#reese griffin

[nicstylus]

[pbnbucks]

Smut Prompts Fluff Prompts Angst Prompts

PBNBUCKS WORKS ꨄ

𐐂 UCONN

Paige Bueckers

・Movie Night / NSFW

・Love And Friendship / NSFW

・Booty Rubs / FLUFF

・Hard Launch / FLUFF

・Strap Talk / NSFW

・Video Games / NSFW

・Caught / NSFW

・Graduation supprise / NSFW

・Wake Up / FLUFF

・S-L-U-T / NSFW

・Baby Fever / NSFW

・Regrets / NSFW

・High School Sweethearts / FLUFF

・Passion Fruit / SUGGESTIVE

・Monopoly Piece / NSFW

・October / FLUFF

・Yes You Can / SMUT

Azzi Fudd

$ no works yet…

KK Arnold

・Gone Wrong / FLUFF

・Selfish / FLUFF

・Better? / NSFW

・Head Cannons / NSFW

Ice Brady

$ no works yet…

Caroline Ducharme

$ no works yet…

Jana El Alfy

$ no works yet…

Pazzi

・Mirror Sex / NSFW

・Hair Dye / FLUFF

・You Wish / FLUFF

・Senior Night / FLUFF

・What Was That For? / NSFW

・Back Shots / NSFW

Paige x Nika x Fem

・Camera / SUGGESTIVE

・Whats Your Problem? / NSFW

・Good Intentions / NSFW

・The Transfer Student / NSFW

・We Can Be Better / NSFW

・Im Sorry / NSFW

・Love You / FLUFF

・Parking Lot / NSFW

𐐂 LSU

Flaujae Johnson

・Mid Range / FLUFF

・Head Cannons / NSFW

Hailey Van Lith

・I Own You / NSFW

・Birthday Sex / NSFW

𐐂Gonzaga

Inês Bettencourt

・Only One / FLUFF

𐐂Southern California

Juju Watkins

・Borderline Delusional / NSFW

・Meet Me In The Bathroom / NSFW

request are always open!

[paigegetsmewetter]

Cuz see now I’m finna light this mfka up😜

[ricky-mortis]

Some more character drawings- but this time they’re Pulp Musicals!

[fallinginaforrest]

Got some Pulp requests from the lovely folks over at Blinky's Rewatch Party (there's a very dedicated Pulp Thread there with some brilliantly talented creators) and I'm sharing them here! Close ups under the cut.

[its-short-for-jackalope]

click for quality! details & alt version under the cut!

I got to beta @amethystunarmed's amazing fic for the @pulpmusicalsfortnight2024 possession prompt and I loved it so much that I had to draw about it!

You can find Amethyst's fic right here and the other illustration I did for it will be tucked away in a reblog because ✨️spoilers✨️

[bee-writes-wbb]

Hi gay people who like to read! You can call me Bee. I’m a new wbb writer, but not a new writer. I’ve written for several fandoms before, but never sports, so I’m open to other ideas and thoughts than what I have listed here. Requests are open!

*When/if requesting just let me know the player, your request/idea, the theme, and SFW or NSFW!

I write for:

WNBA:

Brittney Griner

Diana Taurasi

Jackie Young

Jewell Loyd

Angel Reese

Kahleah Copper

WCBB:

Paige Bueckers

Aubrey Griffin

Topics/Tags/Themes/Tropes:

Enemies to lovers (🩵)

Friends to lovers (💕)

Romance (❤️)

Confessions/ Drunk confessions (🍷)

Mutual pining/pining (🟡)

Forbidden Romance/Secret Romance (🫂)

Angst (❤️‍🔥)

Hurt/Comfort (❤️‍🩹)

Hurt/No Comfort (💔)

Song Fics (limited) (🎶)

NSFW (🔞)

SFW (🟢)

WBBxReader

WBBxOC

[amethystunarmed]

Oh Captain, Let's Make a Deal

Word Count: 2,380 AO3 Written for @pulpmusicalsfortnight2024 Alternate Prompt: Possession. Huge thanks to @jackalope-t-m for betaing this for me and for all the beautiful art!!! I am forever grateful!

