#FUCK i was blanking on horaces last name and the only thing i could think of was pancake bc of knight of the pancake sjdkskkskfkdkfk

[rangercorpses]

This is going to appeal to me and only me bc this is so fucking niche but, hear me out

Mechanisms/rangers apprentice crossover

Screenshot of my og idea:

And some more under the cut that was supposed to be a quick outline but turned into a bullet point fic:

There's these bandits that are just. Devastatingly destructive, and witnesses swear they're wielding some sort of magic sword that can shoot fire out the end???

Anyways Halt and Will and Gilan and Horace get recruited into catching them bc ofc they do <3

They find the bandits - it's not hard, they're not even bothering with being subtle about anything, so they just have to follow the trail of destruction.

They arrive and scope out the situation, and find..a group of four people, sitting in a(n empty, half aflame) bar just..laughing and.....playing music?

(in a bar that's burning to the ground. A bar. That's burning. To the ground. Horace can't quite get over that. Will is eyeing one of bandits, who's playing a mandolin. He looks suspiciously like he's assessing his chances of nicking it (it's a very nice mandolin after all).)

They can't reasonably go into a flaming building for four bandits, even bandits as dangerous as these four are, so they use the opportunity to scope it out

It's almost an hour later when the bandits finally leave the bar

(as if their presence had been the only thing holding it up, the bar collapsed in a wave of smoke and sparks behind them. One of them, dressed in grey and black with bright red hair blew a kiss back at the flaming wreckage)

Now that they're out of the bar, Gilan pursues them, staying carefully out of sight, the other three staying behind to wait for him to report back.

Several hours later, he returns, sheepishly in tow behind the four bandits. Halt had an arrow nocked and aimed at the redhead in moments, whom he'd deemed to be the leader. (Not that it seemed to have any effect on them, save amusement)

"So this is who's been following us," the one with the red hair said, looking each of them up and down judgmentally.

"They're Not Very Stylish," another said, pouting. It seemed to be..made of wood? Will tried not to think about it too hard, with little success. The wooden man, seeming to sense his confusion, somehow smiled wider.

Halt, still aimed at the redhead, very calmly said, "Let Gilan go."

"Oh please, he's not our prisoner, we're not barbaric," the third said, seemingly the only normal-looking one in the group.

The fourth nodded, the light glinting strangely off his skin, making it seem almost metallic. But metal skin is impossible, right? "It's wrong to hold someone against their will," he said pleasantly. "He's free to go back to you, if he wishes."

Both groups are silent for a moment, before Halt jerked his head, motioning for Gilan to come back over.

The moment he was over, the third beamed. "See, was that so hard? And really, you can lose the bow and arrows, those won't do much. Though you are welcome to try," he said with a wink.

Slowly, Halt lowers his bow, reasoning that now that Gilan had been returned, things were..not safe, but more stable. The bandits certainly weren't acting violent or destructive (at the moment, anyways).

It seemed almost like..they were humoring them

"You four are the bandits who have been looting and burning towns and villages, right?" Will asks. They're being so not murderous that he feels the need to be sure they've got the right people. In his gut, however, he knows they are.

The wooden man starts nodding immediately, its hat nearly falling off from the vigorous motion. The normal-ish man gives a sweeping bow. "The ones and only."

The metal(?) man shakes his head though. "I haven't committed any crimes though, I'm not on the right setting for that." The rangers and knight all unanimously decide to ignore that.

"In that case, you're all under arrest," Halt says, ready to fire of the bandits show any sign of fighting back.

However, they merely nod amicably. Again, the feeling of being humored lays heavily over the group as they quietly attach thumb cuffs and tie their wrists, searching for any weapons and tossing them aside.

Will handled the wooden man's mandolin with care, and it smiled at him for it. "That's Very Polite Of You," it says. "Much More Polite Than Jonny."

Will says nothing, merely continuing, and trying not to think of how the wood of it's fingers were warm.

Horace gives a shout of surprise when he discovers that the most normal looking if the bandits has an arm made out of metal. The man simply wiggles his eyebrows and detaches then reattaches one of his fingers, smirking mischievously

The metal man holds out his arms in front of him for Gilan, allowing him to put on the restraints without complaint, even going so far as to point out several hidden weapons, stating that "a lie of omission is still a lie." This is met with groans from the other bandits.

The redhead quirks an eyebrow as Halt approaches, to which Halt raises an eyebrow back. This goes on for a minute longer than Halt will admit to before he finally attaches the thumb cuffs and ties them up.

Once the bandits are all tied up, there's nothing left but to take them back to Castle Araluen.

The ride back is heavy with the tension of knowing, with complete and utter certainty, that the bandits could break out at any second with ease.

Instead, they are laughing and talking amongst themselves. As they talk, they refer to each other by name, and they learn that the redhead is named Ashes, the man with the metal hand is Marius, the metal man Brian, and the wooden man the Toy Soldier. They are rather disturbed to learn that there are at least three more like them- though where they are, none of the Araluens can say.

At one point, Halt whirls around at the sound of a violin. "Where did you get that violin?" he snaps, unknowingly echoing another's words, a millennia and several dimensions away. Marius startles, looks down at the violin in his hands, and for some reason, looks sad.

Will quietly sidles up next to Brian and asks why his skin is made of metal, and how it works. Brian laughs. "It's not just my skin," he says. "Everything but my heart is mechanical."

