#not saying they should date or anything but im ten minutes through this episode and nagisa is crushing

[curedeity]

Uh Nagisa totally had a crush on Yuka Odajima. She was so sad when she thought the girl didnt like her! So impressed by her raw talent!

[recurring-polynya]

As we all know, I am Perpetually Rewatching Bleach, and I hit the Reigai Arc a while ago, but I didn’t feel like recapping it, because recaps are a ton of work and I am Tired, but Bleach 333 might be the Bleachiest episode in all of Bleach, so I had to.

In the immortal words of Gideon the Ninth: “Things were happening too much.”

So, this is pretty deep into the arc-- all the lieutenants are in the World of the Living and all the (real) captains are in Soul Society, Nozomi has just unlocked her zanpakutou, and Reigai Zaraki and Byakuya showed up to start shit.

At the end of the last episode, all the lieutenants put their reiatsu in Nozomi’s sword (why does some variation of this happen every filler arc??) and she blew up Zaraki and Byakuya. The episode opens with Renji muttering “Did we get ‘em?” which is really how every episode should open. It looks like they successfully KO’d Zaraki, but Reigai Byakuya survived, and he proceeds to take out all the lieutenants with a single Soren Sokatsui.

This seems bad, but then, the Captain Commander shows up out of nowhere and sets Reigai Byakuya on fire. Yes. Really.

Ichigo and Rukia get Yamamoto up to date, but the best part of this scene is that Renji is just...lying there in the middle of it, like a sleepy boi.

All of sudden, more Reigai show up, and there’s a split screen reaction shot, but... it’s just of the unconscious lieutenants. Friends, I literally screamed. They made this episode just for me. We’re also going to start counting SSRS’s, because this episode has... a lot of them.

I also want to point out the Ichigo, Nozomi and Kon seem to be entirely uninjured; Rukia, Chad and Uryuu are able to get themselves up, Renji is Hanging In There, and all the other lieutenants are toast. I am pretty sure this Says Something About the Lieutenant Class.

Oh God, there is so much Peak Renij Dialogue in this episode.

At this point, Renji attempts to sit up, and falls down again.Good hustle, buddy, you tried.

Somewhere around here, my husband got up to let the dog out and he said, “pause it if anything good happens.” I had to pause it almost immediately because Reigai Ukitake and Kyouraku showed up and then this happened:

There’s like 4 minutes straight of releasing, literally everything is on fire, and after being told to stay back like 5 times, Nozomi jumps into battle and we get split screen reaction shot #2.

Nozomi attacks Kyouraku and Ichigo goes after Ukitake. Yamamoto literally grumbles “Those darn kids...” and then Unohana comes out of nowhere and casts four different binding in a row on Yamamoto while an electric bass guitar plays. I say this all the time, but this is exactly how I would fight if I were a shinigami fighting another shinigami: just bind the fuck out of them and then attack them while they’re down. This scene was incredibly gratifying to me, Unohana is the GOAT.

How’s Renji doing?

Keep working at it, you’re doing great, pal.

The true purpose of filler arcs is more fights for characters that we didn’t get to see fight enough, and this episode delivers with some excellent Kyouraku and Ukitake throw-downs. Whoops, here’s reaction shot #3:

Because his spiritual energy has been on its last legs this whole arc, Ichigo is supposed to use his powers very carefully, for example, not going to bankai or using Getsugas, except when he can’t think of anything else, which is constantly. #4.

Did I mention that Fake Ukitake and Fake Kyouraku are Very Real Husbands this episode? Because they are.

We cut back to Rukia and Renji (still prone) and Kon. Kon is Big Sad because he can’t help. I have no love for Kon, but I respect this great compliment he lays on Rukia after she punches him.

Rukia and Renji decide they gotta go help and-- and Renji is UP! The man is up!

Except that Yamamoto abruptly busts out of his wards and Rukia has to breathlessly gasp “What is this reiatsu?” as per her contract.

SHIT FAM the real Unohana is here and she’s got Dramatic Singers! Fake Unohana is literally about to pee herself and so would you if you say this coming for you:

Wards still be exploding, Obligatory Renji Protects Rukia (and Kon) Shot!

Split Screen Reaction Shot #5: Karakura Kids Edition

Then, um this happened.

AHEM.

This was my favorite SSRS in the episode because it was kinda high concept. Rukia starts talking in the left panel, but you can still see her arm moving the middle panel. Didn’t they do this in Pacific Rim, with the heads-up displays? Or maybe that was Voltron. I don’t care, I love this shit.

Anyway, when Renji picks up the dialogue, BAM, he takes over the middle.

The fireball has done nothing to the Reigai, so we get a walking-thru-flames drama shot that ends with... yet another SSRS.

They start to attack Yamamoto who is 1000% ready to throw down, but then Kageroza shows up and declares that he will be taking on the old man himself.

Ichigo gets real concerned that Kageroza will use Yamamoto’s power against him (Yamamoto is like, ‘whatever’). Nozomi volunteers to act like a decoy, and Kageroza does his villainous laugh, “you’ll never steal my spiritual pressure-- NANI??”  It turns out Nozomi already charged her sword up with the Head Captain’s spiritual pressure when Kageroza...was...checking his phone? I do not know how me missed this sneaky, sneaky maneuver:

I guess he didn’t see anything because they were behind Ichigo’s back. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

Anyway, it’s not enough, so Yamamoto attacks. That’s not enough, so Ichigo unleashes his final Getsuga (not, like, the Final Getsuga, just like, the last one he has. Very confusing naming scheme here.)

Does this count as another SSRS? It doesn’t do the BAM/BAM/BAM, so maybe Rukia/Renji/Kon have been in split screen mode this entire time, and it’s just a revisit. Whatever, I’m gonna count it. We’re up to 8.

Ichigo is now spent. He mumbles “Did I get ‘im?” and then falls out of the sky.

“I NEED RENJI TO CATCH HIM,” I scream, while my husband winces and pinches the bridge of his nose. “GET UP, RENJI!” I yell. “YOU CAN DO IT.”

He’s thinkin’ about it!

Oh, no, Ichigo, did not, in fact, “get ‘im.” Kageroza appears to have survived, which I guess justifies a SSRS #9.

Look at Renji’s face. He’s ready. He’s goin’.

And he’s off!!!! I LOVE THIS MAN.

UGH, we have to sit through Kageroza explaining how he survived the attack by absorbing Nozomi’s attack and Ichigo’s Getsuga who cares who cares who cares, get to the good stuff--

yaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Kageroza is powering up his attack, we’re gonna get the “To Be Continued..” any second, but NO there is STILL TIME FOR ONE MORE!

Ten. TEN. This episode is only 22 minutes long and they managed to fit in 10 split screen reaction shots. I suspect this may be the record.

This entire episode was just split screen reactions shots, people powering up, shots of my OTP, and Renji catching Ichigo and then cradling him lovingly. Perfect episode. 1000/10.

[softstraykidsimagines]

Boyfriend!Hyunjin

A/N: SHE PROTECC

SHE ATTACC

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY

SHE BACC

HI GUYS!!! I’m so happy to be posting again i cry :,)  i hope you enjoy!!!! i;ll be updating as much as i can without rushing too much :D

MASTERLIST

Prepare your wigs peeps

This is gonna make me swerve

I mean

cmon it’s Hyunjin

Let’s do this!

Prince Hyunjin

Is actually smooth af with his crush

He'll complement you whenever he gets the chance

Or gives you food

Basically your knight in shining armor

Ye, that’s not what actually happens

He's smiling like an idiot and about collapse when he’s with you because HE'S FREAKING OUT OK

So freaking nervous his heartbeat is always up when he’s with you

You sometimes think he’s about to have a heart attack and you’re not stupid you know why lmao

Same for when he confesses

At first he’s pretty calm about it

Just casually asked if you wanted to see a movie with him some time

“Like... a-as more than friends?”

You'd kinda expected it so you weren't too shocked when he asked you

So you said yes

Duh

And he does a double take

"Wait.... Are you serious? You want to?"

"Well yeah?"

"WHAT WHY"

Was good with flirting but didn't actually think you'd go out with him smh

Now every minute he just contemplates the fact that he has you

And he still can't believe it

Like shit dude

He’s with the y/n

You never feel unloved when you're with him

He loves going for long walks, just to talk and relax

Why does it sound like he's a dog here lmao

Will always take as many pictures of you as his phone storage will allow, his camera roll is stuffed with pics of you

Will insist on going to the park for a picnic, he just loves you and the sunshine

He loves to quietly slide your hand into his

But he always ends up giggling because he’s so giddy about being with you

Has to take a moment to charge up his courage before giving you a quick kiss on the cheek

He then goes an unreal shade of scarlet as he covers his face, muttering that he ‘can’t believe that he actually did it’! 

It takes him a while to finally gather up the courage to properly kiss you

Like.... a very long time

You were starting to get worried that he didn’t actually like you

Maybe he was just too nervous to tell you that it wasn’t working for him

buT NOPE

On one certain date, Hyunjin had prepared a cute little dinner on the practice room floor

He was so apologetic about the poor setting, but finally had stopped saying sorry when you’d told him for the 2376129th time that you were having fun

At some point, he just went uber silent, watching you not in a creepy way

You eventually noticed, and just stared back

“What?”

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes did widen a wee bit

“What are you lookin at, you’re sorta scaring m-”

He cut you off and just kissed you

BOI YOU WERE SO SHOCKED

Afterwards you both just stared at each other

And then Hyunjin goes all red

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do that I’m sorry that was stupid you can slap me if you want!!!!”

“Bruh why would I want to slap you?!”

“You don’t hate me?”

facepalms for days

You meet the other boys only a few minutes later

Go figure

You’re talking casually, the embarrassment from the kiss wearing off

They all come stampeding into the practice room making an ungodly racket

And all go quiet when they realize what they’ve done

Changbin, bless him, tries to reduce the awful level of awkwardness: “*cough* uh hey, Hyunjin.... This must be y/n right?” He waves at you. “We’ve heard a lot about you, Hyunjin never stops talking about you”

He misses the death glare Hyunjin shoots him

Then Jisung

Freakin Jisung, man

Waltzes up: “Hyunjin’s cheeks are really pink”. He gives a cheeky smile. “You didn’t kiss did you?”

The room goes as quiet as a tomb

“OH SHIT YOU DIDN’T ACTUALLY KISS DID YOU????”

Of course Hyunjin completely loses his shit at the sight of you turning a deep red. “GODDAMMIT JISUNG STFU”

Ye your first meeting with SKZ wasn’t the best

But you all bonded rather quickly after

And Jisung buys you little snacks sometimes as an apology for your first awkward meeting

OH GOD THE BOYS ADORE YOU

If you’re ever sick, they always get snacks for Hyunjin to give you

And if you’re really under the weather, they’ll cover for Hyunjin so that he can stay with you and take care of you.

He wraps you in blankets

YOU ARE NOW A BURRITO

And tries to make soup for you

We know what cooking!Hyunjin leads to

You’re chilling on the couch and you suddenly hear a high-pitched scream

You’re up and sprinting to the kitchen at the speed of light still wrapped in a burrito

To find him fanning at a smoking pot

“WHAT THE FUCK HYUNJIN YOU JUST NEED TO HEAT IT UP HOW DID YOU START A MINI FIRE?”

You’re home doesn’t burn down thank goodness

And you end up heating some soup for yourself while Hyunjin watches

And it’s! hilarious! when he’s sick!

He becomes a little ten-year-old istg

But in a really cute way

He doesn’t ask for anything: food, to watch TV etc

Nah he just wants cuddles

The whole damn day

So while you’re struggling to keep a mask on and not getting sneezed on, this idiot is smiling like a puppy if puppies could smile, clinging onto you like a love-filled leach did that sound weird? i think that sounded really weird

i want this tattooed on my face thx

Now idk what this dude is afraid of

Something tells me one big fear would be to lose Stray Kids and the people he loves

And so I think he’d get kinda nervous when you both see less of each other and when he gets busier

You can’t talk as much because of his crazy schedule and with lack of sleep, he starts getting more irritated easier during the little intervals of time you get to see each other

At some point he might snap at you, maybe for no reason at all, and you’ll snap back indignantly

Yeah you love him but you’re not taking any attitude

If things get really bad, he just shakes his head, saying he needs some air

You’ll both give yourselves some space, but eventually Hyunjin becomes terrified that you’re too angry with him to talk again

So he goes to find you and talk

You both hug it out and decide to spent the rest of the day together for more quality time

And it’s totally worth Hyunjin getting an earful from Chan the next day

OK back to fluff quickly quickly

On the days Hyunjin goes somewhere, you sometimes join him in the car ride, tho you’re always super careful to never show your face when he gets out

Gotta stay hidden yknow?