AJ tries to ignore the pounding in his chest. Even under his orders, the crew is restless, unsure. He can’t blame them. The sight of that fog consuming the other ship... It would have made him quake in fear, if he hadn’t seen it once before.

He steels his resolve, turns to the man onboard he trusts most, and hopes he isn’t sending him to his doom.

“Reese. You have been on the ship more than anyone. You will be her captain,” AJ says. Reese hesitates, but nods.

“Yes sir. May we discuss the specifics in your office?” His tone is pleasant but firm. AJ feels a bead of sweat drip down his neck. He enjoyed having Reese as a boatswain because he wasn't afraid to challenge a captain's decision. Like AJ, Reese values the safety of their crew above all else.

AJ has a feeling this trait is about to bite him the ass. 

But still, he can't deny this request, not without making the rest of his crew even more agitated. They trust Reese, more than even AJ himself some days, and ignoring Reese's legitimate question could break into a full-blown mutiny.

“Of course,” AJ acquiesces, trying to hide his gritted teeth. “The rest of you are dismissed. You'll be receiving your assignments shortly.” The crew begins shuffling away, but he doesn't miss the way they glance at Reese for assurance before they go. Only once he nods to them does the crowd truly dissipate.

(Well, most of them. Herschel and Stratford are having an impressive argument over who will be joining Reese on the ghost ship once he returns. AJ can't help but roll his eyes. It's always some kind of drama with those four.)

AJ and Reese walk to the Captain's Quarters in tense silence. His boatswain has a smile resting on his face, but it is a flimsy thing. It comes with none of the playful banter or laughter AJ has become accustomed to. It feels fake.

The door clicks shut behind Reese, and AJ can tell immediately he was right. Instantly Reese's smile drops and anger overtakes his expression. 

“What the hell are you doing?”

AJ straightens, standing at his full height, six inches taller than Reese. “You dare speak to your captain like this?”

Reese doesn’t even falter. “I do when he isn’t acting like my captain! Amos and Elijah are-” he fumbles over his words. “Are missing, and you want to send more of the crew over there as a sacrifice? For what?”

“I would never-”

“Then act like it!” Reese interrupts, cheeks pink with fury. AJ can count on one hand the number of times he has seen Reese this furious. He doesn’t like being the cause of it. “Because right now,” Reese continues, “it seems like you care more about money than you do the sailors and passengers you swore to protect. If that is the case, I will lead the mutiny against you myself!”

“Ooooh, aren't we testy this evening! Captain, you ought to make him walk the plank!” A familiar voice crows, and AJ feels his blood turn to ice. 

Black fog crawls up the legs of his office chair like vines growing over a cracked wall, writhing and curling. AJ can barely hear Reese gasp over the sound of his heart pounding. His desk chair spins around and Kal is there, leaning forward on his elbows, chin perched on his hands. AJ takes a step forward, placing himself fully between Kal and Reese.

“Get out of my chair, Kal,” AJ growls. He shouldn't be anywhere near Reese, not after his stunt with Amos and Elijah. 

“Kal...” Reese repeats, “Like the man Samuel saw? But that means-” He hears Reese gasp as he puts it all together. “Captain, tell me you aren’t working with this man.” Reese moves around behind him. AJ can’t tell if Reese is going away from him, horrified, or getting closer, ready to attack; either way, he doesn't dare take his eyes off Kal. He doubts he'd like the expression on Reese's face anyways.

“Quite a quick study, aren't you,” Kal purrs. His eyes have a hunger in them AJ doesn't like.

“Officer Reese, I need you to leave. That's an order!” AJ barks. 

