. As Matt has done again and again in this arc, he assumed nefariousness on Fisk’s part, and ended up shooting himself in the foot. While we know that Fisk is still a bad guy, and probably has all sorts of things up his sleeve, it’s always fun to see him play the good guy, just to see how cleverly he constructs the facade. And even more compellingly, Matt’s failure to accurately read his nemesis backfires on his friends. 

Wesley: “There were heroes there, too. Jessica Jones, Danny Rand, Maya Lopez, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Marc Spector. Even Spider-Man.”

Fisk: “Spider-Man... and what is his name? Who is he?”

Wesley: “We don’t know. Just before the cops grabbed him, he sprayed that webbing of his around his neck. Sealed it up tight, like glue. They can’t get his mask off.”

    (Oh, Peter. He’s so... experienced at this secret identity thing.)

    It will be interesting to see how long they actually end up in jail, given the events of the rest of the issue. Hopefully, someone is babysitting Dani...

    One of our favorite moments in this issue is a little reversal. While Matt has failed again and again to properly read his opponent, Fisk knows exactly how Daredevil works, and where to find him. It’s a level of familiarity between hero and arch-nemesis that is highly compelling to us. It’s these kinds of details that make for the best hero/villain relationships. It also gives Matt a chance to do a badass pose on Fisk’s roof, which is always a plus. 

Fisk: “It’d be just like him. Come along, Wesley. Let’s go up and say hello.”

Matt: “Fisk.”

    There have been so many iconic fights between these two over the years that it’s increasingly difficult to do anything new with them. This fight is certainly a good one... but then, they all are, and this tussle probably won’t go down in DD history as one of their memorable battles. But it’s still highly enjoyable, and is enhanced by Soule’s excellent dialogue, which highlights the core of their conflict, and emphasizes just how long they’ve been having these fights. 

Fisk: “If my name weren’t Wilson Fisk, you wouldn’t have batted an eye. You’d be cheering that the mayor had found a way to get Owlsley and the others off the streets.”

Matt: “But you are Wilson Fisk. You are the Kingpin. And you’re the enemy of everything that matters about this city.”

Fisk: “No. I’m not. But I’m sick of trying to explain that to you.”

    But as was foreshadowed throughout this arc, Matt isn’t allowed a clean win. Fisk hits him with a sledgehammer so hard that it’s amazing he’s able to stand afterward, and then goes off to tell a crowd of adoring supporters how great he is. Again, we are given a look at Fisk’s faked (probably?) duality, as Soule is exploring it-- the idea of him playing the hero while still being a villain. This isn’t a new Kingpin concept, of course, but it remains a good one, and an engaging way of playing with the character’s complexity.

    Partway through the speech, the Hand arrive and shoot Fisk full of arrows, thus kickstarting the next story arc. The Hand are really neat when used well, so we’re excited to see where Soule takes them, particularly given their new connection to Blindspot. However, they are not this issue’s big surprise. We learn, as Matt is carted away by the cops, that with Fisk now out of the picture, the mayorship falls to his deputy...

Steve: “Matt Murdock is the mayor of New York City.”

    (Heck yeah!)

    This is really exciting, not only because of its implications for Matt’s life, but also because it has been a long time coming. Kesel wanted to do it back in the 90s, but the idea was shot down by editorial. Bendis teased the possibility, but it never actually happened, thanks to the events of the rest of his run. 

Guy: “They’re going to ask you to be the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City.”

Matt: “Huh.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #56 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev

    And Waid’s speculative story in the 50th anniversary issue suggested that Matt had been/will become the mayor of San Francisco at some point, but we don’t get to actually see him in action. 

Foggy: “They remembered him from his original tour of duty here, when he and the Black Widow made the scene. [...] So when he came back, they had your pop running for office in no time. Busy boy, he was. Made lots of enemies.”

Daredevil vol. 4 #1.5, “The King in Red” by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez

    But we are finally getting Mayor Matt Murdock, and we cannot wait to see how that works out for him. 

    The issue’s secondary plot thread is possibly even more interesting than the Matt/Fisk shenanigans, because it’s all new. This thread follows Sam’s final battle with Muse... who is essentially a Blindspot rogue now, rather than a DD one. Their relationship is fascinating, with Sam’s quest to understand the nature of his own heroism/lack thereof paired with Muse’s frenetic lack of morality. They are both raw, emotional characters, and their interactions in this issue are stunning. We’re gonna miss Muse.     

Sam: “I need to understand, Muse. I need this to make sense. Why do you do what you do? Why do you hurt people? Why do you kill? Why?”

Muse: “You know why, Blindspot. It’s the same reason you want to kill me right now. It makes you better it makes you strong it shows them your power it says something it means something it solves your problems it gives you control you’re big they’re small it’s art it’s art IT’S ART!”

    This fight also hints that Sam’s connection with the Hand is far from over... and provides a glimpse at how his time training with them may have changed him.

Beast: “You know my power. The power of the Beast. I will give it to you once again. Just reach out... and take it.”

    While Sam refuses to kill for the Beast, this relationship will likely continue into the next arc-- which appears to be Hand-centric. Sam’s continuing evolution has been full of surprises, and we’re eager to see where this story takes him. All-in-all, this issue didn’t stand out as one of the most earth-shattering Daredevil stories ever told, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable, and did a great job of setting up some very exciting things in the future. 

    As an extra treat, the issue also includes a short, Foggy-centric story called “They Also Serve” by Christos Gage, Mike Perkins, and Andy Troy. This is merely the latest in a long line of Foggy-centric stories that celebrate his relationship with Matt. And there’s not a dang thing wrong with that, because they never get old. Matt and Foggy’s friendship exists at the very core of the comic, and its power and poignancy only increases as the years go by. Give us all of the Foggy-centric retrospectives. We will get misty-eyed every time. 

    We have only one complaint about this story, which is that Foggy... doesn’t really sound like Foggy for parts of it. 

Foggy: “This is gonna be so great! You have no idea how lucky you are, Murdock, ‘cause Foggy Nelson just happens to be the finest wingman in the history of wingmen. You just stand there looking handsome, strong, stoic... with a hint of tragedy, while I draw ‘em in with my oratorical virtuosity. Between my silver tongue, your looks, and the whole blind thing, you’re gonna need that cane to ward off the babes.”

    (Who... who are you, and what did you do with the real Foggy?!) 

    In fact, he sounds just like MCU Foggy. Which maybe shouldn’t have surprised us, because Christos Gage was also a writer for the first season of the Netflix show.  

    Despite this bit of weirdness, the issue is a nice look back at moments in Matt and Foggy’s friendship. It’s a trip down continuity lane, emphasizing just how long they’ve known each other and how much they’ve been through together.  

    All told, it’s a pleasant way to close out the issue, particularly given the rocky state of Matt and Foggy’s friendship throughout this run. 

[sol1056]

followup on shiro

following up on my post about stereotypes, and now to talk specifically about Shiro... First off, he’s got too many unusual elements to be a stereotype. My suspicion is the problem you’re asking about has its roots in the EPs/writers thinking it’d be slick to play with story conventions, and didn’t realize their mistake until too late. It’s the most likely reason for their bewilderment that a not-insignificant chunk of the fandom assumed the story would be Lance-centric.

It’s not stereotypes. It’s more like a movie’s opening shots making you think it’s a Dracula movie, and you’re like, cool, except halfway through the movie forgets about Draclua to focus on his valet. You’re gonna be mighty pissed if you’d settled in for Dracula and suddenly you’re forced to watch some tertiary character mend buttonholes or press a dinner jacket until the credits roll.

Ultimately, what I think we have here is a conflict between conventions. The part of the audience brand-new to the story seems to also be the part using a pro-fic (published, original works) lens. The part of the audience who remembers some/most/all of the original story seems to be using a fanfic (derived works) lens. There’s a fundamental disconnect between the two, though, and both require seeing Shiro as expendable. 

It’s a huge risk to mess with convention -- especially if your intended audience is less-savvy/younger. It takes seeing/reading a wide range of stories to roll with reversals and subversions. Kids just haven’t had the exposure. But all you really need is a viewer most comfortable with conventional storytelling patterns, and you’ll have a viewer who’ll feel betrayed when the show doesn’t meet those unspoken expectations.

Behind the cut: the conventions of prologues and character introductions, S1 with Lance as implied protagonist, S1 with Keith as expected protagonist, and why neither works with Shiro in the frame. 

the conventions of prologues and character introductions

Basic rule of stories: introduce the core POV first. Although most often also the main character and the protagonist, that’s not necessarily so -- but it should be the character who’ll provide our ‘view’ of the story. It’s also the character who’ll go through the biggest arc, as a result of their experiences. Frex: Watson as core POV, while Holmes is main character; Aang is the hero but Katara’s arc as core POV is far larger. 

