#two very brief scenes for robert

[bobbie-robron]

Edna reckons more Dingles have descended on the dales.

Oh, they’ll take over this village one day and then it REALLY will be time to up the stakes.

Val and Paul show off the new drapes in the Sugden home. Edna, Pearl and Betty are in fine form gossiping about the new Dingle baby and Edna (MVP of the episode) is very spot on about things. Hearing all the gossiping from the trio, Jack PROUDLY announces Andy is the dad and he’s thrilled (Robert is far from that),

13-Jun-2005

[avephelis]

RISE TWITTER QNA! no major news or announcements, but here's a list of new information and confirmations:

S3 could be brought back as a retro show in the future, but it probably wouldn't happen anytime soon (focus is on mutant mayhem at the moment)

it was never decided whether capril would be friends or girlfriends (due to rise's focus on platonic relationships)

council of heads! they're in power, but a lot of influential yokai (like big mama) aren't easily controlled, and "game the system"

despite not having his dual katana, supposedly f!leo DOES still have mystic powers

ron corcillo would love to see a spin-off focused on the caseys (if rise were ever continued), and likes the potential of a raph + casey vigilante duo

the turtles got their names after splinter's love for renaissance art

big mama's henchman WAS planned to be the missing sister, and rather than venus de milo, she would've been named after a female artist (possibly frida kahlo)

for halloween: raph dressed up as a kitten, mikey as a lion, leo as a rockstar, and donnie as j. robert oppenheimer

the mystic weapons stolen from draxum acted as a conduit to help the boys unlock their innate mystic powers with a "little boost"

they didn't realise mayhem's potential as a character/force until too late, but it could've been fun to do some stories of him being an operative (a la perry the platypus)

there weren't any planned stories for side villains (aside from the foot's cupcake shop), most focus was on the turtles

not much on casey jr's backstory, just that cass and the turtles were fighting the krang and leo raised him as a warrior. casey jr only has brief memories of cass from when he was very young, and was mostly raised by leo

there were definitely six baby turtles (two sisters)! and the turtles were gonna split up to rescue the one with big mama and the one in "the dimension", but they never planned much of it out

there's most likely a time gap between the rescuing leo and the ending scene of the movie, as "after a fight like that, [everyone] would definitely crash and need some recovery time"

there would've been more big mama in future episodes, and stinkbomb was planned to return

since the turtles became known to the public at the end of the movie, they'd have to fight to retain their reputation. this and their reception to criticism/backlash would've become a major arc.

on brother rankings: mikey is definitely raph's favourite, and they all look up to raph

the stronger someone's ninpo is, the greater the drain on their energy is (as seen with f!mikey and karai)

there wouldn't be much threat on villains going after casey jr's future intel, because most of it would've been rendered obsolete

nickelodeon would never give up the rights to rise, but they could license it to a partner company (such as IDW for a comic!)

as previously mentioned, the 2nd sister would've been trapped in "another dimension" and venus/frida would have to be won over by "helping her see that she had been brainwashed [by big mama] as a child" (and redeemed)

given more time, the show would've fleshed out: the hamato story, the hidden city's origins (krang spaceship that crashed into the crying titan being the source of the ooze, its fuel being what gave the yokai mystic powers), and would've used the rat king (who ron corcillo would've liked to be a powerful yokai with rat-like abilities and some form of mind control, who could've threatened the council of heads for power in the hidden city)

as far as we know, the turtles (aside from leo's spanish) only speak english (and even their english is sometimes a bit off)

rise probably wouldn't have ever "gone dark", but after the turtles were publicly known and full-time heroes, it might've had more of an extended plotline

the turtle's casual clothes somewhat reflect their music tastes (r&b for raph, glam rock for leo, techno (and 80s) for donnie and boy band for mikey)

future heights: mikey grew a bit and then shrunk under mystic strain, leo was at least 6ft, donnie a little taller than leo, and raph at least 6'6

mikey's powers could get pretty intense, which could've resulted in some multiverse episodes (ron corcillo would be most inclined to do a 12 crossover, but any could work). while leo portals short distances, mikey's cross space and time (with great effort)

given more time, how the turtles met april would've been fleshed out

in terms of how they take after splinter: donnie and leo have a lot of his cockiness, raph his courage and sense of duty, and mikey senses him missing his family (which is part of the reason of why he tries to hold everyone together)

given more time they would've done more with the transfer of leadership from raph to leo (and originally the plan was to draw that out over S3, rather than the abrupt S2 ending). they would've been co-leaders for a while, and at times mikey or donnie would lead (they aren't really a group with just one leader archetype)

there were plans for april to have more time with the specific turtles other than donnie (like how the gumbus was focused on her mikey and leo)

the cast's mystic abilities would've increased over time, and splinter has a lot of power that hasn't been revealed (as he spent a lot of time in the hidden city in his past)

venus/frida would've been very disciplined and so serious that's she's funny, and the dimension sister would've been "a little kooky"

there weren't really any plans on how the turtles would look in cloaked human forms, just that they'd resemble lou jitsu and may be inspired by their VAs

mikey is the only brother who can fully pull all his limbs and head into his shell (being a box turtle)

any usagi appearances would be a rights matter, and depend on collaboration

on timelines: april is 16 at the start of the series and 18 in the movie, but exactly how much time passes isn't confirmed

ron corcillo would've liked to do more donnie + raph episodes, like one where despite how donnie considers himself smarter, raph ends up beating him in common sense and emotional intelligence

f!leo didn't go with casey jr to the past due to being mortally wounded in his bleeding side

given more time there would've been more flashback episodes with the turtles at various ages

though he'd never admit it, hueso has a close relationship with leo

in early S3 there would've been an episode of setting up the new lair

mystic warrior f!mikey is pretty old (maybe in his 70s), and is strong enough to use basically any mystic power, but at great cost to him physically

no major plans with bishop, but once the turtles became more well-known he could be a bit of a thorn in their sides (like j. jonah jameson to spiderman)

there might've been some redemption from big mama, but also some relapses into her "villainous ways"

given a full season, karai would've been alive for longer, and would've trained the boys for a number of episodes

confirmation that some of early s1 aired in the wrong order (which the writers weren't happy about)

in rise, there's always an unpredictability as to how sentient a mutant will turn out to be

raph probably wouldn't be super uptight about swearing, provided the boys weren't offending anyone

there weren't any plans for romantic relationships (and DEFINITELY never an april-turtles love interest), but if they had ever tried something eventually it would've been with the same species

there were no specific plans for alopex, rita, or rennet, but anything's a possibility

in terms of the 1000 years ago krang/mystic timeline, the spaceship crashed first (possibly spawning the yokai), and other krang followed it, drawing in the invasion

that seems to be about it but if there's any more i'll do a reblog with additions

[mysaintkitten]

It’s All Yours | Davin McDerby x fem!reader

prompt: car sex with davin lol (NSFW, no minors)

WARNINGS: slight references to sunburn plot, fingering, brief nipple play, unprotected sex (p in v), car sex, slight praise/degradation??, slight come eating

word count: 1.9k

roberts party was a bust. as soon as carolyn returned home, everyone quickly fled the scene. what originally started as a really nice get together, quickly became an overwhelming party, which then got shut down not long after. while everyone else had scattered elsewhere, all there was left was you and davin, sitting in his car. during this summer, a small fling had started to form between you two. nothing too crazy, no sex, barely even kisses, just flirting and palpable mutual attraction.

despite you all coming together as a group, you were alone with just davin, which rarely happened. but, you decided to make the most of the situation.

he broke the silence between you two by asking, “soo .. got any plans for the rest of the night?”

you shake your head no, “do you?”

“hm ..” he thinks, “i dunno, maybe, might try and pick up a girl.” he smirks smugly

you raise your brows, “pick up a girl?”

he nods and sighs, “been a bit of time since i’ve chased some tail, could really do for some company.”

he’s kidding, kind of, you can just tell. in the time you’ve spent together you’ve gotten good at reading him.

“chase some tail..” you repeat, laughing at his choice of words, “what are you? fifty?”

he scoffs, acting fake offended before saying, “you’re just mad that i can even get tail. aren’t you like a virgin?”

you roll your eyes, “no, i’m not, i just don’t normally give it up easy.” you teased,

he licks his lips before taking a moment to reply, looking over at you, “what does it take for you to give it up, y/n?”

“why do you wanna know, mr. mcderby? are you interested in getting in my pants?” you laugh, nudging him playfully,

he doesn’t reply. his eyes are fixated on your face, darting down to your lips every now and then, and finally after what felt like hours- he leaned into kiss you.

although it surprised you, you weren’t opposed in the slightest, eagerly kissing him back.

he moaned softly into your mouth, bringing one of his hands up to your face to cup your cheek. it didn’t stay there long though, as he started to migrate lower, he halts his actions and pulls away.

“is this okay?” he asks, wanting to be absolutely certain that you plan on following through.

you laugh softly at him, “such a gentleman..” you breathed, leaning back in to kiss him again- but he leans away

“if you’re comfortable with keeping this going .. we’re gonna have to move to the back, love ..” he purred, his voice low, but sweet

things started to suddenly become very real, and what initially started as a lingering sense of arousal quickly progressed into a distinct warmth between your legs.

while biting your lip, you crawl into the backseat. once there, you lean back against the car door, watching as davin does the same.

once he’s between your legs, he wastes no time continuing with the kisses, but this time they’re a bit different.

eager. hungry. you can really tell what his intentions are this time. he briefly pulls away again, making you whine in disapproval.

“can i take these off?” he asks, placing his fingers in the waistband of your pants. without saying a word, you lift your hips and indirectly give him your consent. it’s at this point he’s fully solidified that you’re game, and that he likely won’t have to ask for your permission anymore tonight. he slips them off and discards them on the car floor, quickly unzipping his pants to do the same.

you take it upon yourself to strip yourself of your shirt as well, revealing that you weren’t wearing a bra. he left you in just your undergarments. he grins at you, following your lead and taking off his shirt as well.

he leans back into kiss you. bringing his hips closer to yours and placing his hard, clothed cock directly between your legs. you moan quietly at the sensation, just before he begins to roll his hips. applying a more than satisfactory amount of deliberate pleasure.

your hands start to roam, they started slung around his neck, but they’ve quickly made their way around his upper body. feeling up his pecks, shoulder blades, back, then slowly down to his navel, sneaking your hand into his underwear, directly palming him.

he groans into your mouth before chuckling lowly, “so much for ms. doesn’t give it up easy ..” moving down to kiss your neck, continuing to grind into you.

this only continues on for a few more moments before he pulls back and starts to tug on your underwear, “need these off” he mumbles to himself before dragging them off and tucking them behind him, as opposed to discarding on the floor with the rest of the clothes.

he glares at your exposed, wet pussy and exhales softly, soaking in the sight beneath him. he kisses your neck again, but begins to creep down to your collarbone, and chest, where he pauses for a moment before sucking gently on your nipple, circling his tongue against the hardening bud. he uses his hand to grip the other.