“Captain, with all due respect,” Morgan growls, and AJ can hear the implied which is none, “I have a duty to my crew. I will not- mmmf!” AJ turns in time to see a black band of fog lock around Reese's mouth, cutting off whatever it was he was going to say. He tugs at the gag with his hands and AJ can hear his muffled cries.

AJ would try to help if he knew it wasn’t useless. “Is this really necessary?” he asks.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kal says, examining his nail beds. “He just seemed like he was going to go on and on.” Kal groans, like the mere thought is torture. “And besides, you and I have business to attend to. This way we can continue our conversation uninterr-”

There is a click behind them. AJ and Kal turn. Reese is leveling his pistol at Kal's head. AJ’s heart quivers in fear at the sight. He imagines the fog around Morgan’s mouth constricting, suffocating him entirely, crushing his skull with the pressure.

Kal could kill Reese so easily, and AJ would be powerless to stop him.

“Kal, don’t,” he begs.

Kal just smirks at him. He crosses his legs and leans back in AJ's chair. “Cute.”

Tendrils of fog spring up from the ground, whipping at Reese so quickly, AJ can barely follow them. One snatches the gun from his hand and crushes it into tiny pieces. They scatter across the floor in a shower of splinters and warped metal. The other two tendrils loop around Reese’s wrists, binding his arms. Reese tugs as hard as he can against the foggy shackles. AJ still hears him shouting through the gag. Reese winces as the fog tightens; AJ can hear his bones creaking.

“Kal, you swore you wouldn't hurt my crew!” AJ barks and Kal rolls his eyes.

“If they didn't keep getting in my way it wouldn't be a problem.”

AJ swallows. “Is that what happened to Amos and Elijah? They got in your way?” 

Kal tilts his head, seeming genuinely confused for a moment. “Who are you- oh, the sailors on the other ship?” He waves his hand. “Oh, they’re long gone.”

AJ feels the words like a bullet through his heart. He already knew, he thinks. The second the fog swept through the abandoned ship, he knew. It doesn’t make it any easier to hear. Reese’s anguished scream, muffled through the gag, only drives the wound deeper.

Kal pouts at him. “Aw Captain, don't be sad! You have done amazing so far!” He jumps to his feet, popping to attention. “A soldier doing what must be done, following your orders to a T!” He salutes and AJ briefly wishes Reese had shot him. “Your debt is almost fulfilled.”

“Almost?” AJ gasps, “I have done everything you asked. What more could you possibly-”

“Calm your nerves, my dear captain,” Kal says with an easy smile. The sight of it makes AJ's blood boil. “There have been some...” He tilts his head back and forth, humming as he decides on a word. “Complications with getting control of the other vessel. I have a plan to get what I need and you”—He taps AJ’s nose in a damn near playful gesture—“fill a key role in making the whole thing possible.” He holds out the green glass bottle of rum that never seems to leave his person. “I just need you to drink from this, and all your suffering will finally end. Doesn't that sound nice?”

A life without Kal. A life where he no longer spends each day looking over his shoulder, waiting for his debt to be called in. A life where he no longer had nightmares of all the terrible things Kal would ask him to do, a life where AJ wasn't currently doing them-

It sounded like a dream.

“Give me the damn bottle,” he spits, taking the neck of the bottle firmly in his grasp. It is heavy in his hands, near full to the brim. He can smell the harsh burn of alcohol and already dreads the hangover he is sure this will bring. No matter; it will be well worth it if it gets Kal to leave. 

“Don’t you want to know what my plan is?” Kal asks, sounding nearly... demure. His eyes gleam in the candlelight. 

“No, I don’t care,” he scoffs. He can hear Reese’s muffled protests growing in volume and it only strengthens AJ’s resolve. He doesn’t have the time to feed this mad man’s ego. He needs Kal off his ship this instant. He lifts the rum to his lips and-

Morgan Reese snatches the bottle out of his hand. 

The fog binding him fades into the air like it was never anything more than mist. AJ’s eyes widen. 

