#with special guest Matt holt

[fantomcomics]

What's Out This Week? 11/1

October's over, and now it's TURKEY TIME

Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom Special #1 - Tim Seeley, Joey Esposito, Ethan Sacks, Miguel Mendonca, Ray-Anthony Height, and Scot Eaton

Discover the shocking events that connect the smash-hit Aquaman movie to the eagerly anticipated Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom! Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding! Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor! Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison! Three action-packed tales crammed into a single special!

Batman/Catwoman The Gotham War: Scorched Earth #1 - Chip Zdarsky, Tini Howard, Jorge Jimenez, Nico Leon, & Mike Hawthorne

THE GOTHAM WAR ENDS HERE! The final chapter of this epic crossover is here, and Batman and his family must find a way to overcome the endgame of an ancient enemy! Can the Bat and the Cat set their differences aside? Is this the end of the Bat-Family? Lives change forever in this action-packed conclusion!

Blood Commandment #1 (of 4) - Szymon Kudranski

Living an isolated life in a shadowed valley surrounded by mountains and a thick forest, a father and son are terrorized by a dangerous supernatural presence. Only the father's dark secrets can save them...or damn their souls for all eternity!

Being a single father can be tough, but for Ezra Connolly, it's a duty he doesn't take lightly. Living off-grid, away from prying eyes, in the heart of forest country, he spends his days teaching his teenage son Wil survival skills. But Wil has questions, questions Ezra fears to answer-about his past, and about why they never leave the valley before sundown...

Canary #1 - Scott Snyder & Dan Panosian

In 1891 a mine collapsed into itself. What was the dark substance found 666 feet underground? Blending modern horror, historical fact and Western lore, Scott Snyder and Dan Panosian have created a uniquely terrifying thriller with Canary. During the final days of the Gold Rush, one mining company in Colorado, pulled up radioactive Uranium, and then the mine then collapsed in on itself. Legends sprung up about the mine being cursed or even haunted. Now the Frontier is closed, the gold and silver mines have dried up. The country is becoming "civilized," and yet, in one stretch of the Rocky Mountains, a terrifying, new kind of violence is suddenly emerging. Random killings. People going mad and murdering neighbors, classmates without real cause. When a schoolboy kills his teacher with a hatchet, a famous federal marshal named Azrael William Holt is called in to investigate the killings. What awaits him is stranger and more horrifying than anything they could have ever imagined.

Dying Days #1 - Matt Kund & Bora Orcal

It's the ultimate race against time!  When "The Aging" starts, people are aging at a rapid rate. Can the cause and solution be found, before it's too late?

Faceless & The Family #1 - Matt Lesniewski

On the broken and warped world known as the Hand Planet, the wanderer simply called Faceless ekes out existence on the margins to escape the shame that cost him his name and his identity. Exiled for his crimes, Faceless now calls the wastelands his home-until the good fortune of fate delivers him a mismatched band of fellow travelers who will soon become family . . . if they can survive a suicidal mission into the Hand Planet's class-segregated Finger Cities to restore what lies beneath Faceless's helmet and, with it, his hope in humanity.

It's Jeff! The Jeff-Verse #1 - Kelly Thompson & Gurihiru

THE DANGEROUSLY ADORABLE JEFF THE LAND SHARK RETURNS!

Jeff the Land Shark embarks on another series of madcap adventures with guest spots from some of your favorite heroes! Whether he's orchestrating a pet shop takeover, or solving a high-stakes mystery like "what's the best street-food snack" (the answer will SHOCK you, True Believer), Jeff is flipping his fantastic fins all over the Marvel Universe! Stealing hearts and cookies with equal impunity! Collecting issues #13-24 of the hit Infinity Comics series from the Marvel Unlimited app, this one-shot features a brand-new cover and never-before-seen story from beloved creators Kelly Thompson and Gurihiru!

The Lumberjack Bride #1 - Stephen Coughlin

There was an old ghost story of a scorned lumberjack left at the altar on her wedding day. This was told to scare children around the campfire, so they wouldn't wander off at night. There couldn't really be an axe-wielding ghost roaming these woods and looking for heads to chop. Could there?

Savage Red Sonja #1 - Dan Panosian, Alessio Petillo & Francesco Segala

Prepare yourself for the savagery that can only Red Sonja can deliver in this brand-new series that harkens back to the classic era of Robert E. Howard's original pulp tales of swords and sorcery!

Tasked with retrieving a long-hidden gem from a crumbled, ancient kingdom, the She-Devil With a Sword is traveling alone through a dangerous wasteland when fate intervenes, and her solo adventure is sidetracked by a wayward prince and his bride as they try desperately to escape from fearsome desert bandits - only to be attacked by a monstrous beast from beneath the sands!

The Space Between #1 (of 4) - Corinna Bechko & Danny Luckert

Aboard the interstellar ark known as the Dodona, the populations of workers live in strictly separated social castes during the journey that will take multiple generations to complete.

But everything changes when a pilot from the upper tier named Revla falls to the lower levels and meets Les, and they must risk everything for not just themselves, but all aboard the Dodona!

Each issue in the limited series features a new pair of protagonists and a new generation of humanity in a sci-fi epic of love, survival, and liberation from Hugo and Eisner Award-nominated and New York Times bestselling writer Corinna Bechko (The Expanse, Green Lantern: Earth One) and acclaimed comics artist Danny Luckert (Ghostlore, The Red Mother).

Spider-Boy #1 - Dan Slott, Paco Medina & Humberto Ramos

SECRETS OF SPIDER-BOY REVEALED! Spinning out of the pages of DAN SLOTT and MARK BAGLEY's monumental SPIDER-MAN run-here comes the spectacular SPIDER-BOY!

After the events of THE END OF THE SPIDER-VERSE, Spider-Boy's secret history as Spider-Man's sidekick was nearly forgotten forever. But now those mysteries will be revealed while they embark on exciting new adventures...TOGETHER!

Stranger Things: The Voyage #1 (of 4) - Michael Moreci & Todor Hristov

Captain Jacoby is too broke to reject a shady deal from a group of Russians looking to get from Alaska back home on his freighter ship The Persephone, but things get turned upside down when a crew member gets butchered,  suspects something far stranger at play.

Street Fighter Omega #1 - Matt Moylan &Joe Ng

Celebrating 20 years of UDON's Street Fighter comics! Street Fighter Omega brings together two dozen artists to tell an epic Street Fighter story through a gallery of all-new cover illustrations. See seasoned world warriors, and fresh challengers alike cross fists in this special anniversary 1-shot!

Supergirl Special #1 - Mariko Tamaki & Skylar Patridge

GIRL INTERRUPTED! After joining the Superman Family and their heroic efforts in Metropolis, Kara thought she had found her place in the world. But there's only room in town for one Supergirl, and Power Girl's sudden reappearance has made her redundant. Her identity and role are both in question as she looks for answers. Will they lead her out of the city or out of this world?

The Return Of Superman 30th Anniversary Special - Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway,Karl Kesel,Travis Moore, Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Jon Bogdanove, Butch Guice, Tom Grummett, and Doug Hazlewood

Superman returns! After the tragic events of more than 30 years ago, when Superman met his end at the hands of Doomsday, Metropolis mourned the loss of their greatest hero and soon turned their attention to the search for his successor. Four Supermen rose to the challenge: Superboy, Steel, Eradicator, and Cyborg Superman. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses, they fought in honor of the original Man of Steel. Little did they know, his return was just around the corner! To celebrate the Reign of the Supermen and Return of Superman, DC has brought back the original creative teams for new stories set in the wake of Superman's death. It all begins with new Daily Planet editor-in-chief Lois Lane discovering Perry White's journals from the time and the secrets he kept as he searched for who could be the next Superman. What could this discovery mean for our present? Find out in this special that's sure to be a classic in the future!

Ultimate Universe #1 - Jonathan Hickman, Stefano Caselli & Bryan Hitch

THE SPOILS OF VICTORY! After the worlds-shaking conclusion of ULTIMATE INVASION, a new team of heroes bands together to save the future! From mastermind Jonathan Hickman and superstar artist Stefano Caselli, don't miss out on this foundational issue for the new line of Ultimate Comics!

White Widow #1 - Sarah Gailey, Alessandro Miracolo & David Marquez

Yelena Belova returns! Superspy. Rogue agent. Shadow of the Black Widow. Yelena Belova has been many things, but striking out as a hero in her own right is new to her. Now that she's finally free to choose her own path, who will she become? Sarah Gailey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eat the Rich) joins forces with Alessandro Miracolo (Obi-Wan, Yoda) for a groundbreaking new chapter in the life of one of Marvel's most enigmatic antiheroes.

A Christmas Bestiary HC - John Kenn Mortensen & Benni Bodker

A tongue-in-cheek guide to the beasts to watch out for during a cozy Christmastime.

In the wintry season, when we all delight in joyful thoughts of family, presents, and sugarplums, we mustn't forget that the night is dark and full of terrors. Thankfully, bold adventurers Benni B dker and John Kenn Mortensen have journeyed far and wide to comb through ancient tomes, listen to folk tales, and spy upon loathsome lairs to catalog the most frightful creatures of the netherworld that appear around Christmastime.

A Christmas Bestiary is an essential guidebook to all the horrors that await us during the darkest time of the year, from common creatures such as Baba Yaga and the Krampus to the less encountered (but quite deadly) Yule Wight and Gryla.

Cheerful Amnesia GN Vol 1 - Tamamushi Oku

Arisa might have lost her memories of the past few years, but she's not about to let that get her down. When her girlfriend Mari invites her on a trip, it's the perfect chance for the two to put their feelings about their complicated relationship into words...but Arisa will have to start working again first if they want to pay for it!

Depth Of Field GN - Enjo

Hey, Kon-chan. Why don't we have sex?

One day, in his secret after-school spot on the roof, Hayakawa met Konno. Some called Konno "hard toapproach," "scary," or "intimidating," but whenever he had his camera pointed at his latest subject, it was clear he was enjoying himself.

Respect, envy, jealousy, an inferiority complex... Hayakawa's complicated feelings toward Konno, who has everything he ever wanted, continue to intensify...

A story of emotionally immature love, high school, routines heaped together, and conflicting focal points, from up-and-coming author Enjo.

Ghibliotheque: Film Korea HC - Michael Leader & Jake Cunningham

From smash hits such as Parasite to cult favorites Oldboy, Okja, The Handmaiden andTrain to Busan, Korean cinema is a hotbed of creative talent and the force behind the most exciting, captivating filmmaking in the world right now. In this essential guide to the country's cinematic story, Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, authors and hosts of the hit podcast Ghibliotheque, guide you through the must-see films from a century of Korean movies. Combining reviews and director biographies with recommended further viewing and a catalogue of beautiful film stills and movie posters, this is your one-stop guide to an incredible, captivating artform.

Good Comics For Bad People HC - Zach Stafford

Master of the hilarious, unpredictable, and just plain weird ZACH STAFFORD's GOOD COMICS FOR BAD PEOPLE marks his graphic novel debut, and features all the laughter, absurdity, and bodily fluids that have made his worldwide mega-hit webcomic so (in)famous!    Includes all your favorite Extra Fabulous Comics, plus book-exclusive comics that can't be found online and an introduction by SARAH ANDERSON, the mastermind behind Sarah's Scribbles.

Harrower TP - Justin Jordan & Brahm Revel

There's nothing to fear in the quaint town of Barlowe, New York-except, that is, for the Harrower.

The children think this boogeyman is just an urban legend, but this purveyor of puritanical vengeance is very real, and there's no escape. The Harrower seems unkillable, and spans generations, always returning...

Jessica Brink is a teenage girl, who, along with her equally skeptical friends, is in for much more than she could ever imagine on the night of a Halloween party. What gruesome secrets will she uncover as she flees the encroaching, bloody mayhem of  The Harrower, the unstoppable force that stalks her and her friends?

Monthly In The Garden With My Landlord GN Vol 1 - Yodokawa

Asako Suga needs a change to get over her recent breakup and decides moving to a new home would be just the thing. She finds a great little place a little removed from the city with a lovely garden, but there's a catch-the house also comes in with a live-in landlord! Having a charming girl lazing about would be distracting enough, but it seems she's keeping a secret as well...

Noblesse GN Vol 1 - Jeho Son & Kwangsu Lee

Rai wakes up from an 820-year-long sleep and starts his new life as a student in a high school founded by his loyal servant, Frankenstein. But his peaceful days with other human students are soon interrupted by mysterious attackers known as the "Unions."

Ogami-San Can't Keep It In GN Vol 1 - Yu Yoshidamaru

Ogami-san has been keeping a dirty little secret from her peers at school: Puberty has emptied her mind of everything but perverted fantasies! For the sake of leading an ordinary school life, she pulls out all the stops to keep her mental wild side under wraps. But when she literally reaches a hand out to Yaginuma-kun, a cute but mysterious boy in her class, her innermost thoughts just come spilling out! All she wants is to get to know him (and his body) better, but she can't do that without the risk of exposing her true self. What's a girl to do?!

Robotics Notes GN Vol 1 (of 3) - Keiji Asakawa

The year is 2019, Steins;Gate world line "1.048596%". On the island of Tanegashima, augmented reality has exploded in popularity and robots are becoming last year's fad. In danger of being closed, the Chuo Tanegashima High School Robotics Research Club decide on one final project... to build their own GIANT ROBOT!

Stories Of The Islands GN - Clar Angkasa

Once upon a time... A princess was cursed to live as a snail, Two sisters were trapped by their father's wrath, And a mother and daughter faced a hungry giant. No one is coming to save them. Will they get their happily ever after? In Stories of the Islands, debut graphic novelist Clar Angkasa takes three folk tales from her childhood in Indonesia and gives them back to the girl characters, following their hopes, dreams, and journeys for independence from malevolent forces-both natural and unnatural. Why should women in folk tales be sidelined or reduced to tropes? What if we tell their stories, instead? Filled with deep emotion, spectacular settings, and a mix of panel art and full dramatic spreads, Stories of the Islands is bright reimagining of familiar stories for a new generation.

The Cat From The Kimono HC - Nancy Peña

This surreal and imaginative adult fairy tale follows a beautiful black cat through a fantastical world where he'll survive impossible odds to make his way home... to his mistress' kimono!

Once upon a time in Japan lived a beautiful young woman. The beloved daughter of a silk mill owner, she was lavished with gorgeous kimonos from across the province, but her favorite was the first one he gave her. It was a deep crimson painted with soft, purring black cats, and was crafted by the finest weaver in the mill. The weaver, besotted with her beauty, professed his love to the maiden. Indifferent to his advances, she preferred the warmth of her feline finery to his, leading him down a dark path that separates the woman from one of her beloved black cats! Thus, the cat begins a fantastic voyage, from the bottom of the sea to the smokey markets of London, sometimes in the company of Sherlock Holmes himself, as he becomes a figure of myth and legend.

Travel the world on this surreal journey through the imagination of renowned artist Nancy Peña (Madame Cat), whose gorgeous style is inspired by Japanese painting.

Unended GN - Josh Bayer

What prevents you from finishing your life's work? Josh Bayer finds a manuscript of an unfinished play inside his deceased father's desk. The play tells the story of Josh's mother's early death (age 37) and his father's struggle with single parenthood. When he attempts to adapt the play into comics, it triggers a series of personal crises. Bayer's limitations and futile ambitions are brought into sharp relief as he grapples with an estranged, unknowable parent and the play's frustrating lack of resolution. Humans worship lore, myth, and fables, but many people's creative dreams become abandoned. Why? Josh Bayer stitches scattered memories into surrealistic episodes permeated with dream logic. Unended is a Promethean quest to excavate the creative fire hidden inside us.

Whatcha scooping up this week to kick off November, Fantom Fam?

[barkercast]

465 : Boom Hellraiser P10 – Bestiary

In the Clive Barker Podcast, long-time fans Ryan and Jose interview guests, bring you the news, and take deep dives into Barker-related stuff.  In Episode 465, We dive back into the Boom Studios Hellraiser comics with Bestiary 1-3.  Before that we get into some Hellraiser and Barker Book release news.  

Sponsor : Don Bertram’s Celebrate Imagination | Pinterest | ETSY Store

Take a look at “The Descendant“

Check Out his videos going over the original painting “The Bug Brothers” and his intro to the 35th Anniversary screening of Hellraiser.

Patreon Members Shout-Out (Become a Patron)

David Anderson

Erik Van T’ Holt

Daniel Elven

Amanda Stewart

Jose Leitao

Returning Sponsor: Don Bertram’s Celebrate Imagination 

What’s New for our Patreon Subscribers

BarkerCast Recap: A Conversation With Editor and Author Stephen Jones

Patreon Special: Thank you for Being Here

The Process of Posting an Episode

Coming Soon: The Bookclub of Blood 

News From The Reef

Ed and Nina’s new Hellraiser Interview w/ Russellfx

September 18, 1987 Hellraiser US Debut

Reddit User hints HD Remake of Jericho is coming

New Edition of Thief of Always – Harper Collins, Olive Edition

Discussion: Boom Studios Hellraiser

Hellraiser Bestiary #1 – August, 2014

Symphony In Red

W: Ben Meares & Mark Miller | A: Conor Nolan

Desert Fathers

W: Victor LaValle | A: Colin Lorimer

The Hunted, Part One

W: Ben Meares & Mark Miller | A: Carlos Magno

Hellraiser Bestiary #2 – September, 2014

Old Hat To Raise The Devil

W: Christopher Taylor | A: Jason Shawn Alexander

Hellbound Desires

W: Ben Meares | A: Matt Batagalia

The Hunted, Part Two

W: Ben Meares & Mark Miller | A: Carlos Magno

Hellraiser Bestiary #3 – October, 2014

Puzzled

W: Ben Meares | A: Akiel Guzman

Conduit

W: Ed Brisson | A: Alexis Ziritt

The Hunted, Part Three

W: Ben Meares & Mark Miller | A: Carlos Magno

Coming Next 

Hellraiser Quartet of Torment Disc 4

More Boom Hellraiser coverage

 News and Interviews

Jericho Squad 77

Bookclub of Blood

And this podcast, having no beginning will have no end. 

web www.clivebarkercast.com

iOS App| Android App, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, Libsyn, Tunein, iHeart Radio, Pocket Casts, Google Play, Radio.com, DoubleTwist and YouTube and Join the Occupy Midian group

Discord Community

Twitter: @BarkerCast| @OccupyMidian 

Buy Our Book: The BarkerCast Interviews Occupy Midian | Hardcover | Kindle | Apple

Become a Patreon Patron

Support the show, Buy a T-Shirt

Music is by Ray Norrish

All Links and show notes in their Entirety can be found at http://www.clivebarkercast.com

            New episode of the Clive Barker Podcast

[caiseyharlingtencanada]

Caisey Harlingten - Everest North Side Dispatches

Eric Simonson phoned in from Everest Tibet Base Camp today. It was late in the evening their time. Here's the update on all team members:

ABC Trek: ABC trekkers Laura Dozier, Jay Leppanen, Seiji Ohashi, Matt Sant, and Lisa Trotter have all safely returned to Kathmandu with Ang Jangbu Sherpa, our agent with Great Escapes Trekking in Kathmandu. Jangbu made a special guest appearance on this trip and was a great asset to the trek. Eric has worked with Jangbu for many years and values his friendship and help every year in organizing our Himalayan programs. A special thanks to Jangbu for making this trip with us! Pemba is doing his best, as always, at keeping lots of great food in front of the entire group.