You’ll both send cute little texts throughout the day and OOF just couple goals

You: hey check this out, this is me 2 u *sends heart meme*

Jiiniie<3: oh yeah? well this is me @ u! *sends heart meme with more hearts*

You: boi dont start smth u cant win!

And thus begins the heart meme wars

r they even called heart memes idk

i want this tattooed on my face pt2

We’ve already established that Hyunjin can’t cook for love or money

So if he even steps foot in the dorms’ kitchen

You bet that at least two other of his hyungs will follow for pure supervision

And he is not, under any circumstances, allowed to cook something by himself

And you’re grateful that your safety and world peace had been assured by this rule

Although, you’re allowed to cook together as long as you watch what he’s doing

If anything at all goes wrong, the blame is pinned on you

So it’s natural for you to treat these cooking projects as once-in-a-while occasions

Now when you ask about meeting his parents

Holy Hell

Stutters, clammy hands, flitting eyes, you name it

Hyunjin is so frickin nervous about you meeting his parents oof

You don’t understand why, like hey, how bad could it be right?

But pretty soon you get why Jinnie was nervous

His parents aren’t that trusting within the first hour of knowing you

You guess it might be because of poor past experiences?

Maybe Hyunjin had been judged or dated once too many times just for his looks?

The thought is enough to make you swear by all you know to always treat him like a treasure

You also make a mental note to ask him sometime

Eventually, his parents realize you have pure intentions and they become so much kinder and warmer

They let you know how welcome you are to visit whenever you want, they offer to send you off with some homemade cookies...

And Hyunjin gets so emotional at the beautiful site in front of him that he bursts into tears

Which causes you and his parents to tease and hug him

if you’re thick, let’s just be clear that im making a statement on how you should NOT judge Jinnie purely because he’s good looking, appreciate his talent!

Now, Hyunjin is kinda tall compared to the rest of SKZ hah im joking of course so it’s pure instinct to want to steal his shirts

Don’t lie, if you had the chance, you would take something i see right thru u

And at some point in your life, you stop realizing ‘hey, this isn’t my jumper!’ and just walk around in clothes that aren’t yours

And when this happens, three things follow:

You see a wild Hyunjin crashing through the apartment towards you, yelling happily that ‘that’s my favorite hoodie!!’ he tries to act like he’s angry and fails in 0.0000003 sec

He doesn’t slow down and freakin slams into you at full velocity, knocking you over or off anything you might be sitting on

He proceeds to tickle you mercilessly, until you either can’t breath and turn purple or until you commit an extreme act of violence in the name of self defense

Once this chaotic episode ends, most of the time with both of you are completely knackered and just lying on the floor

You both cool off by just cuddling and watching something on TV

Or reading something together!!!

I can totally see Hyunjin shoving one of his fav books in your face and insisting that you both take turns in reading aloud to each other

And you both react at the same time to shockers in the book, like you start crying together when a character dies who hasn’t had that traumatic experience or you both squeal with joy and hug each other tighter when something great happens

Did I just turn into a puddle of happy goo?

Yes I fuckin did.

I think Hyunjin wouldn’t take that long to tell you that he loves you

That doesn’t mean that he planned anything tho

HAH! Course he didn’t

Probs says it when he can barely think straight

Maybe you’re watching him dance late at night

You’d brought snacks to keep him going ‘cause he was working his ass off

And there you sit, marveling at his skill and fluidity while executing his choreo

You have a talent for hyping Hyunjin up while he dances, cheering when he leaps high into the air, gasping when he performs a complicated move, and aw-ing and his graceful poses ok im done now

When he finishes one of his more dramatic dances, you jump up with glee and tackle him in a hug despite him being sweaty, saying how proud you are

He hugs you back happily and says:

“I should be the proud one, having someone I love so much being so supportive of me”.

You both freeze, still hugging each other

And neither of you move or breathe for a moment

“What did you say?”

“UhhhHHHH NOTHING I SAID NOTHING”

“You said that you love me!”

“WAT NO I DIDN’T I-”

“HYUNJIN I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!”

“N- wait what?”

“I love you, dumbass” same tho

Oof that poor practice room has seen a lot of awkwardness

I’m cracking up just by thinking of how hopeless Hyunjin could become when SKZ are away

“Hey do you guys have a signal and/or data? I wanna Skype y/n and show them the beautiful view”.

*all of SKZ facepalms*

Always taking pictures to show you

In the evenings, you get a frickin cascade of notifications of both photos and messages from the poor boy telling you he misses you like crazy

When Skyping, he asks to see Khami, who you have the pleasure of caring for during his absence

You do question (mentally and then verbally) whether he calls to talk to you or his dog

He never answers the question heh

There’s lowkey a competition between you and Khami for Hyunjin’s affection

When the boys make their flight home, Hyunjin keeps you informed about everything that’s happening

I mean everything:

Jiiniie<3: we’re @ the airport :D     -6h ago

Jiiniie<3: waiting to board!     -5h ago

Jiiniie<3: they’re getting ready to go, i can’t wait to see you!! xxx      -5h ago

Jiiniie<3: will text you when we arrive, love!     -5h ago

Jiiniie<3: JUST LANDED! CANT WAIT TO HUG U     -31mins ago

Jiiniie<3: about to get our luggage!     -Just now

You get the point -_-

When you finally see each other, he runs at top speed to pick you up and spins you around

frickin goals man i feel so sad writing this :,)

He goes public in probably the most aesthetic way that’s physically possible

He posts a bunch of gorgeous photos-

Courtesy of Jisung

-of your silhouettes in front of sunsets

-Pics he took of you laughing during a cafe trip

-Bomb-ass selcas where you’re both lookin hella fine

Just

UGGHHH

SO! AESTHETIC!!!

Naturally, the internet freaks the fuck out

Both of you are kinda nervous about the explosive reaction

There are salty bitches who are telling you to piss off because they jelly

But the huge majority of Stay are crying with happiness and wishing you both well

this better happen in the future im watching all of u

And soon Hyunjin is talking about you on vLives, proud af because y/n freakin rules!

OhmyGod I love Hyunjin

Damn my heart be like < HYUNJIN 3 phew

[teruthecreator]

if you're comfortable, could you say what specifically you hated about the finale? i never got into amnesty but i liked balance so i would like to know how disappointed i should be ://

okay i’m gonna explain this in-detail exactly Once bc i’m trying rlly hard to just forget about the whole epilogue and keep it moving like that shit never happened, so for anyone else who is asking me why i don’t like the finale (and im not saying you’re wrong for asking, anon, it just seems that when you vocally do not like a thing there are hundreds of people who come out of the woodworks to ask you why and i think thats kinda Huh, Weird of everyone but like whatever) i’m gonna lay it all out here on the table and you can take this as you will. 

i’m not gonna be getting into fistfights with people abt this so if you disagree please don’t try and banter with me. i am running on

also, CRITICISM OF ART DOES NOT MEAN CRITICISM OF THE ARTIST. I AM NOT CRITICIZING THE MCELROYS AS HUMAN BEINGS, BUT RATHER THEIR ARTISTIC DECISIONS IN TAZ: AMNESTY. MORE PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A SEPARATION BETWEEN ART AND ARTIST, AND ONCE YOU (AS AN ARTIST) POST A PIECE, IT BECOMES SUBJECT TO CRITICISM. I AM NOT BRINGING GRIFFIN, JUSTIN, TRAVIS, OR CLINT’S CHARACTERS INTO QUESTION; I AM SIMPLY GIVING A CRITICISM ON THE SHOW THEY’VE CREATED AS A WORK OF ART. 

oh, this goes without saying, but i will anyway: SPOILERS FOR AMNESTY (IN GENERAL, BUT ALSO FOR EPISODE 36) 

i’m gonna start off by saying, i don’t think the whole episode was a total disaster. there are two things mainly that have ruined the whole experience for me, but for the most part i thought the like first 2 hours of this episode were a lot of fun! the fight scene was a little bogged down in the rolls imo, but it didn’t deter me too much from the overarching boss battle. the intro was a sick concept, i enjoyed the callback bits spliced in w newly scripted bits from mentioned past encounters, that was all well and good. i loved beacon in the episode, and god do i wish he stayed for the whole thing. 

my problem mainly sits with the epilogue, which is why i think the whole episode turns sour in my mind. because the epilogue is supposed to be what satiates your desire to know more, right? not to reference balance too much (bc these are two completely different stories w different premises, and for people to so readily compare them is kinda wack. that being said, they are two stories made by the same people that use an epilogue to wrap up the loose ends, so im gonna make this one comparison), but the epilogue told us, the listener, all the things we wanted to know about after the day of story of song. we got to know what they did, a little bit of their interpersonal relationships, and we even got a big group scene with the killarey wedding! 

this epilogue, though, feels like it left so much still on the table. one of those things i will swing back to later because it is the largest part of my argument, but after all of this time we still don’t know why everyone at the lodge got exiled! no one talks about it! we don’t know how dani ended up there, or jake, or barclay, or moira, or anyone! they don’t reference the banishments at all, which i think is a huge shortcoming figuring that is the core premise as to why these characters exist in our pc’s world in the first place. 

i also feel like the concept of the worlds being divided for a long time is kind of a dumb way to go about framing what they do After The Fact. like, they could have had those scenes happen without the looming concept of them being divided, especially when their big reunion scene is like 2 minutes long and basically does nothing. what would have been a cooler premise is if billy connected the worlds, and the worlds worked together in rebuilding themselves. we still could’ve had the same bits happen (for the most part), but i just think that whole separation bit kinda alienated the pc’s (especially thacker). 

but everything up to aubrey’s epilogue bit is fine. i have some problems, but it’s fine. where i started to completely abandon the work itself though is duck’s bit, and i’m gonna get into it by saying this: I know Justin Mcelroy is not legally required to make all of his characters gay, but this whole scene was just a big reminder to me that this show is done by 4 straight white men

and yeah, my big problem with this scene is the fact that justin had to make Duck/Minerva a thing. because it adds nothing to the story while also being a very skeevy concept in-general, and it reduces minerva’s character down to the Hero’s Girlfriend trope and it’s so comphet and she doesn’t deserve it. 

my first grievance with this: It adds nothing to the story. 

had justin not even mentioned the relationship part of their interaction before the scene actually took place, this scene would be like every other scene involving duck and minerva prior to this. duck says honey once, and even that could’ve been played off as duck just being affectionate to his friends (which is a thing, i call several of my friends “my love” irl and it isn’t a big deal). minerva doesn’t even use pet names, she calls duck by his full name, which is exactly how she addressed him in every other scene! duck’s speech is a genuine heart-puller, but it was completely soured by the fact that justin had to premise this entire scene by saying duck and minerva are a thing. 

my second grievance: it’s a skeevy-as-all-hell concept. 

this whole premise is nasty seven ways from sunday, and it is my biggest problem with duck’s bit as a whole. for starters, and i think more people need to mention this, minerva meets duck on the night of his 18th birthday. which means duck has literally just stopped being legally considered a minor before minerva appears before him. and honestly, i would still consider duck a minor in this case because he has literally just turned 18!!! his brain has not developed past one of a 17-year-old on the exact date of his birthday, and i argue it will not until he is at least in his twenties. keep in mind, your brain does not stop developing until you are about 25. so while in the legal sense, duck is an adult, in both the mental and emotional sense at that exact moment, duck is still a minor. AND he’s still in high school, as referenced in his response to her call to duty: “i got class tomorrow”. and minerva is old enough to have become the minister of defense for her homeworld, go through an entire war, and have several other chosen ones (including leo tarkesian, who is at least 20 years older than duck) before meeting duck. so that makes her much, much older than duck when she meets him. and i don’t care if they had barely any interaction after that first moment (though they did, as justin legit talks about when he introduces minerva as a concept to the show), that still establishes their initial interaction at a massive age difference. which, regardless of anything, makes their eventual relationship so genuinely messed up. 

