#alternatively it could have been allison

[goose-111]

thought: do y'all think andrew had to make neil start an actual skin care routine? at least like cleanse + moisturize? cause that boy was on the run for years, and you know he was just using cheap soap bars and whatever they had at motels.

[robindaydream]

Pyromancers

[quinnlarrabee]

Macron's fiery Sorbonne speech targets summering American Millennials

It’s no coincidence that Emmanuel Macron gave a fiery speech about the threats facing Europe the same week that American Millennials in New York, LA, and Miami began talking about booking their one-way flights to the continent. "There is a risk our Europe could die - we are not equipped to face the risks," Macron said, referring to the dietary allergies, alternative milk needs, and tedious conversations of trust-funded, unemployed young adults who will begin their summer in Paris to attend a museum benefit that spills into a large dinner party with several professional photographers before traveling to Puglia, Comporta, or Ibiza where they will subsist on ‘beautiful tomatoes,’ flat whites, and MDMA. 

Europe has struggled with illegal immigration for decades, and there is no more pressing illegal immigration threat than American Millennials who have decided that being unemployed in Europe is less distressing for their parents than being unemployed in Williamsburg. Google searches for ‘how long can I stay in EU without passport’ spiked in late-April among Americans who have not yet bought a Portuguese passport from a guy who used to run a turnkey Burning Man camp who is now running a Golden Visa scheme in Lisbon. “Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” the choices being whether or not to search and detain for ketamine at customs and how to clearly define tipping protocol in restaurants. 

“It used to be enough to spend a couple weeks in Italy in July,” observes Coco, a 34-year-old retired gallery founder who is on the board of several art-related non-profits that she instructed her unpaid interns to start. “But now it gets so hot in Europe in July that everyone is going in June and even like, May.” Coco has several weddings and dinner parties in various coastal destinations in Europe in June, but she has not yet RSVP’d nor has she booked any travel. “I know I’m going to go, but I’ve just been too busy to look at the dates or book anything,” she says, absently picking some kind of beige matter from the left eye of her toy goldendoodle. Macron at one point asserts in his speech that Europe is “too slow and lacks ambition,” referring directly to Coco’s ambivalent European travel plans. 

Uncertainty permeates the vibe in Europe right now, not because of a military threat posed by a giant, angry country with cocked nukes driven by a weak-minded Cold War relic, but because every Millennial in New York, Miami and Los Angeles has expressed their intention to occupy Europe without declaring the targets. 

“Is very stressful,” says Aldo Melpignano, the proprietor of Borgo Egnazia, a trendy boutique hotel in Puglia that for Europeans costs €120 a night and charges 30something Americans visiting from coastal zipcodes $970. “I see the hashtags on the Instagram, like, I’m coming for your @borgoegnazia,” he says. “Va bene, Allison, when you gonna come for us, and are you gonna come with that stupid capello?” says Aldo while making a pinched-fingers emoji with one hand and pointing to his head with the other. Hotel, coffee shop, organic market, and narcotics purveyors all over Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal have echoed this desire for more resolute planning and fewer hats from the demographic that funds the less productive but more desirable EU countries.  

"We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans," Macron said, a rallying cry to European DJs to sample only vocals that were recorded in native European languages.  

“Europe must show that it is never a vassal of the United States and that it also knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world," Macron said, refuting the irrefutable fact that Europe has become a summer camp for unproductive younger Americans and suggesting that they be immediately deported to Bodrum or Izmir upon landing at CDG, MXP, and LIS. 

“This is a betrayal of our values that ultimately leads us to dependency on other counties,” Macron said, making an observation about Europe’s frustration with having to work between May and August in order to show American Millennials how to correctly tap their credit card on puzzling European payment terminals.

“Europe must become capable of defending its interests, with its allies by our side whenever they are willing, and alone if necessary,” said Macron, in defense of French baristas who do not like working with oat milk. Taking a hands-on approach to ensuring the EU’s “ability to ensure our security” Macron and his wife will begin their Summer at a wedding in the Aeolian Islands in early June, float around Sicily or Puglia the following week, head to Bonjuk Bay for an appearance of prominent LA-based DJ, RICHE, and then couch-surf in Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera the rest of the summer.

[christinesficrecs]

oh boy im really in the mood for a highschool au, de-aged derek sterek fics, could you rec me your fave so far?? thank you sm for all you do for this fandom you're a lifesaver!!!!

Sure! Try these ones.

Fly a Little Faster by  mirrorkill | 32K

Everyone knows when you go back in time, you shouldn’t step on an ant, just in case you accidentally kill your own grandparent or something. But what happens when you go back in time and, uh, accidentally interrupt the one event that apparently made the Grumpiest Alpha in Town into a ball of mindless manpain?

Well, if Marty McFly can do it, so can Stiles Stilinski. All he has to do is get Derek and Paige to fall in love before he gets pulled back to his own time. And before he makes anything worse. That’s easy as pie, right? Right?

Where Clouds Roll By by  ohanotherday | 22K

Derek gets de-aged, physically *and* mentally, and immediately gravitates towards Stiles instead of his pack. Why? Because he can sense that everyone else (Scott, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, etc.) is a werewolf (or were-something, in Jackson’s case), and his family taught him not to trust unfamiliar weres when he was on his own. He can also sense that Allison’s a Hunter or connected to them somehow, (maybe she smells like wolfsbane? w/e). So Stiles ends up having to take care of him until he’s back to normal. In the meantime, bb!Derek gets very protective of Stiles, and adorable shenanigans ensue.

This Time With Feeling by  Crimson1 | 36.1K

“Derek Hale, if you refuse to learn from your past…then you will be doomed to repeat it.” In which Derek is turned into a 16-year-old and has to stay with Stiles until they figure out how to turn him back.

Play It Again by  metisket | 63.2K

In which Stiles goes along with one of Derek’s plans and ends up in an alternate universe as a result. He should’ve known better. He did know better, actually, and that means he has no one to blame but himself.

“Laura wants to lure the kid in with food and kindness and make a pet of him, like a feral cat. Derek wants to have him arrested for stalking. They’re at an impasse. (And the rest of the family is staying emphatically out of it in a way that suggests bets have been placed.)”

Where The Inevitable Isn’t by  Survivah | 41.2K

Stiles has a magical thingamajig that’s supposed to get him out of danger. Trouble is, it took him really, really far out of danger. Like, to the point where he isn’t in the same universe anymore.

“A part of Stiles had been thinking that he’d come home, and just go, ‘hey, Derek, are we mates and you just haven’t said anything about it?’ and Derek would reply, 'now you mention it, we are indeed! Now come to my bedchamber, where we will have super hot sex and then cuddle after!’”

Now as Ever (All That Is and Has Been) by  venis_envy | 52.2K

Stiles can’t remember what happened to rearrange the time-space continuum, or how he ended up being pulled into the past. All he knows is that he’s there now, in 2003 Beacon Hills, with a teenage werewolf and a possibly-crazy veterinarian as his only allies.

Hormonally Yours by Nokomis | 1.1K

Stiles is on a stakeout with adorably teenaged Derek. Makeouts happen.

A Wrinkle in Time by PencilTrash | 2.8K

“But Deaton, how do we change him back?” “I don’t know, Scott.” “Does this potion contain wolfs bane?” “A little.” “What?! But he's… he is… ” Stiles watched as Scott struggled for the correct word, totally freaking out, and gestured at the twitching blanket in Cora’s hold. “… so small,” Scott murmured after a beat.

I’ll be right back (in 24 years) by AnaIsFangirling (Ana_K_Lee) | 48.1K

When Derek thought about time travel – and he did, a lot – this was not what he’d had in mind. He’d thought he would see his younger self, tell him to leave Paige alone and NEVER trust Kate Argent. He’d thought he’d get to come back once that was done and everything would be perfect. He never imagined having to relive his entire life.

The Time Traveler’s Prerogative by  weathervaanes | 9.2K

After the events of “117”, Derek doesn’t magically transform back into his twenty-five-year-old body. Instead, he’s stuck as a sixteen-year-old for an unknown amount of time. So the pack has to learn to deal with it.

Hold On, Hold Tight (make it through another night) by  callunavulgari | 2.9K

“You feel important,” Derek finally blurts out, the tips of his ears going red the second the words are out of his mouth.

Stiles blinks at him. “What?”

Baby-faced Derek bites his lip again, which is… distracting. “Something is wrong,” he finally says, slowly. “I don’t know what, because none of you are telling me anything—” and ah, there’s a hint of the old Derek. Stiles would recognize that scowl anywhere. “—but I know that everything smells wrong. And that I can’t feel mom anymore. I can’t feel anyone, except for you.”

[oskarwing]

Reviews for Hotel Obsidian by the Umbrellas

Luther: A lot like summer camp! I’d imagine, I’ve never been. Also very great to get married in, like super great even while the world is ending. Recommend it to all people who need a venue, especially if it’s last minute! Unfortunately also very good to get murdered in :( ADORABLE DOG!!! 09/10  Diego: Parents beware: Children and dumbass brothers have way too easy of an access to weapons, weird dimension tunnels that have people on the other side chopping of your fingers when you enter looking for them and other dangerous shit so that you constantly need to supervise them.  There’s a cute dog when you walk in. Beds are very sturdy, matresses firm but not too firm. Food is alright. Karaoke works. 04/10 Allison: I was not in a state to pay all that much attention to the quality of the hotel, so this review is kind of worthless. The booze is good? I slept? Like once I think? My brothers liked it over all. The universe altering machine in the secret alternate dimension works, does hurt your siblings though.  05/10 Klaus: When you come to the Hotel Obsidian you have to absorb her into your bossom that is just how she is. She is an old dame and you have to treat her as such! The staff is amazing, can keep all sorts of secrets and will take care of you. This place never let’s me down! Would give a 100 if I could. 07/10 Five: Good place, slept well here. Great staff. Amazing tailor. Did like the food. Good karaoke. Haven’t had that kind of hotel experience since Vienna 1848. 10/10 Viktor: I liked the barber shop. Also incredibly easy to put a wedding together in this place! On another note, maybe next time don’t build a whole suite around a mysterious other dimension? 06/10  Lila: Good for sex. Alright for weddings. Bad for everything else. 02/10

[princeescaluswords]

Seeing your Sterek thoughts is fun, because sometimes I'll want to read a fun story about like Parrish dating, idk, Peter or adult Theo, or want to talk about Teen Wolf for other side characters, and have to wade, knee deep, through Sterek and the ways every character are props for Stiles/Derek

It's a frustrating part of the TW fandom, how prevalent and inescapable the ship is

Here's something to think about.

Let's say you were entirely innocent of fandom and its wily ways. Let's say you watched a 100 episode television show named Teen Wolf. If another person, also entirely innocent of fandom, asked you what happened in it, what would you say? If another person asked you what were the most important relationships in the story, which ones would you list? If another person asked you who the lead protagonist was and asked you to describe that character's arc, how would you answer?