A prologue bypasses this ‘first introduced’ assumption. If we get a series of quick scenes (or a cold opening) and then a jump to seemingly-unrelated location, a significant timeskip, or whole new characters, we’re going to think ‘prologue’ and start over. 

VLD gives us prologue as background; the three characters are roughly equal. Sam speaks first, Matt is named first, Shiro has the bulk of screentime post-kidnapping. POV is mostly balanced between them. We’re given every reason to think them one-shot characters sacrificed to demonstrate the bad guys are really bad, and thus, our protagonist isn’t among them. So when we see the time/location stamp, we adjust and assume the story begins in earnest, here. 

Rewatch the opening ten minutes or so. Here’s how we’d categorize the characters, based on when and how they’re introduced: 

First to speak and be seen: Lance, protagonist/core POV. 

Next to speak and be seen will be secondary characters. Either sidekicks like Hunk, or contagonists (signaled by mysterious agenda and/or low-key antagonism) like Pidge and later, Keith.  

After that, antagonists like Iverson, and mentors/guides. 

Since Shiro is narratively identified as the same guy from the prologue, his return means he’s someone experienced with the monomyth’s underworld setting. That makes Shiro the guide who delivers the call to adventure. If your knowledge of story structure is relatively conventional, the combination of Shiro’s return and his positioning in the introduction-order means you could freely write him off as a plot device, existing solely to gets the hero (and the rest) involved. 

Except that’s not at all how it works out. 

profic lens: Lance as implied protagonist

For most of S1, you could watch and assume the categories I listed above, without having your expectations challenged. There’s contagonist development (Pidge’s family vs Voltron), with Lance getting some shiny moments (protecting Coran, shooting Sendak). Sidekick development for Hunk and the Balmera; again, Lance stays in the foreground: flirting with Nyma, coming up with a non-psycho way to deal with the sentries in the Balmera. One could reasonably write these off as minor arcs befitting secondary characters, and that this story’s chosen to front-load those rather than show them later.

Meanwhile, Keith only surfaces as a foil (racing the lions, getting needled), and Shiro can be seen as a placeholder leader. Given Lance’s introduction, we could expect a predictable arc: he starts as less-competent or less-valued, and by story-end he’ll be a capable, valuable, leader. In this light, Shiro represents the stasis that’ll get broken when Lance moves into true hero position.   

It wouldn’t have been hard to take this route: give Shiro a reason to stay with the rest when they infiltrate the space base, and have Lance go with Allura, instead. That would’ve put Lance at the emotional forefront, as the one she rescued. Follow that with Lance using Blue to break the station’s hull, and it’d close the circle with him rescuing Allura in turn. He’d move from core POV into main protagonist. Obvious next step is for Shiro to step down, the story would contrive for Lance to slide into place, and the remainder would focus on his growth. 

fanfic lens: Keith as expected protagonist

Let’s circle back to the fact that of our core five, Keith is introduced last. This is a sharp break with profic convention but totally in line with fanfic convention. Fanfic doesn’t need to waste time introducing and establishing a protagonist when readers already know who it is from canon. As a result, fanfic frequently delays the main character’s appearance while the story introduces the side characters who’ll be playing roles in the story.  

From this perspective, allotting time to Pidge and Hunk makes sense. Both have been greatly to moderately rewritten for this new version, so they get mini-arcs to showcase those changes. Viewers familiar with the original Voltron already have a ‘protagonist’ in their minds. They were probably confident that once that was of the way, that pre-existing protagonist would come to the forefront. 

Those viewers were expecting Keith to become a plot-driver by the end of S1, which he does, somewhat. He’s the one who discovers the druids and quintessence plot point, after all, and he does it solo. The rest work jointly, which is common for secondary characters. 

Note that once again, the obvious next step is for Shiro to step down, and the story should contrive for Keith to slide into place. Since the story’s also established a strong emotional bond between Keith and Shiro, it’s possible Shiro might stick around as a mentor. But still, if Keith’s going to claim the protagonist’s leadership position (per the source material), then Shiro’s got to vacate that slot. 

the real problem: Shiro doesn’t fit either lens

If they’d taken the profic lens, we’d have Lance in Black by now. If they’d taken the fanfic lens, we’d have Keith in Black... which we did, but now we don’t, again. For either convention, the Ulaz arc should’ve happened in S1, as another two-parter. By its conclusion, Shiro would’ve been gone completely, or at least relegated to the background as a mentor.    

But not only does Shiro never segue into that mentor-only role, he takes the lead, and holds it (and takes it back, too). And while he’s older than the rest by some amount (never fully defined, for inexplicable and frankly stupid reasons on the part of the EPs), he’s still not the seasoned adult; Coran fills that role. Shiro’s also visibly damaged inside and out, between his prosthetic and his struggles with PTSD -- and instead of returning with knowledge to impart per a guide, he returns with mostly questions and fuzzy guesses. On top of that, the narrative is quick to pit Shiro against Zarkon (although this is muddied by Keith taking on Zarkon solo, in the S1 finale).

And then in S2, Shiro provides almost all the plot movement. He remembers Ulaz, which sets off a chain of events (complicated by Zarkon, as much as that blunt-force character can complicate anything) that leads directly to the Marmora, the team’s first allies of note. The S2 finale pivots on Shiro, too; his recovery of Black’s bayard provides the last piece needed for the team to defeat Zarkon.  

Shiro’s disappearance at the end of S2 comes late, relatively speaking, but still, here we finally have a vacancy for the protagonist to fill. Except not: the lack of finality -- the disappearance, rather than death -- means there’s no closure. (For a good example of this, see Gurren Lagann, where a main character’s death-speech grants closure and thus doubles the emotional gut-punch.) That means questions linger, shadowing anyone who fills the empty spot, and those questions effectively make Shiro even more central, despite his absence. 

Any way you slice it, Shiro gets way too much noise for a secondary character. Especially if he’s meant to be a character that -- by conventional standards -- exists solely to validate, and give way to, the real protagonist’s leadership.  

This went on too long, but of course now I have thoughts on what prompted the story structure to end up like this. Another followup coming soon, stay tuned. 

[thevampirediariesdiary]

1.17 Let the Right One In

There is a lot of plot in this episode.  

After her one normal day, Elena gets brought into the loop on aaalllll the tomb vampires being out.  Needless to say, she’s not happy about it, and since it’s actually due to Grams’s failure and that’s an uncomfortable thought, she decides to focus on Damon making a deal with Pearl. “It’s not like I had a choice,” he says, “she’s…scary.  Besides, she’s gonna help me get Katherine back!”  Now, Damon is definitely still interested in finding Katherine – but he hasn’t admitted as much to Pearl, so apparently he’d rather tell Stefan and Elena that he made a deal behind their backs than admit that he was threatened into complying and then got his ass kicked. Elena buys it: “Damon gets what he wants as usual, no matter who he hurts in the process.”  Damon just smirks, says, “Well you don’t have to be snarky about it.”  “I’ve earned snarky,” Elena retorts.  Damon gets to the heart of the issue: “Ugh, how long are you gonna blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?”  “I’m not blaming you, Damon,” she says, “I’ve accepted the fact that you’re a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities.”  

“Ouch,” Damon says.  Stefan steps in, says, “This isn’t…being…very productive.  We’re gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires, yeah?”  Damon just walks out.  “I’m sorry,” Elena tells Stefan, “he just makes me so cranky!”  Stefan pulls her into a hug, says soothingly, “Oh, I know, he makes everybody cranky.”  He reassures her that he and Damon are going to take care of everything.  “Well, what about me?” Elena asks. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”  “That’s exactly what you’re going to do because that’s what’s going to keep you safe,” Stefan answers.  “Which means nothing if you’re not safe too.”  “What do you mean, I’m perfectly safe!” Stefan says lightly.  “I have Damon the self-serving psychopath on my side.”  “Oh, that’s comforting,” Elena grumbles.  But actually, Stefan doesn’t seem very worried.

Matt confesses to Caroline that he yelled at his mom the previous night.  “If she would just try to try,” he says, heartbreakingly.  He gives Caroline driving advice for going to visit her father since it’s storming pretty badly, tells her to call him when she gets there, and kisses her goodbye.  

They’re so cute I can’t handle it at all.

Stefan tells Damon he’s going “hunting”, since the tomb vamps did a number on him and he needs to get his strength up.  “I have two liters of soccer mom in the fridge,” Damon offers.  Stefan just looks at him.  “…no? Alright, give my regards to the squirrels.”  Damon is fixing a clock in this scene for some reason??  We get a really silly shot of Stefan zig-zag jogging through the woods before he is grabbed by a handful of tomb vamps and stabbed.  Again.  