sure, you can argue that when you get older age doesn’t make that much of a difference, and i would agree. my mother is 53 and her husband is 63, that’s ten years. but my mother and step mother did not meet at 8 and 18, they met at 50 and 60. the initial interaction makes all the difference between “older people meeting and having a relationship” and “a very messed up situation”. 

also, in this same argument, taking the mentor-student relationship and turning it into a romantic relationship IS SO MESSED UP!!!! GENUINELY AND HONESTLY MESSED UP!!! i feel like i don’t need to explain this because there have been so many examples already as to why this is a relationship you Should Not turn romantic, but i will anyway because it frustrates me so much that justin completely glosses over this!!! the power dynamic of a mentor-student relationship, in whatever way it is portrayed, displays a power balance that is heavily leaning to one side. there is not an equal distribution of power amongst the two because one person is teaching the other. the one person is weak to the others wills and whims because of lack of experience. think of your high school teacher or college professor; if you started a relationship with them, people would raise so many questions because you are not at equals to the teacher/professor. even if they treat you different, and even if they no longer teach you, it all has to do with the initial interaction. and minerva was still duck’s mentor up until either episode 34 or 35, when she handed off the title of Herald of the Astral Mind to duck. that means for nearly all of their interactions, there was a mentor-student dynamic. to have that turn into a romantic relationship is so sketchy and weird and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

my third grievance: it reduces minerva’s character down to a girlfriend trope, and it’s comphet as hell 

my friend tin (@taako–waititi) phrased this so well in the big group chat im in w her, so imma just quote her on this and then go into the comphet stuff: 

“i was dming max about it and they also mentioned, quote, ‘her story was never about romance. it reduced her down to ‘competent woman becomes endgame girlfriend’ trope’ and they are so right it makes me fucking pissed. regardless of any ‘mutual respect’ and ‘emotional intimacy’ kind of thing going on that some people are arguing for, it’s something that didn’t need to happen because minerva’s character becomes that. my thing is mutual respect and emotional intimacy between two people can. exist. without it being. romantic. like. friendship is. also valid. i personally don’t think that mutual respect and emotional intimacy are two buttons that you press to make the machine churn out a romance” 

not only does it reduce minerva’s character to tropes, but it also is extremely comphet for a woman who is so heavily wlw-coded or lesbian-coded and it just angers me. you could argue that she could be bi, but if we look at canon for just its face-value, the only romantic interaction she ever has is with a man, which basically makes her straight. this isn’t like aubrey’s situation, where travis clearly states she is a bi woman who is just in a relationship with another woman in amnesty. griffin doesn’t state anything about minerva’s sexuality and then she’s paired off with a man right at the end. and you could argue that she isn’t wlw or lesbian-coded, but i am not the only one who is wlw and thinks this, so i feel like i have more of a ground to stand on in this opinion. and this just feels so, like, textbook compulsory heteronormativity it made me feel physically sick when i heard this bit in the podcast. 

so that’s my first big issue with the finale, fully explained. my second issue with the epilogue is that ned’s death continues to be disappointing and his character arc is never completed, which just tanks the whole show for me. 

i’ve talked about this several times since ep 28 about how ned’s death was stupid and did nothing for his character arc, but i’m gonna reiterate my main points for the people who find this post without knowing my whole blog:

1. ned’s main interpersonal conflicts are just brought to the surface and never fully delved into before his sudden death. ned doesn’t ever get to explain his history with boyd and why he had to steal shade tree to mama or barclay or really anyone besides vaguely to aubrey. 

2. every character is just immediately expected to feel sad about ned’s death, despite the tension that still remains right up until the very end. aubrey shouldn’t have even known that the shapeshifter framed ned because that’s all explained once she goes to sylvain, but i think travis just assumed she did because he heard the interaction between ned, mama, and barclay. so she should’ve had Way more conflicting feelings about the whole thing, but ned’s death is just angst-bait so that doesn’t happen.

3. ned’s death doesn’t make roll sense because clint rolled a mixed success and mixed successes, by definition, are supposed to be less severe moves than a failed roll (which gives the gm the ability to make a hard move). there isn’t really anything harder to do to a character than kill them, but even if you wanted to argue that if clint failed the roll the hard move would’ve been ned failing and letting dani get shot, it still doesn’t change the fact that clint rolled a mixed success when slamming into the pizza hut sign at full velocity and came out of that alive (severely injured, naturally, but still alive). 

so, yeah, there’s that. and then theres the fact that griffin doesn’t ever give us any other scenes involving ned directly. ned only becomes a reference from 28 on, which is so disappointing given ned’s importance to the other two pcs. and i understand that the mcelroys have a lot of trauma related to death, but griffin shouldn’t have killed ned off then if he did not want to talk about death in graphic detail. we all have trauma. we all want to avoid topics. but to kill ned off and then never talk about his death in great relation to the others is a genuine disservice to ned’s character. 

the day episode 28 aired was the same day i buried my grandmother. i would have loved if death wasn’t brought up, but i don’t control the podcast. the mcelroys do; they had the ability to avoid this topic in a more servicing way to the characters and they didn’t. that isn’t to say they are bad people for not doing it, but it makes the finale even more disappointing because it means we never get the full rounding out of ned’s character arc. he becomes this like brief reference that is, once again, angst-bait or emotional fuel and i feel like he didn’t deserve that. he deserved a genuine reference, a genuine moment. even a dream sequence i would have appreciated!!! 

griffin had sylvain directly point at ned in aubrey’s flashback in ep 35, and then did nothing about what that could have implicated in the finale. it sours the entire episode in a major way and disappointed me immensely. there should have been more done with that topic and there wasn’t and i will never forget how deeply it hurt me and turned me away from canon as a whole. not to be ned kin on main, but ned was the backbone of this show and the exact moment he left was the exact moment the whole thing went downhill. it turned less into a story about growth and adversary and amnesty and more into a waiting game for when this very loose end was going to get wrapped up. 

i wanted to enjoy this episode. i tried so hard, y’all. but just the thought of ned loomed over me the entire time and i was waiting for a more proper completion to his arc, and it never happened. and coupled with that very bad and skeevy duck/minerva bit i was just so frustrated and hurt last night. 

so, yeah, that’s my whole spiel. you are free to disagree with me, but keep that opinion to yourself because i’m not getting into it with anyone. i will just block you; it’s better for us both, anyway. 

[staycalmandlovekpop]

Who You Are

A/N: (Another old request) Sorry anon for super long wait! This was inspired by the K-drama “Kill Me, Heal Me”

Date: March 7, 2018 Patient: Im Jaebum Diagnosis: Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality disorder 

Observations of the Personalities 1. Im Jaebum (The main original personality) A normal 24 year-old young man who is caring, warm-hearted, active, and emotional. He just wants to be a filial son, good friend, and live out his dreams. Interests: Music, hanging out with friends and family, composing, playing sports, and joking around Note: Due to the fact that the manager of GOT7 didn’t want Jaebum to know that he had hired a private personal nurse for his disorder, I haven’t met him yet. My contract clearly stated that I had to keep my distance from him whenever he returns to his normal state and to only approach him if one of his other personalities came out. He usually feels a sharp pain in his head like a migraine before the personalities come out.

2. JB (The bad boy) Makes himself known as the “charismatic leader of GOT7” but is actually quite stubborn, has a bad temper, is strong-minded, impatient, doesn’t listen to others, the MOST PROBLEMATIC ONE, and is quite selfish. HOW HE WAS CREATED: I suspect that “JB” was born when Jaebum hurt his ankle and couldn’t dance on stage with the other members. He was quite frustrated with himself as he felt that he was letting down his fans and the members. As a the leader and a dancer he wanted to always give it his all on stage, but his injury was preventing him from doing so. The stress had become too overwhelming for him to handle therefore JB was created to help him through tough situations and bear through the pain. INTERESTS: Getting what he wants, singing, dancing, flirting with girls, being in the spotlight, and going to nightclubs. NOTE: He wasn’t very thrilled at first when he found out that GOT7’s manager hired a personal nurse and refuses to listen to me AT ALL. CAN BE SUCH A PAIN IN THE BUTT sometimes. He’s always causing trouble and just does whatever he wishes to do. Sometimes the way he looks at me makes me feel very uncomfortable... He keeps on winking at me and saying “You’ll fall for me one day Muffin~.” He’s also been showing up a lot these days...I wonder why?

3. Seo Mijoon (The Actor) Possibly JB’s “older brother” but whenever I ask him or JB about it, they both deny it profusely. Thinks he’s a worldwide star and assumes that everybody is his fan. Very arrogant, snotty, rude, but is very serious when acting. HOW HE WAS CREATED: After receiving some recognition for his role in Dream High 2, Jaebum began to feel pressured when he got another offer for the drama “When a Man Falls in Love.” I suspect that he studied the script VERY VERY diligently and eventually the lack of sleep and stress got to him causing alter ego Mijoon to be born. It’s quite likely that’s what happened considering this personality adopted Jaebum’s character’s name from the drama. INTERESTS: Being the center of attention, acting, memorizing scripts, fashion, magazines, coffee, signing autographs, modeling, and taking selcas. NOTE: He didn’t care that GOT7’s manager hired a personal nurse at all. To him, I was someone he could order around to do stuff. He treats me like an intern by making me get him coffee, walking his cat(???), driving him to places, buying him magazines, dusting off lint from his clothes with a lint roller, and taking endless pictures of him. Since Jaebum isn’t focused on acting these days, whenever Mijoon comes out I would always catch him stealing Jinyoung’s scripts and practicing lines in his room.  

4. JYP A dorky fun loving ahjussi who is health conscience and is starting to feel his age but still wants to enjoy life to the fullest. Though he exercises and can move around quite well, his knees occasionally go weak and he experiences gastric problems often. HOW HE WAS CREATED: It’s pretty obvious that this personality is based off the CEO of Jaebum’s company. He must be really grateful to Mr. Park Jinyoung for all that he’s done and admire him as an artist as well. INTERESTS: Organic herbal drinks, working out, drinking, partying, dancing, giving people life advice, composing music, playing piano, and wearing glasses. NOTE: He’s a pretty nice ahjussi when he’s not drunk or giving me long lectures about how it’s better to sing with half air half sound and why it’s good to always be honest. Whenever music starts playing, JYP gets into a dancing groove.

You sighed as you finished typing the last note and shut your laptop. You still couldn’t believe that it’s been two weeks since you took this job. Who ever thought that your first official job would be to become a secret private nurse for GOT7’s Im Jaebum? 

It was just three weeks ago when GOT7’s manager came to your senior’s office, asking for someone who is plain, average, and could easily blend in a crowd. Of course your ‘oh so considerate’ senior (and mentor) suggested you, a first-year psychiatry resident who was eager to start working and was basically invisible to everyone in the office. You refused at first, begging your senior to help you find a position elsewhere in a local hospital. You knew how messy things could get in the entertainment field, and you didn’t want to be involved. Even if it was a private job. 

“Kang sunbaenim, please don’t make me do this! What if his fans find out and assume that we’re dating or something?” 

Your senior scoffed. “You? Dating a K-pop idol?” 

You rolled your eyes at him. “I’m serious!! If something happens, all the hard work that I’ve done to get to where I am now will go down the drain!”

He then sighed deeply before placing a hand on your shoulder and looking in you dead in the eye. “Listen. You’re one of my favorite pupils and I know that you can excel in anything you put your heart to. Mr. Im is not only our client, but our patient. A patient that needs to be treated and set free from his inner demons. I know very well that you understand what it’s like to have a disorder and how it can greatly impact someone’s life.” 

You looked away and sighed. Must he always be right?

“Did you ever consider how hard it probably is for him? Having to deal with dissociative identity disorder AND living as a K-pop idol??”

After a week of contemplating, you finally decided to take the job. GOT7’s manager explained to you about how they were hiring a private nurse behind Jaebum’s back, as he would never have approved of it. You also had to swear that you would never let anyone know about Jaebum’s psychological condition, even if it was already a given that every patient’s information is to remain confidential. Since then, you’ve been following GOT7 around. You went to every event, hiding somewhere in the distance like a sasaeng fan and making observations of Jaebum’s behavior. Today’s schedule was filming for the second episode of their reality show called “GOT7’s Showtime.”