Pemba, World's Greatest Expedition Chef

North Col Climb:

Eric descended from ABC to BC on Wednesday with N. Col climber David Ferriera. The trip down took about 11 hours and David has been fighting off a suspected case of pulmonary edema, using supplemental O2 and the Gamow bag to help him recover at Base Camp.

The climb to the North Col

Fellow team member and physician Margaret Watkins has been helping to care for David. Meanwhile, the remaining N. Col climbers, including Barry Baker, Morgan Batt, Gail Bredis, Thom Gerst, Terry Holt, Garry Phillips and Ralph Quade returned to BC today with IMG guides Mike Hamill and Mark Tucker. They made an attempt on the North Col on Wednesday and Thursday, with several members of the team reaching the Col before descending.

8000m Climb: IMG guides Craig John and Chris Booher spent the day today making an attempt on the N. Col with Nacho Piedra. Craig and Nacho turned around before reaching the Col, and may make another attempt tomorrow. Chris reached the Col and is sleeping there tonite in order to build his acclimatization for a possible climb higher later in the expedition. Craig and Nacho should return to BC on Sunday, after which Nacho will head home to Spain.

Summit Climb:

IMG super-Sherpa Da Nuru, together with sherpa climbers from the Chinese expedition and Russell Brice's team, fixed rope into the high camp, Camp 6, today. With the route in place to the high camp now, things are really rolling, with a lot of carrying to Camp 4 and Camp 5 taking place also, so Panuru, Mingma, Phu Nuru, and Karma Rita are busy with the task at hand. Summit climbers Jay White, Pete Certain and Ted Wheeler are at ABC and plan to climb to the North Col tomorrow, where they will sleep for two nights to push their acclimatization ahead. After that, they will likely return to ABC on Monday, and may choose to either remain there for rest, or descend to BC for some thicker air. They are all doing well.

Pemba, World's Greatest Expedition Chef SOURCE CREDIT: https://www.mountainguides.com/photos/simo/everest03n-april.html

[somekindoftuber]

vld youtuber AU

youtuber AUs are really fun so here is my take (with klance):

Shiro runs a channel where he restores/repairs motorcycles. It’s really popular because he has a great on-camera presence and soothing voice, not to mention he’s very good looking. He has the facial scar and white hair and has mentioned that he’s a veteran, hence his prosthetic right arm. Keith works with him, and Shiro always introduces him in the intros of his videos, saying, “And my brother Keith is here to be my right hand.” They have a fairly large following, posting weekly videos. Keith mostly stays quiet, except to answer Shiro.

Lance runs a music channel that’s half comedy and half serious, playing guitar and ukulele. He does acoustic covers of songs that should be impossible to do acoustic versions of, and sometimes does comedy lyrics of popular songs. He also posts blooper videos where his cats interrupt him or knock over the camera. He posts one or two times a week, his videos are usually short. He also streams games on Twitch, usually playing music and making people laugh over the mic.

Shiro sometimes does Q&A videos to answer fan questions. Keith usually doesn’t participate, except in the video about their pets. Shiro introduces their two cats, and Keith’s dog Kosmo (who’s a Blue Bay Shepherd mix and is absolutely massive).

Shiro’s channel pops up on Lance’s recommendations one day, and it’s the pet video. Shiro’s cats are in the thumbnail, a giant black shorthair and a long haired red tabby, so he clicks. He instantly likes this guy, his cats are cute, and the quiet, scowling brother in the background with the giant bear-dog is fun to watch. So he subscribes. He finds out that he really likes their videos, despite knowing absolutely nothing about motorcycles. Shiro makes it easy to follow, and he even learns a thing or two.

Lance hears a song he recognizes in one of Shiro’s videos and gets an idea. He gets his guitar and does a comedy cover of the song, making it about repairing motorcycles. He’s proud of the silly lyrics, not able to keep from snickering a few times, and posts the video. He shoots the link over to Shiro, and crosses his fingers.

Two days later he gets a response. Shiro comments on the video saying that he loves it and it made him laugh. Lance is over the moon, and keeps watching Shiro’s videos and commenting on them. Shiro sometimes comments on his and it’s great. As the months go by, Shiro becomes something of a hero to Lance. He’s cool and confident and everything Lance wishes he could be.

Not to mention that his broody little brother is really, really easy on the eyes. Keith is gaining a fanbase, his wiki page full of what few scraps viewers can find about him - including a blurry screenshot of a moment when his shirt rode up to reveal an nondescript tattoo on his hip. There was a good deal of speculation as to what it was of. Not that Lance read that particular reddit thread. Or commented on it. (“I bet it’s a wolf,” he most certainly did not write. Several people agreed.) Who can blame him? Lance likes puzzles and mysteries. What’s more mysterious than a youtuber who never talks and has all of his social media on lockdown?

Lance gushes about Shiro’s channel one night to Pidge, who’s finishing undergrad. Casually as ever, she says, “Yeah, I know Shiro, he’s an old friend of Matt’s.” and Lance loses it. Demands to know more, demands that Pidge set up a meeting. Pidge rolls her eyes, and says maybe, maybe during spring break.

Lance decides to do a charity stream, like he does often. He asks some of his youtuber friends to help promote, including his best friend Hunk who runs his own casual cooking channel (Hunk never shows his face but his videos are still really fun). He tweets about it, feeling pretty good. His last stream went really well and they hit their donation goal. When Lance checks twitter the next day, he’s absolutely beside himself to see that Shiro has retweeted his stream link, saying “My buddy @LanceyLance is doing a charity stream! Check it out!” He may have bounced in his chair and flapped his hands a little when he read that.

The stream goes super well. They surpass their donation goal by hundreds, and he gets a lot of chat messages from people saying they found it via Shiro. Once it’s over, Lance composes an email to Shiro to thank him. He considers mentioning what Pidge says for several minutes before deciding to just go for it. He finishes his email with “PS - I think we have a friend in common?? My buddy Pidge - Katie Holt - says she knows you. Or are you a different Shiro?”

He sends the email before he can second guess himself.

Two days later, he gets a reply, and Shiro confirms that he knows Pidge since he went to high school with her older brother, commenting that it’s a small world. Lance plays it cool, but doubles his efforts to get Pidge to introduce him to Shiro.

“Spring break,” she repeats, then yells at Lance to let her finish her paper.

It’s almost two months until then, so Lance occupies himself with making videos, streaming, and watching Shiro’s channel. Keeping an eye on where Keith pops up in the videos, silent and intense. When late March finally arrives, Lance packs a bag and piles in the car with Pidge for the five hour drive to her hometown, which is apparently also Shiro’s hometown. Pidge’s parents welcome him, and it takes an entire day of nagging Pidge to get her to call Shiro. He’s free the next day.

They head across town to Shiro’s garage and Lance is stoked. So stoked. And as Shiro comes out to meet them, he’s struck by one thing: Shiro is far taller in person than he looks on camera. He shakes Lance’s left hand and shows him around, the bike they’re working on, the cameras, the editing software he still uses, even though it’s a little outdated.

Lance is halfway to asking Shiro if he can meet his cats when the door opens. “Shiro?” a voice calls. “They’re roping off the west side of the street for something. Do you want me to move your --”

He stops when he spots Lance, and Lance sort of feels his breath stop in his chest at the sight. Running gear, hair pulled back, skin glistening with sweat, and a sleeveless shirt with a pair of earbuds hanging out of the collar.

It’s Keith. And Lance has to remember to breathe, because like his brother, he’s taller in person, but he’s also hot. Like crazy hot, goddamn. Even drenched in sweat with his hair sticking to his face and neck and flushed from a run, he’s stupidly gorgeous. The videos absolutely do not do his eyes justice, not even a little, all sharp and intense and deep blue.

He’s just sort of standing there stuck, but thankfully Pidge rescues him with a loud clearing of her throat. Then Shiro swoops in and introduces Lance to Keith. He’s quiet, like in the videos, and slips away as soon as Lance’s attention is elsewhere.

Once Keith is gone, Shiro asks Lance if he’d like to be in a video on his channel, and holy shit. He agrees before he even knows the details, and Shiro laughs. They agree to have Lance come back in three days to film. Right when they’re leaving, Keith re-emerges, showered and changed. Lance waves goodbye to him and hopes Keith doesn’t notice the way Lance’s eyes sweep up and down his body.

Lance spends the next three nights pouring over his guitar.

When he goes over to Shiro’s to film, he’s almost bouncing with excitement. Shiro goes over what they’ll be doing before they start. Lance is downright giddy as Shiro does his intro and calls Lance a “special guest” before they get started. Lance is mostly holding parts in place or passing Shiro tools as he works on the old bike they’ve been hired to restore, but it’s still fun, even if he’s sweating within the first half hour. Keith hovers in the corner, off camera, playing with his phone and looking bored. By the time they finish, he’s covered in grease and exhausted, but happy. Shiro stops filming and they take a break, cracking open a few beers.

Before it’s time to leave, he gets the okay from Shiro and sets up his own camera, bringing out his guitar. He wasn’t sure if he’d have the guts to do this, but Shiro smiles at him, and it all feels okay. Lance turns on his camera, does an intro, and begins to play. It’s an original song, one he wrote just for the occasion over the last few sleepless nights. It’s about new friends and fresh starts and connecting with others and maybe it’s a little cheesy, but it’s heartfelt, and the acoustics of the garage somehow bring it all together. And when he finishes and shuts off his camera, the awed look on Shiro’s face is absolutely worth it. Even Keith looks a little surprised, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

He says goodnight to them both and goes back to the Holt family home, showers and changes, and goes to sleep feeling like it’s Christmas and his birthday and the first day of summer vacation all at once.

Pidge has to go back to school to resume classes eventually, and Lance is her transportation, so he has to go too. They stop by Shiro’s garage one last time to deliver a tupperware container of fresh baked cookies, courtesy of Mrs. Holt, and Shiro shakes his hand again. When Lance says goodbye to Keith and shakes his hand, he swears he sees the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Something he’s never seen.

He spends the entire five hour drive back with excitement buzzing in his veins. He can’t wait to edit and post that video.

CONTINUED IN PART TWO HERE

[some-cookie-crumbz]

I really love the Kidge Child HCs, I honestly can't get enough of them! Do you have any Grandma Krolia headcanons? Or headcanons for the rest of the Paladins?

REMEMBER HOW I JUST SAID THIS WAS COMING SOON?? IT’S FINALLY HERE, EVERYBODY!!!!!

First, for those who may not have seen my other posts, here are the links to all my other Headcanon posts.

Kidge Married Pre-Babies: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.1: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.2: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.3: [here] *There’s a little angst in this one, FYI

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.4: [here]

Kidge w/ Babies Part 2.5: [here]

I’m gonna go the full monty with thisone; we’re taking about the kids with Krolia, Sam, Colleen, Matt, the Paladins(and any/all of their children), and all the other peripheral people involvedwith them! This is gonna be a little bit of a longer one, as such, but I wantto be as thorough as possible!

Also, mentioning this here, but there will also be mentionsof Shatt (I have two sets of headcanons for Shiro and Matt, both as a coupleand in relationships with other people, but don’t want to have to write downboth alternatives), Hunay, and Allurance, as well as me talking a little bitabout their respective families, so be aware.

The order will be as such; Krolia, Sam and Colleen, Matt andShiro, Hunk and Shay, Lance and Allura, Coran, Romelle, Kolivan and Slav.

Krolia

As I know I’ve mentioned in my previous parts, the kidsrefer to Krolia as “Nana Olia”. Amber was the one who started it – obvious, asshe’s the oldest – because, when trying to say Krolia’s name, she couldn’t getthe “Kuh” sound right, gave up, and opted into the part of her name that shecould pronounce. The other kids follow Amber’s lead because she’s their bigsister. Krolia loves having a special name that only the kids use for her.

So, being a grandma was never something Krolia ever thoughtshe’d get the chance to be, but she absolutely loves it. Part of this is because she gets to come over and engage withthe grandbabies at an age she didn’t get to with Keith, which is bittersweet.She comes over to visit as often as she can and loves playing with the kids;specifically, she loves taking the kids to the park and going on little walkswith them. She’ll admit in private that she has a soft spot for Kaden – due tohow much he looks like Keith – but she loves each of her grandkids equally.

So, for each of the kids, Krolia goes on the harrowingsearch for more luxite mineral to get them each their own brand new blades.Amber and Kaden are the two who make the most use of theirs; Newt keeps his incase he gets himself in a hairy situation, and Aria keeps hers mounted in herroom for safe keeping.

In regards to Amber, she absolutely adores what a fiestylittle thing she is. She often remarks that Amber carries in her the fire ofthe ancients in her, remarking that she’ll certain accomplish great things inher future. Krolia is absolutely correct about this, but that’ll be somethingwe talk about in later posts. She always starts their little training sessionswith a small meditation session to help get Amber grounded, and this actuallybecomes something that Amber implements in her every day; especially onstressful days. Krolia enjoys teaching her how to properly use her luxite bladeand teaching her about what, exactly, being a successful Blade member entails.

She never admits that Amber wouldn’t be the best atespionage due to how short-tempered she is, but she still loves how enthralledAmber gets to hear her stories.

Kaden breaks her heart in some of the harder ways during hisinfant and toddler years, simply because watching him interact with the worldis a physical mirror to what it looked like with Keith at that age, and shemissed out on all of that. She admits this to Keith and Pidge, who both trytheir best to help comfort her. As Kaden gets older, he becomes equallyinterested in the lessons she does with Amber, so she starts training both ofthem. He’s also a bit more interested in their Galran heritage and the historyof the Blade; including how long their Galran family had been involved and ifthere were any relatives of notoriety. This leaves her absolutely thrilled andshe’ll often tell him about their long family-lineage of involvement.

Kaden actually writes a history paper discussing his great,great, great, great grandfather, Tulore, for class. He got a perfect mark andgave it to Krolia to keep when it was returned.

Her relationship with Newt is a bit strange at first butdevelops much better as he gets older. At first, Krolia sees him as a littlehellion since he’s almost always a shrieking little grouch, and is very meekabout engaging with him. Due to what occurred when he was born and his infantilepersonality, she thinks this means that he’s much more delicate than hissiblings were, and she worries a lot about hurting him. Once he starts to getolder and his tears transform into tricks, she sees how clever he is and findsit entertaining. Something about a child constantly outwitting his parents andsiblings is entertaining.

She’ll occasionally bring him materials from other planetsto help improve his pranks; taking the time to explain how he safely use it, ofcourse.

Aria is a bit of an odd duck when it comes to Krolia,specifically because of how drastically different she is from her siblings. Herbeing such a delicate little thing makes Krolia hyper-aware of how she is withher, but the fact that she’s the clingiest, most affectionate of her siblings?Oh, Krolia loves nothing more than getting to snuggle up with her littlegrandbabies. Additionally, small footnote, but Aria and Krolia share a distainfor the snow. Krolia lived her years on Earth in the desert and she tends toprefer warmer climates in general. During the wintery season, she’ll oftenhunker down in the house with Aria is the other kids want to go play in thesnow, sipping cocoa and playing with her inside.

She teaches Aria a lot of old Galran lullabies, as well asactually teaching her their language, too.

Sam and Colleen

For the Holts, the kids call them “Nanny” and “Pappy”.Sometimes they’ll use their names as well, but since they have different titlesfor their grandparents, it’s not always needed. When they do add the names,they’re “Nanny Collie” and “Pappy Sammy”.

Being grandparents was something Colleen and Samuel had beenhyped for the minute their kids got into serious committed relationships. They’rerespectful and understanding to the situation, of course, but there’s a secretbetting pool between them on which of their kids will yield grandkids first.Colleen loses because she bets on Matt and Shiro, banking on the fact she knewthe two of them had been having more active conversations about it than shethought Pidge and Keith were. Samuel banked on it being Pidge and Keith morebecause he’d noticed the subtle things; Pidge looking at baby clothes whenparoozing the mall, Keith making the throw-away comment about what kind ofthemes he think would be cute for a nursery, etc.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Colleen knits littlebaby blankets for all the little Kidgelings, using colors that arerepresentative of the respective season they were born in. Samuel also does alittle crafty thing for them; he makes little ceramic ornaments of the kidsfeet when each of them after they’re born.

So, Amber is probably just a little bit closer to Colleenthan Samuel, but it’s a very slim margin. As I’ve mentioned, she tends to helpKeith with tending to their garden and yard at home. When she goes over tovisit with the Holt’s, she loves seeing what latest new flower or vegetableNanny has introduced to her garden. During the summer, Amber will also drop inunannounced to help Colleen take care of pulling weeds and such, since sheknows it can be hard for her.

With Samuel, Amber explores an interest in space travel andwhat, exactly, that entails. Pidge and Keith will tell the kids stories abouttheir time as Paladins, but they don’t talk about the really difficult andfrightening missions, and they don’t necessarily encourage the kids to followin their footsteps. As she gets older, Amber is a bit more aware of herparents’ apprehension, so most of her interest is only ever explored underPappy’s watchful eye. He tells her about the things he’s seen, the ships he’spiloted and helped to build, and occasionally sneaks her onto the Garrison baseto fly simulators. Samuel keeps this all secret from Pidge and Keith, though,because he thinks they’d be terrified at just how skilled their daughter is.Amber never outright asks him to keep this under wraps, but she appreciatesthat he does.

Kaden’s naturally reserved demeanor leads him towards morequiet hobbies, but also ones that are a bit more hands-on. Much like withKeith, Kaden bonds with Samuel about making models, but with Samuel it’s moreclassic vehicle models such as old trains or boats. They’ll typically sit withsome soft music playing in the background, but as Kaden gets older they’lloccasionally have more conversations about whatever’s going on in their livesat the time. It’s mostly just pre-teen angst and post-retirement gossip, butit’s nice and Kaden enjoys it.

As for Colleen, she bonds with him over painting, actually!Kaden’s not very good at drawing with a pen or pencil, but he’s pretty good atdoing landscapes with paint. I like the idea that Colleen was a hobbyist whoused painting as a form of stress relief, and she ends up passing this on toKaden. She’ll show him all the little tips and tricks she’s figured out for herown, and he’s always happy to take her advice. Colleen likes to hang some ofher favorites of his paintings in her office at work and, upon retiring, shekeeps them hanging in the guest room of the house. It always makes Kaden superembarrassed but also super flattered by it.

