#except for the keith likes bugs part

[demon-witch-cat]

Quick HC for my Keith and Grey Branch brothers AU that I've still yet to come up with a name for!

Branch calls Keith Bug/Little Bug sometimes

Branch started calling him that because Keith kept following him and would not leave him alone(like a bug), so he'd say things like, "Ah, the little Bug has returned to bother me." or "You sure do ask a lot of personal questions, Bug." And even "Alright, Little Bug, it's time for you to Shoo away now."

But when he started getting used to Keith, becoming fonder of him, and seeing him as a little brother, it changes more to a fond little nickname. "That was a good one, Bug" "Thanks for the help today, Little Bug" "I see the Bugs got some extra energy today!" And, "Dont worry about Bug."

Keith loves the nickname! He loved it from the beginning! He loves it so much that he slowly gains an interest in learning about bugs. When they're walking around the forest, and they see/pass by a bug, Keith will ask questions about it and sometimes try to get close to it. This is normally fine with Branch, as long as he doesn't wander off. But sometimes the creatures aren't very safe, and oh my hair! Put that down Keith, if that bites you, you'll get SO sick!

[empressgeekt]

Trolls - Accidental Knight Branch AU (Field of Forget-me-nots part 1)

My hyper fixation continues and for some reason I got this idea while watching a Bug's Life. And i"m thinking of linking this to my Keith and Branch Brother hood Au (link to that post if interested - https://empressgeekt.tumblr.com/post/744629825487126528/trolls-branch-and-keith-brothers-au). I think I'm going to re-name it A Field of Forget-Me-knots Au. If they end up linked that is.

The Au would start before the first movie. Branch is still grey and on his own, with the exception of his little stalker. Keith had been following him for the past year, and branch had taken a reluctant liking to the kid. Pretty much becoming a big/little brother duo that no one in the village gets. Keith's habit of story telling, is encouraged by Branch, who buys the kid notebooks to put his idea on paper. During the summer evenings, Branch would help edit his grammar and spelling, while working on a latest trap as Keith read his latest chapters. The trolling's current story fixation, being one about a trolling knight who protects his village and wears a suit of armor in the brightest green leaves. Branch askes Keith where he found the inspiration for it, and Keith explains that it came to him when he was helping Branch with the alarm systems and predator preventions he made for the village. Branch is flattered when he learn that the kid thinks of him as a hero, but doesn't admit it.

When Keith's birthday rolls around. In addition to another note book, and some custom made drawing pencils, Branch decides to bring Keith's character to life. With all the mechanical know how, he learned from making traps and weapons, (and sewing skills thanks to Grandma), the grey troll can pretty easily fashion together a suit that is both functional and how Keith described it. With room for all the Gadgets that Keith gave his character. Which on the weapons side Branch kind of cheats due to him already having multiple back up bows and spears. He just paints those to match the suit. Keith is ecstatic to see Branch in the suit, and insists on Branch wearing it while they check the traps that day. Branch allows it, partially because it makes the kid happy, and partially because he wants to show off his gadget re-creations. Keith even calls Branch, "Forest Guardian" all through the walk. At some point, Branch falls into a flower patch, and pollen gets all over his hair making it turn into a maroon color.

Their on the last of their safety checks, this one just outside of the village borders, when suddenly the alarm strings go taunt and screaming is heard in the direction of the village. Branch tells Keith to run back to the bunker using their escape tunnels, and keith says that, "Forest Guardian is needed". Branch rushes off, completely forgetting that he's in a ridiculous looking suit, finding a rabid wolf charging through the middle of the village. Most the pods are too high for the predator to reach, but the trolls on the ground are done for...Branch grabs hold of the spear tied to his back.

Poppy is on the ground, trying to get as many trolls away from the wolf, but she's at a lost of what to really do. A predator like this had never gotten this close to the village, so she's scrambling. All she knows is that everyone is screaming and running, their afternoon song is ruined, then suddenly out of nowhere the wolf is taken down. Poppy looks up, and finds a troll with maroon colored hair, clad in armor of the brightest green, their hands gripping a spear that was impaled in to the base of the wolf's skull, killing it. In the corner of her eye, she sees one of the trollings, Keith, Call out "It's Forest Guardian!"

Branch is very uncomfortable with all the people suddenly staring at him, once the wolf is down. Then he hears Keith call out, and suddenly remembers he's in the costume. They don't know who he is. Still he doesn't like being the object of all there attention. Branch rushed back into the woods before Poppy has the chance to thank him.

Keith meets Branch back at the bunker. Branch immediately takes off the suit, and confronts Keith as to why he was in the village and not safe in the bunker. Keith said he wanted to see Forest Guardian in action. Branch retorts he's not Forest Guardian. Keith said he could be, and gets upset, because he based a the character off of branch, but the grey troll doesn't want to be a hero. Branch said he wasn't a hero. Keith says that he is, and recounts all he does for the villages protection and no one sees it! And they are all mean to branch. It makes the trolling frustrated, and this way they can be nicer to branch without Branch having to deal with them invading his personal privacy.

Eventually Branch gives in, after all the armor stopped him from getting hurt by the wolf, and it would make it easier to carry needed essentials. So when ever he goes after predators that get too close to the village he wears the suit. Keith promises to be Branch's man on the inside and reports to the grey troll on all the rumors that were spread about them. They have a good laugh over it.

Meanwhile, the village is set on fire with news of their new hero. People are gossiping and word of the "Forest Guardian" is spreading fast. And one troll in particular has become engulfed by the flames. Poppy has become obessed with the Forest Guardian. She wants to thank him, know who he is, and become his best friend. No she is totally not fangirling over him, like the twins tease. The snackpack is equally enthralled with the new village hero. Cooper, Biggie, And GD are impressed with how cool he looked, The twins have been making fan wear based on eye witnesses on the armor, Fuzzbert and DJ Suki want to know who his gear works, and Smidge wants to know where he learned how to take down a wolf. They are all willing to help Poppy find the Guardian. Creek is grateful for the new hero, but he is a little apprehensive about Poppy wanting to find him. After all he could be dangerous, and what kind of troll would use violence before friendship.

Nothing could stop Poppy's hunt. She askes everyone in the village what they know about the Forest Guardian. She sadly doesn't get much information. Until she asks Keith. The little trolling tells her all about how the Guardian lives out side of the village in the forest, and that he's been defending the village from predators for years, the wolf had been a rare instance when they snuck passed his defenses.

Poppy: Keith how do you know about this?

Keith: I see him. I go into the woods sometimes, he's always looking out for us.

Poppy: And no one knows? No one's thanked him!

Keith: He's shy and a little different. He doesn't think the village will accept him.

Poppy: He's our hero, we'd always accept him

Keith: he doesn't think so. He's seen how you treat other people who aren't like you.

Poppy: We aren't mean.

Keith: not actively.

Poppy: Look Keith Sweetie, you think you can get me meeting with him?

Keith agrees and leads poppy out into the woods. And calls out to the "Guardian". Branch and the trolling had come to an agreement that if he was refered to Guardian or Forest, then someone was with th trolling and Branch needed to play the part. Branch just didn't think Keith would bring the princess of all trolls. Poppy excitedly begins to ramble, until Branch clears his throat. In a deeper voice he sends Keith home, and asks what Poppy wants.

Poppy: We'll first to say thank you

Branch: I don't do this for thanks your highness

Poppy: Well, we're going to give it to you now that we know about you! Especially since you've been protecting all of us for so long.

Branch: How do you know about that?

Poppy: Keith told me.

Branch: Of course.

Poppy: Now, to show you how grateful the village is for all your work, we're throwing a party for you and officially inviting you-

Branch: Pass.

Poppy: WHat?

Branch: Apologizes for my brashness Princess, but I do not enjoy big loud parties.

Poppy: Why not?

Branch: You're larger celebrations attract a lot of attention from Predators your highness. Any part you through means a lot of work and stress for me. After years of this, I've lost my taste for such gatherings

Poppy's thrown by this, but in some form understands. The Forest Guardian's work is dangerous, he could've gotten hurt many times over while they partied. She had no idea that their parties attracted predators. She asks if their was any way to prevent that

Branch is shocked, all he had to do was save the village and put on a mask and suddenly people wanted to listen to him?! Taking advantage of this new found respect. Branch takes Poppy around the forest explaining how he keeps everyone safe from the forest, and just how vulnerable they all are. And that he deosn't want them to stop their fun, he just doesn't want anyone to get hurt or worse.

Poppy takes all this information, back home to her father, and suggests a few changes to make life better for both their guardian and the village. Peppy says that some of these suggestions would need to be consulted by the council however one of them they wouldn't need approval for. When talking with Keith the trolling had offered a less explosive way of thanking the Forest Guardian. Peppy agrees to knight the hero.

Word spreads quickly as troll village hadn't had a knight since before bergen town was established. So everyone is really excited. When keith tells Branch about the knighting thing, it's really surprising to the grey troll. After all he only took down one wolf their acting like he conquered the sun for them. Still the kid talks branch into going to the ceremony.

The ceremony goes smoothly although branch doesn't stay very long at the after party. Keeping up appearances is hard. Not to mention Poppy is all over him wanting to dance and find out his real name. He doesn't give it. Still some how rumors fly about hiw the princess and the new knight are smitten with each other. Keith teases branch about when ever they meet up. Branch is just worried about Poppy getting too close to him. After all in reality he isn't the hero they all think he is.

Life goes on, Poppy tries to reason for more safety measures but the council won't allow them. She goes to branch as the forest guardian for help. Shockingly its easier to standup and reason his ideals while in costume. He gets them to think about it, and Poppy offers lunch as a thanks. She disappointed that he won't take off his mask to eat, which leads to a conversation over why he hides his face. Once more rumors about the knight and princess pick up pace.

When the 20th freedom anniversary rolls around, Poppy trie to invite the knight but Branch declines saying that such a party 2as too big of a risk during predator season. Poppy doesn't head his word as Guardian or normal branch and goes trhough with it. You all know how this ends. Poppy goes to the bunker and asks Branch if he has seen Forst Guardian any where worried about if the Bergan had already gotten to him as he didn't show up to fight the bergen. Branch said he didn't know. As in canon Poppy stuffs the village in his bunker. Keith tells Branch to go after her as Guardian. They both know Poppy has 0 to none on survival skills, and this way no one will stumble onto his secret while in the bunker.

Poppy is at first thrilled when Forest Guardian joins her, however her excitement dwindles as she realizes that he's more of a grump then she thought their hero was. He doesn't join in on her songs and she's desperate to hear his voice. So also probs him on his back story, which Branch lies and says, "I don't have any."

Poppy: what how?

"Leta just sya that the story of the escape isn't as happy as everyone makes it out to be princess."

Cloud guy pissess him off as usual. And they can't spare Creek from getting "eaten". When freeing the snack pack, some of them ask for his autograph which, branch thinks their crazy for. Not the time and who has a pen on them at the moment anyway.

Branch still refuses to sing, with Bridget, and when cornered all he can say is that it tore his family apart. With a mix of truth and lies forest guardian says that he used to sing all the time with his family, but that made them prime targets for bergens. He became silent that's what saved him. "So forgive me if I'm not comfortable with singing in bergen filled town. I stay silent so that others don't have to."

The date goes the same, only Poppy is more giggly than in canon when Branch says she has a nice smile.

They both choke creek

True colors happens

then when confronting the chef, she doesn't react for Branch when she tries to for feed gristle. She reaches for Poppy. Branch jumps in and stabs the chef in the hand protecting the princess. Chef would then pull out a knife and with it smach brnahc into the far wall. Severally injuring him. Gristle orders for Chef to be captured. While Poppy runs over to Branch. She pulls off the mask and reveals the identity of the village hero. Shocking everyone.

Brnach remains unconscious for weeks afte the event. Poppy and Keith at his bed side. The village is rebuild. Peppy announced his retirement. And Poppy planns to create a team of well trained trolls to help bench protect the village.

When he does wake up, Branch is welcomed back home and offered the position of head of village security. If he wants it. With peace with the bergen established. Branch accepts the job. Creating the Forest Guardian's. Pop villages own defences force.

--'

Not sure what will happen in the othe movies yet, but branch is definitely sporting a new scar that JD will freak out about.

[unsolded]

𝚃𝙰𝙳𝙲 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃

𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿(𝚜): 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐱 Pᴏᴍɴɪ, ᒍᗩ᙭ 𝗑 ℝ𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕒 𝚊𝚗𝚍

Ｚｏｏ ｂｌｅ ｘ 𝒢𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁ℯ

𝙰𝚄: Human

—————————————

The cast of the digital circus has found an exit deep inside of the circuses code. Not knowing that without that code, hackers and all different viruses and bugs can know enter the circus anytime. Caine, just figuring this out tries to hurry everyone away. But, Pomni, who doesn’t want Caine to be alone in the circus asks him to join them. Caine says he doesn’t think he could as he is an AI and is made of different pixels. Pomni, who isn’t taking no for an answer shoved Caine through the door, along with are boy bubble. And everyone runs through leaving the digital circus to be destroyed by the viruses, bugs and hackers to destroy it.

—————————————

Caine gasps as he looks around to see he’s in a small white bland cubical. He’s in the real world, with Bubble. But, where is everyone else?