Will doesn't know whether to be horrified or curious. "Why?" he asks.

"I was shot into the sky in froze in space," Brian says easily, as if this is something he's commonly asked. 

Will, for once, doesn't ask any more questions.

They do finally arrive at Castle Araluen, and when the bandits are sentenced to death, neither Halt, Will, Gilan, nor Horace are even a little surprised when they get right back up after being killed.

[margridarnauds]

1789, ronan/laz, and laz | terra nova, wash/mira, mira

I bet you were wondering if this was ever getting done. Here, have some of my slightly sleep-deprived thoughts. 

1789

Favorite character: Lazare de motherfucking Peyrol, for all of his (4) scenes.

Least Favorite character: You’re probably expecting Artois or Ramard. True, Ramard is absolutely noxious in the French version and…there in the Takarazuka version, but he has his moments, and he’s pretty adorable when he tries to rescue Olympe from Artois. Artois, while being….Artois, is pretty magnetic as a villain due to being played by Miya Rurika and managing to steal the show right out from under everybody’s feet everytime he’s on stage. No. The real threat is someone far more unassuming, someone that floods every moment he’s on the screen with dread. Someone who refuses to take no for an answer. Someone who DEFINITELY DID NOT HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH THE QUEEN OF FRANCE. MOTHERFUCKING FERSEN. The actress who plays him has such a phenomenal voice in the Takarazuka version and does so well with it that it’s hard, but Axel von Fersen is a dweeb and deserves at least one Peyrol Certified Bitchslap™. (Also, in real life, HE WAS A PLAYER. AND A BIT OF AN ASSHOLE IMO IF YOU READ HIS LETTERS, BUT THAT WAS PRETTY NORMAL SO I CAN EXCUSE IT. BUT HE WAS A PLAYER.) Now, I know this is 1789 and history is dead (poor, poor historical!Artois), but Fersen just…doesn’t really add anything with his presence. He’s there, he’s bland, he ups the already unfortunate heterosexual quotient of the show, and then I try to move on. And, also, while I am a member of the Slap Ronan Mazurier Club, I also think that GOING AFTER A HUNGOVER PEASANT. ARMED WITH A STICK. WHEN YOU HAVE A RAPIER. ISN’T GOOD FORM. Oh? He insulted your girlfriend? SO’S EVERYBODY ELSE, DUMBFUCK.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Laz/Ronan, Solene/Olympe, Olympe/Ronan/Lazare, Necker/Artois, Marie Antoinette/Olympe (in the sense of an unrequited thing that helped her to grow; not so much as an actual relationship)

Character I find most attractive: Solene. Like, was that a question? Thank you, final, ongoing proof of my bisexuality. 

Character I would marry: Olympe or Solene

Character I would be best friends with: Olympe, though I’m not sure how she’d deal with my sense of humor. I would say “Charlotte” but I’m not sure re: the age gap there, though she seems to be fine trailing along behind Danton. 

a random thought: I’ve been going over Solene’s scenes a lot for my WIP, trying to scoop out what characterization I can, and one thing that was really striking listening to the Takarazuka version is this mixture between power and insecurity. Like, she’s obviously deeply hurt by Ronan hurting her and, even though I don’t LIKE a lot of what the Zuka version did to Solene for various reasons, I do like that they have it as being DIRECTLY addressed to Ronan as a call-out. So you have her staring at him and saying she’s been abandoned and she didn’t have a choice while also talking about how Ronan’s entered her realm and how the men “submit themselves” to her. Like, I would never want to gloss over the harsh realities of a prostitute’s life at this time because it was REALLY dangerous, especially for a woman like Solene who seems to be working independently, without the (somewhat dubious) protection of a Madame or pimp, but she does seem to find a way to take some power in it that she would never have found as a farmer’s wife. I’m really glad that, despite the fact that this production really sanitized Solene (which, it’s to be expected; it’s Takarazuka), they still were able to bring in some of that grit. 

An unpopular opinion: The thing with 1789 is that opinions that are unpopular with one section of the fandom are popular with another and vice versa, as small as this fandom is. Ronan Mazurier is an idiot, but I don’t ABSOLUTELY hate him and I can actually like him, especially when I’m writing him and ESPECIALLY when I’m writing him outside of canon. “Je Veux le Monde” is interesting not just because Solene is being badass (she is!), but also because of the way the show utilizes violence even while the lyrics of the song condemn the bloodlust of revolutionaries like Ronan. Even though I can like both versions, the Takarazuka production saved the show. Peyrol’s troops on pillars during “Nous ne Sommes”>Dancing Table Robespierre. I will never understand the appeal of Salieri/Lazare as a ship. As much as I utilize Kinky!Lazare, I’m not really fond of Sadist!Lazare, since it robs him of a lot of whatever nuance the French production gave him (It’s not much, but I’ll take it). I think pretty much every production we’ve seen thus far did a cop out by not showing what really happened on July 12 instead of just “Bad Royalists attack poor protesters” (I’ll give a hint: It involved rocks. Thrown at the cavalry.) As much as I like Solene and Lucille Desmoulins as friends (WOMEN. BEING FRIENDS. IT’S A MIRACLE), it makes literally no sense why a middle class girl like Lucille, enamored with Rousseau, would casually befriend someone of such a lower class, especially when, at this point, she’s Danton’s mistress and a former (?) prostitute. Okay, I think I’ve said something to piss off every section of the fandom, Mission Accomplished. 