So, Newt’s cheeky and mischievous nature make him prettygood at things that require a high level of trickery; this includes poker,which he’s taught by his Nanny. Colleen actually tries out a couple ofdifferent card games with him – War, Uno, Spoons,etc. – but poker ends up being the one that Newt enjoys the most. The kid justloves getting to be a sneaky little shit, and he’s incredibly skilled with hispoker face. Colleen takes him with her sometimes for her weekly poker gameswith her friends and he usually makes a killing in hard, caramel candies.

With Samuel, he enjoys playing more tactical, contemplativegames, such as Risk and Clue. Newt has inherited Pidge’sinquisitive nature, but also ends up developing a huge fascination withmysteries and scandals and such. He likes the idea of breaking down lies anddeceit used for malicious intentions, inheriting his Dad’s sense of morality.He may be a little shit who likes to prank and tease his family, but he’s alittle shit for Great Justice™. One time, for the fun of it, Samuel hide aplaque he received upon his retirement and pretended it got stolen for Newt toinvestigate. During his investigation, Newt uncovered that one of the Holt’sneighbor’s was involved in helping with human trafficking.

So, since Aria’s the family oddball, she ends up with someodd interests that she shares with her grandparents, too. With Sam, they bondover researching old, classic amusement park rides and innovations,interestingly enough. While Aria isn’t a big fan of mechanics or engineering,she finds the lore and developments of entertainment technology to beabsolutely fantasy, and I headcanon that Samuel was a total theme park fan boyin his younger years. They’ll watch videos and documentaries, and one time theyactually broke into an abandoned amusement park to take pictures and videos ofhow far dilapidated the place got.

With Colleen, they learn how to make special effects propstogether. One of the little troops Ari attends for her performances is short onstage hands, so Colleen volunteers to help, and sometimes the cast have to helptoo. Part of this requires masks and other such things, but because the Holt’srun under the mantra of “Go Big or Go Home”, they become super invested in thequality of their work. They watch tutorials, take classes, watch tons of Face Off on Sci-Fi, and, of course, learnfrom some level of trial and error. Ari’s group put on Beauty and the Beast once and they actually had to remake theBeast’s face piece because the mask was deemed too realistic and terrifying forthe grade schoolers that would be coming to see it. During Halloween, Ari andColleen also end up creating the scariest haunted house in the town with howrealistic they make the make-up look. Especially zombie-with-head-axe Amber,who is surprisingly dedicated to her role.

Shiro and Matt

Mkay, so, I’m not going to get into all my Shatt headcanonshere, but I will give a brief overview of their family and their relationshipswith the Kidgelings. So, I headcanon that Shiro and Matt have three kids; a setof twins – one boy and one girl – and a second daughter; names are Akihiko,Auryon and Hikari respectively. The twins are born in the gap between Amber andKaden, placing them about a year and a half younger than Amber and a year or soolder than Kaden, while Hikari is born the same year as Newt, but at the tailend of the year. The children are biologically Shiro and Matt’s, born throughwhatever means is most comfortable to the viewer. I’m sure Altean tech could beadvanced enough to allow this sort of thing, or one of them could be trans. Ipersonally love Trans!Character headcanons but that’s just me.

So anyway! We’ll start with Shiro, then Matt, and then I’lldo small notes about the relationship between the cousins.

I mentioned this in my last post and said I’d elaboratehere, so here we go! Amber talks with Shiro a lot about sexuality and thestruggles that come with it. Keith and Pidge are completely supportive of theirdaughter, and she’s fine talking with them, but sometimes she likes getting totalk to Shiro about it. I’ve always headcanoned that Shiro is someone who isincredibly comfortable in his own skin and simply saw his sexuality as oneother part that made him who he was, and never shied away from that. It’s thatconfidence in himself that makes him so easy to talk to for Amber.Additionally, Shiro being a bit more of a modest and well-spoken sort – whereUncle Matt is a bombastic disaster – makes him a bit easier to talk to aboutwhat’s going on in her head. They tend to gossip all the time and Shiro, who isattentive to those he cares about, always remembers the stories about herclassmates and crushes that she shares with him. Aside from those talks, Shiroalso bonds with her over helping her a bit with her classical literaturereadings for school, because she finds the classics dull but I think Shirowould really respect those pieces himself. He mostly just helps her by lettingher bounce thoughts off of him and give her some additionally insight to thedifferent ways the pieces art interpreted.

Keith appreciates the help, since sometimes Amber can be abit stubborn and ill-tempered when she struggles with her homework, and Shiro’sa bit more patient.

As for Kaden, Shiro helps him a lot with his training forthe teams he joins and doing workouts. Once the kids are a bit older andindependent, Keith is able to pick his workout schedule back up and Shiro tendsto go along with him. As Kaden starts getting interested in sports and, byproxy, starts taking how well he maintains his physical health more seriously,he starts asking questions about it. Keith knows a decent amount, but admitsthat most of what he knows is from Shiro helping him out, which causes him togo ask Uncle Shiro his questions. From there, Shiro offers to help Kaden figureout his schedule to help keep him in peak form for his teams and such. Sometimesthey’ll work out all three of them, but more times than not it’s just Shiro andKaden, since Keith tends to get busy doing other things with the other kidswhen they’re gonna do their workouts. From the workouts, Shiro eventually endsup helping Kaden out specifically with his training for baseball. Shiro sees itas a good way to keep himself active, as well as pass along his own knowledge.Sometimes, he and Matt’s son, Akihiko, will join them, too.

This helps Aki and Kaden bond as well, but I’ll talk moreabout that later.

Newt is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to hisrelationship with Shiro. Between Uncle Shiro and Uncle Matt, he’s mostcertainly closer with Matt, but Newt very much loves his Uncle Shiro and findsa unique way to bond and help him. Much like a majority of people like to talkabout, I like the idea of Shiro benefitting from having a service animal.However, I also see Shiro as being someone who doesn’t like the idea of lettinghis weakness show; because he didn’t want his illness to hold him back when hewas younger, because he had to be in charge both with Voltron and later theAtlas, and in more recent times because he has three little babies of his ownto look after. I plan to write a fic about this, but Newt finds out aboutShiro’s situation and starts looking into what it takes to train a dog to be aproper service animal. He ends up adopting a young pup from one of theirneighbors, with Keith and Pidge agreeing, and starts working with specialiststo get the little pooch trained up to help Shiro cope with panic attacks andnight terrors he gets on a somewhat regular basis.

Shiro is absolutely floored but also incredibly touched bythe gesture. He ends up naming the little pooch Leia.

With Shiro and Aria, they bond over something a bit on theodd side. So, this was a headcanon that was inspired by a talk with my oldersister that I absolutely fell in love with. Shiro is a huge fan of theprohibition era style; speakeasies, mobster/gangster organizations, the wholeshebang is just wildly fascinating to him. Aria herself has a soft spot for theaesthetic and the Big Band sounds of the time. And, since Shiro is a big fan ofthat time period, he has a huge collection of music from the time period. The twoof them bond over it. One year, for Halloween, he actually helped her make hervery own flapper costume from scratch.

So, what about good ole’ Uncle Matt?

Matt and Amber bond over space travel, much like she doeswith Sam but on a drastically different note. He talks a lot with her about theworlds he got to visit with the Rebels and what all he learned. He teaches hera lot about different cultures and customs, different strategic approaches theytake and the like, as well as how to read the stars in some of the othergalaxies he’s traversed to. He and Keith have a few serious conversations aboutit, as Keith is highly uncomfortable with his kids taking an interest in spaceexploration, but Matt continues to do it anyway. After the fifth or sixthconversation, he just gets better at lying about it.

As for Matt and Kaden, they bond over medical training andmedical shows. As I mentioned before, Kaden becomes fascinated by the work ofEMTs and medical professionals after he breaks his arm. Matt, through both the Garrisonand the Rebellion, has a pretty decent wealth of knowledge on the subject. Heteaches Kaden how to do CPR properly, how to make a short-term splint forbroken bones, and other such things. In regards to programs, they watch tons ofHouse, Untold Stories of the ER and Scrubs.With the drama shows, they mostly just make fun of how ludicrous it is, whilefocusing on the diagnostics. With the reality-based shows, they enjoy seeinghow the case develops and the ultimate outcome. Sometimes Auryon will jointhem, just to have something to do, but that’s incredibly infrequent.

Newt and Matt go together like peanut butter and chocolate,to say the least, and they have the most shared interests. The big one theyshare on, though, is a love for all things Star Wars and Star Trek themed; theshows, the comics, even a couple of podcasts that talk about the lore of eachrespective series in depth. Newt likes Star Trek a bit more than Star Wars –and he really likes Captain Picard – while Matt is the opposite – with a hugeaffinity for Han Solo – and they like to tease one another good-naturedly aboutit pretty often. Other than that, Matt is his biggest helper when preparingLeia to be a proper service dog for Shiro when he gets the idea and is the oneto first suggest it to Keith and Pidge.

Lastly, Uncle Matt and Aria bond about her cheerleading,interestingly enough. I like the idea that Matt, despite being a bit of stringbean, was on the cheer team in his high school years. Back then, he wasn’t verygood at helping with the flyer stunts, but as an adult who has lived throughfighting with a rebellion and being a Dad to three kids? He can most certainlylift up his petite little niece to practice her flyer routine. Aki joins thecheerleading squad as well, so he’ll help out sometimes, too. Additionally,Matt played the violin, so sometimes they’ll do duets together. They typicallypick pieces where the cello takes the lead, as he hasn’t really kept up withplaying over the years, but also because it’s good practice for her.

Now, as for how they bond with their cousins, the dynamicsare interesting, to say the least.

Aki gets along well with Kaden and Aria the best, gets alongdecently well with Newt, but actually butts heads a lot with Amber. Aki’s alittle bit of a rebel and tends to get himself into a lot of trouble, whichAmber often times tries to dissuade him away from. And, if he doesn’t listen,she tends to be the one to narc on him. As they get older, she’ll typically goalong and have Hikari, his sister, record his stupid stunts and show them offlater. Many times, she’ll end up using it as either blackmail or showing it tohis parents without showing it to him first. Her favorite was the time when hewent to a party, got drunk underage, and face-planted doing a keg stand. Asmentioned before, he bonds with Kaden and Ari over baseball and cheerleading,respectively. He’s a bit more of a physical activities kind of kid, with apassion for those kinds of things visible since he’s young. With Newt, they don’thave a whole lot in common, but Aki still looks after him because he’s hiscousin and is also a smol. Newt also occasionally helps him with his mathhomework, since he struggles a bit with his academics.

As for Auryon, she gets along pretty well with all of themequally. With Amber, they bond a lot over the ideas of space travel. WhileAuryon herself isn’t particularly interested in engaging with travelling, shedoes find the way the now-unified galaxy operates, and how the unification effectseach different planet within the Coalition, which leads to some interestingconversations between them. Auryon and Kaden bond over, interestingly enough,martial arts and hand-to-hand combat training. She admires Amber’s eagerness tofight to protect her friends so she decides she wants to learn as well. Sinceshe and Kaden are a bit closer in age, he tends to be her sparring partner moretimes than not. With Newt, they share a passion for animals. Auryon actually hastwo ferrets – named Boo and Radley – that she loves to pieces and Newt happilyjoins her with playing with them and has even helped her with cleaning up theircages every now and again. With Ari, they actually bond over learning foreignlanguages. Specifically, they both learn Italian together, but Auryon alsolearns how to speak Japanese. Sometimes, she’ll translate songs from Japaneseto English for Ari to do covers of for her YouTube channel.

Hikari, as opposed to her brother and sister, is an artistictype with a decent relationship with all her cousins. She and Amber have thebiggest rift between them, due to the moderate age gap, but they enjoy makingher brother miserable. Like most little sister’s, Kari lives for teasing her brother. So, when Amber offers her theperfect chances to do that? She’ll be there with a camcorder in a heartbeat. With Kaden, she recordshe and Auryon’s sparring sessions to use as reference for some of heranimations. Additionally, Kaden enjoys just talking with her about his lovelife. I won’t go into too much about it here, but she offers him significantlymore practical advice than his other source of information coughAlforcough. WithNewt, he’s pretty good for sound boarding her ideas off of. While he’s workingon this or that, or training the dogs, she’ll settle in and just kind oframble. If he thinks something is dumb or needs more thought, he’ll say asmuch, which she appreciates. She and Ari bond over the aforementioned YouTubechannel. She helps record and edit together the music videos that Arioccasionally makes for the songs that she performs, as well as handling thedirectorial responsibilities. She loves getting to have the experience andreally enjoys how she and the rest of their little group work together.

Hunk and Shay

Much like with Shiro and Matt, just a quick rundown of theGarrett family! Hunk and Shay had two children together; one son named Richterand one daughter named Morganite. Richter is a few months younger than Amberand Morganite is a few months younger than Newt. The reason for the huge agegap between to the two siblings is due to another headcanon of mine, in whichthe less similar two alien races are, the more difficult it is to reproducesuccessfully. Galra, Altean and humans are all somewhat similar in geneticmake-up, so it’s easier for them to conceive, but since Balmerans can bedrastically different based upon their environment. Due to this, while it’sclearly capable, it is a bit of a struggle. They’d been trying long before anyof the others to conceive Richter, and are delighted when he’s born. They weren’tactually trying to conceive Morganite and view her as a happy accident.

So, let’s talk about Uncle Hunk for a moment or two!

In regards to Amber, Hunk is actually appreciative of whatan abrasive personality she is. He knows that Richter tends to be on the morereserved side, which makes him an easy target for bullies, but she’s alwaysthere to protect him. As a sort of repayment for how good of a friend she is tohis son, he tries to help teach her how to cook and bake. Kaden ends up joiningin the little lessons, too, simply out of interest to learn how so he can helpout more at home. Amber’s downright awful at anything culinary-themed, but withHunk’s help she ends up getting decent. She can’t do anything particularlyfancy or extravagant, but she can make meals without burning down the kitchenand those meals taste well enough to not leave her paying homage to the porcelainGods.

Kaden actually ends up being a lot better than Amber, aswell as being a bit better at baking than cooking. He can make some of the mostbeautiful multiple-layer cakes out there. When the extra-curricular activitieshe participates in do fundraising bake sales, he always volunteers to help makeproduct for sale. A lot of the time, Hunk will help him as well. They alwaysend up making asinine amounts of baked goods, but they also end up selling allof it, so it never goes to waste.

With Hunk and Newt, he gets to work with him on his roboticsprojects and such. Newt and Morganite end up joining the robotics club andalways work together on the projects they’re completing. Team Punk often getsback together to help the pair out. Hunk takes the time to really explain thenecessary components to create an engine that’ll allow the robot to do whatthey intended purpose is, as well as occasionally smuggling themGarrison-issued supplies that they probably shouldn’t have access to. Do thejudges at the competition need to know that? Absolutely not. And Hunk wouldn’t breathea word of it, even if he was asked.

So, we all know that Hunk is ultimately the beacon of peaceand unity that the universe truly deserves. As Ari gets older, she seeks Hunkout for advice and suggestions on better ways to approach conflict-resolution.This is due to how some of her friends – outside of the other Palababus – like totalk smack instead of just dealing with disagreements in a more civil approach.While Ari can certainly understand that sometimes being a little petty can helppeople get over things, when the problems start causing rifts and involvingmore members of their group, she feels the need to intervene. Hunk, who wasalways the Voice of Reason on Team Voltron, he can sympathize with her. Whilehe didn’t have to deal with too much of that, he knows how it can be whenothers are using little things as an excuse to be mad and cause furthertrouble.

I see Shay as being a very affectionate and doting mother,and that extends to all the children of their friends as well. I really lovethe idea that Shay, Allura and Romelle get super invested in trashy daytime televisionprograms like Maury and Jerry Springer and such. There’s even spaceversions where different alien species go on and the trio love to watch andcommentate. The Allurance kids find the shows the most interesting, thoughthere is a level of entertainment in it for Morganite, Newt and Ari as well. Richter,Amber and Kaden tend to spend more time with her learning about the legends ofthe Balmera of crystals and how to distinguish which types of crystal are goodfor what purposes.

Richter gets along best with Amber and Kaden, and sees Kadenas a pseudo-little brother. The three of them grow up running in the samecircle and, even as they get older, remain close. When Amber’s still reallyyoung and bad at controlling her temper, Richter’s the best at getting her tocalm down. He’s also the one who deals with the petty squabbles between she andAlfor the most often. When the kids play pretend, they take it very seriously.Richter’s really good at constructing stuff out of cardboard and buildingblocks, so when they have tons of play-props that he and Kaden have built and coloredtogether.

Last note, he’s a pretty big boy who certain could defend himself, but he’s just agentle giant. There’s something really cute and funny about this really big,sweet guy being protected by these smol little firecrackers.

Now, Morganite is closer with Newt and Aria; especially sowith Newt. As I’ve mentioned, Newt’s a bit stand-offish with other people, butshe sees beyond all that to what a sweetheart he actually is. At one point, he thinksthat she’s only his friend because their parents are friends, but he realizesthat she genuinely does like him. This allows their friendship to develop evenfurther and the two of them to actually focus on the many things they have incommon. Consider them to be Team Punk Version 2.0. Lastly, I mentioned this inmy last headcanon post, but Morganite is really talented at making jewelry andother accessories. She teaches Ari how to make them, as well as helping herfigure out which accessories are best for this or that situation.

Lance and Allura

Let’s get the little notes about the McClain-Altean Heirs outof the way first! Lance and Allura end up having five kids; Alfor, Raya,Coriander, Paige and Anthony. Alfor and Raya are each a few months younger thanAmber and Kaden respectively, Coriander and Paige are a few months older thanNewt and Aria respectively, and Anthony is about two years younger than Aria. Ioriginally planned for them to have six kids, but decided to cut Anthony’s twinbrother, Ben, from the equation simply due to the fact it felt like too manykids. Additionally, since I started this before season 8 dropped, this isn’tnecessarily compliant with that; though, admittedly, it could easily just be aslight deviation where Allura saves the universe without having to sacrificeherself. But I think that we’re all mostly in agreement that that who spiel wasa little lacking, yeah?

Anyway, let’s get in to it!

I can’t talk about Lance and Amber’s relationship nearly asmuch as I want to. Initially, while Lance doesn’t hate her, he does get a bitmiffed by how she and Alfor always seem to be at odds with one another. As thekids get older, though, Lance starts to see a bit of his own struggles in Amberand becomes a pretty good source of reassurance for her. Amber clearly wants tobe someone who does great things for others, like her parents, but is unsure ifshe’ll ever have her chance to. She also worries that her abrasive personalitywould prevent her from being a very good source of comfort, even if she did getinvolved in any kind of work like that. Lance is able to help reassure herthat, so long as she’s willing to work hard and dedicate herself, she’ll beable to accomplish her goals.