“da-vin ..” you moan weakly, gripping the seat beneath you as you feel yourself becoming even wetter. he hums in approval before snaking his other hand down between your legs, sliding his now slick fingers up and around your clit and opening

you whine and begin to involuntarily shift beneath him. without warning, he slips a finger in, making a high pitched groan escape your lips. he starts to fuck you with the lone digit, taking his mouth off your tit to look at your expression, analyzing you deeply. he wanted to make you feel good, really good. normally when davin hooks up with people he doesn’t give much thought into foreplay, but with you he wanted to make sure you thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of this.

him seeing how much you were enjoying his touch made him harder, which he didn’t even know if that was fully possible.

while still examining your face, he slips in another finger, making your mouth hang open as small breathy moans fell out.

“god, davin!” you huff, he glances down at his fingers, watching himself finger-fuck you. he watches as his fingers glisten from your slick, he can feel you tense around him, he can hear how wet you are, his head is reeling.

he pulls out his fingers and places them into his mouth, sucking the arousal off of them. you watched as he did this, and you realized he wasn’t even doing that for you, he himself needed to taste you. he discarded his own underwear and his hard, flushed cock sprung out, standing to attention with a small bit of his own arousal glistening at his tip. he pumps himself weakly while looking at you, using his free hand to feel around your stomach and hips.

just as he’s about to put himself in, you stop him.

“do you have a condom?” you ask, rather breathlessly. you didn’t want to be a buzzkill right now, but you’d rather be a buzzkill than pregnant.

“not with me, baby” he starts, his voice quiet, him calling you baby made a knot form in your stomach, even though you knew he was only calling you it because of the circumstances, “but i’m clean, and i assume you are too, and i promise on my life i’ll pull out.”

with any other person, you would’ve said no, but davin looked too good and everything felt too nice, so you let it slide.

he resumes, running the head of his cock along your wet opening, groaning at the sensation.

“do you always get this wet? or am i just making you feel that good, baby?” he praises,

“i-i think it’s a mixture of both ..” you reply, finding it hard to make conversation when all you want is for davin to fuck the daylights out of you.

he seems to like that response as he chuckles lowly, slowly sliding himself inside of you, “guess i’m gonna have to use this pussy more often, aren’t i?” he says, leaning into your ear, his hot breath making your body jitter beneath him.

your hands make their way to his back, digging your nails in slightly as he begins to pick up his pace, fucking you roughly.

you feel almost breathless, as if each thrust was pushing all the air out of your lungs.

each time his hips connected with your thighs and ass, a moan would escape your mouth mixed with shallow breaths and small unintelligible phrases.

davins ego was through the roof, he thinks that even if he wasn’t fucking you, if he was just able to see you acting like this- he’d come in his pants. but knowing that him and his cock was making you feel like this, he felt a new sense of pride.

he tries to kiss you while still pounding into you, placing his lips against yours. you don’t kiss him back and continue to whine, not because you don’t want to kiss him back, but because the way he’s fucking you is making it difficult for you to do anything that requires even the slightest bit of brain power. mid kiss, he places his thumb between your legs and rubs quick, tight circles on your clit, making you nearly shout at the overwhelming amount of pleasure.

he’s still trying to kiss you, laughing breathily as you continue to fail to kiss him back. he pulls back, picking up his pace with both the thrusts and his thumb before saying, “poor girl, cock feel too good inside ya? can’t even kiss back because it feels so nice?” he taunts, knowing exactly what’s happening here

he feels you clench around him and drench him even more, making a guttural moan fall from his mouth as his jaw hung slack. at this point, your slick has definitely travelled down past your ass and down onto the car seat below you- but you couldn’t care less.

“davin, dav-in ..” you whine weakly, “‘m gonna come, don’t stop, please don’t stop!” you ramble, truly not even processing that you’re talking right now, your body almost going in autopilot at the influx of intense pleasure.

davin smirks proudly, exhaling breathy puffs as he screws his eyes shut, “come on my cock, baby. it’s all yours.” he praises, the mixture of pleasure emanating from your pussy mixed with the pain of your nails digging into his back, he was on the brink of coming as well.

his words are what send you over the edge, moaning loudly and whorishly on his cock as you come, legs shaking violently

he feels almost lightheaded, your cunt clenching around him was his final tipping point, “just like that … just like that .. good girl ..” he praises, his thrusts becoming weaker and more irregular.

moaning loudly, he pulls out and pumps himself, quickly shooting ropes onto your pelvis, stomach, and chest, huffing loudly as he rides out his orgasm in his hand.

once coming down, he looks at you, sweaty, messy, covered in his cum, he tutted and shook his head.

“dirty girl” he starts, swiping up some of his come from your lower stomach onto his finger, “made such a mess. go on, clean up after yourself.”

through half lidded eyes, you suck his come off his fingers, swirling your tongue around them before pulling off with a slight pop.

his mouth hangs slightly agape in awe, feeling his cock twitch at the little act you just preformed for him.

“keep that up, and we won’t be leaving this car tonight.”

[goodqueenaly]

Who do you think Hoster was looking at for Lysa, before the Petyr Incident? There are relatively few Lords Paramount, and most of them and their heirs were taken. Would he consider his own bannermen? Other people's? Maybe a cross match back to the Whents?

We know whom Hoster wanted Lysa to marry in the months (and perhaps years) leading up to the tourney of Harrenhal:

Jaime, meantime, had spent four years as squire to Ser Sumner Crake-hall and earned his spurs against the Kingswood Brotherhood. But when he made a brief call at King's Landing on his way back to Casterly Rock, chiefly to see his sister, Cersei took him aside and whispered that Lord Tywin meant to marry him to Lysa Tully, had gone so far as to invite Lord Hoster to the city to discuss dower.

"You asked me to reward you for your efforts in the battle," Lord Tywin reminded him forcefully. "This is a chance for you, Tyrion, the best you are ever likely to have." He drummed his fingers impatiently on the table. "I once hoped to marry your brother to Lysa Tully, but Aerys named Jaime to his Kingsguard before the arrangements were complete. When I suggested to Lord Hoster that Lysa might be wed to you instead, he replied that he wanted a whole man for his daughter."

Jaime could see archers moving behind the merlons on the castle ramparts. Above them streamed the banners of House Tully, the silver trout defiant on its striped field of red and blue. But the highest tower flew a different flag; a long white standard emblazoned with the direwolf of Stark. "The first time I saw Riverrun, I was a squire green as summer grass," Jaime told his cousin. "Old Sumner Crakehall sent me to deliver a message, one he swore could not be entrusted to a raven. Lord Hoster kept me for a fortnight whilst mulling his reply, and sat me beside his daughter Lysa at every meal."

What Hoster imagined for Lysa between the tourney and the outbreak of Robert’s Rebellion (as well as her pregnancy by Peter Baelish, whenever Lysa revealed that vis a vis the start of the war) is uncertain, though I think it’s important to keep a few points in mind. Number one, this period was likely pretty short, certainly relatively speaking; if the “false spring” of 281 AC lasted only two months, and baby Aegon was born by the end of 281 AC or, at the latest, at the very very beginning of 282 AC, there may have been only a handful of months for Hoster to consider Lysa’s marital future before the next major bombshell on the political scene (followed by the more personal, but perhaps nearly equally shocking to Hoster, bombshell of Lysa’s pregnancy news). However long Hoster had been considering and planning the now-impossible Lysa-Jaime match, I doubt he had nearly as much time post-tourney to think about what he was going to do with Lysa nuptially. There were likely, as you mention, no obvious replacements who would serve the aims of the southron ambitions bloc, nor any obvious candidates Hoster may have considered sufficiently grand enough to match with the future sister-in-law of the Lord of Winterfell and indirect relation by marriage to the Lord of Storm’s End (and that’s without Hoster perhaps worrying that any marriage he arranged for Lysa too quickly after the tourney would be seen as trying to hush up a scandal - Hoster trying too hard to prove that Lysa was desirable, when Jaime Lannister had for all appearances chosen to go celibate rather than marry her). Indeed, that Hoster summarily and haughtily rejected Tyrion as a bridegroom for Lysa, presumably in this pre-war period, demonstrates that Hoster was not feeling so anxious about Lysa’s future that he needed to rush into just any aristocratic marriage for her (certainly not that he and a number of other Westerosi lords considered an insult).

Maybe more importantly, certainly from a political perspective, Hoster may have been less interested in trying to broker a match for Lysa in this period and more interested in performing damage control and shoring up the future with his allies in the southron ambitions power bloc. To all the world - certainly all or virtually all the attendees at Harrenhal -  Rhaegar had looked like he was trying to make Lyanna Stark his mistress, grossly publicly insulting Robert Baratheon and the Starks (among others) - and with the Starks the fulcrum of the southron ambitions bloc, Hoster may have feared that the web of nuptial alliances on which that bloc rested its future was in jeopardy. Too, with the king and his heir so dramatically and publicly at odds - and with Aerys so shockingly declined in appearance and personality, as evidenced by his attendance at the tourney - Hoster may have suspected that open conflict between the king and the crown prince leading to civil war, or a proxy conflict for their antagonism erupting into civil war, would come sooner rather than later; if the ultimate aim of the southron ambitions power block was to change the political power dynamic between the Iron Throne and its major vassals, this sort of conflict may have seemed like the ideal, or only, opportunity to do so. Securing the bloc before any move would be undertaken would mean securing those established and planned, but not yet completed, marital alliances - first Brandon and Catelyn, then Robert and Lyanna. Perhaps, in this flurry of politico-nuptial activity, Hoster considered the identity of Lysa’s future husband of secondary importance; Lysa, still only in her early teens, was not so old (even by Westerosi standards, *eyeroll*) that Hoster needed to fear her being left a spinster while he attended to what he may have considered more pressing matters.