I am absolutely confident that the romantic relationship between Stiles and Derek would not appear in any of those answers. I could describe the entire plot, episode by episode, of Teen Wolf without even implying that Stiles and Derek were friends and it would be almost entirely complete. I would list the most important relationships as Scott and Stiles, and Scott and Derek, and Scott and Allison, and Scott and Kira, and Scott and Liam, and I would even include Stiles and Lydia. But the truth is, if Derek and Stiles had never had a scene alone together, it wouldn't ultimately change anything about the show. Furthermore, it is simply not credible to say that the lead protagonist isn't Scott McCall. Every character, every plot line, every resolution hinged on Scott's choices and behavior -- even the ones where the focus may have been on Stiles, such as the nogitsune arc and the wild hunt arc.

And, while this should go out with saying, it has to be said in order to forestall the tedious foot-stomping discussion-derailing simplistic arguments that usually happen at this point: there is nothing wrong with shipping Sterek. There is nothing wrong with enjoying what might have happened between these two but didn't. Shipping is not the problem.

The problem is the fandom's entitlement to force a romantic relationship between two white men into obscene prominence. The problem is that there is an entire culture based around recontextualizing an entire 100-episode show and a movie around a romantic relationship that didn't exist to such a degree that the actual reality of the story is often lost.

Whoever you are and whatever draws to you the story, once you engage with the fandom, there is one unstoppable force that swamps everything. Love it or hate it. Dread it. Run from it. Sterek arrives all the same. You have to deal with it. The only way to avoid Sterek is to avoid the fandom.

Staying clear of clearly-labeled Sterek content won't help, because the tropes that have grew out of Sterek have metastasized. For example, "Pack-Mom Stiles" has replaced Stiles's canon characterization in 90 percent of fandom content, even fandom content that has nothing to do with Sterek. Think about "Oblivious Scott" and "Stupid Scott." These tropes appeared in order to explain why Scott wasn't aware of Stiles's true feelings for Derek and have now become the baseline for any analysis of Scott's behavior, even though it was Scott who figured out how to convince Derek to turn on Peter, Scott who noticed and took advantage of Gerard's cancer, Scott who noticed that Derek painting only one side of a door in a falling down house, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

Think about Scott and Derek's developing relationship throughout the show and when, in the final episode, Derek and Scott hug after not seeing each other for a long time and one person bravely posted on the Internet, "As a Sterek shipper, I reject this." Or Sterek shippers who hated the movie without watching it. They are so firmly entrenched in this entitled alternative world that they feel they have the right to invalidate scenes that actually occur on the screen.

I could go on, for like, an hour, but there are even worse aspects. This culture influenced the production because it became so omnipresent during public relations events (conventions, polls, etc) that they couldn't really ignore it anymore. Think about 6B's ridiculous and demeaning "Stiles, in his first day at the FBI, sees recycled film of shirtless Derek" scene. Or the uselessness of the line in the movie about Stiles having his own fires to put out. If you were our theoretical individual not exposed to fandom, you must have wondered why that line and that scene were even filmed!

At a certain point, the production realized that they had been caught in an inescapable trap. If they didn't include scenes where Stiles and Derek interacted with each other -- such as season 3B -- they were accused of homophobia and queerbaiting; if they did include scenes where Stiles and Derek interacted with each other -- such as Season 4 -- but the relationship didn't become canon, they were accused of homophobia and queerbaiting. By this point, they must have felt that they had no choice as Sterek -- something the production had never intended nor even indicated -- had become so much a part of the fandom perspective that they felt they had to do something to acknowledge it.

I'm sure you can point out other fandoms where something like this happened, and I'm sure you can point out that fandom response became so extreme that it damaged the story itself. But we got Sterek, and we have to deal with it.

[stargazer-sims]

The Art of Redemption

(part 16)

previous // next // story index

—————

This morning, Nikolai is seeing Beth-Anne, Brett and Brett's guardian Jordy off to South Korea, to the World Junior Figure Skating Championship.

Despite his initial concerns that he wouldn't cope well with this situation, he's doing all right. Admittedly, he was a little anxious about Beth-Anne leaving, and he's still slightly envious of Brett's opportunity to compete at one of the most important international skating events of the season, but neither feeling has proved overwhelming enough to prevent him from staying calm and behaving like a normal adult.

A few days ago, Nikolai suggested it'd make sense if he brought Beth-Anne, Brett and Jordy to the airport instead of Jordy or Beth-Anne having to leave their vehicle in the airport parking lot for a week. Beth-Anne agreed it was a good idea, and apparently Jordy had seconded her opinion. Brett, on the other hand, hadn't seemed quite as impressed with the plan as his coach and tutor were, but Nikolai suspected that had more to do with Brett not wanting to show any weakness in front of Nikolai than with any lingering animosity between the two of them.

In fact, Brett had offered him such a sincere apology for his outburst at the rink a few weeks back, Nikolai is inclined to believe there had never really been any animosity at all. He'd had to remind himself that Brett is only fourteen, and even the simplest upsets can seem enormous and insurmountable at that age. They'd both been trying to process some big emotions, and the combination of Brett's anger and frustration and Nikolai's pain and anxiety had the inevitability of disaster written all over it.

Brett understood that too, in hindsight. He said he'd been so focused on himself and his own feelings, he hadn't even considered Nikolai's, and he said he genuinely felt bad for hurting him.

Nikolai could forgive that. After all, Brett is still learning and growing, and no one is perfect anyway. He'd praised Brett for recognizing what went wrong and for acknowledging it. That had earned him a tentative smile from the teenager, and a promise that he'd try to do better in the future.

"I"m sure you will," Nikolai had told him. "I'll do better too. We'll try to do like Beth-Anne says; respond, not react. Okay?"

"Okay," Brett had agreed, and the two of them shook hands.

The handshake had been unexpected from Nikolai's point of view, and he'd guessed it was something Brett had seen his parents do with their business associates. Still, it felt significant to Nikolai, like he and Brett were making a pact of mutual support and respect. They might never become close, but at least they'd agreed that they shouldn't be adversaries, and Nikolai is more than satisfied with that.

Today, he has a feeling their agreement is about to meet its first test.

They took Beth-Anne's truck to the airport, and Beth-Anne drove on the way there. It's the sort of truck that has a small backseat in the cab, so there was adequate room for all four of them, but Nikolai hadn't considered that he and Brett would be the ones sitting in the back. Jordy is easily 190 centimetres, if not taller, and they decided that he should sit up front with Beth-Anne so he could adjust the passenger seat and have some legroom.

Brett's acquiescence was clearly grudging, and he spent most of the ride alternating between staring out the window and shooting annoyed looks at Nikolai. Nikolai didn't take it personally. When he was Brett's age and travelling to a competition, he's sure he would've preferred to sit next to Grandpa or Allison on a long drive rather than beside some guy he only tolerated.

When they got to the airport, Nikolai helped Beth-Anne carry her stuff even though she insisted she could do it by herself. Brett and Jordy each had a backpack, and Brett had his skate carrier, but it seemed they were sharing a suitcase. The thing Jordy heaved out of the back of the truck was huge, but he didn't appear to have any difficulty with it. The last item was a red garment bag that Nikolai knew would have Brett's costumes in it. Jordy handed that to Brett and took charge of the gigantic suitcase himself, and then the four of them trooped into the airport together.

At such an early hour, there wasn't much of a lineup yet and check-in was relatively easy. Nikolai waited for them. He decided he'd go with them as far as he was permitted, which was all the way to security. That's where they are now.

Standing in the large, open space near the doors to the security area, Brett looks terrified. There's no trace of his typical bravado. He seems far younger than his fourteen years, and he's clinging to Jordy like his life depends on not letting go.

The image of Brett as a frightened child is made even more pronounced by Jordy's physical size. The top of Brett's head only comes up to his broad chest, and his arms are nearly twice as big around as Brett's.

Regardless of Jordy's imposing stature, however, Nikolai is certain there isn't a mean bone in the man's body. He gives the impression of being a natural-born caregiver, and Nikolai can't help admiring his patience with Brett's behaviour.

But, just because Jordy doesn't seem frustrated or irritated, this doesn't necessarily mean he's tolerant of Brett's nonsense. When Nikolai starts to talk to Brett, to wish him luck, the teenager turns away from him and hides his face against Jordy's chest. Jordy's immediate response is to admonish him.

The big man leans in to speak quietly to the boy, the beads at the ends of his braids clicking together gently as he bends his head forward. "Brett, that's not how we behave. Your friend is speaking to you."

"Don't wanna talk to him," Brett mumbles into the fabric of Jordy's coat.

"Don't be rude, please," Jordy says. "There are lots of things we don't want to do in life, but we need to do them because it's the right thing to do."

"I just wanna go," Brett says. "Hanging around here is stressing me out."

"We'll go through security in a minute, Brett," Beth-Anne interjects. "Just let Nikolai say what he wanted to tell you."

"All I wanted was to say good luck," Nikolai says. "You're going to do great, Brett. It's always stressful beforehand, but you've been looking awesome in practice and you know what you're doing, so just have fun with it and the rest will fall right into place."

Brett finally looks up at that. "You actually think I'm worried about the competition?"

Caught off-guard, Nikolai stammers, “You're... not?"

"It's not the competition. It's the flying," Jordy explains. "He doesn't like it, and we can't give him anything to help with the airsickness because... y'know. Drug tests."

"Sorry." Nikolai says. "Yeah, I do know, actually."

"Oh, that's right," Brett ventures, finally letting go of Jordy and standing up straight. "Beth-Anne said you don't like flying either."

"That'd be an understatement." Nikolai says. "I'd call it a win if I made it through an entire flight without throwing up."

Brett wrinkles his nose. "Eww... At least I've never done that."

"Consider yourself lucky. Throwing up and crying on an airplane full of strangers is definitely not a good look, and nobody wants to be next to the guy puking on the plane."

"Gross," Brett says, but then he flashes a quick, cheeky grin. "So, I guess that means I handle flying better than you do."

Nikolai returns the grin. "Gold medal to you for that. And I meant what I said. Have fun, and I hope you kick ass over there. It's your last season at Junior level, so make it one nobody forgets."

“Don’t worry. I will. When I debut in Senior division next season, everybody’s already gonna know my name,” Brett declares. “Too bad you’re not gonna be competing. It’d be fun to challenge you.”

“It’s lucky for you I’m not competing. I’d polish the ice so thoroughly with your scrawny butt, everybody'd call you Zamboni afterwards.”

“You would not.”

“You don’t think? When my leg gets better, maybe we should find out.”

Brett turns to fully face him. He meets his gaze and holds it, and Nikolai sees the unmistakable gleam in his eyes of a true competitor who can't resist any challenge, no matter how big or small. “Is that an invitation to a competition? ‘Cause if it is, you’re on."

"Absolutely," Nikolai says. "Beth-Anne can be the judge."

"There’ll be plenty of people around the rink who can be judges for us, but I think we probably won’t need much help figuring out the winner.”

"You're right." Nikolai can feel his smile spreading across his face. “No question, it'll be me."

"We'll see," Brett says.

This is the point at which Beth-Anne intervenes.

"Okay, boys. That's enough." She gives each of them a stern look. "Nikolai, you should know better, and Brett..." She trails off, shaking her head. "No, you know what? Never mind. We'll discuss this when we get back."

Undeterred, Brett says, "Yeah, we can discuss how I'm gonna make him look like yesterday's news."

