#if you are excited that is awesome I don’t want to rain on anyones parade

[raskies456]

*pokemon spoilers*

anyway I’d die for Nacli

the name is so good too

[bleep-bleep-richie]

part one

part two

He's not panicking.

Just because he knows Eddie had court at 9am and they had plans to talk at lunch, and it's now 7pm and he still hasn't called.

Nope, definitely not panicking.

He isn't pacing the apartment either. No, he's just taking a leisurely stroll back and forth across his living room. There's just nothing good on TV. He isn't panicking, there's no reason to panic.

He had texted him at 1 and, after getting no answer, again at 5. He picks his phone up where he'd thrown it not even five minutes ago face down on the couch. He swipes his way to his messages.

Nothing.

He clicks "💖Edwardo💖" and scrolls through their messages from the last couple days. He sighs and clicks the text box.

Hey, I'm gonna stay up until I hear from you, so call me whenever.

He sends it and throws the phone to the side, collapsing against the back of his sofa. He picks up his laptop, clicks on the video chat app, and stares at the stupid picture Eddie had chosen as his icon. The edge of his mouth lifts in spite of the sick churning in his stomach. "Eddie fucking Kaspbrak," he mumbles with a shake of his head. He's still looking at Eddie's picture when he starts to doze off.

He has no idea how much time has gone by when he's woken up by the sound of a call coming through his computer. His vision's blurry, he pushes his glasses back up on his face, and sees Eddie's smile way too close to the camera. He accepts the call. "What the fuck, man?"

"Richie!" Eddie cries. "Did I wake you? You said you were staying up."

Richie stretches and yawns before picking the laptop up and putting it on his coffee table. "Guess I fell asleep." He narrows his eyes. "Where are you?"

"Out! With Matt!"

Richie wants to ask who the hell Matt is but the camera is on the guy before he gets the chance.

"Look, Matt, it's my boyfriend," he hears Eddie say, "the guy I was telling you about!"

Richie has a moment of disconnect. "Uh," he says cleverly.

Matt leans closer. "Wait, holy shit, you really are Richie Tozier." He grins. "When Eddie said he was dating a celebrity, I didn't believe him."

"Fuck you!"

"Uh, hi?" Richie says. He's still reeling from 'boyfriend' and 'dating.' "Sorry, who are you again?"

Eddie turns the phone back, his face swims into view unsteadily. "My new manager! I hired him last week, he's gonna manage the New York branch when I leave."

"Okay, you're screaming."

"I'm celebrating!" he yells, raising a glass. He knocks it back and drains it to prove his point.

It's loud, Richie can hear the sounds of other people talking and laughing. He guesses they're in a bar. "Can you go outside or something? I can barely hear you."

Eddie's nodding as he gets to his feet. "Shit, yeah, sorry," he says when he swallows. "Matt, I'll be right back."

"Take your time, boss. Nice to meet you, Mr. Tozier!"

Richie makes a face. "Did he just call me Mister Tozier?"

Eddie laughs. He leans against the cool bricks of the building once he gets outside. "Yeah, he's like that."

"So," Richie starts after a beat, "how'd it go?"

"Oh! We found a place!"

"A place?"

"Yeah, an office building," Eddie replies excitedly. "Matt found it on the computer. And! He put up an ad for people to email me their resumes. It was so much easier than I was making it, big shocker there, right."

Richie tilts his head for a second. "That's fantastic, Eds, but what about court?"

"Oh, oh! Richie!" Eddie's smile splits his face. "She signed the papers! She dropped everything she was asking for, a share in the company, all the alimony. She told me on the way out it's because she's already engaged, and all I could think was 'that poor schmuck." He laughs, open and cheerful. Richie doesn't know if he's ever seen him so happy.

"Wow, that's awesome. Congratulations."

Something in his voice must give him away. Eddie's eyes soften and his smile fades. "Oh, Rich, I'm so sorry. I was supposed to call. I was just so excited to get everything done, we worked right through lunch. I'm booking a flight to LA tomorrow. Richie, we're going to he together before the end of the week." His eyes are so bright and happy, Richie wants to drown himself in them.

"That's- Wow, Eds, that's amazing." He pauses. "You're amazing." Eddie's eyes start to water and Richie figures he must be way drunker than he's letting on. "Wait, how are you video chatting from your phone?"

Eddie blinks. "Oh, there's an app for it."

"Yes, I know there's an app for it. How in the hell did you know there was an app for it? The only app you have on your phone is a calculator."

"Matt downloaded it for me. I saw your text and mentioned I needed to call you, so he showed me how to do it."

"That's great," Richie says flatly. "Matt's great."

"Yeah, he really is a whiz at the technology stuff."

"That's what happens when you hire a 20 year old."

"He's 25." He considers Richie a moment. "Wait, what was that?"

"What was what?"

Eddie eyes him. "That tone was hostile and, like, jealous. Are you-"

"I'm definitely not jealous."

Eddie's eyes widen. "You're lying! That's your lying face!"

"I have a lying face?" Richie asks, raising his eyebrows.

"You do, and you're making it right now. Why would you be jealous of Matt?"

"I'm not!" he protests. He sighs. "I dunno, man, it's just like, the most important day of your life and that's who you're celebrating with."

"Richie," Eddie says. His voice is gentle, like trying to coax a wild animal into a cage. It makes Richie want to punch a wall at how ridiculously easy it is for Eddie to turn him to mush. "I would rather celebrate with you than anyone in the world. But, baby, you're not here."

Richie's mind short circuits so hard over the word 'baby' that it takes him a full 30 seconds to process the rest of that sentence. He scoffs a laugh, completely humorless. "Yeah, and whose fault is that?"

Eddie's face crumbles and he looks down and away from the camera, like he's ashamed. Like Richie is embarrassing him.

He instantly feels like a jackass. "I'm sorry, Eds, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I was just worried, when you didn't call."

"I said I was sorry. I got busy."

"I texted you three times," Richie replies. He feels like a petulant housewife who spent all day cooking a dinner that her husband never came home to eat. He guesses that's exactly how he sounds, too.

Eddie turns his sad eyes on Richie. "I didn't even look at my phone until like fifteen minutes ago. I called as soon as I saw them."

"I know, I know." He shakes his head. "'I'm sorry, 'm being a dick."

Eddie smirks. "Imagine that."

Richie breathes out his nose and wills himself not to be angry. Always understanding, never upset. Always with a joke but never with a complaint. How he's been all year, all his life with Eddie, if he's honest with himself. Never too emotional or serious, just in case it overwhelms. "I'll let you get back. Just let me know when you book your flight, I'll clean the guest room."

"The guest room?" Eddie's face falls. "I have to sleep in my own room? You're that mad that I forgot to call?"

"No, it's not- I just didn't want to assume-"

"Or is it because I'm out with Matt?" Eddie continues like Richie hadn't even spoken. "Because I barely even know him, Rich. I was just in a good mood and we both needed to eat. It doesn't- I don't know if he's even gay."

Richie feels green. "He's cute," he says neutrally. "He's there. You're drunk."

"Richie."

He shakes his head, rubs his palms against the denim on his knees. "I know, I know. I'm being stupid because I miss you and I missed today and I- I'm sorry."

Eddie eyes go big and wistful. "I would never- Rich, I've spent the entire time since I've met him waxing poetic about you. Besides business shit, you're the only thing we've talked about. He's probably getting sick of it, honestly."

The sudden leap of his stomach makes him want to puke. "It's okay, Eds, you don't have to-"

"Richie," Eddie cuts him off. He pulls the phone closer to his face. "Richie, I'm crazy about you. You know, sometimes-" He laughs, blushes, glances away for a second. Richie wants to look at him forever. "Somtimes after we hang up, I jerk off to the memory of the sound of your voice. It's kind of pathetic. I'm completely gone on you, is the point I'm making."

"I-" he stops himself. He'd sworn at least a hundred times over the passed year that he wasn't going to say it until Eddie is in front of him. And he's going to keep that promise. "You're- you're everything, sweetheart. I- You know how I feel about you, don't you, Eddie?"

Eddie's smile is blinding. "Yeah, I think you waiting on me for almost a year while I got my shit together is a pretty big clue."

Richie grins back.

"I have to go settle the tab," Eddie says after a moment.

"You could call me," Richie tells him, "when you get back to your room. Jerk off to my actual voice, instead of the memory. I could say something worth jerking off to."

Pink rises on Eddie's cheekbones and flushes down onto his neck, right where Richie wants to bite him. "Thanks, now I have to go back in there at half mast."

"Oh, you are so very welcome. No need to thank me. The pleasure's all mine, really." The sad thing is, he isn't lying. Nothing gets him going faster than the mere idea that Eddie wants him. The evidence of it, the confession, has him rock hard in his pants already.

"You're insufferable."

"Insatiable, Edward. The word is insatiable."

Eddie rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "I'm going to call you in 45 minutes," he promises.

Richie nods. "I'll have my script ready. The never ending list of things I'd do to corrupt the pure and innocent Eddie Kaspbrak."

"Insufferable!" He pauses, still smiling even though he's griping. "45 minutes."

"I'll be here, Eds." He flushes with the honesty of it. "I'll always be here."

[justheretobreakthings]

Hold On Loosely

So, this was originally in the process of being written for a zine, but I wound up dropping out due to aphobia in the project. Which, well, sucked, and was one of the contributing factors of my less-than-great mood these past few days.

But, I wound up finishing the fic as its own thing, so I hope y’all enjoy. Have some pre-canon broganes fluff to lift the spirits.

Word Count: 2,545 Characters: Keith & Shiro Read on AO3 My house, my rules, my ko-fi

“Ooh, you know what looks good?” Shiro said, looking up from the table’s menu to grin over at Keith. “The chocolate lava cake. What do you say, you wanna split it with me?”

Keith shrugged, tilting his head to glance at the menu as well. He swallowed his bite of steak before slowly replying, “I dunno, it’s - it’s kind of expensive.”

“I told you, Keith, tonight’s my treat. Come on, if you don’t split it with me, I’ll just order it and eat the whole thing myself, and I will definitely get sick. So…”

“All right, fine, I’ll have the cake.”

“Great!” Shiro’s grin broadened as he waved their waitress down to place the order. “Every celebration needs cake,” he added to Keith as the waitress left. “Anyone who tries to limit it to birthdays is just close-minded.”

“I still don’t really think we, um, need to be celebrating,” Keith said.

Shiro huffed in mock exasperation. “Bud, your grades were great, you’re being too hard on yourself.”

“I didn’t even get all A’s or anything. And I had a C in Professor Antonsen’s class - ”

“Keith, I assure you, her class is the hardest in the whole academy. Matt didn’t even get an A in it. Chin up.” Shiro reached across the table with his fork, the last bite of his salmon still on the tips of the prongs, and tilted Keith’s head up to look at him. “Hey. I’m really proud of you. I mean it. You did great work, and you deserve to celebrate.”

Keith stared at him for a moment, as though mulling his words over, then a tiny smile escaped him as he tilted his head down and ate the bite of salmon off of Shiro’s fork, too quickly for the latter to move it out of the way.

“Barbaric,” Shiro gasped. “Have you no manners at all?”

Keith just smirked, making a show of chewing loudly before he swallowed and said, “Still, we didn’t have to go somewhere all fancy like this. I would have been fine with just burgers or pizza or something.”

“Well, sure, but I was really in the mood tonight for a place with tablecloths, you know? It’s a big night.”

“They’re just grades.”

Shiro shrugged and set his fork down. “All right, time for me to confess. The reason I decided to go fancy is that we’re actually celebrating two things tonight.” Keith raised a brow, and Shiro went on. “I actually got some pretty big news today. And since Adam’s busy until tomorrow and my parents are in another time zone, you, my dear friend, get to be the first to celebrate it with me.”

“What is it?” Keith asked.

“Now, I will tell you, they’re not officially announcing this until Monday, so don’t go spreading the word to your classmates before then and ruining the surprise.”

“What surprise?”

“So if anyone asks, you don’t know anything about it, okay? You’re gonna be just as excited by the announcement as - ”

“Shiro,” Keith groaned. “Now you’re just doing this on purpose.”

“You caught me.” Shiro smiled. “So. Guess who has been officially selected as the youngest pilot ever to lead a Garrison exploration mission.”

Keith’s eyes slowly widened. “You - you got the Kerberos spot?”

“I got the Kerberos spot.”

“That’s awesome!” Keith breathed. “Holy - you’re going straight to the edge of the solar system! Oh my god, you’re gonna be in textbooks, Shiro! You’re gonna be, like, a legit historical figure. That’s huge.”

“We always knew Earth’s atmosphere couldn’t contain me forever,” Shiro said with a smirk. “So, you’ve managed to get settled into the Garrison pretty well by now? Fitting in with your class? I know you’re doing well grade-wise so…”

“I guess, yeah,” Keith said with a shrug. “Why?”

“Nothing,” Shiro said, waving his fork dismissively. “I’m going to be pretty busy for a while, is all, and then I’ll be gone for the mission after. Just wanna make sure you’re ready for that.”

“Oh.” Keith's smile flickered, the corners of his mouth drooping for half a second before returning to their place. “Yeah. Yeah, ‘course I’m ready. I mean, I - I knew you were gunning for that spot on the mission, so it’s - so, yeah, you know, I knew this was coming. I mean obviously it was coming, you’re the best pilot in - you’re, um, you’re definitely - ”

“Keith?” Shiro raised his brow. “You all right?”