[lurafita]

Malec meet pre-canon divergent

(considering tv-show canon only, as I don't know much about the books) I personally found it a little weird that Alec and his siblings had to be briefed about the High Warlock of their territory, by Hodge. Shouldn't Alec, as the acting head, have been aware of the most prominent downworld leaders in the city his institute is in? Wouldn't Magnus have been in the institute before, for ward maintenance or things like that? Wouldn't they have had to call him to close rifts that demons were popping out of? (Not like those kinds of things were ever shown or discussed in the show, but then again, the show was very stingy where details and backgrounds were concerned.) Anyway, I would like to propose a series re-write, where Alec and Magnus get to know each other pre-canon, and Magnus has the chance to bolster Alec's self-worth and confidence a little. And then exploring what effect this might have, as Alec wouldn't be such a pushover where his siblings are concerned. (I actually just really like re-writes of given plots that explore changes to said given plot, so that personal guilty pleasure might heavily play into this prompt…. 😉 )

possible scene:

They could meet on site for rift closure, and Alec is laying down a plan of attack, because some demons have already gathered. And then Jace is trying to propose another plan (that's less tactical than Alec's was and more of a 'run in head first' kinda deal). And Alec is not confident about his own plan versus Jace's, and he is about to give in, but then Magnus is like: "I agree with the pretty boy." And Jace smirks and goes: "See, the high warlock thinks it will work." And then Magnus goes: "Oh no, I was talking about his plan. Yours sucks."

-

I think, if a relationship between them (platonic heading for romantic) exists for some time, Magnus would probably let slip about Maryse and Robert having been in the circle. Not in a malicious way. I think Magnus assumed that Alec knew. So maybe one day Magnus offers to check over the wards, and Alec accepts and wonders loudly about why his parents didn’t commission check ups for two years,

and Magnus just "Well, they have tried to limit their business with downworlders as much as possible. Which isn't surprising, seeing as many of us feel that they haven't been sufficiently punished for their crimes while they were in the circle. But it's not as if I would have refused the job. I might have overcharged them, … Alexander? You look pale, is something wrong?"

-

I just see them having lots of little conversations that help build Alec up, while not just being simple compliments. Like, when Alec doubts his leadership qualities and asks Magnus about his opinion, as Magnus has fought in a few wars and known a few figureheads. "I believe being a good leader comes down to knowing and trusting in yourself." "Shouldn’t that be 'knowing and trusting my people'?" "That, too. But it's important to know your own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm one of the most powerful warlocks out there with a deep and varied understanding of my craft, and I look dashing in silk. I'm also impatient, occasionally vain, and I can be quite petty. Now what about you? Let me start you off. You are afraid." "Wow, didn’t think you would start with a weakness." "I didn’t. Well, maybe a little bit. Fear can be both. But in this case, I meant it as a strength." "How?" "Think back to our first meeting. The fear of not knowing what the situation was we were walking into, made you come up with a strategy that allowed us to assess what was going on, while also ensuring minimal collateral damage. What do you think would have happened had you been as cocky as your parabatai, and stormed right in?" "… We wouldn’t have known about the circle members, or the back entrance. The perimeter wouldn’t have been secured. The teen warlock might have become a victim to a shadowhunter blade, had you not had the chance to see the enslavement collar on her." "See? You have good instincts, Alexander, and a great mind for tactical manouvers. That is something you should trust in more."

[electronickingdomfox]

"Final Frontier" review

Novel from 1988, by Diane Carey. Not to be confused with the novelization of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", or Carey's "First Frontier", which is the one with the dinosaur on the cover. There may be no dinosaurs in this one, but it was pretty great nonetheless (and crazy as it may sound, I don't think that dinosaurs would have made it better in this case).

The story focuses on a so far unrecorded period in the Enterprise's life: that of its first mission. And by that I don't mean Kirk's first mission aboard. Not even Pike's. But its very, very first mission under the command of Robert April (from the Animated Series), alongside Kirk's father: George. There's tight action, ideological dilemmas, some funny humor, and Romulans (both good and bad), that borrow heavily from Diane Duane's Rihannsu series. The frame story, on the other hand, has Kirk reading his father's letters during shore leave, in his childhood farm of Iowa. While he reflects upon his life choices in the aftermath of Edith Keeler's death. The brief frame chapters, inserted between the main story, present thus a poignant, quiet counterpart to George Kirk's adventures.

I really liked the development of the new characters in this one, and had the impression of knowing them quite well, despite not appearing in the series (or barely at all). Robert April is the laid-back, gentlemanly and ideallistic Captain, and a clear counterpoint to George, the pragmatic man that sports a more militaristic approach for Starfleet. The narrative tends to side more with George's views, as April's decisions are usually ineffectual once the Enterprise enters hostile territory. Though ultimately, both of them end up understanding and adopting parts of the other's philosophy. In fact, at the story's climax, they're forced to stand up at the opposite side of their initial worldview. Thus, Jim Kirk is presented as the more succesful, balanced combination of both (it's a bit like Spock and McCoy's "reason vs. emotion", but translated to politics). Sarah Poole (April's wife in TAS) also appears as the ship's doctor; she has a lesser role, but was given considerable depth nonetheless. George's pirate-like friend, Drake, usually offers the comic relief. While the staple "noble Romulan" and "devious Romulan" are represented by t'Cael and Ry'iak, respectively.

In many ways, the Enterprise could be considered the main character, though. The story follows her baby steps as a yet-not-finished starship, her coming-of-age after being severely crippled and defeating her enemies against all odds, and finally her official baptism. There are sections in which the ship is even personalized as a sentient being, like a chilling scene where her memory is tampered with. Also, April and George act like two dads that can't agree about their child's true vocation.

I can't think of much to criticize this time, though there's a moment where it's stated that the Federation's constitution is directly based on the USA constitution, as the "prime example to follow". I don't know if this is an original idea of the novel, or if it ever was Roddenberry's intention (which could be, judging by episodes like "The Omega Glory"). But the whole thing was pretty eye-rolling...

Spoilers under the cut:

George Samuel Kirk (Sr.) and his friend Drake Reed are bored security personnel at a starbase. Until one day they're kidnapped by three mysterious individuals, who leave them unconscious. Upon waking up, George and Drake find themselves in the cargo hold of a small ship, and once they break free, George discovers it was his old friend, Captain Robert April, who ordered their abduction. April is gathering his most trusted friends (among them Dr. Sarah Poole, his future wife) for a special rescue mission (well, maybe he could have ASKED them!). A colonist ship has been stranded in the middle of an ion storm, and Starfleet has no means to reach it before hundreds of families die aboard from radiation. Thus, April has been tasked with testing a new, revolutionary ship, much faster and bigger than any other at this time: the first starship (you know which one, right?). This is the only way they could save those colonists in time. And George is introduced to a majestic first view of the Enterprise, still lacking a name, when they approach dry dock. April intends George to be his First Officer, as he values his insights above anybody else's. However, the views of the two men about the role of the starship soon start to clash: April wants it to be perceived exclusively as a tool of peace and exploration; while George argues that its weapon capacities shouldn't be overlooked, in order to defend the Federation.

At the same time, we're introduced in some chapters to Field Primus t'Cael and his Romulan warbird, in another sector of space. T'Cael is dealing with intrigues aboard, instigated by an upstart spy from the Praetorate: Ry'iak. Dispirited by the growing suspicions of his crew, t'Cael has become rather seclusive, though he still counts on the loyalty of Commander Idrys. The Field Primus' moderate views have made him fall out of favor with the Praetorate, as t'Cael doesn't think that the Federation has hostile intentions against the Empire, and disapproves of the stealth attack the Praetor is planning.

For its part, the Enterprise has finished preparations for departure. However, soon after they leave dry dock, there's a catastrophic failure of the sealing elements in the warp nacelles. The only two options seem to be, either ejecting the nacelles (and thus losing warp capacity to rescue the colonists), or let the ship explode. But George doesn't believe in no-win scenarios either, so he pressures one of the engineers to think creatively and find an alternative. Using the energy from the shuttles to seal the leak at the last moment, they manage to salvage the nacelles. Nonetheless, George is suspicious of the failure happening right at the most critical moment, so he asks Drake to investigate the engineers, as chief of security. Drake tries to find a saboteur (not very subtly) among engineers Saffire, Graff and Wood, but finds nothing incriminating. Despite Drake not knowing, the reader does in fact find out who's one of the saboteurs soon thereafter, as Saffire breaks into the starship memory banks and tampers with the systems. The malfunction is delayed until the ship enters the ion storm, at which point there's a massive failure of the warp engines and the artificial gravity. April receives a head injury, while the ship is hurled light years away, into unknown territory. Well, not so unknown: they appear right in the middle of Romulan space, and face to face with t'Cael's warbird.

Confronted with the massive starship, the Romulans start fretting over a possible attack from the Federation. But t'Cael chooses to believe April about their ship being disabled and there out of accident. As a show of good faith, he agrees to meet with the First Officer (as April is too injured), in neutral territory on a nearby planetoid. However, once t'Cael gets off the ship, Ry'iak seizes control of the warbird and kills Idrys (a death that took me by surprise, to be honest). Then, he starts shooting at the planet from orbit, attempting to kill t'Cael too. Since humans and Romulans had never seen each other before, George mistakes t'Cael for a poor Vulcan prisoner. And there's a rather comedic scene, where he "rescues" the Romulan from enemy fire. Once the mistake is cleared, George has to overcome his xenophobic sentiments and cooperate with t'Cael to escape the planetoid. The escape involving alien wolves too.

Eventually, the starship manages to rescue George and t'Cael, using the new transporter technology (well, they accidentally transport an alien wolf too, which creates a bit of a mess). T'Cael agrees to help the Federation against his disloyal swarm of warbirds, as he believes that, if the starship is captured, this will precipitate war between the Empire and the Federation. In the later chapters, there's a pretty intense battle between the Enterprise and the Romulan swarm. While George uses a very Kirk-like bluff to discourage further attacks from the Romulans (which, in turn, explains the eventual development of the cloaking device). With the saboteurs finally captured (and in one case, destroyed in a very grisly way), and the warp repaired, the Enterprise can finally return to home space and rescue those colonists.