—————————————

Everyone wakes up from their escape and find they are in the C&A storage room on the top floor and can’t get the lift to go down to work and the stairs are busted and broken down. While everyone is cheering that they have finally got out of that place, they are also scared as they are stuck on the top floor of an abandoned 90’s building of their old work place. Also, Caine and Bubble are missing. Either Caine and Bubble didn’t make it through or they have been teleported to a different part of the building. Can they all get out of the building in time? In time for what you ask? Well, the construction for the building to be demolished into rubble…

—————————————

I have tweaked their ages a bit but only so it made sense how they all worked in C&A, except for Bubble. They are as followed:

•Ragatha - 30

• Pomni - 25

• Gangle - 26

• Zooble - 25 (Used to be 22)

• Jax - 25 (Used to be 22)

• Kinger - 48

• Caine - 27 (Didn’t have an age before)

• Bubble - 10 (Didn’t have an age before)

—————————————

Their jobs in C&A. Also, I thought of C&A as a Game Developing Company (The C part) and Networking Company (The A part):

[The C’ part of C&A]

•Caine - Animator

•Gangle - Graphic Designer

•Jax - Game Developer

•Zooble - Game Tester

—————————————

[The A’ part of C&A]

•Ragatha - Network analyst

•Pomni - Cloud architecture

•Kinger - CEO of Networking

—————————————

Real Life Names (Nickname) + Genders + Nationality:

•Ragatha=Agatha(Aggie)Ranger-Female-She/Her- 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/🇵🇱

• Pomni = Polly Flex-Grantor - Female-She/Her- 🇰🇷/🇺🇸

• Jax = Jackson (Jax) Xeon - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸/🇩🇪

• Zooble = Zara Charlie - Non-Binary-They/Them- 🇲🇽

•Gangle=Gabriela (Gabi) Linton-Female-She/Her- 🇫🇷

• Kinger = Keith Scotts - Male-He/Him-🇬🇧/🇷🇺

• Caine = Caine Dentó - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸

• Bubble = Ben Dentó - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸/🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

—————————————

This is just a prompt for anyone who is struggling with ideas for books they want to write. No need to add credit this is just for fun for me.

—————————————

Also! These are the photos I’m using as reference for what they look like (IN MY OPINION). Also, pictures were made by deduukk on Pinterest.

Caine and bubble… when I tried finding one for Caine all I got was Caine as a human, but with eyeballs in his mouth… and bubble is impossible! So, on Ao3 someone has already made a pretty good drawing of what Caine and Bubble will look like. The book is:

[monstersinthecosmos]

god what voltron episode(s) should i rewatch. and what to look out for

sdjgklasd gosh idk recently I've rewatched the second half of S2 a few times, from the BOM Trial to Shiro's disappearance because I want to like really nail down the timeline and make it make sense. I am also just studying Keith like he's a bug.

Full disclosure that I actually haven't watched the entire series all the way through except for the first time, I mostly just watch The Sheith Movie, but sometimes I wanna zoom out and see the bigger context of the episode, or see some of the Keith scenes that The Sheith Movie didn't include. Like Hunk & Keith's mission for scaultrite in the next episode and the fallout between Allura and Keith when she realizes he's part Galra and starts treating him like shit!

I love watching the way he gets frustrated by everyone making a big deal about it, especially after the emotional climax of the Trial was him accepting himself and deciding he knows who he is--it leads him to learn something HUGE about himself, but he stays steadfast in "I'm still me" afterwards, and doesn't want anyone to make a big deal about it. Like, Hunk is teasing him a little but still friendly and still accepts him, but Keith doesn't even want to talk about it, vs Allura who sort of affirms all his fears by judging him and icing him out.

And even after all that, leading into their big fight with Zarkon, they know this could be it, that if they succeed the war could be over, and he thinks it might be a good time to go find his family. There's something, HMM!, kinda twisty & crunchy about this concept to me, about KNOWLEDGE OR DEATH, and kinda feels a little bit DBT-ish to me, sort of radical acceptance, realizing his sense of self and learning to be okay with it, but also open to the quest for knowledge. Like "I am me, for all the faults and bullshit and trauma, my dad died and I never knew my mom and Shiro saved me" IS A COMPLETE PACKAGE, that's who Keith is! He accepts it! It's no longer "I don't know who I am because people abandoned me and I can't be myself unless I can find this nebulous external validation." So anyway. Yes, he's Keith, he's himself, this is it, YOLO, whatever, but. He is still open to the knowledge of finding his family.

The BOM Trial episode is really so so good though. It's like such an incredible battle for him to accept his identity and the truth of his lived experience, all the while TRIANGULATED BETWEEN HIS THREE FATHER FIGURES, i mean is it an accident that he passes out in the penis hallway?

(last time I raved about this, I had to look it up to grab the picture LOL)

also SOMETHING SOMETHING Shiro fully connecting with the idea that Zarkon used to be the Black Paladin and how really facing his trauma and accepting it head on GETS HIM KILLED. lmao i have to lie down.

[autisticlancemcclain]

wip tease

i got an ask about childhood friends to lovers klance and i got SO carried away with it so here’s a piece of the fic. 

--- --- ---

Lance cries a lot. More than Keith has ever known anyone to cry. He cries every time they watch Bridge to Terabithia (which is frequently, and he also made Keith pinky swear the first time they saw it to never swing over an overflowing stream in the spring). He cries when he sees someone kill a bug (at least three times a week). He cries when Keith has to go back from his house to the group home (he won’t tell anyone, but Keith kind of likes that Lance is so sad about Keith going back. He doesn’t like that Lance is sad, of course, but he likes feeling wanted. It’s nice).

One place where Lance doesn’t cry so often anymore is the supermarket, though. Keith vividly remembers the first time he had gone with Lance and Marcela one Saturday morning — Lance had made up a whole silly song about running errands with his mom (he still hums is every time they go. Keith won’t tell Lance — he’ll get all smug about it — but he finds it kind of funny).

It had started out fine. Marcela opened up her grocery list (it was really long, Keith noticed. He imagined it unrolling to the floor and bouncing down the aisles, like in the movies), idly narrating to the boys what they needed. 

“And, if you two are good, I’ll get you a treat,” she’d promised. Lance lit right up, immediately chattering about all the different candies and chocolate bars they could get. Keith wasn’t yet sure if he should get his hopes up. 

Everything was fine for the first twenty minutes. Lance started up their space game, and they pretended every other shopper was a trickster alien pirate in a space mall, and they had to pretend to be one of them to get special parts for the castle spaceship. Marcela found their game amusing, and occasionally piped up with suggestions. Keith particularly liked her idea where they had to use ‘disguises’ consisting of silly hats and sunglasses from the clothes department. But after those twenty minutes, Marcela turned the cart into the meat aisle, and Keith saw Lance’s chin start to tremble.

Oh, boy.

You see, Lance loves all animals. All of ‘em. He likes the birds and the cats and the cows and the fish. He especially likes bugs (he even likes mosquitoes, which Keith thinks is bonkers. Lance isn’t the first person he’s met who likes bees or spiders, but he’s the first person he’s met who’d rather endure a mosquito bite than kill the stupid pest). He loves them enough that the idea of killing and eating them makes him incredibly sad. And looking at meat… never bodes well for him.

Marcela sighs quietly, having likely anticipated the tears, and Keith gets an idea.

“Mrs. Marcela,” he started politely (she won’t let him call her Mrs. Esposita-McClain, but he’s not comfortable enough to drop the title. So they compromised), “can Lance and I take a piece of the grocery list and go get them for you? And then we can meet up with you later?”

Marcela glanced over at Lance, who was staring forlornly at the beef with watery eyes, and back at Keith. A slow smile spread across her face.

“Do you have your watch on you?”

Keith nodded, holding up his wrist.

“Okay, then. Watch my purse for a sec.” 

Keith dutifully stood by the cart and her purse, reaching over to pat Lance gently on the head without looking. Marcela stepped over to the end of the aisle, grabbing one of those plastic grocery baskets, and hurried back.

“Here,” she said, handing Keith the basket. She tore off a piece of the grocery list and gave him that as well. “You boys go grab what’s on that list. Meet me at the self-checkout in 25 minutes. Don’t talk to strangers except for employees, and even then, only if you have to. Okay?”

Keith nodded, tugging Lance along to the first aisle he sees. Lance sniffled, turning to face Keith for the first time. 

“Where’re we going?”

“To get groceries.”

“What about mamá?”

“She said it’s okay. We have to meet her in 25 minutes, though.”

The independence seemed to light a fuse in Lance, tears evaporating off his face. 

“Really? We get to get the groceries?”

“Some of them,” Keith replied, smiling a little. 

Lance beamed back, and something settled in Keith’s chest. He liked it better when Lance was smiling.

“Woohoo! Let’s go!” He grabbed Keith’s hand and tugged him away, chattering about their ‘new mission’. He was so excited he forgot to say goodbye to Marcela, so Keith waved for both of them. She was laughing.

Twenty-five minutes later (on the dot), they met Marcela at the self-checkout, Lance pointing out all the things they got “…and the cheaper ones, too, we checked the prices and everything —“

Marcela smiled softly, reaching an arm out to pull Keith close with a squeeze. 

“Leandro’s little protector, huh?” she asked, ruffling his hair.

Keith scoffed, about to remind her that only one of them got into regular fistfights in the schoolyard over insults and bullying and it sure as heck wasn’t Keith, but he paused. 

Yeah, Lance was the one who went feral when some idiot at school insulted the two of them. He might be small and scrawny, but he’s certainly scrappy. Ethan was not the first or last time Lance made someone bleed (he tended to bite). Lance is the one who comes up with revenge to inflict on bullies or mean older kids. Keith’s favourite incident was the time he brought his Nana’s sewing kit and seam ripper to school, along with a container of beaten eggs. He snuck into the classroom during recess, opened the bottom of Nell’s — she was a mean girl who often made horrible comments about Keith’s eyes and Lance’s tendency to wear skirts or pink — backpack, and carefully brushed the beaten eggs all over the fabric. Just enough to cover it, but not soak it. He sewed it back up and stashed the evidence. Over the next few weeks, the eggs in Nell’s bag rotted, but she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and reeked for days before she finally convinced her parents to get her a new backpack. But by then, the damage was done — she was Smelly Nelly to everyone who knew her. It didn’t exactly stop her teasing, but it certainly made it easier to bear.

But their friendship certainly wasn’t one-sided. Keith might not use his fists, or come up with revenge plans twisted enough to get him sent to the guidance counsellor, but he definitely helped Lance in other ways. He thinks back to every time he wrote down notes for Lance when the lights and sounds were hurting his head and he can’t pay attention. To every time he was a shoulder to cry on, or a distraction.

Maybe he is Lance’s protection, just as much as Lance is his.

“We protect each other,” Keith decided eventually. He’s a little surprised at the conviction in his voice.

Marcela laughs, brushing the mop out of his eyes and pressing a kiss to his forehead. 

“You’re absolutely right, mijo.”

—

[erithel]

I have read all of iybms fics like it’s the last drop of water in a desert. She’s a wonderful and exceptional writer and her love for Lance’s character really comes comes through bc she puts him through a heroes journey and actually gets the good the bad and ugly parts of him and working with them as just aspects.

But that’s another thing that bugs me about the difference in the way keith is treated and lance is in the fandom. The fandom kind of pretends Keith is flawless. And I am totally serious about this.

You will see Lance get criticized six ways from sunday about his looks, his attitude, the way he behaves etc etc. But point out that Keith had a bad habit in s1-3 of being callus with feelings and lives and desires of his team (willing to sacrifice allura to the galra, berating pidge for wanting her family, bringing his knife to the BOM hq jeopardizing his life and Shiro and the plan AFTER HE WAS WARNED)and uncaring about how his actions hurt the common cause and his teammates, you get the common line about his tragic backstory and why it was actually the team that is in the wrong! Like when he went AWOL abandoning post as leader of voltron to go blading and the rest of the team got mad when they almost died? The fandom blamed the team entirely for almost dying and, worst, making Keith sad!

Like yes Keith’s tragic backstory influence his actions, but they are still his to take and when he acts poorly great character interpretation is when fans understand how he is in the wrong and have him do better. The showrunner let him get away with it and the fandom does too!

It’s what leads to “keith is a noble character and lance isn’t” cracks and why it bothered me so much.

So I'm going to approach this one lightly, because I don't want this to turn into a Keith-negativity thing.

I'm not saying what you are saying is wrong, anon, I just don't want to open the floor up to people now posting asks just hating on Keith (because that has happened with other characters in the past).

That being said -

No character is or should be flawless. That's just boring.

The flaws and struggles in any character is what makes them interesting.

Keith is a flawed character. He made a lot of poor and single-minded decisions in the early seasons, and because of the time skip on the space whale, we never got to see him learn from those mistakes.

The real issue here with this for storytelling (and let's be honest, life) is that a tragic backstory is an explanation for certain behavior.

But it is not an excuse.

Using Keith's tragic backstory as a crutch for poor behavior comes across the same way to me as someone being rude and then trying to brush it off with something along the lines of "oh, I'm a Scorpio that's just how I am."

As for the scene you are referring to where the team was angry at Keith, and he ended up leaving...

Hear me out.

That scene was from Keith's POV.

So I can understand a bit more why people react to that scene the way you described.

It's harder to tell with animation or comics because there is no narrator, but when the camera lingers on an emotional response from a certain character, that is meant to put you in that character's shoes for a moment.

And in that scene we see Keith's face fall as he turns and walks away.

People get angry at the team for making Keith sad because you are meant to feel what he is feeling.

