#also again pushing my little spoon lance agenda

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith watched on with amusement as Lance fussed at the holo-TV, trying desperately to get the subtitles to play despite the fact that they did not offer and Terran subtitles and would therefore be useless. (‘They help me hear better!’ ‘Lance, babe, you can’t even read them.’ ‘Who am I to argue with my ears? If they hear better with subtitles, they hear better with subtitles!’ ‘…Can’t argue with that.’)

“Lance,” he complained, “hurry up and come sit down. I miss my bony weighted blanket.”

Lance, who had finally gotten the subtitles on, (in what looked to be Arusian) huffed snootily. “If that’s all I am to you, then you can sit by yourself,” he said, sitting primly on the other edge of the couch.

Keith pouted. “Baby,” he tried, but Lance pointedly ignored him. After a few moments of stubbornly sitting as far away as possible, Lance began to shiver. Keith smirked. As much as Lance liked to huff and puff and pretend to be annoyed when Keith teased him, he could never stay away long enough for Keith to feel any consequences, because Lance seemingly could not thermoregulate. It took that boy a maximum of five minutes in any situation to get cold, and Keith was his personal furnace. Keith reclined back onto the couch, still smirking. He wouldn’t even have to say anything.

A few more minutes, and he was proven correct: Lance crawled along the couch, settling in between Keith’s open legs and leaning on his chest. He manhandled Keith’s arms so one was around his waist and one was in his hair. He was scowling, but Keith knew his well enough to see the amusement in his eyes. Lance enjoyed their dumb little games as much as he did (there were always bonus points when they pulled shit like this in front of the team, who recognized it for the flirting that it was and were disgusted every time. It was hilarious).

As soon as he was settled, Keith pressed a quick kiss to the back Lance’s head, tightened the grip around his waist, and began running his fingers through Lance’s hair in the way he knew made his boyfriend all melty.

“…This does not mean you won,” Lance announced after a period of silence.

Keith huffed a light laugh. “Okay, baby. Whatever you say.”

The smile was audible in Lance’s voice. “Don’t patronize me, Mullet.” Keith smiled and continued playing with Lance’s hair as the movie played on. Truthfully, he wasn’t paying much attention to the film, just enjoying spending time with his boyfriend. His fingers ran along a long scar on the back of Lance’s head, and he paused. He knew the scar was there, he felt it every time he touched Lance’s head, but he truly did not know where it came from. He knew the origins for most of Lance’s other scars, as he was present for most of them, but this one eluded him.

“How’d you get this scar?” he asked after a moment of contemplation.

“Hm?” responded Lance absentmindedly. “What scar?”

Keith traced over it again, tapping it lightly. “This one, on the back of your head.”

“Oh, I tripped over a fish when I was little.”

Keith froze, brows furrowed. He was utterly flummoxed, to be honest.

“You… tripped… on a fish?” he asked slowly. He knew English was, like, Lance’s fourth language. Maybe that was an expression that wasn’t translated well?

Lance hummed an affirmative. “I was playing in the… I don’t remember the English word. The shallow end of the ocean. Where you can still stand.”

“I think it’s called the surf? Maybe?”

Lance made a face. “I thought that was just the sport. Huh.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Anyways. I was playing in the surf with my siblings, we were throwing a ball around. My siblings are all bigger than me, and sometimes they forgot that, so they kept throwing it too far and I would try to run backwards and catch it anyway. Since I was running backwards, I wasn’t really watching where I was going, and I tripped over a stupid fucking Goliath Grouper.” Lance scowls. “I don’t know what the dumbass thing was doing in the shallow waters, but it was there and they’re too dumb to be scared of humans, so I tripped right over the stupid thing and cracked my head open on a rock! My mom thought I died. Luckily for everyone I am very hardy, so they glued my head back together with no brain damage! But yeah. I firmly blame the stupid Grouper.”

Keith sits in stunned silence for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. The force of it makes Lance bounce where he’s resting on his chest. Lance giggles along with him.

“You really tripped on a fish,” he chokes out. “God, baby, only you.”

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Time for episode 7 of The Witcher! It’s called “Before A Fall” and it makes sense to be about the events that lead closer and closer to the fall of Cintra (if I remember correctly, Calanthe expected Geralt to be in Cintra when the attack took place, so I suppose the last episode must show what Geralt was doing there around that time and then connect to present-time and his eventual meeting with Cirilla).