“Cut! Good job everyone. We will commence a ten minute break and resume filming shortly.” The PD-nim announced through his megaphone. A moment later, you get a text from the manager:

“You take a break too. I can keep an eye on Jaebum for now.” 

You looked up from your phone and made eye contact with him from afar. He gave you a thumbs up and you nodded in acknowledgment, secretly thanking him since it was an extremely hot day and you really needed a cold drink. You made sure to head the opposite way GOT7 were headed and decided to go to your favorite cafe around the corner. 

“One iced americano please.” You tell the cashier as you dig out your wallet from your bag.

“Okay, that will be ￦3,550 please.”

You opened your wallet to find only a couple bills inside. You had forgotten to get more cash from the bank this weekend. “Do you accept card?” You ask the cashier with a hopeful voice.

“Sorry, but we accept cash only.”

You felt your throat get dry, making your thirst for a cold drink even greater. You placed your two ￦1,000 bills on the counter and dumped all your coins out. After counting and calculating, you realized that you were ￦50 short. You were about to sadly collect your coins when suddenly a man behind you spoke up. 

“I can lend you ￦50.” He said, placing the coin on the counter. 

You were about to turn around to thank the man when suddenly realized that the voice sounded familiar to you. It was indeed HIM. You turned slightly and did a quick bow before walking to the far corner of the cafe with your receipt and buzzer in hand.

That was way too close. Why was he here? Where was the manager? As if on cue, you received a text from him: “I lost him.” You were about to text back, notifying him about Jaebum’s whereabouts, when someone tapped you on your shoulder.

“Hey aren’t you the girl that was in front of me in line?”

You dared to face him and looked into his eyes. A pair of soft brown eyes, and a closed smile which you never saw up-close. It indeed was the real Jaebum who was speaking to you. 

“Uhh sorry! I-I can’t speak Korean!” You stuttered in English. 

Jaebum tilted his head. “Didn’t you speak Korean to the cashier just now?” “Ahh. I know only little Korean…” You trailed off, hoping to confuse him with more English.

A playful smile formed on his face. “Oh, but you must know enough Korean to understand what I just said. I didn’t ask you in English.” 

You slumped your shoulders and sighed, reverting back to Korean. “Alright, you got me. I can speak Korean...Sorry, it’s just that I’m...I’m uncomfortable around strangers.”

Jaebum’s smile faltered. “Oh...I didn’t mean to creep you out or anything. I promise. I just found you...intriguing.” 

“Intriguing...?”

Jaebum rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, that sounded creepy didn’t it?” He chuckled, feeling flustered by his choice of words. “You know what, let’s just start over. Hi, I’m Im Jaebum.” 

You looked at his outstretched hand, which was waiting for a handshake. Should you hide your identity? Or just tell him your real name? Maybe you could use a cool mysterious name like Midnight or something like Demetria. Yeah Demetria sounded nice.

You slipped your hand into his and shook it. “I’m Y/N.” Shoot. There goes your chance of having a mysterious sounding name. 

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. I really want to stay and chat, but I have something to attend to...Do you mind meeting me for a late night snack at midnight?” 

Your eyes widened in surprise of his sudden offer. Why would he want to meet up with you?

“I-um….”

You felt conflicted. You knew that it was against your contract to interact with his main personality, but a part of you wanted to learn more about the real Jaebum. Suddenly you were filled with deep curiosity, wondering what he was like personally compared to his other personalities. Maybe getting to know him firsthand will help you with your research.

“Sure. Why not.” You replied with a friendly smile.

Jaebum grinned. “Great. Meet me at the ice cream shop nearby tonight.” After he left to continue filming, you stood there frozen, wondering if you did the right thing accepting his offer. You snapped out of it when your phone rang. It was GOT7’s manager.

“H..Hello?” 

“Y/N did you find him?”

“Yeah...about that….”

You explained to him about what happened and was pretty sure that you were gonna get fired...but surprisingly the manager thought that it would be a good opportunity to get to know Jaebum more. So that’s how you ended up waiting outside the ice cream shop past midnight while freezing cold. 

You were kicking pebbles with your shoe when you heard someone running towards you. 

“H-Hey….Sorry I’m late!” Jaebum said while breathing heavily. Once he caught his breath, he continued. “It was kinda hard for me to sneak out, but I made it. I didn’t keep you waiting too long did I...?”

“Nope. I just got here haha…” (You totally did not just wait over half an hour…) “But wait...why did you ask to meet at this ice cream shop? It’s closed now…” You said as you pointed at the sign and the dark empty room.

Jaebum gave you a knowingly smile. “That’s what most people think, but actually…”

He then starting walking towards the back of the shop and you followed after him. Jaebum eventually led you to the backdoor of the shop and knocked on the door 7 times. The door then opened slowly and a bright light peeped from inside. Jaebum opened the door wide and gestured for you to go in first. “After you~.” As you walked in, your eyes popped out in amazement. The secret backroom was filled with tables and basically everything that the front part of the shop had. You were also surprised to see so many celebrities, such as actors and idols, with their dates enjoying their ice cream together. (For their privacy, none shall be named in this story).

“Surprised?” Jaebum asked after making sure to close the door shut behind him. Since you were there for work, you shook off the starstruckness and tried to keep your cool. “Just a bit…”

“Yeah, the owner here is cousins with the TV personality/restaurateur Hong Seokcheon. He put in this whole separate back part of the ice cream shop when designing it just for celebrities to have a secret hideout.” 

“Wow that’s pretty cool~. What if the non-celebrity dates don’t end well though?” You asked.

“Well if anyone were to ever try to expose the secret, the password would change or they will just move to another location before Dispatch arrives. That hasn’t happened yet though, thankfully.”

You nodded in understanding. “So~. Have you been here often?” Although you didn’t really care, you were curious to see how he would react.

Jaebum looked taken aback by your sudden question.”What, me? Pfft no...I just heard about it a lot from my friends.” 

Just then, a large man came over and gave Jaebum a big hug. You assumed that he was the owner of the shop. “Ayee JB my man~. Good to see you again!!” 

You raised an eyebrow at Jaebum and gave him a look as a flustered Jaebum gave you a small forced smile. 

“You want the usual JB?” The man asked.   

Jaebum nodded and looked over at you. 

“Ahh..I’ll take a cookies n’ cream thank you.” You said. 

Once you and Jaebum got your orders, you both sat down at a table near the covered windows. You noticed that he got the mint choco ice cream and made a mental note of that for your report later. 

“Sooo you haven’t been here often huh?” You said, trying to poke fun at him. 

Jaebum raised his hands up. “I swear I only come here from the front for their ice cream.” 

You laughed and took a bite out of your ice cream. “Sure you do…” 

Jaebum chuckled. “No, really! I don’t usually ask anyone out.” 

You looked at him questionably. “Then what makes me special? Why did you ask me out? I know for sure that it’s not because I owed you a mere ￦50. You even paid for our ice cream without me knowing!”

Jaebum licked his ice cream. “I told you already. It’s because I found you...intriguing.” 

“There you go again with that creepy-like word.” You joked. 

Jaebum chuckled. “Fine! How about ‘interesting’? Enthralling? Thought-provoking? Fascinating?”

“Oh my goodness. What are you? A walking thesaurus?” You said laughing. “That’s not usually how a guy would describe a girl.”

“It’s just hard to explain...Even though I’m sure we never met before, I feel like you seem very familiar...Like you seemed very approachable..?” 

Your eyes widened. Was it possible that your interactions with his other personalities gave him a sense of familiarity around you? “Ah, I see…”

“Also, you just treated me differently that how other people would.”

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Well, you treated me like how you would treat any man you didn’t know. Haha. You probably thought that I was a creeper at first didn’t you? I just liked how you didn’t treat me like a celebrity. Even though it might just be because you didn’t know who I was...Do you know who I am?”

Although you knew that Jaebum was just asking you if you knew that he was from GOT7, you received the question differently as if he was asking you if you really knew who Jaebum was on the inside. If you knew about his secret disorder and internal struggles.

When you were about to reply, Jaebum grunted while putting his hands on his forehead. The oh so familiar piercing migraine has returned. No...NOT NOW. Jaebum thought to himself. 

“Are you feeling okay?” You asked.

“Huh? Yeah I’m fine. I think I..I’ll be right back.” He said as he quickly got up and started heading towards the direction of the restrooms. Why must this happen right now? Jaebum had left his pills back at the dorm and his personalities are trying to take over at the worst moments. As he headed towards the hallway that led to the restrooms, he was struck with sudden dizziness. Jaebum held his hand against his head as he stumbled, going back and forth from bumping into nearby chairs and against the wall. He stopped moving for a moment and tried to stabilize himself. However, once he took another step, Jaebum slipped and hit his ended up hitting his back onto a nearby countertop. 

Hearing all the commotion, you quickly ran over to him and found Jaebum slumping over in pain.

Your eyes widened. Did a personality take over already??  “OMG JYP is that you?? Is your back aching again ahjusshi?”

At your comment Jaebum’s pain momentarily went away as he looked at you speechless. “How did you know-”

You looked into Jaebum’s eyes and noticed that his gaze was not the same as JYP’s or any other of his personalities’. WAS HE STILL JAEBUM??

You turned to leave but Jaebum grabbed your wrist and looked at you suspiciously. “Who are you really?”

“Uhh...I...uh…”

“Who are you?! A sasaeng fan trying to blackmail me?! ANSWER ME!” He said in a harsher tone. 

You looked around to make sure that no one else was looking over at you guys. “J-Jaebum...Listen, I-”

Before you could continue, he loosened his grasp on your arm as he felt another sharp pain in his head. “Ugh...not now...” Jaebum murmured under his breath as he pulled away from you and pressed his palm against his forehead. He groaned in agony.

“Hey, stay with me now. Where’s your medication?” You asked as you took a hold of his arm to stabilize him.

“Left....it...at...the...dorm.” With those last words, Jaebum lost consciousness and collapsed. 

You stumbled as you struggled to support Jaebum’s weight, preventing him from falling on the floor. With a loud grunt, you managed to lean him slouched against the wall with his head down. “Wow. Best first date ever.” You said sarcastically. 

When you were about to go call GOT7′s manager, Jaebum lifted his head and stared straight at you. You looked back at him with surprise and looked into his eyes with curiosity. 

“Jaebum...?” 

He scoffed with a smug smile on his face. “Still can’t recognize me yet, Muffin?”

You rolled your eyes and sighed with frustration. “JB.”

JB stood up straight and put his hands into his pants pockets. “Whoa calm down. I know that you’re excited to see me again, but chill~.” 

“Just be quiet and let Jaebum come back out again. I need to talk to him right now.” You firmly said, not in the mood to deal with his bs. 

“Jaebum? That piece of trash? Why would-....Wait. Why are you even here next to me right now? Why were you with him?! Did you get caught? Haha wow, I knew that sooner or later you’d-.” 

“This is serious!!! There is a misunderstanding that I need to clear with him, so go back and let him come back out right now!” 

JB crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall. He smirked when an idea popped into his mind. “How about a kiss then?” 

You stared at him with an ‘are you freakin’ kidding me’ expression.

“I’m serious! I came out because you made him furious right? Maybe if you kissed me, it would shock my body so much to make me go back.”

 You didn’t believe him, but it seemed like you didn’t have a choice at this point. As well, this would probably break a bunch of rules on your contract...Even though you hated the idea of kissing the sleazeball, you knew that you had to do it for Jaebum. 

To JB’s surprise, you stepped closer to him and yanked him down to your height.

“Fxxk it.” You said before leaning in and pressing your lips against his.

~To Be Continued...? Maybe, maybe not.~

[chancellormatt]

Voltron Rewrite Episode Two - Faith and Friendship

Episode Two

    The Dark Voltron weaves around the last of the pitfalls of the Quantum Void. It pulls to a stop just outside the planet hidden at the center of the Void. Dark Voltron breaks back up into lions almost immediately.

    “Here we are.” Lotor says.

    “Getting readings from some kind of structure down on the planet’s surface.” Sendak says.

    “We shall see now if your alternate had anything of value to provide us.” Zarkon replies.

    “If my alter went to all this trouble, I’m fairly certain that it is valuable.” Lotro says, his voice holding the slightest bit of offense.

    “-If we are preparing to land, shall I cloak us from detection, sire?” Honvera cuts in.