“Yeah. I hadn’t really thought about, uh, what I would be, um - ” He drummed his fingers against the table, then moved to lift his knife and fork and start carving up what remained of his steak. “But that’s - that’s not important. It isn’t. We’re celebrating. And - and - and you got the Kerberos spot, and I got my grades, and that’s good, this is good news, it is, I’m happy! I’m happy for you. I’m very - ”

Gently Shiro reached across the table and laid his hand on Keith’s arm. “You’re starting to carve up your plate, there, bud.”

Keith blinked down at his knife, then, with a slow breath, he dropped the cutlery and pulled back. “Sorry. Sorry, I wasn’t… paying attention. Shit, hang on.” He ground the heels of his hands into his eyes and mumbled, “I’m okay. I’m fine. Got a little… overwhelmed… by the good news. Just need a minute to, uh, to process.”

“Everything all right here?” came a soft voice behind Shiro’s shoulder, and he jumped in his seat, banging his knee on the table and whipping his head around to see their waitress, their cake in her hands and her face apologetic. “Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Shiro said. “You’re fine. Thanks, it looks delicious.”

“Can I, uh, get you anything else?” the waitress asked, glancing toward Keith who was hastily trying to scrub at his eyes as she set the cake down on the table. “A drink refill or… some tissues, maybe?”

“We’re fine, thank you,” Shiro replied. “Uh, take your time with the check, please.”

The waitress nodded and hurried from the table. Keith, meanwhile, pushed his chair back, his head down and hair falling into his face as he mumbled, “I think I need the restroom…”

“Hey, hang on,” Shiro said, holding out his arm again as Keith stood. “Keith… you know, it’s okay if you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset,” Keith snapped.

“Uh-huh. I’ve told you before, bud. If you’re upset - or any other emotion - ” He added when Keith opened his mouth to protest - “You can tell me. I’m not gonna judge you for it, you’re not gonna be punished. It’s not good to bottle things up. Come on, talk to me.”

“It’s… nothing,” Keith said. He sighed and collapsed back into his chair. “It’s stupid. Sorry, I’m ruining tonight, aren’t I?”

“You’re not ruining anything.”

“Yes I am. You took me out to celebrate and I’m freaking out on you and raining on your parade and - and I should be happy about this. I am happy about this, I’m happy for you, so there’s - there’s nothing even to talk about.”

“Mmm.” Shiro tapped a finger thoughtfully against the edge of the cake plate. “You know, you’re allowed to feel more than one thing. You can be happy for me and still be upset. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Sure, but - ”

“Want me to start?”

Keith frowned. “Start what?”

“Sharing.” Keith still looked just as baffled, so Shiro continued. “I’m thrilled about the news, and I’m excited about the upcoming Kerberos trip, and I’m really proud of myself for having made it this far, especially so early in my career.”

“You should be,” Keith said with a fervent nod.

“But I’m kinda freaking out too. It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility, and I’m scared of messing up. There’s a ton of prep work that has to be done before the mission, which is going to be stressful and exhausting. And the mission is going to last for months, so I don’t know how claustrophobic or homesick or lonely I’ll get. I know I’m going to miss you. You, and Adam, and everyone else on Earth.

“I’m happy, yeah, but I’m all those things too. It’s a lot. But, I gotta admit, putting it all out there, out loud, it’s a bit of a relief. It’s on the table instead of on my shoulders, so now I don’t have to think so hard about what I’m dealing with, I can move on to actually dealing with it. And now it’s your turn”

Keith paused before saying, “I feel like you missed your true calling as a psychologist.”

“I’m young, I’ve got time to chase a bunch of callings. No changing the subject.”

Shiro waited patiently as Keith fidgeted in his chair, chewing at his bottom lip and focusing intensely on the dishes in front of him. Finally, though, he spoke up, so softly that Shiro had to strain to hear him: “I guess I’m… not ready… for you to go.”

Slowly Shiro nodded. “That’s understandable, Keith. I - ”

“It’s not, though,” Keith bit out. “It’s not like I haven’t been on my own before, right? And, hell, I’m a couple years off from being an adult, I shouldn’t - I shouldn’t still be - and it’s selfish, right? This is, like, your dream, Shiro, and all I’m thinking about is how I’m gonna - how I’m - ”

“Hey, hey,” Shiro said, keeping his voice low and soothing as he watched Keith bunch up the edge of the tablecloth in his fists. “It’s not selfish. Okay? I don’t want you thinking that for a moment. It’s you feeling your feelings, and there’s nothing selfish about that. If you were selfish, you wouldn’t be nearly so concerned about how your reaction is making me feel, right?”

Keith only shrugged. “And Keith, what’s this about being on your own?” Shiro continued. “Me being gone doesn’t mean you have to be alone.”

“It - it kinda does,” Keith mumbled. “I, um, I - I may have exaggerated, a bit, um, how I’m fitting in with my classmates.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “Are those other pilots still giving you a hard time? If they are, we need to go to your CO, file a report.”

Keith shook his head. “No, they aren’t - there haven’t been any other incidents or anything, just - I’m still not really - I’m not part of the group or anything. We have classes together, but that’s all. And you know I can’t get an ‘Adam’ of my own, I’ve - I told you about that, about how I don’t - so I don’t have friends, I don’t, not really. And I definitely don’t have a ‘partner’ or whatever, so that just leaves family, and - well, that’s you. Just you. That’s all I’ve got. And so if you’re gone…”

He let out a sniff and wiped his nose with the tablecloth. There was only so much the Garrison could do to instill table manners into their cadets. “Forget it. Like I said, it’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing, Keith,” Shiro said. “That’s… that’s fair. That’s fair and valid and I’m glad that you told me.”

“Kinda ruined the whole ‘celebration’ vibe, though.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to celebrate before the mission. I, um - did - were you always worrying about this? The whole time I’ve been applying for the Kerberos spot?”

“I dunno. I wasn’t really thinking about it. Was trying not to, you know? It, um, wasn’t important.”

“When am I ever going to finally convince you that your worries are important?”

“More important than Kerberos?”

“Equally.”

Keith snorted. “Shiro - ”

“You know, in the coming months I’m gonna be spending a lot of time preparing for the mission. Maybe we should come up with a game plan so you can do the same.”

“Shiro, you barely managed to convince the Garrison to let me into the academy, you’re never gonna convince them to let me join the mission.”

“Much as I’d love to have you, that’s not what I meant,” Shiro said with a little smile. “I meant that while I’m getting ready to go to Kerberos, we can get you ready to stay on Earth. We’ll go through the things you’re worried about, the things that you need to prepare for, and we’ll start planning for them.”

“How do you mean?”

“Like, okay, you’re worried about being lonely while I’m away. So let’s plan for that. We can talk to Adam, and Colleen, make sure you’re able to turn to one of them if you need anything at all. And we can even schedule some weekends out, get you some vacation from the Garrison to wind down. If you’re worried about keeping up with schoolwork while I’m around, we can contact your instructors to let them know, maybe see about any extra credit work you can do while I’m gone.”

Keith nodded slowly. “Okay. And, um, if I’m worried about… you know…” The tips of his ears went red as he mumbled, “Missing you?”

Shiro resisted the urge to tease him about the blush of embarrassment and instead broadened his smile. “I’m gonna miss you too, you know. What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t?” Keith bit his lip, and Shiro would bet any amount of money that it was to hold back a smile. “We’ll figure something out. We’ll make sure to get a ton of pictures together before I go, for starters, and I can let you babysit my hoverbike while I’m gone.”

Keith’s mouth dropped open. “You’ll let me be in charge of your hoverbike?”

“Promise not to crash it?”

“I… can’t make that promise.”

“Promise you’ll try not to crash it?”

“That I can do.”

“I’ll take it. So we’ve got a plan in place, and we have plenty of time to come up with more. And if it helps, I swear, I’ll come back from Kerberos as soon as I possibly can. Sound good?”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Do you need a hug too?”

“No,” Keith said, spreading his arms out to accept one anyway. Shiro scooted his chair around the table to embrace him, rubbing Keith’s back as the latter sighed into his shoulder, and he didn’t let go of the hug until he felt Keith finally pull away.

“Now,” Shiro said, scooting back into place. “This cake has just been waiting to be eaten, and we should really help out.” He nodded toward Keith’s dessert fork . “Come on, I’ve seen the memes, I know you love cake.”

Keith let out a breath of a laugh as he lifted his fork and started to cut off a piece from the cake. “If you’d seen all the memes, you’d know I also love pizza.”

“Well, in a few years, when we’re celebrating you getting your first big mission and breaking the youngest-pilot record, we can go out for pizza instead. Deal?”

“Deal.” They both took their first bites of the cake at the same time, and Keith rolled his eyes as Shiro made a show of moaning in contentment at the taste. “By the way,” Keith said as he moved in for his second bite, “I really am happy for you. Cadet’s honor, I am.”

“Thanks, Keith,” Shiro said with a grin. “I’m happy too.”

[found--family]

not to rain on anyone's parade but I don't get why everybody is so happy to see Jensen working on The Boys, and therefor Kripke in regards to "getting away from Spn after it stabbed him in the back".. i thought Jensen called Kripke and that he talked him into "accepting the finale"? don't get me wrong I am super excited for Jensen to get more recognition and stuff but I can't help but think that^ maybe i'm missing/confusing something here?

i mean.. okay, I'm NO expert on the writers of SPN - i refer to my mutuals for the highs and lows and meta of it all, and i also haven't watched The Boys yet..

but Kripke created Supernatural. he's responsible for bringing Dean and Sam and the whole story to life, and for giving us the seasons 1-5 arc. when people fawn over *early spn* that's the era they're talking about: the writing, the character journeys, the cinematography, the visual meta, the vibe.

the thing about the different writers of SPN is - when you read the meta and look through the relative episodes - you can see who prefers focusing on what themes and characters, who is better at narrative cohesion and continuity, etc. BUT there's also TPTB (The Powers That Be) to consider, ie. The CW network folks who have the ability to make creative decisions/tweak what they don't think is on-brand for them, ie. the (conservative) audience they're trying to appease.

-- you should check out meta from @drsilverfish @mittensmorgul​ @postmodernmulticoloredcloak​ and so many others in the fandom (search "spn+meta" in tumblr and see what's what) for insight into the network/spn writer’s room because they know their stuff.

my point is: getting away from The CW and their narrative meddling is a HUGE step up for Jensen. as has been said, The CW (not Dabb, although there is debate on that too) sacrificed the ending of Supernatural on the alter of Walker, so it's understandable and also a positive thing that he's breaking free of a network that screwed over his 15 year-long commitment to them and the stellar journey of one Dean Winchester.

but YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about Kripke trying to convince Jensen the SPN ending was good for Dean: we've seen the clips from cons + interviews of Jensen telling that story and IT HURTS. Kripke hadn't been directly involved in the show for years at that point, so was he just out-of-touch with the narrative and the fandom? or did he just want to try and get behind the ending of his baby, hype the show that did so much for his career, even if he didn't like it? or did he feel obliged to agree with whatever was pitched to him? 

(IMDB has him listed as 'executive consultant' through season 15 including the finale. I'm not sure how accurate that is or what it means exactly, but it's by no means Creative Control.)

it's obvious Jensen hated the SPN finale, but i don't think he'd squander his freedom in leaving The CW to go work with someone he doesn't trust to do justice to his new role and the narrative as a whole.

i hope some of this fandom's meta writers will enlighten us on these fronts though: Kripke's showrunning of The Boys, Amazon Prime as the distributer and what that means behind the scenes, as well as content freedoms and restrictions and what we can expect from Jensen's Soldier Boy performance! 

(btw: if anyone knows any meta writers in The Boys fandom please let us know) 

whatever the case may be with Kripke saying what he did to Jensen about the finale, we'll just have to wait and see what else comes to light about it, and what he does with Soldier Boy, and how Jensen responds to this new experience on social media, etc.

reports say we might not see season 3 of The Boys until 2022 (COVID being a factor) so we all have plenty of time to catch up on the first two seasons (and the comics too!) and delve into the meta surrounding it all.

i for one am extremely excited to see Jensen 1) in a dark superhero role 2) in whatever form-fitting costume they give him (i hear the fuckmepumps are involved!) 3) cussing his beautiful little heart out.

-- once i binge both seasons I'll probably post a bunch of wishlist items for season 3 and thoughts about the show, but for now I'm just excited and super happy for him being involved in such an awesome project. 

feel free to add your thoughts. 

[gffa]

If you don't mind me asking, can you go into more detail about how you've lost some interest in the High Republic. I haven't kept up with that at all, so I'm wondering what warning signs you may have spotted. (And if you don't want to talk about it, that's cool. I'm just curious, I don't want to cause you emotional distress.)

Hi!  I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade if they’re excited about the upcoming High Republic stuff, because people should absolutely be excited about it if they want!  It might be actually really good!  (I’ll say that I’m willing to read Soule’s book because I have liked him as an author so far and I’m hoping it’ll win me over.) But my disinterest in the High Republic has been from a handful of things and most of them are fairly vague, so you may look at them and go, “....that’s it?” but it’s hard to put into words the weight of the cumulative effect of, “I really haven’t enjoyed-enjoyed most of the SW books I’ve tried in awhile.” - I don’t like the way it feels like it’s leaning towards “the prequel Jedi were terrible and stinky, but our Jedi are going to be the nicest, bestest, most awesome Jedi ever!” which is hard to put into words where I’ve picked that up but that I have felt it from this. - I don’t like what people are already saying about the High Republic Jedi, in that the worldbuilding actually gets to do things (like talk about how they see the Force differently) in that there’s a creative freedom they were likely allowed that’s not allowed for established characters, and then turning that into, “because the prequels Jedi made everyone view the Force the same way because they’re a cult!”  That’s on fandom, not the content itself, but it does hamper my enthusiasm. - The one that really sort of sealed it for me was the recent reveal of one of the big monsters the Jedi are going to fight--the plant monster one.  When they started the High Republic, one of the big questions was, “What do the Jedi fear?”  And I’m cranky because the answer should be, “Fear itself.” because that’s the thing that’s most dangerous to a Jedi.  I would accept something like, “Being unable to help people.”  And maybe the HR will surprise me and it’ll be whatever is a threat to the Force or something else that’s intriguing, rather than a plant monster. But there’s also that the worldbuilding is leaning so heavily into medieval influences instead of the East Asian influences doesn’t exactly endear me or make me think they understand that the Jedi aren’t influenced by Catholicism (there’s nothing wrong with being Catholic! it’s just not what the Jedi are and judging them by measuring sticks that are in opposite to what they actually were intended to be is something that causes a lot of frustration for me), but instead much closer to Buddhism and East Asian influences. Maybe the HR will win me over, I’ll at least read the first book!  But I’m just really tired from all the SW books I’ve been trying to read lately and trying to be enthusiastic about that I ultimately found I didn’t really enjoy that much.