Kaden goes in a bit of different direction than his sister;Kaden’s leaning towards being reserved but typically pretty polite, Lance hasno problem with him. He isn’t as aggressive as Amber can be in his issues withAlfor or Raya, and even when they do, the most that ever happens in the way ofphysicality is knocked over drinks or water fights. In regards to bonding,Lance actually offers him little tips and tricks to help him with his drivingduring his soap box races. I like the idea that Lance liked go-cart racing inhis youth so he knows a little bit about how to maneuver a smaller vehicle.Keith greatly appreciates this, as his own experiences prior to meeting Shiroand attending the Garrison is limited.

Lance actually teaches Newt a lot about farm animals. It’skind of implied by how Lance knew how to deal with Kaltenecker, and is apopular headcanon that I’m fond of, but I like the idea that he came from afamily in which his mother was a successful business owner and his father rantheir successful farm. As such, growing up, Lance had a lot of first-handexperience with the ins and outs of how to care for barnyard animals. Newtlatches on to him so he can learn all that he can about cows, horses, chickens,goats, and any other animals. While Lance doesn’t actively work on the farm anymore – what with now being one of the ruling monarchs of New Altea/ living alife as a Garrison recruiter on Earth – he has a lot of fond memories of hisexperiences caring for animals, as well as finding Newt’s passion to beendearing. He specifically regales him with the tales of his favorite animalthey ever owned, a goat named Hoppie, who would scream at you when he wanted atreat and had a bad habit of hopping fences; including a hilarious time hejumped into the pig’s pen and got coated in mud.

As for Ari, he probably likes her the best, simply becauseshe tends to be around the most due to her friendship with his daughters. Whenthey have sleepovers, he’ll often be brought in to help with braiding hair,doing facials, painting nails, etc. He also occasionally helps out with thechoreography, costuming and music for Ari’s YouTube videos; specifically, withthe music, he’ll help with the balancing of the audio and occasionally offerback-up vocals. We’ve already seen how well Lance can… Put on a show, to put itlightly, so he’s got a lot of creative ideas to help Ari catch attention. Pidgeis the one who tends to step in and rein him in if she thinks his ideas aregetting a little too salacious.

Now, what about our favorite Altean royal?

Allura gets along with Amber a bit better that Lance does,simply by virtue of seeing that her son needs someone to call him out. Sheloves her son to pieces – he is her first born and her baby in general – but sheacknowledges that he has inherited his father’s ego from their youth, whichmeans he needs to occasionally be reminded that he isn’t the greatest thingever. She doesn’t always agree with how she goes about it, and is happy tovoice her opinion, but also finds Amber’s interest and skill with fighting tobe admirable. She helps to teach her some Altean combat moves, along with herteaching them to her own kids as well, and admires what a quick study she is.

Now, her and Kaden actually bond over something kind ofinteresting; superhero comic books. Of all the Earth literature that she checksout, I think that Allura would find comics to be incredibly interesting. Thestories, the characters, the situations that cause them to gain their powers,all of it just kind of amuses her; both the campy stuff and the more seriousstuff. This hobby of hers is one that she ends up getting to spend a lot oftime bonding with Anthony, she and Lance’s youngest son, as well as Kaden.Kaden’s favorite characters end up being Spiderman, because he’s super smartbut super snarky, and Captain America, because he’s so moral. Allura’sfavorites are Thor – which is shared between she and Anthony – and Storm. Oneyear for Halloween, actually, the three of them all dressed up as their faveswhen they went trick-or-treating.

Newt, being intelligent and having some interests similar tohis Mama, talks with Allura a lot about how, exactly, she developed Shiro’sprosthetic, as well as how the Castle Ship worked. He also talks with Coranabout this, but he likes to talk with Allura about it a bit more since she wasthe one who made the ship able to jump through wormholes. He’s absolutelyfascinated by the idea of technology and magic being melded together to theextent that it was with the Alteans. Due to his lack of Altean heritage, he can’tdo anything involving alchemy, but he still finds the practice to be absolutelyfascinating and loves listening to Allura talk about everything she’s learnedfor hours on end. Additionally, Alfor is the only one of the Allurance babiesthat inherits any Altean alchemic ability, so Newt will often sit in whenAllura’s working with him just to see how, exactly, it’s done.

Much as I mentioned before, Ari in the Kidgeling thatprobably spends the most time around the Allurance babies because she gets alongso well with the girls. Much like with Lance, she’ll join in for slumberparties, but she also likes to take the girls out for mani-pedis. Pidge enjoysoccasionally going out for pampering, but she’s not nearly as big into thatstuff as Aria is, and Allura is always more than happy to bring Aria along.Pidge is grateful because she wants Ari to be able to enjoy herself in herinterests. This is also good for Allura, as she sees her friends and their kidsas her family, and loves getting to spend time with all of them. Allura is alsothe one that takes the girls clothes shopping at the start of each new schoolyear, since Pidge loathes having togo shopping.

Alfor and Amber’s relationship is completely complicated.They absolutely love each other and will shank someone for bad-mouthing them,but they’d also happily roast each other until they’re a well-barbequed chickenthigh. As kids, they constantly bicker and butt heads because they’re bothincredibly stubborn and have huge egos, but as they get older and become moretempered, they’re more like caddy frenemies. There is a point where theirfriendship almost implodes on itself, but that’s something I intend to touch upon my final headcanon post coming out soon. Alfor gets along pretty well withKaden and Newt, as well. With Kaden, he takes on an older brother role andoften tries to help give him love advice, because he considers himself to be areal Casanova like his Daddy even though he’s never asked out Akihiko,who he has a HUGE crush on. With Newt, he actually really likes how hesits and watches his alchemy training. Newt will take notes and, through thesenotes, Alfor can often figure out what he was getting wrong when he’sstruggling. Alfor likes Ari, but he sees her more as his sister’s friend, so hedoesn’t really hang out with her much.

Raya is the Queen Bee of the little Girl Gang that is formedby the Palababus. While she and Amber don’t really spend a lot of time hangingout in their youth, there’s a sense of mutual respect for one another, and theydo become closer as they get older and get to know one another better. In theiryounger years, she always tries to include Amber in their activities, butnormally the older girl isn’t too terribly interested. Raya and Kaden havedrastically different interests and tend to not get along at all – due to Rayahaving a “little princess” personality and Kaden finding this annoying – thoughthey do grow to admire one another and become significantly closer during theirlate teens, as mentioned before. She and Newt don’t really talk much; shethinks he’s kind of weird and he thinks she’s a spoiled brat. Aria is theKidgeling she gets along with the best and, as I’ve mentioned before, looksafter her just as much as she does her own sisters. She helps Aria with herYouTube music videos, as well as helping her work on her cheerleading routinesand preparing for try-outs.

Coriander, much like her older sister, isn’t very close toAmber but has some respect for the older girl; though, admittedly, she thinksAmber can go a little overboard when she sticks her nose into a fight. It mightbe a little bit of a crush, but she never acts or speaks of it to anyone, andit fades relatively quickly. She also respects Kaden a lot, given hisreputation of being the Bullier of the Bullies, but is also a bit intimidatedby him. Due to her own tendency towards being a sociable and outgoing character,she finds Kaden’s quiet personality to be a bit unnerving. With Newt, she goes tohim and Morganite for some help with her academics, as she struggles a bit withscience and geography classes. Lastly, as I know I’ve mentioned multiple timesnow, but Ari gets along best with the Allurance girls. Since Cori is such asocial, outgoing girl who likes the spotlight, she ends up becoming a hugetheater kid. She’s not the best at musicals but she loves getting to do regularshows, and Ari always helps her with her lines. In return, when they domusicals, she helps push Ari to audition, as well as practice her songs/ linesonce she gets cast.

So now we get to the youngest little lady, Paige! Unlike hersiblings, she lacks the outgoing personality. She’s really sweet and friendlywith her friends, sure, and she gets along well enough with others, but she isn’tquite as interested in expanding her social circle like they are. She’s notreally passionate about it, but she does join the swim and volleyball. Herinterest in volleyball isn’t particularly big – most just doing it because sheknows how helpful extracurriculars are for college applications and such – but Amberstill helps her get ready for the team tryouts. She’s grateful for this,especially since Amber doesn’t once chide her for signing up for something justby virtue of being signed up for something. Paige is ambivalent to both theboys, though she does think that Newt’s fascination with Altean alchemy isweird. She really enjoys writing poems and actually goes to Kaden for hisopinion, since he’s the bluntest and most straight-forward person she knows, soshe knows his criticisms will always be his honest opinion. She has a huge softspot in her for cheesy romantic comedies – even the ones with awful writing –and she’ll happily marathon them with Ari. Sometimes the two of them just enjoygetting settled in nice and comfy and having themselves a squeal-fest.

Last, but certainly not least, is little Anthony! Anthony isan absolute Momma’s boy who talks a big game but will back down pretty quickwhen he knows he’s about to get smacked down. Due to how much younger than theother kids he is, he doesn’t really know Amber and Kaden all that well; mostlyjust knows what the kids say about them. At one point, after finding out he’sbeen dealing with some jerks at school, Amber outright tells him to just useher and Kaden as a threat to any potential bullies, and he actually does and itseems like enough to dissuade them from pestering him too much more. He ends upactually joining the local scout’s troop and goes to Newt for helpful tips onwhat to expect from the wildlife they encounter. Through this, he grows toreally admire how much care and effort Newt puts into learning about the thingshe’s interested in, and decides to do the same. He gets really passionate aboutdoing little magic tricks and slight-of-hand things. Aria ends up agreeing tobe his partner when he participates in shows and charity events and such. Also,instead of pulling a rabbit from his hat, Auryon will occasionally let himborrow Boo and Radley and he pulls them from the hat.

Coran

Now, I see Coran as being significantly more invested in theAllurance babies, simply by virtue of him Palababus, too. These last few willprobably be a bit on the short side, but I hope it’ll still be good!

Coran loves getting to tell the children about everything hedid and saw throughout his many years of travel. He’ll often regale them with thetales of shenanigans that their parents, as well as the OG Team Voltron, got upto. Does he occasionally embellish the stories to make their parents seem alittle more imposing? Maybe. But the kids don’t even care and the parent’s coughLancecoughappreciate being seen as total badasses by their kids. Additionally, he teachesthem how to do all the strange, alien-animal calls that he knows just for thefun of it. None of the parents thank him for this; especially not Pidge andKeith, who end up getting the worst of it because of how much Newt loves making the strange noises.

Additionally, he ends up hitting it off particularly wellwith two of the Palababus through offering them more insights in to Voltron andhow the Lions work, but, again… Subject for later! ;3c

Romelle

She ends up becoming super in to video games and Eaeth boardgames; specifically I think she’d be really in to Sorry!, Monopoly and anyRPG games she can get her hands on. Her being into games makes her a favoritewith Kaden and Newt, who loves having little gaming tournaments. She’s kickedtheir tales at literally every game they have but they still enjoy getting toplay with her. She also loves teaching them the different games they playedback on the colony when she was a child. She teaches Amber some meditationtechniques to help her calm down and help rein in some of her violenttendencies. She also teaches Aria how to play some Altean instruments,including a strange tuba-accordian hybrid.

Additionally, she tells them cautionary tales about her lifeback on the colony and lies they believed about Lotor. The kids are aware thatLotor was a bad guy, but they don’t know the extent of it. She saves thosestories until they’re a little older, just to avoid causing them nightmares,but they take what she says to heart.

Kolivan

So, I have a lot of headcanons about Kolivan that I won’t begoing into great detail about right now, but I will state I think he has atleast one child of his own, but they have an estranged relationship. Betweenthis and how close he is with Keith and Krolia, when he opts to retire fromactive Blade assignments, he ends up settling on Earth and taking up Grandpa Privilegeswith the Kidgelings.

Much like with Krolia, he helps teach Amber and Kaden aboutself-defense techniques and other such things. He decides pretty early on thathe likes how the two contrast but complement one another, what with Amber beingan enthusiastic little spitfire and Kaden being a sneaky little tactician. Theymake for a good team and he can see that the two of them have greatness laidbefore them. With Newt, he really enjoys listening to him go on his ramblesabout the tech he’s working on; specifically, he likes when he goes on hisrambles about the prosthetic limbs he wants to develop for humans and animalswith missing limbs. He thinks it’s really cute how this snarky little bratactually has a very soft and compassionate heart underneath it all. With Aria,he really loves letting her play with his hair. Since it’s so long, she’ll sitfor hours and comb it out and then restyle it. Sometimes she does simplebraids, or twists it into a bun, or even busts out her curling iron and leaveshim with a cluster of bouncy silver curls. Sometimes they’ll talk while shedoes, and other times she’ll just put on music and they’ll let the quiet musicfill in the peaceful space.

Slav

Slav is literally only here for one hilarious footnote.

One week, for show-and-tell, Aria actually smuggled Slav toschool with her. At lunch, she swapped candies and lunch tray desserts forreadings of their possible futures from the alien genius. This led to a bunchof the children going in to complete panic and the school hadto call in Pidgeand Keith.

They’re both impressed with the fact their daughter managedto sneak Slav to school, as well as how she managed to carry around a backpackwith him inside for the entire day.

[cacophony-eg]

I know your OT3 is Allura/Pidge/Lotor but could you maybe do a little dabble with Pallura? Please, It would be really nice to have some Pallura fluff right now, maybe something about their time in the hospital at the end of season 7?

(Sure this sounds cute)

Allura walked through the drab white walls of the hospital. Her feet practically on autopilot towards Pidge’s room after spending an earth Movement in this place, ever since the second quintant in the place they allowed her to visit the other paladins during the days. Thanks to her biology she was healing faster than most of her fellow paladins.

So every day she always made sure to spend time with Pidge; Allura was more than familiar with how hard it could be to get Pidge to rest and still for any length of time, and do so without Pidge sitting on a computer or fiddling, breaking apart or putting together some kind of device or another. The staff was practically encouraging Allura to spend time with the overactive tech genius, Allura seeming to be the only one that knew how to make the girl rest and relax for any decent amount of time.  

Allura also knew the greatest Danger to Pidge’s health next to the Galra empire and Haggar’s creations were the short girls own boredom. Back in the castle of lions, Allura had stumbled upon one of the only sure-fire ways to keep the green paladin resting, during the early stages of their unspoken… relationship.

Allura knocked on Pidge’s door, pausing as she heard some strange ruffling of sheets, followed by scratching and scrambling against the tiles floor, that very much didn’t sound like Pidge’s footstep. The animalistic rumble followed by a high pitch burst of noise on the other side of the door made Allura practically jump away from the door instinctively sliding into a fighting pose, ready for the unknown creature to come busting through.  

“It’s okay Allura, Bea Bea’s just excited” Pidge called from the other side, the genuine amusement in her voice wasn’t hidden in the least.

Allura took a moment to straighten herself before slowly opened the door, greeted with the medium-sized canine of the holt families, patiently waiting on the other side wagging its tail as it stared up at her expectedly.

“Pet her or she’s going to think she did something wrong,” Pidge said, mirth shining in her eyes, and lingering in her smirk.  

Allura looked between Pidge and the dog, reluctantly bending down and petting the creature twice on the head that just made the animals tail wage faster.

“How did you know it was me?” The taller women questioned as she stood back up and approached the bed.

“You yelped” the shorter girl replied, her smirk only growing with amusement.

“I did not” Allura defended, only causing Pidge to laugh.

The princess blushed and avoid eye contact with the other women as her arms slide under the green paladin’s frame, lifting Pidge with ease. Allura carefully began moving them around so she could sit on the bed with her back against the propped up top and Pidge nestled on her lap, with her fluffy mess of golden brown of hair resting on her chest.

Pidge claimed her chest made a great pillow during one of their first times cuddling and it had become a habit to have her head rest thair ever since.

Allura jerking her feet closer to them as an unexpected fuzzy guest joined them on the bed laying down near their feet.

“Relax Allura Bea Bea’s super sweet” Pidge assured, rubbing the dog’s side with her unbandaged foot through the blanket that now covered them.

Allura noticed the pup stayed mostly on the side with Pidge’s good foot, so guess the dog had some intelligence and consideration for others but she still preferred mice.

“I thought Bea Bea only came here when your family was around,” Allura questioned wrapping her arms around the shorter women’s waist holding her snuggly against her body.

“Yeah, usually…” Pidge slowly nodded, the lack of elaboration had Allura a little worried wondering what Pidge was holding back. “I couldn’t sleep last night… my mind wouldn’t stop, so Matt got permission to bring Bea Bea in so I wouldn’t be alone” she explained.

“Why…” why hadn’t Pidge asked her to keep her company last night, Allura wanted to ask but was worried what the answer might be. They hadn’t had much time alone since they defeated Lotor, and she rather not think about the complicated time before that when Lotor was leaking into their relationship, the two of them growing attachment to him, easing him into their undefined relationship only for him to….

“Allura?” Pidge questioned quietly, feeling the princess’ arms tighten around her waist.

Allura brought herself back to the moment, shaking away her previous thoughts, her long fingers caressing Pidge’s side to ease Pidge’s worry and ground herself “I was wondering why you didn’t ask me?”

“Oh-” Pidge replied softly humming, the hum always a signal that Pidge wasn’t finished and was just thinking. Allura had accumulated and memorized a library of little gestures the green paladins expressed. Pidge was just so expressive, the princess was almost jealous of having so much emotional freedom, having no need to hide them outside of battle.  

“It was because they were mostly about you” Pidge admitted, holding onto Allura’s arms as if she was worried the taller women would pull away. “Yesterday afternoon when my family was visiting my mom talked about getting a Family photo, one that included Matt’s Girlfriend, N-7.”

Allura remained silent, resting her cheek lightly against the top of the smaller women’s head not sure where this was leading; was Pidge afraid Colleen would find out about their… attachment to each other or did this ‘family photo’ had a special meaning in their culture she didn’t understand, or- Pidge was shaking.

Allura softly kissed the top of the other woman’s head, her lips brushing over her soft hair. Her long fingers gently rubbing small circles against her side and up over the top of her hip, trying to ease Pidge’s nerves.  

“Would you be okay for me to introduce you to my family… as my girlfriend?” Pidge asked keeping her eyes staring down at her lap.

Allura chest felt like it would burst with a warmth that suddenly flooded into her, she understood enough about earth culture to know this was a significant step in their relationship. To finally have a defined title to what they had, instead of letting it stay lingering in the air, not  and on top of that, for Pidge’s request to bring their relationship out, past just their fellow paladin’s knowing, for her family to know was surely a sign that Pidge had every intention for them to stay together for more than comfort during these trying times of war.