Spirk Meter: 4/10*. Spock expresses his grief about Jim's decision to quit Starfleet after Edith's death. And at this moment, McCoy understands how much the ship and Jim mean to the Vulcan: "more than a career, more than a refuge, and certainly more than McCoy had ever guessed". Later, when Kirk regains his confidence and chooses to stay as Captain, Spock looks at him in the bridge and acknowledges his "deeply personal synthesis between himself and Jim Kirk".

However, the relationship between Kirk and McCoy is given far more prevalence throughout the novel, and that's why I'm separating the two dynamics. McCoy won't leave Kirk alone in Iowa at his moment of vulnerability, despite Jim's wishes. At first, he tries to lure him with an invitation to have dinner together. And when this fails, he just pops up in the barn, offering "mouth-to-mouth" resucitation (of all things!) if Jim doesn't answer him (unfortunately for poor McCoy, Kirk doesn't seem too eager to receive a kiss from him). Later, McCoy tries to comfort Kirk about Edith Keeler's death, and share his pain, while Kirk assures McCoy that her death wasn't his fault. He also says that McCoy was worth everything. And once Kirk announces his decision to leave the ship, McCoy gets very emotional and tries to reason with him. Just then, Spock appears in the barn and wonders if he's "interrupting something"; to which both of them answer that yes, he's interrupting. For a novel that doesn't actually deal with the TOS characters, they surely managed to cram as much homoeroticism between Kirk and McCoy as possible...

Apart from this, George Kirk has several things in common with his son. Not just being an absent father... but also having very "intense" relationships with his male friends. There's a bit of it with Drake, that April brings along, not because he has much use for him, but because he can't separate him from George. Drake also waltzes into George's quarters and plops into his bed as if nothing. But most of all, George and t'Cael develop a very, veeeery close relationship (for good or bad), and have all these tense stares at each other, and this desire to protect each other. Just so you get an idea of what I'm talking about:

"Like me, George admitted to himself, unable to bury the color that rose in his cheeks and forced him to look away from t’Cael for a moment. When he looked back again, there was a touch of melancholy on t’Cael’s face. [.......]

George moved closer, hoping his eyes conveyed the depth of his promise. Solemnly he said, “Whatever it takes, however long it takes, I’ll personally make sure you have a place in the Federation. I owe you that,” he added, moving still closer. “In fact, I owe you more.”

A sudden, unexpected warmth came over t’Cael’s face, and he broke his communion with the monitor to look affably at George. “That’s kind of you. It will be difficult.” [............]

Allowing their intimacy to linger, George returned the grin,"

Huh, George, didn't you have a wife and kids back at home???

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[scotianostra]

On August 6th 1796,the Scottish artist David Allan died, he was known as The Scottish Hogarth.

Allan was born in what once was the busy port of Alloa on the river Forth where his father, also David, was the Shoremaster in charge of the harbour.

David had a rather unfortunate childhood; he was born prematurely and his mother died shortly after his birth, he survived two accidents in his early years which threatened his life.  He displayed an early talent for drawing which led to his expulsion from the parish school when he drew a caricature of the dominie in the act of caning unruly pupils, dominie is an old Scottish name for a schoolmaster.

In 1753, Robert Foulis, a publisher in Glasgow, founded the Academy of Art and Design which was granted a room in Glasgow University.  The Academy was essentially a charitable institution supported by local wealthy merchants with encouragement from the aristocracy including the Duke of Argyle and Lord Cathcart.  In 1755, two years after its foundation it had only ten pupils who paid 1½ guineas a session.   In that year David Allan entered the Academy at the age of eleven as an apprentice bound to Robert Foulis for a period of seven years. He was supported no doubt by Lord Cathcart whose estate, Schawpark, was adjacent to Alloa.  Lord and Lady Cathcart became aware of Allan’s artistic ability at an early age and gave him encouragement and financial support throughout their lives.

The Academy enjoyed only a brief existence until 1775 when financial difficulties led to its closure but during its short life it fostered a number of young students who rose to eminence including David Allan and his close friend and contemporary James Tassie. Allan completed his apprenticeship and continued to study at the Academy for a further two years becoming a master of the skills of engraving and etching.

To complete his education, it was felt that Allan should attend one of the continental schools.  In 1767 he moved to Rome, where he lived for ten years; this was the most successful period of his life. In Rome, Allan painted ambitious historical pictures, portraits, caricatures and genre scenes. On returning to London in 1777, he spent two years trying to establish himself. Unsuccessful and ill, he returned to Scotland where he specialised in painting family groups. He also produced book illustrations and was appointed the master of the Trustees' Academy at Edinburgh, as well as illustrations for publications by Robert Burns and Allan Ramsay.

Allan collaborated with Burns through George Thomson: with the 1793 commission for Thomson’s song collection, the artist produced more than 100 drawings in oval format. Burns saw in Allan’s work a spirit similar to his own. The poet wrote to Thomson in November 1794:

I look on myself to be a kind of brother-brush with him. – “Pride in Poets is nae sin”, & I will say it, that I look on Mr Allen & Mr Burns to be the only genuine & real Painters of Scotish Costume in the world!

Burns owned a copy of Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd as published by Foulis in Glasgow in 1788. . In 1794 he described David Allan as a “man of very great genius”, and marvelled that he was not better known than he was.

Allan married Shirley Welsh, herself a keen art student, and a great admirer of her husband’s work, they had five children only one of whom, Barbara, reached adult life.

Burns died on 21st July, and was closely followed by Allan, on 6th August 1796.

Allan is buried in the Old Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh, not far from the grave of David Hume.

The first three pics are from my visit to The Scottish National Portrait Gallery las week, the others are from the ilustrations he drew for Burns, my favourite being the "Battle of Killiecrankie" one, another link to a recent post. The final pic is also my own from a visit to Old Calton Burial Ground.

[stronghours]

saw the cat person movie with @drdemonprince last night, a truly national event, and while definitely like, artistically and craft-wise a bad movie, it was a treat for a couple people who did not like the short story at all - the interesting, charming, and intriguing things about it, though absolutely not done on purpose, really underscored the dysphoria between the reader reaction to the short story itself and the reality of the writing (bad)

1 - the short story came out in 2017! I'd only been in chicago for 10 months! truly this was a geological age ago.

2 - the twitter discourse on the publication of this short story was more encompassing and wild than the short story itself. people compared it to "the lottery". people called it "the first viral short story". people called it haunting and twisted and nasty and trenchant and intense. the extreme blurbage really set it up for a vaster failure to me specifically (the only opinion that truly matters) when I read it and thought it was like, a kind of dull story with listless characters.

3 - short stories have been adapted before! Frank Perry did The Swimmer back in the sixties! He had Burt Lancaster! (don't know where I was going with this - I think was going to say an actually literally wise director can adapt cleverly from brief material, but then I remembered I have not actually watched The Swimmer yet and probably shouldn't say that in good faith)

4 - so anyway - and once again, I think this was absolutely done unintentionally, so not 'good' per say - Cat Person The Movie portrays yes, the text of the short story, but due to both the deficiencies in the text and the deficiencies of the filmmakers, forces itself to literally play out the fantasies of the mass reader reception, fantasies that arguably swallowed the actual short story itself - that this was a chilling portrayal of modern dating/war of the sexes/misogyny/male violence, etc.

5 - I believe these fantasies happened because, 1, a lot of people aren't textually very wise. it is truly fandom bullshit. people have an intense emotion from deficient text or content and then start squeezing blood from stone and things snowball from there

6 - while, once again, I say, the movie most definitely not doing this shit intentionally, it had enough awareness for the usual tongue-in-cheek stuff, not because this was "the good thing to do craft-wise" but because tongue-in-cheek awareness is de rigueur these days, and because the adaptors, though maybe not craft geniuses, have the pragmaticism of Movie/Film People and were like "we absolutely do not have enough shit to go off on" and, again unintentionally, squeezed blood from stone just like the readers from yesteryears and managed to beautifully mimic the mass delusion that surrounded, again, this fucking bad and boring short story and managed to bring some actual violence to the table

7 - due to the fact that this is a Film with Actors and had Moving Visual Images, it benefited from like, you know, some of the actors being charming and kind of funny

8 - the story came out, again, in 2017, the stone ages, and modern dating and the twitter lit scene has gone through several more geological cycles since then, so the whole thing felt just a little old fashioned. the salad days!

9 - the ending close up on Margot's shit-im-nutting face when the second guy asks her out at the movie theater is such a fucking funny choice and departure on the og story, that this girl is now addicted to the rush of thinking every dude she dates is going to stalk/kill/drug her - (and she's correct! robert was, apparently, willing or contemplating to do two out of three of those things! but also - maybe she's crazy too and, you know, kind of deserves it?) like, such a hysterical and cynical choice, masterstroke.

10 - bad story! (no stars)

11 - bad movie! (five stars, would see again, love and light to all)

12 - The Swimmer (1968) dir. Frank Perry and starring Burt Lancaster is free on Tubi

[sunny6677]

The House On The Hill.

(A rewritten version of the Hatzgangs scene from The Stars for the Saturated AU.)

TWS FOR FLESH EATING, BLOOD, DRUGS, DRUG DEALERS, ETC

————

It shows the kids walking along the sidewalk for a brief shot, with Skid being like. "Sheesh–how could this get any—"

He stops, noticing something off screen and then seeming frustrated. While Pump becomes visibly confused.

It cuts to the Hatzgang, who is standing in front of them. Roy's friends have mischievous looks on their faces, while Roy has a genuine smile from ear to ear.

"Hey! Those are some nice costumes you got there!"

"Uh—thanks?" Pump says, arching a brow.

"For us to ruin!" Ross suddenly cuts in with a smirk. Roy tries to protest, but before he can stop them, Robert and Ross both walk foward—straight up hitting the kids in the face, kicking them in the stomach and then punching them across their heads. Before they can go any further, Roy intervenes by getting in between them.

"He—Hey! Stop! What are you doing??"

Ross blinks. "..uh.. duh..? They're weirdos. They deserve it."