[mochideleche]

You can’t keep away from fate | CH4

Pairing : Percy jackson x demigod!reader

summary : The daughter of destiny- literally, along with inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Being the child of a primordial goddess doesn’t really assure you a quiet calm life but when you return to new york after five years of being shipped off to boarding school, your once mundane life says goodbye.

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Percy was excited for the first game of capture the flag of the spring . School had finally finished and he departed for camp for the week to the north shore of long island - he’d be back in his second home, cabin 2, along with all of his friends and of course- you. 

He was scared that you’d change your mind and end up going back to europe whilst he was in the city, and he’d be unable to say goodbye to you- but fortunately you had been persuaded to spend up until the end of spring break training at camp. And of course, during the short time percy spent away you constantly sent iris messages to each other- phones not being a good option, and you had even managed to travel to see him a few times after school. 

And now he was pumping with adrenaline, standing at the centre of the forest facing the opposing team - your team. For some reason, he felt the need to win, make you see just how awesome he was in real life, not just from the stories of his past adventures. He was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, readjusting his grip on riptide, ecstatic with exhilaration. 

He had managed to catch your gaze, you stood side by side with annabeth- which was common now a days, you two were basically inseparable. Your long caramel hair was tied up in a ponytail, percy could see now that your black roots were more obvious now, perhaps an inch longer than when he first saw you. You held no weapons, which wasn’t fooling percy as he saw the two diamond and pearl bracelets you were wearing which you revealed to him would extend into 2 elegant drakon bone swords. 

Your eyes locked onto his , which had been on you for a while now, and he raised an eyebrow at you as if to say “ready to lose?” 

You grinned back at him and rolled your eyes, “as if”

Then the horn blew and your two teams retreated into their bases. 

Percy was leading a small group defending their base- of course his team had opted him to protect the flag, they wanted to see the two of you fight. 

It was common knowledge now that you held a lot of power but no one saw anything of it through the few weeks you had spent there so far. Today was the day they were going to see it, by putting you up against the camp’s most powerful demigod. 

“It’s too quiet, you think it’s a trap?” Connor asked, shifted around side to side to check for threats.

“Yeah, it’s not like annabeth to attack late into the game, and clarisse would never want to stay away from a fight” Percy wondered out loud as his group made their way swiftly through the trees.

Then out of nowhere, several arrows rained down on them.

A few of the group immediately held up their broad shields, deflecting the arrows, but that only delayed their attack as multiple campers came as if out of nowhere and began to attack. 

Percy was glad to finally have something to do, he slashed and parried as if it was second nature and was able to but the held of his sword into an ares kid’s helmet and he fell to the group with a satisfying THUMP.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw blur dashing through the trees a few feet away. Surely to have been missed if percy wasn’t doing his best to keep his head attached to his neck. 

“Percy go! we can hold them off!” Connor shouted over the heads of his attackers with a cunning grin on his face. 

Percy gave him a short nod and ran off into the tress before anyone could stop him. 

It wasn’t long till he found the place. The blue flag was stood in the centre of a clearing, which percy was glad to see- and around it curved a creek as if it was protecting it. He saw no sign of anyone there standing by it- including the guard. katie gardener was meant to be protecting it with a few of her siblings but he saw no sign of them... 

It was oddly silent, he knew there was something wrong. 

He stepped into the clearing, and cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Come out then! I’m here!” 

And a heard a soft giggle from above.

He cranked his neck and there you stood, arms crossed casually and leaning against the large elm tree you were in, “it isn’t very smart to scream at the top of your lungs when you’re trying to track down an enemy” 

Percy smiled up at you. 

“The flag’s down here you know, why didn’t you take it?” Percy raised an eyebrow as you pushed yourself off the tree. 

You then jumped down, landing with the upmost grace and unfolded your arms, “where’s the fun in that?” 

A smirk made it’s way onto percy’s face, “ you sure you know what you’re asking for princess?” 

You paused a little then flicked out both hands. The two bracelets extended, unwrapping themselves from your wrists and transforming into two white drakon blades. 

You lifted your left sword and beckoned percy forward.  

He scoffed, then charged. 

He slashed and thrust his sword with all his might but all you did was parried and blocked, not even attempting to hit him. It was almost as if you were putting in no effort, lazily swinging your sword as if your were doing it absentmindedly.

Percy liked to think you hadn’t tried to strike him because he was too fast to give you a chance, but it was more like- you were just making him tired. 

As soon as this thought popped into percy’s head, his moves faltered. He’d been so preoccupied with trying to impress you with his excellent swordsmanship that he’d competed forgotten the aim of the game. But as he pondered on this in that millisecond, you crossed both blades over the hilt of his sword and pushed back causing riptide to fly out of percy’s hands and land 20 feet away. 

You raised your eyebrows, looked him up and down the jerked your head to the side, trying your best to hide your smile,  “is that the best you can do?”

“You play dirty L/N” Percy shook his head, crossing his arms and stood as if he was scolding you.

“Don’t be a sore loser” you chided.

“Who said i was losing?” and with that percy lifted his left arm and swiped it across him. 

You looked to your right and saw a turret of water making its way towards you with high velocity. 

You immediately put up your hands, your swords retransforming back to your bracelets and you summons a large gust of wind to shield yourself from the water. 

The stream made impact with your wall but it was travelling at such a high speed you were pushed back a few feet, your shoes skidding on the dirt. 

During this, percy casually made his way to where his sword was lying, but he never made it to it.

Suddenly he felt the water disappear from his control and he looked back just in time to get a face full of the creek. He was thrown off his feet on impact, getting soaked in the process and he felt his back land firmly on the ground. 

Percy sputtered, blinking the water out of his eyes and pushing himself up on his elbows. 

he had no idea what had happened or why his water had suddenly committed mutiny, but he had no time to worry about that as you grabbed the blue flag and bounded off into the woods. 

crap. 

Percy pushed himself up but only succeeded in lifting his torso up as he fell back down, his head colliding with the ground, something was pulling him down. 

ignoring the throbbing pain in his skull, he craned his neck to look at his feet. There, encasing both his ankles, were two solid mounds of dirt, they looked like they’d been grown around his ankles- but how did that happen? 

He frantically looked around but there was nobody there, and the demeter kids were on his team! 

But, who else could have done it?

Percy turned his head to the side to see your retreating form running with his team’s flag flying behind you and as he watched you disappear out of sight the mounds of dirt began to crumble and set percy free. 

Just how powerful were you? 

As soon as you made it back to your base the fighting that was occurring on your side seized, much to the others team’s dismay, and cheers erupted all around you. 

Annabeth who had been standing guard hugged you immediately and then followed after that multiple hands were clapped on you back and before you knew it the ares cabin had lifted you up into the air. 

It was amazing, you felt so elated. And sooner or later the ares boys holding you up were chanting, “Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!”

You couldn’t help but laugh. 

The flag was still in your hand and you couldn’t believe you had actually achieved it, percy did put up quite a fight- you were very sure if you hadn’t got rid of his sword he would’ve skewered you. 

the campers of your team were gathered around you, parading their way out of the forest, carrying you along with them. 

Over the crowd you saw the other team clapping- at least they were good sports, you saw chiron laughing and grover who was blowing a conch horn. And then, you saw percy- leaning on a tree with his arms crossed.

He was still drenched- and you laughed at the thought, and laughed even more when you imagined the surprised look on his face when he realised that was your doing. 

His eyes were narrowed and a smug smile was plastered on his lips as if to say, well played. 

You shot him an apologetic smile but it gradually turned into a grin of pure happiness as he slowly began to clap for you, joining in with the cheering campers around you. 

And he slowly drifted out of your view as the ares cabin rallied you down to the pavilions, the blue flag still displayed in you arms. 

[cialbi]

Imagine #1 - Fan Fictions

Scenario: BTS reading and reacting to fan fictions about themselves. 

Warnings: Language, Sex Talk

A/N: I kinda just had to.... If you liked this, please check out my other fictions here 

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Kim Seokjin: 

Jin would not read them of his own will. Either Hoseok or Yoongi would have somehow forced him as a practical joke, which by then he’d be totally emotionally involved. He’d be overly critical about his character and angrily question how he’s portrayed. 

Jin: Yah! Why am I always cooking? And eating?

Namjoon: Because you’re literally always cooking.

Hoseok: And eating.

Jin: Aigoo. The point of fan fiction is to be creative! Aish! And why am I always the fucking bottom?

Namjoon & Hoseok: *sniggers* 

Jin would print out some fictions and edit them by hand, making notes about all the things he didn’t like. He’d probably go as far as to write the author. 

Jin: They’re never gonna get me right unless I show them how.

He might even make his own fan fictions to demonstrate how it's done. Then he would make the other members edit them.

Jin: Here. Read this. *hands to Namjoon*

Jin would be especially upset by smut fictions, particularly the ones where he’s dominant and demeaning. His eyes would bug out of his head and his face would go crimson in rage. 

Jin: “I WOULD NEVER TREAT A LADY LIKE THAT!” 

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Kim Namjoon: 

Namjoon would read them on his i-pad, preferably in private but wouldn’t flinch if someone were to walk in. Unashamed about the dirty stuff, he would approach them logically because he understands we are all horny motherfuckers. 

He’d be self critical but in a funny way and would read them with a sense of humor. 

Namjoon: My dick isn’t that big *checks* yeah it’s really not that big…

Aside from the smut, Namjoon would also read fictions based on their real life experiences and reminisce about the good times. 

Namjoon: Oh yeah… I remember that day… God I was not in a good mood. 

To his dismay, Namjoon would realize that he actually does have a daddy kink and not know how to feel about it. He would then spiral into a self discovery crisis. 

Namjoon: Daddy? Why would I want her to say that?... *thinks* I guess I do say baby girl a lot… so does that mean I have a daddy kink? Do I want to be called daddy?... Does this make me a pervert?... HEY JIN, I HAVE A QUESTION! 

Jin: Aish! Keep your mid-life crisis to yourself! 

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Min Yoongi:

Yoongi would read fan fictions before bed, in the dark and on his phone. He would read all types and genres with secret intrigue, though he wouldn’t admit that he’s interested if anyone asked. Although at first it was morbid curiosity, he’d find himself reading on more than one occasion without any shame or guilt. 

Silent and expressionless, no one would even guess he was reading smut fiction.

He would ultimately cease reading after a particularly graphic piece of audacious porn where a girl licks cum off his shoe. Furrowing his eyebrows he would squint in disgust.

Yoongi: Fuck. What’s wrong with people? *shuts phone off and proceeds to roll over and sleep*  

Yoongi would also make random comments out loud like “what does that even mean?” referring to sex terms he’s not familiar with.  

Jungkook: What does what mean?” 

Yoongi: Nothing kid, eat your cereal. 

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Jung Hoseok: 

Hoseok would read them on his phone, deliberately in a public setting and laugh his fucking dick off. He would read things out loud that he’s super excited about or something he found funny and would make whoever is near him listen, whether they wanted to or not. 

Hoseok: OMG GUYS LISTEN TO THIS! *smacks Yoongi’s leg* 

BTS: *groans* Not again….

He would particularly like the fluff fictions but avoid the sad ones completely because he “don’t want nobody to rain on his parade.” He’d love the ones where he’s portrayed as a soft boy and giggle in delight. 

Hoseok: AWWWW Joon! I’m such a cinnamon roll! 

Trying to imitate positions he’s written as doing, Hoseok would realize that he can actually do them. 

Hoseok: DUDES MY HIPS CAN THRUST LIKE JESUS! 

Hoseok would get a kick out of humiliating his bandmates with the stuff that happens to them. 

Hoseok: AHAHAHAHAHA JIMIN READ THIS. YOU TOTALLY GOT BITCH FUCKED BY TAE. 

Jimin: Fuck, AGAIN? 

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Park Jimin:

Jimin would read them on his computer after Taehyung sent him an attachment to a fic about himself. He would typically read them in private, but emotionally invest them into his real life. 

Jimin: Why don’t people see me as more manly? *pouts* I’m manly! 

Jin: At least you’re not compared to a mother who only cooks and eats *rolls eyes dramatically* 

He would whine incessantly about being submissive and particularly self-obsess after reading a TaeMin fan fiction. 

Jimin: Why are you always on top? I could totally dominate you! And I’m older! I should definitely be on top!

Taehyung: *smirks* Sure hyung. 

To prove his point, he would actually then go and search for fictions where he’s deliberately on top. Proud of himself, he’d make damn sure to show Taehyung that he’s an awesome dominant, and that Taehyung is sorely missing out. 

Jimin would sob at the angsty fictions, and as a bundle of sniffs and tears he would go to check up on his fellow bandmates. 

Jimin: Hey Yoongi hyung, is there something you want to tell me? You know I’m always here to talk if you want, right? 

