autisticlancemcclain · 1 year ago
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prologue part one
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“You know, there can’t be that many humans in space.”
There are several simultaneous sighs in response over the comms. Keith doesn’t need to have the video feed open to guess the faces his team are making; the annoyance, the tired irritation and flat dismissiveness. He’s used to it.
He doesn’t care. If anything it’s amusing, actually.
“I’m only speculating,” Keith continues, casual. He ignores Red’s sharp pangs of warning in the back of his mind. “The movie references, the bomb, the attitude –”
“Do you ever shut the fuck up,” Pidge says icily, and Keith has no issue ignoring her, either.
“I mean, how many times would the Galra have come to the Milky Way?”
Pidge is no longer the only one telling him to stop. He counts two more voices but doesn’t let himself recognise whose, pretending it’s just background noise, because he’s damn right and he knows he is.
“We know four confirmed humans to have gone missing in space. Who’s to say it’s not –”
“Can it, Kogane!” Hunk shouts, and he’s much harder to ignore, if only because Keith wouldn’t put it past him to ram his lion right into Keith’s.
He shrugs and picks at a loose thread on his undersuit. He said what he needed to say, anyway. So. It doesn’t really matter.
Hunk’s breathing is heavy and carefully controlled, static over the comms, building up a tension that Keith can’t help but delight in, a little. He knows Hunk’s waiting for a response, maybe even an apology, so Keith takes his time in answering, poking idly at his dashboard.
(Keith has sat through Matt and Coran’s grief counselling just like everyone else. He knows how he’s supposed to handle this, how he’s been asked and trained to handle inner-team conflict. He has been presented with mindfulness worksheets and team building exercises. He knows the stakes. He knows that they are supposed to preserve the caricature of Voltron that they have left, continue animating the skeleton of the Coalition. 
But then again, he sits in grief counselling in silence, because he has nothing to grieve yet.)
“Not my fault you gave up,” Keith says, faux-casual.
Many voices erupt at once, because it is the wrong thing to say. He knew it and said it anyway and watches the aftermath with a deliberate and defiant brand of ennui.
“You just don’t fucking get it, do you.”
No, Keith doesn’t understand. He will never understand the ease in which everyone has simply accepted what seems to be. He doesn’t understand how quickly everyone else gave up. He doesn’t understand why they are moving forward, why they are bothering, when Lance has not been returned safely to them, when they haven’t even found a fucking body, if that’s the route they choose to pursue. He will never understand why everyone has given up on Lance as if it’s the right thing to do and he will never forgive anyone for it, either.
So he says nothing.
But Hunk is used to him starting things and backing away, now, so he continues.
“Lance was my fucking brother, Keith. I don’t have a single memory in my life without him in it. I fucking –” Hunk’s voice shakes, and Keith can’t tell if it’s rage or pain. When he speaks again he sounds reedy, drawn out. “I won’t turn his memory into one of your conspiracy theories. I know it’s hard for you, I know you loved him –”
Keith shuts that line of thought down fast, bouldering over Hunk loudly. “So help me look for him.” 
Keith’s words have no conviction. They have had this argument before and they will have it again, although every time they do, the patience for Keith wears thinner and thinner. 
(Keith knows they are getting tired of him. He knows they are losing their affection for him the fastest and he know he is making it worse for himself but he can’t fucking stop because if he stops then that means he’s given up and he can’t give up not on Lance. Not on Lance he promised. They have never found a body. There was the tape of course there was the tape but Keith knows down to the very soul of him that if the roles were reversed Lance would never ever stop looking and who would Keith be if he stopped. He knows his family just wants to grieve and he is standing in their way but he cannot choose between Lance and his family he can’t.)
“...Alright, Keith,” Hunk sighs, exhausted. Keith squirms until he forces himself still. “Alright.”
They ride in silence for the rest of the flight. Keith remembers a time when flights this long almost guaranteed a game of some sort, or playful argument that lasted half an hour, then immediately wishes he didn’t. He busies himself with the mission bulletpoints from the pre-mission briefing to keep from falling down that trap.