"Brett, weren't you in a hurry to get through security?" Beth-Anne asks. She waves in the direction of the wide glass doors. "Why don't you and Jordy go ahead? I want to talk to Nikolai for a minute, and then I'll catch up with you, all right?"

Brett looks like he might protest, but seems to think better of it when Jordy lifts their carry-on bags from the floor and passes Brett's to him. "Come along, Brett. It'll be hard to win anything in Seoul if you're not on the plane when it leaves."

They head off toward the security area, and Brett walks calmly beside Jordy for several steps, but then he puts his bags down and runs ahead. Once he's built up some momentum he does a neat little one and a half rotation jump that brings him back down to face in Nikolai and Beth-Anne's direction again.

He waves at Nikolai and calls out, "See you later... Zamboni!"

Nikolai loses it. He doesn't even bother attempting to stifle his laughter as he watches an exasperated Jordy gather up Brett's skate carrier and backpack and hurry after him. Brett is jogging backwards, probably so he can see Nikolai's reaction. Nikolai sticks his tongue out at him.

"Cheeky little shit," Beth-Anne says, but she's laughing too.

"I can tell you love him," Nikolai says.

"What can I say?" she responds. "Apparently, I have a thing for troublemakers."

Nikolai feigns innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't," she scoffs. "You're the biggest goddamned troublemaker of all, Nikolai Pavlenko." But, a second later her arms are around him and she's hugging him tight. "Thank you."

He laughs as he reciprocates the embrace. "Way to send mixed messages, coach."

"Brett's probably going to be thinking about that ridiculous challenge all day," she says. "You know how reckless that was, challenging him like that? But, I'd much rather have him obsessing about how he's going to come up with a way to beat you than for him to dwell on how much he hates flying."

"So... what I'm hearing is that you think I can win the challenge?"

With her arms still around him, she swats him lightly on the back. "Fuck off! That's not what I said at all. And who says I'm even going to let either of you do it?"

"You mean... you can stop us?"

"Oh my God. I'm about to fucking disown you," she says, but no sooner than these words are out of her mouth, she's squeezing him once again. "For what it's worth though, I do think you'd win the challenge. I also think it's a fucking stupid idea, but it if motivates Brett and gives you something to look forward to, then I guess I'll agree to it."

"And you'll help me get ready for it?"

"How about I train the two of you together?" she says. "You can see up close how I work with someone at Brett's skill level, and I think he'll learn a lot from watching you. But," she adds, her tone suddenly no-nonsense. "All this is conditional, do you understand? If the doctor and the sports therapist fully clear you, we'll do it, but if they say no spins and no jumping..."

"I hope they don't say that."

"Do everything they tell you and keep your fingers crossed, and maybe they won't."

"You know what I want? I want to be able to do everything on the ice that I could do before. I wouldn't be able to keep up with a competitive training schedule, obviously, but... I want to jump again."

"I know you do," she says quietly.

"And I really want to do this challenge with Brett if I can, even if it is kind of stupid."

"I know that too." She's trembling a little, and he wonders what she's thinking. They stand together silently until she composes herself and lowers her arms at last. She takes a step back. "Okay, I'd better go. I'll give you a call when we get there."

"Okay," he says.

"You take care of yourself while I'm gone. Do your physio exercises, and don't forget about your appointment at the sports medicine clinic. Hang up your wet towels, and eat real meals, not just peanut butter toast all the time, and—"

'Beth-Anne, I'll be fine," he says. "If I need anything, I know who to call, and I promise I'll do all my exercises and go to my doctor's appointment and eat lots of protein. It'll be okay."

"Sorry. It's just... I'm not a hundred percent okay with leaving you. Plus, it's strange, being at the airport with you but leaving you behind."

"Yeah, but you don't really want to get on a plane with me and my delicate equilibrium."

"Delicate equilibrium," she echoes. "Well, that's one way of describing it. And maybe I don't love sitting next to you on a long flight, but it's being at the destination with you that I'm going to miss."

"Me too," he says. "But, you know what? Brett's not that much older than Eden, so maybe if everything goes the way we think it should, there'll be a day in the future when we'll be travelling to the same destinations again. You never know, right?"

"If I didn't already say so, it's good to see this side of you," she says. "I was beginning to wonder where my sunshine went."

"Just stuck behind a cloud for a while, that's all."

"Fucking clouds, always messing things up."

They always disappear eventually, though." He picks up her backpack and skate bag and hands them to her. "Here, you'd better take these. Not that I'm in a hurry to part ways, but you might miss your flight if we keep trying to have a long goodbye like this."

"Right," she says as she takes her things from him. "Christ, I'm fucking awful at goodbyes. I better haul ass before this gets any worse."

"I'll see you in a week. Good luck, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That leaves it wide open, doesn’t it?”

"Go on," he says. "Brett and Jordy are waiting for you. You got this. Tell Brett I'll be watching on TV and cheering him on."

She offers him a grateful smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he says, as he watches her rush off.

The drive back to town feels long and lonely. Even with his favourite classic rock music blasting from the radio and a beautiful early morning sky overhead, he can't help feeling a little sad. He hadn't wanted to say anything to Beth-Anne since it was clear she was already worried, but being left behind feels strange to him too. Naturally, Beth-Anne has travelled without him before, with her other students and for her own personal reasons, but this was the first time they'd been at the airport together without both having a ticket for the same flight. He'd gotten through the actual experience at the airport, but now that he's on his own, he's not at all confident about it.

I'm just going to have to keep myself busy while she's gone, he tells himself. That's what Beth-Anne would tell me to do. Keep busy, so I don't dwell on stuff.

With Beth-Anne away, her group classes will be cancelled for the week, as well as the individual lessons for Eden and the two Novice level girls, Ruby and Katie. It's highly likely that Mariah will come to the rink to skate on her own, and perhaps thirteen-year-old Ruby might do the same, but Nikolai isn't allowed to work with either of them without Beth-Anne's supervision. He can watch, but that's about it, and now that he's started helping with the group classes and with Eden's and Katie's individual lessons, he's not sure he'll be content to simply watch any more.

So, if I'm not going to the rink, what am I supposed to do?

He makes a mental list of the possibilities. He'll visit his parents, of course, and he'll probably have dinner with his sister and brother-in-law at least once. There's his doctor's appointment, his daily walks on the treadmill, his and Ginger's planned bowling and pizza night, and he's positive that Grandpa wouldn't mind if he came over to hang out.

At first, this seems more than sufficient to occupy him, but he quickly realizes it's not going to fill an entire week. He pictures himself doing a lot of reading and playing a lot of video games to pass the time.

Then, he thinks about Anya. He's seen her at the arena a handful of times over the past few weeks, but they haven't spoken, and they only text each other sporadically now. This week might be a good time to meet with her and discuss their relationship. Maybe later in the week, because has to talk himself up and somehow convince himself he's brave enough to do it, and that might take a bit of time.

Ginger might be able to give me a pep talk.

He pictures Ginger's reaction if he asked her to do that, and he wants to laugh. She'd probably tell him to march in there like there's no way he could lose. "Approach it like a competition," she'd say.

Oddly, this sounds like good advice even if it's only in his imagination and not technically from his friend. Maybe he can do it, even if he's scared. He's been scared before competitions too, but he's come out on top more than he hasn't, so there must be some merit in that idea.

By the time he gets home, he feels better.

He thought it'd be weird to stay at Beth-Anne's house without her, but the moment he walks in the door it occurs to him that he thinks of it as home just as much as he does his own place. Inside, the air is warm and smells faintly of the French toast he'd made for breakfast. Their empty breakfast dishes are still on the table, and Beth-Anne's blue oversized cardigan is slung haphazardly over the back of a chair. Elvis the cat is asleep in his favourite spot atop the fridge.

Nikolai shrugs out of his coat and tugs off his sneakers. The kitchen is going to need some attention, but it can wait for an hour or two. First, he wants to write in his journal and then take a nap.

He wouldn't normally nap in the morning, but his knee hurts and he thinks the best cure would be an ibuprofen and some rest. He can sort out the mess in the kitchen after that, and then try to find something to do for the rest of the day.

In his room, he changes out of his jeans and sweater and into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and his favourite t-shirt. As he's folding his sweater and putting it back into one of his suitcases, something at the back of the closet catches his eye. It's the cardboard box he'd noticed when he first came to stay; the one with his costumes from the Four Continents in it. He'd meant to go through it and see what else was inside, but he'd been so caught up in going to the rink with Beth-Anne, learning to cook and do his own laundry, doing physio, and working on his new blog that it hadn't crossed his mind.

Well, no time like the present, I guess.

He really is curious, now that he thinks about it. Slipping quickly into the room's adjoining bathroom, he downs two ibuprofen tablets with lukewarm water, and then returns to haul the box out of the closet. He places it on the bed and climbs up after it.

With a pillow tucked under his sore knee and another behind his back, and the cardboard box beside him, he takes a deep breath before grasping the flaps of the box and pulling them open.

[companion-showdown]

Almost/Could have been Companion: Nominations

It's nomination time: Who is the Best Almost Companion

Who would you like to have seen become a companion?

Rules:

Must have met the Doctor

I know Jago and Litefoot are popular but I am not including anyone from Talons as a matter of principle

Not someone you could already call a companion (some exceptions may be made on a case by case basis) (if they are TV characters who are companions only in the EU that will be allowed)

Not necessary, but ideally someone who would have said yes in the right circumstances

There's no other restrictions on the kinds of characters to include, just anyone you wanted to come on further adventures in the TARDIS

Nominations will close in 24 hours (17:15 BST (UTC+1), 13/10)

Current list under the cut because it is already very long and only going to get longer

60s

Cameca (The Aztecs)

Jenny (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

Bret Vyon (The Daleks Master Plan)

Anne (The Massacre)

Sam Briggs (The Faceless Ones)

Isobel (The Invasion)

Fariah (Enemy of the World)

Astrid Ferrier (Enemy of the World)

Ping-Cho (Marco Polo)

70s

Miss Hawthorne (The Daemons)

Bellal (Death to the Daleks)

Lish Toos (The Robots of Death)

D84 (Robots of Death)

Rodan (The Invasion of Time)

Duggan (City of Death)

80s

Todd (Kinda)

Richard Mace (The Visitation)

Will Chandler (The Awakening)

Chela (Snakedance)

Norna (Frontis)

Janet (Terror of the Vervoids)

The DJ (Revelation of the Daleks)

Ray (Delta and the Bannermen)

Mags (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)

Shou Yuing (Battlefield)

Sabalom Glitz (Various)

Rachel (Remembrance of the Daleks)

Allison (Remembrance of the Daleks)

Gustave Lytton (Resurrection of the Daleks, Attack of the Cybermen)

EU

Ruby Duvall

Cousin Justine (Met the Doctor in Alien Bodies)

The Duke of Wellington (multiple encounters)

Irving Braxiatel (the Doctor’s Brother, and a Jerk)

Koschie (Academy era Master)

Millennia and Rallon

Narvin

Alan Turing

Hal Bishop

Abslom Dakk

Carolyn McConnell (Vampire Science)