My Canon OTP: This comes with a CANON? Oh God, the French version more or less nixed this but Marie Antoinette/Louis were adorable historically and I will do literally everything in my power to bring that into fics. It seems like, despite being in an arranged marriage, they were deeply, passionately in love with each other and those last few years really brought them together. Also, on the other side, Lucille/Camille Desmoulins are…heartbreaking, historically. They loved each other so much and, when he died, she basically lost the will to live. Some of her last reported words before they took her to the scaffold were, “They have assassinated the best of men. If I did not hate them for that, I should bless them for the service they have done me this day.” They left behind a son, Horace, just a year old.

My Non-canon OTP: Laz/Ronan is the Ultimate OTP for this one.

Most Badass Character: French!Solene fucking shit up is my sexual orientation. In productions where she isn’t there, then Lazare, by sheer virtue of the fact that we see him most in combat situations, he seems to be the only officer in Paris who ACTUALLY DOES HIS JOB instead of dicking around in Versailles, and he climbs out of The Pit to shame revolutionaries.

Most Epic Villain: I firmly believe that one of 1789′s biggest sins in that they’ve never quite latched onto a firm villain. You’ve got Peyrol, you’ve got Ramard, and you’ve got Artois, but as far as serious, developed threats? It’s hard. But look, we all know I hate fucking Artois. I truly do loathe the little bastard. BUT. He’s also pretty damn iconic and Miya Rurika is obviously having the time of her LIFE in the role. Every single moment of “Je Suis un Dieu” is iconic because she’s finally been released into the wild. Like, the Extra Unmasking scene with a cloak, nailing that goth aesthetic? The fact that he declares himself a God IN THE CHURCH OF SAINT DENIS, the church of Paris’ PATRON SAINT? Casually using Ramard as a footstool? Putting on an ENTIRE SONG as a way of telling Ronan to shut up? The way he strides along the stage like he owns the place? Highkey flirting with Fersen? Iconic. He’s thoroughly despicable in every single way which makes the scene where Olympe points a pistol in his face so damn satisfying. And, the thing with Artois? HE WINS. The Royal Family will be killed, all of the young, idealistic revolutionaries we see here are going to turn on each other and die young, and Artois will take the throne, though he’s eventually yeeted off of it after six years during the July Revolution, with his successor, Louis Philippe, inspiring Les Miserables and Charles dying in exile. Still, for all intents and purposes, he gets exactly what he wanted, though you have to wonder if, eventually, so much loss and death of everyone around him, including his favorite mistress Louise de Polastron, won’t tear him apart. (I know, I know, Takarazuka Charles is an actual demon, but let me hope.) I’m really, really curious to see what the Toho cast is going to bring to the table, since it looks like we’re getting a VERY aggressive Laz, a slimier Artois, and a borderline heroic Ramard.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Ronan/Olympe in its pure, canon form; Danton/Solene (I have many, many issues with that one and Solene’s position in general, since we all know Danton’s a fuckboi who will eventually abandon her, hence why for once I prefer the French version where their relationship is seemingly a one-time thing); Charles/Lazare is interesting to play with as a part of Laz’s backstory but not something I’d want going forward because there’s no way that one can end well for Laz. He’s going to be stuck in the same patterns time after time again and he’ll remain loyal to a system that will eventually screw him over out of love for someone who lacks the ability to love him and who will use and manipulate him until the end. You could argue that he 100% deserves it but, tbh, my main interest in him is seeing if he can do better.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I feel like every single character in 1789 (with maybe the exception of the Printing Press Bros, who work best as side characters) was screwed over. Olympe in the Forbidden Ending of the French version, shot down for Ronan’s angst (But, hey, final proof she’s a lesbian), Marie Antoinette in the French version, Louis XVI in the French version for the Throne Room Scene alone, Solene in any production not getting a really solid arc or characterization (and, in both Japanese productions, being watered down), and, tbh, I also feel like Laz really got the short end of the stick. I talk about the man a lot, but that’s mainly me filling in the blanks. It’s pretty damn obvious when you look at him as a character that he was added in at the last moment because the producers were shitting their pants over Matthieu Carnot’s contract after they wanted to stunt cast Louis Delort from the Voice. 

Favorite Friendship: The Printing Press Bros, as per history. Such a pity that one of them is going to turn on the other two... On a less tragic note, I like French!Olympe’s relationship with Charlotte and wished that it got more screentime. 

Character I most identify with: The very, very specific version of Lazare de Peyrol I’ve projected on in my mind. A lot of my character building for him comes from me more or less writing out what could have been for me and taking it up several notches. A lot of his little quirks (pacing around, for example), I take more or less directly from me (though you will notice that in the French Maniaque, even in the toned down one where he’s at the back of the stage, he’s always in motion, so I didn’t take it out of nowhere.) He and I both (according to my headcanons + the general age for a lot of officers, with could be preteen-14) were put into this position at a young age where we had to be adults, so the experience of childhood was really stunted in a way (note: This is also a BIG part of why I identify so much with Bres mac Elatha). As someone who was raised in such a conservative town and who parroted a lot of those views for years until I broke out of it, I also really get why he thinks the way he thinks and have a pretty vested interest in getting him out of it. I also really do identify quite a lot with Solene, specifically the French version where she and Ronan don’t have that reconciliation. It’s painful, but, in my experience, that’s a little more true to life in the sense that there are these family members who you never quite understand or get along with and who you think you’ll get one of these days, but that doesn’t happen and you’re left really trying to come to terms with that. That feeling of being abandoned, focusing more on the practicality of the Revolution, etc. I can definitely understand, as well as not really being able to trust anyone afterwards. 