Yoongi: The fuck dude, it’s 4am. Piss off. 

Like when people have dreams about their friends or significant other betraying them, Jimin would have sudden outbursts during the day about things the other boys did in a fiction he recently read. 

Jimin: FUCK YOU HOBI! SHE WAS MY GIRLFRIEND FIRST! 

Hoseok: *goes a long* Shoulda fucked her better man, what can I say?

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Kim Taehyung: 

Taehyung would read them on his tablet while he’s eating, not caring if other members are present. As our honest boy, he would be outwardly proud about how he’s depicted as manly and a pro in bed. 

Taehyung: Oh yeah bro, I fucked her gooood. 

Sometimes uncontrollably turned on, Taehyung would get himself off by reading a fiction where he aggressively fucks the living daylights out of someone. 

Hoseok: *walks in on Taehyung jerking off* Hey Tae can I--oh shit! What porn you watchin dude?

Taehyung: That one where I FUCK YOUR MOM. 

Not liking to deal with heavy emotions, he’d probably hate the angst fictions, but at the same time he’d get super sucked into them.

Taehyung: No! Why!? Why’d you have to do it baby? I got you! I’ll never leave your side, just don’t go! Please! I’m right here! Don’t cry! 

Taehyung would have an outburst of rage at the things he doesn’t like or agrees with, particularly when it involves abuse and bullying. 

Taehyung: “OH FUCK NO SHEILA. NO ONE MESSES WITH TAE’S GIRL!”

He definitely doesn’t like clothes ripping foreplay. 

Taehyung: Bitch that was probably Gucci. 

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Jeon Jungkook: 

Jungkook would read fan fiction wherever he can get his hands on them, curiosity getting the better of him after hearing his hyungs conversing about their exploits. He would read super dirty fucked up stuff by accident and ask the other boys what certain things meant; particularly about sexual innuendos. 

He’s not dumb to sex, but as an innocent little smoosh, Jungkook is unfamilair with a lot of filthy things. 

Jungkook: Hyungs, what’s a blumpkin?” 

Hoseok: OMG let me tell him!

Namjoon: *sighs nonchalantly* be my guest. 

Jungkook would outwardly question some portrayals of himself, at first not agreeing with it but then realizing they’re totally accurate. 

Jungkook: Well I… yeah, I guess.

Like a toddler, he would endlessly ask about things he didn’t understand, like relationship problems and character development. He would blink in confusion and turn to his hyungs for clarification. 

Jungkook: Why?

Namjoon: *explains* 

Jungkook: Ok but why? 

Namjoon: *explains further* 

Jungkook: Yeah, ok but why? 

Namjoon: Fuck this shit. *gives up* 

                                                        방탄소년단

[thevioletjones]

What did you think of the episode? I agree that is wasn't deep, Shameless is a comedy now and they're really leaning into that, but with those expectations in mind I was happy with what we got, and I'm sure we'll get a little more depth as the season goes on. Episode 3 sounds like it has actual stakes which is already a step up.

Well, I haven't exactly been shy about my lack of excitement for this new season in comparison with other shippers and Mickey stans. Canon is just not very interesting to me anymore, and not even IxM can save that. I realize it's not a serious show, and honestly, I've always viewed it as a second tier dramedy in the first place. I only came back because of my loyalty to these 2 characters, but the elation that others feel just isn't there for me, and I won't lie about it or pretend.

Like I said before, I'm happy to have Noel back and see him do his Mickey thing, and to a certain extent, I'm even happy to see Cam as Ian again (imo, his acting has always been uneven, and he is at his best with Noel around). But, that doesn't negate, nor make up for my low opinion of the writing in general. Or my disinterest in the show overall.

And look, believe it or not, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. I get it. People are excited to finally have more video content of our faves on their screen. There's an inclination to dig for all the gold you can. And everyone is welcome to do that if they want to. But I'm just too jaded at this point to let that be me.

I love the places that some fanfic writers have taken these characters, whether it be in canon divergent pieces or total AUs that still respect the characterization and relationship dynamics. And it's been extremely inspiring and awesome for me to exercise my writing skills by creating fics centered on them as well. And I'm good with that being my favorite thing about the pairing at this point. Canon has always been a disappointment to me overall when it comes to them. Of course, there has been some great stuff on screen, largely created by the sheer talent of Noel (and sometimes Cam) and the chemistry the actors found together. But even in seasons 1-5, and the couple eps Noel was in in s7, we were always sifting through a bunch of shit to find the shiny stuff. So I wasn't a fan of the slapdash 55 second s9 prison endgame, and I can't say I'm thrilled to sit through the storyline they've based on it now.

I'm aware of the later season spoilers, but it's not enough to move me. I can't help it. I'm not being willfully obstinate, it's just genuinely how I feel. Numb, but slightly happy that we get to see them again on the show at all, and cautiously optimistic that they will end up in a good place once the credits roll on s10. I don't wish for an s11, tho. I want this to end here so I can start moving on once I've wrapped up all my fics. I love IxM and Noel & Cam, but I don't see where these writers can steer them beyond 10x12. It feels like more than enough to me. Like this is a final bonus.

So, I'll see you guys in Fic Land! And hopefully I won't annoy everyone with my hot takes. You'll find plenty of sunshine spin elsewhere. I will just be over here with my salty feelings, and those who want to join me are always welcome. 😘

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 123: Room for Ruby

“It's sunny now, but it can always rain later.”

Catch and Release really did change everything. I’ve already discussed it as a paradigm shift, transforming the concept of what the Crystal Gems are: before, a quartet with Steven as the rookie, and after, a fluid group where Steven has some seniority. We’re in an era where Connie, a full-fledged human, is a Crystal Gem. Bismuth, who already was a Crystal Gem but got reintroduced and then left behind, will return as a member of the modern iteration. And two former enemies, Peridot and Lapis, have joined the group (the latter unofficially). So who’s to say a ruby soldier wouldn’t fit in?

Granted, Charlyne Yi’s performs a ruby that’s a little too forgiving, and power combo Raven Molisee (of the highly expressive Molisee’n’Villeco) and Jesse Zuke (of the barnmaster duo Zuke’n’Florido) exaggerate her face and words to the point where it’s at least a little suspicious from the start. But Navy, cleverly named for the gem on her navel just as Army is named for her arm gem, has always been friendly and chipper compared to the other rubies in her squad. It’s believable, despite us never witnessing it, that the other rubies are mean to her for this attitude. And because this is a ridiculous character, it was always possible that her ridiculously jolly attitude was sincere.

That Navy is lying the whole time is irrelevant to the wonder of a show that makes us believe that she might join up. Her betrayal might be predictable, but our status quo is as capable of change as the planet our heroes love; it’s a similar sensation to Alone at Sea, where even though nothing drastic happens there’s a real possibility that Lapis might relapse and go back to Malachite. It’s so much better than an episode where we know from the start that the character-of-the-week will depart by the end of the story.

Navy’s chipper behavior is variably cute and questionable, but I love the massive hint that is the rain sequence. Gems become Crystal Gems when exposed to water, so Navy gets her own little baptism as part of the orientation. But because she’s a false convert, we get artificial rain for her artificial reaction. Yi sells absurd joy as well as absurd frustration, but there’s a cloud hanging over this moment that becomes clearer on rewatch. 

Despite beginning with Steven and Garnet, then bringing Navy along for the ride, Room for Ruby becomes a Lapis Lazuli episode as soon as we head back to the barn. Navy is as one-dimensional as it gets before the reveal, blithely accepting everything that comes her way and seeming incapable of feeling negative emotions, so she needs an external opponent if we want this episode to have a plot. Yes, it’d be fun to see this goofball being a goofball for eleven minutes, but thankfully Steven Universe is willing to go deeper.

Peridot’s bossiness and desire to impress makes her an excellent candidate to teach Navy the ropes, and both can bond with fellow shorty Steven over a shared go-get’em mindset. So it makes sense that our wet blanket is Lapis, who first distrusts Navy and then gets fed up with how easy everything is for her. She’s trying, but seeing another foe-turned-friend have such a smooth go of it isn’t easy, and exploring those emotions of jealousy and inadequacy allows for a wonderful last hurrah before Lapis abandons Earth in Raising the Barn.

Lapis has a tricky role to play here, as she’s straddling the line between protagonist and antagonist depending on how much you trust Navy. Our hero/villain is portrayed sympathetically, as we’re reminded of her traumas and her slow but steady recovery process; she might come across as petty, but it’s understandable pettiness when Navy breezes by in areas where Lapis has struggled. And it helps that unlike fellow Ornery Lapis episode Barn Mates, Navy doesn’t seem to get upset at the negativity; this isn’t Peridot trying to win over a stubborn holdout, it’s a spacy ruby who ignores the venom. But at the same time, Lapis is the only protester in the Navy Parade, and her clash with Steven’s goal of bringing in a new friend makes her a huge bummer. 

Which is why I love this episode’s lesson so much: that it’s sometimes okay to be a huge bummer.

It’s okay because everyone’s going through the world at their own pace, and whether you’re clinically depressed, a survivor of trauma, or you’re just plain sad, it doesn’t make you less worthy than folks in a happier mood. Lapis attempts patience and understanding despite her annoyance, and only snaps when Navy’s attitude turns sickly sweet; feelings of inferiority are hard to work through, but it doesn’t make it okay to be a jerk the whole time. Even after the outburst, Lapis is quick to reassure Navy, acknowledging that it’s an internal problem and apologizing. She wants to like the newcomer, but as soon as she senses the forced perkiness it’s hard for her not to notice that something’s off.

A good twist is something that makes you rethink the plot, but a great twist does this duty while being enjoyable as a plot point on its own merits. The execution of Navy’s betrayal is marvelous, even as it becomes more and more obvious that it’s coming. After spending the whole episode geeking out about Earth stuff, Navy not-so-subtly suggests that she wants to go back to her ship. Steven not only falls for it, but is down to press a huge button without asking follow-up questions; it may seem inconsistent with his growing maturity, but it makes sense that an excitable kid is lost in the joy of making a new friend. The stranger area for me is his exclamation that the Crystal Gems “finally” have a pilot, as if Pearl hasn’t been successfully navigating spaceships this whole time, but again, he’s caught up in the moment.

The twist-within-a-twist is that while Navy has been plotting against our heroes this whole time, her demeanor isn’t part of the act. Yi's transition from earnest giddiness on land versus manic giddiness post-betrayal is worth the price of admission, especially as she merrily explains that she opted not to just steal the ship because she wanted to watch the Crystal Gems suffer. 

And of course, this brings about Lapis’s triumphant laughter at being proven right. Jennifer Paz is awesome throughout the episode, restraining herself when necessary for big bursts of energy to hit home, and it culminates in the sheer joy that comes from righteous vindication. We could’ve gotten a somber moment of Steven’s anguish at being tricked, similar to what we got after Peridot’s duplicity in Message Received, but Lapis allows us a sense of relief despite things going horribly. 

In an episode featuring a character as unsubtle as Navy (being tricky doesn’t stop her from being loud and hammy), I love the quieter story we get from Garnet. We only get a nudge that Navy’s story appeals to Ruby and Sapphire, but we don’t need more than that, so I’m glad we don’t get more. Yes, it would be fun to see Ruby hanging out with Navy, but the episode’s focus is elsewhere and we don’t indulge in fanservice that would take away from the plot. The two balloons Garnet brings at the end are color-coded for convenience, so we don’t need anyone to tell us that the optimistic red message is Ruby’s hopes and the apologetic blue message is Sapphire’s realism. It’s not a novel observation that Steven Universe respects the audience enough to not hold our hands, but it’s still appreciated.

(Also appreciated is a soft moment of Garnet bonding with Steven independent of the plot as they make wishes; Steven may be growing up fast, but he’s still allowed to be a kid sometimes instead of spending every episode in teen angst mode.)

In terms of criticisms, I’m a little torn about the pacing: Room for Ruby meanders a bit in that second act, even though I understand its purpose. Lapis needs to have her tolerance for Navy strained to a breaking point so she’s not throwing a tantrum out of nowhere, so we need multiple examples of frustrating glee. But it does get a little boring on rewatch to have the point driven home again and again that Navy is a perfect little angel, even if it’s all building up to the twist that she’s anything but.

Still, I can’t help but enjoy the nostalgia this structure provides, because major plot points aside, the episode fits right in with classic Season 1. We get a simple story that primes us for an obvious conclusion. Steven will find an unusual solution in his cheeseburger backpack. Steven will learn patience when Pearl takes a while to reform. Steven’s beach party with the Gems and the Pizzas will teach the Gems to respect civilians more. Lapis will grow to accept Navy’s differences. But instead, Steven’s improvisation only goes so far, and he’s impatient again as soon as Pearl returns, and the Gems still don’t care about Fish Stew Pizza, and Lapis’s negative outlook was correct. Steven Universe first made its mark by toying with the conventions of episodes with straightforward morals, and it’s nice to see that legacy continue so late in the series. 

The implications of Navy’s actions are soon made clear, as the loss of the Crystal Gems’ only means of space travel (stolen from the very barn where Steven, Greg, and Pearl first experimented with space travel!) makes Steven’s imminent sacrifice that much weightier. But before that shoe drops, we can enjoy one last glimpse of our favorite little ruby.

(I’m kidding of course, our Ruby is the best ruby.)

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Charlyne Yi hamming it up and Lapis’s grouchiness paying off? What’s not to love?