Alex Campbell (the dead one not the alternate version who travels with the doctor)

Bounce (Year of Intelligent Tigers)

Karl Sadeghi (Year if Intelligent Tigers)

Scarlette (Adventures of Henrietta Street)

Leonardo da Vinci (Various)

Jason Kane

Jack Springheel

Peter Summerfield

RTD

Jabe (The End of the World)

Harriet Jones (Aliens of London / World War Three

Lynda (Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)

Mrs Moore (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)

Jake (Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel & Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)

Sally Sparrow (Blink)

Timothy (Human Nature / The Family of Blood (could have his name wrong))

Joan Redfern (Human Nature / The Family of Blood)

Professor Yana (Utopia)

Chan Tho (Utopia)

Tom (The Last of the Time Lords / The Sound of Drums)

Astrid Peth (Voyage of the Damned)

Alonzo (Voyage of the Damned)

Ross (The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky)

Jenny (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Hath Peck (The Doctor’s Daughter)

Rosita (The Next Doctor)

Lady Christina de Souza (Planet of the Dead)

Adelaide Brooke (The Waters of Mars)

Elton Pope (Love and Monsters)

Simm!Master

Agatha Christie (The Unicorn and the Wasp)

Jethro (Midnight)

Jacobi!Master

Dee Dee (Midnight)

Moffat

Nasreen Chaudry (The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood)

Craig Owens (The Lodger & Closing Time)

Kazran (A Christmas Carol)

Abigail (A Christmas Carol)

Canton Everette Deleware III (Day of the Moon)

Rita (The God Complex)

Lorna (A Good Man Goes to War)

Madge Arwell (The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Brian Williams (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

John Riddell (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)

Nefertiti

Petronella Osgood (Various)

Kate Stewart (Various)

Madame Vastra (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Jenny (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Strax (Various – The Paternoster Gang)

Journey Blue (Into the Dalek)

Psi (Time Heist)

Saibra (Time Heist)

Perkins (Mummy on the Orient Express)

Courtney Woods (Kill the Moon)

Rigsy (Flatline & Face the Raven)

Maebh (In the Forest of the Night)

Shona (Last Christmas)

Cass (Under the Lake / Before the Flood)

Me (The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived & various)

Missy (Various)

Heather (Pilot & The Doctor Falls)

Erica (Pyramid at the End of the World)

Danny Pink

Ada Gillyflower (The Crimson Horror)

Shona (Last Christmas)

Chibnall

Bel (Flux)

Vinder (Flux)

Claire (Flux)

Jericho (Flux)

Ada Lovelace (Spyfall)

Ronan (The Tsuranga Conundrum)

Nikola Tesla (Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror)

Spinoffs

Luke Smith (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Clyde Langer (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Rani Chandra (The Sarah-Jane Adventures)

Gwen Cooper (Torchwood)

Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Tosh Sato (Torchwood)

[kaykayow]

How I think the movie would’ve (should’ve?) gone if Stiles was there:

1. Stiles gets a call from his dad about the arsonist.

2. He arrives after Allison is already going and trying to kill Scott

3. He saves Scott’s butt bc idk 🤷‍♀️

4. He see’s Lydia and depending on how they would want this it’s either their still together and are happy to see each other or it’s really awkward for them.

5. He finds out about the Nogitsune being back and feels deeply obligated to help.(Since ya know feels like it’s his fault. Season 3b 😛) He doesn’t really care about the arsonist rn.

6. Tends to get angry and lash out a bit when Scott and the others tell him, he should maybe take a break.

7. In the “big fight” moment everyone is captured by an oni and the Nogitsune and Stiles have a little chat. Something like: Nogitsune: “Oh hello Stiles, how have you been?”

Stiles: “Shut up.” (Ya know the usual)

8: As the pack pleads Stiles decides that for protection for his friends and family once again he lets the Nogitsune in. (Alternate ver. Or The Nogitsune doesn’t want him but I’m going with the first one.)

9: Then Stiles now being Void Stiles leaves ya know and they all are released and decided to look for him.

Now this could be at the end of the movie so you have leeway for another but if not they solve it again idk.

Since a majority of people (from what I’ve seen) loved 3b and Void Stiles it would’ve been a nice comeback but it might’ve been repetitive idk just some of my thoughts.

[texasobserver]

From “I Am a Trans Texan” by April Maria Ortiz in the Texas Observer:

It strikes me, and may strike you, as a bit crazy to come out as transgender in an essay like this. I’m publicly revealing myself to be a member of a marginalized community in the midst of a moral panic targeting our very existence. Ascribe it to my defiant streak, if you will.

If you’re not aware that there is a moral panic about trans lives, then you need to pay attention. As of now, according to the list maintained by activists Alejandra Caraballo, Erin Reed, and Allison Chapman, over 400 bills targeting trans people have been filed with legislatures nationwide this year—more than in the past several years combined. Texas is at the vanguard with about 30 bills and counting. If the frenzy continues, it won’t end there, as former President Donald Trump’s recent speech and Michael Knowles’ rhetoric at CPAC on eradicating transgenderism make clear.

I’m hardly an ideal spokesperson. I’m 43, and I’ve lived my entire life up to this point (with fleeting exceptions) in the gender assigned to me at birth, which is male. Think of my biography as a cautionary tale. It’s painful and messy, and I’m going to tell you some of it. You may find this unpleasant, but I have no other way to say what I need to say. Only bear in mind that my experiences, though common, are not normative. I don’t speak for anyone but myself.

Growing up at the edge of San Antonio’s south side in the 1980s, I learned the usual things about gender and sexuality: Boys are boys and girls are girls and all that. My dad was a biology teacher. I knew the differences. But something seemed to be awry in me for, as far back as I can remember, I felt that I ought to have been a girl, or that in some strange way, I really was a girl, even though everyone treated me as a boy.

Adults policed my gender expression conscientiously, and I inferred that my feelings were unnatural and shameful. Still, I would sit in the pew at church as my parents took communion—we were Catholic—and silently rank which of the women who passed me I would most like to grow up to be. As a small, less-than-masculine child who hated sports, I became the target of bullying once I went to school. But I would lie awake every night, imagining myself becoming a girl—my only refuge from my strange alien existence.

Environmental factors didn’t make me this way. My parents were present and involved; my mother a caring, feminine homemaker and my father, a loud, masculine teacher and artillery officer who was sometimes frustrated by my unmanliness. Expecting me to grow up and marry and follow the same pattern, they enforced the “natural” gender norms they espoused every day of my life. Far from becoming trans through exposure to modern “gender ideology,” I was, simply and naturally, a trans child, even though everything in my upbringing went toward imposing a gender binary that itself represented an unacknowledged ideology. There is no “real me” beneath my transgender self. I have learned to mask it, yes, but if I were somehow to remove it, there would be no me left behind. No more could you remove the flour from a loaf of bread.

As soon as I was old enough to be left home alone, I began secretly wearing my mother’s clothes. Experimenting with femininity launched me into a deep and pervasive calm tinged with a fear of being discovered. After some years, I was found out through a misplaced blouse. I lied my way out of the tribunal that ensued—standing, panicked and alone, before my father and mother. My parents’ eagerness to accept my lies made up for their implausibility. The alternative was believing me to be some kind of queer, which I suppose is what I am.

My junior high coach, a morose sadist who later got fired and went on to a career as a campus cop, compelled boys to shower together in a dimly-lit subterranean cell. A small, undeveloped sixth-grader, I was thrust in there with big, masculine eighth-graders, their eyes ever-roving for some weakling to abuse. My unboyishness and isolation made me easy prey. As a transgender person whose brain was telling me that my body should be female, it’s hard to describe just how traumatic such experiences were. What made them unbearable—to such an extent that I began to self-harm and eventually to plan my own death—was that I had no words or concepts to describe or understand what was going on with me. I was simply a freak of nature, an abomination who had to hide in plain sight, surviving from one morning to the next, hoping that no one would discover my secret, dying a little each day.

You may believe that the problem here was not my being forced into a simplistic gender binary that left me vulnerable to abuse and trauma, but rather my gender dissonance, and that I should have been made to feel at home in my assigned gender. In other words, I should have been coerced into being a normal boy. If you think that, survey the research: It shows, overwhelmingly, that attempts to “convert” gender nonconforming people into traditional gender identities and other forms of rejection are ineffective and traumatizing—in fact, the scientific consensus is that all forms of conversion therapy aimed at altering a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity result in long-term harm—while care that affirms gender identity results almost universally in positive outcomes. It’s also clear that what negative outcomes do occur owe largely to hostile environments.

But since we’re in the middle of a panic about transgender people “invading” sex-segregated spaces, let me add this: Far be it from me to make anyone feel uncomfortable or unsafe, but I have never felt comfortable or safe in any male space. Nor, I believe, would I have felt better in a female space. I prefer privacy for doing such things as defecating and stripping naked, and I find our regime of communal showers and toilets just a little weird and, yes, oppressive. Perhaps that’s one aspect of the problem we should be examining?

There hangs in my parents’ home a circle of my annual school portraits, which show me becoming progressively sadder from year to year. My body was turning into an alien thing with the onset of biological manhood. By the time I graduated, my mounting dysphoria and social problems—I also had an undiagnosed autism disorder—led me to begin planning suicide. In secret, I painted a picture of a girl cutting her wrists. I was the girl, you see. In recurring dreams, I was a young mother. Despair held sway over my waking life.

It was either leave home or die, so I moved across the state for college. My plan was to wait a few weeks and, if nothing changed, to kill myself in a shower stall. Something did change: I found love and acceptance in the woman who became my best friend and then my wife. Several years later, I was still alive, presenting as female in the privacy of our home and as male when I went out. This made me happy. For the first time in my life, I began to approach peace.

It was the turn of the millennium. I was a shelver at the university library, which often left me alone in the stacks at night. Sometimes, I would work in the gender and sexuality section and take down books to try to understand what I was. Many of the books were out of date for that time, and much has changed in our understanding of transgender people since. In them and on the nascent Internet, I encountered terms and categories that didn’t seem to apply to me, reflecting a time when researchers developed theories with little input from the trans community itself. So my gender confusion persisted.

My fragile peace was disturbed when someone to whom we’d entrusted our key entered our home without permission and went through our things. I felt certain that my secret self must have been detected. Mortified and afraid of being outed, I threw all evidence in the dumpster. I grew a beard as a bulwark against “temptation” and began two decades of self-contradiction and mounting desperation, which brings us to today.

“You have to go the way your blood beats,” James Baldwin said in an interview. “If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.” Belatedly, I’m coming to grips with this. My attempts to cope with gender dissonance have consumed much of my life, taking hours away from each day, isolating me from loved ones, alienating me from my body, leading to bouts of depression, ideations of suicide, and alcohol abuse. It doesn’t go away. In middle age, I’m forced to recognize that nothing short of being who I am will resolve my profound inner conflict. The word “transition” is terrifying but, however catastrophic the process of coming out may be, I’ll not be much good to those I love if I’m burned out, incapacitated, or dead.

Read more on the Texas Observer.

(🎨 Image by FocalFoto on Flickr)

[johannestevans]

M3gan and a lonely child

“She’ll take care of the little things, so you can spend more time doing the things that matter.”