Character I wish I could be: I mean, the problem with 1789 is that almost everyone you love is going to be dead in five years. I would normally say Solene; I do want a tenth of the badassery of “Je Veux Le Monde,” but I definitely don’t want the sheer amount of dark shit that she goes through. Olympe probably has the best chance of escaping, I like that sparkle cloak, she’s also very loyal, and and gets to slap Ronan (literally the best part of the French version), so maybe her?

Lazare/Ronan

(Note: All of the following has been done under the [correct] assumption that these two are in a full romantic relationship throughout the musical)

When I started shipping them: About a year ago, watching the Takarazuka version with subtitles

My thoughts: The OTP. They come from completely opposite experiences and completely change each other’s lives and ways of viewing the world, for the better and the worse. 

What makes me happy about them: Peyrol loves his boyfriend so much, he remembers his name after NEARLY A YEAR, he is basically completely infatuated within EIGHT DAYS of them being reunited (the length of time, roughly, between Maniaque and the comment about “The Comte de Peyrol’s affection”), he buys him coats, gets him a place to live, and lets him get away with things that no other human being could conceivably get away under his watch. Hell, in the French version, EVEN OLYMPE KNOWS, as shown by her dream and Ramard saying, “Monsieur de Peyrol, he’s yours. Do whatever you wish with him.” I think that if they’d ever had more time to be a couple, they would have really grown with each other a lot and learned to work past their quarrels, getting this really strong foundation with one another, finding a peace with each other that they would never have found in the outside world.

What makes me sad about them: Everything with this pairing is pain if you go with their canon ending. LIKE, Peyrol loves Ronan to a truly ridiculous degree, lets himself feel probably his first human emotion in possibly DECADES, and then Ronan dies. And, worse, in the Takarazuka version, he dies at Lazare’s hand. And over something that was purely because of Laz’s own pettiness and rigidity. (There was literally no reason for him to order his troops to fire on Papa du Puget, except for that he saw he was losing and decided to take one last shot at someone he deemed a traitor.) In all likelihood, since Laz is…Laz, he probably never told Ronan he loved him, thinking that everything he’d done was good enough when NO it wasn’t while simultaneously thinking that Ronan probably loves Camille and the others more than him, so Ronan probably spends his last moments thinking his boyfriend had just used and discarded him. And, the worst thing for me is that, while the French version seems to have a bit of a reconciliation in the afterlife, with the two of them embracing, in the Takarazuka version you can see Lazare looking at Ronan and then, when Ronan gets up there with him, turning his back. Which is probably just as much because the stage is actually rotating but, with a shipping lens….it’s depressing, since I tend to headcanon it as Laz being so guiltstricken by what he’s done that he can’t even look or speak with Ronan. 

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: As I talk about in more detail below, Creepy Crawly Lazare is a no. I think a lot of fics really take the power imbalance between them at face value and just go off of that, WHICH IS FAIR, given there are severe power imbalances, but such a big part of the relationship for me is also that, if we assume that Laz is willing to have an affair with a revolutionary, we have to assume that he’s completely, utterly smitten as well, and that, while Ronan’s too much of an oblivious walnut to realize it, Laz is completely emotionally compromised by him. He might have the social and economic power over Ronan, but Ronan also has him wrapped around his finger to a truly magnificent degree. (Which, if you look at Nous Ne Sommes with that lens, it becomes a matter of Laz really trying to convince himself that he’s still Old Lazare, still devoted to the Crown, that no, he’s not in love with him, and he ends up with a bodycount while still utterly failing.) And, also, I feel like Ronan post-Bastille VS Pre would take the relationship very differently. Like, in many ways, I think that if they kickstarted their relationship a year or so after the musical, you’d be looking at two very different people in a very different situation, with the scales tipped in Ronan’s favor. 

Things I look for in fanfic: LITERALLY ANYTHING INVOLVING THEM I WILL READ. 