Damon notices he’s gone and goes over to the Gilbert house, where he politely knocks and waits for Elena to open the door before he barges in.  “You’re ignoring me,” he accuses.  “The six missed calls?” she says. “Sorry, my phone was dead.”  But when Elena finds out Stefan is missing, the antagonism quickly becomes shared, escalating worry.  Whatever Elena said about him and his self-serving psychopathy, it’s immediately clear that Damon’s concern about his brother is sincere, and that’s enough for these two to be able to work together.  Thus begins the next era of their relationship: the Stefan-centric stage.  

Damon bangs on the door of the tomb-vamp house and yells for Pearl; the main, revengey vamp, Frederick, says she’s not home. Then they drag Stefan out and stab him again while Stefan moans a lot and Damon watches.  Interestingly, Stefan doesn’t appear at all surprised that Damon’s come for him – where only a handful of episodes earlier, that would have been pretty unthinkable and/or suspicious.  And Damon, for his part, is openly suffering seeing his brother in pain.

Elena is down the road waiting anxiously in the car, but gets out to run with her umbrella to meet Damon, who’s drenched. It’s visually STUNNING, and I’m sure symbolic if I could be bothered to think about it.  “Why are they doing this, what do they want with him?” she begs. “Revenge, they want revenge,” Damon says, helpless.  “We’ve gotta do something,” Elena says, edging towards hysterical.  “I know.”  “We can’t let them hurt him, we’ve gotta get him outta there!”  “I know, Elena!” Damon takes her face in his hands, looks into her eyes, and says intently, “I know.”

Stefan’s strung up with vervaine ropes, getting tortured. Harper bursts in, yells, “This isn’t right!”  The revengey vamp gives a long speech about Miss Pearl not being in charge, and all of them definitely being back for the sole purpose of revenge. Harper: “THIS!! ISN’T!!! RIGHT!!!!!”  *Donna Meagle voice* Oh Harper, you’re fine, but you’re simple.

Damon and Elena corner Alaric, who is – as usual – lurking around the school after hours.  “Well, don’t you look…alive,” Damon says.  Elena explains, “Stefan’s in the house.  Damon’s a vampire, he can’t get in. We need you.  I would go, but –”  “But your life is valuable,” Damon finishes for her, “yours on the other hand…is…”  “Stefan told me about your ring,” Elena supplies. “What about it,” says Rick, surly. “Well let me recap,” says Damon, “you tried to kill me, I defended myself, you died, and according to my brother that ring brought you back to life, am I leaving anything out?”  “Yeah,” says Rick, “the part where I try to kill you again, only this time I don’t miss.” Elena steps in between them, says, “Mr Salzman please, it’s Stefan.”  “I’m sorry Elena,” Rick tells her, “it’s not my problem.”  “Well that’s a shame, because the woman in charge of the crowd could help you find your wife,” Damon pipes up.  “You’re lying,” Alaric says.  “Am I?” says Damon.  It’s more or less the exact same tactic Pearl used on Damon, only this time it straightforwardly works.  Gee golly, these two men are a lot alike.

Meanwhile, Jeremy has been making shockingly bad decisions as always.  “Come on you can’t keep saying no to me,” he teases Anna.  It’s immortality, Jer, she definitely can.  “Why do you even want this?” she asks, “give me one good reason.”  He can’t think of anything.  Then, Anna accuses him of only liking her because of what he wants from her. He denies it, and offers to give her his bracelet – which would be symbolic, if he knew what it was.  Anna says he should keep it.  Finally, he explains himself: “I wake up every day and I feel okay, but there’s something missing…You should turn me because I don’t have anything else.”  Anna tells him there are four reasons vampires turn people: 1) to have someone to do their dirty work, 2) revenge, 3) boredom, which never turns out well, and  4) you love someone so much you’d do anything to spend eternity with them.  Jeremy doesn’t fit any of those categories, and so she won’t do it.

Damon, Alaric, and Elena talk game plan over a case full of vervaine darts.  “Just get me in, I’ll get Stefan out,” Damon says.  “That’s your plan,” Elena says skeptically, “you’re just going to take them all on yourself?”  “I’ll be a little stealthier than that,” Damon tells her.  She picks up one of the darts.  “Whoa, what are you doing,” Alaric says, panicking.  “I’m going with you guys,” Elena says.  “Nooo,” Damon says, “no no no no, no way.”  “You need me,” Elena insists, “I’ll get in, you distract them, I’ll get Stefan out.”  “You’ll get yourself killed,” Damon corrects, “you’re not going in there.”  “I’m going!” Elena repeats stubbornly.  Damon ignores her, turns to Alaric: “So when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can, ‘cause I know how to sneak around where they won’t hear me, you’ll basically just be in the way.”  “Damon, now’s not the time to be the lone ranger,” Elena puts in derisively.  “Fine, Elena, you can – you can drive the getaway car, hmm?” He gives her a fake smile which quickly turns serious as he reiterates, “You’re not going in the house.”  “You can’t stop me,” Elena tells him, “it’s Stefan we’re talking about here, you don’t understand!”  “Oh, I understand, I understand!” Damon says, mockingly. “He’s the reason you live.  His love lifts you up where you belong.  I get it.”  Elena was already rolling her eyes at him a few words in, and now snaps, “Can you just not joke around for two seconds?”  So he doesn’t, and says with voice-shaking intensity: “I can’t protect you, Elena.  I don’t know how many vampires there are in there.”  He snaps his fingers.  “That’s how long it takes you to get your head ripped off.  I have to be able to get in and get out, I can’t be distracted with your safety.  Or, this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from.  Including Stefan.”  And he doesn’t mention Stefan to get to her - his voice breaks on his brother’s name.  This isn’t revenge, isn’t pride.  He really, genuinely is just as worried as she is.

“I know,” he says, quietly, “I get it.  I understand.”

Alaric, who by his face has only just realized exactly how complicated this situation into which he stepped is, says in an attempt to regain control, “Look, if we’re gonna go, let’s just go.”

Rick, you have no idea.  

Stefan and Harper have a heart to heart.  “Thank you…for trying to help me,” Stefan says. “They just needed someone to blame, to punish,” Harper tells him.  Their rescuers arrive.  “Elena…you shouldn’t be here,” Stefan says.  “She was supposed to stay in the car,” Damon says, and goes to kill Harper. “No! Not him,” says Stefan. “Whatever,” says Damon.  They get Stefan out of his ropes, Stefan and Elena de-stake Harper.  “Can you get him to the car?” Damon asks Elena.  “Yeah,” says Elena, then, “what about you?”  “You rescue, I’ll distract,” says Damon.  Alaric saves Damon’s life; Pearl gets home in time to save them both from the remaining tomb vamps.  Elsewhere, Frederick has run straight to their getaway car and broke it, and then laid in wait for Stefan and Elena, for maximum drama.  He stabs Stefan a couple more times, before Elena gets him in the back with the vervaine dart.  

Frederick starts to stir, and Stefan is in no shape to deal with him.  Elena offers him her bleeding wrist.  When he tells her to run, she says she trusts him.  He feeds on her.  It’s weird. But he gains back his strength enough to over-zealously kill Frederick, and when Elena starts to suggest that maybe five stabs is enough, he growls at her.  He’s ashamed, she’s shocked.  Honestly, this whole scene is so Twilight I can’t even stand it.

Back in Mystic Falls, Matt’s mom is trying to try – she’s made a casserole.  “Hey mom, what’s going on?” Matt asks.  “What does it look like,” she answers.  “I honestly wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen it before,” he says.  There’s a knock at the door, Matt goes to get it – it’s Caroline, looking pitiful. “What happened to you?” Matt says teasingly, and then Liz steps into frame.  At the grill, Mayor Lockwood starts blabbing about Vicki’s body being found in front of Tyler and Jeremy.  I really hate that guy.

“What you did today, coming to help me,” Stefan tells Elena, “you could’ve been killed.”  “I know,” she says.  “And what I did, I’m sorry…I’m sorry that you had to see it.”  “I’ve just never…you were like this other person,” Elena says, “and I made you –”  “No, no, you didn’t make me do anything,” Stefan assures her.  “You were saving my life, and I was saving yours. Everything’s gonna be okay.”  This conversation is troubling on two levels.  One: Elena says Stefan seemed like another person because up until now he’s acted like another person – like a non-vampire person.  Her acceptance of him was premised upon him pretending to be something he’s not – not super strong, not needing blood to live.  This is a problem.  Two: I know the “You were saving my life and I was saving yours” is very classic epic-love tropey, where anything at all can be justified if it’s done for the other person…but either justify your actions on intrinsic terms (healing and self-defense, respectively) or admit that maybe you’re not the fully righteous good guy.

At the very least, I’m glad Elena doesn’t have to live with lying to her oldest friend anymore (as much), and can comfort him like she’s been wanting to since Vicki died.

Damon sits down next to Alaric at the bar, says, “That was fun!  …oh don’t look at me like that, I know you hate me.  Guess what, everyone hates me.  But you can’t deny, we were bad-ass!” Alaric punches him in the jaw and leaves – I’d guess he’s more upset with himself for saving Damon than anything else.  Damon shrugs it off.