The intel Kolivan passed onto them included a very convoluted amalgamation of Haggar and her operations. Maybe even all of them. Keith’s not sure, it’s mostly been Pidge and Shiro and Allura looking at it, decoding and puzzling it out. What Keith does know is that the mission they’re on now is one of confirmation, a tentative testing of the waters, to add credibility to the intel. The massive file has informed them that the base they are approaching has been abandoned for months; planet totally ravaged of its resources and left behind when the Empire could no longer had use for it like the goddamn parasite it is. If the intel is correct, then the base should be empty of everything except a few patrolling sentries, easy to take out, and rife with bridges for Pidge to build to more information rich systems. 
And if the intel is correct about this base, then it is likely correct about others; others like the giant citadel in the Qelrn nursery star where Druids are supposedly born, others like the factories in twelve different galaxies where all Empire sentries are assembled, others like the almost immeasurably massive fortress built inside the most powerful star in the known universe. Places that, when hit, would not only cripple the Empire, but destroy it.
But of course they have to kick around this stupid abandoned shell of a base, first.
“Cloaking on,” Shiro announces as the base starts to blip on their radars. 
Keith listens without argument. He’s pushed enough today. 
He’s bored on the mission, as he expected to be. He takes the lead in the beginning, but it takes him all of fifteen minutes to wipe out the sentries scattered throughout the base and then his part of the mission is basically done. He’s not trusted to go digging around in files, not anymore. (Not after the tape. Not after taking down the Empire stopped being anywhere close to his first priority. Not after he became a Liability.) So he stands off to the side as everyone else crowds around the control centre of the bridge, swinging and slashing his sword around with no real purpose. He wonders if anyone would notice if he just got in Red and fucked off.
Probably. 
Sighing to himself, he sits heavily on the floor, not bothering to soften the impact and knowing the hard clang of his armour will leave a bruise. It’s a dangerous path to go down and he knows it, but he allows himself to think about what it would be like if Lance was here, on this mission and alive. Lance would be with him, probably. Neither of them have ever been able to maintain interest in hacking and computers and coding and everything. If Lance were here Keith would be allowed to explore the ship, since they'd be a pair. They wouldn’t find anything interesting but Lance has a way of making mundane things interesting. Keith wonders if they would have fun or if they’d spend the whole time arguing.
He smiles slightly. Both, probably. 
He hates their new normal. He hates it so much. He knows that they don’t have the resources to look for someone who’s very likely dead. He knows Pidge was never allowed to just up and leave and look for her family in the beginning, and it’s no different now. He knows that tactically, the smartest thing the Empire could do with Lance would be to kill him. He knows that and he’s not stupid enough to think Haggar and Zarkon and whoever the fuck else would mess that up, keep Lance alive, allow him the possibility to escape and reform Voltron.
It had been Lance to point that out, actually. Quietly and on the observation deck, one night when Keith couldn’t stand the sound of his muffled sobs through the thin wall connecting their rooms any longer and dragged him there to help mellow him out. The conversation had rolled around to the time Allura was taken, somehow, and Lance had confided in Keith that he was so angry in Keith’s and Allura’s insistence that she be left behind because he knew that they would kill her. 
“It’s the fastest way,” he’d explained, chin hooked over his knees and halfway haunted look in his dark eyes. “Voltron is a team or nothing kind of deal. There is no four paladin Voltron, there is no wormholing without the Altean heir to run it. Yeah, they could torture us for information, but why bother? Why expend that energy? You kill just one of us and we’re fucked forever. You could take Voltron out with one lucky shot.” He’d shuddered. Keith feels bile rise at the back of his throat even now, at the memory, at the surety in Lance’s voice when he said it, like he knew one of them was going to die and it was only a matter of time. It freaked Keith out then and makes him nauseous now. He doesn’t like the idea that Lance knew, that he prepared for it.
The train of thought makes him want to crawl out of his skin. He hates that his mind always goes here. He scrambles to his feet and stumbles out of the bridge, like he can outrun the memories, leave behind the fear in Lance’s face. He’s down a random hallway and swiping cobwebs and dust from his hair before he realises what he’s doing. He stops, smack in front of a giant window in some forgotten hallway, pressing the heel of his hands to his eyes hard enough to see stars.