Why would Kal... 

It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have time, and he wants this debt over with. Kal isn’t going to hurt anyone else, not if he can help it. 

“Officer Reese, return that bottle to me at once!” AJ demands. He begins to stride forward, planning to take the rum back but- 

The fog grabs him, wrapping around his limbs and tangling him up like the tentacles of an octopus. He tugs against them, but the binds leave him completely immobile. “What the devil? Kal, release me!”

Kal doesn’t even deign to look over to him. He glides over to Reese, towering over him. Reese is younger than he was, all those years ago in Mobile Bay, but AJ gets the feeling this is just what he looked like. A desperate, frightened man clutching a bottle while a demon dangles the solutions to all his problems just out of reach. AJ struggles harder in his bonds. He won’t let Reese make his same mistakes. 

“What do you plan on doing with that?” Kal smirks, smug as a cat with a mouse beneath its paws.

“I’m considering smashing it,” Reese spits, and Kal tsks. 

“You don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?” Reese snaps, “You killed my friends, enslaved my captain, why shouldn’t I ruin everything you're working for?”

“You could,” Kal admits, “and I would be quite angry, true. A lot of work went into crafting that. You would set me back quite a ways. I would make your death slow and painful for the trouble.”

“Kal!” AJ yells, and his distress only makes Kal smirk wider.

“But... even after all that, your death would be meaningless,” Kal says. He reaches out, invading Reese’s space to straighten his hat for him. Reese doesn’t flinch away from him, and AJ wishes he had the wherewithal to be proud. “AJ here owes me a debt. And I will collect.”

Reese swallows, nervously. “You just need someone to drink this, right?” he asks. “Then you'll cancel out his debt?”

Kal smiles at him, patronizing. It is the smile an adult gives to a precocious child who thinks they have figured out how the world works. “That's right!”

“Officer Reese, you will hand me that bottle immediately!” AJ shouts as he strains against the fog’s hold on his limbs.

Reese looks between AJ and the bottle, before he knocks it back and chugs.

“Morgan!” AJ yells, but Kal doesn't free him until Morgan has finished every last drop. 

“There,” Reese says, as he lowers the bottle and wipes his mouth, “Now, you can get the fuck off-”

Reese gasps, and hunches over, letting out a strangled cry. The bottle slips out of his hand, and shatters on the floor. His knees give and he clutches his throat, wheezing and gurgling. AJ clambers to his side, his bad knee be damned.

"Reese!" AJ cries, pulling Reese into his lap, out of the glass. He glares up at Kal. "What did you do, you son of a bitch?"

Kal hums. "Won't be long now."

Reese claws at AJ's jacket and AJ smooths his hair away from his forehead. "Officer Reese," AJ demands, "look at me, you are not allowed to die. That is an order, you hear me?"

"C-Captain?" Reese wheezes, gazing up with glassy eyes. They roll back in his head, and he collapses, completely boneless.

No.

NO!

He clutches Reese closer, cradling his head. He shakes him, twice. "Morgan, MORGAN!"

And suddenly, like a miracle, Morgan gasps. His eyes flutter up, and they are solid, midnight black. He looks up at Kal, and grins. He strokes a hand down AJ's chest.

"Oh Captain, if you wanted to hold me in your arms, you just had to ask!" 

AJ shoves him away in horror, without a thought. That... That isn't-

That sounded like-

AJ looks around the room, and Kal is gone. But surely he couldn't have... That would be-

"Now, now, AJ, don't be so rough!" Reese's voice says. "This body can't take as much damage as I’m used to. You wouldn't want to hurt poor Officer Reese, would you?"

"Get out of him, now," AJ demands. "You made the deal with me, you leave him out of this."