Anna figures out that Jeremy only wanted to turn to be with Vicki.

And Damon walks into the Salvatore house to find empty blood bags everywhere.

Just when they found an equilibrium.

Eyebrow Watch: “Am I leaving anything out?”

previous episode  // next episode

[literallyprentissstwin]

Another Moment - Part 5

A/N: hella, this chapter got quite out of hand i´m so sorry it´s so so long but i was just feeling it :D i really hope you´ll enjoy it and leave some feedback :) 

this chapter will be a little more sienna/matt centric, but next chapter will be more sienna/luke. 

introduction - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 

“Agent Alvez?”, a younger detective asked as Luke, Emily and Rossi entered the police department in McLean. An usual ride from Quantico to McLean would have taken them around 45 minutes. However, due to the afternoon traffic and other complications, it took them almost two hours to get here. Not that Luke was happy to be here, but he wanted to get over with it as soon as possible so he could return back home to his daughter. 

“Yes, that´s me.”, the former ranger answered. 

“Nice to meet you, I´m Detective Vertes, we´ve talked on the phone. I´m very sorry for your loss.”, the man continued. 

“Thank you.”, Luke said as he then turned towards his co-workers, “these are the Agents Prentiss and Rossi. They are informed about the case and here to help.” 

It sounded so wrong to refer to the accident of his own daughter and former girlfriend as a case, but that is what it was. A case. 

“What can you tell us, Detective?”, Prentiss wanted to know. 

“Well, as you might already know we first thought it was an accident. However, while checking over the car, our forensic analyst found out that the brakes have been manipulated and that this might have been the cause for the crash. So we went back to the crime scene and there, we found a piece of a front light which did not fit to the car of Ms. Miller. OUr guess is that the brakes have been manipulated by someone, but since the killer might have been too sceptical if it would work out or not, he must have been following them and hit their car until it crashed into that tree.”, Detective Vertes finished explaining the facts about the accident. 

“Are there any suspects yet?”, Rossi asked. 

“No, not really, but we only just began. We´ve invited some people in for questioning.”, the young detective responded as he turned towards Luke, “I don´t know if you are up for this right now, but since you are already here and you and the victim were close, we could...”

“Yes, of course! Anything!”, Luke agreed. At this point, he would do anything to find out who killed Megan and almost killed his precious little girl. 

“Alrighty, great! Let me get a few things and we´ll start.”

“Do you mind if we´ll check the files and reports you´ve already got?”, Prentiss asked. 

“No, not at all. Go ahead. Maybe you´re seeing something we didn´t see. I´ll be right back.”, Detective Vertes said and disappeared into his office. 

“Okay, I´m gonna call Matt and Sienna real quick to let them know we´ll be here a little longer.”, Luke told his friends as he stepped outside to call Matt. 

“Hello?”, Matt replied as he took the call. 

“Hey, it´s me.”, Luke answered. 

“Hey, everything alright?”, Matt wanted to know. 

“Yeah..well, kind of. I just wanted to ask for a favor. You can say no to it, but I don´t know who else to ask.”

“What is it, Luke?”

“It seems like we´re stuck her a little bit longer. Detective Vertes wans to start interrogating me and I don´t know how long it´ll take. Would you mind taking care of Sienna as long as I´m still here?”

“Of course, Luke. That´s no problem at all.”

Luke let out a long sigh. “Thank god. You´re the best. I don´t know how to ever thank you for this.”

“You don´t need to, man. You´re my friend. I´d like to help you and your daughter. You would do the same. Besides, Kristy and the kids are away visiting her parents for a few days, so I appreciate every company I can get.”, Matt answered which made Luke smile. 

“Could you maybe give her the phone so I could talk to her?”

“Sure thing.”, Matt agreed and after a few seconds of silence, he heard Sienna talking through the phone.

“Hey, Dad!”

“Hey, Sunshine. How are you?”

“I´m okay. When are you coming back home?”, the teenager wanted to know. 

“Actually, this is why I am calling, Sienna. I don´t know for sure how long I´ll need to be here. I try my best, but for the moment, Matt will take care of you and you´ve gotta spend some more time with him.”, the father explained and heard his daughter sigh, in disappointment, “I know, Sienna. I really know it´s hard, but I´ll huryy. You´ll be safe with Matt, okay?”

“Yeah...okay...”

“I love you, Sunshine.”

“I love you too, Dad.”, and with that, she gave the phone back to Simmons. 

“Don´t worry, Luke. I think she´s just exhausted and overtaxed with the whole situation. I´m gonna go home with her soon, so she can get some rest.”

“Thank you. I´m feeling like I´m letting her down right now.”

“No, you don´t, Luke. You´re trying to find her mothers killer. You´re not letting her down in any way. Stop worrying. I´m gonna take care of her. Nothing´s gonna happen to her, I promise.”

“I know, Matt. Text me if there´s something going on.”

“I will.”

“Thank you. Really.”, and with that, they hung up. Eventhough the newest agent had tried to reassure his partner, he still felt bad for leaving Sienna alone in such a difficult situation. He really hoped that Sienna knew how much he cared about her. She was his No.1 priority right now.

“Agent, Alvez, can we?”, he heard Detective Vertes say from behind him. 

Luke took a deep breath before he turned around and nodded: “Yes, let´s start!”

“What do you want for dinner?”, Matt asked Sienna, who was currently walking around in his hallway looking at family pictures. 

“I´m not hungry.”, the girl confessed as she made her way over to the living room where she sat down on the couch.. The both of them had decided to head over to Matt´s house after Luke had called. The agent could see that the young girl was exhausted and needed some rest. While he and Sienna went home, the rest of the team kept working on the case. 

“Sienna, you need to eat something. It doesn´t have to be much, just a bit. Please?”, Matt tried to convince the girl as he came over to the living room. Sienna thought about it for a moment before she spoke up again. 

“Can we have pancakes?”

Matt smiled at her and nodded. “Sure, I´m gonna get them ready.”, and with this, he left her in the living room to prepare the dinner. 

Half an hour later, Sienna and Matt sat at the kitchen counter, eating their pancakes in silence. When Sienna finished her plate, she looked over to Matt. 

“When will Dad be back?” she asked shyly. It sounded to stupid. A 15 year old girl asking for her Dad like only a 5 year old would. But she needed him. 

“I don´t know, Sienna. Emily texted me a few minutes ago that the Detective and him are still talking about your mom, but it won´t be long until they´re on their way home.”, he tried to assure the girl. Sienna nodded at the agents reply, seeming semi-convinced. 

“Maybe we could watch a movie to make the time pass faster?”, Matt suggested and saw a small smile playing on the girl´s face. He desperately wanted to get the girls mind off the things going on around her for a little while. 

“I´d like that!”, she said. 

“Okay, we have some movies in the living room, left cupboard. Go ahead and pick one out. I´ll be right there in a minute.” Sienna nodded and went off to check out the DVD´s of the Simmons family. 

It only took her a few minutes to pick out one she wanted to watch. It was Aladdin. She gave the DVD to Matt as he joined her in the living room. He put the DVD into the player and both of them got comfortable on the sofa before they started the film. Halfway through it, Matt noticed tears glazing Sienna´s eyes. He really wanted to talk to her, but knew better than to push her to open up to him. After a while, Sienna suddenly spoke up. 

“My Mom and I, we used to watch this movie a lot. It was our favorite.”

Matt carefully turned towards the girl and saw that the tears had started to stream down her cheeks. Just as he was about to say something to soothe her, she continued speaking. 

“I-I miss her s-so much..”, and with that the girl broke down. Matt quickly scooted closer to wrap his arms around her. He held her tight while whispering comforting words to her. 

After a while, the teenager started to calm down, but kept her face burried into Matt´s chest. 

“I-I´m scared.”, Sienna sniffled. 

“I know, but nothing is gonna happen to you, okay? You are safe.”

“No, that´s not w-what I´m scared of.”

“What is it then?”, Matt asked confused. 

It took a while for Sienna to continue, the lump in her throat getting in her way, but eventually, she did. 

“I-I´m scared t-that D-Dad will get annoyed with me, t-that he changes his m-minds and that he´ll don´t want me to live with him permanently.”

“No, Sienna, kid. Your Dad would never ever do that. He loves you too much for this. Why would you even think that?”, Matt wanted to know and wiped away the remaining tears on the girl´s cheeks. 

Sienna hesitated. Should she tell him? She knew that she could trust him, but...

“Sienna? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”, and that´s what she did. 

“I-I was just wondering because...well...Mom and him...they split up, there must have been a reason. Maybe, I was the reason. He left us, maybe it was because of me. So, why should he take care of something that seems to be a burden to him.”