Our of anyone else, Lance has moments like this the most (which is why this whole "people disliking Lance's character" thing is so weird to me, still).

Both Keith and Lance are noble, just in different ways. As I said in a previous post, Keith is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's what I have to do." Lance is noble in a way that says "I will sacrifice myself for the cause because it's the right thing to do."

Characters are complex - or at least they should be. And they can't be complex without flaws.

[disneydude94]

Okay, here a some reasons why add some Disney Characters and locations in Amphibia: Calamity War…..

• Mickey Mouse

The reason I add Mickey and his friends is because not only that he lives Toontown that’s close to Hollywood, but it was all started with a mouse when I made a prologue where Anne, Sasha, and Marcy as younger kids when through the looking glass at the art museum where they ended up in the Sorcerer’s Workshop and I’m planning to adding the part where Mickey and Friends dressed up in sorcerer outfit for promotional of D23 Expo in 2011.

That’s how Mickey discovered the girls and escort them back to the museum and promised them to keep a secret. Eight years later when Mickey made an announcement for search party when they heard the rumors, but then there’s a flash and they witnessed that Anne and the Plantars lying unconscious until they woke up and see where they at now and that’s why both Anne and Mickey know each other.

• Stitch

Here’s another reason why I add Stitch to be part of my fan story is because it involves frog. When Stitch crash landed in Hawaii during the rain, he encountered with a frog and pointing out his laser guns at it which he didn’t understand until he got ran over by some trucks.

During the flight chase when Stitch fell out from Gantu’s ship and land fainted right next to frog that he encountered. The frog jumped on Stitch and looked up in the curiously while Stitch woke up. He grab the frog and jumped out of the way before being blasted by Gantu. He set the frog down and prepare to grab the truck while the frog hops away.

That’s when I’ll add the part of the chapter where Stitch first encountered with Anne and Sprig since he familiar with frogs and started to grown fond of Sprig thus making Anne laugh at him in a cute way.

• Phineas and Ferb

Another reason is why do you ask? For example, if Phineas and Ferb The Movie came out in 2020 on Disney Plus, why not I add the cast of Tri-State Area at “Walt Disney Studios” as they retelling their story where Candace and Vanessa was abducted by aliens meaning Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, and Doofenshmirtz have to go into space and rescue the girls from the aliens clutches.

I can also add the part of the chapter where Anne and Sprig have met the kids at the studio while went looking for Polly.

• Gravity Falls

For those who are big fan of Gravity Falls already knows that Bill Cipher made cameo appearances at beginning of “True Colors” where Marcy is reading the book of “Dr. P’s”.

If my theory is correct either Stanford Pines or the Plantars ancestors. Also I’m going to add the part where Dipper and Mabel meet Anne at her house to talk about the history of the multiverse like Amphibia for example.

• Timon and Pumbaa

There’s one thing that you should be aware of. One, Timon and Pumbaa are my favorite characters from The Lion King and two, the reason that I will add them in my fan story was because not just for bugs that they like to eat, but they are the best of friends who will do anything for any characters.

This part of the chapter where Timon and Pumbaa met Anne and Sprig in the park when she’s feeling down about her past. They taught her to put her past behind her and sings Hakuna Matata to her. And also for bugs, Sprig told them that there are plenty of bugs from Amphibia and they were amazed for all the buffet they can eat, except some giant bugs that are pets or dangerous beasts.

• Princess and the Frog

Now that you’re aware when both Tiana and Naveen have been turned into frogs thanks to Dr. Facilier’s spell and they have to learn to work together and soon they fall in love once they kissed, the spell is broken.

For future chapter when Tiana had met Anne and the Plantars when they are at the park and sings “Dig A Little Deeper” to Anne about her memories from the past. Speaking of the shadow man, he was voice played by Keith David who voiced many characters including King Andrias.

• Disney Villains

The reason why I add most villains is because not just that is like from “Kingdom Hearts” or “Kingdom Keepers”, but is kinda like from a night show called “Villains Unite the Night” at the Magic Kingdom during Disney Villains After Hours. The villains I will add as main antagonists are Maleficent, The Queen, Ursula, Dr. Facilier, Jafar, Hades, and Chernabog.

Also the reasons why I add Maleficent as the main antagonist in my fan story since she was voiced by Susanne Blakesee who voiced many characters including Valeriana from Amphibia and also that part how Maleficent became obsessed with the Calamity Box that can travel to another world or another.

• Disneyland

And now that you already know when the original Disneyland was first opened in California. That gives me an idea when Anne and her parents took the Plantars with to visit Disneyland not just for fun, but keeping her happy from being sad since she recalls what happened back in Amphibia. If only I wish it was real for the future episodes for next year.

Now that’s why I became obsessed with crossover back when I was a kid and I hope you understand what I am saying. Please let me know if you ask me questions and there will be NO hate comments or offensive image. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to published my fan story at FanFiction website. See yah soon.

[unfriendlyamazon]

had a rough night so i thought on ygos at whispering rock psychic summer camp

CAMPERS

🧿 yugi - surrounded by the dark aura of an all powerful 5000 year old demon, sits in the sunshine and makes daisy chains for his friends. he kind of replaces lili, in that he goes to this camp every year and finds it pretty boring. his grandpa is the retired head of the psychonauts, so yugi's grown up around all of this stuff and it's lost a lot of the glamor for him.

🧿 joey - last minute addition to camp (aka he snuck in). he's mostly good at pyrokinesis, in that he can set things on fire (less good at putting them out). reads every issue of psychic tales, knows all the lore, very scared of the woods.

🧿 téa - perky go getter determined to be the best psychic she can be. has spent just about every summer here with yugi and gone the opposite direction, dreaming of making it into the psychonauts.

🧿 tristan - psi-blast sharp shooter and local cutie. yes, he's replacing the cowboy kid. his family is really rooting for him to be a psychonaut, especially his dad. tristan is less sure that's what he wants to do, but hey, camp is fun.

🧿 duke - literal clown run away from the circus. they use their telekinesis to do tricky slight of hand. their dad was using their burgeoning psychic power to zazz up the circus. very loud and obnoxious, constantly showing off, very happy to make friends.

🧿 seto - absolutely determined to be the best psychonaut there ever was. a little bit of a baby sasha nein, very interested in the testing and experimentation part. spends a lot of time in the psychoisolation chamber. pretends not to care about camp activities but gets extremely competitive over them.

🧿 ryou - like dogan, ryou wears a tin hat and worries occasionally about accidentally blowing up someone’s head. tends to go off by himself in the woods. animal lover, has been seen talking to the psi-cougars. kind of a weird kid... but he's really sweet.

🧿 serenity - her hydrokinesis powers means she spends most of her time down by lake. highly competitive camp kid. do not play red rover with her, and god help you in a relay race.

🧿 marik - supposedly camp is helping him with his murderous alter ego ("melvin") that's manifested recently. hard to trust anything he says, because he's a liar. both his siblings are at camp this year which is extremely embarrassing.

🧿 rex - obsessed with cryptids and ancient animals. spends his time exploring the caves around the camp and getting chased by psi-bears. actually pretty harmless, except for that time he tried to summon the ghost of a dinosaur.

🧿 weevil - uses his psychic powers to control and talk to bugs. laughs maniacally while creating shapes out of swarms of bees. local bully gets pushed into lake.

🧿 zigfried - because why not! very german, very annoying. talks to animals and gets them to do what he says, which is put on cute outfits and act out his operas. a control freak of a director when skit night comes around.

COUNSELORS

🧿 mai valentine - she shares milla's vibe and i love to see her in 70s clothes, so she has the party room and teaches levitation. she plans most of the camp activities, as she believes in healthy competition. surprisingly level headed, despite outward appearances.

🧿 keith howard - in charge of basic braining, definitely enjoys torturing children. tells crazy messed up stories around the campfire and no one knows if they're true or not. if anything bad happens at camp, it’s really easy to blame him.

🧿 rishid ishtar - takes his job as caretaker very seriously. is maybe the only one who realizes putting a lot of unstable psychic children in the wilderness is asking for trouble. he's focused on teaching precision and control.

🧿 solomon muto - former head of the psychonauts. basically cruller but i'll do away with the fragmented personalities. used to be a big deal, now he's retired and runs the camp store, and pretty much no one recognizes him, which he's happy with. he'd much rather spend all day relaxing and talking to his grandson.

🧿 isis ishtar - inspector from the motherlobe whos heard some concerning things about what's going on at the camp. came to investigate, always pops up exactly where you don't want her, loves to annoy her little brother.

i'd probably excise the main plot of the game and focus on psychic summer camp adventures. there might be something sinister happening around camp, and it's possible a few campers could get brainnapped (and play with a dwindling party). the jumping into people's heads thing is kind of the whole game, so maybe the camp counselors are getting brainwashed and the kids have to jump in to help them regain control. but mostly it's kids running around trying to set each other on fire and taking camp games way too seriously.

[365days365movies]

March 7, 2021: Onward (Review)

Guess what my favorite Pixar film is now!

Yeah, it’s still Finding Nemo hands down. Not even a little bit of a question. But there is still a question. Where does this movie rank for me? And by the way, Finding Nemo is my FAVORITE Pixar film, but I don’t consider it be objectively the best.

I mean...come on. It’s Ratatouille. The hell else was I gonna say?

Ahhhhhh, SHIT, you make a good point there. Well...at least there’s only the two choices for objectively best

OH HOW GODDAMN DARE YOU

...Any more you wanna throw at me, you goddamn monsters? Huh? HUH?

...Crying, probably. Goddamn, OK, there are a LOT of good Pixar films, and this one doesn’t have a GODDAMN CHANCE against these movies. So...which ones does Onward beat, for me, anyway?

I mean, yeah, duh. I’d put all of the Cars films below Onward. Brave and The Good Dinosaur, too. All of the Toy Story films are above it, and...I think my initial assessment was correct.

And again, I like A Bug’s Life a lot! But I think that Onward’s about on this level for me in terms of favorites. Why is that? Well...let’s go through it, huh? You an check out Part One and Part Two of the Recap if you’d like, but the Review and my final opinions are down below!

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

OK, above everything else, I will say that Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are great in here, and they...mostly disappear into their characters. Maybe it’s because these are currently both MASSIVE names, but I never lost sight of the fat that these guys were playing Ian and Barley respectively. It’s a little odd, especially for a Pixar movie. Not as much for a Disney movie...which is an interesting point to revisit later. But they are good. And they’re also vastly surpassed, for me, by Julia Louis Dreyfus, WHO FUCKING OWNS HER ROLE! Yeah, sorry, Dreyfus is the MVP of this movie for me, and I genuinely love her and Laurel. Octavia Spencer was, of course, also good...but was also weirdly stilted in her line deliveries most of the time. I love Octavia Spencer, but she’s not a voice actress, what can I say? Still, Corey’s another of my favorite characters, so she’s not bad at it. Tracey Ullman and Mel Rodriguez are also good in here, for the record.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

You know...it’s funny. This movie doesn’t really feel like a Pixar movie, as much as it feels like a Disney movie. Not a bad thing, I promise, but it just doesn’t...feel Pixar to me. I can’t quite pinpoint the reasons for that...yet. But in terms of the plot, it’s mostly standard Disney/Pixar adventure fare, with some decent writing and good universe building behind it. However...I’ve been thinking about the ending, and it’s actually the most Pixar thing about the movie, mostly because it was, well...extremely unexpectedly good.

Yeah, I mean that. Ian’s sacrifice is NOT how I expected that to go down, and probably would’ve been different in a straight-up Disney movie. Credit to Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley, and Keith Bunin for crafting a unique and emotionally deep ending. If Pixar’s good at one thing, it’s emotionally complex endings. Coco eventually ends with Coco dying, Boo’s sort of just gone in Monster’s Inc (I know Sulley sees her again, BUT WE DON’T), Toy Story eventually ends in Woody leaving the gang with Bo Peep, and Finding Nemo...I mean, Nemo surpasses his disability, and Marlin learns to let go of his son, so...OK, maybe that’s the exception. STILL MY FAVORITE DO NOT @ ME

Directing and Cinematography: 8/10

Well...on one hand, it’s a Pixar movie. Obviously it’s got good directing (by Don Scanlon), but...I think this movie broke Pixar films for me. YEAH. I’ll explain, and understand: I’m not saying that the cinematography by Sharon Calahan and Adam Habib is bad, but it’s very Pixar formulaic. Here’s what I mean: I’m gonna put a bunch of GIFs of Pixar films up here. Look for the commonality.

THEY’RE PERFECTLY BALANCED. Which, at first glance, obviously isn’t a bad thing. But I just posted GIFs of films from SEVEN different directors! And they ALWAYS balance their characters perfectly on screen! I’d provide more proof of this, but LOOK!!!! It’s a very formulaic form of cinematography, and while it’s obviously not bad, it’s also...obvious. You want more proof? Let’s look at more unique Pixar films and directors. Brad Bird first.

Bird’s scenes feel more dynamic, more interesting, and he has a MUCH higher focus on the foreground vs. the background than these other guys. And yeah, he also centers some of his characters, because that’s find of how film works, but his films are a lot more visually complex, and they’re considered the best of the Pixar movies. OK, what about a more recent film?

A HELL of a lot of shots in Soul are unbalanced. Which is interesting, because this is Pete Docter, one of Pixar’s most prolific directors. He’s also the director of some of their most unique films, like Monster’s Inc., Up, and Inside Out. And his flair is in a lot of unique camera movements, but also interesting angles and shot composition. And maybe I’m going CRAZY with over-analysis here, because I am NOT a film student, AT FUCKING ALL...but this film made me notice this because it just feels so visually...formulaic. Not bad, just plain. And not just in terms of cinematography.