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Room for Ruby

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[caffeine-and-tears]

Poly!Hamilsquad x reader Pride

Poly!Hamilsquad x reader Pride headcanons  Title:?  Character: Poly!Hamilsquad  Type: Headcanon  Triggers: None?  Plot: How Hamilsquad would prepare/react to pride month/parade (I haven’t been to a pride parade so sorry if it’s inaccurate) ALSO SAGA stands for Sexuality and Gender acceptance and I use that instead of LGBTQIA+

Pride parade:

 First of Laf and Herc make y’all look AWESOME

 Laf does everyone’s makeup and makes tiny pride flags on your cheeks

 And eyeshadow inspired by said flag 

Herc makes you pride inspired clothes! It all depends on what everyone wants to wear 

John got a trans-flag hoodie

 Alex got a Bi-beanie LAF GOT A FULL DAYM POLYSEXUAL OUTFIT BC HE EXTRA 

He also makes shirts with your flag in the middle and if you’re in multiple parts of the SAGA family, then he does more on the back! 

Since Herc is busy making clothes, John is on mama bird duty 

He’s the one to make snacks and pack water bottles for you guys! 

But he’s not usually on mama bird duty so he packs a bunch of stuff you guys don’t usually need

 But it might come in handy in weirdly specific times

 “Oh shoot it’s raining” 

“Don’t worry I packed ponchos and water-resistant shoes”

 “John what the fuck”

 Alex d o e s n o t w a n t t o g o 

But the rest of you look really happy and he loves you all so he does anyways 

You all have to make it up to him with a bunch of cuddles He pretends to hate it but he actually doesn’t mind going

Pride month:

 Alex is so excited! He’s non-stop with telling all of you how much he loves you 

He actually is super sweet during pride month and sleeps at a half decent time! 

He just wants to cuddle okay?

 He takes the month to celebrate his amazing partners

 He’ll write you all poems, love letters, leave post-it notes everywhere 

So cute

He acts like it’s valentine's day every day of pride month

 “Alex we love you too, but we’re drowning in chocolates!” 

“You can’t stop me” 

He is not throwing away his shot to make you all feel loved and appreciated

 And a bit smothered

John gets excited as well! 

He celebrates EVERYONE during pride month 

Every day he wears something that’s the pride flag of colors of the day 

Even if it’s a crappy bracelet he only had 5 minutes to make He tries! 

He also becomes an encyclopedia of SAGA knowledge like?????????? 

How?????????????????

 He doesn’t know everything but he’s trying! 

HE ALSO WRITES STUFF ON TUMBLR EXPLAINING DIFFERENT SEXUALITIES AND GENDERS AND ALEX PROOF-READS IT FIGHT ME

 “John how did you even pass English your spelling and grammar suck”

 “Not everyone can write 51 essays in 6 months for extra credit Alex”

 He’ll also look for positive SAGA stories that he’ll share with you all if you’re feeling down!

 His eyes will light up while he tells y’all because THIS IS HIS TIME TO SHINEEEE

 “You know it’s now illegal to fire someone because of their sexuality”

 He’ll smile while saying it which makes everyone in the room swoon

 “Raise a glass to freedom~”

 “John you have the voice of an angel but STOP SINGING”

Herc is somehow caught in the eye of the hurricane with knitting John beanies every day and reading Alex’s work and assuring him that it’s perfect 

Herc uses pride month as an opportunity to learn from John? 

Not because he’s questioning he just likes to know that if anyone doesn’t know where they fall in the SAGA family he can help! 

He also assures everyone that they are valid no matter what anyone says via tweets 

Whenever it’s one of your days he usually makes a cupcake with frosting of your pride colors!

Laf doesn’t really do much during pride month 

Because he’s so extra every day pride month cannot contain his fabulousness 

He will partake in any events y’all want him to go to but he’d rather just be cuddling 

Warning if you do take him out somewhere at least one of y’all are going to be dragged somewhere for a quick makeout session

 He doesn’t make the rules 

Usually, though all of you get taken away for a little bit for a makeout session

 He will never be satisfied

If you aren’t out to your family or friends during pride month and want to come out then THEY ARE SOOO SUPPORTIVE

 Laf volunteers to go with you if you don’t want to do it alone 

Herc tells you that if you aren’t ready it’s fine and just because it’s pride month doesn’t mean you have to come out  if you’re not ready

John reminds you that even if it doesn’t go well they will always love you

 Keep in mind this is all said in a giant cuddle pile at 12 in the morning and everyone’s tired 

When Alex joins 10 minutes later all he sleepily mumble is “You’re really awesome-and if anyone has a problem with that I’LL FIGHT THEM”

 “Alex stop drinking coffee” How can so much rage be bottled in such a tiny person

No matter if you’re in or out of the closet Or which part of the SAGA family you’re in The boys love you and would do anything for you 

(But Alex still will go to bed at 4am as soon as pride month is over he can’t help it) ,

[nevermindthewind]

even more impressive

shoutout to @fourdrinkamy for helping me with this lil guy. u rock!!! 

Amy wakes up to the sound of rain pounding against the window.

Normally if she woke up to rain on a Saturday, or woke up without an alarm at all, she’d be thrilled. She’d burrow under the blankets as far as she could, wrap her feet around Jake’s burning legs, and nestle into his side as the rain lulled her back to sleep. On most days, waking up to rain would be the most welcome surprise.

Today is not one of those days.

Because today is the first day of summer and the first Saturday Jake and Amy have off together in weeks and they had plans, dammit!

Well really, Amy had plans. But it was gonna be perfect. They were gonna go to all the way up to the new pool over in Brooklyn Heights and go to that place where they serve cookie dough in waffle cones and eat way more sugar than Amy ever allowed at home. It was gonna be perfect.

However those plans required a distinct lack of rain.

“Shit,” she groans as she flops onto her other side. The disruption causes Jake to stir, his light snores coming to a halt as he opens one eye.

“What issit?” he murmurs.

“Look outside,” she sighs.

Jake reaches out and pulls Amy to him, snaking his arm across her stomach. “What’s outside?”

“It is literally raining on my parade.”

He kisses the back of her head in an attempt to calm her down. “So? Now we can sleep more.”

Amy rolls her eyes, although she does scoot a bit further into his chest.

“But we were supposed to go to the pool today! I had a whole thing planned.”

“I know,” Jake says, his voice still gravelly from sleep. “But we can do all of that another day, you know. According to Phineas and Ferb there are one hundred and four days of summer vacation, so we have plenty of time.”

She can’t help but giggle as she wraps her arm around his. He’s right, of course.

“True. Although I’m pretty sure Phineas and Ferb had more than one hundred and four days. That show ran for years.”

“Right?! Like who actually builds a roller coaster in a day. That takes at least a week, obvs. I mean--”

An enormous rumble of thunder cuts Jake off, causing them both to jump.

“How long do you think we have?” he asks, eyeing the door to their bedroom.

“I give it five minutes,” says Amy. Jake scoffs.

“I give it two.”

Sure enough they’re both wrong, because not even thirty seconds later they hear the familiar pitter-patter of little feet thundering (Ha!) down the hall.

“MAMA!” “DADDY!”

The door bursts open as all three kids race towards the bed, each wearing the same terrified expression. Hanna with her longer legs reaches the bed first and immediately dives right in between Jake and Amy. The boys are not far behind, scrambling to climb onto the bed before the next thunderclap. Gabe nestles into Amy’s side, taking the spot Jake had occupied only seconds before while Sam climbs on Jake’s chest and latches on koala-style.

“What’s that noise?” Sam asks, his voice muffled by the thumb currently stuck his mouth.

“Yeah, I don’t like that noise,” Gabe adds.

“It’s thunder, sillies,” Hanna tells them. Another clap of thunder strikes outside, this one so loud they can feel the house vibrate.  All three kids let out a yelp, and Hanna grabs Jake’s hand as she scoots into his side. “Daddy, why does thunder happen? And why is it so LOUD?”

Jake rubs his thumb over his daughter’s hand. “Well, Nana always told me that thunder happens when all the angels go bowling. And they’re all super duper strong, that’s why it’s so loud.”

“But how do bowling balls get up to the sky?” Hanna asks.

“They fly, duh,” Sam replies with such conviction Jake and Amy can’t help but grin at each other over their his head.

“There are flying bowling balls?” Gabe asks, his eyes wide. If it’s possible he looks more scared than he did when they first came in the room. “What if it hit me?”

“They won’t hit you, baby,” Amy says as she runs a hand through Gabe’s unruly curls. “They’re already up in the sky.”

“You sure?” Sam asks.

“Yeah Mama, you sure?” Gabe echoes, a little softer than his twin. There’s a reason why Jake and Amy call him their little shadow.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she replies calmly. Another thunderclap. Both Gabe and Sam tighten their grips on their respective parent, while Hanna’s eyes are so wide it’d honestly be kinda funny if she wasn’t so scared. Amy gives Jake a pointed look. “That sounded like a strike! Don’t you think so, Daddy?”

“Oh definitely,” Jake replies with an exaggerated nod. “Those angels are expert bowlers, huh Bear?” He gives Hanna a playful nudge.

“I guess so…” Hanna says slowly. “But I still wish they weren’t so noisy. It’s scary.”

“I know,” says Jake before planting a kiss on the top of her head. “What if we go make pancakes to distract ourselves? Give the angels a chance to finish their game?”

“Can we make Uncle Charles’ strawberry sauce?” she asks hopefully.

“Well of course! It wouldn’t be a pancake breakfast without strawberry sauce.” Jake gasps. “And then we can make a fort! And watch movies. Everyone knows the best rainy day activity is fort making. Right, Ames?”

Four pairs of excited eyes look up at her, and as much as Amy wanted to follow her plan (Seriously, she made a whole laminated list of pool activities they could do. It was beautiful.), she knows Jake’ll make today just as fun.  So she grins and tucks a loose strand of hair behind Hanna’s ear.

“I’ll get the blankets.”

Cheers erupt from the bed as everyone scrambles to their positions, Hanna dragging Jake to the kitchen so they can start on breakfast while Amy and the boys search for the best fort-making materials.  They scrounge up every single pillow they own, from Amy’s old pregnancy pillow to the hard-as-rocks decorative ones Jake convinced Amy they needed for the couch, and more blankets than Amy even knew they owned.  Before too long the whole apartment is filled with the smell of sweet strawberries and syrup.  

After scarfing down as many pancakes they can stomach all five of them put all of their energy into creating the biggest, most incredible fort the world has ever seen.  Hanna takes charge, directing Amy and Jake as they move the heavier pieces of furniture while Sam and Gabe organize the pillows by size and shape.

“A little to the left, Daddy,” Hanna instructs.

Jake shuffles to his left before setting the end table down.

“Here?”

“No Daddy, my left.”

“Right, of course.”

Hanna rolls her eyes, her expression a carbon copy of Amy’s. It’s all Amy can do to keep from laughing. Their daughter may have Jake’s curls and his love for all things action, but the rest of her was ALL Santiago.

“Mama,” Gabe calls. He’s on top of a chair, holding onto a blanket with one hand and a pillow in the other. “We can use the heavy pillows to keep the blankets from going bang!”

Amy grins as she makes her way over to the chair. She takes the pillow out of Gabe’s hand and sets it up against the back of the chair so the blanket stays in place.

“Great idea, mijo!” she says.

“Mama what about this?” Sam asks, not to be outdone by his brother. Amy looks up to see Sam’s favorite Harry Potter blanket draped over the table and the couch. “It’s like a secret passageway!”

“Wow Sammy, that’s so cool!”

“See Ames,” Jake huffs as he finally places the end table in the perfect position. “We’re preparing them to be awesome engineers one day. I mean come on, I knew they were smart but that passageway? That pillow/blanket design? They’re GENIUSES!”

He leaps over to where Gabe is standing and lifts him into the air with a playful growl, causing Gabe to shriek with laughter. “Daddy, I not a genius. I’m a Gabe!”

“You sure? Because I think you’re a genius,” Jake says before tossing him back into the air.

“Yes!” Gabe squeals, his giggles echoing throughout the room.

Jake’s grin widens as he brings Gabe back down to earth, planting a kiss on his head before setting him on the ground. “Okay, fine. You’re Gabe. But I think you’re a genius, too.”

“What about me, Daddy?” Hanna asks from her perch on the couch. “Am I a genius?”

“You, my little bear, are definitely a genius,” Jake replies. “All of us are. Papa Ray told me so.”

“And if Papa Ray says something, it has to be true,” Amy adds.

Hanna nods, apparently satisfied with that answer because she begins rattling off instructions to the boys.

Two hours and approximately one hundred pillows later the fort is complete and Amy’s pretty sure she’s never been prouder of anything in her life. It has multiple rooms (and a secret passageway), a fan for proper ventilation, and christmas lights draped across the blanket ceiling.  The floor is covered in pillows for optimal comfort and it is the perfect distance from the TV for optimal movie watching. They used their floor lamps as the base, creating ceilings high enough for all of them to be able to sit without crouching.

“This,” Hanna gasps as she crawls into the fort. “Is the bestest. Fort. Ever.”

“Yeah, the bestest!” Gabe agrees, snuggling up next to his sister.

“The best,” Amy says gently. She will not have her kids using improper grammar, no matter how adorable it is.

Jake pops the movie into the DVD player (It’s no surprise to anyone that they choose the Lion King. All three kids are obsessed. Sam wants to be a lion when he grows up.) before climbing in after the kids and pulling Sam onto his lap.

They watch the first movie together, singing along to all the songs. Jake even does some of the voices, and the kids straight up howl with laughter at his hyena impression. But after awhile Jake and Amy slip out, allowing the kids to play together for a bit. Hanna’s got the boys playing house, and it’s possibly the cutest thing they’ve ever heard.

They can still just make out the storm raging outside, but it’s been completely forgotten now. The kids’ playful cadence echoes throughout the house, their voices mixed with the occasional giggle or squeal. Amy and Jake end up in the kitchen just listening as they lean against the counter.