Wow. To say that Matt was shocked would be an understatement. To be honest, he was a little confused where this point of view was coming from so suddenly. He didn´t know Luke and his daughter for a long time yet, but what he knew for sure was that Sienna wasn´t a buredn to Luke, she was the complete opposite. She was his light, his sunshine. He always was so proud when he talked about her and he visited her as often as he could. Also, his relationship to Megan was good, even after splitting up when Sienna was just three years old. Someone must have told her that kind of a story, but who? Matt made sure to save that question for another time. Right now, he needed to make sure that Sienna was aware of how much she meant to her father. 

“Okay now, I need you to listen to me carefully...”, he began as he pushed the girl back a little so he could look at her, “I don´t know why you are thinking like that, but all I need you to know is that your Dad loves you endlessly. And you weren´t the reason for their splitting. You aren´t a burden to him either. He would never ever see you like that. You mean the world to him, he is always so happy when he is talking about you. Would that be someone who sees you as a burden? I don´t think so. He would do anything for you, Sienna. Literally. I know all of what is happening at the moment is so confusing and too much to understand, and I wish it wouldn´t be that way. But your Dad will always have your back, no matter what. You can trust me with that.”

Sienna was sceptical. She knew, deep down inside, that this was true. Every bit of it. Her Dad loved her or at least, she hoped so. Matt was right. She was so confused and overwhelmed with everything that she did not know what was true and what was an illusion. Sienna sighed before Matt pulled her into him again, seeing her inner demons fight. 

“Everything will be alright, Sienna. You´ll see.”, he tried to reassure her at which the girl nodded. She so desperately wanted to believ her father´s best friend, but could she? 

A little after 10pm, a light know could be heard on the front door of Matt´s house. The agent went to open up, knowing that it only could be Luke since he had texted him a few minutes ago that he would come over to pick his little girl up. 

“Hey!”, the former ranger greeted his friend. 

“Hey, how did it go?”, Simmons replied as he stepped aside to let Alvez in. 

“Well, I gave them all the information I could. I hope it was somewhat useful.”, Luke explained and kept looking around for his daughter, frowning when he didn´t see her, “where is she?”

“She´s sleeping. We were watching a movie earlier today and she fell asleep.”, Matt said.

Luke sighed. “Well, at least, she´s getting some rest. She´ll need it. They want to interrogate her too.”

“She´s strong, Luke and you´ll be with her.”, Matt reassured him as he put a comforting hand on his friend´s shoulder. 

“Thank you again for taking care of her.”, Luke smiled. 

“No problem at all.”, Matt said. He was hesitationg with himself. Should he tell Luke about her break down earlier this evening? He deserved to know, right?

“Actually, Luke, there is something you need to know.”, he started talking. 

“What is it?”, Luke asked, somewhat concerned. 

“While watching the movie, Sienna had a little breakdown and said a few thing that confused me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she kept referring to herself as burden and that it only would be a matter of time until you gave her away. She also thinks that she is the reason you and Megan split up. I don´t know where this was coming from because I know that she  for sure hasn´t heard that from you or Megan. I tried to make her clear that she means everything to you and that you would never give up on her, but I don´t know if she believed me.”

Luke was at loss for words, but he had a slight feeling where all of this was coming from. His blood started to boil at the thought, but he tried to calm down immediatley, for the sake of his daughter.

“I´m gonna talk to her about it tomorrow. Thank you for telling me!”, he said, “Okay, man, I don´t wanna waste anymore of your freetime. Where is your guestroom?”, Luke asked, desperate to go get his daughter. Matt walked him to the room and went back to the kitchen as Luke went inside to wake Sienna up. 

“Hey...Sienna? Sunshine...”, he whispered as he stroked her hair. 

Slowly, she started to open her eyes and blinked a few times. 

“D-Dad? Y-You´re here.”, she said, still sounding sleepy. 

“Yes, where would I rather want to be? Come, let´s go home.”, and with that, Luke lifted his daughter up into his arms, her hands holding on tight on his shirt. He carefully carried her through the hallway to the front door which got opened by Matt for them. 

“Than you again for keeping her safe. Good night.”

“Anytime. Drive home safely.”, Matt said and watched his friend and daughter disappear into the night. 

A/N: sorry for any language, grammar, typing or whatever mistakes. it´s late and my mother tongue isn´t english! 

@illegalcerebral @ultrarebelheart @dontshootmespence @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @imagicana @marvelfanlife @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @ssa-aaronhotchner @crimindsaspe @captainreid @veroinnumera @ssaunitchief @lesbian-asajj @tenaciousarcadeexpert @lookwhatyoumademequeue @sweater-vest-reid @crimeshowtrash @liz-a-22 @obsessed5sosfreak @sunreid @amaybedeadcat @mybabys-gunsandroses @littledizzyhurricane @shaelyn102 @shiningmish @michellelisa @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @fl0werb0nes18 @ceciliawho @anton-shudders @sayernita @rubenlosthischeeks @jessiedangerous @acespence @alienlynz @massivelyproudmixer @sam-carter-in-training @janiedreams88 @hagridsmumhasgotitgoingon

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights: Critical Role Episode 111

Guests are Liam O’Brien and Matt Mercer. Full video on Project Alpha!

Brian: “Hello, welcome to Talks Machina. I am... dressed for success.” Liam: “You are very cute today.” Matt: “I call this look Saturday Darin De Paul.”

Matt is doing much better than he was on Thursday.

Digital copy of the Critical Role comic is out!

There’s now a Talks Machina shirt in the store.

Episode 111 is tied for the most natural ones in an episode.

The show has now surpassed 10,000 d20 rolls. Brian suggests buying @critrolestats​ a yacht for keeping track of all this.

The comic takes place before the game. At the first session, because it was meant to be a one-shot, Matt just had everyone assume they all knew each other and were used to working together as a party. The comic explores how they actually met and started working together as an adventuring party.

Moments they’d like to see from the pre-stream game if the comic continues: meeting Gilmore, finding Percy in Jorenn Village, going after Grog’s dad, the birth of Burt Reynolds, early interactions with the Clasp, the one time Pike and Vax had a solo adventure together. Brian: “Do you think we would have to get rights from Burt Reynolds’ estate to... oh, wait, he’s still alive.”

The pacing of this arc was always going to be different, since it’s epic-level stuff and many of the character-centric arcs have been closed; it’s a lot harder to draw in character backstory the way the previous arcs could. The time-crunch aspect of this particular plot (the villain is actively moving through his to-do list whether or not Vox Machina intervenes) is a careful balance to make sure the players don’t feel too rushed but can still maintain that sense of urgency. Liam: “I am consistently surprised and shocked by everything that’s happened, so no complaints from me.”

If it were just Liam’s decision, he’d want everyone to take a long rest before facing Vecna. He thinks losing Vasselheim might be the cost of actually having a slim chance of defeating Vecna.

Matt’s been slowly been building this last dungeon over the last six months. It’s right up there with Opash’s necromantic lair as his favorite dungeon he’s made. Liam wants to see the dungeon mapped out and described in PDF format at some point, and Matt mentions that, depending on what state it’s in at the end of this campaign, it might be a location in a future Issylra campaign guide.

Matt and Liam talk about how early adventuring in D&D is generally a selfish endeavor, and then later on there are considerably higher stakes. Matt mentions that even in high-level D&D, you want to include obstacles in a dungeon that characters can bypass easily as a reward for quick thinking or just being awesome at high levels. The dungeon is also fundamentally a power-sink where you have to prioritize where you put your resources before the final battle you know is coming.

GIF of the week. Matt: “It’s funny the effect painkillers have on running a D&D game...”

Once the oven had closed, once a round, everyone in the room would’ve taken 1d6 fire damage, then 2d6, then 3d6, and so on. Solving it was meant to be a little more high-stakes, but the party avoided getting trapped in the room themselves.

Matt had half a page of information, a voice, and a name prepared for the nothic that Vax just annihilated. Could’ve ended up being a small encounter or a temporary alliance with a Gollum-type character or an uneasy alliance that could’ve gone wrong. Matt: “What you did was quintessential D&D, and I loved it.”

Liam recently ran a D&D game for his whole family in which his son rolled a d20 on opening a door he wasn’t supposed to go through, forcing him to improvise.

Matt’s been working with Travis to build his next character, and he keeps having to remind him that most characters only have a movement speed of 25 or 30 feet.

Brian: “Like Matt and I, you too can be not in terrible debt and situationally famous without going to college!” Matt: “I cannot support any of these statements at all.”

Vax would be willing to sacrifice even Emon or Whitestone if it meant stopping Vecna, because the alternative is Vecna reigning supreme over the Material Plane... or the Divine Gate coming down and armageddon ensuing.

Fanart of the week.

In-universe flashbulb memory of the campaign: Chroma Conclave attack. Liam: “The goldfish dive will be remembered for millennia.” Matt: “Young druids will be taught from a very young age...”

Matt gave the party the ring to give them a level of comfort in a near-impossible situation, but the risk of fucking it up is what makes it fun.