From left to right, M3gan (Amie Donald), Gemma (Allison Williams), and Cady (Violet McGraw). Image via IMDb.

M3GAN, directed by Gerald Johnstone and written by Akela Cooper, is a great little horror film — it’s funny, it’s freaky, it’s well-paced, and obviously M3gan herself is a really great character who’s already had a lot of impact in memes and pop culture.

Cady (Violet McGraw), a quiet and self-effacing little girl, is orphaned when her parents are killed in a car accident, after which she’s sent to live with her Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Her aunt, a workaholic engineer at a famous toy company, pairs Cady up with the newest toy in development — M3GAN, standing for Model 3 Generative Android, a life-sized human doll that uses AI learning models to engage with, teach, care for, and otherwise be a companion to the children she’s paired with. M3GAN (played by Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) spends time with Cady while Gemma focuses for the majority of the film on her work, not realising that she’s neglecting Cady’s emotional needs or that M3gan’s learning model is more dangerous than she anticipated.

One thing I didn’t expect going into it was how much the central politics of the film would hit me and how hard — M3GAN throughout shows you a deeply unhappy, lonely little girl, and step-by-step goes through what has made her that way.

It would have been very easy for the film to basically treat M3GAN as a metaphor for the terrors of “screentime”, and how too much screentime harms a child — it stunts their growth! They become too used to screens! They become lonely and sad!

I don’t disagree that too much time using screens can be detrimental to anyone’s life and development, but it can’t be denied that screentime is frequently used as a boogeyman to distract from the real issue: that many caregivers give their children TV, computers, or their phones, because they don’t want to waste their time interacting with them. Children are stranded with screens and technology because their parents are busy, or tired, or just want them to be quiet. The technology itself is not the problem, but the desire to put this technology in your child’s hands and then walk away or mentally disengage so that you can do something else.

While there are a few moments in the film where Gemma (Allison Williams) treats M3gan with the casual disregard she might do an iPad, the core of most of the film is in that M3gan is making Cady feel cared for, which nobody else does.

Before I dig in, according to the NSPCC, these are the four main forms of child neglect:

Physical neglect. A child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing or shelter, are not met or they aren’t properly supervised or kept safe.

Educational neglect. A parent doesn’t ensure their child is given an education.

Emotional neglect. A child doesn’t get the nurture and stimulation they need. This could be through ignoring, humiliating, intimidating or isolating them.

Medical neglect. A child isn’t given proper health care. This includes dental care and refusing or ignoring medical recommendations.

Apart from medical neglect, in the course of M3gan, Cady experiences all of these forms of neglect from Gemma, and potentially from her parents as well. As well as Cady, a boy called Brandon (Cady’s bully who is killed by M3gan) also appears to be neglected by his mother, and Dewey the dog is also heavily neglected and not given appropriate care as a pet by Celia, Gemma’s neighbour.

The whole film is about desires to replace the basic responsibilities of caregiving with various alternatives, and also about avoiding the basic responsibilities of other relationships with each other and our communities.

M3gan’s not the cause of any of these, but a symptom, and a catalyst for their being shown more obviously.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium.

About 10k, a 38min read.

[mangoshorthand]

Flesh and Blood- [Five Hargreeves x F Reader]. Ch3 (Hard Feelings Part 3)

SUMMARY: As Christmas approaches, everything between you and Five is perfect...until a destructive temporal anomaly gets in the way. Five is convinced another permutation of himself is to blame. Nothing's simple when you're in a relationship Five Hargreeves: could your loyalties be tested in a way unique to him? Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve - Chapter Thirteen

At Commission HQ, Herb realizes he has no alternative.

Smut below. Again. Proceed at your own risk

Chapter Three: Wynn

Herb sits behind his desk with his head in his hands. “Is there no other way?”

Betty sits across from him, nervously shuffling her file.

“I’ve run it again and again. We can’t warn him without altering the convectors. Neutralisation of the threat is the only action we can take.”

“And do we have to take action?”

“If we don’t, we risk altering the chain going forward. It’s too fractural- so many individual chains. If this is allowed to continue, there’s a good risk that the former president won’t-”

“Okay…okay.” He stares down at the desk top. He takes off his glasses and massages the bridge of his nose.

Betty sits forward a little, adjusting her crisp A-line skirt.

“I know you like the guy, Herb, but if he’d seen the math I have, he’d make the same call.”

 “He’s going to put up one hell of a fight... I was here when the Handler tried to take him on. He’s not the kind of guy you want against you.”

“Then I’d suggest dispatching the best. Someone who can get in, out and get it done quickly and quietly. If they perform their job well enough, he won’t even know about it.”

Herb sighs deeply and sorrowfully.

“And what if they fail? Betty, this is Five Hargreeves. The best Temporal Assassin we ever had. Paris: 1938- that was him.

Betty meets his eye. She knows that, he knows that; but their hands are tied. Herb knows that too.

He sighs again.

“Up security on the whole of Headquarters. And we’d better send Wynn.”

The old locker-room style showers have fallen out of use. In Five’s short-lived teenage life at the Academy, they had been a source of psychological torture at least equivalent to any other of Reginald’s ‘team building’ activities. It had been OK for Allison- the only girl going through training- she had six showers all to herself but, for the rest of them, it had been hell.

Five remembers desperately trying to hide his lack of body hair while they’d showered, having caught enough of a glimpse of Luther’s legs to know that there was certainly more to see. All the boys had stared determinedly at their own showers, trying to clean themselves as quickly as possible. Klaus had been the only one trying to break the tension, drawing attention to the weirdness with improvised songs to soft R&B melodies:

‘Just showering with my brothers, Gettin' soapy in the steam, We're cleanin' off after beatin' on each other, Livin' the fuckin' dream,

He'd pretended to be annoyed with Klaus at the time but, looking back, he had made it bearable.

Now, for old times' sake, he casts his eye around the boys’ locker room while one of the girls' showers runs next door. You hadn’t wanted to walk through the house, as covered in sweat as you were. He’d worked you hard today. You've been doing so well with basic combat that he’s trying to introduce you to the high kicks of his own hand-to-hand fighting style. Better take advantage of the time before you become too heavily pregnant to train. He's decided to just stay close to you until his doppelganger shows up- it's all he can do.

He gets an idea that makes him smirk. He strips off his workout clothing and washes himself in the boys’ showers quickly and very thoroughly. Time to reclaim these showers.

Naked and damp now, he presses his back against the doorway between the locker room and showers, he watches you reflected in one of the mirrors. You're applying soap to your breasts. He smirks: he really couldn’t be doing this at a more opportune time. As the lather trickles down, his eyes follow it. You're not really showing yet, but something about knowing his baby’s in there is exciting to the possessive tendency he has to repress for the sake of a healthy relationship. You're his now in a way you haven't been before.

He lets his hand drift to his crotch, intending to surprise you when fully erect, but then you meet his eyes in the mirror.

“You going to join me or just creep on me?”

His eyebrows raise as he walks casually over. Joining you beneath the warm water, he presses himself against you from behind. It takes less than a minute for his dick to get deliciously hard against your ass cheeks, especially as his insistent hands paw and rub at your breasts.

“I’ve got plans for you.” He whispers, breath tickling the shell of your ear.

“Do tell.”

“Last night was all about you-"

"Yeah, sure it was." you interrupt, prompting him to smack your ass with a flat hand.

"- So today, it's all about me. First, I want you to rim me and jerk me off...the rest I haven't decided yet but I'm sure I'll think of something.”

You can hear the evil smile in his voice, the satisfaction he takes in almost telling you to do dirty things. “Does that work for you?" he says, more softly. 

You nod, leaning your head against his shoulder.

“Good..." he whispers, directly into your ear ". And, if you please me, I'll take you upstairs and make you come. Hard."

You snort laughter, "You know you're incredibly easy to please, right?"

He acknowledges this with another, sharper slap to your buttock.

“Get on your knees.”

You obey, amused. You kneel on the tiles behind him and he bends a little, using the waist-high bar running around the walls for support. You dive in eagerly, spreading his cheeks wider. As long as you don’t enter him, licking him like this always brings out his dominant side and today, that’s exactly what you want from him.

You give him long licks up and down the cleft of his buttocks. He lets out an ahh of amused pleasure.

“Taste good?”

You nod against him, surfacing long enough to say: “Yes, Mr Hargreeves,” with only an edge of irony.

“Mr Hargreeves?” he muses, “…interesting.”

The warm puff of your breath across his hole and the slick tip of your tongue makes his knees feel reluctant to stay locked in place. You circle the tight ring of muscle, eliciting shaky hums of delight. He can feel his nerves down there igniting like newborn stars.

Then, turning up the temperature, you french kiss his ass, using your lips now as well as your tongue, enjoying the feel of him and the clean taste. Saliva and shower water runs down your chin and onto his perineum.

At this, air abruptly leaves his mouth  and one of his hands pushes the back of your head deeper between his cheeks.

“Fuck, that’s it. Eat my ass and stroke me,” he groans.

You bring one hand round to the front and start to rub his dick, standing at a high angle today. He groans in satisfaction, pushing your head a little more. You speed your licks to concentrated flicks and add a flick of the wrist to your jerking. Water runs down his ass onto your face. He’s breathy now, whispering.

“Fuck…fucck. Such a good girl.”

You speed up, and sense his hips wanting to thrust into your fist. Redoubling your efforts, you lose yourself: the ass and dick become the only important things to you at this moment. Your mouth makes obscene noises, just audible over the cascading shower. 

When your fingers reach the tip of his dick, you can feel the pre-come leaking from his slit. You use two fingers to spread it around the sensitive glans before rolling his foreskin back down with a practiced twist. His breath hisses, his hips tense again and he grabs your wrist to stop you. 

“Nngh- stop.”

Smiling, you let his cock go and give him one final lick. Slowly, you stand up. Now it's your body pressed against his from behind. You can feel how tense he is, having just come down from the very brink of coming. You kiss from his shoulder to his neck, occasionally marking him with your teeth and then soothing the hickeys with your tongue. He arches back into you, his hands reaching behind himself and coming to rest on your ass. He pulls you closer to him. Finally, when you reach his ear, you whisper directly into it.

"Do you want my ass?"

He inhales sharply and, over his shoulder, you see his cock twitch invitingly, shower-water dripping heavily off its tip. 

"Yes."

His voice is gravelly now; his generous Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows.

You disengage from him briefly, bending over.You bring your hands to your asscheeks, you spread them wide for him. You cast a look at him over your shoulder, wondering what he's waiting for. 

He tears his eyes from the sight in front of him long enough to lather himself with soap.

“Mm…" he says, "look at you, bent over and spread for me.”

His right hand beats himself while the left explores your asshole with soapy fingers. He’s patient, occasionally giving his dick a little break while he gets you stretched out.

He's the only man you've ever let fuck you here. He knows he shouldn't find that hot, he knows the idea of 'virginity' (let alone anal virginity), is a construct and he knows the idea of 'taking'  virginity is equally inconsequential...yet he can't help but love the idea that you unknowingly saved this hole just for him. 