The lack of reply made Pidge curl into herself “I know you’re so important to the universe and I understand if you want to keep yourself free for political reasons-”

“No Pidge, stop” Allura fumbled out her words hugging the smaller women tightly, her heart hammering in her chest swearing she could also feel Pidge’s heart through the green paladin’s back.

“I would be honoured to be called your girlfriend, to be introduced to your family as such” Allura assured placing a kiss on the shorters girls head than another on her cheek “I just hope your brother isn’t too shocked from the revolution”

Pidge’s body shook with laughed, any tenseness for before washing away with her giggles.

“I think he will just be proud one holt sibling managed to date the altean princess’ “ Pidge replied twisting in Allura’s hold to better face the taller women.

“Date?” Allura questioned, puzzled over the word, “as in the little fruit” She had tried her best to understand as much as she could about Earth.

Pidge smiled and lightly shook her head “no, it’s just human term that means we’re in an official courtship with each other” Pidge tried to explain, trying to convert the term to the Altean equivocate.Allura smiled raising a hand to gently cup Pidge’s soft cheek, “I felt we have been doing so for some time now” she replied.

Pidge blushed her eyes widening some, quickly nodding in agreement “I was just never sure and was scared what would happen if asked, it was easier to just hope for the best than getting the answer…and learning I was delusional” The smaller women sighed leaning into the Princesses.

“Prephaps communication; the verbal kind, is something we should work on in the future” Allura suggested, her thumb gently caressing Pidge’s cheek, leaning down, their lips softly pressing against each other. It was far from their first kiss together, but it was the first as official girlfriends and felt all the more special just for that. The princess would have lingered in the kiss for as long as possible but pulled away hearing a large squeak and squawk.

Allura pulling away from the kiss looking down at Bea Bea unaware the pup could make such a sound.

“Heh looks like we don’t have to tell Matt,” Pidge said, with a nervous smile, Allura fallowing the shorter women’s gaze and saw Matt standing in the doorway frozen looking as if his mind had crashed and needed time to reboot.

“Well, he should know better to knock before entering a ladies room” Allura replied with a huff, Pidge softly laughing, leaning against the princess.

Matt’s girlfriend standing behind him rubbing his back trying to bring him back to reality.

(Sorry couldn’t help but sneak a little of my OT3 in, but I hope you liked it.)If you can, please help keep my creative juices flowing with Ko-fi!: ko-fi.com/cacophonyeg

[squeeprojectsllc]

Tickets on sale NOW for premiere screening and party of the Joe Lansdale documentary All Hail the Popcorn King at the Alamo Draft House, Austin. Sunday August 18th 1-4PM with Guests of Honor Joe Lansdale and his family.

About this Event

Join us at the Alamo Draft House in Austin for the premiere screening of the new documentary All Hail the Popcorn King on the life and work of Joe R Lansdale followed by a celebration with special guests Joe R , Karen, Kasey & Keith Lansdale and Brian Keene.

From Bubba Ho-Tep to Hap and Leonard and for all of the fans that have followed along throughout Joe R Lansdale's storied career, All Hail The Popcorn King the documentary is something of a monument.

This is a film that we can all get excited about!

Joe's unique voice has spanned multiple genres and been adapted for film and TV. He has supported and collaborated with generations of writers, filmmakers and fans. Our film celebrates his contributions to Pop Culture through interviews with his many colleagues, fans and collaborators.

The interview line-up looks like the invitation list to the All-Time Genre Luminaries Conference, and it includes:

* Bruce Campbell

* F Paul Wilson

* Mick Garris

* David J Schow

* Chet Williamson

* Keith, Kasey & Karen & Pamela Lansdale

* Brian Keene

* Judy Pancoast

* Jeani Rector

* Austin Holt

* Del Howison

* Yuri Lowenthal

* Andy Rausch

* Chuck Wiser

* Matt Venne

* Seba Pezzani

* Nick Damici

* Joe Hill

*James Purefoy

*Amber Benson

*Don Coscarelli

*Rick Klaw

*Christopher Moore

*Chad Lutzke

*ER Bills

*Susan Leighton

*Ann Collins Smith

Joe himself has collaborated with our team on this documentary, and he has generously granted us access to invaluable interviews and materials from his private collection.

The screening and celebration will be held at the Alamo Draft House, Slaughter Lane, Austin August 18th 2019 1-4 PM. Joe and his family will be there to chat with guests.

[ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender]

Mario Comes In Handy Sometimes

read it on the AO3 at Mario Comes In Handy Sometimes

by Meghan8awesome

Matt and Lance are special guests at their local convention and excited to see each other, the thing is they've never met in real life before.

This might be the right castle?

Words: 2040, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of LatteWeek2k19

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Matt Holt, Lance (Voltron), Ryan Kinkade, Pidge mention

Relationships: Matt Holt/Lance

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Matt and Lance are streamers, It's their first con guys, These boys are cute as hell, Baebae is a ninja, Mario may have had a hand in this madness, Marriage Proposal, Cause who am I if there isn't a proposal, Bad Flirting, Latte Week 2019

read it on the AO3 at Mario Comes In Handy Sometimes

[sp4c3-0ddity]

Water Rescue: Part Two

i return with a sequel!! but first, please direct your attention to the plance mage-and-familiar AU initially envisioned by @rueitae here and here. read, reblog, and rejoice!!

and now that you’re (re)acquainted with the AU...here’s the second part of my take on Pidge’s and Lance’s meeting and [eventual] ‘bonding’, that’s also over twice as long (~8000 words) as the first part whoops. also heavily featuring the Holts and the other Paladins and i’m saving Allura and Coran for Part Three so fear not for them. i hope you enjoy magical shenanigans and cheesy worldbuilding!! <3

Read Part One

Edit:  there’s now a Part Three and an ao3 link

Pidge entered her hometown around sunset, right as mages specializing in fire started igniting the lamps that lined the streets. Shadows bent in odd shapes around the corners of buildings, but despite the time the roads didn’t empty, many people still going about their business.

The leftover tomatoes in a nearby grocer’s stall called to her, and from the words they spoke Pidge knew they grew too ripe. They sought the ground, to either sprout into vines and yield fruit of their own, or to decompose while their matter became a part of something else.

They reeked of the exhaustion that came before rot.

Pidge drifted towards them without thinking about it, already reaching into her money pouch for a few coins. “How much for all your tomatoes?” she asked the grocer.

He had his back to her when she spoke, so turned and regarded her with a frown. “What’re you going to do with all these tomatoes when they’re about to rot, girl?”

“Chop them into salad,” Pidge said, shrugging.

(She might as well save a few to give to her mother.)

The man stared at her, then shrugged and said, “If you take all of them off my hands, you can take them at half price.”

Pidge grinned, though after the grocer finished unloading his stall and left, she realized she had three heavy wooden crates of soft tomatoes and only two thin arms with which to carry them. She sighed and sat on top of a crate, her limbs heavy after traveling and her feet sore.

She tapped her fingertips against the wood, considering that it was unlikely crates of overripe tomatoes would be stolen if she left them unaccompanied. But before she could rush home to retrieve her brother to help her, a sudden and familiar voice startled her.

“I didn’t know you were coming to town, Pidge.”

She stood, wincing when her boot rubbed a blister on her ankle, and faced the perfect person for the task she needed done. “Hunk,” she said, smiling at him and offering a wave. “How’s everything at the shop?”

Hunk scratched at a stubbly chin. “Same as usual,” he said. “Shiro’s on a voyage now, so I have Keith staying with me.”

“That’s great,” Pidge said. “I haven’t seen him in a while either.” She propped her elbow on the topmost crate, leaning against them. “I’m here visiting my family, so—”

“Need help with those?” Hunk nodded towards the crates, then frowned. “You came on foot?”

“I’d rather walk than ride,” she admitted, wiggling her toes in her worn boots. And maybe fly too…

She shook the errant thought from her head, then said, “I can carry one.”

“I’ll get the other two,” Hunk said.

Pidge blinked at him, surprised. “Really? Two isn’t too heavy?”

Hunk smiled. “Pidge,” he said, “I’m a bear.”

Pidge bit her lip and sheepishly muttered, “Right…” She stepped away from the crates and lifted the top one, staggering backwards a few steps under its weight.

“Impressive,” Hunk said…as he bent down and picked up both of the other crates as if they weighed as much as the air that surrounded them.

Pidge scowled at him, already feeling the crate start sliding from her fingers, but led the way to her house.

At least for the first few seconds of the walk. Hunk’s longer stride quickly overtook hers, as comfortably as he carried two tomato-filled crates. He easily probed her with questions - about how she was doing by the lake, about any experiments of hers on the flora, about what the village was like and if she had plans for midsummer - while she struggled to answer, the single crate in her arms proving more burdensome than she’d hoped.

By the time they arrived at her family’s house - the very dwelling she grew up in - Pidge’s arms and legs trembled with the effort. The crate slipped out of her fingers, and she sucked in a grateful breath right as the door flew open.

“So you finally decided to grace us with your presence again, Pidge?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, but a smile pushed at her cheeks as she rushed up the walkway and threw herself at Matt.

He caught her against him, and then with her feet dangling spun her in a circle while she laughed. She felt light and warm, like a little girl she was just a short time ago all over again.

Matt set her down after a few circuits, so Pidge asked, “What’s keeping you from leaving?”

Apparently the lightness in her head affected her ability to speak tactfully.

Her brother’s smile faltered, but while Pidge held her breath and waited for an answer in the form of a reprimand, he glanced past her and called out, “Oh, you’re here for a visit too, Hunk?”

She exhaled in relief and turned to follow Matt’s gaze.

Hunk still stood at the end of the walkway beside the crate she’d dropped, the other two balanced on top of it. His hand was raised in greeting, and the light spilling out of the open doorway glinted oddly against his brown eyes. “I mean, I did just carry two crates full of tomatoes for Pidge, so I wouldn’t say no to at least a meal.” He grinned at Pidge.

She rolled her eyes and gestured for him to follow her up the walkway. “As long as you don’t expect me to do any cooking after traveling and doing heavy-lifting,” she said.

Matt turned to head back into the house - perhaps to warn their mother of the extra guest - but then he paused and looked over his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “Tomatoes?”

Pidge laughed and, suddenly feeling sheepish about her impulsive purchase, tugged at a loose thread on the end of her coat. “Overripe too,” she admitted.

Matt crossed his arms, then chuckled and observed, “Guess living so far away hasn’t changed you at all.”

As predicted, Pidge’s mother found a use for a whole crate of the tomatoes. Between sauces and preserves, she didn’t doubt that her father and brother would grow sick of the fruit within the next few days.

The other two crates were Pidge’s to play with, and after supper she invaded - with permission - her mother’s garden and set to work.

This late in the growing season most of the plants wilted, their leaves yellowed and brown. The ones that survived winters withdrew for hibernation, their life essence already buried so deep into their core that Pidge couldn’t detect it unless she focused. 

A weaker mage than she would think most of the garden dead, but without reaching out to the life hidden away, Pidge could still be fooled into thinking the same.

But when she closed her eyes, she sensed the roots still breathing and feeding under the soil, different systems intertwined and sharing nutrients. They all spoke to each other in their own simple language, one Pidge was only just beginning to understand.

In the city, it was weaker and quieter, and beyond her family there was no warm embrace of life to greet her despite the crowds. It was why she left to cultivate her craft, and why she was willing to endure one kind of loneliness to avoid another.

Besides, as she constantly reminded her parents and brother, she couldn’t write to the network of life that thrived without humanity like she could to them.

Pidge dug shallow scoops into the earth, placing a single sliced tomato in each one. Either a plant would sprout and bear fruit to feed her family or the fruit would decompose and feed the rest of the garden.

She worked silently and by the light of a lantern hanging from a nail driven into the back wall of the house. Candlelight also spilled from the window of the attached potions shop her parents owned, her father there filling orders he didn’t get around to during the day.

Pidge had offered to help when he stood up after dinner, unable to help noticing that his limp grew more pronounced every time she visited, but he’d smiled, patting her shoulder, and told her to relax and enjoy her tomatoes.

Her father retired comfortably from the military after a magic mishap when Pidge was still a small child, so the potions he and her mother mixed and sold served as more of a hobby than a livelihood thanks to the income the crown provided him for his service. But their lifestyle kept them busy, and if they hadn’t been able to spare her support here, Pidge would’ve been stuck in the city, the cultivation of her abilities be damned.

Pidge hissed at a sudden, sharp pain in her hand. She shook herself from the reverie she’d slipped into while planting and frowned at the blood oozing from a cut and staining the knife she was using the slice the tomatoes. She sighed, dropping that tomato before standing and retreating into her family’s home.

Matt and Hunk stood chatting by the lit hearth while her mother sat at the desk in the corner, shop accounts lying open while she updated them.

Pidge approached the hearth, and her eyebrows shot up at the sight of Hunk taking a bite right out of a tomato. The watery juice dribbled down his chin and soaked into his stubble, and she couldn’t help narrowing her eyes at him in mild disgust.

Hunk must’ve noticed, for he smirked at her and said, “I’m hungry.”

“We just ate dinner,” Pidge pointed out.

“That was an hour ago,” Matt mentioned pragmatically.

“Bears also eat a lot,” Hunk added.

“But that’s a tomato!” Pidge argued, gesturing towards Hunk and eying her brother hoping he’d support her. “He’s eating it like it’s an apple!”

“So?” Hunk said, rolling his eyes. “Also, Pidge, a tomato is a kind of berry, and I like berries. Besides, you’re a green mage, so shouldn’t you know this?”

Pidge rubbed her face, wincing at the sting in her hand and the realization that she’d just smeared blood on her cheek. She grimaced, staring at the smudge on her palm, but before she could do anything about it Matt grabbed her hand and brought it close to his eyes.

“What happened, Pidge?” he asked.

“I just cut myself,” she said, sighing. Exhaustion then hit her in a wave, threatening to drag her limbs down. It was almost too much effort to stand, so she collapsed into a chair and grumbled, “I still have so many tomatoes to plant.”

She heard the scraping of another chair’s legs against the wooden floor, and then her mother took her hand and wiped the blood away with a clean rag. “In the morning we can take you to a healer,” she promised. “Matt, get me a jug of water to wash it.”

“Mother, it’s just a shallow cut,” Pidge said, but she didn’t try tugging her hand away.

“And if you keep working in the garden it’ll get infected,” her mother chided with an arch of her brow.

Pidge was spared having to reply by Matt’s return. He cradled a ceramic jug of water in his hands and set it on the floor beside Colleen, who dipped her rag into the water and wrung it out before cleaning the cut on Pidge’s hand.

“Do you know any healing magic, Hunk?” Colleen wondered as Matt passed her a strip of white cloth.

Pidge winced as her mother tied the bandage securely between her thumb and forefinger and around her palm. It tugged uncomfortably at her skin and stuck to the cut, and a few drops of blood soaked into the fabric as she watched.

“I don’t, Madame Holt,” Hunk admitted with a sheepish smile. “A friend of mine does, but he doesn’t live in the city.”

“Allura knows healing magic,” Pidge said, wiggling her fingers. “She could’ve fixed this easily, but I at least know what to put in a poultice to fight infection.” She smirked at Matt, but he crossed his arms, looking unamused.

“Then you’ll have to heal the traditional way,” Colleen said with a sigh.

“It’s just a cut, Mother,” Pidge repeated, shoving down her impatience. “It’ll be healed by the time I leave the city again.”

Her mother frowned at her, then rolled her eyes and stood up. She rounded on Hunk and said, “Do you want to take any tomatoes with you when you leave?”

Hunk stared at her, slow to blink in his surprise that Colleen was almost eager to get rid of him. “Sure,” he said with a hint of caution. “Sometimes the ripe ones have worms—”

Pidge gaped at him, but he ignored her.

“—and I can take some to share with Keith and Shiro.”

“I thought you said Shiro’s on a voyage,” Pidge said.

“He’s due back tomorrow,” Hunk told her. Then his eyes lit up and he grinned at her. “You want to come by the shop in the morning? I’m sure Shiro would love to see you too when I go to port to meet him.”

Pidge smiled and agreed, “I’d love to! I’ll come by in the morning after breakfast.”

“Great,” Hunk said. “I’ll warn Keith, and maybe prepare a pastry for you to bring back.” He turned his glowing smile to Colleen, who didn’t even bother to disguise her impatience.

“That would be lovely, Hunk,” Colleen managed to say pleasantly, right before escorting him to the front door.

Pidge’s heart pounded, and she stared at her bandaged hand with wide eyes, wondering what sort of trouble she got herself into. Experienced adult mage or not, her family still insisted on treating her like a child when she returned home.

Pidge glanced at Matt, who smiled at her. When she glared at him, he raised his hands defensively and said, “They probably just want to talk to you without anyone else here.”

She heard laughter from the direction of the front door as her father returned and bid his own farewells to Hunk, but the obvious warmth exchanged did nothing to put her at ease.

When her mother returned with her father in tow, they settled into chairs across from her. Pidge hunched her shoulders under their scrutiny, feeling very much like a prisoner about to face interrogation.

“Why don’t you move back home, Katie?” Sam wondered.

There it is. “Do you need more help in the shop?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

“No, we’re fine,” he told her. “We’re just getting worried.”

Pidge held her hand up and scowled. “If this is about the cut, I’m not usually that careless.”

“U-usually?” Colleen stuttered, her eyes widening.

Pidge’s cheeks flushed, but she kept her irritation in check. “I meant that I’m careful, Mother,” she said, then muttered under her breath, “Even when I’m cutting fruits and vegetables…”

“We’re just worried that you live alone in the middle of nowhere—”

“There’s a village a few leagues away,” Pidge pointed out, crossing her arms. “It takes only a couple hours to walk there.”

“And what happens when you’re hurt worse than ‘just’ a cut?” Sam inquired.

“Why would that even happen?” Pidge threw her hands up, frustration making her tone shriller. “I don’t do anything more dangerous than fish in the lake when I want something richer than beans to eat! And I’ve only fallen in once!”

That proved to be the wrong thing to say.

“You fell into the lake?” her mother nearly shouted, shooting to her feet.

Pidge raised her hands defensively. “And obviously I made it back out!” she retorted. “Luckily someone else was there and—” She cut herself off when she realized her defense only proved her parents’ point, but the damage was already done.

“This is why you shouldn’t live alone,” Sam said mildly.

Colleen sat back down with a heavy sigh. “And what if there’s an intruder, Katie?”

“You said it yourself, Mother,” Pidge interrupted. “I live in the middle of nowhere. Who will want to break into my cottage? And for what? More plants than they can carry?” She breathed heavily, anger not quite spent, but pinched her eyes shut.

The evening started so well too, between the tomatoes and encountering Hunk and coming home…

Now all she wanted was to go to bed, to sleep away her travel exhaustion and escape to Shiro’s and Hunk’s shop in the morning before this argument could be repeated for the umpteenth time.