Liam: “Matthew Mercer is one of the sweetest men I’ve met in my life, but I know within the boundaries of this game that you have this really devilish streak, like an inclination to fuck with us... fucking rakshasa.”

Vax has made peace with everything, but he thinks about the Tomb all the time, especially since the Raven Queen is the goddess of fate. Liam: “As Liam, I loved every dumbfuck thing that I chose to do in this game, ‘cause I’m sitting with my best friends making each other laugh every week, we love each other, we get a fucking kick out of each other every week, and the mistakes are some of the greatest memories of all time.”

Liam’s top priority even way back in the home game has always been that Vax will do whatever it takes to keep Vex alive; Vax still thinks that the Raven Queen will only keep her side of the deal if he does as well. It’s made things extremely complicated, but that’s the fundamental backbone of his character and he isn’t going to mess with that.

Matt has never had players embrace the sibling aspect of their characters to the extent that Laura and Liam have. Matt: “It’s been a gift from a storyteller’s standpoint to play in that space.”

Matt thinks Sam did a fantastic job on his one-shot, and encourages other new DMs to just commit and jump in and see how well it turns out. Liam: “It’s not a religion and it’s not appellate court, it’s just the world’s best game. Just fuckin’ have fun with it.”

Matt was expecting the undead titan reveal to happen in early or mid-July, but it just worked out to happen at Gen Con. Stressful as it was, Matt was excited that he could have such a big reveal at the live show.

Liam wasn’t worried about Simon because he knew it would take more than fire to destroy a magical item.

If the game had continued as a home game, Matt probably would’ve truncated elements of the narrative because they got to play so seldom. Both he and Liam agree that getting to play weekly was the best part of starting to stream the game.

Vax’s "this could be the last time” moments this week had less to do with his imminent death and more to do with Liam processing that in the next few weeks they’re going to be ending this game that they’ve been playing together for four years.

Brian is very sad about the end of the game as a fan of the show; he remembers Ashley coming home after the home game and giving him multi-hour summaries of everything that had happened. The game started around the same time as he and Ashley started their relationship, and he’s really delighted by how close they’ve all gotten since then. Brian: “I mean, we’re practically... I plan on sleeping with both of you on After Dark.” Liam: “I’m open to it.”

Talks Machina After Dark: Liam hosts for the first time!

Liam: “The only reason I agreed to do this Dungeons and Dragons show is so I could sit here, now, and I have you both right where I want you. Undress.”

If Matt could forget everything he knew and join VM as one of his NPCs for the final fight, from a personality standpoint, he’d want to play as Allura or Gilmore, but from a functionally helpful standpoint, probably Kima.

Matt once LARPed World of Darkness and had a very stressful experience where he was thrown into the midst of an extremely political game with no knowledge of what was going on.

Matt’s never had to ban particular items or spells, but there are aspects of the game that require discussion. In a primarily good/neutral campaign, he won’t ban evil characters per se, but he’ll require a discussion to figure out how not to ruin the experience for the rest of the characters. Liam points out that Jayne (an evil character) could easily have killed Clothesline in Sam’s oneshot, but he decided against it because it’d make Ashly’s game less fun and would mess with Sam’s having established that they all survived. It turned out to be more fun having to come up with a reason for that.

Worst possible person for Vax to face as part of Vecna’s undead army: his mother. Liam: “That would fuck his shit up.” Or Vex, if she were killed and then immediately brought back by Vecna.

On the theoretical possibility of a new campaign starting in a post-apocalyptic Tal’Dorei if Vecna wins, Brian: “It would be hard to Transport via Plants.” Matt thinks it’s an exciting prospect, and he has things in his mind if it goes that direction, but he thinks it would be really sad to culminate a five-year campaign with a loss, although planting seeds for the next story could make it retroactively pretty hopeful. 

Liam: “Story-wise, I know that everything’s gonna hurt and everything’s gonna be amazing, and I also trust you to flip my expectations somehow. We just love discovering the story together.”

[dmdumouchel]

Before I start posting screenshots and reblogging fan art lemme share my thoughts on season 5 cuz I needa sort this all out in my head

(spoilers under the cut)

- I’m so relieved Pidge and Matt FINALLY found their dad...it was so touching when they reunited.

- I freaking love everyone so much. I freaking LOVE Pidge. Freaking Matt. I love LANCE SO FUCKING mUcH you DON’T UNDERSTAND. Hunk is adorable and pure as always. Keef?????? My beautiful emo gay son. I love him. Shiro?? Well he’s a fake bich but we’ll get to that

- Speaking of Keith. As I feared, there wasn’t much of him. But we found out who his mom is. I freaking CALLED it. The second I saw her I was like hey, she kinda looks like Keith with the hair. I have a feeling they’re gonna be related, either a sister or his mom. And guess what the DIDDLY WACK happened.

- I so desperately want these few things. These are all I ask:

- Pidge and Matt finding their dad. (Check.)

- Finding out how Keith and Shiro are connected cuz come on. There’s something going on there. Brothers??? Who knows. (Not check. Didn’t find out about that). ADDRESSING THE FACT SHIRO IS PROBLY A CLONE (freaking CHECK BITCH!! kind of. it’ll be continued in the next season).

- Lotor interacting face-to-face with everyone, especially Keith (bc I wanna see them connect over being part galra), and Lance (cuz I wanna see Lance pick a fight with him and have Lotor just be amused and tease him). (Kind of.....check....ish. Lotor didn’t interact with Keith at all. :( He interacted with Lance a bit but not to the extent I wanted. And I feel like everyone’s so serious. I wanted to see more sides to Lotor.)

- And lastly, I wanted more moments between Lance and Keith.....and most of all I wanted Keith back in team Voltron. But no. This is such a freaking Lance/Keith drought y’all idk if I can take much more of it.

- Ok that’s the end of the list ^ lemme talk about Lotor and Allura now.

- I don’t rly want to ship them.......but their dynamic is one of my greatest weaknesses. Time and time again I fall for this freaking kind of ship where there’s a bad boy and good girl and enemies to lovers and all that shit. So this is kinda killing me rn lmao. Like I don’t /want/ to ship it......but I kinda do....against my will?? I hate to admit it cuz they genuinely have good chemistry........sigh. The reason I’m so conflicted is cuz for one, I headcanon Lotor as gay...but I can also see him as being pan, so I guess that’s not the real reason. Another thing is I always wanted to see Lotor flirt with Lance cuz I’m secretly Lancelot trash lmao. Also I kinda like the idea of him and Keith...altho ofc I’m a K//l///ance shipper at heart (putting dashes cuz I don’t want this post in the tag).

- Anyway, I really wish there were more of Keith, I miss him so much. It’s killing me. But I’m satisfied with how much Lotor we got, cuz I freaking love that purple bich. I really enjoyed seeing him get along with everyone and I know he’ll probly betray them at some point.........but either way I love him so much. We got to know him better as a character, which I’m excited about. He’s one of my top faves at this point. Do I stan????????????

- Back to that Fake-Ass Motherfucker of a Bitch Shiro. He made my son sad. I was like this......is a sign. The real Shiro.....would not. Also where is his fuckin emotion. He’s so devoid of it. And I’m missing Sha///llura.....hardly any moments for them. He doesn’t interact with her the way he used to....or is that just me. Idk man I just always had a feeling. Anyway I’m slightly?? annoyed with how slow the pace is but at the same time I’m glad they’re not rushing. I look forward to season 6 when we’ll FINALLY get this Shiro business over with like I JUST WANT THE REAL SHIRO BACK ALREADY PLS

- Things I hope for in season 6:

- FUCKING K///LA///NCE MOMENTS PLS????? It’s been a fucking DROUGHT AND IT’S KILLING ME I’M NOT FUCKING KIDDING LIKE........please. It’s like they sensed the gay and were like nope we gotta keep this hetero....we gotta separate them......and I’m dying squirttle

- That brings me to a whole other tangent that I may or may not delve into later in a separate post if I have the energy.....anyway on with the list

- Sh///a////lura moments?????? Pls.......I still ship it

- Lotor to reconnect with his mom :(

- Lotor to not end up betraying everyone......I know it’s very likely but listen. It would be far more complex and interesting and less predictable if they didn’t go that route. I want him to almost go thru w/ betraying them, but to have a change of heart and undergo major character development. I want inner conflict. That’s far more interesting to me.

- A Hunk-centric episode....I’m glad Pidge got more attention and development, now it’s Hunk’s turn. Like pls give this boy more material

- SHIRO UNCLENCH YOUR FISTS U FAKE-ASS BICH

- Why the FUCK have we still not figured out how Shiro and Keith are connected. Didn’t that whole issue get hinted at in like, season 2???? And we STILL haven’t followed up on it

- So yeah pls follow up on that it’s been 84 yrs

- More about Keith’s past. We’re making progress (we met his mom holy shit) but more pls

- REVEAL HOW FAKE SHIRO IS THAT FAKE ASS BINCHEFER

- I don’t think the fake Shiro has bad intentions tho. he just confuzzled :c

- And uhhhhhh I guess that’s it.