His breathing deepens. You feel the head of his dick butting against your taught ass, not quite gliding into you. Soap eases the entrance, but there’s something nice about being able to feel it. Your mouth falls open and you let out a low ‘Oh’ of pleasure. 

Your tight walls are firm but pliant around him, offering enough resistance to be deliciously tight. With the barest pressure from his hips, it swallows him.

“Deeper?” he says, voice restrained.

“Yes.”

He pushes in another inch and lets out a controlled exhale. You can tell by the tension in his body that he’s resisting the urge to thrust forward in one.

“Get balls deep, baby.”

With a grunt of relief, he jerks his hips forward, permission granted to do what he was holding back. Your ass protests a little, but being so full of him is more than enough recompense. It’s always his girth rather than length that gets you like this. Your pussy must be dripping. Even the knowledge that it will get its turn isn’t quite enough.

Sensing your mild discomfort, he pulls out carefully and applies more soap to both of you. It’s easier when he goes back in and you wiggle your hips to get him nice and snug inside you again, sliding down his length until your asscheeks are flush against his thighs. 

He looks down at the gooseflesh on your skin, at the lines of the body he now knows as well as his own yet which never fails to light his fire. He begins to fuck you, gently at first, but ever-increasing in intensity. 

“Nn-tight…tight little ass.”

He grabs your hair and pulls your head back, his humps into your ass becoming more experimental. He circles his hips, sways his hips, trying out new sensations. One moment he’s pulling his soap-slippy shaft almost all the way out and the next trying to drive it deeper than it can go. 

“Fuck yes”, you groan through gritted teeth, “I love your cock in my ass, Five.”

And you do, particularly being used like this.

Soon, he finds a rhythm he likes and begins to ride it out. He’s bent over your back, hot chest pressed against your damp body. He rotates his pelvis rotating in a rapid, undulating figure eight.

When you cry out in pleasure, your tight sphincter suddenly clutches him, sending pleasurable spasms all the way down his dick. Oh wow.

“Going to come.”

“Come up my ass, Number Five.”

His rarely-used full name sends him spinning over the edge.  

Luther strolls through the courtyard. It’s a fine, crisp day and the birds sing. Maybe he can go and sit by Ben’s statue for a while, it’s always nice to do that on his visits to the academy. His attention is caught, however, by steam coming out of the slit like locker-room windows. Nobody’s used those showers in nearly fifteen years. Curiosity gets the better of him and he steps a little towards it. Yes- he can hear the shower running. He can hear the shower and-

“-eat my ass and stroke me.”

WHY. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? Do they ever just…watch TV!? Is nowhere safe? He hurries back into the main house, feeling that his face must be melting like one of the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

“Okay.” Five claps his hands once and paces a little, “let’s not make this harder than it has to be.”

The family sit in the living room, called to a meeting and concerned as Five tries and fails not to pace. He picks up his glass of cognac nonchalantly. Something about the glass in his grip feels comforting, fitted to his hand. It acts as an easy rhetorical device- a glass can be waved, drained, sipped from or slammed down. He puts one hand in his pocket and takes a drink, playing for a little time.

“Shit or get off the pot, shitweasel,” says Lila.

“Lila, always a pleasure,” they exchange a sarcastic smile. When he hesitates again, you take it out of his hands.

“We're expecting a baby.”

Lila grins, slapping a congratulatory hand on your knee with a little squeal. The rest of them look from you to Five, open mouthed: Wait: you're having a baby?

"We're pregnant. Yes," he says, confirming it. 

“We’re pregnant? Last I checked you don’t have much to do with this part.”

“Fine,” he replies, "I knocked you up. Better?"

You pull a face at him, though not at all offended.

General noises of approval and surprise flutter around the room as each of Five's siblings turns over the strange idea and finds it to their liking.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” says Luther, smiling with a tiny note of resentment in his voice: hadn’t he heard Five receiving a rusty trombone in the shower just this morning, for God’s sake?

“I’m gonna have a nephew or niece!" says Diego, enthusiastically. 

“Why so binary Dee-Dee? It's a nibling for sure,” Klaus smiles.

Five addresses the group again:

“It’s actually a little worse than that,” he speaks as if announcing he got a parking ticket, bracing for a sentimental onslaught, “because we’re also engaged.”

Sloane squeals, launches herself over Klaus’s lap and ruffles your hair.

“Congratulations you guys!” Viktor hugs Five around the waist from his armchair.

“Well I’m just glad you’re making an honest woman of him," quips Klaus, "otherwise I would’ve had to get my shotgun.” 

Five rolls his eyes, “Thanks, idiot.”

You receive hugs and congratulations from everyone. Five, extracting himself from Viktor with difficulty, shies away from any more hugs. Over the din, he gives a pained smile and holds up an admonitory hand.

“Yeah ok, ok. My genitals work and I’m getting married at some point in the future. Well done to me and a majority of the population. Now, can we focus on the issue at hand here?”

Viktor pours him a top up of cognac and Five raises the glass to him, appreciatively.

“Now: we know that I am messing around with time. And I think I’d only do that in the event that something goes wrong with the pregnancy. It’s the only reason I’d do something so reckless. Pregnancy and childbirth are still a dangerous proposition and if we can work out…”

During Five’s explanation, Lila continues to top up his glass. It seems like everyone knows what she’s doing except him. He’s occupied with reading them a lecture on the things most likely, according to his research, to cause problems with mother and baby. When he’s had around three doubles, Luther turns on music quietly. He gradually turns it up over the course of a few minutes while Klaus distracts Five with concerned questions. He doesn’t notice the music until Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes begin to duet 'The Time of my Life'

Five breaks off suddenly, having lost the train of thought in his booze-clouded brain.

“Ah Klaus! You remember this? You wanna try doing the lift this time?"

"Yes please- be my Patrick Swayze, Daddy!" 

And thus, his family cajoles him into an impromptu party. It was skilfully done; you have to admit.

Five and Klaus's rendition of Dirty Dancing is...a mess. Trying to sing the duet and dance at the same time does not make for very good execution of either, especially after several drinks. When it comes to the showstopper lift, Five holds Klaus aloft for a split second before he overbalances and tips over Five's head, toppling a barstool and shattering a heavy globe. He nevertheless stands up unscathed and laughing.

You regret slightly that you can’t drink but Five mixes you several Shirley Temples which fill the hole nicely. As he and the others get slowly more drunk, you enjoy dancing with everyone. You, Lila and Klaus form a particularly exuberant trio while Five, Luther and Diego jump up and down with their arms around each other.

“Who's the daddy!" chant Luther and Diego,

"I'm the daddy!" Five responds, trying for his usual cockiness but spoiling the effect by spilling cognac on his shoe.

Lila watches him with a grimace before she turns to you.

“Tell me, why did you breed with that?” 

You hold your hands out in front of you as if to indicate a measurement.

"He just has a really big cock, Lila. I can't resist."  

"Euugh! Nasty!"

"Well you asked! Their Dad should have named him Eight, that's all I'm saying."

From behind the bar, Viktor laughs uproariously and pours himself another, throwing Klaus another beer as he does so. 

Five catches your eye and winks his approval of your bare-faced lie.

Diego, not listening, pulls Five closer, swaying slightly.

“I tell you, Five. S’best job in the world. You ain’t gonna sleep for the next four years but it’s worth it. You’re going to have a little cousin, Santi!”

Santi’s dancing beside you, totally off the beat and not listening to his father.

Wynn finds it easy to slip in undetected, briefcase strapped to her back. Unlike other agents, she doesn’t break down doors or blow off heads; speed and stealth is her specialism. She anticipates absolutely no trouble whatsoever from this job. Not from Five Hargreeves or the rest of his clown academy. She’ll be gone and picking up her paycheck before they realize what’s happened. It’s an easy job with ridiculously high pay plus an extra 10% for speedy execution. So why wait?

Her suit is standard issue, company blue. The headwear she’d been allowed to choose herself…and she has a flair for the dramatic. Today she wears an opulent baroque-patterned tricorn hat, gold on crimson. A luxuriant ostrich feather plumes from one side. The mask is plain white and covers her whole face, its full lips painted red. Around the eyes, a masquerade-style pattern in bright mosaic.  

From the basement, she can hear music thrumming above her and the sounds of several people laughing. They’re partying at four-thirty in the afternoon? It’s hard to tell why Herb was having such a fit about this one. He’d said she was underestimating the Umbrella Academy but Wynn had read the files herself. Sure, Five at least was intelligent, or some permutations were, but this one? He’d bumbled from apocalypse to apocalypse and found himself here by more luck than anything else. And, from what she could tell, he's spent the last seven years or so drinking like a fish and waxing an old Corvette. Herb was a man easily swayed by domineering personalities so she suspected he overestimated Hargreeves.

Creeping through the entrance hall, she positions herself behind the open living room door. There’s her mark. Dancing without a care. Now all she has to do is conceal herself and wait.

Tag list: (please comment to be added or removed.) @dilfjohhny , @sunsunhe, @w4stedtr4sh, @nevbrooke-555, @theredvelvetbitch, @td-miley01, @five-hxrgreeves, @fivefolklaw

Masterpost

Alternatively, join me on A03.  Here is a link to the whole series

[orbleglorb]

I would love to hear the aro essay if you want to write it actually

okay so i KNOW what post you're referencing but i cannot fucking find it. but it's about grollis and qais's qpp. btw you want to read the last best dream by waveridden so bad (although this deviates from that somewhat, it's what got me thinking about them)

the exact post was something along the lines of, "aro ppl can write aro characters in relationships but if an allo person wants to do that they need an essay explaining why." and i added tags along the lines of "i could write this essay about grollis and qais, even tho it's not really romantic." which is funny because i've realized now that i'm probably arospec. but anyway. then i got this ask and went "wow! i should do that" and then couldn't find the time and energy to dedicate to it. but today my body is forbidding me from doing anything that isn't laying in bed and thinking about blorbos so here we go.

grollis was formerly in a qpp with yusef fenestrate and a friend group (brokyo) with yusef, coolname galvanic, val hitherto, and gerund pantheocide. ze naturally grew apart from them, especially when they got shadowed in season 20, and fell into a weird in-between state where ze didn't definitively know where ze stood with anything or anyone. blaseball is going up in flames, hyr personal relationships are full of ambiguity, and it doesn't seem like anyone in the world has a clue what's going to happen next. grol has never handled not knowing things very well. ze's not really good at going with the flow, but ze has literally no other choice now.

qais dogwalker is the captain of the miami dale and, like, the party guy. im convinced they've never made a plan for anything. it's a good temperament to have with blaseball. after the death of their partner jenna, qais sort of lost interest in dating. they're arospec and feel romantic attraction very, very rarely. and, despite feeling aromantic attraction more frequently, they never really got over the whole watching-their-girlfriend-die-in-front-of-them thing. they're not afraid of being open or forming relationships, and have tons of friends and acquaintances, but in the back of their mind, becoming "a thing" with someone leads them into a disaster zone. one of them will die. it's happened with a ton of the big blaseball couples: allison and kichiro, tillman and declan, caligula lotus and beck whitney (that one they got to witness first hand, with cali dying the day after the dale got beck in the feedback). it seems like every other week, the tabloids are reporting on how so and so has died or been alternated or feedbacked to a different team and how it's affecting their relationship with their friend/partner/whatever. subconsciously (and somewhat consciously), qais has a superstition that once The Universe is aware that you have someone you really like, romantically or not, one of you is going to die. and, again, qais has a ton of close friends. but they're all, like, the same level of close. qais doesn't have a best friend. and it's not like they're particularly upset about any of this, but sometimes it hits them that it would be super cool to have a special someone(TM).