"No, they're not!" Roy exclaims, and then faces the kids while his friends glare a bit. "Uh—sorry about that. What are you two here for?"

"..uh.. we were just trying to find something cool to do until your friends decided to beat us up." Pump shrugs, speaking bitterly.

"Oh—reallyy?? Y'know—there's actually this really cool house over there on the hill! It's really Halloweeny and junk!"

"..really?" Skid looks over to where Roy points, and sees it. He still seems skeptical though, glancing over at Ross specifically. "..well.. we'll go check it out, I guess. This better not be a trick though. C'mon—let's go."

The kids slowly walk away as the three watch.

"..I bet they're gonna have a lot of fun with that guy who sold me the special sugar in the alleyway!" Roy grins aloud to himself. This sentence makes both Robert and Ross glance over at him, their expressions becoming more serious.

"..what..?" Ross says.

It cuts to the interior of the house on the hill, only for the doors to practically slam open. The kids skeptically look around, and see no one inside, so they walk in.

"..huh." Skid says aloud to himself, looking around. "..guess it's empty after all."

But then, when the two look ahead—they see a gigantic opening in the ground. There appears to be some kind of strange wrapped box beside it, but also a splatter of blood trickling from the hole.

Skid becomes noticeably cautious, and as does Pump. As bravely as he can, Skid steps foward to maybe ensure that whatever is inside doesn't hear him. But the moment he peeks in, a tentacle shoots out and grabs him. Skid screams out. Pump yells, only for a tentacle to shoot out again and grab him too.

They're both dragged down into an eerily silent, bright red void. And..

..Eyes is standing there right before them, his eyes looking straight down at their faces. Skids face becomes noticeably irritated instead of frightened, while Pumps becomes absolutely horrified as he stares into Eyes's red sockets.

Eyes loud, rumbling voice begins to speak. "..HELLO, MORTAL FLESH.."

"..hi." Skid frowns. "Can you let us go? We're trying to explore a house up here!"

"..I DON'T BELIEVE I CAN ALLOW THAT. ALLOW ME TO PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR—"

When Skid feels Eyes's tentacles tighten at a painful level, he reacts quickly and literally slaps Eyes on the tentacle. "Hey! Stop! I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not letting you push us around!"

"..YOU'RE.. INTERESTING."

"Yeah. That's very nice of you. Can you let us go? Please?"

"..HMMMM.. YES. BUT IN EXCHANGE FOR ONE THING.."

It shows Eyes ominously emerging from the house for a frame, and then cuts to the Hatzgang.

"What do you mean that wasn't candy?" Roy asks his friends, who then look up with even more horrified faces as a shadow looms over them. Roy looks behind himself, and it shows Eyes, who has two of his eyes in the center brightly lit up. It cuts to the Hatzgang, who now have red pupils and are visibly distressed as red marks begin to appear on their skin a bit.

"Wh—hey!"

Skid slaps Eyes on the mush they're sitting on, and Eyes briefly stops making noise.

Skid yells, "I said we'd show you the town! Not eat people's flesh!"

Skid then just let's out a irritated sigh, but his eyes light up, seemingly getting an idea on what to do.

[ciellery]

I wrote this about a month or so ago, didn't get to share this here though.

Anyways, uhh, scrapped scene/concept for this AU :D

"Many had cheered as a new king had been crowned. A young man in the age of 16, forced to rule after his Father’s ship sunk, now stood tall in front of his people.

…

With the help of the King in the North and Protagnsts’ clever explosive trap, he had managed to survive that siege victoriously. The very thought put a smile on Ryan’s face as pride and satisfaction filled his chest. He was—is a great king. He had led his people to victory, and he will continue to do so by sitting in the Iron Throne.

His smile faltered and fell.

Ryan couldn’t lie to himself. He may had gone from this battle alive and victorious, but he had lost Welcomin in the hands of a member from Shadow’s army—he had lost a significant amount of his people already. Were it not for that trap, he would have completely failed. He would have lost his kingdom. He would have died, his story forever tainted by the fact that he had let Dorne be conquered.

But he had not, for he is here standing in the midst of his Kingdom without a heart lost to anyone. He had not been conquered, not like Sean had.

Ryan clenched his fist and the young king marched forward towards the barracks, hands folded behind his back, posture right as rain despite the subtle hint of fatigue—just like how he was taught. His Father would be proud, or, at least he’d hoped.

“Ryan.” a knight not of his own greeted, bowing deep with his hand on his chest. Ignoring the slip-up, Ryan gestured for him to stop. “What brings you here this at this hour?” the soldier asked, voice as serene as ever.

He glanced at the door dividing the two of them from a newly revived Sean before turning his head back towards one of the man’s soldiers. “How is he doing, Robert?”

------

Ryan would ask him abt how he feels about his and Sean’s kingdom being conquered and all that, Robert would say “Truthfully, it is upsetting that our kingdom and everything we’ve worked hard for is no longer in our control, and the fact that Sean also lost another life. It would take some time to get used to, that’s for sure.

… But, that was an impressive trap, one that we hadn’t seen from a mile away.” And he reached out on Ryan’s head, pausing for a brief moment until the other took of his crown and ruffled his hair.

“Great job.” Robert said, tilting his head a bit and giving the younger a soft smile.

Ryan replicated it as pride and content filled his chest."

I once again thank @ice-cap-k for proof-reading this fic. Mah friend, you are a savior. You're the best.

[deuterosapiens]

It's now 10:03 at night, July 31, 2024. A Wednesday. We have made it! Heartsong este complet!

I thought about keeping this post brief, so that I might digest these events a bit before writing a more in-depth discussion of my feelings. We know I'm lying and that I will not be doing that. So let's dig in!

So, seeing as we left off with declarations of war and reformed bonds and the reveal of the identity of the mysterious timber wolf, let's go from there. Let's see:

We prepare for war and I an reminded that TJ Klune really doesn't write fight scenes very well. It's okay, his strengths are elsewhere, which we will see quite a bit of as this wraps up. I cannot help but feel like every time a witch enters a battle that I've briefly been transported into a Last Airbender scene where absolutely everyone is an Earthbender for someone, but that's okay. Gold star for murdering Dale. Which means we must say good-bye to our friend, our beloved:

Fuck Dale!

You will be missed. Anyway.

I'm fairly certain the scene with the trees is a direct allusion to the Forest of Suicides from the Inferno. Between this and the creepy Feral Children, I'm reminded of The Forest; you know, that horror film about Aokigahara Forest? Pleasant stuff all around!

Rico is turned, which I'm sure we will all regret by the start of the next book. I was sad at the possibility of his death, but in no way surprised his survives.

Must Thomas Bennett insist upon pulling an Obi-Wan whenever someone has a near-death experience? Oh, who am I kidding! I love Thomas Bennett, I just wish I could stop seeing him under terrible circumstances. Speaking of which!

Livingstone. Alpha Hughes is killed after administering the Bite of an Alpha, which under normal circumstances would be quite fatal to a Witch, to Livingstone. Really, just what we needed. We've made Robert Livingstone stronger!

Gavin.

Gavin Gavin Gavin.

I want you to know off the bat that this name specifically brings me a kind of pain, as I have an ex with the same name who I am unfortunately to this day, madly in love with. So this business with him running away to save the Pack from Livingstone's lycanthropic rampage and shattering Carter's heart into tiny little timber wolf shaped pieces brings be a special kind of pain. I get it, I understand why he's left, but I cannot be made to feel happy about it!

We return home and Robbie and Kelly finally get to remember each other intimately. I mean that Robbie gets his memory back which I was very happy to read until Livingstone showed up at which point I was very unhappy to read. So instead of focusing on how unhappy that made me, I'm just going to blissfully adore the awkwardness that is Robbie establishing very firmly that he absolutely is not making Kelly do anything he doesn't want. Consent matters. I love these two! But alas! Good moments like to end.

Just as we are settling back into life, Carter runs away in search of Gavin. I cannot blame him in the slightest because if his is anything like mine, I would do anything in the universe to have him back. Moving on before I think too hard and make a somewhat questionable decision.

Why the endless hell are we so damn determined to hurt Kelly? Is this who we are? Is this what this series has become? Seriously!! First Robbie, now Carter! This is not okay!

So in conclusion, yepp. That's a book! It has offered me beautiful things, and then politely destroyed them. But it has brought Kelly and Robbie together as a strong couple, and I'm glad there's more Ace representation, as well as whatever hell Carter's got going on (I know he said he might be bi, but I suspect he's honestly just absolutely special in his own way, labels be damned!).

I'm going to be completely honest. I'm not jumping into Brothersong right now. I have a system for these books, brought about by the fact that they tend to make me emotional in a way that's perhaps not exactly good for my wellbeing. So, with Heartsong finished, I'm going to jump into an emotionless fantasy novel, read the next book in my giant stack of Dick novels (The Man in the High Castle), then, if I'm in a good emotional state, I will conclude the series.

Also, a couple of songs I was thinking about while I finished the book. In the event anyone was interested.

[intangiblyyourswrites]

Adoring Fans (Finale)

Thread 1 | Thread 2

I can't believe it's been almost two years since the last installment of this! To this day, I'm not sure how the one collab I do with @embyrinitalics, Queen of Whump, is the fluffiest piece I've written to date.

Anyway, without further ado, here's the last part:

—

Zelda honestly was unsure how their stargazing date would go, but it went without a hitch. She took him to the university’s observatory long after closing hours, letting him peek into the telescopes and pointing out the planets and constellations. He was at awe at the Tesla coil as it sparked in purplish hues, spent time reading through the composition of meteorites, and played with the simulations that predicted what would happen if an asteroid hurled towards Hyrule. She tried to keep everything in layman’s terms when he asked questions, but ended up slipping into a couple of tangents when it came to discussing time in relation to light years. He didn’t seem to mind—appeared interested if anything—and Zelda didn’t think he could be any more perfect. 

And even then he managed to prove her wrong.

She was packing up her bags and making sure she had the keys to lock up when he glanced curiously at one of her textbooks. His eyes squinted, head tilting to the side before he pointed at the name printed on the cover of her textbook and said, “Hey, I know him.”

Her world came to a screeching halt.

“You know...Robert C. Kines?”

He looked puzzled at her wide-eyed expression, or maybe at the way she suddenly gripped the edge of the table.