- Oh wait one last thing. Pls NEVER introduce a female love interest for Keith. He’s gay so stay back u heteros. (I didn’t mention this before but ngl before I realized Keef’s mom was probly gonna be related somehow, I thought she might be his love interest and I was like heeeeeell no. But then I remembered the title of the ep “bloodlines” and I was like wow I’m an idiot ofc she’s his mom)

- Once again.........I’M DYING TO SEE MY BOIZ INTERACT AGAIN IT’S BEEN 84 YRS AND U KNOW EXACTLY WHICH BOIZ I’M TALKIN ABOUT

- ok the end srry that was a lot

[shiphaussecretsanta]

Puzzle Pieces

gift from @enigmatic-cyborg to @partyatmyhaus

warnings: Angst, Off-screen character death

ship: polyhaus, Bones-centric

Just pick them up and put them all together. That’s all there is too it. Assemble the pieces of a puzzle and find yourself with a beautiful image at the end of it all…

 The world was fragmented as his eyes opened. His head pounded, and everything in his chest was tighter than an impossible knot as he coughed. Hands were around him, pressing buttons, adjusting things, scrambling before a familiar hand met his.

 Bruce was right next to him. Bones couldn’t help but smile despite the pain that wouldn’t go away as he started to put the pieces together. A hospital room. Arms bandaged all the way up – even a face half-covered in gauze with an optimistic smile from a nurse saying that it was a miracle he’d gotten out of it as well as he did.

 And Bones started to pull the pieces together. A body that ached inside and out, with its solace coming through heavy drugs or the ridiculous amount of sleep that he needed, and the sights of everyone else that came and went through it all.

 “You got pretty lucky,” James had chuckled, wrapping his hand around Bones’ as best he could with making his body ache. It was frustrating, just watching as people grouped around him, usually one or two at a time, as he started to pull his mind out of the fog, and the story came together.

 A fire. A gas leak beneath the ground, according to an insurance agent, and it took everything that they’d set up roughly a couple months ago. He’d been in the hospital seven days before he woke up, and it would be another little while before he would get to go home.

 People kept talking about it like it was a miracle. The crew would come in occasionally, – Lawrence couldn’t stay long before having to leave to save face, while Bruce was always ready to cry it seemed, both from relief and from something else.

 The pieces of the puzzle kept coming together. Bones screamed in his dreams as tongues of flame licked at his body and tore away his skin. He’d watch his house melt into fire, and his skin peel like wax as he was subject to the heat in his nightmares before someone would shake him awake.

 Often it was James or Elyse, who seemed always ready to take the night shift. Once it was Adam, and he was greeted with a lengthy silence after he woke up. Bones racked his mind to try and find out why Adam had been way quieter than usual, and the strange way that a topic of conversation would hang in the air, like Adam was waiting to say something, and then it wouldn’t.

To be honest, for all the discussion of how lucky they were, there was a weight hanging over them. Bones kept asking if he could get up, get going to help them with everything they were organizing. A new house had to be found, after all.

 It was Jacob who let it slip.

“N-no. You heal up, we can handle the living situation, and work, and the funeral-“

 The way he clasped his hands over his mouth and the speed at which Adam got up and left as Bones’ jaw firmed in thought.

 The puzzle had come together at last.

 But it was missing a piece.

 “Where’s Matt?”

*        *         *         *           *              *             *         *

  The knot in his chest started unravelling as he started to recover, but now it pulled away to leave a vast pit in his chest. Flames crawled out and spread cold numbness down his veins as the last parts of the story came together.

 A plank had knocked him out. Matt had been trapped behind them, but his quick actions had managed to get both out before anything too serious could’ve happened. Except one of them had a respiratory system that apparently couldn’t handle the fumes as well as the other.

 Matt had literally saved his life with his dying breath, and Bones was left with the picture that remained.

 The others didn’t know how to tell him. The words they tried to share died in their throats, and Bones was left with foggy images, strange thoughts, and a picture or two off the phone he booted up for the first time in ages, where the picture of all of them standing in the backyard seemed like a vibrant memory.

 One of the most dissatisfying feelings in the world was putting the pieces together, only to discover that you’re missing a piece or two with no idea of where they might be. Bones’ stomach sank as the puzzle of his mind put everything together only to find that one of the core pieces were missing. He didn’t have the energy to do anything other than fold in on himself, trying to find the words on his tongue to ask “why did it have to be him?”

  “It… it didn’t have to be anyone,” Omar bit his lip on a grey afternoon.

 Bones cringed. Pain seemed to come and go at its own discretion these days. His life turned into two sensations. Pain, or numbness? It was all he could bring himself to handle. All the pit in his stomach seemed to wrap around.

“I guess not…” he mumbled, “So, did the doc change his mind?”

 Omar sighed heavily. He pulled his glasses away from his face as he adjusted his position in the seat. “No. He’s saying you still need to recover.”

“I can recover later. This is… this is his funeral-“

“Yeah, we know.” Omar snapped, like the mention of the word was enough to cause him pain, “we’re not happy about it either.”

“I hate this, ‘Mar,” Bones mumbled as again the stinging pain started to prickle across his arm, and his throat felt like it was going to close.

 Omar came over, eyes glistening and wet as he took Bones’ hand.

 Yet something about it still felt empty.

      *        *         *         *           *              *             *         *

  Bones almost wished it would rain the day he stepped out of the hospital. He thought that if the world was maybe ready to present him like the hero of a tragedy, he would be able to pass it all off as some twisted joke. But the weather was only slightly overcast. Adam was behind him pushing the wheelchair to the door like it was tradition; James and Elyse held a paper bag filled with so many ointments and medications the price alone was almost enough to make him gag; Lawrence, supposedly, was back at home with some of the others as Bones stood up, wiggled his feet around in a new pair of shoes since the last ones had apparently been torn off to get a better look at his body.

 And while his lungs still felt strained, and the sting of burning trickled over his skin and into his mind, as even James, who was normally ready to make some kind a joke, failed to grasp at humor in even the loosest of senses. Bones felt that at that moment the one thing they all shared was the heavy hole that sat in their chests, the space left behind by something important.

     *        *         *         *           *              *             *         *

  They expected he would take the night to rest like the doctor suggested. Their temporary residence was cramped and empty at the same time. Bones felt like an alien as he crossed the threshold of the new door for the first time. Part of him hoped to see Matt’s sleek laptop sitting on the cheap IKEA table, or one of his big warm blankets.

 It hadn’t clued in yet that they really had nothing left. Bones left the hospital wearing a strange sweater he didn’t recognize. Bruce left him a pile of clothes in the hospital a couple days before he left. The only thing saved had been his grey beanie, but even that had the scent of ash that refused to be erased. Nothing felt like home anymore. Nothing felt like it belonged to him. He was walking on eggshells around the others, and they walked around eggshells with him. He wanted to offer something…. But it was like the fire had stolen any warmth he could offer.

 And when Bruce came in to check on him, in the room that was his only in the vaguest sense; his first thought was panic when Bones wasn’t there.

 “Jesus,” he groaned, “You tell the doctor he’s gonna rest up for a few days…”

Adam, settled on the couch, slowly pulled himself to his feet, cracking his neck and moving like he was treading through mud as he grabbed a sweater from a hanger and headed to the door.

 “I think I know where he went,” Adam shrugged, already opening the door as Bruce looked up to him.

 “We can get some of the others to –“

“It’s late, Bruce,” Adam rubbed his eyes, “We’ve all been at a loss for energy recently. I know where he is. I’m pretty sure I do anyway,”

 The larger man didn’t seem convinced, but gently Adam pressed a kiss to his lips before he slipped out the door.

“I’ll text you when we’re heading back.”

      *        *         *         *           *              *             *         *

The sky twinkled briefly with whatever stars could break through the light pollution of the city, but the place itself felt plunged in blackness. The cast-iron fences clawed at those who passed by, or like they tugged at the hole that you tried to fill with the memories of the past.

 Bones didn’t really know how he managed to stumble his way here – only that the pain seemed sharper the further he went, and that the fact he could walk at all considering the pain medication he was on was miraculous.

 Every step was exhausting, but he found it. The gate wasn’t even locked despite the late time as he wandered down the rows of the cemetery – the one he knew would’ve been the right one.

 They wouldn’t cremate him after what he went through, right? That thought alone. The thought of the fire…

 He gulped at the bile building in his throat. The scent of smoke attacked his memory intrusively. Its venom kept scratching at his brain as his skin and bones and nerves ached while he stumbled down the rows.

 Then he was on the ground. His legs gave up on him, his knees still quivering as his hands shook faster and faster.