“I can’t keep doing this,” he says. He breathes deeply through his mouth for several moments. He still feels hugely twitchy, like sparks are just under his skin. He looks out the window and finds a random star, staring at it until he’s cross-eyed, until it blurs and blinks around the edges.
There is too much he doesn’t know. There is too much that has been left up to speculation and it kills him.  Keith has always been hellbent on figuring things out -- his heritage, the Garrison secrets, the mystery of the Blue Lion. He has always busied himself with finding the truth and damned the consequences. And there have been consequences. There always have been and they have always been painful. He has always had to choose between truth and comfort. 
He takes one final, deep breath, imagining the air flowing into his lungs and sinking into his bloodstream, and steels himself. He pulls out his comm and messages Kolivan. (Even now, even after Keith has long since left the Blades and will likely never return, Kolivan has a soft spot for him. Maybe it’s the way he had the answers Keith needed and Keith trusted him. Maybe Kolivan just needed a reason to be soft after so many years. But Keith is grateful for it nonetheless.)
He opens the file Kolivan sends him, no questions asked, no hesitation. The intel that he has not been expressly kept away from but that has not been openly provided to him, either. He watches the video, with the mysterious figure who speaks like Lance and walks like Lance and squares his shoulders the same way Lance always has, and Keith starts his search.
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sinlizards · 2 years ago
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my final piece for @eurekazine ! leftover sales are going on now until 3/1 so be sure to get your copy while you can :]
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gracehwells · 10 months ago
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I was rewatching the 2022 F1 Intro and I found some gems that are Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo, and George Russell
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• 10000/10 big upgrade from 2021
• THE EYES HELLO? I'm boutta combust
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• he looks like Michael i am unwell
• THE STANCE? THE BLUE EYES? 1000/10
• Bbg cannot be menacing for the sake of his life
• cameraman knows what's up
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• sir I am on my knees
• not arguing with a man with big beautiful brown eyes like you do you pookie 100/10
• the camera angles are delicious
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• 2022 was a warmup and a warning what was to come
• the angle the pose mwah 1000/10
• the waist hello?
• if he looks at me like that I will actually cry
I ain't doing the rest of them their's kinda ass
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pitconfirm · 8 months ago
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connor not you calling the geriatric BOWSER??!??!
sorry but….
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and……..
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notmoreflippingelves · 4 months ago
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Was anyone going to tell me that Jason Todd was not the first child with a criminal past living under the guardianship of Bruce Wayne who died in the Robin suit--or was I just supposed to be blindsided by that in my Silver Age Teen Titans readthrough?
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promsielhk · 7 months ago
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Klance Alien Stage au where Lance is Till and Keith is Ivan in Round 6, but imagine if it was Lance who sang Black Sorrow instead, while Keith sang Unknown (Till The End)
I’ve been thinking about it and it makes sense for their characters to sing those respective songs since Keith has always been the rebellious one while Lance is the type to sing his feelings out and we live for the Lance angst
Imagine they got caught and are now forced to sing in this alien karaoke competition where they have to sing to live. Imagine Lance singing in the round before Keith’s, expressing his sorrow for being not enough, the 7th wheel, out of place, homesick, all the angst. Lance, who loves to sing, putting all his heart into such a song that resonates with him. Imagine Lance singing so passionately that he won and can’t help but feel guilt as he watches his opponent get terminated right next to him, thinking that his opponent could’ve had loved ones waiting for them to return.
The competition moves on to the next round and now its Keith and he’s singing a completely different song from what was planned like what Till did. Like Lance, Keith also puts his emotions into the song. But Keith dedicated that song to Lance, about developing feelings and the like.
Then round 6 happens :)
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shellys-apprentice · 1 year ago
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What if Giovanni was too sick for Celebi to cure? What would he say to Silver?
I'm sorry, this really ran away with me~
Three days, five hours, and twenty-ish minutes.
That’s how long Silver’s had Usaring back.