“Don’t you get lonely, Pidge?”

She exhaled slowly, bringing her breathing back under her control, and turned her head to look at Matt. “I’m fine,” she grumbled. “I have friends in the village.”

“And all you have at your cottage is your plants,” Matt said with a wry smile. “And how often do you see those friends anyway?”

Pidge bit her lip and struggled to remember the last time she saw Allura and Coran. Sometime during the summer, she thought, when they came by her cottage to pick up a few orders from her.

“You have conversations with your plants?” Matt asked, tone almost teasing.

“Sometimes,” Pidge admitted, ducking her head. “I keep a journal.”

“When was the last time you had someone other than your rare villager friends over for dinner?”

Pidge pressed her lips together, fighting a smile that seemed out of place in this situation. Warmth filled her chest at a memory, at odds with the sinking of her heart since it had yet to repeat.

Matt smiled at her knowingly. “Maybe you should think about bonding a familiar,” he suggested.

Pidge’s eyes widened. “What?”

He shrugged. “Isn’t it a pretty common practice with mages as strong as you?” He nodded towards the door. “Isn’t Hunk Shiro’s familiar?”

“Yes…” Pidge curled her hands into fists in her lap. “But I don’t know if I could trust someone like that.”

She didn’t make friends easily, the ones she did have made entirely by accident. Nature’s energy distracted her too much to properly bond with most other human beings, let alone with a powerful magical creature that would ever consent to becoming her familiar. To share and augment strength, to forge a bond so strong that only death could break it…and break her.

Pidge swallowed, suddenly conscious of how sweaty her palm was underneath the bandage. The very thought of trusting someone - with her power, her strength, her very thoughts and emotions - so firmly, so absolutely, that she’d connect herself to them with ties more powerful and enduring than marriage made her stomach churn.

Lore says dragons make strong and loyal familiars…

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought before she could follow it too far, then blinked when she recognized Matt had just asked her something.

“What?”

He rolled his eyes and wondered, “So who was the last person you had dinner with that wasn’t from the village?”

Pidge cleared her throat, conscious that even her parents leaned towards her, attentive to her answer. “The, uh, person that saved me from drowning in the lake.”

“What were they doing in the middle of nowhere?” Matt asked.

Pidge laughed. “Swimming in freshwater for the first time.”

Matt quirked a confused eyebrow at her, but before he could follow up with another question, a yawn split Pidge’s face. She covered her mouth with her uninjured hand and rubbed her drooping eyes.

“You’ve had a long day of travel,” Sam said after exchanging a quick glance with Colleen. “You should go to bed, Katie, and we’ll talk about this more while you’re still here.”

Pidge stood. “Looking forward to it,” she said, then escaped to her childhood bedroom before her mother could reprimand her for inappropriate sarcasm.

The room was bigger than she remembered, though that could just be because the bedroom in her cottage was barely wide enough for a bed and a small chest of drawers storing her clothes and more personal effects. And it looked much the same as she’d left it, with the same quilt - one she’d “helped” her mother stitch together - spread over the bed and the same painted ceramic pots arranged underneath the curtained window.

Now they sat empty even of soil rather than full of the life she’d once nurtured in them. She knelt in front of them and picked up the smallest one, colored an eggshell green with her name - “Katie” - painted in white. She’d planted the most experimental samples in this one, flora she’d been uncertain would take to the soil or the city’s climate even with her magic enticing it to grow. The ones that succeeded she’d either transplanted into a bigger pot for further observation or in her mother’s garden if she was confident they’d thrive.

They almost always failed if they made it to the garden, missing something that Pidge couldn’t give them no matter how hard she tried.

Pidge set the pot down, bleakly thinking that her craft would be reduced back to these small pots and the back garden if she let her parents have their way.

But if I found someone to bond as a familiar…

Pidge refused to get her hopes up, but as she washed and dressed for bed, she couldn’t help imagining expanding her family to include someone else, and someone she wouldn’t have to leave behind when she finally, inevitably left the city again.

The fantasy lingered when Pidge closed her eyes, and she dreamed of blue scales and a warm smile.

A bell rang in greeting when Pidge pushed the shop’s door open, but no one stood behind the display case. She crossed her arms, tapping her foot before pacing and wondering if Hunk always left his wares unaccompanied like this.

Crystals and gems, perfectly cut for specific purposes, lay inside the glass cases. Some of the crystals glowed, infused with magic and ready to power anything from a clock to a lantern or for a mage to draw upon them for strength, but others were dun without an external light source to make them glitter. They were all pretty, but the dun ones only served an aesthetic function.

Ironically, the jewelry from here was the less expensive ware.

“Hunk!” Pidge called, growing impatient despite the blue Balmeran crystal that sparkled inside its own case.

“Coming!” she heard him reply from a back room.

Pidge sighed and leaned against the wall. She idly reached out, first towards the magic trapped in the crystals and gemstones - magic with a flexible purpose, unlike that which existed in everything else, harder to find and capture but easier to control - then towards the dried herbs and late harvest fruit stored in Hunk’s kitchen. 

Are those…mangoes? Surprised at the presence of the high-value fruit, Pidge wondered if it would be too forward to ask Hunk if she could have one, perhaps to plant the pit and see if it would take to the soil at her cottage and submit to her care.

Footsteps startled her into standing upright, and her eyes flew open and landed on Keith behind the counter.

His eyes gleamed, reflecting the light emitted by the crystals, as he raised an eyebrow at her. “Since when are you awake this early, Pidge?” 

Pidge rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face as she approached him. She flung her arms around his neck - though it required nearly jumping onto the counter separating them - and retorted, “Maybe I was just that eager to see you.”

Keith’s arms hesitantly returned her embrace, and as he patted her back he said, “Maybe, but it’s less than an hour after sunrise.” 

Pidge pulled away from him, once more standing on the other side of the counter as she straightened her crooked coat. “I’m trying to make the most of what little time I’m here,” she lied…though it wasn’t entirely untruthful.

Oh, she was definitely happy to be visiting Hunk, Keith, and Shiro along with her family - the unpleasantness of the previous night’s argument aside - but she wished she could escape her usual sleeping habits as easily as that. Instead, it took a bizarre, obscure dream that she’d already forgotten to jolt her awake around sunrise and keep her from falling back into sleep. 

Pidge couldn’t tell if the pit of dread sitting in her stomach had anything to do with it either.

“Aren’t you worried someone will steal everything?” she asked Keith, changing the subject as she glanced around the shop.

“Hunk and I set wards,” he replied with a shrug.

Pidge crossed her arms and smirked. “Oh? Real wards, or does Hunk just set a pie out on the porch to make sure any thieves find that first?”

“Like I’d waste a good pie on thieves.” Hunk himself entered the front room from behind Keith, smiling in greeting and with his face freshly shaved. “What brings you by so early, Pidge?”

She sighed. “Not you too.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What? I wasn’t expecting you until at least midmorning, so I put off cooking breakfast.”

She leaned against the counter and grinned at her friends. “When is Shiro’s ship due?”

“Around noon,” Keith told her, offering a small smile of his own.

“Assuming the weather’s in his favor,” Hunk pointed out.

Keith snorted, his smile morphing into a smirk. “With Shiro, the weather is always in his favor.”

Pidge laughed and in the next few hours began to feel more at ease than she had since arriving in her hometown, but when Keith and Hunk started muttering to themselves, she grew annoyed. “What secrets are you telling without me?”

Keith rolled his eyes - at Hunk rather than at her, she thought - and said, “I have an experiment.”

Pidge blinked in surprise - she’d never taken Keith for the scientific sort - but leaned towards him eagerly. “What?”

Hunk, for his part, crossed his arms and frowned in disapproval. “I told you not to bring that thing here.”

“I needed your expertise with crystals,” Keith retorted. He then nodded at the backroom and told Pidge, “Follow me.”

Pidge did, glancing between Keith and Hunk and wondering what could have the latter so ill at ease that he’d refuse to tag along.

Inside the backroom, where work benches and storage cabinets lined the walls, uncut crystals and tools awaiting Hunk’s attention, Keith led Pidge to a display case in one corner. And at the sight of what lay within, her heart jumped into her throat. 

“Keith,” she said as she approached it and resisted the urge to press her nose to the glass, “is this a corrupted crystal?”

“It is,” Keith said with a sigh. “Hunk doesn’t like it here, even when I told him that I’m trying to heal it.”

Pidge stared at the violet crystal, saturated and pulsing with a dark light that shouldn’t exist in nature. And where she could sense the energy tucked away into healthy blue crystals, this one felt…different.

No, it didn’t feel. It stole feeling, a pocket of emptiness contained inside a small glass box, and if she so much as quested towards it, her mind brushed against an eerie, alien nothingness that extended needy hands seeking something - anything - to fill it.

Pidge recoiled, even taking a step back, and despite her curiosity she understood Hunk’s unease. “I thought they were impossible to heal,” she told Keith.

“Supposedly,” Keith said. He crossed his arms, hunching his shoulders and glaring at the crystal like it personally offended him - and for all Pidge knew, it had. “But if Balmeran crystals can be corrupted, then there has to be a way to reverse it.”

Pidge smiled; she could easily admire and empathize with resolve like that. “Well, if Hunk eventually kicks you and the crystal out, you can bring it to my cottage. I love a good, risky experiment.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at her, as if unsure if she was being serious, but when she continued to smile at him, he laughed. “I might take you up on that some day, but for now, let’s go meet Shiro.”

Pidge’s breath caught in her throat the instant her eyes fell on the bay. 

Sunlight reflected off the crystalline water, ships gliding along its surface with sails full of the warm breeze blowing in from the south, and the road emerging from the city’s center leading down to port afforded them a perfect view of both water and the wide expanse of cloudless sky. It was almost enough to fool Pidge into thinking it was still summer, and it was almost enough to captivate her. But the familiar sight of the bay wasn’t what froze her in her tracks.

Glittering blue scales captured Pidge’s attention when a slender creature shot up from the waves. When its translucent wings spread, catching the wind and carrying it over the water, alarmed and awed shouts rose from the crowded port and the ships.

“Where did that dragon come from?” Keith asked, posture tensed for fight or flight.

Hunk, on the other hand, merely rolled his eyes. “It’s just Lance,” he said.

Pidge snapped her eyes onto him and demanded, “You know him too?”

Hunk frowned at her. “What do you mean too?”

Her cheeks flushed for some bizarre reason, but before she could formulate an explanation, Keith interjected, “Let’s go! I think I see Shiro’s ship.”

Keith grabbed Pidge’s wrist in one hand and Hunk’s in the other, dragging them down the path and into the crowds that always infected port. But with a dragon sighting, it seemed worse than usual as everyone from merchants to passengers to crew members pressed towards the docks.

“Showoff,” Pidge scoffed, but she couldn’t help enjoying the sight of a dragon at play in the bay, wings and feet and snout all sending up streams of water and shreds of kelp. She even spotted crew aboard the ships not yet at port pointing at the dragon, as fascinated as those without a job to do.

Keith’s sharp fingernails digging into her skin pulled her back to earth, and after a quick glance at him to take in his horrified face, she followed his gaze.

Smoke rose from the sails of a ship still halfway out of the bay.

“Oh, shit,” Hunk cursed, tensing. “That’s Shiro’s ship!”

“Can you hear him?” Keith wondered. He held his hands out in front of him, poised to cast a spell - though from this distance it would prove ineffectual.

“There was a mutiny,” Hunk explained, his eyes narrowed and shoulders tense. “When the crew was distracted by the dragon, someone took the captain hostage and now a fight’s broken out on deck over the ship and the merchandise.”

“No,” Keith breathed. “We need to get out there and help.”

“How?” Hunk said. “More combatants will just make it w—” He cut himself off, his eyes wide as licks of orange flame chased darker plumes of smoke into the sky. “There’s a fire mage aboard,” he said, voice low and fearful.

“Then I can help if I’m there, Hunk!” Keith argued. “We’ll commandeer a rowboat—”

“You don’t know the first thing about boats,” Hunk pointed out.

“I’ll dive into the bay and swim out to the ship if I have to!” Keith stepped towards the nearest dock as if to do just that, but Hunk pulled him back by the arm.

“Shiro will be fine,” Hunk insisted with a pointed glare, “and he wants us to stay back. He has the power I can give him through the bond, and then…”

The blood rushing past Pidge’s ears blocked out the rest of the argument as she searched for something - anything - to do. And where once the dragon had attracted the attention of everyone in port, they started to yell and retreat as far as possible from the flaming ship bearing down on them.

A wide stream of water shot out of the bay and engulfed the ship.

Pidge held her breath, leaning forward to watch the dragon poke its head out of the waves and exhale a mist onto the ship. Smoke dispersed, flames snuffing out like they burned on a dragon-sized candle, and for a second Pidge thought the crisis was averted.

A great creak - a moan, a roar - traveled over the water, harsh on her ears and enough to send a shudder up her spine. And Pidge could only look on as the ship’s wood splintered, rending the whole vessel into two pieces that were quickly taking on water.

The ship would sink before it could reach port.

“Send out lifeboats!” Keith had resorted to shouting, likely hoping to catch the eye of the port’s security force.

But as Pidge watched the waves churn in a strange, unnatural pattern under the ship, under the influence of the lurking dragon, her mind quested out, touching the world beneath the surface of the bay.

A whole world teeming with life and energy lay just out of sight, far more than the city itself held even in midsummer. It whispered of sunken ships and drowned sailors, lost before the port flourished, but it spoke even louder of growth and strength and mending.

Pidge could feel the kelp forest, could sense its potential just as easily as she could see that the dragon’s efforts at holding the ship together would fail. It would take more than the water’s cooperation to rescue the ship, but perhaps between the two of them…

With her heart pounding, Pidge pinched her eyes closed and reached for the dead wood that formed the ship. Not even a single breath of life escaped it, but she could still sense its essence and the purpose it served - just like she knew the groaning of the planks were a symbol of mourning at their failure. But like energy fed like energy, and as she channeled all her strength into persuading the kelp - and thank the ancients kelp grew so fast compared to true plants - the lingering purpose within the ship drew the kelp towards it, begging for its help.

Kelp climbed the sides of the ship and wove around it, pulling the drifting pieces and securing them together. Pidge just barely heard the yells of the crew and mutineers, as if through the roaring of a waterfall, most of her focus and energy devoted on a single task.

A bead of sweat dripped down her face, and she was distantly aware of the familiar ache that came with drawing upon too much power at once. But if she let go of the kelp, let it fall back into the bay before the ship could limp back to shore, the vessel would sink while its crew awaited the slower rescue the port’s officials would send.

Waves enchanted by the dragon spurred the ship on faster than even a wind summoned by Shiro could. And where the spellbound water overlapped with the kelp under Pidge’s influence, a surge of energy hit her, rejuvenated her.

Like this, working with the dragon - working with Lance - more power lay at her fingertips than ever.

When the ship finally docked - when the city guard finally boarded it and arrested the would-be mutineers and the rest of the crew disembarked - Pidge withdrew her influence from the winding kelp, gasping at the severing of the connection, far too sudden to be comfortable - and harsher than she’d ever felt. Her chest ached, strangely bereft, as much as her body did, and it took all her willpower to stay on her feet.

But her head spun with dizziness, swaying so violently that Hunk had to tug her away from the edge of the dock before she could tumble into the bay.

“Pidge?” he said, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes and startling her into something resembling alertness.

She rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn before trying to look past him. She squinted at the water, mind sluggish to comprehend what was different. “W-where’s Lance?” she muttered.

“Lance?” Hunk blinked at her, surprised, then glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Looks like he disappeared, and if he used as much energy as you just did”—he spun back around to face her—”he’s probably gone to get some rest somewhere.”

“Right.” Her heart sunk into her stomach, heavy with disappointment, and she stared at the planks of wood beneath her feet. “I-I wanted to talk to him before he left. I k-kind of missed him.”

Pidge barely knew what she was saying, too weary to even care what she confessed to.

Hunk crossed his arms. “Well, thanks to you and Lance, Shiro’s ship made it safely.”

Pidge nodded; it would take too much effort to acknowledge him in any other way.

“Daring rescue like that, the ship’s captain will probably want to thank you personally.” Then Hunk grinned and patted her shoulder before his gaze drifted to something behind her.. “Oh, and here’s Shiro now.”

Pidge turned, and the sight of Shiro safe and on land - or near enough - uplifted her enough that she mustered a smile. She gladly threw herself at him, pressing her face against his chest while he slowly returned her hug, his enchanted right hand rubbing her back.

“Thank you, Pidge,” he said.

“It was nothing,” Pidge said. She stepped away from him, though not too far since her knees buckled without the support of someone else’s arm.

Shiro raised an eyebrow at her. “You overextended yourself, didn’t you?”

Pidge grinned. “It was worth it,” she said, “and it wasn’t as bad as I expected.”

No, if not for Lance’s power overlaying her own, she probably would’ve passed out long before the ship could make port.

The thought alone was exhilarating and enough to make her heart pound in anticipation.

I can’t wait to work with him again, she thought, unable to help the goofy, excited smile that split her face.

A heartbeat later, black spots crowded her vision, and Pidge lost all sense of time and direction when she finally passed out, sinking into sleep before anyone could even catch her.

Pidge mentally reached out to the nearest plant life on reflex as she slowly drifting back into wakefulness, but when it took too long to touch the dormant flora in the garden, she remembered where she was.

She cracked her eyes, shielding them and wincing when the piercing light of sunset hit her through the window. Groaning, she rolled onto her side, thinking she might prefer the view of her bedroom door over a blinding light when her body still ached and her mind was still slow.

A familiar figure stood just inside the doorway, face shadowed until they stepped closer.

Pidge’s heart skipped a beat, her eyes shooting wide open as she slowly sat up, far more alert than she’d planned to be. “Lance?” she said. “What’re you doing in my room?”

Lance smiled at her, the sparse scales scattered over his cheeks shining just as prettily as she remembered. He approached and perched on the edge of her bed, then said, “I wanted to be here when you woke up.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, surprised and…elated. “Oh,” she said. She pinched her lip between her teeth, fighting a smile. “I…thank you.” Then she really allowed herself a good look at him. “Are those the clothes I loaned you?”

Lance plucked at the collar of the wool shirt with a laugh and admitted, “They are, and I think your brother recognized them.” He frowned at her. “You loaned me your brother’s hand-me-downs? I’m so disappointed in you, Pidge.”

Pidge snorted. “I’m sorry I held out on you,” she retorted, tone dripping irony.

“Good,” Lance said. “You should be.”

“Oh, yes, very.” Pidge rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more careful when perusing my vast collection of men’s clothing.”

“It’s all right, Pidge,” Lance said with a warm chuckle. “I accept your apology.”