so grollis is in a state of trying very desperately to fight against the current, so to speak, when ze meets qais. well, ze has technically met qais plenty of times when they were playing games against each other. but back then, qais was like... a celebrity. and technically grollis is too, but ze doesn't think of it like that. the lift's fans don't even like grollis. qais seems to be universally liked. loved, even. qais talks to people easily, doesn't ever seem to get nervous, and is comfortable with being the center of attention or on the sidelines. qais has a smile that stretches ear to ear and laughs easily. qais loves being at big loud parties and acts like socializing is the easiest thing ever. grollis set foot on the party yacht once and left about ten minutes in, and that was one of the sensory friendly parties. grollis doesn't really hang out with the dale, mostly because ze doesn't care too much for a team centered on partying, but also because there's not many places to meet them that aren't a game or overstimulating. qais remembers grollis as a pitcher for the lift, and... that's pretty much it. they could recognize grollis, but they never spoke. until...

neither of them really remember why or how they started talking; they just kind of did. but, it was during season 21 party time (hosted by the seattle garages). grollis had just gotten out of the shadows and was feeling more disconnected from hyr friends than ever. qais, however, had a very uneventful* season and was pretty damn bored. qais noticed grollis's patchwork coat and came up to hyr to ask where they got it. grollis reponded by telling them ze made it, and they got into a conversation about making clothes, then fashion, then so on and so forth. eventually, one of them had to leave, and grollis had enough courage to ask for their phone number. they began hanging out fairly often, and grollis became well-known amongst the dale. conversely, grollis didn't really introduce qais to any of hyr teammates, and many of them didn't know much about qais, or that they were even friends until much later. but engine eberhardt, the one person grollis still felt somewhat close to, mostly because she refused to let them "sulk in solitude," got to know qais. as did val, who ran the beef wings stand qais frequented.

both of them share common interests in fashion, detective media, urban exploration, "bad" movies and books, movies and tv shows in general, and trying new foods.

now. this is all well and good. but what do they gain from being in a qpp? what does it add narratively? well.

first off, qais has to come face to face with that subconscious-ish superstition. although they know jenna's death affected them, they didn't realize how much it still influenced their everyday decisions. because of their (aromantic) (i cannot stess the nature of this relationship enough) (there's a capital D Difference between romantic attraction and aromantic attraction. no i don't know how it works) attraction to grollis, qais has to decide whether or not they're going to let that superstition continue to inform how they make relationships. here's someone that would love to be their Special Someone(TM), but they have to get over the fear that something bad will happen. and that fear takes the form of, like, beginning to ghost grollis a little -- not enough that it's obvious, but there's that danger of becoming too close, and then The Universe hears and strikes you dead. so qais takes longer to respond, or sometimes just doesn't. but with the help of the lazarus pit and supportive teammates, they get to process All Of That more and get back to normal with grollis.

secondly, grollis strikes me as the type of person who wants a special someone. whereas qais would be totally okay being single forever, grollis wants to have someone that's hyr go-to. ze like having someone to cuddle and kiss and talk about movies with. although ze don't want romance, per se, ze wants a partner. and! having a partner that's not only able to go with the flow, but able to do so excitedly, really helps grollis feel more comfortable not always having a plan, or knowing how ze feels.

however. grollis and qais cannot live together. they tried around season ß1 and just couldn't. grollis needs a home to be a private place of refuge, while qais needs a home to be a community center for all of their loved ones that's open any time they need. that's just inherently not compatible. so they live apart and see each other often.

*i assume it was an uneventful season. i can't find much on the blb wiki that suggests otherwise

i got really tired towards the end of this so i im posting and hoping it makes enough sense

[clotpolesonly]

your fic ideas are hella cool so dropping in another 📔 if you wish!

(another content warning, for abuse & gaslighting this time)

AU where instead of letting him go to suffer in his grief and guilt, Kate keeps Derek after the fire. she doesn't take credit for what she did, instead bluffing her way through convincing Derek that someone else was responsible for it. she offers him refuge. she can protect him. because she loves him.

desperate for comfort in the wake of all that he's lost (he assumes, and Kate reinforces the idea, that everyone else is dead), with the alternative too horrifying for him to even consider much less accept, Derek latches onto her and goes with her willingly because he's got nothing and no one else left.

it's a perfect foundation for the kind of emotional abuse that keeps someone feeling indebted no matter what their abuser puts them through. he'll do anything she wants him to, because doesn't he remember what she did for him? what she's still doing for him? keeping him safe. he knows what her family does, he doesn't he understand how much of a risk it is for her to harbor him from them? he can't possibly disobey complain when she's risking everything for him.

bonus points if he's desperate enough, and Kate a forceful enough personality, that Derek can latch onto her like an alpha to avoid omega status, in lieu of having a pack. we see atypical pack bonds in the show, Scott forming a "pack" with Stiles and Allison that was solid enough to avoid omega status and help him resist the sway of a real alpha, so i'm inclined to think it's possible. Derek, young and vulnerable, alone and grieving and terrified, submitting to the will of someone older, trusted, and powerful enough to make him feel safe.

little does Derek know, Laura and Cora both escaped the fire (and Peter, comatose still). he thinks they're dead, because that's what Kate told him, and he trusts Kate (because she's all he has).

he doesn't know they're alive, but they also don't know that he's alive. Laura and Cora fled town together after the fire, the way Laura and Derek did canonically. and they're drawn back the same way -- Peter's slowly returning consciousness, the mystery of the fire, etc etc. in this AU, it's Mrs Finch (the teacher at the high school from season 6 who's apparently been an alpha werewolf in hiding the entire time) that Peter killed so that he could start biting random teenagers in the woods. that's definitely something that Laura needs to look into and take care of.

it's also something the hunters are looking into, of course. Chris calls Kate for backup and, not having any more context than "rogue alpha", she comes. and she brings her boyfriend with her. whatever identity she's set up for him, it's well established by now, and Derek is (horror of horrors) one of her hunters. she's convinced him to fight the "bad" werewolves. it's not like werewolves didn't police their own sometimes anyway, if they deserved it, for the sake of staying secret and protecting innocents. it didn't take too much manipulating prodding to convince him to use his superior senses to aid her cause.

Derek is the one who finds the alpha. he has him in his sights.

only Laura has found him too.

and that's the first they see of each other.

Derek runs before there can be any kind of connection. he goes back to Kate and tells her what he saw. she, of course, gaslights the fuck out of him. he didn't actually see his sister. he couldn't have. they're all dead, remember? she saw the bodies herself, doesn't he trust her?

Kate, blindsided -- she knew Laura and Cora were alive, but she didn't expect them to be here, threatening her long con and her control on her favorite tool/toy -- runs back to Chris (completely in the dark on her machinations) for damage control. tries to turn him onto taking the other Hales out of the picture as quickly as possible without alerting him as to why.

code-loving Chris resists; as far as they know, those Hales haven't done anything wrong. they haven't broken the code, one of them is just 16, and it seems like they're all working toward the same end in taking down the rogue alpha. maybe they should just let them be for now, keep an eye on them, monitor the situation, etc. Kate, not happy about this, but unable to leave to handle things on her own without raising eyebrows.

meanwhile, Cora being the one to connect with Scott and Stiles. much less likely to stand out while sneaking around a high school she doesn't attend, lmao. Laura is busy with the alpha investigation (and with the whole "holy SHIT was that Derek?? that really looked like it might've been Derek, wtf wtf wtf" thing), so she does most of the handling with the boys.

Scott isn't nearly as resistant to her (or Laura) as he was to Derek, who was far more overbearing and uncommunicative, lol. Laura wants him to focus on getting himself and his shift under control, adjust to his new powers, just stay out of the way for now. she tells Cora that too, but Cora says FUCK THAT, Derek might be alive and you want me to stay out of it??? she may not have spent 7 years completely alone and fending for herself in this AU, but she's still headstrong and proactive. she wants to get shit done.

so she, Scott, and Stiles end up on their own little sub-mission. and they bring Allison into the fold because they don't have an Argent-traumatized Derek projecting all over them and insisting they can't trust her. they know Argents as a whole are bad, but they also know that Allison doesn't seem to have any clue what the rest of her family is doing. she's a total normie. Cora's much more likely to look at her and go "wow, you're so in the dark. maybe if we DON'T lie to you, we can get you one our side and you'll be an advantage!"

she starts explaining things to Allison and makes some mention of her brother and Allison's like "wait, Derek? that's Kate's boyfriend, they've been together for years, he's staying in our guest room" and Cora's like UM??

Stiles: "well, fuck, let's break in and rescue him right now!" Allison: "you know i have a key, right? it's my house" Scott: "idk if that's a good idea" Cora: "Laura would be so mad......let's do it"

meanwhile, Laura, more on the cautious side of things. she's desperate to get Derek back, if that actually was him, but she isn't sure it was and she can't take huge risks if it puts the sibling she does have in danger. keeping Cora safe has been her number one priority for the last 6 years, she isn't willing to jeopardize that just yet.

doesn't mean she can't take small risks. if Chris Argent gets all up in her face to menacingly wash the windows of her car, she may take a chance on a question or two.

Laura: "Kate's boyfriend -- Derek, isn't it? i had a little brother by that name. would be about that age by now, if he was alive." Chris: "what are you insinuating?" Laura: "nothing. just a funny coincidence, don't you think?"

she doesn't get an answer, but it plants a little seed of doubt in Chris, right as Kate's control over Derek is starting to fray a little bit. Cora & co get into the guest room where they're staying, intending to rescue him, but they miscalculate and no one's in there (which is probably good, cuz that would've gone badly for them). Cora gets frustrated and upset because there are scents here but she doesn't really recognize them enough to verify if it's her brother or not -- it's been a long time, and she was too young to remember properly.

but Derek wasn't too young. and when he gets back to the room, he and can smell her.

Kate insists he's wrong, he's not smelling anything more than perfume or air freshener, what is he smelling ghosts now? he starts to feel like either he's going crazy or maybe, maybe..... Kate is lying to him.

he's still fighting that realization, but the next time he gets sent out on his own after the alpha, Laura finds him. neither of them runs this time. Laura tries to get Derek to come with her, but Derek has been with Kate a long time and he doesn't know how to do or be anything else anymore. they argue. Derek insists that Kate has been good to him, that she saved him, that she loves him.

Laura: "Derek, she told you we were dead! do i look dead to you?"

over the course of this argument, Derek mentions smelling Cora in his room and Laura's like "you did what?? GODDAMN IT, CORA"

that's how Laura finds out they've let Allison in on the secret and she is furious. she may not have the very personal grudge and trust issues that canon!Derek had with them, but she's still got a very healthy aversion to hunters. she yells at Cora about how reckless and stupid it was to tell this girl anything. Scott steps in to defend her -- it was his idea, if she's gonna be mad at anyone then be mad at him. Stiles argues that it was a tactical advantage to have an inside man, so to speak.