“Well, he likes to go by Robbie, but yeah, he helped with the Divine Beasts Wars series I did two years ago.”

Zelda almost slapped her head for forgetting. Of course they knew each other. She had watched the exclusive behind the scenes.

He continued looking at her curiously, as if gauging her reaction. “Interesting guy, really. Very eccentric.”

It took all of her willpower to not shower him with questions, but he must’ve noticed because he smiled knowingly, “He’ll be on set for The Guardian Project next week. Would you like to meet—”

“Yes!”

So here she is, standing in front of Link’s studio fidgeting with her fingers. There’s a guard out front eyeing her suspiciously, but Link had promised that he would be out to get her soon. She double checks her slate to make sure she is at the right place at the right time and that he did, in fact, message her back three minutes ago.

Finally, the side door pops open and Link is waving her in. She looks nervously at the guard and points to Link, letting him know that she’s expected, before darting towards her date. Because yes, Link has confirmed that this is a date. Zelda profusely thanks her past life for the fortune given to her in this one.

They walk through a couple hallways before the room opens up to one giant set. It looks like some kind of laboratory with several tubes and wires hanging from the ceiling and prosthetic limbs lined up on the side. In the center is a mechanical treatment table with restraints, and the whole “room” is lit in a blue hue. Very little has been released publicly about The Guardian Project except for a brief synopsis: A young boy volunteers for a program that transforms him into the perfect soldier—something part human, part machine. After years of training, of being taken apart and put together again, he’s stationed as the princess’s primary guard in the midst of an ongoing crisis. As their relationship grows, the boy struggles with figuring out who he is and his worth beyond that of a weapon.

Of course, Link will be the star of the film, the boy that undergoes the transformation into a cyborg. That explains a lot about how he’s currently dressed, which Zelda hadn’t had a chance to observe until now. His hair is completely down and his wardrobe is composed primarily of dark clothing. Actually, it's all dark clothing that stretches up his neck, over his fingertips, and covers the entirety of his legs. It fits his physique incredibly well, and perhaps she’s staring too much because Link coughs, forcing her eyes back up to his. She doesn’t miss the tinge of pink on his cheeks.

“We’re about to do a costume fitting, which is why Robbie is here.” He gestures to the back where a small group of people are gathered. “Shall we go join the crew?”

Zelda clears her throat, stamping down her own blush. “Y-Yes. Sorry, you just look so different. I wasn’t expecting it.” She averts her gaze, yet can’t help but take another glance at him. “But it looks good on you.”

If possible, Link turns even more red, but that doesn’t stop him from shooting her toothy grin. He shyly takes one of her hands and leads her forward, allowing their fingers to become loosely intertwined. Ever since they took their first picture together, little moments like these began to pile up. Fingers brushed when she brought him a drink three days ago, shoulders touched as they looked at the stars. This is the boldest they’ve been, and Zelda can’t bring herself to mind in the least.

It doesn’t take her long to spot Dr. Kine’s iconic white and wing-like hair, especially with the bronze goggles he likes to sport. A sudden bout of nerves hit her and she finds herself smoothing out her blouse as if it’ll somehow make her look smarter. Link gives her hand a squeeze before waving as one of the crew members notices them. 

“You’re right on time, Link,” she says, then turns to her and extends an arm, “You must be Zelda! Link can’t stop talking about you.”

Zelda raises a brow in his direction and Link shoots the girl a glare. “Meghyn, that is not—” He glances at Zelda, then covers his face with a hand, causing the last part of his sentence to be muffled, “—always true.”

Meghyn just laughs, giving him a pat on the shoulder and sending a wink at Zelda. “You got a good one, hun!” 

Zelda beams, unable to resist smiling. “I have no doubt about that.”

Her response somehow makes Meghyn laugh even louder, catching the attention of those nearby, including Dr. Kines. He swivels on his heels and stares at them inquisitively.

If Link ever asks her who she was more nervous meeting—him or Dr. Kines—she’d be ashamed to admit that it would be the latter, perhaps even if she were to remove the outlier that was her mood the day Link shot over her counter. To be fair, she was interested in physics prior to Link’s debut, and well, though she wanted to date Link, she wanted to be Dr. Kines. She wanted her day-to-day life to consist of tinkering with machinery, of calculating how the Ancient daggers of the Sheikah are able to create what are essentially black holes when striking an object. Being surrounded by replicas of these techs is an absolute dream come true!

Zelda realizes she’s being spoken about and to only when she sees Dr. Kines approaching. However, instead of shaking her hand, he takes a sidestep and circles her, thumb and index finger on his chin as if he’s examining a specimen.

“Ah,” he starts, and Zelda feels like a popsicle frozen in place, “You must be the same ‘Zelda’ Purah always talks about.”

She thaws instantly. “You know Dr. Anzu?”

“Heh!” He scrunches his nose. “Of course that old hag wouldn’t mention me to you. We were in the same doctoral program.”

“Old hag” is not what she would have described Dr. Anzu as, considering her mentor looked almost as young as she did. While most people with those credentials tend to be older, Zelda always figured Dr. Anzu had been on an advanced academic track. 

As if he reads her thoughts, Dr. Kines snorts. “She’s a brilliant mind. We’re the same age, you know. She doesn’t spend all her time researching old Sheikah tech.”

Zelda has to school her expression before her jaw drops because he must be well into his sixties. She makes a mental note to inquire more about this later.

“Dr. Anzu is the one who encouraged me to pursue my masters and doctorate, and we reference several of your books on a daily basis.” She bows slightly. “It’s an honor to meet you, Dr. Kines.”

“Call me Robbie! I’m not as pretentious as that old hag. Here, let me show you around.” She bites down a grin but when she looks up, Dr. Kines—er, Robbie—is addressing Link. “Mind if I steal your girlfriend?”

Zelda is glad everyone is looking at Link because she swears her cheeks light up like it’s Hylia’s Day. Link coughs, using the pause to give her a quick glance as if asking if she’d like for him to deny it. She answers by mirroring his gesture from earlier: taking his hand and giving it a light squeeze. 

Dear Nayru, the smile he returns is causing her heart palpitations. “She’s all yours, but I want her back before we finish off.”

“Nonsense. I’m sure she’ll be of plenty of help with your costume. Come along, Ms. Bosphoramus.”

She thinks she sees a wink somewhere behind the goggles, but maybe it was just a trick of the light. She’s about to follow when she feels a light tug at her fingers and spins back around, only to see Link staring at her in the way she’s sure is how she looks at him. He brings the back of her hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss upon it. 

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” he says, but she’s too breathless to respond. For the nth time, she wonders how she got lucky enough to be where she is now. How did she go from simply being an adoring fan to someone who’s on the receiving end of Link Wilde’s affection? And then, to top it all off, wind up meeting her academic idol? For all her intellect, she can’t fathom how the atoms aligned in such a way to make it all possible.

“Ms. Bosphoramus,” Robbies calls out patiently, and Zelda sheepishly sends Link one last smile before catching up with the scientist. When she reaches him, he gives a knowing look. “Don’t sell yourself short, Ms. Bosphoramus. In my eyes, he’s the lucky one.”

-END-

A/N: As I was writing this, I realized how complicated their relationship is and what obstacles they will need to overcome. It's all tooth-rotting fluff now, but Zelda would want to make a name of herself in her field prior to being known as Link's girlfriend, so they will probably keep their relationship on the down-low for awhile. Then there's the court poet -cough- I mean, Zaeya, who will also make a debut and end up drawing attention to Zelink. Alas, this is not a story I'm willing to write, but something fun to think about.

Huge thanks for everyone who was following this story! It was a nice run and experiment with writing. The alternate POVs worked well in allowing for the differences in our writing styles, I think. I wouldn't mind doing another piece with Embyr one day!

[legally-brief]

MOVIES WITH MEN IN UNDERWEAR (This is outdated- website shutdown early 2000’s)

“C”

Caddy, The (1953) Dean Martin walks into a darkened room in his white boxers, as everyone yells ‘Surprise!’ for a birthday celebration. Dean exits the room fast.

Caddyshack (1980) Michael O’Keefe

Cadence (1991) (Count a Lonely Cadence) (Stockade) Drama with endless scenes of Charlie Sheen, Laurence Fishburne and other US army prisoners in their army-issue white T-shirts and boxer shorts. Includes a long "emergency drill" scene out in a field at night, in the rain, with four of the six in only their underwear and boots.

Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions (1995) (TV) The women detectives go to arrest a guy at home, and he comes downstairs in his underwear.

Calendar Girl (1993) Jason Priestly, two other cute guys, mid movie, chase Marilyn Monroe to the beach and strip to boxers then naked; quick shot of his pecker.

Campus Man (1987) Making a male calendar. Lots of hunks

Candy (1968) Richard Burton is seen in wild-patterned silk boxer shorts.

Can't Hardly Wait (1998) After knocking them out with homemade chloroform, William's geeky friends strip him (Charlie Korsmo) and Mike (Peter Facinelli) to their underwear and take incriminating photos of them.

Can't Stop the Music (1980) Very bad Village People movie. Guys in briefs in the locker room scenes.

Canterville Ghost, The (1944) Robert Young and a platoon of men in their boxers and undershirts run around scared, as Charles Laughton haunts them. Robert Young boasts to the other soldiers on the army base. They pin him to the ground and take off his jumpsuit leaving him in white boxers and an undershirt. There's an extended scene where he hides behind the soldiers to make passerbys think he is clothed.

Cape Fear (1962) Suspense thriller. Robert Mitchum is subjected to a police strip search, but is unfazed and remains menacing in his full-cut white boxers and panama hat.

Cape Fear (1991) Robert DeNiro, searched by police, in red briefs.

Captain Ron (1992) Comedy. Kurt Russel in his briefs.

Car Wash (1976) Award-winning hit comedy. In early locker-room scene, guy drops his pants and shows his eye-catching white heart-spotted boxer shorts (and he seems to have something written on them). His co-workers immediately make fun and embarrass him - one holding the guy's trousers down so they can all get a good look.

Career Opportunities (1991) Comedy. Quick shot of a young guy in boxers and socks at the beginning of the movie; the same guy is later shown rollerblading around a department store wearing boxers.