    “I doubt the planet has any threats worth my concern, but if you must.” Zarkon says.

    “Right away, my lord.” Honvera closes her eyes, and begins to gesture with her hands. Purple quintessence crackles along her fingers, as glyphs appear outside above each of the dark lions. The glyphs pass through each lion, crackling along their surface, before disappearing.

    “That should suffice.” Honerva says.

    “Begin approach.” Zarkon orders, taking the lead.

    The lions fly down towards the planet’s surface. They fly through the atmosphere for a time, gliding above the surface.

    “Sendak, where is this structure you spoke of?” Zarkon asks.

    “It should be just ahead, my lord.”   

    Sure enough, a large metal dome becomes visible just moments later.

    “How would you like to organize the intrusion?” Lotor asks. “Raimon and myself could go in and-”

    “Lotor, Raimon and I will go inside, to see what this dome contains.” Zarkon says sharply. “Honvera and Sendak, you will stay here to provide support, in the unlikely event we require it.”

    “Yes my lord.” All reply. Lotor’s comes a half a moment later than the others, and with a hint of annoyance.

    The Black, Red and Blue lions touchdown on the surface, behind a nearby rock formation, and their Paladins exit. Zarkon takes the lead on the approach, with Lotor and Raimon creeping along just behind him. They reach the sheer metal face of the dome.

    “There should be an access hatch not far from your location.” Sendak informs.

    They find it shortly. Rather than try to breach it through vai subtler means, Zarkon opts to simply kick the door in. Lotor rolls his eyes as he follows Zarkon inside, with Raimon bringing up the rear.

    “Communications cluster up ahead.” Sendak supplies. “Hold on, there are some-”

    A pair of Galra drones round the corner down the hall. A blur of motion, Zarkon shoots forward and brings a clenched fist down one drone so hard it’s smashed into scrap against the floor. Before the other can even get it's weapon up, Zarkon throws out his other hand, that clutches his bayard, and a sword materializes in the middle of the drone’s chest. He pulls the wickedly curved purple blade out and the drone collapses.   

    “Try to improve the speed of your warnings in the future, Sendak.” Zarkon says, making it clear this is more than a suggestion.

    “Y-yes sire. My apologies.” Sendak stammers.

    Zarkon and the other two continue onward. Finding another door at the end of the hall, Zarkon kicks that one in too. The room inside has a line of consoles set up beneath a long display screen, showing the inside of the dome. Forests, fields and hills, at the center of which is a cluster buildings can be seen at a distance.

    Lotor walks over to one of the consoles and sets to work. After a quick scan on some of the readings on the console’s smaller screen, he speaks:

    “It seems that this place is some kind contained habitat for the species inside. That’s curious, no direct mention of the species by name…”

    “Find me something useful boy.” Zarkon instructs.

    Lotor continues to type, before looking back up at the large display. “Hold on, I’ll get us a close up visual on that town over there, maybe that will give us some answers.”

    The display switches to close up view of a town, with dozens of humanoid figures moving about inside. Lotor zooms in closer, and as he does his eyes widen.

    “Those look like-”

    “Alteans.” Zarkon says, stepping forward looking interested for the first time since entering the building.

    Raimon jerks his head up at the mention of the word, and now stares at the display.

    “Living alteans. Dozens of them.” Lotor says, almost reverentially.

    “Honerva are you getting this?” Zarkon asks.

    “I am sire.” She sounds surprised herself.

    “You can use these.” Zarkon says. It is more statement than question.

    “Indeed I can.” She confirms.

    “Good.” Zarkon smiles. “Very good. It seems you were right after all son.”

    Lotor blinks, forcing himself to tear his eyes from the display. “Father, may...I have some time to figure out what my alternate was doing here?” Lotor asks carefully.

    “You have one quintent. After that, we will begin the process of rebuilding our army. Starting with these alteans.”

***

    Pidge stands next to her mother, Colleen Holt, looking bored. Collee, on the other hand, has a self satisfied look on her face. They stand inside a room with with a series of computer terminals giving readouts of data onto monitors. The back wall has a line of windows letting in streams of early-morning sunlight in.

    Pidge sighs. She sighs again. On the third sigh, her mother speaks.

    “Bored Katie?”

    “Extremely.” Pidge says.

    “I thought you loved computers.” her mother says, still smirking, without looking away from the monitor she’s reading from.

    “I love hacking into alien networks and taking down their defenses one by one. I love making a communications relay from scrap metal and whatever im carrying in my pockets. I love dismantling a new piece of technology and toying with it until I figure out how it works. I do not like doing basic analysis for the base’s air conditioning.”

    “Well tough luck kiddo. Maybe if you hadn’t run off to space, without telling your mother, I’d let you have fun with your father and brother. Besides, this is more than just the air conditioning.  It also shows us the water usage.”

    “I’m a Paladin of Voltron mom!” Pidge exclaimes. “I’m supposed to be out there helping to fight the Galra, not sitting around checking computer readouts!”

    “Oh yeah? And here I thought all your other Voltron friends were taking time off to be with their families…?”

    “Well technically…” She said, scratching the back of her neck “-but Hunk told me they’ve already started getting ready to rebuild the Castle of Lions, they’re gonna need someone to set up the computer net-”

    “And if they ask for you, specifically.” Pidge’s mother interjected. “I’ll think about letting you go. If I think you’ve learned your lesson by then.”

    “Matt gets to work on the cool stuff.” Pidge protests, halfheartedly.

    “Matt got kidnapped by aliens on accident. He didn’t go looking for trouble. Besides, he’s spending time with your father, so I’m allowing it. In the meantime, I get some quality time, just me and my daughter.” Colleen pulled Pidge into a side-armed hug, while Pidge grumbles, but does not resist.

    “We could at least do something more interesting...”

    “What a great idea! I’m almost done here, why don’t we go check out my plants. I’ve become a bit of a gardener since they moved me onto base. I know how much you love the great outdoors and sunlight Katie.”

    Pidge only groans.

***

    “Alright here’s the plan.” Lance says. “I drop by Ryner and get some of those pretty alien flowers, get all dressed up in some nice clothes I’m borrowing from my brother, maybe shower for good measure, then a solid ten minutes of psyching myself up, before I finally go and ask Allura outh on a date.” Lance explains animatedly.

    “Uh...huh. And...why are you telling me all of this?” Keith asks. The two of them are walking down a corridor within the Galaxy Garrison base.

    “Hunk’s busy and Pidge is grounded.” Lance shrugs.

    “I see…” Keith says, distractedly.

    “What? No, ‘I don’t have time for this Lance,’ or ‘I’ve got to go brood instead of talk to people Lance?’”

    “What?” Keith says, as if missing what Lance just said.

    Lance eyes him oddly. “Yeah you’re definitely acting weird.”

Keith only sighs and rubs his eyes. “Sorry, just have a lot on my mind right now. What were you saying again? You wanna ask Allura out or something?”

“Yep.” Lance says confidently.

“And you brought this up because…” Keith strains, as if trying to figure it out. “...you’re worried it wont go well?”

“What? No! Have you seen me Keith? I’m irresistible…” Lance holds the confident look for another few moments, before relaxing his shoulders and twiddling his fingers nervously. “...well I mean...I guess I am a little worried.” He finally admits.

Keith gives a half chuckle.

“She never takes me seriously,” Lance goes on. “I...I just hope this goes well.”

“Well dunno how much I can help you there. I guess just...be honest about how you feel?” Keith says it as if not entirely sure.

“Honest huh? That’s good, I should write that down…”

Keith shakes his head. “Now if you’ll excuse me, ‘I’ve got to go brood instead of talk to people, Lance.’”

“Hey, there’s the Keith we all know!”   

***

    Lotor studies the Altean colony from the display screen, entranced by the images of men and women working, while the children play.

    Honerva walks in, breaking him from his trance.

    “Mother.” Lotor says, acknowledging her, before shifting his gaze back to the screen.

    “What have you found, my son?” She asks.

    “A great deal.” Lotor says. “From listening on their conversation, and scanning the deep archives of this place, I’ve begun to piece together a narrative. The Lotor of this universe scoured the stars to find the alteans that survived the destruction of their planet. Then, he gathered them all here into this colony, where they’ve thrived for millenia.” Lotor shakes his head and smiles slightly. “To think there were so many. I admit I’d thought of the same idea before but...he actually did it.”

    Honerva says nothing, scanning the screen a moment, dispassionately.

    “Not excited to see your own people again?” Lotor asks.

    “Most of my kind were always too short sighted. More concerned with a sense of ‘morality’ than they were with actual progress. There’s a reason I married a galra. In the end, they didn’t receive anything they did not earn.”

    “Hm.” Lotor says, noncommittally. “Guess he feels differently.” Lotor nods to the side of the room. There, in the shadows, Raimon leans against the wall, staring at the screen. Honerva’s eyes narrow.

    “How long has he been doing that?”

    “Since we got here.”

    “Raimon.” She says.

    The maroon armored man doesn’t respond.

    “Raimon.” She says a little more firmly.

    The man finally tears his eyes away from the screen to face Honerva.

“Yes ma’am?” He asks in a gruff voice..

    “Go to Sendak and see if he needs assistance.”

    The maroon paladin nods slightly and heads towards the door. It is not lost on Honerva or Lotor how he shoots the alteans one last, lingering look, before exiting the room.

    Honerva turns back to Lotor. “Did you find anything else out?”

“Apparently my alter also started moving some of the alteans offsite, to this planet’s moon for other research, though I haven’t been able to look into that as of yet. Oh, and one other thing. They...well it seems that as a result of my alter’s actions, I’m held in a certain position of...reverence to these people. Their chosen savior, if you will.”

Honerva’s eyes flicker to the statue of Lotor on the display. “I’d never have guessed…”

    “So the only surviving alteans in this universe all worship my son. It would be humorous, were it not so pitiful.” Zarkon says, from behind.

    Both turn to see him stalk into the room.

    “Pitiful or not, it's is useful. I’m quite certain they’ll do anything I say.” Lotor points out.

    “Ruling through fear is better than through faith. Fear can be trusted. Faith can fail, but people never forget what they fear.” Zarkon says dismissively.

    “Their faith will make them work harder. People always work harder for something they believe in, than they will for fear of punishment.” Lotor shoots back.

    Zarkon’s eyes narrow. “Your experience in leadership are limited boy, and colored by your own weakness. Rule comes through power.”

    Lotor meets his stare, and both gaze at each other. Honerva’s eyes flicker between the two of them.

    “Perhaps...you could allow him to try.” Honerva suggests.

    “To what end?” Zarkon asks, not breaking his stare.

    “Lotor simply wants to please you by getting command of these people, just in his own way. It would do no harm to let him try. If it fails...it is never too late to instill fear.”

    The father and son continue to stare each other down. Finally, Lotor drops his gaze, shoulders slumping. “...it is as mother says. I only wish to serve, the best way I know.”

    Zarkon scoffs. “Very well, you may try this experiment. But, should it fail, it will also fall to you to be the one to crush them back into the dirt. Be ready to bloody your sword. Part of rule is knowing when to get your hands dirty.”

    “...yes father.” Lotor says, looking back at the viewport, brow now creased with concern.

    Zarkon turns away. “Make contact by end of day. I want those new weapons ready soon, for the coming war.”

    “Just...what sort of weapons are these to be? The alteans are not trained soldiers, by any measure.”

    Zarkon leaves without explanation. Lotor turns the quizzical look on Honerva. The woman smiles slightly.

    “Alteans. There are a few things we are good for…”

***

    Pidge and her mother stood in front of a wide garden stretching down a portion of the length of one of the Garrison base’s outside walls.

    “How long did you say you’d been growing this?” Pidge says noting just how far the garden goes.

    “Oh just a few months. Kind of lose track of time here on the base.” Pidge’s mother hands her a trowel. “Now come on, some weeds got in and I want this place clear by lunchtime.”

    Pidge shrugs, and takes the trowel. Together, they get to work, carefully uprooting the bad while leaving the good undisturbed.

    “...so tell me about these friends of yours.” Pidge’s mom asks with a raised eyebrow.

    “Where’s this coming from?” Pidge says, suspicious.   

“What? I’m not allowed to wonder what the people my daughter’s been spending all her time with are like?”

    Pidge sighes. She's silent for several moments, as she gathers her thoughts.