Production and Art Design: 8/10

These are Disney characters. THESE ARE DISNEY CHARACTERS. Which, I must once again stress, IS NOT A BAD THING. But it’s also not really Pixar. I mean, look at that collection of GIFs up there again. One of the things that Pixar is lauded for is its unique character designs and concepts. And, uh...this isn’t that. It’s still good...but it’s not Pixar’s usual fare. Again, not a bad thing, as they’re more than allowed to innovate, but...is a lack of innovation really innovating? Breaking formula, yeah, but pointedly not anything new. Which, sure, fine, but...it ruins something for me, I’m gonna be honest.

Now, again, IT IS NOT BAD. It’s still actually VERY good, from the lighting to the rendering, and to the unique world that’s been constructed. Well...mostly unique. It’s kind of just our world with magic. There’s definitely some uniqueness, but not enough for me in a lot of cases. I dunno, it’s weirdly low-fantasy for something that is POINTEDLY high-fantasy in origin. Which is pretty interesting, now that I’ve typed that out loud. I like the look of this movie, again...but I’d love something a little less Disney, and a little more Pixar.

Music and Editing: 9/10

Music’s good! And so is the editing, for that matter. Composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna, and edited by Catherine Apple, this aspect of the production carried over pretty well, I think. Soundtrack is definitely fitting for a fantasy film, that’s for sure. And, yeah, no problems with the editing (which, to be fair, is not the easiest category to judge for e, ESPECIALLY here). The point of is because, well...not putting it on my playlist. It’s good, but not the best music I’ve heard, this month, or from a Pixar movie. Real talk, whenever I mention Finding Nemo (I KNOW I KNOW I’LL SHUT UP ABOUT IT BUT HOLD ON), the soundtrack plays through my head with reckless abandon. Can’t really say the same for Onward.

I’m more than cool with a 86% for this one.

Look, it’s a genuine rarity for Pixar to make a bad film. Although...it’s funny, this is barely a Pixar movie for me. It mostly just doesn’t feel like a Pixar movie, potentially because it has the overarching structure of your more typical Disney fare. Which, no, certainly isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not...quite the same.

This is still a great movie, and good for families. And I should say, I’m watching this film from the standpoint of an only child, and it was still a heartwarming look at a relationship between two very different siblings. I liked it, is what I’m saying. But this is it: we’re done with animated fare now. Although, blue animated magic characters from Disney does remind me of someone...

OK, the next movie is NOT ALADDIN, I swear. I’ve definitely seen that one. But, uh...since I’m moving to live-action anyway...

March 8, 2021: The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

[steve0discusses]

TOS violations by Yugioh Characters that, Unfortunately, got them Banned from Twitch.

Only two people asked for this and I have a stomach ache and can’t do much else, so here you go:

Joey Wheeler: Did a burger eating contest to try and gain subscribers. It was so many burgers that it was considered ‘bodily harm.’

Maximillion Pegasus: drawing slutty fanart of Kuribohs but as a BDSM style Princess Peach, the infamous “Kuribette.” An ill placed and somewhat poorly drawn pink scapegoat tattoo was misinterpreted as a nipple.

Mokuba Kaiba: Tried to get around an illegal gambling loophole by filming in International Waters. Honestly he would have never been caught by the police if his streaming gambling ship hadn’t been abducted by pirates (while on stream, which was a whole other violation in itself).

Noah Kaiba: Got banned for streaming the process of how to turn dogs into far superior robot dogs. Also tried to use the loophole of filming in International Waters by doing this in the basement of Mokuba’s floating casino pirate-bait ship.

Seto Kaiba: Turns out all of those space ships he said he was building were just very large and overly-complicated bongs.

(read more under the cut)

Gozaburo Kaiba: After starting a new career by purchasing Twitch, his investors banned his twitch account once his dazzling personality ruined his stock prices virtually overnight when he started hooting and hollering about putting all your sons in Orbs.

Mai Valentine: Said she was going to Murder Joey Wheeler just one too many times (it was 485 times.) To be fair, Joey Wheeler was not aware she had a Twitch Account at the time.

Yugi Muto: Took his shirt off mid-stream when phasing into Yami mode. Although he is a man, this upset so many people (just 3 people, all of which were the Kaiba brothers), that he made a 40 minute apology video and banned himself, although he was never asked to do this.

Yami Muto: After starting a successful second gaming account under Yami’s name of PHARAOH420BLAZEIT, Yami didn’t realize that when you “block” accounts it doesn’t mean you literally phase users into actual literal blocks.

Tea Gardner: Got too greedy and faked her age to get paid through an onlyfans account. Was blissfully unaware that most people use it for porn. Even when this was clearly explained to her, she doesn’t understand why that was a terrible idea.

Grandpa Solomon Muto: Destroyed public property by claiming it was lost history and trying to dig it up. It was an Arby’s. A skeleton under a very bad Arby’s. A skeleton under a very bad Arby’s that came to life and tried to rule the world. His last words on stream were “not again!”

Tristan Taylor: Stole copyrighted music like the basic bitch he is.

Duke Devlin: his makeup channel got banned after a bunch of very viscous reports that his makeup palates were not vegan like he had claimed. After searching far and wide to find the source of these rumors, he discovered that the angry redditors spreading these malevolent lies were in fat the very jealous cultists that live in Pegasus’ basement. For, as it turns out, the palates he was selling through Pegasus’ company, were made of people.

Despite that, his friends still buy the eyeliner because it freakin sticks to you like a godsdamn second skin.

Marik Ishtar: His crafting channel made Etsian crafts that not only looked exactly like a bong but were entirely bongs. But,TBH, he got banned not for the bongs themselves, but for copyright strikes for making bongs that looked waaay too much like a more popular bong maker on twitch. His bong reputation has never recovered from the shame and now he just makes glass bangles.

Ishizu Ishtar: She was just so good at poaching popular streamers’ streams, even when they tried to stream on a 30 minute delay. It was always a different game in which she would appear too--if it were a large match of PUBG, or even a small match of Among Us, there IshizuSeesYou would stand--seemingly loaded into the game before the server room would even be created. Eerily, she would always win, every time her ghostly account would appear. So, she got banned for hacking when, in fact, she never hacked--not even once.

Odion Ishtar: Odion had an excellent show of being a Minecraft streamer, up until he got banned for electrocuting himself with his own streaming equipment by accident and scarring a lot of little kids who just wanted to see him dig deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and dee.

Ryou Bakura: his generally pleasant and peaceful British-Bake-Off inspired cooking streams got banned because every lovely loaf of bread and every carefully decorated cake he made had the terrifying cross-section of a headless corpse screaming “YOU, TOO, SHALL DIE.” Not once did Ryou ever notice said cross-section, as he showed it to the camera, full of smiles and sunshine. Not once did he seem to notice his chat also screaming, their fingers turning to acid as they typed.

Yami-Bakura: After his kinder self was removed from twitch, Yami Bakura decided to do the job that his other self could not do. So he started a new account under the name BakuraSpiceAndEverythingNice but unfortunately he got too angry during a fortnight match and decided to call upon the powers of darkness to make him win. But, when someone stabbed Bakura in the game, it also stabbed him in real life, and both Twitch and Epic Games banned him before the game could finish. Ryou Bakura awoke in his gamer chair covered in gamer blood, unaware of who stabbed him or how.

Slightly-Eviler Marik Ishtar: After Marik’s cancelled crafts career, Sightly-Eviler Marik attempted to launch himself into stardom by doing lifestyle streams to launch a political career...unfortunately, he was shut down for trying to influence the American Election. More specifically, to try and put himself on the ballot for President under a third party (the Green Party, as he figured they wouldn’t bother kicking him out). It was his unwillingness to show a proper birth certificate to clear his age (which couldn’t possibly be 4000 years old), that did him in.

Bandit Keith: Got swatted and arrested by the FBI on stream for trying one too many times to make Slightly-Eviler Marik’s ill timed candidacy for President a thing. Weirdly enough, the people who swatted him? Russian bots.

Weevil: Arrested for inventing a new type of gambling called “bug fighting” while sailing in international waters on Mokuba’s ship.

Rex Raptor: Got into Dartz’ streaming house but forgot to do the laundry and was promptly kicked out. So really it was just a human decency violation, but it was enough to contractually keep him from creating another twitch account.

Dartz: Made a streaming house where everyone freakin died.

Everyone except for Freakin Rex Raptor because he couldn’t do the godsdamn laundry.

The part of Bakura that lives in Yugi’s Necklace: After Yami’s account was blocked, the part of Bakura that lives in Yugi’s Necklace decided it was up to him to make a mark on internet history, so he started a somewhat successful account called BetterLateThanNever, but it got banned once he stabbed some random guy in Fortnight and, according to the ban report--stabbed him in real life?

[wincestisasincest]

2000 Man (A beatle!reader story) - Part 5: Fore!

A quick one, inspired by this picture. Beautiful.

As always, credit to @casafrass for inventing the concept of Beatle!reader, that mf idea that sister snatched my heart. 

Description: It’s the year 2000, and y/n, the fifth member of the Beatles, is advertising her new book, Madam Beatle, in her first interview of the year. We see snapshots of her life, from when she joined the band, to the trials and tribulations, to the death of the band, and everything in between. Loosely inspired by Slumdog Millionaire. 

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Head canons: None, I think, besides the general concept, this is just me spitballing. 

Words: 1465

Pairings: None? I mean, it’s the same as always, depending on how you view it, it can either be a pairing or a friendship.

Warnings: Alcohol, smoking, golf

“There is this recurring, oh, let’s call it a motif, in the book, of the Rolling Stones.” 

“Yeah, this is one of the few cases in which popular opinion was actually correct. We really did see the Stones a lot.”

“Now, you were friends?”

“I’d say so, yes. Initially, we had something of a rivalry, I guess you’d call it, but even in those days, we still had a very deep reverence for each other. And, then, at one point, our managers decided that we should meet.”

“An interesting decision, yes?” 

“Well, you see, in our industry, competition isn’t unusual, but having enemies really can’t be an option. I think they wanted to actually have us meet face to face so our competitive energy couldn’t turn into blind hatred. Because that only leads to worse things.” 

“Hasn’t competition produced some great records?” 

“Yes, but it’s not really a prerequisite. All due respect, I really am against the idea that you need some sort of negative presence to properly be a musician, or make beautiful things. People just like focusing on that because it’s interesting, but really, as much songs have been motivated by joy as they have grief. I wish more people, especially aspiring artists, knew that.” 

*************

“They’re late.” Brian checked his watch impatiently. 

“What’d you expect?” John was lighting his cigarette.

“Their public personas are one thing, but there’s no need to be rude in private.” Brian huffed.

“Maybe, and this is crazy, but hear me out, their on-stage personas evolved from their own personalities.” You retorted as John courteously lit your own cigarette for you. 

“(Y/n), I’m really not in the mood for any of your back-talk. If you could kindly keep the sass to yourself, I think it would benefit all of us.” Brian retorted and John snickered. 

“You got in trouble.” 

“Shut up, John, I’m gonna go check out the bar.” You shifted your eyes up to Brian, expecting some sort of reprimand, though he just looked at you tiredly.

“Just don’t get drunk.” And with that, he paid you no more mind. It’s not nearly as fun when he doesn’t get offended, you thought. 

You turned on your heel and wandered off in the opposite direction, leaving John to flit over to Paul, George, and Ringo, who were pretending to know how to swing a club. You laughed to yourself. The benefit of being the only girl in the group is that when they did dumb guy business meeting things, you were not expected to participate. Another day of your life where you would not have to play golf. Thank god. 

You swung open the door to the bar and the air conditioner hit you in the face. The bar had an old-timey feel, all the way down to the bar tender cleaning a glass at the counter and a few mysterious strangers lined up on the stools. Might as well join ‘em. 

You plopped yourself on the stool the closest to the door and called the bartender over. 

“What can I do ya for, sweetheart?” 

“Vodka sour.” He nodded and whisked off behind the counter to fetch your order. You took a drag of your cigarette.

“Vodka sour?” A thick British accent floated from one of the stools. You spun around your seat, face to face with none other than Keith Richards, the guitarist for the Rolling Stones, and also one of the people that you were waiting on. 

“It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.” You shrugged. If he wanted to play it coy, and act like you two don’t know each other, then he’s on.

He slid out of his seat and moved to the one directly next to you. The both of you were smoking and sizing each other up. Of course, if you wanted to ruin the fun, you could’ve asked why he was late. But you didn’t. 

“Vodka sour, Miss.” The bartender dropped your drink on the counter. You briefly turned back to him.

“Thanks, what do I owe you?” As you struggled to pull out your wallet, Keith took some money from the front pocket of his shirt and handed it to the bartender. He returned your startled look with a charming smile. 

“On me.” 

“Well now, I must be something special if I’m getting you to buy drinks for me.” You doused your cigarette in the ashtray and took a long sip.

“Nah, it’s just, I feel like I know you from somewhere.” He grinned.

“Feeling’s mutual. Perhaps I can buy the next one?”

“Oi, Keith, stop flirtin’ we got some bugs ta’ meet!” Another British accent, though this one a lot more harsh, cut through the room. 