"I would have loved to!" Reese- Kal says, "But your darling boatswain already took the spell. I need him, for now. But~" His eyes flicker back to normal and he grins, and it is so cheery and so bright and so Morgan, it makes AJ feel sick. "You'll help me? Won't you, Captain?" It's the same eager tone he used when he asked AJ to let John, Margaret, and the Stratfords on the Ellen Austin. But it is... Wrong. A shade too slimy, too manipulative, to be the man AJ trusts.

His eyes go solid black again and Kal's smirk looks so wrong on Reese's face. "I'll give him back the moment I'm done, I swear. All you have to do is help me, one last time."

AJ swallows. He knows what he is going to say, and already regrets it. But he has no choice, not if it means saving a member of his crew. 

His hand shakes as he extends it.

"Deal."

[nabwastaken]

or alternatively

[starpirateee]

The haunting of the Sargasso

Pulp fortnight day 5: Modern au

@pulpmusicalsfortnight2024

The crew of the Ellen Austin attempt to search for a lost warship in the middle of the Sargasso, despite the warnings from even the most put together of people that those waters are haunted

Or, a few people miss the trick in the middle of the sea

[dailypulpmusicals]

Day 3 - Vanishing but its a duet

[1onescu]

To all the supporters of Palestine 🙏

We still need less than 1350€ to reach our short term goal of 50% ‼️

Your donations are important for our survival

Please help me reach our goal as soon as possible 🙏

We appreciate your help ❤️🙏

!!

[okmcintyre]

SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE

[bellamyblake]

absolutely love hairclip dad standing up for his little girl. tbh the most normal parent we ever saw on the show, everyone else just seems downright dysfunctional. yes, reese doesn’t have to be that strong. i feel like abby does expect clarke to be strong and survive this like she knew she’d survive her dad’s death which is why she pushed forward with it. we don’t know enough about jaha and wells but from what we can assume, he expected a lot of him and was semingly sometimes disappointed. we all know about aurora and the blakes (though that’s a whole other subject i would discuss in a different meta) but yes aurora does expect bellamy to be as strong when she puts a baby in his hand and tells him to raise it and he does prove her right, he is. they shouldn’t be as strong-they should’ve just been kids loved by their parents like Tor does with Reese. (and to an extent Jake with Clarke though that ofc gets ruined)

[potionboy3]

if they had a kid meme for jude & olga and sydney & alexej😌

name: reese castellan

gender: male

general appearence: black hair, dresses up neat, usually looks unimpressed

personality: snobby, proud, honest, serious

special talents: reads really fast, has a photographic memory and usually remembers things easily enough that doesnt need to study hard

who they like better: olga

who they take after more: kash and sasha tbh

personal headcanon: slytherin. is exremely judgy and hard to reach, seems to think he's better than everyone but is secretly insecure

face claim: sang heon lee

name: florian griffin kavinsky (named after ares and lunas)

gender: male

general appearence: light hair, big eyes, tall-ish, handsome

personality: sly, funny, clever, hard working, flirty, goal-oriented

special talents: lying/charming his way out of situations, making drinks, gambling

who they like better: sydney

who they take after more: sydney

personal headcanon: sorted into hufflepuff and everyone wonders why, he's always the center of attention, has a lot of game going on, good at running away

face claim: ty tennant, bill skarsgård

[its-short-for-jackalope]

New Characters Ahoy!

Thinking about Captain AJ Griffin, Morgan Reese, and K̵̨̦̝̰̣͕̞̘͗̀̏̚a̵̜͈̗͕̫̪͌̐̃̓̉̇͌̚l̷̨̯͈̼̱̥̩̿͑̋̇̓͒͐ aboard the Ellen Austin

hello! I am FINE and NORMAL and have been very CALMLY and very CASUALLY thinking about episode three and the new information we have about the characters our beloved quartet will be sailing with next month. 😇

...Yeah, I didn't believe that either.

Let's just get right to the unhinged rambling part of the post, shall we?

Sike! The post is still hinged for a minute while I give you a quick rundown of each character.