    “...I guess you knew Shiro a bit before. He’s really been taking care of us through most of this. Keeps us focused, and makes sure we stay together as a team. He was a great leader, and always tried to help me look for Dad and Matt when he could.”

    “Sounds like him.” Colleen notes.

    Pidge nods. “Keith is...I dunno, kinda emo? He’s always running off to do things himself. He’s gotten better...I think. He’s doing his best being the new leader, I just don’t know how cut out for it he is.” She shrugs. “Allura’s a princess...from space.”

    Colleen gives Pidge and odd look, but she continues anyway. “She’s tougher than she looks. All about duty and trying to figure out she can help us beat the Galra. Been kind distant lately, though, dunno what that’s about.”

    “What about those other two boys? The ones you went to the Garrison with?”   

    “Lance and Hunk?” Pidge thinks again for a moment.

    “Hunk is a big softie. But he also keeps everything in perspective. Reminds us there's more to life than just a big space war.”

    She hesitates before going on.

    “Lance...is kind of an idiot.”

    “Oh?” Colleen says.

    “Yeah, he’s constantly misunderstanding basic science principles he should’ve learned in the Garrison, cracking jokes at really bad times, and if he’s not doing either of those he’s flirting with some girl he just met.”

    “And he’s...your friend?”

    Pidge chews on her lip. “...he’s also caring, brave, and works a lot harder than he lets on. If you’re feeling down you can always rely on him to be there with a wisecrack, or hand of support.”

“Sounds like a reliable guy.”

“He is.” Pidge examines the leaves of a flower.

Colleen looks like she’s about to say something when she is cut off.

“-I think these are overwatered.” Pidge says. “See the yellowing on the leaves here? You’ll probably want to cut down on the water for theses guys in the future.”

Colleen blinks in surprise. “Katie...since when do you know anything about plants?”

Pidge shrugs. “Ryner. From the coalition. Helped show me how connected everything is. Guess I just see things a little differently now. How it's all made of the same stuff in the end. There's a...beauty to it.” Pidge looks embarrassed by her own words.

“You really have changed.” Colleen says, wide eyed.

“That good?”

“I think so.” Her mother smiles. “It's nice to hear about all your friends. Before, you didn’t like hanging out with anyone that wasn’t Matt or your computer. I’m glad you’re connecting more.”

Pidge doesn’t say anything but she smiles too.

***

        Hunk works on a large piece of machinery, on the table in front of him, dismantling it one piece at a time. He works inside a large warehouse, full of similarly busy Garrison and Coalition members. Lance saunters up and glances over Hunk’s shoulder.

    “Hey there, whatcha working on buddy?”

    “Just some stuff for the new castle.” Hunk shrugs

    “What kind of stuff?”

    “Eh, just engineer stuff. You probably wouldn’t be that interested.”

    “Hey, don’t forget I was in the Garrison too, I know all kinds of stuff about spaceships and all that.”

    “Alright. We’re trying to figure out if the power capacitors inside these earth star engines with be enough to handle the increased load from the new castle, because if not then we’ll either have to use the coalition’s limited resources, or basically start from scratch to...okay where’d I lose you?”

    Lance blinks several times. “Uh...capacitors?”

    There is a silence between the two for several seconds. “So…” Hunk says.

    “Yeah okay, forget the engineering stuff, I don’t understand anything, what else is new? Have you seen Ryner?”

    “A while ago. She left those flowers you asked for on a table over there.” Hunk points a thumb over one shoulder.

    “Great!”

    Lance walks off while Hunk continues to work. There the clanging of metal objects moving around. Then there's a crashing noise, followed by muttered curses. Hunk winces at the sound. Lance walks back up, with a bouquet of alien flowers.

    “Found ‘em.” Lance smiles.

    “So, you’re really gonna ask our Allura, huh?”   

    “Sure am!” Lance says.

    “Huh. Good luck.”

    “Thanks, but don’t need it.”

    “What are you gonna do if she says no?”

    “You don’t...think that’s likely do you?” Lance swallows.

    “Dunno man. I mean, she is a princess…”   

    Lance looks nervous. Hunk seems to notice, and quickly stammers to correct himself. “-but I’m sure she’ll take you up, I mean why wouldn’t she? Heh…” He laughs nervously.

    “Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna finish getting ready.” Lance walks away, significantly less enthusiastic than he walked in. Hunk sighes, then shrugs his shoulders and returns to work.

***

    Pidge and her mother walk into the hangar. Pidge is noticeably excited.

    “Now you’ve been good so far, so I’ll let you have this much. You can look around and say hi, but no working on anything.” Colleen explains.

    “I know mom.” Pidge replies, looking around at all the pieces of machinery the engineers and scientists are working on. Her eyes widen at once item a Coalition alien works on.

    “Is that a Colaxium helix battery? I’ve only read about those…” A gasp as she turns to another table. “A Rethid power conductor!? I thought they stopped producing those.” Another gasp at a glance to another table. “Woah a M’vran antigrav inducer! That’ll be perfect for generating lift. And that over there is...oh just a regular old Garrison engine.” Pidge looks slightly disappointed.

    “Losing your respect for the classics Pidge?” Hunk asks, looking up from his work.

    “Oh hey Hunk.” she says, noticing him for the first time.

    “Pidge, Mrs. Holt.” Hunk says, nodding to each woman.

    “Checking out the old capacitors to see if they can meet the new load?” Pidge asks.   

    “Sure am.” Hunk confirms.   

    Pidge leans over to get a closer look and reaches a hand towards the engine. Colleen catches her hand before it makes contact. Pidge looks up to see her mother smile and clear her throat. Pidge sighs and pulls her hand back.

    “Still grounded huh?” Hunk says.

    “Yeah…” Pidge sighs.

    “The way mom’s dragging her around, Katie’s gonna be attached at the hip by the time her hair turns grey.” Says a new voice. All turn to see Matt along with Sam Holt and Shiro walking up.

    Pidge narrows her eyes and smiles thinly. “Just wait ‘til I get free Matt, I’m gonna show these guys what a real science officer looks like.”

    “You’re a few years too early for that.” Matt says confidently.

    While the two siblings continue their stare down, Sam and Shiro move over to meet Colleen.

    “How’s our little girl doing?” Sam asks.

    “Stubborn as always.” Colleen smiles. “Shirogane, it's been a while.” She offers a hand.

    “Too long, Colleen.” Shiro says, shaking her hand.

    “I hear you’ve been taking care of Pidge, and the others.”

    “I did my best, but they’re practically grown now.”

    “Not just yet, they aren’t” Colleen says shooting her daughter a glance. “Sam, Matt, I know you’re both working hard, but I hope I’ll be seeing you both for dinner.” She says it in such a manner that it seems more like an order than a request.

    “Yes ma’am.” Sam and Matt say in unison, giving mock salutesµµ

    “How about you Shiro, can I twist your arm into coming?”

    “Afraid not.” Shiro sighs. “I’ll be tied up in negotiations with the Garrison.”

    “Ol’ Sanda’s being a piece of work as usual.” Matt pipes in.

    “Matt…” Shiro says warningly.

    Matt waves his hand dismissively. Pidge chuckles, as Shiro shooks her brother with a disapproving look.

    “How about you Hunk?”

    “Sorry Mrs.Holt but my own family’s promised they’d cook a feast every night for a week after coming back home.”

“Well I guess I can’t fault you for wanting to go with that...” Colleen chuckles.

    ***

    Pidge and her mother walk down a corridor inside the base sometime later. Pidge displays little of the boredom and discontentment from earlier, instead replaced with a slight smile on her face, and a skip in her step.

    “Having fun yet?” Colleen asks.

    “Day’s improving. Still would have liked to be touch some of that tech though…” Pidge replies with a raised eyebrow.

    “Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.” Colleen emphasises the last work to make clear that it is no promise.

    Pidge shrugs in apparent surrender.

    “It was nice to meet your friend Hunk, but where are all these other friends I hear about?” Her mother asks next.

    “I’m sure they’re around...oh speak of the devil.”

    Pidge says this just as Lance slides around a corner, dressed in a suit jacket, button down shirt and slacks. He carries the alien flowers in one hand, and looks to be in a hurry. However, he skids to a stop upon seeing Pidge and her mother.

    “Pidge!? What’s going on? Thought you were still grounded.” Lance says with confusion.

    “Am. Sorta. Mom’s got a tight leash on me.” Pidge sighs, and gives a shrug.

    Lance’s eyes shifted to the older woman with curiosity.

    “Mom, this is Lance. Lance, my mom.” Pidge explains, gesturing back and forth.

    “Nice to meet ya Missus Holt!” Lance says shaking Colleens hand.

    “So this is the boy I heard all about.” Colleen replies.

    “Huh?” Lance looks back at Pidge. “You bad mouthing me to you mom already?”

    “Something like that.” Pidge says with a wry grin.

    Lance returns the grin. “Oh, well in that case, Mrs. Holt I’m sure there are a few stories you’d love to hear about Pidge from out in space. Did you know that for a while we didn’t even know she was a g-”

    Pidge cuts him off with an elbow to the ribs.

    “Ow!”

    “Forgive Lance, mom.” Pidge says, adjusting her glasses. “He’s had a lot of head trauma out fighting in space. His memory isn’t what it used to be.”

    Lance rolls his eyes, while Colleen only chuckles.

    “So Lance, what are you all dressed up for?” Colleen asks.

    Lance smiles again, and stands up straighter. “Well as it so happens I am on my way to go ask Princess Allura out on a date.”

    “Really…” Colleen’s eyes flicker to Pidge. Her expression is unreadable.

    “Yeah, I don’t been to brag but I’m pretty popular with the ladies...kinda got turned around looking for her, though.” Lance goes on. “Heard she was on the left quadrant with Coran, so I’m headed over now...” Lance’s voice trails off as he notices how quiet Pidge has become.

“Hey you doing alright Pidge? Usually you’re hitting me with some robot or something when I talk about chasing after some girl for this long. She’s mean like that.” Lance says the last to Pidge’s mom.

Pidge, for her part, reaches up, and flicks Lance on the nose.

“Ow!”

“There. Happy?” Pidge sighs and turns to her mother. “We should head back to the apartment. Wouldn’t wanna get in the way of Lance’s big date.”

    “Hang on a second, there is something up with you.” Lance accuses.

    “Goodbye Lance.” Pidge says, already walking past, waving behind her.

    “It was nice meeting you.” Colleen says, hurring off to join Pidge.

    Lance looks back at the two retreating women, with a concerned look. They disappear around a corner in moments. Lance is left alone in the hallway. He turns back around, but hesitates. He looks down at the flowers in his hands. Then, he looks back one more time, and sighs.

    He starts to run. He turns inside the door Pidge and Colleen just came from. He dashes out into the hangar. In moments he finds Hunk, who is cleaning his hands off with a rag.

    “Hunk are you busy?” Lance says quickly.

    “Just finished up, why?”   

    “I need a favor, asap…”

***

    “Are you ready, son?” Honerva asks.

    “When am I ever not?” Lotor replies.

    The two of them sit inside a shuttle transport. The ship lands with a thump. Lotor takes a breath, and stands up.

    “Stay in the ship, if you would, I don’t want them getting spooked.”

    “Very well.”

    Lotor nods, perhaps more to himself than his mother. He walks over to the door, and clicks a button along the side. The door unseals with a hiss, and a ramp opens up, extending down to the ground below. Lotor takes a step outside.

    He is met with the sight of hundreds of alteans gathered in a circle a short distance from the ship. There is a clamor of hushed conversation. All stare at Lotor. One red-haired woman among them steps forward.

    “L-Lord...Lotor?” She says in an uneasy voice.

    Lotor smiles. “Yes, it's is I, Lotor! Your savior has returned!”

    There is an excited clamor among the alteans. He allows it to go on for a moment, before raising both hands, and gesturing for them to quite. He takes a breath before speaking further.

    “...I have returned from a long journey. Out in the bounds of space, I fought many battles, and experienced both victories and failures. I come to you now, with a new sense of purpose. Because, my dear alteans, I now have the legendary Voltron on my side!”

    This causes a full on cheer to erupt from the people, but again, Lotor motions for quiet.

    “But, my enemies have grown strong as well. They possess their own, twisted imitation of voltron. Much of the universe has fallen to their control. I cannot defeat this foe alone...”