Coming in from the alternate entrance was none other than the flamboyant, the one and only, the Romeon to your Juliet, Mick Jagger. Trailing behind him like ducklings was the Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog-Oldham, the bassist, Bill Wyman, the other guitarist, Brian Jones, and the dummer, Charlie Watts. 

“While you were sittin’ on your ass, Mick, I already got started!” He leaned back in his seat, revealing you sitting next to him. You flashed your million dollar smiled at the confused crowd. 

“It’s a pleasure.” You toasted to them across the room with your vodka sour, before finishing the drink off and leaving it on the counter.

Mick’s eyes slanted at you, and you could’ve sworn that you heard him purr. 

“A pleasure indeed.” He stalked across the room towards you, before gently taking your hand in his own and kissing your knuckles. You turned to Keith from the side. 

“See? He knows how to greet a lady.” Keith chuckled at your joke. 

“I apologize if our Keith has been forward at all, he can’t handle himself around birds, ‘specially those he fancies.” From what you already knew about Mick, you would never really know whether or not he was actually interested in you because he flirted with anything that moved. 

“The picture of a gentleman.” You smiled wryly. 

“Damnit, Keith. That’s against our image.” Brian teased, his blonde locks bouncing as his head moved. You giggled. 

“Well, I suppose we shouldn’t keep the others waiting? They’re out there pretending they know how to play golf.” The crowd laughed, yet again. You were on a roll. You got up from your stool, getting your footing on the floor, not forgetting to leave a tip in the jar, as you exited the building flanked by your biggest pop competitor. 

The image of their (y/n) coming up the hill with a group of men known for being disrespectful towards everything did set the lads on edge a bit. John was almost angry, Paul was concerned, George was curious, and Ringo was still focusing on his swing. Brian was just glad that these people had showed up on time. 

As the manager’s greeting each other with aggressive levels of formality, the group took to intermingling. 

“Not gonna lie, I thought you had just found some fans (y/n).” Paul started.

“You’d be correct. We are fans.” Mick put an arm around your shoulder. 

“Speak for yourself. I thought you were kidnapped.” John did that thing where he would say a joke, but you knew that there was real anger underneath. You silently prayed that John wouldn’t mess this up. 

“Oh, please. If anything I kidnapped them.” You psshed. 

“Does anyone actually know why we’re here?” Brian interluded, somewhat impatient with the formalities of the managers. 

“I think the football mums over there wanted us to play golf together? Because that’s what business people do?” John shrugged sarcastically, and the group chuckled. 

“Is now a bad time to tell them that I don’t think any of us know how to play?” George quipped quietly, though making sure that he was still included in the conversation.

“Speak for yourself, I think my swings improved.” Ringo demonstrated, narrowly missing the back of Brian’s head, though thankfully, Brian didn’t actually notice. 

“Yeah, if you’re tryna take someone out.” You smiled at Ringo, knowing full well that someone would die of a golf mishap before the day was over. 

“Speakin’ of takin’ out...” Mick looked back down at you flirtatiously. John had finally boiled over.

“Absolutely not. No.” He pulled you over to their side. Everyone giggled like a bunch of pre-teen boys, except for John, surprisingly.

“As a rule, (y/n) is off limits. Just business, lads.” He placed you behind him and Paul like a wall. 

“Imma big girl, Johnny. Just like you.” Talk shit, get roasted John. Though everyone was laughing, with several oohs interspersed between them, you could swear that Paul laughed unusually hard. 

“Alright you ten,” Brian returned to the group, “shall we get started?” 

“I just have one question, Brian,” Paul turned to face him, “how do you play golf?”

[the-shiftshop]

Hey Diary - Part 2

PART 1 of the Hey Diary Series

Monday came and I can finally experience my new life at school. It’s been about 3 days since my transformation from a total nerd into this campus crush, and my last usage of that Diary App in this phone. My heart is beating fast at the thought of how people would think of me in this new body. I’m super excited yet nervous of what may happen.

You see, I may have gained this heavenly figure and this new reality, but I did not get any memories for it. I have no idea who my new friends are. Still, I need to get to school and I should at least try and keep an act until I know what the heck is supposed to happen, but before that, I need to keep my online fans updated. I took a snap of myself in the mirror and posted it on my feed, then I went straight to school.

Stepping into the gate already gave a new feeling. Everyone was looking at me and every time I look back, they would shy away. There were other people who waved at me but I have no idea who they were.

I went to my locker to grab my stuffs for our first class. As I do so, I saw Keith on the other end with his friends, Peter and Tom, glaring back at me.

He have my phone in his hand. It’s still the same bully but without his daily routine of pushing my face to my locker door.  He walked pass me taunting me with my phone, then proceeded into our room.

I bit my lips in annoyance. Guess, I still have to deal with this guy.

“Heeeeeeey, Felix.”

Someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped on my place. “Ah-” I almost screamed.

“A little jumpy today, aren’t we?” The guy asked as I turned around.

I was kinda expecting it was Keith but when I looked, It was Alex, my new friend. Well actually, he’s supposed to be my friend since the first day in this school, but in this new reality. I remembered his name because he was the one who kept bugging me last Saturday night in my DMs. He has a bit stocky body, but its not that bad. He wears thick square glasses that enlarges his deep black eyes. If I could comment, I’d say he’s almost the same level as my old body but that’s only basing on his looks. As for what I saw in his timeline, he’s not really that kind of a nerd. He barely even studies and complains on his feed too much. He’s a very friendly guy in my class, actually, but that didn’t make him an easy target for Keith.

He smiled at me and was sucking in air as if he’s trying to pull some question out his chest.

“You’re bout to ask something?” I raised my eyebrows and he nodded.

“Well... Apparently there’s this thing online... It’s uh...” He kept cutting his words, hesitating to ask me something.

I guess I know what it was. I gritted my teeth and looked away.

“Lemme guess. There’s a rumor spreading about me, right?” I said.

“Well... Yeah...”

“Damn, dude. Whatever that may be, do you think I’ll do that?” I said. My body cringing when I tried to act cool and say “dude”. “Anyway. Let’s just get in class”

We started walking to our classroom door. He kept on talking to me, mostly about trying to workout to get rid of his belly. I also learned that he happened to befriend me because he thought I could give him a few advice in working out.

When we entered the room, everyone was also looking at me. Not with disgust but admiration. Everyone said hi to me except Keith and his crew who were laughing to themselves.

“Yo faggot.” Keith called me. “Did you get your morning suck today?”

He and his crew laughed louder. Where did they get that from? I never wrote that in my old phone? I furrowed my eyebrows at that thought. They’re probably just making things up without really basing on my old diary.

“Hey idiot. Do you think anyone’s gonna believe that?” A girl raised her voice at Keith.

“Well, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Felix himself if what I’m saying ain’t true.” Keith laughed, making everyone look more annoyed than myself.

I sat down to my chair with Alex now sitting beside me. Our first professor went in and began his lectures. As for me, I was busy tinkering with the Diary App. If the Diary App helped me last time, I bet it can help me more today.

With my eyebrows still furrowed, I began to stealthily type without the teacher noticing.

Monday

Hey Diary,

I wish whatever that thing about me that Keith and his crew tried to spread would backfire to them.

I tried to save this in hope that the changes would happen immediately, but a pop up appeared.

ALERT: Input too short

I tried to type again but this time, I tried to lengthen my sentence. Still, the alert kept appearing.

I heard our professor clear his throat and my attention jumped to him. He caught me using my phone. I smiled and chuckled.

“Phone.” He said, pointing to me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry Mr. Dew. I-”

“Put it back to your bag, now.” He ordered and I quickly followed.

I was lucky enough that it didn’t get confiscated. I put my attention back to his lectures and jotted down notes.

Why wont my log work though? What does it mean by “Input too short”? Whatever it is, I might need to fix that when I have free time. I shouldn’t go back to that in class or I might lost my new phone too.

--

Lunch break. I was with Alex in the cafeteria. Some other girls wanted to sit with me but Alex kept on telling them that he seats are taken. He would eventually chuckled at me and ask if I never get tired of people following me anywhere I go. I would just laugh back, remembering that this is my first day in this new life. As I tried to take a bite on my food, I saw Keith his friends across the cafeteria. He was still looking at me. Glaring at me. I then looked away, showing a bit of annoyance again. I then pulled my phone out my pocket and came back to my Diary App.

Input too short, huh? Well let’s put all our hearts in this log.

Monday

Hey Diary,

Keith and his friends are spreading fake news about me again, although I have no idea on what that is about. They might’ve been spreading news about me being gay or a cocksucker. Whatever that may be I don’t think I can’t stand them this time. I’d be fine if they spread something real about me, something I’d be too guilty to fight back, but if they spread something I never did, I might not get a grip of myself.

I wish whatever they told everyone would backfire to them. I wish Keith and his friends would live the rumor they had spread.

I clicked saved and went back to my food, but as soon as I try to bite, my vision started to blur once more. Alex seemed to notice what’s wrong and tried to shake my shoulders while calling my name in panic. I tried to shake my head and blink fast but it made me lost my sight much faster. Soon, I blacked out once more.

--

I groggily opened my eyes and rose up where I was lying. Then I realized I was back in my bedroom. It was night time and my lights were dim. I looked to my right and saw dad sitting on my chair.

“Dad?” I called.

“Oh you’re awake! This friend of yours called me to school telling me you passed out. The nurse said you probably ate something bad and passed out. You were puking hard in the clinic this afternoon and I was super worried. I thought I’m gonna lose you too...”

“Dad. I’m okay. Don’t worry.” I tried to comfort him.

“I’m glad you are...” He came to me and gave me a hug.

“Is Alex still here?” I asked.

“Alex? Oh, well... It wasn’t Alex who helped you. He probably coward out when you fainted and-”

“Wait? Then who-”

Before I ended my question, someone entered the room.

“Keith?” I looked at him with confusion. He was carrying a glass of milk and some cookies which were probably from my dad.

He looked at me back with this dumb grin on his face and put his glass on my table. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m just gonna leave you two be. Enjoy that cookie, Keith.” Dad went out my room, leaving me and Keith alone together.

My eyes widened at the sight of Keith. Out of all people, Keith was the one to help me? I puffed out air in disagreement. I just looked away from him as he munch on his cookie. He then pulled a chair and dragged it near my bed. He first finished his food before he talked to me.

“Dude. I just can’t leave you dying there. I saw everyone just standing around you. Admiring you instead of actually helping you.”

“Like I should believe you. Alex could’ve tried to help me.”

“Alex? Dude was so paranoid he can’t even dial your dad.”

We were silent for a while as I try to ignore him. I grabbed a schoolbook from my nightstand and pretended to read, wishing him to go away.

“Felix. I know I did a LOT of bad things that not only affected your physically, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t help you when you need it.” I noticed that his tone was a lot different than how he used to talk to me. “And... I just wanna say I’m sorry.”

I closed my book hard at those words. He’s actually apologizing...? He grabbed my arm and shook it slowly.

“Could you take my apology?” I pleaded.

“What do you want? Is this some sort of a prank? What? Are you trying to film me and use this for blackmail? Where’s your camera?”

“Felix can you just listen to me? Do you think I’ll go this far just to bully you?”

“Yeah? Why not? Just tell me what you want and let me go for fuck’s sake.”

“Let me suck your dick.”

My eyes widened. Bigger than what I did when I saw Keith enter my room. Did he just ask me to let him suck me off? I whipped my arm to make him let go. I looked at him with my face clenching. What he said just made me mad.

“Fuck off Keith. I’m not gonna be a part of your show. Get rid of your camera and get out.”

He shook his head and laughed. His laugh isn’t those typical sinister sounding one that you’ll hear when villains get exposed for their crimes. It was more of a sad chuckle when someone gets rejected. He reached for something in his jacket’s right pocket. From there he pulled out my old phone and gave it to me.

“If there was a hidden camera here, what would I use it for? To stain my reputation too? I’m sucking you off then what? Tell everyone that: Hey guys! Felix let me suck his dick! Dude... I'm the one desperate here.” He tried to convince me. His eyes looked different from before. There were stars in his them. There’s seriously something wrong. “Do you still think I’ll go this far just to ruin you more? I’m sorry if I spread false rumor about you. I’m really sorry... Now if you still can’t accept my apology, I guess this would make you feel much... much... much better.”

Before I knew it, he was already grabbing my crotch as he tried to unzip my jeans with his other hand. I moaned and my cock is already hard. He unbuttoned my jeans and proceeded to caress my pole. His eyes are locked with mine. He was so close and I can feel his hot breath on my cheeks. He’s too near and it looks like he’s about to kiss me. He pulled the garter of my boxer and without any second thoughts, he pulled my rock hard cock out and started jerking it off. I realized that I wasn’t stopping him at all. I then moved my hands to his arm, trying to get it off.

“Keith... Stop.” I moaned when he squeezed it hard. My back tried to arch forward but he pushed me back by diving his lips onto mine. He removed his jacket off, probably because he was in heat.

Keith moved on top of me. My legs in between his. His right hand was still stroking my shaft while his left hand is under my shirt, moving it from my abs up to my chest. When he reached my chest, he pinched my right nipple which made me open my mouth. He took the chance to push his tongue in my mouth, trying to intertwine with mine.