How long he’s had the house key he’s silently fiddling with as he walks through the forest.
And how long Giovanni Sakaki has been dead.
If Silver lets his mind wander too much, he can still feel the moment his hand had gone unnaturally still against his cheek in Sinjoh.
(He’s trying not to think too hard about everything else that happened in the ruins. Like the fact that Giovanni didn’t need to be there. That he’d probably be fine if he’d stayed in Ilex. That if Silver wanted to be cruel and unreasonable, he could blame everything on Lance. But he won’t.)
There’s a funeral tomorrow. Arranged by someone Silver doesn’t know. Who might not even know he exists. He’d only found out because he’d happened to take the train back through Saffron. Happened to run into Sabrina in the station.
He doesn’t know if he’s going to go. Or if he should. He can show up later, when it’s over, on his own. That’s probably better, right?
What he does know is that Giovanni had pressed the key to what should have been his home into Silver’s hand before he died, while quietly telling him that Ursaring could take him home if he went to Viridian.
That everything went to him.
That he would be fine.
That all he had to do was go back to Viridian, and everything would be fine.
He can’t really find it in him to be happy about any of that.
Up ahead of him, Ursaring pushes through the undergrowth and out into a clearing, then, when Silver follows, is revealed to be the yard of the house.
She keeps plodding on through the yard, but Silver slows, taking in the building.
He feels like an intruder. Like he’s breaking in, even as he slips the key into the lock.
Ursaring nudges him towards the stairs once they’re in, and he lets her lead him to a room that looks like an office.
The rest of the house had felt too tidy, with nothing out of place, and this room is the exception; there are two boxes sitting neatly on the desk, and, on the chair behind it, a green sweater that had been forgotten over the arm of the chair.
He walks over to that first, snatching it up to hold close.
It smells like freshly turned earth, and he keeps his arms wrapped tightly around it as he turns to the desk.
One of the boxes contains papers that have to do with Team Rocket, with a note on top, simply telling him to do what he wants with them.
The other, smaller, box contains the pokeballs for Giovanni’s team, and Silver stares at them, his chest aching all over again.
Because all of this seems to make it clear that Giovanni had never actually thought that going to Celebi would work.
Clinging tighter to the sweater, Silver turns to the two pieces of paper sitting between the boxes.
One has a phone number, for someone named Nanu, with an assurance that he wasn’t connected to Rocket, and would be able to help him with anything, and a few more details he doesn’t read because he’s distracted by the other, longer, note.
Silver-
I would like nothing more than for you to never read this. To have been able to come back and burn this, and pretend I never had to lay out all this for you.
But if you are reading this, then that means I am dead, and I need you know that I am sorry to be leaving you like this. I tore this region to shreds trying to find you, and I’ll freely admit that I would do it again if I thought it would buy me even just another hour with you, but I suspect at this point nothing will.
I’m leaving you my team. Your ursaring is an excellently trained pokemon, and I only wish I had been the one to help you accomplish that. I know you’ll do well with the rest of them.
And I know this may ring hollow coming from me, but I am proud of where you’ve ended up. When I first heard of a red-haired boy with a  sneasel tearing through Rocket in Johto, I wanted it to be you. Both to know you were alive, and because it would mean you had gotten that strong and capable.
I wish I had been able to help you reach that point, but I’m glad you did nevertheless.
I hope I am at least able to see you to send you here, but if I’m not, know that nothing I’ve done is your fault. And that anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is not your friend.
I love you.
Your father,
Giovanni
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demcnsinmymind · 3 months ago
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@kxllerblond continued from here
"Damn. And here I thought I was the one with the bigger ego. Here, take my crown, my liege."
It's all in good fun, and that's certainly obvious in the way Lance is grinning despite the dig, taking off the imaginary crown all theatrically to hand it over to the other. Already expecting Clark not to accept the imaginary crown, his next move is to put it back on his own head. He pets his hair down only to ruffle it back into its usual somewhat chaotic place with an amused chuckle, having way too much fun with the theatrics until at last, he's paying more attention to Clark again.