“Good day after all?” Jake asks, nudging her arm with his. Amy smiles as she looks up at him.

“The bestest.”

He lets out a laugh before turning back to look at the fort, scooting closer to wrap his arms around Amy’s middle. A burst of hushed giggles erupts from the fort, causing both of them to smile.

“We really made that,” Jake murmurs into her ear.

“I know. The pillow foundation is actually quite impressive.”

“No, I meant the kids. We made them.”

Amy’s smile widens as she leans back into Jake’s chest and takes his arms into hers. She’d never get over how goddamn lucky she is.

“Even more impressive.”

[gleekto]

LMDC Tour - Ten Little Toronto Things

I always enjoy when someone writes up a fan event and gives the ‘each show is different’ details, so I’m going to try to do that for the Toronto show...

1. Rachel Berry was in the audience. An actual person who had done M&G - and they acknowledged her. Lea told the story of how the woman walked in and put out her hand and said, “Hi. Rachel Berry”. And Lea was like ha ha yes, “I’m Lea”. And then the woman was like, “No. I’m Rachel Berry.” And she is.

2.After Broadway Baby, when they were introducing themselves, Darren and Lea talked about how Lea had lived in Toronto for a couple of years doing Ragtime (1997) and there were a couple of audience folks who had seen her in it.

3. There was some definite Lea Michele love in the audience near me. There were two girls who - somewhat inexplicably - were wearing fancy ball gowns (no, not a nice black dress - like shiny, Cinderella gowns), who were just all about Lea and it was loving and sweet and made me laugh.

4. Darren was very excited that it was Tony night - mentioned several times. 

-when he came back from being off stage for Lea’s set, he asked her - “I’m sure you can guess what I was doing backstage” (she’s blank). “Finding out the Tony winners, of course.” He read out winners for best actor in a play and I think best actress in a play (though I didn’t totally catch it). 

5. At one point, a fan screamed out “HEDWIG!” to Darren at some earlier moment and Darren noticed and he said “we’ll get to that later”, and then in place of either IDM or IDAD (he had done Hopelessly Devoted), he said again that it’s Tony night so we’ve gotta honour Broadway (or something like that) and did the Hedwig/H2$ mash up - BLESS. (I have the Midnight Radio part of vid - will post).

6. The swing song - So he first noted that it was their only Canadian stop and mentioned and sang bits of some famous Canadian folks - He mentioned Rufus Wainwright, had the whole audience singing the chorus of “Take the Load off Annie” (The Band), then he did a quick verse of Barenaked Ladies’ One Week. But he said, Canada is too big (correct) and this is Toronto so went for some local talent, and this guy who really reps the city (that is true) - And sang Drake’s Hold On (better than the original imho!!!)

7. Two mid-show standing ovations - For Don’t Rain on My Parade and Teenage Dream.

8. Not unique to Toronto but I hadn’t listened before the show - The This Time duet arrangement was just GORGEOUS and does anyone please have good audio of it??!

9. Don’t You Want Me - There was some seriously good energy for this song - audience on their feet, singing along. And as you likely have seen in the gifs, they stuck out the mic for the audience to sing  - it was just a good time.

10. Best for Last - MYFML - Like in the other shows, it was done without mics, just their voices and Darren’s guitar, right at the front of the stage. The audience all stayed standing and silent and then, spontaneously, for the very last line, the whole audience sang the line quietly along with them “To make you feel my love...” - Darren got a shiny look in his eyes and Lea teared up (not sure if that singing has happened in other cities - it was very spontaneous) and they nodded at each other with a look that was like - YES.  It was a lovely moment.

This tour is an awesome gift.

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

Opening lines:

Got tagged by the awesome @keith-in-shibari​ so I figured let’s see lol 

Rules: List the first lines of your last ten published stories. Look to see if there are any patterns that you notice yourself, and see i anyone else notices any! Tag up to ten friends.

10. Medicine (as needed): 

He pushed through the crowd, Keith’s gaze becoming darker the closer he got. Until Lance was pulling him from the guy, too drunk to do more than pout before stumbling against someone new to grind against.

Lance grabbed Keith around the waist, pulling him closer. “Thought you didn’t dance,” Lance said in his ear.

Keith laughed. “You’re insistent for a straight boy.”

“I never said I was straight. I just said you’re the first guy I’ve wanted that way.” Keith raised an eyebrow and Lance felt his body moving with the music. “I’ve been thinking about you. I’ve been wanting to see you again.”

9. Fragile Hearts Ch. 9: Trying to Put it Into Words

The motel room was nicer than Pidge expected. The ones she’d seen on TV were usually ones with peeling wall paint, water stains, and roaches scurrying around rusted bathroom sinks and tubs. This one smelled like cotton air freshener and had little lamps and comfortable beds. It wasn’t as nice as the hotel room she’d gotten with Hunk back in New York, but that was to be expected.

As she finished brushing her teeth, she could feel Lance’s eyes on her. She ignored it, hoping to simply fall asleep for the night and keep the journey going in the morning.

Then he cleared his throat, and her stomach flipped. “So… are we gonna talk about Ohio?”

“No,” she said firmly.

“Pidge-”

“I really, really don’t want to, Lance. Please drop it.”

8. Rose Are Red Ch. 3

There were some people that immediately felt… off. People who, when they spoke, sparked some sort of evolutionary instinct in you to be wary. For some people it was a look in their eyes, something missing. Or the way they presented themselves.

It felt different from prejudice because it was a suspicion that you knew full well had no solid ground, and yet every instinct told you to stay alert. Not to let them close.

Many people confused this instinct for pretentiousness or pessimism. But that wasn’t the case. The fact of the matter was that some people were just more attuned to the characteristics in others that didn’t seem genuine.

Some people were more attuned to those who were dangerous.

7. Every Love Story Starts in a Coffeeshop 

There were perks to working in a coffeeshop. Like the smell. The smell was… a little overwhelming, but soothing and constant. It was a homey smell. Or the sounds. The light chatter, the music, the whirring of blenders and coffee grinders. It was a symphony that complimented each other. Or the benefits! One free drink a day, flexible schedule for college courses, decent health care.

And there were also downsides, like there were to every job. Like the smell that lingered even hours after being off a shift, or the fact that the menu got old quick, or working on some of the busiest days at the busiest hours. And while some might say the worst thing about working at a coffeeshop are the pretentious customers with ridiculous orders, horrible attitudes, that eventually demand to see the manager because the drink wasn’t to their liking, that wasn’t it.

At least not for Will. He could handle those people. He was friendly enough that even the snobbiest customers would let up a bit and shrug off the inconvenience without getting him in trouble. He was good with people, with customer service, so the people he usually took orders for were typically just as friendly or reassured by his friendliness into a state of ease.

6. Love For You Ch. 3- Unsteady Confetti 

The light from the computer was starting to hurt Keith’s eyes. It was late, and he was tired, and he wanted to go home. It was the second week he was working late without taking his usual day off within the week or getting off early on Friday.

He’d talked about it with Lance, and while Lance felt like he didn’t need to work so much, there hadn’t been an argument about it. Keith wanted to save his free days so he could spend the week of Violet’s birthday with her instead of working on her birthday like he was going to. And with the extra money, they would be able to do whatever she wanted for her birthday without worrying about work the next day.

“Hey, you look like you could use this.” A Starbucks cup was set down in front of him.

Keith looked up and smiled gratefully at his coworker. “Thanks, Leo.”

“How late are you working tonight?”

Keith looked at the clock at the corner of the computer. “Another hour. You leaving already?”

5. So Easy to Fall 

It was funny the way time made people realize things. Like who holds an important place in your mind, in your heart. Being so far from the paladins for so long made Keith realize just how important they all were to him. How much he had come to see them all as family.

Coming back, however, had another effect on him entirely. It had been a struggle to understand where he stood with them, especially with the urgency of having to come back and get things done.

Now, with a course set for Earth, he had time to mull it over.

How the hell had Lance become… that?

He wasn’t the same guy who had to be yelled at to know when to stop joking, the one ready to pick petty arguments at the most minimal slight. He was a lot more serious now. A lot quieter. He even looked older. Keith knew he himself had aged his two years, so his change was expected. But Lance’s…. He was a little less round, a little more muscular.

4. Just a Beat of Your Wings

Looking in the mirror felt hollow. The feathers with streaks of red and black ruffled, looking sticky and tattered because of the rain. It was weird to think that everyone had these, that everyone’s look different. Being unable to see the wings of others always made Keith feel like a freak when he stared in the mirror. Sure, he was meant to see someone else’s one day, but… when?

He was twenty years old, a junior in college, and he was watching everyone find their soulmate. Meanwhile Keith’s wings slowly began to curl around him a little more like he could hide in them. Of course he couldn’t- no one else could see his wings.

Still it was a little comforting when his wings fluttered around him to help him feel a little less alone.

Keith braced himself then expanded his wings, letting each side dart out quickly, shaking off most of the water. He grabbed the oil he used to keep his wings from smelling damp and gently slathered it onto each silky feathered wing. They were a little damp still, but Keith knew they’d dry quickly. He allowed them to flutter slightly, lifting him off the ground if he didn’t pay attention.

3. The New Romantics Ch. 16

Finally. It was finally time to prepare for takeoff. After pacing around anxiously for half a varga, Keith felt like he was going to lose his mind. But as soon as he was given the order to set the coordinates and make sure the pod ship was ready, he turned it on and made sure everything was running smoothly twice.

Kolivan walked in shortly after, talking with Astriaga and a few other Blades. Keith rubbed the tips of his fingers together, reminding himself to be patient. Rushing his boss was not going to be doing him any favors. And yet it seemed like the conversation was taking so long.

“Keith!” He turned toward the sound of his name. Astriaga was standing at parade rest and looking at him with one arched eyebrow. “Are you in such a rush, you can’t say goodbye to your trainer?”

Keith blushed and walked over sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” he said. He lowered his voice as Kolivan continued to talk with the other Blades. “I’m just excited.”

Astriaga smiled. “Yes, we all know it. Just remember you have a duty first. Don’t take advantage of being Kolivan’s favorite pupil.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows, disbelieving the statement. Still, it made something comforting settle in his chest. “Be careful. And remember to listen to Kolivan.”

then because I haven’t written much outside of these, here’s some drafts I’ve recently left:

2. Shoebox Letters

It all started at the age of twelve. That was when Lance experienced his first most soul-consuming, intense, unrequited crush.

Her name was Jenny and Lance had her for his math and reading classes. She was smart, and she had long black hair that was always braided somehow. Lance had no idea what to do about the fact that he couldn’t think around her, or that the smell of her apples and caramel perfume permeated his brain until he swore he smelled it at the grocery store or at church. He had no idea what to do about the fact that his sweating got ten times more intense if she looked at him or laughed because he did something funny or stupid. He couldn’t even talk to her.

Then one day while his older sister was looking through some boxes of old photos for a project, he found some letters. They were yellowed, and the words were hard to read at the creases. They were dated back to the 1970s.

The letter belonged to his parents. They were love letters written to each other when they were still dating, when Lance’s father was still courting his mother. While it was a bit embarrassing to try and read the cursive, Lance saw how his sister swooned when she saw them. How she lit up and went on about how romantic the letter-writing was.

Which was why he decided to write Jenny a letter that night. He told her everything he felt. From the awkward sweatiness to the debilitating butterflies. He’d gone to school the next day with all intention of giving her the letter and running away.

Except that day was the same day Marc Figueroa asked her out. And Jenny said yes.

Heartbroken, twelve-year-old Lance stuffed his letter deeper into his pocket and never gave it to her. When he got home, he almost threw it away. If not for the part of him that wondered if maybe one day they’d break up and he could give it to her after all. That part of him made him save the letter under his mattress.

1. Unnamed Hidge Werewolf AU

The worst part of summer was the heat. The way shade didn’t seem to be enough and there wasn’t any breeze to relieve anyone from the scorch of it. Every summer, Hunk got darker than he was. He hated wearing sunscreen because it left him feeling sticky, and so the sun would prickle his skin and leave him up to three shades darker than when he got out of school.

The summer was nearly over, which meant that his Momma had started giving him a curfew again. She wanted him to get used to going to sleep at nine again instead of staying up until one in the morning playing video games with Lance.

Suddenly, he felt a sweaty hand grab his own sweaty arm. “I didn’t know there was kids there,” Lance said, pointing to an apartment two building over from where theirs were. “How comes we never sawed them?”

Hunk looked over to where Lance was pointing and saw a little boy with a toy plane and a smaller girl with a toy rocket.

“Maybe they’re new,” Hunk said.

“Let’s say hi! They can play with us at the playground!”

Before Hunk could protest, Lance yanked him and started running. The kids were on a patio on the first floor, so it was easy for Lance to make himself known.

“Hullo! Do you wanna play with us? We’re goin’ to the playground.”

The kids both scrambled back then looked at each other. “Call Mommy,” the boy said. The girl went inside then looked at Lance.

“Oh, I wasn’t gonna hurt ya,” Lance said. “We just wanted to know if you wanna play.”

“Mommy says we can’t talk to strangers,” the boy said.

I guess something I notice is that I try to start off with an air of mystery, but idk if I actually manage it? aha, also I like to bring in emotions a lot. Idk, if you guys notice something let me know! 

And idk who to tag who enjoys writing, so... if you wanna try this out go for it! 

[sapienveneficus]

Elsie Fest 2017: My Ramblings

I want to begin by stating that I had a great time at Elsie Fest this year. I wanted to say that upfront because there are a few aspects of last night's show I plan to criticize, and I don't want anyone to come away from reading my reflection thinking I didn't enjoy myself. Just because something wasn't perfect, doesn't mean it wasn't fun.