My hands are still trying to stop him, but this time I placed them on his chest. I tried to push him away but he’s too strong. That’s when I noticed how muscular his body was. By some chance, my body was moving on its own. My left hand slowly moved down to his abs, feeling his cobblestone collection. My body start to relax as he continued to kiss me. There’s something therapeutic about what Keith’s doing to me. I can’t stop him anymore. My body already gave in as if it wants Keith without my own accord. Before I knew it, I was already kissing back with my tongue, although a second after that, he broke our kiss and proceeded to stripping my shirt off. He started worshiping my body. Giving each muscle a peck from my neck, to my arms, to my chest, to my abs, then finally to my crotch. Without any hesitation, Keith placed my cock on his mouth and started sucking me off. My hips responded by thrusting into his mouth. My hands on his shoulder. My breath became heavy. My arousal skyrocketed. Every time my cock grinds on the wall of his mouth was euphoric. This made me realize that my body is very sensitive. Every time he pulled and dove back down made my body twitch in every direction.

“Faster.” I can’t believe I’m saying this. My body is enjoying Keith so much. I can feel my balls starting to churn.

“I’m near.” I whispered. My hands migrated to his hair, pulling it as my body tensed.

“I’m gonna cum.” I said.

I released my load into Keith’s mouth. I came with what seems like a much bigger load than what I can originally do. He then swallowed them all and took a a big exhale as if he just took a soda. He smiled at me and placed my softening cock back in my pants. He zipped my jeans back up and buttoned it. He left me topless, recovering from my euphoric phase.

He gave me one last kiss and I kissed back. He chuckled and moved back.

“Guess you forgive me now?”

He then got off me and picked his jacket from the floor. He walked back to the door and grabbed his glass of milk.

“Thanks for the milk. See you tomorrow.” He opened my door. “Oh and... Can we still go back to me being your bully? But I guess this time... We can call ourselves frenemies.”

With that, he went out my room. He didn’t grab anything else. That means he meant that... He meant that!?

My new phone suddenly pinged. I grabbed it and saw the notification from the Diary App once more.

Wish was completed. Please take a picture and attach to the log to confirm change and to keep the new reality.

I didn’t know what to do aside from standing up, going out my balcony and aiming my camera to Keith who was already walking away from home, but I wasn’t able to take a picture of him since he was already too far to be seen.

Maybe tomorrow, unless this all reset when I sleep. This might be a problem.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Soul of a Lion (chapter 3)

Sequel to The Smallest Blade.

Summary: After the Red Lion steals them away from the Marmora base and takes them through a wormhole, Shiro, Keith, Katla, and Lance find themselves in front of a majestic castle with nowhere to go but inside. The events that unfold while they’re there will change the fate of the universe.

Also posted on AO3 under the username “kishirokitsune”.

☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆

3 | Communication

The dim lighting of the castle's nighttime cycle made everything feel far more ominous than it needed to be, with the way it cast long shadows across the floor and highlighted any curvature in the architecture around them. Katla stayed close to the wall as she and Lance snuck towards the security panel she spotted during their tour. With luck, she would be able to hack into it without setting off any alarms.

Neither of them dared speak for fear of getting caught.

Katla gestured for Lance to stop as they reached the end of the hall. She waited a moment and then, with more caution than necessary, peered around the bend. When she saw that the coast was clear, she nodded to him and waved him forward so they could continue towards their task, which was all the way down at the end of the hall on their left.

“This is it,” Katla whispered to him. She held up her right arm and pressed on a slightly raised plate on the underside of her bracer. It clicked and released a tiny cable, which she pulled out and, after taking a deep breath, connected it to the control panel on the wall. The screen flickered in and out for a moment and then turned from blue to a pale violet, signaling that she was successfully wired into the system.

Both of them let go of the breath they were holding.

“Is that it?” Lance asked.

“Almost,” Katla responded, turning her wrist so her hand faced palm down. She double-tapped the top of her bracer, which activated a small, holographic display. “Keep an eye out, would you? Hopefully, this thing will give me a map to an engineering room or something. It's bound to have parts I can use.”

Lance nodded sharply and stood up straight. Though he didn't move away from the wall, he listened as hard as he could for any sound that wasn't the tiny beeps from Katla scouring the system for anything useful.

After a few tense doboshes, Katla cried out in triumph, and although she managed to do it quietly, it still made Lance visibly jump.

“Sorry,” she apologized as she disconnected from the control panel. “There's a spare parts room two halls over and I disconnected the security cameras and put them on loop. It'll last us one varga, so we'll have to be quick.”

“Can you build your-” (Lance vaguely waved his hand) “-whatever-it-is in that short amount of time?”

“Who do you think you're talking to? Of course I can,” Katla said confidently.

Lance snorted in amusement. “Lead on, team captain. I'd like to get some beauty rest at some point tonight and the sooner you do your thing, the sooner I can curl up in bed.”

Katla grinned at him and then set off down the hallway at a much faster pace, more at ease with the knowledge that there was no one around to catch them. According to the system, there was one person three floors above them and there were two other people up in the topmost spire of the castle. (And of course, she checked in to find Shiro and Keith, who were steadily making their way to the front door when she spotted their dots. Or at least, she assumed it was them.)

When they got to the correct door, Katla didn't even have to hack into it, it simply slid open with a simple press to the keypad.

“You know, I'd say I should talk to them about upping their security around here but it's really benefiting me right now, so I won't,” Katla said in a light-hearted tone. “Oh, look at this!”

Lance looked around, but all he saw were heaps of junk and scrap metal. “Uh, yeah, it's really something. Very... metal-y.”

Katla wasn't paying him any attention as she eagerly delved into the piles and began pulling things out, cooing and humming over what she could use and what may be useful for future things. As Lance watched, the pile in front of her grew, and while he didn't see how any of it was meant to fit together, Katla was clearly delighted by her mess of wires and metal pieces, so he didn't say anything until she tried to scoop it all up and carry it to one of the mostly empty tables.

“Here, let me help,” Lance said, stooping down to help pick up some of the stray pieces.

Together the pair got all of the parts over to a desk, where Katla began to assemble them and occasionally looked up to ask Lance to fetch some kind of tool or computer chip or another cable or wire.

Lance did his best to help while also listening for anyone's approach, but by the time Katla had her little machine buzzing to life, he'd forgotten the whole reason he was there. And because both of them were so focused on the communication device, neither noticed there was someone else in the room with them until that person loudly cleared their throat to get their attention.

Lance gasped and back up into the desk so hard that he winced.

Katla's hand flew to her side and grasped the hilt of her dagger as she turned to face the potential threat. She froze when she saw Hunk standing there with his hands held up in front of him to show he didn't mean any harm.

For a moment, there was only silence.

“What do you want?” Lance asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You guys set off a sensor when you left your rooms, so I came to make sure everything is alright,” Hunk said, slowly lowering his hands back to his sides.

“You bugged our rooms?” Pidge asked incredulously.

“Well, yeah. I mean, wouldn't you if you were in my shoes?” Hunk asked in response. “What are you two doing in here anyway?”

Lance watched as Katla tried to move over in front of her device before Hunk could get a better look at it. He copied her and closed in as well, though he could tell from the expression on Hunk's face that he'd already seen that they were building something. Maybe if they were lucky, he wouldn't be able to figure out what it was?

A few ticks passed and then Hunk sighed. “I know we don't have any reason to trust each other, but can we try and get along? At least until we figure all of this out with the Red Lion.”

Katla puffed herself up in anger, her tail lashing as she very slowly stepped aside. “We need to send a message back to our families and let them know we're alright.”

Hunk took a single step closer and both of them tensed up, but that was as far as he went. “You could have just asked. Though, uh, I guess the real issue would be convincing Allura and Coran.” He paused for a moment to look at the machine. “Wait, is that a sub-frequency radio? Are you sure you don't want to use something a little faster? I could try and sneak you up on the bridge once they leave and you could send a message that way.”

Katla shook her head. “This is more reliable. And since no one uses it anymore, no one is looking or broadcasts through it anymore. Well, except for Keith's dad and my family.”

There was something about Hunk that made Lance feel more at ease, despite his determination to dislike all three Alteans found in the castle. He figured Katla must have been feeling the same way. She wouldn't reveal so much if she wasn't.

“And you built it using pieces you found around here?” Hunk asked. “What are you using to power it?”

Katla hesitated to respond, but after another few ticks of silence and Hunk patiently waiting for her to decide whether or not to tell him, she finally did. “I was going to make a double coil generator so it keeps recycling the energy and gathers displaced electrical currents from the air, but it needs a jump start so I don't have to wait for that to build up. I figured something around here would have enough power to do that, but...”

“Maybe I can find something,” Hunk suggested.

Lance stayed close to Katla as the Altean began to walk around, opening drawers in search of what they needed. He didn't know why Hunk was so willing to help them. Was it a trap? A way of luring them into a false sense of security, prying their secrets from them, and then finding a way to betray them?

His panicked thoughts didn't have time to gain any momentum or spiral off into a more ridiculous scenario. A wave of calm washed over him, soothing his fraying nerves and forcing him to relax. And all at once, Lance realized why he felt so at ease with Hunk.

It took everything in his power not to blurt it out right then and there.

Later. He would tell Katla and the others later. If he brought it up right at that moment, then he would have to explain how he knew so much about Altean secrets and that was a wormhole he had no plans on opening up.

Hunk made a triumphant exclamation as he lifted a tray of shiny rocks from one of the drawers and carried it over to them. “These are power crystals,” he explained, picking up one shaped like an obelisk with a broken base and passing it to Lance. “We'll have to dig through and find one that still has some power left.”

Lance rolled the opaque white gem around his palm, watching with slight alarm as a faint glow began to build up in the center. He quickly passed it off to Katla before anyone could notice what was happening.

“How do you know which ones have power?” Katla asked, curiously eyeing the box before looking at the stone she was just handed. “Because it looks like the one you gave us might work.”

Hunk shook his head. “They'll glow if they have any power left. That one was... oh!” his voice stuttered in surprise as he took a second look. “You're right! That one should work. That's odd...”

Katla didn't question their good fortune and busied herself with installing the crystal in the communication device, practically bouncing in delight as it immediately began to work.

Lance's heart was pounding in his chest. He could feel Hunk's eyes on him. 'Please don't figure it out,' Lance prayed, turning his back towards the Altean and pretending to focus solely on the coils within Katla's device which were steadily directing the energy through the wires and looping back around into itself, glowing brighter with each pass.

If Hunk learned anything from the exchange, he didn't say anything and instead went to put the tray away before returning to watch Katla begin to input her message. It became apparent after a moment that he, like Lance, couldn't make heads or tails of the series of numbers Katla was typing out.

“A coded message?” he guessed.

“My brother and I made our own secret code when we were kids, so we could write to each other without anyone else knowing what we were saying,” Katla explained. “Kol – Keith's dad will pick up on the broadcast, but only Matt will be able to translate.”

“That seems a little excessive.”

Katla gave a humorless laugh. “Maybe you hadn't picked up on this, but we're not exactly friends of the Empire. All of that caution is how we stay alive. We haven't had the luxury of hiding away and sleeping for all these years.”

Hunk flinched, but when he spoke again it was without anger in his voice. “You're right. We hid the Lions and ourselves because we were afraid of what would happen if Zarkon found us. I didn't like it. Allura argued that we should keep fighting. But we listened to our King because he thought it was the right choice. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't, but we're here now and ready to stand up and fight. The Red Lion brought the four of you here for a reason and I know it's because you've been chosen as the new paladins. Well, four of them. Because there should be five of you.”

“Wait, there are five Lions?” Katla asked.

Hunk looked taken aback by the question. “Yeah. You didn't know?”

“How would we?” Katla asked in response. She took another moment to read over her message and then send it before picking up the device. “So, where are these other four Lions? Are they as well hidden as Red?”

“They should be. We know that the Black Lion is safe since it's here in the castle, but we won't know about the others until we go looking. Allura should be able to tell us where they are,” Hunk said.

“Which means we'll never find them,” Lance stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I wouldn't say that. The princess will come around, she just needs a little time,” Hunk said defensively. “I should get you back to your room. It definitely won't help things if she or Coran learn that you're out here sending messages and that I helped you.”

Neither Katla nor Lance protested as Hunk gestured for them to follow him out of the room and back through the halls. None of them spoke; Lance didn't even blurt out the storm of questions left to thunder around in his mind.

When they got back to their rooms, Katla didn't give Lance a chance to go into the room he'd been given and instead grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into Shiro's without giving him a chance to protest. While she looked around for the best place to hide her device, just in case they needed it again, Lance sat down on the edge of the bed and mulled over everything he'd learned, slotting it into place with what he'd known before.

Most of it boiled down to one fact: as much as he didn't want to like him, Hunk was someone they could trust.

It wasn't just the fact that he helped them send their message.

It wasn't even that he kept his patience even when Katla verbally attacked him.

It had everything to do with his Aspect.

They didn't have a lot of records from the time when Altea still hung whole in the sky. All that they knew of their heritage was what had been verbally passed down from parent to child and there were scarce few books and items that remained. Their knowledge of Altean Aspects – the special abilities that their quintessence granted them – was a limited one born of experience.

Body.

Mind.

Spirit.

Heart.

Lance had been born graced with the power to change his form at will. He began far earlier than most babies, changing the color of his skin for his own amusement, as well as the amusement of the other children he grew up with. By the time he was a tween, he could hold color and form for days if he needed to, even through sleep.

His mother said he was extraordinarily blessed.

Lance didn't always see it that way. Not when there was Leifsina, whose sharp mind was leagues above everyone else. Or Rykin, who was gifted with tremendous strength and just enough spirit to power the lamps around their village when needed. And then there was Curtis, who wore his Aspect of Heart like a shield, able to soothe those in need of it and calm tempers when they began to flare.