My wishlist: Interactions? More interactions? Them to reinstate the original Maniaque? The ending to be revised so that it includes the first gay, interclass wedding while Artois throws a temper tantrum in the Church before being taken away by the Swiss Guards? Alright, in all honesty, if I can’t completely tear the original to shreds to give me the 100% gay version of 1789 I deserve, then I would like more scenes between the two of them, not even necessarily as more than rivals, but showing them as being linked to each other, like how the French version has him in the back during La Rue nous Appartient or how the Takarazuka version has him there during the Act 1 finale (which took La Rue’s place). I like the idea of Peyrol always kind of being there in Ronan’s mind as this looming threat. I would love to see Peyrol getting something more than just a couple of songs, because the fact that he’s not there for Ronan’s escape is just...odd to me. Like, is he asleep? On vacation? At Versailles? I would like to see him actually *react* to Ronan’s escape more, since that also makes him look bad. I’d like to see more of Peyrol’s concerns, seeing the mob growing, seeing Ronan getting involved in it, and having an “Oh God, What Have I Done?” moment, even if it doesn’t stick. I’d like a moment between the two of them when they realize how much they’re becoming like each other, as the Revolution takes bits out of both of them. On a noncanon level, I wish that there were more opportunities for them to work together as a pair. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Despite my general headcanon that Laz is GAY GAY GAY, I do lowkey ship L/O after the finale, mainly courtesy of The Bernese Affair. I also lowkey, lowkey ship him with the random peasant that appears on his arm during “Pour la Peine,” played by Alan Grall, who was understudy!Ronan. Generally, however, I don’t think Lazare could be with anyone after Ronan. For once, he tried to put his heart in with his duty, and it failed miserably. Tbh, in any continuity where Ronan dies, I don’t really see Laz as surviving for much longer. He could throw himself into the Princes’ Army, fighting against the Revolutionary Forces, he could face the mob and die on the lantern, or any other combination of factors (as you saw in the Solene WIP), but I really don’t see Laz lasting long after this one. I think the version we’d see of him post-finale would be broken in a way that we’ve never really seen him broken and, the worst thing is, he wouldn’t have anyone to confide in. In a world where Laz had died instead of Ronan, in theory, if Ronan would TALK to her (unrealistic), he has Solene, maybe Charlotte, Camille, and Olympe. Hell, Danton probably wouldn’t even care and would at least try to get Ronan laid, get him out of the house, etc. even if Ronan would be absolutely miserable company. Laz doesn’t have that. He has his men, and they more likely than not follow him out of a mixture of respect and fear. As a result, I see him trying to bottle his life with Ronan, trying to keep it to himself, and eventually destroying himself over it. Ronan…I have a hard time seeing with anyone else. Definitely not Olympe. Camille, maybe. Robespierre, maybe, though either one has….problems, historically. And, tbh, I think they’d be too tame for Ronan. Look at the two people he’s paired with: A Royal Officer and the Queen’s Governess. He literally can’t seem to go for a relationship where they’re on the same team. (Yet another reason to kinkshame him). I’d honestly rather have him realize the Revolution is going to shit and travel back to the country where he, idk, rolls around in dirt for a little while to forget his troubles. (Note: In the Takarazuka version, you have Ronan committing himself to a life alone without Olympe and, even if this is a moment of Ronan being Extra…I think there’s a bit of truth to it. Ronan feels things in extremes: Love, hatred, grief, and I suspect that he would be inconsolable. Like, his initial reaction to his father’s death was to IMMEDIATELY get out of the area and swear vengeance, which I have my own headcanons about BUT, the point is, he’ll want a new start, outside of Paris, and I think he would throw himself into it with the same fervor he threw himself into the Revolution. Which actually parallels nicely with Artois swearing himself to celibacy after Louis de Polastron’s death.)

My happily ever after for them: The two of them manage to convince each other to run away from the Revolution together, going to England, Italy, or literally anywhere else bordering France. They both grow as human beings, with both of them moving increasingly towards the center. Laz leaves the Army and begins the process of healing himself and getting his individuality back, with Ronan occasionally napping on his shoulder while he’s practicing on the harpsichord. They don’t have children, but do have several animals (that Laz claims are Ronan’s), including at least one black kitten that SOMEONE (Read: Ronan) names Artois for its imperious manner. Olympe and Solene occasionally stay with them, with Solene and Lazare calling a truce for Ronan’s sake. The Mazurier siblings reconcile. They all deal with the trauma of the French Revolution together, as a family. Sometime after the heat of the Revolution dies down, probably around 1804, they go back to France, where Ronan helps Laz deal with his past and the trauma associated with it. By this point, society’s more or less accepted that they’re married and, with the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1791, there’s not all that much they can do except for, like, not inviting the socially awkward aristocrat to their salons. Oh, the shame. Peyrol will have to console himself by banging his boyfriend in every room of his chateau. They all outlive Artois.