I went to the very first Elsie Fest back in 2015. The performances that day, one after the other, were epic in the truest sense of the word. I don't think I'll ever recover from watching Lea Salonga sing I'll Give My Life for You, or Leslie Odom Jr. and Aaron Tveit duet on What You Own, or Laure Osnes debut Love Will Come and Find Me Again from Bandstand, or Team Starkid coming together with Darren to sing Going Back to Hogwarts. What a night! However, in spite of all of that awesome, the venue was terrible. It was basically a slab of concrete floating in the Hudson River. And general admission ticket holders were just penned in behind a metal fence facing the barely raised stage. I was lucky enough to get a spot along that fence which meant I had a great view of the stage. But that also meant that I had to spend the next 9 and a half hours pressed against that fence in order to keep my great view. That experience was, in a word, unpleasant. Now, I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, but I am saying I wasn't in a hurry to go through it again.

So when 2016 rolled around, I was excited about Elsie Fest but crossing fingers and toes that the organizers would choose a better venue. When it was announced that they'd chosen Coney Island, my reaction was mixed. On the one hand, I was glad to hear that there'd be some shade and potentially places to sit down. But on the other hand, I knew it'd be next to impossible to get all the way out to Coney Island right smack in the middle of Labor Day weekend. And then when I saw the lackluster list of performers they'd gotten (when compared with that first year's bill) I decided to give Elsie Fest 2016 a pass.

That brings me to this year. When I heard that Elsie Fest would be in Central Park over Columbus Day weekend, I was thrilled. Both the location and the timing sounded perfect to me. When the list of performers was first announced, I was less than thrilled. To go from living Broadway legends like Aaron Tveit, Lea Salonga, Laura Osnes, and Leslie Odom Jr. to Lea Michele (whose voice I do like, don't get me wrong) and Alan Cumming (again, not an untalented fellow, but he doesn't exactly have a powerhouse voice), to me seemed like a major step down. I also wasn't too thrilled with a few of the other changes that had been made. The price of general admission tickets had risen substantially (from $40 to $60) and the length of the show had been more than cut in half (from 8.5 hours to 3.5 hours). Despite my reservations, I decided to give Elsie Fest 2017 a chance.

I ended up arriving in Central Park just after 4PM Sunday afternoon. I joined the already growing line of concertgoers (the venue was set to open at 5PM) and spent the next hour chatting with other excited fans. My line experience was definitely a positive one. I saw t-shirts and buttons from just about every fandom under the sun being worn proudly by fans of all ages. Though I was baffled by the sight of one man's shirt. It contained 3 large ears of corn with cats splayed out on top of each one, all set against an outer-space backdrop. As that man walked by my spot in line, I remember thinking, “Is Corn Cats in Space a thing? I've heard of Supernatural, Riverdale, Doctor Who, and Rick and Morty, but not whatever that guy was sporting. Am I that out of touch?” Anyhow, while the line was fun, things only got better once we were let inside the venue. I'd just found the perfect spot to set up my blanket (center back of the first section) when I got swept up into a Broadway singalong led by two Marie's Crisis employees. That first hour passed quickly as a growing audience of theater fanatics sang along to hits from Hairspray, Grease, Rent, Wicked, Hamilton, and Les Mis. The singalong was so fun, in fact, that I almost didn't want the show to start. The guys chose to end it with One Day More from Les Mis (a wise choice). They got things started and were then joined on stage by Keala Settle and Norm Lewis who helped lead a few parts. What a way to wrap up a showtunes singalong!

So, still riding high from amazing moment, the crowd was more than ready for Jeremy Jordan's set to kick things off. And he did not disappoint. He began with Broadway, Here I Come from Smash. Now, I never got into Smash (don't come for me, Smash fans) but this first song was catchy, and he sang it incredibly well so I was on board. That led into a performance of Shiksa Goddess from The Last Five Years that had the crowd going nuts. Talk about charisma; Jeremy Jordan is one charismatic guy! He followed that up with his go-to shower song, At Last by Etta James, and his high school band's go-to cover song, Semi Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind. To close out his set, he did a Disney medley to end all Disney medleys. I recognized songs from Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Hunchback, Hercules, and Newsies, and I'm sure there were more in there. In short, Jeremy performed the perfect set for a show like Elsie Fest. I'd bet anything he'd watched Aaron Tveit's set from 2015 and had taken notes. He made sure to pick songs that the audience both knew and loved, catering heavily to millennials as they were the clear majority in that crowd, and he introduced each number with a delightful story. He had that audience eating out of the palm of his hand, and he left us all wanting more. I wish the other performers that night had followed his example.

Lea Michele's set was good, but it lacked the energy Jeremy's. She performed a few of her Glee hits (Don't Rain on My Parade, Maybe This Time, My Man, and Make You Feel My Love), did one of her original songs, Run to You, and did Falling Slowly with Darren. I can't fault any of the numbers themselves because she sang them all well enough. I think, though, her set really needed two things to take it from good to great. First, her stage presence needed work. She really struggled to connect with the audience. I think a funny story or two between numbers would have helped. Second, I think she needed to do an upbeat or modern Broadway song that hadn’t been on Glee. I'd have loved to see her do a Hamilton number or something from Spring Awakening. Heck, I'd have settled for Sonya Alone from Great Comet (since Ingrid didn't do it). I think telling a story about a show she's seen recently and loved and then singing a song from that show would have been a great addition to her set. A throwback story to her days in Spring Awakening and one of those songs would also have been great. I saw a video on YouTube of her doing Blue Wind a few years back, and she killed it. So, yeah, I enjoyed Lea's set, but it could have been better. Oh, and one more thing. This was completely out of Lea's control so I don't blame her in the slightest, but I was really hoping that Jonathan Groff would show up to do a surprise duet with her. He'd done it before, at one of her concerts, and I was really hoping he'd do it again. This event couldn't have been more perfect for a stunt like that, but I guess he must have been away doing press for his new Netflix show. Sigh, maybe next year.

Alan Cumming's set is where things went from good to bad real fast. Let me say first, that I like Alan Cumming. I think he's a talented performer. That said, his set was a poor fit for Elsie Fest. It started off okay. He sang Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, a nice throwback for all the Glee fans in attendance, and then did Mein Herr from Cabaret. He even started to tell a funny story about going back to Cabaret 16 years later which quickly transitioned into an ad for his newly opened club in the East Village (very subtle). Then he decided to introduce What More Can I Say from Falsettos with just what the night needed, a lecture on politics. To say that the crowd's energy was brought down by that lecture/number would be an understatement. Then he went into a mashup of Adele's Someone Like You and Gaga's Edge of Glory, and I remember thinking, “Okay, course correction, maybe he can still salvage this.” After that number he then went on to tell a rather mean-spirited anecdote about how all those songs sound the same. And while, yes, pop songs are similar, the way he said it was derisive and again brought the audience out of the good mood they'd just started to get back into. Someone really needed to take him aside for a moment and remind him that he was at a concert to celebrate Broadway and its fans. But, of course, no one did so he then went into a very short Sondheim mashup designed to prove that all his songs are the same too. This one didn't bother me as much as I am not one to worship at the altar of Sondheim, but this was where he lost the rest of the crowd. Some of the older people near me walked away. Then, after another political lecture, he chose to end his set with Ladies Who Lunch (not exactly a crowd pleaser). I'm not sure who he was meant to be performing for at this point, he'd already lost the millenials and pissed off the older, die-hard Sondheim fans. Most of the audience had either gone to the restrooms or had taken out their phones. But despite all that, he pressed on with his odd choice, then told the audience yet again to #resist, and left.

Suffice it to say, Darren had his work cut out for him going into this last set. I'd say he succeeded in getting the crowd back and ending things well, but there were a few things I'd have done differently. Ingrid Michaelson and Auli'i Cravalho were both great additions. Auli'i sounded great on her signature song from Moana, and wow is that young lady poised! She seemed so comfortable on that stage. She even called Darren out for calling her character a princess, their lighthearted back and forth was both delightful and needed! Ingrid Michaelson gave a soulful performance of Somewhere That's Green in honor of her late father. That was honestly one of the highlights of the night for me. Her other two numbers were also lovely, but that one stood out. Keala Settle did a new song from the upcoming movie The Greatest Showman which was okay. I mean, she was great, but the song was just okay. Norm Lewis, on the other hand, only performed one song, and it was a disappointment. Now, I understand his reluctance to do a song from his current show, Sweeney Todd, and that's certainly fair enough. I could also see how he might be a bit tired of Les Mis. Also fair, but he didn't do a Broadway number at all. He sang What's Going On by Marvin Gaye and peppered his performance with more political interjections. Putting aside the politics, why any performer come to Elsie Fest, perform a single song, and not have it be a Broadway song? If he was having trouble choosing a song to perform, I'm sure the audience would have been all too happy to offer suggestions. Personally, I was hoping he'd do Dust and Ashes from Great Comet. He's got the perfect voice for it. But literally any Broadway song would have been better than none at all.

As for Darren's songs, he performed them well. He's also got an infectious charisma. Every time I see him, it’s just such a joy to watch him perform. That said, I wish he'd worked a few new numbers into his set. I'm not saying cut out Teenage Dream. I'd happily listen to him perform his version of that song well into his 80s. But One Fine Day and I Dreamed a Dream should have been replaced with two new Broadway numbers. Darren's a guy who sees everything on Broadway. Much like with Lea, I'd have loved to hear a story or two about some new show he's seen and then watch him perform a song from it. That aside, one welcome addition to his set was Granger Danger. I was thrilled that he'd convinced Jenna Ushkowitz to join him for that song. Those two singing together was another highlight of the night for me. And while his set may not have been perfect, I think he found the perfect ending. He closed out the night with Tom Petty's Free Fallin'. Given that the performer had just passed away, it was a fitting tribute, and Darren sang it beautifully.

This last bit isn’t related to any one particular performer, but I had to include it for posterity’s sake. Before Lea Michele came out to do her set, she was introduced by Satan himself, Ryan Murphy. The crowd applauded for him, as any polite crowd still coming off a Jeremy Jordan high would, but as that applause began to die down, I booed, loudly. So loudly that people turned to stare at me. My response to their questioning looks, “I’m a Glee fan.” So to all those glee fans who weren’t able to be there in person. I wanted you all to know that someone booed the man in the yellow hat on your behalf. 

And that's all there is. Thank you for reading my Elsie Fest ramblings. Who knows? Maybe one of the organizers will find this and take my suggestions to heart. Regardless, if Elsie Fest stays in Central Park, I will definitely be back for 2018!

[thefoodwiththedood]

OC Fact: In a recent game, Rek rolled so well on a lie check that he convinced a security guard to let him and Korrtak into a crime scene to perform a "wookie atonement ritual," which included, among other things, the guard turning the cameras away, leaving the door open, and closing his eyes.

Tell me a fact about your oc and I will respond with a semi-related fact about mine

Duuude, that’s awesome! Rek’s such a shyster, I love it :D

Hes and Russ did something similar—though to be fair, their success was mostly due to dumb luck and Imperial incompetence, rather than any cunning on their part.

(This is likely gonna be a long story, so buckle up and click that “read more” link to check it out! I’d recommend checking out Russoc’s origin story here first, though, cuz I’ll call back to that a lot in this.

On one fateful Empire Day in 17 BBY, Hes Chaddic (barely 17 years old at the time), and Russoc Dhaalgondt (35 years old, and a rebel for only one week of that) were hanging out in Montellian Serat, watching the Imps parade their arsenal through the city streets. The Angels’ leader at the time, Jussalc’sai’Truertos, had told the entire band of rebels not to try anything at the parade—”too much risk”, as he’d put it. Hes was never one for just sitting around, especially as a rowdy teenager, but begrudgingly she and Russ agreed to lay low. So, for that afternoon, the two just sat on a rooftop and watched the bucketheads meander past them.

It wasn’t how Hes had wanted it to go, though: she’d hoped she and Russ would get to rough up the Imps a bit, just to make ‘em look like the idiots they are. She thought that was just what Russ needed to help him cheer up—ever since he joined the Angels, he’d been a total sad sack. Sure, he pulled his weight and everything, but rather than laugh and have fun like the other Angels, he just seemed to wanna sit alone and be sad. It was so weird to Hes—she remembered him being so happy and kindhearted when she first met him at his veggie stand, but now he just seemed so…lifeless. Probably ‘cause the Imps took his horns, Hes thought to herself—yeah, that was definitely it. So of course fighting them would help—revenge always helps, after all!

And so, Hes would set about to get her new friend his revenge. Halfway through the parade, the horns blaring “Glory of the Empire” were interrupted by Hes gasping loudly, and the sudden force of her hand on his shoulder shook Russ from his moping. She pointed off to a stage at the end of one street, where several wanted posters of criminals (namely ones of fellow Devaron’s Angels) were displayed, with a bounty set under each of them. What had Hes so excited was the leftmost poster—her own wanted poster, displaying a bounty comparably higher than anyone else’s. Russ failed to see the humor in this, but he could tell Hes was excited, so he smiled and halfheartedly congratulated her.

Hes smiled proudly, but then stopped as an idea began to formulate in her mind. She went silent as she thought it out, but in a moment she was smiling again, this time with an almost malicious look in her eyes. Russ looked quizzically at her for a moment, but before he could even ask what was up, Hes started to relay her plan: She would be giving herself up to the Imperials. Russ did a double take as she said it, and without hesitation he replied, “You’ve lost your mind!”. Hes wasn’t deterred, though, and she continued to share her idea.