⚓️ AJ Griffin, the Captain

voiced by Jeff Blim

rigid leader, fiercely loyal to his crew

Civil War veteran haunted by the past

@man-down-in-hatchet-town's favorite

⚓️ Morgan Reese, the Bosun

voiced by Huck Walton

first appears at the end of episode 2

kind, adventurous, friend to all

fairly good guitarist

⚓️ Kal, the Passenger

voiced by ???

will change the story forever

???

???

Yup. That's them. I can't wait to hear what they get up to when the episode comes out. But in the meantime, I've got a brain that won't shut up and a pal to throw half-baked theories and wild speculation at, so here's some stuff we've been talking about.

Before Matt starts introducing us to these characters, we're presented with some questions:

Who is in command? Who will have our backs? Who can we trust when things go sideways?

The first answer comes to us easily enough. We can assume that the one in command (at least at the start of it all) is Captain AJ Griffin.

The second answer is also pretty clear. Morgan Reese is the man who's meant to look after everyone. It's literally his job, and he's already helped (will help?) Samuel, Rose, Margaret, and John by getting them aboard the ship. So he probably has our backs.

The third answer, if we follow the pattern & use the process of elimination, would have to be the last named character: Kal. Except the only thing we know for sure about Kal is that they're a passenger who will impact the story in a big way. So can we really trust them? (Perhaps more importantly: can we trust Matt when he says/implies we can trust Kal? He's already proven to be pretty sneaky...)

Actually, can we/the quartet trust any of these characters? We know a little bit about them now (2 out of 3, anyway) but they're not going to exist in a vacuum—there are so many other things we don't know about the adventure they're taking part in that are going to influence what these characters do and whether they'll be allies or antagonists. Not all Bad Guys™ are bad guys, and not all good guys are Good Guys™, if you know what I mean.

The way I see it, there are a few different ways this could go...

⚓️ Captain Griffin is already haunted, so he's vulnerable to whatever dark powers are at play, and Morgan Reese will be left to try and hold the ship together and keep everyone (including his captain) safe.

We're told that AJ is a strong ally, but that he "casts a heavy shadow" and is "weathered by the darkness of men." "Echoes of his past are always right beneath the currents, rippling, rhyming. And it will haunt him once again..."

When we hear about Morgan, there are no references like these. Instead, we're told about how the bosun is everyone's buddy, a friend to all. He stands in pretty stark contrast to the tragic, noble but melancholy picture of AJ we're given.

If the captain is overwhelmed by ghosts—his or someone else's—the bosun's heart and positivity could potentially hold everyone steady, at least long enough to sort out the trouble. Sea shanties are for morale, after all, and Morgan's fairly good at guitar.

⚓️ Captain Griffin is hardened by the past and can handle the pressure, but Morgan Reese is unprepared and could end up inadvertently spreading darkness and fear throughout the entire ship.

You know, like exposure therapy; AJ's already borne witness to some awful, awful things, so maybe he has a tolerance for it. He's already been managing his own darkness, so we could have a same captain, different ghosts sort of situation. If you think about it, it might be a little easier to deal with someone else's ghosts instead of your own. It's less personal.

Morgan, on the other hand, has no tragedy in his past as far as we're aware, but we do know that he "doesn't match AJ's level of precision or experience." If he's never had to face true darkness before, he might not know how to keep it from snuffing his light out. And since Morgan is described as "the perfect conduit" I'm pretty sure that means whatever's up with him gets passed on to everyone. If he loses hope, maybe the Ellen Austin does too.

⚓️ Morgan Reese as a character is actually way too good to be true so he's actually a Big, Lying, Liar Pants who will give me trust issues and break my fairly-good-guitarist loving heart because he has ulterior motives.

Brooke (you meanie /jk) had to go and scare me by pointing out how weird it is that we keep getting hints of how dark and spooky this episode could be, and AJ is revealed to us as a tragic, sad veteran, but then Morgan is just this ray of sunshine in dark waters who is fairly good at guitar. And I hate to admit it because I was immediately besotted with this character the moment I heard about his quite-good sea shanties, but that's a valid point.