Lazare de Peyrol

How I feel about this character: He is my aristocratic gay disaster son who needs to CHILL and commit 99% fewer homicides.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Ronan, Olympe, Charles (as part of his Tragic Backstory, unrequited), Happiness, the Whip, the Coat, Marat’s Printing Press, Louis XVI (as an unrequited thing pre-Ronan, instead of Charles). I could also be persuaded to ship Robespierre/Lazare, though I don’t think it’d ever really be a major thing since, tbh, they don’t have the same kind of history/attachment that R/L do.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: The sad thing with Laz is that we really don’t get any real relationships with him, besides his men and their attempts to get him to hook up with Ronan (which I read as mainly them thinking “HEY! If he gets laid, maybe he won’t have us flogged for every minor infraction!”) Charlotte as a sort of ward for Laz is a disaster waiting to happen, but it’s something that I think has a lot of potential in the sense that he’s never really HAD anyone to protect before and then there’s this street urchin who is more or less feral BUT she has her uses and eventually Laz is basically the equivalent of “I’ve only known Charlotte a day and a half but if anything happened to her I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself.” Which, Peyrol picking up ANOTHER stray. The good news is that Charlotte’s out of the danger stage as far as when i think Peyrol would have the most trouble dealing with kids, since she’s old enough that she still has a sense of independence, though I think they’d clash a lot as far as Laz wanting her to be A Proper Young Woman while Charlotte is…Charlotte. Also, on the reverse side, I like the idea of Papa du Puget (in a verse where Laz DOESN’T TRY TO KILL HIM) forming a sort of father/son bond with him.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Creepy Crawly Laz is a hard “no” for me. It’s not just that he’s more often than not portrayed as creeping on the wrong person, but it’s just…not anything in keeping with what we’ve seen of Laz thus far. I can’t see Laz as being the one who’s really forward in his relationship with Ronan, or really with anyone. I tend to headcanon him as more or less gray ace, with a strong focus on his work before he meets Ronan, which is part of why he reacts so STRONGLY to him. Like, he was minding his own business, doing his job, and then this PEASANT comes in and upsets everything and makes him feel tingly feelings that he’s really not used to. TBH I have a hard time imagining he’s even kissed someone pre-musical. (Okay, Takarazuka Laz I have an easier time with, but still.) And so he tries to put him in his proper place but…that doesn’t work well and then suddenly the peasant wants to kiss him and ABORTABORTABORT but it also feels…somewhat nice and, oh, that’s what the tingly feelings are. Consider that his opening lines to Ronan in Maniaque basically consist of, “Your father is dead and you’re an idiot. Also, do you want to betray your friends and become my trophy twink because I can arrange that?” That is not someone who’s experienced in any way. Like, he probably cries during their first time together and Ronan’s just there like “…Peyrol, Peyrol, are you alright? Did I do something wrong?” And meanwhile with Ronan we (unfortunately) know he’s very *physical* when it comes to people so, the second he realizes he’s got the hots for his father’s killer, he’s going to just…go for it. And then probably angst later. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish we’d gotten more development with Laz in general, given that I think he has a lot of potential. Obviously, my ideal version of 1789 would be a romantic drama with Peyrol/Ronan and Solene/Olympe as our two cross-class relationships, with Ronan and Lazare potentially being the comic relief in the background. I would really like to see him go through an actual arc in the musical, with him reacting to the events of the Revolution, with Nous Ne Sommes being him having a sort of breakdown (which is how I’ve always personally interpreted the “Let it Go Lazare” video), which leads up to the Bastille. I like the idea of him gradually losing control over everything, with at least some of his men deserting, so that the position between him and Ronan gradually flips. (Personally, I’ve always liked the idea of “Nous ne Sommes” being about not just the revolutionaries, but about his own troops as they feel torn about firing on their own people and are increasingly resentful of their commander.) I would like to see some closure to Ronan’s revenge plot against him, even if it’s Laz being cornered by the mob as the Bastille falls. It’s kind of why I truly enjoy having R/L in mind for the Takarazuka version, because even though Ronan is shot down by Peyrol in the end, you know he’s probably managed to do exactly what he’d set out to do: Destroy him completely. And he did it without even really trying. There’s a sort of dark, dark irony to that one. 

My favorite friendship for this character: If I’m not going fully on poly with Ronan/Lazare/Olympe, I tend to still like Olympe and Lazare to be friends, as he probably has more in common with her than anyone else in the cast, seeing as they’re both devoted to the Royal Family, come from military backgrounds, have ties to the Bastille, and distrust the mob. I think it’s really important for Laz to keep up that relationship and to have someone like that to commiserate with. 

My crossover ship: Not a full-on ship, but I really like Wash and Laz’s friendship in the TN crossover. I like that you have these two military figures, both dedicated to their leaders, finding some common ground, I like that Laz finally has a superior who actually gives a damn about him and is supportive and encourages him to be a human being, I like how they both support each other in their disaster relationships. For the first time in his life, really, Laz has someone who is in his corner, so he doesn’t have to deal with this on his own, someone who acts as a mentor to him and really pushes him to be a better human being and a better officer (and who is willing to use the spray bottle on him when he contemplates homicide). Like, they both keep each other in check insanely well? Also, I miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight lowkey ship Lazare/Chauvelin from the Scarlet Pimpernel, mainly because he was played by Ronan’s actress at one point and CROSSOVERS + It’s another revolutionary and Lazare has a Type. And I also lowkey support Saint Just/Lazare in the sense that I think they would have an absolutely HILARIOUS dynamic given that SJ was fantastic when it came to military stuff and had a noted love of music and Laz is….similar, but on a different side. Like, you’d have SJ complaining about the officers not doing anything and Laz would be like, “See? See? This is what I’ve been say-What do you mean ‘abolition of privileges?” And then they’d bond over, like, balloons or telegraph wires before remembering they hate each other and SJ is highkey in love with Robespierre. Also, I strongly feel like at some Laz tried to propose to Oscar de Jarjayes as a way of showing how very heterosexual he was and. She knocked him on his ass. It was probably the closest he’s ever come to being sexually attracted to a woman (Not counting the Polyamory AU where he’s bi, but still).

Terra Nova

Favorite character: Wash

Least Favorite character: Lucas Motherfucking Taylor

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Wash/Mira, Jim/Malcolm, Maddy/Skye, Mark/Josh, Lucas Taylor/A T-Rex’s Jaw...you know, the standards

Character I find most attractive: WASH. 

Character I would marry: Elizabeth, because we know her family’s rich and she’s insanely smart and caring. (Actual Josh Shannon quote: “Rachel, please don’t fuck my mom”). 