Carnal Knowledge (1971) Jack Nicholson. Art Garfunkel was in his jocks too.

Carry On Constable (1960) A Street thief steals a bobbie’s suspenders, and his authoritarian trousers slip down while on patrol ... a comic scene indeed!

Casino (1995) Joe Pesci’s character and his brother were clubbed bloody before being stripped to their coloured Y-fronts and then buried alive. This happened near the end of the movie.

Casper (1995) Family comedy fantasy. Pullman is chased by ghosts. They grab swords and cry "All for one and one for all! Catch your pants before they fall!" They cut his belt, his pants fall down to his ankles, and he hops away in his boxers.

Casual Sex? (1988) Comedy. There are two good scenes with men in tighty whities.

Cat Ballou (1965) Comedy western. Lee Marvin in a white union suit, getting fitted for new clothes.

Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (2000) Comedy drama. We see Michael in his underwear and Dwayne in his boxers. Samantha then arrives and thinks that something is going on between the two men (there isn't).

Cell, The (2000) Suspense thriller. "We see Carl's father in his jockey underwear".

Chain of Passion [?] VERY hot scene at end of movie

Champ, The (1979) Jon Voight, though drunk, insists on taking off his own pants in this tear-jerker. Jon wears patterned full-cut boxer shorts in this scene.

Change of Heart (1938) Michael Whalen, wearing white boxers and garters, sews a button onto his trousers in from of Delmar Watson.

Chaplin (1992) Robert Downey, Jr. Quick scene of him in old fashioned boxers as he gets a costume together in studio wardrobe.

Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936) Chan’s #1 son gets temporarily kidnapped by gangsters, who pull him into car, strip him to A-shirt, striped boxers, shoes socks and garters, and then push him out of car in his underwear.

Chasers (1994) Billy McNamara in white briefs - two scenes - both great. Also has Tom Berenger in blue boxers. Billy’s pretty hot!

Chasing Amy (1997) Ben Affleck lying on the sofa with a naked Joey Lauren Adams. He is wearing boxers and some dirty looking white socks.

Checkered Flag (1990) Drama. Good rear view of guy's blue patterned boxer shorts in a stand-up, pants-down sex scene.

Chef! (1999) Documentary. A vigilante mob attack a 16-year-old boy who had stolen some chickens; the youth is stripped to his underpants and humiliated. "It is easy to imagine what might have developed if the filmmaker (Jean-Mari Teno) and his camera had not been present. Teno comments 'The paradox of this country is that the national sport - far more popular than soccer - is the plundering of resources by our heads and chiefs, yet a youth was nearly lynched for stealing one hen and four chicks'. Teno wonders if the powerless in the face of massive injustice take out their rage on those less powerful than themselves".

Choirboys, The (1977) Charles Durning and Asian guy go swimming in white briefs (Durning has a T-shirt). Locker room scenes too.

Chung King Express (1994) Romantic comedy drama. Nice cop (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) in several scenes around his flat in white singlet and briefs.

City Heat (1984) 30s gangster comedy. Burt Reynolds in his underwear in a bedroom scene with Madeline Kahn. Also, an old guy glimpsed in the back of a car in his underwear, socks and garters, after Clint Eastwood steals his clothes, and another guy on a bed in underwear, socks and garters.

Class (1983) Comedy. In a prep-school prank near the start of the movie, Rob Lowe locks Andrew McCarthy out in the quadrangle in women's underwear. Lowe is also seen in pale boxers in a later scene.

Class Act (1992) Teen comedy. Christopher "Kid" Reid falling about in his white T-shirt and pale boxers, getting dressed for a date.

Clay Pigeons (1998) Clay goes to Amanda's house, but finds Lester (Vince Vaughn) there (in his underwear).

Clean and Sober (1988) Brian Benben (before "Dream On") climbs out of his sweatpants before Michael Keaton, revealing his classic white jockey briefs.

Clockwise (1986) Comedy. Headmaster John Cleese, needing clothes, has to go along with his student's plan: stopping in the woods, the schoolgirl gets Cleese to takes off his monk's habit, and persuades Michael Percival to strip to his underwear and put the habit on. Headmaster and schoolgirl then grab the guy's clothes and run to the car, Cleese in his underpants.

Clockwork Orange, A (1971) Alex (Malcolm McDowell) plods around in his underwear and is surprised to discover his "Post Corrective Adviser" Mr. Deltoid in the apartment. Deltoid is happy to have found the young boy before he has had a chance to get dressed.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Richard Dreyfus is wearing his light blue boxers and is bent over a bathroom sink when his young son paddles his butt with a ping pong paddle. Richard makes a funny face in reaction.

Closer You Get, The (2000) Comedy. Kieran (Ian Hart), and Mickey (Dessie Gallagher) seen in their underwear.

Clown, The (1952) Red Skelton is a washed up comic who loves his little boy, Tim Constadine. Red displays himself in boldly striped full-cut boxer shorts.

Clownhouse (1988) (TV) A 13 year old boy walks around in only pajama bottoms, then wets his bed when frightened by a dream. In the morning his butt is seen as he puts on underwear. He is then seen in underwear and a tee shirt. Later he is seen taking a bath, but nothing is shown.

Clueless (1995) High-school comedy. Makes a great visual gag out of the way Dion’s way cute boyfriend Murray (Donald Faison) carries the low-slung jeans fashion to its extreme. You always think they’re about to fall, but sadly, as in real life, this never quite happens.

Coach (1978) Soaked after coming in from the rain, Michael Biehn strips down to blue briefs.

Coca-Cola Kid, The (1985) Erik Roberts sitting on the couch talking on the phone in WHITE briefs.

Cocktail (1988) Tom Cruise, in white Hanes. Nice.

Cold Heaven (1992) Long first scene is of James Russo in white briefs and a T-shirt. Later in the movie, Teresa Russell pulls his pants off him and pulls him onto the bed.

Cold Sweat (1993) This unremarkable thriller is brightened by the presence of Adam Baldwin. Baldwin kills a man, and then strips to his boxers while burying the corpse, to avoid leaving incriminating evidence.

Color of Night (1994) Bruce Willis in shorts, in the pool, totally nude--even shows his penis. Also a shower scene, and a scene with him being nude and putting on jeans.

Color Purple, The (1985) Multiple award winning drama, including, if memory serves, a scene where Danny Glover dashes back and forth in his underwear, demanding his wife find various items he needs.

Comfort of Strangers, The (1990) Several scenes of Rupert Everett in boxers and birthday suit.

Coming to America (1988) Romantic comedy. Glimpse Arsenio Hall in white singlet and blue undershorts when Eddie Murphy tells him to get up and pulls back the blankets.

Commando (1985) Action. Arnold Schwarzenegger, stripped down to his little brown bikini briefs, rows a boat ashore.

Coneheads (1993) Sci-fi comedy. Two earthlings are taken to the coneheads' planet and presented to the leader -- in their gartered socks, undershirts, and boxer shorts.

Conversation, The (1974) Gene Hackman changes his pants while talking to his landlady on the telephone, revealing that he’s wearing classic white jockeys.

Cool Hand Luke (1967) Tons of scenes of the prisoners in their underwear. Paul Newman always in boxers, one guy always in briefs.

Corruptor, The (1999) Vu (Byron Mann) in his underwear.

Corvette Summer (1978) A young Mark Hamill crawling around in a prostitute’s van, shows a good glimpse of lots of boxer shorts sticking out over the top of his jeans. A fun movie for Hamill fans. (Mark Hamill did this movie one year after Star Wars).

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Comedy. Tall, blond cop is seduced by a woman who gets him to strip to his socks and underwear (print boxers, white undershirt) and eventually to nothing but his socks. She grabs his clothes and runs out of the apartment - he chases after her, but ends up embarrassingly locked out in the corridor in just his socks. Another underwear scene follows immediately as cops question a guy in his print boxers and dirty white undershirt.

Coupe de Ville (1990) Comedy/drama. Two scenes with co-lead in white briefs - once as a young boy, and then ten or fifteen years later.

Courage Under Fire (1996) Lou Diamond Phillips wearing only a jock strap. Nice shot of him from the side as he pulls up shorts over his firm bare ass (tan line visible).

Cowboy Way, The (1994) Action/Comedy. Woody Harrelson in underwear a couple of times, and also a nice butt shot.

Creator (1985) Vincent Spano in white boxers, twice.

CrissCross (1992) David Arnott (very cute) gets out of bed wearing only his briefs. It’s kind dark, but still nice.

Crow, The (1994) Supernatural revenge fantasy. In a scene lasting several minutes, Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) pays a visit to sympathetic cop Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) at his home. This handsome, black police officer is in his cop cap and underwear - white T-shirt, grey-striped boxer shorts.

Cruel Intentions (1999) Sebastian finds Blaine (Joshua Jackson) and Greg (Eric Mabius) in bed together, both in their underwear, and takes a picture to blackmail Greg. Sebastian enters Kathryn's room to find her in bed and a guy under the bed, whom we then see leaving in his underwear.

Cruising (1980) Pacino calls at a door which is opened by a guy wearing a white trimmed blue pair of Jockey briefs and a matching singlet (A-shirt). Good long shots of the Y-front, buttocks and chest.

Crush, The (1993) Alicia Silverstone taking off her underwear while he is hiding in the closet. (huh?)

Cry-Baby (1990) Johnny Depp. Great scene of Depp hanging from ceiling showing his FOLs. Writer-director John Waters revealed that Depp wore not one but three pairs of underpants for the 'whoops-we've-gratuitously-ripped-his-trousers-off' scene. No unsightly bulges there!

Cuba (1979) Drama. Handsome young Cuban man comes home, strips as he crosses the lawn, and dives into the swimming pool in his trim white boxer shorts.

Curse, The (1987) Wil Wheaton is seen at 14 in only underwear.

Cutting Edge, The (1992) DB Sweeney in white boxers at beginning.

[sleepynegress]

Currently Watching Lessons in Chemistry...

Oh, this may not be everyone's cuppa, but this is right up my alley when it comes to a good old period romance. Two awkward neurodivergent ducks work together doing science and fall in love... Starring Brie Larson and some guy I've never seen. I put it on to just have noise on in the background, and with so many recent straight romances just not hitting like the Julia Roberts era...I wasn't expecting much. But I'm actually drawn into this one. Not a rec until I see how this ends up. But so far It's a nice, gentle, wholesome, 1950's, science, nerd romance. It's very cute. EDIT: Gotta add a TW: for brief a rape scene... Why put that in there?? *yeesh*

It's at the beginning of the second episode if you want to skip it. Start around 2:21 and you get the context w/o the actual act.