Her plan went as follows: Russ would drag her to the nearest trooper he could find, where he’d say he “caught one of the rebels”. The trooper would of course turn away to take Russ to collect his reward, at which point the both of them would rush him and, if necessary, take him out permanently. Then, Russ would put on the trooper’s armor (his lack of horns would make it so the helmet would fit perfectly), and “escort” Hes back to the nearest Imperial stronghold for “questioning”. Once there, the two of them would just plant thermal detonators everywhere they could, steal as much as they could carry, and escape on whatever ship they could find—and bam! Angels: 1, Empire: 0!

While Russ admitted he liked the idea in theory, he worried how it would work in practice—Hes was a terrible actor, for one, not to mention all the ways they could get killed once they made it inside the stronghold. “Besides,” Russ even said, “Truertos told us it’s not worth the risk”. Hes immediately shot back that Truertos was an idiot, and that it would totally, 100%, without-a-doubt work. Her goading got her nowhere at first, but then she said something about it being revenge for what they took from him—immediately, Russ was on board.

And so, they put the plan into motion—and it went about as well as you’d guess. Russ played his part well enough, but Hes almost got them caught every time she was forced to act like a prisoner: there was a lot of the “Oh, woe is me, I’ve been nabbed by the authorities!” and “Curse you, you Imperial scum! You haven’t seen the last of me!” type of postulating from her. Yet, miraculously, they made it into the Imperial stronghold, and from there they got to work. First, they raided the weapon’s depot and put every remote thermal detonator they had on everything of value. Next, they took all the food, guns, and ammo they could hold in their four combined hands. And somehow, by a combination of not-so-careful sneaking and the mere fact that the Imps were more focused on Empire Day than guarding the facility, they made it to the hangar to make their escape.

Problem was, there was hardly a usable ship in the whole room. All the TIEs were out at the parade, all the shuttles were on lockdown, and there was no way they were gonna try to get their whole haul out on speeder bike. Their only barely viable option was one shitty clone wars-era ship in the back of the room—an old Nubian Freefall-class bomber, which was obviously only being used for spare parts. Russ and Hes debated for a moment about finding something different (as well as how stupid the plan was, according to Russ), but before they could think of a better option, blaster fire and trooper jargon started coming from the corridor behind them. Suddenly, the Freefall looked like a gift from the heavens.

The two quickly hopped on board, dropping all their loot in the cargo hold the second they walked in. Without taking a moment to decide who should go where, Hes ran to the cockpit, while Russ ran to the rear gunner seat. As he got settled in, however, Russ called out to Hes on the internal com: “Hey, Chaddic? You know how to fly this thing, right?” Confidently as ever, Hes called back, “Nope! Not a kriffin’ clue!” Before Russ could protest or suggest he fly, the engines roared to life and the ship took to the sky.

At first, it looked like they were home free—and then the engines started to stall. Instantly the bomber tumbled from the sky, nosediving right towards the parade. Hes began to flip switches and pull levers wildly, and miraculously, the ship’s engines started again just before they hit the ground. Of course, they then had a new problem—the literal army of Imperial forces marching towards them. A barrage of crimson lasers began raining on the ship, leaving literal bulletholes in the fuselage, and just as Hes got the shields working she called back to Russ: “Yo, Dhaaldgondt! Hit the switch on those detonators and start firin’ back, will ya?”

Just then, Russ remembered he was in the gunner’s seat. He pressed the button on the remote detonator he was carrying and began firing back with everything the ship still had, sending troops flying and vehicles exploding as the stronghold explode into a massive orange-and-black fireball. As he watched the carnage erupt before his eyes, Russ felt something awaken in him. He remembered the faces of the flametroopers torching his home—his family burning alive before him. He remembered the fury he felt as he killed them all—the sadness and anger, all rolled together. Now, he was dishing that back out, to all the white-clad sons ‘a bitches who’d taken everything from him—and it felt good.

On Hes’ end of the internal com, she began to hear Russ laughing maniacally, shouting a string of obscenities at the Empire as a whole. Confused, she looked on the ship’s rear camera, only to see a massive plume of smoke and fire where the Imperial arsenal had once stood. Holy shit, she thought, this guy’s goin’ nuts! She worried about him for a second as she flew, but then she realized—this is exactly what she wanted. As bloodthirsty as his fun was, Russ was having fun—whatever bundle of emotions he was feeling now, sadness sure wasn’t one of ‘em. Hes smiled to herself proudly as she flew out over the jungle, leaving the Empire Day parade in smoldering shambles behind them.

Eventually, Hes and Russ made it back to the Angels’ base, where they were promptly scolded by Truertos. He calmed down a bit when they showed off their haul, of course, but he made sure to let them know he was still mad. Neither of them cared, though—they’d made Empire Day into a victory for the rebels, and they had a blast doin’ it. The two then decided to sit together on the nose of the Freefall—Hes was thinking of calling it the “Lady Lucy”, though she wasn’t certain yet—and watch the sunset, laughing heartily at their hard-won victory.

As they sat, Russ suddenly went quiet before turning to Hes. “Thanks, kid…” he said, “For helpin’ me have some fun,”

Hes laughed. “No problem, man, thanks for goin’ along with my shitty plan,” she, too, went quiet for a moment before speaking again. “If you don’t mind me askin’, Russ…what had you so down in the first place?”

With a heavy sigh, Russ decided to tell her his story. He told her about Zolovau, about his daughters, about their farm…about how it was all taken by the Empire. And all because he couldn’t pay his stupid debts—he lost everything, just because his vegetables weren’t selling well. As Hes listened, she almost started crying, because she knew exactly how that felt. She didn’t feel ready to tell Russ she used to be a Jedi yet, but she did say this: “I know what it feels like to have everything taken away…I’m so sorry, man,”

Russ laughed. “Y’know…maybe it isn’t all bad,” he said, smiling just a little, “I’ve lost what I can never replace, but…I have the feeling I’ve found something new, too,”

Hes smiled back, chuckling ever so slightly. “Me too, big guy…me too.”

[sevenclowds]

Frank Weekend

My account of going to see Frank Iero and the Patience play at the Baltimore Soundstage in Maryland, Sat Apr 22 2017.

My companions for the weekend are my 19 yr old and my friend's 16 yr old daughter. Both their names begin with C and will henceforth be known collectively as C&C. My teen was forced to listen introduced to MCR from the age of 7 and obviously has great musical taste. My friend's teen is a huge fan of the Emo Trinity, but is not familiar with Frank's non-MCR work. "Is Frank the drummer for MCR?" she asks innocently. Oh dear. We gotta lotta educating to do this weekend. Someone needs to save this poor child.

[Very long post. You probably want to put the kettle on for this.]

We leave North Carolina at 8am and make our first stop at 10am at a Starbucks. It is here that I purchase a fateful cup of coffee that will keep me buzzed for the next 19 hrs. Just how strong is Starbucks Pike Place Roast? And what on earth possessed me, a caffeine lightweight, to get a grande instead of a tall? It'll help me keep awake while driving, I thought. Someone punch me.

I treat C&C to my music on the drive. My iTunes music library appears to be like my blog: 95% MCR with the occasional snippet of something random. We make sure to play plenty of Frank, for educational purposes. C&C are huge Hamilton nerds and we listen to the soundtrack as we near DC. As we pass the capital city, I point out that Washington is now literally on our side. Groan. #momjokes

We arrive at our hotel in Baltimore around 4pm, then go out around 5pm. We walk past The Soundstage and there are lots of people lined up waiting to get in. I'm so happy to see several Frank fans wearing the same Death Spells hoodie as me and as we walk past I feel really fucking cool! These are my people! My tribe! They will see my DS merch and know that I am one of them! Whereas last week, walking round Harris Teeter, I felt vaguely conspicuous in my black hoodie with the scorpion on the back, but now, I fit in. I am home. If I didn't have C&C with me I would be lining up there with them. But I have to feed my teens and not leave them to stand outside in the rain, so I sigh, and head toward Shake Shack for some food that we'll loosely call "dinner", like a grown up.

After eating some fries, we head to a spiffy steampunky Barnes & Noble where C&C, both devoted book nerds, are in heaven and bond further over their love of fiction. I'm itching to get to the venue but it's still raining and cold and they're having so much fun that we don't head over there until about 7.30pm.

VIP Ticket Fiasco Two months previously, when buying the tickets online, I wasn't quite fast enough to get the VIP tickets and I sat at my computer spitting curses and venom at those who managed to buy them in 0.2 milliseconds flat. The VIP experience included a private acoustic session before the show, a copy of Parachutes, and a seat in the posh table-and-chairs bit near the side of the stage. But alas, it wasn't to be so I made do with the regular tickets.

So, as we enter the venue, we're informed that we can upgrade to the posh section for an extra $10 each. C&C look thrilled at this idea, and my kid has issues with being in crowds and had been intending to stand quietly near the back, so this is a fantastic opportunity to get a great view without the crush. I relent and upgrade, even though I'm crying inside because I know we've missed out on the private session earlier and I just want to die. Fuck me, I get to sit at a table like somebody's mom. Kill me now. My plan is to stay with C&C for a couple of songs and then venture out into the crowd, but that damn parental mode kicks in and I feel guilty about leaving them so I stay. But actually, the view is really great, even though the atmosphere in the VIP area is nonexistent.

Dave Hause and the Mermaid open the show with some so-so rock stuff. Perfectly fine and competent band to fill the time, although nothing too exciting until the last song, dedicated to Trump, and called Dirty Fucker, causes the crowd to go wild.

Then Frank Iero and his Beardy Wondergroup come out, launch into World Destroyer, and time ceases to exist. It's the first time I've seen Frank since 2007 when he wore his Black Parade jacket (sniff) so I'm very emotional and I'm grinning the whole time. I realize I don't know as many lyrics as I'd like to, on account of Frank lyrics being hard to learn without serious study, which I haven't had time for. I do my best and probably sing a pile of nonsense for the most part. He tells us that today is the first time he's showered in 5 days. Why so gross? He tells us a story about how bad the crime is in Baltimore, which makes everyone nervous about getting home tonight.

I take some great photos

And some not so great photos

After the show, we head to the pizza place next to the venue to kill time until the band hopefully come out. We huddle in the corner by the door and eat pizza. I can't really taste it. Maybe it's because it's gluten free and vegan, maybe it's because I'm really not quite in my body. I realize I'm shaking and figure it's still The Coffee I had earlier plus added adrenaline and fatigue.

I message Kyle @casesandcapitals to come meet us in the pizza place because I know he's here somewhere and we've never met before. Next thing I know, Jen @jen--ne--sais--quoi and Kyle are walking in and I realize three fundamental truths at the exact same time: 

1. Jen has intimidating make-up skills 

2. Kyle IS recognizable without the 5ft tall metal flamingo

3. These people are way too cool for me

I am a little excitable and extra when meeting them and their friends Abbi @grewuponyourbackporch and Cole, but mainly because Jen's jacket is all kinds of awesome.

My new friends eat pizza and go outside to wait again but it's too cold for us so we stay in the restaurant. I feel really sick, I'm still shaking and I feel like crap. In my fevered state I manage to post the same pic to Facebook twice and cannot for the life of me get anyone's name right in the above photo that I post to tumblr. My brain has gone. I'm a mess. I'm not really in my body and I wonder if they'll put "death by frank" as my cause of death.

We go to join everyone outside at about 1.30am because those band members aren't going to meet themselves and we don't want to miss it. It's fucking freezing! You can tell the direction that everyone has traveled to the show by how many blankets they're shivering under. Southerners are suffering and northerners don't give a shit because they're tough as nails. My kid discovers their Hamilton hoodie isn't at all warm but I'm not going to give them my hoodie because I need to meet Frank in my Death Spells hoodie because I'm shallow and a really bad parent. I actually choose to let a child freeze because I want Frank to know I'm a fan and not just someone's mom. Priorities, people!

Evan and Alex keep appearing and disappearing again. They mill around and meet folks, clearly enjoying themselves or at least faking it really well. Me and C&C go stand in the parking garage entrance for a bit because it's possibly 5 degrees warmer than outside. It's 2.20am. C&C want to give it until 2.30 before we leave. It's clear by now that Frank isn't going to come out. But he ALWAYS comes out. I'm faced with the reality of having to leave without meeting him and I'm distraught. I comfort C&C because I feel bad for making them wait all this time but they end up comforting and hugging me. They tell me to wait until 3am and to come speak to Evan because he's being adorable and there's hardly anyone left so we'll have him to ourselves. And so we do, and he's just the loveliest, sweetest man and he fixates on the fact that me and the kiddo are British, haha! We tell him we drove 8 hrs today and he should come to North Carolina. He agrees and says he loves Chapel Hill so maybe that'll happen some day (yeah right). He imparts wisdom on doing what you love and not being obsessed with grades because they won't matter once you leave school. He starts talking to someone else and just as we're thinking of leaving, there's a tap on my shoulder and someone behind me yells, "Oh! Nando's!" It's Evan again, wanting to tell me about his favorite British experience - a restaurant that serves the best chicken. He's so enthusiastic as we discuss Nando's menu, particularly the veggie options and the bean burger. Hilarious! He's my new favorite person without a doubt.

It's 3am and we leave, jogging back to the hotel (because Frank's made us nervous about Baltimore). We get to the room and I get into bed in my clothes because it's too cold to consider taking anything off. My body is still buzzing (can it STILL be The Coffee from this morning or is it shivering?). I get maybe 1-2 hrs sleep because my mind insists on composing Hamilton/FIATP hybrid songs and some of them are actually quite good so I stay up and listen to the inside of my head.

Next day we drive back to NC. It takes 7.5 hrs. I force C&C to listen to the entire Death Spells album and even a little bit of Leathermouth just because I know it's what Jen would have wanted 💜