Pidge smiled, but when silence descended, she toyed with the frayed end of the bandage still wrapped around her hand, seeking for something - anything - to say. She wasn’t sure what stopped her from bringing up their rescue of Shiro’s ship, but—

Lance’s hand wrapping around hers halted her thoughts in their tracks. She stared up at him in surprise when he brought her hand up closer to his face, reaching with the other to unwrap the bandage.

After examining her palm, he clicked his tongue in disapproval. “What did you do?” he wondered.

“Cut myself slicing tomatoes,” Pidge admitted.

“Oh.” Lance smirked. “I was expecting something a little more dramatic.”

She frowned at him, then suggested, “Like fighting pirates?”

“Or maybe dragon hunters.” Lance shuddered, his gaze briefly flicking up to her face before returning to her hand. “Those are the worst.”

“I’ll remember that next time I need a story behind a mundane injury,” Pidge said.

Lance nodded, most of his attention still on her palm. His fingers were warm cradling her hand, surprising her - but then again, he’d told her he was a warmblooded dragon.

“I’m still practicing this,” Lance said.

“Practicing what?”

Rather than replying, Lance slowly dragged a fingertip along the cut, warmth seeping into her skin along its path. Right before Pidge’s eyes, her skin stitched together until it scabbed over, and the brown of the scab faded into pink before nothing remained of the wound.

Pidge exhaled. “I didn’t know you knew healing magic,” she confessed softly.

“Comes with the water talent,” Lance said, shrugging. He smiled sheepishly, far more modest than she expected, and gently set her hand on her blanket.

Pidge didn’t know why she missed the heat of his hand, why she so badly wanted him to take her hand again, enough to lift her own and reach—

“So how many more times do I have to save your life, Pidge?”

Pidge dropped her hand, the feeling disappearing as suddenly as it came, and scowled. “For the ancients’ sake, it was just a cut!”

“And what if it got infected, Pidge?” Lance waggled his eyebrows at her.

It was obvious he teased her, but Pidge still felt a flash of irritation. She crossed her arms and grumbled, “And now you sound like my parents.”

“What? Why?” He rested his elbows on his legs, leaning a little closer to her.

Pidge sighed. “They’re looking for any excuse to convince me to stay here rather than going back to my cottage.”

(Why was she confiding in him? She barely knew him…)

“I accidentally told them about when I almost drowned, but maybe if I agree to live here during the winters they’ll relent.” She rubbed her face, almost as exhausted as if she was due to sleep, and wished that the winter solution appealed to her at all.

“Would it make a difference if I told them I like your cottage better?” Lance asked.

Pidge blinked at him, confused. “Better than what?” she said. “And why would that matter?”

“Better than this house,” he said, shrugging. “I understand that you grew up here, but it just doesn’t have the same charm as the cottage by the lake.” He smiled at her, then nodded at the collection of empty pots underneath the window. “No plants here, for one.”

“And for another?”

“Your cottage is closer to the lake than your family’s home is to the bay.”

Pidge laughed and said, “Of course you’d notice that.”

Lance smirked and reminded her, “Pidge, I’m a water dragon. Even if it’s freshwater, I’d like to have it close. My life literally depends on it.”

Pidge smiled, but it faltered when she finally processed all his words. Her heart pounded, and she asked, “You’d like to have it close?”

“Well, sure?” Lance frowned at her. “Whenever I visit, of course, if you’ll host me.”

Pidge snorted, but she rested a hand on her chest as her heart dropped in needless disappointment. “As long as you wear clothes,” she managed to tease.

Lance stretched his arms behind his back. “I’ve spent enough time around humans lately to understand the need for clothes.” He rolled his eyes but smiled. “I can’t promise to bother with them while swimming though.”

“You swim as a dragon,” Pidge pointed out, “so it shouldn’t bother me.”

“I don’t know, Pidge.” Lance scratched his chin and averted his eyes as a slight flush filled his cheeks. “I’ve always wanted to try swimming in this human form.”

Pidge waved a finger in his face. “Not around me, you won’t.”

Lance muttered, “Fine.” But then he met her eyes. “By the way, you were brilliant today.”

The compliment filled Pidge with warmth. She rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly uncomfortable under his gaze, and coughed. “I-it was an opportunity to test my limits,” she said in what she hoped was a nonchalant voice.

“Of course,” Lance agreed snidely. “Hunk did mention that you passed out right after.”

Pidge crossed her arms. “How do you know Hunk anyway?”

“Met him my first time in the city,” Lance explained with a grin. “It wasn’t long before I met you, actually…but don’t change the subject, Pidge.” He narrowed his eyes at her and prodded a finger towards her face.

Pidge shoved his hand aside and stuck her tongue out at him. “Now I know never to hold a ship together with kelp ever again,” she said.

Lance then grimaced, the negative reaction surprising her, and said, “That’s…something else I thought we should talk about.”

“What?”

“D-did you feel that too?” Lance wondered, voice pitched lower like they were exchanging secrets. “Did you notice when my magic—”

“—touched mine?” Her eyes widened as they met his, and she wasn’t sure if she imagined the very air between them crackling with energy. “Yes,” she admitted. “I-I didn’t think anything like that could happen except with a familiar…”

“I think it would be even stronger with a mage,” Lance said contemplatively.

Pidge swallowed, scenarios that seemed impossible just the night before swirling around in her head. Could she find a familiar? Could she bond Lance?

She dismissed the thought almost as soon as it took root, deciding it was absurd. She hardly knew him and had only met him twice, which was scarcely a foundation on which to base a lifelong magical partnership. And all her experience observing plants and watching them grow under different conditions taught her that one sample of them working well together did not an experiment make.

She’d need at least three samples, she mused.

(Maybe the meal they prepared together last time would count for the first…)

“How did you feel afterward?” Pidge then asked, raising an eyebrow at him

Lance hunched his shoulders and confessed, “Exhausted.” A yawn split his face, and he reached up to cover it. “Still am,” he said, chuckling.

Pidge smiled. “We have a spare cot in the shop next door,” she said. “I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind you staying the night.”

“Hunk’s already offered his spare bed,” Lance said.

“They have Keith over though,” Pidge said.

Lance crossed his arms, looking sulky. “I know,” he said, “but I guess since your mother’s already invited me for dinner—”

Pidge gaped at him, wondering what Colleen might’ve said to him and why.

“—it’s not a bad idea.”

Pidge shook her head, wishing she could dislodge her worries so easily, but she smiled and said, “Sure. I suppose the longer you stay, the longer they won’t try to convince me to stay too.”

“You have ulterior motives for inviting me then, Katie?”

Pidge’s neck was hot when she said, “Can you blame me?”

Lance chuckled and said, “I guess not. Good thing you make it worthwhile.” He then wrapped his arms around her, his warm body nearly engulfing hers.

Pidge recovered from her shock at the gesture quickly, eagerly returning the embrace and hoping it would be the first of many.

To be continued 

[collegeeducationnewsllcusa]

House Dems Unveil 18-Bill ‘Respecting Educators Package’

Darrin Camilleri

Seven years ago, Darrin Camilleri was a fresh college graduate and new to a teacher with no textbooks, no curriculum and a big job in addition to his teaching duties: hired professor. Now he is a state representative and hopes to be part of the “transformational change” in the educational profession.

Camilleri, D-Trenton and other Democratic House lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a package of 18 bills unveiled this week to improve the professional landscape and better recruit, respect, and retain classroom teachers in Michigan.

“There was a time when Michigan was the envy of the world for education and teacher salaries and benefits, but in the past few decades we know that has changed,” Camilleri said at a press conference to announce the bill. “If we want our best and brightest teachers to become teachers and stay in the classroom, we must act decisively now to respect and appreciate the profession.”

Various proposals in the Respecting Educators package would, among other things, offset student loan debt, reduce health care costs, change the reading law for third grade, remove student test scores from teacher reviews, and create a pathway between entry level teachers and teachers.

“It is our duty to ensure that every child has the opportunity and the resources they need to be successful, but without great teachers and educators in our schools this cannot happen,” said Camilleri.

Anthony Barnes

MEA member Anthony Barnes spoke at the press conference in support of the comprehensive legislative package. “I’ve seen some amazing educators leave education because they can’t support themselves or their families financially, don’t feel respected, and the burnout rate is extremely high.”

Barnes, a sixth year special education teacher in Kalamazoo, noted a historically high quota of teachers – including a 40% increase during the pandemic last fall and winter – coupled with declining enrollments in teacher prep programs at colleges and universities across the state.

“I’m just in graduate school so my student loan debt is still growing,” Barnes said. “I’m telling you it’s stressful and my salary doesn’t really help me make up for it – although I work to improve every day so I can improve our educational system.”

Two bills in the package address the student loan problem. House Bill 5099, sponsored by Camilleri, would create a student loan program for eligible teachers that would cover up to $ 300 per month in student loan payments as long as the recipient stays in the field. Another bill by Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac), HB 5100, would amend the tax law to make student loan payments tax-free.

AFT Michigan member Kathi Martin also spoke out in favor of the bills. The 18-year-old speech and language pathologist from Dearborn and her husband, a special needs education, collectively earn $ 1,000 in student loans a month, she said.

This burden – combined with falling takeaway salaries and rising costs over the past decade – forced her to take a part-time job, which shortens the time she has to prepare for the students outside of working hours. You could earn better outside of the education sector, she noted.

The “Respecting Educators” package deals with these problems from several directions. HB 5106, sponsored by Rep. Mari Manoogian (D-Birmingham), would require school districts to pay a larger proportion of educator health premiums by imposing a fixed cap of 90-10 until the cost is 10% above the cap lie.

Proposed “fair pay” proposal HB 5109 – sponsored by Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi) – would create a three tier best practice bonus system ($ 20, $ 30, and $ 35 per student) based on whether teachers 95% receive. , 100% or 110% of the average salary of people with the same training in their field.

HB 5102, sponsored by Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), would allow tax-allocated funds to be allocated to certain schools to reimburse certified teachers for expenses. And his companion from Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Delta Township), HB 5103, would allow taxpayers an over-the-line deduction from adjusted gross income for contributions to the Local Teacher Supply Reimbursement Program Act.

Finally, HB 5110 – sponsored by Rep. Christine Morse, Texas Township, D – would require the state to pay teacher certification and recertification fees in order to reduce teacher spending.

“We cannot rely on education to be their calling as the sole motivation for recruiting teachers who are at the heart of our education system,” Morse said at the press conference. “It’s not a sustainable model. We have to treat the teaching profession like a qualified profession and not a passion project. “

In addition to the financial burden, according to Martin von Dearborn, educators experience the loss of joy and creativity – replaced by the pressure of standardized tests and poorly thought-out mandates such as the third-grade reading law, year-round testing and the retention of young people based on a test result.

“Taking the fun of learning and replacing it with useless tests harms our students and destroys teacher morale, which seeps through to the younger generations,” she said. “We are finally seeing the effects of the attack on public education that has been going on for about 15 years.

“When a profession is belittled, scapegoated, and vilified as educators were, can you blame people for leaving or not entering teacher training programs?”

Four bills in the package relate to third grade reading and reviews. HB 4574, sponsored by former educator and MEA member Rep. Nate Shannon (D-Sterling Heights), would allow teachers to follow up in deciding whether to keep a non-grade student through third grade to decide at their own discretion.

House Bill 5101, sponsored by Rep. Cara Clemente (D-Lincoln Park), would change the requirements for early literacy screening to allow for the professional judgment of teachers.

While teachers don’t get enough credit for everything they do, para-professionals get even less, said former teacher and MEA member Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth), promoting his account of creating a non-teaching path for parasites, to get their teacher certification.

“Our parapros are the ones who work with each student individually to ensure that they are successful,” said Koleszar when the package was announced on Facebook. “My bill, HB 4369, creates a pipeline for Parapros to achieve their full teaching certification, resulting in more passionate, skilled educators in our classrooms.”

Another suggestion to build a pipeline of future teacher candidates was made at the press conference by Rep. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), who noted that she had brought two of her former teachers as special guests when she was sworn in for her first full semester at State Parliament 2019.

“They shaped and shaped me into who I am today and we often forget that,” said Anthony. “Those of us in the Halls of Power have a responsibility to step on the plate. Every single child deserves access to an excellent local public school so that they have the opportunity to grow and live a successful life, but none of this can happen without our educators. “

Anthony’s bill, HB 5107, would create a professional-technical teacher preparation program that would enable high school students to work towards meeting teacher certification requirements through courses and experiential learning.

“This package won’t solve every problem we face in one fell swoop, but it is an important first step on the road to the best possible education system,” said Anthony. “It shows that we value our educators as much as other qualified, trained professionals by paying our educators appropriately, respecting them, and truly treating them as the experts they are in the field.”

Other bills in the Respecting Educators package would:

Remove the student growth component from teacher ratings – HB 5104 and 5106 by former teacher and MEA member Rep. Lori Stone (D-Warren) and Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia);

Create a $ 25 per student category for districts that are lowering the year-over-year teacher-student ratio and prioritize the districts with the highest rates first – HB 5111 by Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit;

Request school improvement plans that include individual professional development plans for teachers – HB 5108 by Rep. Kara Hope (D-Holt);

Require that teacher preparation programs include a class management course – HB 5112 also from Stone; and

Request Alternate Classroom Management Training – HB 5113 from Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park).

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/house-dems-unveil-18-bill-respecting-educators-package/

[spacedorksandlions]

Shooting Stars

Here’s my @kidgefest for Day 1!!! 

Here’s the thing, he’ll say in the future when they dart about on their Lions, out here, shooting stars are stationary. We’re the ones they wish on. 

Keith Kogane was, without a doubt, a piloting prodigy. There was something innate about getting in the cockpit of the various spacecraft simulators at the garrison that left him feeling confident. He was an ace pilot, the Red Baron of the Garrison’s program.

He remembers the Kerberos launch as though it were yesterday. Shiro had taken him out early, with special permission to see the spacecraft. His orange garrison uniform feels stifling in the summer heat, and he tugs at the tight-necked collar with the hope that it will alleviate some of the heat. Shiro continues talking about the specs of the shuttle and all the newest tech. The buzz of energy from the others loitering in the distance and the overall anticipation about the world-changing event about to happen leaves Keith equal parts excited and anxious.

“Everything’s going to be fine, Keith,” Shiro insists, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I know. They have the best pilot in charge.”

Shiro laughs at that before catching sight of his crew—Commander Holt, the xenobiologist, and Matt Holt, his son—and waves the two over to them. It’s the first time Keith’s seen Commander Holt outside of classes as a guest speaker. Matt is a recent graduate, but Keith doesn’t recognize the young man without his glasses. The two women with them were relatively quiet, introducing themselves before the daughter—Katie—meanders away to look at the shuttle more closely. There’s a wonder in the girl’s eyes that reminds him of when he had just applied to the Garrison.

“Does she go here?” Keith wonders aloud, which elicits a laugh from Matt.

“Katie’s applying now,” he says with the pride only an older brother can have. “It’s a shame that we’ll get back and she’ll be halfway through her studies.”

“I can keep an eye on her,” Keith offers, more out of civility than anything else.

“You know what?” Matt replies, clapping Keith on the shoulder and leaning forward conspiratorially, “I’d be really grateful.”

“No problem.”

He didn’t realize everything would go so wrong so fast. The Kerberos launch was supposed to be the epitome of all things positive, a happy end to the culmination of years of preparation. And then he was gone, expelled from the garrison after hearing that there was no real pilot failure as the Holt girl was dragged kicking and screaming from the grounds.

So much for keeping an eye out for her.

He makes his place in the desert, not too far from the Garrison. He’s close enough to bounce his systems off of the Garrison’s satellites, but far enough away to avoid detection from the surveillance sweeps. In the end, he keeps searching the desert with the hope that there’s some sort of Garrison secrets he can uncover.

He doesn’t realize just how close he comes to uncovering the find in centuries, if not millennia.

He may be the prodigy with authority issues, but at least he’s doing something.

*

Katie Holt goes from being a wide-eyed optimist to a jaded conspiracy theorist in a matter of weeks. Every night, she clutches her brother’s glasses close as she sets up her hand-made scanner and tracking system. Her hands fly across the keys of her laptop, as she pushes through layer after layer of Garrison firewalls and coding.

There has to be proof, somewhere.

She breaks into the Garrison, into Iverson’s office, when she finds out that the information is locked away geographically. It’s when she discovers that there was no pilot failure, she swears to herself that she’s going to find out the truth.

Even as she gets carried away, kicking and screaming.

She sits on the roof, a tablet in one hand as she creates a false identity, a false history. She breathes life into the guise of Pidge Gunderson with every keystroke, taking Colleen Holt’s maiden name in conjunction with the nickname her brother gave her. It’s an homage to the past, as she steps into a future alone.

She makes her way into the Garrison with a meek demeanor, isolating herself from the others, even from the team she’s designated to. After all, they’re not going to need her presence for much longer. She’s going to figure out what’s up, and then… And then she’s going to prove that her brother and her father aren’t dead.

The roof of the Garrison becomes her home, overlooking the rest of the barracks and with the desert in the distance. The cloudless sky, the scintillating stars, and the garbled radio chatter from another galaxy are her sole companions as the moon hovers above her. It becomes ritual to her, giving her a sense of calm normalcy despite her ceaseless searching.

“I’m going to find you,” she whispers, eyes tracing the small movement that occurs every night in the desert. She leans back, gaze fixing on the stars, towards where Kerberos should be. “Matt, Dad, I’ll find you.”

*

A shooting star streaks across the sky that night, blazing white against inky black.

Keith catches it in his peripherals as he darts through the desert, wind whipping his hair against his face. He closes his eyes for a split second, and makes a wish. He hasn’t in years, not since he was a child with his Dad staring up at the stars longingly. He doesn’t say the words; it’s childish to wish that he could explore space and find his lost mentor, isn’t it?

In the brief moment Katie looks up from her laptop to rest her eyes, she sees the star, and almost passes it off as a daydream. But still, she and Matt had always made their wishes on shooting stars and comets. And she’d gotten into the Garrison after all. So she purses her lips together as she closes her eyes. The whisper that escapes her lips, this wish, seems so unlikely she almost chuckles mid-sentence. “I wish that I could find Matt and Dad, and we could explore the stars together.”

[amillionsmiles]

heyyyyyy “you were trying to reach for a box of cereal and a whole shelf’s-worth of cereal boxes fell on you here let me help” for plance????? perhaps?????? i feel like pidge would definitely be buying cereal at like 2 in the morning from walmart though

i dont;;; even know where the ending to this came from but here, upfront, are my sincerest apologies

“Here’s some cash,” Matt said.

“Just run into the store and buy me a box of cereal,” Matt said.