And all Lance could do was shift his appearance. That was nothing special. Most Alteans carried that ability.

Hunk was one of those special Alteans – like Curtis – who was born with the rarest ability of all. There were no others in their village who boasted the Aspect of Heart and even their records of it were scarce; there was perhaps one born with that Aspect every one-hundred decaphoebs. Still, if there was one thing they knew for certain it was that those with Heart were incapable of lying. There was always some kind of tell when they tried and no amount of practice or emotional control was enough to fix that.

Lance still didn't like him.

But if he had to pick one of the three who he trusted, it would be Hunk.

Shiro and Keith returned with little fanfare and news that the Red Lion hadn't responded to any of Keith's pleading, which meant they were officially stuck on Arus until she changed her mind. After hearing that, Lance was reluctant to tell them about their run-in with Hunk, but Katla had no such fears about telling them all about it.

At least they had gotten a message sent. It was only a question of Kolivan recognizing it as coming from them and getting Matt to translate.

“We should get some rest,” Shiro said once they were all caught up. “The three of you are welcome to stay here for the night. The bed's a little small, but I think we could manage.”

Katla perked up. “Do you mean it?”

“I wouldn't have offered if I didn't,” Shiro responded, sounding amused.

Lance thought for sure Keith would scoff and say he was going to sleep in his own room, but to his amazement, Keith yawned and claimed the middle before climbing over the bed to settle in his chosen spot. Katla grinned as she joined him, rolling over him to settle between Keith and the wall.

“Lance?” Shiro questioned. “Do you want to stay too?”

Lance agreed with only a little embarrassment.

☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆

Allura sat in front of her vanity, slowly running a brush through her hair as she reflected on the events of the evening before. After a night of proper sleep, she was ashamed by the way she reacted to their guests and the obstinacy she displayed in refusing to believe that the Red Lion had accepted one of them as her paladin.

She set her brush down with deliberate delicacy and closed her eyes.

Her father's Lion had chosen a Galra and it hurt as surely as if she were in physical pain. And while she couldn't fully blame that pain for her actions, it certainly added to the helpless rage that she felt from the very moment she awoke in the cryo-pod, the betrayal of the people she once called allies still a freshly bleeding wound.

Regardless of her reasons, she had acted disgracefully and her guests deserved an apology.

Allura opened her eyes and stared at her reflection. “I will apologize, but this doesn't mean I trust them.”

There was a quiet scratching sound followed by several squeaks that seemed to overlap one another and Allura blinked in surprise as she watched four mice of different sizes climb up onto her vanity and begin to tumble around. There was a tickling in the back of her mind as though four voices were trying to speak and gain her attention, though it wasn't in words but feeling and a quick flash of images.

“Can you... understand me?” Allura murmured, tilting her head to the side as she regarded the mice.

There were more excited squeaks and a starburst of delight.

As she learned that a connection between them existed thanks to their 10,000 years spent in the same cryo-pod, Allura began to consider how she could use it to her benefit. They were small and inconspicuous. No one would even think that she could understand what they were saying.

They would be the perfect little spies.

“Perhaps you'd like to help me with something,” Allura said with a growing smile. “And in return, I'll find whatever food you like to eat.”

[makorragal-312]

Void (Part Four)

This was by far the hardest chapter I’ve ever written, but I really hope you guys still like it tho. XOX

"...or the time when we were kids and Veronica mixed dirt with the water and told Lance it was chocolate milk."  

Lance heard the entire table laugh at the memory. Normally, he would laugh along, too, or at the very least attempt to deny his young obliviousness. But he just didn't have it in him tonight. Fifteen minutes into the dinner and the most that he could do was move his slice of chicken from one side of the plate to the other, head slightly down. He had a knot in his stomach that gradually began to grow the longer he sat and hasn't gone down since he had left the Garrison.  

The paladin's ears suddenly perked at the sound of Allura's laugh. Her vibrant, gentle laugh. He finally cut a piece of his chicken and plucked it into his mouth, hoping its juiciness would quench his now dry throat. His eyes slowly moved to focus on the princess. How her hair bounced when she laughed. How much her eyes sparkled with clear intrigue. How her bangles accentuated her beautiful hands.  

"What did he do?" Allura asked Veronica, the current topic of the chocolate milk incident still fresh.  

"He told on me, of course. Then Pop-pop gave him ice cream and I got none." Veronica replied. Lance managed to let out a small smile as he took a sip of his drink. It didn't take long for the knot to lessen for just a moment. Guess I was just thirsty, Lance thought.  

"Speaking of dates, maybe you can put in a good word for me with that long- haired friend of yours, hmm?" Veronica asked teasingly, a seductive smirk making residence on her face. It didn't take long for the red paladin to remember who in his circle had long hair. The same person he left atop of the Black Lion. The knot returned instantly as Lance's eyes widened.  

"What, Keith?! No, no, no!" Lance shouted. Just the thought alone of his sister having anything to with Keith just bugged him out. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if the knot in his stomach erupted into a fireball and started destroying his organs. What if it did and he had yet to feel it? Was this how the red paladin met his end? Set aflame by his own body because of the mere thought of his sister dating his friend? Lance laughed nervously before getting a grip on his senses.  

"No way. No."

"Why not? She seems to be cool around you guys. I've even seen her spar with your friend Keith a couple of times. I just thought you were at least on speaking terms with, um. What's her name?" Veronica replied in confusion. Lance's eyebrows furrowed.

"W-wait? You mean, Acxa?" Lance answered with hesitation.  

"Yeah, her! I've been wanting to talk to her but nowadays I rarely see her. Plus, I don't think she really talks to anyone."

"Oh. My bad." Veronica smirked.  "What's wrong? Worried I was gonna steal your friend away?" Lance leaned away from her in disgust.  

"Are you crazy?! AS IF!!!" the Cuban teen exclaimed, earning laughs from the table and chuckle from his older sister, along with a bump on the shoulder. Yeah, there was no way in hell that Lance was gonna let Keith near his sister in any capacity after this conversation. The red paladin shoved the remainder of his chicken into his mouth and chewed in earnest embarrassment, plotting the black paladin's murder for no apparent reason.  

Yeah, there is no way in HELL he's getting near Veronica. It's not like he's interested in anybody. Unless there's something in his Galra DNA that can attract people. Great, one look at his purple eyes, cool dog and sexy mullet and the masses are done for! I swear, the moment he even looks at Veronica or Rachel, it's ON!  

Did I just call his mullet SEXY??!!  

Veronica stood from her chair and raised her glass, everyone else doing the same.  

"A toast...to family. Though we may be apart after tomorrow, we'll always remain close at heart. Family is forever."  

"To family!"  

As glasses were clinked at smiles were shared, Lance took another look at Allura, who was sharing a smile at his mother. To say that Lance was confused was definitely an understatement. He had the girl of his dreams right in front of him, with his family no less. She was laughing and smiling and having a good time with them. Having a good time with HIM. For once, everything felt right.  

Listen, if she's going out with you, it's because she likes you. The annoying, stupid, Earth version of you.  

So why didn't it feel like enough? _________________________________________________________________________________  

The sentiment continued to ring through Lance's head as he and Allura walked through the park. They had just finished dinner with his family not too long ago and his sister Rachel suggested he take her to his favorite park for some "royal private time" as she called it. His eyes became trained on the tree that stood at the center of the park, all withered and drained of life. As he stood before it, he became reminded of when he was a boy, running around the tree with his siblings in an intense game of tag that resulted in him and his siblings being covered in handprints. Fast forward a few years and he would carry his niece and nephew on his back, pretending to be an airplane and zooming around the tree.  

"This place used to be so beautiful." Lance said somberly.  

"It's all my fault the Galra did this to your home." Allura replied, guilt laced in her voice. The red paladin was quick to shut down her notion. He swiftly turned his head towards her.  

"No, it's not your fault. Besides, meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me." Lance replied, smiling fondly at the Altean. His sentiment though seemed to be unheard as the princess walked towards the tree, placing her hand against it. Guess I said something wrong, Lance thought in disappointment.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in amazement as the tree began to glow, trails of quintessence consuming every root and branch upon it. Soon enough, balls of light began to float in the air as new batches of leaves grew on the branches and the tree's base. It wasn't long before the tree was revived to its former glory, strong and covered with healthy leaves; New flowers in bloom as the once blue balls of light were dimmed down to a calming orange hue. A smile graced Lance's face as he gazed upon the newly revived tree, amazed at the sight. He was so entranced with the sight he almost didn't realize that Allura had started to speak.

"When we were out there, fighting the Galra, I somehow felt like...like we were a family. Each of us was alone, but we were alone together."

Lance stayed silent as she turned.

"But now, here on Earth, I see that everyone already has a family and a home to return to once the war is over. Everyone except me. And for the first time, I feel uncertain about what my future holds."

Heartbroken couldn't begin to describe how Lance felt at that moment. He never realized just how along Allura felt. She had always made it clear that she saw him and the others as her new family, but deep down he knew that they couldn't replace the ones she knew before them. Looking back, he could see why. Since they've been back on Earth, Hunk has been spending time creating new recipes with family and feeding them Earth versions of the Altean dishes they had in the Castle of Lions (with Coran's permission of course.) Pidge has been busy doing her tech stuff with Matt and her dad, along with the occasional squabbles she has with her mom with her being grounded. Even Keith, who he once saw as nothing more than a moody loner, now has his mother and Kosmo. And even though he knows nothing about Shiro's loved ones, the red paladin is fully aware of the place he has in Keith's life and how much Keith viewed him as his older brother. Hell, Lance had just finished having dinner at his family home filled with his parents, siblings, niece and nephew. All Allura had was Coran, the mice, and her memories of a home who she's giving her life to avenge.

"It's silly. I used to think that the team relied on me. That I needed to be strong for everyone else. But now I see it was I that needed all of you. You are my strength." Allura finished, a small smile finally gracing her face as she looked at the young man before her.

Her strength? I'M her strength? No, by "you" she probably meant the team. Yeah, that's it. Or maybe...not?

The red paladin gathered his words together, not wanting to mess anything up.

"Allura, you are not alone. And if I have anything to say about it, you'll never be alone."

This is it. No turning back.

"I-I don't care if this is only our first date. I..."

Say it, damn it!

"Allura, I wanna be your family. Earth can be your home, or anywhere you wanna go. It doesn't matter. I would follow you across the universe if it meant helping you find your home." he finished somewhat confidently. Allura was frozen as she took in his words.

"You truly feel that way?" the princess inquired. The Cuban teen walked towards her and grabbed her hand, putting it on his chest. He held it tighter as a light smile formed on his face, his eyes holding sincerity.

"With all my heart." Lance said, love and admiration laced in his voice. He was frozen in place as Allura continued to look at him, her body completely towards him and looking at him in pure relief and security. Her smile soft, yet still full of hope for the future. Lance continued to stare as it appeared that the princess was moving towards him slowly. His breath became hitched, as he never in a million years expected this. For so long, the princess would pull away, sometimes hesitantly or immediately depending on what he had said or done before hand in his vain attempts to steal her heart. This might be the first time she actually pushed towards him. So why turn away now?

He exhaled shakily as he contemplated leaning forward or staying in place, his gentle grip on her hand becoming slightly firm. As he gazed into her eyes, he thought about all the things that brought him to this moment. Finding the blue lion. Getting tossed into space. Finding the Castle of Lions. Finding her. All the battles. The fights. The cheers. The tears. Everything. This was it. He saw everything he ever wanted and desired. The blue waves from the beach near his home. The hues of pink he would spot in the seashells his niece would pick up for him. The orange rays of light the sun would cast as it set for the night.

He saw the red and blue fireworks in the sky in celebration of the war's end.

He saw the green pieces of envy in the team's faces when he told him about tonight.

He saw the yellow in the lemonades he would sip with his family and friends once they had time for a proper vacation.

And when thought of this moment, he saw purple.

Purple.

Purple eyes.

The grip on Allura's hand was revived as he lifted it to his lips, giving it a gentle kiss. He felt the pause in Allura's movements as he bent slightly in a princely manner, his best attempt of a smirk appearing. The Altean seemed to buy into it as she chuckled, bringing her hand to her lips as she laughed on.

"I guess I shouldn't expect anything less then." said the princess. Suddenly, her eyes moved past the paladin as she gasped, making the boy stand in front of her for protection's sake. Luckily for them, it was simply the robot Pidge had built...who just so happened to be stalking them. The two looked in confusion as it squealed.

"I think he wants us to smile." Lance guessed. Allura looked at him for a moment before she put two and two together. The two decided on standing next to each other, Lance with his hands in his pockets with a wink on his face while Allura stood with her hands clasped in front of her, head on Lance's shoulder. As pictures were being snapped, Lance couldn't help but reflect on everything that had just happened prior to this.

He was moments away from doing the one thing he always dreamt of doing since he met her. He was almost going to kiss her. He was almost going to kiss the girl of his dreams. He had every opportunity at that moment to go for it, but he didn't. So many emotions were rushing through his head at once.

But the one that stuck out most was relief.

[voltronside]

snippet 1

Summary: In which Lance serves some quality smooches to (almost) everyone.

Relationships: Keith/Lance, Lance & Voltron Paladins

Word count: 1,015

Tags: platonic kisses, found family dynamics, vaguely blasphemous (??) stuff about Catholicism (i.e. Lance does a pretty minor Catholic no-no)

“And if you finish flight training early, we can stop at a nearby outpost to do some restocking,” said Allura. She looked up from her holopad to find Lance grinning. “Yes, Lance?”