In the last installment, Geralt managed to break up with both of his partners in like 3 minutes (the real bisexual agenda).

It’s interesting that he and Yennefer had a fight in consequence of which she stormed off, while Geralt pushed Jaskier away because he blames Jaskier for getting him involved with emotional things, framing Jaskier as the element that forces Geralt out of his walls he’s built around himself so he won’t get hurt--but that don’t allow him to have human connections. Jaskier is what makes Geralt human, and while his character is mostly used as comic relief, the narrative firmly places him in the role of the character that pulls at Geralt’s walls and forces him to be more than the monster-killing persona he’s created for himself (understandably, when other people see you as an abomination that’s only good as a monster-killing machine, there’s some control to be found in embracing that exact identity). Jaskier literally creates a different identity for Geralt, as his PR manager, painting him as a hero rather than a butcher. But it’s more than that, because by treating him as a person, he forces Geralt to be a person instead of a machine, i.e. to be his actual self, because he’s not a machine, that’s just the identity he adopted for self-protection.

(Oh. Oh, no. I did it again. I got involved in a human-machine narrative again. Fuck. This was supposed to be a weird fun ride instead it slammed me with the brand of feels that is most effective on me. Damn it.)

I mean, the same thing, I suppose, happens with Geralt and Yennefer with Geralt being the one who pulls down Yen’s walls and makes her be human, but in their case the journey has barely started yet, and we can only guess where it’s going because it makes sense narratively. Of course Geralt needs to pull down his walls at least a bit first, and then do the same thing to Yen. Geralt seems to have already understood his feelings for her, but she’s in denial and would rather storm off than make herself vulnerable. On the other hand Geralt isn’t very happy with his newfound vulnerability, thus why he pushes Jaskier away.

...I was supposed to start watching the next episode. Oops. Here we go.

Ciri is hungry and disillusioned. Somebody adopt this child please.

Speaking of which, Geralt admires the view. There’s a big army and Geralt isn’t impressed but this turn of events.

He has very pointedly ignored everything about the child, whom he only now learns is a girl, but makes sure to inform her guardian that there’s danger ahead.

Calanthe doesn’t want to lose Ciri to Geralt, but Geralt knows that there’s a chance the girl will be safer with him than in the city.

Oof. Calanthe is playing with destiny and this won’t go well.

Yennefer visits her ex, who is doing academic work in the field. She is tired of being wanted just in virtue of being an object in a position of power... But he’s gotten over her after being hurt and rejected by her. That’s my boy. 

Tissaia basically sends a fellow mage to recruit Yennefer into going to Aretuza again, and unlike the last time when she refused her offer because she was busy being an Independent Bad Mage(TM) she now accepts. 

Twist! Tissaia isn’t behind this. It’s all Mustache Mage.

Yennefer makes a trip down memory lane... and gives drugs to some girls. Well, and also tells them about the secret workings of Chaos School.

Meanwhile mages are having a meeting about politics in this time of war, and finally we see a map. I love how you have Game of Thrones who spoon-feeds you reminders of what is where every episode and this show is like, oh you want to know what’s going on? Fuck you.

Fringilla appears and it becomes a fight between the traditional way of doing things, and Fringilla&co’s new way of doing things.

White Flame Team does Forbidden Magic! Fringilla says there is no light or dark magic, just stories that the bosses of the traditional way tell to keep the status quo. Cool story, still slaughter, though...?

Tissaia breaks a lance in favor of Cintra, saying they might have put up walls and been proud but they must have been scared, and they dismissed them as a lost cause and didn’t try harder, also out of pride. She is in a tiny minority.

Tissaia admits Aretuza is all she has, and that she’s going to fight to protect it, and asks Yen to help her, to do it for her. For Yen, her plea is too little, too late.

We reach the point where we started in the pilot, but this time we actually know what the hell is going on. I’ve enjoyed the time fuckery, it’s been weird but fun.

In the present time, Ciri is attacked by her former friends... and she awakens powers :3

Aaah it’s so bad we have so little left before having to wait 84 years for the next season. Honestly this was supposed to be a wonky season because of the whole ~bunch of prologue stories sewn together~ thing, but I think it worked, and the choppiness was crafted well into a narrative puzzle we had to solve by following the story. Also, if this is indeed “just” a prologue, that is pretty promising for what’s to come...