I hate my stupid brother and his stupid fixation with Kellogg’s Krave, Pidge thinks, flat on her ass at 11 PM in the cereal aisle of Walmart.  The fluorescent lighting hums down upon her mockingly.  A box of Fruity Pebbles crunches under her hand when she shifts to press the bruise forming on her rear end. Conveniently, this is also the moment that a fellow late-night shopper decides to appear, only to get an eye-full of Pidge scowling and kneading her right butt cheek, surrounded by a pile of Captain Crunch, Cheerios, Lucky Charms and the like.

The stranger whistles.  He’s tall, with short brown hair and a sharp chin, a smirk tugging up the corners of his mouth as he approaches.  Pidge half-considers burrowing deeper into her mound of cereal boxes but decides against it, meeting his gaze head-on.

“How’s it going down there?” he asks, offering a hand.

Ignoring it, Pidge stands up on her own, accidentally sending a box of Apple Jacks skittering across the floor.  The boy stops it with his foot, scooping it off the ground and setting it back on the shelf.  Unfazed by her silence, he continues, “I’m Lance, by the way.”

“I’m Katie,” Pidge finally relents, because she has a feeling that Lance isn’t going to leave.

Lance grins. “Oh, good.  Otherwise I was going to have to keep referring to you as Wipeout on Aisle Six in my head.”

“Ha, ha,” Pidge says, snatching up a box of Fruit Loops and shoving it back on the shelf.

“Seriously, though, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Pidge says, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and looking at him. “Why are you here, anyways?”

“I heard the sound of a damsel in distress.”  His stomach growls.  “…Also, I may have been hunting for a midnight snack.”

Pidge gestures to the mess around them. “Be my guest.”

“How’d you end up taking out a whole shelf?”

“Blame it on whoever decided to put the Kellogg’s Krave on the very top,” Pidge says, suddenly incensed.  “I mean, how does that make any sense? Obviously you put the old people cereals like Oatmeal Crisp and Raisin Bran on top, and then you leave the stuff like Cocoa Puffs and Krave near the bottom or, at least, the middle, where it’s within arm’s reach.”

Lance gasps, clutching a box of Raisin Bran to his chest. “I happen to like Raisin Bran, thank you very much.”

“That’s not the point!”

“I feel like this is a very important issue, though.  Frosted Flakes or Cinnamon Toast Crunch?” he asks, holding one in either hand.

“Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” Pidge answers, before she can think better of it.  “Wait, why are we even having this conversation?”

“Just trying to see if we’re compatible.” Lance winks—actually winks—at her, before turning around to resume his restocking of the shelf. Pidge short-circuits, a little, or at least that’s what she’s using as her excuse for the involuntary arm spasm that occurs.  Lance yelps as the box hits him, clutching his shoulder and whirling around.  

“Did you just throw a box of Corn Pops at me?”

“You were hitting on me,” Pidge defends.  How did she even end up here, debating cereal with random guys in Wal-Mart? God, next time she’s just going to build Matt a robot to do his dirty work.  

“Yeah, well, for the record, I usually don’t get that violent a reaction,” Lance mutters, rubbing his arm.  

“So this is the usual for you,” Pidge says.  “Flirting with strangers in the middle of Walmart.  Real classy.”

Lance looks at her for a long moment before he bends to pick up another cereal box.  “No, Katie,” he finally says, walking over to place it in her hands.  “You’re special.  K.”

Pidge looks down and, lo and behold, a box of Special K glares up at her, giant red letter overtaking her vision.  Briefly, she entertains the thought of leaving Lance bleeding in the middle of the cereal aisle.  It wouldn’t be that hard, she reasons. She could totally hack into the surveillance cameras and erase all the evidence.

However, she, Katie Holt, has been raised on stronger stuff.  You don’t sit through a family dinner with Matt and her dad without learning how to give as good as you get.

So, instead, Pidge musters up her sweetest smile, staring Lance straight in the eyes.  

“I hate you,” she says, pushing a box of Fiber One against his chest, “with every fiber of my being.”

It’s a beautiful start.

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE CARTERS MEET FRANKIE AVALON

S6;E11 ~ November 19, 1973

Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Story by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs, Teleplay by Bob O'Brien

Synopsis

Lucy, Harry and Kim go to see Frankie Avalon perform and Kim is chosen from the audience to sing with him on stage. This leads to her performing in the nightclub's talent competition as Cher, with Avalon as her Sonny.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)

Guest Cast

Frankie Avalon (Himself) was born in Philadelphia in 1939 as Francis Thomas Avallone. A recording star and musician, Avalon’s movie career took off when paired with Annette Funicello in Beach Party (1963) and its string of sequels. He played Teen Angel in Grease (1978) and considers “Beauty School Dropout” to be his most popular song.  He previously played Tommy Cheever (Bank president Mr. Cheever's son) in “Lucy and the Starmaker” (TLS S6;E4) on “The Lucy Show” in 1967.  

Vic Glazer (Vic, Conductor / Pianist) enjoyed a long career as an accomplished arranger, composer, pianist and Music Director for many well-known entertainers, which included long stints as Musical Director for Debbie Reynolds and Frankie Avalon. He traveled the world for his work, and made two appearances at The White House during the 1960s.   

Sid Gould (Maitre D') made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. This is one of his nearly 50 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. 

Jerry Fogel (Mr. Collins, Wilshire Room Entertainment Director and Emcee) is perhaps best remembered as Jerry Buell on “The Mothers-in-Law” (1967-69), produced by Desi Arnaz. He was also a semi-regular on “The White Shadow” (1977-78) as Bill Donahue. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Lucy says his name aloud in the dialogue, although he is listed simply as “M.C.” in the final credits.

Robert Hogan (Jack Lucas) played the Reverend Tom Winter on TV's “Peyton Place” (1968-69) and was the inspiration for the naming of the title character on “Hogan’s Heroes” (1965-71). His screen career began in 1961 and he previously appeared as Captain Perry in “Lucy and the Astronauts” (S4;E5).  

Jack is Avalon's agent. Although his surname is never spoken in the dialogue, it is listed in the final credits.

Bob Whitney (Call Boy) appeared with Lucille Ball in The Facts of Life (1960). This is the fourth of his five appearances on the series.

In this context, a “Call Boy” is a person who gives the star his “calls” (“10 minutes,” “5 minutes,” “You're On.”) while they are in their dressing room.  

Bill Lee (Talent Competition Singer) frequently dubbed the singing voices of non-singing film actors such as John Kerr in South Pacific (1958), Matt Mattox in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music (1964).  This is his last screen credit and one of his few on-camera roles.  

Marl Young (Talent Competition Conductor / Pianist, uncredited, above left) was the “Here's Lucy” musical director and often appeared on camera when episodes included music.

Avalon brings his own musical director, Vic Glazer, for the first part of the show, his nightclub act, but “Here’s Lucy” musical director Marl Young takes over for the Talent Competition at the end. 

Shirley Anthony (Audience Member, uncredited) makes the eighth of her 13 appearances of “Here’s Lucy.”  

As the episodes opens (and the blue curtain in the title parts) Anthony is the very first person on camera, sitting in profile.

George Holmes (Audience Member, uncredited) was previously glimpsed in the studio audience in “Lucy and Art Linkletter” (TLS S6;E4).  He also did three films with Lucille Ball: The Facts of Life (1960), Critic's Choice (1963) and Mame (1974).

Other audience members and the onstage musicians are played by uncredited background performers.

This is one of a very few episodes to have both a “story by” and “written by” credit for the writers.

The episode opens at the Wilshire Room nightclub where Avalon starts his show with “It's Good to be Here” written by Harold Karr and Matt Dubey for the 1956 Broadway musical Happy Hunting starring Ethel Merman.  

Bringing Kim on stage, they sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" to each other, a 1967 song by Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons. The song earned a gold record and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. It is now part of the juke box musical Jersey Boys (2005).

Avalon says he has seven children (with another on the way) and is married. He later says his wife's name is Kay. Mrs. Avalon was born Kathryn ‘Kay’ Diebel.  A former beauty contest winner, they were married in 1963.

The band plays a brief fanfare based on “Hooray for Hollywood,” a song by Richard A. Whiting first featured in the 1937 film Hollywood Hotel. It launches the portion of Avalon's show where he does impressions of famous actors auditioning for the role of George M. Cohan in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy. Naturally, the audition song is “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” from Cohan's hit Broadway musical Little Johnny Jones (1904).  

Avalon first does an impression of John Wayne (1907-79), who was a guest star on both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”  

He then does his impression of Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) in which his idea of dancing is flapping his arms like bat wings. Lugosi's iconic character, Dracula, was humorously presented on “The Lucy Show.”  Finally, Avalon imitates James Cagney (1899-1986), who actually played the role and earned an Academy Award for the film. Kim did her own quick impression of Cagney during “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (S3;E22).  

When Lucy says she has a son, Avalon wonders why he can't play Sonny to Kim's Cher. Lucy explains that he is too tall. Ironically, Harry called Kim and Craig ‘Sonny and Cher’ in “Lucy Stops a Marriage” (S3;E16) three years earlier.  Lucy never uses Craig's name, however, or mentions where he is.

Before Avalon and Kim take the stage as Sonny and Cher in the talent competition, an unnamed singer (Bill Lee) finishes up the last few bars of “The Impossible Dream,” a song written by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion for the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, which was filmed in 1972. The singer makes the applause meter hit 89. 

Sonny and Cher were a pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. They also had two top ten TV shows, “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” (1971-74) and The Sonny & Cher Show (1976-77). The couple's career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold over 40 million records worldwide. They had one child together, Chaz Bono, who was born Chastity Sun Bono in 1969. Sonny Bono left show business for politics and died after a skiing accident in 1989. Cher, who has won an Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy, has continued her career as a superstar solo act. 

Cher and Lucille Ball appeared on an Emmy-nominated special together in 1979.  

Frankie Avalon and Lucie Arnaz actually went to see a taping of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” the week before they shot this episode in order to get some pointers. Cher loaned Lucie the wig, the earrings, and a pair of her eyelashes for the episode.

Frankie and Kim sing “I've Got You Babe” written by Sonny Bono in July 1965. The song became their signature song as a duo. The original version spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 selling more than 1 million copies and certified Gold. Avalon and Arnaz sang to a prerecorded track.

Mid-song, ‘Sonny and Cher’ (aka Avalon and Arnaz) break into comic banter just as they often did on their TV show. One joke references “Gunsmoke,” a TV western that aired just before “Here's Lucy” on CBS. The show was on television for two decades (1955-75), after two years on radio. After two years on radio, Lucille Ball also moved to television for a career that spanned from 1951 to 1986.  

When Kim and Avalon win the talent competition with a record-high score of 97, Avalon launches into a chorus of “Beach Blanket Bingo” by Guy Hemrik and Jerry Styner, written for the 1967 film of the same name. Coincidentally, the film was written and directed by William Asher, who also directed 102 episodes of “I Love Lucy.”  

Frankie Avalon played a young man who was torn between banking and singing in “Lucy and the Starmaker” (TLS S6;E4) until Lucy Carmichael comes to his rescue.

Cher's mother, model and actress Georgia Holt, was one of the two models wearing the Jacques Marcel “potato sack” dresses in “Lucy Gets a Paris Gown” (ILL S5;E20, inset). Ten years later, she modeled fur coats for Lucy Carmichael in “Lucy and Pat Collins” (TLS S5;E11).

Distraction Action! Lucy keeps absentmindedly fiddling with the table card in the Wilshire Room. She even starts gesturing with it in her hand.

Eye Catching! Not exactly a goof or a blooper, but sometimes production design can upstage the action, which is the case with this woman’s HUGE grey wig and this equally HUGE ceramic cat!  

The crazy cat was first glimpsed in Flip Wilson’s office in “Lucy and Flip Go Legit” (HL S4;E1) and also (bottom photo) in Shirley MacLaine’s apartment in the Universal film Sweet Charity (1969). 

“The Carters Meet Frankie Avalon” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

Who knew that Frankie Avalon was such a talented impressionist?  This episode showcases his talents well. Avalon and Lucie Arnaz do a spot-on impression of Sonny and Cher, the main attraction of this episode where Lucy is more background than star.  

[tiredgaykeith]

Matt Holt Drabble

I’m inspired and it’s Matt Holt Week so here you go enjoy <3

Day 4: Free Day

Graceless

Matt was ten years old when his dad bought him his first telescope. He had been begging and pleading for one after his best friend had gotten one at Christmas. Matt could still remember looking through the telescope at the moon in utter awe and shock for the first time. But, as it was, Mat’s family was struggling too much to get him one.

NASA was facing budget cuts, his dad’s job was on the line, and every nickel and dime had to be saved in case of a ‘rainy day’, or as Mat worried, the day his father might be forced to leave his dream job. Mat didn’t expect to get a telescope anytime soon. So when it came around to February 28th, young Matt was surprised when he was viciously shaken awake by his then five-year-old, little sister Katie.

Her eyes were bright with excitement as she giggled, “Matty! Matty! Go downstairs, downstairs! It’s your berf-day! It’s a surp-wise!”

Matt reached haphazardly for the glasses on his bedstead, and rushed down the carpeted stairs of his childhood home, Katie following hot on his footsteps.

At the bottom of the starts, his eyes grew wide at the sight. In the middle of their homey, little living room was a large, sleek telescope with a big, light green ribbon tied fancy around the barrel (Green was his favorite color). His father, much younger and still carrying his sandy blonde hair, sat crossed-legged on the plush, white sofa. He looked up at him over the Sunday paper with a knowing smile and a gleam in his hazel eyes, hidden behind his dark frames.

“Oh, hey kiddo,” he took a long sip of his coffee and sighed, setting it back down on their coffee table, “Found this just sittiin’ here this mornin’. Must’ve been some of those aliens from the last X-Files episode, huh-oof!”

Before his father could even finish his joking rambling, Matt had already ran up and hugged him tight around the chest. He buried his head into his dad’s chest as his dad patted him on the back, chuckling. Matt could smell the black coffee and minty toothpaste on his dad’s breath, the over laying sent of metal on his clothes from probably working earlier in the lab.

“Thanks dad,” he said, looking up at him through his own frames with admiration, having nothing but endless pride for the incredible dad that Sam Holt was in that moment.

Sam smiled down, warm and comforting.

“Of course, son,” then he looked up with a childish wonderment the betrayed the wrinkles of his eyes, “Now! Let’s get this thing to your room and I’ll show yeah how to work it!”

Matt faintly remembers Katie’s excited giggles and hoorays, his mother’s soft voice telling his dad not to strain himself, before it goes black.

“Number 2-3-2! I said get up, you filthy pest!”

A sudden jab into the left side of his gut shook Mat from his slumber, leaving him gasping for breath, and trying to remember his surroundings.

Then he did remember, and he wished he hadn’t. The cold, metal flooring beneath his head, the continuous buzzing the ship that he was convinced they made louder during sleeping hours just to drive them to insanity; he looked over at all of the nine other prisoners he shared the cell with, each looking on with a different expression: fear, worry, sadness. He looked up to where a Galra solider towered above him, the end of a gun barrel staring him down.

“You’re up next, 2-3-2! Hurry, I ain’t losing my position here cause of some lazy prison rat.”

Matt pulled himself off the ground, ignoring the stabbing pain in his side and pounding migraine, probably from the sharp blow he got to the head in the last round. He stumbled out of the prison cell down the halls, where thousands and thousands of prisoners lied in all directions. Each had a family, had a home. At least, at one time they did. Some probably had their families killed, others, their entire planet destroyed.

Matt could still save his, though.

As he got to the waiting room, the two Galra soldiers undressed him and put him into the warrior gear they now gave him, after he won his second round. They handed him his spear, the weapon he had stolen from another boy who he fought in this same arena. That boy had to have around his age. He will never forget the way they pulled his limp body out, dragging against the arena floor.

He would never let himself forget.

“You’re on,” The Galra solider that took him from the cell said, “Make a good show for the commanders, we have a special guest watching tonight. The prince. He might give you a prize if you give him some entertainment.”

Matt didn’t say anything back, but looked at himself in the reflection of the metal doors in front of him. His hair was so long now, a small scar showed from underneath his armor on his neck, though it hid the majority of the ones scattered on his chest and back.

Fuck the prince. He was going to get in, and get out. Like normal. He would kill, but for no one except his sister’s bright eyes, his father’s warm smile, and his mother’s comforting voice. Those were the only things that mattered now.  

The metal doors parted, the screams from the arena poured into the room in a rush, the bright lights blinding him.

Matt stepped forward.

So the title I got from a song I listened to while writing this called Graceless by The National. A beautiful song and reminds me a ton of Matt and probably his thoughts during this imprisonment. I like to think that Shiro inspired Matt to get stronger and eventually tried to fight to get out of imprisonment and back home. Really hope we get to see this boy alive and happy in Season 3. Love you, Matt <3

[simplicityfurniture]

Join us in welcoming back our good friend and Bob & Tom regular Matt Holt as he hosts a one-of-a-kind show for one night only: the Lexington vs. Evansville Comedy Show! Lexington-based comedians Mike Fields, Jeremiah Martin, David Williams, and Madison Pohl will perform as well as some of your favorite Evansville-based comedians! Be prepared for special guest appearances, too! This show is entirely FREE to attend! Bubbles of the world-famous Pub and Carne Asada will be on hand selling adult beverages and soft drinks as always. We hope to see you on Saturday, November 9th at 8pm CST for a fun time!

[ao3feed-klance]

Young Supernovas

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2uubdQ9

by Saccharine_Ghosts

Leaving Texas never crossed his mind in the past, the familiarity of it was all too comforting, but he had no choice. His dad was in the hospital, he needed special treatment that Keith couldn’t give nor afford, so he had no choice but to pack up and let himself be dragged around to wherever would take him.

Don’t get him wrong, he is extremely thankful for Takashi. A few years back Shiro had brought in one of his eventers for training with Keith’s father, staying in their guest room for almost five months until the wild Warmblood was ready for show season, then he was back on the road. They had bonded during that time, and had kept in touch ever since, even coming back sometimes when he had breaks. If it weren’t for him, Keith would be off with some Aunt he had never met back in Seoul, selling Red at the auction along with all his tack, gear, and the farm. With his dad in care, the only family he had left was his little quarter horse and Shiro, so although leaving Texas and heading to some fancy show barn out of state seemed like hell, he would just have to make do.

That didn’t mean he had to be happy about it though.

Words: 10027, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Alfor (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Keith's Family (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Matt Holt, Hunk (Voltron), Ulaz (Voltron), Zarkon (Voltron), Shay (Voltron), Haggar (Voltron), Lance's Family (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Sendak (Voltron)

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Matt Holt & Shiro

Additional Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Minor Violence, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Equestrian AU, Smut, Angst, Happy Ending, Texan Keith (Voltron), Lots of Texas Keith jokes, Rivalry, Drama, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Hospitals, Sickfic but not exactly, Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Using Humor as a coping mechanism, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), broganes

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2uubdQ9