    There is a hushed murmur in the crowd. Lotor allows it, building anticipation for his next words.

    “...my people, you have hid here for so many years. Well the time has come for that to end! The time has come for alteans to stand proudly once again, and help guide this universe to what it should be. I now call upon every man woman and child altean here in this colony! I ask you to help me take up arms against the forced of this false Voltron!”

    There is silence for a short moment. Then the crowd explodes into cheers. Lotor relaxes. He turns to the girl in front of him.

    “You there. Are you in charge of these people?”

    “Y...yes? Lord Lotor have you forgotten me?”

    Lotor sighs, and rests a hand on his forehead. “Forgive me. Battles with my enemies have left me with many scars. Not all of them are physical. Certain memories have become distant to me. Please remind me, I’m sure it will come back in time.”

    “Of course, my lord.” She says bowing her head. “I am called Luca.”

    “Luca. I will be entrusting you to prepare our people for the coming storm.”

    “Thank you for this honor, Lord Lotor.” She bows further. “I will do my utmost to get them ready...but how exactly are we all to contribute?”

    Lotor glances up to the sky briefly. “I will have more information shortly…until then, be ready for anything.”

    “Yes, lord Lotor.”

    Lotor nods and turns back around, to return to the ship.

    “I think that went well.” Honvera says.

    “Undeniably. It is as I expected.” Lotor allows himself a grin. “They’ll do anything I ask…”

***

    Pidge lies on a sofa, staring at the ceiling. She is inside an apartment with her mother. The sofa Pidge lies on is in the living room, while the connected kitchen is where Colleen has begun to prepare a meal.

    “So, was following me around today the worst thing ever?” Colleen asks.

    “No...I had fun.” Pidge admits sitting up. “It's not that I didn’t want to spend time with you, I’m just excited to get to work with Dad and Matt. Imagine what the three of us can do together.”

    “Well sometimes it's important to put the science aside for a bit, to remember the simpler things in life. Like watering the plants, or cooking a meal. Speaking of which, you could be helping over here.”

    “I wasn’t in space that long mom, did you really forget what a disaster I am in the kitchen?”

    “Point taken. But even so, it might be something you want to figure out sooner or later. Who knows? You might want to cook for your husband someday.”

    “Mom!” Pidge jerks upright.

    “Look I want grandchildren, and Matt’s dating an alien or robot or something, can’t really tell which. Either way I don’t think the genetics of that work out, so you’ll have to-”

    “MOM!” Pidge shouts, red in the cheeks.

    Her mother only chuckles. “That tall one seemed nice, what was his name again?’   

    Pidge lays back down, with a frown.

    “Who Lance? He’s just an idiot.”

    “I thought you said he was reliable, despite that.” Her mother replies.

    “Forget that. He’s just an idiot.” Pidge says stubbornly.

    Her mother sighs but nods. “Sometimes men are like that. When they are, you just gotta knock them on the head and make them see reason.”

    Pidge shrugs noncommittally. “Not really sure what you’re talking about.”

    “Sure you don’t.” Colleen rolls her eyes.

    Neither says anything, and for a moment the apartment is silent. Pidge closes her eyes, as if to sleep. There is a knock at the door. She sighs, and sits back up. Her mother shoots her a confused look. Pidge shrugs.

“I’ll get it.” Pidge hops off the couch and walks over to the door.

Pidge opens to door and gapes at the person standing here.

“Lance!?” She exclaimes, blinking as if she wasn’t seeing right. Colleen leans out from the kitchen with an interested look.

“Betcha think you wouldn’t see me again today.” Lance says, flashing a grin. He holds a plastic bin in his hands.

“What are you even doing here?”    Pidge asks, shaking away her shock. “I thought you were-”

“Off asking out Allura?” Lance sighes. “Fully planned on it, but then I noticed how down my good friend seemed after I last saw her. Thought maybe being grounded after seeing everyone else was running around doing stuff was bringing her down.”

Pidge crosses her arms and shrugs. “Lots of assuming you’re doing there. And I’m not in a bad mood, I’m doing just f-”

Lance pops open the plastic bin.

    “-are those peanut butter cookies!?” Pidge goes wide-eyed and her mouth begins to water.

Lance chuckles. “Not my style to leave a friend in need Pidge, whether you’re about to admit it or not.

Pidge stares at him for a long moment. “...you gave up on your date because you thought I wasn’t doing well?”

“Allura’s not going anywhere. I gotta look after my friends.” He shrugs. “You still got that game we bought in the space mall?”

Pidge looks down and smiles slightly. When she looks back up the smile is more coy than anything else. She reaches up and hits Lance on the arm.

“Hey what’s that for?” Lance asks, not really seeming to be hurt by the blow.

“Nothing.” Pidge grins. “And yeah, course I still got Killbot Phantasm! I can have that baby hooked up to the TV in-”

Pidge’s mother clears her throat. She has a vaguely stern expression that is undercut by a thinly veiled smile.

“I do hate to rain on the parade, but Katie is still grounded.”

“Oh come on mom!” Pidge says clasping her hands, and going all puppy dog eyed.

“Yeah Missus Holt!” Lance says right behind Pidge, mirroring the girl’s expression.   

Colleen manages to keep up the facade for another few moments, before sighing. “Fine, but you’re staying for dinner Lance.”

“Alright!” he cheers.

“And let me have one of those cookies. Katie’s not the only one that’s weak to them.”

As Colleen takes her cookie, Pidge and Lance scrambled to set up the video game console. Just minutes later they are on the couch intensely focused on the screen, while the TV emits sounds of of explosions and other video game noises.

“Get this guy Lance, he’s weak to fire!” Pidge says, cramming a cookie into her mouth.

“Dang how do you attack with this glove? Who thought this was a good idea for a controller!?”

“Hey don’t diss the power glove, that thing’s limited edition!”

Colleen shakes her head, smiles, and turns away as the two continue to play their game.

[kate-writes-fluff]

If you're still doing dialogue prompts? 160? For whatever you want?

160.  [text] Who says no to sex and donuts?!

When I saw this, I thought of Jean, so @tiggeryumyumm I decided to work in your Valentine’s day themed jeanmarco in the same prompt.

Sorry for the wait!  I’ve been fighting some real writer’s block.

Jean: Who says no to sex and donuts?!

Eren: just bc i work at a bakery doesn’t mean u can take advantage of it

Jean: I just thought it would sweeten the deal ;)

Eren: obviously it didn’t work

Jean: T-T

Eren: considering how thin the walls are in our apartment, i’m grateful for ur lackluster flirting skills

Jean: …. Rude

Jean locks his phone and sighs as lets himself into their apartment.  It’s only 5 a.m., about a half hour after the Wings of Freedom closes for the night and therefore way too early in the morning to deal with Eren’s teasing.  Jean drags his feet as he makes his way to his cluttered bedroom, exhausted from both his most recent rejection and a long night of wiping down tables at the bar.  He simply throws his uniform–which chronically reeks of alcohol–into a corner of the room as he strips, not even bothering to throw on pajamas before he flops into bed and promptly falls asleep.

Hours later he’s ripped away from a pleasant dream about a handsome stranger with plump kissable lips and warm, welcoming arms by an annoying buzzing noise uncomfortably close to his ear.  Jean groans as he fumbles, finally finding his phone underneath his pillow with the display lit up with a new message.  Part of him wants to ignore it, but he knows that if Eren pities him enough he might offer to bring him food–but only if he replies before he changes his mind.

Turns out, the text is from Eren, but it’s a picture of a flyer with no words attached.  He can’t help but groan as he taps the image to enlarge it and squint at the tiny, pixelated words his brain isn’t awake enough to comprehend yet.

“Valentine’s Meet Up,” it says in a curly romantic font.  “Hang out with other singles and donate your time to brighten someone’s day.  Make friends and meet someone new.”

Before Jean can think of a coherent response, though “what the fuck” would probably be a decent enough answer, Eren texts him again.

Eren:  i signed u up

Jean: whyyyyy?

Eren: bc ur single +whiney + u have a day off on 2/14

         also ur a romantic loser so i know ur gonna be extra whiney on V day

Jean: ….

Eren:  u kno im right. Accept it

Jean:  i only read this text b/c i thought you were offering me food

Eren:  if i bring u a donut will u stop complaining

Jean: its a start

Eren: i hate u

Jean puts his phone on his dresser and sighs happily as he relaxes back into his pillow, looking forward to the treat his roommate will inevitably bring him.

Jean makes good on his promise and doesn’t complain about the singles anonymous meeting Eren has signed him up for.  Though he makes sure to give his roommate the stink eye when he finds out that he has holiday plans of his own.

“If you’re hanging out with Mikasa and Armin, then why couldn’t you just let me tag along?”  Jean whines, turning to give his roommate the most pitiful expression he can muster from beside him on their lumpy clearance-sale couch.

Eren doesn’t bother to look up from his phone as he promptly answers, “Because you would spend the whole day complaining and flirting with my sister.”

“Not true!  I might flirt with Armin too,” Jean flutters his eyelashes as Eren groans, turning away from him to finish texting his sister about their plans.

“Yeah, like I want to make my sister and my best friend uncomfortable all day.”

“But you’ll let your sister crash your date with your crush.”

“It’s not a date!”  Eren exclaims despite his bright pink cheeks.

“But Armin is your crush?”  Jean laughs as he reaches out to playfully ruffle his roommate’s hair, an attempt that costs him an elbow in the side.

“I hate you,” Eren groans.

“Then get your own Netflix,” Jean suggests, switching windows on his computer away from the website in question to check his email.  He makes a point to delete his junk mail as slowly as possible, just to rile up his roommate even more.  After about ten excruciatingly long minutes he’s about to give in and start the episode of Stranger Things when a new email pops up in his inbox.

“It’s for that Valentine’s thing,” Jean remarks, catching Eren’s attention.  He crowds over Jean’s shoulder to watch as he opens the message.

Dear Mr. Kirstein,

Thank you for expressing interest in helping to set up and organize the Valentines Meet Up event.  Would you mind meeting me at the bakery to discuss planning details?

Thanks,

Marco Bodt

There’s a moment of silence as they stare blankly at the polite message before Jean pointedly glares over his shoulder.  “Eren!  I thought you signed me up for the event, not the planning committee!!”

“Whoops,” Eren shrugs and leans back into his own spot on the couch, giving his roommate the space he needs to properly fume.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” Jean accuses, narrowing his eyes into an even harsher glare.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Eren turns his attention back to his phone, pointedly avoiding further eye-contact as he resumes texting.  Jean puffs his cheeks angrily, unsure whether the avoidance is a sign of guilt or exactly how little Eren cares about the situation.

“… That’s it, we’re watching Hart of Dixie.”

“No!” Eren exclaims, dropping his phone in his lap as he finally returns eye contact.

“If you signed me up to be a romantic sap for the full week until Valentine’s day, well then I’m going to start now.”

Eren groans but shifts in his seat to see the screen better.  “It’s not even romantic, they’re just idiots for the sake of drama.”

Though Jean agrees with him there, he can’t help but roll his eyes at the remark.  “You can complain when you have an actual love-life, Mr. I’m-in-love-with-my-bff-but-I’m-too-scared-to-say-anything.”

“Says the chronic single,” Eren bites back, digging his elbow into a ticklish spot in Jean’s side, making the other man squirm.  “I hope you meet someone at the stupid event so you’re too busy being stupid and in love to bother me anymore.”

“You and me both.  Watching you guys flirt is more excruciating than watching Zoe and Wade go back and forth.”

Eren grumbles profanities under his breath for several minutes before he angrily remarks, “Are you going to start the show or not?”

Jean sighs as his alarm goes off at 11 a.m. the next day.  Working nights means that on a normal day, he tends to sleep through the afternoon.  But thanks to Eren, he has plans to meet the event guy at the bakery that cut his much-needed sleep short.

The night before had been a long, tiring day and even as he wakes up he still feels tired and listless, barely able to keep his eyes open.  Maybe if he was more awake, he would have put the effort into dressing for a first impression.  But the fact is, he’s simply too tired to care.  So he slips into a pair of sweatpants and a flannel shirt, not even bothering to comb his hair before he shoves his shoes onto his feet and stumbles out the door.