Laura gets that, she does, but she just.....she wants everybody to be safe. she can't protect her loved ones (the ones she has left) if they won't do what she tells them to do. she's by far the more traumatized of the two of them. she went from normal teenager to The Alpha, the one with too much responsibility on her shoulders to be allowed to grieve and process properly. she sheltered Cora, still an actual kid, enough to let her fall apart and then put her back together again, but Laura never got to do that herself. she couldn't afford to break down when she had a child to keep safe and provide for.

but now Cora's old enough to take of herself, old enough to push for what she thinks is right, and Laura is still clinging to that Must Protect instinct because it's the only thing that's been keeping her going for the last 6 years. to be faced with evidence that she failed as an alpha, and as a big sister? that she let Derek get taken in and twisted up by hunters and she didn't even know? devastating.

it takes them all to talk her down. because honestly, she is being paranoid and irrational and stubborn, and that's not actually helping. it's not helping her, it's not helping Cora, and most of all, it's not helping Derek. if they want to get their brother back, they'll need all the help they can get, and Allison, Argent or not, has already proven that she can and wants to be that help.

in the end, they decide they need Chris as an ally too, if they really want to get somewhere, and they can use Allison to make that happen bit by bit. they get her to start hinting at things, asking leading questions about Derek, like if Chris knows where he's from or what he studied in school or how old he is. casual normal things that Chris realizes he doesn't have answers for, because Kate always answers for Derek when people talk to him and she's always vague.

not to mention, Kate is acting cagey lately. pushing so hard to kill Laura with no code violation. he's got Laura's voice in his ear now. i had a brother by that name. he would be about that age too, if he was alive.

aaaaand okay so i never got to the end of this idea, so you gotta imagine the rest of it yourself 😅 but you know at some point, either Laura tears Kate's throat out to rescue Derek, or Derek truly comes to understand just how deeply he's been victimized and does it himself. either way, i'm cheering them on.

.

send me a book emoji for the plot of a fic that i haven't written but daydream about!!

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

hi! do you know of any fics where Allison was bitten instead of Scott in season 1?

Hi anon! @kevaaronday made this list and said "Only found a few exactly like you wanted so heres some werewolf!allison too!"

Take My Hand (We’ll Make It, I Swear) by narceus (1/1 | 23,065 | Teen | Allydia) Laura's back in Beacon Hills, and she's got her newest pair of betas--good girls, both of them, and if she bit Allison mostly out of revenge in the first place, well, they're pack now. The three of them are family, and Derek too, when he eventually gets out here, after Laura deals with the mysterious spirals appearing around their territory. At least, that's the plan.

Plans have a way of going awry, but packs--those have a way of coming together, in the end.

Different Perspectives by George_Costanza_ate_my_soup90 (3/3 | 17,147 | Teen | Scallison) What if Allison had been the one bitten instead of Scott?

Fight the Night by Tarvera (8/8 | 12,911 | Mature | Scallison) One night, one hour, one minute, can change everything. Peter is just a little more feral the night at the school and a little more desperate for pack. He takes a chance and four more teenager's lives are forever altered by his actions.

Ten Years by Waynesgrayson (1/1 | 11,367 | Explicit) The wolf hung from the ceiling, his body draining onto her skin, his teeth in a pile next to her.

A small voice sounded from the loud noise of her mind, “Allison?” the voice was shaky, and didn't match the always steady girl, “Allison, are you okay?”

Allison breathed in deeply and licked her lips, swallowing the wolfs blood. She opened her eyes and could feel them fill red. 

"I'm the alpha now."

Triumvirate Pilgrimage by fandomdough (1/1 | 8,964 | Teen | Allison/Scott/Derek)

Beacon Hills wasn't supposed to be any different from anywhere else, but it was where Allison Argent lost everything she once knew and ended up finding herself and her soulmates.

Pawn by Thatoneloser_kid (1/1 | 5,850 | Gen | Allydia) Lydia told herself that she went to all the lacrosse games and practices for Jackson, he was the person she was dating after all. She told herself that it had absolutely nothing to do with the pretty right winger who looked at her all doe eyed and dazed. 

Her name was Allison Argent and she had moved to Beacon Hills a little over three months ago and, at first, she had kept to herself. She was shy, she would walk down the hallway with her books clutched tightly to her chest and her head down, scurrying away from any crowded place, making it difficult for Lydia to strike up any kind of conversation with her. 

The Banshee and the She-Wolf by MorganRay (1/1 | 4,516 | Teen | Allydia) Allison moves to Beacon Hills with her family to hunt werewolves, but when a hunt goes wrong, she receives the bite. Now, Allison will do anything to hide her new werewolf lifestyle from her family. When two of Allison's friends, Stiles and Lydia, discover her secret, Allison's life gets difficult. However, Lydia has a secret of her own that she's not too keen on Allison discovering. Cora Hale, local bad-girl werewolf of the Hale pack, takes an interest in the new wolf, but can Allison trust her? When Allison discovers her family's dark past, can she even trust them? And what's worse, Allison is developing a dangerous set of crushes that are doubly difficult to deal with as a new werewolf.

Then she fell in with Scott and Stiles.

And the Walls Come Crumbling Down by kiranightshade (1/1 | 3,960 | Explicit | Stallison) Alternate season one ending where Peter remains the alpha after killing Kate, Stiles says yes to the bite, and Allison is recruited once everything calms down. 

Also, Stiles falls for Allison while everyone tries to tell Scott that stalking Allison is not good.

My Girlfriend is a Werewolf by fandomdough (1/1 | 2,260 | Teen | Scallison) This is a day he won't forget. This is the day Scott finds out that Allison is a werewolf.

Changeable by clotpolesonly (1/1 | 1,476 | Gen | Allison/Laura) "The shape we take reflects the person that we are."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

--

In which Allison is bitten and Laura helps her through it.

A wolf, wolf and I by puppybusby (1/1 | 1,066 | Gen | Allydia) “It's just a study date Stiles.” Allison sighed.

“It's never just a study date.” Stiles replied with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “Have you learnt nothing? Study date is code for making out.”

Body Language by hazelNuts (1/1 | 845 | Teen | Allydia) Being a newly bitten werewolf, Allison is still figuring out how to interpret all the input she getting from other people. She knows, though, that when in doubt, it's best to ask.

‘Hey, Lydia,’ Allison says with a smile. 

‘Hey.’ Lydia’s greeting sounds muffled. Not strange since she’s half crawled into her locker. 

Allison doesn’t need to see Lydia’s smile to know the girl is happy to see her, she can hear it in the quick double-thump in Lydia’s heartbeat.

For Teen Wolf Femslash Bingo prompt: Canon Divergent AU

[princeescaluswords]

Uninteresting

So, yesterday, I encountered a story (at that point it was untagged, and to give the author their due, they tagged it afterwards), and the thing that jumped off the page to me is that they have Scott purposefully luring the Argents to the police station in Fury (2x10). This was a new one on me, so I wondered if the author had just missed the part where Matt had taken Scott's (and the sheriff's and Stiles's) phone and that Allison had correctly identified that Scott wouldn't have done that. I pointed this out.

The author replied that they were tweaking canon because they thought it would be interesting to see Stiles and Scott have a 'discussion' about it.

What they also thought would be interesting would be repeating every big idea that the Anti-Scott parts of fandom have ever had. Scott told Derek his family deserved to be burned alive! (He didn't say that). Scott didn't ask Stiles about his injuries in Master Plan! Scott was obsessed with Allison! Scott neglected Stiles for Isaac!

Such a variation on Teen Wolf might actually be interesting to me as an alternative, too, if I hadn't read it 15,000 times before (not an exaggeration). One of fanfiction's purposes is to give us alternatives to canon, but the trouble is when it comes to Teen Wolf, it's always the same alternatives. I pointed out that as a Scott fan who reads Sterek, it bothers me that they always try to justify the relationship by making Scott the bad guy.

They replied that they tweak canon in a lot of ways, not just to make Scott a bad guy. And they're right. Beyond that ...

They tweaked canon to make Deaton an Evil Sinister Black Man! So unique! He is plotting against Derek with Scott because he thinks Derek should die and Scott should be alpha. Unspoken is why he didn't straight up murder Derek after Peter's resurrection or still supply him with ketamine for the plan to stop Jackson, but if Evil Deaton had been competent, there wouldn't be much of a story would there?

They tweaked canon to make Stiles -- you guessed it -- a Spark! Ground-breaking, like florals in spring! And Deaton was lying to Stiles about the strength of it because Stiles is going to become Derek's Emissary! Because of course he would!

They tweaked canon so Derek is super angry about Scott's remark about the Argents having a reason to attack his family in Magic Bullet (1x04), but doesn't even remember that Stiles directly accused him of murdering his sister out of jealousy of the full wolf form in Second Chance at First Line (1x02).

They tweaked canon so Derek can't trust Deaton because the veterinarian is plotting against him for some unknown reason, and it's definitely not because Derek kidnapped and almost killed him in Heart Monitor (1x06).

They tweaked canon so that Stiles obviously did care after Scott was poisoned with wolf's bane by Victoria, even though we didn't see any of that on the screen but assumed that it happened, just like we should have assumed Scott asked Stiles about what happened in the Argent basement.

They tweaked canon so that Stiles never wanted Derek dead and that he can't believe Scott would be so, so cruel to widdle-baby Derek, who didn't lie to Scott about the cure or break into his house and threaten to kill him or did nothing at all ever to earn Scott's distrust.

I could go on. In other words, to them it's interesting to rehash every single Sterek Trope that has been written in meta and stories so often that it's become accepted reality. They "tweak" canon in only certain pre-set ways and always to the same ends. Because I do believe in alternative stories, I would accept this if, for every Sterek story where Scott is a Bad Lying Friend and Unworthy of Stiles's regard, so he turns to Derek, there's a Sterek story with different "tweaks," such as where Isaac tries to kill Stiles to get Scott to join the pack or Scott rejects Stiles because he's too mean to Derek which makes Stiles see the error of his ways. But there isn't. And that, of course, is my point.

It's the Big Lie. Everyone complains about discourse and why people would waste time arguing over trivial matters such as these, but ten years have passed and now I encounter multiple people entering the fandom who literally believe that Scott was OBSESSED over Allison, that he didn't put her to the side to save Derek and/or his pack on multiple occasions and that she was his necessary anchor. Who believe that Stiles was neglected and treated badly, not by the guy who bounced his head off a steering wheel or tried to kill the girl he loved or sent one of his betas to kidnap him, but by his best friend who literally ripped a locker door of his hinges in an attempt to find him. Sterek has become synonymous with Scott is a Bad Friend, and I dare people to argue that it hasn't.

And thus, a non-white heroic protagonist has been transformed, probably forever, into an unworthy inadequate simpleton who treated his mega-genius best friend and a (phenomenally rich, good-looking, and well-loved) orphan werewolf so badly. It's happened. Right in front of the fandom's eyes. And lots of people are happy about it for some reason.

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.