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"You know, I'd pay good fucking money to see you survive the bullshit I have. And I don't mean that in a 'don't believe you could do it' kinda way. We both know you could. Which is exactly why I'd love to see it. You, just mildly annoyed and inconvenienced by it all. Good stuff. I'd watch that shit all day."
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spinoff-antithesis · 1 year ago
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RATING: G RELATIONSHIP: Female Pokedex Holder Blue | Green & Silver (Pokemon) SUMMARY: green feels that she has a lot to apologize for. silver, on the other hand, doesn't know how to explain to his sister that he doesn't blame her for anything. EXTENDED SUMMARY:
“I’m proud of you. I don’t know what all happened on your journey,” she starts, looking back at the direction they’re taking, “and I wish you would’ve contacted me before you started working with Lance, but you made it out in one piece and better than I could’ve ever hoped for. I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to be there more for you.”
Silver stares at the back of her head, walking on autopilot.
He wants to tell her that she’s done enough, that he’s sorry for never reaching out until they ran into each other by pure chance. That he’s thankful for her and keeping him together in one piece when they were no more than children and that he wants to get stronger to protect her and keep her from ever having to go through something like losing her family again.
Instead, what he says instead is, “Why did you leave me that night?”
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lit-in-thy-heart · 1 year ago
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besparkled with blood
Rating: Teen+
Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence
Categories: Other
Relationships: Lancelot/Merlin
Characters: Lancelot, Merlin
Additional Tags: Kidnapping, Whump, Angst, Protective Lancelot, Protective Merlin, BAMF Merlin, Whipping, Trapped in a Well, Torture, mild but rather graphic with fingers in wounds, Physical Abuse, unwillingly done but thought safer to tag it than not, Suicide Attempt, Self-Harm, again it's not in the usual way but safer to tag, Guilt, Canon Era, between s3 and s4, Kissing, Blood and Injury, Hurt Lancelot, very very hurt lancelot, Knife Merlin, this whole fic is basically me going how could i make this worse and then doing it, yes it was meant to be max 5k, yes it is over 10k, watch me flail for reasons why merlin can't use magic to get them out bc merlin is so op, merlin and lance get all the braincells this time as a treat, Forehead Touching, Forehead Kisses, Sharing Clothes, Innuendo, there might be two lines that count as crack, Scars, Infection, Caretaker Merlin, if you've read marigolds this has kind of similar vibes, Hugs, themrys, They/Them Pronouns for Merlin, look i have no idea if the last section is accurate, bc there is no nearby well and i can guarantee i would not have volunteers            
Words: 11,653
Chapters: 1/1
Summary: Lancelot had bundled almost all of the fragments of himself into Merlin’s open hands, had stuffed their pockets with tales from his childhood and filled their mouth with sweet oaths. He had written powerful prose from the syllables crafted when his fingertips fell on their skin, sentences stringing together the blood in their veins, and Merlin had never asked him for anything more.
When their picnic date is interrupted by a rude kidnapping, Merlin and Lancelot get a little more alone time than they had bargained for.
Written for @mercelotweek (day 2: Beauty and the Beast - Forest/Kidnapping)
Opening:
As far as dates went, this was not the best one that Lancelot had planned. Of course, he hadn’t planned for a kidnapping to take place just as he had leaned over pilfered pies to kiss Merlin gently, but him not having planned that didn’t make the date any better.
Lancelot had stolen into Merlin’s room with the dawn, stroking their cheek to wake them gently, and had presented them with a large basket and a wide grin. It had been relatively easy to get Merlin out of work, in the end: all it had taken was playing the messenger and telling Arthur that Gaius needed Merlin to collect some rare herbs that were only in season for a period of a week and he would accompany them, then telling Gaius that Merlin was receiving some basic training to defend themself all day. It hadn’t exactly been honest, but Merlin had barely been able to catch a break since they had taken Camelot back from Morgana. There had been countless training sessions to force Camelot’s knights to bond – not that Lancelot had any trouble bonding with the four knights he’d spent hiding in caves and ruins with, but most of the older knights were more guarded – and Merlin had been drowning in tedious chores for weeks.