[jknerd]

DISNEY STUDIO AU: Barby

(Genderbend Robert “Bobby” Zimmeruski~)

Full Name: Roberta Zimmeruski

Other Names: Barby Z, Barby

Schools: Mike Jay Middle School (graduated), Spooner Public High School (graduated), Oswald College of Arts/Music/Sports

Occuaption(s): X-Game Competitor (Maxine’s team), Student

Residence: Spoonerville, Ohio

Family: Mr. Zimmeruski (father), Mrs. Zimmeruski (mother), uncles and aunts, 10 cousins

Relationships: Maxine Goof (best friend), PJ Pete (best friend), Stanley Ampledexter (potential love-interest), Rox Hatchback (friend), The Gammas (rivaling team->occasionally friends), Fabrette Lewis (friend)

Likes: Cheeses, nacho chips, games, inline skating, MMA sports

Dislikes: Giving up, the Gammas’ entitled behaviors, Bradley’s arrogance

Abilities/Talents: Casual sports, fair sportsmanship, graffiti arts, language of Polish and Hebrew

Roberta “Barby” Zimmeruski is Maxine’s one of two best friends from same schools through their teenage years to current young adult years. Well-known with her obsession with all types of cheese, she is usually seen eating anything that has cheese in it. From Jewish-Polish descent, she can speak Polish or Hebrew fluently, but usually when communicating with her family members. 

She was first introduced in her, PJ and Maxine’s teenage years, quickly befriending them as she finds their love for casual sports as same as she does. Being one of the girls who were not considered feminine, she wasn’t in a popular crowd but always seen exhausted when dealing with the girls who have huge infatuations or admirations towards Maxine. When noticing Rox and Maxine shares same romantic feelings for one another yet unable to express them, Barby and PJ would often come up with plans to set them up. Being a most “chaotic” of trio, Barby is also not afraid to throw hands on whoever messes with her friends. Being one of few who is aware of Maxine’s identity as celebrity’s daughter, she and PJ are often seen teaming up to prevent anyone to find out the secret or chases out stalker/paparazzi who would have an audacity to sneak in Maxine’s house. In summer vacation, Barby was invited to Stanley’s house party to watch Powerline Concert Life pay-per-view and when seeing Maxine and her father danced with Powerline, she was one of the students cheering for her friend, but interrupted when bumping onto Stanley as they share brief but intense eye contact, foreshadowing a possibility of romance between them.

Years later as high school graduate bound for college, Barby, PJ and Maxine were preparing for the college, especially the upcoming X-Game. When departing, she drove to the college while PJ and Maxine were navigating. Despite the chaotic routes, they managed to arrive and Barby shared a same dorm room with Maxine. During the first day of college skating around the campus, they grabbed the attention of the X-Games champion team/Fraternity; “the Gammas”. Although, their leader Bradley was more interested in recruiting Maxine. When Maxine rejected the offer, two teams formed an immediate rivalry. Later, she expressed confusion and surprise to see Goofy as their instructor in “Entertainment Business” and “Performing Arts”. During fierce confrontation between Maxine and Bradley, Barby was prone to beat up the Gammas when Bradley insulted Goofy as they laughed, but impressed when Maxine retaliated with aggression causing to destroy Bradley’s shirt, and confusion when Bradley escaped the scene in fear. She expressed joy to see Rox and Stanley attending same college, but at the same time VERY amused with how the relationship of Maxine goes when it comes to Rox, Monroe and Bradley. In the X-game competition, Barby was excelled in rock-climbing and inline-skating as she managed to pass to the finals. During the final, she was out of the game due to the malfunctioning of the bicycle but seen in the infirmary later. Soon, she aided Goofy and others in helping Maxine, Bradley and Tank out of the burning blimp due to the scheme of Mr. Uppercrust and eventually congratulated Maxine’s victory. Along with Maxine, PJ and the Gammas, she was seen glaring at Mr. Uppercrust as Goofy calls him out for endangering others and chose his greed over his son’s safety. Although Gammas struggle with their declining popularity, Barby initially refuse to associate with them until she was assigned in partnership for the course’s project with one of the Gammas team named Thomas Churman. Later, Barby became open about interacting or befriending the Gammas as she witness a growing reformation of the team.

Other than cheese, as Barby aged, she loves to drink and is highly tolerant with the alcohols. During the party, Barby was seen winning a drinking contest against three BEST members who were known for strong drinker; Tank, Slouch and Thomas, as they were either no longer able to drink or passed out. Sometimes, she is also seen watching the MMA sports show with them.

[warningsine]

If Josh Charles went out with a literal bang on The Good Wife, then Archie Panjabi seemingly exited with a whimper.

Panjabi's Kalinda will appear in the Season 6 finale, but she bid a very direct adieu to us last Sunday. Always with an exit strategy, Kalinda decided to leave town after Cary (Matt Czuchry) foiled her scheme to pin the handover of the Lemond Bishop (Mike Colter) evidence on his minion Dexter. She turned to Grace (Makenzie Vega) -- and the camera -- and did this: [gif]

Keeping in mind that a marginally bigger sendoff might be in the cards on the May 10 finale, many fans have cried foul over this low-key, brief meta departure not being worthy of the goddess that is Miss Boots of Justice. But if that "goodbye" had been the last time we were gonna see her, I would be OK with it. It was blunt, so very Kalinda -- vanishing into that good night -- and, most bittersweet of all, emblematic of the strange, frustrating course her character has taken the past two years: untapped potential to do more.

Kalinda was a breakout fan favorite and groundbreaking character from the get-go, an enigmatic, sexually liberated woman of color with complexity and agency. Equally fascinating was her friendship with Alicia (Julianna Margulies), which at its early seasons peak, was one of the best between adult women on television. Two very different women, down to their diametrically opposed job obligations -- sultry P.I. doing whatever it takes to get the job done and housewife-turned-lawyer playing inside the legal arena -- bonded, opened up to each other and downed tequila shots.

But as is well documented, Kalinda and Alicia haven't appeared together in a scene since halfway through Season 4 on Feb. 17, 2013. That's 50 episodes ago. (This will come to an end in the finale.) Rumors abound as to why they've been apart, but creators Robert and Michelle King have maintained that the separation is intentional, due to the bombshell at the end of Season 2 that Kalinda slept with Alicia's husband Peter (Chris Noth) before she and Alicia ever met. Margulies also told The Huffington Post in April 2013 that she believes the Kalicia relationship is "played out."

While it is understandable and plausible for a friendship to be beyond repair after one sleeps with another's husband, nothing the show did in the nearly two years prior to and two-plus years since that final Kalicia interaction suggests that they are completely, irrevocably dunzo. They appeared to start anew when Kalinda helped Alicia find Grace in Season 3. In early Season 4, it was Alicia who expressed concern about Kalinda's violent ex-husband, Nick, in that quickly aborted abomination of a story line, and they both acknowledged that they "missed this" after Kalinda brought Alicia clothes in Minnesota. Since their physical separation, Kalinda and Alicia continue to amicably work together, interacting via phone calls -- which, of course, in the (scripted) words of Robert Downey Jr., can be "shot separately from that insane actress that I hate." If you knew absolutely nothing about The Good Wife and watched one of these episodes, you'd probably never guess that these people's relationship is "played out."

And therein lies the rub. The frustration is not just that they haven't physically shared space in so long, but also because it's still unclear where exactly they stand. If they are no longer friends, nothing was shown to indicate that and validate the separation, which started after they spent a year slowly getting back on track. (Hell, when has not being friends ever stopped people from interacting on a TV show?) Instead, the show carries on like nothing odd is afoot, but the two never interact or address their issues in depth. At times, it even seems to ret-con and downplay the importance of the Kalicia relationship back in the nascent stages of the show. After he confronted her about the Peter affair earlier this season, Kalinda told Eli (Alan Cumming) she wasn't and hadn't been Alicia's "best friend." "Uh, out of all those things I just said, you find objectionable the best friend charge?" he replies. It all plays into a confusing limbo that makes scenes like Kalinda surveying Alicia's family photos in her apartment last week feel unearned and forced without duly invested time in this rift.

If the point of separating Kalinda and Alicia is to develop and grow each of them, that hasn't exactly panned out for the former. The Good Wife is about Alicia Florrick, so she will never be thirsty for new, exciting stories, which Margulies has handled with usual aplomb the past two years. After admitting to the Nick misstep ("You don't give James Bond a girlfriend"), the Kings have over-corrected and we haven't gotten a peek into Kalinda's life and backstory since, coinciding with the Kalicia scene split. But because the construct of her character is caked in mystery, Kalinda needs ties to other main characters to open her up. (The Will/Kalinda friendship is also sorely missed.) What we got, however, was a gradual phase-out, her use limited to her bad-ass info-retrieving skills, seductive bed-hopping skills and apparent phone-talking skills. She occasionally interacted with Cary and Diane (Christine Baranski) this season, but her final arc was babysitting a drug kingpin's son. What was once a three-dimensional, alluring character is now sadly tertiary.

Five years ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to picture The Good Wife without Kalinda, but now? When news broke of Panjabi's forthcoming departure in October, my first thought was, "Good." (No pun intended.) Kalinda has been sidelined for two years. I'd rather not spend another 22 episodes waiting for Kalinda and Alicia to interact, or waiting to find out how her brilliant mind operates (lest we forget, we learned how the mind of Elsbeth, a recurring character, works). I'd rather she leave now and free up the show to hopefully find new creative avenues and stories to tell without having to spend time coming up with ways to intercut phone call scenes.

Am I upset Kalinda's been marginalized this way? Sure -- every Good Wife fan is -- but it's been so long that, unfortunately, I'm used to it, so now it's all just a relief. They've written Kalinda and the Kalicia relationship to a point that it's time for her and us to move on. No matter what does or doesn't happen between Kalinda and Alicia in the finale, I won't be sad about her exit because I won't miss this Kalinda. The real Kalinda left us a while ago.