Character I would be best friends with: Maddy Shannon

a random thought: This is the kind of thing we’ve talked about, but It’s such a pity we got a conglomeration of four different scripts rather than one solid script. I can understand not going full on grimdark, but there are still so many traces of it throughout the script (the casual usage of torture, INCLUDING BY JIM), that it’s a pity they didn’t have the guts to do it. Even if they didn’t go through with the Cursed original script, they’d have done well to just stick to one coherent script with a solid idea of where they were going. Taylor: Antihero, villain, or Santa Steroids? Jim: Relatable everyman or hero? (ALSO: THEY SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE ORIGINAL REASON FOR HIM BEING ARRESTED.) It’s like everybody on the writing team had a different idea about the characters + Colony and what they were going for, with traces of that darkness edging in but never being addressed. The over-the-top dystopia of the original is, tbh, more than a little corny, but so is the “Taylor is always right! The government does surveillance on you because it loves you! You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide! Love Big Brother! Look, Taylor interacting with children! Have you ever heard of a dictator who hangs out with children?” thing that the final product had, especially given that this is so very clearly a post-9/11 world where questions about state authority are STILL going around and things like the Patriot Act are still deeply controversial.  Obviously, character development is a thing and I would LOVE to see a gradual slide, but looking at where they went with what they had planned, I don’t see how they were going to pull it off, especially given that all they’ve really mentioned about S2 was that Taylor was going to go insane, which doesn’t seem to take into account his pre-existing authoritarian tendencies. (Also, the fact they just brush it aside as him being “crazy” feels deeply eh to me, since it seems like such a narrative cheap shot and more than a little unfortunate from a mental health standpoint.) There was so much they should have been building up to and bringing in from episode one, and they dropped it. I think, in the end, there were a lot of things that really damned the show in the end, potentially not fatal on their own, but I think that was the original sin of it, in a sense. If I’d been an executive looking the show over and deciding whether to renew or not, I’d not have hesitated over cancelling the hot mess, as enjoyable as it is. 

An unpopular opinion: None of the canon relationships were well done and it’s better to pretend that literally everyone realized they were gay post-finale. Also, GIVE ME MY DARK VERSION OF PARADISE LOST WITH DINOS DAMMIT. 

My Canon OTP: ........................................

My Non-canon OTP: Wash/Mira, even though it’s canon in my heart. 

Most Badass Character: Uh? WASH? Now that she’s gone, the Colony is fucked, which is obv. the real reason the show was cancelled. Also, Mira, surviving in the wild for as long as she has and putting Taylor in his place when he’s like, “I WAS HERE A WHOLE MONTH WITHOUT MY X-BOX.” And Mira’s like, “Bitch, where do you think we’ve been the last few years? At the Ritz?” 

Most Epic Villain: I’m not giving Lucas Taylor the benefit of this. Mira, but I don’t really see her as a villain. If they’d ever had the guts in a later season to call out Taylor’s bullshit, I think he had the potential to be FASCINATING, as Jim comes to terms with what he is, turning against someone he considered a boyfriend, and breaking free of following orders (or, you know, just assigning his role to Wash. That would work too.) Lead the audience in with talk of Utopia, “the ends justify the means,” then steadily deconstruct it with Taylor becoming more and more paranoid after the season finale, losing faith in his dreams, committing more and more atrocities and continuing to justify them. 

Pairing I am not a fan of: Anything? In? Canon? Lucas/Skye in particular. 

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): All of them? But also, LET ! WASH ! GET ! CHARACTER ! DEVELOPMENT ! And Skye deserved a hell of a lot more than a half-baked spy arc and romance arc with Josh, especially given her connection to Taylor (which, I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, if anyone’s taking down Taylor and we’re forced to admit Wash is dead, IT NEEDS TO BE SKYE WHO TAKES HIM DOWN. NOT JIM. SOMEONE WHO’S KNOWN AND LOVED HIM FOR YEARS.) We needed more of her relationships with people in the colony, especially Wash since Wash doesn’t really have *connections* and, if you’re going to toss away a character like that, you need to emphasize how much is MATTERS. And calling her “Alycia” every chance you get isn’t the same. Showing Skye mourning would have been a good step. And, tbh, I will always feel like they did Mark a disservice by cutting out his role as a Sixer spy and just making him Maddy’s Bland Straight Love Interest. The actor did a pretty good job selling it, and yet, in the end, all that made it the screen was oatmeal. You could have had an opportunity for a genuinely riveting Sixer Spy plotline, tying him and Skye together as friends and (reluctant) conspirators, while also giving some solid conflict to the characters, but they tossed it away. And killing Mark off in the finale would have made a lot more of an impact than Wash because the audience has SEEN him forge that (bland) relationship with Maddy, sees him joking with her little sister, and then fridges him. Like, you want to show you’re not playing around? DO THAT. RAISE THE FUCKING STAKES. 

Favourite Friendship: Wash/Taylor. I def. tend to view them as long-time comrades who have a lot of deep respect for one another and who trust each other unconditionally. That’s why, no matter what happens, that friendship breaking is going to be so painful. They’re really one of the only solid ties that they have to the past on Ter Noa, and, eventually, the past has gotta die. 

Character I most identify with: Maddy Shannon. 