 “C’mon,” he mumbled, cursing at himself under his breath.

A moment later a pair of hands grasped him by the shoulders. His whole body went still, but then he was being helped to his feet. Slowly someone was taking his weight as he found his nose hit with a different scent as familiar hands lifted him up.

 Adam’s eyes were glancing back at him – soft and tired, and rather forlorn. It was a sight he was too used to seeing in the past few weeks, even if Bones wondered himself if he could even form a smile that wasn’t faked.

 “It’s over this way,” Adam whispered, “Here.”

 The light on his phone flickered to life. Bones kept standing only by using Adam for balance as the white stone came into their vision like a beacon.

 Fresh. The engravings in the stone were younger than most of the headstones in the yard. Honestly, Bones was kind of amazed he missed it.  All white, a simple name on it, in a plot all to itself.

 Matthew Peake.

The worst thing was finding that the puzzle piece you were looking for had been completely torn apart, and now there was a hole in the picture that was never going to be filled.

 What was he thinking? Why was he so desperate to see this? Was it to prove that he wasn’t dreaming? To convince himself that they weren’t lying to him?

 Or maybe his cruel curiosity needed to put the picture together one last time to find the missing piece.

 The pain was nothing, as roaring flame surged from his heart and scorched him. His eyes flooded with tears all at once, and he was screaming. A scream that threatened to rip the sky apart, and soon Adam was with him. Both held each other. Adam’s icy resolve shattered by the flames of emotion that burst from Bones. Matt was gone.  And God could he feel it.

 He didn’t know how long they were there. Time seemed to swing to a rhythm they didn’t understand. But soon Bones was wiping at his eyes. His eyes, his face, and his shirt soaked in his own tears, and Adam’s, when he at last found himself on the soft ground with his arms around Adam’s back, and Adam’s hands toying with his hair.

 “I hate this,” Bones stammered, as Adam hummed in response.

 “I hate that I was so close to him… that I’m alive because of him.”

“And that he’d hate if you wanted to say something like ‘I wish it was me’.”

Bones laughed sadly, “Yeah, that too.”

“We’re figuring out,” Adam sighed softly, “but we’re doing it together. So please, don’t be a fucking idiot like this, okay?”

 “I’m sorry,” Bones pulled away slightly.

 But Adam caught his hand, “No, that’s not what I mean.”

Bones stared at him like he’d spoken a different language, but his mind and body was only barely his own as the fire faded, and he was left in a state between disoriented and in pain.

 “Adam, it’s time to go home,” Adam said at last, and with his hands wrapped in Bones’; there was little the man could do to disagree.

 They walked home in darkness. Bones cringed on every other step, but Adam was always there to keep pulling him forward.

 Despite Adam’s comfort, Bruce was there waiting, and he stood up, looking prepared to give the best lecture he could, but then he saw their faces, felt Bones collapse into his chest, as tears threatened to come once more.

 And Bruce thought he had no tears left to shed after the funeral, but emotions were complicated. Tears mixed with joy that Bones was still here, pain for the pain he knew his boyfriend was in, confusion for how it all felt without Matt, and Matt’s passing still pushing down on his heart like a hydraulic press with just enough pressure to make it hurt, but not enough to make it burst.

 But Bones was back. He and Bruce and Adam shared a bed that night, and Bones desperately yearned for another’s presence after being separated for so long.

      *        *         *         *           *              *             *         *

 There are a few things you can do with a puzzle that’s missing a few pieces. You can keep it tucked away on a shelf with your nostalgia from the days spent putting it together in the first place; you can toss it away as though it has no other use; or you can keep trying to put it back together, even knowing that you’ll never be able to fill that hole.

 In many cases, people can be happy enough with the finished result. The disappointment still rings over the fact that it’s gone, but the experience of putting it together – laughter and jokes about ‘strategy’ as someone threatens to stop any progress – that would stay.

 It was about changing how you saw it. You could never forget the piece that was supposed to go there, and your brain will always try to fill in that gap.

 The trick is figuring out how to love the whole picture when you can’t see it, and how to remember that a missing piece doesn’t make the other pieces incompatible.

 They would feel the weight of Matt missing for a long time. Bones would still dream about another scenario – the one where he switched places and saved Matt from the fate that he was saved from – but they kept going.

 They would put it back together, even if they knew it wouldn’t be filled – and that would be enough. And even in moments, when they joked around and played games or yelled at each other as they normally would, they would fight the urge to look over to his usual spot.

 They had to find a way to keep the rest of the puzzle intact.

[brownornaterugs]

anyway I finished the rewatch n I was right. I was in some mood n not paying attention the first go. not as lightweight as I felt. decent season. I feel like zero of my questions from last season got answered n that's... annoying.

angry sentiments for hunk writing stays the same. would've loved.. more meaningful interactions. Any At All that support him being "the nice one" but I also want this for everyone in general too (but still mostly hunk tho). still season 1 was the best for him. I wish he was more than the tank who's also a physicist.. when he was talking w Matt n pidge and Matt was complimenting him on the Frown-Thing (the tracker u know?) it got brushed aside like that was rude. he deserves more praise. neglected light of my life :(

probably more mad about Keith's endgame decision than I was yesterday. I don't like self-sacrifice and I will not be sorry. glad she's working w the blade. hopefully learning more about herself (still don't like their sacrifice mentality but whatever). would be gr8 to know more!! there's something about her first interaction with Shiro this season that has me feeling a type of way tho.

was never a Lance stan too much but am still Feelings Is The Same. only good for one liners or to fill the gaps between conversation so it's annoying. I feel cheated cos it'd be gr8 to see everyone growing. I know he's a teen but like. I'm tired. whenever he's mad at Keith I get exhausted. small encouragement speech to Allura was nice but like all the other nice things he's ever said, it's not really supported by much growth? address that. he even said it last season re: Allura's progress with blue (I know that was long don't @ me)

am glad pidge got to reunite with matt :'))) good for her! ngl other than that.. there was not much I remember. it was like ep 2 took all her energy n she wasn't allowed much more than that. which makes sense but is frustrating. it's bad to say u weren't paying attention to a character cos they got a whole ep again but. that was my case :/

I'm so freaking glad Allura is a paladin!!!! it's nice watching her progress n learn new things tbh!! there's an interesting balance of her sometimes self doubt and confidence as a paladin that I'm appreciating. she can do anything n According to the Facts she shut down that altean magic so voltron could escape!!?? like... it's good. decent mix of emotions n character capabilities I think!! I mostly watch with Shiro and Hunk in mind but I may rewatch again for Allura!!

so.. I think this is why I feel the season is still kinda light? I just... wasn't super focused on shiro. big smile for her getting to pilot again!!! I already talked about black lion's hopelessness detector so this makes sense since Keith's gone. tho I wonder if the need for reconnection is just bc Shiro was gone for so long?? anyway I'm still kinda unsettled by her and Keith's interaction at the start. it felt out of character but I also think it might be important to note the potential amount of times Keith was with the blade instead of with team voltron? so Shiro kind of was frustrated at that? but she seemed kinda off.. like distant for a bit until the next interaction when she talks about how the black lion chose Keith. I really... don't like the clone theory tbh bc shiro deserves better. that would fuck her up to see like... what I could assume an army of clones. I think I'm gonna listen back to Shiro's second escape episode last season. I went back a few times n still doesn't make too much sense. the writers would do it anyway.

VILLAIN THOUGHTS!!!

I love villains/antags other than Zarkon and I think that's where a lot of my focus went. like whenever the it was screentime for the galra gals I was more attentive! I just always wanna know what shit they're fuckin up next. I wantes them to just turn into a Galra Gals Gang n beat lotor up. tbh

im... intrigued what lotor ultimately wants. and like Why? I'm sure any cooperation between him and voltron will lead to betrayal. I don't trust that and neither should they. like. galra gals trusted him and it got them nothing! do kinda wanna see that conflict tho...

damn.... sorry commander thot.

I'm excited to see literally anything either Haggar next season n that's all I'll say!!🔎

get back own youwr deffbed sow commandew thwot can be in contwow...

There Were So Many Amazing Mean And Buff Galra Gals This Season.

I won't comment on Coran except to say Feelings Is Still The Same and I'm tired even a Coran centric episode still did him wrong. though... he tries. he's trying to get a good dad :/ I appreciate that

oh yeah some Matt thoughts: uhh I don't care too much he seems very Lance to me but is tolerable and not an ass so whatever. don't care otherwise! OH was thinking his reunion would be bigger/more emotional with Shiro but I guess they weren't really friends?? (or that's a clone...........) idk it was strange and emotionless and I was hoping for Shiro to cry or get emotional seeing someone she tried to protect when they were prisoners. it sucks they just don't have time to write in much emotional connection/reestablishments in the show nor in the reality of the show (like who has time for reuniting when we got galra to deal with....). also good bgm tunes can't wait for the sound tell to release!!! when!!!