“When you said ‘restocking,’ you totally meant ‘shopping,’ right?”

“You know, I have beaten Killbot Phantasm 1 like, thrice now,” said Pidge. “I wouldn’t mind looking for more Earth merch.”

“Oooh,” said Hunk. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to get some spare parts. I’ve been thinking of upgrading the healing pods so that no one has to fall on their face when they come out.”

“Now that you mention it, that sounds like a feature that maybe--no offense, Lura--should have been there all along,” said Lance.

“None taken,” shrugged Allura, pointedly not thinking of the first time she met Lance.

Lance continued, “Honestly though, I’d still rather fall into your beefy arms.”

“Hard same,” said Pidge.

“Aw, stop it, you two,” said Hunk demurely. Then, he pouted his lips and struck a ridiculous pose. The three of them burst out laughing.

Shiro cleared his throat, and they quieted down. “First of all,” he said with all the calm authority that befitted the Head of Voltron, “agreed. Hunk’s beefy arms are really comfortable to land in. Second, Lance, didn’t you ask Allura a question?”

“Yes, thank you, Shiro,” said Allura, clearly struggling to keep a straight face. “The outpost likely only has the essentials, but you’re all more than welcome to--oh, Keith!”

Everyone turned to the open doorway where a freshly showered Keith approached, still rubbing a towel over his head. He froze when he realized that everyone’s eyes were on him. “Um. Hi.”

Lance grinned. “Keith! Keith, my dude, I didn’t think you were ever gonna join in on these meetings.” “Well, yeah,” Keith shrugged. “I just. You know, responsibility and all that.” He glanced at Shiro, whose eyes were gleaming with that good ol’ Dad Pride. That explained things. He moved to sit next to Pidge, who was tapping away on her holopad. “Anyway. I’m here.”

“I’m glad you’ve come to join us, Keith,” said Allura. “As I was saying, we can all visit an outpost tomorrow if you finish flight training early. That’s really all there is to brief you on for tonight.”

“All righty, then.” Lance sprang off the sofa and stretched as the others chorused their acknowledgment. He sighed and announced, “If that’s all, I’m gonna get some shut-eye. Goodnight, folks!”

Then, he fluttered around the room like he usually did, kissing everyone goodnight. He gave Hunk a kiss on the forehead (Hunk leaned to it) and planted a loud, wet smack on Pidge’s cheek (“Ugh, why are you so gross!”). He kissed the top of Allura’s head (she pinched his cheek) and gave Shiro a peck on the cheek (Shiro ruffled his hair). Then, he turned to Keith. Keith, who wasn’t usually part of this routine.

----------------------------------------------

When he was six-ish or seven-ish, he spent an afternoon with Rachel at their Abuela’s house. She’d taken a tin off the high kitchen shelf and handed it over with a wink. Inside was a very large, partly-eaten bag of unconsecrated Communion wafers.

They’d gotten a thrill from having so many pieces of host at hand. Lance and Rachel hadn’t even had their first Communion yet, but they could probably eat more wafers in an afternoon than even Marco had ever eaten in his whole life! They sat in front of the TV, snacking on the bland, crisp wafers, and this was how Papi found them hours later when he came to call them home for dinner. Rachel had grinned at him and offered him the bag of wafers.

At the time, Lance had never seen his father that furious. He’d sputtered in a confused rage and went off to argue with their Abuela. Before long, he emerged from the kitchen and ordered his children to go back home. As they crossed the street, their father lectured them about the sanctity of the Eucharist and other things Lance didn’t understand. He and Rachel were too busy crying guilty tears, though they weren’t sure what they did wrong.

Just before they entered their house, Papi took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face. “Listen, you two,” he said, crouching down to look them both in the eye. His knees creaked as he did. “I know you didn’t mean any harm. But you need to learn that some things are too sacred--too important to do without meaning them with your whole heart.”

----------------------------------------------

Some people might say that Lance faltered when he turned to Keith, if they were generous like Allura. A traitor like Pidge, however, might say that his entire system shut down, an old memory dinging around in his brain like a pinball as he stood there bug-eyed and slack-jawed and staring at Keith like a jackass. Keith, surrounded by their freshly-kissed team, was tense.

See, a Hunk kiss meant, “I love you, you’re my best friend (I would die for you, buddy).” A Pidge kiss meant, “I finally have a little sister to piss off now (and I’m so glad it’s you).” An Allura kiss said, “I trust you with my life (I’d help you carry some of that pain if you’d let me).” A Shiro kiss meant, “You remind me so much of Marco that it makes me ache (sometimes when I think of him, I end up imagining you instead).”

Keith looked as if he’d been caught with his hand in the wafer tin, legs poised to run and eyes wide as plates. He waited for Lance’s next move.

Some things are just too sacred.

“Welp, g’night!” Lance tossed him a jaunty salute and a wink before sprinting out the door. He ignored Pidge’s snort of laughter when he tripped into the door frame.

About an hour later, he’d cleansed, exfoliated, and moisturized. He lay in bed, dozing off as a thought drifted through his mind, lazy and meandering like a mosquito on a summer night: Lance didn’t know what he’d mean if he kissed Keith.

-------------------------------------------------------

NOTES:

I’m pretty sure shippy fics usually involve the romantic interests kissing instead of having Person A smooch everyone except person B, but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is the first fic I’ve ever posted so yay!

This is rough, and it’s probably gonna be a small scene in a much larger fic (hence the lack of context), but I just wanted to get it out there. Lance’s childhood memory is basically a direct retelling of an actual childhood memory I have, except his dad was nice about it and mine yelled at me and my sister lol! Anyway he was raised Catholic like me because I said so and want to project. And yes there’s a (sad) AtLA reference in there.

Please let me know what you think!!

[aliathewriter]

Fic

I really need to apologise for this one. I was trying to write something fun but the set up kept heading angsty and in the end it’s sort of neither. But it is a short Magnum and the gang in Quarantine update. I’m close on the others but I’m so tired and stressed right now that my eyes won’t stop twitching and it’s driving me nuts.

Writing and reading (and re-reading the things that make me happy) are my joy and my stress relievers at the moment so there it is.

Quarantine Chapter 3: Juliet gets the wrong idea

It seemed to come to a head when she accidentally dropped a plate while they were all in the kitchen. The plate didn’t even break, but the noise alone caused an alarming reaction in all three of the guys.

Rick spun around so fast, his sandwich flew off his plate which he gripped now like a weapon, his position slightly crouched, ready to fight.

TC sucked in a breath, stilling except for one raised arm as a block.

And Thomas, every muscle was tensed as he moved in the blink of an eye between they guys and the sound.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, not moving until she saw them forcibly relax themselves, Rick’s face flushing as he silently scooped his sandwich up off the floor and threw it in the garbage.

“For what?” Thomas said in a forced attempt at levity. “You didn’t even break it!” He busied himself with helping her clean up her spilled lunch, keeping himself between her and the guys as TC helped Rick make a new sandwich. “Here, let me get you a new plate,” he said, drawing her with him to the opposite counter.

They all tried really hard to ignore what had happened and pretend everything was fine, but Juliet had seen the tension growing in the guys for a couple of days and wondered if the forced quarantine was getting to them.

For herself, she was going a little stir-crazy and she was usually much more happy than any of them were to keep herself busy on the estate so she could only imagine that they were feeling the strain. Rick was used to being the life of the party, surrounded by customers, friends, and staff at his bar, TC was used to the freedom of flying and showing customers the islands from above, and Thomas, when he wasn’t out on the ocean, was with one of the two guys enjoying the crowd at La Mariana, or the sky with TC, or helping clients as a PI.

When Icepick went for a nap after lunch, she excused herself to go to her room for a planned video call with her cousin in England.

She didn’t know how to help the guys when they couldn’t have what she thought they needed right now - a return to something like normal lives. That just wouldn't be an option for a while yet. The look of relief they tried to conceal as she told them she’d be on her call and would leave them to themselves until supper told her that they needed some time with each other.

She tried not to take it personally, but as close as they’d become with her, she knew there’d always be that different and closer bond between the three of them.

***********

‘Where did they go?’

Juliet’s cousin had some computer issues and they had to cancel their planned video chat so she found herself without anything to do. She’d looked for a book to read but was distracted by the unexpected quiet throughout the house.

When she’d headed to make her call, the other three men had been arguing over what movie to watch, but the living room and theatre room were both empty, the whole house quiet.

They’d all been out for their morning swims and paddle boarding earlier and looking across the lawn she couldn’t see them on the water or at the beach.

Wandering around she could see none of the cars were gone, and they weren’t on the lanai or tending to Kumu’s garden. “Where the devil did they go?!” she muttered to herself, her gaze wandering over the estate.

The guest house? No, they were all staying at the main house and keeping it clean themselves. Once a week they all left the house and stayed down at the beach as a professional cleaning team came in and did a thorough cleaning as well, but they weren’t keeping up the guest house just for efficiency and to limit the amount of work and places of possible contact.

“So why is part of the lanai screen open?” she asked herself, proud of herself for spotting it but growing annoyed that they’d gone over there when it was supposed to be closed down.

They had everything they needed at the main house and more so she couldn’t imagine why they would have gone down there. Her curiosity spiked, she quietly made her way there, out of view should they look out. Coming along the path at the side of the building she stealthily approached planning to startle them demanding what they were doing down there.

“You’ve both been getting more and more antsy and you know it,” TC’s voice brought her up short.

“He’s right,” Thomas said. “You know what you need. What we all need.”

“But…” Rick started to protest.

“No but,” TC argued. “We all need it right now, but you, my friend need it the most. You know it’ll help. I sure as hell know it’ll help me.”

“Yeah,” Thomas agreed. “Me too. Let us help you too.”

“I just don’t want Icepick or Juliet to find out about this,” Rick said with a sigh, sounding resigned though.

“Pfft! You think I want Juliet to find out either?!” Thomas exclaimed. “No way!”

They all shared a slightly nervous chuckle at that leaving Juliet not sure how to feel. What were they doing that they didn’t want her to find out about?

“Come on,” Thomas ordered. “Let’s do this. You know you’ll feel better after. Now, bend over and start stretching…”

Whatever Thomas said next was slightly lost through the ringing in her ears. No. No. No. She froze, she could not be hearing what she that sounded like. No. They… no.

“You know the drill,” Thomas was saying when she refocussed. “Feet apart a little more and feel the stretching. And, relax a  little, deep breath, and bend down a little more, pull the stretch a little further.

“Good, now on your knees…”

She threw her hand over her mouth, but too late, she knew the gasp of shock had been too loud when she heard movement from inside and Thomas’ head popped out around the screen to see her looking shocked on the edge of the lanai.

“Fuck…” she heard both Thomas and Rick say.

“Uh.. sorry,” she stumbled, trying to move back. “I didn’t mean to intrude, uh, I, my cousin had to cancel and I was wondering where you all went and I didn’t mean…” she stuttered still backing away.

“No,” Thomas sighed. “You’re here and now you know, so you may as well come in and join us.”

“What?!” she said in a strangled gasp. “No, no, no. You three can… I mean, I don’t judge! I’m as modern as the next person, but not for me… You three…. It’s fine, it’s fine, I’m just going to…” she motioned to the main house still backing up and turning to go.

“No wait, Higgins!” Thomas said quickly.

Turning to face him again reluctantly she could see the look of confusion on his face for a moment before realization hit him. Whatever reaction she expected of him, bursting out laughing was definitely not part of it.

“You thought…?” he laughed. “Guys, come out.”

Her look of horror just made him laugh more as Rick and TC joined him on the lanai looking a mix of sheepish and confused.

“She overheard,” Thomas explained, still chuckling. “And thought… we were…” he was struggling between laughing and she was sure now she’d misunderstood and could feel her face turning crimson.

“She doesn’t judge and is very modern but didn’t want to join!”

“Alright,” she groused. “You can stop laughing. What were you doing in there?”

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, wiping his eyes as the other two snickered. “Yoga, Higgins. We were doing Yoga.”

“What?” Now she was confused again. Yoga? They didn’t do yoga. They ran and swam and surfed and paddle boarded and surf skied and even occasionally sparred with each other for exercise. They didn’t do yoga. Her confusion was evident on her face of course and Rick folded his arms uncomfortably while TC smirked and Thomas’s laughter turned to a slight frown.

“I told you how they taught yoga in Germany to deal with… things,” he said.

“You said a guy you knew…” she replied, thinking back to the Amanda Sako case when he’d asked her to teach Amanda yoga to help her be able to recall what had happened to her.

“Well, yeah. It helped Keith, but also…”

“We all learned it,” TC joined in. “It’s relaxing, but we don’t do it like you do. Just sometimes.”

“Look, don’t tell Icepick ok?” Rick asked. “He’ll laugh his ass off at me about it.”

“Surely he would wouldn’t if you tell him it helps you with… things,” she insisted, stumbling over actually saying PTSD.

“Not if I’m not bugging him with having to think about that right now. He’s got enough to deal with.”

Pleading looks from both TC and Thomas along with subtle shakes of their heads had her closing her mouth and swallowing anything else she had to say about Rick’s relationship with Icepick.

“Well, then,” she said instead, throwing on her shield of imperiousness. “Shall we?” she indicated, brushing past them to head inside the guest house. “Let’s see how much we can balance you gentlemen.”