Character I wish I could be: WASH. 

Mira/Wash

When I started shipping them: During our TN streams, thank you very much. 

My thoughts: Definitely not a ship I came in with, especially since the writers seem to have a phobia over female characters talking for more than a minute at a time when absolutely necessary, but definitely one of the most interesting pairings insofar as chemistry and potential is concerned. 

What makes me happy about them: These two work so well together on every level; they really match each other well even as they have that kind of conflict that makes a ship investing. You have these two complete badasses in love, angsty, but still staying true to themselves. 

What makes me sad about them: They have so few interactions on screen; we never really get anything with them aside from the one (beautiful) interaction. Also, despite what they both might want, their loyalties for the foreseeable future are so bound up that, even if they meet up occasionally, they can’t pursue a solid relationship (WHICH. OH. IN THE CROSSOVER. RONAN FEELING BAD THAT IN A WORLD WHERE SEEMINGLY EVERYTHING’S POSSIBLE, SOME COUPLES STILL CAN’T BE TOGETHER.)

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: WHAT FANFIC? Making Wash and Mira straight is obviously a no go. 

Things I look for in fanfic: To exist someplace besides my computer hardrive. 

My wishlist: TALKING? 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I don’t have any ships for Mira outside of Wash, tbh. If she’s with someone, it’d have to be someone who could match her and would be willing to deal with her rough edges as well as uncovering that little chink in her armor. Elizabeth Shannon would be an interesting choice there, I suppose. Wash...Reilly could work, as someone who’s military as well, though I’m not sure Wash would date someone under her command. Elizabeth Shannon’s still an option there, in the sense that I think she could get Wash to SLOW DOWN and also still has less of a tolerance for Taylor’s shit (the second he comes for her kids, it’s over.) 

My happily ever after for them: Wash eventually realizes that Taylor’s doing Some Dystopian Shit and falls to Mira’s Sixer Wiles, the two of them work together to take him down and then, using some leftover Lucas Bullshit, they re-establish contact on Earth, snatch Sienna, and then go back to Terra Nova where they reunite the Sixers and the Colony as one united group. The Sixers get a full pardon for what they’ve done, or at the very least a highly commuted sentence. They also raise Leah and Sam as their own, with Sienna thrilled to get two new siblings (they also make regular trips to Earth to see Leah and Sam’s grandparents, who are THRILLED to see them but are also mildly intimidated by Mira sharpening her knives in the dining room.)

         Mira

How I feel about this character: Very problematic but I also love her and am totally on her side VS Taylor. 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Wash, Alycia Washington, Lt. Washington

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Sienna. It has to have been a pretty strong mother/daughter bond to get Mira to basically bend Heaven and Hell for her, and it’s a pity we never really got to see it in person considering it would have really helped to humanize Mira further. 

My unpopular opinion about this character: THAT FUCKING SCENE WHERE THE WRITERS IN THE COMMENTARY CALLED HER “ALMOST SYMPATHETIC.” NO, BITCH. SHE IS SYMPATHETIC. I’m really along the same lines as you where I have a really hard time viewing her as a villain. Anti-villain, maybe, but, given what goes on in the Colony (torture, martial law, etc.) I have a hard time not rooting for her. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: That the episode with her and Taylor was replaced with her and Wash. That relationship has so much potential to be fascinating, not just as far as shipping but just in general. Like, even if I didn’t headcanon them as Sad Exes, that “Still doing Taylor’s dirty work?” Shows that they go way back, that there’s this connection there, and Mira offers Wash an alternative to what she’s got on the colony, even if it’s one she can’t take. They work well as rivals and foils for one another as two people who are both military, both very driven, but happened to wind up on different sides. I also really wish that we’d gotten to see more of Mira and what’s going on with her at a given point. I really would have liked to see if she has any mementos of Sienna or something like that. Flashbacks to her on Earth, maybe, or an episode from the perspective of the Sixers. Just something solid as far as establishing her and who she is outside of just “mean Sixer Lady”.  

Favorite friendship for this character: Sixers? Have? Friends? In all honesty, Mira strikes me as the type who avoids attachments, because they’re not here to make friends, they’re here for the money and then to get the Hell out. She’s pragmatic like that. I think she wants her people to respect her, but, ultimately, she’s there for the mission. (Oh, like another military idiot I have a soft spot for.)

My crossover ship: Not a full out ship, but I’m really intrigued by how her and Olympe will get along in the crossover as the Revolution has to team up with the Sixers. Because with Olympe, she’s very easy to underestimate (which is why I think Lucas Taylor is going to fail miserably). Unlike Mira, who I think projects herself as more of a hardass than she actually is as a way of keeping control, Olympe makes herself deliberately softer and more demure than I think she really is as a way of keeping control because that is how you do things in the 18th century. She keeps her head down, keeps her wits about her, smiles, and then darts away from the trouble (namely, Artois). In terms of personality, she’s very nurturing and kid-focused, whereas Mira’s more like Laz in the sense that she has a goal that she wants to achieve and she kind of goes for the throat. Her actions towards Leah show that, while she loves Sienna, when it comes to kids, she’s not above being harsh to a child if she feels it’s necessary. Again, it’s all about the mission to her, getting the money, and then going. So you have these two people with very different approaches to life from very different time periods having to get along for the greater good.