Maybe Morgan is playing a long game, one that required him to have "endeared himself to all," and now that he finally has the trust of his captain and the ear of his shipmates, he's ready to kick things off and conspire with some spirits. Does he "have our backs" in the sense of oh what a lovely place to store my knife ??? 😱😥 I hope not!!! But now I have to emotionally prepare myself for that possibility, lmao.

"Oh, but Jack," you say, "what about Kal? You went and made their name all funkyspooky in the header and everything, so why haven't you mentioned them yet???"

First of all, aww thank you for noticing! I had to scroll through [redacted] open tabs on Firefox to find my cursed text generator for that, so I'm glad it was appreciated. <3

Second of all,

✨️drama. ✨️

Whatever's up with Kal is vital to the story and probably the biggest contributor to my current lack of hinges, so of course I had to save them for last.

I have two primary theories revolving around Kal that I'm struggling to choose between...

⚓️ We should be scared of the dark, actually, because Kal is—or controls—the dark.

⚓️ Kal is actually totally fine and chill and a friend, and the actual dark forces are making them seem threatening on purpose.

MAIA's transmissions for this episode have been pretty spooky. Something is getting into MAIA's room and interfering with the broadcasts, first by cracking a pane of glass in the window in transmission 10 when we were being told not to fear the dark, and again by shattering the lightbulb in transmission 11 right when we were going to hear about Kal. ("It seems that some inhabitants of the Pulp universe are less forthcoming than others.") Then, when the broadcast ended, there was a swirling shadow outside the window. Niiice and ominous.

"Margaret is not the only one awakening," Matt tells us in the trailer. "Our heroes will find that the light of discovery can bring forth shadows darker than anything they could have ever imagined."

I would venture that whatever's awakening is probably doing so in response to Margaret—her light is bringing forth the shadows. Maybe the shadows were already there in the Sargasso Sea, "this place where the water itself is haunted, where the air is thick with spirits," and the light is just deepening them. Maybe they're everywhere, and they're feeling threatened, so they're attacking MAIA's room to prevent us from learning their secrets and to remind us that we should be scared of the dark, actually, because dreams may start there but so, too, do nightmares.

I spent a lot of this time convinced that Kal is the source of the shadows, starting with a conversation my sister and I had the instant we both watched the transmission.

behold, the first reference to the anti-Margaret

Kal, as the anti-Margaret, could be another seemingly human person with strange powers, but instead of the Radiance, their magic is something else, something darker. Maybe they can spawn limbs of shadow the way she can produce light, and maybe they can conjure ghosts the way the Traveler brought a whole jungle paradise into existence on the Sagitta.

I don't believe it's a coincidence that the transmission was interrupted right before we were going to learn about Kal. My first instinct was that this must have been Kal's doing, that they're the one who doesn't want to be known, but after re-examining the transmission and the question about trust, it makes me wonder. Maybe we should trust Kal—after all, what's a bigger sign of trust than giving it when there are still so many unanswered questions? Maybe the quartet will be faced with the same struggle as us.

If the shadows/dark forces aren't Kal's doing, then they could be trying to sabotage Kal because of how important they are to the quartet's story. If Kal is the one to trust when things go sideways, then the shadows might want to do all they can to keep Kal obscured, hidden and silenced so our heroes can't get their help, or won't trust them enough to accept it when it's offered.

I, for one, think either option would be very fun and exciting to listen to. Or neither!

Now, I think this post is long enough, so I think this'll be it for today. and while I may be suspicious of Matt's little hints and teasers about the new episode, I definitely trust him to take these characters and tell a really good story with them.

...man, I can't wait for September.

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts on anything I've rambled about here! Hope this was a fun/interesting/not totally confusing read for you! 🖤