Eren’s wiping down the counter when he arrives at the Braus’ bakery.  As Jean slumps against the customer side of the counter, Eren shoots him a distasteful look.  “Really, not even an effort?”  

Jean finds enough effort to roll his eyes.  “Give me the sugar I need to get through this.”

Eren grunts an affirmative as he reaches into the display case to pull out a raspberry filled donut.  As Jean pulls out his wallet to begrudgingly pay–though this is all his roommate’s fault, he knows better than asking him to pay too often–Eren nods toward one of the front tables.  “Marco’s here already.”

As Jean turns to find the person he’s meeting, he suddenly wishes he had bothered to look in a mirror before he left the apartment.  Dressed in a spotless lilac button-down and steam-pressed gray slacks, the man looks as put together as Jean isn’t.  But by this point, Jean is just too tired to even think about running back to his apartment to scrounge up an outfit that looks half decent.  Though he does quickly finger-comb his hair before he slides into the chair opposite the man.

“Hi!  Are you Jean?”  The man smiles brightly at his approach, making Jean regret his clothing choices all over again.  Because that dimpled smile single-handedly makes his heart clench and his hands start to sweat.  Though the freckles across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose certainly make the expression far more endearing than anything larger than a baby animal should ever be.  In contrast, Jean can almost feel the bags under his eyes and wonders what the stranger thinks about the hot mess he regrettably is.

“Yeah.” Jean does his best to smile politely, though it falls short.  His cheeks feel stiff and his flirting muscles are not quite awake enough to throw out his usual charms.  “Are we waiting for anyone else?”  He takes a moment to look around the shop and though there are few people getting breakfast to go, there aren’t many people milling around.

“No… you’re the only volunteer.”  Marco threads his fingers around his coffee cup and looks crestfallen for a moment before he smiles again.  “Let’s start brainstorming, shall we?” he suggests as he pulls out a small spiral notebook and a pen.

“Um, sure.  What do you have in mind?”

Marco eagerly flips the page in his notebook, revealing rows upon rows of neat handwriting and messy doodles and diagrams.  “I’m so glad you asked.”

The following week is the busiest Jean’s had in years.  Whenever he turns around, he’s making bright colored paper chains or folding squares of paper and cutting out paper shapes, filling his and Eren’s apartment with boxes upon boxes of decorations.  Whenever Jean gets ready for work, he can hear Eren stumbling and cursing over the new boxes that appear while he’s out of the apartment.  It would be funnier if Jean didn’t trip over the damn things himself, too.

The highlight of all the paper toil is that Marco is loathe to make him work alone.  During the week, they meet up at the bakery at noon, where Marco spends his lunch break away from the library decorating the place with him.  (Jean makes a mental note to pay the local library a visit someday soon.)

Even after spending so much time together, Jean doesn’t find himself tiring of Marco.  In fact, with each day he looks forward to every time he leaves to return to work, Jean finds himself actually looking forward to the next day even more.  Marco is just as charming as he was the first day they met, cheerful, creative, and fun.  

Unwilling to repeat the embarrassment of their first meeting, Jean’s careful to pick the best outfits in his closet for their afternoon meetings.  He can’t help but blush the day Marco compliments a shirt ornamented with an iron-on transfer of one of his own art prints.

Jean has always been one to preen over compliments, but the sheer sincerity in Marco’s voice and smile as he gives them is enough to fluster him every time.  Halfway through the week, Jean realizes that his attraction for Marco is slowly growing more than skin-deep.  That day, Marco laughs cheerfully at even the shittiest of his puns–a quip about Eren being the real breadwinner in their roommate relationship because bussing tables doesn’t exactly set the bar high–and Jean softens.

By the weekend, Jean finally finds the guts to invite Marco over, so they can watch movies while they create card supplies.  Marco brings takeout and they eat together on his lumpy couch.  When Jean watches tv with Eren, they have no qualms about personal space, throwing arms and legs into the lap of the other at a whim because they’ve learned not to care about boundaries after years of living together.  Here, with Marco, Jean is fully aware of just how small the sofa is and just the barest brushing of skin against skin is enough to make him jittery.  

Marco doesn’t seem to mind his nervousness, too busy laughing at the antics of the characters of The Grand Budapest Hotel and flashing smiles Jean’s way when a particularly funny line is spoken.  Jean confides that he’s an aspiring artist working at the bar only to make money in the meantime, so Marco makes an effort to point out the parts he finds visually inspiring.  He enjoys the pastel color palettes–strikingly similar to the colors of his dress shirts– and cheerfully taps Jean’s knee to point out the most brightly colorful scenes.  (He likes the pinks of the Mendl’s boxes the most.)

At nine o’ clock, Marco needs to leave and Jean has to get dressed for another night working the bar.  As Jean locks the door behind them, Marco hesitates for a moment, twisting his fingers together.  “I’ve heard that In the Mood for Love is a really visually interesting movie too.  And I’ve been dying to see it,” he remarks off-handedly, looking down the hall at the flickering lights instead of at Jean.

“Sounds cool,” he says, words that seem like the understatement of the century.  

For the first time ever, he smiles through his whole shift at work.

“Do you guys have to come flirt at my workplace every day?”  Eren asks on February 13th.  “It’s sorta gross.”

Jean’s ears warm but he scoffs at the question, “We are not flirting.  He just happens to actually appreciate my jokes.  Unlike some people.”  

Eren snorts.  “The only way he’d find you funny is if he has a crush.”  He leans against the oven door casually, enjoying watching Jean squirm with embarrassment for once.

Jean huffs in retaliation, “Less talking, more baking.  If we’re doing to decorate cookies tomorrow, we need cookies.”

Finally it’s the night of Valentine’s day and Jean’s nervous.  All their hard work is on display, hung up around the bakery, decorating it with reds and pinks from head to toe.  Trays of fresh cookies are ready to decorate and paper pieces are prepared for cards.

The cheerfully colored donation boxes are set up in the front of the room, listing the names of local hospitals and orphanages that are accepting cards.  The slogan “Give a card, give a smile,” hangs on a banner directly behind the boxes.

Sugary sweet pop music starts playing as Marco returns from the sound system, setting up a themed playlist from his phone.  Jean tries not to stare at the pink tie the man has on–the same color as the Mendl’s boxes in the movie they had seen together.

“It’s almost time,” Marco smiles, threading his fingers together restlessly.  “People should start arriving anytime now.”  The air between them seems charged with anxious restlessness.  Suddenly, in their last moments alone together it hits Jean that once the day is over, once they clean up the bakery, they’ll lose their excuses to see each other.

It doesn’t really matter that over the course of the week, Jean has learned that Marco’s favorite color is teal and that Persuasion is his favorite Jane Austen novel.  That Marco didn’t tease him when Jean confided that his favorite childhood movie was The Princess Bride.  It doesn’t matter that Jean showed Marco his art portfolio and the other man enthusiastically admired it, saying that if he ever finished writing his book he’d love to commission him to design the cover.

Once the event is done, they no longer have a reason to spend so much time together.

The shop bell rings and people start arriving, forcing the two men to separate and socialize, doing their best to keep the mingling running as smoothly as possible.  (Honestly, Jean hates this sort of thing, but after all the work they had done, he can’t weasel his way out of chaperoning a bunch of adults for a night.)

Regardless of how busy Jean finds himself throughout the night, his eyes always wander to the other side of the room where Marco is cheerfully chatting with other cute single people.  

He’s busy staring instead of paying attention to the card making tables when a young woman with wavy auburn hair whistles at him.  “Yo loverboy.  This is the wrong place to stand around being lovesick,” she chides, carelessly wiping cookie crumbs off her fingers.  “Sit down, make a card.  You’ll fit in with all the unhappy singles that way.”  She grabs a sheet of cardstock out of the pile and quickly scribbles something on it before handing it over.

It messily reads “Ur hot freckleface” above a hand-drawn heart that looks remarkably like a butt.

“See, it’s half done now.”

Jean sighs but sits down to work on fix the card she started.  He grabs a pink paper heart that’s just barely large enough to cover her unromantic words.  As he glues it down, he can’t help but notice that it’s the same shade as Marco’s tie and that thought convinces him to hazard a glance over at him.  The tall man is busy chatting and working on decorating his own cookies, even as he oversees others.

It wouldn’t hurt to make my own, I guess, he muses, searching through the box of children’s markers to find a color he likes.  It’s been years since he’s made anyone a hand-made valentine.  The only friend that might appreciate one would be Armin–the most sentimental out of the group–, though Eren would definitely change the wifi passwords for that sort of “personal offence.”

After an hour, Jean and Marco switch stations; Jean overseeing the decorations of the last batch of cookies while Marco helps with the cards.  Jean slides his own card into the back pocket of his jeans, unwilling to let his newfound friend even guess toward his intentions yet.

Finally, two hours after it started, people begin to leave, many of them in small groups as they chat and exchange phone numbers.  Even the woman who “helped” Jean with his card is cheekily hanging off the arm of a stern-faced young man.  She whispers something in his ear and his cheeks flare red before she turns back to wink at Jean as they leave the building.

The floor is covered in cookie crumbs, sprinkles, and paper scraps that will be a pain to clean-up, but even so Marco still smiles.  “Looks like a success.  People walked in alone, but they’re leaving with friends.”

Jean’s card feels like a weight in his pocket and he has to concede that yeah, it really seems like a success.  

They take their time cleaning, taking away all the little sugary clues that they’d been there, that they’d prepared for a whole week over it.  Jean’s smile falls as he returns to his earlier train in thought:  that their reason for spending time together is quickly falling away as they sweep up the mess.

“Cheer up, Jean.  The night’s still young,” Marco laughs, taking a moment to turn up the speakers.  Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch” blares, bringing back memories of youtube videos Jean forgot watching.

“Where’d you find this?  What year do you think it is?  2007?”  

The music becomes a palpable presence in the room, especially as Marco begins singing along, dancing with his broom as he sweeps.  Jean cracks a smile as he laughs, leaning into the table he was in the midst of cleaning for support.  He’s laughing so hard that he doesn’t notice Marco’s approach until he leans the broom against his table.

“Mind dancing with me?  That broom is just too stiff and wooden.”  Marco holds his palm upwards, like a prince asking for a dance in the ball of a fairytale, not in an empty bakery that looks like it was ransacked by preschoolers on a sugar-high.

“I can’t dance.”  Jean waves his hands in refusal, but Marco’s grin only widens.

“Neither can I.”

Finally, Jean gives in and reaches out to hold onto Marco’s shoulders as the other man leads him around the room.  They trip and stumble on chairs they hadn’t put away yet, but they only laugh in the face of their own clumsiness, each mistake bringing their bodies even closer together.

The song ends and something slower and mellower replaces it.  Jean can feel his pulse pounding but it’s hard to be embarrassed about it when he can feel the beat of Marco’s own heart from where their chests are touching.  

“I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts.  Some superhero, some fairytale bliss.

Just something I can turn to, somebody I can kiss.”

Marco smiles breathlessly, his lips barely inches from Jean’s, and suddenly it feels a little too close and intimate, so Jean takes a step back to pull the card out of his pocket.  It’s more than a little crumpled around the edges from their romp around the shop, but Jean finds himself passing it over anyway.  It just seems… fitting.

The card is brightly colored and framed with paper hearts, but on the front it simply reads “Thanks” in Jean’s best penmanship.  Marco’s face falls a little as he looks at it, so Jean hurries to explain himself as he opens it.  “I wanted to thank you for setting this all up, because it really turned out to be a lot of fun.  And mostly because I got to meet you.  And I hope you don’t mind if I ask, but I’d really like to keep hanging out, even though Valentine’s day is over….”

Marco cuts him off with a gentle hand on his own.  “I’d really like that…  But you know, Valentine’s day isn’t over quite yet….  And there’s no one I’d rather spend it with than you.”

Jean’s cheeks burn brightly as Marco retrieves a small plastic bag from where it’s lying forgotten on the counter:  a cookie decorated with a heart and Jean spelled in pretty cursive.

They have a whole lot of cleanup left to do, but Jean really can’t bring himself to mind.  Even if he had to stay there all night, picking up each and every crumb individually with his bare fingers, he’d willingly do it if Marco would keep looking at him the way he is now, like he’s been the highlight of the night.

But the night’s still young, of course.  And if they want to watch In the Mood for Love and kiss on Jean’s couch, then they need to finish cleaning.