In hindsight, perhaps Lancelot should have told at least one person where he and Merlin would actually be.
Read on ao3
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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year ago
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Nearly two years ago, Lance had gone on a solo diplomatic mission to a seemingly harmless planet, with the intention of recruiting them for the Coalition. It had been his first solo mission, and he had been so excited. He had researched and prepared and done everything he could to be ready to make the mission as smooth as possible, but had still been despairingly nervous despite his eagerness. It had honestly been kind of adorable for everyone else. No one doubted him – if anyone could get a planet to join the Coalition by themselves, it was Lance.
When he missed his first scheduled update, no one was worried. As meticulous as Lance tends to be, he often gets caught up on big projects and forgets to do things like sleep or eat. Missing one update wasn’t a huge deal.
When he missed his second update, everyone was a little wary, but they were so busy with other tasks and missions that they figured they could afford to give him the leniency of a couple missed checkpoints.
Upon Lance’s third missed update, everyone really started to freak out. At that point, it had been almost a whole day, and the mission really shouldn’t have taken more than a few vargas at most. It definitely should not be so harrowing and difficult that Lance wouldn’t even have a moment of free time to shoot the team a text, at the very least. And so the team had paused any other tasks, made their way to the bridge, and wormholed over to the Flxr planet to figure out what the hell had happened.
Numerous attempts at contact with the planet were ignored, and the team truly started to panic. Lance had not contacted them at all since he left, and now the planet he was supposed to be on was completely radio silent. They had descended on the planet in a fit of fear and fury, desperately hoping to find a sheepish Lance who had simply forgotten to check in. Instead, they were greeted with the smug royal family of the planet, boasting on how they had tricked the Blue Paladin, and he had been handed over to Zarkon in exchange for their guaranteed freedom, power, and status in the Empire.
Allura and Keith had slaughtered the royals where they stood. No one did anything to stop them.
For months after, the team had been a wreck. It was honestly like they didn’t know how to work with each other – they argued over every word and decision, screamed at each other for every little thing. They isolated themselves during every moment of free time. At the end, they were so broken and damaged that they very nearly called the whole thing off, too angry and miserable to be in the same room. Their reputation had taken a huge hit, so few people trusted them anymore, and they hadn’t completed a mission in months.
It had been the combined efforts of Matt and Coran that had brought them back together, actually. Coran started forcing them all into grief therapy – individually at first, then as a team. Matt had whipped them back into shape team-wise, reminding them how to trust and work with each other. Slowly but surely, they reformed themselves into a team. Although the pain of losing Lance had never lessened, it no longer threatened to tear them apart. They all learnt to live with the pain, to work with it.
That’s not to say they were perfect. They still didn’t work as well as they used to, they still didn’t spend as much time together as they once did. They were still family, but it often felt like they were no longer friends.
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inbarfink · 9 months ago
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stellarwaffles · 2 years ago
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Lance: this is why it’s so difficult for me to hang out with peasants :(
Aaron: believe me, that goes both ways bro
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fluffybunnybadass · 1 year ago
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Top 5 Lance moments across any media
i'm counting my own brain's media too bc i can
when my dream made him text with nose emojis. it's canon. :-)
generations' lake of rage episode. literally the entire episode is gr8 but seeing him get to do secret g-man shit was such fun fan service
MASTERS. ALL OF THAT GAME
when he does his little hand across his chest bow to diantha in the masters 8 after they got announced for the round 1 matchups. swoon
everything but pokespe. but also sometimes pokespe. it depends.
bonus:
line i hate that lives on in infamy in my head for some reason and is why he is categorically a dork:
lake of rage main anime episode: "it's time to put the pedal to the metal!"
i have no idea why but it just rings. of maximum dorkage even by 2003 standards (line was overused by then to almost memetic status)
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pitconfirm · 5 months ago
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beauty and the beast - lance x nando au
yes or no
YES!!!!!!!
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strunmah-mah · 11 months ago
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Reading Birds of Prey (2023) and then Green Arrow and Black Canary is an experience cause like . . .
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